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

August 2012

Friends and Family,

We are slowly learning the best way to share letters and pictures with everybody.  Some of you have mentioned the pictures have been hard to open up.  Below you will find all the pictures we have received from Kyle so far.  Enjoy!!

Kyle and Elder Tenberg (He is in the Bullick's ward in San Diego)

Kyle and a bunch of friends from his ward last year.  They were all in his same zone at the MTC.

Kyle's district from the MTC 

Kyle and President and Sister Essig.  This photo was taken on the first day Kyle arrived in Chile.

 The Santiago Temple which is TINY

 Kyle and his companion bought a kite because it is what every child plays with in Chile.  

They never quite got the hang of how to fly it!

 Kyle has a new scripture cover.  He is super excited to have this original!  

He got it made so nobody else has this exact one!

 This is the front of a member's house.  

Kyle lives out back, but you can get an idea of what all the houses look like in his area.

 Kyle and Elder Metcalf sitting at a bus stop "posing for a new coke commercial".

 Ping Pong tourney with the investigators

 Plaza de Armas???

Lots of snow in Chile as it is the end of Winter there right now.

Kyle refers to this dog as "the devil dog".  It likes to attack him each and every day!