HOLA HOLA!!! Well, sorry I didn’t write much last
week. Basically 2 weeks ago, Elder Puma and I worked hard in Betanzos. We
stayed busy, and it was pretty cool to see how much my comp had grown from our
first day together to our last week together. He led us that week, and we did
really well. I was pretty excited to leave Betanzos with him and let him keep
going with the people we were visiting. I packed up all my stuff Sunday after
church because we were pretty sure I would be leaving Betanzos. Well, Sunday night
we got our cambios/transfers and ... Elder Puma got sent to Cochabamba and I
got sent to Potosi, and Betanzos got closed (like there are no missionaries in
Betanzos now). That was really sad, and E. Puma and I were pretty upset and
sad. Kind of funny that I’m staying in Potosi though. I have been here my
entire mission, hahaha. But sweet because I can still go out to Betanzos once a
week.
So, last lunes/Monday, Elder Puma and I went back to
Betanzos, and while he packed up all his stuff, I cleaned up the house since
nobody would be living there. Then martes/Tuesday morning, the taxis to Sucre
picked up Elder Puma, and I went to Potosi. When I got there, I met up with my
new comp, Elder Waldvogel (from Utah). We left my stuff in our house and then
spent most of the day picking up missionaries from their travels and taking
them to get lunch and then back to their next travel/bus. That night we went to
a few citas/appointments. We visited a lady named Celia. She is an investigator
that is planning to get baptized this coming Sabado/Saturday. She is pretty fun.
Later at a cita my comp shared 2 Nephi 28:30. I like that verse a lot because
we always need to be looking for wisdom and the counsels of God. However, we
also need to realize that knowledge and revelation comes little by little. So
we need to pay attention and appreciate the small lines of revelation that we
receive often. We also visited the Flia Toco (Toco family). They are an awesome
family, but the parents aren’t married yet and they are working slowly towards
it. We had a good lesson about the steps of the gospel and about temples and
such.
Mièrcoles/Wednesday we visited Hermana Susana in the
morning. She is less active and going through lots of problems in her family.
In the afternoon we had to help a few elders in their travels again. We also
had to receive a few boxes from Cochabamba and send one there too. We also
visited Rosa and Daniele. Rosa is the mom and Daniele is like 14 or something.
They are investigators but don’t come to church every week so we taught about
the Sabbath day. While in Betanzos we had that problem a ton, and one day we
heard a talk by Elder Bednar that said to focus on the doctrine--that we should
use the doctrines of the gospel to help people solve problems. So we decided
that people should learn or understand better the doctrine of the Sabbath Day
instead of us just nagging them to always come to church.
Jueves/Thursday we went to Satelite (another area in Potosi)
to do a baptismal interview for the elders there. It was my first time
interviewing, and it was pretty fun. We visited a hermana named Santusa. She is
mas o menos (more or less) active but super awesome. She is going through lots
of problems so we shared 2 Nephi 24:3 with her and her kids. That night we had
a Noche Misional (Mission Night) at the church. It’s an activity the elders do
to invite investigators and members to have fun and get to know each other
better. My comp and I taught a little lesson from Alma 7:9-12 and Moroni
10:32-33. We taught about how much we need Christ in our lives. How much he
loves us and sacrificed for us and that we should remember Him and focus more
on Him every day. Then we played a big group game, and it was super fun.
Viernes/Friday we had district meetings in the morning.
After lunch we visited a kid named Melvin. He is 10 yrs. old and comes to
church, normally alone, but really wants to be baptized and his parents are
like “ya I guess so.” He is awesome though and planning to be baptized this
coming Sabado/Saturday. We also visited the Flia Castro (Castro family). They
are a super funny mas o menos active family. They love mate and the Hermano said
he would make us materos (like the cup that you mate from). He said he would
make us ones from cactus. He like loves cactuses, and I hope he actually does
it because it would be awesome. We also ate pata de vaca (foot of cow) which
was kind of goofy, hahaha, not super good.
Sabado/Saturday morning we went and did service, helping a
less active member move stuff from his restaurant to his house. After that we
went out to Betanzos. I loved that :) We cleaned the baptismal font and then
had lunch with Hna Georgette and her mom. In the afternoon we had the baptism
of Yoselin. We visited with her and her mom a bit before and then had the baptism.
I love baptisms and the super strong Spirit that I always feel. We are planning
to go one day each week out there, so I’m excited. We both walked around in our
abarcas (sandals) and with our scriptures in our awayos (knapsack) and loved
it. Hahaha.
Domingo/Sunday all four of us (the elders in Cerro Rico ward)
gave talks. I shared a little about myself and then Omni 1:26 and Mosiah 3:17.
I love talking about Christ and teaching about Him and why we need Him so much
and should do the things He and His Father ask us to do, because Christ
sacrificed everything for us and doesn’t really ask that much of us. The ward
Cerro Rico is pretty good, and we got to sit in on the elder’s quorum class
instead of teaching class. The teacher is super good and taught about knowledge
and why we need to gain knowledge and intelligence and not just be ignorant. It
was a super awesome class. In the afternoon we visited a few families. One of
which was the Flia Magne, the grandma is super funny and sweet. We read Alma
12:33-34 and discussed the things we need to do to enter into the rest or peace
that God has to offer us. It was also San Juan (some holiday). It’s the longest
night of the year (so normally the coldest night of the year), so the tradition
is to have big fires and light off tons of fireworks and eat hotdogs. Hahaha. I
don’t know why. We went to our pension’s house and played with fireworks and
ate hotdogs and such. It was fun. I miss campouts and just sitting around the
fire. That’s about all for this week.
It’s been fun being with a gringo comp.
Elder Waldvogel is awesome, and we get along great and work crazy hard. We were
super tired the entire week but happy because we got a lot done. There is still
quite a bit of Quechua here in Potosi, and I love talking with the people in
Quechua. It’s not as much as in Betanzos but better than nothing. It’s very
cold, and the sun doesn’t get in our house so our house is always freezing cold
and never warms up (like during the day). We read a quote this week in some
missionary book that said, “When you have a year as a missionary, work like you
have a month left. When you have a month left, work like you still have a year
left.” It was pretty funny because that’s exactly the setting we are in. I have
about a year left as a missionary and my comp only has a month. Haha. We are
working like crazy though and loving every second of it out here.
Les amo
mucho!!
Elder
Sorensen