Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

Hahaha your emails  never overwhelm me, mother! I love to hear from you!  From the pictures that mom sent, the kitchen looks so good! It will be good to have more space so the whole family can be together1 I am excited to see it when I get home!  Holy Beautiful! Nessa is like a stinkin adult... that is so bizarre to me. But she looks  so pretty! She is  pretty, a genius, professional and she has a good heart. We will party it up in college together.

This week I was sick for a few days so I don't have much to report haha. I think that's why I was feeling tired. Don't fret too much cuz' I am better now! I did get to go to Poptun again to do divisions with a sister and I saw some of the members there which was fun. We also put a baptismal date with one of our investigators named Alberto! WAHOOOOO!!!!! I am so excited. it even rained 2 days this week!

I love this work so much. The time is really starting to fly and I'm not really liking that very much.

I love you so much and thank you for praying and worrying about me!

Love you,

Lex  (Hermana Sorensen)

10 Things I Love About Me!

May 4, 2015

I love Hermana Gomez!

I am very sorry. I was a little bit of an emotional mess last week. Also as a missionary and when I'm writing you guys, I always struggle to find the line. My whole life right now is just listening to people's lives and trying to pull something out of thin air to help them. I have found it is really hard and I'm actually not that good at it cuz' my answer to everything is just... uh... pray. haha But that is ok cuz I am cute. But sorry if I gave you a little cincho. Emails are always a little awkward cuz I just can't really get my message across cuz I'm a spaz. You know me.   

So, Mom, since in our last exchange we talked about how we need to be positive about ourselves. . .aka, you mother need to be positive about yourself. . .  I like this request that I write10 things about me, and since you did it first, just let me tell you:

1. I am hilarious. #sorrynotsorry 2. my curly blonde hair. 3 I am always trying to better myself  4. I want to be like Christ, and even If I'm not always like Him, I have the desires, 5. I am a representative of Jesus Christ (MY FAVORITE) 6. I make people feel good whereever I am. 7. I have a strong testimony of this gospel and I show it through my actions. ( not my words cuz I struggle with that) 8. I'm a leader 9. I love my family 10. I am motivated.

That was fun. I liked it. Thank you mother. I think that is good to do. Everyone do it.  Also I will be using it because this week E. Alonso from the 70 is coming to talk to us as a mission and us alone as leaders. I know we will be getting a little burn from him... awkward. And I will probably feel like a poop missionary afterward. But also, more motivated to be better! After all he is a 70.

This week was good! Sad at first, but much better after Hna Gomez got here

Who did you serve this week and how? This week we went and chopped some grass for a little family. They were just sitting outside and the little boy had this big huge machete and was just going at it. He was probably about 5. It was so cute. He was just all bent over in his jeans which were WAY to big for him and his little booty was hanging out. Haha. So we asked them if we could help. At first they were hesitant, but after we convinced the,  cuz I told them I wanted to learn so I could do it in the U.S. (ps no.. its hard. Thank goodness for lawn mowers) 

Are you still visiting that man whose wife was in bed drinking from a bottle? Well sad news. His wife died and we went to go and visit him again. It was a really special lesson because we explained where his wife was and how happy she was. He was happy to hear it but also told us he couldn't stay here in Peten because everything reminded him of her. So he is now in the capitol. But we passed the reference there and hopefully the missionaries there are on the it.

How was your first week with the new companion? I LOVE HNA GOMEZ! She is teaching me a lot about the love for chiles. I will be a chili eating fool when I get home. WAHOO: And eat a lot of your hot horse radish mother. But we just laughed our brains out all week. She is super fiesty and just says what she wants which I love... kinda like grandpa Ray. But we balance each other out well and she is a very good missionary.

What is the favorite scripture of the week? This week I read about Abinidi. Heck I love that man! He spoke with such POWER. He really was so sure of himself and his mission. He was so focused on Christ and his mission that nothing else matters. I put some goals this week of how I can be more consecrated like him.

What made you laugh this week? We had a lesson this week with a sister named Maricruz. She just had her grandpa die and we were visiting her for the 1st time. Well we were just about to finish the lesson when her little boy (about 2) comes running in completely naked, sits down on the ground and just poops in the middle of the floor. The sister was SO embarrassed but I couldn;t stop laughing. Heck it was hilarious. It stunk so bad I couldn't even breathe... but it was funny. Like you said mom, We "Dearly love to laugh"!  BAHAHAHA.

All I can say Is, I love this work so much! We saw miracles and the clouds came this week! Not too hot! But it's back again today. Either way I was happy.

I am sad to hear about Josh Ringo I will keep his family in my prayers. He was a good kid and always made me laugh.

Thanks for the support! So excited to meet and hopefullhear baby Stephens on Sunday! Love you all! 

Hna Sorensen

We Love Peten!

My favorite part of the week was learning how to make empanadas. Like 3 times a week this Evangelist church is always selling these delicious empanadas from these cute old ladies. We are best friends and they love me. So one day one of them asked if I wanted to learn how to make them and last Saturday we went to her house and learned. Love sees no religion. haha

Also,  Hna Faught's last lesson with our favorite investigator,Jorge Mario. He bought us a whole pizza to say goodbye to her! But is was soooo funny because one of the members we brought said 'oh! That is so nice to buy to say goodbye to Hna Fuaght!' And he just says 'whos's Hna Faught?' He can't ever remember our English names!

Mom asked for my favorite scripture of the week, so I will answer all her questions, because I love her.  I loved 2 nefi 1 :15 this week  "But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love." I  realize what I sinner I am sometimes and God really has saved me from hell... how beautiful to think that we are always encircled in his arms.  Also, one day we went and taught one of our investigators about the restoration! She was so mesmerized and excited to hear that we have a prophet on the earth today!   This week we had interviews with Pres. and Hna Curtiss. We were talking about the attributes of Christ. (right now I am working on Charity.. no matter what happens I always find myself coming back to that one....) I just got started to thinking the only way we can ever really know our Savior is when we are not only studying about him and getting to know him, but really striving to be more like him. I can feel myself becoming nearer to him when I make changes in my life.

It is soooo hot, but we are dealing with it by putting on sunscreen and fanning  with folletos.... and walking in the shade.. haha  So you ask what was the best and worst thing that happened this week.  The worst thing that happened is this week, we were basically swimming we were sweating so much, but we did A LOT of contacting. Yesterday Jorge Mario was the only house we entered... even the members were gone. I felt sad that Hna Faught had to end her mission on a sad day like that.  To describe the last week with my dear Hermana Faught:  Really depressing. I was so ready for the week to be over. But sad a la vez because I knew I would miss her a lot!  So, I had a roughish week but also, always good! We did  lots of contacting and I was pretty anxious cuz I knew Tiana was getting home. Well that was fine, but today I had to say goodbye to Hna Faught and I just cried my eyeballs out! It was reeeaaalllyyy embarrasssing but I just am getting so sad of saying goodbye to people I love. And as the STL,  we had all these other sisters in our house for changes.   I just got them busy and started them playing janga while I went to the bathroom and cried cuz my heart hurt from missing Hna Faught, and Tiana and  you  and Liz and my sisters. Ugh. But I did what you said, and turned it around!  I prayed to stop looking at myself and serve all the cute missionaries in our little room and I taught them some games and we laughed and I just was happy to be in the moment! But it was sad for a second. But now I am good!

Hna Gomez from Mexico is my new companion and she was with Hna. Faught for 6 months.  She is SO CUTE! I am way stoked to be with her. Plus I will improve my Spanish!

 What are you looking forward to? Elder. Alonso from the Area Presidency is coming down to talk to our mission! I AM SO EXCITED! I know he will give this mission the motivation we need to see more success.

 How is the area and the apartment that you live in?  Area... hot... Apartment... small but I can't complain because we have a big fridge and I find myself frequently shoving my head in the freezer when we come home to fill up our waterbottles. We are renting a room so we have 2 room things next to us... I will have to take pictures. But one of the rooms is of our Dueno (Landlord) and he always sits out front with his shirt off and pants unzipped... whenever we have a problem and have to talk to him about it, he blames it on me....

One of the biggest problems I see with the sisters we help out is a lack of self confidence. It is pretty depressing. Here we have the cutest girls in the world! Just sharing the gospel but Satan is just so smart and always whispering things in there ear. It is hard because I know that it really prevents them from reaching their full potential

 Best advice for someone preparing for a mission?  BE OBEDIENT! Obedience brings blessings. No matter how stupid the rules may sound they are for your good and if you follow every single little one, you will see miracles.

Love you all!

Dearest family!

 This week, I not only had plenty of sunshine in a happy spiritual and funny way, but also a very literal sense. It's HOT FOLKS! The sun just attacks you. We had to go and sit down in the shade a few times this week for five minutes so that we didn't turn into roasted human beings. However, I am still alive and using sunscreen like nobody's business, so thank goodness for that invention.

This week we saw some pretty lovely miracles! First of all we had divisions on Tuesday, and I was reunited with Hna. Guerrero! We were very happy, but also we weren't having a very lucky day. We had an Hna. Come from the ward with us on some visits, and after contacting for an hour, she told us that there was a sister in the ward who is super, super sick. So we went to go visit her. It was sooo sad! The sister was just laid out on her bed when we got there and her husband was feeding her a bottle. Apparently she has a tumor or something on her brain and her body is just slowly giving out every day. Well,she can't talk so we just sang a hymn and then she fell asleep and we washed some dishes for her husband. After washing we started talking to the husband and it turns out he actually isn't a member of the church. He had attended a few times and felt the peace there, but it never really called his interest. Well, let me just explain to you, in the short hour we were there all he could talk about was how much he loved his sweet wife. We are talking the movie 'The Notebook' people. I HAVE FOUND ALLI AND NOAH! Haha!  But he was so cute! He says he prays for her so much! It was so exciting for us to be able to tell him a little about the Plan of Salvation. That God loves his children enough that we will see all of our loved ones beyond the grave. He was so excited and wants to know more! I just know that it wasn't coincidence that God sent us there exactly at this time in his life.

Today for P-day we went to some caves in Flores.... without a guide.. cuz' apparently we didn't want to pay for one. Well.. it was very dark and wet and muddy and we were climbing on our bellies and swinging on ropès and really just trying to find a way out cuz'. . . . . It was sketchy people. On the other hand, a giant adventure. We liked it alright.

Everyone remember to keep applying their general conference goals!

Happy 1 year mark to me! How weird is that!? 

Hna. Sorensen

Happy Easter Weekend! WOOT WOOT WOOT! I hope everyone was as spiritually fed as I was. I am dying thinking about waiting another 6 months but the last wait wasn't too awful, I guess it's alright when you are busy!  We watched General Conference in a room in the church with all the other English speakers, haha. I LOVED E. Bednar’s talk. I loved when he gave the example of Peter walking on the water. All he had to do was focus on Christ and he wouldn't have fallen. But he looked away for just one second. One TINY second and fell. How often are we looking at the world and not at Christ? Just that tiny second is what will bring us down. So I am putting goals of how I can stay 100 percent focused on my Savior.

You asked about where we serve and travel as sister leaders.  I think the farthest we travel usually is Poptun. It is 2 hours from here. This week we went to San Andres again though and it was 45 minutes. However these are nothing compared to the Coban trips we take for consilio, which are 6 hours! We left last Monday at 3 in the morning and came back on Tuesday. We traveled A LOT this week. But it is fine because Guatemala is BEAUTIFUL AND GREEN!  I get to see a lot of scenery.

So funniest moment of the week was our bus ride back from Coban. We have 8 of us on the bus; Hna Faught and I and the 4 Zone Leaders from Peten and the Bakes. Well, it was starting to get late and we were almost to Peten when one of the Elders starts to play the EFY music on his little Portable DVD Player. It was SO funny because all of us have heard these songs SO MANY TIMES on our missions and none of us even said anything, we all just started singing at the top of our lungs the EFY music. It was just funny cuz’ most of those elders are the serious Zone Leaders who are all business. But that's what happens when you are on a bus for 12 hours in 2 days!

This week we tried to share the gospel with EVERYBODY, and nobody at the same time haha. Semana Santa is a little crazy here and everyone just left to go to the beaches. The streets were dead. So we just found whoever we could and watched the “Gracias a que El Vive” video. Can I just tell you people if you haven’t watched it yet, DO IT NOW! It was such a cool experience. No matter who we found, we just pulled it out of our backpacks on our little portable DVD player. We watched it in doorways, in the street, porches, gardens, you name it! People let us borrow three minutes of their time. But every time we watched it, I would just watch their faces and get all excited because I could see that they felt the spirit! And I knew that that they were recognizing something. And then it is just funny because we ask if we can come back and they say “Nope, I’m Catholic, or Evangilist.”  And I just want to shout at them like 'Helllooooo i know you just felt something SO special!' Gosh dang that albedrio.... SO we did a lot of contacting but not a lot of work with our progressing investigators.

This week I did splits with Hna. Portillo from Hondorus. She is the cutest, shyest little girl! But it was SO funny! We just showed the video and laughed. We only do 24 hours splits so in the morning we took the bus back to San Andres.

Hermana Faught is doing great in her final weeks.  We are working hard. She is scared to go home and not happy that they talked so much about marriage in Conference. She is getting tired of running with slow me and has changed to doing the circuit workouts that Mally sent me the beginning of my mission... awkward. I am just working on my stretching because I can't touch my toes....

Celebrating Easter was interesting and very Catholic here.  Yesirreeee. I was going to send pictures buttt...#Guatprobzzzz. We saw a lot of the cool rug things they draw on the road! They get like... I don’t even know, sand or something and it is SO BEAUTIFUL! ?And then in the night is kinda scary because they carry this giant Jesus statue with a virgin Mary behind and swing incense and play scary Star Wars Music and everyone just follows behind like a parade. We watched for a little second when we were passing by, and it just made me sad to see Jesus up there dead. However, to each his own! It was a fun different cultural experience.

 IT IS GETTING SO HOT! But we are hot and happy. Also, fun little side story/comment. It is so hot here at night so we have our little fan on all night long, and then I freeze icepacks and put them all over my body to feel better.    –Kewl. . .  bye

Love you all! Have a good week!

Hermana Sorensen

I Am Guatemalan.

Me, thinking of my dear sister, Kenzy and her baby boy!

10 meses hoy!

Happy Valentines day!

Actually that was 2 days ago but Happy day anyways because there should always be a reason to be happy.

I had a loveeeelllyyy, very long weekm  here in Sta Elena/Coban because I didn't actually get home until Tuesday night from that blessed place. But all is good and I love it here! We are starting to get to know our area more and getting into the swing of teaching together.

 What is your favorite scripture lesson this week?

 Welllllll this week we were able to place a lot of Books of Mormon which was so great. One thing we realized was how the Book of Mormon literally is the key to everything it can help everyone. Or in the words of Hna  Faught, ´´The Book of Mormon can solve all problems... except world hunger... unless you eat the pages."  So on that note,  we made the decision to apply that lovely book to more of our investigators. But for reals, it was so fun to hear about people's problems and then explain the Book of Mormon to them and see how excited they were to read it. We found one lady for the first time, and she asked us where she could find one. I was the happiest little lady in the world to pull one out of my backpack. I felt like Santa Clause on Christmas. 

During my beautiful studies of studying all the references for each verse of the Book of Mormon this week,  I learned many things. But one thing I am learning from it that is interesting to me is how perfect the timing is for everything. I am learning what was going on at the same time in Jerusalem when Nephi was in the wilderness. I never had thought about it before.

Funniest moment of the week. . or hardest laughter?  Well,  it would be easier for me to tell you when we are not laughing because we laugh quite a lot. But.... I think that the funniest one this week happened on Thursday. We found this way cute lady to go and teach and it was our first lesson with her. She had this giant dog and I was trying to be friends with it and show the Hna we  were normal human beings. Well, we started the lesson and we were explaining all about our message when all of the sudden that giant dog started to get a little bit friendly with my leg. It was so awkward. So I just kinda kicked him away,  and started dying laughing and so did Hna Faught annnnnddd... it was funny. So she put the dog out after that... 

 Everything is lovely! I love it here! The people are so nice and we are all working hard. I love being with Hna Faught because she is way motivated to whip everyone into shape.... also me. Because she makes me go running every morning.and, as I mentioned last week, she runs like a gazelle. And I run like a turtle. So it is funny.

Our house has 3 rooms. The closet room with a little tiny bathroom, our kitchen/bedroom/study room, then we have the clean the dishes room, with a little bathroom and shower. So we both have our own shower and toilet which is nice, but it is very small. But I like it! Is it like the place in Los Campos?  I do not see too many cockroaches but we sure see a lot of mosquitoes!  

Love you all! Have a good week!

Aloha!

ALLOOOOHHHAAAA!

Hello family! How are you all doing? It sounds like everyone is having a lovely February and continuing onward in life sooo... keep on keepin' on lovelies.

I had a very wonderful and insane psycho week. I am currently writing you in Coban. We woke up at 2.30 to come here for consilio tomorrow. aka ...When the ZL's and STL's all talk about how we can make the mission a mission of champions and after we have a giant feast. I know you are all wondering so I will just tell you, Yes, I am excited. Apparently it is super spiritual and fun and lovely. (Besides the 2.30 fact but, sacrifices brings blessings yes?)

Did you get your shoes etc. package yet? YESSSSS! They were happily waiting for me on the bus at 2.30 a. .m.  The Bus was not to happy with my shouts of joy, but then after, they were happy cuz' I shared my candy with them. I am so nice. But I also got all the shirts and beeeeeautiful slippers and candy and thanksgiving letters and also a probably 3 month old chocolate chip cookie, we all split it and ate it together. I will say thank you from my own mouth and also all of the other people on the bus. GRACIAS. My shoes had big fat holes in them.

 My new companion, Hermana Faught,  is kinda like my BFF Brittney Merrill, but also very different. I love her. She really pushes me and works SUPER SUPER hard. I have been praying my whole mission to be able to be a better teacher, and she is already helping me a lot. Champ that lady. We laugh a lot and go running everyday. AKA she runs like a freaking gazelle ahead of me and I just mozy my way behind like I did in cross country like a little turtle. But I like turtles... and running. Also we run around the lake in Sta. Elena. SO PRETTY.

I LOVE Santa Elena! The members in this branch are so amazingly helpful! Yesterday the sisters asked us when they could do visits this week. I thought I was dreaming. It was just so beautiful. But right now we are just finding new investigators, trying to get to know the area, find the other investigators of the other Hnas and all of the Less actives and Recent converts. We get home SO tired but...a poco a poco.

We didn't do any divisions this week.  We needed to get to know our area. But I will be doing 2 a week from this day forward so.... that'll be interesting.  My new 'title' Sister Trainer really just means that you just go on divisions to make sure that the sisters are enjoying their lives and being obedient. HAha basically it's just a ZL but girl version.  We go out on  divisions and take care of the sisters and report back to President and work to help correct problems.

 Funny story. We get in a psycho lesson with this man who stars fighting with Hna Faught about prophets and The Book of Mormon and all of that fun stuff. He only believes strictly in the Bible. But that lady just laid the truth down and then to bring back in she asked us all how we all felt when we read the Bible, and after we related that we also feel happy when we read the Book of Mormon and that is the only way you can know if something is true. (That was very condensed but my time is running short. Lo siento)

 Awkward Gringa moments.... Hna Faught and I saw a Mariachi Band walking in the street. We  got so excited and asked them to sing a song for us. Then after we gave them folletos (brochures) and chatted a bit about the gospel and left.... Well apparently their music is not just a hobby. It is their living and we were supposed to pay them and we did not know that. So, basically we are thieves and we feel bad...So if we see them again we will pay them but we were laughing/felt really bad. This is what happens with two girls from the US.

Also I cut my hair today! WOOT WOOT. It is like tot the bottom of my neck. I look 5. I don't care. It is healthy and I am happy. No, I do not have a picture.

I love you all and have a super duper weekkkkkk!

Hna. Sorensen