California is muy bonita!!!! Wednesday we got in
and were welcomed by the returning missionaries here and then later met
up with President Gelwix downstairs. It was very weird hearing and
seeing him in person! But we all loaded up in the vans and drove to the
Mission office. There we quickly grabbed a lunch to go and we were out
the door to "Open Your Mouth". I went out with Hermana Organista. She
is a native speaker so it was nice but hard to be with her for the day
because I wanted to ask her if spanish get's easier, but she of coarse
would not be able to answer that! Ha ha.. But we went out and did
Harvesting Blessings. That is where we go out and ask people if we can
leave a blessing with them and their family of peace and health. I was
doing so good and was happy at first because it was all in English. But
then we started knocking on doors and I soon realized I don't know
Spanish! Ha ha.. It was super hard not knowing what was being said and
not being able to respond back. I just sat there and questioned why I'm
here. All the Spanish Hermana's here think I'm so baby I'm sure by now
because when we got back to the Mission office I was pretty much in
tears. The Hermana's were all so sweet giving me hugs and cheering me
on. There at the Mission office we then had to fill out forms and what
not. After that we headed over to the Mission home. SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
I can't wait to show you the area and their home. Orange trees, Lemon
trees, Grapefruit trees, and PALM TREES!!!! Ahhh I just love it
here!!!! We had dinner all together and had a little devotional.
President & Sister Gelwix were going over rules and stuff when our
Assistants to President Gelwix started wispering and arguing. We had to
stop everything and clear up what was going on. SUPER awkward.
Apparently one of the Elders thought the tie of the other Elder was
against the rules Pres & Sis Gelwix were just going over with. They
were disagreeing and it was just very intense. President and Sister
Gelwix got in and started yelling at them too. I couldn't help but
think "Not the MTC again!" I wanted to leave and get out of the
situation. BUT......apparently it was a role play and was planned.
THANK GOODNESS!! Contention is of the Devil. Ha ha.. We then learned
the proper way of handling situations with companions and stuff.
Sigh... We then all headed to bed. Us Sisters stayed at the mission
home.
Thursday morning was hard again. Had to hold back tears. But we
headed back to the mission home to be assigned our trainers. I was
so scared. I didn't want to leave Hermana Miller. We were the only 2
that knew each other. Everyone was new and all the other English
sisters were in a zone together in the MTC so they were very close
and didn't talk much to us. But I was first to be assigned. President
Gelwix said he felt really great with this companionship and knew we
would work extremely well together and accomplish much good. He then
introduced me to.....Hermana Crandall!!!!!! :D Ahhh I just love her
so much! She is just so sweet and caring. She just smiled and loved me
all day. We are assigned to MODESTO!!!!!!!!!! I was so shocked to
hear that! :) I wanted to serve there but didn't think it would be my
first area. I was excited. Hna Miller even knew that so she thought
that was awesome. Well the rest of Thursday we had trainer and trainee
meetings. Then Hna Crandall and I drove to Modesto that night and got
all settled in. :) She is from Provo. She just finished her 12 week
training so she is still all new to this as well but she is just
amazing. I'm scared to think after I'm done training, I'll be a
trainer. :( Pray for me!!
Friday night we had a baptism! 2 cute girls in the branch were
baptized. I got to meet them Thursday night so that was nice knowing
who they were. It was a beautiful service and I can't wait for those
services to be of investigators. :)
Well I want to share with you about one of the Investigators we now
have. Friday night we went to visit an investigator named Paloma.
When we went back to her door, there was a group of people. We talked
to them and they told us Paloma wasn't in. We stayed and talked with
them though. They were so nice to us and had fun talking to us. They
were shocked us white girls knew spanish! Ha ha.. (I love getting that
reaction. People will come to the doors saying "no speak english" ((and
just trying to get rid of us)), but then we surprise them and say "We
speak spanish! Let us talk to you!" Ha ha..) Back to the story. So we
talked with these 3 individuals. Their names were Leo, Ephraim, and
Paloma's husband Ramon. Leo and I spoke english while the rest spoke
spanish. Ha ha.. But Leo wanted us to come back and teach her about the
Bible. We agreed. So Saturday we went back and taught her the
Restoration. She loved it!! She cried and told us how she's been
praying to God to send someone to her to bring her to God. I invited
her to be baptized on the 23rd and she just smiled and said "oh yes! I
want to be baptized!" AHHHHH!!!! Only 2 days in and I already got
someone to committ to baptism!!! Such an amazing lesson!! We invited her
to church and she said she'd be there. However, yesterday, she did not
show. We taught her that evening and asked her what happened. She has
diabetes and I guess her blood sugar went crazy and she had to go to
the doctors to get it checked. But we taught her the Plan of Salvation
last night and she just is amazing. There is so much to say about her
but I just can't even put words to describe her. She is such a cute,
talkative sister. She's 66, been married to Ephraim for 10 years. Lives
in the garage/shed of Paloma and Ramon's home. It's not even a home.
We have to sit outside to teach her because her "house" is just a
bedroom. Their fridge is outside along with their couch. It's just
crazy to see the living situations here. So humbling.
Things here are good though so far and I'm slowly getting the
language piece by piece.
I love you all and hope all is well. Good luck with everything!
- hermana Sorensen
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