Montréal, it's a jungle out there.

It was a better week. We had splits with the Zone Leaders so we were in Montréal for a day and a half. We had to drive up in the middle of a storm but thankfully it wasn't too bad. The zone Leaders Locked their keys in their car during our split... We were waiting for road service when someone came up and asked if he could help. He then took out a slim jim and a wedge and broke into the car... SUPER SKETCH! After thanking him we were off. He was a nice guy but wasn't interested in the gospel. I wonder why? =)

Aside from that it was a regular week. The storm brought snow then rain. We had to shovel a lot of heavy slush. Thankfully it wasn't a major ice storm. Still waiting for that one. 

Our recent convert is finally starting to get interested in Genealogy! Before she was just getting involved because she new that she had to for her ancestors. Now it's a combination of the two. Total answer to my prayers! I just wish we could find some golden investigators! 

Thanks for everything!!

30 Below

Another rough week. I was sick last Tuesday and Wednesday. I was in the apartment with my winter coat for a while but thankfully it didn't last too long. That Thursday we went into Montreal again (They should just send me on Island we are going back tomorrow for a day) for a Zone training and interviews with President Patrick. In the Zone training President Patrick quoted the latest Start Wars movie. He was talking about how to listen to the spirit and teaching with it. The quote was from Han Solo saying "That's not how The Force works"  but replacing the word 'The Force' with 'The Holy Ghost'. That was the high light of the week.Anyway the interview was great.. We talked about Star Wars for the first five minutes (he brought it up not me) then we quickly transitioned into the real stuff. Don't worry, Pres Patrick is great and is very serious. Most of the time. 

We did a lot of service due to the fact that it was super cold this week. It makes contacting really interesting. The Town becomes a ghost town after 12:00 o'clock. No ones was outside. On the bright side it makes knocking actually effective for getting in their door. We just take our hood off before we knock and by the time they open the door (just a small crack and all you can see is one eye) we look frozen. They either tell us that we will get sick like this (hmm...) or they let us in because they feel bad. We don't get too far when we get in though. It's easier to share the first message but return dates don't hold. 

Our recent convert Anna was just called to teach primary. We wont have to teach as much now but we will be helping out for a while till she is used to everything. She's still doing great.

We have been starting to work with a less active recently. His name is Clement. We finally got into his house last week. He's super smart and loves to talk. Especially about neuroscience, sociology, physics, astrophysics, and religion. So basically a copy of me except he's less-active and is mildly autistic. He loves technology so we told him about the church app 'gospel library' to get the conversation rolling into something more important. After many side conversations (all related to some degree to the main topic) 30 minutes we got it on his iPad. Then we spent 15 minutes using it. He loves it!! Lessons are always hard because he's mildly autistic (It's like talking to some one who has ADD but he trains on and on about side topics instead) so we have to try and keep it gospel related. At the end of what you might call a lesson, we asked him if we could leave with a word of prayer. He didn't want to choose who so he told us to do rock paper scissors to find out who would say it. After coming up with the same thing three times in a row we looked at him and said :clearly we aren't supposed to say it, will you? So he did. Totally unplanned but thankfully it worked out.  Probably one of his first prayers in a while. After he looked up and said "I know I need to come to church." It was like music to our ears!! Completely worth the hour plus spent with him. 

We each have a work to do. If we strive to be where we should be each day then we can do that work. It's so rewarding to relies that your in the right place in the right time! No matter what situation we are in we can help someone else. Heavenly father knows us and what we are able to do. If we strive to have the Holy Ghost with us we will be able to do that work! As a missionary that's just about all we think about, being in the right place at the right time, saying the right thing to the right person. It sounds pretty hard but all we have to do is have the Holy Ghost, know what we need to do and do it. It's tough and takes practice but it's so rewarding. Though that's why we are here on earth right? Fight the good fight. Take the higher road. “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

The prophet Mormon said “For we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.” The early Church leaders and pioneers of the past pressed forward with heroic courage and determined faithfulness to establish the restored gospel and build temples where ordinances of exaltation could be performed. We must also press forward in faith, “to labor in the Lord’s vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.” Gordon B. Hinckley taught “How magnificent will be the future as the Almighty rolls on His glorious work … through the selfless 'service' of those whose hearts are filled with love for the Redeemer of the world.” Don't stop the daily fight! The Lord loves you!

Thanks for everything! 

Another week done. We finally got in contact with Alexis one of our investigators. Turns out he was in the hospital for a while and that's why we couldn't get in contact with him.  He's basically ready but he just can't get a ride to church. He lives an hour away from the building. It's a little sad that no one is willing to go and get him every other week. Though a lot of the people here don't have cars and need rides anyway for the winter. We also don't have many members in this branch and the ones that can drive are picking people up. Aaah perks of living in the middle of no were! Thankfully on the good side Alexis (Pronounced AlexE because he's a guy not a girl) is doing great! Like I said before he's ready for baptism. We went over the importance of the sabbat and how he can do a little more to make his Sundays devoted and a set apart. He was able to get Sundays off from work!! It made me wonder how hard we are working to set apart to the lord our Sunday. I never thought of how tough it would be if I was the only one around that believed in the same things that I did. It really is a blessing to be able to go to church once a week and partake of the sacrament!

The next big thing that happened was Anna (the investigator) really made a great strive to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! She read about 90 pages!! that was easily the high light of the week! Beats the fresh baked Quebecois flat cinnamon roles with maple syrup easily!! She's on track for her baptism on the 26th of March. She had only two questions from her reading. It was which church is 'the devils' church and why it has described with such terrible feminine words 1 Nephi 14: 9 and 10. Thankfully I remember my Dad talking about those very verses so I was able to respond without a problem. I had to stumble through some french vocabulary that I haven't used before but it worked out. Sadly she didn't come to church this Sunday (she was out of town) but were working with her on that!

So glad I have this occasion to help the diverse people of Quebec! It's easily been the most rewarding time of my life! I hope that you all can find some time to serve your fellow brothers and sisters! It's one of the most rewarding ways to spend time!

Driving about to some other towns and townships I was able to find a cool old windmill!

Keep on working hard! Thanks for everything!

This week was a little rough but all in all it wasn't too bad. Man I love being a missionary but its not easy. 

Yannick and Marielle dropped us last week. They said they did not have time anymore... Such an annoying phrase. Both of them work all day and they have a new born but still. We had a great first two lessons but they just didn't keep any of their commitments. thankfully another door opened up (HA! tracting joke!) and we were able to restart teaching an old investigator and start teaching her room mate. their names are Anna (Just about everyone here is named Anna or some version of Anna which really strange) and Marianna (point proven). We went into the lesson with our branch mission leader (An awesome member of the church. He's just epic.) intending on teaching Marianna and her family. Her family wasn't there but Anna was (Not our recent convert Anna) Anyway due to time I have to cut it short. Basically they have a baptism date and we have another lesson tomorrow. So despite being dropped by two people we found two other people.

So we teach primary in our little branch which is interesting but great! We had a great lesson on the tree of life! I'm amazed at all the none missionary things I'm learning on my mission! (aside from things like living on your own/staying with my companion all the day long for two years) Like parenting. 

Anyway, the internet isn't loading and our P-day was messed up. We were moving someone so our only time we had for emails was right now for about 20 minutes. We 

sorry!! I'll have to respond later to everything later!

"The field is white..."!! :)

The Proper Penguin Padding

Have you had a good taste of snow? I heard that the US was hit with two snow storms. We received about 1 cm from 'the storm'... Though the wind has been pushing cars of the auto root.

So it's tradition for the Quebecois to send the guest home with desserts when someone comes over. Lets just say that missionaries are not an exception.  For a prime example last night we were given a two layered chocolate cake. It's been really nice but terrible at the same time. Quebec desserts mostly consist of maple and other forms of pure sugar. I now understand how they get through winters here...Extra padding... Lets just say the only thing we buy for food is vegetables. I understand why they push morning workout in this mission... :)

Anyway, the World Wide Mission Conference was great! it had all the usual faces for missionary work. Members of the 12 etc etc. it was entitled Teach repentance and baptize converts. We had a Zone training after focusing on the same things that the broad cast did but in more detail. it's was one of the last Zone training's with Pres. Patrick. WOW he's awesome! His grasp of the gospel is outstanding. Lets just say we are all waiting for him to be called into the 12. Anyway he leaves around July and we get our new Mission President. The new one is from Meridian Idaho by the last name of Phillips. 

This week was rather slow. More finding and going to Montréal a ton (the wind makes that interesting especially with traffic and the wind is pushing the car on a bridge). We are starting to get Anna (our recent convert) into Family History so she can do baptisms for her ancestors. She's great!!! 

So our Branch President had us over for supper. We found out he is a really good artist (he showed us some of his pieces and I though it was a picture at first) and sells his work on the side. He's also randomly a body builder. He invited us to go ice fishing some P-day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that! That would be sweet! 

Everything is fine here in the 'great white(ish) north' !

Keep the faith! Don't give up!!

Thanks!

-Elder Sorensen

Happiness

So it was a really cool week! The main investigator that we have been teaching was baptized! It was an amazing experience! She brought he daughters with her and one of them is starting to get interested. We had a member preform the baptism and we gave her the gift of the Holy Ghoston Sunday. One of the investigators that I found and taught the lessons to in my last area was baptized also! He was gone for several months so it had to wait (some family problems in Europe) though as soon as he got back he was baptized. It's a 4 hour drive to my old area so Pres. said that I con't go over for it but none the less it amazing! The recent convert that we had been bringing along to our lessons was able to preform the baptism which is great for both of them and that was our plan! 

So the couple that we have recently been teaching have accepted baptism! We are shooing forMarch 26th (that's about how long it takes for everything) Sadly Yannick smokes but we found out something really cool! We were asking what they expected from us and Marielle said that they were having a big fight one night. It was about how everything just wasn't the way it used to be. They wanted it all to go back to how it was when they first came together. They wanted to re-find that happiness. After the argument Yannick had said a prayer asking for a sign on how they could find that happiness that was missing. Not a minute had passed when they heard a knock at the door and we came in. It really explains why they were so willing to let us in at first.  

This had been such an amazing experience! I'm so thankful that I have this opportunity to help others! There is so much joy in living the life that we know we should live! I love the talk by Elder Utchdorf from the last general conference entitled "It works wonderfully!" The title really says it all though I particularly enjoy this quote:

"Exaltation is our goal; discipleship is our journey."

It makes me think of our purpose here on earth. We all know 2 Nephi 2 verse 25, "... men are, that they might have joy.". That exaltation or that happiness is what we are working for. I enjoy how these two quotes work together especially the last part of elder Utchdorf's quote. "... discipleship is our journey." We all know the things that we must be doing and by doing those things we can find joy in life despite the hard blows and persistent pestering of life. Despite all of the hardships we have we can and must find happiness. The pioneers are a great example of this for oblivious reasons. As the church was pushed west by mobs and as their efforts to have Temple worship were extinguished, they still found joy. I know that they church is true! Keep the faith! Thanks for everything!!

-Elder Sorensen

It seems I still have the cursed 'Sorensen awkward picture' genetics...        

The deadly stair case and a New Companion

Salut! Only two big things this week. One of our investigators had her baptismal interview this last Saturday and she is on course for her baptism this Saturday. President Patrick had to interview her. He basically said that she is more prepared for baptism than most people are. She has been doing behold great. She didn't start out as a golden investigator but she has come a long way. Though she is a little scared about how she is going to find a husband now but she is taking it all with faith.

We have been doing some more finding for a while. It hasn't been a lot but is needed. The mission has been putting a large focus and doing more finding. Thankfully we had a nice break this week. Around 7:00 pm we were walking the streets talking to people and going door to door. We went up a set of stairs to get to a second floor door outside (super old stair case, really thin metal, covered in ice and the hand railings were falling off) and as soon as we knocked on the door, two people down stairs at another door suddenly appear and asked us something in lighting fast Quebecois. We tried to reply but we were far too cold to try and speak to them from such a distance. So we slowly traversed the ancient ice glazed stair case. When we got down before we could get half of our introduction out from our frozen jaws, they said that we would meet them up stairs in their apartment. So we gladly turned back up the little stair case. When we got to the top we realized that these tiny european styled stairs aren't meant for four people... They were coming up so we couldn't go back down...To accommodate them we had to lean over the railing so they could unlock the door and as we were doing this we could feel it all bending down and the occasional crack from the ice... Thankfully it didn't fall down and we were able to get inside. After warming up our mouths with some small talk we started into the first lesson. They seemed to take it well and we have a return appointment made for this Wednesday. 

Everything is going along as usual. It's not too cold yet but the wind chill makes it killer. -15 Celsius, feels like -25 C...  Thankfully no one has said too much about the star wars movie. We help teach primary in the 3rd hour so I've had some close calls.

 I hope everything is going well! Thank you!

-Elder Sorensen

I found a new companion. He's used to the cold weather. ;) 

It's could be hard to tell who it is but it's Olaf. He's been in the sun for a while.

Baking, missionary liaison rules, World Wide Mission training and 30cm.

So this week was rather slow though it wasn't too bad. Most of our lessons were canceled due to the new year celebrations. Also most of the people we teach are females and we couldn't find a single member to come with us for most of the appointments. Super lame but that seemed to be fluke for that week. That was rather lame though that left us time for some much needed contacting. 

Random side story. Several weeks ago some one that we rendered some service to gave us too many apples from their small fruit farm. So I made an apple pie... It wasn't too bad except for the fact that I set the fire alarm off... Thankfully it was just because I did not put the crust on too well causing it to fall off in the oven and burn. The pie it's self tested fine and wasn't burned. 

There is going too be a World Wide mission training this January on the 20th. We don't know much about it but we have a study schedule leading up to it. I'm guessing it wont be anything too amazing. Though it is still pretty cool. 

We had a lot of snow this week, 30 cm at once, so we did a lot of snow shoveling. on top of that it snowed everyday. Finally! Snow! Best contacting ever! My back is feeling it but we received new mattress so that helps a lot. It's finally getting cold, the high today was -16, and the snow is still coming. Thankfully we haven't had a bad ice storm but the weather man has been threatening for one almost as bad as the worst one Quebec has seen. So we have been dodging the bullet here (or should I say the snow ball?Ha!)  

We have a baptism coming up for the 16th! It was been a long time since This area has had a baptism so this will be good. Her name is Anna and she has been taking the lessons for a while. It has been almost a year since her first lesson. She dropped the missionaries way back when but she recently accepted us to come back. She has a pretty cool story though it's a little strange. Basically through her dad she found a company called Zija that makes special plant based products that helps your body. Anyway that changed her life and she is convinced that that was God sent because that's what got her into the church. Apparently the company is headed by mostly members. She is great! Aside from the slightly strange super plant deal, she is really committed to everything. She heard about tithing a bit but after the lesson she agreed to live the law just out of faith. She basically said that she could feel the holy Ghost in the lesson so she new it must be the right thing to do even if she did not like the idea to much. So awesome because her income is small and she still has a 16 year old daughter. Anyway time is short! Thanks for everything! Lots of pictures this week.

-Elder Sorensen