May 20, 2013

Hello friends and family!

This week has been one of the best weeks ever. We have completely destroyed Conce. We had had some of the best numbers I have ever had this past week. The week was really good.

I just sent Elder Baucom home. He will be home on Tuesday. I don´t like the feeling of having a comp that is finishing. It was really weird. Luckily he wasn´t trunky at all. He sure did go out with a bang. It was pretty cool. 

This week was crammed full of all kinds of stuff. lets start out....

 Monday I got an email from... Elder Brown. Yes I decided to write him last week and he responded right away. It was way cool because he acted like nothing had happened. We talked about what was going on in the mission and the success we have had. I am really hoping we can all get home and have it be normal again.

We decided this week to go and visit old INV´s. Almost all of them received us and now we have 16 new people to teach. We haven´t had 16 news in a long time. We were really excited about that. We had a total of 10 people in church. We had to go to pres. house to have my comps final interview and he asked us how it went and we said we had 10 in church... He responded with....¨REALLY?¨ It was way cool.

SO not sure if I told you guys but we got a reference from the office of a lady that lives in a really rich part of our sector. We never thought we would baptize any one from there because they are all really stuck up.... So we got a reference from this sector and we went to it. It was a lady named Edith. She had been traveling to another city in Chile out of our mission (south mission) and her cousin (a member) started to share with her. She got the (sister) Missionaries over teaching her. She then came back to our sector and lost contact with the missionaries. The sister missionaries sent in her info to the office and it took them two months to get the info to us. We passed by and taught her and she asked if she could get baptized. We didn´t even have to invite her. So the week passed and she was a little shaky on her date... During the week the sister missionaries taught her a little and we taught her lessons on the weekends. We got the number of the sister missionaries and the cousin and they really helped to get her to get baptized. We were really worried about her baptism date... until..... SHE CALLED us and told us on Thursday that she was getting baptized on Saturday. I have learned multiple things this week just like... There are awesome sister missionaries (just in the other mission). Thanks to these random sister missionaries we had a baptism this week. 

Her husband and her two daughters came to church and were really interested. Pray for them. The family Rozas. 

We had the worst numbers ever this last week. We had very little time in our sector and our numbers were horrible. We thought the zone would be better but it wasn´t. We had a district class and I had the idea to have each elder stand up say why they were there in the mission and a sacrifice that they have had while there. We talked about how we needed to step it up and work harder and how we needed to work to make that sacrifice worth it. We did it and it was a really spiritual experience. The numbers this next week were awesome.

Pres Humphrey came to a lesson with us to try and get a guy to get baptized. He has a baptismal date for this Saturday. His name is Luis. Pray that he gets baptized. 

I found out that my comp coming in is a professional soccer player from Chile. He was my ZL in Chillan and was also comps with Elder Bracken. He is really direct and at sometimes rude. I´m a little nervous for the next two cambios. I think his bluntness is going to rub off on me and i might get home dropping the hammer on all of you for no reason.

Comp was gone so I had to do numbers so I don´t have much time. I love you all and miss you tons. 

Elder Torgersen

May 6, 2013

Hello friends and family!

It was great to talk to you guys on Thursday. I can´t believe I will be talking to you all on Sunday! I can´t believe how fast the time is flying by. I´m excited to hear Ethan is going to Mexico! Should be really good for him. We will both be speaking Spanish. 

Monday we had the consejo and had to say goodbye to old Converts from my comp. It was really weird to know I will be doing that soon. I cannot believe how fast time is going. It is really sad. I feel like the days are passing by like crazy! I feel like I blink and there goes a week. 

This week really started out crappy. We were out of our own sector for about 4 days. We have really been struggling to find people. I think we condemn more people than we are actually saving. It is really sad. But we were having our worst day ever and we then get a call from the office... We receive a reference for a lady that lives in the Beverly Hills of Concepcion. Straight up cuico (rich) people. We didn't think much of it and then the office said she wants to get baptized and wants us to pass by now. We went by her house and she accepted a bap. date and came to church on Sunday. I thought it would never happen but We found ourselves a straight golden INV. It was so cool. She is so excited. We are really excited because she is one of the really rich people. We are excited to baptize her and work with her family and neighbors. We are really hoping this is the way we can get to the hearts of the stuck up neighbors. 

Well yesterday was fast and testimony meeting... I´m always nervous about bringing INV´s to it. It can be really good or really bad. We ended up having 4 people there. Luckily the crazy family with the two little kids weren't there. Every one loved it. 

I swear to you all that we taught the teacher off of Charlie Brown... I hate when stuff like this happens. We contact for awhile and happen to get into a house but the person is really old and doesn´t understand anything. We got into a house and the grandma didn´t look too old but she was missing teeth and talked like the Charlie Brown teacher. We didn´t understand anything. We left her with a pamphlet and asked if we could finish with a prayer... She didn´t understand anymore than we understood her. She kept saying... no after... when my husband gets home. I Feel like the devil puts people like them in our path so we just waste time. We were laughing pretty hard though. 

This week we had our conference and we had a total of 24 people leave this cambio and the next. They all had to give there testimony and the conference went really long. It was a really good conference but it went really long. My comp had to give his testimony. We were all giving him crap because he goes home soon. He then reminded me that the next Conference I would be giving mine. It was really funny. President had an AP in the back with a hymn book and if they went over two minutes he would hold it up. 

While I was waiting for the call on Thursday I was looking at the email you guys have sent me that I had never seen...I had seen pictures of the yard and other stuff. But...I thought I would never say this.. I might look into going to BYU. I guess if there aren´t as many people going it would be a little easier to get into and being an RM would be better... I thought I would never say this but... See what you can do to get me in....

Well I´m excited to talk to you guys this Sunday. I think we are going to do it at 2:00-2:30pm your time. 

Well Had to do numbers again so its short... Love you all miss you tons!

Elder Torgersen

April 29, 2013

Hello Friend and Family!

Today has been really crazy! We woke up at 6:00am to come back up to Chillan to come to Consejo. We met with the Mission President, Assistants, and all the Zone leaders to talk about the mission. Now we are still in Chillan so that my comp can say goodbye to his converts. He has 3 weeks left in the mission and we thought we would take advantage of coming to Chillan to say goodbye. 

This week has been really good for us. Wed and Thursday we worked with new elders in the mission. It was one of the craziest days we have ever had. We had about 4 interviews and luckily they came so we could split up and go to all the interviews. We also had to wake up super early to get them to the stake center on the other side of Conce! 

Monday I almost got deported. We had to do my second visa and my ID card here and they kept sending me back and forth to other places. I got to the right place and told them what had been happening and the lady said I would have had to pay about $60 but she was going to drop it. Luckily now, Elder Torgersen in now legal In CHILE!! WOO

We had problems with every person that was interviewed. Every single one of them had problems. We could have met our goal for the month but they couldn´t get baptized. We than had to sit in front of everyone today and explain why we didn´t meet our goal. Lets just say the whole mission is doing about as well as we were. It was really sad. Pres kind of put on his football coach voice and told us we need to step it up. 

I´m really getting sick of the stuff that happens in our sacrament meeting. We have a family that has two little kids, Felipe (4) Matias(2). They are always running crazy around the sacrament meeting and we can´t do anything about it. We have so many problems in sacrament. The deacons basically crawl over people to give them the sacrament and it is really irreverent. We also had an activity and the only people that came were about 5 new converts and 3 INV´s. It was really sad. We have been getting really frustrated with the members. 

We have been getting a lot of lessons and people have been going to church but they aren´t wanting to accept a baptismal date. It is really ticking us off because in other sectors they get them with a date and don't go to church. We can't ever mix the two together. 

We had a lesson with a lady named Cecilia. She had a member friend from about 30 years ago. We got her to go to church and as we were walking there she started talking about her member friend that served a mission and she lost contact of him. As she was walking out... guess who she found.. yes the member. We have started to have lessons with the two and we told her that he is able to baptize. Her whole idea about church and everything has changed. It was so cool!

We had a small miracle yesterday. The family Ferriera has been really catholic and the only one that has wanted anything was the daughter. We ended up sharing with the whole family and the dad was really excited to share with us. During a lesson he said, I don´t know what it is but about the time that you all came by... our house has been a lot more peaceful and we have completely stopped fighting. They said they fought every day. He said that and the wife and daughter completely agreed. I had been thinking about how we could help them out... Then all of a sudden a members family came to my mind... We had a lesson yesterday with them with the members. It was amazing how well they mashed together. They ended up having the exact same doubts and a lot of the same problems. I was sitting there listening to the situation and the scripture in Alma 34:31-33 came to my mind.

 31 Yea, I would that ye would come forth and ^aharden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the ^bday of your^csalvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and ^dharden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.

 32 For behold, this ^alife is the time for men to ^bprepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of ^cthis life is the day for men to perform their ^dlabors.

 33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many^awitnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not^bprocrastinate the day of your ^crepentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the^dnight of ^edarkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

In the end of the lesson She ended up praying that she would have a change of heart and feel the spirit. It was one of the most spiritual lessons We have had in a long time! It was so cool!

We had consejo and now we have a zone conference on Thursday. Guess who gets to go early to set everything up... Yep you´re right... Elder Torgersen and Elder Baucom. 

Each month the ZL´s meet with the stake pres and he told us some interesting stuff the attendance in conce is about around 300 in the stake... We baptized a total of 100 in 2012. The math came out to only growing 3 people. It is like we have a glass filled with water and we just keep adding more... The more you put in... the same falls out. It is really sad that we can´t seem to maintain these people in church. 

Well not much else happening. Keep praying for me and my comp and especially for the families we are teaching. Love you all and miss you tons!

Elder Torgersen

P.S. Luggage is amazing. Every ones luggage sucks, the wheels keep falling off... Mine are perfectly fine! I rate it a two thumbs up!