"and it's all down hill from here." :(

Hello Friends and Family!

Yeah yeah yeah... Don`t remind me.... I will have a year in the mission on Wed. Scary thought! I don`t like it. Everyone says it`s like a mountain. The first Year goes by really slow and once you hit the year mark, you are already at the climax rolling down. 

SO I am now in a little pueblo that kind of reminds me of New Harmony with a couple supermercados. It`s a little bigger than New Harmony but basically everyone knows everyone. I think it`s kinda cool. Just makes me a little trunky. The ward is really strong for a really small town. I`m kinda excited we should have some success here. We have about 5 people with dates to be baptized.

Well,this week has been a little different. Being in a threesome is really difficult. It requires a lot of patience because now instead of one person you`re dealing with two. Their names are Elder Nolte and Elder Cadena. Nolte is from Utah and has about a year and a half in the mission. But what I found out is he is already 26. He`s basically 7 years older than me. I also found out he was engaged before the mission and decided to serve a mission first. Elder Cadena is from Vera Cruz, Mexico. He is really chill and quiet. It is really kind of weird being in a threesome. Planning is a little different because now there are 3 opinions instead of just two. We are still trying to get used to it. 

We live in a little square house with 3 rooms and a bathroom. It is really kinda small and unorganized but it is at least somewhat new and clean. We are kinda crammed into it though.

The past week I got quite a few letters. The Spam letters where pretty funny. I got letter from both grandparents and a postcard from Destin. Thanks grandma... Only made me a little trunky.... Beach with penguins with skis haha 

We have some great investigators. We have a girl named Mryam. She`s 23 and she`s amazing. She had an interview with our bishop the other day and told him she dumped her boyfriend of 2 years because he didn`t like that she was listening to us. I thought that was awesome. We have an interview for her on Saturday and she gets baptized Sunday. We are pretty excited. 

We have another Investigator that has a fecha for September 8th. She`s 22 and her mom hates that she is listening to us. Her name is Macarena. She has stopped smoking and drinking for 3 weeks now and for some reason her mom doesn`t like it. He mom is a short little round lady that is just angry all the time. We went to visit her and her mom had the window open. She looked out, looked at us, grunted and walked into her room. My comp tried to say Hi to her and she walked passed him to her room. 

We have to go to a smaller town about 30 minutes away every Tuesday, Wed. and Friday. While we were waiting for the bus I was turned talking to my comp. There was a young lady behind us that had been looking at us since we had gotten to the bus stop. She was behind a table selling something. E` Cadena turns to me and says in English that she just took a picture off me. She had her phone out acting like she was texting and had taken a picture of me... It was really kinda creepy. He was laughing pretty hard.

Elder Cadena is really into cooking and he has made some freaking good food for us. This last week he made horchata for us. It was really good.

ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS (even though I swear I have answered these)

Yes, I did get the Silpat. I gave it to Hermana Yeny. She was really happy. I did get the Beef Jerky and seeds. I need some more seeds though :) 

You found my future wife? You should tell her to write me :) How was dinner with them? How is Larry doing? How`s his family doing? You guys take any pictures? How many kids do they have? Easton is going to BYU... You honestly think she will be around when I get back? 

The Cambio has been great. Its gonna take a little time to get used to. I`m hoping the next cambio we have another Comp. There is an odd number in the mission and we are the lucky threesome... I don`t know why I couldn`t have stayed in Los Volcanes and be a threesome But whatever... I`m Happy where I am.

Yes, We are following all the mission rules. The hardest one to follow is the hours. Getting up on time, leaving on time and getting home on time are the hardest. We are definitely trying to work on it. The hardest is getting up on time. It`s freezing cold in the morning and we often don`t want to leave our nice warm beds. 

My new comps... they are definitely a little different. E` Nolte I have to remember is 7 years older and I can tell is kinda sheltered. He has some weird beliefs and is always telling us not to say stuff. The other day I told him an investigator was a little snakey and he yelled at me and said not to say that because people can hear what we were saying. I was speaking in English and we were in an open field in between two houses. He is also kinda a little scared about things. We can`t walk in certain streets cuz he always feels bad about something. We taught a recent Convert and she had a friend over that was sitting behind us. He wouldn`t say anything during the lesson... after we left he said he was scared and had a really bad feeling about the guy. He is kinda exaggerated and dramatic sometimes. 

Elder Cadena Is kinda quiet and keeps to himself. He is really funny. He is a little shy. but he is a great missionary. He is currently learning English so we are trying to help him out. He is really good at cooking and is basically a walking cook book. Need a recipe..: He`s got it. I`m definitely going to put him to the test this cambio.

Yes, I did write the random letter from the Girl from Colorado. She has been writing me. Kinda fun to write someone new. 

Haven´t heard how Robinson is doing. He told us he didn`t want to hear from us unless we were calling just to ask how he was doing. I didn`t have the chance to call him or even see him.

Yes, I did get some letters from you guys. The Spam cards and the rest of the letters from Grandma Kratchen. Did you guys get my letter with all my letters in it? 

This past week I read a talk by Elder Corbridge about The fourth Missionary. I have been really worried about what has been happening at home and about friends. A member could tell I had been a little different. She told me I need to drop everything and leave everything at home to the Lord. She said the only thing I can do here is worry about the work I am doing now and about the people here. I decided I need to forget about the ¨cool¨ or ¨fun¨stuff I could be doing at home. I feel like I have put my strength into it but I need to ¨serve him with all my heart, might, mind and strength¨. 

This Cambio is going to require extreme patience and a lot of communication. I am really trying to work on patience. Elder Arroyo said that I am ¨Chicito pero picoso¨ Basically you guys knew that. I`m small with a big temper. I have definitely had to keep it under control. I have to let things people say just go. Like water on a ducks back. Like dad always says. 

Well Thank you all for the love and support. Thank you all for the prayers. Love you all.

Con Amor,

Elder Torgersen

Cambios :(

Hello friends and Family!

Well this week went great. I have a lot of good news and a a bit of bad
news. Well lets start off with the bad news...

We received calls from the Zone leaders this morning... Bad news...I`m
getting transferred... Good news... Same Zone, just basically a city over.
It`s kind of like ripping off a band aid but really slow. I am in the same
stake as the one I am in now so I will still see a lot of the same people
but I won't be able to see them like right now. I am going to a small pueblo
called Quillon. I am also going to be in a threesome. Not so excited about
that. I am going to be with a gringo and another mexican. Gringo se llama
Elder Nolte, Mexicano se llama Elder Cadena. It is going to be really weird
because I`m in the same zone just a different part. Today I have to go say
bye to everyone and take pictures.

More bad news... Robinson, investigator that was baptized but then didn`t
want anything to do with the church, Got drunk a week ago and decided to
take a drive with the new family car. He ended up getting in a wreck,
totalling the car and getting sent to the hospital. Personally I think it
is a sign. Hopefully he will humble himself and decide to repent. It is
really sad how dumb people can be.

Ok enough with the bad news... On to the good news. We had a heck of a weekthis week. Finished off with THREE BAPTISMS!!! We baptized the guy that was sick and in bed. He is 78 years old. It was a really cool baptism. We
basically drove him to the church, baptized, and confirmed him, and drove
him back to his house. Our mission leader is a friend of his so he ended up
baptizing him. We were going to help him do the baptism but then my comp
said that I was going to. We had to help get him dressed, get him into the
water, help him out and his friend helped change him. While I got changed.
It was really cool.

After this baptism we baptized Eugenio and his Daughter Gabriela. That was
really cool. His wife was crying almost the whole time. She was so Happy.
It was a really spiritual experience. Hermana Katy, his wife, has been
waiting so long for him to be baptized. I`m glad I was able to be part of
it. It was really cool. I`m kind of sad that right as we start to have some
success, I get transferred.

We had our activity on Friday. Lets just say there were more people at the
baptism than the activity. We had one family in whole at the activity. What
really makes me mad is Chileans can`t show up on time if their life
depended on it. You have to tell them to be there by 6 to get them there at
8. It is ridiculous. Trying to work with the wards here is so difficult. No
one is willing to work with the missionaries. It is really sad. They all
want the ward to grow but no one is willing to help. We called everyone in
the ward. 115 People that go to church regularly and a family of 4 was the
only family that came. We had a total of 36 people and about 15 of those
were members... The other part was a couple investigators and hoodlums from
the street that wanted to eat popcorn and watch a movie for free.

Things learned this Week: 

1. Umbrellas only work with rain that is coming down not side ways. It has
rained almost this whole past week.
2. There are only few Sister missionaries that are good. SISTER
MISSIONARIES are worthless. We wasted $15 trying to get to an investigator
that they have that is ¨moving¨ into our sector.
3. Check your Map to double check the street the sister missionaries say is
in you sector. We went to their sector so they could just pass the people
over to us. After 2 hours of wasted time, $15, and having to walk about 2
miles, we find out the people are moving within their sector.
4. Quote from my ZL. ¨Having to pee is like Jehova´s Witnesses, Just wait,
They´ll go away!¨
5.Having to Confirm someone on Sunday during sacrament meeting is a joke. I
wasn`t confirmed like that, Why do Chileans have to do it? It`s like
telling someone, I`m going to give you the power of the Holy ghost, BUT you
have to wait till next week in sacrament meeting to receive it.

I found out that Our bishop, his brother, Elder Orellana is serving his
mission in Riverside California. Is that anywhere near any family?

Well I went ahead and bought myself a little early birthday present. I
bought basically a briefcase that is handmade %100 leather. I got an
amazing price on it because the owner of the shop in the mercado is a
member and she hooked us all up.

I decided to take advantage of the time we had to walk back into our sector
and take some pictures. I decided to send a couple of them to you guys. I
got some great sunset pictures. It is taking awhile to upload the photos so
I`ll try and send more in another email.

Well Not much else has happened. Today I will spend time packing and
visiting converts and members. Love you guys and miss you tons.

-ELDER TORGERSEN

Short letter

Hello Everyone!

 

The Cyber that I`m using is having trouble with internet. The computers and internet here is horrible. So sorry if this is short.

 

Well, this week has been a little less frustrating in certain points. More frustrating in others. This week has been full of emotions good and bad.

 

Well, My comp waited till basically yesterday to tell me his older brother works at Los hermanos. His name Is Juan Arroyo. I guess he is the manager there. You guys will have to go visit him and don`t worry he speaks English. He served his mission in Nashville.

 

This week started off bad and finished off great. Contacts were horrible the first of the week. People were coming up with excuses before we even introduced ourselves.

 

This week we don`t know what happened but we were just dead tired.W e got into a lesson and the both of us were falling asleep. Both of our heads were bobbing and we were struggling to stay awake. I had tried to write in my planner and was so tired that I couldn`t even write. The other day we managed to sleep through two alarms.... We woke up at 8:00 instead of 7:00, jumped out of bed and had to shower really quick.

 

We found a lot of new people this week though. We found a family that are family members of a family in the next sector. The wife saw a huge change in her dad and is really interested in the church. The only problem is we have to get them married. They are really good though.

 

Yesterday was awesome. We ended up having three in church. EUGENIO IS HOME!! We are baptizing him and his daughter this next Sunday. They are really excited. We also did a contact about two weeks ago and this 20 year old kid told us he didn`t know that he could enter into the church. We told him he could. He told us he couldn`t go this week but was going to go the next week. We are sitting in church and randomly this kid comes walking in. It was really cool. During the week he studies in Conce and weekends comes to Chillan. He stayed for the whole 3 hours and wants us to come by on Saturday. His name is Gerardo. Pray that he will continue to come to church and will have a real desire to go to church. We also had 3 of our recent converts that were starting to become a little less active come. And also 2 of the less active families we had taught that week.

 

The computer isn`t allowing me to put pictures so I will email them next week.

 

I was literally on the edge of breaking down this week. I have had a lot of crap happen that has been really frustrating and discouraging. I`m a little embarased to admit but I literally started crying when I heard all the good news this week. Ethan with football and Baileigh with tennis.

 

My address is Chillàn, Chile. Los Volcanes the street is called Pasaje Tacura #1571 hopefully you can find it.

 

Well, It is going to be really short this week. My comp is already done and is bugging me to go. Love you all and miss you all

 

Elder Torgersen

August 6, 2012

Hello Friends and Family!

Well, this week has been just about as bad as the last 2 weeks. We had a little more lessons and found some people but they weren´t any good. We are still really struggling to find good people. People are just lazy! They don´t want to do anything and they are always ¨BUSY¨ As you can tell I´m getting really frustrated with the work. I have been trying to stay excited and positive but we aren´t finding any success. 

We did find out that an older guy that is sick and in bed wants to get baptized. He looks like he is on the edge of his life. I feel horrible for him. But we might have a really cool experience baptizing him. We still have to work out a couple things. But we would have 5 people in the font and he would be laying down above the water. I´m really hoping we can do it. It would be a really special experience.

Well, this last week at District class I got 2 letters from Grandma Kratchen, Zach Hulsey, Kate, and a really random letter. I got a letter from a girl supposedly from Colorado that decided to write a random missionary...? Not quite sure about that one. I haven´t gotten any postcards so... I don´t know what your talking about. I will hopefully get more mail this Wed. We have interviews with President and classes with the Assistontos. The one assistant is going home this cambio so I´m kinda happy about that. I don´t really like him. 

This week we decided we were going to fix all the crap in the house that stupid elders before had broken. I replaced a window, (kinda glad I broke the window to the back door, Thanks DAD, I was able to fix our window from that experience.) We fixed the sink and we bought a bigger mirror. 

If you could tell, I need new socks. The socks down here are kinda lame. If you could send me those it would be great. We went by a market that they have only on Saturdays and I bought two new pairs of pants for $3. An hermana in the ward is going to fix them a little so they fit me better. Also, I don´t know what you sent in the last couple packages, but I heard if you are planning on sending Beef jerky or licorice don´t write beef Jerky or licorice on the list of items on the package. Write just candy or something. I guess an elders grandma did that and he had to go to Santiago because the police had taken it and it was gonna cost him $200 to take out. But if you could also send me some cracked pepper and original Spitz... It would be wonderful!! 

 

Also, I don´t know if we can buy buttermilk down here... is there something I can use in place of buttermilk? Also can you send me some easy recipes for chocolate chip cookies and brownies and stuff like that. We need something for Family nights.

Also, why are we asking when I get home!!? STOP! I still have a year. I´m not coming home early to start school so you might as well wait till January. I don´t want to have to come home a cambio early to go right into school. I don´t even know what day I will get home. 

If you could send me more of the Scripture marking pages it would be great. I think I´m going to use those.

Well this letter is going to be horrible because nothing happened this week. 

Things learned this week (just for you Traci):

 

1. If you slip on something on concrete, it´s better to not look down to see what it was. (most like dog crap) 

2. I will not be having kids in two years. The bishop and his wife along with 2 other young couples in the ward keep telling me I will get home and have a baby. (you guys know how much I love babies) They all have little babies about 7-9 months old and they all love me.

3. Soy Chuncho.

 

Yes, Universidad De CHILE.

4. When your comp tells you you can´t do something, look it up in the rule book. Sometimes Comps make up rules. Don´t let them do it.

5. It doesn´t matter if we baptize Adults or Kids. They both need to be baptized so Don´t complain about baptizing a kid. I´m getting fed up with elders saying not to baptize kids.

Well I love you all and miss you tons! Pray for us this week that we have some success.

Con amor,

Elder Torgersen

P.S. with the back pack, try finding a Dakine that has a lifetime warranty. Our bishop looked up dakine last monday at his house and there are two small ones for about $30. They are called Wonder 15L and Grom 13L. If you could get those in a black or a Spectrum it would be great. Make sure I would be able to put two scriptures in them. 

12 months already...? No!!!!!

Hello Friends and family! 

 

How is everyone doing? Well this week was even worst then the last. I ended up getting sick again. It's getting freezing cold down here, and we still have no investigators. This last week we met with our bishop and he has come up with a plan for us. We are going to have activities 2-3 times a month. So I`m needing ideas... if you have any tell me! We are going to have these activities and have the members invite friends. We aren`t going to contact the friends or references until they come to a couple activities. Missionaries always make that mistake the have one activity and they jump all over the people and they get scared not wanting anything with the church. So after the 2nd or 3rd activity we are going to ask if we can pass by their house with the member friend or have the lessons in the members house. We have been visiting all the members and menos activos to share the plan with them. We will see how it goes. We are still in the process of organizing it. The bishops mom had a great idea. She is going to take a bunch of Liahona`s to the doctors, hospitals, and dentist offices with pass a long cards stapled to the front. We are in the process of finding Liahona`s. I really liked her idea.

 

Well we have basically decided to stop answering the phone calls from the hermanas that are in the other zone but the sector next to  us. Every time they call it is a crappy reference without a phone number or house number and a lot of the times without a street. We did although contact a reference we got from some missionaries in our district. The girl ended up living right in front of our church. We will teach her again this next tuesday. Her name is Camila and she is 20 years old. Pray that she and her friends and family will listen to us and change. We need investigators bad... and this family would be perfect, since they live right in front of the church.

 

Well, I went to the conference this last week and found out that everyone except me and an hermana had mail. For some reason my mail was left in the office. So I should know this Tuesday if I got anything.

 

Well my trainer was right when you hit the year mark your parents first have to remind you, then they go on to tell you about what they are planning the next year when you get home. Tell dad he needs to get a lot of gift cards to this mall he is building so I can buy some clothes when I get home. Tell Uncle Nick I`m so down for Vegas again. That was a blast. It would be nice to get all the cousins together after I get home. Tell dad we need to fix the boat and buy grandpa`s. (I`m not trunky don`t worry.)

 

This week I have had some really great personal studies. We finally got the conference Liahona and we have all been re-reading all the conference talks. I am working on a letter for cousins and Ethan. It should be good.

 

This week I have really been humbled. I have really realized how easy it is in the states. We have a member that the husband is really sick and is in bed all day. She doesn`t have much money and it is expensive for good doctors and hospitals. Their house is basically cement walls, concrete dumped on the ground with pieces of ceramic in it as flooring. The house is usually cold and is covered in mold. I was complaining about how crappy our house was and then we entered her house. She almost completely deaf, blind in one eye, and has a really hard time walking. I am really surprised at how happy and positive people are. It made me realize the Crack house isn`t much but we have A/C,heating, hot water that you don`t have to turn on a gas heater everytime you wanna use it, and it`s at least clean. It almost makes me cry how some of the people are living down here. The sicknesses they have and the houses they live in are so humble.

 

I found out this week that Hermana Yeny (clothes lady) is having a hard time with her son in the mission, money and her house. The bishop told us that she is one of the people that he is having to help with fast offerings. I feel really bad for her. I think my comp and I are going to sneak over to her house while she is gone and do some service she has wanted done but hasn`t had time or money.

 

This last week while we were doing contacts the Carabineros or the cops stopped us... We were doing contacts and I was getting ready to contact the house. Next thing we know the pacos pull up behind us, a girl gets out and says buenas tardes, next thing the guy gets out with his hand on his pistol. We turn around and she takes one look at the name tag, says sorry and gets back in the car. My comp and I were laughing pretty hard because the cops here don`t do anything but they randomly stop us...?

 

If you guys can find me a list offline or something or topics in the book of mormon it would be great. I need like a quick reference for my scriptures. I still dont feel like my scriptures in Spanish are mine. I`ve been so used to my English ones its hard to use the Spanish.

 

Also I don`t know if you guys can find me a smaller backpack that I can use just for scriptures. I need something a little smaller. Everything here is either expensive or crappy. If you could find me something like a camelback, Dakine or something smaller to put scriptures in it would be great. I think that is part of the problem of my shoulder pain. I need something skinny, and small.

 

We are still waiting for Eugenio to get home from his work. He should get back next week. He has been reading the BOM everyday and read the pamphlets we gave him the first couple of days. We are really excited for him and his daughter to get baptized. Pray everything goes well there.

 

Well Thank you all for the support. I`m still working on letters. Love you guys and miss you tons.

 

Con amor,

Elder Torgersen

July 23, 2012

Hello Friends and family!

How is everyone doing? This week has been a little disappointing. I feel like we have been working harder than I ever have worked in my mission and am able to speak the language but I don`t feel like we are seeing any success.

This past week Eugenio, the husband of the president of the Relief society, had to leave town to work. They have really weird work schedules. Sometimes people have turns and have to work during the middle of the night until morning or sometimes people have to leave really far from where they live and work for 20 days and come home for 5 and then leave again. I`m not quite sure what he is doing but He is having to do something like that for the next two weeks. He told us he didn`t want to get baptized and then start off not going to church for two weeks. So when he gets back we will baptize him and his daughter. We are waiting to tell him and his wife that the bishop is going to give him the priesthood so that he can baptize his daughter. We are pretty excited.

This week we have been really working with the youth in the ward. We have a total of 6 ward missionaries that basically don`t do anything. This last Saturday we had a meeting and basically told them what they needed to be doing to help the ward. We have started doing divisions with them to find new people. Last night I went with a priest in the ward and we did 3 contacts and got into a house on the fourth one. We ended up finding a single guy named Juan Pablo. When we work with the youth in the ward it forces me to almost be the Sr. Comp. It has really been helping me with my teaching. We were able to teach the Restoration in about 15 min. We taught a really simple lesson and he said he would read and Pray about it. We will see how it goes. He seemed pretty good.

These last 2 weeks we have done over 300 contacts and only 15 people have let us in. It is really sad. I really feel like we are working hard but I don`t feel like we are seeing any blessings... I don`t get it. The last cambio with a comp that was a little disobedient we had more investigators and now we are really trying to work hard and find people and We aren`t having any success. It has been a really frustrating week this week. We have done basically all we can but we aren`t seeing any blessings.

I think this letter this week is going to be a little short I forgot my notebook that I write what happens each week. So I`m having trouble trying to remember things that happened this week.

I still haven't taken a picture of me and my comp. I will get one this week. He is huge compared to me. It is quite funny. He`s still working my butt off.

Tell Amanda to send me pictures, and ask Wesley if she ever got my letter I sent almost 10 months ago from the MTC. I`m working on some more letters for people and will send them this week.

We had Conference this week and we had the chance to learn from Pres, his wife and the Assistants. I am finding it really hard to listen to anything the Assistants say because one of them was the idiot that was blaming me for stuff when he had no idea what was going on With elder Andrade. The conference was great. President ended up changing our schedule a little bit. We are now planning weekly, two times a week. We are now planning on Sunday nights for two hours. I think it will really help us getting people to church.

Well not much else has happened this week. Love you guys and miss you tons!