La Conversión‏

Thank you for all of the pictures and emails. I loved the pictures and stories of the new Provo Temple open house. A lot of members here are amazed that we have a temple so close to our house. We really are blessed.

Well, the work is progressing, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. I really wish we could have more support from the members. They are always busy or something always happens. Sometimes I feel like they are scared to let their light shine before the world, they hide their testimonies and their beliefs from their friends and neighbors. This week we got more references from the Jehovah´s Witnesses that we talked to than the members from our ward! I realized that conversion is a never-ending process. Many members feel a conversion and get baptized and then slowly stop feeding their testimonies, and little by little it disappears and they dont have the courage to stand up for what´s right and share their testimonies. 

I really liked the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast that the Quorum of the Twelve and the Missionary Department showed on Wednesday. The topic was teaching repentance and baptizing converts. I really enjoyed it and the spirit indicated several things that I can change and do to improve myself as a missionary and be the means by which the people around me can be converted by the power of the spirit.

Yesterday Maicol came to church for the second time! Last Monday we went to visit him and he asked us what he has to do to get baptized. Thats always the best question that someone can ask you on the mission. Jahairo is having a lot of challenges right now and he isnt progressing like he was last month. His cell phone is broken and we are having a hard time finding him too. Last night we found a cool 21-year old and taught him the Restauración in his department. He was really interested and when we talked about José Smith and el Libro de Mormón he was a little surprised. You could see the surprise and interest on his face. We left him 3Nefi27 to read and invited him to pray to know if it is true. He is golden and it was probably one of the best lessons that Elder Garcia and I have taught together. The whole time we were teaching him I could imagine him as a missionary in a year. His name is Freddy and I am really excited to go back and teach him next Sunday.

I´ll keep looking out for those packages you sent. The candy really seems to disappear fast everytime I get a package, hahaha! This evening the zone leaders are going to call me to tell us the cambios! It´s exciting! I´m pretty sure that I´m staying but it´s likely that Elder Santana, Elder Garcia, and Elder Villarroel from my district will have transfers.

Sorry there are no pictures this week!

I love you all! You are the best family! 

¡Hasta Lluego!

--

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

Hahaha Elder Garcia snapped our church key off too! Wow, that is really cold. Here its really hot and humid. A lot of people here have told me the same thing about mom too!

Elder TOR-GER-SEN‏

-"Hola, we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My name is Elder Torgersen"

-"Ohhh............" (Awkward pause while they stare at my name tag and try to say "Tor-ger-sen")

-"And my name Elder Garcia"

-" Garcia? You are Peruvian, arent you? You both have the same name."

This is the english version of the conversation that I have had several times every day for the last 16 months, but its still funny every time. It made me laugh that Tristan has the same problem in Russia! Thats funny. We have a very unique and cool last name. I too am thankful for family history and for our ancestors. 

Well this week went by fast. Transfers are next Tuesday. We found a lot of new people again, which was great. Jahairo supposedly is going to get baptized on Saturday but he never showed up to our appointment last Saturday and didnt go to church yesterday, and he isnt answering his phone. I hope everything is alright. We are going to look for him tonight.

On wednesday we had a mission-wide ward council training meeting for all of the missionaries and leaders from every ward in the mission. I got to see a lot of people from Callao and Magdalena. Hermano Miguel was there too and he looks great. He was super happy to see me and we got to talk. He is the ward secretary and all of his meetings on Sunday have been getting in the way of his temple prep class, but he´s going to get it done soon. Elder Uceda, the Area President came and taught us a lot about how a ward and ward council should work. He said the bishop needs to focus on the youth and all worthiness and welfare emergencies, everything else that has to do with adults should be taken care of by the Relief Society, and the Elders and High Priests. He said that in the church and especially here in Peru we give too much to do to the bishop thinking that the bishop is superman and can do it all, but really it shouldnt be that way. I learned a lot and then Thursday Elder Uceda and his wife came and spoke to only the missionaries from 8am to 2pm. He is a very spiritual and inteligent man and I could feel the spirit bear witness that he is an authorized servant of the Lord.

Elder Garcia got robbed the other day but they gave him everything back because they were looking for the cell phone, but I had it :) It was an exciting experience though.

I finally got one of the packages! Thanks for the new tie and all the candy!

Well, I think thats all for this week, I love you all and wish you all the best!!! 

-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

-Santa Beatriz Selfie

 -Most of the zone at Parque de las Aguas

 -My district (including the zone leaders)

Pistolas

Hola! Wow, another week flew by! Its crazy! ... The zone leaders gave us really high goals for finding new investigators this week and Elder Garcia and I were able to accomplish them and we found a lot of new people, which gave me some new stories to share with you guys. We knocked a door the other day looking for someone we had contacted the other day and instead of the person we were looking for out came a big lady. She came out and greeted us like we had known each other for years. She said that she was talking to the missionaries and going to church in Iquitos (part of the jungle of Peru) She immediately pulled out some chairs and we sat and talked in the tiny patch of shade (I got burned pretty bad on my arms because the shade kept getting smaller and smaller by the minute until we were all pressed up against the wall to avoid the sun. It was soo hot this week! We had a good talk with her and she wants to keep learning more but just asked us to not use the B-word (baptism) So of course we talked about it. We were able to bear testimony about baptism and the blessings it gives us. We invited her to say the closing prayer and it was awesome! In her prayer she asked God to help her know if our arrival at her house here in Lima was the sign that she had been praying for! It was soo cool to hear that and see how God put us in the right place at the right time to be able to find her!

Last week we contacted a man named Andres who was surprisingly happy and nice, he was suspiciously too nice. It was a little wierd but we made an appointment to visit him because he said that he wanted to talk about Jesus. We went and he welcomed us into his house and invited us to share our message with him. He also told us that he already knew all about Mormon, Nephi, Moroni and José Smith. It was wierd becasue he said that he had never talked to someone from our church before but he knew all about those people. We asked him about it and he said that he investigated. He supposedly knew how Mormon formed our church and had a whole bunch of wives and then gave the church to "Smith" Haha it surprised me and made me laugh a bit. We explained to him that not everything in Internet is true. It was funny to see his face because at first he thought that he had the advantage over us and then he knew that he really didnt know anything. After we explained to him our purpose as missionaries to help him come unto Christ he was a lot more interested. 

We looked for a lady that we found a few weeks ago and we found her in her apartment and were able to meet her husband. We invited him to pray and in his prayer he also said that our arrival was perfect, just when they needed us. When we got there I felt like there was a little tension in the house but we were able to share our testimonies and invite the spirit. This week I was definitely able to see the Lord´s hand in His work, helping us everyday!

Jahairo came to church on Sunday. He already passed his interview and has three attendances so now we are just waiting for the 23 of January to come around so that he can get baptized. He is more excited and loved church yesterday. He said it was his favorite sunday so far!

Last Monday we bought little dart guns and had a shootout/capture the flag competition in the church with Elder Santana and Elder Weir. It was a blast!

Love you all! Thanks for all of the letters and pictures. I really enjoy it! Bye!!!

-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

First email of 2016‏

Hola!! Feliz Año! I hope you all had fun!!! We did too!

El Año Nuevo was lots of fun! We had permission to stay out past midnight again. We went to the Robles Family to celebrate the new year. They are recent converts who live in a huge super nice building with like 20 floors! Giovana Robles just got baptized last week, but her husband isnt a member yet. His name is Diego and he had fun with all of the fireworks because we arent allowed to use them on the mission. I understand even better why aerial fireworks are illegal in Utah now, hahaha! They bought something called a "cake" which was 49 aerial fireworks that go off one after another. I had no idea what it was until they had already lighted it. Diego put the "cake" down in the middle of the street and lit it off. There was a slight breeze so almost every firework exploded super close to the side of their apartment building! Hahaha it was pretty funny but dangerous too. Besides the fireworks, the new year was fun too! Here they have a fun little tradition where you have to eat 12 grapes at 12am to have good luck for the next year.

This week, we had intercambios with the assistents. Elder Gutierrez and I got to work together again and it was just like old times in barrio Venezuela. I think it really helped me a lot!! I really admire him, he is really cool. He told me that they already knew that Elder Garcia was tough, and that President had a hard time picking a strong missionary who could be with him. Elder Gutierrez says that he chose me because he knew that I have a lot of patience and that I would be able to help him. That really humbled me a lot and made me feel bad for complaining. Elder Gutierrez said that he has had problems with every single one of his companions. Thank you dad for what you shared with me about your own mission. I can really relate to it. I feel a lot better now and I know that I can help him these next three weeks.

On Saturday I had my third baptismal interview. I decided that it is one of my favorite parts about being a district leader. When the investigators are truly prepared and already have a testimony it is a super spiritual experience. It helps me to strengthen my own testimony. I really enjoy it!

Right now one of our biggest challenges is getting people to go to church. Yesterday none of our investigators or less actives were able to go and stay all three hours. Its really starting to hinder our success. I dont know what else we can do to get them to go.

This week has been good. I prayed really hard that I would be able to feel the spirit more strongly in my life and this week it happened. During lessons, teaching, contacting, and at church. I am really grateful for the presence of the spirit in my life. We should always strive to have its presence in every one of our daily activities. 

Have a great week! Love you all! 

-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central