Crikey!: Testify of the truths that you DO know

Dear family and friends,

It has been another incredible week this week. I've loved it and I've learned so much. That is my favorite part, I'm constantly learning and growing each and every day. This week I have seen the hand of the Lord continually leading us and guiding us in this work. Here are a few of the tender mercies that happened this week...

On Monday we were sitting in the mall eating lunch when this Vietnamese woman came and sat by us. She constantly was looking at our badge so of course we turned to her and started to talk to her and get to know her. She shared an incredible story with us...she said that about 20 years ago she lived in the Philippines as a younger girl and she said that she was in a concentration camp? We weren't quite sure what the conditions were with that camp. She mentioned that missionaries just like us would come and teach them English and would teach them of Jesus Christ. Melody was her name and she said that she grew to love those missionaries and they really helped her. Well she lost contact and it wasn't until she saw us that day that all those memories came flooding back to her mind. She then invited us to come to her house sometime. She unfortunately isn't in our area but we passed it to the sisters in that area. It was a big testimony builder of the power of ever planting seeds and no effort is ever wasted. It may even take 20 plus years to prepare someone to receive the restored gospel.
On Wednesday I had the wonderful privilege of going back to my first area, GREEN VALLEY! I have been looking forward to this for the longest time and it was such a great experience. That day the relief society just so happened to put together a lunch and it was great to be able to go and see all the relief society women there. It was so great to catch up with them. I was also able to catch up with Anikka, my recent convert. She's been struggling lately and so we went and picked her up and took her with us for the day and we taught her along the way. I think she really needed that boost. It was perfect timing. The sister there have been struggling to find new investigators so we parked the car and just walked the whole day. It was so great! We didn't let a single person pass us by without talking to them, it was great. We were able to find 2 new investigators and find a heap of new potentials for the green Valley area. It was amazing!
On Friday we had a lot of appointments to start the day off, but they all cancelled on us. Every single one of us. But we went forward anyway and just prayed constantly to know where we needed to go next. There was one tender mercy after another. One great experience that we had was this our two older ladies that we visit at the nursing home. We went to visit Dawn and Faye that day. And that particular day they were dying to have a Hamburger. They haven't had one in the longest time so we ran and bought them a hamburger. You should have seen their faces. They were so excited to have one and they ate it so fast. It made our day to see them and to do a little service for them to brighten up their day.
Just this past week the Tongan sister passed us a referral for a less-active that they met on the street. No one knew about this woman named Sister Allen. We were able to visit with her and she has mentioned that she hasn't been to church in many many years but she wants to come back now. She is so eager to learn, she wants us to come and re-teach her all the lessons again because she has forgotten so much. She would like to work towards the temple and just get back on track. It was so cool to be able to meet her and now be able to bring her back to Christ.

I have learned so much this week but one main principle that I've learned this week is the importance of testifying and sharing your testimony. We had an appointment with one of our investigators and I began to feel very inadequate because he knows the bible really well and I don't. But we had our ward mission leader with us, thank goodness and he was able to testify but he was testifying more of the importance of the restoration and all of the basics. Peter, our investigators had many questions and things he didn't like about the Book of Mormon. But one thing that I learned is that we don't have to know everything. All we have to know is the basics of the restoration and the plan of salvation. And as we testify of the truth, the holy Ghost will testify of the truth, if only the investigator has an open heart. I know that this is the Lord's work and he will help us to know what to say right at the right time and I've seen that time and time again. Don't be afraid to open your mouth because this is the best message that you can share to anyone and we are on the Lord's side. I know without a doubt that He will be by our side to help us.

I love you all very much, thanks for all your love and support.

Love always,

Sister Sorensen