July 28, 2012

Hey Everyone!!

So this is it. It's my last e-mail in the MTC before I leave on MONDAY!! I can't believe that this time is already here. It's so weird to think that I've been here for a little over 2 weeks and I'm already leaving for Chile. To be completely honest, I'm freaking out a little. I was talking to some of the other Elders who are going to Chile and they said the've met a few people from there. They keep telling me that whenever they talk with their Chilean accents, it's impossible to tell what they're saying. This is what I'm pretty nervous about because I think I know Spanish pretty well at this point, but I know when I get there, I'm going to have to start all over again. Let's just say next week's e-mail may be a little interesting with a little bit of frustration mixed inJ

So not much happened this week, but there were a few things that stuck out. One of our Hermanas as I've said has been pretty sick so one night she actually had to go to the hospital... They didn't really know what was wrong with her and it's been going on for a week or so now. She kept saying her stomach hurt all the time and it was really only after she ate. It got to the point where it was really bad and they couldn't figure anything out. After a few days of this I told her it was Celiac. I KNEW just because of all of the symptoms. The doctors took blood while she was at the hospital and they never even mentioned anything about it to her. I kept insisting that I was right though just because it seemed so obvious to me. Finally around Wednesday I told her (being the esteeemd district leader and all) that she just needed to go to the health clinic to tell them to take blood and test her for celiac. And lo and behold, I was right. The doctor wouldn't fully admit to it just because the day before he said there was no way that she had it but after checking the blood test he gave her a list of things she should "try to avoid" since her stomach "may hurt". Man, I felt so good about myself haha

Also, another of our Hermanas got some pretty unlucky news this week. It was actually really sad. She was having some stomach pains to and she went to doctors appointments all week. Finally on Wednesday they figured out was wrong and basically told her that her chances of having kids were practically 0 because of the surgery they may have to do while she's in Texas for her mission. I cannot believe how well she held up though. We all felt so bad because I can't even imagine getting that news especially while I'm on my mission. There wasn't really anything we could do for her but to just let her know that we're all thinking and praying for her. Our Hermanas are a pretty strong bunch and they definitely keep us in line :)

Now let me tell you about the worst day of the week. Pioneer day. First off, the only thing that we did for Pioneer day back home was eat boiled wheat or whatever that stuff was but everything was still open down in California. But no. Everything closes here. I mean EVERYTHING. This was the worst day just because they didn't deliver mail, and mail is definitely the best part of the day. I don't sound too bitter, do I??

Another pretty cool thing that has happened over these 2 weeks is that we've had 4 different teachers. You're normally only supposed to have 2  but It's been pretty nice just because it's something new to look forward to every day. My favorite though has to be Hermano Johnson. He's the best! He always knows how to wake us up and make class way more fun especially when you've already been in class for 5 hours. My favorite thing is his accent. He went to Peru on his mission so he talks like a true Peruvian. It's pretty funny... Half the time you can't understand him just because they leave out all of the "s" and the "d" in everything. So we all started talking like him by the end of class just because it was way more fun. The best part of the day with him though is "Historitaym" or story time. hahaha That's just how he said it to us one day and wrote it on the board and we all thought it was hilarious. It's pretty cool hearing returned missionaries stories because they always have great things to say. I can't wait until I get a few of those stories myself.

So yesterday we had in-field orientation. This lasted from 8 in the morning until 9 at night. It sounded like it was going to be an eternity but luckily they put SOOOO much effort into making it way fun, it went by so fast. I don't understand how fast yesterday went by. It was pretty crazy. Basically in the orientation they just teach you a few things that you need to know before you actually head out that they don't really talk about in class such as, how to work with members of the church when you get down there and how to find people to teach and all of that stuff. It was pretty cool because they totally rearrange the rooms and make it look like the environment you're going to be in. That's what made it so interesting. The teachers were great and it was just a nice change of scenery.

So as of now our lessons are getting a lot better. We've started to really like teaching our investigators but unfortunately it's already time to go and quit doing that. It's kind of sad to be honest. But the language isn't really much of the problem anymore. It's just trying to answer the questions that the investigator asks you!  Sometimes they ask the hardest questions EVER! I panic half the time and that's when I feel like I'm back in 7th grade Spanish.  But the majority of the time it flows out perfectly :) or almost perfect J But like I said, I'm going to have to completely re-learn it all next week. It'll be quite interesting.

So I don't know if I've said this enough but I LOVE our district. We're definitely the best district here! There's one Elder in my district named Elder Townsend and he and I just go at it everyday cracking jokes. It gets to the point where everyone in the class is bawling. It's so funny. I don't know what it is but as soon as we both see something funny, we just make it 30 times worse and keep laughing about it. It makes class a lot more fun.

Sorry to make this e-mail so short but first off, we only have 30 minutes on the computer and that goes a lot faster than you may think.  But I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's supported me while I've been here. I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now and sometimes it's pretty tough but getting all of the letters and packages and everything makes it a lot better :) Here's my new address for the next few weeks until I get out a new one:

Elder Kyle Riches

Chile Santiago North Mission

Sucursal Correo Patronato

Casilla 60

Region Metropolitina (Santiago)

Chile

The one above is for letters and the one below is for packages:

Elder Kyle Riches

Chile Santiago North Mission

Unit # 2011379

Maria Graham 312

Recoleta, Chile 8420164

dearelder.com still works while I'm in Chile but you just have to use the pouch mail section instead. It'll get to me at some point just not every day like it did here. So it's still easy to send me letters!! hint, hint... Like I said, thank you all so much for the love and support and I'd LOVE to keep hearing from all of you :)

Love, Elder Riches

July 20, 2012

Hola!!

So  it's finally P-day!! Best day of the week for sure haha Basically we have NOTHING to do today, which feels nice, but I still only get 30 minutes on the computerJ Before I start going into my week, I thought it would be fun to share some statistics with you for the past week and a few days that I've been in the MTC.

Number of days in the MTC: 9. Hours of Spanish in class: 36. Hours of teaching people in Spanish: 5. Number of sand volleyball games won: too many to even count. Number of packages: 13!! My favorite one is the last one haha I've gotten a package EVERY day since I've been here. And one of the days I even got 5! So I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's been thinking of me and sending me packages. Not only am I making friends really fast because of all the food I've been getting, but it's just really nice to know that everyone is taking the time to think about me and send me something :) Also, thanks for all of the letters. dearelder.com is literally the BEST website in the world for everyone who wants to write something. It comes the day of and it's always the greatest feeling when I get to pull out a stack of letters in my mailbox. So keep that in mind. hahahah

Since the last time I wrote you, not much has really has changed. We often do the same thing each day,  so I'll start off with what has happened in between classes.  I have 3 other elders who are in my room. They're all pretty sweet expect there are definitely times when they can get on your nerves. Especially when one of them sits on my bed and sticks his dirty socks on my pillow... that's when I start to kinda lose it.:)

We received our travel plans yesterday!! We are scheduled to leave on Monday, July 30 at 2:30 in the afternoon and then we get to Santiago on July 31 at 8 in the morning. Talk about a LONG flight! But after getting those travel plans yesterday, everything is becoming so real! It's weird. It's still hard to believe that I'm even on a mission in the first place and now the fact that I'm leaving in 10 days to actually start the real thing is crazy! I need time to get used to everything but they have us moving so fast!! So if anyone wants to send me anything, next week is the last time to do it ;) 

Since last week, class has been getting a lot better. It's crazy how much you can learn even when it's in a different language. The weird part is after speaking Spanish for so long during the day, you come out of class and you still keep speaking Spanish. It's like our brain has been reset to speak that rather than English, which is  weird. In fact my companion and I were writing letters last night and we both forgot how to say something in English for a second. I swore that this would never happen to me while I'm gone so the fact that it's already happened after 9 days is a scary thing to think about... But it's pretty cool knowing that so much has changed since last week. I was pretty uncomfortable speaking all the time in Spanish and teaching lessons last week but this week it's completely different! I'm totally fine speaking Spanish and i can actually say what I'm trying to without really focusing on it. The Spanish is starting just to flow out like it's not even a problem at all. It's pretty cool in my opinion.

So everyday we have time for gym. This is definitely the best part of the day because we get to leave the MTC!! It's like we're escaping prison almost.... we go past the security guards out front and run up to the fields by the temple. The reason I like gym so much is not only do we get a break from class and everything, but we get to play just a bunch of different games like soccer, frisbee, and baseball. But my favorite is sand volleyball. I like it the best just because it's the closest thing I'll get to a beach for a longggg time. It's soooo nice taking off your shoes and playing. Now that's one of the reasons I like it but another is because my team is freaking good. We've been winning all the time and it's SO fun!! There's a ton of Elders and Sisters who play so it's a great time to get to know everyone out of their "missionary" mode.

Let me tell you about Sundays. It's a little different than at home because church is all split up during the day. It's kinda weird... all 3 of the hours are like at random times. So it doesn't even really feel like church. Our church is in Spanish though so that's very cool but the most stressful part about it is the fact that everyone in our ward has to prepare a 3-5 minute talk in Spanish because the President calls on 2 random people every week to speak. I walked in to church on Sunday feeling sick because of the fact that I didn't want to have to give a talk. Luckily for me, I didn't have to :) Also on Sundays, we get an opportunity to walk up to the temple. It's really nice because once again it gives us a break to leave the MTC and just some down time to relieve some stress. We walk up as a district and it was pretty fun. We memorized some primary songs in Spanish so that was definitely the highlight of the walk. After the walk, that night we always have a fireside. This week the speaker was Jenny Oaks Baker (Elder Oaks' daughter) who is apparently an AMAZING violinist. She was absolutely incredible! The cool part was that she spoke a little and then tied in her message to a song and played it for us. She did this probably about 5 times so we got to hear her play, which is really cool. The best was when she had her kids come up and play for us too. They were 12,10,8, and 5 and they were all music prodigies. They're going to be ridiculously good when they are older. They played the piano, violin, guitar, and cello. It reminded me of the family from Sound of Music or something haha it was a pretty amazing experience for sure.

Now let me tell you about one of the harder things at the MTC. It's called TRC and basically this is when we really get to start teaching people who are acting as investigators. And boy, they are NOT easy. Yesterday we met our second person and his name is Jose Mesas. And jeesh, he asked so many hard questions and doubted everything we were saying I don't even know how to get to him haha The cool part about this was after we left, my companion and I both noticed that the problem wasn't our Spanish at all! In fact, it was pretty good.  It was just the questions that he had for us. So we get to go back and teach him again tomorrow so hopefully we'll have better luck haha

My favorite package of the week would have to be the one from Kelli..... IT'S A BOY!!! I was SOOO excited to get that. I honestly probably started crying or something because I was so excited for them!  I'm so happy we can add another little boy to our family :) I'm super happy for you guys!

But I'd have to say the best day of the week was the 18^th. when I received 5 packages in one day. I looked SO CRAZY carrying all of them back to the room. It was the best. So I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has sent me something while I've been here. It's really a good feeling when you get to go pick up something from the post office and know you are being thought of.

Yesterday was a sad day though... one of our teachers had to leave because she's going on vacation with her husband and won't get back before our entire district heads off to the mission field. We were sad to say good-bye.  So we took some pictures, however,  I'm pretty sure there isn't a way to send pictures while I'm at the MTC but as soon as I get to Chile, I'll send you all the pictures that I've taken while I’ve been here.

Sorry I don't have much time to write a lot but I'll send another letter on my P-day! I love and miss all of you and thanks so much for all of your support :)

Love, Elder Riches

July 13, 2012

Hola!!!

So it's been my first couple of days at the MTC!! So far I've had a blast here. There have been a few funny stories that have happened since I've gotten here so I'm just going to start from the beginning. So when we first pulled into the MTC, I started to freak out... There's security and everything so I had no idea what to expect. As we pulled to the curb to my number, which was allllll the way at the end by the way, I see my host waiting for me at the side. He definitely looked more nervous than I did for some reason and I have no idea why. It was actually pretty awkward. Right after you guys left, we started walking to the building where I got my nametag and they checked me in and all that stuff. Getting my nametag was the part that made all of this really real for me. I was officially a missionary at that point. It was CRAZY! After all of that, my host took me up to my room. I set everything down and then I hear some say, "COMPANION!" I had no idea who it was but I turned around it was Nick Jesperson! I can't believe that we actually got to be companions. He was in my ward last year at school so it's been a blast being able to be with him all the time just because we both know how to work hard but how to have a fun time also. Let's just say I'm very happy I got a good companion for my first time.

After that, my host told me that I needed to get a notebook and to get my scriptures and head to my classroom. I started to look for my scriptures but I couldn't find them ANYWHERE! I started to panic. I had no idea where to even look. I started to unpack all of my bags and dig through everything. I was freaking out. I started full on sweating because let's not forget it was like 100 degrees outside and I had my suit coat on and everything. Jeesh, this was so embarrassing. After about like 10 minutes I FINALLY found them and could go to class.

So my host drops me off in my classroom and I see a bunch of really nice looking people. My first teacher was there and boy she didn't waste any time AT ALL! Her name is Hermana Van Vliet. She just started rambling in Spanish. I was about to cry... I was so confused and so scared because I had no idea what to expect. And I definitely didn't expect that. After a few seconds I began to collect myself and I realized that I could actually understand what she was saying. We started talking and I found out that I'm only in the MTC for 3 weeks because I'm in the advanced class!! I was so happy to hear this. But at the same time, I started to freak out because that's the same length that the English speaking missionaries are here for, so the fact that I'm basically going at the same pace as the English missionaries, definitely made me really nervous. That day class wasn't bad just because it was only about 45 minutes and we basically just got to know each other and stuff. All in Spanish of course... There are only 8 people in our class: 4 Hermanas and 4 Elders. And want to know the best part? 4 of them are native speakers, and 2 of them grew up speaking Spanish in their house. Then there's Elder Jesperson and me. Even the whitest girl in our class in full on fluent with a perfect accent and everything. I just sunk down in my chair because I knew I was definitely the worst one in the class haha oh well!

That same night we got to see practice lessons being taught by some other missionaries who have been here for a while. They asked for our input, which was honestly pretty hard just because some of the investigators were pretty hard to get through too. I could only imagine doing all of this in Spanish. The rest of the night was just orientation and all that stuff so nothing too exciting happened there. Throughout the day though I saw about 10 people I knew from my ward at school, which was definitely pretty cool. We took a picture and everything but I'm not sure how to send those to you yet, but when I do, you'll see it haha. But that was basically my first day.

The next day class really began to start. We only had class for 3 hours that day but even that seemed like an eternity. We basically just learned our purpose as missionaries and how to say all of that in Spanish and how to convey that to our investigators. At the end of the day we got to meet our branch presidency and had interviews with them. They called the district leaders that night and say hello to the new district leader of district 11! Basically I'm just in charge of the people in my class and I'm their favorite person because I get to bring them the mail everyday. I was pretty excited when I got called to be the district leader just because it gives me some other responsibilities. I'm already super busy but having something else to do besides speaking Spanish all day is a relief. To be completely honest that day is just a blur at this point because for me, I can barely remember what day of the week it is just because we do the same thing everyday and it all just blends together.  Let me just be the first to tell you, 6 hours of Spanish a day can reallllly get to your head haha it was such a long day and I know it's good because all my thoughts were in Spanish, so I know I'm definitely improving pretty fast. But let me give every future missionary out there one piece of advice. NEVER give your first lesson on Friday the 13. We had to give our first lesson yesterday and I thought I was going to throw up. I was SO nervous and to be completely honest, it was not good at all. Nick and I definitely both agree. We're still trying to learn all the church terms in Spanish so that was the hardest part for sure. Luckily that was the last part of the day so after that we got to go back to our rooms and relax for like an hour before bed. It was a LONG day yesterday for sure. We both decided that it was our first wall that we had to break through because both of us weren't in good moods just because we were tired and frustrated with ourselves because the language isn't really coming to me quite yet. I thought I was pretty good before, but boy was I wrong. Going to sleep last night was definitely something to look forward to. The worst is when your alarm goes off at 6:30 the next morning and it feels like you just shut your eyes.

So I'm running out of time on the computer but I just wanted to say I miss all of you guys a TON! Thanks so much for everyone who wrote me letters, and sent me cookies, and all of that stuff. I really appreciate it while I'm here because getting mail is the best part of the day for sure. I love you all SO much and miss you a ton but thanks so much for your support :) I'll be able to e-mail you guys again next week but not until Friday. So until then, Hasta Luego!

Love, Elder Riches

Elder Kyle Riches

MTC mailbox #227

CHI-SATN 0910

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604

July 11, 2012 ... Kyle enters the MTC

 Kyle, Mom and Dad

 Kyle, Mom, Dad and Kerri

 Uncle Steve, Dad, Kyle, Mom, Uncle Denny and Aunt Terri enjoy lunch before Kyle enters the MTC

 Kyle making his last phone calls to all the siblings ... really sweet!

 The MTC drop off!

And he's off ...

Well here it is! My first and basically last post that I'll personally be doing. My sisters and my mom will be in charge of this while I'm gone and they'll always have my address updated and post my weekly e-mails home :) But as most of you know I'll be leaving for the MTC this TUESDAY!! If you want to write me a letter, my address is 


Elder Kyle Christopher Riches

MTC Mailbox # 227

CHI-SATN 0911

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

I'd LOVE to hear from everyone and anyone if you ever have time. Thanks so much for all your love and support. I'll miss you all!!