September 24, 2012

¡Hola Amigos y Familia!

Muchas Gracias por todo esta semana. Muchas gracias por los regalos y cartas.

Well my birthday was actually pretty fun. I did end up getting one package. It had a bunch of Avengers stuff in it. with two ties. I called the office this last week and they said I had gotten two more, they just weren`t sure where they went. I ended up having to call a bunch of people to find out where they were. They ended up being in the house of my old Zone leaders house. I will get them tomorrow. 

 We had an activity in our branch and played a bunch of random chilean games. We ate a ton of meat and a lot of empanadas. It was so good. At our activity we ended up having 5 investigators and 2 less actives. It was really cool. We have been really blessed this week. Also the bishop from Los volcanes and his wife and little baby came to visit at the activity. I guess his wife is from here. Also another couple from Los Volcanes came to visit me at the activity. It was really cool being able to see them. Bishop Orellana (richy) says he missed me so he had to come visit. 

I had a mini cambio this last week with one of My Zone leaders. His name is Elder Bracken. His dad was the one that wrote the book I told you guys to go buy. He is an amazing missionary. We ended up teaching 6 lessons with 3 less active lessons in one day. It was crazy!

During our mini cambio we decided to visit a girl that her parents haven't given her permission to be baptized. We went to talk to her right after lunch and she said her parents would be home later in the night. We went through the day teaching and at 9:20, with 40 minutes left in the day, we decided to go by her house. We knocked on her door and her dad answered. He is a really big round guy with fingers that remind me of hot dogs. He is pretty big. We talked to him for a little and after he invited us inside. We started talking about how awesome his daughter is and how she really wants to get baptized. We convinced the dad and were waiting to convince the mom. All of a sudden the dad pulls out a bottle and asks us if we want jugo or juice. We didn`t want to offend him so we of course say yes. He gets us two shot glasses and fills them up with this ¨Juice¨. He tells us to drink it and I look at my ZL and he smells it and says ¨I think its alcohol.¨ We ask him if it is and he says no. We ask his wife and she says No. We ask the daughter and she also says No. We thought for sure it wasn`t. We took a sip and it tasted like juice but just a little different. We ended up drinking almost half of it and decided to put it back on the table. We later found out it was ¨Chicha¨ It is grape juice that they drink but within a few days it starts to turn to alcohol. It wasn`t straight alcohol but it was definitely starting to turn into it. THE GOODNEWS IS... We convinced her mom and she now has a fecha for October 15. Yes it is a monday... We let them choose they day. We now have to figure out how to do a baptism on a monday. We figured drinking a shot was worth getting her with a baptismal date. 

This week we had a total of 10 people with baptismal dates. But, 5 fell because they didn`t go to church. It was the best week we have had here so far. 

We were sitting in lunch on Friday and the hermana told us she had been sharing her testimony with her neighbor that just moved in. She said that here neighbor is really interested in the church and wanted to get to know it. We asked her neighbor if we could pass by after lunch and she told us yes. She has a son that is 11 that ended up coming to the activity. They were really excited and wanted to come to church. Only problem was we had a conference in Chillan. 45 minutes away. She said she would go if the hermana went. The hermana was basically crying when she heard what had happened. She told us she was going to do whatever she could to wake up early and get to the conference...BLAH BLAH BLAH. We passed by her house Sunday in the morning and her mom said she was working. Her son ended up walking out and told us that his mom was sleeping and didn`t want to wake up. I am just about fed up with lazy Chileans saying they will do something and then never do it. Especially when it has to do with salvation or the lords work. 

We visited a family this week and found out they were the first family to open this sector as a branch. The son was the Ex president and is now completely inactive. She has three sons that were all born into the church and only one served a mission. She is completely heartbroken and has no idea what to do. It really made me start to think... I really hope that I have made you guys proud with what I have done and with what I`m doing. She was really sad with what had happened with her sons. She felt like she had failed as a mother. We had passed by her earlier in the week and I ended up getting a feeling to ask her if she needed anything like a blessing she then told us yes and we gave her a blessing. A couple days later I passed by with our branch pres and she said that she was really wanting a blessing and when we gave her the blessing she felt like a huge rock was lifted off her back. It was really cool that god uses us to help other people.

I have felt a little alone this week. My comp gets really quiet and depressed and just gets into a mood and doesn`t want to do anything. He doesn`t want to talk about whats happening either. It is really hard trying to carry a Branch that is about to fall apart, trying to be a good senior comp, and trying to get people into the waters of baptism and then deal with a comp that always is talking about it old comp or isn`t talking at all. 

Tell Bailiegh not to worry. She lost from a girl that was 4 grades ahead of her. That`s pretty awesome she is playing against such older girls. Tell Ethan he needs to man up and quite being such a baby. Why didn`t anyone pay for me to take girls out? If someone was willing to pay for a lunch with a girl for me I`d have it done in a heartbeat. Tell him to man up and do it already. 

Well not much else this week. Love you all and miss you tons.

Elder Torgersen and Spongebob the dog

¡¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!!!!!

Hello Friends and family!

Well, this week has been kind of all over the place. Lots of unexpected things happening.

Well, this last week we tried to learn how to dance the cueca... It was really kind of funny. Everyone is obsessed with dancing the cueca down here. Everyone keeps asking me what our national dance is... Do we even have one? I don´t think we do...

This week has been really kinda slow. We are still trying to find people to teach and we still don´t know anyone. We ended up doing divisions with the President and a returned missionary last night and we ended up teaching a couple less actives and recent converts. I ended up working with our President. He is really cool. He is also really young. He is only 31 years old. He has a sister and two brothers that live here close by. His brother is the handicapped one that was in my last sector. I feel kind of bad for their family. He is the oldest guy in his family and his mom was a single mom. She ended up passing away and he was left in charge to take care of the other kids. He didn´t get to serve a mission, he´s single, and is the president of a branch that is slowly falling apart. He told me last night that he was glad the last Elder got transferred out. He said he had been talking to Prez to change it up a little. The missionaries here before have just been horrible. He said when I got here he was really glad to see an Elder that was really excited about the work and was ready to work. He said the last missionaries were really lazy.

I can´t even explain the load that I am now having to carry. I honestly don´t know what to do... Every couple days the Assistants or President calls to see how things are going. I don´t really feel like my numbers show the work that we are doing. Every Sunday I have to do something with the meeting. This last week they called me at 11:00 to tell me I had a talk the next morning. I ended up having to pass sacrament, give a talk, and teach a class. I don´t know what I´m going to do because I´ve got so much on my plate with such little time and experience.

After church Sunday I ended up cleaning up our ward list because we have 238 members in the registros and only about 30 show up on Sundays. The ward list is a mess and there are very few people that all the information is written down. Some don´t even have an address. I spent almost an hour and a half trying to organize everything. There is a way with the church program to print a list of members but by street not by the last name. I ended up organizing everything and printed out this list to help us find members and less actives. The president was really kind of surprised at how I did it.

We haven´t done much this week besides contacts. We contacted a girl and her friend randomly shows up behind her... next thing I know, she´s asking me what I´m doing tonight... and tells me their is a party down the street and that I should go. Speaking of parties, everyone down here (including me) is really stoked for 18 de Septiembre. Tomorrow is our real  P-day. We were given an hour today to write our families because tomorrow there is a good chance the Cyber´s will all be closed. We are planning on playing soccer tomorrow with the Zone and doing a BBQ.

Thursday we found out my comp had to go to a Newbie Conference 2 hours away. Thursday night we ended up having to take a bus to Chillan to stay in the ZL´s house. 4:00 in the morning my comp had to take the bus. I spent the day working with my DL. We ended up taking a bus back into Coihueco, worked for three hours trying to find people and at 7 we took a bus back into Chillán. Our comps were supposed to be getting back at 7:30. More than half way to Chillan we get a call saying they are just now leaving the conference and won´t get here till 9. We ended taking would another bus that we thought would take us into my DL´s sector. We ended up taking a micro that was going the opposite way. He was really embarrassed to tell me we took the wrong bus. We ended back up in Los Volcanes!! We had to get out and take the same bus, but going the other way into his sector. We got to his sector and passed by 3 inv. and no one was home. We passed by a member and gave a blessing and then had to take another bus back into Chillan. After that we got to Chillan and had to take another bus to Coihueco. We were on the bus at 11, we had to stand crammed into the isle, and two drunk guys were sitting in the seats next to me. They both had 2 liters of cheap wine and kept asking me if I wanted to take a shot. The guy was acting like he was 5 years old. It was really kind of funny. There was a cute girl that left the bus and the two drunks were blowing her kisses. Let me tell you... it was quite the bus ride home.

This week we were able to find 5 new people and they have fechas for Oct. 13. We will see how that goes. This week everyone gets drunk, eats a lot, and doesn´t do anything for the whole week. We then have a stake conference in Chillan. It is going to be really difficult to get INV. to church in Chillan because it is almost 45 minutes away.

I found out there is an Elder TORGESON in our mission. I guess he is from Cedar Hills. I found out because my DL brought me one of his packages. I thought I had gotten two but one was his. I did get one package that had a bunch of presents in it with medicine. I´m still waiting for the other packages.

Well, I can´t believe how fast time is flying by. I can´t believe I turn TWENTY tomorrow. It´s scary to think in less than a year I´ll be home. It´s scary to think I´m already 20. Looks like you guys had quite the party without me. In the picture of ¨my party¨ I thought Easton´s roommate was Kristy Kohlert. Did Colten try to get their numbers? haha Not gonna lie Easton is really cute. Still haven´t gotten a letter from her.

I thought Ethan's way of asking to homecoming was awesome. Where did he get that from? Also tell him there is a book called ¨My Orange Duffel Bag¨ by Sam Bracken. My ZL´s dad wrote it. It talks about his life growing up and wanting to play football and the struggles he had with his family and drugs and stuff. It is an awesome book. The book is really cool. He is going to give me a copy. But it is crazy. It talks about how his dad´s life was growing up in Las Vegas. In this book He says at age 12 he had already drunk and done all kinds of drugs. He said his mom found a stash of weed under his bed when he was 12. His mom ended up asking if she could have some. He also learned how to read from pornography magazines his step dad left around the house. His life was completely jacked up and he completely changed it around. He ended up using track and football to turn everything around in his life.

My companions name is Elder Coronado from Peru. He gets very little mail. I feel really bad for him. He has really kinda struggled the last little bit. He says he doesn´t need anything. He says a couple ties would be great but he says thanks.

Yes....I´m about ready to shoot the stupid dog that has been following us. His name is Spongebob. He´s got fleas and just about every other bug, and he smells horrible. He will walk right next to you and if you aren´t watching he will walk out in front of you and stop. I´ve hit him in the head with my knee a couple times because he just walks out in front of you. ALL DAY Friday my DL and I tried to get rid of him. We trying yelling, throwing rocks, and we even tried to lock him behind the gate of someones house. We don´t know how he got out of the gate because it was cement and about 6 feet tall.

I´m not really close to the mission home. The Zone I was in before was the Zone just to the South. The Zone I´m in now is considered OUTSIDE.

Well Not much more. Love you guys and miss you tons.

Elder Torgersen

Coihueco

Hello Friends and Family!

Well none of you will be able to guess what has happened this week. It has definitely been a crazy one. Well, Monday night after I had written you guys... as I`m getting ready to go to bed we get a call from the Zone leaders. As I`m getting into bed they call to tell me I`m going on an emergency cambio. They said I had until 8:00 in the morning to get everything packed into my bags and on the bus. Let me tell you I was pretty mad... I just got everything UN-packed from the last cambio. 11:30 they called me and 3:00 I was in bed. I have never been so stressed in my life. I was so tired the next day. I had basically 4 hours of sleep.

The next morning I was in a taxi and a bus all day long traveling from South Chillan to North Chillan. I am now in a small city called Coihueco. It really reminds me of going to church in New Harmony. Yesterday I had to give the opening prayer, pass the sacrament and teach part of our class. It`s like visiting grandma`s house. There is an average of 35 people in church every Sunday. 

Wednesday in the morning we had to wake up at 5 to travel 3 hours north to a small city for a meeting with President and the Assistants. They are working with all the small town wards and branches to try and get them growing and keeping people in church. We were there pretty much all day long. It was really cool learning from president and the president of this small branch. He was actually a member in Linares that I knew so it was cool to see him again. He travels about an hour every Sunday to go to this little town since he is the President of the branch. He shared with us some really cool stories.

Well I moved from one of the nicest houses to one of the crappiest, oldest, most dirty house in the mission. I took pictures but I`m not going to share them with you. You might get a little worried. I spent more than half of my P-day cleaning the house. It was a pain but it is really clean now. I talked to the landlords and told them that we were both new in our sector and that we were going to fix the house up and clean it. They were really nice and told us if we needed anything they could help us. Good news is... We have our own washing machine. Bad news... No dryers in Chile. We have to hang everything to dry and it takes forever because it is still kind of cold down here. I like cleaning my own clothes but drying them is a pain.

Guess who`s the next Sr. Comp. Yeah that`s right! Elder Torgersen is finally a Sr. Comp. I can tell you now it is going to be difficult, especially in the situation I`m in now. I really think I have been through all the crap that has happened to help prepare me for what I`m doing now. I don`t think if I hadn`t had those experiences I wouldn`t have been ready for what I`m doing now. 

My comp is one of the most humble elders ever. He is from Peru. He is really kind of short, quiet and has got one of the strongest testimonies I have ever Heard. 17 days into the mission, during an interview with Pres. He found out his dad passed away. He has been struggling to stay positive and keep his mind off it. He is awesome. He told me last night that he was happy I was here as his comp. The last comp was a jerk and didn`t do anything. (same elder I had to do the mini cambio with a couple months ago.) He said he likes that I joke around but still do work in the mission. I guess the last comp made him do everything. He sometimes gets depressed thinking about his dad. I feel really bad for him. I always try to make sure I`m lifting him up with the things I say to him. It is really weird going from really stubborn, and prideful comps and then the exact opposite. I`m really excited to work with him. His testimony is awesome!

Oh yeah, I`m still in a threesome... with a dog. There is a dog here that has followed the missionaries around for almost 3 years. Some dumb elder made the mistake to feed him and now he follows us to every lesson and if he loses us he waits at the church or at the house. I`m not quite sure what to do with him because the mission rules say we can`t have pets but he follows us everywhere. My comp feels bad for him and tries to feed him. I keep trying to tell him he can`t because it is against mission rules. I`m going to talk to pres about it today. 

President told me the other day that what we did with the emergency cambio is called a white wash. Basically we are starting from nothing. We have maybe 2 investigators and nothing in our Area Book. I`m in charge of rebuilding this sector. I`m in charge of basically reviving it. I`ve been super stressed because I feel like President is really trying me to see what I can do. This week went well. We had 11 news and almost met our goal for contacts. but we also missed 2 days for meetings. The missionaries here before were really disobedient and really didn`t care about the sector. There were two missionaries here that one was finishing his mission and the other has almost a year in the mission and not a single one of them knew how to give blessings. People in the branch would ask for blessings and they just wouldn`t give them. It is really kind of sad what has happened to this little town. We are now in charge of bringing it back to life.

But...Yes you can give Melissa my email address. And as far as Larry tell him I would love to come and use those guns he has... Tell him i`ll be there in about a year. especially if he has more of the guns like he brought the last time. ha

Well I will keep you informed on our success and what`s happening here in Coihueco. Thank you all for everything. I`m really excited to eat lots of empanadas and learn how to dance the cueca. Thank you all! Love you!

Elder Torgersen

Bautismo in Quillon!

Hello Friends and family!

Well this week was great. We found out a kid in our ward just got his mission call and went through the temple this last week. We have been talking to President to see if he could end up staying with us a couple days a week to get used to the mission schedule. He and his parents are really excited. President said he would call us within the next couple days. It would also help us out with being in a threesome so we could get more lessons and contact more people.

On top of working here in Quillon, President has also asked us to open a new sector Called Florida. It is a smaller town that is a 30 minute bus ride away. We are trying to find people to teach and bring to church. We are having to work 3 days a week there. It is really nice having a joven leave with us so that we can get more work done. It is really cool.

We found out the bus guys down here are really crooked. Each time we ride the bus, they would give us a ¨discount¨, we found out that they don`t rip out a receipt and just pocket the money. It is as if we weren`t on the bus and the people driving and the guy that collects tickets just pocket the money. They end up ripping off the bus company. There isn`t really anything we can do but my comp always makes a big deal out of it.

Saturday we woke up, studied and went to the house of a member for the baptism interview for a girl named Maryam. She is awesome. We later found out she dumped her boyfriend of 2 years because he didn`t like that she was sharing with us. We had her interview and she was super nervous. She ended up passing and everything was good... Until after lunch. We don`t know what happened but all of our appointments fell, nobody was home, and all of the members were in Santiago at the temple. We basically walked around trying to contact people and nobody wanted anything. We ended the day with basically one lesson and 30 contacts. I have never had such a horrible day. We felt like we were being tested for the baptism we had Sunday. And to top it all off, it was fast Sunday. We walked around dying of hunger and thirst.

Sunday morning we all got up showered, went to Maryam`s, walked to church and went to sacrament. In the next class I got a horrible migraine and we ended up having to go home to get some medicine. We came back and a member said to go look at the water. We went to the font and the water looked like it could have sustained life. It looked like frogs and fish could have lived in it. It was green and really dirty. We have no idea what happened. It was kinda funny. Maryam didn`t care, she really kinda liked it.

Saturday night is always the worst, especially when we have to Fast. We were tempted with a ton of food. We ended up visiting a part member family and the wife had just made and amazing cake... She offered us a piece and we told her we couldn`t, she ended up putting it in a bag for us so we could bring it home. Then as we are planning the neighbor that is a member(menos Activo, kind of ironic) brings us a plate of freshly grilled steak and longaniza. Longaniza, basically a sausage that is the best. It was horrible, the temptations just kept coming.

I have also learned that I should have learned to play the Piano. Nobody plays the Piano in our ward and we end up singing the same songs every Sunday. The ward is also horrible at singing. It is really kind of sad. I told our bishop we needed to just use a CD player to play the hymns so people knew what the songs sounded like. I really think it would help.

We were walking in the street and found a little store on the side of the road and the guy was selling little coconuts. They are a little smaller than a walnut but taste the same as a coconut. They are really. We have all been munchin on them in the street.

I´m really getting sick of the computers here. They all have viruses and part of my pictures somehow just got erased. I have no idea where they went. I´ll see what I can do. This really ticks me off. Luckily I think my comps took pictures of the same things. 

 

During the baptism, my comp messed up the prayer a couple times and then it looked like her hand didn´t get completely submerged. The members all told the two witnesses who were the bishop and his counselor. The bishop basically yelled at a couple members and said he was closer than they were and to not worry about it. I thought it was kinda weird because it didn´t look like her hand did enter the water but he basically yelled and said not to worry about it. It was a really weird situation.

 

I don´t know how long I will be in a threesome. I´m hoping it only lasts a cambio. It is really difficult being in a threesome. I really just want one comp. It is a little easier that way. But with working with this kid that just got his call it should be good. We are going to be able to get double the work done.

Patience this week has definitely been tried. Still trying to get better.

 

It is starting to get really hot down here. We are freezing in the morning and by lunch time we are dying of heat. They are also starting to set up for September 18th. MY BIRTHDAY! I´m really excited to celebrate that here. I think it will be really cool. Everyone is already planning stuff. It is crazy. They are already setting up a bunch of stuff in the parks to celebrate the independence day. It is so cool. It´s kinda depressing that I only get one birthday here. 

Well we should have another baptism this next week. We are hoping for a baptism and 2 confirmations. 

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

Con Amor

Elder Torgersen