¡Hola everyone!

¡Hola everyone!

I don´t have much to write about we are working hard here in the CCM to learn spanish. It´s coming along great too! This is the second Pday in a row where we went to the Mexico City Temple Its so pretty. Its funny how easy it is to tell who is a member driving on the bus on the way to the temple, All the members smile and wave so much and everyone else just stares at a bus full of gringos or totally ignores us hahaha. I can´t believe it is already my fourth week here it is going by so fast! The days are long but the weeks are short. Elder Matthews has an eye infection and we get a kick out of making up stories about what happened. Most people believe us when we say he got slapped by an hermana after she pronounced her love for him and he said come back in two years haha but Presidente Bennett told us to tell people "All you need to know is the little girl is safe, the fire is out, and everyone is ok" whenever someone asks what happened haha. Love you all keep writing me!

Your favorite Elder

Elder Matthews has an eye infection thats why hes got an eye patch on

People outside the gate are always blasting their mariachi music. I like it a lot we can hear it when its quiet in class cause its hot so we always have the windows open. 

The independence day is going to be huge I wish that we were outside the mtc wall to see it. I want to try and play the guitarrón (the big fat guitar) The funny thing is both of my teachers and the guy we taught yesterday in our first trc all somehow started talking about music but they all like american music with english lyrics like the classic rock bands more than mexican music. I really like both though

My companion and I switch off playing soccer with our district and lifting weights during gym time and every night we do 200 or 300 pushups or lots of abs.

I was bored on the bus so i just took a whole bunch of random pictures so you guys can see what mexico city is like

Mexico City Temple

Heres two pictures from today Ill send more next week on a better computer since i cant see what ones im uploading until i select it on this computer

For halloween we just walked around to the other missionaries casas and trick or treated but everyone was only giving out what they didnt want like youd expect haha thanks for the pictures they look good. Im writing in my journal everyday or every other day when theres not much going on. I added all those emails too but i dont have  much time to write a big email and theres not alot for me to write about to everyone so my group emails are going to be really short at least while im here in the mtc. did anything happen with her thimble of salt? good deal with katie hahaha. I cant find my patriarchal blessing i think i forgot to bring it but i dont think i need anything else except pictures and treats. at least elder matthews says he needs treats, hes gluten free so occasionally they dont have a meal he can eat so he just gets fruit for all his meals. 

We just got back from the temple it was really cool I listened with one ear in the translating thing and one out to try and understand but the whole veil part had to be done in spanish it was neat next time ill do it all in spanish. I bought some cool looking scripture cases for my spanish scriptures at the store by the temple and found the missionary library for only 87 pesos instead of 350 like it is at the tienda here in the mtc so i bought that too but they were all out of cool ties so hopefully theyll have some cool aztec looking ones next time. I think the next time we go is either next week or my last week but i dont find out until the day before. Its also been raining all day so the streets are all flooding through all the street the cars tires were like half under water and everybody drives a small car or a moped so it was crazy. there were lots of people out today with skull painted faces though for dia de los muertos it reminded me of coco but that was the only part similar no orange petals or anything haha. Thanks for everything mom I'm doing great here! I should get a haircut soon though my hair is growing back really fast. Love you!

I like to call this piece "we are all steak"

Pictures

Sorry I didn't get many good pictures we only can take pictures on P-day and I was at the immigration office all day finishing up my visa stuff

1. Elder Price and I

2. Elder Matthews at breakfast today

3. Half of our district, we'll get a better picture next week

Finally P-day!

Hola everyone!! What a crazy week and a half! My first day was not the greatest but ever since then its been a blast. Just about everything that could go wrong did but it all worked out. First when we landed in Mexico on one of my bags never arrived so we filed a report then had to leave so I only had half the stuff I needed then we get to the CCM and there is no power so we have no orientation so I had no clue what was going on. I went to mi casa to find my companion and he never shows up! On top of all that I have the usual homesickness but next day I was assigned a new companion and my suitcase arrives at the airport, but since I didn't have a companion the first day I still had no clue who or where my district was but everything's going great now, the CCM is so beautiful and peaceful compared to the bustling city outside and My companion is an awesome genius, Elder Matthews He's going to Billing Montana spanish speaking haha interesting. He got a 35 on the ACT first try with out studying! We get along really well with the rest of our district too. There's not much free time here but I'm enjoying the busy learning schedule and I'm amazed how much Spanish they have been able to stuff in me. Almost everyday we teach members who act like investigators and I can almost always understand when someone speaks in spanish and I know plenty of words to answer I just need to work on my grammar to be able to piece them together better. Its funny every time Elder Matthews and I teach a lesson I have him start off cause when the investigator starts talking he gets so lost cause he studied french for two years and this is his first time with spanish so he always mixes them up in his head, Its alright though more practice for me haha.

We were in the study area contacting fake investigators a few days ago and one of the teaching supervisors came up to us made us memorize juan 14:6 Jesus le dijo: Yo soy el camino y la verdad y la vida. Nadie viene al padre sino por mi. He then explained how as representatives of Jesus Christ we are acting as his hands, and therfore we are the way the truth and the life for all those people out there searching for truth in Veracruz and Montana. It gave me a new perspective that helps me want to be more obedient and diligent so I can do everything I can to help those people.

Also interesting fact he says the soil is so fertile in veracruz if you eat a peach and throw the pit on the ground the next day it will already be starting to grow.

I love you all and love hearing from everyone keep emailing!

Hola!

Thats a cool story but no I didnt go to the temple yet I will get to twice though. Today I was at the immigration office finishing visa stuff that was super long like six hours but cool to be in the city streets. it was a 1.5 hour drive each was too so I got to see so much of the city. Thats all I've done today after breakfast. We missed lunch too so i'm really hungry but dinner is in an hour or so. I will have to do laundry during gym time tomorrow too I guess. Thank you so much for the pumpkins and thats a really helpful little trinket. Too bad about the laptop its replaceable though. I'm really enjoying the ccm right now but I can't wait to get out in the city streets again it was interesting. Love ya mom!!

On Fri, Oct 26, 2018 at 7:24 AM Amy Torgersen <amytorgersen@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Elder Russell,

Hello hello! How are you? I can imagine you have stories! Have you been to the temple? We’ve  been wanting to hear all about your week. 

A high counselor spoke with his wife in Sacrament meeting.  They told how they used to be inactive or what you’d call a wild child. But the missionaries came and their lives changed forever. She told about when her sister was going through chemo and they’d sit together through it for 12 hours at a time and talk about everything but not about the church. She thought her sister wouldn’t want to. Then one day a baseball team visited the hospital and a player sat with both of them to talk. He asked the sick sister about church and she listened and after that this sister wanted to talk about the gospel. She ended up too sick to be baptized before she died. The lady giving the talk said she had a dream about her sister who had died. In the dream they were facing each other holding hands and her sister was so happy and told her everything was okay. Near the end of the dream she told her sister that had died, “I don’t want you to leave me.” Her sister said, “I never have.” I loved that! She said we always have someone on the other side to help us. Angels aren’t strangers. 

Trevor dug up all the potatoes that grew in the garden and it filled a tall red mesh potato bag. He was happy about that. This morning Elizabeth gets to be student of the month and Dad and I are going to the assembly. It’s a surprise for her.  Katie is working with her math teacher to bring her math grade up for regents. Kevin is making his dresser drawers. Tristan is working two temple shifts in a row today. 10 hours straight! I feel bad I knocked over Elizabeth’s water on the table and it got underneath his laptop and now it might be ruined. It’s in the shop at BYU they will try to fix it. He has money to buy another if it comes to that. I still feel bad. It worked fine until the next morning. McKaylas laptop was on the table too. But it was ok.  It was crazy it happened so fast and we’ll probably never have cups of water near them again. Weaknesses become strengths! 

Everyone is doing well and it’s fun hearing them remember you in their prayers. It’s been a good week. Tell us about you. You feel like you’re getting trained...to be in Gods army? :)

Love you! Mom

Reeses Pumpkins

Hello Torgersen, Thank you for shopping with us. We have received your order. We'll send a confirmation after your items ship. MTC Mexico Care Package Emiliano Zaptata 18 Benito Juarez 07250 DF, DF MEXICO Order: R946443866  |  Date: 10-24-2018 Shipping Address Russell Torgersen MTC Mexico 07230 Mexico City, DF MEXICO 801-830-7288 Shipping Method MTC free delivery Order Summary Halloween Reeses Pumpkin SKU: Hpm $10.99 × 3 $32.97 Subtotal: $32.97 Shipping (MTC free delivery): $0.00 Order Total: $32.97 Selected payment method: PayPal Express If you need any assistance with your order, please email us at customersmtcmexicocarepackage@gmail.com or call us at +5215521046767 ReplyForward

Hello I get to write again surprise!

Our maestro hermano cruz decided to let us write for a few minutes again today since we dont have a pday for another week. I do get to do laundry today though. Every sunday all the missionaries have to prepare a talk in spanish for sacrament meeting because they randomly call on multiple people so everyone has to be prepared but I've styill had no time to even think about it we work until we sleep and sleep until we work. This morning I taught an interested person with elder Matthews it was just our teacher pretending but we taught him about prayer and taught him how to pray I'm amzed how much spanish ive learned already even though its still not that much and I cant speak it like a native. our teacher in the afternoon is hermana casteñeda she is really energetic and super funny. It gets better everyday but its still hard. The hardest thought is its only been like four days but it feels like a year and I have to be away two real years. It will go fast though we´re having a fun time here. we for an hour each day before lunch we use this BYU program called TALL to learn more spanish by ourselves. You should look it up and see if you can get it dad its a lot like rosetta stone. I have to go now. I love you Bye!!! Ill write next friday and try to send some pictures. I{ve only taken four so far because were only allowed to on our pday
Elder Torgersen