Tanner Sorensen's LDS Mission in Bolivia and Colombia

Hello!! We just got to the mission home a bit ago. Flights all went good. When we got to the Cochabamba airport there were like 15-ish missionaries singing “llamados al server” (Called to Serve) and the mission president and his wife greeted us. Only six of us arrived today--3 elders and 3 hermanas (sisters). We ate at a food place there, and it was pretty good. Oh ya, I bought Subway and helado (ice cream) in Mexico y Panama. P-day (preparation day) is lunes (Monday). Today we are going to get interviews (with the mission president) and then rest. I’d like to go to work, but I’m super duper tired and that’s what they said we are doing so... it’s all good. Sooo happy to finally be here. Love you lots!! Elder Sorensen Our district (12 elders - 11 going to Peru, me going to Bolivia) with our teacher, Hermano Rosales. Our classroom. My district with our teacher, Hermana Gomez. Hermana Gomez & me. Hermano Rosales & me.

Happy birthday to Ashley and Brianna!!!! Don’t worry I didn’t forget. Well I tried a different approach to this. I wrote down stuff at the end of each day or whenever I remembered to. This way now I’ve got a list of stuff to write about. Ok here we go. So last Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting . We all prepare like 5 min talks, and then the person conducting just picks people. So I got picked and the topic was on the plan of salvation , so I shared that super cool analogy about our earth life being a weight room. I actually really enjoyed it. Oreos from the Hancocks. They are the bestest ever. Tell them thank you, and I love them! Also last p-day (preparation day) after I wrote I got a package from the Hancocks, and I was soooo happy!! I love OREOS soo much. It had basically every kind. I especially love the ones that are covered in white chocolate. I sent a picture, but that was after we had eaten like 2 or 3 boxes already. A really cool video we watche...

Well this past week was awesome as always. Elder Bednar (one of the modern-day 12 apostles of Jesus Christ) is coming on 8/24, so that’s super exciting. This past week has been super crazy busy but it’s also been super spiritual. So we are learning a lot more Spanish, like tenses and stuff, and now this week is completely in Spanish--everything is but it doesn’t really seem all that hard. It’s tough and you gotta think a lot. Lots of guys are getting sick here from like a virus or something from one of the new elders. I’m good though.  A guy in our district got it, and we gave him a blessing, everybody. It was like their first time, so they were super nervous but I was able to settle them down and help them say the right stuff. I was so grateful Grandpa Sorensen and Bishop Jones had given me the chance to get a little experience. So at the TRC on Saturday it went super super good. [The TRC (Teaching Resource Center) is a place where you get hands-on teaching experience in a living-...

WOOOO!! I absolutely love it here being a missionary is so dang awesome. Every single day just gets better than the one before. The spirit is soooo strong here and I just keep learning so much, ok so last week on pday after I wrote, we went to the temple which is always awesome. There weren’t very many Mexicans at all so the session was mostly en ingles (in English) which was a little disappointing but some stuff was still en espanol (in Spanish) so it was cool. I love the sprit I feel there. We also went through the visitor’s center before we went in and I took pics. I will explain the pics later. The rest of that pday was good. The next day was good and one of the elders (Elder Asay from Iowa) shared a really good analogy. He said life isn’t really a test, it’s a weight room. Father is our trainer and Christ is my spotter. Father knows in order for me to get stronger and like Him I need to struggle and work hard. So He adds more weight on the bar. More times than not, I will be unabl...

well week two was awesome! we had a lot more time to kind of settle down since we had lots of personal study times and not so much classes. we are also teaching two people *our morning teacher and then afternoon teacher* but like next week i think we will actually start teaching real investigators or less active members that our teachers invite. our lessons go pretty good. they are a bit more realistic and tougher questions then the first practice one. I really enjoy it. Me and elder moore are getting pretty good at spanish and do pretty well during lessons. our whole district also made a goal to speak only spanish every day. except for like spiritual lessons where we need to express our selves or when we are just telling stories and messing around. its really good practice tho and we are all improving a ton. I love it here. i also bought a bunch of flashcards at la tienda por 341 pesos on my debit card just so you know. ive made a goal to memorize 20 new words a day and the cards ha...