Hi Everyone!
I forgot to tell you all last week that I experienced my first earthquake here in Ecuador! My companion and I were praying and we both thought it was revelation until people outside were screaming, "Terremoto!" Haha! It started in Peru at a 5.3 magnitude earthquake, it was (I am going to be honest) super cool and not what I expected an earthquake to feel like! Luckily, the earthquake did not cause any damage in our apartment and nobody got hurt in our area.
Anyways, I am finally starting to get over my sickness and am able to breathe better. It was driving me crazy having to be in the house a little extra time because of the sun. I felt super unproductive and I just wanted to get out and do something. Haha!
Our lessons went well and we taught quite a bit of people. I find myself more successful with getting new investigators by not being too pushy the first lesson or discussion we have with them. The most effective instrument and tool (so far) has been the ability to speak English. I, being whiter than white, obviously do not belong in Ecuador and people look at me (not nonchalantly) and try to speak as much English as they know in the 3-5 seconds I walk past them. It is usually, "Hey you, my friend!” “Good night!” “1-2-3 Mickey Mouse!" At times there will be a few other things they say, but that is how 2 or 3 of our investigators are now discovering our message. A few times they sound a little too good in English and it catches my attention, so I will stop and talk to them. It is so fun teaching them English! So what I do is teach them something cool in English or answer the questions they have for 5-10 minutes and then we teach a term of the gospel. The students here have English classes as well and their teachers are Ecuadorians, so they have quite an accent because it is honestly hard to read and write in English. So during visits, sometimes I will have 11-12 year old kids come up to me and ask if I can help them (do) their English homework. They are fascinated that I can read so fast in English, that I know the answers, and that I pronounce it so well! I wonder why?!?!?!? Haha! You might be wondering, "Okay, I get how he is in a third world country and nobody speaks English, so how does this relate to the gospel?" but that's the thing, this past week, I was reading my own notes from general conference and remembered the great talk that Jeffrey R. Holland gave about singing in the choirs of heaven. A quote that comes to my head of his, goes something like this, "Not all the voices in the choir are the same" this is literally how I feel everyday and felt when I was in the Green Valley choir room 24/7 during high school. We ALL have different voices and we ALL share different things to make a choir sound in unison and harmony. There are men that can sing lower or higher than others, there are women who have beautiful vibrato, and there are singers that know dynamics of a song like the back of their hands. There is diction, vowel shapes, facial expressions, and so much more that is involved in singing. But no matter what, when we sing together we need to have "one voice in harmony" with the Lord and that is what we have in common in life - the Lord. While we are singing in the anthems of eternity we should stand as close as we can to the God and the Savior, because They have the perfect pitch. They have the note that we can't quite reach. They have the rhythm that we might struggle clapping out. Like a choir, we depend on the strong singers when we aren't 100% confident on the notes. Those strong singers in life are God and Jesus Christ. With Them, and only with Them, will we be able to "sing" our way "in perfect harmony and pitch" to the Kingdom of Heaven. But as I said earlier, "not all the voices are the same" but "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Therefore, His true church is the same in every part of the world! I don't belong in Ecuador because I am not from Ecuador and I don't sing (speak) like Ecuadorians, but because I am on the Lord's errand, there is a space for me here too.
Every one of us is a child of God and we are part of His eternal choir. There is room in the choir for all who wish to be there. I am so grateful for the humble and wonderful people of Ecuador that I have met. They have accepted me to be in their choir for 2 years to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." It doesn't matter that my first language is English and theirs is Spanish, the language that we both speak together is the language of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I love all of you so much and I know God loves you. Pray to Him for all thy support. He knows who you are and where you are. He is just waiting to hear from you through prayer. "Come as you are, but don't plan to stay as you are."
Love Always,
Elder Sorenson
