Sister Sorensen Orlando Florida Mission

Hiya Can't believe it's Monday again. Wowza. This week has been crazy. We've had a lot of cool experiences. Next week is transfers even know there is a very slim chance I would get transferred anyway, I'm fully confident I will be here for a while.

I'll share a couple of cool experiences this week.

One, we finally met this member in our ward who is a fairly recent convert in our ward but hasn't been attending, apparently his family really had no knowledge about the church. And past missionaries and members could never meet his wife, because she wasn't interested (at all) but one day we went over to see him, had a great conversation and then his wife came home and invited us in, we taught her the restoration and she had a lot of good questions and was really intrigued. It was so sweet watching him explain, for the first time what he believed and knew about the church to his very own wife.

We had dinner with members on Thanksgiving. It was a little rough of a day for Sister Bromley and I, we weren't feeling too hot, and we're overwhelmed slightly. And had an investigator drop us. As well as the investigators who were going to come to dinner ended up not being able to make it. It was really bonding for us however, cause she is quite literally my family right now. It really turned to be a much needed night for us.

We go visit this sweet older man pretty often. His memory is going. But every time we come to the door he gets so excited and goes "Ohh Helloooo Sisters!" And just loves to chat. The other day he wanted to show me some art pieces he made, but he couldn't find them and he just felt so so bad, it was too sweet. We have to leave sticky note reminders around his home telling him when we're coming back😂 and then always after we leave, he walks us right outside to our car and just sits there and waves until we drive off ( and then we usually drive by again to make sure he gets inside)

Last night. Wow oh boy, so we were having Dinner with the Bleckners and we had invited one of our investigators, last minute he canceled and said he was slammed at work. So we invited another couple. And then half way through dinner Herb shows up😂 It ended up being such a spiritual experience. Brother Bleckner is a convert, and shared a lot about his conversion story, and the whole family bore such powerful testimonies. And at the end we showed the #LIGHTtheWORLD video and were shared our testimonies as well. The spirit was so strong, I wish truly I could accurately describe it. And because of all them are struggling to actually read and pray, both sister Bromley and I felt very prompted to be bold in why it was so needed for them. So we basically had said - You aren't going to get an answer, if you don't ask the question, and you aren't going to have anything to be answered about unless you read. After we got home, they all had texted us and expressed how needed that was.

Also Remember how I told you about the family the elders gave the blessing too. Well she texted us and said she wants us to work with her sons to get baptized and she wants to start coming back to church, boom. And this is a complete 180 from what the past missionaries had seen from her, she use to not even speak to them.

I was praying for miracles this week, and we got them. I feel so honored to be here just witnessing the lords work. Our other less active Is making so much progress as well. She use to not even refer to herself as Mormon. But the other day she shared the gospel with her neighbor who just moved in! And asked us to go visit her. If you knew her, you would know this is huge. I'm so proud. I just want you to know that with my full heart I know this church is true. I wish I would have started counting the amount of doors I've knocked. I'm reminded of a quote from Elder Uctdorfs talk "fourth floor last door" In which he says "but that reward is not usually behind the first door. So we need to keep knocking. Sisters, don’t give up. Seek God with all your heart. Exercise faith. Walk in righteousness." I can take that figuratively, with my faith and journey to seek more truth of the gospel in my life. But In my case, I've been taking it quite literally. I'm seeking God myself, and seeing those who are seeking him as well, so I have to keep knocking. How cool is that. By the way! Have you watched the Christmas video! We showed a man the other day if who was fixing his car and he just started sobbing. It's truly amazing.

"as painful as it might be for our Father in Heaven, He will not force anyone to choose the path of righteousness. God did not force His own children to follow Him in the premortal world. How much less will He force us now as we journey through this mortal life? God will invite, persuade. God will reach out tirelessly with love and inspiration and encouragement. But God will never compel--that would undermine His great plan for our eternal growth." ( LOVE this quote from the talk as well) Talk to ya real soon

This week went by so fast so I'm not sure what's happened haha. Monday we visited a less active she's from New Jersey (so there is a hint at her personality) and it was her birthday and so we brought her treats. She told me she would do my eyebrows for free;) We went out with a member the other day and man she is goals. She is the bishops mom. She is amazing, she has such a strong missionary spirit and literally shares the gospel to everyone she meets. She had a rule when her kids were growing up that they were allowed to go on dates with whoever, member, non member. But they had to take missionary discussions in between each date. And they had a baptism every year her kids were at home. Also our zone was playing assassins. We drew names. And had to kill our target by touching them on the head or shoulder with the white handbook with no witnesses. Yeah I died within the first 20 minutes at 2nd harvest. These elders are so into it. It's fine I died in peace, it was too stressful. We met some random guy outside the other day waiting for an investigator to arrive and he was staring at us and we said hello, strangest thing. He grew up around Mormons but never really knew anything about us, but after he saw Mitt Romney he was curious and googled. So he proceeded to tell us basically the whole restoration while playing Pokemon go on his phone. Thursday! Ah glorious Thursday, we had zone conference. It basically was all day and it was amazing. Elder Schitzer of the seventy came and spoke to us. I could go on and on about all the amazing he said. His wife shared this I love it "You are going to be on your mission, and everyday you are going to think of Home. And then you are going to go home, and everyday for the rest of your life you are going to think of your mission." She also shared how when their son was on his mission he had a brain hemorrhage and should have died. But Two apostles gave him a blessing promising he would recover. And he did. She followed that story with such conviction of her testimony of Heavenly Father. And how now she doesn't just believe, she knows. He talked about being interested in people, really seeing them as our friends, brothers and sisters. And new ways to invite people to come unto Christ. We want them to be happy! We want them to Have joy! And we should share what we have. Also he shook my hand and said "you are off to a good start sister" and his wife hugged me and said "i want to tell you, you are so cute and you have a lot of fun ahead of you" man tears on tears. We went over to a less actives house on Saturday morning. Man I love that women. She's too sweet. She's older and single and lives alone with her two dogs and 3 sugar gliders. I wish I could just perfectly describe her to you. She has become very open with us. She's a member but just doesn't consider herself one because she sees members as being perfect and she's very insecure and doesn't see much light in herself. It's heartbreaking and frustrating because I see the world In her. So we weeded with her and planted papaya trees. And then she took us to this barbecue place called four rivers. Okay Aaron would be obsessed. It was amazing. Best pulled pork I've had ever. She literally use to be best friends with the man who invited hello kitty. And told us about all these times he would take her on amazing trips and shopping. And now she use to be married to someone in the Japanese mafia, idk. My goal for her is to get to the temple and do her family history work. She says a lot of missionaries have come and went and forgot about her. I told her that she wouldn't be getting rid of me. Haha We had a pass off lesson with the YSA elders the other day. Afterwards one of the elders who use to be In our area showed us a home we couldn't find for weeks of less actives. When we knocked on the door the dad was like "this is so weird I was wanting to call you yesterday, my wife needs a blessing." His wife is 8 months pregnant and in loads of pain. When he went upstairs to tell her we were there she goes "oh you called them?" And he goes "no they just happened to show up." (The spirit hint hint) I hope that really testified to them. That day I realized how important the Priesthood is. And how lucky I was to grow up in a home with the priesthood. That I had a father who could give me blessings. That even by being worthy to hold that power, I was blessed even then In my own home. And you can feel it, you know when it is there and when it is being honored. And I value and cherish it so much. So thank you dad:) Also two of investigators came to church! It was the primary program so we was a little louder that it normally already is, and they might of been a little over whelmed but I think they enjoyed it. Last funny story! Yesterday after dinner we were meeting up with a member we were bringing to a lesson and our investigator canceled. So we went over to her neighbors Instead. The craziest family I have ever met. Seriously the moment we knock on the door the two young daughters are just attacking and hugging me and we went right In. So this member we went with use to be Catholic and so are her neighbors. But they don't really practice. The daughters were just consuming me. Then all the sudden the mom goes and grabs all this makeup and just starts putting it all over sister Bromleys face. I was dying. I'll send you pictures. It was hilarious. Well that's if for the week. Read "Joy and spiritual survival" by Nelson. It's amazing I've been thinking a lot about joy and what it actually means. How it is different from just happy. And as we're heading into the holidays and we talk about JOY! It's significant. I love you all.

Mom, dad! Remember when we went to frozen sing a long. Well yeah I met the girl who plays Anna. She's In the YSA Ward in my building. So tell Oakley Anna from frozen is a Mormon and she's super cool. Some facts about my area. - our church building is right next to magic kingdom - We hear fireworks every night when we're trying to sleep - Shaq, Tiger woods and The rock live in my area. So basically I have authority from God to teach them. How cool. I mean if I could ever get past the 3 gates Shaq has in front of his home. - Half of it is gated community's and most are super hard to get into yay - I now hate gated community's and refuse to live in one ever The coolest thing about Florida is you never know what to expect. 99% of the people you talk to are not from here. And every time you go up and talk to someone you never know if they are going to speak English or not. And it's never a consistent language either. Funny thing, we were at dinner at a investigators home the other day and her dog kept ramming his read into the glass table because there was food above it and he thought he could get it and I lost it. I was laughing so hard (she didn't notice) i almost peed my pants. He would not give up. We've had some amazing lessons this week. Kids are amazing. They are so pure In spirit. As we grow up I realized we really tend to harden our hearts to a lot of things, one thing being the gospel. I've noticed that with some family's we've taught where the child is so open and ready to understand and you almost see adults put up a wall. It's so amazing to me that really with anyone you talk to, if they open up, they always bring up questions and concerns that the gospel ALWAYS answers. Without a doubt.

This was our Nice Sunday Dinner Outside

One of our investigators came to church yesterday! It was wonderful. Our lessons with him have been so good. He's the one with the house and all the decorations I sent. you. It was so wonderful, at church I look over and he's just taking notes on everything. The amazing thing too is so much of our ward are converts and have all these crazy conversion stories so they get it. Ah, we had a lesson this week with a less active family and their son hasn't been baptized and he breaks my heart. Because he wants it so bad. When I asked him if he would be baptized he goes "well yeah I've been waiting but it keeps not happening" and I said "are you willing to come to church if that means you can be baptized" and he goes " I don't like going to church because ya know it takes out of my weekend" 😂 he's 9. But I explained he needs to come to be baptized and he was all on board.

Exchanges with my STL sister Skousen on her birthday

I don't know if you have read Elder Uchtdorfs talk in the September addition of the Ensign but it is titled "After love, then what?" And it is amazing. It's so important to remember that truly loving god, is keeping his commandments. There is a member In my ward who is super Into family history so he's going to help me with mine. So if you have any questions or what not he's a genius. And he's now holding me to it haha Also read "the Labors In the vineyard" by elder Holland "be kind, and be grateful God is kind." Thank you so much for the package! All of it was much needed. I love the CD's. If you could send any Christmas crafty things or what not that we could make as gifts. Just supplies. Or thanksgiving, or cookie mix. We're just trying to get more clever in our service. Well sorry if this email was scatterbrained. But I hope you all have a wonderful week. I've been praying a whole lot for you. Love you so💕 Now I'm off to go fishing with the elders and sisters in our zone at a members house and have a BBQ (missionary work is awesome right?)

Planting Flowers at the Temple

I hit a good point in my mission this morning when I realized that, and then reading my scriptures realized how much I love the lord. And how I love him more than anything or anyone I've left behind. And as you know I love what I've left at home a whole lot. And I just became more excited to serve, because that it is because I love him!

What a week. Okay for the real mish this stuff. This week has been all kind of things, but mostly grand. Somedays we have been just straight up rejected all day long. And other days some people will listen, then later be like nah. And I'm like no wait come back. And some days I would literally sell a leg to take a nap. And it all of those days, I learn and grow better We found out there is a mall in our area. So we went tracting there and met some wonderful people who actually wanted to listen, mostly all out of our area. So we sent the other missionaries to them. TEAM WORK. We met one young man there. What a sweetheart. And we have been teaching him, he just has such a tender heart and is looking for direction. Yes mom my apartment is clean but it smells weird still. So if you ever wanted to send me bath and body works plug ins I wouldn't be mad. Is it cold there? That's so weird to think about. We also will be teaching Minnie and mickeys roommate. I kid you not, that's their names (huge fans). We get to plant flowers at the temple on Tuesdays and it is wonderful. And then we do service bagging food on Wednesdays.

So we are with our zone a lot. It's grand.

Now for the good news We put a couple on date yesterday! It was wonderful! They are so sweet. And really struggling. She has cancer, and is always sick. And because of that he struggles with work. So he has a lot of bitterness. We asked them to read from the Book of Mormon and pray to know that it is true. And our investigator read all of 1st Nephi in a day willingly. They want to feel closer to God. But there's a lot of things they need to work through first. First is faith. Gosh I pray my heart out for them. Every concern they have, every question, I think " yup the gospel can answer that" it's crazy. .

Well I'm learning to love this work. And this area, and the people. Our members are wonderful and I love getting closer to them

Stake conference was amazing! President Clark made all the full time missionaries stand up and then said " no all of you stand up" so I was like YEAH WERE ALL MISSIONARIES together lets do this!!! It was amazing. Last night I just ate popcorn and watched meet the Mormons with my comp and was so pleased to be where I am. Thanks for the love and support. P.s. I may get bitten all the time but I refuse to wear slacks

Can I say this has been one of the hardest weeks of my life? Would that be accurate? Yes. But that's okay. I am serving in the Orlando south mission! Lake crescent ward. Pretty wealthy area. It's very pretty, although people aren't all too humble. That's hard. We are the only missionaries in the ward. And we are whitewashing the area. So that's a challenge. There hasn't been sisters there in a while. And it's been closed for a couple of weeks to elders too. Where to begin. The first day just felt like a dream. It wasn't real. Hahaha we just ate dinner at the mission home. And got to know each other. Then the next day I went off to meet my trainer. She is amazing. Seriously. God blessed me, he knew I needed it. Sister Bromley The lord must really have some sort of trust in us to be in this area. Because there is a lot of opportunity, but it needs a lot of work. We have a car full time too. That's wonderful. Sister Bromleys bike broke, so we weren't able to ride the first couple of days. There's some members in our ward who are so kind and fixed her bike. My bike is perfect!! Thank you so much. I still feel like an absolute idiot in my helmet. Hahahaha but ya know, it must be. This week has been pretty challenging, I'm not going to lie. We have faced a lot of rejection. Seriously we had one day where just no one wanted to talk to us. They don't yell, some can just be super condescending. We are basically starting from scratch in this area. So we are trying to get the members more involved. But first the have to trust us. It's a big ward. Tons of kids. Never been in a more loud sacerment meeting in my life haha. But the ward missionaries are wonderful and they are really excited to get everything going again. We went to trunk or treat the other day and meet a lot of the members but it's going to take time. I need to get much better at remembering names. I need to get much better at a lot of things. I have a lot to work on, I pray nearly every second for strength. And I've been taking everything a minute at a time. We have one new investigator. We met him on the street and he was talking about how he is waiting for God to bring back a prophet and we were like oh boy do we got news for you. He is coming to church with us this week. We were suppose to meet with him last week, he canceled. One thing I've learned, being a missionary means to be persistent. So we are trying to find another time earlier. The weather has been great, it's not too hot thank goodness. I do miss my fall. We moved into an old elders apartment, so it needed a lot of cleansing, lots of expired food. And it's smells. Still smells. Other than that it's a nice apartment. Yesterday I believe we had a miracle. All our plans fell through. So we're trying to find this one old investigator and the address was wrong. So we looked at our maps and happened to be right next to a less active. When we knocked on the door, a lady came and seemed really angry to see us, said "we could have not come at a worse possible time." Her kids were trying to finish science projects and she was stressed out of her mind. But we calmly asked if we could help. Fully expecting her to scream at us. And It felt as if I saw the spirit literally soften her heart. She just goes "really?" And let's us in. I helped her son with his project. And then when we were leaning she just sits down and completely opens up to us about why she's not active. She just feels lost. I could feel my heart filling with love to her. I get too attached to people. I told her to promise to call us if she needs anything. And she told us to come back. So we will be checking up on her often. This is a great work. But yes, hard. In more ways that I thought it might be. It breaks my heart thinking that so many rejected our savior as he taught and reached out in our similar way. I get to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. And yet still. He experienced more pain than I could imagine. I don't know who I am going to make that difference for. I have a lot of I want to learn. I'm willing to learn it. The lord just might have to be patience with me. He already is. I love you all so much. I miss and think about you daily (unfortunately) Be missionaries on your own. I never realized how possible it is to be that daily, in our own lives, as it is here. God bless