Feliz Navidad y prospero Año Nuevo!!!!‏

It was lots of fun talking to y´all! Thanks for being such a perfect family. Skyping was my favorite part of Christmas too! We spent Christmas Eve with a returned missionary named  Miguel (where we did Skype) and with the Serrano family. We played games, ate a big turkey dinner and a lot of panetón and hot chocolate. Then at 12am all of the fireworks went off like crazy again. We had permission to stay out with members until 12:20am.

Im really proud of Russell, he looks so grown up too. It sounds like you guys had a really fun Christmas!! On Christmas Day we pretty much just played futból all afternoon. It was fun. I really focused this Christmas on helping me remember and learn something new about the birth and sacrifice of our Savior. I feel like me testimony and my gratitude for what He did has grown a lot this pst week. I know that Christ is our only Savior and that he loves each of us individually.

Last week we had a hilarious experience!!! The four of us had dinner with the Serrano family and they gave us santa hats to wear to our Christmas party and our clean laundry to take home. We put on the hats and slung the bags over our backs on our way home. When we left the building there was a drunk across the street who saw us and started jumping up and down and pointing to us and yelling that he saw Santa. 

Thank you for your support and your prayers. I know that they help a lot.

Jahairo passed his baptismal interview and only needs to go to church one more time to get baptized but he doesnt feel ready yet. Pray for him please that he can feel ready and recieve a strong testimony that the church is true. We lost contact with Julio. He doesnt answer his phone anymore. Maybe he is out of town or it got robbed. We are going to keep looking for him. We found another investigator the other week who is really good and she came to church for the first time yesterday too. 

I love you all!!! Have a great new year and dont forget to set high goals to help yourselves improve!!!!
--

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

Christmas Eve Skype

Merry Christmas!!!‏

Thanks for all of your emails! I love reading them. Well, we only have 30min to email today because we will be Skyping this week so its gonna be short.

Well, we had a Noche Blanca in the stake center on saturday. I interviewed one of the investigators from the other missionaries in our ward and she was super prepared. Its a really cool spiritual experience to interview people for baptism, especially when they are already so strong in the gospel. That was a highlight of my week. I love you all and Ill see you in a couple of days!!! Bye!!!

-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

Christmas Service

Hola familia! This was a good week, we are getting ready for Christmas and it is getting hotter. The other day it was super sunny at 6:30am, hahah when I woke up I thought that I got up late because it was soo bright outside.

Oh yea, I spoiled myself for Christmas and bought a new dark blue suit. Its pretty nice. Ill send a picture soon.

Cambios are tomorrow. The rumor is that there arent going to be many changes in la zona Limatambo, but we´ll see what happens. They are going to tell us tonight. Im pretty sure that the district is going to stay the same. Maybe only Elder Garcia or Elder Santana will have changes.

Last pday we went to el Museo de la Historia Natural in Lince, Lima. There were a lot of dried and preserved animals, but it was fun and we took a lot of fun pictures!

President Larson wanted us to focus on service this Christmas season. Every zone had to do a 3hr service project. We went to a big public stadium and pool in Barranco and cleaned the place up. I helped clean out the public pool which probably hadnt been cleaned in years. It was super dirty and the dirt was pretty much baked into the paint on the pool floor. It was really fun though. I also helped cut a field of grass with a giant pair of scissors, which wasnt quite as fun as scrubbing the pool hahaha! I liked how President said that we didnt come on a mission to be served, but to serve, and that is the attitude we should have. I hope we will be able to do more zone service projects in the future. I love the spirit that service brings. It always feels so good. We are going to have a Christmas dinner with half of the mission next week and we are going to see a slideshow of every zone service project.

Yesterday, we went to pick up Julio to bring him to church. He had just got back that night from a long trip to Trujillo but was willing to come with us. He stayed all three hours and really enjoyed it. He is really interested in the church. Ill keep you posted on his progress.

Im excited to talk to you guys on the 24th at 5pm!! Love you all. Ciao!

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

Museo de Historia Natural‏

                                        

Cleaning the Pool

                               

The view from apartment window

Another week closer to Navidad!!!‏

We are another week closer to la Navidad!! Right now we are planning on doing Skype the 24th. 

This week we got to go to the temple with the ward and some recent converts and do baptisms. I got to be the registrator (the guy who marks off all the baptisms) and it was pretty fun. It made me think of being a temple worker if I have time after the mission. Bishop Serrano was a good sport and took some pictures with us and his chulu peruvian hat, haha! We had a training meeting for all of the district leaders in the stake last sunday and I liked how the stake mission leader explained that there are twelve "padlocks" that we need to put on every new convert as soon as possible to keep them active in the church. They need a responsability, a friend, and among other thing they need to go to the temple and perform baptisms for their own ancestors. I liked that the temple is so important in strengthening new converts and keeping them active. Those who go to the temple soon after their own baptisms are way more likely to stay active in the church.

Jahairo is progressing really fast and was really excited to be baptized on the 19th in the "Navidad Blanca" (massive baptism) in the stake center, but this weekend he got sick and wasnt able to come to church. It seems like everybody down here is sick with a cold right now! The other day I was in barrio Balconcillo in intercambios with an argentinian named Elder Villarroel and when I woke up I had a runny nose, sore throat, and sinus pressure. Ive been taking medicine and I feel a lot better today but still a little stuffy. We are going to have to ask for special permission for Jahairo to get baptized on the 19th because he has only come once to church and there is only one more sunday before his goal and every convert needs to attend church at least three times before their baptism. Im sure we´ll be able to do it. He is super prepared. 

Speaking of super prepared people... yesterday we visited a man named Julio who we had contacted a few weeks ago but were never able to visit him. He is from Cajamarca, which is a providence of Peru where there are a lot of people who look like gringos because after WW1 and WW2 a lot of Germans moved here to Peru.  We finally found him and taught him the Restoration. He accepted everything and wants to come to church and get baptized!! He is pretty cool. He already had a Libro de Mormón and everything because he talked to some missionaries in the street and they gave it to him. He loves to read, and he doesnt work Sundays (which is a miracle here)! He has a goal to be baptized the 2nd of January!!

Well, Im still holding in there with my companion. Its hard but Im doing it. The whole zone and ward is annoyed of him, but I just have to have more patience. Cambios are the 15th of this month. I hope I dont have cambio so that I can spend Christmas with the Serrano family!!

I love you all!! Have a great week!!!!!
-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

¡Buenos días!

¡Buenos días! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!! I almost forgot about it to tell the truth but when I was making district leader calls some of the elders in my district reminded me! We did get to go to the temple again, so that was fun! This means that Christmas is even closer, less than a month away. (The new Star Wars movie is going to come out soon too! Hahaha, but I wont be able to see it!) Im excited to talk to you all.

Remember how last week we found that 24 year old who was super interested in the church when we were talking to his grandpa? Well, his name is Jahairo, and we´ve taught him several times since then and he has a baptismal date for the 19th of December. He went to church yesterday too. I am super excited, he is progressing a lot! Our half of the ward has only had two baptisms this entire year, one of them was a 10 year old girl, and the other was a guy who doesnt want anything to do with the church anymore. I know the sector is difficult but that just means that we need to work harder to have more success. This week I prayed alot that we would find prepared people who live in our sector for us to teach, (Whenever we find super prepared people it seems like they always live outside of the mission!) and we found several! We hit the streets and contacted everyone and even found a lady who was one week away from being baptized years ago but it never happened. I know that obedience brings blessings and exact obedience brings miracles. I have helped my companion a lot and he is being more obedient with the morning schedule. I know that we are now receiving more blessings for our obedience. 

Im getting used to being district leader. Its fun now, I just dont like teaching the district classes every wednesday.

I love you all!! Keep praying for us. I can see the effect that it has in our lives!! Have a great week! 

-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

We took some funny pictures at the temple. (Elder Garcia didnt want to participate)

Life in La Victoria‏

Wow, another week has gone by! Its so wierd! Hey, Tristan is on his way to Russia, thats exciting. Christian Wendelboe said in his letter that he is going to be training a new missionary this transfer! It could be Tristan!! Thats fun that he got to call you guys, but hey we´ll both get to call in a month!

Well not much happened this week, we contacted, had intercambios, invited people to be baptized, got chased by a homeless man, and visited families. Im enjoying the new experience of being a district leader here in La Victoria now. Its pretty fun and easy. But yea, not much happened this week.

The other day we went to follow up on some people that we had contacted in the street and we had written down their addresses to visit them. We knocked the door of an 88 year old ex-policeman that had talked to us a few days again but he wasnt too interested in our message. As we talked to him, his 24 year old grandson came out of the house and said " Are you guys the Mormons?, Ive always wanted to talk to you guys!" He came out and was super interested. We started telling him about the church and he asked a lot of questions. He liked everything we told him and he said that this was the church that he was looking for! It was a cool experience.

We are still contacting to find new people. We have found quite a few this last week but none of them went to church yesterday. Ive been thinking a lot about what one of the members told me the other day. He reminded me that we were chosen to serve here. Only the tough missionaries can serve here in Lima. Outside of Lima in the rest of Peru it is super easy to get baptisms, but here we have hundreds of different churches, anti-mormons, Jehovahs Witnesses, impossible work schedules, gang fights and everything that makes the work a lot harder. I really have learned a lot from all of the adversity. It reminds me of 2 Nephi 2 when it talks about "opposition". Its super important that there is opposition in all things or we wouldnt be able to learn and grow. When we have a lot of trials we have to choice to rise up and grow stronger or to flop and give up. I have seen how much stronger I have become thanks to the experiences that I have gained here on my mission!!

Well I love you all. Have a great Thanksgiving!! I´ll just imagine that my chicken is turkey and that my boiled potatos are mashed and that all of the rice is stuffing, hahahahah! I love you all!

-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

(The view from our 3rd story room. You can see the national stadium across the freeway!)

Metropolitano

¡Buenos días! Thank you for your emails. They made me smile! This was a good week, we had a lot of good experiences and some funny ones too. Well probably the funniest (and scariest) thing that happened this week was last pday. We went with the zone to the Centro de Lima and when we were coming home we decided to take the new modern bus system called the "Metropolitano" Its a special fast bus that has its own lane here in a lot of the main streets. Anyways, it was my first time using it. The doors open and close pretty fast and you only have about 10seconds  before the doors shut and the bus zooms off. Well Elder Garcia got on the bus and as I was stepping on the doors shut and the bus zoom off!!! I was there in shock for a few seconds and then some ladies told me to get on the next bus that stops at the same station. I got on the bus and felt so wierd, all alone. I felt like everyone was looking at me!! I got off at the next station and looked for Elder Garcia for like 5 minutes but couldnt find him. I had the cell phone so there was no way that I could have called him. I thought that maybe he got on another bus to return to the original station where we got separated so I got on another bus and returned as well. I couldnt find him there either so I started to get worried. I walked across the street to the other station and after a few minutes I saw him come running! Now that I think about it it was pretty funny, but it was so wierd to be alone in the center or downtown Lima! We learned that nextime we use Metropolitano we are going to get on the bus at the same time!

This week we spent a lot of time contacting and finding people to teach because when I got here there was almost nobody. We had a lot of fun experiences, I like contacting now. I learned to love it with Elder Gutierrez. The other day we contacted a lady and right off the bat she told us that our church isnt true because the Bible doesnt say anything about José Smith. She said that in her church they offer a class about why all the other churches are wrong. (I love challenges like that!) So I pulled out the Bible and we started clarifying things for her, then we read a little of the Book of Mormon. At first she didnt want anything to do with the church but afterwards she accepted an appointment for this week. I have learned to love the scriptures here on my mission. Right now I am reading the words of Isaiah. There are so many hidden gems in his scriptures. I love it, its like I have a hunger for more knowledge. The scriptures are like the guidebook of life. We have to read the instructions and follow them!

Oh yea, so we live really close to the national stadium and the other day Peru played against paraguay and they were so many people in our sector. The police had to close down a whole bunch of streets. I also found out the the US embassy in in my sector as well as several other embassies. Half of my sector is a really rich part and crossing the freeway were we live is one of the more dangerous parts of Lima called La Victoria. Its pretty close to Gamarra. My sector is on the edge of the mission. We are bordering the Lima East mission.

I hope you all get a lot of snow for Christmas, we sure wont be getting any down here. The summer heat is just starting to turn up. I love you all!
--

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

District Leader in Limatambo!!!‏

Well, as you guys probably have already guessed I got changed. It was really hard to leave my ward family in barrio Venezuela. I was there so long! I still miss everyone back there! I got changed to barrio Santa Beatriz in la zona Limatambo, which is the oldest stake here in Perú. The stake center was the first chapel that was built here too. As you´ve already heard I got called as district leader too! I was joking that I dont know if it is a punishment or a blessing. Hahaha, I know it is a blessing and a great opportunity to help me progress and grow. There are 8 elders in my district including the zone leaders. My companion is Elder Garcia, he is from Trujillo, Perú and has 10 months in the mission. He is really patient and courteous. I dont know why but he reminds me of Kermit the Frog, I think its the way he talks or something like that. 

Well, honestly this week was prety hectic and stressful. Here´s a bit of my stress: It was my first week as district leader, I had to prepare a class for the district meeting, and make a bunch of phone calls and messages, I also had my first baptismal interview my first day here! Almost all of our appointments fell through, and our numbers this week were super low, probably the lowest I´ve ever had so far on the mission. Almost none of our investigators here are willing to progress and none of them went to church, and there is nobody with a baptismal goal for this month. We were supposed to have a baptism this Saturday, but the investigator didnt get submerged all the way and was too scared to try it again. On top of that, my companion takes forever to get ready in the morning and sleeps in a little bit. Thats all the stress that I was feeling this week. Yesterday we had a stake conference and a 70 named Elder Moscoso (who comes from la estaca Magdalena) gave a talk that really helped me alot! He talked about three essential attitudes that we need to have. One of those was an attitude willing to learn. I decided that that is what I needed to do. Theres nothing I can do about what has happened, I just need to learn from it. I am really looking forward to having a great week. We are going to contact and find the people who are prepared to receive us.

Well there are some good things about this week. Im excited to be here in Limatambo! The Peruvian national soccer stadium is in my sector. It is huge and right across the freeway from our house which means that when there are games or concerts we wont be able to sleep very well! Hahaha! Polvos Azules, the famous market is also in my sector and Parque de las Aguas is in the limits of our ward. Our pensionista is the bishop´s wife. Their family is super awesome! I dont think Ive met a family like them so far in the mission. Obispo Serrano was called just 2 months ago just like dad!

Wow, thats so cool that you guys got to help clean the temple. We are going to get to go back this change. Im excited for that!

I hope you all have a great week!!! Keep being a great family!!! I love you all!!!

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

Barrio Santa Beatriz: Elder Santana (Dominican Republic), Elder Weir (Lindon, Utah), Elder Garcia (Trujillo, Perú), Elder Torgersen (Provo, Utah)  Elder Weir must be Elder Galkes twin or something. They are exactly alike!

District Leader

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

Misión Perú Lima Central

Av. Juan de Aliaga 510

Magdalena del Mar Lima

Lima 17, Peru

Tel: 011-51-1 222-2173

2010429@ldschurch.org

04 de noviembre de 2015

Dear Torgersen Family,

I wish to take this opportunity to inform you that Elder Torgersen has been assigned to serve as a District Leader in the Peru Lima Central Mission.  He has distinguished himself as an outstanding teacher and as a diligent worker.  He is a great example to his fellow missionaries and has gained their love and respect.   His worthiness and leadership abilities are a tribute to himself and his family.

Elder Torgersen will lead a district which will consist of four to eight missionaries.  He will have the stewardship of administering to the spiritual as well as the temporal needs of his missionaries.  He will meet with these missionaries on a weekly basis to train, uplift and edify them.   As he serves, he will gain valuable experiences which will assist him in the future as a husband and father, and in leadership callings in the Church.

I appreciate your continuing support of him as he serves his Father in Heaven here in the Perú Lima Central Mission.  We pray that you, with him, will “lift up your heart and rejoice,” for the hour of this important phase of his mission has come (see D&C 31:3).

Warmest regards,

Stephen J. Larson

Presidente

Misión Perú Lima Central

Halloween and FireFighters‏

Wow, this week went by fast. On thursday we got to go to the temple. It was a great experience. Everytime that we get to go I feel reenergized when I leave. I learn something new everytime as well! Im happy that you made an effort to go everyday this week and that you could see and feel the blessings that you have recieved. 

This week was Halloween. Everyone was asking us about what we think about it. A lot of people here are against it. All of the Cristiana and Evangelica church condemn it and say its the Devil´s Day. For me its kind of funny because its not a big deal. Its for little children. A few little kids were out Trick-or-Treating with their parents, but not many. Its too dangerous here to let your kids go out on there own. Everyone says that Lima is becoming really dangerous these last few years.

Recently we started teaching Maria Fernanda. She is super prepared. Sometimes in the mission you find people who are ready to be members of the church and she was one of them. She went to the conference last week and also attended yesterday. She used to smoke, drink alchohol, and be addicted to coffee, but after reading the Word of Wisdom pamphlet she decided to quit all of it on her own, and she´s still going strong! Contacting everyone has helped us find her. She is super excited to get baptized on the 14th!!

I think dad will like this:

We stopped by the firestation that´s here in Breña to trade patches and we had a cool visit with one of the chiefs who just happened to be there. He was one of the top three fire chiefs in all of Lima and told us a lot about the history of the station. He showed us the stations huge collection of patches from all of Perú and various stations around the world, but the didnt have Provo, Ut yet! He said that the station was founded by the Masones and that their patch has a lot of Masonic symbolism. It was pretty interesting.  Ive learned a lot about the Masons down here. They´re pretty interesting to me. Ive even taught one before. For me they are a testimony of the apostasy. The church was like a big mirror that fell and broke and everybody picked up a few pieces. The Masons just picked up all the temple stuff. 

Well, we´ll find out tonight what the cambios are going to be. I´m pretty sure that I´m going to be leaving. I´m pretty sad about that. I love this ward and I´m going to miss it a lot!!!

I love you all and hope you have a great semana!!!!
-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Baptismal Invitations and Parque de las Leyendas

This week went fast! Transfers are next Tuesday, this cambio flew by. Thats how it always is when we work hard and have fun at the same time. We beat the rest of the zone again in baptismal invitations, this week we had 78!! Nobody else was even close! Haha, its fun to make it a competition with the other companionships, it makes us work harder. Now Elder Gutierrez and I have a little game we play to contact people. When we are walking down the street, we each take turns to choose someone for the other to contact. The only rule is that they cant be Jehovah´s Witnesses, hahaha! Sometimes we pick out the scariest looking people for the other to contact, its pretty fun! Missionary work isnt meant to be boring, sometimes its scary but with practice the fear goes away. We have seen a whole bunch of blessings this week and we have found a whole bunch of prepared people only because we opened our mouths. It reminded me of all of the scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants that promise blessings for just opening our mouths to share the gospel. If we are prepared the spirit will give us the words we need in the moment that we need them. I know that it is true!!

This last Pday we went to Parque de las Leyendas with Alex, (finally) it was my first time and it was pretty fun. I havent been to a zoo in a long time. The creations of God are amazing. Before we went to the zoo, we went to go eat at Jimmy and Ricardo´s restaurant. As we were leaving there was a young man in the way so we stepped aside to let him pass. As we were leaving he came up and shoved me! It surprised me a little bit but we just kept walking. When we got outside he kept following us but we just ignored him until Elder Gutierrez asked him what he wanted and why he pushed me. He said he didnt like the way I looked at him... and that I was tall... and white... and American! I could tell that he had a loose screw or something. He wanted me to give him 2 soles for my "offense," so we started walking towards the serenazgo officer and he completely changed. He begged us to forgive him and disappeared. He didnt want us to turn him in. It was kind of funny.

Yesterday we had a stake conference for Peru and Bolivia broadcasted from Salt Lake in the stake center. Among other area leaders, the apostle Neil L Andersen spoke in spanish! His grammar was good but he had a terrible english accent, hahaha! I didnt know that he speaks spanish. He also speaks French and Portugues  I really enjoyed the messages. There was a big emphasis on the Plan of Salvation, the temple, and keeping the Sabbath Day holy. This morning I was reading Exodus 31:12-17. I really like how it says that how well we keep the Sabbath Day holy is a sign between us and the Lord. It reminded me of Elder Nelson´s General Conference talk a few conferences ago. Instead of making a list of Sabbath do´s and dont´s we should just think to ourselves, "What sign do I want to show the Lord this Sabbath day?" Christ said " If you love me keep my commandments" The scriptures are full of references that tell us how our obedience is a way to show our love to God.

I love you all and hope you have a great week. Those carmeled apples look really good! Thanks for the birthday package that you sent me!!!
-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

20 Years Old!!!‏

Well, I feel old now... Its wierd, 20 years old... wow, hahaha! Well we had a good week. Birthdays in the mission are just like normal days. We have to forget about ourselves and serve others. We have Ward Mission Corelation friday night and the ward misionaries threw a little party for the three of us who had birthdays this week. 

The mission has set new standards for contacting new people. President felt that we werent contacting enough people so now we have to contact at least 15 new people everyday in between appointments. Its been fun. Weve been working really hard. We also had the most baptismal invitations in the whole zone. We had 72 and we blew everybody else out of the water, hahaha! Its fun now. We arent scared at all to talk to strangers in the street and to invite them to be baptized. Its helped us a lot. Ive noticed that that small change has had a big impact on our numbers for this week. They were really high.

This week we had divisions with the zone leaders. I went to Magdalena with Elder Jones, who is pretty cool. We had a really cool experience when we were walking down the street together. So the sisters in Pueblo Libre need to find a new apartment before the end of the month, but it is SUPER Hard to find any place to live in their sector, there arent many places to rent and they are all super expensive. The zone leaders had been looking for days and made dozens of calls to help them out. Elder Jones was telling me all of this when we were on the bus on the way to his sector. About half an hour later, we were talking to a man in the street, when all of a sudden an older guy comes up to us and asks us out of the blue if we needed a place to live. He said that he was renting out 3 rooms in Pueblo Libre and was willing to accept whatever amount we were willing to pay. He said that he could even add furniture to the apartment! It was so wierd, it was a miracle!!! Its so cool when stuff like this happens. For me its a big testimony builder that God is watching out for us.

The last few days Ive been reading the Book of James in the Bible. I really enjoy it and recommend that you all read it this week. Today I read in chapter three and I really liked how verses 1-12 talk about how by mastering our tongues we can perfect ourselves. It explains that the tongue is a small member of the body but has a huge influence, just like a tiny bit in a horses mouth or the helm of a boat can make them change direction.I was thinking about what little things in our lives are helping us stay on the path to eternal life or are making us change direction. Little things like daily prayer, scripture study, family home evenings, and church attendance are simple, but make a big difference in our lives.

I love you all and hope that you all had a great week!!!

-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

Two Baptisms!! Albert Finally Got Baptized!‏

Happy Birthday Elizabeth and Dad!!!! I was hoping that you had fun! Everything is changing so much back home. Thats ok though, change is good.

Well, we had a really good week. We took the baptismal invitation challenge to heart and had 52 baptismal invitations with a specific date. We beat the entire zone! We know we can do better this week though. It is kind of fun now.

This weekend we had two baptisms! After almost 6 months of visiting and helping, and a lot of last minute stress, Albert and Andrea got married in a massive wedding in La Perla, Callao! We didnt get to go to their wedding though. Then, Saturday night Albert and Martin Salomón got baptized! They both asked me to baptized them. The actual baptismal service was crazy! The first baptism was an 8 year-old girl from the ward who was really scared and took half an hour to get into the water and then didnt get completely summerged. I think that they are going to try again next week. Albert and Andrea came late from the wedding in Callao so we went ahead and baptized Martin. I was a little nervous to baptize him because he is really big and Im not as strong as I used to be. It went well and then I sat there in my half wet clothes waiting for Albert to show up from the wedding and get dressed in white. After the baptism, the ward threw a surprise wedding reception/baptism party for them. Martin and Albert got confirmed on Sunday and they also got interviewed and ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. Yesterday, Albert told us that he got interviewed for a calling as well! They are going to call him as the 2nd counselor in the Young Mens! This has been a lifechanging weekend for him, hahaha! He got married, baptized, confirmed, ordained to the aaronic priesthood, and had his first calling extended to him all in about 24 hours! I have been waiting for this moment since I first met him. I knew that he was going to get baptized, they are such a cool family! I am really happy. Hahaha, I feel like I dont know what to do now because they have been my biggest goal here so months. Now we have to get them to the temple,and then prepare them to be sealed in a year.

Im glad you are all having good spiritual and missionary experiences! Right now in my New Testament reading I started reading in Hebrews. I really liked how it talked about the Melchizedek Priesthood and its importance. It was something interesting that I learned this morning. Keep reading your scriptures todos los días! I love you all!!!

fotos del bautismo de Martin Salomón‏

Albert Finally Got Baptized!‏

We went back to the Museo de la Santa Inquisición aka Museum of Apostasy! 

Conferencia General y Milagros!!! (Sorry, no pictures this week)‏

Its been a great week! Elder Gutierrez and I were both having the most successful week that either of us have ever had so far on the mission at the begining of the week, and then I got sick. I was throwing up and sick to my stomach all day Friday (I think it was a bad empanada that I ate), and then we had General Conference Saturday and Sunday. We still got a lot done and our numbers were better than last weeks! Our zone leaders challenged us to invite at least one person to baptism every hour of proselyting during these coming weeks. Not just baptismal invitations, but invitations with a specific date. Por ejemplo, " Hermano, ¿will you follow the example of Jesucristo by being baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God?" Then, "we are preparing a baptismal service for the --- of octubre. ¿Will you prepare to be baptized that day?" We`ve actually had a lot of success and right now we have six people with a baptismal goal for octubre!

Wow, General Conference was great! I really liked a lot of the talks (and there werent as many technical dificulties as there were in Callao, haha!) 

Elder Rasband was my first bet for one of the new apostles. It was cool to see three new apostles join the quorum. Then, they all bore their testimonies about the church and the Restoration Sunday morning. We had an investigator named Jose Rojas who came to watch conference and those testimonies were exactly what he needed to hear. He´s come to church three times and likes it but is a little unsure about Jose Smith and he is scared about what his catholic family would say. He´s soo close though!! I think that the spirit of the conference touched his heart. Im excited to hear what he says when we visit him this week! I´m worried about President Monson. He seems so old. By the end of his talk he was all bent over and someone had to help him back to his chair. He doesnt tell as many funny stories or make everyone laugh anymore I admire him a lot though. I know that he has been chosen to be the prophet of God.

Rigoberto is progressing soo fast!! It was awesome to see him there in the Stake Center for priesthood session and then in the other chapel for the other conference. He LOVES the gospel! Every spare moment that he has at home or in his taxi he reads his Libro de Mormón or his True To The Faith book that he loves soo much. He has a strong testimony of the Restoration and the Libro de Mormón. I am so greatful for the opportunity that I had to help him find and accept the gospel.

There was a huge focus on Obedience and keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I also really liked President Uchtdorf´s first talk. I liked how he said something like, "After experiencing such a great change of heart and conversion, why do you look on internet" Its so true. If we have a testimony or have felt that the gospel is true we dont have to doublecheck on internet. It is a big problem that I have found here in this sector.

I also really liked Claudio R. M. Costa´s talk about the Sacrament and Devin G. Durrant´s talk about "Meditizar" (80% meditar and 20% memorizar) a specific scripture every week. You can pick a scripture every Sunday and then put it in a place where you will see it everyday. Imagine how many scriptures you will know by the end of the year or in several years!

Now for the miracle! So Hermana Juana Ale ( the Relief Society president) has family in Tacna who got Beto´s birth certificate and sent it here. They got it and Hermana Juana brought it to them. Hermana Juana called us and told us that when they opened it up it was exactly the same as his DNI!! (peruvian ID) They wanted to get married three years ago but couldnt because his DNI and birth certificate didnt match, but now they do!!! We dont know how it happened but now everything is ready for the wedding on Saturday. Today we are going to go visit them to doublecheck that it really is what Hermana Juana told us. Elder Gutierrez tells me to stop doubting, but I just tell him that I cant help it, I´m the son of "Thomas", hahaha! Im sure everything will be all right, I just like to be prepared.

 Thank you for all of the pictures. I love them and Im glad you had a good experience at the Conference Center. Elder Gutierrez and I are still waiting for the dog zapper with anticipation!:) 

SURPRISE!!!‏

Fotos de los Cambios

Mis amigazos!

Elder Alfaro

Elder Ibañez

Elder Ango

Well, SURPRISE!!! I didnt get changed!!! I´m still here in barrio Venezuela! Hooray!! I didnt want cambios, this ward is great! Hahaha! Elder Price got sent to la zona San Martin as a zone leader. They joke that I am training all the new zone leaders because first it was Ibañez and now Price who got bumped up. Its wierd though that now I´ve had four companions here. I´ll have taught the sector 3 times to new companions now. After this change I´ll have 7 1/2 months here. My new companion is Elder Gutierrez. He has about 16 months in the mission and is the only elder here from Paraguay. He is really cool and humble. I remember Elder Alfaro telling me that Elder Gutierrez is really cool. This is his first change as a district leader too. Im pretty sure that we are going to get along really well. I dont know why but I feel like I get along better with my latin companions than my gringo ones. Hahaha!

 Gabriel got baptized yesterday! Elder Price came back to baptize him. It was such a crazy domingo, we were so busy. The baptism was at 11am and we had ward council so we left it to Elder Price and his companion and Jorge, the Ward Mission Leader, and Elder Gutierrez and I went to ward council. We had a bunch of new people, classes to attend, and things to do, but we got a lot done! The ward is really excited for Beto (Albert) and Andrea´s wedding and Beto´s baptism on the 10th! They have been friendshipped really well by the ward. When we found out that I wasnt going to get cambiado, Elder Price told me that it must be for something that I am still here. He said he feels that it is for them and I feel the same way. They have been my goal since the moment that I met them. Now we have Beto´s birth certificate from Tacna and they are supposed to go this week with Hermana Juana, the Relief Society President, to get it changed. This is going to be the crucial part if they can get it changed before the 10th. We honestly dont know. Some people say it will be easy and some say it will take months. Now they just have to go and see! I am really anxious to get it all done.

The other day Hermana Melva´s son came home from his mission in Bolivia. he still hadnt been relieved so he came out with us. It was really wierd being in a trio but kind of fun. He got relieved that night but keeps coming out with us everyday this week!

Yesterday we taught an older Venezuelan man named Luis in a park outside his house. He explained to us how the economy in Venezuela has steadily been dropping until now every US dollar is equal to 750 bolivars. He came to Peru a few months ago to find work and support his family. Its a really sad story but the gospel is for everybody!!! We taught him about the Gospel of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, Endure) and he accepted the invitation to be baptized. He has a goal for the 31st of October (Halloween!!!) I know that the gospel is for everybody and can help everybody if they just would apply it in their lives.

I love all the pictures, and Tristan looks happy!!!

Have a great week, be safe and obedient!! I love you all a ton!

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central