´´How can we not talk about family when family´s all we got´´

Wattup Fam. (we´re all family by now, right?)

It was a NIOCE WEEK I tell you...a nioce one. Get ready for a kinda crazy and short and epic email. Vamos.

First, B and M got married on Friday! It was a dope lil wedding inside of a big mall (thats how ppl typically get married here...in a DMV type of place...word). It was awesome. All of their families were there, and then 2 white dudes (us). It was great. They were both so happy and afterwards we went back to their house and had some bomb CUEY (Guinea Pig). It was way better than the first time I had it down here. B had her baptismal interview Friday night and is allll good/excited for THIS saturday for her baptism. Unfortunately her husband couldnt get back to back days off of work, so we waited till this week. But its all good cause...

D got baptized! Wow. It was such an awesome baptism. It was super rewarding to see him so happy before/after his baptism and to see changes in his life. I was sooo happy for him and it was overall just a huge day of good vibes after 4 long and tough weeks up here on the mountainside. 

We had Stake Conference this weekend. And it was DOPE!! We got to go to Sat night Priesthood sesh and Sunday main sesh. Got to hear from President Christensen 2 times... Elder Calderon from the Seventy 2 times... and the Temple President from Guayiquil 2 times... It was epic. The Temple President is currently serving his 5th spanish speaking mission aka the guy speaks crazy good spanish! No one knew if he was a gringo...but he was. Epic. President Jay R. Fuhriman is his name. Great guy.

Lastly, we had interviews with President on Saturday. Oh man...  It was another awesome chance to get to talk with him one on one...discuss the work...and get some awesome advice and a few questions asked. He gave me some sweet advice on prayer and adversity. And the brother of Jared. To be continued.... ;)

Love yalll!

Keep ballin.

ElderS

---

Rocking the birthday tie, thanks KK!!

Not gonna hit a subject line this week, nor a ´´Dear all/Hey/Friends and Family´´--but not because I am trying to be cool, but because I am tired and cant even think of what to say.

Reason I am tired-- Today we had an epic zone activity and went to this half size turf soccer field and played an epic 2 hours of soccer. We play soccer a lot down here...but usually only on cement courts the size of basketball courts....so today was way dope, and way tiring. It felt way good to run around and get exhausted...reminded me of the good ol days :,) Quick moment of boasting....we were down 3-6 with like 15 minutes left of our field time...and I demanded to stop playing goalie (in a nice, missionary way), and went down and had 3 straight goals. Felt pretty good, then realized I was playing soccer and wasnt quite as stoked...but still felt good. Haha. We play to win, but hey, I´ll take the tie.

Hmm, what else. I feel great!! I have felt a lot better health wise almost all week since Tuesday. Saturday I felt pretty sick again, but it was just God teasing me. Sunday I woke up and felt good again, and currently feel nioooooce!

 Birthday of a lil hommie. Ecuadorian tradition-´´que muerdas el pastel!´´

I gave a talk yesterday. Gave the same talk I did a few months ago in my last ward, on missionary work and how members can more easily/comfortably share the gospel. Thanks again, Jeff ;)

The work is going great. After the first few slow weeks, the work is really picking up here on our mountain. We will hopefully have 2 baptisms this Saturday (one is for sure, the other should be for sure as long as everything goes well with the WEDDING on Friday!!) We are really excited, and are gonna do all we can to help out both D and B so that they can feel PUMPED and ready to enter into the waters of baptism this Saturday...and then never look back! Its awesome seeing people make changes and even more awesome being able to help them start a new life and get rid of ANY/ALL guilt/sorrow/regrets they might have from their past. Really have seen tons of miracles out here...If God made the world in 6 days...he can do whatever we ask of him if we have the faith and do our part. 

Well, other than that, the work is going good. We have a sweet pool of about 8 other people we are teaching, a few who have come to church once and the rest who we need to help learn more and gain a little more faith! 

This Saturday we have interviews with President....stoked!! Cant wait to talk with him again and hit him with some gnarly questions....the dude knows everything!!

Oh yeah...also played a lil game of Ultimate Frisbee after soccer today...thanks Manny ;)

Love you all, keep on keeping on and know that Elder Sorensen thinks of you oft. (is oft a word?)

Until next time.

Elder Sorensen

(how I am starting to feel about our sector/the people we are teaching...GREAT IS MY JOY!)

Alma7:17 

And now my beloved brethren, do you believe these things? Behold, I say unto you, yea, I know that ye believe them; and the way that I know that ye believe them is by the manifestation of the Spirit which is in me. And now because your faith is strong concerning that, yea, concerning the things which I have spoken, great is my joy.

Ecuadorian dinner brought to you by 2 Americans (popcorn, pbJs, Coke)

Hey.

Hey all.

 

Sadly...Elder Sorensen didnt actually get over that sickness...Still rocking a gnarly cold and coming up on the 3 week sick mark...

 

BUT, all is well. We had a great week of work, and all 3 of the main people we are teaching made it to church yesterday. B and D have a baptismal date for the 25th of April, and M for the 2nd of May. All 3 of them have family members who are members--which will make the fellowshiping for them a lot easier/more effective. They are all great...and Ill tell more about them when I dont feel soo tired/sick.

 

La Casa

 

Had an excellent split on Thursday with and Elder from Las Vegas... He has about 20 months and was All State for football before the mish...so we talked a ton about his plans after wards...I gave him all the advice I could. Football, family, girlfriend--pick 2. Haha! It was great though, we had a way good day of work and really enjoyed talking sports/real life stuff (and about church and all that too!!)

 

Aite, Im out. Gonna go hit a few lessons and then get to bed early. Tomorrow I start waking up 15 minutes early to get better workouts in and also am gonna start eating tons of fruit/water to KILL THIS SICKNESS.

 

Love yall. A lot.

Elder Sorensen

#CaliReppin

Carebear/Easter/Conference/sickkkkkk

Hey all. It was a packed week. Get ready....

Bball hoop in our sector...HAHA

First, HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM CAROL! She is the best mom I have ever had, and after talking to all 3 of my siblings for many years...they say she is the best mom they have ever had either. Conclusion-she is the best mom ever. 

Even her students love her! She asked one of her first graders how old he thought she was. He thought for a minute than solemnly replied, "1000." Hahaha classic!!

I wont be able to knock of 1000 things I love about my mom like Katie Sorinsin would....but here are a few.

She is the perfect match for Kent R.

She is CareBear to almost all of my friends.

She has a great smile.

She got my and my siblings out of Utah before most of us were born, and then got us all out of Detroit before any of us were dead.

She is really really funny (even though she usually doesnt try)

She loves naps.

She is ALWAYS down for Chipotle.

She loves sports.

She is 6 feet tall, and married a 6 foot 4 inch Kent, which has blessed us all with largeness.

She writes me every week, even if its a one liner at 1AM on Sunday Night ;)

Without her, I wouldnt be here in Ecuador serving a mission.

Without her, I wouldnt be alive.

Next, HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! Christ lives.

Next, Conference. EPIC, no? I was way sick and had to watch it all in spanish this time...but nonetheless it was dang good! Got a ton out of it and am excited to reread all the talks to get even more!

Shoutout to the awesome announcement of three new temples!!! Bangkok, Thailand; Port Au Prince, Haiti; and the Ivory Coast...can you say ´´every nation, kindred, tongue, and people´´...?!

Two of my favorite talks from this weekend...
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154894233001&cid=4

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4153623163001&cid=10

Elder Pearson and Renlund...Pearson is the next JRH and Renlund just a great classic man, with a SWEET Mandela intro. And then an awesome firm reminder about the whole Latter Day Sinners/Quitters/Hypocrites. BAM!

Well, all is well down here, the sickness only lasted 2 days and thanks to like 1000 bottles of water and some Ritz crackers iSurvived.

Love yall! Dont forget it.

Elder Sorensen

Misty Mountain

Hey all...

Had a sweet zone activity so gonna be short today.

Week one up here was epic. Our sector is basically Mt Everest and it rained like crazy and is DANG COLD but all is well!! We found 2 new GREAT people to teach and are marrying a couple next Monday so that the dude can baptize his (almost) wife next Saturday! We are excited and going hard. My comp is way stoked to be working hard...his last comp had like 22 months so they got a lil lazy but now we are going extra hard to turn things around! 

Me and my new companion get along great! I missed Americans!!! We talk about sports and video games and movies and things that I havent talked about for like 5 months....so when we go out hitting the streets to contact it´s always easy to get our spirits back up after a rejection.

Shout out to the fam for going hard in Florida this week. Six theme parks in four days....I had 6 lessons in 1 day, basically more fun than Florida, right?

Had an sweet zone activity today full of soccer and basketball, and then tossed the football around with a new buddy from Vegas who was All State in HS...felt good talking/balling with a beast again!

All is welll...loving it and getting some Brian Sorinsin legs up here on this mountain. Remember everyone...WATCH CONFERENCE THIS WEEK! lds.org/conference

Views from my new sector at night. I'll take more pics this week...promise!

Shout out to Gramsy for the questions...love ya!

What is the name of the town/area you’re serving in, so we can look it up on a map?

If you search in google maps these two areas...thats more or less my area.

Argelia Alta, Quito, Pichincha and Oriente Quiteno, Quito, Pichincha

Is it difficult finding a computer with internet connection in your new area?

Nope, right below our house is one of the 2 internet places in our whole sector! We are blessed, haha!

Describe your new apartment or living quarters.

Its about 3 times as big as my last one. A nice big kitchen, 3 bed rooms (one for the beds, and one for each of us to put our clothes/stuff in), and a nice big main room with our desk and table and things like that. Its super new too...again, blessed!

How many ward members at Sacrament meeting on average?

I think about 180. The chapel is 3 stories high and about 6 months old. This week only 135 came though because of a FAT rain storm....dang.

Where will you watch General Conference next weekend?

We will head down to the Stake Center down near my old sector. The chapel here is gonna be showing it, but we are gonna go down to the Stake Center to meet up with other missionaries so we can have a Gringo room! English baby!

How are your legs feeling after climbing all those mountains this week?

Niooooce. Days 1 and 2 rocked me....but now I’m getting a little used to it. Havent really worked out once since getting here cause every morning I am destroyed...but this week shouldnt be as hard! We went on a run Wednesday to go meet up with other elders....that was the worst experience of my life...hahaha sooo high up here to be running!

Love you all! Take care!!

Elder Sorensen