Houston says hello, again. I've come through another week, and this one was just as good as the last one. It culminated in two wonderful baptisms on Saturday for Brother Allen Taylor and his wife, Sister Brigette Taylor. What a week leading up to it! There is a rule in the mission that no one can be baptized unless they have attended several sacrament meetings. Brigette and Allen had a baptism date for Saturday, the 25th, but because of work, Brigette had only been able to come to church once, but she had already taken off work planning to be baptized on Saturday. She had been diligently studying her Gospel Principles manual while at work, answering all the questions in a little notebook. She truly has a testimony of the gospel and had a deep desire to be baptized with her husband. After counseling with President Hansen, we determined that she could be baptized on Saturday as long as she could find a way to always be at church after that, at least for sacrament meeting. We held a special fast on Tuesday that the Lord would provide a way for her to get off work on Sundays. When we went over for the lesson on Tuesday, we asked her if she had talked to her boss about it. The only thing she needed to do was call a co-worker and ask if she would take Brigette's Sunday shift. She did, while we were there, and the co-worker readily agreed! It was a miracle. Everyone recognized it. However, this would still be a test of faith since Brigette was the only one working and they depend on her income to provide for their family. We were very worried about it through the week, at varying degrees. I somehow felt calm about it by Wednesday evening, but Brigette was worried up until Friday, when she told us she felt this calm come over her that everything would be all right. That day, again while we were at their houe for a lesson, Allen got a call about a temporary job. Which starts today! I am so amazed at how the Lord's hand has been in this, and at their intense unwavering faith. It was certainly a trial of faith, or even a leap of faith, but they are now members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know they will only continue to be blessed as they grow and learn in the gospel. I feel blessed to have met them and seen them take these steps on the path to eternal life.
In the midst of all this, we had a special sisters' training conference on Thursday this week. President Hansen shared some very good wisdom and counsel. Every one of us has a special purpose and journey that the Lord intends for us as a missionary, and He had a plan for that mission before we even arrived in Houston. I can think of countless ways in which that has been true for me, even though at times I have struggled against the lessons He's been trying to teach me. President Hansen also shared special wisom about how we measure our success as a missionary, even saying directly that it is never about the numbers, and if someone tries to tell you it is, that person doesn't understand it yet. It is such a relief to have that to ponder on when the numbers become a weight of worry. In those times, I try to picture the faces of those I have grown to love, people who the Lord saw fit to make a part of my mission experience. Sometimes those people don't fit into "key indicator" categories, but they themselves and the memories I have with them are blessings the Lord has given me as part of my mission.
Saturday was wonderful in every way. The Relief Society president in one of our wards took us to dinner with Brigette to a great little Tex-Mex restaurant. Remind me when I get home to have some "green sauce" salsa with y'all. It is GOOD. And from there we went to the general Relief Society broadcast. I was anticipating hearing from President Monson, and Brigette was hoping to as well. She had been worried that he was a very serious, sad man, but now she has seen the true President Monson in all his wit and wisdom. I am deeply excited to study the history of Relief Society. What a prophetic blessing that will be! And I, too, am striving to be non-judgmental of others. I want to treat everyone as my equal and see us all as children of God.
As to my birthday coming up, I know one thing I want for certain. There is a beautiful book about the building of the Houston Texas Temple and you can buy it at the little LDS bookstore by, what else, the temple. It costs about $30, so if someone could put that money in my account, I can buy it. Missionaries get a discount at the store, so I will buy it here and bring it home for all to enjoy, since you all can't physically be in the temple with me. As far as anything else, I will need a new pair of jeans when I get home, and I guess I would like a little more money to buy souvenirs and stuff here. Maybe a Texas t-shirt or something like that. I don't know. What do people need anyway? Maybe a gift certificate to Deseret Book so I can do some shopping when I get home... Just birthday cards in the mail would be nice, I guess. I'm simple. I'm easy. Just send love. Speaking of the Houston temple, yes, I did see that beautiful picture of it in the new Temples magazine, Cassidy. It is even more beautiful in person. It's hard to tell by the picture, but there are such tall trees all around it, and somehow it fits perfectly into that setting. I'm glad to hear you are sticking with your school work. I know what you mean about not having a long enough break between semesters. Winter semester is very long because it only has two holidays in it, and they come right at the beginning. March is a seriously long month sometimes, but I always love learning. I just wish I had more time to do it in sometimes. Hope all is well with you!
Love and shining,
Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
9-20-10 "Miracle after Miracle...and some laughter in between"
Howdy, y'all! Texas is treating me just fine. I am flourishing in this new area and my new companion and I are, as Anne Shirley would say it, "kindred spirits." We laugh a lot and have a wonderful time. We are keeping busy and meeting with joy and determination the challenges that confront us. This has been the most amazing week of my mission yet, just because it feels like the Lord's hand has been in the timing and everything is going according to His will. It means learning to walk by faith, but that has become so much less of a frustration and much more of a blessing. Let's get down to details because it won't mean much if I just keep talking in all these vague phrases. Okay. We have a couple that has been being taught for a while, Allen and Brigette. They both have quite a past, but they have two little girls, seven and two, and an amazing story of how they found the gospel. He was driving along a main road in this part of Houston back in April when he realizes that the path he's taking is not going to lead to happiness. So he decides that he's going to walk in and join the next church he sees with lights on and people inside. He stops at one, but the doors are locked. Same thing with the next one. But the third church he finds is ours and they're having institute classes. He's been meeting with missionaries since then, and now he and his wife will either be getting baptized this weekend or in a few weekends. I am ecstatic for them! They are a perfect example of how much the gospel can really change lives and bless families and bring us happiness in life. Plus, I heard from Sister Layton in Katy that another couple we had been teaching is also going to get baptized on General Conference weekend. That's what I call miracle after miracle, just like Elder Kikuchi promised.
And if that weren't enough, we had another few this week. Thursday morning is our planning day. We do our studies like regular and then spend a few hours planning out what we can do to help our investigators and less-actives come closer to Christ and when we should meet with them. We had finished our planning, and we thinking that we still had a lot to accomplish with Brigette and Allen and just thinking we didn't have that many people to teach anyway. We were out meeting a few people, and no one seemed to be home. I had also just been thinking that it had been a while since we'd gotten a church headquarters text referral. They don't come all the time, but they are a good source of people to teach. And then just a little while later we got one for a "Joseph." It gives a few details about him: he wants to be baptized and is engaged. I don't want to call is skeptcism, but it probably is, but I usually reserve my celebrations on such things until we actually meet with the person. We went to the street, but the address is wrong. So something in me (read: the Holy Ghost) tells us we should try a different combination of the same digits. We do, but no one's home. After our last appointment that night, we are heading home and decided to try again. This time someone was home, but it's not the right name. As we're walking back to the car, a different combination of digits flashes in my mind, one that could also be on the street. And when we knock on that door, he answers and says, "I didn't think you were going to come. I'm so glad you did." I NEVER thought I would hear those words on my mission. We set up an appointment for the next night. He used to meet with missionaries when he was in high school, but stopped. And now he is engaged to a member in California and is definitely looking towards baptism. We're seeing him again tonight. Golden.
There was a series of perfect timings yesterday at church. And a great discussion with someone we met at the park. Sister Smith and Sister Taylor stayed with us for a few nights while going to a training conference at the mission office. I wish I had time to tell you about all the little details of how the timing has just been perfect this week. But I'll record it all in my journal to share at a later date. We had dinner at President Hansen's house last night. What a lovely experience. Everything is wonderful. The Spirit is so good to us, and this week looks to be just as good as last week, especially if we have a baptism on Saturday to go along with the General Relief Society broadcast. We will be having a special sister missionaries conference on Thursday. It feels like I am finally understanding my purpose as a missionary and reaping the joys serving. All the perfect timing is finally starting to come together.
Much love and shining,
Sister Whitney Sorensen
PS According to a rumor Sister Schlauder heard, Reba McEntire's daughter is a member in a neighboring ward. I don't actually know if Reba even has a daughter, but I don't really care. It's good enough for me to know that the show, REBA, takes place in Houston, so I kind of found her suburb, and she already sort of has the gospel. Good to know.
PPS Remind me to tell you later about the attack cat at Allen's house. Great story.
And if that weren't enough, we had another few this week. Thursday morning is our planning day. We do our studies like regular and then spend a few hours planning out what we can do to help our investigators and less-actives come closer to Christ and when we should meet with them. We had finished our planning, and we thinking that we still had a lot to accomplish with Brigette and Allen and just thinking we didn't have that many people to teach anyway. We were out meeting a few people, and no one seemed to be home. I had also just been thinking that it had been a while since we'd gotten a church headquarters text referral. They don't come all the time, but they are a good source of people to teach. And then just a little while later we got one for a "Joseph." It gives a few details about him: he wants to be baptized and is engaged. I don't want to call is skeptcism, but it probably is, but I usually reserve my celebrations on such things until we actually meet with the person. We went to the street, but the address is wrong. So something in me (read: the Holy Ghost) tells us we should try a different combination of the same digits. We do, but no one's home. After our last appointment that night, we are heading home and decided to try again. This time someone was home, but it's not the right name. As we're walking back to the car, a different combination of digits flashes in my mind, one that could also be on the street. And when we knock on that door, he answers and says, "I didn't think you were going to come. I'm so glad you did." I NEVER thought I would hear those words on my mission. We set up an appointment for the next night. He used to meet with missionaries when he was in high school, but stopped. And now he is engaged to a member in California and is definitely looking towards baptism. We're seeing him again tonight. Golden.
There was a series of perfect timings yesterday at church. And a great discussion with someone we met at the park. Sister Smith and Sister Taylor stayed with us for a few nights while going to a training conference at the mission office. I wish I had time to tell you about all the little details of how the timing has just been perfect this week. But I'll record it all in my journal to share at a later date. We had dinner at President Hansen's house last night. What a lovely experience. Everything is wonderful. The Spirit is so good to us, and this week looks to be just as good as last week, especially if we have a baptism on Saturday to go along with the General Relief Society broadcast. We will be having a special sister missionaries conference on Thursday. It feels like I am finally understanding my purpose as a missionary and reaping the joys serving. All the perfect timing is finally starting to come together.
Much love and shining,
Sister Whitney Sorensen
PS According to a rumor Sister Schlauder heard, Reba McEntire's daughter is a member in a neighboring ward. I don't actually know if Reba even has a daughter, but I don't really care. It's good enough for me to know that the show, REBA, takes place in Houston, so I kind of found her suburb, and she already sort of has the gospel. Good to know.
PPS Remind me to tell you later about the attack cat at Allen's house. Great story.
Monday, September 13, 2010
9-13-10 "How Do You Feel About Redheads?"
I have news! I am in a new area with a new companion. Sister Schlauder is from Las Vegas, Nevada, and we are getting along swimmingly well. We actually serve in two wards, which means five hours of church on Sunday, which is actually not as bad as it sounds. Not that anyone would think that church is bad. So now that my foot is in my mouth, let me tell you more about the area. It is right by the temple and actually goes really far north. Part of the area is actually in Tomball and it borders what used to be the Tomball ward but then got split back into the Klein stake. I'm realizing that none of this makes much sense to you all because you have never been here. Seriously, I've realized in the last week that I have this map of northwest Houston permanently engraved on my mind and so I'm not very good anymore at describing it to y'all who don't know the area. Anyway, this area was just switched from elders to sisters about three months ago, so the wards are both still excited to have sisters and are both incredibly friendly and welcoming. We had two wonderful sacrament meetings yesterday. The first was a returned missionary reporting his mission to somewhere in Brazil. He spoke about charity and his love for the people and for the Lord was very evident in every word from his mouth and every expression on his face. In the second sacrament meeting, we had two excellent talks about setting goals and accepting change in your life. I've felt very strongly the past two weeks that one of the strongest opportunities I have to receive revelation is through attendance at church. Last week, our Relief Society lesson was manna from heaven. I felt like it was directly to me. And then during both of those talks yesterday I got some very specific directions and promptings and, yes, comforting feelings from the Spirit. So in addition to being more receptive to the Spirit in the morning, Sundays are a great time to receive revelation.
Before I forget, my reason for that subject line is to tell you that I think the Texas sun is turning my hair red. Not all over, but for a while now I've been thinking that I have some red streaks in my hair, but I cast it aside as wishful thinking, knowing that I've secretly always wanted to be a redhead so I was probably just imagining it. But yesterday Sister Schlauder looked at me and said, "Do you have red streaks in your hair?" At which point I confessed that I had thought my hair was turning red. So, it's official I have about a dozen red hairs. I'm no Anne of Green Gables, but I might some day qualify to be something of a Lucille Ball, since her hair was bottle red anyway.
Also before I forget, I think I may have misled you somewhere along the line, Mom. You keep referring to the investigator who got baptized when Elder Kikuchi was here. We were issued a challenge to challenge some investigators to be baptized the next day, but none of our investigators did so. Another companionship in our district did, and I think I mentioned that, but it wasn't "our" investigator. (I hate referring to investigators or baptisms, etc. as "ours" or "mine." You cannot own a person or his or her ordinances of salvation.) But, I did hear from Sister Layton last night that some of our investigators in Katy are very close to setting a baptism date. And we actually have two investigators here who are looking to be baptized sometime in September or October, so pray that all will go well with that. We will be doing a lot of finding this week, but I am feeling inspired by your reminding me what I said about tracting a while back and that great story from your friend. Greetings to them. I know I can do it. And think the hardest part is that at this point I know the kind of effort that is required to bring about the desired results and I let myself focus on how tired I am rather than how good I feel when it actually works well and the Lord blesses someone to take a copy of the Book of Mormon or receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Those are my two favorite things, I've discovered. I love sharing the Book of Mormon. I want to give it to everyone! I get so excited when I think about testifying to people about it. It truly has changed my life. And, I think I've already mentioned this, but my favorite thing about being in an area when someone makes the covenant of baptism is watching his or her countenance change with the gift of the Holy Ghost.
On my first full day here in Kleinwood/Windrose, we did a little tracting. For the first time, I had someone tell me to my face that I was part of a cult. I've heard that others think that about the Church members, but I've never had someone say that. Actually, it was a fairly cordial conversation, and I could actually feel the Spirit, but I suspect that maybe it was more because her heart was hardening to the message the more we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and hear about our message so the Spirit had nowhere to go but back into us. And at the very next house, we left a copy of the Book of Mormon, so you just never know.
Cassidy is quite crazy for running, but also quite brave. I hope everything is well with her at school. Eli is already in PACE. I can hardly believe that, but I'm glad they started out with rockets.
Love,
Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen
p.s. Please. Shine.
Before I forget, my reason for that subject line is to tell you that I think the Texas sun is turning my hair red. Not all over, but for a while now I've been thinking that I have some red streaks in my hair, but I cast it aside as wishful thinking, knowing that I've secretly always wanted to be a redhead so I was probably just imagining it. But yesterday Sister Schlauder looked at me and said, "Do you have red streaks in your hair?" At which point I confessed that I had thought my hair was turning red. So, it's official I have about a dozen red hairs. I'm no Anne of Green Gables, but I might some day qualify to be something of a Lucille Ball, since her hair was bottle red anyway.
Also before I forget, I think I may have misled you somewhere along the line, Mom. You keep referring to the investigator who got baptized when Elder Kikuchi was here. We were issued a challenge to challenge some investigators to be baptized the next day, but none of our investigators did so. Another companionship in our district did, and I think I mentioned that, but it wasn't "our" investigator. (I hate referring to investigators or baptisms, etc. as "ours" or "mine." You cannot own a person or his or her ordinances of salvation.) But, I did hear from Sister Layton last night that some of our investigators in Katy are very close to setting a baptism date. And we actually have two investigators here who are looking to be baptized sometime in September or October, so pray that all will go well with that. We will be doing a lot of finding this week, but I am feeling inspired by your reminding me what I said about tracting a while back and that great story from your friend. Greetings to them. I know I can do it. And think the hardest part is that at this point I know the kind of effort that is required to bring about the desired results and I let myself focus on how tired I am rather than how good I feel when it actually works well and the Lord blesses someone to take a copy of the Book of Mormon or receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Those are my two favorite things, I've discovered. I love sharing the Book of Mormon. I want to give it to everyone! I get so excited when I think about testifying to people about it. It truly has changed my life. And, I think I've already mentioned this, but my favorite thing about being in an area when someone makes the covenant of baptism is watching his or her countenance change with the gift of the Holy Ghost.
On my first full day here in Kleinwood/Windrose, we did a little tracting. For the first time, I had someone tell me to my face that I was part of a cult. I've heard that others think that about the Church members, but I've never had someone say that. Actually, it was a fairly cordial conversation, and I could actually feel the Spirit, but I suspect that maybe it was more because her heart was hardening to the message the more we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and hear about our message so the Spirit had nowhere to go but back into us. And at the very next house, we left a copy of the Book of Mormon, so you just never know.
Cassidy is quite crazy for running, but also quite brave. I hope everything is well with her at school. Eli is already in PACE. I can hardly believe that, but I'm glad they started out with rockets.
Love,
Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen
p.s. Please. Shine.
Monday, August 30, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, August 23, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, August 16, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, August 9, 2010
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!
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!
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