Sarah Cate: "Oh the Stars at Night..."

This week was another roller coaster!! yahooo! First of all: Rumor mill-- Courtney, our recent covert, really got in to the church because of her boyfriend that she was seeing at the time who was a member. Well they broke up right before the baptism and then got back together after the baptism....well.....turns out Courtney is not officially divorced from her husband and has decided to go back with her husband! Good news though, she told him how important the church is to her and that it's a must in their relationship so they are going to talk to the bishop next week together!  He is a very quality guy but it was quite a side swipe when it all happened. What's gonna happen to the member? I know not but we pray for him. In other news, the lady that we live with, has had some threats from her ex husband. He is such a nerd and it makes me very sad that he chooses to try to bring others down. I pray for him daily. ggrrrr.....No, God has a plan for our Mamma Billy. He will sort it all out! I"m so happy I'm not the judge. 

We met some new people this last week. It was really nice. One was a half Spanish speaker! Yahoo! She speaks both so we are hoping that we can use our Spanish with her. Her name is Lola. Her father recently died and she has decided to become religious again. We are also very happy to have found a couple who recently had a baby and who are church hopping and set up another time to meet with us. Neither were at church but, we are still very hopeful and excited to see what happens. School started today so its been a little bit easier  for us to find people at home. We are excited for what will happen. 

The Lord provides. I am so blessed, thanks mom for the package!!! THAT WAS AMAZING! It was waaaay tooo much but sooo greatly appreciated. Thank you thank you thank you! Thank you for the picture of Meg! I have shown everyone! Truly. She looks soooo big! STOP GROWING NOW. STOP IT!!!  I love you. YOu are so pretty. Well all my family is pretty. I am blessed. Thanks y'all for todo. Truly I have the best family in the world. Dad, your postcard is traveling with me everywhere because it is sooo my dad! I love it soo much. Thank you. I love y'all so much. Keep up the good work!!

 

Hna. Sorensen 

Libbi: Pois E'

I have successfully completed my my first transfer! Weird, time is fast and slow and fast and slow and crazy and weird and I am just learning and growing so much my head is spinning.
 This week we had zone conference it was wonderful! I led the music (yes Susu I am doing all I can to share my musical abilities on the mission) I also sang and played my violin with the other sisters I live with and my comp. It was a creation of my own for the hymn more holiness give me. I think it turned out OK. Then Presidente talked about sacrifice, it was awesome. We watched the film about the man that worked on the Salt Lake Temple, Moyle I think his name is, anyway, the film had Bruce Newbold in it and I laughed as I tried to find more people I knew in it. But, it was amazing.  The Spirit was powerful and afterward Presidente asked me to bear my testimony.  I'm not sure how awesome that part was but I spoke about how my mission is not a sacrifice but an opportunity and privilege. I am so blessed to be here and have this opportunity to learn and grow. It is difficult and unnatural and awkward at times but it is perfect and exactly what I need in my life. I learned a lot in our zone conference and we practiced a ton. Foi ouchimo! (It was Great!)
 Anyway, the rest of the week was filled with highs and lows. This week Oswaldo received the Aaronic Priesthood and we taught many new people. But, the down side was that Bruna and Peterson decided to wait to be married. The sad part is that Bruna is ready and wants to be married and baptized and Peterson is a little slow. I am the most sad because the mom of Peterson is a member and she is the one that convinced them to wait and have a big party and all this stuff. But Bruna is pregnant and they already have 2 other kids. I am sad because Bruna just wants to follow the example of Jesus Christ. I want to help her but they didn´t come to church and are no longer progressing! Ahhh, biggest low of the mission thus far. But, after the rain comes the rainbow.  We taught Adriana and her son Luis last night and the Spirit was very strong. I think they are a possibility and I´m hopeful they will follow the Spirit and be baptized. I found out that we will stay where we are this transfer and also with the sisters we are living with. I am so blessed. I love these sister and I learn and grow with them everyday.
 I am happy to hear the chickens are laying eggs and I wish you well mom and dad in your new diet. I think I need a diet...I eat very little during the day but lunch is the main meal here and we always over eat...makes work difficult after lunch but I will adjust and learn and grow from everything here. I love it! I love my mission! I love the Lord because he is so merciful and loving and I know this plan and this Gospel are real! They have the power to change lives! I see it daily! I am so happy for you Meg and your first day of school! Soak up every minute of middle school....it is awkward at times but you will laugh at all the good times when you are old like me and want to be a child again! How is bailey? I miss dogs that are kind and sweet and clean and alive....well someday I will see her again! Oh announcements for August: I am horrible with birthdays and anniversaries forgive me please! Like I said, time is strange but if you had any form of celebration this month! Parabems! I love you and wish you the best. I pray for you and know that what I am doing is right and wonderful and happy! Have a killer week!

Love,
Sister Libbi Sorensen

Sarah Cate: Where are the Yellow Roses?

Alright family. The theme for this week is BE A GOOD MAN PLEASE!! I imagined this past week going so differently. I am heartbroken to report that neither Whitley nor Katherine were baptized this week. Katherine's father said that he thought it was too soon and that she was too young to be baptized and he forbade it. Whitley is being the biggest stinker face and said that (the boy she likes) was not in town and so she didn't want to do it. WE HAVE A NEW LADY JULIE WHO IS SOOO GREAT! But once again, her husband is being a stinker and refuses to support her spiritually. It's really heartbreaking. There are several divorces going on here and it is so heartbreaking to see. We are praying very hard for the hearts of all the people here to soften.
On a random side note: I love the variety of dogs that are here in Texas. I met an Irish Wolf Hound and it is truly the size of a baby horse. I took pictures of it. Meg--I have had a letter for you that I wanted to send two weeks ago but hesitated because I wanted to include a message to the family. I will send it this week. Along with a letter to the family!! YAHOO! --don't get too excited it probably won't be anything special. sorry.
Well we worked very hard this last week. I am becoming very comfortable knocking doors and talking with all sorts of religious people. We get some pretty funny responses/excuses when people answer the door. A man said to us " my eyes are dilated so I can't talk to you" hahaha Oh what a great funny thing. We also had some very beautiful people that we love and who were progressing in the gospel meet with us and try to save us. They showed us the "anti" material that they had been reading that their church puts out. (many of the churches have classes here about "how to talk to Mormons" and "how to convert your Mormon friends" and things like that). It was really one of the saddest times on my mission. I felt such deep sadness at the way this church leader of theirs had manipulated our religion into sounding truly terrifying. They made us seem awful. I was amazed at how clever Satan is. boooooooo!! Oh well.
A couple of weeks ago, we caught a scorpion in the bathroom of the church! My very first scorpion and it was in a church building. They are fast little buggers! and creepy. I guess its not uncommon to get stung here. YAHOO! I love the adventure. Well Sister Larsen and I are staying together for another transfer! It's such a blessing. So many people truly love her so much and were praying that she would stay. God answers prayers. I am very excited because I have learned so much from her. I am growing. Don't worry Daddy, I pray in Spanish every day. Also, Sister Larsen lived in Ecuador for 10 months so her Spanish is amazing. She is teaching me a lot. I am blessed.  We play tricks on each other. :) hee hee...please send me clever ideas.
Well I love y'all so much. I am glad to hear of the improvements on my grandparents. I love y'all so very much. Thank y'all for y'alls love and support. I am working hard. I miss y'all loads and loads! Don't be ugly towards one another. love y'all!

Hermana Sorensen

Libbi: Puxa Vida!

Oh this week... We had a confirmation on Sunday (Oswaldo), a car ride that was equal to the  Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, I mixed up many word, had many laughs, and a little bit of sorrow as is usual on the mission. We taught some lessons, but this area is difficult at times and didn´t have as many opportunities to teach and invite people as we would have liked. We called probably 10 people on Sunday and none came to the church.  This was a bit sad. The 2 people that I called just hung up on me and turned off their phones but all is well. I don´t have much time this week to write but I hope that everyone is doing well. Daniel: I keep hearing about this girlfriend of yours...write me about her please if you are going to spend eternity with her I would like to know a little bit about her! haha just kidding. I am so blessed on the mission. I have an amazing family. I am in an amazing place with an amazing ward and I am slowly but surely learning this language. I am talking more and more everyday. I am listening to cheesy church music that I swore I would never listen to and crying...oh the mission is changing me indeed. No, actually life is good and I still have so very much to learn. I know this e-mail is very uninformative and brief but I just had to switch computers and start over kinda...I wish you all well and know you are in my prayers. Thanks for your support and love! I am so very blessed I can´t stand it at times.

 

Love,

Sister Libbi Sorensen!

Sarah Cate: It's Blazin Hot Y'all

Well here goes nothing.

This week was another hard working week in the TSAM. Still so blazing hot and EVERYONE, even the natives, complain about it. For us, it has been both a blessing and a curse. A veces (at times) we get into people's houses because they think we are crazy for walking outside in the heat. Other times people say "oh it's too hot to talk to you now." --slam! haha I love it. As a companionship, we are doing very well. Transfers are in a week and a half and the Bishop of one of the wards called president and asked if we can be together for another transfer because we are doing such a good job. Sister Larsen is VERY loved here. Its going to be interested to see how people react to us when she is gone...we fear, despite the phone call, she is going to be transferred. I love her very much too. In short, she will be very much missed. I have worked very hard to try to learn the area and get to know the people. I am nervous though for this transition. Ooohh well. Come what may. We went on exchanges with the St. Cloud sisters. St. Cloud is almost right in downtown San Antonio. The area is a lot more humble than ours. I left our area and went to St. Cloud. I GOT TO SPEAK SOME SPANISH! Yahoo! It was fun but VERY scary because i was sooo out of practice. Oh man i want to cry right now because i just read Libbi's letter and how amazing she is. She is so so cool. I want to be just like her one day. I think this week I might hand wash my clothes and hang them to dry just so I can have the experience. I think the neighbors might call the police though. That kind of behavior does not fly in this area. :) --Y'all would be proud. Its just what Mom and Dad wanted for me...a chance to be more Lady-like and refined! This area demands it. What a joy. Well Courtney was baptized and we have been teaching her daughter Katherine. She is 11. She is GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!! Yahoo!! Her dad is coming into town and all is well. I think Courtney is a little jealous of the attention we have been giving her daughter so we are working hard on trying to make them all feel loved. We are blessed. Thank you for y'alls prayers and letters. Becky!! Thank you for the pictures! That was so much fun to hear from you! Thank you! Wow, have fun on your trip Pete and Sarah. That is really cool. Congratulations Ben on your new job. Best of luck with the chickens and the never ending water fall. I am excited to one day see it!

Fun story: My companion plays pranks on me constantly. I love it but it does get a little crazy sometimes. Previously, it was with hair balls, but it varies. I woke up in the middle of the night (as i do every night since i went on my mission) and I all of a sudden heard something brushing on our ceiling fan. We sleep on bunk beds and she has the top bunk so I asked her "what was that?" and she said "ooowwwww" confused, I responded "are you ok?" but was met with no response. Then I asked "was that your foot or your hand" and she said "my hand." I was like, what were you doing?.....no response. I figured this had something to do with a prank she was about to pull but the fan got in the way. I let it go and went back to sleep. In the morning when we woke up she said "did I stick something in the fan last night?" I said "yes. why did you do that?" And she said "I have no idea" I thought I had dreamt it. ....yikes. Now I have to sleep with one eye open so that my companion does not kill herself with our ceiling fan. :) Oh the adventures in Texas.

 

I hope y'all know how much I love y'all. Lots of people are fixin to travel up to Utah. It seems every other person is up there. They all go the zoo. I think y'all should stand outside the zoo and ask people where they are headed from and then when they say Texas y'all should talk to them. They're good people.

Man I love y'all. I hope how y'all like how much 've  used y'all.

hna. Sorensen.

Libbi: BATISMO!!!

You will know in a week because of my journal so I might as well tell you....I was robbed last week and because of this I went to Cuiaba and got a new paper from the Policia Federal and all kinds of fun stuff. But I am being more careful on the Rua and all is well. Don´t stress, just continue to pray for me please!:)

OH MY FAMILY!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! I can´t express in words how blessed and honored I am to call you family! I truly have nothing to complain about. I´m far too blessed! This week I received LETTERS!!! yeah!!! I received letters from mom, dad, MEGGIE -so awesome to hear from you and 2 others from Gus and Susu. Thank you thank you! I felt like I just drank a spiritual energy drink after I heard how wonderful you all are and how very blessed we all are! Thank you thank you! Last week was crazy for many different reasons but I had an opportunity to go to Cuiaba and visit the Policia Federal again for my visa. Presidente was in Campo Grande for another conference and I returned to Cuiaba with him and his assistants by plane. I was able to spend an hour plane ride with a truly amazing man - my mission president, Presidente Olivera. He was called to be a bishop when he was 25 and had been a member of the church for 3 months! He wasn´t married till a year after. He has always had a calling in the church and he is so wonderfully chill and calm about everything! He practiced his English and complimented me on my progression in Portuguese. He is truly called of God. I spent 1 day there and did some missionary work with the sisters there. It was really great and I returned (all by myself - it was really weird) I felt a little lost in Cuiaba and was relieved to see my companion and other sisters we live with when I returned to Campo Grande.

THIS WEEK WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM! His name is Oswaldo. I think I already explained his situation last week but he is wonderful and has the purity of a child. We are so blessed! Just last night he gave us 8 references. He wants us to share this message with everyone he knows! He is great! The work here is progressing and I´m being stretched everyday. The language is coming and slowly but surely I´m learning and growing...thanks to the great patience of my companion. I will answer some of your questions now Mom. I am in sort of the rural part of the city and it has relatively normal technology....the computers are a bit slow but it is normal for a person to have tv and various things. Sorry I don´t have much time. My clothes are great and I use almost all of them.  A couple shirts I am leaving in the house we live in (sort of a duplexy thing) and it is great.  We have one bedroom, one room for study and a kitchen oh and bathroom of course. We have a washer that struggles so I hand wash  and we air dry everything. I am happy and excited for more success and work in this area. I love you all and wish you well in your many adventures. Congratulations Lar on your engagement! I love you love you love you! Stay true to what you know is right. The church is true.

Com Amor,

Sister Libbi Sorensen

Sarah Cate: Smilin in San Antone!

Ok wow...what a week. Have I told y'all lately that I miss my sister in Brazil?! Well I do a lot. I also received a letter this week from my other little baby sister MEG WHOM I LOVE AND ADORE! Thank you for the update about Brighton. I am glad you had a good time. I miss mountains especially those ones! Speaking of Brighton...luny love good...I love you. Play in the mountains for me and go swimming! haha Oh and don't forget to creep and pray. :)

Well Saturday was nothing short of the Celestial kingdom! We worked all morning with some random success: (Talked to a kid going to College and explained the importance of the law of Chastity to him...yes. The law of Chastity. It was really funny.) I find its actually something really easy to teach because most people here know that they are breaking it. They know they shouldn't be doing it which makes our job a lot easier. Entonses, we were able to prepare a little for Courtney's baptism. I was asked last minute to play at her baptism. I played her favorite hymn "I believe in Christ" I was really worried about playing because I haven't played in a while but I have the blessing of really accomplished pianists in this ward so I am able to have support in that. We made up a very simple arrangement. The baptism was made amazing by the Bulverde Ward. They had SO MANY PEOPLE SHOW UP! They had her ALREADY ASSIGNED home teachers and visiting teachers there, the Relief Society Presidency, and a few people that have fellowshipped her. Ooohh man...Satan tried to get Courtney down at the beginning of this week because David (her member bf) broke up with her!! aaaahhhhhhhhhh BAD TIMING DAVID!!!!!! but we assured her that if she was sincere in her prayers and in reading her scriptures that God would bless her with comfort and sure enough she said 'Yeah I miss him but I don't need him" ooohhh what blessed words! Well David and Courtney ended up coming to the Baptism together...weird?....yeah a little but its all good. Courtney had her good friend Michael-Paul (the original person who first told her anything about the Gospel) ---we love Michael-Paul. We Want Courtney to date him...we don't tell her that of course but that's our secret prayer. ANYWAYS... Courtney's parents who are not members also showed up and her daughter Katherine!!! YAHOOO!! Katherine is so excited about the baptism that she said that she can not wait to be baptized herself!!! BLESSINGS FROM HEAVEN!!! Oh we are so happy about that. We also introduced Whitley to Katherine and they became good friends too! We are going to use Whitley to teach Katherine and I hope that they can be baptized together! ;-KEEP PRAYING FOR THAT!

Whitley has come leaps and bounds. We can truly feel those prayers thank you! She admitted -for the first time- to her mother that she wants to be baptized! KYLA (her mom) called us and told us everything but assured us not to tell Whitley! We are just excited for the adventures to come.

Last night we had a huge youth activity that was ALL ABOUT MISSIONARY WORK!! yesssss! There were a bunch of missionaries there from our area and we taught and did role plays about answering questions and inviting people to act!! MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK IS SO IMPORTANT! I HOPE Y'ALL ARE DOING IT EVERY CHANCE YOU CAN! STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN AND TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT IT!

Alright, I've just decided that I am going to do a lot of that when I get back....anyways, I am glad to hear y'all are doing well. I love y'all so much. I miss all y'all but I know that what I am doing now is very important. y'all stay safe and NO MORE MOVING THINGS WITH OUT HELP. NO MORE SURGERIES . NO MORE GENERAL HAPPINESS TILL I GET BACK!!...I'm just kidding . That was very selfish. I love y'all so much.

Hna. Sorensen

Libbi: Noticias de Campo Grande

FAMILY!!
    Oh this week....where do I start....Sorry I don´t have a list of birthdays this week but if you had a birthday HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I WISH YOU WELL!! Alright, this week was another week in the service of my God. It had highs and lows like everyday. I´m on a constant roller coaster. Yesterday we had ward conference for the ward here and I was able to play my violin. It was really wonderful and the spirit was really strong. We also marked a baptism for and investigator we have named Oswaldo. I´m hoping things will work out with him. He has a very humble situation. He does not know how to read or write and he can only count to 15. I am hopeful that all things will work out with him because he also has a broken foot and needs to be driven to church every week. But we are blessed. Probably the funniest moment of the week was after I offered a prayer at the end of a lesson and the name of the woman was Charity (caridade) but I called her Chastity (castidade) IN THE PRAYER...I don´t think she noticed or understood my Portuguese but my companion commented after we left and helped me to understand the difference! Good times! We taught many people this week and only 1 came to church! AHHH!!! At times this work is very frustrating. We also taught a family that believed in re-encarnation (i don´t know how to spell) good times trying to explain the difference between what they believe and resurrecao. (Resurrection) Today it is cool and rainy but the rest of the week was very hot with wind. We just keep trying to establish ourselves in this area and I have faith that the Lord will bless our effort.

This church is true and so is this gospel. It is so wonderful the hope and joy that comes from this knowledge in our lives. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve and teach and learn and grow....I am learning so much and have so very much to learn. Hope everyone is safe and well. I love you and think of you often. God be with you till we meet again!

Com Amor,

Sister Libbi Sorensen