On Wednesday, we made cookies in the morning and then delivered them to people that could use a little love. After dropping off cookies, we went door knocking. The coolest thing that happened was that we knocked on a lady's door and she immediately opened it and let us in because she recognized my companion. She had a lot of questions and wants to learn more, so she is our newest potential friend.
On Thursday we did a lot of service for inactive members in our ward, but nothing super exciting. One the inactive members we visited lives 21 miles away from us – in the middle of nowhere. We were at her house until late, and left in a hurry to get back before curfew. In the rush, my companion left her bag and wallet. She drove around all day Saturday without her license. I am mighty glad she is a good driver and did not get pulled over.
On Friday, we had a really busy day planned, but thanks to the weather never left our apartment. In the morning we were under flash flood warnings and it was pouring, we were also under a wind advisory. Around noon, we were under a tornado watch, but the sirens never went off. We got called by the STLs (Sister Training leaders) and told to take cover in the bathtub. We spent an hour sitting in the bathtub making Facebook stories. After an hour we were told we could leave the bathtub, but we were still under a tornado watch. At that point we were also getting severe thunderstorm alerts on our phones. At one point we were in a tornado watch, flash flood, wind advisory, and severe thunderstorm all at the same time. We were lucky enough to only have our power flicker twice, but as of Saturday morning there were 18 missionary apartments that still did not have power back. I do not think any day of my mission has felt nearly as long. There is only so much time you can spend on Facebook or calling people without losing your mind. I have so much more respect for COVID missionaries after having been stuck inside for a singular day. We spent way to much time sitting inside contacting people on the phone. I HATE staring at a phone that long!
On Saturday we got permission to Zoom into my companion's boyfriend's baptism. It was cool because we were listening to one of the talks and both my companion and I thought about the same person we were teaching. We wrote down some of the things that were said to share with her. Getting permission from the mission president to watch was really funny because he kept reading our messages and not responding, but we did not want to bug him by messaging him again. We ended up messaging him a total of three times over the course of the week, the final time an hour before the baptism. He responded 7 minutes before it started to give us permission and apologized because he thought he had responded earlier.
After the baptism we went to district council (rescheduled from Friday due to the storms). It was crazy on the drive there to see all the damage from the storms. There were trees down everywhere, and most of the fields in the area looked like lakes. Thankfully all the roads we needed to take were raised, because if not they would have been under water. After district council, we had a really good lesson with one of our new members. She was super sweet, and her testimony of the gospel is so strong. We were talking about different commandments and on almost every one she was like "I love that commandment, because I know what life is like without it." It was cool to hear about the protection that comes from keeping the commandments first hand. I know there have been many times that the gospel has protected me in my life, but I also have never seen how scary life can be without that guidance.
Yesterday, we had three friends at church. It was super exciting because two of them have been trying to make it for a while, but it was the first week they were there. We also put another one of our friends on date for baptism. It was funny because earlier in the week he had texted us to tell us who was going to baptize him, who was witnessing, and the date he would be ready for baptism. It was so cool to see that he was so excited – he was ready to plan it without us!
Yesterday night we had a dinner appointment and after dinner the father forgot my name, so he called me Sister Sabastian. It was really funny and his wife pointed out that it was my name and my companion's name combined. We joked that we would start introducing ourselves as Sabastian, because we are supposed to be unified in our work.
Also there are a weird number of geese here. They just wander around everywhere in the cities. They are also completely not scared of people, so they will just walk right up to us. They are honestly a little scary... not sure how I feel about them yet. Just, why are there so many?!!
It has been a crazy week, but not quite as busy as some prior weeks. I am so grateful for a trainer who is kind and a wonderful teacher.
My quote of the week is by Gordon B. Hinckley, "Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. Lend your efforts to helping people…Stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ."
I know that as you focus on those around you and choose to love and help everyone you will find greater joy in your life. Everyone is a child of God and he is counting on us to take care of each other and "lift where we stand." Through the gospel we can find strength and joy during both the highs and lows in our lives!
Sister Sorenson
Pictures:
Sister Sorenson
Pictures:
- Field in the area following the storms (new lake)
- Random geese gathering in the city
- On the balcony in the pouring rain
- Party in the bathtub
- Weather alerts on Friday
- 2 random pictures of my companion and I
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