God Bless AMERICA

HAPPY 6th OF JULY!!!! I would wish yall a happy 4th, but I can only email on Mondays sooo....itll have to due. I just want you all to know I love America and all the great men who helped America gain its freedom....HooRAH!

Alright...back to life down here in Ecuador.

Breakfast.

It was another solid week. To be honest...nothing too special happened, but it was a great week. We found a handful of new people to teach, got a marriage date from next week and a baptism for this week or the next for 1-3 awesome people (depending on when the parents get married). 

Elder B and I are still getting along great. This week we asked a homie from the ward to lend us his guitar, so we´ve been hitting our daily hymns during comp study with a little guitar action. (He has a Hymn Book in English....I now love singing hymns in English). Also, I've been teaching my boy how to play the guitar. Gotta teach em while they're young.

Oh yeah. The Pope is in Ecuador! Hooray! Yesterday he landed here in Quito, today he's in Guayaquil, and tomorrow back in Quito. Its actually pretty sweet because all public transportation has been FREE since Friday and until tomorrow....thanks to the Pope I have saved about 5-10 dollars this weekend! Also, a ton of teaching opportunities/questions that people have regarding our religion and the Bible and God and all that good stuff that I spend 14 hours a day talking/thinking about. NICE!

Morning view from the roof!

Oh yeah...also, got a ton of questions about some of the pics from the past few weeks....so.

All those pics on the stairs/with the random park in the mountain side are just pics from my sector. Thought I'd start taking more pics (well...having my comp take more pics cuz I never carry my camera) because I have been slacking.

The pic with the hardhat...a member in the ward is deconstructing/salvaging/selling all the parts from a gas station that blew up last year. So that pic is under ground where about 50,000 gallons of gas would usually be. One of the 10,000 gallon tanks exploded last year and...you can guess the rest. Was awesome going down there....espcially cause we found work for one of our investigators with that same member. Win win!

Well...I'm outta here. Love yalll...

Elder Sorensen

One week older and wiser too

Whattup all.

Just thought I’d drop in and holla at my favorite people in the world. (sup B..?!)

It was a solid week. Will hit a few highlights right........now.

Sweet view in the sector...stairs of DEATH!

1) Friday we had interviews with President. For the first time in a handful of years we did them in our houses...which meant Monday-Thursday we were cleaning a lil every night haha! Luckily we keep our crib way clean so we didnt have to do much....but some other houses I’ve seen, I feel bad for those elders. The interviews went great. Super short this time, seeing as Pres had to drive house to house, but still good. One thing President told me which stuck with me a lot is that ``time is one of the most scarce resources a missionary has, and if we learn to take advantage of everything minutes, time will go by faster and at the end we will feel so much better/more satisfied with the time we served``. Epic. I can agree to that, this week had a few trunky moments as I realized in less than 1 year I’ll be home....but wow, this (almost) year has FLOWN by and I am way excited to take advantage of this next year. TIME to get to work! ;)

2) Pday. I love Mondays... Hit a solid district workout in the morning and than played soccer with the district and 2 other elders...4 on 4. Gringos vs Latinos. We came out on top 10-7....BALLIN! Then we hit subway/mcdonalds ice cream and dang.... I love America.

3) The work!! The work is going well. Got a sweet reference from the church website....an awesome family!!! The mom`s mom is a member and they have 6 and 8 year old girls. They are great, and we had a sweet lesson with them Saturday, and even though they couldn’t get to church (already planned a lil vacay), we are stoked to work with them this week! Also if all goes well should have a marriage this week...and a pool party Saturday!

I love you all and hope you know that you got an Elder praying for you everyday.

Elder Sorensen

And finally, to make up for a few lazy weeks....a question from my wonderful Gma!!!

How do people perceive time or appointments within this culture?

This is kinda a funny question, time wise. Ill answer with a small story. We had a sweet ward activity on Friday night...but unfortunately it started at 830 when it was supposed to start at 730. A few investigators/less actives came....waited....and left before it even started, which was frustrating for us. So...truth is here in Ecuador (and most of South America I hear), people are pretty unpunctual. Not just in the church, but outside too. If someone says an hour....most people show up 15-45 min short....but hey, the world still turns so its all good! I love Ecuador :)

An Ode to Kent.

Okay, once again...not actually gonna write an ode, but wanted to dedicate this email (mainly) to my father, Kent R. June 20th was his bday, yesterday was fathers day, and today is his (and Carebear´s) 30th ANNIVERSARY!!!!

My dad is a beast. He has always been such a huge example for me. He is hilarious, a hard worker, creative, a God/Family first kinda guy, intelligent, athletic, and literally a perfect example of a FAMILY MAN. 

Here is a sweet video that reminds me of my dad...he has worked so hard over the past THIRTY YEARS to provide for my family. Like Katie Rose said....Í cant believe they have been married for 30 years! I cant even imagine doing anything for 30 years.....

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?lang=eng&category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013

My dad is one of my best friends and I really can say that over the past year being away from him I have appreciated him more and more every day. I havent told him this yet...but probably a dozen times he´s made his son tear up in some random bus/street in Ecuador as I read his letters every week...he always is simple/straighforward but knows EXACTLY what to say/what I need to hear.

So here´s to Kent R (and Care....love ya momma!!!). Love ya dude. Duuuuuuudeeeee. (noggin´.)

(oh yeah...the week went well, work is pressing on, and had an EPIC pday activity!!)

Elder Sorensen

Changes...!!

Hey all!!!

Just wanted to stop by and say ´´Hey´´, ´´I love you all´´, and ´´Have a great week´´!

It was another solid week. Was sick a few days but was able to fight it off...getting pretty good at that. Nonetheless the work presses on!

Changes came...staying on my mountain with my son. Ballin! Change #5 in the zone...love it! One of the best homies (Elder U) got changed into my zone...DOWN!

Love you all. Miss yall! (Well, some of you...jk! Most...)

Elder Sorensen

The mission is sick...

Haha, not the cleverest subject but I`m running out of stuff to stay! But yeah, I got sick this week. Got a gnarrrrrly 36 hour bug....fever, threw up, all the works. But luckily it hit Tuesday at like 8pm so by Thursday morning I was good to go and only spent Wednesday in bed (and bored out of my mind!)

It was a solid week. But due to the sickness it kinda slowed things down for a few days. We have still be going hard on the workouts/lifting...and the protein shakes have been tasting good as ever...haha!

Oh yeah, one cool lil thing... A random gringo showed up to church yesterday. Was a homie who served in the ward 2-3 years ago. Long story short, he goes to BYU, is living here for 2 months to learn Quichwa, anddddd I watched the Superbowl with him in his house last year. Hahahha. Such a small world. 2 of his roomates from last year and the year before are on the rugby team and 2 of my better homies, so turns out I knew the dude but didnt talk to him until we met in Ecuador. Classic.

Wow, I really don`t know what to say. I got sick. We taught people. We contacted people. We went to church and enjoyed it. We ate a lot of food. We slept. We studied. We worked out. Thats the mission for ya, the best two years!!!

Love you all, hope your week was more exciting than mine!!! 

Elder Sorensen

And lastly, a few questions for gramsy!! Sorry I didnt get to them last week!

How do people greet one another (e.g., as family, friends at home or in the street)?

First, almost all women of 12 years and up greet each other with little hugs/side kisses. Not on each side like they do in Europe, but a hug and little simultaneous right cheek kiss from both at the same time. Men, typically greet with a normal handshake. Good friends or young men usually great with a high five/fist bump kinda deal--just like we do in the States!! Almost everyone, regardless of being good friends/even knowing the person, says good morning/afternoon/evening to most people they see as they pass by in the street--like we do in the State....haha, not!

How do they react when they see strangers or people from other countries?

Depends were you are. In the center of Quito, there are always students or businessmen or gringos who live there...so no one acts strange there. In some of my sectors up in the mountains, people (mainly kids/teens, maybe cause they have never seen a gringo) stare/giggle. But after a few weeks in an area you really dont find many weird looks...also once they realize you can speak Spanish they act quite normal.