First things first: Thanks for the reminder about Adam Lambert. I did remember halfway through the week, but it's still nice to know that you're keeping me in the loop. Also, Sister Kemp and I have been wondering if you could give us a brief synopsis of the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. And not because we want to talk to them. I just can't remember it, and I remembered that I couldn't remember it when we walked across a little bridge the other day. Please, my literature reputation is at stake!
Now, I have a few random celebrity (sort of) stories to tell you.
ONE: Have you been watching Dancing with the Stars? Because everyone down here is talking about Donny Osmond being on it, and I don't recall YOU mentioning it, which stuns me, to say the least. Is he any good? I get kind of mixed reviews from different sources, but I know your opinion and mine would certainly be the same.
TWO: We had a service project on Saturday, helping out with someone's Eagle project in our ward. They had us come, and also had us recruit any elders in the area who wanted to come and help. They made it sound like there would be a million non-members there, plus a camera crew from a local news station. In reality, neither of those things were true, but ten elders plus two sister missionaries did show up to help. Sister Kemp and I arrived first with some Spanish-speaking missionaries, even before the prospective Eagle Scout. We're talking 7 in the morning. And while we're standing around waiting to be put to work, Elder Inkley starts laughing and says, just loud enough for the four of us to hear, "I didn't know Billy Ray Cyrus would be here." And sure enough, about thirty feet away from us, stands a man who looks just like Billy Ray Cyrus of the "Achy-Breaky Heart" years. If you think you're having a bad hair day, well, he's having a bad hair life. But people keep telling him it looks good. What's worse? Elder Inkley also said, "Where's Hannah?" AWOL, that's where she was. In the end, Sister Kemp and I ended up doing mostly odd jobs due to the fact that no one wanted the sister missionaries helping to remove the old tin roofing and replace it with shiny, red, new roofing. At first we felt like secretaries, because they assigned us to check people in when they arrived. Only the entrance was really confusing, not to mention I hate just sitting there while there are like thirty men working like crazy right by us. Eventually, we abandoned the permanent secretarial post and became more like wandering secretaries, finding odd jobs to do here and there, like gathering acorns, washing a million dog dishes, removing plastic covering from the new tin roofing, etc. In the midst of our wanderings, I discovered a connection to Idaho Falls. Apparently, Cody's mom's cousin is in our ward. When she found out I was from Idaho Falls, she said, "Do you know any Jardine's there?" "Well, I know a Cody Jardine. He's practically my brother." "Oh, Cody's my cousin. Actually, his mom, Deedra (sp?) is my cousin." I don't know her first name, but her last name is Keck. Also at the service project there were huge--HUGE--spiders everywhere. Yuck. Cassidy, do you remember when we had to get changed in that bathroom at Weimea Falls and there were spiders in the corners? They had a bathroom kind of like that. EW!
THREE: Last but not least, I discovered that there is a shop on Main Street in Tomball that sells odd pets, including Ron's Rats. Too Harry Potter, eh? The owner's name is Ron, and he sells rats; thus, Ron's Rats. It could also easily pass for a shop on Diagon Alley. I tell you this in honor of Halloween. There's also a really funny story about Ron's Rats that I cannot tell here, in order to protect the innocent. But remind me about it later. I wrote it in my journal this week.
Sadly, Main Street Tomball also has what I call "the ghost of a Sonic," or "the graveyard of Happy Hour." Apparently, there used to be a Sonic on Main Street, even this summer, and then one day the sisters got a call from the elders saying it had closed. Permanently. And sure enough, it was all painted and boarded up, and now it's just a boring grey color. I'm even sorrier to hear about the one in Idaho Falls, but I'm guessing it's some kind of symptom of the recession. Every time I've been to Sonic recently, they ask if I want to buy something else, like Jalepeno poppers or some of their other greasy weird side dishes. No. No, I do not want fried string cheese. Not even once. But maybe no one else does either. Where will we get the ice for my wedding?
This has been a wonderful week, although it's had its ups and downs. One of our investigators, the Vietnamese lady, can no longer meet with us because her husband wants her to go to his Vietnamese Catholic church and not ours, even though we can tell she is feeling the Spirit at ours. That's hard. BUT--our other investigator, Alex, is back in town and eager to be baptized as soon as possible. We're meeting with him a lot this week. His first contact with the Church was twenty years ago in his home country of Venezuela, although he is now a U.S. citizen, having served ten years in the Navy. Unfortunately, he technically lives outside of our area, so we're not sure if he'll be able to be baptized into our ward or not. Either way, right now November 7 is the day.
Also, on Friday we get to go to College Station for Charles Marshall's baptism! I'm ecstatic! He is just one of the best people I've met since being in Texas, hands down. The sisters in College Station even said he's been asking about me, and can't quite grasp the concept that I moved. So, if everything goes according to plan, three of my favorite people will be getting baptized in the next two weeks. What joy!
A few quick tidbits from yesterday. They had the primary program, and the kids sang this cool song called "Jesus is Coming." It almost sounds like a Southern spiritual. I felt like I certainly was in Texas, and I almost wanted to stand up and say, "Hallelujah!" I refrained, but the temptation was present. Also, during our Relief Society lesson, the teacher was telling a story about some of her kids doing something on-line, and she was saying, "I can't remember it exactly ever. I call in MyFace." You know, a mixture of MySpace and Facebook. Too hilarious. Too clever.
Okay, now to respond to your e-mails. Dis.Gus.Ting. about Sister Hill having a spider bite. Ev.En.Worse. about Cassidy having swine flu. GET BETTER! That's an order, and congratulations on being an American history genius, even in a state of sickness.
Any music you could send would be greatly appreciated. Jenny Oaks Baker sounds amazing. More amazing than the Cougars this year. But maybe they can finally escape the Las Vegas bowl by virtue of going to no bowl game at all. Doesn't sound like that big of a sacrifice to me.
I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday morning. Hopefully the expense won't be too high. His secretary also informed me that he likes his patients to have a primary care physician, so I'll be making some phone calls on that one based on some recommended physicians from Sister Hansen. It's wonderful to hear that your car insurance expenses decreased. Truly, the Lord is blessing our family. There's no other explanation for it.
The final question: What is Eli going to be for Halloween? (Besides an eight-year-old boy being baptized.) I NEED to know. Send pictures.
From the girl who's going to make it after all,
Sister Whitney Sorensen
P.S. Thanks for the $10 in Halloween money. We bought some stuff to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and I guessed at the recipe from scratch. Not too shabby. Just call me Paula Deen.
P.P.S. Is that Elise's full address? There's not an apartment number or anything? Just want to be sure...
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
A small clarification about "Meth"
I realize when people read these letters from Whitney you are only getting one side of the conversation. When she responds, it is usually to things we have previously e-mailed to her. Lest anyone think our son is heading in the wrong direction, let me elaborate. Eli has been sick. With a HIGH fever. The other night he was wandering deliriously about the house, mumbling about 'not taking meth.' When I questioned him about it the next day, he told me he had been dreaming about it all night long. Ahh fevers.
10-19-09 "Amos Quito"
Do you remember that knock-knock joke we used to tell? Knock knock. Who's there? Amos. Amos who? A-mosquito bit me! Well, that's very applicable this week. It was a very rainy week last week, but it finally mostly stopped by Tuesday. Unfortunately, that means greater humidity, and an even greater concentration of mosquitos. Especially at about 4:30 in the afternoon when we did some tracting on Tuesday. Especially at the entryway to every house on the street. So it went something like this. Knock knock. Wait five seconds. Look down at your legs. Slap the mosquitos away from your nylons. See if anyone answers. Leave a pass-along card. Walk to next house. Repeat. After one hour of that adventure we had plenty of bites, about 15 on each leg. I tried to take a picture, but you couldn't really see it very well. Weird, because it was totally obvious and gross. I was itching horribly the next morning.
Tomball is in big time finding mode right now, which means a lot of tracting. And yes, even into people that haven't been visited by members. I don't know. I see the need for member missionary work, but they can't do it all. Tracting is there to make us humble. Not that it's my place to say, but the Idaho elders should know by now that everyone in Idaho Falls has had some contact with members. Maybe not members who were saying, "Hey, do you want to have the missionary discussions?" but, it's Idaho Falls. I love it here when people acknowledge some type of association with members. Even if it doesn't mean they're interested right now, it at least gives us a time to have a thirty second conversation, instead of me just giving a standard, boring, ineffective door approach. My new goal since yesterday is to maintain a smile while tracting, especially when someone's turning us away. Of course, just after I mentioned that to Sister Kemp, a devout ex-Catholic atheist answered the next door, convinced that since he stopped believing in Jesus Christ as even being a real person he's been so much happier. As we walked away, Sister Kemp said, "That one HURT." I just kept saying, "still happy, still happy." But it did hurt. Ouch. That's something I've come to realize in the short time I've been here in Tomball. I already love these people. I didn't think I would love them this quickly. And I didn't realize it up in College Station because we didn't do that much tracting. But here, it's like breaking my heart every time someone closes the door. Every time. It's especially hard when people already have a church and don't want ours. Which is most people down here. So close and yet SO FAR. And so not willing to hear our point of view, most of the time. And I still love them. But President Hansen shared some wisdom with me that I'm trying to apply with the happiness thing. He said President Eyring has two ways to know if you are a successful missionary: 1. Speak in such a way that you can convey the Spirit, and 2. Love the people with your whole heart. So those are my new goals.
Sorry everyone there is sick. YUCK! This week we had dinner with a family that all had the swine flu recently. Not anymore, of course. Actually, they just moved here from Vancouver, BC, and they have the coolest stories. He works for US Customs, so he gets to go into private jets and clear them when celebrities land or leave. Plus he knows a lot of famous people that film their shows in Vancouver. Like Tom Welling from Smallville. Wow. When he showed us the signed pictures they have from him for their sons, I felt just like a fifteen-year-old again. I was suddenly in 9th grade. They even said they once took some sister missionaries up there to meet him. Talk about distracting. Plus, they know someone who works on the set of PSYCH. Amazing! They keep getting all this cool stuff from them: PSYCH water bottles, bobbleheads, etc. I'll keep you posted on any more cool celebrity sightings.
Oh, and I'll try to get a flu shot sometime in the next two weeks. It should be less than $30. I'm okay to just use the medical VISA on that, right? As for prescriptions, I think I'm just going to get them refilled at CVS from here on out, so I've saved some bottles to show my new doctor. And that's another thing: I'm going to call around today and see who can take me down here soonest. I'll keep you posted.
Eli, wow! It sounds like you're having a crazy week. First of all, Meth: Not even once. I know you wouldn't, but in this family, we're direct with stuff like that. Dont' do drugs. Ever. However, turning 8, getting your first real scriptures, and writing haikus and limericks are very good ideas. As is playing basketball. I can't wait to see a picture of you all in uniform. Center is the best position actually. My favorite player from years ago on the UConn basketball team, Emeka Okafor, was a center. Probably still is, but he went to some no name professional team and hasn't been heard from since. I don't know of any cool basketball phrases like "pitcher's got a rubber arm" and such in baseball, but I do know there's a really cool episode of Even Stevens where Louis tries to be a basketball coach. Of course, the other half of the episode is about Ren wanting to kiss Bobby Deever, but I still think you'll like it. Don't hit anyone with your Wii lightsabers. And don't see TOY STORY 3 without me! It doesn't come out until next year, right? Andy in college, eh? Good stuff. Sounds hilarious. Toy Story is the original Pixar movie, and Toy Story 2 is still the best. By the way, "Work your height man!" And it's good to know you like the Jonas brothers okay. Feel free to copy their sense of fashion, but keep your own hair. It's the best.
Good luck on Annie. I'm sure it will be fabulous, with or without JPL. (Random American Idol question: who lost to Chris this year? I CANNOT remember. Help! I'm losing my trivia mind!) And it sounds like you have plenty of projects to work on afterward. Maybe you could work on getting the Nobel Peace Prize next year. I'm sure you've done more for world peace than a recent winner. I'm sure the news media is just soaking it all up though, praising him for his (lack of) accomplishments. At the very least you could become a chia pet.
Please do send the Dallin H. Oaks talk. I know he's right, and that's probably why people are calling him wrong. Sister Tanner is great, and her husband is actually one of the vice president's of BYU. I've never heard him give a talk, but I'm sure he's great.
Okay, I think that's all for this week. Enjoy the winter. Here it's just starting to be fall, 60s-80s all the time. And flowers are still blooming. I could get used to this, for sure.
Love,
Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen
P.S. Ed-E and Lu-C=NOT EVEN ONCE!
Tomball is in big time finding mode right now, which means a lot of tracting. And yes, even into people that haven't been visited by members. I don't know. I see the need for member missionary work, but they can't do it all. Tracting is there to make us humble. Not that it's my place to say, but the Idaho elders should know by now that everyone in Idaho Falls has had some contact with members. Maybe not members who were saying, "Hey, do you want to have the missionary discussions?" but, it's Idaho Falls. I love it here when people acknowledge some type of association with members. Even if it doesn't mean they're interested right now, it at least gives us a time to have a thirty second conversation, instead of me just giving a standard, boring, ineffective door approach. My new goal since yesterday is to maintain a smile while tracting, especially when someone's turning us away. Of course, just after I mentioned that to Sister Kemp, a devout ex-Catholic atheist answered the next door, convinced that since he stopped believing in Jesus Christ as even being a real person he's been so much happier. As we walked away, Sister Kemp said, "That one HURT." I just kept saying, "still happy, still happy." But it did hurt. Ouch. That's something I've come to realize in the short time I've been here in Tomball. I already love these people. I didn't think I would love them this quickly. And I didn't realize it up in College Station because we didn't do that much tracting. But here, it's like breaking my heart every time someone closes the door. Every time. It's especially hard when people already have a church and don't want ours. Which is most people down here. So close and yet SO FAR. And so not willing to hear our point of view, most of the time. And I still love them. But President Hansen shared some wisdom with me that I'm trying to apply with the happiness thing. He said President Eyring has two ways to know if you are a successful missionary: 1. Speak in such a way that you can convey the Spirit, and 2. Love the people with your whole heart. So those are my new goals.
Sorry everyone there is sick. YUCK! This week we had dinner with a family that all had the swine flu recently. Not anymore, of course. Actually, they just moved here from Vancouver, BC, and they have the coolest stories. He works for US Customs, so he gets to go into private jets and clear them when celebrities land or leave. Plus he knows a lot of famous people that film their shows in Vancouver. Like Tom Welling from Smallville. Wow. When he showed us the signed pictures they have from him for their sons, I felt just like a fifteen-year-old again. I was suddenly in 9th grade. They even said they once took some sister missionaries up there to meet him. Talk about distracting. Plus, they know someone who works on the set of PSYCH. Amazing! They keep getting all this cool stuff from them: PSYCH water bottles, bobbleheads, etc. I'll keep you posted on any more cool celebrity sightings.
Oh, and I'll try to get a flu shot sometime in the next two weeks. It should be less than $30. I'm okay to just use the medical VISA on that, right? As for prescriptions, I think I'm just going to get them refilled at CVS from here on out, so I've saved some bottles to show my new doctor. And that's another thing: I'm going to call around today and see who can take me down here soonest. I'll keep you posted.
Eli, wow! It sounds like you're having a crazy week. First of all, Meth: Not even once. I know you wouldn't, but in this family, we're direct with stuff like that. Dont' do drugs. Ever. However, turning 8, getting your first real scriptures, and writing haikus and limericks are very good ideas. As is playing basketball. I can't wait to see a picture of you all in uniform. Center is the best position actually. My favorite player from years ago on the UConn basketball team, Emeka Okafor, was a center. Probably still is, but he went to some no name professional team and hasn't been heard from since. I don't know of any cool basketball phrases like "pitcher's got a rubber arm" and such in baseball, but I do know there's a really cool episode of Even Stevens where Louis tries to be a basketball coach. Of course, the other half of the episode is about Ren wanting to kiss Bobby Deever, but I still think you'll like it. Don't hit anyone with your Wii lightsabers. And don't see TOY STORY 3 without me! It doesn't come out until next year, right? Andy in college, eh? Good stuff. Sounds hilarious. Toy Story is the original Pixar movie, and Toy Story 2 is still the best. By the way, "Work your height man!" And it's good to know you like the Jonas brothers okay. Feel free to copy their sense of fashion, but keep your own hair. It's the best.
Good luck on Annie. I'm sure it will be fabulous, with or without JPL. (Random American Idol question: who lost to Chris this year? I CANNOT remember. Help! I'm losing my trivia mind!) And it sounds like you have plenty of projects to work on afterward. Maybe you could work on getting the Nobel Peace Prize next year. I'm sure you've done more for world peace than a recent winner. I'm sure the news media is just soaking it all up though, praising him for his (lack of) accomplishments. At the very least you could become a chia pet.
Please do send the Dallin H. Oaks talk. I know he's right, and that's probably why people are calling him wrong. Sister Tanner is great, and her husband is actually one of the vice president's of BYU. I've never heard him give a talk, but I'm sure he's great.
Okay, I think that's all for this week. Enjoy the winter. Here it's just starting to be fall, 60s-80s all the time. And flowers are still blooming. I could get used to this, for sure.
Love,
Sister Whitney Mikell Sorensen
P.S. Ed-E and Lu-C=NOT EVEN ONCE!
Monday, October 12, 2009
10-12-09 "That Darn Cat!"
Greetings from Tomball! So far a great place to serve as a missionary. Tomball, or the Tomball ward boundary at least, is more like three towns attached to the same highway in one town. We have main downtown Tomball, where our apartment is located, Greater Tomball to the south closer to the Houston metropolis, and an area up north called Decker Prairie and/or Pinehurst. Sadly, from looking through old ward records, it appears that my German class acquaintance's family has actually moved out of the ward in the last year. Oh well. From church yesterday the ward is wonderful in any case.
Also from looking through the ward list, I have discovered that this ward is full of detectives. Two men work for the FBI (perhaps similar to a certain possibly secret operative in our home ward), someone works for border patrol, and there are one or two police officers. So although I am no longer working in the CSI ward, I am still among the compadres of the Hardy brothers. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Zeke Kelso of the movie "That Darn Cat" lived somewhere nearby, and I'll tell you why. Our apartment has a short-haired grey cat who constanly hangs around, looking for food and causing general mischief. I'm convinced it's D.C. from "That Darn Cat!" although I can't prove it and the cat has quite a different coloring. By general mischief, I mean it's always trying to get into our apartment. I will have to tell Sister Kemp to "shut the front door" unless we want to get ourselves involved in a little mystery. (Which maybe we do. Don't tempt me.) I can't decide whether to be the Hayley Mills character or her older sister in this little subplot. The sister seemed so much more graceful and mature, plus she got to date the detective in the end, but the Hayley Mills character was more fun and adventurous and had the quirky fun boyfriend with the weird name--Canoe, I believe. Of course, since it's all a fantasy, who's to say I can't be both? Plus, it's been rainy ever since I got down here, so I've had plenty of occasion to wear my rain jacket, which makes me look just like a detective. Too fabulous. I'll send a picture (and others) as soon as we take some. (By the way, some of your pictures aren't opening up. I don't know if its just the computers I'm using, but maybe send another round of actual copies sometime. No rush.)
Right now we are working with two main investigators. The first is Jennifer (although her real name is something else). She is from Vietnam, has an adorable little boy who's almost two named Ricky, and has been learning with missionaries for a while. She partially allows us to come over to teach her English--which should work out really well since Sister Kemp is an elementary education major from BYU-Idaho (any questions Cassidy, you can send them our way, as long as they're not too pressing) and I'm an English major. We also are teaching her about the Restoration of the gospel, but slowly because it takes a while with the language barrier. Her husband is Catholic, and she's concerned about having two religions in the home, but she loves reading from the Book of Mormon and is very accepting of the teachings we have for her.
We're also working with a man named Alex, whose life is a bit of a mystery. His family is from Venezuela, he's been in the navy (although for which country we're not exactly sure), he lived in Spain for five months, and now is looking for a home in Tomball because his kids live here with his ex-wife. He attended LDS services for years before he lived in Spain, but didn't realize that our church is all over the world, so he started going to the prettiest Catholic cathedral he could find over there, until he got back here and found the church again on his own. He's already set a date for baptism, and the ward members are doing a very good job of fellowshipping him.
Oh! And I got word this week, the very day after I arrived here, that Charles Marshall has also set a baptism date! November 1! Pray for him! I want to go and see him get baptized. Nothing would make me happier, although the happiness would be on par with knowing Eli will be baptized at the end of this month. Happy Birthday, Bubby! I love you, and I'm so glad you're excited about getting baptized.
Speaking of birthdays, I did get the shirts you picked out and they are WONDERFUL! Shut the front door! They could not be more perfect! And thank you for having so many people send me birthday cards. In addition to family, I have them from: Donna Griffiths, Aleisha, Miss Peg, The Dells, and Mallory Hart. So fun.
Thanks for the info about the shooting of the moon. Last week I had a less active member give me the whole schpiel about how the moon landing was all faked because he'd read up on it on the greatest and truest of all sources: the internet. That's also where he discovered the truth about 9/11 being an inside job. As if. It's good to know the space program continues despite their crazy naysayers who accuse thousands of people of being liars. Sadly, I also discovered this week that the Johnson Space Center in Houston could not be farther away from our mission, and is practically not in Houston at all. Oh well. And we may have seen as we were leaving our nursing home service that Obama apparently won the Nobel Peace Prize...? Why? Is the war over? I don't mean entirely to sound like a naysayer, but I am almost totally uninformed about current events. Surely one doesn't receive the NPP for giving a speach to elementary school students?!? Okay, that's about all for this week, except to say, I'm glad you enjoyed Rebecca even if you don't think you understood it all. Let's just say I thought it was ironic that I'd asked you to read it around the time my apartment burned down. Does that offer any insight? It's been awhile since I read it myself, so I can't give you any more clues than that.
Also, thanks for all the Lawrence references. The only one I thought of was Laurie Lawrence, but your list went above and beyond. Dad, thanks for the facts about Tomball and the magical birthday card. Cassidy, sorry you have a cold, but glad to know you're doing well at school. All the best to Mark from me. He'll love being on a mission. Grandmother and Grandpa, don't get to cold. Here its been colder--in the 60s. Try not to be too jealous, and I hope you stay feeling well. Get your will taken care of, too, I guess.
All the best and all my love,
Sister Whitney Sorensen
PS Eli, I'll send you a birthday card today, so look for it!
Also from looking through the ward list, I have discovered that this ward is full of detectives. Two men work for the FBI (perhaps similar to a certain possibly secret operative in our home ward), someone works for border patrol, and there are one or two police officers. So although I am no longer working in the CSI ward, I am still among the compadres of the Hardy brothers. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Zeke Kelso of the movie "That Darn Cat" lived somewhere nearby, and I'll tell you why. Our apartment has a short-haired grey cat who constanly hangs around, looking for food and causing general mischief. I'm convinced it's D.C. from "That Darn Cat!" although I can't prove it and the cat has quite a different coloring. By general mischief, I mean it's always trying to get into our apartment. I will have to tell Sister Kemp to "shut the front door" unless we want to get ourselves involved in a little mystery. (Which maybe we do. Don't tempt me.) I can't decide whether to be the Hayley Mills character or her older sister in this little subplot. The sister seemed so much more graceful and mature, plus she got to date the detective in the end, but the Hayley Mills character was more fun and adventurous and had the quirky fun boyfriend with the weird name--Canoe, I believe. Of course, since it's all a fantasy, who's to say I can't be both? Plus, it's been rainy ever since I got down here, so I've had plenty of occasion to wear my rain jacket, which makes me look just like a detective. Too fabulous. I'll send a picture (and others) as soon as we take some. (By the way, some of your pictures aren't opening up. I don't know if its just the computers I'm using, but maybe send another round of actual copies sometime. No rush.)
Right now we are working with two main investigators. The first is Jennifer (although her real name is something else). She is from Vietnam, has an adorable little boy who's almost two named Ricky, and has been learning with missionaries for a while. She partially allows us to come over to teach her English--which should work out really well since Sister Kemp is an elementary education major from BYU-Idaho (any questions Cassidy, you can send them our way, as long as they're not too pressing) and I'm an English major. We also are teaching her about the Restoration of the gospel, but slowly because it takes a while with the language barrier. Her husband is Catholic, and she's concerned about having two religions in the home, but she loves reading from the Book of Mormon and is very accepting of the teachings we have for her.
We're also working with a man named Alex, whose life is a bit of a mystery. His family is from Venezuela, he's been in the navy (although for which country we're not exactly sure), he lived in Spain for five months, and now is looking for a home in Tomball because his kids live here with his ex-wife. He attended LDS services for years before he lived in Spain, but didn't realize that our church is all over the world, so he started going to the prettiest Catholic cathedral he could find over there, until he got back here and found the church again on his own. He's already set a date for baptism, and the ward members are doing a very good job of fellowshipping him.
Oh! And I got word this week, the very day after I arrived here, that Charles Marshall has also set a baptism date! November 1! Pray for him! I want to go and see him get baptized. Nothing would make me happier, although the happiness would be on par with knowing Eli will be baptized at the end of this month. Happy Birthday, Bubby! I love you, and I'm so glad you're excited about getting baptized.
Speaking of birthdays, I did get the shirts you picked out and they are WONDERFUL! Shut the front door! They could not be more perfect! And thank you for having so many people send me birthday cards. In addition to family, I have them from: Donna Griffiths, Aleisha, Miss Peg, The Dells, and Mallory Hart. So fun.
Thanks for the info about the shooting of the moon. Last week I had a less active member give me the whole schpiel about how the moon landing was all faked because he'd read up on it on the greatest and truest of all sources: the internet. That's also where he discovered the truth about 9/11 being an inside job. As if. It's good to know the space program continues despite their crazy naysayers who accuse thousands of people of being liars. Sadly, I also discovered this week that the Johnson Space Center in Houston could not be farther away from our mission, and is practically not in Houston at all. Oh well. And we may have seen as we were leaving our nursing home service that Obama apparently won the Nobel Peace Prize...? Why? Is the war over? I don't mean entirely to sound like a naysayer, but I am almost totally uninformed about current events. Surely one doesn't receive the NPP for giving a speach to elementary school students?!? Okay, that's about all for this week, except to say, I'm glad you enjoyed Rebecca even if you don't think you understood it all. Let's just say I thought it was ironic that I'd asked you to read it around the time my apartment burned down. Does that offer any insight? It's been awhile since I read it myself, so I can't give you any more clues than that.
Also, thanks for all the Lawrence references. The only one I thought of was Laurie Lawrence, but your list went above and beyond. Dad, thanks for the facts about Tomball and the magical birthday card. Cassidy, sorry you have a cold, but glad to know you're doing well at school. All the best to Mark from me. He'll love being on a mission. Grandmother and Grandpa, don't get to cold. Here its been colder--in the 60s. Try not to be too jealous, and I hope you stay feeling well. Get your will taken care of, too, I guess.
All the best and all my love,
Sister Whitney Sorensen
PS Eli, I'll send you a birthday card today, so look for it!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A few photos from the field...
I am finally getting around to posting some of the pictures we have received. (thanks Kim for your fabulous scanning skills!)
If you're going to eat barbecue in Texas, go with a name you trust. The name we trust is J.Cody. And we're not ja-kidding!
A beautiful Texas sky line at sunset!
A photo from the now famous Sabbath day apartment fire!
Arriving in Houston and meeting President and Sister Hansen
Final day at the MTC with District Elders and Sisters...and awesome traininer Sister Folkman.
Sisters from the MTC district. I love how they coordinated their outfits!
Elders from the same district. In Whitney's own words, "I am proud to call them all my brothers!"
Whitney and this sister worked together in the writing lab at BYU. She's on her way to Tonga!
Taking time out from a busy MTC day to share a few smiles!
One of Whitney's best friends in the whole world. Sister (Hermana) Good....on her way to New Mexico, Spanish-speaking. They were happy to have several encounters AND HUGS while they were both in the MTC!
If you're going to eat barbecue in Texas, go with a name you trust. The name we trust is J.Cody. And we're not ja-kidding!
A beautiful Texas sky line at sunset!
A photo from the now famous Sabbath day apartment fire!Arriving in Houston and meeting President and Sister HansenFinal day at the MTC with District Elders and Sisters...and awesome traininer Sister Folkman.Sisters from the MTC district. I love how they coordinated their outfits!Elders from the same district. In Whitney's own words, "I am proud to call them all my brothers!"Whitney and this sister worked together in the writing lab at BYU. She's on her way to Tonga!Taking time out from a busy MTC day to share a few smiles!One of Whitney's best friends in the whole world. Sister (Hermana) Good....on her way to New Mexico, Spanish-speaking. They were happy to have several encounters AND HUGS while they were both in the MTC!Monday, October 5, 2009
10-5-09 "Coincidence...I think not"
First of all, thanks to everyone for the birthday gifts and surprises. I love the grey skirt. And the shirts are beautiful, Grandpa and Grandmother, although I did exchange one of them for a smaller size. The scripture case is great, the stationery is fun, the jumping spider is frightening, the balloons are tough to blow up (but it's the thought that counts), and blow-ups are perfect, the CD is already being put to good use, and we all know what the Red Velvet cake is. TO. DIE. FOR. Which I won't, but I considered it. I hope I'm not forgetting anything. If I am, know that I appreciate even the things I did not mention, I just have a poor memory and feel so generously blessed that I can't keep track of all the blessings I'm receiving. Oh. Eli's Snoopy notebook. Good grief! You're still my sweet baboo. Maybe on Halloween you can sit out in the yard by your very own great pumpkin. What are you going to be for Halloween? Harry Potter? A ghost with eight eye holes like Charlie Brown? Someone from the Titanic? All good options. But I know what you're really going to be, Eli. BAPTIZED, the best thing of all.
Speaking of which, only one of the two baptisms actually took place, and I wasn't at it. One of them, the one that was supposed to happen between sessions on Saturday, got canceled because the investigator got cold feet. I hope it will happen at some other time. The other one did take place on Friday evening, but I didn't go because I had been sick all night. Let's not get graphic or anything, but let's just say I threw up all night long, rested all day, had only a half a sleeve of saltines and some ginger ale (thanks to my generous zone leaders), and absolutely no energy by the time the baptism was to take place. So we didn't leave the apartment at all that day, except to go to the mailbox and get my birthday package. Sorry to hear you were also sick, Cassidy. Yuck. It's the worst, but at least it was on the weekend when you could lay around and rest all day.
And listen to conference, which was amazing like always. My favorite was, again, Elder Holland. What a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon! Somehow his talks get better every time. I also really enjoyed Elder Christofferson's talk, and I can see him becoming something of a cross between Elder Oaks and Elder Holland. Elder Callister's talk on Saturday was aimed right at many of the kinds of questions we often get from investigators about the godhead, a living prophet, and the Book of Mormon. Very exciting about a temple in Brigham City. You never can have too many in Utah. And Mark's mission getting one too? Perfecto! All in all, fabulous, uplifting, enlightening. Charles was there for the Sunday afternoon session, and Pai-Shan came to the Sunday morning session. Wow. Her life is so changed by the gospel. I just love to see her countenance shine with the light of her testimony.
But, unfortunately, I won't be seeing it very much longer. I'm being transferred. Actually, I'm excited for it. President Hansen says it'll be a new "adventure," and you know I'm always up for one of those, being the Nancy Drew girl that I am. Wednesday morning I leave for Tomball, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Actually, I know someone from there. Maurie Moline and I were studying German together at BYU. Now she's on a mission in Germany (Berlin, I think), and I'm serving a mission in her hometown. Small Mormon world, just like you said, Cassidy. My new companion will be Sister Kemp. I've never met her, but look forward to it. I'll keep you posted on my new address and everything. Until then, the mission office is the best bet for mail and other forms of correspondence. (By the way, Grandmother and Grandpa and other family, feel free to e-mail as often as you like. Just know that my reading time plus my writing time are limited to an hour, total.)
Love the story about Tyson dressed like Abraham Lincoln. It reminds me of several movies. First, isn't there a part in Kindergarten Cop when Arnold's entire class dresses up like Lincoln and recites the Gettysburg address? Of course, not probably the best movie for Eli to watch if his fear of fire drills is still alive. Also, it seems like there's a part in Little Rascals when the boys dress up with Lincoln-like beards and try to get a loan from Mel Brooks. I hope he's watched that movie by now. Of course, if he's busy reading Harry Potter, all other forms of media can be put on hold. Good for you, Eli. Reading Harry Potter. You are my brother, after all. I always knew it, though. Only a few more days until you are 8! I can hardly believe it.
Housekeeping items: I finally got my medicine this week. Let's just say it took many phone calls to get everything faxed to the right places. Also, the purchase ended up being for like 18 months worth of methotrexate, so you'll not have to worry about buying that again while I'm gone. That's also why the bill is a little steeper than usual. I'm not sure what happened, but I won't take more than my appropriate dose anyway, so everything should be fine. Also, I had to pay a minimal lab fee using the credit card. It was something like $34, so watch for that to come through.
As far as clothes go, everything is holding up well. I finally got to wear my rain jacket this week, and it makes me feel just like Nancy Drew in a stylish yet functional trenchcoat. I have plenty of preparation day clothes, so no need to worry there, and so far the weather here is barely like fall. It's about 70 today. So sorry about the snow, but not really jealous. Not one bit, in fact. Stay warm. Sit by the fireplace and enjoy some hot cocoa.
Did I call it or did I call it about Brazil and the Olympics? It should be historic, and Chicago really should wait until the U.S. economy rebounds before trying to host the most expensive sporting event on the planet.
Okay, finally some news from Texas. Other than being sick this week, we've been fairly productive. Some appointments were canceled by virtue of people not showing up for them, but because of this we were able to teach a man from Africa about the Book of Mormon. He seemed skeptical but interested, unlike some people who seem skeptical and argumentative. It's really important to learn to use the gift of discernment when deciding who really wants to know and who just wants to waste our time.
I had some excellent Southern experiences this week, both of them yesterday actually. First, we were at dinner with some members after the closing session of conference. They live out in the country and have a large, open backyard which is visible through many long windows from their dining room table. While we were eating dinner, the dad noticed a skunk wandering slowly across their lawn. From the safety of our indoor vantage point, we all watched intently as this critter skunked its way. It kept stopping and kind of walked in a zigzagged direction, as if it were disoriented. Then the dad said, "Maybe it has rabies." Ooh! Just at that moment, I felt like I was IN To Kill a Mockingbird. Calpurnia needed to get on the phone and say, "Missah Finch, Missah Finch. There's a mad dog down the street a piece, comin' right for us." In the end, we're not really sure if it had rabies or not, and no one shot it because it fell under their trampoline and was only a baby. If it did have rabies, it would probably die. No need to create a stink over something that turns out to be nothing.
And, maybe the best thing of all this week. I saw a blooming field of cotton! We were on our way out to visit a recent convert who lives WAY OUT IN THE COUNTRY, we're talking beyond the farm land. As we're zooming past the fields, I notice that many of them look like they have white flowers all over them. Closer inspection reveals them to be not flowers, but cotton puffs. We took some pictures with the beautiful Texas sunset in the background. I felt so truly Southern to finally see a field of cotton, but so truly foreign to the South to think it was something of a sight and not just a commonplace occurence. Oh well. I thought it was amazing. And it made me want to read Mildred D. Taylor books and watch Gone With the Wind. Two things for my TO DO list (along with the Corbin Bleu motocross movie...)
Much love,
Sister Whitney Sorensen
PS I'm starting to get used to the Sister Sorensen thing. Now it seems weird to be called Whitney. Is that really my name? I vaguely remember people calling me that in a past life...Oh well. I guess that comes with the territory also.
Speaking of which, only one of the two baptisms actually took place, and I wasn't at it. One of them, the one that was supposed to happen between sessions on Saturday, got canceled because the investigator got cold feet. I hope it will happen at some other time. The other one did take place on Friday evening, but I didn't go because I had been sick all night. Let's not get graphic or anything, but let's just say I threw up all night long, rested all day, had only a half a sleeve of saltines and some ginger ale (thanks to my generous zone leaders), and absolutely no energy by the time the baptism was to take place. So we didn't leave the apartment at all that day, except to go to the mailbox and get my birthday package. Sorry to hear you were also sick, Cassidy. Yuck. It's the worst, but at least it was on the weekend when you could lay around and rest all day.
And listen to conference, which was amazing like always. My favorite was, again, Elder Holland. What a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon! Somehow his talks get better every time. I also really enjoyed Elder Christofferson's talk, and I can see him becoming something of a cross between Elder Oaks and Elder Holland. Elder Callister's talk on Saturday was aimed right at many of the kinds of questions we often get from investigators about the godhead, a living prophet, and the Book of Mormon. Very exciting about a temple in Brigham City. You never can have too many in Utah. And Mark's mission getting one too? Perfecto! All in all, fabulous, uplifting, enlightening. Charles was there for the Sunday afternoon session, and Pai-Shan came to the Sunday morning session. Wow. Her life is so changed by the gospel. I just love to see her countenance shine with the light of her testimony.
But, unfortunately, I won't be seeing it very much longer. I'm being transferred. Actually, I'm excited for it. President Hansen says it'll be a new "adventure," and you know I'm always up for one of those, being the Nancy Drew girl that I am. Wednesday morning I leave for Tomball, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Actually, I know someone from there. Maurie Moline and I were studying German together at BYU. Now she's on a mission in Germany (Berlin, I think), and I'm serving a mission in her hometown. Small Mormon world, just like you said, Cassidy. My new companion will be Sister Kemp. I've never met her, but look forward to it. I'll keep you posted on my new address and everything. Until then, the mission office is the best bet for mail and other forms of correspondence. (By the way, Grandmother and Grandpa and other family, feel free to e-mail as often as you like. Just know that my reading time plus my writing time are limited to an hour, total.)
Love the story about Tyson dressed like Abraham Lincoln. It reminds me of several movies. First, isn't there a part in Kindergarten Cop when Arnold's entire class dresses up like Lincoln and recites the Gettysburg address? Of course, not probably the best movie for Eli to watch if his fear of fire drills is still alive. Also, it seems like there's a part in Little Rascals when the boys dress up with Lincoln-like beards and try to get a loan from Mel Brooks. I hope he's watched that movie by now. Of course, if he's busy reading Harry Potter, all other forms of media can be put on hold. Good for you, Eli. Reading Harry Potter. You are my brother, after all. I always knew it, though. Only a few more days until you are 8! I can hardly believe it.
Housekeeping items: I finally got my medicine this week. Let's just say it took many phone calls to get everything faxed to the right places. Also, the purchase ended up being for like 18 months worth of methotrexate, so you'll not have to worry about buying that again while I'm gone. That's also why the bill is a little steeper than usual. I'm not sure what happened, but I won't take more than my appropriate dose anyway, so everything should be fine. Also, I had to pay a minimal lab fee using the credit card. It was something like $34, so watch for that to come through.
As far as clothes go, everything is holding up well. I finally got to wear my rain jacket this week, and it makes me feel just like Nancy Drew in a stylish yet functional trenchcoat. I have plenty of preparation day clothes, so no need to worry there, and so far the weather here is barely like fall. It's about 70 today. So sorry about the snow, but not really jealous. Not one bit, in fact. Stay warm. Sit by the fireplace and enjoy some hot cocoa.
Did I call it or did I call it about Brazil and the Olympics? It should be historic, and Chicago really should wait until the U.S. economy rebounds before trying to host the most expensive sporting event on the planet.
Okay, finally some news from Texas. Other than being sick this week, we've been fairly productive. Some appointments were canceled by virtue of people not showing up for them, but because of this we were able to teach a man from Africa about the Book of Mormon. He seemed skeptical but interested, unlike some people who seem skeptical and argumentative. It's really important to learn to use the gift of discernment when deciding who really wants to know and who just wants to waste our time.
I had some excellent Southern experiences this week, both of them yesterday actually. First, we were at dinner with some members after the closing session of conference. They live out in the country and have a large, open backyard which is visible through many long windows from their dining room table. While we were eating dinner, the dad noticed a skunk wandering slowly across their lawn. From the safety of our indoor vantage point, we all watched intently as this critter skunked its way. It kept stopping and kind of walked in a zigzagged direction, as if it were disoriented. Then the dad said, "Maybe it has rabies." Ooh! Just at that moment, I felt like I was IN To Kill a Mockingbird. Calpurnia needed to get on the phone and say, "Missah Finch, Missah Finch. There's a mad dog down the street a piece, comin' right for us." In the end, we're not really sure if it had rabies or not, and no one shot it because it fell under their trampoline and was only a baby. If it did have rabies, it would probably die. No need to create a stink over something that turns out to be nothing.
And, maybe the best thing of all this week. I saw a blooming field of cotton! We were on our way out to visit a recent convert who lives WAY OUT IN THE COUNTRY, we're talking beyond the farm land. As we're zooming past the fields, I notice that many of them look like they have white flowers all over them. Closer inspection reveals them to be not flowers, but cotton puffs. We took some pictures with the beautiful Texas sunset in the background. I felt so truly Southern to finally see a field of cotton, but so truly foreign to the South to think it was something of a sight and not just a commonplace occurence. Oh well. I thought it was amazing. And it made me want to read Mildred D. Taylor books and watch Gone With the Wind. Two things for my TO DO list (along with the Corbin Bleu motocross movie...)
Much love,
Sister Whitney Sorensen
PS I'm starting to get used to the Sister Sorensen thing. Now it seems weird to be called Whitney. Is that really my name? I vaguely remember people calling me that in a past life...Oh well. I guess that comes with the territory also.
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