7-26-10 "What's That on the Horizon? A Plane?"

First of all, I have to ask: did the chickens have large talons? Just wondering... Between chickens and goats and waterparks and scout camp and Blue Angels and Cassidy coming home it sounds like you all had a very busy week. That's funny; I was thinking about the Nukayas a lot this week. They were just on my mind. Maybe it's because Sister Smith and I have been listening to some Christmas music, so I've been thinking about Christmas Eve and Christmas and just general family goodness. Not that I'm not focusing on being a missionary, but I certainly always think of you every day. You're right, Mom, the time is growing closer, which means it's moving a lot faster than I ever remember it moving before. Next week I'll have interviews with President Hansen and I'll bring up the idea of when I'm going home and ask him about the ecclesiastical endorsement.

Busy is a good way to describe our week, too. We had plenty of service opportunities between helping a sister from the ward strip some wallpaper from her bathroom and doing our usual other service things. Also, we were very busy teaching and we even got to go to the temple on Friday night to do baptisms with the ward missionaries and the youth. We had a few miracles this week. We got a call from a new family in the ward, saying his brother who lives in the ward would like to start meeting with the missionaries. We are going to start teaching them tonight. Thinking about it gives me this nervous feeling in my gut, but I just shove it aside and trust that the Spirit will guide us as long as we are prepared. It's a big thing to be entrusted with someone's family when salvation is at stake, but I feel a bit like Esther lately: "Who knows but what you are come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (I paraphrased a little bit there.) Plus, yesterday, this family just walked into church, having just moved to the area, looking for a church, and the wife has had many friends growing up who were LDS. Unfortunately, they live in another ward, but we'll probably go visit them first just because they've already met us and then we can pass over the teaching a little while later. Miracles. Ron had his baptismal interview on Friday and is all set for his baptism on Saturday. That will be one of the greatest miracles to occur yet. But actually, I think my favorite thing about seeing someone join the church is when they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost because that's when you really see their countenance start changing.

Speaking of which, I loved the story about Eli. It sounds like he is learning very well to use his gift. Even from afar, his desires to be in tune with the Spirit amaze me. First he rescues Reagan Sermon, and then he says you can all fast for me. And now he is learning to discern good and bad, right and wrong. The tender whisperings of the Spirit are maybe the greatest miracle of all.
And now, just behind the Blue Angels, something very grand on the horizon. Sadly Sister Smith is being transferred, but I will be getting a new companion. I don't even know her name yet, since she is still in the MTC, but I will meet her officially on Thursday morning. We will also get a special trip to the temple. I am typically really nervous about big changes like this, but I can feel the Spirit saying that everything will be okay and not to worry about anything. It will guide me, us, every step of the way. In the meantime, I will probably be brushing up on my Spanish for the next few days, since Sister Smith is leaving for her new area tomorrow. Details next week, and pictures.

Good luck to Maegan. Keep me posted. Hi back to Jack and Jack's wife. He's married, right? Congratulations to Ryan. He'll be great. Cassidy, as your friend pool continues to shrink, remember that I'm coming home to you as quickly as I can. Very soon in fact.

Love you all!

Sister Whitney Sorensen

P.S. Please shine. I am!

7-19-10 "The Hallelujah Chorus"

Greetings family. This has been an amazing week with many tender mercies from the Lord. Mom, I loved your story about the woman with RA and great cooking skills. She is a tender mercy and a new friend, I'm sure. This week, I got my own tender mercy at the temple. We went on Tuesday at noon, and there were not very many people in the session. You can fit about 50 in the ordinance room, and there were only 6 sisters and maybe 20 brethren. I was sitting by this beautiful sister who looked like she had Tongan or Samoan ancestry. She had an especially beautiful complexion. After the session she said something to me in the dressing room, and somewhere in the midst of our brief conversation I discovered that she had served a mission in Washington D.C., and she also gave me some acne gel that has been doing wonders for my face. I'm sure you all know that I have struggled with this demon for years, and I can just never seem to entirely overcome it. In the days leading up to this temple visit, I had resolved in my mind to go in focusing on myself as a child of God and to gain strength to just stop worrying about it. To see myself, truly and entirely, as a child of God with a worth that is already infinite and cannot be made less. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing good with it, and then someone, usually an elderly person or a really young kid, will point out, totally innocently my red spots. And while I keep on a brave face and try to pretend it doesn't affect me, inside I'm hiding a lot of sorrow in my quiet heart that the eye can't see. Anyway, I was determined to find renewed strength to conquer at least those worries in my temple visit, and I know, for certain, that me meeting that sister in the temple was a way of the Lord acknowledging my concern and promising me that He will take care of it in His own way and time. So I'm not acne free or anything right now, but I now have a very tangible experience to remember when those self-esteem stealing demons come a calling. Also, I find a lot of strength in writing positive messages for myself on the mirror, like "You are beautiful!" It really helps.

Another great thing happened this week while we were visiting with a lovely member of the ward who struggles with a lot of health issues that often keep her from coming to church. She is extremely creative and talented. She is something of a muse. I have great conversations with her about great writing and writers and movies and all such culture. This week she gave me a priceless gift: a huge dictionary. It's from the 1960s, and I'm not at all certain how I'm going to get it home when the time comes, but it is fabulous. Rhonda is just one of those people who gives things away on the spur of the moment from the goodness of her heart. I want to be like her one day. Another face and heart I will never forget from my precious, privileged time in Texas. We were also over there on Saturday night watching the Pioneer day broadcast from the Tabernacle Choir. So good! I know you all would have enjoyed it. Did you get to see it?

Lately, I've been studying and applying personal revelation, especially trying to recognize the different ways the Spirit speaks to me. One of the best I can only describe as a rush of love that comes upon me suddenly. I'll be paying attention in a meeting, or bowing my head in prayer, and all of the sudden I will feel this extension of love for the people I am with. I first noticed it in a meeting full of missionaries. I recently felt it with a member family I barely knew when we were having dinner. Love truly is a spiritual gift.

Sorry I can't write more. Time calls me to other duties. I love the pictures of Cotton Candy Facial hair, but I'm not sure who they are impersonating other than probably Abraham Lincoln.

Much love,


Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS I was fine on money. I didn't end up buying very much. I just need to buy a new journal today, since I only have a few pages left in this one, my third!

7-11-10 "Remarkable Randomness"

I think this week I should start with the best news, and then just work into the usual simple but newsy information. Last Wednesday night, a man we have been teaching set a date to be baptized. We were ecstatic! He still has a few obstacles to overcome, but he should be baptized on the 31st of July. Please pray that all will go well and that he will be able to make these covenants. I was especially overjoyed to be with Sister Smith when this happened, having been one of her first companions, because this was the first time she has had an investigator set a baptism date. It was so joyful to share that moment with her and to see the happiness and light in her as this happened. Alleluia!

Okay, now into the randomness. Sister Smith has this cd called "The Best of Janice Kapp Perry." It's pretty good, and there are some nice songs on there. One of them is called "The Least of These" or something like that. We've been listening to this cd for the last month, but I only ever really heard and understood the chorus to this song. Until yesterday. When we, on the way to church, heard the opening lines very clearly and distinctly: "I see her sitting all alone/ In a white and sterile nursing home..." We could not stop laughing! We both just looked at each other, as if to question if we both heard that. We did. I assure you. We've listened to it several times since then. It made me think of back when I was first in Tomball and we would have this game of sorts with the elders, each of us trying to find a stranger song lyric than the other for our weekly drive to Waller. It was one of those moments you just really want to share with your family as soon as possible, especially when you are a part of our family which loves sharing randomness with one another.


Speaking of which, yes, Mom, I do remember all those random moments. Particularly the one when we were "checked out" on 17th street. Vividly, actually, although I probably couldn't pick the perpetrators out of a line-up. In fact, you and I truly are mother and daughter because every week when I write my family e-mail to y'all, I make a short list so I won't forget anything and then go paragraph by paragraph and fill you in on my life. Here's a few moments of randomness from my life this week. One night I quoted as much of "You've Got Mail" as I could remember for Sister Smith while we were getting ready for bed. Yesterday we made a movie of us singing "High on the Mountaintop" while driving from one appointment to another.


And here's a slightly less random event from this week. We had zone meeting this week, where all the missionaries in the zone meet for about an hour and a half to get some training and inspiration. The mission has been focusing on the principle of endure to the end this transfer, so our zone meeting was focusing on that, too. The zone leaders created this experience where each companionship went through the life of one person. There was a room where we got blessings like being baptized and being sealed in the temple, but there were also rooms representing spiritual death and repentance. It was amazing. I wish I had more time to describe it. One of the repentance activities was on the stage. There was a table with four gross/scary foods to eat, and before it was explained what we would have to do, assumed we would have to eat one of these items. I was dreading it, just glaring at it while we read the scripture associated with it. But I just braced myself and decided to hunker down and do it. I almost bit into the habanero pepper, when I was told that I wouldn't actually have to do it--we got cookies instead. That's really how repentance is, sometimes. We think it's going to be horrible, but once we take that leap of faith, it is not that bad at all.


I did get your letter full of pictures. So great. It looks like y'all had a great fourth of July. Max looks like a little man, all grown up. And I couldn't stop laughing about the sign that said "Man Sale."


As for the movie quotes, I still have no idea what number one is, but I know realize the error of my ways. Number 2 is "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl," and Sister Smith and I figured out right after we left the computers last week that number 3 is "On the Line." She loves that movie, too, by the way. What a kindred spirit we are in movies. I'll keep thinking about number one, but at this point I'm not even sure I've seen this movie.


We're going to the temple tomorrow. Yeah!


Love you all,


Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS Please Shine

PPS Did you do any checking about the ecclesiastical endorsement?


PPPS We went to a baptism on Saturday of a little boy about Eli's age and practically his twin. I'll send pictures next week when I remember to bring my camera. For just a moment it made me sad that I'd missed Eli's, but then I realized that the Lord had provided this tender mercy to let me be a part of another one.

Going Back to Houston....

I blogged about my missionary this week on my blog. It's worth the read. Just go to newfrontporchfriend.blogspot.com and start to read. Enjoy the musical accompaniment. It's just perfect for my girl in "Houston, Houston, Houston..."

7-5-10 "Lonestar Cupcakes and Hurricane Alex"

Happy birthday, America! Now you are 234 years old and looking pretty good for your age, I might say. Of course, I have absolutely no idea what is going on with the world, for the most part, but that is a big blessing, so I can't really complain. We had a fabulous fourth, complete with the cupcakes you sent, Mom. They were ultra-delicious and enjoyed by all.We have church in the late afternoon, so we spent the rest of the day with some members who live in our apartment complex. They grilled delicious burgers and made fries and potato salad. We were supposed to be in by 7:30 anyway, just to avoid dangerous drivers and over-zealous party-ers. We did get to see the fireworks, but they weren't quite as visible from our apartment as we'd originally thought. Actually, our balcony faced a little too west, and the fireworks were to the southwest, but we could see them from inside. Not Idaho Falls, but not bad.

Today hopefully we will be going to a local snow cone place that Sister Smith says is To. Die. For. So maybe I will try your coconut cream flavor, even if it does smell like suntan oil. "Lotioning and oiling and oiling and lotioning."

Speaking of oil, for the last month or so, as you've probably heard, there has been an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico related to Houston oil refining and such. Yuck! Hopefully it will be resolved soon, especially with hurricane season already upon us. In fact, not to frighten you, but we've already had one hurricane, sort of. It touched land in Mexico, pretty far south of where we are, but we still had steady rain most of Thursday and Friday. Good thing we had plenty of appointments scheduled so we didn't have to be out in it. And good thing we had a car, because the poor bike missionaries had to stay in their apartments if they couldn't get rides with members. That's enough to drive you crazy!

My tennis boyfriend is not happy. What does that mean? Did he do something unbecoming of a graceful champion? Or was he still totally humble in defeat? Look, Fed, even if you are Mr. peRFect, you can't win them all. I'm happy for Nadal, but I still wish someone who hasn't won Wimbledon yet could have come out champion. Plus, it makes me sad to hear that the final match was boring. It sounds like all the real excitement happened in that legendarily long match last week.

Grasshoppers everywhere. Just a passing comment. We have grasshoppers everywhere here. They are especially active in the early morning and early night. When we walk down to the gym every morning, sometimes I get a little excited/afraid of them, because sometimes right after I take a step, like 50 jump up from all around us. Totally freaky! I hate them. Still. Just so you know.

Did Porter get his mission call yet? Seriously, I can't recall that you ever told me he did. I just like to keep track of everyone of Cassidy's friends who are joining the full-time missionary army. I try to keep them in my prayers, especially our Elder Jardine, who I hope is doing well. I haven't had the chance to drop him a letter yet, not since he was in the MTC, but I haven't received any back either, so I'm sure he's just as busy being a good missionary and staying in touch with his family. From the pictures, it looks like Cassidy has many wonderful friends in her ward at BYU-Idaho. She has a special gift for charming everyone, and certainly going to school during summer semester and living that close to home brings its blessings by being able to share America's birthday with all your friends, even if some of them are Canadian. I guess they decided to have the fireworks on the 3rd instead of the 5th there. I was guessing that they would be happening tonight, but either way, you still have time for the Driveway of Fire tonight. I will be there in spirit, too, as long as you don't do them at 1:30 in the morning like someone was last night right outside our window. Seriously. Every ten minutes or so I would hear like 10 bottle rockets go off and what felt like the longest string of firecrakers ever. Not cool when one is trying to sleep. Anyway, nice shirt, Eli. Very styling and sporty. Nice nails, Cassidy. Very festive and patriotic.

Kiery...I was thinking about her the other day. I was thinking that she was my first unofficial missionary companion and wondering how she was doing. It's good to know she's doing okay and enjoying everything, even if life as a newlywed has its own unique challenges. I guess they've actually almost been married for two years now, if I'm doing my calculations right in my head. Crazy how time seems to move faster for other people than it does for yourself, but then again, it also pretty much flies for each of us in its own ways.

Girls' camp sounds fabulous! I would believe nothing less than that you produced the best skit imaginable, topped off by taking home the girls' camp Oscar. Way to go for not only learning but teaching the "Hoedown Throwdown" to all the girls. Maybe you were channeling your "Yellow Rose of Texas"--ME! Except I can't really take any credit for it since I haven't line-danced even once since arriving here almost one year ago. Maybe I will today, in honor of you and Sister Marlow. And of course, no girls' camp adventure would be complete without the "Peggy Dawn hook arm" story. I am glad the Dyer girls have taken up the torch on that one so the legend will live on. Even though I wasn't there with you in body, I was in spirit, as I thought repeatedly throughout the week about you being at girls' camp and having a great time. Maybe we will have the opportunity in coming summers to climb Table Rock together. If Grandma Ricks has done it, we ought to be able to do it also.

I believe that's all the news from here, but I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love, Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS We're conducting a poll. Do X's stand for hugs or kisses? Same question but about O's. Are they hugs or kisses? We're not sure, but we're curious.