"No one lives here"

June 26, 2017

Hello everyone we have lots to talk about to today so lets gets started!

First off a funny story for you. We were trying a less active in the trailer park area that we cover and we knocked on the screen door. The front door was open and you could see the guy we were trying to talk to sitting on his couch. However after knocking on the screen door we just hear him say "No one lives here." ??? Ok. I said "what?" He said again "No one lives here." I asked "No one lives here?" He said "yep." XD I laughed and said "Ok have a great day!" and walked away with Elder Clark.

Ok now for the next update transfers! Elder Clark is sadly leaving us to go to Reno North to be a district leader woohoo! Sniff, so proud! It has been such a great time being with Elder Clark! He is such a great missionary and has done so much good here. He is going to do so many great things over in Reno North. He is actually going to the area that Elder McKenna went to when he left me. Elder Clark has taught me so much about being happy, being humble, and how to work hard and have fun at the same time. He has become a very close friend of mine that will last well beyond the mission. I am so glad to have served with him. My new companion is Elder Freeman! Elder Freeman fun fact trained Elder Clark and is going home in 6 weeks so I will be his last companion. Fun times. This is going to be a great transfer!

First off from the week we went and had Carter help us get a crib for a potential investigator named Hillary from Ryndin (sp?). One the way there we ended up getting a flat tire. The only way back home was on the Highway and we had put on the spare tire that looked pretty sketchy. We weren't sure whether or not to go back so we prayed and we all felt prompted to drive back to Elko, just slowly. It was cool that we all received the same prompting and got back safely.

We had a zone activity where we went to Brother Stones house. Brother Stone is a big time business man in town and loves the missionaries. His house is super sweet and big and he had a Foosball table and a volleyball net. It was super fun. We sang a couple songs too.

We also got to help with Carter's brother's eagle scout project. We had to talk wheel barrow's of gravel up at least half a mile up a hill. It took about 4 hours and I am still feeling it and it was on Saturday.

We got to have a lesson with Thomas one of our investigators and it was super powerful. We were really guided by the Spirit and for the first time he prayed with us it was super great!

Well I was silly and ran out of time. More to come next week. Love y'all! Love you Mom, Dad, and Anna!

Elder Sorochan

Elder Sorochan in the back of a car with the crib they're helping someone with 

Elder Sorochan and Elder McGee 

 Elder Sorochan, Elder Clark and ward members

 Changing a flat tire

Helping at an Eagle Scout project 

Zone activity 

 Zone activity

My zone!

2 new gator's

June 19, 2017

Heyo! Hows it going everyone? This week was a fun week so listen up!

First off I had 2 exchanges. The first was with Elder Gourdin one of my Zone Leaders. He is from Globe Arizona. Ever heard of it? Me neither. He is super cool and really fun however, our exchange was a little weird. He got sick near the beginning of it and we had to come in for maybe a total of a third of the whole exchange. It was crazy. It was good timing though because back in Elder Gourdin's area Elder Clark and Elder Feichko were crazy busy. They had to go give 3 blessings and get to some other appointments whereas we didn't really have much going on. It was a blessing on timing so that the things the Lord needed to get done could happen and Elder Gourdin could rest which was awesome!

The other Exchange was with Elder Gailey. There was a couple really funny things that happened. First off we were just walking down the street and there was this little girl maybe 4 years old just sitting in the front seat of a car. We said hi and just kept walking. We are asked to be careful around kids so we say hi and just try to appear nice if we don't already know the kids or the parents. After passing the car she leaned out and asked what are names are. She then just started talking to us and asked if she could have a drink out of Elder Gailey's water bottle. We said no, told her to ask her mom instead and her mom came outside. We said hi to the mom and just started walking away. The girl called to her mom and said she had been talking to some weird guys. She just totally roasted us. We also got to eat at Costa Vida for free! We were at Costa Vida and we were just waiting in line and no one really talked to us. However when we got to the cash register this man came up and offered to pay for us! He was a member traveling through from California. Super nice of him.

This week we found 2 new investigators! One is named Matt he is the husband of a less active woman who wants to start coming back to church. We taught them the restoration and he seemed to be thinking about it a good bit while we were teaching. We committed them to read the Book of Mormon and they said they would. They will be gone for a few weeks on vacation but after we will get back to meeting with them.

The second is a woman named McKenzie. Met her while out trying a less active couple and she was outside and we just started talking to her. She has a boyfriend who's parents have been meeting with the Spanish Elders and she said she would be interested in meeting. We saw her the next day and she has no religious knowledge so we started clumsily teaching her from ground zero. It was a good lesson and she seems very interested so we are going to reteach the first half of the restoration again (that's all we had time for that day) from the pamphlet so she has something she can go back to later.

Love you all keep being great!

Elder Sorochan

PS. out of time so pics will come next week

Grad was this week.

June 12, 2017

Hi everyone so they told me I was going to be sent to the desert where it is hot. Well it is currently snowing here in Elko so I guess I'm back in Canada eh? I've got a pic for y'all to see what's going on. This week was also graduation which meant people had some other events on their minds other than meeting with us. We had a couple people forget about our appointments with them and even had a dinner forget about us. (we confirm everything the day before too...:D ) Yeah it was ok though they just had us come back an hour later for a really tasty dinner actually so it was fun.

Anyway so on to the stuff of the week. We had a neat few miracles this week. First off on Monday we ran into Zeke and Eric, two of Amanda and Ruben's kids. It was late at night and it wasn't 9 quite yet so we just went walking around our apartment complex and we happened to run into them as they were coming back from playing basketball. We were able to talk to them for a bit since it had been awhile. That previous Sunday had been stake conference so we didn't see them at church (Amanda and Ruben were in Salt Lake so the kids didn't come) but we were able to talk and they came to play sports with the missionaries in the morning the next day which was fun. Nice little miracles for working all day.

The next night we had dinner with the whole family except for the oldest Ciara who had to work. It was a neat dinner. It started out with us just talking with the kids since there wasn't room for all of us at the dinner table. By the end though we were able to start talking to Amanda and Ruben. We were able to figure out a better time that we can consistently meet with them and we were able to ask all the kids if they would like to be taught. They said they would and a couple days later we got permission from the dad of the youngest 3 to teach them! Can't wait to meet and get going on all of that. Eric who we thought wouldn't be interested said when we asked that he would like to ask some questions before he gets baptized! Boo ya!

There was a good bit of service this week as well. First off we helped Elder Gailey and Elder McGee move one of their investigators to another part of Elko. It was the leased organized, most gross, and just weirdest move I have ever done. It was just sketchy and all thrown together last minute. It's a good thing we were there. We had to use Elder Gailey and Elder McGee's truck to move stuff because the guy we were helping didn't get one. He just asked if we could use theirs. Rather unorthodox but we just went with it. Hopefully that is the worst move I ever do. I will never live in a trailer park. EVER.

We finally got to meet someone we have been trying for forever and his name is Jake. He is a former investigator with a lot of potential. He got put on the back burner for a bit by past missionaries because he is going through a divorce. Things are settling down a little now with it all and next week he says he would like to start meeting again. He says that things were going well and that he felt like he was progressing well back when he was meeting with the missionaries and that he would like to go down this path. He wants to have a good family place with good morals for his son. Isn't that awesome!?! Just to add to it, he is a super big skate boarder, rock climbing, skier guy that lives the word of wisdom AND see's the benefits of it. He was talking to us about not having drank beer in a few months and how he notices the increased energy he has! Jake is so cool!

Friday was graduation and we had no one to see. That was even the day our dinner forgot about us even though they weren't involved with grad. We walked around all day in the hot sun and Elder Clark got really sun burnt. He isn't a fan of sunscreen silly duck. No one was home or available. It was a long day and I was tired all day. For some reason I didn't have any energy. Fortunately Elder Clark is fun to talk to so we talked a lot as we walked. The next day Saturday was looking like that too. We had a whole day of stop by's. Elder Clark was tired of getting burnt so we got permission to go get some spray on sun screen since our lotion kind doesn't work on him. Right after getting it we got a call from the Zone Leaders asking us to go help at a kid's eagle scout project over at the shooting range. It was super fun. The kid was from Spring Creek and the only other people there was his mom, two 12 year olds, a 16 year old that looked like he was 12 and the kids 19 year old sister. The 16 year old was trying to flirt it up with the sister and failed miserably it was really funny. The sister could outwork all the other boys and she was 5'3" and 120lbs. Again really funny. It was a blast though and took 5 hours. We were re-graveling some of the covered area's. That was the day we also got the first referral Elder Clark and I have gotten and it seems like a really good potential investigator. A member of the YSA ward has been working with this girl and it seems like it will work out to a baptism right now. Hopefully it does!

Speaking of that Friday Saturday experience my thoughts turned to Mosiah where king Benjamin is speaking. In chapter 2 when he talks about serving the Lord, I thought you know, the Lord doesn't need to bless me. He has already paid the price for my sins and made it possible for me to be forgiven and return to my Heavenly Father. For that it is my duty to serve Him no matter what it is. However as I keep the commandments and serve Him He blesses me even more. That just shows how much He loves us and cares about us. He didn't need to bless us with those miracles on Saturday, but He did! "And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?" Mosiah 2:23-24. I am forever indebted to Him. I have nothing to boast of but instead am truly grateful for this amazing experience to be on a mission. I hope you all are doing great. I pray for you. Love you all!

Elder Sorochan

 Elder Clark and Elder Sorochan at the gun range

 Elder Sorochan at the gun range

Trying to get back in time to be there for the picture. Instead I decided to fly.

Snowing in Elko in June

Piano Miracle #2

June 5, 2017

Hey y'all I'm back. Another neat piano miracle from another Zone Conference occurred this week, but not exactly in the way you might think. The two songs I was asked to play was 270 I'll go where you want me to go and 243 let us all press on. The first one I already knew but the second one I had to learn. I had about 3 weeks to learn so I did a little on PDAY's and before and after District Meeting and some during the time we called and texted people on the phone. However, I was just not getting it for some reason. Usually I can get any song down but this one just wouldn't get good enough to play while people sing. The night before even I played it for the youth in opening exercises and I failed miserably. I was so nervous to play this Friday and I just knew I would fail. Fortunately for me the opening song was 270 and I did fine but then the end of the conference came. At the end of our conferences we have a testimony meeting. At the end of it I went up to the piano thinking "well here we go", but then President went up. Our meeting had gone long and since the people from Winnemucca needed to go back to make their appointments on time since it is an almost 2 hour drive, President announced that we would not be singing the song and we would go straight to the prayer. I WAS SO RELIEVED!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so worried and the Lord provided.

This week was neat and hot. Lots of just stop by's. Our appointments didn't go through like we planned, but we always stayed productive! Once we helped a less active set up a LDS account to do family history, we saw a part member family where the husband isn't interested, but had good conversation and talked about family history. We got to have dinner with an inactive man and his son this week. The son was really funny. He is in 4th grade and very much wanted to impress us with how smart he is. He told us no one ever knows what he means by an Urban Vector. Fun fact, it means rat. Probably just saw my old little me from back in the day. I was such a punk!

I had an interesting experience on Sunday. I was getting ready and I started to think about humility. Elder Clark has been a great example to me of humility and I was for some reason struggling to want to be humble in certain ways. Then I got thinking though, why wouldn't I want to be humble? Why would I want to be prideful? There is no happiness in that, there is no joy, just annoyance and sadness. I can never get what I want. If I want to become more like Christ, why do I have the urge or desire not to be humble? I made a resolve in my mind to just give the pride I was feeling up! It's not worth it. It doesn't help me be happy! Instead I can be as it says in Moroni 7:45 "And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." Doing the opposite of this just makes us unhappy. Why do it? What's the point? Being right? Being better? That doesn't bring us joy. It just leaves us empty and wishing for more of what doesn't fill. Let us stop chasing that which never leaves us happy. Let us let go of desires that make us mad and angry. Let us just stop and see what comes when we have charity and all that comes with it. The joy and comfort and peace that entail it will do more for us than anything else, and the Spirit will then be able to be more in our lives.

Love you all!

Elder Sorochan

 Elder Clark getting ready to play mini hockey

 Elder Sorochan and Elder Latham

It's Monday?

May 29, 2017

Hello everyone! I can't believe this week is done already it flew by. I don't like this. My mission is starting to go fast. STOP!!!!! ALTO!!!!!!! It's all ok. I'm better than Elder Clark's friend. He got arrested after his fifth armed robbery. That is going to be a lot of time in jail. Don't do drugs kids.

Well I forgot my planner at the apartment today has been weird and I was a tad forgetful so sorry everyone! I will do my best to remember what happened this week.

Tuesday was a neat day. We had 2 inspired stop by's from our planning session that morning. There was a name I suggested we try at a time and then Elder Clark thought of someone to try but then he thought that we should try them at the time I had said to try someone so we did a little switch aroo and it worked out PERFECT!!!! The first people was Jaime and Tara. We have been really struggling to get a set time to meet with them, so we stopped by and talked with Jaime. We were able to just be his friend for a little bit. That seemed to help because we were able to set up some service with him weeding the rocks in his front yard (yes rocks. People try to do what's called zero-scape here in there yards. It's essentially landscape to where you don't have to take care of your yard with rocks and stuff that doesn't grow, but sometimes weeds still get in) We also set up us being able to wash our car at his place today which was super nice to do it for free! We also have been able to talk with his wife Tara a little more which will help us hopefully be able to get in and have appointments with them where we can teach and read the Book of Mormon with them. They are great people. The biggest challenge is his work schedule. Miners have the craziest schedules. We make it work though!

After we stopped by the Cornelius's. Bro. Cornelius had surgery a while ago on his spine or neck or something and he can't really do anything. He has a rock solid testimony and so does his wife but due to this surgery they are house ridden so that he can recover. It is a super long recovery. Anyway we stop by every now and then to lift his spirits and to check up on him. Bishop wants to make sure he is ok so we help with that. When we stopped by his daughter answered the door. Bro. Cornelius was currently unavailable so we started talking to her. She is a chatter box and we just were talking for awhile. After some time I checked my watch and realized we had been talking for longer than I would have liked, but I have seen that when something like this happens, it's because Heavenly Father needs us to stay for something. We kept talking and sure enough Bro. Cornelius came around and asked us for help in giving his wife a blessing. She had severely twisted her ankle and we later found out it was broken and he was just going to call someone to come help. We came in and helped him give the blessing and shared a scripture with them as well. It was really neat to see the timing!

I got to go on exchanges with Elder McGee this week and we did a lot of service. We helped at the food bank which I always love to do. It is always fun helping at the food bank. You never know who you are going to see there and the service you offer is a good one. And I just like the feel of Food Banks for some reason when I volunteer. We helped someone move in too which was fun. We had our dinner fall through so I asked Bro. Norton if he would give us a ride to Costa Vida since we are super low on miles. We only have 275 this month. We had a really nice dinner with him there and had fun joking around.

Sunday was really neat too. There is a recent convert in our area who has been struggling to come to church due to work and health. Things just keep happening that have stopped me from meeting him but his wife texted us saying he was really sick and asked if we could say a prayer over the phone. We texted her saying we would be happy to come over and give a blessing. She didn't want us to get sick but we told her not to worry that we would be right over. We went over and he did not look well. We talked for a bit just to kinda break the ice and then Elder Clark gave the blessing. It was really powerful and the Spirit was really there. You could tell Elder Clark's words were inspired. It is so nice having good, hard working, obedient companion. It seemed to help him and they are moving forward getting him the medical help he needs.

Everyone, it is really important to have a joyful, optimistic attitude. We are children of Heavenly Father, who is truly our Father in the very literal sense of the word. He is guiding us and helping us. We just have to do the simple things that He asks as best we can and keep trying to get better. If we do that, everything works out! Be believing, don't worry, just keep trying, and it will work. He will provide if we just trust. Sometimes that means winging it a little bit, but if we are doing the simple things we need to do, we can know that the Spirit is with us and that things are working out. Have a great week everyone! Don't forget to smile!

Love you Mom, Dad, and Anna!

Elder Sorochan

My family sent me a giant chocolate bar!