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