Temple Trip‏

Wow, good job with the talent show and the Eagle Board of Review. Whew, its always a relief to have that done. It sounds like its hot there. Right now we are supposed to be in winter but this year has been one of the hottest that anyone here in Lima can remember. It is a lot cooler though which is nice and usually we use sweaters at night, because with the wind it gets really cold.

Last Tuesday was the longest Pday of my life. ¡Asu maquina! it was so long, but it was really fun though. Every transfer we get to have a big Pday like a trip to the temple. We had to get up pretty early to be ready at the temple for an 8am session with the zone. It had been a while since we had been able to go to the temple and I really enjoyed it. I felt happier and more rejuvenated. It really made the week. Then we had some time to shop and eat and at 3pm we had to be back at the stake center. The zone leaders planned a proselyting activity for us where they gave each of us a Libro de Mormón and a referral card and we had to go out with our companions to place the Libros and take out their references. (Of course we did it in the zone leaders sector, haha!) We wernt allowed to come back to play soccer until after we had given away both. At first I wasnt too excited to do it. It was Pday after all. We went out and started talking to people in a small park. I was surprised at how fast we found interested people. It got me excited to try to find even more people to teach  even on Pday). After the activity, we played soccer forever and then went to Parque de las Aguas. It is like a super nice gated park that has a whole bunch of fountains and at night there is a cool light/fountain/laser show. I enjoyed it, it was my first time there. There were a lot of Americans there. We ran into an old guy with a super thick southern accent. Elder Ibañez and I have been focusing a lot on his english but he said he understood absolutely nothing that came out of that guy´s mouth. It was kind of funny.

Well you guys wanted to hear about Guadalupe, Carlos`s mom. Tuesday morning she texted us and told us that she didnt feel ready for her baptism saturday. We went to visit her and everything went really well. We explained to her why we had previously scheduled a baptismal interview for her: so that she could know if she was ready. We convinced her to go with us to the interview and she passed it. Then the next day we went to visit her with the relief society president and she told us that she still didnt feel ready. She told us that the only reason why she started coming to church and taking the discussion was so that she would be able to get closer to her son Carlos who has started to separate himself from the family. But then she said that little by little she started to get interested and feel like these things really are true. She was crying and told us that she wanted to be saved but she doesnt want to offend God either. She wants to be 100% sure. She already told us that she knows that the Libro de Mormón is true, but she wants something else. It is really frustrating because she is so nice and basically already is a member. She says she feels like we are her own kids and we always help her but she wont get baptized just for us but she will do it when she feels ready. So we are going to keep visiting her and wait until she is ready. Keep praying for her. 

Guadalupe before her interview.

Saturday we had an awesome activity in the church. It was like a dessert festival and we played a lot of games. It was probably the best activity Ive had on my whole mission and the best part is that a few days before we found a prepared family and the mom and youngest daughter came and enjoyed the activity. They werent able to come to church (because her daughter got robbed) but we visited them sunday and taught the restauration and invited them all to baptism and they all accepted for the 25th of July! It was awesome. I will keep you informed on them!

I love you all. Stay safe and have a great semana!

Love, Elder Kevin Torgersen

Me, with my buddies: E Ibañez, E Alfaro, and E Olascuaga

Les presento mi nuevo compañero.... Elder Ibañez‏

Hola familia! ¿Cómo están? Espero que todo esté bien con ustedes. The Manti Pageant sounded like fun. 
Its fun that you took Ray (Chewy, haha!) Well, we had our cambios meeting on Tuesday. It was President Borg`s last one. The whole meeting was just sad, but good at the same time. A lot of the popular and famous elders and hermanas from the mission went home this transfer and gave their final testimonies. President and Hermana Borg also gave their final testimonies. Hermana Borg can hardly speak spanish but she did it all in spanish. Even though her spanish is incorrect, the spirit is always there super-strong everytime she gives her testimony, and that is what is important. We sang our song (yes people were crying ;) ) and had the cambios. Elder Galindo got transfered to Rimac (the super pobre part of the mission with super steep hills). My new companion is.... Elder Ibañez. He is from Concepción, Chile. Its kind of funny because most of the Peruvians hold a 100-year grudge against the Chileans for beating them in all the wars they had. When he tells them he is from Chile a lot of people say "Oh", or turn a little defensive. Its really funny. Our pensionista`s husband, Hermano Arce, is super anti-chileno, but luckily he hasnt been able to eat lunch with us so far this week, hahaha! I didnt know Elder Ibañez before like I knew Elder Galindo but so far we get along really well. He is awesome, super humble, and super smart. He talks to everyone! Which is something that is really hard for most people. Sometimes we just walk down the street and he says hi to someone and if they say hi back he starts a converstion with them and than we end up writing down their address and numero telefonico. He also invites everyone and I mean EVERYONE to be baptized! It doesnt matter if we go to an appointment with a person who has said "no" a million times or if we just bump into someone in the street. We have had a lot of success. I feel really blessed to be with him. There is so much I still have to learn about being a great missionary. Its like all of the companions I get keep getting better and better. We have been working a lot on his english. It is our goal that he will be speaking really well by the end of our time together. He is learning a lot. Sometimes we try to just speak english. These last few nights we have been just laying there in our beds speaking english to each other. Anyway, everything is awesome!

Saturday we went to Condevilla so that Elder Ibañez could baptize someone in his last sector. We took a picture because almost all of the companions that he has had in the mision were there at the baptism so that was fun!

Yesterday we went to the Dedicación del Templo de Trujillo, Perú. It was really good. There were sessions at 9am, 12pm, and 3pm and they were all a little different. We went to the 1st and 2nd sessions. President Uchtdorf said the dedicatory prayer the first time, but the second time he invited Elder Uceda to say it. it was really cool because I had met him and shook his hand just a few weeks ago! I really liked Elder Uceda´s talk that he gave in the celestial room. He talked about 5 ways we can always remember the temple and get our children excited to one day enter:

1. Keep a picture of a nearby temple in a visible place in your house where all of our family, friends and neighbors can see it.

2. Fill out the "My Family" family history booklet

3. Buy and take care of your own temple clothes. He said that just having them there in your house and carefully washing and ironing them will help us to always remember to go to the temple and stay true to our covenants

4. Keep your temple recommend valid. The temple recommend is a sign of our discipleship and the love we have for God.

5. Attend the temple regularly. Set goals and specific dates to go.    

We have three people with a baptismal date. Guadalupe accepted the baptismal challenge for the 27th of June, next saturday, but this morning a few hours ago she texted us and told us that she doesnt feel ready and that she wants to be absolutely sure. We are going to have to go visit her soon! 

Tomorrow we are going to go to the temple as a zone. We have to be there at 8am, so that should be fun!

I love you all, thanks for writing!

Love, Elder Kevin Torgersen

Another Fast Week!

OK, my excuse for writing late this week is because we were having a choir practice in the institute building with some other missionaries. Some of the sisters organized a small choir of missionaries to sing a medley of ¨God Be With You Till We Meet Again¨ for President and Sister Borg tomorrow in their last cambio meeting. There are about 10 of us and we are singing parts in both spanish and english. It is really good and our goal is to make everyone cry, haha. I like it because I am learning how to sing parts and basically sing better. I like it even though I´m not too good.

Wow, it sounds like you guys had a fun week. All those bike rides and the dance concert. I liked mom´s story about her moment ¨on stage.¨ Wow, Steiner is home. That´s so wierd. Its cool that he´s changed so much. Tell him hi from me. Keep focusing on getting ready for Tristan´s mission. It sounds like you are going to be well prepared with the language. Well I didnt get a picture of the giant snails because Gamarra is super crowded and a little ¨movido¨ and I didnt want tot get my camera stolen. But the guy was demonstrating how they take stains out of clothes and everything. We stopped to watch for like 10 minutes.

 We had a really crazy day on Saturday. We played basketball at 6am like normal and then we had to pick up the church keys and hurry over to the chapel to finish filling up the font and to clean the messy chapel. (They always leave it super messy.) Then at 11pm we had to go to barrio Pueblo Libre so Elder Galindo could interview someone to get baptized. Then we took a bus to get to our lunch appointment. After lunch we ran to pick up all the baptismal clothing and extra clothes and stuff and then meet Pilar and Alberto at the church at 3pm for their baptism. It was probably the best organized baptism that I´ve had in the mission. Last week in ward counsel all of the leaders were actually volunteering to give talks and bring food and say the prayers and stuff. It was super helpful and super successful! The whole room was full. Elder Galindo baptized Pilar (who is 7 months pregant), and I baptized Alberto. They were both a little nervous but everything went well. Its starting to get a lot colder here and the water was really cold. Haha, after the baptism when we were changing we asked Alberto several times how he felt and he kept saying ¨cold¨ Haha! THen he told us that he felt peace and felt good. I am really proud of him, he has changed his life completely. He is from Callao and it has been 2 months since he last drank. When ever the members saw him they would always ask us if he was really getting baptized because he looks like a gangster or a street rat, but he is a completely different person now. The gospel changes lives. 

After the baptism was over Hermano Yaranga drove us to the stake center for the priesthood leader session of stake conference at 5pm and then the adult session at 7:30pm. The stake conference was really good. President and Hermana Borg were there as well as the Temple President from the Peru Lima temple. They all gave really good talks. There was a big focus on the Dia de Reposo and how we can sanctify it. THere was also a big focus on self sufficience and tithing and fast offerings. I really like President Borgs talk. He basically gave a recap of his mission and thanked and said goodbye to everyone. THe temple presidents talk was really good too. He talk about family history and the importance of temple work. He pointed out that htere present in the conference was the man with the keys of missionary work and ordinances for the living (President Borg), the man with the keys fro the ordinances for the dead (President Peroti the temple president), and the keys for the perfectioning of the saints (President Loyaza the Stake President). It made me think a lot about the priesthood and what a blessing it is for us to have it here on the earth. 

Well, they are going to tell us about the cambios any minute now so thats exciting. Im probably staying but Elder Galindo is almost for sure going to leave. Its too bad because we get along really well. I hope you all have a fun, successful, happy week!

 Love, Elder Kevin Torgersen

A successful week

Hola a todos! I m glad that you all had a great week. Girls Camp sounded like a lot of fun. The pictures look great. Dad looks good in his wig, haha! I loved the pictures of Trevor and Elizabeth playing football. Its really cute. And its fun that shes taking dance classes. 

Did you get the email from the mission that the mission office address is changing?

We had a good week. Pilar and Alberto got married last week and now are getting baptized on Saturday. They both passed their interviews and are for sure. We were a little worried about Alberto passing his interview because he has two tear drop tattoos under his eyes which usually would mean that he killed someone. But he passed! It has been more than two months since he last drank too. Hermana Carmen and Pilar were telling us how he has completely changed. Even the way he dresses has changed. The gospel and atonement really change lives! They are both ready and excited for their baptism.

Saturday morning the stake held a Family History Fair in the stake center. It was really good but we were having a hard time getting a lot of people to come. Contacting and inviting in the street didnt work very well because where the stake center is is where everyone is going to work and busy, so the Hermanas had the great idea to draw the plan of salvation on the sidewalk in front of the stake center to get peoples attention and it worked!

We had a really good sunday. I dont know why but I wasnt feeling very good Sunday morning. The night before we had a confrontation with a drunk antimormon and it ruined my night and made me feel bad. Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and several people went up to bear there testimonies, but then when one strong sister was bearing her testimony like 10 members all stood up at once and went and stood on the stand to bear their testimonies. The spirit hit me really strong that the church really is true. My eyes even teared up a bit. Also, a  lot of less actives and other people and converts who usually cant stay all three hours stayed. The Principles of the Gospel class was full! Then Sunday night we had an awesome noche de Hogar with Carmen and her daughters, Coset, Cintia and the 1st counselors family. Its been fun.

Today we played soccer in the morning and then went to this huge street market called Gamarra! There was a man with a pet monkey that asked for money and a man selling these huge fist sized snails that apparently cure acne and take stains out of clothes!

Hope you all have a great week, got to go!

Love, Elder Torgersen

multizonas with Zona Rimac 

Sorry I didn't write yesterday

Hello everyone, we`re still alive! Sorry I didnt write yesterday. We had a big Pday and we never had time to come write. Every transfer we get one big Pday were we get to do something special and we get to be out until 9pm and we did it yesterday. In the morning we were helping the zone leaders move the four hermanas from barrio Bolivar to live in the huge house that the hermanas in Pueblo Libre have. They were moving because they apparently had a lot of problems with spirits. Afterwards, Alex invited us to a nice northerner restaurant and we ate cuy (guinea pig). Then we met up with the zone and went to an outdoor bouldering place. It was really fun. There were a lot of mats and we did some wrestling too, haha! Elder Dart, one of the zone leaders, took state two years ago in one of the smaller weight classes and we wrestled a bit and taught some of the others how to wrestle. Then we went out to eat in Larcomar. It was a really fun day.

We had a good week too. On Saturday we went to Alberto and Pilar`s wedding. They got married in a massive wedding ceremony at the Breña city center. They are going to get baptized on the 13th of this month. They are excited. Pilar is one of Hermana Carmen`s daughters (Carmen got baptized on my first weekend here in Magdalena.) We just got back from visiting them. Its kind of cool because the first person to find the church and get baptized was Carmen`s 10 year old nephew. When he was eight he met the missionaries in Callao and got baptized. He was the only one in his family to get baptized, but Carmen knew about it and then two years later she got baptized and now her daughter and son-in-law are getting baptized as well, and all started with an eight year old boy.

On Friday we had Multizonas with Zona Rimac. It was a really good meeting and Elder Galindo and I learned a lot of stuff that we are going to apply to our investigators. It was also probably going to be our last Multizona with President and Hermana Borg too. It was kind of sad. There are leaving just a few days after the dedication of the Trujillo Peru temple.

We heard that Elder Perry died right after a baptism in the other ward in our district. I played the piano for the baptism and a really cool couple that some of the Hermanas were teaching were finally getting baptized. Right when it ended Alex told us that he saw that Elder Perry had passed away on Facebook. That`s too bad, I always liked his talks. They say that the prophet is sick too. Do you know when they will call another apostle? Its kind of interesting. I wonder who it will be.

Well, I had a lot of good pictures to send you but this computer is terrible so we will have to wait until next week. Then I will send them all.

I hope this week is better and not as crazy as last week. Oh yea, did you know that they make long thermal garments too. Maybe thats something Tristan might need. They sell them at the temple here in Lima for all the mountain people.

Love you all,
Elder Kevin Torgersen