Volcanes

Hello Friends and Family!

First of all I wanna say FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS A MI MAMA! Wooo How old are
you now? (I´m not there to give you a hard time so I´ll do it through
email)  Well this week has been a little crazy. week full of
crazy\weird happenings.

Chad Lewis and his wife spoke at the MTC when I was there and He was
an awesome speaker. I took a ton of notes from his talk. He talked
about the opportunities he had to talk about the gospel playing
football.

It sounds like the kids at home need some discipline. I thought it was
bad here in Chile... Tell the kids I won't send them any cool Chilean
stuff if they keep that up. (still haven´t sent any letters or
packages. I have letters written for a ton of people but can never get
to the post office)

I keep trying to buy some of the winter stuff I need but my card won´t
work. I don´t know if I don´t have money on it or what! I kinda need
that figured out. I am walking in my new sector and Raul and Raquell
were still waiting for their papers. If we end up coming back to chile
they said We could stay with them. They were crying when I left and I
ended up giving both of them huge hugs.

Not only has the water been a trouble, this week our shower head
broke. The clip that holds the shower head snapped off. We had to
shower holding the shower head in one hand. Then I went to put
something in our freezer to see that there was so much ice in the
freezer that there was only about a 3 inch gap between the top and
bottom. We had a bunch of stuff in the refrigerator so we couldn´t
just unplug it and wait till it melted. We broke out some ice to find
a frozen coke cup in the back. We pulled it out to find a hole behind
it and all of a sudden air came out. Two days later an orange liquid
came out. When we got back to the house the house had a really strong
smell and gave us head aches. We ended up having to take the refri out
of the house and open all the doors and windows and turn on 2 fans. We
called Elder Clawson, the senior couple in our mission, to get it
fixed and we found out his family was in chile and wouldn´t be in the
office till Tuesday. We had to take our food over to our neighbors
house to keep it cold. Hopefully tomorrow we can get it fixed.

We were walking to a cita the other day when we passed a lady sweeping
up leaves and a bunch of dust. We passed her and I stopped and for
some reason with out thinking ran back to help her. Usually when we
offer to help people they tell us No really rudely and then we just
walk away feeling stupid. When I got around the fence She was trying
to dump the leaves into a garbage bag, I didn´t ask I just helped her.
I grabbed the bag and opened it so she could dump it in easier. She
surprisingly was happy to see us offer to help. When we finished we
asked if we could help her with anything else. Surprisingly she did.
After We helped her she invited us into her house to have a bebida and
some cookies. We talked about our families and what we did before our
mission and eased in the Gospel. She started out telling us she was
catholic to accepting a fecha and letting us come back another day. I
still have no idea why I stopped and walked back to help her. It just
kinda happened.

While visiting a member the other day her little cat started to climb
up my leg. It´s claws started to scratch me and my comp started
busting up laughing cuz I was trying to pull it off. He then picked it
up while saying, ¨Venga, Yo soy Macho!¨ It started to climb his leg
and I´ve never heard such a girly Owww in my life. I´ve been bugging
him about it all week haha.

As a mission we have decided to read the Book of Mormon in 3 months
and I want to invite you guys to do the same. I´m amazed at how much I
missed reading it before.

We had a mini cambio last week with the DL and I went to the other
sector, I came back to the house to see that half of my food was gone.
I was ticked. The elder that came to our house ate a big bag of potato
chips, a loaf of my bread, and my cereal. You wanna know what he had
at his house... Crappy Chilean Raisan Bran with powdered milk. I was
so mad. This elder has 2 cambio´s less than me and doesn´t do
anything. The last week I had the cambio with him in his sector and I
ended up doing everything.

You will have to tell Mckenna all the missionaries want to write her.
Aunt Shondra sent me a picture of her kids and everyone thinks she´s
really cute. They also think she´s my girlfriend.

Tell Cristian I´m excited to hear he is getting his blessing. Tell him
now he has to work on his mission papers. I´m really expecting him to
serve a mission.

Okay what´s the real story on the trumpet sounds and the Micro chips?
We have a bunch of people claiming they have heard trumpets at 3 in
the morning and that Obama passed a law that We have to get a micro
chip in our right hands. I guess that goes along with the scriptures
in revelations and everyone is freaking out about it. is it Real?

The ward here in Volcanes is awesome. We actually have ward
missionaries, the mission leader actually does something, the bishop
is awesome, and the members are awesome and actually support us.
Linares was a little different than here. I´m excited to work here.

Well not much has happened this week. I´m getting along great with my
companion and we´re doing work out here. My comp is constantly
laughing at me for the ways I do things like cleaning. I have no idea.
We are pretty much best friends. Well I miss you all and look forward
to talking to you guys in two weeks. Holy crap TWO WEEKS AND I TALK TO
YOU GUYS. I´m excited.

Con amor,

Los Volcanes-Chillán BABY!! Donde Pica la Jaiba!!

Hello Friends and Family!
Well This week I settled into my new sector with my new companion. His
name is E´ Gordón. He is from Panama. He is awesome. I think I´ll be
able to actually work with him. He´s way chill. We have been doing
work this week. We had a baptism, 2 mini cambios and a ton of lessons.
I´m so excited to work with him.

Well this week was awesome. I said good bye to everyone in Linares and
took a ton of pictures with Inv, members and companions in the house.
I left tuesday morning for Los Volcanes. DONDE PICA LA Jaiba! (where
the crab pinches... means it´s dangerous. There are thousands of these
kinds of sayings.) The place I´m in is one of the most dangerous in
the mission. So far I haven´t seen why.

Well I moved from a really nice house to a piece of crap. It could be
a really awesome house but the missionaries haven´t taken care of it.
The kitchen sink is constantly running so we have to go outside and
turn the water on or off every time we need water to shower or
whatever. Not so fun. It is only us two in the house. At first I
thought it would be awkward but now that we are used to each other
it´s awesome. The lights for the bathroom are usually on the outside
so we are constantly turning the lights off on each other when one is
using the bathroom. He´s kinda quiet but really funny. He´s serious
but at the same time really funny. I set some goals and being open and
bold is one of them. I told my comp I am going to talk openly and bold
and I expected the same from him. We are getting along great. We are
pretty much best friends already.

Well Elder Lulla wanted a bike... so I traded my bike for his Uke. He
was going to buy a guitar so he decided to trade me. I got an $80 Uke
for a crappy Walmart bike. I haven´t had much time to use it yet. He
gave me some papers that have the notes to some hymns like I am a
child of god. He says it´s great for Noche de Hogars or family nights.
 I can only play a couple songs. If Ethan has any beginner books tell
him to send me some copies. I think at night and on P-days i´m going
to learn to play it.

This week I had a mini cambio with an Elder that has only a cambio
less than me... I thought I was having trouble with language and
teaching... Let´s just say that was a great confidence boost. I went
into his sector and ended up doing everything for him. He was so lost.

We also had a mini cambio with the assistants last night. We didn´t
have much time to work with them but it was awesome. I learned a ton
from and Elder Stermetz. He has been an Elder I have really looked up
to in the mission. He is awesome. Prez asked him to extend for a month
so technically he has been here for over two years.

Things I learned this week....
1. In Chile, there is no discipline...
2. Take off your tag then your sweater, if not... the clip on your tag
will cut you. Lesson Learned!
3. When teaching eternal investigators, KEEP IT SIMPLE! don't read from
the Bible about the second coming.

How is grandma doing? How much money have you guys spent this week so far. hah

How did Chelsey´s bridal shower go? How is their family doing? What
have they got to say?

How was the Temple with Mckay? Was he super lost and confused? How was
he after? It´s awesome to see all the guys in the ward getting their
mission calls. Tell them I wish them luck. Tell them to start
memorizing the headings in Ch. 3 of PMG. Tell them to memorize all of
the headings and the commandments in Ch. 3. If they know it in English
it should be easy in Spanish. I´m glad to see that Tanner is going on
a mission. When is Mothers day?? I don´t even know when it is. I feel
like I just talked to you guys. Tell Mckay not to worry about talking
to me. Tell him he needs to focus on what he´s doing.

I will try to label the photos for now on. Speaking of photos. I want
more photos. Senior Pics, My mission Pics, family Pics and any pics
you can get from Cristian and Colt. People always ask me why I don´t
have very many photos. I would like some pics of me in my suit from
before the mission to give to people with my info on it. If you could
send me those it would be great. I don´t know whether to have you
print them and then send them or just on a USB stick.

Don´t be raggin on my ties. I got three ties for about $2. They are
absolutely hidious. But super cheap and Chileans love them. The funny
thing is we called it the ¨grandma´s couch¨ tie,  because that is
totally what it looks like.

Mail is still going to take awhile. We are still an hour and a half
from Conce. We will get it more often but not every week like in
Conce. Hopefully I get some mail tomorrow. I haven´t gotten a letter
from anyone in awhile. There is a ski resort somewhere close to here
but I´m not sure. But it´s starting to get really cold down here.

Elder Andrade and I left on good terms. Still was a little awkward.
But I think he has till August. My zone leader was with him for 3
weeks for an emergency cambio because an elder shattered his leg and
had to go home. He said it was the worst 3 weeks of his life. So far I
have been the only one to be able to put up with him for 2 cambios. I
told the assistants to tell pres that I already took a bullet so for
now on put me with good companions. They laughed when I told them
that.

Well I love you guys and miss you tons. Wish me luck this week.
Hopefully everything continues to go good.

Con amor,
Elder Torgersen

P.S. I had to use my card today for groceries because I hadn´t
recieved my money from reembolsos. But can you put more money than
usual in my account. I am going to buy an electric blanket and some
other winter things and I need to make sure I got money. I did inherit
3 short sleeve shirts from an older missionary that just left.

Things I need
-Recipes- Simple, not too many ingredients, and easy.
-keep it coming with the quotes.
-notes and chords for some hymns and other songs for the Uke.
-Photos from everything. Senior pics, family pics, photos from
Friends, and my suit pics.
-also a Gyro Wrist Exercise Ball. This thing is amazing,  along with a
week long work out with out weights or bands.

Hello Friends and Family!

Well I don´t know what happened this week but it just seemed to flip upside down. Everything just happened to change and go my way for once.

This week my comp made me plan and do basically everything on my own. I think he was doing it just to be smart so that if something went wrong he could blame me for it. The funny thing is... whatever I planned went through. This week was the best week we had out of the whole 2 cambios we were together. I think he really started to notice because he started to actually listen to me. We finally started getting along. The only thing is... I´M GETTING TRANSFERRED! I´m going to a big city called Chillan. The place I´m going is called Volcanes. I´m super excited. It´s just kind of a bummer because I just got along with my companion. 

This week we were helping one of our investigators with some service and there was this huge Rottweiler that almost ate me. It went to bite me but jumped out of the way. This dog was huge. But while doing service we found an ex-investigator. She was awesome.Super nice. She tried to pay us for the service we did. I gotta admit the service was tough and the money looked really good.... haha she ended up giving us a box of candy and some strawberry milk. She also had Beer without alcohol. Let´s just say I won´t be drinking beer anytime soon. I had been curious of what it tasted like and I can tell you now I wont be drinking it anytime soon.

This last week I took my suits to get dry cleaned. They actually looked really good. The place was super cheap and I got 3 ties dry cleaned with my suits. 

This last cambio, President and the assistants introduced a new teaching method and it includes memorizing every heading in the first three lessons and knowing the commandments in lesson 4 in order with all of the commitments in Spanish. That is just for the Bronze. For silver you have to know all of that plus the subheadings. For gold we have to know everything including all scriptures memorized. Yesterday I got BONCE!! I thought I wouldn´t ever be able to do it. 

Yesterday in church we had 7 people not including Raul and Raquel. It was awesome! We had a ton of success this week. It was nice to finally get some people to church and to teach a ton of lessons. 

I´m glad you guys decided to take random cool little family trips when I´m not there. That´s pretty funny that Baileigh was laughing in her sleep and Ethan was screaming. That goes right along with my week. Elder Lulla was singing in his sleep. It was really funny. The crap that goes on in our house is quite funny sometimes. 

Well not much else has happened this week. I´m excited to work in Chillan with Elder Gordón from Panama. Let´s hope he´s good. Well I love you guys! 

Con amor,

Elder Torgersen

P.S.  Also can you get me Cayden´s Email? It would be a lot easier that way. Also this sounds completely nerdy but can you get me a Casio watch from walmart with a calculator?

Toughest Week EVER!!

Hello Friends and Fam!

How is everyone doing? First I´d like to say Happy birthday to my Pops. Happy Birthday Dad. Love you Tons! Hope everything went well!!

Well this week has had it´s ups and downs. Toughest week I have had so far. I have never been so miserable, tired, and depressed. The crap with my comp has only gotten worse. The other day we (really I mean he) decided to do contacts. We had been contacting for 4 hours straight. No one had let us in, It was freezing and I was getting bored. I had started reading a talk by Russell M Ballard about success as a missionary in between contacts. The houses were spread out so I had quite a bit of time in between houses to read it. Once we contacted the house I put it in my coat Pocket. I didn´t see anything wrong with what I was doing. All of a sudden my comp turns to me and is like... ¨You done Studying?¨ Then without saying anything he takes off. My bike had just broke so I couldn´t pedal very fast because my pedal was really bent. He takes off and leaves me. I had no idea where he went because I got stuck at a light, and later found him at the house. He had been at the house for about 5 minutes before I got there. We ended up having to finish the night off doing a mini cambio with the other elders. 

The next day we had the Assistants come and talk to me and my companion. Basically they had some punk elder that thought he knew everything with them. He started assuming things and blamed me for stuff. He had supposedly heard that I didn´t want to work anymore. He then went on to say to me that if I didn´t want to work here on the mission I should be condemned. That ticked me off because this kid was an idiot and started assuming things, had no idea what he was talking about, and didn´t know the situation with my comp. I told them that my comp decided we weren´t going to go by more than half of our investigators because they had problems. for example, smoking. I told them that I still wanted to pass by them and help them out. One of the guys had stopped smoking and was living in the garage to live the law of chastity. But then my comp said we weren´t going to pass by him and he went back to his ways. I didn´t have any say in our planning and told them I did. The assistants basically talked to us, didn´t settle anything, and left. I thought it was absolutely stupid. My comp ¨set¨ some goals to be nicer and to help me out. What a bunch of crap... It lasted until we planned 3 hours later, and was basically a jerk again. For the rest of the week I planned, contacted, and taught alone. My comp would sit there with a dumb look on his face while I did everything. It was a great learning experience but I can´t do it alone. He basically makes me plan so that if something goes wrong or if someone isn´t home he can use it as a ¨told you so¨ moment.

I´ve really taken the quote by President Hinckley in to play this week. ¨life is to be enjoyed, not endured.¨ I have basically trying to endure this last week and have decided I´m just going to enjoy it. Me and elder Lulla ordered pizza the other night and had a blast eating it.

I decided to buy my self a little Easter present. One of the stores was selling Chilean soccer jerseys for $20. We´re talking these things are usually $80. talk about bargain. they are official Jerseys. They are awesome. But that reminds me. My one pair of church shoes is falling apart. An hermana in the ward can get discounts on shoes that are usually $80 down to about $40. I was wondering if I should go ahead and buy some? I just don´t know what I can and can´t do with my money. There´s some cool stuff I want to buy for Ethan that is pretty cheap. Am I allowed to buy these sorts of things... along with some fun or cool stuff??

While doing contacts the other night we caught a kid trying to let the air out of someone´s tires. We chased him down but he got away. For some reason the kids think its hilarious to let the air out of your tires. The other elders locked up their bikes and helmets to find out later that someone let the air out of their tires and stole the sun shades on their helmets. I thought it was pretty funny.

Funny thing, I had started reading the same talk by Bednar this week for some Guidance. I absolutely loved it. I loved how it talked about the different people in the BOM and how they prayed to help them to have the strength or the patience to endure whatever they were going through. I have really taken the story of Nefi into play this week. When his brothers tied him up he prayed for the strength to break the bands that he had been tied with. He didn´t pray to get him out, He prayed for the strength to do it himself.  I have tried to pray for the strength to work through this week instead of just changing it. 

This week I think I contacted more drunk people than sober. The whole semana santa thing down here is a joke. Nothing to do with Christ. Even if it is, it´s really weird. 

Things learned this week...

-semana santa = excuse to not have school, and drink as much beer as possible. Nothing to do with Christ.

-I´m getting transferred next week.

-I can get both suits and three ties dry cleaned for about $15.

-Chilean bikes.... SUCK.

-Chilean pizza= a little pricey, and not that good.

How´s Ethan doing? Tell Evil Kinevil (not sure how to spell that...I don´t care I´m in Chile) He needs to chill out. He just got his knee fixed and now he´s breaking his leg. Tell him to take it easy on the equipment. The Truck and now the motorcycle....

Well I love you guys and miss you tons!!

Con amor,

Elder Torgersen.

P.S. answer my questions and tell Grandma and Grandpa I got their letters and loved them. I will try to find time to write them a letter this week. Also keep sending the quotes! They were awesome.

German Pancake Breakfast

Fixed It

Conference Candy

April 2nd

Hello Family and Friends!

We had a great week this week listening to the Prophet and his apostles. This week I was traveling all over the place.

This week I have still kind of struggled with my companion. Today he got mad at me because I spit the shells from my sunflower seeds into the gutter on a street. He yelled at me and asked me if I did that in my country. I held my ground and finally stood up to him and said. ¨Yes actually we do. They are sunflower seeds. They are bio-degradable. They come from flowers. ¨ He walked off with a disgusted look. I thought it was funny. The things he says and does just blows my mind. Hopefully my next comp is better. Wait, I can´t say that. My district leader has been helping me stay positive. We have decided there are No ¨what if´s.... (for example... What if I was comps with so and so... we would do work.) We have to work and focus on where we are now not in the future.

We have District Class every Tuesday in our church. The whole Zone meets and we learn from the ZL´s and the DL´s. We also get mail about every 3 weeks. That´s how it is being on the ¨outside¨. Hopefully I get our Easter packages tomorrow. Last week at district class they told me 3 hours before I was supposed to leave that I would be going to Concepcion for a Newbie Conference. I´m 5 months out in Chile and 7 months into my mission and I´m starting to get a hold on things and then they call me a newbie again. Tuesday night at about 5 my companion and I went to the Bus terminal and that's when we split up and I took a 3 and a half hour bus ride to Concepcion....alone. That was the weirdest feeling knowing that I was alone without a companion on the bus. I met the assistants at the terminal in Conce and we headed off to their house. I got there and found out I was staying for two days instead of one. Not only did I find out I was supposed to leave 3 hours before I had to go, they didn´t tell me I would be staying for 2 days. I only had one change of clothes. Luckily I stayed at the assistants house where they have a washer and a dryer. (dryers are super rare here in Chile)

There in Conce we had training for all the ¨new¨ missionaries. We had 2 classes of 2 hours each before lunch and 2 more after lunch.  We practiced teaching in English (which I couldn´t do, I kept saying things in Spanish.) We had Domino´s and Subway for lunch the two days we were there.  The first day after classes we had cambios with the missionaries around Conce. I worked with Elder Broadhead in Centro de Conce. The first time really working in a huge city. I absolutely loved it. The city was huge. I also sang a hymn for the first time in one of our lessons. (thought that was super weird, but just went with it.) 

During classes I asked Pres. if I could talk to him after. After the classes we went into a room and I asked him what I could do with my comp. He basically said that my comp has always been super prideful, stubborn, and not excited about the work. He told me to just ¨work hard because you only have 2 weeks left with him.¨ So basically I know I will be going this cambio. President basically didn´t really say much. 

On the way to the bus terminal in conce to go home I met my comps old comp. He told me he was sorry I was with my comp and said good luck. He told me he was the most stuck up, prideful, jerk of a companion he has ever had. (that really didn´t help.) I guess from what I heard my comp hasn´t gotten along with anyone. I made really good friends with one of the assistants and he sent me an email saying that president and the assistants know more than we think. They know all of the struggles I´m having with my comp and basically just gave me some advice. It really helped knowing that they really know what´s going on.

On the bus ride home I was paired up with an elder that came with me to Chile. His name is elder west. He was going to Parral which is about an hour from Linares. I rode with him up until Parral and then sat in the back of the bus with some other elders. The bus pulled into Linares and next thing I know the bus kid tells me I have to get off here if I want to stay inLinares. They dropped me off on a street miles from the house and miles from any members. I was left alone, again. I walked to our bishops house and his son, our mission leader answered the door. He thought I was joking when he found me alone. My comp and a joven in our ward was with my comp at the terminal. We had to call him and meet up in centro. 

We woke up Saturday morning and made some bomb German pancakes. I got a recipe from one of the Assistants that is super easy. We can buy great value syrup down here for pretty cheap so we ate German pancakes on Saturday and Sunday morning. Wasn´t quite Dad´s waffles and moms buttermilk syrup but we tried. They were so good!! 

We don´t have a Macey´s down here so I couldn´t buy bin candy.... SO I did the next best thing. We went to a store down here that is basically a Costco. This store sells stuff in bulk and sells to all the mini stores we have on each corner. Everything is super cheap and you can buy it in bulk. We bought a ton of candy and snacks for conference. 

Saturday morning we got to the church and the president of the rama was having problems with the projector and receiver. After about 5 minutes I had it fixed and running in Spanish. They had the wires in the wrong port and didn´t really know what they were doing. You´ll have to tell Jonathan thanks for the work and lesson´s with projectors and stuff. The Chileans would have been lost with out me here.

During the conference the MTC choir sang. I don´t know if you guys saw it but David archuletta was on the front row. He got his mission call to the mission right above ours. Everyone was freaking out because he was so close to coming to our mission.

The choir also Sang ¨let us all speak kind words¨. The whole time moms voice kept popping into my head. So thanks mom. The whole conference thing made me a little trunky. It reminded me of home and going to priesthood with dad, Ethan, grandpa and Cristian. 

We all loved General Conference. They had in the chapel, conference in Spanish, and the ¨Gringos¨ were upstairs listening to it in English. I was amazed at how much junk food the other missionaries had. They had Jugo by the gallons, cans of pringles, and candy by the pounds. It was insane. I felt kinda bad because the Latin companions didn´t buy anything and were stuck down in the chapel. It basically looked like a party. The funny thing is, when someone made a sound with a wrapper during conference or was talking all the other elder would tell them to shut up. We all took over 20 pages of notes from Conference. 

Well I should find out tomorrow if I got the packages. I have been getting Colt and dads emails but what I meant with dad is that I wanted more stories and experiences from his mission. I don´t always have that much time to write everyone. It´s either do something awesome on P-day or have 3 hours to write everyone. Sorry... but I´d rather have time to do something cool in a country I only have 2 years in. Especially because we only get to explore and do stuff cool on P-days. If I don´t write you back right away... Sorry.

I´m glad that kyle Harline saw me as a good example. I guess I had no idea that I was really being watched that much. That really made me feel good. When you see him next, give him and hug or a high five or something, tell him he´s awesome and tell him it was from Elder Torgersen.

I sent a couple pictures from this last week. The blond crazy kid is our DL. Elder Lulla. He´s hilarious. Love the kid. Well I love you guys and miss you tons. hope everyone is doing great. 

 Con amor,

Elder Torgersen

P.S. Can you get me a list of Birthday´s Like family birthday´s and a couple friends. Also can you get me The Harline´s address? I figured I would try to write Kyle a letter. What was Ethan´s job with Bruce? Also Tell Ainsley thanks for the grow alien. It was awesome!!