Libbi: My bags are packed and I´m headed back to the south!

Wow...well, this week guess who came down with dengue fever? My companion! Yeah I think we have infected mosquitoes close to our house because all this week she was sick and starting yesterday Sister Nascimento and Sister Morias (the other sisters I live with)also started to have the same symptoms. Good stuff...it is pretty much an epidemic here in our area. What´s worse is that the doctor that treats people here in the public clinics also got Dengue....there were more than 70 people waited to be treated in the emergency room by a nurse and not even 1 doctor was available. Anyway, lucky us in Cuiabá we have all 4 kinds of Dengue fever, one of the only states in Brazil to have all the different types..how lucky are we?! haha no, that was our week....but know that I´m healthy and happy and working and also we had transfers. 

 After 6 months of calling industriario my home I will head back to the area just on the other side of the mission to the south in Campo Grande where I started my mission. I´m excited because they share the same ward building so I will get to see some of my friends in Julio de Castilho. I´m not going to lie, I am REALLY excited for the change. After 4 transfer here in this small area it will be fun to learn and grow in a huge area where I know I will walk a ton!  I will be companions with Sister Aires who has 7 or 8 months out here and she is from the state of Fortaleza, Brazil and I will be living with Sister Morais (my old comp.) and Sister Chatwin who was in the MTC with me. I´m super excited. New places, new people, and tons and tons to learn.

 This week I studied a lot in the scriptures about light....about how `you are the light of the world`, about how also our Savior Jesus Christ is constantly referred to as á light´and also the story of the brother of Jared and the significance of light in their travels across the great waters. I know that we can be light in the darkness. A beaming example to the world and shine brightly in the sadness and injustice with the glorified and perfect Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is our Savior! This is His work! I´m so happy we have light in our lives. Each one of you is a light to me! Keep shining! I love you! CTR and have a great week being an example of goodness and truth to all!

 com amor,

Sister l. Sorensen 

Sarah Cate: On The Overpass

Hey Y'all,

I am working on a lot of things in my mission. I guess I can really understand one of my companions a lot better. She really had a hard time being a missionary. She was in the same place that I am. She had some major freak outs. I feel the same way. Its easy for me to be a missionary so its different in that respect but its a really freaky thing for me to be going back to real life. It makes me freak out a lot actually. I am with an amazing missionary. She truly is amazing. I don't want y'all to think that she is not because she is! She is very normal. Sister Pierson and I are going to be best friends for life. She is really quite fantastic. I am blessed to serve with her. Being a missionary is very easy all the time with her. She is a great teacher and understands and is not afraid to share how repentance has helped her in her life. I love that so much.
A cool thing that happened this week: Sister Pierson and I got stuck in traffic. It wasn't just stuck....we pulled onto an overpass that went up about 50 feet and stopped. Well we were stopped for about an hour. No joke. People were getting out of there cars and stuff. It was like the end of the world kind of a thing. It was really sweet though because I turned to sister P and said OK, we are going to get out and talk to everyone! I could sense her hesitation a bit but I was confident. Well we got out and started asking about what the road closures were about. We talked to about 10 people and were just walking up the ramp. Well finally we talked to a lady that informed us that there was a police officer that was killed and they had closed down the whole freeway for his funeral procession that was 10 MILES LONG!!!  Yeah well we started heading back and informing everyone about the road closures and all of a sudden a man started just chatting with us and one thing lead to another....we were talking about the plan of salvation and the next thing we knew, we had taught him a first lesson and were giving him a book of Mormon!!! it was bangarang. It was so cool. I felt really happy and proud of us because I know there is power in doing what we need to do even when it seems weird or awkward. It was way cool. I was grateful for the courage that Heavenly Father gave us to do it. We were blessed.
Hector....oh man. Please pray for him. We haven't been able to contact him all week. We went by his house and found out that a few days ago he got jumped while going home from work. the kid has been to prison and back so he can hold his own but I think it shook him up a bit. We called him at work and he never called us back. We are just praying to get in contact with him and get him confirmed. he got baptized but is yet to be confirmed.
We had a good week this week. We are just plugging along. Sorry I don't have a ton of time.. Mom i did get the Easter stuff and my b-day stuff. Thanks so much. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness. I got  the rum bars and freezing them made them delicious. Thank you. They were a success in this here  part of the country. I miss y'all like crazy. I had a good birthday. thanks y'all for askin. I am happy but just having a hard time sorting everything out in my brain. Pray for me. I love y'all.
I miss y'all. keep doing the small things. Love y'all...oh p.s. I am getting my hair cut and colored today. I am so Texan. :) jajajaja

Hna. Sorensen

Go Big or go Home...I always say.

Libbi: A dengue got your baby.....hahaha

Yeah that title pretty much sums up this week. I started feeling sick last Sunday night...with fever and the works and yeah on Sarah´s birthday I was officially diagnosed with dengue! I lost almost 10 pounds and spent the week in and out of the hospital and sleeping....it was really....productive. I broke out with a horrible rash (part of the sickness) that looks like red dots all over your body and the highlight of this week was the little bit of missionary work I was able to do on the phone. We continue to look for new people to teach. I kept us from doing a whole lot this week but I was strong enough to go to church yesterday and besides being exhausted with the littlest of things I am a whole lot better.

I´m hopeful that this week will be better...no I know it will be. I love you all and feeling the lack of work this week made my testimony that much stronger of my call to serve and my sacred purpose here. I´m not complete without the Gospel and it is meant to be shared. I love it. I know its true and I´m so happy to be apart of the Lord´s army!

be good. CTR and have a killer week!

com amor,
Sister L. Sorensen

Sarah Cate: Big Texas Smiles

Where to begin with this past week. I am blessed to have family. I am blessed to have people who love me and support me in this world. Thanks y'all for so much. This past week was good. It was hard but good.
My birthday was awesome. Larry Lowrance from my last area CONTACTED ME AND SENT ME A TEXT ON MY BIRTHDAY! IT WAS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER! I was so happy to see it. I got an update from him because he......TOOK US TO LUNCH! It was such a neat thing to see him and his wife again. He Got the priesthood this past Sunday! he is going to baptize his daughter Mandy and Mandy's best friend (that we taught but had to pass off to the elders because she lives outside of our area)!!!!!! they all want me to come back for it. Larry told me how much happier he was. He said he and his family miss me a lot. He is just fantastic. That was a huge tender mercy. I just love these people.
I am finally starting to click in this ward. Yesterday was interesting. In order to explain it properly I will back up to Saturday. On Saturday, we had Hector enter into the waters of baptism. I was so happy for him. Hector has an amazing past. He is a former gang member and spent some years in prison. He has a tear drop tattoo under his eye and all over his arms. He is a rough looking dude but has a heart of pure gold. He has made some mistakes in his life.  No...he has not killed anyone. I believe the Lord saved him from that when he sent him to prison. He is beautiful inside and out. He couldn't stop smiling at his baptism. The whole ward showed up to it so he felt very loved. It was awesome.

We have a great ward and now they are starting to get to know me and I have made some friends. I have a gift: whenever I come into the area, the dinner calendar fills. :) This is probably why I am huge. hahaha I love it though. It is a very Texas thing. Everyone eats for entertainment  around here. Well, Sunday rolls around and we receive a text from Hector saying that he won't be at church today because his family showed up on his front porch and wanted him to come to Easter with their family. (first time that he has celebrated anything with his family in 5 years) so it was kind of a big deal. He agreed, so he did not get confirmed. However, it was still a beautiful day.
My birthday was made  fantastic by Larry and others who took the time out of their day to wish me happy birthday. I LOVED GETTING THE POST  CARDS FROM BEN! THAT MADE MY DAY AND A HALF......AND YES IT MADE ME TRUNKY!!!! RRUUUUUDDEEEE!!!! hahaha I love my  brothers. I miss them a lot. I always miss y'all but if I am going to be 100% honest. I never want to come home. I'm sorry mom if that hurt you. I don't mean for it to be hurtful but I truly love it here so much. I love the people. I love what I do. I just love the feelings and I never want them to stop. I never want to lose sight of my progression but I know it happens in the real world and I don't want that. I don't want to regress! but I think its only natural when the mantle is taken from you....as is the case with me. It will be taken because I do not willingly give it up! I will not go down without a fight!  hahaha....oh pray that my heart is ever ready to take that step of coming home. I'm tearing up just writing about it so I will stop.
Life is getting a lot better. I have an Elder who has taken it upon himself to be my "trunky trainer" because he says I need to be normal when I go home. hahahahahahahahahaha uuuhhh ooohhhhhh I'M WEIRD!!! oh well. I love it. I am trying so hard to be good...and I am. I really want to be so good forever. I love good people. I love talking about my religion.  I love helping solve peoples problems through religion and I LOVE CHILDREN! They are the coolest things ever in the world. They recognize us before their parents can even blink. They are pure. They love unconditionally. No wonder Jesus asks us to become like them.  Mom, you have been saying it for years. I often think back to our hundreds of firesides and I can hear your voice saying "the kids were of one heart" and I allow myself to daydream and think and ponder on that. It's a beautiful thing.

I have the smartest parents in the world. They are so cool. They taught me eternal truths without me even realizing it. I am so blessed. So many times on my mission, someone has come to me with an amazing new discovery and all I can think in my head is "my parents taught me that through the wagon train." or "my parents told me that all the time" or "I bet my dad has that book and can really help me understand that" I just have the coolest family ever. I love to talk about my brothers and my sisters. I LOVE IT! I love to tell people that we are not a perfect family.  That we all have had our ups and downs and that life is real and people are real and that it's OK! This gospel is for everyone. Y'all are pretty popular in Texas. Y'all will need your own special private jet to come here because y'all will be mobbed with fans.
Life is a constant progression. Thank goodness for patience with yourself and the patience others exercise with those around them. Thank goodness for the patience that God has for each and every one of us.
I love y'all forever. We went paintballing last week and I have some sweet bruises. I look like I got beat. I didn't though. I kicked trash! hahah because I am SARAH FREAKIN SORENSEN! YEEEEAAAAAHHH BOY.
OK I love y'all. forever and ever. Thanks to Sister Deleon for being SOOOOOO COOOL! I LOVE YOU TILL THE DAY I DIE. Please pray for her and her family. She is so special to me.  Thank you Lauren Keller for being a best friend for life. truly. I love you and your notes. They are a huge lift.
THANK YOU FAMILY FOR MAKING MY LIFE WHAT IT IS AND ALWAYS MAKING IT BETTER. I LOVE Y'ALL CON TODO MI CORAZON.
Life is short. Don't waste it. live it. Read conference talks. Go for hikes. LOVE EVERYONE, ALWAYS!
HNA. SOOOO SILLY SORENSEN

Libbi: Photos, cause I know you love em

A Visit to the "International Market" in Cuiaba

Some things never change.  Purchases at the Market...

Sarah Cate: Austin Calling

Hi family and friends,
I am doing well this week. Much better. Thank you for all y'alls prayers. I truly felt them and needed them a lot this past week. I am truly in awe at the power of prayer and the help that I know comes from a loving Heavenly Father.

So, last Monday we received a call from President informing us that we were going to be training at an upcoming leadership meeting. "Don't worry" he said, "you are going to be training on bringing people to church. It will be for 2 1/2  hours. Good luck. You need to leave them feeling inspired."  uuuuhhhhhh whaaaaaaat?!!! --and it was right before we went to bed. Needless to say, sleep was very restless. We were assigned to train with two other sisters so, in theory, it wasn't supposed to be that bad. So the next day we met with the sisters and  planned and had a normal missionary day. I was nervous because the other sisters were...well, timid about everything. I didn't want to overpower or take over everything. I just wanted everyone to be a participant and help us all be awesome. We were fine with our training because we had some good ideas and they were going to be stellar. Well, on Wednesday (we had 2 days of training and we were training on the 2nd day) we had some amazing trainings by President and the assistants and some zone leaders. It was all good except....THEY TRAINED ON  EVERYTHING WE WERE GOING TO SAY-- no joke, down to like the very same role plays and same Scriptures. It was like a punch to the gut but really awesome because we knew that the spirit was inspiring us to talk about these things since all of us came up with similar ideas. So after having some baby heart attacks, we decided to have an emergency meeting with each other the following morning to try to throw something together and use some of the old stuff but tweak it a little. Well, that night when we went out to work, we taught a lesson at a members house. Guess what is sooooo cool about working in a singles ward? Everyone (women included) are return missionaries (so it seems), so it was like having a house full of  missionaries. It was stellar! Well I shared with them that we had this training to give and that we needed ideas. A flood of ideas began to roll and all of a sudden I was suuuper pumped for the next day. We had so many good ideas that I truly believe carried me through the following 24 hours. The next morning, the sisters weren't at the ward. They didn't show till we only had about 20 minutes of planning. In a panic, we throw something together and honestly and truly we had no idea how it was all going to go down or come together. Luckily I have the sweetest and most stellar companion and I just told her that we were going to have to just wing it. I was hopeful because I knew we had the Lord on our side. We had done our part to prepare but due to outside circumstances, we could do little but what we had done. I prayed about every second of the training but guess what........IT WAS PERFECT. It was the most incredible training. We had all the leaders of the mission there and many of them were ....wait for it........CRYING! yeah. The Lord loves us so much. We were so blessed. It's a running inside joke (because of several events on my mission) that I like food...especially cake and donuts. Its was great. I made an analogy with cake that literally blew everyone out of the water! Blessings just flowed. I felt very loved. I got to see Elder Nygaard who was with me down in Del Rio. He is a special friend. He is just so good. Don't worry I am not in love with him. He is my brother. He knows that too.

General Conference changed my life as well. It could not have been better. I am blessed. We had a lesson with Hector. He is getting baptized this Saturday. he shared with us a touching story about his life. He is amazing and he truly wants to be a righteous priesthood holder. He sobbed. I couldn't believe it. He used to be in a gang and now just wants to live to be the best person he can. he wants to be a good father. he is just a changed person.
God is mindful of each and every one of us. He loves us as individuals. He will allow us to grow. He never leaves us during the growing process. He gives us what we need and sometimes what we want. God is love. Love everyone. Don't judge. Just remember that everyone
has a story. We can always improve.
I love y'all with todo mi corazon.
Hermana Sorensen

Libbi: YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK....so the title of this e-mail is pretty unoriginal but is all I got today...this keyboard is driving me crazy!!! its really difficult to type...oh well...

 here it goes....

 This week was a week of work. We had the baptism of Alexandre the brother of our recent convert Angela. It was bitter sweet because Wellington put off again his date for baptism...I have faith that this week he will accept that he is ready and prepared for baptism.  We continue to search for new people to teach...I know that I have been in this area for a while because I pass daily people that I have already taught or contacted....I will have almost 6 months in this area this week.

We push on... conference was so awesome but unfortunately just before the last session (the session that all our investigators planned to go to) we had the biggest rain storm I have ever seen in my life! We had water backed up on the streets which look more like a city that people tried to build on a giant lake. Right before the storm hit I went to pick up an investigator by foot and Sister Nascimento and I got caught shelterless in the down pour. I have never felt so insignificant in the sense of natural disaster.  Then, completely wet we watched conference in the air-conditioned chapel...I have a fever and a horrible headache but I love this work. I love conference.

 Be good. CTR....apply conference in your life. That´s what it's for. I love you all!

 com amor,

Sister L. Sorensen