Hello Friends and Family!

This week was also another slow week. We are still trying to get used to everything. I still feel really weird training. I have no idea what our MP was thinking. It has been a couple frustrating two weeks.

Sorry it´s gonna be short again this week. We really haven´t had much happening.

Well to invite my new comp into the house... our water heater broke. We have now been showering with cold water, and a sponge. Our front gate also broke and we now have to open it from the inside. Luckily today the owners have been getting it fixed.

I had to go into a little town called San Carlos. My comp and a newby from San Carlos had to go to Conce for a newby conference. I ended up going to work with a couple elders in my District. I got to meet a bunch of their investigators. They are actually doing really well.

Yes I did let my BP cut my hair. I figured it was worthless to pay someone to do a crappy job and not pay someone and do a better job than paying for one. He ended up taking a number 2 to my whole head. I really kind of liked it. Something new.

I have really been struggling this week because of the whole training thing. It is really difficult because at times he thinks he knows everything. I have been open to his ideas so I have been trying to let him work how he wants and find out what works and what doesn´t. It has still been really difficult.

The two days I was in San Carlos was a little crazy. It has been blazing hot and with 4 crazy elders in one house... not good. 4 Elders in one house... each companionship had lunch in another part of town. We ended up getting back to the house late. We walk in the front gate, and all of a sudden... water hits me in the face and all up my tie. I look up to see an elder from Uruguay standing on the balcony with a squirt gun. It turned into a little water fight during lunch. Probably not something a bunch of elders should be doing but it was blazing hot and it kind of took off a little stress. We also short sheeted a couple of their beds and took apart a clogged and broken toilet (I didn´t help I laughed and watched.)

I found out while I was there I had to watch my back pack. I guess the last week they put a couple plates, liter of milk, and a bag of sugar in one of the other elders back packs. He had No idea until he got into a house and opened his bag. It was hilarious. They are a little crazy...

My companion Is Elder Rivas, six in his family, sister is serving in Osorno. Left at the exact time as him, All are members, still don´t have a picture. We haven´t really thought about that haha

It´s really cool to see all the mission calls. A lot of them are going stateside. Tell Ethan to stay excited.

Our investigators finally got back from Santiago. We are thinking we are going to have 3 more baptisms. I had a dream Last night they got baptized. We are really hoping they come to church this sunday. We have a FHE with them tonight and we are hoping to get them to come to church this sunday.

Love you all and miss you tons. I need some ideas for an activity that is simple and fun and something that is going to get members and inv´s there. We are getting sick of having Act´s and then no one shows up.

Well not much else this week love you all miss you tons!

Elder Torgersen

Training 1st Week

Hello friends and Family!

Well this week has been really slow and not too productive. Tuesday I took a bus into Conce to pick up my new companion. We all figured we would be training gringos. There were only 3 gringos training and we were pretty sure we would be training gringos. I was surprised to find out I would be training....

A Latino from Nicaragua. He is 18 years old and has a sister that is serving in Osorno. They left the MTC at the same time, started the same day. He does know a lot of English though so it has been pretty funny talking to him in English in the house. I have made sure we are being completely obedient. I´m not sure I like training though. haha its a whole different story. It is really a lot harder. It has been really funny though. He has been asking me if he can do stuff like eat, shower, and other stuff. I told him he doesn´t need to ask me, walk in the kitchen and get something. I has been really funny.

Well, I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by. I cannot believe I will be going home in August. It is really sad to think. I will probably only have one more sector. It has flown by. I have felt really weird this week... after seeing Elder Bracken leave and seeing how crazy that was... and then to see my kid just recently get here it reminds me of starting my mission and thinking it was never going to end and thinking how hard the language was. I´m just now feeling comfortable and good in the language and other stuff and before I know it I will be home. I had a really good talk with our BP. He just got home and is now the BP. He said it is a weird deal. You leave the MTC with obedience and diligence pounded into your head and you get here in the mission worried about yourself and making sure YOU are being obedient and studying for yourself and then you later move on to worrying about the families you are teaching and really studying to help them. I feel like I have really started to do that and I´ll be coming home soon.

I needed a hair cut this week and didn´t want to spend any money. Our BP Antonio has hair clippers and offered to cut my hair. I figured I would try it and try a new hair style. We were going to start out with a number 3 and ended up cutting with a number two. My hair is as short as I have ever had it. I really like it though...

I´m really excited to get home and see how everyone has changed. Sounds like Morgan is now a handful.

I was really devastated to hear that Sydney Bruning commit suicide. She always seemed so happy and cheerful. Her and her family and friends will be in my thoughts and prayers this week.

I have recently increased the Size of my district. We are now 6. AND we are ALL from different countries. It is really Cool.

We are USA= me,

Nicaragua= my comp Elder Rivas,

El Salvador=Elder Lopez,

Peru=Elder Vilchez,

Uruguay=Elder Bueno, and

Ecuador=Elder Lagla.

MINORITY!!!! First time I have ever been the only Gringo. It has been really funny because all of the missionaries are really cool. We are excited about this cambio. Only problem... cambio of 3 weeks. I have just lost the three weeks of my mission. Really sad.

Well I had my interviews this week and the people passed. It was kind of really awkward. We didn´t have chairs and had to sit on two beds that were next to each other. The room was blazing hot and we were dying by the time we got out. But I have gotten used to doing interviews and am starting to get a hold of the whole DL thing.

Well Not much else happening this week. Love you all and miss you tons!

Your Completely obedient missionary,

Elder Torgersen

Hello friends and family!

Well I´m extremely excited this week. We got the call this morning saying i´m staying in Coihueco and will be receiving a brand new greeny! Yes I will be training a newby! Which means hopefully I will have someone that will really actually try and help out.

I seriously hate the end of the cambio. It seems so slow because you are just wanting a new comp and wanting to get rid of the old one. I´m so sick of having to put up with his laziness. Luckily we will be going into Chillan tonight and will be staying with the ZL´s. Tomorrow morning we will be traveling to Conce to get my new comp.

Not really anything happened this week and it was really slow. I´m hoping next week goes a lot better.

A sister here in our branch told us something this week that made us really happy. She said that she has never seen two elders work so hard and have so much success in almost 5 years. It was really kind of funny but the sad thing is it´s true.

This week our president told the ZL that if every sector didn´t have 10 new people to teach and 3 in church they are basically failures. This week we were set with our goal of having three in church. We got a call Saturday night from the family of three saying that they had to leave to Santiago and weren´t going to be able to go to church. We had only found 4 news and needed six more. We were fasting to find the 6 more that we needed and weren´t having any success. We contacted for almost 3 hours and couldn´t get into a single house. We finally contacted a house of a family of 6... only problem... 3 were there. We ended up not getting our goals and called the zone leaders... they also hadn´t had any success.

Sunday we ended up going to a fireside that the dad of elder Bracken. I got one of his books free and took pictures with Elder Bracken and his dad. I got a picture with the Orange duffel bag also. It was really a cool deal. It was really funny but also really spiritual. They have family in Georgia and visit Destin Florida all the time. They also know the Hutchins. They connections they kept having with me were really weird. Elder Bracken is supposed to be passing by the house to meet you guys and to give you a bag of stuff. Gifts and everything.

I did get the package from grandma T. She came in clutch with the almond rocas. They were amazing. Tell her thanks. She should be getting a letter here soon and I´m working on some others.

Is there a Syndi Knowlton in our ward? I got a letter from her that was really cool. I guess she has 3 kids and each one of them has a certain disorder or handicap. The letter was really good. I´m also writing her a letter also.

This Sunday was awesome for us. Even though we didn´t have any INV´s in church, we had a bunch of RC get up and bare their testimonies. It was really cool.

Well not much really happened this week. Kind of a lame letter. I am excited to head to Conce to get my first kid. I´m gonna be a daddy! haha I´ll see how it goes this week. I´m really excited we have some pretty important lessons this week and I have two more interviews. Lets just hope they aren´t members already... Or gay.

Love you all and miss you tons.

Elder Torgersen

Hello Friends and Family!!

Yes we have been dying of heat down here! It has been baking us. It has been so hot. It is really difficult to walk out of the house after lunch from sitting in front of a fan. 

We are so sick of the dog that we are seriously ready to kill it. It doesn´t matter if we throw rocks at it and yell at it... it still follows us. We don´t understand because it is blazing hot and the stupid thing still follows us. We have learned he doesn´t like water so we walk around with water bottles and throw it on him when he is following. 

This week went really well. It was kind of slow for us but we were able to have our 11th baptism. We have baptized every month since I have gotten here. It has been really awesome.

Our RC gave us a reference and he got baptized this last Saturday. We had him confirmed and the two other little kids. MP has asked that we save the two front rows in sacrament for our INVs. We had a family of three come yesterday and had them sit in front. It was really good because there was a bunch of crap happening behind them, kids crying, kids fighting, people talking and leaving every ten seconds. They said they loved church after. We ended up passing by their house and put them with a baptismal date. The daughter had a baptismal date with the adventista church. We were really excited because we walked in and now she has a different baptismal date in the true church. :) The mom loves us. We had a FHE with them the other day and she was busting up laughing. She said she didn´t know what it was about us but we are just crazy and full of energy and are always laughing and smiling. They loved  church though. They had a lot of questions and were wondering about the sacrament. 

I have one week left and I will be getting a new comp. There is a chance that I will either train a newby or get a new comp that will be able to take the sector over when I leave. I am really excited. I feel like I have been Kind of jipped off. I see all of the other leaders in the mission and they are with really good missionaries and are having success. and then here I am with a comp that doesn´t do anything, and i´m doing everything alone. I really hope President gets me a new comp that I get along with and really helps out. I´m so sick of having to just deal with comps instead of really get along with them like one of my friends. I kind of just put up with them until I leave or until they leave.

Elder Bracken is going home this next week. I´m really kind of bummed. He is the awesome ZL and now is leaving me with the one that is a jerk. We aren´t too excited about it. But I needed to send some stuff home and he said he is willing to take it in his bags. His parents are coming to get him and his dad is going to talk to the youth in the stake and the missionaries. He said that he is going to come by the house to meet you guys and bring the stuff by. 

I still haven't gotten the package from grandma. We had a conference this last Wed and didn´t get home until almost 10:00 at night. It was really good. 

Today we chilled with the two little kids we baptized the last week. We decided to go and buy water balloons and have a war in the street. There isn´t much to do here in Coihueco. haha but we had fun. We ended up going over to the INV´s that we have and tried to get them to come out of the house. They wouldn´t come out but the mom let us in a side garage thing and while they weren´t watching we drenched the kids. It was pretty funny. The mom absolutely loves us. She was busting up laughing when we got the kids. 

I know this week is going to be really long because all I´m going to be thinking about is getting a new comp. I´m really excited to get someone that can help me carry the load. 

10th Baptism in Coihueco!!!

Hello friends and family:

 

Well this week we had another successful week.

We have two weeks left in the cambio and I´m just about done with my comp. I´m so sick of doing everything alone. My ZL´s have come to the conclusion that they think he has a learning disability. I have noticed that he is really slow at reading... like really struggles to read. The ZL asked me if I knew anything. They are pretty sure he has a learning disability or something. He has certain things he doesn´t like doing. It has really been a struggle.

We had a mini cambio for only a couple hours on Thursday. I was really kind of ticked. I went to another sector with Elder Bracken and we taught about 6 lessons in about 3 hours. The other ZL gets to our sector, goes to the interview that was supposed to be at 7, does the interview and comes back to his sector. We ended up teaching a ton of lessons in his sector, and not getting any in ours. E´ Bracken was really kind of ticked.

This last week we had our 10th and a half baptism. haha the half is because the family is a part member family and the youngest kid is only 8 so it counts for the branch. We are still pretty happy. The actual baptism was one of the most spiritual baptisms we have had. The whole family came with cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles. It was really good because we ended up getting two new families to teach. It was really cool.

The family had a huge BBQ with all the family and they invited us. It was really crazy. The whole family was there and there was a ton of meat. It was so good.

Well yes... after exactly a week... The stupid dog returned. 1 Nephi 4:12 12 And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands; has been running through my head all week. We have tried everything to try and get rid of the dog. We had heard if you give them Ibuprofen it will kill him... I´m willing to do whatever to kill this stupid thing. It smells horrible and we were doing great without it. Any ideas on how to kill it quickly and silently?

Still no package from Gma Torgersen. I will know this wed. We have another Conference. I guess all the district leaders are going to get an ear full because the district leader in every zone is baptizing but his district isn´t. I´m not excited about it.

Yes elder Coronado got his package his says thanks. He really thought the stuff in it was really good.

I had saved all of my 10 pesos since I got here in Coihueco and recently took them in to see how much was... I had about $15 in 10 pesos. It was so crazy. We had to buy some stuff for a family night and the people in the store needed ten pesos. I told them I had a lot and would bring them. After, The lady had to count them and she wasn´t too happy about doing it.

We went to chillan today and I found the wife of a convert from Los Volcanes. They are planning on going to the temple in November. Kind of a bummer I´m not gonna be here. I thought it was cool they were going to get sealed.

Well not much happened this week and I don´t have much time. Love you all and miss you tons. I will send pics next week. the computer is kind of a piece this week.

Elder Torgersen