Potosi Zone Conference with President Montoya. Missing two elders from our zone in this picture. |
Ok first, martes (Tuesday), we didn’t have much planned, but
we had a really good lesson with an investigador (investigator) named Alejandra.
We shared Moroni 7:13-29, which is a super good group of verses, and we
encouraged her to read the Book of Mormon mas y cada dia (more and every day).
Later that day we found out that I’d be traveling to Cochabamba on viernes (Friday),
so that was exciting and made the week go faster.
Miercoles (Wednesday) we had entrevistas (interviews) with
our mission president. I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to understand
or express myself, but I actually understood everything he said! So that was
super exciting. I wasn’t able to express myself perfectly, but I got my
thoughts across. He said it’s kind of tough in this mission because there are
so many elders from different countries and different definitions of diligence.
He said to keep doing what I know is right. He said these 12 weeks (of
training) are training for the rest of the mission, so just focus on Spanish
and how to contact and teach people and such. After that we had a few good
citas (lessons) and then a miembro (member) of our ward met us and took us to
the house of his good friend (the member is an older guy). The lady´s name is
Liliana. She is like super catolico (Catholic). We taught lesson one and she
accepted it really good and wanted to learn more, so we were super excited. It
was also super cool to have a miembro (member) help us. Later that night was a
big party for a hermana (sister) that just got home from her mission in
Uruguay. The party went on and on, but it was fun and the food was good.
Jueves (Thursday) was Zone Conference. It was here in
PotosÃ. I was worried I would be bored and not get much out of it, but I
decided to be an agent and not an object, and I chose to try to learn and I
followed along the best I could. It was super cool because not only did I
understand most of the lessons (from zone leaders and from President), but I
also felt the Spirit super duper strong. It was a reminder that the Spirit can
be felt no matter what language or country you’re in. It also reminded me that
I need to learn truth from the Spirit. The teacher is only the conductor of the
Spirit, but the Holy Ghost is the real teacher. It was a super cool experience.
After conferencia (conference), I went with the Sucre zone
to Sucre. We arrived at like 1am. I slept at the zone leader’s house. We woke
up at 5a, and they took me to the aeropuerto (airport). (Elder Cabrera stayed
in Potosà with other elders.) When I got to Cochabamba the secretaries (elders)
took me to a hospital for basic health stuff and then to tramites (formalities)
where I filled out papers (a brother helped me) and signed stuff. Then we went
to the mission office, then to their pensionista for lunch, and then back to
the aeropuerto (airport). Then I got a taxi to PotosÃ, and when we got there,
the guy dropped me off like a mile arriba de nuestra casa (away from our house)
because he had to go somewhere else is what he told me. So I walked home alone.
That was super duper weird, hahah, not having a companion. That night Elder
Cabrera and I had a pretty good talk about the mission and such.
Sabado (Saturday) we met with Liliana again, and it went
super duper good, but she didn’t come to church yesterday, so darn. We also
found a past investigador (investigator) named Amalia. We answered lots of
questions she had about the church, so that was super cool and we set a cita (an
appointment) to come back. We also went to the Feria (store) and bought lots of
stuff. I got stuff to make breakfast burritos, so that should be awesome.
Yesterday was a good day, and we had a pretty good lesson
with this guy we meet with each Sunday, named Javier. We also had a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) and after I made banana panqueques (pancakes), and
they were super duper good. We put leche condensada (condensed milk) on top,
and it was pretty darn good.
Today we played soccer at the stake center, and then got
this sopa (soup) called kalapucra, which is like a really good soup that they
put a lava rock in so its super hot. It's pretty cool, haha. Then we got
haircuts, which we both needed. That’s about it for this week. It went by super
fast, but there were several super spiritual lessons and times.
I´ve love feeling the Spirit so often. It especially helps
studying the scriptures each morning. I really like 1 Nephi 5:21-22. Nephi
explains how important and of great value the scriptures can have IF we choose
to SEARCH them DILIGENTLY. It’s good to read them but even better is searching
diligently, looking for answers, and trying to learn. I have found this true
for me and know that with the help of the Holy Ghost, you too can find the
great value of the scriptures. To be completely honest, my scriptures and my
gospel study notebook (where I write all my studies and spiritual thoughts) are
100% my most valuable and prized things I have. I love ya guys, and thanks for
all the letters.
Con amor,
Elder Sorensen
Banana pancakes with condensed milk on top. |
Me and Elder Cabrera. |
Soup, called kalapucra. Boiling hot with a lava rock inside. |
The super dope sopa
k´alapurka (which is Quechua), but we couldn't figure out what it means. |
Soup with a lava rock inside. |
Words in Quechua. Hahaha. Super long. |
Bolivian plumbing. If it leaks just coat the whole stinking thing in glue, gosh dang it! Haha. |