Happy Easter!

All,

Hey. I will be quick this week. Figure you are all a little tired after a few long emails in a row... ;)

It was another great week here in Quito. This week we didn´t have any conferences or trainings, so we got to spend the week in our sector/doing divisions with other missionaries here in Quito! On Thursday we did a full day exchange with some missionaries from our zone, La Colon. I went with Elder W from Arizona and Elder J from North Carolina. They are both BIG BOYS, so it was fun roaming the streets/hills of center Quito with them. Elder J has 5 weeks in the mission, so it was fun seeing how he/ his companion are doing and improving and adapting to missionary life. It was a fun day with them and we were able to set some great goals for them and their sector! 

Aside from that, Elder F and I have just been doing our best to get our sector moving along. We currently are teaching a part member family of 5, and a great old man named C. They are both preparing to be baptized on the 9th of March, the weekend after General Conference!

Today we had a great pday, climbed a huge Rebar ball in a sweet park in the center of Quito, and then played volleyball in the church. 2 on 2...it was great and exhausting. Felt so good to sweat and run around! My spike is getting nasty...watch out Misty May. ;)

Love you all and hope you have a great Easter Sunday! I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I have felt His love and influence more so in these past 20 months than ever before in my life. I am grateful for His example, Atonement, and resurrection. Take a minute to think/read about Him...I promise you will feel His love.

Thanks for everything. You are all great.

ES

La Obra

I am running low on time, again. Nature is full off patterns. Call me a naturalist.

It was another great week here in Quito. I lied last week. I live one block from the Hilton Hotel. Anyways. This week we continued with zone conferences. On Tuesday we had one with Zona Chillogallo. It went really well. We watched a powerful video about Abraham/Isaac during the zone leaders training. Unreal amount of faith shown by both of those men. We also ate some tasty lasagna. On Wednesday we had zone conf with Zona Colón, which is the zone we actually are a part of, so that was cool. I got sung to for my birthday. And got a really cool pencil case from Hna Christensen. I like it. It was cool because Elder H is one of the zone leaders here in La Colón, so I got to watch him train. I felt like I was back in Elders Quorom at BYU, haha! That night we did divisions with him and Elder L from Colorado, another one of my favorite missionaries in the whole mission.  We only have about 2.5 hours after the conference and travel, but we had a great night! Talked with TONS of people, and taught a really solid progressing investigator, Senor Tierra. Yes, his last name is ´´earth´´. 

{Kevin is in the back row toward the left}

Thursday morning we woke up at 6:30 and took a taxi to President´s house, and then drove out to Santo Domingo. It was awesome being back in the coast. The zone conference went great, and then afterwards we did divisions with the zone leaders down there. I got to work with Elder Q, an Elder who was in my ward in Solanda over a year ago. He finishes in 2 weeks and is such a stud. It was awesome working in hot, rainy Santo Domingo again. We some some AMAZING lightning as well. I´m alive though, don´t worry! Yesterday we were able to get some office work done/get ready for the upcoming week. This week we will have the new missionaries/trainers verification on Tuesday, and then travel down south for zone conferences in Ambato Thursday, Riobamba (YES!) Friday, and the Oriente (jungle) Saturday. Hopefully we will find some time on Saturday or Sunday to write home, if not, I´m good. :)

Love you all! Oh yeah. We went on an epic hike today. Teliferico round 3, but this time to the PEAK! 

ES

Hello.

Hola.

Hey all. Hope everyone is doing great! We had another great week here in the beautiful city of Quito! I love it, I missed this massive, unique city. Gonna be weird leaving in it a few months....anyways!

This week was excellent. On Tuesday we had a big Mission Leadership Counsil, which was a big conference with all the zone leaders from the mission. Got too see all my homies from other cities. It went really well. President gave a few great trainings and we trained on ´´Living What We Teach´´. It went pretty great. On Wednesday we went to Los Chillos (a zone like 45 minutes outside of Quito) for a zone conference. It was awesome being back in Los Chillos...hadn´t been there since I was born! The conference went great. Lots of good teachings from President and some bomb food! We trained on ´´Vivir lo que enseñamos´´ again, and it went well again! It was cool seeing a few old comps and friends down in Los Chillos. On Thursday we had zone conference with the Turubamba zone, the zone I spent 8 months in. It was a great conference. It is cool because even though we have the same agenda for each conference, the Spirit always changes things up and we always get to learn new stuff from President and change our trainings according to what we feel. I got to see Elders A and U! My two best buddies in the mission. After the conference, we did divisions with the zone leaders from Turubamba. I got to go out and work a few hours with Elder U! It was awesome!!! We hadn´t worked together since the Mexico MTC...so it was way cool being with him. It was also awesome being back in my old zone...I miss South Quito. Had some major nostalgia and though back on some great times earlier on in my mission.

Due to all the conferences, we have only been able to get about 2 hours a night of work done in our zone, but wow! We are seeing serious miracles. We are teaching a lot of great people and have a family progressing towards a baptismal date on March 26th. I love this work and am learning new things every day.

A few quick Qs from momma bear...

Do you drive a car when you pick up missionaries from the airport?

-No, President Christensen always drives. And on the way home when we are with the new missionaries, we take a van or a bus that we have scheduled to pick us up, depending on the number.

Where do you live? How far away from the mission offices? Are the offices the same place as the mission home?

-I live in ´´La Colón´´ in Quito. The offices are about 4 minutes north of the Marriott, and our house is about 5 minutes north of the offices, walking. The offices are our mission home. We do almost everything here besides special dinners which we do at President´s house up in the Quito North mission about 40 minutes north of here.

How many people live with you?

-Just me and my comp. And every once and a while a companionship sleeps with us if they are in town for a special reason, but often sleep a few floors below us with the secretaries.

What do the mission office elders do, besides finance? 

-There are 3. One is for finance. One is for housing and visas and materials, and one is for baptismal records, plane tickets, paperwork, references, and other random stuff. He does what the Senior Missionaries would typically do, but we won´t have new Senior missionaries until June.

Do you still tract and teach at all?

-Of course! About 3 hours a day, from 6-9. Sometimes a lot less, and sometimes a few hours more. Def learning some good time managment skills!

Love you all!!! 

Oh yeah, also want to wish a HAPPY HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY to my biggest brother, Jeffrey Todd! Thanks for everything, dude! You have been such a huge example for all of us. Я люблю тебя, Старейшина Соренсен! Rocking your Ukrainian tie in the pic, just for you ;)

Love you all, again. Have a great week. Remember who you are. ;)

ES