2018-09-24: Semana (Week) 4!

Making cookies with my pensionista and her sister.
I LOVE COOKIE DOUGH.

Hola! This week has been super duper awesome! Hahaha. So my companion is district leader so he is supposed to go on splits with each of the 6 other elders in our district, and we usually only go on splits once a week. But this coming week we are having conference with the mission president, so this past week we had two intercambios (exchanges)!

Last Pday we were in Betanzos. I stayed with Elder Baros until Wednesday morning. Monday after writing, we went looking for some past contacts and investigadores (investigators). Then we bought stuff to make chocolate chip cookies. Hahaha. I LOVE COOKIE DOUGH. Haha. We made them and it’s kind of tricky because certain ingredients don't exist here, and plus, we are super high up in altitude (which I never knew affected cooking). But we did the best we could and the cookie dough was pretty darn good. The cooking was a different thing. They still tasted amazing but not like ones back home.

First time making cookie dough.

The next day was super duper awesome. Betanzos reminded me a LOT of Wickenburg. It’s a really small quiet town, and there are like 3 other smaller towns that are part of the Betanzos area and attend the Betanzos Ward (kind of like Congress and Wittmann). Also, like every single contact and lesson except one was in straight Quechua. I understood nothing, hahaha. Elder Baros has been studying for a while, and he is pretty good but not perfect. It was super duper cool though, and I really want to learn Quechua. First, I was thinking how cool it would be to know Quechua and to serve in a cool campo (countryside) town, but then I started thinking more and I would really like to learn it for the same reason I'm learning Spanish (to help other people). So that’s my goal now, to learn Quechua to help more people. We had an awesome day and Elder Baros taught me lots about Quechua. I’m going to get a book from Hermana Montoya (the mission president’s wife) to study each day. I’m pretty excited! Haha.

Yum! I made pancakes.

Well I got back to Potosí Wednesday, and we went back to work. Also, on Wednesdays we have what’s called Noche de Misional (Mission Night), and we are supposed to teach whoever shows up (usually like 4 or 5 member families). And it’s supposed to be like an hour and a half. Well, the past several weeks we've just shown videos, but I'd really like to do a game or activity that has a really good analogy behind it to help people get more interactive and learn instead of zone out during a video. So if you have any ideas for me that would be great!!

Made syrup too!

Friday we had intercambios (exchanges) again, and I stayed in my area and worked with Elder Grotepas (from Syracuse, Utah). He is super duper fun. I thought it was super cool because we worked pretty hard and had lots of really good contacts and lessons, but we still had tons of fun. Friday we taught one of our investigadores (investigators) and her 2 brothers. We've taught her several times and I don’t know what it is, but it seems like she isn’t trying to learn for herself. She is just accepting what we teach, and it’s confusing me. Well, we invited her to be baptized, but she was like I don’t know, maybe next year. Hmm, that was kind of sad, but it reminded me of my missionary purpose, to INVITE people to Christ. People still have their agency.

Since we were on intercambios (exchanges) Friday, I scheduled several citas (lessons) for Sunday. Well, we had two really good lessons with contacts we found Friday, and it was a pretty good day. So all and all it was a pretty good week.

I made pancakes and syrup, and then cookie dough again. We also made cookies at our pensionistas (pensioner’s) house which was fun. We also learned that water only comes Saturday mornings because we ran out Friday and had no water that day. Haha. We are pretty sure it’s because a restaurant opened in our same building and they used it all. Hahaha it’s all good. Also this member Hermana (sister) made banana bread for one of our Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening), and it was super duper good and reminded me sooo much of Mom’s banana bread. I miss that stuff and homemade bread and strawberries. (We can’t eat strawberries because they aren’t clean or healthy. I don’t know. Hermana Montoya just said not to.) But it’s all good. I’m learning to love potatoes because literally every meal we are given has some sort of potatoes in it.

The weather here is getting super cool, kind of like monsoon season back home. The mornings are sunny (and everybody says it’s hot but it’s not at all), but in the afternoons it gets really cloudy and occasionally sprinkles, but no mas (nothing more). It reminds me tons of home. Haha. Oh ya, so our zone leaders were supposed to go to Cochabamba this past week for conference and while they were there they were supposed to pick up whatever mail there is for us (since we are so far from Cochabamba). Well unfortunately, they were playing bubble soccer in Sucre last Pday and one of them fractured his skull. Don’t worry he is ok and just has a headache. But they didn’t go to Cochabamba so... I’ll have to wait to see if I got anything. That’s about all for this week.

I really enjoy studying the Book of Mormon every day. It’s all a super spiritual experience, and I also learn a lot. We showed a video the other day and in part of it it said to think “Why did the profetas (prophets) write this? Why is it important, and what can I learn from this story?” So I’ve been doing that, and it really helps me to get a lot more out of my studies. I know the scriptures were written for our profit and learning. I know they are the word of God, and whenever we read them, we grow closer to Him.

Thanks for all the emails!!

Con Amor

Elder Sorensen