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| Yoselin's Baptism: E. Waldvogel, Yoselin's Mom, Yoselin, and E. Sorensen |
Anyways, last domingo/Sunday we both weren’t feeling well,
and then martes/Tuesday we both weren´t feeling very well at all. We went to
our reunions/meetings in the morning and had a good class from our district
leader, and then we gave a class to the whole zone about Matthew 4 and how we
can be more like Christ and turn outwards and help others instead of helping
ourselves, even when we are really tired or suffering. I am trying to make that
the motto of my mission, and I love studying and learning more about Christ and
His perfect character. After the reuniones/meetings, we went to lunch and then
out and looked for a few people. However, we didn’t find many, and my stomach
was bothering me pretty good so we went home and died. Hahaha.
Mièrcoles/Wednesday we woke up and felt a little better. We
visited Hna Susana. She is the less active member who has lots of problems. We
read Alma 11 a bit with her and talked about how we need to love God more than
money and other things. Later we visited with Jhonathan. He is like 20 or so
and less active but kind of wants to come back to church and help his family do
the same. We had a really good talk with him getting to know him and then we
read Moroni 7. I love that chapter and especially the last several verses that
teach us how we can become more like Christ and eventually just like Him. We
also visited the Flia Ala (an investigator family) and read a little from Alma
32 and talked about faith. They are really good and love listening to us but don’t
really want to change much. So we explained how faith requires action and we
need to be constantly doing things to increase our faith and keep it growing.
We also visited a less active family. The dad´s name is Edwin, and he served a
mission in California so he speaks perfect English and is super funny. We had
lots of fun with him talking and teaching in English. It was a little different
and goofy but fun.
Jueves/Thursday we went and visited with Melvin. He is a 10 year
old kid who was planning to be baptized sábado/Saturday. Well, things kind of fell
apart with him. He told us “a robber” went in his room in the night and went
through all his notebooks and then only took the Book of Mormon. He also said
that he read that “our church” changed the name of Jesus to Jesus Christ and that’s
not right. But he said he burned the book. He also said he has repented from
his desire to get baptized. Hahaha. He said lots of other goofy stuff too, but
the end line was he didn’t want to get baptized. Hahaha. We have heard lots of lies
and goofy excuses from people but so many from a little 10 year-old kid was
pretty crazy. Hopefully it was just a phase and won’t last. He’s a good kid. We
also visited a few other people and had to do several administrative things
(send and receive materials and also send a missionary to Cochabamba for
tramites). We stayed busy but didn’t spend much time in our area that day.
Viernes/Friday we went out to Betanzos and had a good day. I
love Betanzos and miss it lots, so it’s always fun to go out and spend a day
working there. We spent the day visiting the members (actives and less
actives). We visited Hna Daría and later Yoselin and her mom. We also did a
Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with the bishop and his family. He said
there were about 30 members in church Sunday, and there were teachers in
Primary and Jovenes/Youth so that made us pretty happy. We went to the Flia
Estrada and had a good Noche de Hogar with them. We read John 21 and talked
about how we need to love God more than our own desires. We talked about if
Christ was there with us, would our actions match our answer that we love Him?
It was pretty spiritual.
Sábado/Saturday we returned from Betanzos in the morning and
then went to work. We visited Santusa in the afternoon. She is a member and her
husband too, but they are mas o menos activos (more or less active). They want
their daughter to get baptized, so we are teaching her and helping them be more
active. We also did a few things for the zone (like buying food and such for
the zone activity and talking with a dueña/owner about a house contract. That night
we went to the church for the English Connect classes that the missionaries
take turns helping with. Edwin teaches the classes, so its lots of fun.
Domingo/Sunday was awesome. Edwin and his son actually came
to church!! That was awesome! My comp says he has only seen them in church once
in his 6 months here. That was super exciting. We also had several
investigators come to church which, is always awesome. After lunch we went to
the carcel/jail with Hna Susana. Her son is in there, and nobody knows when
they will let him out. (I don’t really know the whole story.) We also went with
this guy named Gabriel (we call him Gabo). He is like a model and TV news guy
and really rich, but he is really nice and helps Hna Susana and her family.
Awesome guy. So anyways, we all went to the carcel to visit Alvaro (Hna
Susana´s son). He is pretty bored and just wants to get out. We talked a lot
with him and really got to know him. We also contacted TONS of people. We were
allowed into like the commons area and while talking with Alvaro, people would
just walk up and ask us to teach them about Dios/God. It was super humbling and
a really cool experience. We are planning to go visit Alvaro and the other
friends we met each domingo. Later we visited the Flia Quispe and we read Ether
2:22-25 and talked about how God wants us to learn to overcome our problems. He
will always help and be there, but He wants us to learn and grow on our own
sometimes. It was an awesome lesson and really spiritual.
Today we got up pretty early and went out to Betanzos (the
entire zone). We went all the way out to the waterfall (that I’ve been to
several times). My comp and I carried a parrilla/grill and meat and such and we
did a parrillada/barbecue out there. It was super fun, and we had a good time.
It was fun showing them around Betanzos and Tecoya, and it was super funny when
people would talk in Quechua to them and they would just be like “¡Sorensen!
What is she saying?!” Haha. It was lots of fun.
That’s about all from our week. We are super tired but happy
to be working in the Lord’s work. I really know this is His work, and He loves
us. I love being a missionary and a representative of Jesus Christ.
Les amo!!
Elder Sorensen
sorensen.tanner@missionary.org
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| The hole I fell through on the bridge in Betanzos. |
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| Families in Betanzos with E. Sorensen |
