Hey peeps!! What's up? How've you been? Wes I heard you got the deed done, I expect dem dirty deets:D

Alright so it was an interesting week. I think I'm gonna start of with... the spirtit'chal things because the stories are good but it was a good week also. First of all, on Friday I got permission to go with Eric's family to the Temple to do Baptisms for the Dead. That was AWESOME.

I couldn't do much because everybody kept acting like because we were Elders we were diseased so mostly I just got to sit and watch it happen, but all 4 of them who have been baptized went. Jose afterwards said he liked it a lot, that he could really feel the Spirit. And it was just nice to see Eric again.

The first half of the week was pretty slow. Monday was the whole hiking incident,

As a parent, should I be concerned about the facial expressions of Elder Goff and Elder Jorgensen????

Tuesday was a zone conference, and Wednesday and thursday like nothing happened... no one was home, we couldn't get any news, in the first 5 days of the week we got like 3 lessons, and not for lack of trying. And friday was the Temple so that took up some time too. But on Saturday we received a lot of revelation... We were out and about, after already having had like 3 or 4 lessons fall through, and both Elder Goff and I were pretty frustrated. So we were at the house of one of the people who bailed on us, and they still had their Christmas lights up in their trees... and I just wanted to take them down!!

I was so irritated I wanted to do some service to lighten my soul! But I couldn't decide whether or not to do it... I didn't want to get them mad at me for doing something without their permission, but I wanted to get it done! And I literally could not make a decision which was just frustrating me more because we had other people to go see... but, in the midst of my trying to make a decision, the neighbors of the people we were at got home, and they were Mexican..... so... we went and talked to them!! And if I hadn't been fighting with the decision of whether or not to take them down, we would have missed them.

And then, right after that, we were walking around just trying to find some people, and I felt like we should knock a door. So it took us awhile, but we finally got to it, and a white dude opened up the door. My first though was "oh, great..." but he turned out to be very interested and as we taught him a mini version of the restoration, I could see it in his face, it made sense!!! We have to hand him off to the English but I'm glad we found him.

Then later on Saturday I legitimately got hit on my a 40 year old mexican woman!!! UGH!!! We tried teaching her, and she just kept going off about how good looking I was for more than half an hour... NASTAY!!!! As we were walking away, there was a chick with bright red dyed hair smoking a cigarette in a stairwell, so I said "Hey how's it going."

And then yesterday we got to teach HHHH's family (the ones who remind me of Eric) and it went really well. I am excited to see where they go.

Aight guys I gotta go! Love you!

Editor's Note:  If we correctly gather the little information that we have, it seems that Elder Jorgensen may need some prosthetic services as he apparently is working his butt off and did not have time to email home this week...stay tuned

Wow I blinked and this week was over... I don't know where the time went. I have already been in this area 2 weeks and it feels like I just left Nike (what all the other missionaries call my greenie area) yesterday... somebody... slow it down...

So it was a pretty good week... Elder Goff and I taught 23 lessons... we are teaching a girl on FB who lives in Mexico!! That is weird!! Also yesterday was a very powerful experience... Yesterday all of the missionaries of the OPM fasted so that we can find more people to teach, because compared with other Stateside missions, our mission finds about half of what others average. So the last couple weeks President Morby has been sending some very inspiring emails about how we just need to buckle in and work hard... and I've gotta say yesterday I felt the power of fasting for those news. We were working down in Sandy, our Sunday run (Sandy is part of our area by Mount Hood... but it is like 30 minutes away so we only go out once a week). And we didn't have anything set up, just a lot of potentials we could pass by, so we'd knock a door, and I was just feeling more bold than usual, and after chitchatting I'd bluntly ask them if we could come in and share a message. Usually with knocking we don't do that because being that bold with Hispanics tends to scare them off... But all 3 times I asked, we got in and taught a powerful lesson on the restoration. The second one was to a 16 year old named LLLL... he is the son of FFFF, the dude we found last week because we were in a trailer park and I saw a house and just felt like we should knock it. LLLL was very polite and receptive to us, he reminds me a lot of Eric. The only problem was that we don't usually carry around English BOMs with us... and he didn't understand Spanish very well... but I wanted to leave him with something to read, so I asked him if I left him with my English BOM, the one I've had since I was baptized, if he would read it and take good care of it until next week when we go back. He said yes. I was kind of hesitant to do it at first but I just felt like it was something I should do... So I hope it pays off.

Elder Goff and I get along really well.... I like it!! Wes I expect to hear some stories and maybe see some videos of you putting ish down for the Kavemen. Give the 4x4 a try once. I promise you'll like it.

Not much else has happened this week... no real funny stories...

The ward did have a "fiesta" this week... but I am very biased now about Ward Fiestas because my first week in the field was La Noche internacional...

and nothing can live up to that. I took some pictures and I'll send them to you guys next week when I have more time.

Mom... to answer your questions... yep I'm still pretty stressed. Mostly because I'm just terrible with street layouts and I don't know my way around too well... but also because there is a lot to do in this area. I'm doing lots of praying and fasting but... eh. My new abode is an apartment. There are laundry machines on the complex so I've been using those... I'll need to take some money off the card for quarters though. We have a car... there are only 2 areas in the Spanish aspect of the mission that don't have their own car, they do a car share, but those are up in the ward and I'll probably never go back there.

OH yeah something else cool this week. So we were at District meeting, and President Morby

was doing interviews in the same building, but he took like 5 minutes and pulled our entire district aside, and told us how much he cares about the Spanish aspect of the mission and how he is looking to us to set the trend and elevate mission standards... Sooo... no pressure or anything. It was inspiring though, the spirit was extremely strong.

Aight I can't think of anything else... I'll try to send you guys some pictures next week. Love yall

Elder Travis Jorgensen

Familia!!!

Wow I have a lot to tell you guys... I don't know where to start! I guess I'll start off with a vent about the culture shock I am going through...  Yesterday was only my 2nd church meeting in English since I've left home... It's weird.

other funny stories... oh today we were going to check the mail and I looked at Elder Goff and said, "Elder, I feel like you got a love letter today." I was joking... he just looked at me and was like yeah, right! but then he got one!!! I was laughing pretty hard..

Oh yeah that's the other thing I wanted to tell you guys about... I CAN'T FREAKING STAY THE FREAK AWAKE!!!! I don't understand!!! I'm being a lot better about going to bed than I was last transfer, I'm sleeping... alright... but just anytime I sit down I fall asleep!!! Yesterday, driving to like the border of our area, (30ish minutes) I was falling asleep in the middle of trying to talk with Elder Goff!!! Like literally I'd be in the middle of a sentence and just... bam... doze off!!! I need more engergy!!!!

Ok... enough venting... this week was pretty good. Tough. But good. Elder Goff is a hard worker and we are going to tear this area up. We did a lot of knocking and teaching on people's doorsteps this week. Like, a lot. This area seems pretty similar to Beaverton West... we have lots of people we could contact, but none of them are really interested. Yesterday we saw a miracle happen. We were out in Sandy, making the rounds of people we know over there, because we only drive out there once a week, so we'd been knocking for a good 2 hours and hadn't taught anyone yet. We got lots of "you can come back next sunday" but no one let us in... and we were about to leave the trailer home we were in, but I looked at a house and felt like we should go knock it. So, we did. I asked the people if we could share a message with them, and they let us in and we talked for an hour and a half, and they really liked the first lesson. To me it was miraculous because I have been praying so hard to find someone who is prepared and willing to receive this Gospel and I think yesterday was an answer to those prayers.

Elder Goff is the bomb. We have been running most mornings... it's only 3 miles but I'll take it. We talk about running and racing all the time and we get along pretty well... I'm excited to see the work we get done together.

Oh last thing actually yesterday sacrament meeting was also pretty powerful. I honestly have been feeling overwhelmed this week because everywhere I go, people are just talking about how great of a missionary Elder Katzenbach is and I have just been feeling overwhelmed. But yesterday almost every single person who got up to bear their testimony talked about how we have trials so we can grow... and I think Heavenly Father was trying to send me a message that I just need to keep going.

Aight guys... hope you get feeling better. I love y'all.

Elder Travis Jorgensen

FIRST TRANSFER!!
Editor's note...  this is a week late, due to a number of things, mostly on the editor's side.  We should get another letter from him today, but here is the latest from Elder T Jorg:

Guys I'm not going to lie I am stressing right now

... I'll tell you about me week and then hopefully I won't sound like I'm whining...

So, as you know... I left Beaverton West yesterday... And last week in our area was freaking rough. CCCC relapsed and started drinking... twice. I taught him some very powerful lessons on the Atonement, I felt the Spirit work through me, and I could see the desire to change in his eyes. But still... it's not good that he relapsed. Also the WWWW family had a tough week. We usually teach them on Monday nights, but last Monday we had something else pop up so we didn't get to see them until Saturday after one of our lessons with CCCC. Now, just to recap, they were doing super good. Before this week they had FINALLY started coming to Church for a couple weeks, they'd been through the Temple, and both of the parents were starting to get their own testimonies that God does indeed know and love all of us individually

.But when we saw Hno WWWW on Saturday... he was clearly being weighed down by some problems. He told us he and his wife had been fighting, and the Spirit was not in their home. We started talking and I shared some scriptures with them about the power of the Atonement, and we watched some Mormon Messages about how marriage is ordained of God,

and Hno WWWW just started bawling. They were doing so good. And it was right after that lesson that I received the phone call that I would be leaving... and really all there is to say sometimes is AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!! Leaving was freaking hard, I didn't like it at all. However, on Sunday night we did eat dinner with the WWWW family, and we also passed CCCC , so it was like my first day all over again, just a lot more painful.

The good thing about leaving is that I got a new companion... The funny thing is this whole last transfer I was asking President Morby to leave me in Beaverton West, because I still felt like I had more to do, and I felt like the pros of staying outweighed the cons of another transfer with Morrison.  Elder Laing, my comp from the MTC, came up and replaced me in Beaverton so when Morrison goes home after this transfer I know the area is in good hands.

So that's part of the reason I am stressing, because my area had a really fragile week and I just care about those people so much. The other reason I am stressing out is because of my new area... I got moved to Milwaukie, and the work is completely different. I went from a functioning ward to trying to start up a group. And I guess I'd be ok with that except for the Elder who I replaced is known in the mission for being one of the hardest working and best missionaries in the mission. He was a District leader and yesterday he got moved to a Zone Leader... He and Elder Goff, my new companion, were together for 6 months. They opened this area up together and got things going off the ground, and Elder Katzenbach, (the Elder who left) left some very big shoes for me to fill. On Sunday night there was a baptism in the ward that we went to, and President Morby came, and told me he needed me where I was going, that it was hard work and that I'd be amazed at all the miracles I'd be able to see. I didn't really pay much attention... I was still to sad about leaving, but now that I am here I understand. This area is going to require the best of me. And I am stressed because I don't know if, even after the best I have to give, it will be enough to give this area what it needs. I just feel kind of overwhelmed....

Ok on a positive note... My new companion!!! Elder Goff!!! He is 18 and we were in Mexico together!!!! He and his trainer Elder Katzenbach were together for 6 months, I am only his second companion out in the field. Anyways... in HS Elder Goff liked soccer and XC and Track... and so far we have been getting along very well. We went running this morning:D

My new address is

12200 SE Mcloughlin Blvd #6303

Milwaukie, Or 97222 (not sure on the Zip... you might wanna double check:) And it seems safe to send packages to. And in the package you guys are going to send me any books or anything besides that... I DON'T HAVE ROOM FOR THEM!!! Mom, you are a genius,

thank you for sending that tote, without it, when I moved I would have been screwed!!!! And even with it... it was hard to get things to fit!!! I have decided that I don't like packing...

Oh I stopped talking about Elder Goff. I am super excited. He is chill and we have been getting along and we're gonna work hard together.! I have some stuff to send you in a package.. the only problem is that I don't know if I'll be able to get to the post office today or if it will have to wait until next week.. but it's ready!!! Wesley I'm not going to make this deadline... I'm sorry. Well, I could, but it wouldn't be a letter with anything good in it. If you want a good letter that will make you laugh and think I'm stupid, you gotta wait until I have time to write it... and this week, I don't have time!!!

Good luck in your new calling!!

Love, 

Elder Travis Jorgensen

Family!!!

Sup y'all.... How you been??? It's been awhile... So I figured I'd tell you guys a story or two...:D

Or actually 3.... The first one is (edited for family content) But anywho, we (Elder Morrison and I) were taking out the trash later and Morrison just found 20 bucks laying in the snow!!!!

So we went to a trampoline gym in Tigard with the Elders from Portland, Eric came, and Coop met us down there too!!! And I freaking finally learned how to do a backflip!!!! Hhhhhaaaaaa!!!!! Moral of the story is... If you guys need some money... Try saying a prayer at o'dark hundred... See if it works!!! 

Story#2 comes from Tuesday night at dinner... Elder Morrison and I showed up a good 20 minutes before the other Elders so by the time they got there I had already put my tamales down. The family who gave us dinner made some pretty hot salsa to go with it... And warned us of the heat... I tried some on my last bite of tamale and boy was it hot. So then the Elders of Aloha show up... And Elder Mayer (who reminds me a plethora of Jonah and Dillon) did not heed anybody's counsels and slathered all 3 of his tamales in the hot salsa. And he suffered for it.

He ended up having to drown them in cream and lettuce, on top of downing like 2 sodas. I was laughing at him the whole time... He was dying!!! So then he called me out, and said "let's see you try some Jorgi." Not being one to back down from a challenge, I asked for another tamale and SLATHERED it in salsa. COVERED IT!!!! And ate it all without any relief. So then Mayer, not wanting to be outdone, filled his spoon with the salsa. But I wasn't going to let him just show me up like that, so I filled a spoon too. And we ate it. And then we ate a second. And then we ate a third. And it was my goal to GRIND Mayer into submission. I wanted him crying to his mommy and to know to never challenge me to a matter of mental toughness again. Make no mistake, I was dying. My face was maroon and I had tears freely spilling down my face... My mouth lips and throat were on fire but I wouldn't give up!!!! Until the family we were eating with made us stop... And the next 24 hours of my life was pretty miserable... I woke up feeling like I had drank fire.... So I went back to sleep for a little bit... And woke up at 8.... I was doing studies by 830... And Morrison got a little upset with me:) as I walked by him one time he asked, "was it worth it???" I think he was probably expecting like a "no, that was stupid, i should have listened when you warned me to stop" and instead he got a " yeah, definitely!!! I feel like crap but it was worth the memories!!!" To which he said something like " well you don't need to be a missionary to make those kinds of memories. So the next time you feel inspired to do something like that, you probably shouldn't, because now studies are all off track"... I had a lot of things I wanted to say at that point... Bbbuuutttt I held my tongue:) I would just like to say thought that my journal entries for those couple days are HILLARIOUS!!!!

Ok... Story #3.... Valentine's day!!!!!!!! Yeaaaahhhh!!!! For exercise that day... We went running in the woods by my apartment once again with the elders of Aloha. It was pretty fun. We tried to stay as a group but at one point on the way back Elder Mayer and I found that we had separated ourselves from our companions... So we stopped running and did some backtracking... And found Mayer's comp pretty quick, but Morrison was nowhere to be found!!! We co ti used backtracking and after about 5 minutes of screaming heard his voice...on the other side of the forest, somehow back at the apartments. HOW he did that I had no clue... But he beat us home... So we were faced with a choice... Either we could run all the way back, or bushwhack to the fence like 200 feet away, jump the fence, and be in the parking lot of my apartment complex. Naturally bushwacking sounded more adventurous.... So we did it and when we finally got to the fence... Mayer couldn't make it over!!!:) he had to take off one of his shoes so he could grip the fence, and then once he was on top he squatted like Spider-Man and stuck his bare foot out, and had me put his shoe back on!!!! It felt like a very demented version of Cinderella...

Anyways during that whole process we were very noisy... And walking back to my apartment some workers stopped us and said they had gotten phone calls reporting "4 guys who were up to no good"... Then the looked at Mayer... Who somehow had his shoe off again, and we explained to them our situation, and they left us alone:) but the story is not over!!!!! So we came home, and Morrison made me wait while he showered to open my package... So FINALLY I'm opening it, and in the middle of the ceremonies, Mayer calls and asks us if we checked ourselves for leeches after the morning run... He'd found one on his leg...

So Morrison LOST it he shot up immediately and I've never seen him move so fast as he did when he sprinted to the bathroom to go check himself... Thankfully we were both leech free but it was still pretty funny.

To answer your question about how the package was... I liked it...

Aight I also has a lot of cool stuff happen this week Spiritually. All of it was with recent converts and less actives... I think Heavenly Father was trying to teach me a lesson not to give up on them.

The first one happened with Carlos, one of Coopers converts, and we were supposed to teach his sons who aren't baptized yet, but instead we taught him and his wife. I showed him the Mormon Message good things to come by Elder Holland and shared a scripture with him, just to start the lesson off on a good note. After I read the scripture, Carlos got tears in his eyes and said he had been praying for help and the strength to keep going, and he took that video and the scripture I shared for an answer. I didn't even know he'd been having a hard time and he just opened up to us... It was very powerful.

On Saturday morning we also went to the visitor's center at the Temple with the Acevedo family. That was freaking great. They are doing so good. And afterwards we went to Deseret book and he bought Elder Morrison a book and me a CTR (Choose the Right) ring... Freaking legit.

And the last cool story comes from a youth in the ward. Friday night there was a ward valentines party... So we went because we had some investigators going... And one of the young men in the ward... The only senior, was there and looking not so pleased. So I started talking with him and told him the story of why I decided to serve a mission... Then Mayer found us and sat down and joined the chat.... And we just talked with him for like an hour and as he left he had a different look in his face.

Eric's sister did get baptized. Eric baptized her. That was awesome. Now the only one we have left is Eric's older brother... The first one coop and I found. Transfers are coming up next week and there is a good chance I'm leaving... But I'm praying and asking to stay because Eric's older brother is FINALLY starting to warm up to us and I know if Morrison and I get some more time with him we are gonna make stuff happen... Soooo... If you guys could pray that I stay here that would be awesome!!!! 

Ok I have a favor to ask... I need something from you guys. A new journal. I write in mine a lot more than I thought I would and I'm running out of room!!!!!? It needs Wes' approval though.... And I Wes hook a brusque up!!!!  Can you guys do that??? 

Wes I love your letter it was dope!!! I can't believe you can grab rim already bro that's crazy!!!

Ill try to get your letter to you by the 28th but the thing about deadlines is... You don't have anything to hang over my head:) here's a deal... Get me a FRESH journal that blows my mind, and I will tell you a story that will make you laugh so hard you'll have a 6 pack until you're an 80 year old man:)

K... I think that's it...

Love you guys!!!!

Elder Travis Jorgensen

FAMILIA!!!

To start off with... I have a new nickname for the natives in the area that I am serving... the PORTLANDIAN PANZIES!!!!!!

Why you might ask?!! Because... on Thursday, things started to snow... and snow... and snow. I wouldn't say it was anything much worse than what we usually get in Idaho, but here people were tripping cahones! We were grounded starting Thursday afternoon, President Morby didn't even want us to leave the apartment... so Elder Morrison and I ordered some Domino's and watched Church movies on our new IPADS that we got on Tuesday!!! And then Friday, Saturday, and yesterday, we STILL COULDN'T DRIVE!!! Church even got cancelled yesterday!!! WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!! I was doing so good, I hadn't missed Church in 27 weeks, I'm pretty sure I haven't been on a streak that good since I was like in Primary!!!!!!! So... needless to say... it was a pretty freaking slow week. However, some fun memories did come of it. For example... on Thursday when the snow was coming down and everything was getting blanketed in white, I wanted to take a picture in it, camouflaged, so I threw on my baptismal clothing and went outside, barefoot, to take some pictures

Where's Waldo I mean Elder Jorgensen??

. As we were walking around on Friday we also saw a man legitimately trudging around on skis. Soooo... that was all very unique

.

We did see some miracles on Wednesday before the snow hit. On Wednesday I was on Splits with Elder Smith, from Portland. He was trained by Elder Morrison and before he got moved to Portland he was comps with Coop... so that was fun. And we had 3 really good less active/recent convert lessons. We went by Mario, who says he should be ready to get the Priesthood in a month. We went by the Acevedo family, and just started talking with them, and somehow Hno Acevedo brought up a scripture that someone had shared with him 5 years ago when he was having a really hard time, and it helped him out a lot. He didn't even know the guy, and he couldn't remember the scripture. So as we were leaving I felt like I should share D&C 122:7-9 with them, because that is just an incredibly powerful scripture that talks about going through trials.

So I pulled it out and started explaining the background of where it comes from, and Hno Acevedo stopped me, and asked me the reference again, so I told him. He told me to read it. I did. When I finished I looked up at him and he had tears in his eyes. It was the same scripture that had helped him out 5 years ago, and he said it was good to hear it again.

Then after some appts fell through we went to another less active family, the Munoz. The last time we saw them we challenged them to read from the BOM 5 minutes every day. So when we walked in Hno Munoz PERFECTLY explained to us the first 12 chapters of 1Nephi...

and the last time we passed him by he just... I don't know how to explain it... it was a night and day change.

In other news... you guys got beat out in wishing me happy Valentine's... I got a Valentine's package on Saturday:D The only bad part is that I have to wait until Valentine's to open it... but that's ok... Wes you better hope those ties are cool because I'm pretty sure one of the things I got is a ti.

My little brother finally shaved!!! whooo!!!! yeah!!!!

Aight guys I think that's all... Good luck in  your new callings and Wesley soccer is the sport of the Gods anyways.

Love, 

Elder Travis Jorgensen