Rain Rain Go Away! 4/27/2015

This week was wonderful. I am so blessed to be serving here in Ripley.Miracles are happen everyday. Sister Kirkby is the perfect trainee! She knows that obedience is the key to our success!

Sister Kirkby and I were really focused on finding this week so we decided to tract a road in a little town called Cottageville. The next day we drove our Equinox up to Cottageville and by the time we reached out destination the weather had dramatically changed! It was pouring rain! Buckets and buckets of water was falling from the sky! We parked the car and started to second guess our decision but deep down we knew we had made those plans for a reason so we hopped out of our warm car and started walking. I don't know why we brought our umbrellas because they really didn't help us stay dry much. We knocked and knocked and knocked but no one let us in. I'm not going to lie I was a little aggravated but we kept walking. By the end of the night we had picked up two potential investigators but they both were not super interested. We drove home in our sloppy wet cloths and started to plan for the next day when the phone rang. It was Carlos a man Sister Lopp and I invited to learn over 4 weeks ago. Sister Kirkby and I had tried to contact him but we couldn't reach him. Carlos told us that he had been super busy but he really wanted to meet with us on Monday to hear our message! Crazy awesome!!!!! Faith brings miracles! We are so excited to teach Carlos tonight!

I love you and hope your week is full of faith and miracles! Work hard, pray hard!

Sister Sorensen

Sister Swanson and Sister Kirby....They always pronounce our names wrong :0)

Haha. That is what everyone calls me out here. Its like their lips wont let them say Sorensen. Most people just give up and call me Sister S or Sister Soren.  

Spring is here!!! Sister Kirkby and I did a ton of service this week. We started the week out by helping one of our members plant some Holly bushes in their yard. They have a soon to be teenage girl that they are afraid will try and sneak out of the house. They are putting in an alarm system and planting pointy Holly bushes by every window. Sister Kirkby and I kind of laughed. If a teenage girl wants to sneak out of the house she is going to sneak out of the house no matter what it takes.

The next morning we went to Sister Walters home and painted her nasty yellow shack into a beautiful gray shed. She was very grateful for the help and we enjoyed doing it. I have come to love yard work while out on my mission. There is nothing more satisfying then good hard work. And we get to wear pants! Yay for pants! I miss them. haha.

This week we were able to talk to our investigator Mike who recently got home from rehab. He is a great man who is ready to make some changes in his life. He is really upset about his past mistakes and wants to apply the atonement! He is an amazing example of never giving up and how it is never to late to change. Christ is always there for us! Arms open ready to give us a nice warm hug. I love you and hope your week goes well!

Sister Sorensen

Kasey Johnson's baptism.  Sister Erickson and I got to teach her when we were in Flatwoods!

4/13/2015 I am a trainer!!!! and Happy Late Easter

Sister Kirkby and Sister Sorensen

Everything is going great here in Ripley. I cant believe I'm training! Sister Kirkby is settling in and learning fast. She is a fantastic Sister and I am so excited to train her. This experience has made me so grateful for my trainer Sister Erickson. Sister Erickson taught me how truly important obedience to all mission rules is and how the small and simple things really do matter. As Sister Kirkby and I serve together I am looking forward to sharing that knowledge with her.

Earlier this week Sister Lopp and I were out walking along main street trying to invite one more person to learn so we could meet our goal for the week. It was 8:58 and we were pretty sure we had walked all over town! We slowly drug our feet to the car when out of the corner of my eye I saw a man! Sister Lopp and I ran toward him and started talking to him. We learned that his name was Carlos and that he worked at the restaurant down the road. He was super happy to see us and told us that he had gotten out of the habit of church and was looking for another church to attend. Crazy right!

I am so excited for this transfer. Training brings miracles and Ripley needs a lot of miracles! I love you and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Sorensen

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Selfie with Sister Lopp

I am going to be a trainer!

3/23/2015 Elder Christofferson

Love You!!

 

 

Sister Lopp and Sister Sorensen

 

Wow. What a week! Our mission has been greatly blessed. As Elder D. Todd Christofferson said, “it is a rare event to gather an entire mission and it likely will not happen again during your mission.”Sister Lopp and I have seen countless miracles as we have applied what we have learned from the past couple of weeks.

It has been a lot of work but the blessings out weigh the hard times.

On Saturday we got to hear from Elder Christofferson. I learned how important it is to be consistent in organization and in following up with investigators. I got to sit in the front row and I noticed that he really glows with the spirit! Haha. At the end of the meeting I got to shake his hand and tell him where I was from. It is an experience I will never forget. I got to see Sister Erickson and Sister Alligood! It was so much fun as we laughed and shared memories with each other. 

Reunion with Sister Erickson!

 Yesterday, we went to stake conference and listened to Elder Christofferson again. It was amazing! Before the meeting I got to see all the old members from the Flatwoods Branch. Brother Ash asked me if I was getting enough potato chips. haha. He told me that he missed me and wished we could've hugged. It was so sweet! I miss my old branch but I am very happy to be here in Ripley!

After Stake conference, we went over to the Branch President's house for dinner. They took us on a little tour of their farm. They just had baby goats so we got to hold them and play with them.

The work is slowly progressing in Ripley! It is slow but it is increasing! I love being a missionary and I love serving with Sister Lopp. She has taught me so much. I love you!

Sister Sorensen 

 

Sister Sorensen, Lisa Fisher-Medford, Sister Lopp out to dinner.

I will teach anyone (anything) that will listen!

 

3/9/2015

This week was fantastic! Ripley is a wonderful area filled with wonderful people. There is no place I would rather be! Sister Lopp and I are doing great. I am learning the importance of working hard every minute of every day. In Jacob chapter 5 the Lord commands us to work with all our might in the vineyard that we might"prepare the way" to bring forth fruit.
I love being a missionary and I love working hard. Everyday I want to labor diligently in hopes that one day good natural fruit will spring up. This fruit won't just be any fruit. It will be fruit that is more precious above all other fruit!

Guess what?!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Christofferson is coming to speak to us on the 21st of March! I am sooooooooooooooooo excited!!!!!!

On Monday Sister Lopp and I were driving out in the middle of no where looking for a referral when we came to this hill. It looked a little icy but I thought our little all wheel drive car could totally handle it. I was wrong. Way wrong! We started driving up and up and up when all of the sudden the slush turned to ice. Our car started to move backwards!!!!!!!!!! I may or may not have freaked out a little but poor Sister Lopp had a come apart and jump out of the vehicle. We spent the next 45 minutes backing up, moving forward, and moving sideways trying to get the car back down the hill. With time and a lot of prayer we made it down safely. No one was hurt and the car was just fine. Thank heavens. I told Sister Lopp several times that if the car went off the cliff I was going with it because I was not going to call our car czar and tell him I destroyed another car! Hahaha. I learned that there is a difference between all wheel and four wheel drive. Moral of the story is that I miss my truck!

On Monday I was looking through some potential investigators in our area book when I came across the name Eleanor. She was taking the discussions and was progressing really well but no one had taught her for a year. I got this feeling that she needed to be found and that I was the women for the job! So began our search for Eleanor. We had small clues as to where she was be no real address. So we looked her up in the phone book and it said she lived on orange road. We put the address into the GPS and it said that there was no orange road. We drove to 3 different gas stations and asked some local people but no one knew where orange road was. Finally we went to the police station and ask some super kind police officers if they knew where orange road was. They jokingly said, " We don't have any orange roads in Ravenswood. Only black ones." They called up dispatch and got directions for us but sadly the house was outside of our area so we couldn't go to it. My heart was broken. Sister Lopp and I had spent half of a day looking for this woman because I had a feeling to find her and we could not meet her. It just didn't make sense.

I am running out of time so I'll have to write you a letter with the rest of he story. It is fantastic! your going to love it!

Love,

Your Sister Sorensen