To the COAST!

Well...another change come and gone...and after a life changing year in Quito, I'm heading to the coast. Well, in my terms its not the coast, because there isnt beach, but its at 1500 feet rather than 11000, so they call it the coast. I am in Santo Domingo and I LOVE IT. Its hot as heck and gonna be a nice lil challenge making the transition, but so far love what I see. It reminds me a ton of Carlsbad... skinny streets with colorful houses and tons of fruit and that coastal humility...its NIOCE. It was also a wayyyyy dope 3.5 hour bus ride into the bus terminal of SD, straight up jungle!! Saw more than 50 waterfalls during the trip and some of the densest jungle and deepest valleys I`ve seen with my own eyes. Truly was an epic ride...not even Taken 2 could take my eyes off the scenery! ;) 

From what I hear the people here in the coast are super open and cook AMAZING food. Have been sweating since I got off the bus but I AM DOWN!!

My new companion is Elder V, from Chile! I`ll be training him as he only has 5 weeks in the mission and his pops just finished, so it'll be another sweet opportunity to try to help out a new homie! I am also working as a district leader over a district of 10 missionaries and am excited to learn/try to help out the homies!! Holla at my cell # if ya want... JK! ;)

Familia came to church to visit me yesterday! Just in time...

Mi hijo, Elder B, is staying on our beloved mountain and will be training a new missionary! We were sooo shocked when we got the news but I am way stoked for him and know he`s about to learn/grow sooooo much. He`s a beast. 

Our home gym in the old sector. Starting construction tomorrow on the new one!

One of 7 new soccer jerseys

It was tough saying bye to the ward and to the amazing city of Quito. But I`m sure I will be back soon. Until then... your boy`s gonna live it up in the coast!!

Will send tons of pics and tell more about the new area when I know more!

Love you all. Say whats up to the homies for me.

ES.

Saying bye to 2 of my main homies

Mosiah 2:17

Was running late for an appointment.

´´And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.´´

Wattup Fam. It was another soliidddddd week that went way too fast. This week we had some awesome experiences and had the chance to SERVE!! We did 3 service projects and were able to help one family we are teaching dig out of a pretty tough situation. Let me tell you about it...

Well, a family we found a little over a week ago live in the house of their grandparents. And after seeing us come visit them a few times, the grandparents told them to kick us to the curb or they need to get out of the house. So....they said ´´bueno, vamanos!´´. And from Monday-Saturday built their house on the lot of land right behind their grandparents house. They worked like crazy and we were able to help them 2 times for a few hours to do some heavy lifting/roof setting and now they have their own house and are free to do what they want when they want. Talk about a leap of faith!!! Another sweet part is that their 8 year old daughter has already read all the pamphlets we have! They are great.

View from the house we helped build this week!

We also did a service project as a district for a single mom who gives us lunch on Friday and Saturday. She had a ton of work in the garden to do and after about 3 hours of hard work we were able rip down an old fence, put up a new one, and clean up the garden! I love serving people...you will find you are the happiest when you arent thinking about yourself and your needs but are focused on other people. 

Our best friends. Age is just a number.

Well...not too much more. Had another sweet Pday. Hit up some soccer as a zone and then hung out with one of my best buddies in the mish who goes home in 10 days.

Oh yeah...be ready for some dope pics next week...Elder U and I are gonna hit a #1 pinatta at our zone meeting...perfectly falls on our official 1 year mark. Ballin!

Love you all! Serve someone. You will feel good and they will be happy. What more does this world need?

Elder Sorensen

Fried fish with our homie!

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