10-25-10 "The Earth is on the Church Again!"

This week, I made up another funny phrase I thought you all should be made aware of. During companion study, Sister Schlauder and I were practicing teaching the Restoration, and instead of saying, "The Church is on the earth again" I said, well, I bet you can guess. It conjured up this mental image of a globe spinning a top a church steeple. But better yet, when we shared it with a member, she suggests this one: "Can't you just picture President Monson holding up the earth like Atlas?" Love it.

I suppose first things should be first. I am sorry to hear of Grandma Ricks' passing, but not entirely surprised. I had a feeling when I left for Texas that she wouldn't physically be there when I got back. Not a vision or a revelation, just a feeling. Honestly, I've been happily surprised that she made it this far and this long. What a lady! And I don't think funny is the right word for it, but just yesterday I was thinking about a random memory I have of her, and I shared it with Sister Schlauder. We were at the church building making a copy of one of our records for the ward mission leader, and I kind of tripped on the carpet, which made me think of a small moment in my life that I shared with Grandma Ricks. Once I was with her and Grandpa and Grandmother at a hotel in Layton. We were going to see one of David's sons off on his mission at the airport. So this must have been over ten years ago, because we could still go right up to the gate, pre-September 11th. Anyway, once when we were walking back to the hotel room, I tripped on the carpet, just like I did last night, and Grandma Ricks turned to me and said, "Oh good. You do that, too. I thought I was the only one." Then she smiled at me, and I can still see that image, although quite blurred, in my mind. I know I remembered it last night as a tender mercy from the Lord. He knew Grandma Ricks was finally about to be reunited with her precious husband and Sharon and Max...and so many others. And He knew that I wouldn't know until today, but that if I remembered that then, I would be okay now. And I am. I believe that tender mercies come in layers. They are set up years in advance, like this one, and then when you come to the other side of it, you look back and marvel at the tenderness and wisdom and compassion of God. Another image is coming to my mind now. I see that photograph of Grandma Ricks and Grandma McClellan as nurses, both gazing off into the futures of their lives. And it is the same look that Grandma Ricks gave me that day in the hotel in Layton, Utah. Only she was passing it on to me, inviting me to dream about my future and then live it. And now she and Grandma McClellan are reuniting and looking back on all the layers of tender mercy in their mortal lives, rejoicing in the Lord's blessings and marveling at the detail in their own personal plans of salvation. Mom, you said something to me right before I left for my mission that has stuck with me, like a layer of tender mercy in my life. You told me that the Lord wanted me to be a writer, but you knew somehow that coming on a mission was an essential part of preparing me to be a writer. I think about that now when I think about that lovely artifact of two of the most elect ladies I will ever know, a picture I have always felt was my muse. And now it can fully speak to me. Partly because my muses are now back together, but also because I have gone through (most of) this essential step to becoming a writer. I feel the calling to write more than I ever have before in my life now. I listened to general conference with a question in my heart, really wanting to know if the Lord saw writing as a good use of my talents and testimony. I received such a fervent but simple confirmation that, yes, the Lord would have me write. Having met all these wonderful people and experienced life for myself, I feel I am now ready to write. Sorry.

That paragraph started out as a tribute to Grandma Ricks and became more focused on me towards the end. I didn't mean it to be self-centered. Sometimes my thoughts just flow out that way. I don't really have time to edit them while e-mailing, so I guess you could surmise that these are my thoughts in their purest form, nearest to raw material as a writer gets. A member in Katy shared this analogy with me once, and I have come to appreciate its truth over time. Writers are like word sculptors, but unlike sculptors, they not only chip away at their marble but must create it as well. Thanks, Miss Rhonda.

Speaking of tender mercies, we experienced one this week. Well, probably several, but my spiritual eyes are not yet refined enough to recognize them all. Dad, also a long time ago, back when I was still working at the Credit Union and it was more than two minutes from our house, I remember you saying something to me that was very prophetic. You told me that you saw great things in me and you could envision generations of people who speak Spanish one day thanking me for sharing the gospel. I remember at the time thinking to myself, I don't think so, Dad, because I don't know if I'm even going on a mission. That moment was when I was probably a sophomore in high school. But for some reason the memory has stuck with me. I ponder on it periodically, wondering how and when that could be fulfilled. Well, one of those moments of periodically happened this week. We have been increasing our finding efforts, and for some reason we decided to try a group of apartments in our area. We knocked around, and most people spoke only Spanish, but at one of the doors we met a young man who said, after we shared our brief schpiel about having a message about Jesus Christ, "Is that it?" Obviously, he wanted to learn more. We set up that we would return on Saturday. Which we did. He is from El Salvador, and a junior at the local high school. When asked about his beliefs in God, Pablo said, "I just want to know the truth. There are so many different ideas that I get confused." Later, we asked him if he had ever prayed to know something, and he said, "Yes. Often at night, I pray to know where we go after this life. I am asking God to tell me why I am here on earth, why we came here." All the time I am hearing this sincere seeker of truth talk to us, I am also hearing Dad's words in my head again, and I'm wondering, "Could this be him? Maybe I came to find him." Now, I'm not trying to be dramatic or say that he is or that I was sent to find him and he'll soon be a stake president and generations will call me blessed. It's not about all of that. It's about him finding the truth his heart has been seeking, ever so humbly. But at the same time, a father's words sure motivate me to think about what a difference the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ could make to generations if Pablo chooses to embrace it. I pray he will.

Now, as for Sister Tetreault, I will be sure to send a letter her way today. I have been incredibly busy, but she has been on my mind a lot. Thank you for sharing her lovely words with me. She is my best Texas friend, another layer of tender mercy in my life. The earth is truly on the church again. And it should come as no surprise to you that the Rangers defeated the Yankees to enter the fall classic. God lives in Texas. Duh.

Love from the Lone Star sister,

Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen PS I'm attaching some photos of us at the temple with a member from Katy who received her endowment on Saturday. What a blessing to be able to share it with her!

10-18-10 "wiki, wiki, WISDOM"

I have been thinking since Wednesday what I was going to say in this e-mail, trying to come up with the perfect way to share the news, but then I got the box from Mom on Saturday and since then I haven't had to wonder how to tell y'all since you already know, apparently. But, yes, it's official. I will be home in December 1st. I loved the descriptions of various reactions to the news. I hope people in Rexburg can still hear. And I hope Eli can contain just a little bit of his excitement so I can see some of it, too. But shame on you for your bad textiquette. I have a reputation to uphold as an English major. Actually, when I found out myself, it quite frankly caused me some severe insomnia for two nights in a row, I was so anxious to tell you, but you probably found out the same day I did, so I lost sleep for nothing. I've caught up, however, so no worries in that department.

Now, other than that we had a pretty good week followed by a fabulous session of stake conference on Sunday. That is the third stake conference I've been to in six months, and while I don't want to say it was the best, it probably was. The visiting general authority was Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Both he and his wife shared lovely and inspiring talks. Hers was about not judging others. She told this story. Their house is up in the hills or the mountains somewhere, not just in a regular neighborhood. They had a neighbor who moved in and started playing music very loudly and put his horses in his front yard behind an unsightly fence and always had not the best looking kinds of characters coming over. Every time she would drive past the house, she would comment to her kids about how disgraceful/shameful/sad/etc. it was to have that in the neighborhood. Eventually, she was called to go visit this man because, unbeknownst to her, he was a less-active member of the church and a quadrapalegic. She had to go visit him because he'd been without food or care for over a day and she was the closest member of the Relief Society presidency to his house. She made up a plate of food and went to help him. He told her that she probably didn't like how loud he played his music, but it was one of the few things he could enjoy from his wheelchair. And he also loves horses, but he can't see them when they are in his backyard, so he had to put them in the front. Plus, it's hard to find good help so he had to take what he could get. I thought it was a beautiful story with an important lesson. She also used an analogy she got from Elder Maxwell. Life is like watching the Olympic diving competition. To the untrained eye, they all look good, but we don't know the degree of difficulty of certain dives, so we shouldn't think we are capable of judging others by their choices and experiences. Only Christ will be the judge because only He understands all the factors, the degree of difficulty of each life. That was such a comforting truth to learn. Often because of my pride I think Heavenly Father will condemn me for not being as strong or as good or as righteous as others, or I think that my life circumstances and experiences make it unfair for me to be judged by the same standards a others, but I guess I need to believe more strongly that Christ really is totally just and merciful. He knows the degree of difficulty of each of our lives and will bless and reward us accordingly.

Elder Jensen's talk was equally good. He shared three ways that we can come to know things--scripturally based ways of having knowledge. We can judge things by their fruits to know if they are good. This is the method of observation. We can experiment upon the word, come to know by doing. Or we can have truth revealed to us by the power of the Holy Ghost. As an example for the last point, he told about being a young missionary in Germany. He had a bold companion, but he himself didn't feel he knew the language at all or had a super strong testimony of the gospel. After working in one town for several months, the local Lutheran minister advertised a meeting about "the Mormons," which his companion decided they should attend. The minister stated that the Mormons have a book other than the Bible and Joseph Smith instead of Martin Luther, so no one needed to bother with them. They are just nice American boys. He then asked if anyone else had anything to say about the Mormons, so the companion got up and said, "Yes, we have the Book of Mormon, but we also love the Bible. Yes, we have Joseph Smith but we also believe Martin Luther to be inspired. What he started Joseph Smith finished." And then he invited Elder Jensen to speak. He said up to that point, he'd tried to be cautious and not say "I know/Ich weiss" about things he didn't really feel like he knew. But in this moment he had to say something so he "ventured into the dark," as he put it, and said, "I know" about the Church and the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the Savior--all of it. And in that moment, the Holy Ghost told him, and he DID know. It was so powerful. He said, "I've staked my life on it." Such a pure, powerful testimony.

That got me thinking about knowledge and wisdom. What is the difference betwee the two? I spent my whole personal study this morning pondering it. So far it feels like I've learned that knowledge is something you learn after the fact, after the experience. Your conclusions or truths or observations you draw from whatever it was. But wisdom is the application of that knowledge before the experience. Knowledge means putting on your hindsight and reflecting on what happened, but wisdom means having clear foresight that you use while you are learning and experiencing and experimenting. Sometimes you don't even have to experience things to have wisdom; Heavenly Father can just reveal it to you. All the commandments are that way. Heavenly Father tells you how to act so you can avoid having to put on your hindsight knowledge goggles for things that He would rather you just avoid altogether. Think about it: the word of wisdom tells us how to act and what to avoid to keep our bodies and minds healthy and receptive to the Spirit. And He gave that wisdom through His prophet before anyone learned it by experimentation and observation. Or Joseph Smith's experience. "If any of you lack wisdom (or the knowledge of how to act, say, what church to join), let him ask of God." And the great thing about revealed wisdom, is that we can still experiment upon it so that it becomes both knowledge and wisdom to us, but after a while of doing this, our faith that God's wisdom is pure wisdom will become stronger and stronger, so we will be more and more willing to venture into the dark because we KNOW that the marvelous light of God will be there eventually, no matter what happens during the experimenting phase. After all, He "giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not."

Phew. I just really liked those insights and wanted to share them with someone, maybe selfishly so they will remain with me more strongly. Anyway, we also went to the temple this week, and got transfer calls on Saturday night. We are both staying in the area, so Sister Schlauder will be my last companion and this will be my final area. Weird to finally know that for certain. I can really feel the loose ends starting to tie themselves up, but I'm glad I still have these next six weeks to work and be a full-time servant of the Lord. I suppose I'm starting to put on my hindsight knowledge goggles a little, pondering the lessons I've gleaned along the way so that I will have faith and wisdom for the future. I'll keep you posted on what I come up with.

It sounds like everyone is having a great Idaho autumn. Eli's birthday party sounds really fun, and I can't tell if Cassidy has purple hair in that picture or not. As long as it's not an honor code violation at BYU-Idaho, I bet it looks fabulous. As for the other picture, it cracks me up, but I'm not 100% sure the thought occurred to them that if they really were farming pot, that would be illegal, so they shouldn't advertise it. Maybe it's affiliated with the Psychadelicatessen, which is modeled after the Partridge family bus, featuring one of TV's favorite moms, Shirley Jones, but not TV's favorite mom, June Cleaver, who I am glad you told me passed away but also slightly sad to hear. Who'll keep the Beaver in line now? And who will listen to Eddie Haskell's smooth talking lies? I'm sure someone will take the opportunity, but who?

Love and Shining,

Sister Whitney Sorensen

10-11-10 "Every time we say goodbye"

I suppose that's kind of a misleading subject line, but I do have a bit of sad news. The family that was baptized a few weeks ago is now moving away. They are still determined to be active in the church where they are going, but we are sad to see them leave so soon after baptism. All their friends in the Church are here, but this feels like the best decision for all involved, almost like the Lord is impelling them to move forward. However, Allen was ordained to the office of a priest yesterday, which was a wonderful thing to see. The gospel really changes lives and blesses families.

On a brighter note, I ran into Elder Judkins on Saturday. We were having a tri-mission conference with Elder Costa of the Seventy. I wasn't sure if I would see him there, but I did, very quickly actually. We chatted for a few minutes. I didn't have my camera with me, but he had his, so my companion took a quick picture of us. Hopefully he will send a copy home so you all can see us together. (I will look the same as I did in the other picture, however, since it was the same day.) He is so much taller than I remember. He seems to be doing well. I only met his companion briefly, but he seemed nice as well. Elder Costa shared some good counsel with us. The other speaker was Elder Gifford Nielsen, an Area Seventy and former BYU and Houston Oilers quarterback. He talked about how often exclamation points are used in the scriptures when the Lord talks about the importance of missionary work.

Things are going well in both wards. We have many people we teach at least once a week, or at least have on our minds and in our prayers. Where it felt a couple of weeks ago like one ward had a lot more work than another, now things seem to be balancing out a lot better. We are teaching the wife of a member. She is from El Salvador and speaks Spanish almost exclusively, but her English is improving quite a bit. We weren't really sure where to go with her next, but we remembered that one of her major questions was about why we need a prophet if we can get answers to our personal prayers. We felt like Elder Oaks's conference talk answered that well, so we asked her to look it up online, but when we did, she started telling us all about what he said and saying we need to pray for the prophet because he has a lot on his shoulders. Just another little miracle of the Spirit.

We are going to the temple on Wednesday. It seems like forever since I have been. I can hardly wait. And every time I go, it's one time closer to when I can go in Idaho Falls again. Of course, that's still far enough away that I have plenty to take care of here, but it really is starting to feel like my time is growing shorter.

The snow in the mountains sounds lovely, Grandmother and Grandpa. This year fall here feels more like fall than it did last year, but I'm sure I would enjoy it even more if I were in Idaho/Utah. The leaves don't really change colors here. Kind of disappointing.

Sorry you had such a rough week, Mom. I can imagine that's really hard, just knowing you'll not have an opportunity to talk to her for a while. But I did crack up when I read about James Taylor meets Howdy Doody. I thought of you all on my birthday, which was wonderful, and on your anniversary. 27 years is a pretty good amount of time. I'm attaching some photos of the Taylor family and some birthday antics.

Love and shining,

Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen

PS We also saw a HUGE opossum run across the road in front of us this week! Those things are ugly! At first we thought it was a cat, then a dog, then a squirrel, but in the end its huge tail and gross little shimmy gave it away. Yuck!

10-4-10 "There's Nothing Automatic About a Mission"

The subject line is my favorite quote from myself in the past little while. I said it last night while Sister Schlauder and I were discussing someone she knows who went on a mission a little unprepared to face the realities of the world and taking care of herself in really simple ways, perhaps hoping that a mission would automatically teach her those things. So I said, "There's nothing automatic about a mission." Which is very true. This week alone, we met with someone who tried to convince us that all you need to be saved is faith, not works, and then kind of slyly accused us of being in a cult or said Joseph Smith did have a vision but it was from the devil. That was kind of disappointing, too, because when we first met him we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and then he called us asking for a reading assignment, wanting to set up an appointment. This was on September 21. And we knew he had done some of his reading because he asked us if that day was some kind of Mormon holiday, which at first confused us, but then we realized that it talks about Moroni coming to see Joseph Smith on the evening of September 21. Anyway, didn't turn out wonderful, but we did leave on good, noncontentious terms, although I later slightly wished I had chewed him up and down and asked how he could possibly think that someone could still be saved after completely disregarding all the laws and commandments God has ever given his children. Blinded by the craftiness of men. I hate it. So. Much. And then later on in the week we were not-so-kindly asked to leave the park where we were apparently not supposed to be contacting people and giving them pass along cards. This guy on some kind of groundskeeper's golf cart drives up and shines them right in our eyes and then says, "Y'all know you're not supposed to be doing that, right?" So we left, but it took everything in me not to just cry on the spot. I mean, park contacting is hard. It takes more courage than almost anything else on a mission, for me at least. In the end, we figured that Heavenly Father was just trying to tell us it was okay to stop doing that and try other techniques, but it still didn't feel good. And again, later there was this part of me that sort of wished I had just demanded to know right then and there why the first amendment doesn't apply in a public park. But overall I'm glad I kept my cool. But those were just the low points of the week.

The high points were many, including the flood of mail I have been receiving, including a card from one Justin Johnston, who claims to be your "BESTIE," Mom. I can only assume that "bestie" is a slang term for best friend or favorite co-worker or someone you have been sharing laughs with at the Colonial. In any case, as your oldest child, I feel that if anyone is your "BESTIE," it's probably me, but I'm not really in love with the term, so he can have the title. I bestow it upon him. I also got a lovely picture drawn for me by Jace Marlow with a picture of Cassidy blushing because "she is in love," according to the comments from Heidi. Thanks for wrapping up the birthday gifts, but I already opened them and wore them yesterday, sort of as a conference/birthday treat to myself. I love the skirt and the sweater is perfect. I am wearing the tennis sweater right now, and it is just as great as I remember it.

Conference. So much to say. I was so glad the first speaker was Elder Holland. I always get a little panicked that it will be his turn to speak in the priesthood session. I love the way he just complimented every single member of the church for doing the same small things over and over without expecting recognition, and made sure we all knew he was talking to us by saying, "Stop looking around. I'm talking to you." Point taken. Thanks. I couldn't stop laughing when President Uchtdorf told the story about the tree and said, "I'm sure you're all wondering what this has to do with airplanes. Well, let me tell you." Perfect. Isn't it nice to know that we can focus on the simple things, the "everyday" answers instead of running from source to source, hoping to find the cure-all? I couldn't take notes fast enough on Elder Scott's talk. He is one of my new favorites. And, don't be jealous, Kip, but we are having a special tri-mission conference this Saturday with Elder Costa, one of the 14 point prophet speakers. I'll be sure to let you know the highlights of his counsel to us. President Monson is really coming into his own as the prophet. He spoke so directly in the opening session about the need to go on a mission, and I was ecstatic to hear that Hartford, Connecticut is getting a temple! Yeah Cody! He will have the privilege of preparing the area for a temple. It will be such a blesing. The Houston temple turns ten this year, so they just redid all the carpeting and such inside. I haven't been back yet, but we're going next Wednesday. I can hardly wait, but at the same time it is bittersweet, since it will be one of my last times there. But thankfully, I will be able to carry a little of it home with me. Thanks for the money for the book. I can hardly wait to have it. We might go pick it up today. Anyway, I agree. Every talk was amazing. I will be eagerly awaiting my new Ensign to persuse every word. I also felt like I got some personal revelation about how to best finish my mission and what to do after that.

Speaking of which, I can't believe my registration date is already this month. Go ahead and sign me up for classes. I can't remember exactly how to get on there, but I did leave a tentative schedule of what classes I want to sign up for each semester. If you log onto the website with my user ID and password, which I think I wrote down for you before I left, you then go on to something and can see my academic plan. Maybe Sister Dyer or somebody could help you look it up. As far as housing goes, I wouldn't mind being in the same place as before, but I'm sure anywhere woud be fine. I'm not very picky. I picked that place because it was in close walking distance to the parts of campus where most of my classes are and you don't have to walk up the scary hills at night. Plus, it was inexpensive. The Lord always puts me in the right place, so I trust your judgment. So, I'm officially going back to school in January. Crazy.

Love y'all,

Sister Whitney Sorensen

PS I'll send some pictures by mail this week, or e-mail them next week.