Crikey!: Letter from 11/17/13

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been good! The work here in the Green Valley ward is going great! This week we got 2 new investigators and have heaps of new potential investigators. We have been praying for weeks to find new people to teach and this week we have been blessed with my new individuals to teach. The Lord truly does bless us and answers our prayers!

Many were asking how the baptism was. It was great! It was on Thursday night and it went so well! It was a great experience to witness Anikka's baptism. It was such a different experience at a baptism then ever before because I have seen her progression and I know her individually. The gospel of Jesus Christ does truly change lives. Anikka is so happy now and I have seen the difference in her. We had a lot of support from the ward as well. It was great to see everyone come out and be there for Anikka. We had to sing in the baptism. Lets just say that I sing more than I've ever sang in my life! But its good and I think I'm getting a little better, I think I can carry a tune now. haha but who knows!

We also had the ward Christmas party on Friday night. Wow do these fobs (islanders) know how to party! There were heaps of people there. And they had HEAPS of food. I have found here that you have to get up and get some food right away or else it will all be gone. Like I said they are mostly Samoan so they like to eat. haha There was also a DJ playing some fun music all night. They had a dance floor in the middle and the kids were going crazy. Many members brought non member friends and also lots of less-actives so we had a lot of people to meet. My companion and I were split up the whole night just talking with different people. One cool experience. I saw this man sitting by himself at the Christmas Party and so I just stopped and simply said hello and introduced myself. He was a very nice man and I found out that he was not a member. And as a missionary if you find out someone is not a member you get this feeling like...yes! So I got to know him more and found out that he is very strong in the catholic church and he has even been a minister. But Brother Fiu ( a member of the bishopric) has been fellowshipping him him and invited him to come. He mentioned that he seems like something is missing and he enjoyed being around kind people that accept everyone and his family as well. I started teaching him about the restoration of the gospel right in the middle of this party that was happening. Maybe not a good time to start but I was so excited to talk to him. But we got a return appointment and he expressed how grateful he was for me coming and talking to him. It was such an amazing experience!

Another miracle we had this week was with this girl named Kristal. She was a lady that we met at the library one day when we were emailing home...imagine that! Well we got her information a few weeks ago and a return appointment. But she had a death in the family and our appointment with her fell through. The other day we were in a suburb called Miller and we had another appointment fall through and Kristal's name popped into our head and we decided we would try to find her house and visit her. We found that her and her little boy were home. We actually had our ward Christmas Party that night so we invited her to come. She accepted our offer and so we quickly called some members and arranged a ride for her. She came to the Christmas party and they loved it! So she wanted to come to church on Sunday as well. Last night we were around her house and needed a bathroom so we stopped by. We weren't planning on teaching her a lesson but she said that she had already read the restoration pamphlet that we gave her. My companion and I looked at each other in shock! I was thinking wow! Who is this girl? So we started going over the pamphlet and answering all the questions that she had. She is seriously another GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR! We are so excited!

Oh and this week I went back to drivers ed again. I had to go to a driving test on Saturday. I had to go to the mission office to sit and watch a video on safety and I went out with one of the AP's for my test. It was so weird driving on the left side of the road! I really had to focus on everything more than ever. But I must say I think I was a lot better than some of the other sisters doing their test. I seriously thought I was going to die at some points. Haha not really but we ran over a few curbs and such. But we are going to be getting a car soon so that will be really good! I passed my driving test!

Anyways I better go. Australia is great and I'm really starting to love the people here, especially in my ward. I know that this is truly the Lord's work! I love you all so much and thanks for all the prayers in my behalf.

Love,

Sister Sorensen