I LOVE RIGBY

I AM STOKED ON LIFE RIGHT NOWW.

    Rigby is so awesome!!! I absolutely love it here!!! Rigby is so different from Pocatello. Everyone here is so mellow and chill. Everyone is so loving and genuine. Its a very small town. Lots of farms and the houses are all far away from one another. SOOO different. The families are so nice and so supportive of missionary work. Everyone just seems so happy here.

    The Rigby Zone is stacked with exceptional missionaries. There are 6 sets of sisters and 4 sets of Elders including Elder Fontes and I. The Sisters carry the whole zone. They are such awesome sisters! There is an Elder Keil in the zone, he said he has relatives in Laie. Most likely related to the Keils in Laie 2nd ward, garantee Uncle Magi and his family. Small world. All missionaries in the Zone are fun hard working missionaries i'm so excited to be here!!! 

     Elder Fontes is such an amazing missionary. I am so excited to serve with him. He's super chill but such a hard worker. We get along so well. He's super funny and we have a good time with the Zone. I hope i stay here for a long time. I hope to serve with him for a couple transfers. I just love it here! the Lord knows i need good companions to keep me in check haha i've always had the best of the best. 

      We have so much work here and i am so excited to work with families again. We have some amazing investigators here. It already feels like family. 

We had our first miracle this week. One of our investigators, Karol's, baptismal date was on general conference weekend. We asked her to pray about moving her date closer in September. She didn't like it at first. The next time we went over She said... 

"You know what, i've prayed once, twice, 5 times, and i haven't got and answer yet.... So i think God already gave me my answer and now i gotta make my own choices... Your on Buckos!" hahah

We were so stoked! She came to church yesterday and is progressing to her baptism on the 27th.

I am so so so excited to be here and to serve in Rigby. 

Stoked to Serve

Elder Soren

Serious Socks

Elder Keil half Samoan? lol yeaaaaaa

Hermana Nielson! 

She knows some of the California kids from BYUH

transferrrrss

This has been such a crazy week! IM GETTING TRANSERED!!! :( i'm finally leaving Pocatello... being transferred up to RIGBY. Its pretty far up there I don't know much about it but that in the winter it gets cold, so that will be an adventure!

       I'm pretty sad to leave poky i've spent a year here, it's home to me. Yesterday when we were baring our testimonies it felt like another farewell talk :( I made so many friends here and there are so many people that I call family, its sad to leave them. But I know the Lord has families and people in store that I am meant to meet. I'm gunna miss Elder Jones and all the missionaries here in Pocatello. I only know a few missionaries up north in Idaho falls but all my friends are here.

        Although i'm leaving I am stoked for a fresh start and a new adventure! I met my new companion Elder Fontes at MLC this Friday! he's super cool. he's from Brazil, my second brown companion! haha We are already best friends! we sat next to each other at the meeting and talked about the Zone. We have some really great missionaries, i'm so excited to work with them and serve them! I'm excited for the Holidays and spending the major ones with Families I get to meet in Rigby. IT'S GUNNA BE FUN BEING IN THE SNOWWWW I can't wait for it to be packed with snow!!!!

       I don't have my new address yet but this is the new mission address!

 135 S7th Ave. Pocatello ID 83201

This morning I became a true Idahoan. And Embraced my inner MOKE. Roman and Raul Barela took elder jones and I up the mountain to look for Deer Sheds ( Antlers ) so we hiked the mountains.  They taught us how to look for tracks and where the deer lay. I found one! It was cool. I loved being in the hills early in the morning with a nice breeze, it reminded me a little of home or my new home ;) I miss being out doors were ALWAYS indoors. so it was refreshing to be out in the open. I'm gunna miss the mountains I heard Rigby's flat.

        This week we had so many blessing!  We were able to teach a bunch and find so many new investigators! We had 2 church tours! that's awesome for us!

         We contacted a referral from my second area. Her name is Kaite she is sooo awesome! She has bin fellowshipped by her neighbors who I knew really well. Bishop Bybee and I went to go contact her on splits and she was so enthusiastic and let us in and talked with us for half an hour!  It was so awesome, we invited her to church and a church tour. She called us yesterday an hour before church and said she was there and we felt bad because church didn't start for an hour. She knew, She wanted a church tour before church so we were stoked! We gave her one and introduced her to some of the members in the ward. It was such an awesome Fast and Testimony meeting. She Loved It!

          I am so excited for Elder Jones and all the upcoming success that him and his new companion will have.

          What I learned from Elder Jones this Transfer:

I learned PERSISTANCE, he is very persistent and diligent. Once this guy totally told us that he wasn't interested and didn't want to meet with us but we convinced him to just learn a little bit more and so he ended up talking to us. We talked for a while and he was pretty interested at the end! so that was awesome!

I learned to WORK HARD. Just to keep working and working till its time to go home. He never liked being in the house and I caught that bugg too. I don't like being home so we're always out and about.

I learned to be BOLD. He is very Bold, and confident in what he says. I learned that the only way you can be bold and confident is by being Obedient. If you are obedient you have the spirit so what ever BOLD thing you say is inspired.

I learned a lot more but those are some of the attributes I really needed to learn I am so very grateful for Elder Jones and for all he's taught me.

I am so so so excited for this fresh start and excited to meet new people and new families in a very different small town area! I love missionary work and the eternal blessing that come from it!

 135 S7th Ave. Pocatello ID 83201

Stoked to Serve

Elder Soren

Xoxo

with new comp Elder Fontes (from Brazil)

with Roman and Raul 

Pocatello Mountains

an adorable deer 
need to find the right side before going home

Dis Week Bah....

YALLS & YALLS

       This week was sweeeet. Elder Jones and I got to conduct Zone Conference. It was pretty fun! It was cool to work with President Brinkerhoff. We spoke in church yesterday. My talk was based off of this past April conference talk by Bishop Stevenson "Your 4 Minutes". One of my favorites! I definitely do not want to waste anymore time! Especially how fast time is going. This month ill hit my Year Mark. I remember when i was home and Caleb got to his year mark and now he's HOME!! holy cow. NUTS. I love my mission. Every single aspect of it. I am thankful for the Lord in giving me this opportunity to serve him. 

I got to go on exchanges and meet some great people! James Odeary, he's awesome! His prayer sounded like a rap!  He's trying to quit drinking so we write Jesus Christ on his beers. haha he doesn't finish them and tries to run away when he see us coming. hahaha. He appreciates our help tho he knows he needs to quit.

         We have been having success. Success in different ways. Success in ways that don't always seem like success. But we feel successful because we work hard. We're obedient. and we dont give up! we know that the Lord has something great in store for us :)  

HEY HEY HEY GUESSS WHAAAAAATTTTT?!?!?!? 

JAQUIE'S SISTER GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY IN LOGANNNNN WAAAHHOOOOOOO!!!!

Jaque said that her sister was sooo happy the whole time, and there were so many people there to support! what a blessing it is! they had to have it in the Logan tabernacle because there was so many people. She said her sister came out of the water laughing because she was so happy!

i am so so happy! Jaque is taking a D&C class at the institute and is loving her new ward! I am so happy for her! SHE'S THE BESTTTT!

I love love missionary work. We are finding a ton of people to teach! our good friend Mike is meeting with us again and he's awesome. I have always been worried about "Getting Baptisms" that i didn't find the joy in just teaching people about Christ. I now have that mindset. that no matter if our lessons cancel or we don't have much in baptisms or people not wanting to meet with us, just sharing the gospel makes me so happy.  

      Elder Jones and I are getting along so well. We pretty much read each others minds. Transfers are coming up and I hope we get to stay together. He has taught me so much and there is so much more to learn.

I read in Mosiah this morning for studies and i was moved by his humility. i want to echo the words of the great King Benjamin because i feel the same way "I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for i been in the service of God."  This is Gods work. He is always in control. Miracles happen because of him. We are only servants. We are only messengers. But all the great things that happen, is because He loves every single one of his children. 

          

I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve. I am forever indebted to my Father in Heaven for this wonderful blessing.

I love my mission. I love Idaho. 

SOTKED TO SERVE

Elder Soren 

BTDUBS I buzzed my head! 

Jaque and her Sister

with James

got to have dinner with the Barelas! 

and saw Destiny and Ravyn on the Street!!
i haven't seen them in forever! (my first baptisms)

The Great Artisan

Alohaaaaaaaaa

      This week has been long but soooo goood! So many wonderful things have happened and are in the process of happening. I'm so excited for the upcoming months. We have had rain for 3 weeks straight. it reminds me of home. Sun. Rain. Sun. rain all in the same day. i love it tho it makes things interesting and fun! 

       Our area has been slow.  Almost every lesson and church tour we set up this week fell through. So it was a little discouraging. But Elder Jones and i know that the Lord is saving something great for us. Elder Jones is such a great leader. He is teaching me and helping me become the missionary i want to be for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for him and his example. He helps me do things that i am not normally comfortable with but he told me,

"when you have to do something you don't want to do, when its uncomfortable and hard, that's the Lord molding you"

****** I thought of a Great Sculptor with a piece of clay. At first the clay its rough, its course, full of  impurities, its plain and just a simple piece of clay. I imagined my self as that piece of clay. The Lord is the artist. He takes each of us by hand and starts pushing, kneading with his thumbs, he starts spreading us out flat, squishing and flattening, rolling and folding. How uncomfortable that would be. But after years of this process. After many long nights in the studio (My mom can attest) the Lord spends individually molding us, literally blood, sweat, and tears goes into a single piece of clay. We become someone we never thought we could become. We become a smooth, round, perfected piece of art. what comes to my mind are the Greek statues of their *Gods*. Christ literally molds us into such divine beings. Molds us into who we long to become, like our Father in Heaven.

The moral of the story, when we are tossed into such uncomfortable situations, things we wouldn't normally do, when there's pressure and heavy burdens weighing upon you, remember that it is the Lord molding you. You are in His hands. He is Perfecting you. Trust in him. For He is The Great Artist. He is the Creator. He is our Savior.   

i found a perfect scripture in Isaiah after i had this thought which was funny. 

Isaiah 64:8 "Yet, the Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the Potter; We are all the work of your hand"

    I also received a letter from a friend who re-emphasized an important principal of life and added some profound knowledge to this principal that i was taught by one of my best friends earlier a couple years ago. And that is seeing things with an Eternal Perspective.  Seeing my mission as 2 years to learn everything of this life to bless my future family and i in the next. She had me understand that i need to learn what it means to truly "Keep my Eye Single to the Glory of God". Nevah mind the fame, the fortune, the temporal vices we have in this earthly life. And to do my best to look to God for the rest of my time here on earth. This has helped me see my mission as an opportunity to know HOW life works, to learn HOW to keep the commandments, and HOW to enjoy to the end.  And everything else we are to learn in preparation of meeting our Father.

Now I think of my mission as "Earthly Paradise" no.. not the beautiful place where i come from but like "Spirit Paradise" where we go to wait, to serve, to teach and to lead others to Christ... after this life. No worries of the world, no distractions, somewhat resting from our troubles, and being able to fulfill our fathers will leaving all other affairs behind. To those of you who have served missions and who are currently on missions and those who know what missionary work is, doesn't that seem right? 

What a blessing it is to be able to feel what "Spirit Paradise" feels like. This may be Doctrine of Elder Soren but thats how i see it. It helps me appreciate  more of what God has given me, this opportunity to be a Full time missionary. To know what my Dad is doing and experiencing right now.  

I will continue to testify that Jesus Is the Christ and how much i love my mission.

I miss you all, Love you more

Stoked to Serve, 

Elder Soren

XOxoOOXXO

Elder Soren on Splits!

Elder Jones & a very cool creation!

From The Isles of The Sea

Solidddddddd

What's goooood?

        This week was great! we've had a ton of miracles! Life's good.

     We've been working our butts off this week. We found a whole house of 18 year old boys that moved in together! there's 6 of them all YSA AGE!!!! we taught all of them the first lesson. They were so humble and open to listen. Not to many 18 year old boys would listen to something about religion. So these are a special bunch. We're excited to hopefully start teaching them and helping them know the truth of the restored gospel!

     Sad news but good. Jaque is moving to Logan for school she leaves tmr morning. So we've been trying to see her a lot lately.  We had her start teaching us because she knows so much about the gospel haha we couldn't figure out what to teach her. we gave her scriptures and principals to teach us and she said it better than i ever could. She's been going out with the sister missionaries teaching. Its soooo awesome! We had her teach us about Sabbath day observance and keeping it holy. She said "During the week i get so stressed out with work and moving i just can't wait for Sunday to come! I look forward to Sundays so i can feel at peace and devote that day to the Lord." How great was my joy as Jaque testified and expressed her feelings about the Sabbath day. I am so happy for Jaque and her progression and learning. I hope one day she serves a mission.

       We had a missionary Musical Fireside Last night and it was awesome!!! there was a performance by some of the Polynesian sisters in our mission! Fiji, Tonga, Micronesia, and Samoa. Their song reminded me so much of home and they brought that cultural spirit into the room. Something that i miss more than i thought i did. I have a strong desire that when i come home to embrace more of my culture and learn more about the history, Language and so on. I took it for granted growing up. But now i miss it and want to be apart of it. It's crazy that being in IDAHO would i ever find a desire like this hahah. 

        SOOOO Sick i had FISH AND POI!!!!! a member who has a local restaurant always hooks it up with all the good hawaiian fooodd! i miss food.  

         Elder Jones is such an amazing missionary. I am so grateful for his example and dedication to the work. he has taught me so much and is helping me become the missionary i want to be. We get along really well together and love the missionaries we serve. it's so awesome. 

         I heard this story this week and i loved it and want to share it with you.

A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset. As he walked he could see a young boy in the distance, as he drew nearer he noticed that the boy kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water.
Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.

As the man approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them back into the water.

The man asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied,"I am throwing these washed up starfish back into the ocean, or else they will die through lack of oxygen. "But", said the man, "You can't possibly save them all, there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of beaches along the coast. You can't possibly make a difference."
The boy looked down, frowning for a moment; then bent down to pick up another starfish, smiling as he threw it back into the sea. He replied,

"I made a huge difference to that one!" 

~Author Unknown~

       There are many of our Fathers children here on earth, How could we save them all? Could we possibly make a difference to every single one? No... But there will be people placed in our path that we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ with and make a difference to that ONE.

I love missionary work and i love these beautiful truths that have been restored through living Prophets today. What a blessing it is to be apart of something so extraordinary.

Love you all miss you much

Stoked to Serve 

Elder Soren

Cupcakes with Elder Jones

Pork, Poke, Poi - say that 3x fast

saw this mahu last pday hahah 

Bacon wrapped spammmmmm

Sister Faagai and Sister Collins 

Elder Woodshed and Erickson

Aug. 11. 2014

YOOOOOOOOO!

       This week was awesome! Things have been falling into place as they should and the work is moving forward. I love this area and i love serving in the young single adult stake. Everything is so good.

        I am so grateful for Elder Jones and his example. It has been a blessing to have have him as a companion. He is teaching me how to be more diligent and hard working. We have been working hard and loving every second of it. I'm glad the Lord has always blessed me with great companions to help me reach my potential. The Lord knows i need it ;) He has always blessed me with amazing people to look up to and learn from. I am very lucky for all my inspiring family and friends i have who have helped me get to where i am today.

       We were able to teach a lot of lessons this week. Mostly with Less Active members but we are seeing the miracles that come from going out and working. We have been able to meet some of our Heavenly Father's children who are really struggling in life. It makes my heart sad to see the sorrow within them and it motivates me to do everything i can to help them feel the spirit. I know that as we continue to have the spirit in our companionship we will be able to say the things that will be most beneficial to those we meet. 

        On Saturday we took our friend Develle on a church tour for our first lesson. It was awesome. Develle is African American and moved from Minnesota to go to school at ISU. He is the funniest person ive met in Poky. He reminds me of Tau always cracking jokes, getting super stoked about everything and saying words and phrases that ive never heard before hahah "Yeah my friend shes a hooper, She pretty crafty with the rock" (My friend playes basketball. She has a lot of tricks with the ball). haha i love it! We took him throughout the chapel, he had a ton of questions. He liked it a lot and has a great testimony of the Savior. We ended in the baptismal font and there we invited him to be baptized and he said YES. it was powerful to be in the font and invite someone to be baptized. We set a goal for baptism for Sep. 3rd and are excited to start teaching him about the gospel.

         There are planny of times where the mission gets tough but its when we are at the brink of giving up that success follows. 

          

          At MLC our President talked about how we as leaders are no more than servants. " when you go home no one will ask you if you were a district leader, a zone leader or and assistant on your mission. They will ask who did you serve."  

         I thought about this a lot that day. Often times we think about our position and life and sometimes it out weighs our real purpose to be servants of our fellow men. 

         We only have a short time on the mission to serve and then rest of our life to think about what we did in those 2 years. As with life we only have a few short 80-90 years if were lucky to perform our service unto the Lord. When compared to Eternity the 80 years here on earth is literally "But a small moment". 

        The Presiding Bishop at this past General Conference talked more about our "4 minutes" to do the best we can to prepare to meet god.

I am so happy to be a missionary. I am grateful that i still have a lot of time to serve as a fulltime missionary. But even more grateful to be a member missionary even after.

I love you all and hope your week was great like mine!

Stoked to Serve, 

Elder Soren

NEW COMP!

Si Siqua 

          These past 4 days have been soooo sick! I got a new Comp! Elder Jones! he's awesome! We call him General Conference Jones. Idk if yalls remember the general conference talk when President Beck talked about the girl who was bullied and the football team protected her? He's the one that Elder Beck was talking about! Elder Jones is one of the most humble guys i know. We are already best friends. We have been getting along so well and im stoked to be comps with him. He has been a great example to me these past couple days and has straighten me out! haha. 

         We already have had miracles! We were contacting some people but they werent home or too busy. We saw a couple talking on the street and we decided to talk to them even though they werent YSA age. The the guy just got out of jail and has been reading the bible. We talked with him and he was interested. But he said His LDS room mate was new to pocatello and has been looking for his ward. So he went in the house to get him. His room mate came out Matt was his name. He expressed how all day we was stressing out trying to find his ward in an unknown city. He was looking through phone books, calling numbers, doing everything he could to find a church. Matt just got out of jail 3 days ago too and wanted to become an active member again but didnt know how to or even where to start. He told us we were an answer to his prayers. We were so grateful to meet Matt. He happen to be YSA age. We invited him to church. And he came. He even bore his testimony.

       

           I'm looking forward to this next transfer and all the exciting things coming up! The Zone we have is stacked with great missionaries!  Even a sister missionary from Kapolei who knows Joe Fonoimoana, crazy. 

            

            I got to talk to one of President Pere's (grandpa!) missionaries on the phone!  An Elder Furniss. It was awesome to hear stories about him and how strict he was lol. 

           

 What a blessing it is to be a missionary. I love this work.  

Stoked to Serve

Elder Soren

Elder Jones and Elder Soren

Elder Duano, Elder Soren, & Sisters