Finishing Strong!!

Well this is the last email from the mission! Its sad but great at the same time. On wednesday I´ll be able to tell you everything, you´ll be able to see all my pictures but I just wanted to let you know that we are finishing strong and that we had two baptisms Saturday morning before we went out to say goodbye at Santa Beatriz and Venezuela. Claudia finally got baptized and Linda got baptized too! It was so great! We are happy and I am excited to see you all on Wednesday! Thanks for always writing me every week! Love you all!!! Bye!!!
-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Pirates, Lawyers, and Marines

Hello family! I love you all!!! I am super excited to see you all, but Im still staying focused. This last week was actually one of the most successful weeks that Ive had on the mission! This Saturday we are going to have two baptisms and then next week we are going to have three or four. I feel pretty good about that. One of my goals was to leave Elder Ramirez with people ready to be baptized, and together we have done it.

Besides all the teaching and finding we did this week a few other fun things happened: 

We finally got to kick the three elders from La Punta out of our room! The entire change up til now we have been looking for a new room for them closer to their sector. It was a tough search finding a room that the secretaries could approve but we finally found one. Turns out that the landlord has a lawyer that wanted a special contract and everything perfect so we had to spend a while hanging out with the lawyer and the secretaries to make the contract. A few days later when it was finally done and signed by everyone we had to take it to the offices. When we were on the bus a man got on and kept looking at me then he came over and sat next to me, and with a perfect easterner accent he asked me how I was doing. He was an awesome person and we had a great conversation. Turns out that he is from Ohio but his parents are peruvians and he lives here now. He used to be a US Marine (he showed me the pistol he had hidden under his suit coat and everything) but now is retired and teaches English in a university here in Callao. He met four US presidents and served actively about 10 years ago. He his now a catholic deacon but the elders used to live in his house. It was a super cool experience to talk to him and to be able to share the gospel.

Later in the week we were out contacting and we talked to a man who talked a little wierd. I thought that he was Cuban or something but he told us that he was Peruvian but that he had been in Central America for several years. We asked a few more questions and it turns out that he was just deported back to Peru because he used to be a pirate in the Carribean! It was crazy, hahaha! There are so many wierd things that we find here in Callao!

Well, we are excited for Saturday. Claudia is finally going to get baptized and then in the afternoon we are going to go to barrio Venezuela and barrio Santa Beatriz to say goodbye to everyone. I love you all and home you have a great week! 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

The Lord`s Hand

Hi everyone! This week was good, I learned a lot about diligence and faith with Elder Ramirez. We had a LOT of meetings: Multizonas, District Meetings, Mission Leadership Counsel, and Weekly Planning. It was crazy! There wasnt very much time to proselyte because on top of all of the meetings we can only work until 7:30pm here in Callao because its so dangerous, but we knew that we had to achieve our goals. This week I really learned why goals are so important, they help us to stay diligent and build our faith. Sunday afternoon came around and we still had to find four new investigators to complete our weekly goal. We were able to see the Lord´s hand working before our eyes as we talked to people who wanted nothing with us but then in the blink of an eye their hearts were softened and they let us into there house to share a message. We were able to find four new investigators and achieve our goals. I know that every number represents a child of God. When Elder Robbins came to visit our mission he said that the missionaries who had the most faith when he was mission president were those who had the highest numbers. Our faith helps us achieve what would otherwise be impossible for us. Its something that Ive noticed here in the zone as well. The elders and hermanas that have more faith always have success and never make excuses. I know that the Lord blessed us for our obedience and our diligence.

I love you all and hope that you have an awesome week! Look for ways to build your faith everyday. Remember that every member is a missionary! I´m excited to see you soon! Bye!!!

- Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Maicol finally got baptized!!!

 The bishop just passed me these pictures that we took when we ate lunch at his house last transfer.

¡Parrillada!

Hello family! Its great to hear from you! I love you all! We´re still having fun here in Callao! There´s always a little stress with the zone but nothing too bad. This week was great! We are getting along really great and Elder Ramirez helps me stay focused and busy. I appreciate it a lot. We have to be examples for the entire zone. I am trying really hard to stay focused.

This week one of Hermana Brake´s grandaughters, Juleysi, turned 8 and wanted me to baptize her. The baptism was on thursday, the 28th, which is a big holiday here. Almost the entire Brake family was there. Most of them are less active or inactive. It was cool for them to all be there. Then yesterday we were able to teach one of her older grandsons and he told us that he wants us to help him come back to the church. It was really neat. I think seeing the baptism helped him a lot. 

We also organized a ward family home evening. It went really well and quite a few members showed up. Antonio showed up too, he was the first person to show up. He is becoming more active than the members hahahaha! He was there at church on Sunday too. He has a goal to be baptized on the 20th. Benigno came to church for the first time too. He is an alcoholic that we met last week. He really wants help getting out of his addiction and is doing a good job so far. He used to be so bad that when he would go a day without drinking his hands would tremble. It is tough but he really wants to change his life and get baptized. It cool to see how much progress he has made so far.

Today we had a zone barbeque! (Parrillada) It was a blast! We just finished cleaning everything up. It was my last zone pday!

Well, I think thats it! I love you all!!! Have a great week!
--

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central