¡Hola Familia!‏

¡Hola familia! Wow, what a great week! I am really greatful for temples and Family History work too. I´m glad that you guys were able to have such great experiences in the temple this week. I miss going to the temple. It has been a while since the last time we went. 

Elder Rui seems like a good missionary. I´m glad you guys took good care of him. (Remember if you stop taking good care of the missionaries back home the members here will stop taking care of me, hahaha!!!! Just kidding!) I´m still doing great! Rigoberto and Israel are planning on getting baptized this Saturday, so thats exciting. Rigoberto is still a little unsure because he wants to have his whole family there in his baptism but I think he is a little scared to tell them. He is really cool and we are still praying hard for him. Israel is the nephew of the Elders Quorum President. He is really excited too and is progressing rapidly. 

Well, I couldnt think of anything else to write about so I thought that I might write something special for Tristan for his MTC experience:

Well Tristan, I am really proud of you and excited for you to go on your own mission to Russia! Are you excited!?! You should be! Well I just wanted to write you a bit to tell you about the mission. Stuff I think you should know that I didnt know. First off, everything depends on the Book of Mormon: Joseph Smith, priesthood authority, the church, the temples, everything! If the Book of Mormon is true, the rest of that stuff is true too. That is probably the most important thing that you will teach the people. Gain your own testimony of the Book of Mormon by applying Moroni 10:3-5 and having your own spiritual experiences with it as often as possible, preferibly every day. Take time to study the BoM everyday. If the people in your mission are big into the Bible it would be good to be familiar with the New Testament as well. Its amazing how many churches dont even follow what the Bible teaches. However, the most important is the BoM. Help you investigators to gain a testimony of the BoM and everything else will be easy. When people gain their own testimonies of the BoM they make time to go to church and feel the urgency to keep the commandments more than people who dont have testimonios

I want you to enjoy your MTC experience. It really is awesome if you have a good attitude. I loved it! I dont know how the Provo MTC is, but in Mexico they gave us a lot of freedom. They give you study time, but there is no teacher there to supervise you. You need to take advantage of every minute in your studies in the MTC and in the field. They are precious. The good habits you form now and in the MTC will help you in the field. Be diligent and exactly obedient. You are never going to have a leader or teacher in your department telling you what it do, it is all up to you. Dont limit your Russian to only the church vocabulary, but learn everything possible about the language, vocabulary and especially the culture of the region and the people. I think its so sad that so many elders go through two years of their missions and only know how to give lessons because they never took the time or interest to learn more. Learn to love the people and the culture. Decide now to be obedient. Here in Lima Central, most elders have a special notebook that they give to members and other missionaries to write in and put pctures and emails and addresses. I recommend that you get one before the MTC so that you can remeber the friends that you will make there in your 10 weeks there! Haha thats a long time, but you can do it! Help your companion everyday, even if he is a little wierd, you are both there in the same boat. I am now best friends with my MTC companion who was really hard to deal with a first.

The church is true and I know it. Dont ever doubt it! People will attack the church and attack you for being a missionary but dont pay them any attention! I loove you a lot and I am so excited to hear about your experiences!!!

I love you all and hope to hear about your next week. Keep being a perfect, happy mormon family!!!

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

                                   fotos de la semana pasada‏

                                               mas fotos‏

aun mas fotos de la semana pasada Elder Holden y Elder Allen!!!‏

Worms, Sickness, Comfirmations, Amigos y Elder Bednar!!!!‏

I like the new look of the house with the new rugs and furniture. Russell that is so cool that you had a "Pick 6!!" I`m really proud of you! Keeping working hard and do your best. I`m really proud of Tristan too! Good job on getting your Eagle! You´ve only got about three weeks left. Make the most of it!!! There is still the chance that you could come dowm to Perú. There are like six missionaries in our mission that were supposed to go to Ukraine and were learning Russian, but when they we over halfway done with the MTC they got reassigned to our mission!! How crazy would that be! If you want to send me something you could always send me more candy ;) and maybe one of those electronic dog buzzers that scares off dogs. That would be nice sometimes amd a little fun too!

Well, this was another unique week! Where to start?... Well last Pday we went out with Alex and bought "Suris" A suri is a thumb-sized fat jungle tree worm from Perú. They eat them a lot in the jungle but they are a little hard to find here. It took us about two hours of Pday time going from market to market until we finally found some! We brought them to Albert and Andrea´s house and ate them there. Most people eat them fried, but we ate them alive!!! It was fun!!! You have to pick them up by their heads which are like black marbles with big pincers and then bite down behind the head really hard until it comes off. Then you have to chew and chew and chew! It was fun watching the others make faces and stuff! It just tasted like coconut because they live in the bark of a kind of coco tree.

The suris were fun but the next day Elder Price got sick. He thinks it was from the suri that he ate. We had to rest a lot but its good that hes feeling better now. He was sick almost all week.

We had Rigoberto´s baptismal interview this week and he passed!! Whoooo!!!! However, he did not want to get baptized on the 30th. He felt that it was too soon. It has only been about a month after all. He knows the church and Libro de Mormon are true but wants to wait until the 21th of September to get baptized. I´m really excited for that day!

We had a great Sunday. There were a lot of people in sacrament meeting we had a lot of "first-timers." Andrea and Albert finally came together to the chapel for the first time (it must have been the suri, haha!) We got Jimmy and Ricardo confirmed because they werent able to come last week and I gave a talk about keeping the sabbath day holy.

Sorry this email is all out of order, but on Wednesday we got to go to a multi mission conference with Elder Bednar! It was great! I learned a lot! We talked a lot about the inportance of the spirit and prayer in missionary work. He talked about how investigators are agents unto themselves and are not objects to be acted upon. We shouldnt do everything for them. Hey and I got to see Elder Allen and Elder Holden!!!! :) It was so cool.

I couldnt send any pictures, but I have a bunch to send next week!

 We didnt have a lot of time to talk though! Well I dont have much time left, but I love you all!!!

Love,

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

How Satan Almost Ruined Our Baptism!‏

Well, we had a crazy week, we`ve been working hard! So much has happened this week I dont know where to start! I`ll just start off with the good stuff then, The Baptism! We have been visiting Ricardo and Jimmy almost everyday this week to prepare them for their baptism the 22nd! They are super cool and we super excited to get baptized. We brought them to the chapel thursday night for their baptismal interview and they both passed! They were both excited but nervous. Saturday morning came around and the new sister missionaries in Breña who replaced Elder Alfaro and Elder Olascuaga also had a baptism, but in the morning, so we got over there at 7am to help them clean the church and fill the font. It takes 3hours to fill our baptismal font here in this ward. When the font was filled and the church was cleaned we left the sisters so they could have their baptism and told them to leave the water in the font and everything ready for our baptism at 8pm. We went out and proselyted and had a good day but at 7pm we went back to the church but it was locked because the bishopric hadnt showed up yet. We waited outside for about half an hour with about thirty other members until they finally came and opened the church. We ran in to get everything ready to start but when we opened the doors to the baptismal font THERE WAS NO WATER IN THE FONT!!! Jimmy and Ricardo had showed up, all their Mormon family from Callao, and about 50 members were there and there was no water in the font. Obviously we cant have a baptism without water! It was soo stressful! We had no idea what to do. We called around and none of the other chapel had baptism. We called the zone leaders and they started filling the font in the stake center becuse it only takes 30 min to fill over there. We called Pueblo Libre because they had a baptism today and they said that they still had water in their font. It was a gamble but we went out and got taxis to bring everyone to Pueblo Libre. I was surprised that a good number of members came to support. We ran into the Pueblo Libre chapel and opened the font, AND THERE WAS WATER!!! I was so happy. Elder Ibañez showed up to baptize Ricardo and I baptized Jimmy! It was great to see him again and have the four of us all together again. It was kind of funny when Ibañez baptized Ricardo because Ricardo is a little bigger than Elder Ibañez and when he baptized him he got summerged too, hahaha! We were joking that it was like the baptism of Alma and Helam in the Book of Mormon! I think all of the stress helped me enjoy the baptism even more. It was probably the most spiritual baptism that I have had on the mission! Even though we had no water and we had to run to another font and there was a lot of confusion and it all turned out good in the end! The only bad thing is that Rigoberto showed up at our chapel to watch the baptism but he didnt really want to go all the way to Pueblo Libre with us. But he came to church yesterday. The other day we finished teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and after hearing all about the resurrection and the kingdoms of glory he told us that he used to be 20% sure that he was going to get baptized but after hearing that lesson he is now 80% sure that he is going to get baptized. He is really cool! 

Keep praying for us and keep sending me pictures and having fun. I love you all! I know we will be blessed for dad`s service as a bishop. Help him out. I have seen how hard it can be to be a bishop with no support. Have a great week!

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

A New Companion

The Great and Spacious Building

Last Pday at a small amusement park

A Cool Plane

Saying goodbye to Hermana Cintia

Wow, dad is the new bishop! That was a surprise! I remember telling Elder Ibañez the other day that he is a firefighter and sometimes has to work Sundays so he probably wouldnt be called as a bishop soon. I guess I jinxed it. Haha! Thats really exciting though. I know you will be a great bishop dad!!!

Last Pday we didnt go to Parque de las Leyendas. We had a change of plans and Alex invited us to go with him on some small amusement park rides. We had to call the asistants for permission and they let us go. There was almost no one there so we had free pick of all of the rides. It was pretty fun!

Well, we had changes! It wasnt me though. Elder Ibañez got sent to Rimac as a zone leader and my new companion is an american called Elder Price. He is from California and has 20 months in the mission. He seems pretty good and I think I can learn a lot from him. I will have to get used to him though. I really miss Elder Ibañez though. He was awesome and probably my favorite companion!

Jimmy and Ricardo are progressing really fast and are excited for their baptism this Saturday. We fasted with them this week to help Jimmy overcome his alcohol problem. Before he even met us he had given up alcohol but every once in a while his friends come and tempt him or something happens that makes him drink so we fasted with Jimmy, Ricardo, their mom Maria, and Alex. It was their first time ever fasting and I think it helped him a lot. 

Speaking about fasting, one day we were walking down the street and knocked a door looking for a person we had recently contacted. An older man answered and started to talk to us. He knew a lot about the church and started to try to fight with us. It was kind of funny because he told us that he was fasting to help him out. We just happened to be there as an answer to his fast but he chose to reject us. Elder Price actually recognized him as a taxista that had once given him a ride. Its sad when people receive answers to their prayers or fasts but choose not to accept it. This week we got to visit Guadalupe Yi several times. It had been a long time since she had last come to church or we had ben able to visit her. We had two super awesome visits and we invited to be baptized again and she accepted but was really hesitant about the goal for the 29th of this month. We brought a member who shared her conversion story and her testimony and the spirit was super strong. I know that Guadalupe could feel it. She committed to come to church this week and everything but everything went downhill Sunday morning. She sent us a text message and told us that she wasnt coming to church and had gone to the catholic church. She thanked us for all of the visits and everything we had done for her but said that she was not going to get baptized. It was a real bummer! I have been working with her pretty much all of my time here in barrio Venezuela.

Rigoberto is doing good. He came to church yesterday! This week we went to go teach him with Alex and Bryan, Hna Arce`s step-son. We all squeezed into his taxi and had a good lesson. He is excited to learn more and he wants to go to Jimmy´s baptism this Saturday to see what its like. He is progressing pretty well and keeps reading the Book of Mormon.

Well, I love you all! Have a great week! Keep reading your scriptures every day, especially the Book of Mormon. It really is true and has a lot of power to change lives and build testimonies. I think that is the greatest thing that I have learned so far here on the mission!

-- 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

Oh yea he cut my hair today! He did a good job.

Oh yea and Elder Bednar is coming to give a multimission conference on the 26th and Brandon will be there too! Im pretty excited.

Museo de la Santa Inquisición

The rest of the zone wanted to go eat rice and chicken (which we eat EVERY SINGLE DAY!) so we went to eat pizza!

Last night we had dinner with the Arce family. Hermana Arce says thanks for the things you knitted she really likes them. She wants to learn how to do it too. She wants to contact you on facebook.

                              Museo de la Santa Inquisición

 Wow, we had a good week! People are progressing. I really dont want us to have transfers! This evening we are going to know if we are going to have transfers or not. It always makes me so anxious! So much was happening this week that I can´t think of anything to write. All the past days and weeks  just start to blend together. I used to write down everything I wanted to tell you guys during the week but I got out of that habit. I got my package! It was great to see Sister Hone too! Thanks for all of the notes and the chocolate and the new shoes (my old ones were falling apart). 

Yesterday we didnt have a single investigator show up to church, which was a bummer, but we had seven less actives attend. We had the entire stake presidency present during our sacrament meeting, even all of the secretaries were there up on the stand. We were lucky that we didnt have to give talks, hahaha!

So we have news on Rigoberto. We went to go teach him for the third time and when we were walking over to his house we saw him sitting in his taxi parked across the street. He called over to us and stepped out of his taxi. He was a little embarassed and started to apologize, and told us that he had a confrontation with his wife and she didnt want us to go inside their house anymore. I thought that he was going to tell us that we couldnt visit him anymore, but he said that he really wants to learn more and he really liked reading the Libro de Mormón. So we taught him there inside his parked taxi. It was an awesome lesson. We had left him 2 Nefi 2 to read and he had read it. We explained the importance of the Fall of Adam and Eve and how it was a part of the plan. (The Catholics generally think the Fall was a terrible mistake). We explained that Christ made our salvation possible, but know we are his debtors. We compared it to the story of the debtor. (I really like this video:
http://broadcast.lds.org/video/BookOfMormon_Presentations/BM_GospelDoctrine_Video_05_Lesson30_Mediator_04396_eng_1M.mp4 )
Now we are debtors to Christ. In order to repay him he requires obedience to what he has commanded us to do. He asks us to have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, keep his commandments, and endure to the end. I invited Rigoberto to be baptized  and he thought for a minute and started to put out excuses about how he wanted to learn more, but then in mid-sentence he stopped talking, and we watched as the spirit touched his heart and told him what he needed to do. He started talking to himself and said, Yea, I will be baptized. Then he put his own baptismal date. He wants to be baptized on the 29th of August. It was really cool!

We are preparing Jimmy and his family to be baptized as well. We taught them about keeping the Sabbath day holy this week and it kind of hit them hard. They are really poor and feel that they cant afford to not work on Sunday. Then they didnt come to church yesterday... We are going to eat lunch right now in their little restaurant in the market and then we are planning to go to Parque de las Leyendas, which is a cool zoo. Thanks for praying for me to have a good Pday, hahahaha!

This week I sent a lot of pictures to make up for last week! Thanks for always writing. I love hearing from Tristan and Russell´s point of view too. Tristan, good luck tomorrow in the temple. Have fun! 

-Elder Kevin Torgersen-

Misión Perú Lima Central

                                              The District‏

                                                                         Zone picture 

Rigoberto= Cornelio‏

¡Buenos días familia! Me alegre que ustedes han tenido una semana muy buena y divertida! Gracias por todas sus cartas, historias y fotos que me mandan cada semana. 

We had a good week here in barrio Venezuela. This week we recieved a reference from the offices. I called him Thursday and set up an appointment with him for later that day. We went and he was there waiting for us (usually people forget or hide). He welcomed us up into his humble home in the third floor of an old building. His name is Rigoberto and he is really cool. He is about 50-60 years old and is a taxista. He used to be ship merchant and has sailed all around the world. He has been to all parts of South America, Europe, Asia, and the United States. About a year ago he gave a ride to an older missionary couple and during the ride they gave him a Libro de Mormón. He was really interested and started reading it. Then recently he gave a ride to two American missionaries from Migraciones here in Breña to the temple in La Molina. He said that they talked to him about the church for over an hour and wrote down all of his information to go visit him, and that´s where Elder Ibañez and I come in! We brought Alex and taught him about the Restauration on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was probably one of the best lessons that I`ve taught. At the end he said "Wow, I can tell that you guys really know what you are talking about, everything is really clear. I understand it all. I would have liked to learn more about José Smith though." We were joking afterwards that he is really one of the Three Nephites and was evaluating our teaching abilities, hahaha! We invited him to church and he said he was going to go but that we didnt need to come pick him up. (Everybody says that and they never show up!) He said he would beat us there, which scared us because lately the bishopric has been opening the church late on Sunday mornings. We also last his number and so we werent able to call him Saturday night to remind him. Sunday came and the bishop opened the church early and everything was relaxed and going well before 8am. Then Rigoberto showed up! Jimmy and his family came too. The pianist never showed up so I got to play in sacrament meeting.  It was a really great fast and testimony meeting and Rigoberto really enjoyed it. He wants us to come visit him again to learn more. He is a person that has been prepared to recieve the gospel, (he´s legally married too, we double-checked that during the first appointment!) Here in the mission we call people who are really prepared to get baptized Cornelios because of the story of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 ( I think its chapter 10) Well that´s some of the excitement this week. Elder Ibañez and I get along really good! His English is improving a lot too. Cambios are coming up next week amd we are really hoping that neither one of us gets changed!

 Sorry there arent any pictures this week. There will be next week.

I love you all!

Love Elder Kevin Torgersen

Peruvian Independence Day!‏

Tomorrow is the Peruvian Independence Day! This week was a good week, like always. I`m glad you all had a good week and are getting excited for Tristan´s mission! Mine has been awesome!

This week the assistants called me and told me that I was invited to a baptism this Sunday in barrio Heros back in Callao! Do you remember the investigator Evelyn Gomez? She and her daughter were baptized by her husband. It was really great to go back and see her get baptized and to see all my people. After her baptism she got up and said that at first she didnt know if all of it was true. But now she said that she KNOWS that it is all true! Her baptism was really spiritual and I was able to participate in her confirmation afterwards. Then they invited us over to eat lunch with them. It was great to visit with with everyone from the ward and to visit Hermano Miguel. He misses me a lot. He said kept saying that the other elders arent the same and that he wants me to come back. He is still going to his institute classes every week (he has almost taken all of the classes!) and is getting ready to start taking the temple prep classes. The only problem is that there isnt anyone to give the classes yet. I really want to be there when he goes through the temple and I told him to make sure to let me know when he is ready at the end of this year.

The work is going good. We were a little frustrated yesterday though. At 7am I called just about every investigator and a lot of less actives to remind them about church at 8am and they all said that they were coming. We went to go pick up Andrea and Albert but they never answered their door. We went to the church and waited outside the gate until someone with a key came and opened the church at 8:05am. There was a party this week at the church and all of the chairs were a mess so we had to put up all the chairs. (we have chairs instead of benches in our chapel). Hermana Roxana was the only one who showed up and wasnt able to wake up her kids to bring them. :( The sacrament meeting was super irreverent and I was getting kind of mad. I was thinking that maybe it was a good thing that nobody came. Then I realized that it was out of my control and I reminded myself that I was there to renew my covenants and to grow spiritually. Roxana sat with Cintia and now they are becoming friends. So thats a good thing! Elder Ibañez and I have been talking and we are going to try to get the keys from the bishop the night before to get to the church early to get everything ready and reverent for Sacrament Meeting.

Hermana Zubiate fed us a feast and told us to invite some members so that was fun. I sent some pictures. Last Pday we went and played pool and today we rented bikes and rode up to the Cristo in Chorrillos (again!). My pedal didnt fall off this time though!!! It was a lot more enjoyable! 

The work is going good and I love being here in Peru. There are so many cool little moments and experiences that we have everyday, I wish I could write EVERYTHING that happens everyday but that would be impossible. I love seeing the changes that happen in people when they turn their lives around and start to read the Libro de Mormon! I know that it is true!

Love, 

Elder Kevin Torgersen

In Callao 

 Hermano Miguel

A Really Fast Successful Week!‏

Well, it was another ggreat week! It went by fast as usual, but I am enjoying it. Elder Ibañez and I have been working hard and have found a lot of new people to teach. We are making a lot of progress with others. 

It sounds like you all had fun in Idaho and on the beach trip! You wrote about raspberries and I really miss them. They basically dont exist here. You can go to the super market and buy a tiny jar of raspberry jam but its nothing like your homemade jam and its expensive! They have soo many new and strange fruits here but no raspberries! I´m glad you all survived your tornado! 

Yesterday was a good sunday. I didnt have to give a talk (like I did the last two of the last three weeks), and we had a lot of investigators come for the first time. We went and picked up Albert and he stayed for the first hour with us. Sacrament meeting was really good and he was asking me a lot of questions. All of the speakers talked about temples, marriage, and the family. It was perfect. The bishop read from the proclamation for the family and focused a lot on how marriage is ordained of God. It was exactly the message that we wanted him to hear. We are still working with his and Andrea´s marriage. The problem is that he is from Tacna, Southern Peru, and to get married he has to get his birth certificate from the city of Tacna but his family doesnt live there anymore so he will have to work through some friends. We are trying really hard to get them excited about their wedding so that he can get baptized and then they can get sealed. Oh yea we got to explain the Law of Chastity to Roxana and her man, Javier, who is also really cool, too. We told them that they need to get married too, but they will be a lot easier because they are both from Lima. We just have to get them excited. Jimmy and his family also came to church yesterday. I dont know if I´ve told you about Jimmy, but about two weeks ago he came up to us one night when we were walking through the market to get to an appointment. At first I thought he was drunk because usually only the drunks and wierdos want to talk to us at night. He told us about some of his problems and how he wants to change and asked us to come visit him. We made an appointment but I was pretty sure that he wasnt going to be there like most of the first time appointments that we make with new people. Usually we never see them again, but we have now visited Jimmy and his family three times and they have baptismal goals for the 22nd of August. Usually they are outside of their house waiting for us out on the sidewalk. They are super humble and have been super prepared. Jimmy is 34 and lives with his older brother and his mom. They always read everything that we leave them to read and really wanted to attend church to see what it was like. I think they were the first ones there at church on Sunday. Jimmy´s aunt and uncle and cousins in Callao are active members and have served missions and have invited them to Family Home Evenings before. It has been so cool to work with them. They are super receptive and love our visits and all three of them came to church yesterday!

You guys wanted to know where I live? We live in Jr. Jorge Chavez 081. Its a black door next to a big black garage door. Inside there are a lot of rooms that they rent out. We are still living in that little tiny room but we are more used to it now. My whole sector is from Avenida Venezuela to Avewnida Argentina and Avenida Alfonso Ugarte to Avenida Tingo Maria. It is huge! It is bigger than all three of Elder Ibañez´s last sectors combined!

Sorry there arent any pictures this week!

I love you all and have another great week!

Love, 

Elder Kevin Torgersen

A Great Week!!!‏

Oh yea, the lipstick was part of a game we played in a noche de hogar with a less active family. We had to take turns laying matches on the top of a water battle and if a match fell the person to your right got to draw one line on your face. It was really fun!

Well, we had a really good week. Last week was really slow but this week was super fast. We pretty much found everyone that we havent been able to find in a while. We have really focused on finding new investigators. This week we did intercambios with the zone leaders and it was really fun. I was with Elder Sanchez and went to his super rich sector in Magdalena. He taught me a lot. He was Elder Sorensen`s trainer in Callao when we got here 10 months ago. He explained to me the process of baptizing and finding new investigators in missionary work. We constantly have to be finding new people because if we dont then there wont be anyone to teach or baptize. Its a cycle. It really stinks going to find new people but if we break the cycle it takes a month or two to get back into it. The people we find one month get baptized the next month, but if we dont find anybody for one month then there will be no baptisms. Its a concept that a lot of missionaries dont understand. Most just show up on a new sector and want to baptize everyone and not go find new people and then they ruin the whole sector for a while. It was great being with Elder Snchez though. I`ve always looked up to him and now he is going to finish his mission in three weeks at the end of this change.

We visited the Guzman family almost everyday this week and Hermana Roxana and Angela (11) went to church on Sunday and really liked it. We are going to have a Noche de Hogar with their family tomorrow. They are all really good and really receptive. They really like the church. Roxana just has to get married to get baptized but her kids can get baptized though.

We also visited Albert and his less active wife, Andrea. They have a 4 year old son named Rodrigo and they are awesome! Yesterday we stopped by their house and started visiting with them. We talked about temples and how families can be sealed together forever. Albert really wants to be sealed with his family but first he has to get baptized, and he told us that he wants to get baptized, but before he can get baptized they have to get married. The good news though is that they were already planning on getting married this month. We will just have to keep reminding them to get it done.

Last Pday we went up the the cerro San Cristobal with the zone. It is a huge hill were you can see all of the mision and all of Lima. At the top there is a huge cross. It was cool to see all of Lima and how small our mission is.

On familysearch.org you can order patriarchal blessings of your deceased direct ancestros. Could you guys order Grandma Torgersen`s and send it to me? I would like to read it but I dont have a good adress to send it to here.

Is it Sister Cain or Sister Hone is going to come this month? We found out that it is against the rules for her to visit me, but she can leave the stuff at the mission ofice in the stake center of the Magdalena stake. She cant come see us unless we accidentally run into her.

I was wondering if I could have some contacts? I know you didnt want me to have them here but it is safe and pretty clean, and it is really annoying to play soccer and basketball with glasses!

I love you all and loved hearing about your trip to the beach. We have to go when I get back for sure! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Kevin Torgersen

Have a fun time at the beach!

Wow, have a fun time at the beach. Sounds like fun. We will have to go
again when I get back. The fourth of July Parade and balloon launch sounded
fun. Im glad none of you got hurt. We were going to celebrate here and
order pizza but then we forgot that we are supposed to fast dinner saturday
night until lunch sunday morning, so we will have to celebrate today. We
also have to celebrate because Chile won the Copa America! Haha! Our whole
ward is anti-chileno and everyone gives Elder Ibañez a hard time.
Especially since Chile beat Peru on Monday. When Peru is playing there is
nobody in the streets, and the people in the streets are glued to the
television screens that are in stores and restaurants. Its kind of funny
but it was hard to make appointments and visit people because everyone was
watching futbol.
Congratultions on your ordaination Tristan. Thats really exciting, now you
get to go to the temple! I`ve been talking to Christian Wendelboe and he
said that he will look out for you. He said that he has been talking to you
too.
Hermana and President Larson made a mission blog. It is
larsonsinlima@blogspot.com. They are going to put all of the mission
pictures there that they take of us.
As for this week`s proselyting, it went pretty slow. We werent able to
visit the Guzman family and they didnt come to church. We are going to go
find them again this week. The highlight of this week though is that we got
to go with the ward to the temple. The ward took us, all of the YM and YW
and all of the new members to do baptisms for the dead. We were able to
take Cintia, Carmen, Billy, Carlos, and Pilar. Carmen and Pilar didnt go
inside, but stayed outside with us. The temple is super important in the
process of conversion. They tell us that we should bring all of our
converts to the temple within 3 months of their baptism. THose that go to
the temple soon after their baptism are way more likely to stay active in
the church.
Yesterday we had a meeting with the new President and his family. They seem
pretty good. I am excited to see what changes they are going to make.
I love you all,
Elder Kevin Torgersen

We made chilean "completos" with Hermana Coset and Alex.

Oh yea, President Packer passed away this week. Its really sad and President Larson says that Elder Scott is really sick too. We should pray for them.