Loving and Lifting

This week was a great week! It was amazing to Skype to family and talk with everyone! I hope you all had a great week! For Christmas we had to cancel one of our dinner appointments with a member due to some events that we could not control but that wasn't too bad. We spend Christmas dinner helping a less fortunate family prepare a Christmas meal and have a nice night. Even though it was't a traditional Christmas it was very memorable and easily my favorite one yet! The family we spent time with is a less active family that has their struggles but they are trying to change for the better. I have never had a more enjoyable Christmas than this one spent serving the Lord and doing his work. I have also come to personally find out that serving him is one of the best ways to remember him as long as it is done in the proper manner. This past eight months have been some of the most rewarding and challenging time I have had. 

The thing that made this Christmas most memorable was mostly spending it helping others. Though most of the time was spent attempting to talk to who were people quickly walking to their Christmas destination and having no luck with it or helping other people it brought more joy to our lives and the lives of others (maybe more annoyance than joy right now for the random people we talked to on the street :) In he awkward situations in all this an interesting paradox is found which our Mission president talked about during the all mission Christmas conference we had on the 22nd. He talked about the paradoxes of discipleship. One of them (they are all seen int he life of Jesus Christ) is the famous paradox of finding oneself while losing oneself.  This is something that I have come to love in my life. Service is something that we can all do. My personal thoughts on this is that The Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in helping other we will not be ale to reach our full potential. Men are that they might have joy and helping others is one of the few things that gives joy to both parties and helps out both parties. 

Though it can be hard to find time to do this. With all the things that we have to do in life it's hard to carve out some time to help someone! Though our Savior was the prime example of this. While we might not go about healing the sick in the same ways as he did we can still help the sick, the comfortless or the needy even if it means just giving them a call. 

While we can't help everyone the church was provided a means to help people that you can't see! Fast offerings are an amazing way to feed people in need. 

Though as you might notice this doesn't answer the question of how will we find time to give service. As the parable of the good Samaritan shows service is not necessarily something that comes when we want it too, at times when it's easy or when we have free time. I imagine the life of Jesus Christ. His life was very important and he new that he could not waste time. He had many important things to do! Set up his church, teach this hard headed people, and deal with the pharisees! Despite the fact that he probably had the worlds largest TO DO list he lived a life of service. (though this is not to say that he neglected things just to look at it from a different point of view) It's the calling of every member of the church to give service in some way. Don't neglect it! Always keep him in mind and look out for times to serve! I know you will find life in more abundance! It's a promise from the Lord!

“Whosoever will save his life shall lose it,” the Savior taught, “but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:24).

No one was beneath the Savior’s notice or too low for Him to reach out to. Just as the Savior did we love and lift others.

Heavenly Father knows our unique abilities, circumstances, and desires, and He knows how we can use them to bless others. As we draw closer to Him and seek His direction, He will help us know whom, where, and how to serve.

Thanks for everything!!!!!

-Elder Sorensen

- I couldn't fit all 15 bags of chips so two had to do! Thanks for all the love from everyone!

-Things we made for some of our amis.

A Canadian Christmas

Sadly this week I was sick for most of the week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with lots of goodbyes because Elder Pryor was going home and Thursday to now I have been sick. So it's been a slow week. Going 100 miles per hour then to 0 miles per hour leaves you rather board when you are sitting at your desk studying for the 6th hour in a row... thankfully we were able to get some missionary work done and get some lessons in. That's why 'it'snowfun' (it's-no-fun) HA! anyway cheesy puns aside.

So the missionaries in this area have been working with a family for a long time. It's a family that has had a hard time but they are great. In this past transfer I have seen a fair amount of growth and it has been such an amazing experience. They are not your typical LDS family but I look forward to our lessons twice a week not because of the smell of smoke (They are making some good efforts to stop and are starting the 12 steps to addiction recovery), the random topics that come up due to ADD or the family fights in the middle of the lessons. It's how much they are will to change and work on everything despite all the hard times that they are going though. i'ts amazing to help people along the their path! Loving the mission life!!

Borscht and roofs!

Bonjour,

Things are still going along just fine here in the small town Quebec. Things are still rolling along. Despite that this town is twice the size of Talent it has less things to do (Don't ask me how...) but the member here are great. So the work is still going along. 

Still a quiet week but last Saturday we had a fun time doing some service. A member found out that his roof had a leak so with a slight break in the weather we spend a day and re-did his roof. The work wasn't too bad over all. No one got hurt. We had some lessons planned but they all randomly canceled last minute... So we ended up helping take down and re shingle up the roof. They had only a couple people helping so if we were not there the roof would not have been finished for the next batch of rain. 

We had a Russian meal called Borscht. It's basically Russian stew. It has a whole cabbage, beets, turnips, onions, carrots, beef and a little bit of sour cream.. It's basically beet soup. Though the Russian family said they would eat it all the time back in Russia but now they put more beef in it because they have more money now. It was surprisingly good. At first it was rather scary looking. I'll put a picture of it at the end

Also we have a new Christmas initiative and I hope that you have heard of it!  

https://www.mormon.org/christmas 

If the missionaries in your area have not given you any then ask for a couple pass-along cards I'm sure that they will be more than happy to give you some! In our little branch we talked about it in the 3rd hour and put out around 60 cards and everyone took them to handout! So my challenge is to ask for a couple and pass them out! You don't really have to talk about anything awkward just say here is a cool video I found about Christmas I think you would enjoy it! I have already seen some amazing work done here from just that!

 

Don't have a lot of time! Thank you!

Don't forget to look at the site yourself! It really cool and the videos are amazing!

-Elder Sorensen.

Bur, Thanksgiving!

Things are starting to get rather cold here. It has snowed some more though not a lot yet. Thankfully. The days are getting shorter but that's all expected. Nothing major to talk about. It was a rather slow week. How was Thanksgiving?! We were going to make our own little thanksgiving meal but a none member investigator randomly invited us over for dinner that night! They are Quebecois of (course) so they did not know about American thanksgiving BUT they randomly decided to have a full chicken (Not quite a turkey but what ever), mashed potatoes, gravy, and some other vegetables. Very random but super cool! So the next day we had are own little thanksgiving dinner (but we had chicken again because a whole turkey was too much money) Aside from that everything was built up for a rather regular week. 

I sent off something last week. Though our P-day was changed because we had Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday. It's a little odd here because the Quebecois have a lot of pride in Not being a Canadian because they are very much Quebecois. So basically no one does anything during that holiday. Some Canadians that are just living in Quebec will group together, shoot off some fire works and have a big meal. Though one American family that wanted to embrace Canada had thanksgiving during the Canadian time and invited us. It was rather strange having it this early but it was very nice. No one here puts up thanksgiving decorations though and that was a bit of a bummer. They do have Halloween here so those decorations make up for that.

Our teaching pool of amis (investigators in French. It's shorter in French) has dropped a little due to some baptisms, people moving and some churches preaching that Mormons are of the devil but we had a really cool experience! With our extra time we have been doing service at the Amrée du Salut  (Don't remember the English version but they have them in the US). Every Wednesday, Jeudi, and Friday we go to serve food to people in need and last Sunday we served them a special meal for Canada's Thanksgiving. We have been giving service there for a while now and it is an amazing opportunity to contact! It's about the only way to effectively talk to people here because they do not like to talk about religion except when we render service. Then they will open up a little . When we were cleaning up last Sunday after the meal a random person came up to us and said that he had talked with the missionaries on the street before and wasn't interested at the time but he was so impressed at how we were giving service so often he decided that he would talk to us now. He even said that he wanted to start meeting with us! That's unheard of here! We did not have a lot of time to talk with him before we were sweped away do continue working so we ended up not getting his contact info! We were bummed but we knew we would see him the following Wednesday so we could get it then. The next day we were in the middle of companionship studies and a formerly less active family that we had been working with a lot called us up and said that she had a friend that was currently at her house asking a lot of questions about the church. We jumped in the car and whipped on over as fast as we could without going over the overly cautious speed limit that these narrow street have and when we got into the apartment here was this guy that we had talked to before! He said he was just over because the members son (I'll call him Léo for now) invited him over after school. After we talked with him for a while he said that he had been praying for the Lord to help him and he had been looking for a church. He thought that we were not interested in him because we did not ask to meet with him so when he found out that Léo went to church he started asking questions not knowing that he was LDS also. When we came in he was very exited! It just goes to show how following the commandments of our heavenly father, even when they are not the basic 10 commandments can really help! So I ask you, when was the last time you gave service?! It's something that Elder Utchdorf (of which I'll talk on next time) talked a little about during the first talk of general conference. It's a basic that we can't ignore. Even though we had some extra time on our hands we still had to make room for service. I challenge you to find some more time to give service even if it is only a little bit. Even though we had a little extra time the mission life is still busy and it was hard at first to make room to do it. We had to sacrifice some time that we could have set up some more member missionary mission plans or done a whole host of other things but we knew that charity is important and that we needed to carve out more time to serve other just as our example in life, the very person that we have promised to be like, Jesus Christ did. I know that through that you can really open the windows of Heaven even more and find more of that Christ like love for everyone that we must have! We all live busy lives but just as it says in the ever famous 1 Nephi 3:7 we can do it because our heavenly Father will make it possible. 

Transfer, From late September

We has another funeral last Saturday for a newly baptized (Baptized in March) women who passed away from cancer. I along with my companion were asked to be the Paul Bearer for the service (even though she was cremated but that was a neat experience) . It was a very well done service.   Also last Saturday we had transfer calls  I'm staying here in Sherbrooke still which is awesome. It should start looking very pretty here soon due to fall approaching. I'm starting to pick up on some Spanish already which is awesome! It should not be too long till I'm able to contact in Spanish. French is still coming along. That's about it for me everything is still going well!

The Sherbrooke city hall, an image of the county side, and my view out our window.

-Elder Sorensen

I will get him help, I promise

Well Erik went off into the world and gave in to temptation! Here is a picture of him drinking maple syrup - like an Oregon sailor - straight from the tree. Who wants to see how straight of a line he can walk in?

Temple!

Well, continuing my trend as most behind big sister EVER, here are some pictures from Erik from the end of August. He and his companions had the opportunity to get a peak at the Montreal Temple while it was under construction. Cheers!

Hatley

This week was not very eventful. Just regular missionary work. I eat about twice as much as my companion does which was a bit of a shock for him.

Before a dinner appointment we scheduled some time to go Port-a-port (knocking) we got cursed at in french but thankfully I had no idea what he was saying. My companion just said thanks for you time and we left. No success on that though. 

This Saturday we went out to a section in my area that we almost never go to. North Hatley. It`s a beautiful area! I`ll have some pictures. 

Had a cool experience contacting! We were out contacting because an appointment fell through. We were out walking down a hill and my companion said that it was my turn to talk to the next person we come across. I saw someone walking up the hill and started thinking about what to say in french. Way before we got close enough to start talking to him he yelled out to us: `Hey! Are you the missionaries?!` I look at my companion in a confused manner then we both greeted him as he rushed up to talk to us. It turns out he was a former investigator that had to stop taking the lessons because he did not have anymore free time between school and two jobs. We don`t have any records on him for some reason but my companion had heard of him and new that he lived on the other side of the city. We still don`t know why he was on this side of the city but clearly it was meant to be! So cool how things work out like that! I know this is the Lord`s work! Loving it here! Hope everything is still going well!

A long lost letter from earlier in Erik's mission!

Due to the history of the Catholic church in Quebec most people have a strong dislike for any religion or they are die-hard Catholics. When some one is finally ready to let us teach them one of the main stumbling blocks is why they have to attend an organized religious event every week. We have three people that had a problem with this. Marin, an inactive, stopped going to church several years ago and it was just recently that she decided to let the missionaries come and teach her. Peter, another inactive, stopped coming to church in 2008 and started smoking and drinking again. He also, recently let the missionaries come and teach him. Valli, an investigator, has everything down but church attendance. In the last week they all have taken large steps to follow the commandments. Marin stopped drinking wine again (apparently Quebec is very similar to France in that they LOVE wine), Peter gave up alcohol/smoking, and Valli is praying,reading/studying everyday.  Thought they just did not see the need to go to church. Elder Ritz and I were trying to think what they were missing and what we needed to teach them. As we sat pondering I thought back to a challenge that my MTC teacher (Frere Davis) gave us during are first week. His challenge was simple and one that a lot have people have heard of. It was to go to church with a question in mind with the intent of finding an answer. Excitedly I told my companion that I thought we should teach all three of them about getting personal revelation through church attendance. He look at me and said that was exactly what he was thinking! After We taught that lecon we only had Peter committed to come to church and we were a little bummed out because we felt really strongly that they needed that lesson. We continued with daily contact and when Saturday came around there was no change. On the drive to church my Elder Ritz had the impression to call Marin and Valli. We called Marin and no one was there. We called Valli and no one was there but we left a message asking how he was doing and if he has thought/prayed about coming to church. When fast and testimony meeting was about to start and we turned around one last time  and we saw Marin in the back seats! She ended up baring her testimony and she said that has not felt this calm for a long time! After the meeting we found out that she decided to try "try out this revelation thing again" by coming to church and she she said that the only reason she did not answer are call was because she was driving to church! Both Peter and Marin said that they found answers to their question and they said that they can't wait to come back to church again! Later that day Valli left a message saying that he really wanted to come to church but he was out of town for school (He's in the last step for getting his masters in micro engineering) and after the Soeur's had a lesson with him they told us that he was actually really exited to come to church! If you haven't started doing this already I challenge you to go to church with a question and to write both the question and the answer down. I know you will get an answer as long as you do it with faith and hope! 

I have more to say but not enough time! It takes longer to type on these strange key boards! I know this is the Lords work! I hope everything is going well!

-Elder Sorensen

Spreading the word to Narnia

It was a very `low key`week here.. We went over the allotted miles we get each month last month so we have been doing a lot of walking. This has been great because it has lead to some amazing (Also some very strange) experiences street contacting.. It was a slow week this week. We had a lot of lessons canceled for various reasons which has lead to more walking and contacting. Some people here are surprisingly anti religious so trying to talk to people on the streets is almost nonexistent. It`s an area that really depends on member missionary work.  

The mission President is coming down to the ward for a special Fireside on `Pioneer missionary work`. He`s been really impressed with Sherbrooke so we have a long fireside planned. The set up is rather humorousness. Most of the times the firesides here are held like a regular church meeting in the same room. The ward mission leader wants to take the fireside as literal as possible. They want to have it `beside a fire` but they are not willing to go out side... So their making a fake fire and placing it in the middle of the gym at the church, placing tents all around and having hot dogs to give it a camping feel like what they imagine a literal fire side would be like. When I told them that I have had firesides beside a fire they were very surprised.  They were not willing to go out side for this `fireside though`. That was too much I suppose! The whole set up is rather funny to me but it will be a very serious and spiritual fireside. Pres. Patrick doesn't do things like this often and he is very good at teaching with the spirit. The zone training's are amazing so we know that this could be something special!

Walking from a lesson we went into a park to get a drink of water and along the way we saw a random light pole in the woods so naturally this picture followed. Going to Narnia!

Everything is fine! 

-Elder Sorensen

First transfer

1st transfer done! Woot, woot! Only many, many more to go. 

Also went through my first exchange. It was a two hour drive to get to the other Elders and everything that was planned for that day was canceled. We did get to do some service done sorting old food for the needy. We sorted peppers. I have never seen SO MANY PEPPERS in my life. Seriously I wish I would have taken a picture! We spend about 1 hour and a half sorting edible and none edible peppers and we did not finish. It was great service and I wish we had a similar place in Sherbrooke! After we had a DA with a great amis. The rest of the day was just port a port and contacting. It wasn't bad all in all though!

We had a great Zone training! President Patrick is great!  We have a weekly news later here called the Trumpet in which we get mission news, goals, reports, and other similar things. A letter in the Trumpet titled `The Vision to Baptize` came out = almost a year before I showed up. Elder Ritz showed it to me the week that I got here and we have been thinking about the `Vision to Baptiste` and how we felt that we needed to start applying it to are actions in Sherbrooke. Then last week in the Trumpet Pres Patrick said that we were going to talk about The Vision to Baptize in the next Zone Training! We were so exited! It was an amazing training! The spirit was very strong!

The next day I had terrible allergies. Following that day I was very sick. Thankfully it only lasted for a day but it was on the Fourth of July so that was lame.Not that they celebrate The 4th in Quebec but we planned on doing some intense barbecuing that day but it had to but canceled. Thought Saint-John the Baptist day was several weeks ago and Canada day was on the first so we did see some fireworks. Saint-John the Baptist day is basically Quebec's 4th of July. They had a ton of singing in the park near by on that day (they don`t know how to sing here. It`s all done through the nose...). They didn't really celebrate Canada day here thought. That`s Quebec for ya!!

I hope everything is going well! Keep to the faith!

-Love Elder Sorensen

Greenie!

Here are some pictures from Erik's time in the MTC.

The picture below is one that Erik took in Quebec shortly after he arrived. Apparently only moments after he took the photo he got caught in a wild rain storm! But he has assured me that getting the picture was worth getting soaked. :)