8-17-09 "You Forgot to say AKIMBO"

First thing's first: we've moved into a new apartment in the same complex, so my new address is the same as my old one except for the apartment number. All forthcoming mail can now be sent to :
Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen
Peppertree Apartments #311
2701 Longmire Drive
College Station, TX 77845
In fact, our new apartment is bigger than our old one. Since people were displaced by the fire, the apartment manager offered people any available apartments at the same rate for the rest of their contract. Two senior elders came up last Monday to help us make the necessary changes, and then we moved in on Wednesday. I felt bad for the elders that had to help us move in. Our old apartment was on the ground floor, but our new one was on the second floor. Imagine moving couches, desks, mattresses, etc, up narrow stairs in 100 degree heat with 40% humidity and you will be living their dream life. Nonetheless, now Sister Davis and I each have our own vanity to use in the morning.
Speaking of the temple, I've heard through the grapevine that apparently one of the murals in the Idaho Falls Temple has a hidden face of Brigham Young in it. Any idea? The source said it's probably in the celestial room, somewhere where pioneers are painted. Not the most important question, but certainly an intriguing one. Do some detective work if you remember.
Love the pictures. Jared is holding a snake. What is Roger and Meggie's little girl's name? Maura. It just came to me when I finished writing the question. And the high school musical one has just the right ratio of boys to girls. So...who's who? Also, if the boys' shirts mean anything, Dylan went to The Fray and Conor found a time machine and went to The Beatles. Or maybe he just pre-ordered Beatles Rock Band. Either way, nice shirt. (In other music news, I judge from the poster in Wal-Mart that Hannah Montana, eh, Miley Cyrus has made the full transformation now to her own album, even though the moral of her movie was that it's better to be fake than real. Also, is 17 Again on video yet?)
And last but not least before I get to the missionary newsreel, the card you sent me is perfect. Really. Not just because it's hilarious and mostly true--sure, I still use a clock, but calendar's are beginning to go out of fashion, and you can forget about Mapquest (although it's obvious punctuation and I will always be friends. Just ask Lynne Truss.)--but becuase the "Coyote" or whatever he is has his arms AKIMBO on the front. You didn't even mention it. Just because no one else in the world knows what that word means doesn't mean you should stop using it. Also, the first line on the inside of the card "I'll see you when I see you" comes straight from the end of OCEAN'S 13. Love it. I'm glad you enjoyed FOREVER STRONG, even if it did make no sense that Zig-Zag was a white Jamaican living in Utah!?! Your brush with fame is way better than Shareece's anyday.
Finally, we get to my life. I don't have any strange events to report this week, just good. First, one of our Chinese-speaking investigators, Pai-shan, decided to get baptized. Wow. It's not that it was unexpected necessarily, just that we didn't realize she was that close. Two weeks ago, we were saying we should commit her to be baptized or stop teaching her, because it seemed like she was just using us as a bible study. Actually, she had a huge Ph.D. qualifying exam she needed to take, so we didn't meet with her that week, and then the week after that Sister Davis and I went on splits. I taught Pai-shan about prayer with a sister from our ward, and I wasn't about to give her the "drop talk" as it is called. Then this week we both met with her, along with a return sister missionary from our ward (the one who got engaged on the cornern of George Bush and Texas) who speaks Chinese. We reviewed the idea that there is only one true church, the story of the First Vision, and then Sister Davis asked her if she'd prayed about Joseph Smith. Pai-shan paused for ten or twelve seconds before quietly saying, "Yes." Sister Davis continued: "Did you get an answer?" Longer pause. Quieter yes. No elaboration. "Was it a good answer?" Even longer pause. Pai-shan grabbed her water bottle and clutched it. "I think so." "Now that you've received your answer, what are your feelings about baptism?" At this point, we're not expecting her to commit to baptism. We're just feeling out how close or far away she is from that. After the longest pause, she says, "So I can choose anyone to baptize me?" "OF COURSE (as long as it's a man and he has the proper authority)." Pai-shan: "Okay." A small grin comes across her face. She chose our district leader, Elder Hiatt, to baptize her. He was one of the elders who originally started teaching her before she was transfered to the CS1 sisters since our ward has capabilities for Chinese translation. She'll have her baptismal interview on Tuesday, and then get baptized next Tuesday at 7. I wanted to tell you about Carl Young last week, but didn't get the chance. Hopefully I have enough time to get the story out now. We met Carl while on our way home from an appointment that we thought had fallen through. He called us over, saying he knew we were spiritual. We brought him back a Book of Mormon later that day, and he told us he'd been praying all week to find the truth. He know the Bible well. We've met with him several times since then, teaching him about the restoration and the plan of salvation. We even took our ward mission leader over yesterday to watch "The Testaments." He hasn't read much from the Book of Mormon yet, but I know he's good at sincere prayer. When we meet with him again this week, he's supposed to have read some. There will certainly be challenges with him, but I think they can be overcome one at a time.
Love y'all with letters to come this week,

Sister Whitney Sorensen

PS I heard there was some controversy about Lance Armstrong not winning the Tour de France. Do tell...