Sister Sorensen Orlando Florida Mission

Our wonderful investigator was baptized and confirmed this week! Ah, what a wonderful world. I stood by the baptismal font holding her towel with teared filled eyes. It was an amazing opportunity to be able to speak at her baptism with Sister Bromley. And then watching her be confirmed a member of the church, she was glowing. I felt like such a nerd being like "Your glowing!" Trust me on this one you can tell when someone has the spirit.

The night before her baptism we took her some dinner and ate outside our clubhouse.

So in other news, last week we were knocking doors and we found "D". I love "D". He lives with his partner now. His husband's name in A. They made us a thanksgiving dinner last night. "D" used to be a very active member of the church, he came for the first time yesterday in years! He said he has just been feeling prompted to go back to church and the day we knocked on his door he was like "yup it's a sign" haha Also we found another lady this week. She came to church as well. When we knocked on her door she said. "Oh my dads a bishop in your church!" And then she invited us back and offered to feed us. She said next week she is going to try and bring her husband as well. She's the nicest lady with the purest southern accent. She leans over to me at church and goes "I had my mom send me a bunch of recipes to feed y'all" I guess she grew up half in the Mormon church and half in the baptist church. And lately she attends a Catholic Church with her husband. We set "C" on date for baptism for April 8th! We have a hard time seeing her because she works nights at McDonald's and takes care of her girls in the day. The cutest girls you'll ever see. Ages 5,4,3 yup.
I love my people okay! I LOVE THEM!

This week was really much needed for me. I know I still have so much to improve on, but I think I can admit that I was holding myself back from loving the people like I should. Because when I love people it kind of takes over my whole heart so it hurts to leave them, it hurts to see people in the situations I've seen them i, it hurts when you do love people so much and they disappoint you, or you see them make decisions that you know won't make them happy. But if I don't let myself love them then I can't feel what God wants me to feel. I can't show to others what he wants me to show. And I love Heavenly Father, if I love him I will show his children I love them. It's an amazing thing to just look at people on the street and think of how much our father loves them. And sometimes I'm like "well what am I doing then?" Most people I've talked to already know that. But do they?! He has offered us more. So so much more. More love, more knowledge. And that's what we have to offer! It is not only more love but essential love! The restored gospel is essential.

And also we had Zone conference this week with four of the other zones. Sister McCullough and I had to do a role play in front of everyone. Also, our stake president came and spoke and called out the "Lake Crescent Sisters"(that was us) in his talk and thanked us for hammering down on the Ward to be reverent hahaha. On the way home from Zone conference I took a wrong turn and got lost in the Disney parks for about 30 minutes. It probably wasn't the happiest place on earth for me at that moment haha.

"It's a great day to save spiritual lives." Thanks Mcdreamy.

I love being a missionary. It makes me want to be better and work harder Every. Single. Day....at something that matters. :)

I'm like the paper girl of the Book of Mormon... right?!

Note from blogger: Some names we have just used an initial to protect privacy.

Sister Bromley's parents were in town and visited my Ward for church, Ah! It was so so good to meet them and I'm so thankful for Sister Bromley and her family and I know the life long friendship we will have.

Fresh out of everything folks. Money, miles, maybe even a little fresh out of my mind (just kidding, sorta) Man I'll be honest, this has probably been one of the longest weeks thus far. We lost our car, then we got on car share, then we got to keep the car just to find out we have no miles left, and it's conveniently been very cold in Florida for biking haha. I refuse to complain about the cold weather though, seeing as in a few short months I'll be sweating more than I ever have in my life.

I've learned many lessons this week. One of the many is to love people irregardless of how frustrating they can be. (Not talking about my companion, she's a gem) but people were teaching. It's hard not to just get so frustrated. In any situation, when they aren't listening, when they won't read the Book of Mormon but will search the darkest parts of the internet, or when all they want to talk about is anti. It's hard!

I'm still learning to let it go. You can't make people be what you want them to be, you just have to love them for what they are. Even if what they are is.. difficult to love sometimes haha. Christ loved a lot of people who weren't easy to love. People aren't always meant to be easy to love. Maybe that's why it has to be a commandment to do it haha. Kidding. I do love this area so much, I love the people. But I'm sure it's even the smallest bit like having a child that makes poor decisions. Frustrated and full of love.

GOOD NEWS!🎉

Working on splits

The wife of couple we are teaching had her interview this week! And she's getting baptized on Saturday! We're so excited. I'm so excited! Shes amazing! I love her! And she's about done with the Book of Mormon. The other day we watched some Mormon messages with her on the couch, and I just was over whelmed with how much love and potential she has. She is a rockstar. I think one of the most amazing things we have seen is that we have brought her purpose. After having cancer for the third time and staying home all day every day in bed life can seem pretty dull.

This is when we were watching Mormon messages that night. Bella just chillin on my lap.

I'm a firm believer God is purposeful in every bit of where we are suppose to be and who we are suppose to meet. Not just on a mission, but in life. I know I was meant to go to Orlando, be in Lake Crescent,and start my mission here. To meet these people I've taught. These members who have taught me so much. Oh man I already don't know how I will leave some of them. I've had so many righteous examples. I often think of my leaders from church at home as well. The teachers and the leaders of the church matter so much, they make such a difference. Mine have! I remember them. I remember their impact and their testimonies. And I just think how important it is to realize you WILL be remembered for something. And the best thing we can be remembered by is something like Christ, even a little bit like the Savior:)

Let's see if we can count how many picture I have with a face mask on my whole mission haha

I had to say goodbye to Sister Bromley this week. Honestly, that sucked. Ah I do miss her very much. It was like saying goodbye to another best friend. No fun. It's okay we've already planned to back pack Europe and about a million other trips after our missions though.

Anddddd I picked up Sister McCullough on Tuesday!! She's wonderful! I got lucky again so that's nice. We've had a pretty successful week! Her first day here I planned a lot of solid appointments, maybe a little over whelming but it was a good way to start. Also Her first day here the guy that lives below us comes knocking at our door. Which was strange, he's never done that before. And he's like "do you want to go to the movies with me?" 😂 so we said "no we can't go to the movies" and he was so confused. But I told him he could come to church with us instead and he finally agreed... he didn't come of course. But hey some day.

(Greenie Breakfast :) )

We saw him last night when we were running in from a rain storm. And I just yelled "Hey you liar you didn't come to church!" And he's like "iiiii knowwwww" Everyday we see him "off again girls?" "Byeeeee girlllls" hahaha I can't describe the way he says it but it's so funny. Makes my day. Also we lost our car hahah. So we will be biking for sure every other week now, and sharing with another set of sisters. I'm fine with it. I figure if gods gonna make me bike, he will make sure I meet more people he wants me to meet that way.

Two of our investigators are on date to be baptized. The wife of the couple we've been teaching for February 4th. The man we took the temple last week for March 4th. Satan is a real bratt, the closer you get to something good, the more he works on you. It's easy to forget that when god knows your ready for something and sees the potential in you, that Satan knows it too. So when you feel real bad about yourself just think "oh I only feel this way cause Satan knows how great I am and he hates it." So It's been really important for us to visit the wife frequently getting closer to her baptism. But I know she's ready. Even yesterday she was inviting people at church to her baptism. The husband is just moving slower, a lot of the problem is that we haven't been able to see them. And their finical situation is brutal. They were literally completely out of food this week. So we bagged up all the bulk food members have given to us and the frozen meat and gave it to them.

Also the one we passed off to YSA is getting baptized on the 11th! And so sweet, he texted the elders and asked if they would please make sure Sister Bromley and I were there:) Some good ol' miracles: -We had a lesson with this one less active member who isn't on the records and invited him to come to church. When we texted him he never responded. But then he showed up! -A lady in our Ward was at Ross looking for picture frames and she met this kid, and she ended up talking to him for 2 hours and gave him our number. He called us and went to mutual and he came to church yesterday. And we met him and taught him a lesson and he's super interested in knowing more. It's super cool too because he's in high school and going through a rough time and I think well okay that I definitely know we have the answers for you, because I've been there.

Also we finally saw one of our investigators this week and she was so grateful we stopped by. She has been super busy with nursing school, but we set an appointment for next week. And she asked us to send her specific scriptures so she could read and she really wants to come to church next week as well. So I'm really excited for that.

Oh and we stopped by these former investigators house the other day. They were this sweet couple from New York. They weren't really interested because they aren't into organized religion. But he was a painter, and he showed me all his paintings and then gave one to me! It had mountains and trees and reminded me so much of home so I nearly cried looking at it. I will have to send it home.

We had an amazing first lesson the other day with this guy we met a few weeks back. Apparently he already had a Book of Mormon. But he was interested in learning more. We had to teach him even what the Holy Ghost was because that concept was completely foreign to him. I think he's the third Muslim I've taught actually. It was a goood weeeek my friends, looking forward to more Love you

Okay so some sad news first. I'm officially done with training so Sister Bromley is getting transferred... yeah I know. She's goes to the straight ghetto I'm pretty sure (kinda jealous) hahaha literally everyone who asks where she's going goes "oh yeah don't drink the water there"

So that means I'm getting a new companion!.....Anddddddd I am training! So thats pretty scary/exciting. I still feel like I don't even know much. But I made a promise to God I would do my best to do his will. So If he thinks I can do it, I'll do it! Our investigator (the wife of the couple we've been teaching) is preparing to be baptized at the end of the month! We will be finishing up her lessons this week. And getting her prepared to be able to go to the temple and get baptized for family names as well. We Had FHE with this sweet family in the Ward this week. They are from Puerto Rico. They are the most Christ like family and truly are an inspiration to me.

We also had a pass off lesson this week with one of our investigators to YSA. Ah it was bitter sweet. He's so ready for the gospel. It's truly amazing just to watch. Still he comes with his notebook and his highlighted scriptures and just takes everything in. That pass off lesson was hilarious though, his neighbor was going crazy with a leaf blower so we were all yelling the whole time haha. He came to church yesterday too and he LOVED it. The elders even lost him because he was off making friends. His family is very friendly and so sweet, but didn't show any interest in hearing about the gospel. I'm sure he will make all the difference though.

We had a lesson with another investigator (who we also need to pass off to YSA:( He came with a lot of questions. He's a sweet kid. He goes "okay so you know how the Book of Mormon says I need to read it and ponder it?" And we're like "yeah?" And he proceeds to tell us how he made this hut in the woods to go read the scriptures and pray about it like Joseph Smith. So sweet. He's hard to meet with though because his family are really strong in the baptist church.

We've seen a couple of people this week whom not totally sure if they are interested in converting but more just learning. Eh I figure the spirit testifies of truth either way, truth is truth. If they aren't willing to make efforts to know it's true after a while, that's different. But everyone deserves a chance to hear it.

We had this cute young couple move into our Ward. They haven't been active since they were married. But the wife is way into art so we had a lot to talk about. I'm really excited to get to know them more. we might be soul sisters. Also! We went on another temple tour this week with an investigator. It went really well, he really enjoyed it. He came to church to say goodbye to sister Bromley as well.

I'm excited to do a lot of finding this next week with my new companion. I'm picking her up on Tuesday so that will be fun! A member gave me a cute idea to get green food coloring and make her a "Greenie breakfast" so if you have any other cute ideas to do for her, please let me know. I have just been thinking a whole lot about Jacob this week. What an amazing chapter in the Book of Mormon. So simple and short. He is a perfect example of doing the lords will and having faith in the lords strength. He knows that god can do anything and will do it through him, if that be his will. I want to be like Jacob. Not here to impress anyone but to please God.

Love you all

(And yes I still carry a blanket around with me everywhere)

Well it was another freezing week in sunny Florida. Haha, the past couple of days have gone down into the 40's so it's not the Florida I'm getting use to. Or the Florida I packed for..oops. That one pair of tights is doing me good

. We were able to go on a temple tour with our couple this week! It was really neat, we walked around the grounds and they were both amazed at the beauty. The Wife has gone 4 days without Coffee, I feel like a very proud mom! After that we went and out to dinner with them and the Sampsons, I tried to make the husband try fry sauce but he claims "mayonnaise is a sin" He is such a butt sometimes. Here's just a couple of funny things I can remember him saying this week: "These khakis make me look fat" "I'm really truly disappointed these flowers are fake" "3 hours of church is an abomination" "don't ever talk to me about bologna" The man sent a burger back because it was touching his wife's burger.. that had mayo on it. I love him but he's crazy.

We had another lesson with a young guy who we are passing off to YSA next week, he's still solid. He loved every minute of everything we taught, he cried just thinking about the plan of salvation. Sister Preece came with us, and after she dropped us off she taught us how to really study the scriptures, it was like a mini general conference, the spirit was so strong that we were all almost in tears. And I was so thankful for everything she taught me because I know that god needed me to hear it. It's amazing to think that God knew I was suppose to go to Orlando, not only to meet these people, but this mission president, this companion, and even these members, because I truly believe she was meant to teach me something that I needed to know.

We finally had a lesson with this sweet single mom whose kids always want us to hold them (so painful not to) we have run into her on many random occasions, and she told us that every time she saw us she felt like god was telling her she needed to talk to us and that there was a reason we were there.. I told her god wanted us to find her to give her the right direction because he knew she was ready for it and she began to sob. He watches out for us so individually, and I could feel the love he had for her. We also went and visited the Brazilian lady who had us over for Christmas Eve, she still isn't very interested. But she started asking us what the difference was in what she believed and what we believed and that led into a really good discussion, ending with her committing to read a passage in the Book of Mormon and pray about it. She has such strong faith already, she looks to god in everything she does. I know the the knowledge of the restored gospel would be everything to her if she would open up to the chance of hearing it, and experimenting on it.

This week was challenging! A lot of very special moments but a lot of rather difficult ones as well. I'm learning to just draw a line through all the experiences, and know that what goes down must come back up. That God is completely aware of me and my needs. The other day I got home and just felt very drained. So I felt prompted to read the September issue of the Ensign in 1997 (my birthday) The first article was exactly what I needed to hear and I knew god was aware of me, I knew in that moment that he knew what I was feeling, and he was showing me he knew and he cared.

And just being reminded that he was aware of me was enough. This gospel requires a lot of faith and trust, but it also promises greater blessing than imaginable, blessings that nothing else in this world can offer.

I'm grateful to know the truth. Because even if no one believes it, it will still always be true. "Only God can count the sacrifice; only God can measure the sorrow; only God can know the hearts of those who serve Him--then and now." Love you:)

Hair dying party on PDAY

Hapy Niw Yerr (Sorry I'm still learning the language) Well I finally saw an alligator haha, took me long enough. It was very anti climatic but I still freaked out. We were just biking and there it was.

The couple we're teaching came with us to a baptism in the YSA Ward last night! It was really good for them to see something that they could apply themselves too. They are progressing, just at their own pace. And they really enjoyed the baptism the only thing the wife said is she isn't "psyched on the whole jumpsuit thing"

haha

Heavenly Father is certainly teaching me patience and long suffering. I had often looked at situations and thought well if this isn't changing.. or if this person isn't getting it than it's something I'm not doing right or not getting. But it hit me that sometimes it's not that at all, people have glorious agency. The chance to choose.

So i can love and teach and provide but I can't force. And my thank goodness I don't have to persuade, because I am not good at that anyway. We went out to lunch last Friday with Sister Brady for her birthday and a member in her Ward took us, she reads people.. really though she puts her hand on yours and then tries to figure you out. Haha it was very interesting, she is such a sweet lady I loved her. And she was pretty accurate too, In somethings crazy accurate.

For New Years we were in early so nothing to exciting, sister Bromley said it was super loud at midnight but I was out like a light so I didn't hear anything.

We had dinner the other day with a recent convert and his wife. They are my age but such a sweet couple. They just did baptisms for the dead for the first time so it was really cool being able to talk to them about it. I've been getting into family history and exploring the family tree app a lot more so I was teaching them about it. His family are all not members and so it was really cool being able to tell him that he can do the work for his family after they pass on, because he thought that they would just never see each other again. So it was a really spiritual experience to be able to share that with someone.

I listened to my great-great grandmother Emma Pearl Bells testimony on family search and was so amazed! It was so wonderful to hear her voice and to listen to her talk about the gospel. I felt prompted to pray and give thanks for my ancestors and that I am able to have the ability to hear her testimony.

Okay the Book of Mormon is awesome (I'm going to pretend I fully knew that before my mission) but I was just thinking about how it was brought forth for the latter days, and if it is meant for our day, shouldn't we read it with the question of how does it apply to me? Or how can I learn from this? Or why was it said this way? It was meant for us! How cool, not even the Bible can say it was just meant for us at this time. We search and search for answers but god not only provided a way, it was carefully planned and foreordained this way. I read a talk by Elder Eyring the other day called "Rise to your call"

And I just wanted to share something I really enjoyed from it "If I only think of my own performance, my sadness deepens. But when I remember that the Lord promised that His power would go with me, I begin to look for evidence of what He has done in the lives of the people I am to serve. I pray to see with spiritual eyes the effects of His power." This was really important to me to realize that I have a calling under the lords power, I am a servant of HIS will and HIS timing. And I am grateful for whatever he needs to me to do. Love you all, have a wonderful week.