Happy Half Christmas!!

Hello Friends and family

How is everyone doing? Well this week it stopped raining but it has been freezing cold. They are saying tomorrow it is supposed to be 4 degrees C. and is supposed to snow here in Chillán. We will see what happens. My comp has never seen snow so i´m kinda hoping it does. Well this week has been kinda normal. Nothing to big happening.

 

We went to the doctor Friday and this morning. They ended up doing the electrode thing with the ultra sound. It´s starting to feel a whole lot better. It is just kind of a pain taking an hour out of our morning to do it.

 

This week we have found a lot of new people but they have all been nuts. While we pray they shout and yell AMEN, or Si Señor. it is so annoying and distracting. They claim that they understand the bible but I have no idea which bible they are reading. It is so amazing how lost or how stupid people can be with the bible. One lady kept telling us that the bible is the word of god and there isn´t anymore. I made her read 2 nephi 29: 7-11. She then finally said she would pray and ask god if she should read it. I was so frustrated. I was ready to smack her over the head with the BoM. She just couldn´t get it into her head that the Book of Mormon was written by the prophets here in the Americas. Obviously she didn´t understand verse 9 of chapter 29. ¨because that I have spoken one ^cword ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my ^dwork is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.¨ We have had a week of people like that. We were a little frustrated.

 

GOOD NEWS!!!!! We met with Robinson and he finally accepted a fecha to be baptized. He and his daughter are getting baptized the 21 of July! We are meeting with them tonight to talk more. It has been awesome to see a complete change in him from not wanting to be baptized again to wanting to get baptized with his daughter.

 

We had a lesson with the single mom that has two kids. the little kid that was sick and crying until I took him... We met with her and taught her about the Restoration. She understood everything and it made complete sense. Her mom came in and was sitting next to the wood stove and then asked us a random question about God. Her parents would always go in the back room when we got there. She had started to listen a little when she randomly asked a question. We then taught her about baptism and she started ragging on her own religion. She started asking us why the catholic church does some of the things they do. She was basically like ¨why am I catholic, just because it´s a ¨tradition¨ in my family.¨ She told us she would be baptized but only if she doesn´t get her face wet. She was a little worried about that. She almost drowned when she was little so she is deathly scared of water. Don´t worry we are working on it! ;)

 

After the mom came in the dad soon followed. We had already finished teaching. So we started talking to him about work. He finally opened up and started really talking to us. He takes the packing crates and makes pictures frames. He uses the same metal things that dad uses for shutters and they are actually pretty cool looking. It reminded me of dad and his shop. I think the next time we teach them they will all listen.

 

We decided to have a dinner for our neighbor who helped me buy the camera. The last hour on Saturday we had a little dinner for her. She is the Girlfriend of our neighbor that is a member. They are getting married at the end of the year so we decided to have a little dinner for her celebrating that, her birthday, and for helping us get really good discounts. It was really cool. She was really surprised when she opened the door to find us all in the house with a dinner made.

 

Saturday morning we helped an older lady that is in our ward. She lives kinda far away and during the storm she had three huge trees fall. We had to use an axe and a saw to cut it up and take it out. It took us three hours to take out the first half. The biggest tree I have ever seen. We really could´ve used dads machines. A chainsaw would have been awesome.

 

We are teaching a family that started out as the dad and a daughter and now it is the dad, the daughter, three other daughters, and two friends. A couple of them are a little snakey and kinda scare me. We went by to teach them yesterday and the friend that isn´t really cute... asked me what I was doing this weekend. I told her I would be teaching and visiting families. She said that there is a car race and she has no one to go with. She asked me if I would go with her.... Never before would I think I´d get asked out on my mission. I told her I couldn´t go and after that she was kinda mad. I´m thinking we are going to have to drop her... she doesn´t seem like she will progress. Luckily she isn´t there very much. My comp busted up laughing after we left and said that he´s never had a comp that has had a snake so bad.

 

This last week we went to a recent converts house and she ended up giving us her old oven that she just took out. We celebrated our awesome find by making German pancakes. We found out that the missionaries before could have walked around the block to get a free oven, and a couple free couches. Our house has been destroyed by other missionaries. The walls are covered in mold and who knows what. I took our multi tool, or broom, and some bleach water to clean the walls. It drives me nuts that none of the other missionaries care for the houses and then we have to deal with it.

 

Well not much has happened this week. I was a bummed to hear Megan lost her baby. Tell her I am praying for her. I can not believe it has been a year since Cristian was baptized that seems like yesterday. Tell him Happy Birthday for me. That´s funny you saw Julie in the store. I have always kinda thought she was cute.  We were eating lunch at a members house and heard about the fire in Utah on the news. We had heard it has burned a ton of acres of land. Tell dad to choose the shop that is the biggest, best, and cheapest... haha Tell Tonto to not be tonto and bleach his hair. I can only imagine what it looks like. Curly hair in a Mohawk bleached blond? what was he thinkin? I wanna see the backyard. Send me a picture of the retaining wall. I wanna see how it turned out.

 

July 8th we will know what happens with cambios. It is a really good chance that my comp goes. We had a stake conf. yesterday and president and his wife showed up. Prez asked my comp how long he had been there and he said 6 months and prez just said pffff.... adios. There is a good chance within the next couple cambios I could be either training or a Sr. Comp. We have 11 people leaving this cambio and 26 leaving the next. The mission is about to become really young.

 

Also tell the primary thanks a lot for the Books of Mormon. The testimonies were awesome. I am looking to give them to someone and translate their testimonies.

 

Well thank you all for everything. Thanks for the support and prayers. I love you all and miss you tons.

 

Con amor,

Elder Torgersen

June 18th

Hello Friends and family!

How is everyone doing this lunes? Well it has been raining almost this whole week. We have only had a couple hours of sunshine throughout the week. It has been pretty much raining all week though. It has been quite funny this week. We´ve been doing a lot of contacts.

This week while doing contacts we decided to mix it up a little and joke around a little. We were trying to say stuff interesting to make people listen or make your companion bust up laughing. We were doing a contact and my comp was talking to a older lady and she said she was catholic. My comp then asked, ¨oh so how long have you been in Apostasy?¨ she replied with, ¨oooohhhh mucho tiempo... since I was a little kid¨ I couldn´t help but laughing. The next contact was even worse.... We contacted a guy that thought he could speak English. He kept trying to tell me the shampoo head and shoulders means head and neck. We told him we could teach him a little English and he said he had talked to elders like us before. Also he told us I know about all the different churches. I´ve talked to the catholic church, the evangelicos, and the testic.... testigos de jehova.¨

He almost said testiculos. My comp and I busted up laughing and couldn´t stop. Totally inappropriate but I couldn´t stop laughing. The whole day was filled with funny things like that.

Tuesday morning we had a surprise conference. We found out Monday night that we had a conference in the morning. It was a really great conference. Tell the ward thanks for the two BOM´s the kids testimonios were awesome. But... I don´t know what to tell them. We get boxes of BOM every 3 weeks. We have a ton. and it cost $18 to send 2 to me. I don't know what to do. I feel like that´s a waste because we get them for free and it cost so much to send them.

We were supposed to go to the doctor on Wed but my comp called the doctor and forgot to tell me that we had to go in between 8-10. I was a little bothered about that. When he wants to do something We have to do it right then. If I have to buy something, go to the doctor, cut my hair, etc... then we have to wait. All of the comps I have had have been like that. I don´t know how to deal with it because it drives me nuts.

Last weekend Benjamin had a meeting with the bishop to receive the priesthood. This last Sunday he received it. He was really excited. We are trying to work on his parents now. He is going to be awesome. He told us he wanted to serve a mission. The ward is really good at inviting new members in a really taking care of them.

We have been teaching the family of 5 with the 3 little girls. Their family is awesome. We watched the Joseph smith movie with them and after I had a feeling to share the book of Mormon with them. The were all saying before that it was hard to believe that god and Jesus Christ appeared to him. We shared the BOM with them and the dad said he was going to start reading it the next couple of days. They told us at the end of the lesson that the story of JS. was a little crazy but we have evidence that it happened. They said they are starting to change their minds.

I got the name of the ropa lady. Her full name is Carmen Yeny Rivas Freire. President said if you send something send it to me through the mission and If I´m still here I can give it to here... If not the other missionaries can. Hermana Yeny likes to cook so the store you work at is perfect. Hermana Humphrey said to buy the silpat for her. I don´t know what you had in mind.

The scarf you bought me was kinda crappy. I´ve tried to wash it but it doesn´t matter the thing scratches my neck. I´ve bought a couple other cheap ones that are great.

The answer to Chris´ question is... that the mission has had a lot of new missionaries come in so they took all the DVD players to see which ones worked, which ones needed to be fixed and which ones needed to be tossed. I haven´t had a chance to even watch one video yet. I think I´m going to keep the Dvd´s in my back pack for when we teach families with little kids. Which leads on to my next question... We have the neighbor that works in store where I got the camera... She told us we could buy a really nice personal DVD player for pretty cheap. The problem is most of the families here Have a TV but don´t have a DVD player or can´t find the remote. I can buy a cable to use with a personal DVD player to use when teaching with videos to use with their TV. I don´t know if that is an option or what?

Well not much else has happened this week. It has been kind of slow and a lot of contacts. Well Love you guys and miss you tons.

Con Amor,

Elder Torgersen

Great Week

Hello friends and family!
Well we have had quite an awesome week this week. We have had a lot of success.

Well this week we had to have an interview for Benjamin. Elder Baucom
came to our sector and My comp ended up going to his. We had an
awesome experience with Benjamin and his mom. His mom and I had to
leave the room while they did the interview. During the interview I
told his mom that this first year is going to be toughest for him as a
member. I told her that he is going to need some support from the
family. She said that it was his decision to be baptized and she and
his dad had a meeting with him saying that whatever he did they would
support him. She then went on to thank me and my comp for teaching
him. She told me before he had not been doing well in school, fighting
with his parents, and being messy. She told me when we started
teaching him, he completely changed. She had noticed a huge change and
was really impressed. She said I don´t know what you guys did or how
you did it but thank you. She said he is better behaved and reads and
prays every night before bed. It was really cool.

After his interview E´ Baucom told me that he had never interviewed a
joven that had been so prepared. He told me that he understood the
doctrine and the actual scriptures behind the restoration. He is
awesome. The bishop met with him on Sunday to receive the priesthood.
He is pretty excited. The only problem... He doesn´t have church pants
or a tie. I´m going to go to Lider or accuenta and buy a couple ties
for $2 and give them to him.

We went over to his house Saturday to fill out his registro and his
parents were asking cualquier pregunta about the church and his
baptism and basically everything. I honestly think we could baptize
the whole family. That has been one of my metas on my mission to
baptize a family. So pray that his family will open up and listen to
us and get baptized. One of the questions his dad asked was ¨whats the
difference between the Catholic church and the Mormons?¨ Benjamin
answered him perfectly saying ¨Dad, the Church of Jesus Christ is the
true church! That´s the difference!¨ I thought that was awesome!

Friday we had the baptism and I got to baptize him! MY SECOND PERSONAL
BAPTISM!! Benjamin was really excited. After the actual baptism he
ended up diving into the water and started to swim to the stairs. It
was quite funny.

Saturday we played baby soccer on the basketball court/baby courts
with the youth in the ward along with a couple inv´s and Benja. I”m
getting pretty good at soccer. Our bishop told me that I´m the best
gringo he´s seen play soccer. I thought he was kidding but he was
serious. Which reminds me... My shoes are falling apart and I need
something better to use in soccer...

We helped out Hermana Yeny our ropa lady. I sent a pic with her
grandson so you guys could see her. She had a little shade thing hung
from the wall to her house that was falling down that I ended up
fixing alone while my comp played soccer with her other grandson. My
comp is a little lazy when it comes to service. Our neighbor is a
little older and her little white fence during our crazy weather fell
over. She asked us to fix it and my comp tried to contact her about
teaching her. She said that she wasn´t going to change her beliefs. He
later told me he wasn´t going to serve anyone that wouldn´t get
baptized. I thought that was a little wierd. Our neighbor glares at
him when we walk by and then she says hola mi amor when I walk by. Or
something like that. It is really funny.

Chile played on Saturday against Venezuela and we have found out it is
worthless to try and contact or teach during that hour. We ended up
going to Benjamin”s to fill out his registro. I ended up learning how to
make Empanadas and Sopaipillas while watching a little bit of the game
with Benjamin and his mom. People are absolutely crazy about soccer
down here. It´s insane. Let´s just hope Chile doesn´t lose. I´m afraid
of what might happen.

Cristobal and his little brother kept saying bad swear words in
English... I finally had a great Idea. I asked them if they wanted to
learn the worst swear word in English. I told them they couldn´t say
it in front of their parents or anyone cuz it was super bad. I told
them in a whispered voice baptize me! They ended up walking around all
day saying baptize me! It was really funny and my comp just about died
laughing.

I needed to buy a couple things this last week because it has been so
cold. I bought three long sleeve shirts and a couple pairs of socks,
and a couple more scarves. (I couldn´t remember the word for bufanda
in English) My English is getting horrible.

I´m working on the letters. I´m horrible at writing them. Tell Colt
thanks for the letter and also Megan. It was nice to hear from them.
Also tell Chris thanks for his letter. It finally came through.

Well not much else this week. Thank you all for the prayers and
support. Tell Traci I will be fasting and praying for her. Tell her I
used her story of how we fasted and prayed for her in my talk about
fasting. Tell her stay positive and pray. Well I love you guys!
Elder Torgersen

June 1st

Hello friends and family!

How is everyone doing? Hope fully mom feels better and dad gets
better. Tell him he needs to stop getting sick. Well, I had written a
letter and tried to add pictures and then my letter disappeared. It´s
not in my Drafts either. SO.. here we go again.

Well not much has happened this week. We did have a pretty cool lesson
with a younger lady with two kids. She has two kids, a ten year old
and a 10 month old baby. The baby had been sick and was screaming and
crying when we got to her house. She looked like she was about to lose
it. Anything she did he would cry. I finally decided to take him. The
second I took him he stopped crying. I distracted him while my comp
taught. My comp was able to teach her and she actually accepted a date
to be baptized. After the lesson she asked me how I did it. I told Her
I didn´t know and she said I have a gift with little kids. I thought
it was pretty cool.

I did receive three letters this week. One from Traci, Grandma
Kratchen, and Valentines day cards from forever ago. (thanks mom).
Thank you all for the letters.

Thursday I got a really bad aching pain in my shoulder like I had had
before but worse. At lunch we talked to brother in the ward and he
ended up checking my arm and shoulder and he said that I have
inflammation and little balls inside the muscles of my shoulder and
along my shoulder blades. He also said that my trap is tighter than he
has ever seen. The wife of the bishop works in massage and muscles and
I had her check it also and she said the same thing. I have been
taking pills but nothing helps. I´ve tried to not sleep on it but It
still aches in the morning. I talked to presidents wife and she set up
a time to go get it checked. I was worried she was going to call you
guys. I knew she would. Did it worry you guys? What else did she have
to say? I absolutely love her she is a hoot. She is totally spoiled.
President is loaded and she told us one day during a conference that
¨President makes the money and she spends it.¨ It is quite funny. She
is totally decked out with jewelry and purses. She is hilarious
though. She basically is the mission mom.

This week we will have the interview with Benjamin to be baptized this
week end. We are pretty excited. He took our phone the other day to
see what day his baptism was. He also put an alarm in his phone to
remind him of everything. for ex... lessons, interviews, baptism...
He is awesome. We had a really cool lesson with him and a joven in our
ward. They are pretty much best friends now. But the kid in the ward
is about 6 feet tall and he is pushing 5.

What´s the latest on JD? How´s he doing? Anyone else?

Tell Grandma Torgersen to feel better and that I love her. You guys
can´t sell their house. We´ve got too many memories their. And if we
were to go down there where would we stay?

Tell Traci and Dan I will be praying for them.

You tell me I need to label my pictures... I do. and you still have
troubles with it. Her name is Antonia. She´s ten years old and the
cousin Of Cristobal. Also I will find out the address and full name of
our ropa lady. She is awesome. We were playing soccer and I ended up
getting a grass stain all up the side of my shorts and garments. I
took them to her and said sorry hermana but I don´t know how your
going to clean this. I feel bad whenever I have something really dirty
or a lot to clean. She told me not to worry. She even cleaned the
extra sheets I had (since I haven´t washed them since I got here.
Finally bought a second set) She is awesome. She makes sure we don't
need anything and always gives us bread or cake when we pick up the
clothes.

We talked to our Bishop this last week for about an hour for ideas for
the ward, contacts, and lessons. He told us all about the funny
situations he had. He told us he was doing contacts in an apartment in
a hall. His comp spread out across the hall, got above the door with a
book of mormon and he contacted the house. The lady answered the door
and he introduced himself and said that he had a sacred book from the
heavens... Just then his comp dropped the book into his hands. He said
the lady busted up laughing and ended up getting baptized. He gave us
some great Ideas for contacts and I´m excited to do some. Speaking of
that. Ask Chris where his letter is...? Dad said he sent it but I
never got it.
Also ask dad if he has any creative ways to do contacts or ways to
teach lessons. Anything he can remember from his mission or maybe
people in the ward. I´m just about sick of contacting door to door.

Well this week we decided to drop some people that weren´t keeping
commitments. I hate doing it but they weren´t progressing. This week
we are going to focus on finding news.

Well not much else happened this week. I love you guys and miss you tons.

Con amor,
Elder Torgersen