Hello Friends and Family!
Well this has been quite the hectic week. We have had some crazy
weather and it has rained for almost a week straight.
This week has been insane. Friday I had to go to another sector while
our DL came to do our interview for Antonia. Of course, I had to go
work with the Weird Elder. We left our house at 4:15 and went to take
a colectivo. He flagged down a number 32. I asked him isn´t it a 40
that we take to go to your house. He told me that he had been there
longer so he knew the number. Guess which number it really was... A
40!! We ended up being really far away from their house and had to
walk forever. We got to the house, I dropped my stuff and was ready to
leave. He messed around doing who knows what for about an hour. He
went to the bathroom and messed around. During this time I´m telling
him, Hey we gotta go. He finally is ready by about 6. We lost about an
hour and a half because of this stupid elder. He has 2 cambios less
than me and thinks he can boss me around. So... we finally leave the
house and we go to do contacts. He turns to me and says ¨can you
contact this house. I´m not very good at it. Can you show me an
example?¨ I ended up doing almost all of our contacts. I told him he
needed to do contacts to get better. Our lunch was kinda small so by
about 9 I was starving. I told him I was going to a negotio to buy
something and he tells me ¨no, we need to be diligent.¨ The whole time
I´m thinking, Ok and wasting an hour and a half is...? I was ready to
drop this kid. He also had on his big rain coat,rain boots, a huge
umbrella, and everything in plastic bags. It wasn´t even raining!! It
had rained in the night and the ground had puddles but it wasn´t
raining. He made sure to walk around every puddle, (he had rain boots
on up to his knees). The next morning our Zone leaders who live in the
same house asked him if we are going to do service. He tells our ZL that
he didn´t want to lose his energy for the day by doing service. I
asked him what the reason was of why he was here then if he wasn't
going to serve. He kept quiet. I was miffed at this kid. He´s really
strange and wears a cowboy hat while working. The members think he is
really weird. Even the members in our ward ask us who the Elder is
that wears the cowboy hat. I´m not sure what to do with him. We found
out he is getting transferred tomorrow. We just finished my 5th cambio.
I think I will have one more cambio with E´ Gordón.
Antonia passed her interview and Saturday we were supposed to have a
baptism. Saturday morning we had winds from 60 to 70 MPH. These
Chilean houses were being ripped to shreds. The metal wavy, roofing
was literally being ripped off of houses. The tops to the chimney
pipes were being ripped off and blown into the air. Trees where broken
off, up rooted, and destroyed. I sent some pictures of Centro De
Chillán. There were huge trees that snapped and had smashed a car. The
members all had the radio on and it was saying not to leave the house.
Our ropa lady was really worried about us. We ended up having to
cancel the baptism because no one would leave their houses. Saturday
after our mini cambio I got a little post it note that said, ¨my
brother from another mother, Elder Torgersen.¨ I opened it to see that
our bishop had given me a talk for Sunday on Fasting and a generous
fast offering. Sunday we got to church and didn´t have any power
because of the storm. I had to give my talk without our lights and a
microphone. This was my first talk where I had written something and
ended up teaching without reading or saying what I had written. A lot
of people told me after that my talk was really good and I actually
spoke perfect Spanish. I felt really calm and felt like I relied on
the spirit. It was an awesome experience. To finish it all up, We had
the Baptism after church.
Well we had an awesome Noche De Hogar with our bishop and Benjamin.
The Bishop gave me a BOM, D&C, NT, and Principles books like Ainsley´s
little Book of Mormon. They are so cool. Benjamin had a blast at this
NDH. His Parents love us and last night we went to visit him and his
dad ran over shook my hand and gave me the biggest hug I´ve ever
gotten. His parents are awesome. I think Benjamin will be an awesome
example for his family.
We are still talking to Robinson about getting baptized again. We are
going to try and baptize his daughter soon. We should have a lot of
baptisms this next month.
Last week I bought the camera I wanted. I found out the camera usually
cost $220. and I got it for $80. It was on sale on top of the discount
the member got me. She said if I wouldn´t have bought it that day it
would have gone up again. I´m really happy with it. The pictures are
amazingly better and I got it for cheap.
Well not else has happened. I love you guys and hope you all feel
better and will stop getting sick.
Con Amor,
Elder Torgersen
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Bakan - good, cool, awesome
Hello Friends and
Family!!
Well this week was amazing. We have had a lot of success this last
week. Lot´s of great stuff happened. I´m really gonna work on my
letters so that they won´t be worthless...
Well four months later.... And I can say that prayers are eventually
answered. Remember the USB pendrive I lost.... Yeah I was cleaning out
my back pack to make sure nothing would get ruined with the rain. (It
has been pouring rain this last week). I was taking stuff out when I
felt something hard in a really small pocket. I reached in and pulled
out.... MY PENDRIVE. About four months later and I finally found it. I
had thought it had fallen out of my backpack. I´m not like mom and
have stuff appear in my hands. For me it comes 4 months later.
It has been pouring rain and has been super cold. I found an awesome
deal on a couple sweaters. The coat has been awesome in the rain. My cheap shoes I bought are amazing. My comp has been complaining that
his feet are wet from the rain. He got mad because when we got home,
after stomping through puddles... my socks were completely dry.
When I got here in Volcanes the house had a speaker system with a sub
and 5 speakers. This last week we got bored one night and started
cleaning. I fixed our sound system and ran speakers to the kitchen,
our clothes room, our bedroom, and even the bathroom. When we are
taking showers or cooking we can listen to MoTab or Church music. You
should have seen the look on my comp´s face when I started putting the
speaker in the bathroom. He thought I was crazy. He thinks having
speakers throughout the house is awesome.
This last week we had service building onto a house for an older
couple. I wanted to punch the hermano that took charge of it. He
started building from the bottom up on the wall of this house. The way
he was doing things was driving me nuts. We were building an addition
to a house and were building a wall out of 2x4´s He put the bottom
down and started building up. I tried to explain that you build
everything on the ground and then lift it up into place. but no one
listened. He was nailing down the vertical 2x4´s using a plumb, but he
wasn´t even doing it right. It was driving me nuts luckily we had to
leave soon after. It drives me nuts when someone takes charge when
they have no clue what they are doing.
This week has been awesome as far as Investigators. We have found a
ton of great people. We have 2 solid bautismos the next couple weeks.
One is the cousin of the kid we baptized the first week I was here.
The other is young kid about 12 that we found doing contacts. His mom
had shared with the missionaries but hadn´t ever been baptized. He is
awesome. His name is Benjamin. He wants to get baptized so bad. The
ward here is awesome. They accept investigators and RC with open arms.
The first time he came to church the bishop and the counselors invited
him to YM and really paid attention to him. His dad and older brother
would come home while we were teaching and the dad would go upstairs,
come down, shower, go back up, and stay there. This last week we
expected him to do the same but he went up and ended up coming back
down and took a seat behind us. He started listening. Then the next
time we went to their house he actually sat down with us and offered
to drive us to our next cita. We gained the trust of both parents and
we are working on the brother. I really hope we can baptize the whole
family. That has been one of my metas since I have been here. It would
be so cool. During one of the lessons, Benja asked his parents ¨why
don´t you guys go to church? It´s great.¨ The parents told us they
would come the next week. We don´t have to do the inviting... The kid
does it for us. He told us an awesome story the other day. He told his
religion teacher he was getting baptized. The teacher told him he was
wasting his time and he told his teacher ¨No I´m not, they talk about
the prophet Joseph Smith.¨ He is so awesome!!
We had a really spiritual lesson the other day with a single mom. She
has three kids and is having trouble with them. Her 16 year old drinks
and smokes. She told us that she felt something she had never felt in
her life. We explained that it was the spirit. The only thing is she
drinks, smokes and she works as a person that reads cards and hands...
I don´t know what that´s called. She told us she basically does stuff
a little sketchy. She told us she felt so horrible with her life that
she felt like she had killed someone and didn´t know how to get rid of
it. We taught her about BAUTISMO and how she could have that feeling
taken away. She was crying by the end of the lesson. She told us she
had some things to fix before she could get baptized but accepted a
fecha. The only thing is... We haven´t been able to find her lately.
Pray that we find her and she still has the desire to get baptized.
We should have a baptism this next Saturday. The cousin of Cristobal
the kid we baptized the 1st week I got here. She is amazing. Super
smart. She´s only 10 but catches on really quick. In church on Sunday
we couldn´t see her and were super bummed because if she didn´t go
yesterday we couldn´t have the baptism. We looked at her aunt, where
she usually sits, and she wasn´t there. We looked a couple rows
forward and she was seated with another family. We could only see the
back of her head and me and my comp were debating whether it was
really her. She turned her head and we realized it was her. My comp
and I silently fist pumped and bumped fists. It was so awesome. She is
really excited to get baptized. Pray that everything goes right and
she gets baptized.
Also we have a family that everyone is members, at least we thought.
The son that is about 28 didn´t show up on the registro and told us
that he doesn´t remember the date he got baptized. He told us that if
he can´t find the paper he isn´t getting baptized again and won´t go
to church anymore. We are trying to work with him because he has a
daughter that is 9 that isn´t baptized. This family has straight girls
from ages 13-3. They are the cutest little girls I have ever seen. The
youngest one reminds me of Clara. I´ll have to take a picture with
here because I swear she is a Chilean version of Clara. But pray for
their family that they will have a change of heart or find the paper.
He is also the one that wants to change rare Chilean coins for the
state quarters from the states. If you guys could send me some of
those it would be awesome. :)
Also our ropa lady is awesome. She has been really nice and does
whatever she can to get our clothes cleaned as quick as possible. She
even hand washed a couple cheap ties I had baby shampoo. She works
miracles. I was wondering if there was something you could get at
Williams Sonoma or something from your work that wouldn´t be to hard
to ship down here. She has been washing the missionaries clothes for
about 30 years and is just the nicest lady. If you can get anything or
have any ideas... It would be great.
Well I love you guys and miss you tons. I enjoyed speaking with you
guys last week can´t wait for the next time. Gotta write some other
emails!
Con amor,
Elder Torgersen
Well this week was amazing. We have had a lot of success this last
week. Lot´s of great stuff happened. I´m really gonna work on my
letters so that they won´t be worthless...
Well four months later.... And I can say that prayers are eventually
answered. Remember the USB pendrive I lost.... Yeah I was cleaning out
my back pack to make sure nothing would get ruined with the rain. (It
has been pouring rain this last week). I was taking stuff out when I
felt something hard in a really small pocket. I reached in and pulled
out.... MY PENDRIVE. About four months later and I finally found it. I
had thought it had fallen out of my backpack. I´m not like mom and
have stuff appear in my hands. For me it comes 4 months later.
It has been pouring rain and has been super cold. I found an awesome
deal on a couple sweaters. The coat has been awesome in the rain. My cheap shoes I bought are amazing. My comp has been complaining that
his feet are wet from the rain. He got mad because when we got home,
after stomping through puddles... my socks were completely dry.
When I got here in Volcanes the house had a speaker system with a sub
and 5 speakers. This last week we got bored one night and started
cleaning. I fixed our sound system and ran speakers to the kitchen,
our clothes room, our bedroom, and even the bathroom. When we are
taking showers or cooking we can listen to MoTab or Church music. You
should have seen the look on my comp´s face when I started putting the
speaker in the bathroom. He thought I was crazy. He thinks having
speakers throughout the house is awesome.
This last week we had service building onto a house for an older
couple. I wanted to punch the hermano that took charge of it. He
started building from the bottom up on the wall of this house. The way
he was doing things was driving me nuts. We were building an addition
to a house and were building a wall out of 2x4´s He put the bottom
down and started building up. I tried to explain that you build
everything on the ground and then lift it up into place. but no one
listened. He was nailing down the vertical 2x4´s using a plumb, but he
wasn´t even doing it right. It was driving me nuts luckily we had to
leave soon after. It drives me nuts when someone takes charge when
they have no clue what they are doing.
This week has been awesome as far as Investigators. We have found a
ton of great people. We have 2 solid bautismos the next couple weeks.
One is the cousin of the kid we baptized the first week I was here.
The other is young kid about 12 that we found doing contacts. His mom
had shared with the missionaries but hadn´t ever been baptized. He is
awesome. His name is Benjamin. He wants to get baptized so bad. The
ward here is awesome. They accept investigators and RC with open arms.
The first time he came to church the bishop and the counselors invited
him to YM and really paid attention to him. His dad and older brother
would come home while we were teaching and the dad would go upstairs,
come down, shower, go back up, and stay there. This last week we
expected him to do the same but he went up and ended up coming back
down and took a seat behind us. He started listening. Then the next
time we went to their house he actually sat down with us and offered
to drive us to our next cita. We gained the trust of both parents and
we are working on the brother. I really hope we can baptize the whole
family. That has been one of my metas since I have been here. It would
be so cool. During one of the lessons, Benja asked his parents ¨why
don´t you guys go to church? It´s great.¨ The parents told us they
would come the next week. We don´t have to do the inviting... The kid
does it for us. He told us an awesome story the other day. He told his
religion teacher he was getting baptized. The teacher told him he was
wasting his time and he told his teacher ¨No I´m not, they talk about
the prophet Joseph Smith.¨ He is so awesome!!
We had a really spiritual lesson the other day with a single mom. She
has three kids and is having trouble with them. Her 16 year old drinks
and smokes. She told us that she felt something she had never felt in
her life. We explained that it was the spirit. The only thing is she
drinks, smokes and she works as a person that reads cards and hands...
I don´t know what that´s called. She told us she basically does stuff
a little sketchy. She told us she felt so horrible with her life that
she felt like she had killed someone and didn´t know how to get rid of
it. We taught her about BAUTISMO and how she could have that feeling
taken away. She was crying by the end of the lesson. She told us she
had some things to fix before she could get baptized but accepted a
fecha. The only thing is... We haven´t been able to find her lately.
Pray that we find her and she still has the desire to get baptized.
We should have a baptism this next Saturday. The cousin of Cristobal
the kid we baptized the 1st week I got here. She is amazing. Super
smart. She´s only 10 but catches on really quick. In church on Sunday
we couldn´t see her and were super bummed because if she didn´t go
yesterday we couldn´t have the baptism. We looked at her aunt, where
she usually sits, and she wasn´t there. We looked a couple rows
forward and she was seated with another family. We could only see the
back of her head and me and my comp were debating whether it was
really her. She turned her head and we realized it was her. My comp
and I silently fist pumped and bumped fists. It was so awesome. She is
really excited to get baptized. Pray that everything goes right and
she gets baptized.
Also we have a family that everyone is members, at least we thought.
The son that is about 28 didn´t show up on the registro and told us
that he doesn´t remember the date he got baptized. He told us that if
he can´t find the paper he isn´t getting baptized again and won´t go
to church anymore. We are trying to work with him because he has a
daughter that is 9 that isn´t baptized. This family has straight girls
from ages 13-3. They are the cutest little girls I have ever seen. The
youngest one reminds me of Clara. I´ll have to take a picture with
here because I swear she is a Chilean version of Clara. But pray for
their family that they will have a change of heart or find the paper.
He is also the one that wants to change rare Chilean coins for the
state quarters from the states. If you guys could send me some of
those it would be awesome. :)
Also our ropa lady is awesome. She has been really nice and does
whatever she can to get our clothes cleaned as quick as possible. She
even hand washed a couple cheap ties I had baby shampoo. She works
miracles. I was wondering if there was something you could get at
Williams Sonoma or something from your work that wouldn´t be to hard
to ship down here. She has been washing the missionaries clothes for
about 30 years and is just the nicest lady. If you can get anything or
have any ideas... It would be great.
Well I love you guys and miss you tons. I enjoyed speaking with you
guys last week can´t wait for the next time. Gotta write some other
emails!
Con amor,
Elder Torgersen
Monday, May 7, 2012
YEAHHH!
Hello Friends and Family,
Well this week has been kinda funny. Lots of random, funny things happening.
First off, we had Conference this week. Elder Duncan of the Seventy
came to speak to us. He was awesome. I took 6 pages of notes from him.
The night before the conference we found out 4 elders were coming to
stay in our house with us. Wanna take a guess at who it was...? Yep
you guessed it. Last comp, E´ Andrade. Let´s just say the night ended
quickly before it got awkward. I did find out that RAUL AND RAQUELL
ARE GETTING BAPTIZED!!! They were supposed to get married Saturday and
baptized today. We will find out if that happened today.
I did get my package of the coat and the Vitamin C. Thanks, it´s been
getting cold and rainy.
Last week I bought two pairs of shoes for about $20 each. I got a
brown pair and a black pair. I´m going to save one pair for later.
They are actually really nice. I also came clear to Chile to buy a tie
for a dollar from the SLC airport. In the city there are ropa
americanas and I can buy ties for really cheap, usually not the best
ties but I have found a couple cool ones.
This week I found a bag of 1,000 pesos in 1 pesos in our house. I also
had about $80 in reembolsos. ALSO good news... We got a new fridge and
the water problem fixed. We no longer have to go outside to turn the
water on and off.
While at lunch the other day we were talking to a kid that just got
home from his mission in Columbia. He just got called as the Elders
quorum pres. While at lunch his mom brought out one of the biggest
lunches I have ever had. After, He brought out this box filled with
giant Ants. Next thing I know he pops one into his mouth and eats it.
He had brought back a box of hormigas colombianas from colombia.
Thought you guys wouldn´t believe me so I took some pictures of us
eating ANTS! I still cant believe I ate them. They weren´t that bad
though. Yeah, crazy story of the week. I ate ants... One of them had
wings and I had little ant legs stuck in my teeth.
Nobody down here can remember my name so I am known as Elder Thor.
There is a family with a little kid that is about 6 that thinks I
really am Thor because I´m gringo. I felt a little bad the other day
because a girl of a family we were teaching called me ¨missionary¨ and
I said you don´t know my name by now... She got a little embarrassed
and ran off. I had to go apologize to her...
Gotta say Ethan looks pretty ballin in a tux with the truck. Tell him
to stop being such a punk. Little punk needs to go to seminary, clean
up and start acting like a decent young man. Instead of being mean to
the little girls, offer to take them to Walkers to buy a slushy. There
is no point in fighting with little sisters. One, because they are
girls, and two, they are family.
If you can take pics at Chelsey´s wedding and send me pictures of Ally
and her Husband (holy crap that is weird to say). I need to approve of
her pick.
I don´t know who has been sending letters because I haven´t really
gotten any. The last Dear elder I got was from Zach Hulsey. I have his
letter ready to send. Tell him I will send it next week. I have a
couple others like Camille, Elder Harvey, and Kim. Tell Jodee I wrote
her one but lost it when I moved houses. Tell her I´m writing it. I
think I wrote her an email but haven´t heard anything. I will be
praying for Traci. I got a pretty funny letter from her the other day.
Also, an awesome letter from Grandma Kratchen. I got the letters from
the little girls in the ward. Also tell Ansley I love getting her
letters but she needs to say something other than ¨are you having
fun?¨ This definitely isn´t a vacation (and no I didn´t get a spring
break)... But yes I´m having fun.
I was wondering if you guys could buy me a somewhat crappy camera like
a Sony, canon, or samsung. Maybe dad can find something at the pawn
shop or at costco. I just need something small, skinny, and takes good
pictures. I´m often too scared to take my Nikon out and I need
something that is small and takes good pictures.
Well I´m excited to talk to you guys on Sunday. I still feel like I
just talked to you guys. Well I love you guys and miss you tons.
Con amor,
Elder Thor, I mean Elder Torgersen
Well this week has been kinda funny. Lots of random, funny things happening.
First off, we had Conference this week. Elder Duncan of the Seventy
came to speak to us. He was awesome. I took 6 pages of notes from him.
The night before the conference we found out 4 elders were coming to
stay in our house with us. Wanna take a guess at who it was...? Yep
you guessed it. Last comp, E´ Andrade. Let´s just say the night ended
quickly before it got awkward. I did find out that RAUL AND RAQUELL
ARE GETTING BAPTIZED!!! They were supposed to get married Saturday and
baptized today. We will find out if that happened today.
I did get my package of the coat and the Vitamin C. Thanks, it´s been
getting cold and rainy.
Last week I bought two pairs of shoes for about $20 each. I got a
brown pair and a black pair. I´m going to save one pair for later.
They are actually really nice. I also came clear to Chile to buy a tie
for a dollar from the SLC airport. In the city there are ropa
americanas and I can buy ties for really cheap, usually not the best
ties but I have found a couple cool ones.
This week I found a bag of 1,000 pesos in 1 pesos in our house. I also
had about $80 in reembolsos. ALSO good news... We got a new fridge and
the water problem fixed. We no longer have to go outside to turn the
water on and off.
While at lunch the other day we were talking to a kid that just got
home from his mission in Columbia. He just got called as the Elders
quorum pres. While at lunch his mom brought out one of the biggest
lunches I have ever had. After, He brought out this box filled with
giant Ants. Next thing I know he pops one into his mouth and eats it.
He had brought back a box of hormigas colombianas from colombia.
Thought you guys wouldn´t believe me so I took some pictures of us
eating ANTS! I still cant believe I ate them. They weren´t that bad
though. Yeah, crazy story of the week. I ate ants... One of them had
wings and I had little ant legs stuck in my teeth.
Nobody down here can remember my name so I am known as Elder Thor.
There is a family with a little kid that is about 6 that thinks I
really am Thor because I´m gringo. I felt a little bad the other day
because a girl of a family we were teaching called me ¨missionary¨ and
I said you don´t know my name by now... She got a little embarrassed
and ran off. I had to go apologize to her...
Gotta say Ethan looks pretty ballin in a tux with the truck. Tell him
to stop being such a punk. Little punk needs to go to seminary, clean
up and start acting like a decent young man. Instead of being mean to
the little girls, offer to take them to Walkers to buy a slushy. There
is no point in fighting with little sisters. One, because they are
girls, and two, they are family.
If you can take pics at Chelsey´s wedding and send me pictures of Ally
and her Husband (holy crap that is weird to say). I need to approve of
her pick.
I don´t know who has been sending letters because I haven´t really
gotten any. The last Dear elder I got was from Zach Hulsey. I have his
letter ready to send. Tell him I will send it next week. I have a
couple others like Camille, Elder Harvey, and Kim. Tell Jodee I wrote
her one but lost it when I moved houses. Tell her I´m writing it. I
think I wrote her an email but haven´t heard anything. I will be
praying for Traci. I got a pretty funny letter from her the other day.
Also, an awesome letter from Grandma Kratchen. I got the letters from
the little girls in the ward. Also tell Ansley I love getting her
letters but she needs to say something other than ¨are you having
fun?¨ This definitely isn´t a vacation (and no I didn´t get a spring
break)... But yes I´m having fun.
I was wondering if you guys could buy me a somewhat crappy camera like
a Sony, canon, or samsung. Maybe dad can find something at the pawn
shop or at costco. I just need something small, skinny, and takes good
pictures. I´m often too scared to take my Nikon out and I need
something that is small and takes good pictures.
Well I´m excited to talk to you guys on Sunday. I still feel like I
just talked to you guys. Well I love you guys and miss you tons.
Con amor,
Elder Thor, I mean Elder Torgersen
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