Monday, April 24, 2017
There's no time to sleep out here

Hey! Just got both of your emails. It sounds like things at home are really busy these days. Sometimes it's hard to remember that everyone at home has their own story line they are living.

It sounds like I will hardly recognize the house and the yard and the neighborhood when I get home. It really didn't hit me until just a few weeks ago how long two years is. But the time is racing by.

We are working hard and seeing lots of results. My companion, Elder Long, is so much fun. We were in the MTC together, so we fly home together too. It isn't very common to see two old fart missionaries become companions like this. I've only seen it happen maybe twice. It changes missionary work drastically. We have a pretty good system going, and I feel like our efficiency together is x100.

I have heard so many missionaries say that if you are speaking an Asian language, right around a year and a half is when the language finally "clicks" and it feel like all restrictions to expression vanish. I know now what they were talking about. Understanding and speaking, almost as if overnight, just kind of fell into place. I'm not sure how to describe it. It's the Gift of Tongues at its fullest! For that first year and a half, Korean was like a gimpy arm that I could use just enough to barely fulfill my purpose, but it was uncomfortable and difficult. Stressful. Now, I feel like the language flows more freely than I had ever hoped. I was at HQ a few days ago, talking to one of the Senior missionaries in the office, and for the first time in my life I switched to Korean without realizing it. I don't know how to describe the struggle of trying to learn this language. It has been one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I feel the Gift of Tongues taking over completely and allowing me to express myself fully. I feel the tension and the excitement of the last 6 months. Almost like the first year and a half is training... now the training wheels are off, the language is there, and time is ticking down quickly. So it's time to just go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go. Like Elder Yoon Choi Hwan (he spoke in conference... "look up, and drink the rain!") said to us when he visited a few months ago, "There's no time to sleep out here. You can sleep when you're dead."

Sorry, that was a run-on paragraph.

We are teaching a 23 year old man named Seonji. He is amazing. I was going to write about him last week, but I ran out of time. He has absolutely no religious background, and had never heard of Christ until we told him about him. It has been an incredibly faith-building experience to teach him.

Basically, he struggles with some social anxiety problems and gets really anxious around lots of people. He agreed to come to church, but was really worried about being around so many new people. He came on Easter, and when he first arrived he was sweating and shaking and just about turned and ran out the door every time anyone said "Annyeonghaseyo!" Long story short, by the end of church he was calm and was laughing with the members and having a great time. In the middle of Sacrament meeting he told me he feels completely relaxed and calm, and that he has never felt this way around people before. He asked if it was okay for him to attend church every week. 

And, he came again last week and has a baptismal date for May 7th.

His experience at church was a powerful testimony to me of the power of the Prince of Peace.

Things are going great. I am loving the Spring sunshine, the companion, the rice, the old people who pat my bum and say "Hello American boy!," the blooming flowers, the badge I wear, and the opportunity to testify of Christ everywhere I go.

Love,

Elder Sorensen

PS Ah yah. I have a confession to make. I'm not much for souvenirs, so I have never bought myself anything really nice in Korea besides little trinkets from Buddhist temples and stuff.

... and that's how I justified buying myself a $200 painting this afternoon. It's actually a pretty fun story, which I will tell you more in detail when I get home. Basically, I had to spend 3.5 months befriending the painter and begging him to let me purchase a painting from him. He finally sat down and painted a custom painting on a large scroll, which took him about 3 weeks to do. It's absolutely beautiful.

​Not bad, eh?

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These are all photos taken from our window at our house on top of the hill. These were all taken on different days with different weather conditions. Super pretty!