Merry Christmas

Hey y'all!

Just wanted to send a quick email wishing y'all a very merry Christmas! 

I made it to Glendora and it's been great! I'm excited to be here. Biking is interesting, but the exercise is nice! 

We had a zone conference recently and it was amazing! We're going to have a mission wide meeting next month and Elder Oaks is coming! He's an apostle, so that's pretty cool. 

I love the Christmas season! It gives us an amazing opportunity to serve others and share the Light of Christ. We should continue that same service attitude ALL year long! I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and the gift He has given me! I love His gospel and I'm so fortunate to have the chance to share it with others. 

Love y'all! 

Sister Sorensen 

Our zone at zone conference. 

Merry Christmas

Hey y'all!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It was a great birthday! 

This week was kinda crazy. We've been able to have a couple Facebook lessons, so that's been cool! Mike is doing alright. We wanted to have more contact this week, but it is what it is. We met this cool guy who loves to restore cars! We had a pretty good lesson with him. He has some pretty awesome stories! 

Sister Parker and I are BOTH GETTING TRANSFERRED!!! They're going to bring in elders now! I'm going to miss this ward! 

I'm going to Glendora and Sister Parker is going to Monrovia!!! That was my first area! 

We were supposed to be transferred today, but both of us have the stomach flu. BOO! But, we'll go to our new areas tomorrow. I'm super excited! It's a biking area, so pray for my accident prone self! ;) 

We have a Christmas zone conference coming up, so I'm excited for that. We'll also have a whole mission conference next month! So much to look forward to! 

I'm so thankful for the Christmas season. It gives us a chance to think more about the Savior and how we can become more like Him. I wanted to share a quote by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. You can find the whole thing on his Facebook page. 

 

"With only Joseph’s inexperienced assistance, [Mary] herself brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in the little clothes she had knowingly brought on her journey, and perhaps laid him on a pillow of hay. Shepherds would soon arrive and later, wise men from the East. Later yet the memory of that night would bring Santa Claus and Frosty and Rudolph—and all would be welcome. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby—that’s how Christmas began."

I love my Savior. He is the reason for the season. Amid all the holiday activities, find time to ponder Jesus Christ and His life. 

Love and miss y'all! Have a very Merry Christmas! 

Sister Sorensen 

1. Saying goodbye to the Dial family! 

2-5. My birthday at Dora's!

THE MOUNTAIN WAS ON FIRE

Hey y'all!

So, the Sunland area had another fire. We actually got evacuated this time! We even made the Mormon Newsroom! Sis. Parker and I went to Glendale with other sisters. It was so much fun! I love them, but I definitely did miss my people. 

Tuesday we evacuated and Friday afternoon we came back. It's been a crazy week! 

There have been so many miracles! Not one house from our ward caught on fire! One family lost their garage and barn. The fire melted a few things on the outside of their house, but the house MADE IT! Even a HUGE TREE MISSED THEIR HOUSE! I can't help but sit and think that there's a loving God who loves us and cares about us! Keep praying for the people in Ventura. They're getting hit the worst.

We got Facebook this week! Yay! Just a reminder, I'm using Facebook for missionary work. My birthday is coming up and I love getting birthday wishes, but if you could send me an email or letter instead of posting on my wall, that'd be great! Thanks! 

It's been a hard week, but through it all we've been able to find comfort. The holidays have a special feeling because we really focus on the Savior. I love the new 2018 youth theme: Peace in Christ. He is our ultimate source of peace and comfort.

Love y'all! Have a great week! 

Sister Sorensen 

1. Mormon Newsroom! 

2. Smoke from the fires on Tuesday 

3. #LightTheWorld by dropping off goodies for a sick family

4. Sisters Church and Mowes! I'm in the back seat. #BLESSED! 

Picture 1 didn't come through - Mormon Newsroom - but there was an article about the fires.

OK, so, now for some of what she wrote me!!!!

"THIS WEEK WAS NUTS!!!!

SOOOOO. We didn't have a car this week, so that alone was gonna be an adventure. Monday night the wind was so dang bad. We wake up Tuesday and THE POWER IS OUT!!! So I can't take a shower cause the water is too cold! And we had interviews in LA Crescenta!! BOY I WAS LOOKING ROUGH!!! As we were walking to the bus stop, THERE'S SMOKE! Now I'm like, "Craaaapppppp...." in the middle of interviews, the Zone Leaders leave because they needed to help a family evacuate from LAKE VIEW TERRENCE!! I'M LIKE THAT'S IN OUR AREA AND WE LIVE RIGHT NEXT TO THAT MOUNTAIN!! 

We FINALLY get home around 12 and we have power (BLESSED!) So we fix lunch and stuff. Then we call some people and members by us are like, yeah we're evacuating. So I'm like SHOOT! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?! We go outside and start walking to see what's going on and it so happens that a member was driving by and was like GET IN YOU CRAZYS!! So we helped an elderly woman with cancer evacuate. We get home and we look at a map and we see that WE'RE ON A MANDATORY EVACUATION! Well, we don't have a car! We pack 3 days worth of stuff and wait for the Wells. After a couple of hours, the Wells picked us up and took us to dinner. We get to Glendale safely. 

Now, I've never been in an apartment with another set of missionaries. Most of the sisters were from the South and I had so much fun! Especially with Sisters Church and Mowes! We were able to come back Friday afternoon after we picked up our car. Some people didn't come back until Saturday. One family in the ward was blessed because their house should be gone. But it survived! All our stuff is fine too. I think they were worried about the winds picking up."

So there you have it folks! The story of her evacuation. I'm glad she is safe and her Ward family is safe. Now hopefully she'll have an uneventful birthday week!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Hey y'all!

Its been a pretty tough week, but we know we're about to see some miracles! 

Mike is doing great pretty good. He cracks me up! I love the people I get to meet! 

Dennis came to church so that was awesome! 

We're trying to keep in better contact with our new friends (we're trying to call our investigators our friends because it just sounds better!). 

Our car is in the shop this week, so that makes a lot of walking!!! It should be good. At least it's not too hot this week! 

The #LightTheWorld is SO AWESOME! EVERYONE SHOULD DO IT! I think the coolest experience we had was on Day 2. The theme was, "I was thirsty and ye gave me drink." Our original service plan fell through, so we went to a drive thru. No one was behind us, so we asked the cashier if we could wait until someone else came because we really wanted to pay for them. He was super impressed and even asked if we needed anything. We paid and went on our way. We don't know if the chain continued or not, but I'm sure we made someones day!

For service ideas and the #LightTheWorld videos, go check out mormon.org!

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve others around me. I absolutely love the people I get to meet! Sunland will always have a little piece of my heart! (and so will Monrovia.) It's been an amazing 11 months (today!) 

Love y'all! 

Sister Sorensen

1. Selfie with Bro. Gillan!! Fave old man! 

2. Me and the CUTEST PUPPY at a friend's (investigators) house

3-4. The view from our hike today! #RIPMyAnkle