September 3, 2015

Annyeong haseyo, family.

That's a bummer to hear about the fridge leak. Thanks for sending me those Dear Elders! I love to hear from you during the week. I read and reread all your letters.

Mom, I loved your comment about "looking up." That's exactly how I feel when I look at the stars. Instead of making me feel small, it gives me peace to look up and know that all those billions of galaxies and stars are all accounted for.

That cartoon of the man being sprayed in the face and relating it to the MTC is so true. The first couple weeks are definitely like that. Being at the MTC is like drinking from a fire hose; you get a lot of water, but most of it just hurts your face. Haha. I love it here though.

It's been a super crazy week! So much has happened, I'll try to relate what I can. Sorry if it's all a little scattered.

On Sunday I was made district leader, which I know was a direct answer to prayer. No, not because I prayed to be district leader. Let me explain: I LOVE being a missionary, and I love the missionary schedule. What I don't like is free time. That sounds weird, but I've found that when I'm not studying Korean or the gospel, I miss people. Sundays and Thursdays are really the only days where we have unscheduled time, and it's during that unscheduled time that I begin to feel homesick. Now that I'm district leader, I have meetings and other responsibilities to fill those times! Thus, I'm a happy missionary :)

I saw Elder Landon Hall on the way back from the temple walk on Sunday. He told me he was getting on the plane in morning to leave for France! I'm so happy for my friends who are heading out to the field, but it makes me sad too. I have seen many of my friends here at the MTC come and go, and I wonder if I will ever see them again. I love Elder Hall, he's a great example to me. So it was sad saying goodbye and knowing that we may be going our separate ways for good. He'll be a GREAT missionary. The song "God Be With You 'till We Meet Again" often goes through my head here. I have so many amazing friends, all heading out on the same mission but to different parts of the globe.

Our Tuesday night devotional was by... Elder Dallin H. Oaks! We were lucky enough to be about 6 or 7 rows away. He talked a lot about teaching with the Spirit, and it was a great talk. But what stood out to me the most was when he walked in the room and everyone stood. Suddenly, there was this incredible presence in the room. The Spirit was immediately there, and it was a great testimony to me that he is a true and living apostle of God.

I have the most incredible district and branch! The Korean branch is awesome. It's funny, my district has acquired the name "District M," or "The Mystery District." Our classroom is tucked in the corner of the building, and we're always in there with the door closed, studying. So the other districts think we're mysterious because they don't see us a lot. I love my district.

Elder Romney and I had a neat experience this past week. The MTC hires people to walk around campus wearing golden name tags for the missionaries to practice teaching. Most of them are members who pretend to be nonmembers, but some of them are actual investigators. We decided to go bear testimony in Korean to a man who was sitting on the steps outside our building (no idea if he was a member or not). After bearing testimony, he asked us some questions about our missionary calls and if we get to pick where we go. We explained the process to him and told him that we go wherever in the world we are assigned. He said "that sounds pretty scary."  I spent the next few hours thinking about my mission call. It hit me finally that I have left everything I know behind me and stepped into a whole new life, and yes, it's terrifying. But I learned an important lesson in faith. Yes, I'm stepping completely into the unknown--but I realized that it's only unknown to me. 2 Nephi 9:20. God knows all things, and there is nothing save He knows it.

Yesterday was interesting. The fire alarm went off in our dorm while we were showering and getting ready for the day. We all gathered outside in various states of dress and undress and waited for the fire department. We could smell smoke and see a little bit coming from the first floor of the building. On any other day, we would have been in class already and it wouldn't have affected us. But on Wednesday mornings we have a service assignment in addition to gym, so we were all in the dorms later than normal. To make a long story short, some Elder put a bagel in the microwave for 9 minutes and the microwave exploded. Nothing caught fire, but the whole first floor filled with smoke. The fire department came and placed fans to draw the smoke out, and we were allowed back in after about 40 minutes. Needless to say, the dorms smelled pretty bad.

I'm out of time, so I'll quickly share one of my favorite quotes that I think provides great depth into the kind of Being we worship. From the First Presidency of the church many many years ago, "Of all the titles of honor, respect, and admiration given to deity, He has asked us to address Him as Father." I think that says a lot about who we are too. Literal children of a God.

Thanks for all the letters. Keep writing! I love to hear from you all!

Love,

Elder Sorensen