December 31, 2012

Today was Kyle's last email for the year 2012!  We had a wonderful visit with him on Christmas and we were able to get all 24 of us on Google Chat at the same time.  He looks and sounds great and we are already looking forward to Mother's Day when we get to hear from him again.

Things are pretty quiet in his area this time of year, between the holidays and summer vacation for the kids, many are taking advantage of the break and leaving town, however they are teaching English classes every week and had the largest turn-out yet this week.  We could tell his Spanish is improving because his English is not:)  They have been teaching some wonderful people and there is a baptism this Sunday which is the first one in a year for their ward so they are all very excited.

That about wraps it up for the week.  He loved hearing from so many of you at Christmas and wishes all of you Happy New Year.

Below is a picture of some of the other missionaries in his zone.

December 23, 2012

Just a quick note about Kyle's week.  Most important news is we get to Skype with him tomorrow!  So excited!!

He said it was an awesome week, especially since he discovered an American grocery store of some sort that had his favorites.  Dr. Pepper and A & W Root Beer.  This would make anyones week, right?

He also learned that three of the people he had taught earlier in his mission have now been baptized.  He was so very excited for them.  Despite a broken bicycle seat, a popped tire and 105 degree weather, he is still smiling and excited to be serving.  Until next week:)

Merry Christmas from Kyle and all of us!

December 17, 2012

Here are a few pictures from Kyle's weekly email.  This is the last week they will be meeting in the current mission home because they will be using it for missionary housing in the future.  They met with President and Sister Essig and one other zone for their Christmas dinner this week.  We are so excited to talk with him on Tuesday so hopefully we will have a little more news for next weeks post!

December 10, 2012

This was a short letter from Kyle this week as he is getting settled into his new area.  He sent a few pictures of his birthday celebration that he shared with Elder Vernon whose birthday was on Dec. 7th and one of their investigators whose birthday was on Dec. 9th.  Kyle made the cake and I'm sure took care of the decorations as well:)

They had a zone conference this week and were able to hear the area President speak as well as President Essig and then he and 5 other Elders sang a special musical number which apparently they only learned that morning.  He said it was a great day!

A little local graffiti!

Christmas gifts have arrived!

I thought I would share just a quick note from his letter to make you all smile.  He still sounds like the Kyle we all love!

 "I have two "whoops" of the week this week ... First off, I was riding my bike and the seat broke and fell off... so for the past 3 days I've had to ride the bike standing up... it's not very fun haha Secondly, last night I woke up in the middle of the night and had a little friend in my bed with me.. the freaking neighbors cat came through the window and crawled in my BED!! It scared the heck out of me.... jeesh.... Anyways, that's it for you! Thanks so much for everything! I love all you guys SO MUCH!! Don't forget it ;) "

December 3, 2012

This was transfer week for Kyle, and he is now serving in the furthest part of his mission.  The area is called Los Andes.  It looks very different than the city where he has been serving, as you will see from his picture.  He also has two companions, Elder Varon from Paraguay and Elder Garrett from Utah.  He was also made the senior companion.  His email was very short this week due to transfers, however, he made up for it with lots of fun pictures!  Enjoy:)

 Quick trip to the doctor to check out his feet!

Saying goodbye to Lucia and Josefa

His new area.  Los Andes

November 26, 2012

Well, it sounds as if the weather is really starting to heat up in Chile.  Kyle said it feels like they are walking all day in a sauna!  He also mentioned that earthquake season has arrived.  They had at least one earthquake almost everyday last week, which has him just a little "FREAKED OUT":)

He is continuing to keep his cooking skills in practice and tried to make brownies for FHE this past week.  Apparently, the end results were not quite as good as they use to be at home, but as you can see in the pictures below, his crepes were awesome, so apparently he is not going hungry!

He also mentioned that his birthday is just around the corner and he just thought he would throw out a little hint to all of us here at home, that he would love to hear from you!

November 19, 2012

From the following excerpt from Kyle's letter, it sounds as if the Primary Program was a success!  

"Sunday was AWESOME! We had 6 of our investigators come to church, YES!! Also, it was the primary program so all the kids were singing and gave their talks and it was the cutest thing ever!! Everyone loved it. It's really cool to see that all around the world the primary prepares for this and toward the end of the year they sing and give talks during sacrament meeting. It really reminded me of home. It was the cutest thing ever. They all had matching ties and the primary president made these pins for all the members of the ward. Speaking of the ward, we had 199 people at church!! I couldn't believe it!! That's the most there's been for awhile! The bishop was super happy with the turnout, and so were all the missionaries :) "

The following picture is of a family that He especially loves.  They are moving soon and will be missed by all the missionaries.

Villanueva Family

November 12, 2012

This was a REALLY good week for Kyle since he was able to teach 32 lessons!  On his P-Day they went to a city called Patronato, which had several authentic shops to buy items made in Chile.   He was excited to be able to purchase all of his Christmas gifts.  

Next he shared the "whoops of the week" ...

We were on the way to the doctors office so we had to take the metro... it was about to leave so we started running and I slipped through the doors of the metro and was super excited that we made it! As the doors closed behind me I turn around to talk to Elder MAteos and see that he didn't make the metro. hahahaa He was on the other side of the doors!!! I try to open the door but it wouldn't freaking open! I was freaking out so i scribbled on a piece of paper as fast as I could that Id wait for him at the next stop ahaha lets just say it was the longest 2 minutes of my life!! I was without my companion on the metro in the middle of chile.... there you have it! haha love you!

He is excited for the primary program on Sunday.  Here are a couple of pictures of him and the kids at the rehearsal.

 Next is a picture of his favorite dog, Josefa!  

November 5, 2012

Hello!  We received another letter from Kyle today.  Actually, we receive one every Monday!  :)  He sounded pretty good.

He for sure let us know that Summer is hot in Chile.  He is starting to carry around a 2 liter water bottle with him everywhere he goes!

He also finally got his Visa and I guess it was quite a process.  He mentioned it is like going to the DMV 3 times!  I guess he had to wait forever and ever but he finally has the paper work to show that he is legal in Chile.  Yay!

He has been able to get to know lots of new people the last couple of weeks.  Just this past week he taught 30 lessons so he was super excited about that.  He seems to be playing a LOT of Bingo with his new friends.  I guess they absolutely love it there and think it is the most fun game ever!

He also recently got called to be the ward/primary piano player.  Kyle says, "And everyone here thinks I'm freaking Mozart because I can play the piano but I'm really terrible at it! It's pretty funny."  

Next is a little blurb from his letter that we thought was funny ...

"Sunday was a good day too! It was super hot once again and wearing our suits to church kills me every single week. I'm really not looking forward to summer... We worked in the far sector again and found more good people to teach! I have also discovered a food here that I really can't eat... its a drink/dessert actually.. It's called mote con huesillo... It's basically apricot juice with a dried apricot in it with cooked wheat.... I really want to throw up every time I drink it. People here think it's so good and it may not sound too bad, but I really can't do it anymore haha We had lunch once day and the members gave us this for dessert and since I'm tall and bigger than all of them, they always give me more food including a HUGE bowl of more con huesillo... I thought I was going to die....." 

Anyways, he seems to be doing great!  He did get to go to the ward Halloween party, so below are a couple pictures of the missionaries all "dressed" up!  Enjoy!

October 22, 2012 ... Transfers!

Kyle seemed to have a tough week, mainly because he got the stomach flu.  Ugh!!  Never any fun, especially when Mom is not around to take care of you!

On a more positive note, Elder Bednar came and spoke to Kyle and about 450 other missionaries.  He said he was "SO funny"!  He told the missionaries that when they are listening to people speak at church, they are in a way trained to write down everything.  He said, "if you do that, you are stupid".  :) He was trying to let them know that if they are writing everything down, then they are missing the important stuff.  Kyle said he learned a lot from what he had to share.  He also mentioned it was neat as Elder Bednar gave the mission some sort of powerful blessing that they will find people to teach and that they will have success.  Kyle mentioned it was a truly incredible experience to be in Elder Bednar's presence.

The biggest change is that Kyle is staying in the same place, BUT he has a new companion, Elder Mateos.  He is a "little guy" from Uruguay, who Kyle can't understand yet!  :)

 Kyle's missionary "family"

Kyle and some of his missionary friends

Kyle absolutely loves, loves all the letters and packages.  Please keep them coming!!  Many thanks!!

October 15, 2012

We received another fun letter from Kyle today.  Here is a little bit of the excitement that he was able to experience this past week ... 

"Another really exciting thing happened this week! Let's just say when the heat comes, so do the earthquakes!! It was so scary! I had my first earthquake here... it wasn't a tiny one either. haha It was a 5.7 and I know that isn't too big, but when you're in an appartment eating your lunch and every thing starts to shake.... for a long time.... things can get a little crazy. To be honest, it was pretty fun just because I've never felt an earthquake like that before. Don't worry, we all have our 72 hour kits ready so if something were to happen, they've told us what to do :) The funny part about that thought was like I said, we were eating lunch and Elder Gaete looks at me and says that he's still hungry so he's going to eat the emergency bag... haha literally 3 second after that, we had an earthquake... He learned his lesson."  

Kyle is doing great and absolutely LOVES hearing from everybody.  Please keep sending off the letters!  

Below are a few more pictures from the week!  Enjoy!

 Kyle touring Santa Lucia.  

It is basically a little flea market type of thing with everything you can imagine.

 Kyle venturing out on a hike in Santa Lucia.  

He mentions the coolest part is when he got to the top, he could see all of Santiago.

 This is Kyle and some of his "friends" he passes by each and every day!

 Kyle eating at his favorite Sopaipillas place ... looks way yummy!

October 8, 2012

Hi everybody!  Here are a few more pictures to share from Kyle's last month.  Sorry, we are a little behind in getting these on the blog!  We are also having a bit of a struggle opening up some of his pictures so they are not all here from this past month ....  But here are a few to enjoy!

 Kyle out in the city shopping around with other missionaries

 Kyle learning how to make homemade bread for the first time!

 Kyle is definitely not going hungry on his mission!  

 Kyle making sopaipillas in the house with his famous guacamole!

 Kyle and the Soto Family

Kyle wearing his big hat to celebrate Sister Soto's birthday ...

Of course he is always smiling ...

We sure love and miss you Kyle!!

September 17, 2012 ... First week in Huelen

Kyle mentioned this week was probably one of the hardest and most uneventful weeks of his mission so far, but he is still smiling!

He recently left Rosende and got transferred to Simon Bolivar which is "pure" city.  He really loved serving in Rosende and loved his companion, so it was harder for him to leave than he expected.  Plus, it came as a big surprise after only being there for a few weeks.  He is now with a new companion, Elder Gaete and he speaks NO English so that makes Kyle's life a little bit more interesting!  :)

Kyle and his companion spend most of their days walking, walking and then walking some more trying to find new people to teach.  So by the end of the day, they are super tired and sleep really well each and every night.

Here are the pictures from the week ... They show off his new apartment!

September 10, 2012

We got another fun letter from Kyle today.  He mentions it has been a great, but crazy week.  He found out that he was getting transferred.  He has only been in his area for 6 weeks, but since new missionaries were coming in, they needed trainers who could speak English.  So Kyle is now in a new area called Simon Bolivar.  It's completely different than Rosende because he is in the city now, but he mentions it is super nice.  His new companion is Elder Gaete and he is from Chile, so he won't be speaking too much English anymore!  :)

Here are a few pictures that Kyle sent with his letter today.  We thought it might be fun for all of you to see!  

Kyle and Elder Metcalf playing soccer

His companion has a deal with his mom ... for every companion that he has, he buys them a pair of shoes.  Kyle was the lucky recipient.  They went to the Adidas store and he got himself some soccer shoes.  He thinks they are pretty "Sweet"! 

 The Egana Family

 Kyle and Luis

 Estella (Seba's Grandma), Valentina (Seba's sister), Kyle, Seba and Fernanda

 Joanna and Jorge ... they have helped Kyle out so much and he is really going to miss them!

 Kyle and Loki ... FINALLY FRIENDS!

 Elder Gaete, Elder Metcalf and Kyle

 Kyle and Seba right before the baptism.  

Kyle was able to baptize him and said it was the coolest experience ever!

Kyle, Seba, Fernanda (Seba's girlfriend who is getting baptized on the 22nd) and Elder Metcalf

Valeria and Franco