I'm going crazy!!

Hello friends and Family!

Well another crazy week as ZL! We have not had any time this week at all. This might be a short letter. We have lunch in 15 minutes with the Assistants. We have had a ton of meetings and trainings.

This week we started off the week going to the office after writing you guys. As we get into the office we found president and his wife. They were happy to see us. MP asked how I was doing as the new ZL. I told him I was still trying to get my head around everything. I talked to him for a good 10 minutes before they had a meeting. We got to talk about a couple things and I learned quite a bit. 

On Tuesday we got mobbed and attacked by a group of little kids. I swear there isn´t discipline here. I hate undisciplined Chilean kids. They run around doing whatever they want. We were walking through an apt. building that the government is paying for and its a lot of really rough families. We ended up getting attacked by a bunch of little kids with plastic clubs. It was a difficult experience because we couldn´t really do anything. Then a little old lady walked by and dropped the hammer on them and was threatening to smack them. It was hilarious. Things that cause so much frustration in the moment but are going to be awesome memories after. haha

We had interviews on Wed and it was really good. President talked to us about the Zone. He told us that this is the hardest Zone in the mission. It requires a lot to run it. He said he knew we could help build and straighten the Zone. We are in the City of Conce like right in the Center. It is the 2nd largest city in Chile. He told us that it has always been a difficult zone to work in. 

This week we had a mini cambio with the Assistants. They planned on getting here at about 5 and didn´t show up until about 8. They got here and we each split up with an AP. We then ended up getting a call from another sector needing an interview. We ended up having to have a mini cambio in a mini cambio. We had to drive over to their sector and there we split up with the elders there. The Ap ended up doing the interview and I left with an elder that´s name is elder Newby. Yes He is a newby. He will forever be the newby. He was way cool though. He just got here in the mission. So yes he´s a newby in two ways haha. We ended up finding a new family and taught about two lessons in a couple lessons. We didn´t end up getting home to my sector until almost 11. It is so crazy being a ZL. So after we got home we got a call from MP. He then tells us we have an emergency cambio and that we have to call an elder at 11:30 to tell him he´s leaving at 9 the next morning. Anything that could have happened... did!

The next day we ended up having to go to a DL meeting at 9:00 on Saturday morning. I have no idea why we had to be there but they trained a lot of the DL´s. 

We have been a little frustrated. We have a bunch of INV´s that are going to church but just don´t want to take the next step and get baptized. If you guys could pray for Luis Cumplido and Cecilia and Valentina. We are really struggling with them. 

So I think my comp has completely cursed me. He is known for forgetting stuff and being kind of clumsy. We all swear its contagious. The other day it was a little colder and we had just gotten home from a meeting, i think it was interviews. I changed from a suit to normal pants and threw on a sweater. We get to our first house and I go to pull out my planner out of my front pocket. I look down and I don´t have a tie... hahah I look at my comp and ask, Am I missing something? He says, Your name tag? I pull the sweater down a little and he busts up laughing. I had totally forgotten my tie. I cannot remember when I took it off. It was one of the funniest moments in my mission. 

We just got back from a really nice restaurant here in Conce. All of the ZL´s and the AP´s met here and we all pitched in $4.00 and we could buy whatever we wanted. Of course I bought Ribs and Fries! It was so good. I haven´t eaten at a restaurant in so long! It was really cool that we all met together to eat lunch. It was a blast. We were all laughing about stuff my comp had done. Two other ZL´s had been comps with my comp. 

Tell dad sorry for not replying to anything. I seriously don´t have time to do anything during Internet. The numbers is a pain in the butt. Good thing is... We swap off every week. So next week I should have more time. It´s cool to hear about the miracles he´s having in the Elders quorum. 

We are really excited for this week. We have a mini mission with a bunch of kids from the area. They are all traveling to different cities to take part of a mini mission. Each of us is getting a mini missionary. We will have a total of 8 Missionaries in our sector this week. We are excited to increase our numbers and find a bunch of new people. They get here on Thursday and we will work with them till Sunday. They will be with us all day and at night they will be staying with members, since they can´t stay with us. 

Well I´m excited to hear about Ethan and his mission call... Tell him to freaking hurry up!! Well I love you all and miss you tons.

Elder Torgersen

P.S. I´m closer to the office and can get mail quicker so write me :) Packages will also get here quicker hahha

Conce

Hello friends and Family!

Well this week has been full of miracles. It has been a pretty good week! 

Where to start... the guy that I interviewed this last week went in to the hospital for an exam. He went in and did the exam and the doctors were amazed. They found that not a single bit of cancer was in his body! I had told him in the interview that if he got baptized the exam would go better. Elder Anderson (my comp from the MTC) called Monday night to tell us that Juan Pablo was extremely happy and was basically in tears when he talked to the elders. When Elder Anderson called I put the phone on speaker phone... he then told us the news. We all froze, completely silent. We all shouted and screamed! It was so Cool!!

Monday at night we contacted to guys in the street. While we were contacting them we found out they were 1. Gay 2. drug addicts 3. atheists. They claimed they knew about our church but anything they were saying was the opposite of how it was. It ticked me off and I wanted to punch the kid. He ended up crumpling up the paper we gave him and threw it on the ground. We ended up just walking away.

We had been rejected a lot this week and was feeling a little down about it. I have been reading Jesus the Christ and it really hit me... Christ was rejected more than anyone else. I have really enjoyed reading Jesus the Christ. I have learned a lot about the life of Christ. I really realized as long as I am doing my job 100% that´s all I can do... no matter how many people reject me I can´t get down.

We have a family here in our ward that just got back from SLC and California. The daughter is 17 and the son is 13. They both speak English fluently and fly to Utah all the time. It was really weird to hear that they traveled basically to our house. They brought us back a bunch of stuff like beef jerky and a couple other gringo treats including a box of Peanut butter toast Crunch. It was amazing.

To go along with the gay, drug addicts and atheists we met a drunk/drug addict. He asked us for money and my comp asked him what he wanted. He told us bread so we told him we could go buy it for him. He walked with us until we got to the store and we asked the guy in the store if he had bread. Then the guy tells us no no no... I don´t want bread. He yelled at us and said a couple swear words and walked off... It was really funny.

I have been really getting frustrated with lazy people. I swear we just happen to find all the lazy people that say they want to change or do something... and then don´t. I´m so sick of hearing people say they will do something and then have them not come through with it. 

Well this week we had the pin in our shower that changes the water flow from the shower head to the spout. It was coming out the spout and we needed the shower head. It wasn´t a little thing you could take out and buy a new one. We ended up having to buy a whole new shower spout. Guess who was the only one who knew how to change it... yep. I fixed the shower this last week. The house we are living in is one of the best in the mission but was completely destroyed. We ended up cleaning it today and now it looks really good. Hermana Humphrey made everyone in the mission take pictures of the houses as were, Clean it, and then take pictures again. 

Well we have really been struggling with our INV´s. We have been teaching a pregnant lady and she has been a roller coaster of emotion. She either loves us or hates us. We are also teaching a 72 year old guy that has cancer and is wanting to wait until after his exams before he gets baptized. We are so frustrated because they want to get baptized but just won´t do it!

I got an email from a guy named Scott Troxel. You guys really need to send me a ward list with pictures so I know who it is that is sending me letters. Sounds like we have gotten a lot of new people in the ward. I can´t even remember many names. Speaking of members How is Sister Olsen Doing?

Well not much else is happening. I was wondering if there was a vitamin of something that will give me more energy! I´m falling asleep basically walking!

Love you all and miss you tons!

Elder Torgersen

UHHHHH

HELLOOOOOOO FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

How is everyone doing? Well this week has been amazing! My time for Internet is slowing getting lesser and lesser. I am now in charge of sending in all of our zones numbers and it takes about an hour to do it all. So if my letters are getting shorter and shorter... that's why.

This week has been really funny. Lots of funny stuff happening.   I found a table that was in a storage room in the house and We were sharing a small round plastic table... I wondered why it wasn´t in our room. I took it out and tried to get it through the two doors to go into our study room... DIDN´T FIT. We tried everything... Stumped... we thought of other solutions... an elder from the other study room yells hey... pass it through the windows. We opened the front door of our 5th floor apartment and passed it from the door to a window to another window, through the window and set it in place. It worked!! I now have my own study table!!

This week started off really well. We started of Monday with 3 lessons and 3 news. We started the week off really well. By Thursday we had 7 news and a ton of lessons. Concepcion has been a whole lot harder finding news and teaching lessons. A lot of the people are stuck up and often rich. I was really ticked off at one of the elders in Chillan. He told me good luck baptizing people... Elder Wade already baptized everyone there. It really ticked me off. Elder Wade is the Assistant for the mission and is one of the only ones that isn´t a suck up. We have had a lot of success these last couple of weeks.

I have never laughed so hard as I did in church on Sunday. Our ward is full of little kids. There are a ton of kids from 0-3. I watched three little 2 year olds run laps around the chapel. I thought our INV´s were going to be mad. They ended up loving it. I watched a 2 year old kid body check another kid into one of the side doors in the chapel. I have never laughed so hard. It is really irreverent and we need to do something about it but it is so funny.

We have been really frustrated with the members here in our WARD. Yes mom it is a ward. The members keep telling our INV´s to wait and make sure they know 100%. They keep saying stupid stuff like I waited 4 years to get baptized. It´s driving us nuts!!! It´s not that we can just say, Hermana SHUT UP!!! We have to find a nice way to say to not say that kind of stuff. We currently have two investigators that are ¨waiting¨ to get baptized now. It is ticking us off.

We as ZL´s now have lots of benefits. I now have my personal cell phone. Each 1st Monday of every month we have a counsel of all the ZL`s in the mission and we think of stuff that could better the mission and then we all vote on it. Someone suggested that we each have our own cell phone... Hence I have my own cell phone. Now getting numbers and info from elders in our zone is a whole lot easier.

So I found out there were hermanas here in our sector until they got assaulted. We have a sector that is really sketchy and has lots of prostitution and drugs. It is really weird because we have members that live in this sector and are the complete opposite of everyone that lives there.

I had a really spiritual experience this last Wed. One of our DL`s had an interview. Guess who had the chance to do it... yes me! I had the opportunity to go and interview a really special case. The guy I had interviewed... has cancer. He has gone through chemotherapy and they have gotten the cancer narrowed down to his chest. He has a tumor right next to his heart and is having a surgery this next week and was really nervous about it. He really wanted to wait and see what was going to happen with the operation so he could have a clear mind. We knew he was going to be better off being baptized first and then the operation. My job was to go and help him decide to get baptized ASAP! I went and we watched the Video of John Tanner. The video is about the guy that has an infected leg and has to have it amputated. He meets the missionaries and they baptize him and bless him and his leg gets better. He loved the movie but was still a little hesitant. I interviewed him and have never felt the spirit so strong. He was amazing. He had lost all of his hair and was really skinny and white. During the interview he passed everything. I told him he passed but that I wanted to invite him to pray to know if he should get baptized this weekend. He told me he already knew he had to do it. I asked him what would impede him from doing it and he said he hadn´t bought any of the white clothes. I told him he didn´t need to worry about anything besides inviting the people he wanted there. He wanted certain people to be there and the only day he could do it was the next day. Yes it was a Thursday... but everything went well. The prayer at the end was what just about killed me. It was amazing. He had prayed and given thanks for meeting the missionaries in the precise time that he did and for being humbled to listen to our message. I couldn`t fight back the tears during his prayer. It was one of the most amazing prayers I have ever heard. We ended up going to his baptism and it was like he had completely changed. He seemed so happy. He had a huge smile on his face.

Answers to questions

16 elders in my Zone including office elders and A`s to MP

No we don´t speak at Conferences

Feeling 100% better!

Working at the MTC? no idea why? I have thought about it a little...

Well not much else happening... GOTTA GO!!! love you all.

Elder Torgersen

 

Conce!!!

Hello friends and family!

 I just finished my first week in Conce! I´m absolutely loving it. It is a huge change from the little town I was in. It has been awesome! The City of Conce is huge! I have been absolutely loving it.

My new comps name is Elder Baucom. He is from SLC, Utah. He is a couple years older than me. He has two cambios left. He gets home in May. He is one of the hardest working missionaries I have met. We have really been working our butts off this week. We are excited to help each sector in the zone to baptize. We are really excited to have some success. 

 I am now in a place called Laguna Redonda, Concepcion. It is a huge sector and I am now living in an apartment with 3 other elders. It is really fun living with 3 others. I was really getting sick of just living with one other. We were with each other 24/7 and we couldn´t talk to anyone else in the house. I like living with 3 others because you get to know more people and its a little less stressful. 

Mmy comp is freaking awesome. He is really funny. He does stuff just about every day that I just bust up laughing. The other day we were walking out the door and he swung around and hit his head on a wall... I just about died laughing. We were doing contacts in an apt. building and the floors were really slippery. He ended up falling. (luckily it was only 3 stairs) I have never seen someone jump up so quick. He fell down and jumped back up and then asked if I was alright... He then said I needed to be more careful. It was so funny. He is constantly doing something funny. 

This week we had a ton of meetings and stuff to do. We ended up being really busy but were 100% obedient. We ended up finding 3 new families and taught a ton of lessons. We were pretty stoked about it. We had a family tell us, ¨it would be better if you guys could come back, but the next time.... with all the family!¨ It has been amazing the blessings we have been receiving. 

We had a Stake conference this weekend and Elder Corbrige, Elder Anderson and the Prophet talked to all of CHILE. I am still confused at why... They didn´t really say anything about the changes in missions or about the temple. It just seemed really random. 

I have given more blessings this week than I have in all of my mission. It has been a really crazy week with people sick.... Including me... I don´t get it but every time I get to a new sector I get sick. I have had a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and body aches. I couldn´t even get out of bed this morning.

Well good news... I will now be able to get mail a whole lot quicker. We live 15 minutes from the office and can personally walk in and get my mail. I got a bunch of valentines day cards today, along with a letter from grandma Kratchen, Camile Sanchez, and The primary. 

I am absolutely loving Conce. I had always wanted to be here. It was awesome. We didn´t have lunch the other day and called in pizza. I haven´t eaten pizza in more than a year. It was really cool. I feel like we are babied here in Conce. The house is really nice but the missionaries didn´t clean it. We have a member that brings us lunch every Thursday and her lunches are huge. It is really nice being able to walk into the office and get supplies and mail.

We had my first consejo on Wed. We meet as a mission with all of the ZL and asistontos and talk about goal and stuff we came better in the mission. We ended driving back to Chillan with Pres and his wife. They are really funny. His wife talked about all the missionaries that were getting married and about trips they have taken and president talked about the pope resigning. It was a funny 2 hr drive with president. Tell dad I wasn't called here to have pres keep an eye on me. Also I don´t have any regrets. I worked my butt off. 

I did find out that president really loved talking about me in the consejos with the leaders. Elder Baucom told me he had always talked about me. He said I was one of the Jr comps that really didn´t have the chance to show what I could do and then He moved me up to Sr comp and later kicked himself for not moving me up earlier. I Feel like I moved up really quickly. I don´t feel mature, old and serious enough to be a ZL. I´m having thoughts of inadequacy.

I´m really excited to help out the other missionaries and to lead by example. I have already learned a ton this week. 

Well not much else happening. I love you all and miss you tons!

Elder Torgersen