8-30-10 "The First Vision...at 15 mph"

Hello family. It sounds like everything is going well in good old Idaho. I cannot believe that Eli is already a third-grader. He looks so grown-up. I especially love the Converse. That's my brother, all right. Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez would also be proud. It's hard to belive that he's already that old, especially when I think back on a year ago, going "by the time Eli is in third grade, I'll almost be home. By the time Cassidy is a sophomore in college, I'll almost be home." Speaking of which, I'm not sure if December 1 is the exact day anymore, but I have been assured by President Hansen that I will be home before Christmas. As far as what needs to be done to get school set up, I will obviously have to be registered for classes. I should have everything all planned out already on my BYU account. I'll obviously need a place to live. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Good to know that the Colonial theater is still thriving. Speaking of which, Sister Layton and I were looking through my pictures and she actually knows the person who played Daddy Warbucks in "Annie." And someone named Carrie Darrington, which sounds very familiar to me, but I can't remember why, but it seems like Mom and Cassidy are the ones who know her. Plus, when we arrived at zone conference on Wednesday morning, Sister Layton was saying something about a song she likes about the stripling warriors, but I was concentrating on driving so I wasn't totally listening. But it registered in at least some part of my head, and so I said, "Who was that?" And she said, "My seminary teacher wrote a song about the stripling warriors." "Brother Kunz?" "Yeah." "He's my neighbor." So, yes, Brother Kunz, your fame has preceded you. She also wondered if you couldn't send the CD to us for our listening pleasure.

Zone Conference: Elder Kikuchi is amazing. It was such a blessing to have his wisdom with us. The predominant impression I got from him is that he is constantly in perfect tune with the Spirit. Not easy to do, and it requires you to go a a bit of a slower pace, but doing so leaves more room for others to learn by the Spirit. He shook everyone's hand, and I actually got to play the opening hymn. How often does one get to play the piano with a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy listening? He taught us that "tithing for the missionaries is obedience." You have to pay 100% of your tithing to be qualified for a temple recommend, so you have to follow 100% of the rules to be fully qualified for the Spirit. And you had to know he knew what he was talking about, that his testimony of that principle is true, because you cannot deny that he is living it and reaping the benefits. He also taught us to be very simple with our tracting approach, just asking people if we can ask them a few questions and asking about Heavenly Father and His plan for us. "You don't want to argue on the doorstep." True. We've already been using it a little bit, and so far we get some of the same reactions but at least now I'm not doubting myself, wondering if I'm tracting wrong or not listening closely enough to the Spirit that everyone lets us in. The final thing he taught us was about how to teach the First Vision. You have to go very slow. 15 miles an hour. Any slower, and it just gets lost and people don't realize what you've said. He first had some elders do a teaching demonstration, and then he critiqued them, but very nicely. And then he had Sister Layton and I do it. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my mission. As Sister Layton was telling the account from Joseph Smith history, I could feel the Spirit welling up inside of me so deeply. I knew in that moment that my efforts as a missionary were pleasing to the Lord, and those feelings were only confirmed when, after our demonstration was concluded, Elder Kikuchi looked at me and said, "I could feel your testimony even while you were not speaking." I knew that he was perfectly in tune with the Spirit of the Lord; I knew that he could not lie; and I knew I was a good missionary. It was a very good feeling.

We had something of a crazy Friday. Elder Kikuchi was still in town, and on Friday night we got a call from the zone leaders that he and President Hansen had received revelation that the Katy zone could have two baptisms on Saturday--unplanned baptisms--if we would start fasting and praying and then go out on Friday and teach our investigators the First Vision the way we had learned in zone conference and commit them to be baptized the next day. Well, in the end, we did have one baptism of an investigator that had been vacilating about her baptism for a long time, but it still put us out there and made us challenge investigators that we hadn't been challenging as much as we should have and it led us to get appointments with former investigators that hadn't met with missionaries in a while. Crazy.

Anyway, that's the news from Katy. Happy everything!

Love,

Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS Please shine!

PPS I have a bit of a cold, so I hope this all makes sense. My head is kind of stuffy.

8-23-10 "Sometimes the Subject Line is the Hardest Part"

Really. Sometimes it is. I have a hard time deciding on something that sounds both clever and relevant, and sometimes it just doesn't come to me. Usually it's on the weeks when I feel like I don't have much to report, so I can't come up with a trend to make the title or anything. Oh well.

First things first. I went to the doctor this morning, finally. I just hadn't gotten around to making an appointment. His name is Dr. Ahmed and he was very nice and professional. I will be seeing him again at the end of November. He suggested that I start lowering the doses of some of my medications gradually, just to keep myself from experiencing too many side effects or long-term damage. I agreed because he says that once the RA is in remission you do not need to be on such large doses. He is doing it very slowly, but I will keep a good eye on it and watch for any adverse effects. The bill from his office was about $100, but the total was closer to $200, so they might be sending another bill after it gets submitted to the insurance. I also had to go to a lab to get my blood drawn. I called Dr. Khalaf's office to have them fax the records to my new doctor and the secretary didn't say anything about outstanding bills. I haven't been to his office since April, so I don't think there is anything to worry about there.

We are going to have zone conference this week, and Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi of the Seventy is coming. He has been a member of the Seventy forever! Hopefully Elder Braeden Sorensen won't be jealous. I am fairly certain Elder Kikuchi is from Tokyo because I found an article about Japan in an old Ensign about how Elder Kikuchi was in the first stake presidency in Japan which was created in Tokyo. Actually, we also met a lady yesterday from Japan while we were tracting. She was very nice, but her husband who is another Christian denomination tells her not to accept anything from people who come knocking on the door, but she had many Mormon friends. It even sounded like she'd investigated for a while but her Buddhist parents didn't want her to join or something. Oh well. She lives down the street from the Relief Society president, so only time will tell.

We did make it to the temple on Tuesday. It was a very peaceful session. And as far as decision-making goes, I have decided to come home in December. If I've calculated it correctly, I will be departing Houston on December 1. Wow! That sounds really close. I'm getting kind of excited, but I am determined to stay focused. We were at the home of the assistant ward mission leader last night and he said that when you get released they just say, "Okay. You're released. You can take your name tag off now." It was weird to think about it. So I've decided not to. But, "I'll be home for Christmas, you can plan on me!" I

In the meantime, study hard all you people heading back to school. School starts here today, and the first football game is supposed to be on Friday. Here, high school football is everything. Life basically revolves around it for three to four months.

Today we are having a p-day party, just us girls. We'll be making red velvet cupcakes and just lounging around. Thanks for the pics of the day at Ross park. Cassidy: you look like Grace Kelly, girl. Seriously. Go get 'em. And Dad: is that your muscle man face? Very smooth. Eli: more handsome everytime I see you. But I do not know where the Seaworld Tycoon game is. Possibly in my computer, but if it's not there, I'm not sure. I will keep Grandma Ricks in my prayers, but I know that whatever happens, it will be the Lord's will.

Much love,

Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS Please shine!

8-16-10 "Some of My Favorite David's"

Today's e-mail will mostly be about yesterday because it was just a plain good day. So let's begin at the beginning. Before stake conference, Elder Bednar asked to have a special session with just recent converts and current investigators, but missionaries were invited to attend as well. That was a blessing because we weren't invited to the Saturday night session and we would have to watch the general session in our own chapel, not the building where Elder Bednar was. Not that being in the same building matters, and I know I have been overly blessed in my life to be in the presence of apostles much more than most people, but still, we were excited. During that session, Elder Bednar first addressed the recent converts. He asked them to stand up and asked a few of them how they came into contact with the church. One woman had been a cruise ship performer and some of her fellow performers were members. A young man standing right behind us had been studying at a theological school for years, but eventually could not deny that he had found more truth. Amazing to think that someone could accept the restored gospel even after having studied theology. He then spoke a little bit to the investigators. He was teaching them the first lesson, about Christ setting up a church and the great Apostasy or falling away and the need for a Restoration. It was amazing to hear him teach that, especially to people that I know personally and desire to come unto Christ, but even as he was saying it, I had the thought come to me, "He doesn't teach it that much different from the way you teach it. You both teach it the same way." It made me think of a story President Packer tells about when he was called to be an apostle and they asked him to bear his testimony. He said he bore it the same way he would in sacrament meeting, but they seemed to be satisfied with it, so being an apostle doesn't take anything different from being a regular member of the church. As a missionary, I teach the first lesson much the same way an apostle would. I hope that doesn't sound disrespectful or sacreligious. Anyway, he did a few more things like asking new members what words were confusing to them: "Sunbeam," "ward," "stake," and even told a few stories about how some new members had confused the Aaronic priesthood with the "ironic" priesthood and temple officiators with "fish eaters." His basic point was that old time members are terrible at helping with this and new members are bad at asking for help.

Skipping to the next session, first the stake president gave a wonderful address about always examining our lives and not procrastinating the day of our repentance. He used the questions from Alma 5, and as he was talking kept inserting questions of his own. Two members of the stake bore testimonies, one a woman with an autistic son who had just gone through a difficult divorce, and a member who joined in Vermont while her husband was going through cancer treatments and subsequently moved to Houston. Two youth were spontaneously called on to bear their testimonies. And then Elder Bednar spoke for about an hour, but his sermon contained about a year's worth of teachings. He started by dissecting the stake president's talk and reemphasizing the things he taught. He said, "Alma spoke in your stake today. Your stake president is Alma." He said that when he calls a new stake president, he gives him just these two pieces of counsel: "You are Alma in this stake, so study Mosiah 18 to about Alma 40, and your job is to shepherd people to the temple." He then shared a story/parable. He had a friend who wanted to buy a four-wheel drive truck, but his wife kept telling them they couldn't afford it and didn't need it. He bought it anyway, and in order to justify it to his wife, went into the mountains to chop some firewood. As he got higher and higher, there was a lot of snow, but he wasn't worried because he had four wheel drive. Eventually he got bogged down, and the truck was stuck. He decided to chop the firewood anyway since he was up there, and after he packed it in the bed of the truck wide and deep, the truck was able to get out. The difference was the load. Sometimes the load makes all the difference. It is essential to getting us home. We are stuck without it. He also taught that some elements of our load are unnecessary--he called them our weapons of rebellion, comparing them to the swords of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies in Alma 24. We need to abandon those, but some parts of our load are absolutely necessary and essential. I'm being a bit redundant here, but the teaching was really profound. He shared a brief anecdote about home teaching. He said that one of the members of the twelve has a secretary who is a single older lady. Once at the end of the month, a pipe burst in her home and she was in her waders trying to clean it up when her home teachers came over. This was their reaction: "We can see that this isn't a good time." He said that the purpose of home teaching isn't to get in the door, but to "be with, watch over, and strengthen" and that when members realize that, home teaching will become much more powerful. He also told a story about he and one of his sons went to visit some families his son had taught on his mission in Bolivia. At first, when they entered the very modest home, Elder Bednar felt sorry for them at first, thinking "What can we do to help them?" But after he saw the children being so nice to one another and content with one piece of candy and only wanting to share more with others, he saw a scenario in his head. He imagined the couple coming to America and driving around, observing all the things we do to occupy our time, things like soccer and violin lessons and all the rest, which are nice and good, but that we use as excuses for not being consistent with family scripture study and prayer. He could see that couple getting together at the end of such a trip and thinking to themselves, "What can we do to help them? How can we help them realize that all those things don't really matter?"

That's just a sampling of his amazing teachings, but I cannot believe I was so blessed to be serving in this area at this time. But then again, I can, because the Lord's tender mercies are all over it. For instance, having Elder Bednar here this weekend forced me to reflect on the fact that Bishop/President Lindsay who interviewed me to come on my mission at one point was actually mission companions with Elder Bednar on their own full-time missions. And as we sang the closing hymn during the general session yesterday, "How Firm a Foundation," Elder Bednar requested that we sing the seventh verse. I almost instantly recalled a moment from my final days in the MTC. Sister Folkman said that "How Firm a Foundation" was her favorite hymn and she specifically sang that verse to us on one of our final days there. I had almost forgotten that moment, but the Spirit brought it to my rememberance in that moment. So in some ways, I am beginning to sense that the end of my mission is near because the strings from the beginning are starting to get tied up here at the end. I know I still have much left to do, but much of what I was sent to do has already been accomplished.

Last story. Last night the ward had a member missionary fireside. Both Sister Layton and I spoke for a few minutes, followed by a member of the ward who just moved from a ward that had incredible missionary experiences. After the speaking was over, we had refreshments. There is a cute family in the ward with three little boys, Matthew, David and Ethan. David is about three or four, and he was running around the gym. I was telling him what a good runner he was, and from then on, he kept telling us to sit down and watch him run. He would do laps around the gym and then we would clap for him and cheer him on. If he ever found us standing up, he would tell us to sit down again. I love little boys. Seriously. Eli was the first one, but since then there has been Cade and Jace and Max and Cameron and so many others. This is just the latest. I'm glad everything went well with Jace's tonsils.

Thanks for the stories about Relief Society, Mom. It really is amazing to be part of such a great sisterhood. And I love the idea of a "heart that hears." Hearts are the most important symbol and indicator of our conversion and dedication to the Lord. If our hearts are hard, we cannot feel or receive the Lord's counsel, but when are hearts are soft and still enough to hear, we can receive every blessing of mortality and eternity.

Love you all,

Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS Please shine!

8-9-10 "Busy, Busy, Busy!"

We have been busy, busy, busy this week! It was certainly a roller coaster week. I am sorry, but this will be a quick e-mail because we are running a little behind. We have really been trying hard to talk to people this week about the gospel, which means a lot of tracting, but we have certainly been blessed for our efforts in some ways, even if we don't have any new investigators yet. We met with all of our regular investigators this week and that is amazing. I don't know; it feels like I had a million things to write this week, but suddenly I can't remember any of them. We tracted into some Jehovah's Witnesses who were actually willing to sit down with us. Usually they just try to get us to leave and won't accept our pamphlets or anything. But these ones actually took a copy of the Book of Mormon. Of course, they ended up doing most of the talking and would hardly let us get a word in edgewise.

Strange to hear about all the rain and lighting in Idaho, because we usually have a lot but for the last week it was mostly dry. It did rain for about twenty minutes on Saturday, but other than that, Sister Layton hadn't seen any Texas rain. She enjoyed it; she even wanted to get out of the car and run around in it, but we were enjoying a Sonic drink because Saturday was also her one month on the mission mark.

Okay, I just remembered something exciting to tell you. This weekend is stake conference for the Katy Texas Stake, and we have a special guest coming. You might even say a special witness. Elder Bednar will be here, and he is even having a special meeting for investigators and recent converts. I have no idea what he is going to say, but it is incredibly exciting. I'll keep you posted about what he says. I'm looking forward to it.

Yes, I am a trainer. I don't know; I never mention it like that because I know that trainers are no more important than any other missionaries. Sometimes it is tempting to think that training is more important because, especially for sisters, there aren't really any other official "leadership" positions. But I'm just glad President Hansen and the Lord feel they can trust me with someone who has such fresh passion and faith for missionary work, because it certainly helps me become a better missionary.

Man, it feels like there are so many more things to say, but I can't remember any of them. I'll just have to write you a letter this week and tell you what they are after I review my journal. Good to know Cody is doing great. I knew he would be. Is his address still the same? I haven't heard from him since he officially became Elder Jardine. I do like the dog's name, but you have to remember that I thought it's name was Spin for three days, so it was kind of a sudden change for me, and at that point I didn't even know what kind of dog it was. I can still hardly believe we have one. Weird.

Love you all, and sorry I can't write more. This will be an incredibly disappointing e-mail.

Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS Please shine!

8-2-10 "Now Introducing...Your Long Lost Neighbor"

So much to report this week. Hopefully I will get through it all. I will start with the Spanish since you are very overeager about it, Mom. No, I am not being transferred to a Spanish area or anything like that. I don't have a Spanish-speaking companion. But on Tuesday and Wednesday I did spend two days in a Spanish-speaking area with a Spanish-speaking companion. Sister Smith was transferred to Montgomery so we went to the mission office early on Tuesday morning and since my new companion wouldn't be arriving for two days, they arranged for me to be with another sister in the same predicament. We stayed in her area because it is much closer to the office and the mission home, where we would need to go on Thursday morning to pick up our new companions. What an adventure! I loved every minute of it! It almost made me wish I were a Spanish-speaking missionary, except that I know too well now that I needed to be English-speaking because of all the people and companions and et cetera I've had in that department. Even so, I also believe that these two days were intended to be a part of my mission just as much as any others. We became fast friends, and it was truly a blessing to serve with Hermana Green. I would never have really gotten to know her without it. Plus, we just had some great stories. Early Tuesday afternoon, it was downpouring, right when we started tracting. The second house we knocked on, we met this abuelita and her grandkids who mostly let us in because of the rain. We sang a hymn in Spanish with them and were about to say a prayer and leave when the aunt arrived. I couldn't understand all that she was saying, but her body language and her facial expressions were doing an adequate job of conveying her displeasure. After we stepped out, Hermana Green started laughing. She said, "When that lady got in there, the first thing she said was, 'Who let them in?' " We had a good laugh about that one. We also had some authentic Mexican food at two great restaurants--well, one restaurant and one taco stand. We got popsicles from a street vendor. We saw a shrine to the virgin Mary, complete with blinking lights. And I did get to brush up on my Spanish more than I have since being in Houston. I couldn't always assist Hermana Green during the middle of the lessons, but I could testify at the end and read it well enough to read scriptures and sing hymns. On Thursday morning, we drove to the mission home to meet our new companions. Mine is Sister Layton from, get this, Shelly, Idaho. No joke. We probably live ten minutes away in real life. She has participated in numerous drama productions, so we had that connection soon. She is an amazing missionary, and I know she will inspire me to serve well. We are getting along swimmingly and seeing many miracles from her faith already. I've included a few pictures of us at the mission home. She is the one in the reddish shirt. And Hermana Green is in the bigger picture with the purple floral dress on. The baptism! Some of the pictures are blurry, so hopefully you can see them well. Brother Ravenberg baptized Brother Clevenger, and he was confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting. All went incredibly well. I can't wait to watch as the Spirit forges the fire of faith even deeper in his heart. I feel privileged to have been here for his baptism, since I don't think I was a very big part of it. This weekend has been years in the making.

Okay. You can ask Sister Layton, but ever since I got your letters and package (thank you, by the way) I have been randomly saying in an incredulous voice: "They got a dog!" You really caught me by surprise, but from the sounds of it, you were all a bit surprised by the sudden addition also. He is adorable, but I must say I was at first disappointed that you changed his name from Spin to Gryffindor. Anyone can name their dog after Harry Potter, but not everyone knows about the stunning adventures at the Triple R Ranch. However, considering the amazing nickname possibilities created from Gryffindor, I think you made a wise choice, so I give my common consent to Griffin, Griff, Griffey, or whatever his name is at the moment. Honestly, it reminds me of when Eli was born and we debated for a while whether to call him Bubba or Bubby or many other things. So we just chose all of them at our own discretion.

Eli, sweet shirt skills. Very styling, although I can't say I recommend the body glove look.

It sounds like you all had an amazing time at the low in numbers but high in fun family reunion. I would say I wish I could have been there, which parts of me do, but I am glad I was here. As far as Meggie goes, I'd like to see her but I think it's better if we don't. It's generally discouraged to see family and with a brand new companion, I need to set a good example. Meggie: I love you, and I'll see you as soon as I can. As far as Sister Tetreault goes, I'm sure she doesn't hate you. Maybe their plans changed or maybe she isn't worried too much about it yet since it's still months away. Although, come to think of it, months seem to be moving very quickly at the moment. Can you believe it is already August. It's been over a year since I was even in the MTC. Pai-Shan has almost been baptized for a year. Crazy!

Missing you all but getting lost in the work,

Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS I love you and please shine!