November 24, 2014

Family,

Wow what a week. So Wed. the other elders took our truck and from there things were pretty crazy. They were going for an emergency exchange cause one was having health issues but anyways the new one coming thursday couldnt get into Lesotho and so the had to get another kid but we ended up not having a car from Wed. to Sat. so that was crazy walking and taking some of these crazy taxi's for the first time. One of the big taxi's Jena Flagged down and as its pulling over we hear all these girls screaming and we get in and theres like 20 school kids in the back and all these girls were screaming and yelling "white guy" in Sotho! Jena, the taxi, Driver and i were all dying from laughter. One girl even stuck her arm up and asked for my autograph haha it was hilarious, i signed Elder on her arm really crappy. but just worked hard this week and walked alot. but for us we Work hard but when pday comes we Play hard. Later today we are having our Zone Activity which is paintballing and then we are having Thanksgiving at the Couples home. But the best thing of the week we Sunday when we had Stake Conference. It was a DVD shown to all of Africa and had to be literally destroyed after we watched it. It was better than General Conference! The Speakers were Elder Robert C. Gay (70), Jean A. Stevens (1st counselor in the Primary), Elder Bednar, and President Uchtdorf. They were all some of the best talks i have ever heard. they pretty much yelled at Afirca in a kind way some of the time. but they all talked about Bride Price or paying for your wife, tithing, and serving. It was pretty Legit to see Uchtdorf just say "Discontinue Lobola!" they all made some sweet analogies though. Elder Gay told a story of a truck driver that was transporting two Giraffes a few weeks ago here in South Africa. one of the Giraffes was much taller than the other and when the truck driver drove under a bridge the tall Giraffe smacked into the bridge and was killed instantly and when asked later why he wasnt more aware the driver said " Its not my fault they built the bridge so low." so how many of us blame the "bridges"? he also said that if we are too "Busy" for the Lord then we are just B.eing U.nder S.atans Y.oke. i really enjoyed his talk and he say "why must we alway do things the Standard Way?" Jean A. Stevens said that "Africas (and the worlds) future is the the Childern". But then we get to Bednar who is always amazing! He talked about sacrifices and hastening the work. but he said that we dont hasten the Lords work, He Does! Also that in eternity there is no such thing as sacrifice (ex. If we give our life for the gospel then we will gain Eternaly life) but we cant forget that Living for the gospel is more important than dying for the gospel. Uchtdorf was powerful and gave a great story. he said something along the lines of " One day there was church people here in Africa fixing one of the churches many water filtered pumps and next to the pump was a average side pool of stagnant water that had a layer of moss, oil, bugs, and even animal droppings. Then one of the church guys saw two men come with a large empty barrel and began to fill the barrel with the disgusting water. The man then said to the african men if you just wait a few hours the water filter will be fixed and you can have clean clear water to drink, but the African men said our fathers drank this water and their fathers and even the fathers before them, it worked for them and it'll work for us, this water is fine." Uchtdorf then said that most of the traditions passed down muddy and dirty our "water" then we went in to giving it to Africa it was pretty intense haha. He said " Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ is the highest honor for any human being." it was an awesome Stake Conference. Anyways pretty good week. Sunday we got soaked from the ran but it was cool. time is flying and this coming week we got Interviews so im pumped for that. HAPPY THANKSGIVING Everyone!

Love you all tons!

Elder Sorenson

                     Maseru from a mountain.

Riding in a taxi.

Working in the rain.

November 18, 2014

Family,

Sorry this is a day late. Yesterday we had our district activity and we werent able to email but we got permission to come today. Anyways wow this week was fast and pretty crazy now looking back at it. Busy Busy Busy. Wed. i was on exchanges with Elder Doane in Leribe, Lesotho since im the District leader. Leribe is about an hour from where i usually stay so tuesday we ended up exchanging after our Zone meeting. but tuesday night Doane and i stayed up till about 11:30 drawing the Plan of Salvation on this white board that we ended up using Wed. outside the main grocery store in Leribe. While there for the 2 hours we planned we contacted 50 people and got there numbers and addresses so Elder Doane and his comp can increase their teaching pool. it was pretty fun. Saturday i ended up sending the big Christmas Package so keep an eye out and Grandmas gift is still in the process but saturday i had a very neat experience, My First Baptismal interview. I remember Elder Greene telling me that it would be one of the most spiritual experiences you can have on mission.. and it was! and what confirmed to me that it was meant to be was the kid was born the same day and year Ben was, so i thought that was pretty cool. The week just seemed to fly by and Sunday came around so fast but sunday we met with this guy called Marumo and he was a stubborn fruitcake. we talked about the Plan of Salvation and i asked him a pretty simple question (so i thought). i asked " Do you wanna live with your Daughter in heaven?" and this guy had to think for a few min and then finally said yeah i guess so. i was like what the heck... but anyways during that lesson i made a cool analogy. He said he thought his life was going good, he had money and seemed to be happy and since he wasnt doing anything bad he thought he was still a good guy even with out the essentials of the gospel. so i was like, "you know Marumo its like God has given you a Lamborghini and told you to drive a race, you've got such a nice fast car and yet its like you are only sitting in the driveway. Of course atleast sitting in the car is better than not being in it at all." but that anology was made at the very beginning of the lesson and then when we brought up his daughter i told him, " see you might not be driving the Lambo now but whats even worse is your daughter is in the back seat and right now its up to you to help her begin her race and teach her the correct principles she needs to run her race of life." anyways i thought it was pretty quick and a cool anology. Yesterday we went to a waterfall for our activity and it was pretty sweet. its in the middle of no where and its huge but there are no hiking trails down to it so some of us made our own and on the way out we took another route out and i was freaking out. we literally have to rock climb 500 feet out of this huge canyon, Man i thought i was going to die. and while climbing my forearm and hand busted out in hives. who would've know? the one time im ever allergic to anything in my life it would be while scaling a canyon in the Highlands of Lesotho in AFRICA. Crazy stuff but anyways we all made it home safe and now are living in Lesotho and not Ladybrand, South Africa. pretty crazy week and you'll all see from the Pics. Nothing else to special this side besides we tracted this billionare guy that has a peacock but anyways no Biggie.

I hit that one year mark this past week and now im one shirt down but it was worth it and the shirt was trashed anyways. Love you all tons and keep me posted!

LOVE,

Elder Sorenson 

Exchanges with Doane and our sweet Plan of Salvation board.

                    The ONE Year Mark.

 Billionaire we tracted with his sweet house and his Peacock.

                             While Driving i got on this guys horse to get a nice pic.

                       The District Activity.

                        Thats how we DO!

                     The Highlands of Lesotho.

                 My little wounds from the Hike.

November 10, 2014

Family,

Wow what a fast week. time is truly starting to pick up and just in time for my year mark. Things out here in Lesotho are pretty legit and Jena and I are tearing it up. We had 30 total lessons this week with 10 new investigators and 30 contacts which is all 10 more than any other companionship here in Lesotho. Wed. I taught my first DDM and it went well I got a lot on my plate out here as a District Leader. since each of the 4 areas here are all being reopened this transfer after all the civil unrest that was going on and even now President Zackrison wants us out of the country but 6 so it makes things tough but we do what we can. He stuck his neck out to get us in and if something happens he'll be on the next plane home but I love that guy and we are all trying our best to work hard and be safe even though we see NO danger at all. Things for me are good tho im excited to finally get up an over the hump and its weird that i'll have less time left than I have had out since it only feels like I've been out for a few months. but Last Christmas coming up baby im so excited. Jena and I are having a good time together we work hard and tract alot. if we have a tough day we just go to a super rich area and tract and we had a pretty cool experience. We went tracting to this area and were walking past a giant house this car pulled up and a guy gets out wearing True Religion jeans so we went and talked with him for a little and after about 2 or 3 min we could tell he wasn't very interested so right as we were walking away, the huge gate opened and a young lady in her 20's calls to us and was like "hey are you guys LDS?" and we were like what the heck how does this Lesotho girl know that nickname for the church but anyways she invited us in and turns out that lived in Parkcity, Utah for a year then in Florida for 6 years so she has been influenced by the church but bad part is she was just visiting for the weekend, good part is we are now teaching the rest of her family. nothing else really this week. thanks for all you love and support over the past year, ONE MORE TO GO! keep me posted...Love you all so much!

ELDER SORENSON

"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who HUSTLE"

 Our New Ride

 The houses we tract we decided to take a pic with this one since no one was home

Ma France's House (one of our new investigators) everything white in the pic is here house its huge, plus her gates are sweet.

The Pig that was as big as me and was the smaller of the few that were there.

Sportin those Khaki's for Pday.

November 3, 2014

Fam Bam,

Wow this has been one heck of a week. So Tuesday we said bye to everyone in the Newcastle Zone then i headed out with Elder Jena on a 4 hour road trip to a place called Bethlehem where we boarded a bus and drove another 5 hours to Bloemfontein. There i met my comp Elder Agyeman from Ghana and also Elder Brown whose in my group but went to the Provo MTC. Anyways the next day we got to the area and President Zackrison Calls and tells me that we are gonna have to pull a switch since theres an elder having visa trouble so we went back to the boarding for me to pack. then Thursday Elder Jena came back and picked me up and dropped off his comp so now im with Jena and we are Reopening Lesotho after all the stuff that happened here with the government. We stay just outside of the Lesotho border in a place called Ladybrand but we travel in to Lesotho in the morning and then travel out at night. im working in a city called Maseru (i think if you look at a globe you can see the city out it ha) and im the District Leader. Anyways it was pretty funny so thursday we arrived and tried to go through the border and this time the Lesotho border people stopped Jena since it says he over stayed since he didnt stamp out when the evacuated the Elders out of Lesotho 2 months ago. Lesotho it pretty cool, theres the normal tiny block houses but then next door there will be a Giant 3 story mansion. so yesterday Jena and i decided we'd do some door knocking in the big people area and we ended up going to probably the biggest house around with Gates and Walls that look like they belong to the White House but since the gate was open we walked right in. we went up and knocked, a young mother of 2 small children, named France, answered the door, we asked if she had a few minutes that we could share a message with her. She invited us in and as we talked with her she told us that her husband just past away. We assured her that it wasnt by chance that we went her today adn that we have a message that will bring her so much peace and comfort. We briefly explained the plan of salvation, left her a pamphlet and set another appointment since she was very busy. We're going back later this week so we'll see how it goes! Lesotho is a pretty cool and relaxed place, its pretty fun crossing the border everyday but its gonna fill up my Passport quick but we are going to be moving back in soon as soon as Elder Bednar gives President Z the go ahead. I love you all a ton! hope you have a great week. im almost over the one year hump and soon enough i'll be skyping you for Christmas! i love you

Elder Sorenson

Saying bye to the Elders in Newcastle Zone.

Bye to the Madadeni Boarding in a complex called Phoenix

Hello and bye to Elder Brown, Elder Agyeman and Botshabelo after one day.

A sign at the Lesotho border while it poored rain in the first time in 8 months

A members house in Lesotho made out of Tin Cans(African Innovation).

 One page of My Passport after 4 days.

October 27, 2014

Family,

Pretty quick week. Things just really seem to be speeding up. The week was pretty fun and one Saturday and Sunday we were finally able to watch General Conference. it was pretty good. i loved Elder Scotts talk and also all of Saturday Afternoon session. Also Elder Cook and Uchtdorf's talks were really nice. its amazing what you can catch when you listen closely. Anyways its again time for transfers and Saturday night we got the news. I'll be going to Botshabelo out near Bloemfontien so im excited cause the first month after you get transfered flies so quick and if it does it'll be Christmas and time to skype soon. I have heard quite a bit of things about my new area cause two of the elders im close to in the mission have served there so it'll be a difficult area from what i hear but we'll kick it up to a new level. My new comp is Elder Ageman ( spelling could be wrong) but he's from Ghana so im just rounding these African comps up every one of them is from a different country. But nothing too exciting out here for me. hope you all enjoy all the pics. I'm gonna miss this area but i'll miss the Herringtons and the Deep Doctrine talks we'd have with Elder Herrington. i learned a ton from them. anyways I love you all so much keep me posted.

Love,

Elder Sorenson

*Madi family: we'd have FHE and dinner there every friday night

*Maseko Family: my recent converts.

*Shabalala Family: Had FHE and dinner there every Tuesday and  reactivated two of them

*Gumbi Kids: Had FHE and dinner there every Sunday, I'll never forget the portions they'd give to us we wouldnt have to eat on mondays because of them.

* Gogo Dube, Sister Khosi, and Sister Mabaso.

 Nolwazi our Gospel Pricinples teachers and Sis Amanda our Branch Chorister.

 President Mhdaweni, Madadeni 2nd Branch President, coolest and best african leader i have served around my entire mission.

 Hlele Mhdaweni and Stembiso

Sister Zikalala from Branch 1 but an amazing lady.

Odama, Me, and Jena

Elder Thomas Brown(Plains City, Utah)

 Elder Andrew Brimhall (Mississippi)(6 foot 9)

Elder Willombe (Zambia)

Elder Trent Jensen (st. Johns, AZ)

Elder and Sister Herrington (Safford, AZ)

Bye to Madadeni Chapel with Greene in the back ground

Sister Dee and her Sons. Loved this family a ton.