June 28 update

Things are going well for Elder Kenison and Elder Balling! We enjoyed the new mission logo received this week; note the flagpole is actually the outline of the entire country of Chile, and other significant symbols are included. Very nice. (Click to enlarge.)

It's a time of transition in the mission. President and Sister Jones are completing their service and returning home this week, and a new president will arrive. They held a farewell mission conference, which gave the missionaries a chance to get together. Matt was quick to point out,

We had a final conference with President Jones :D it was sweet. haha it was a conference not a going-away party. :D i saw several people there. haha

Here's a photo showing some of his friends and acquaintances. Elder DeLong (in the center of the photo) is a distant cousin.

some of the elders i know. haha originally the picture was just with Elder DeLong but then some others joined. haha the one on the far right is from my [MTC] group. Elder Smith (good luck finding his parents mom. haha) and elder mills. he's from Las Vegas. haha and on the far left. Elder Keogh (something like that) he's from Scotland. haha

And one more showing Elder Poulsen, Matt's buddy and neighbor from Orem:


One thing we were pleased to hear was that Elder Kenison really hopes he's not going to be transferred next week (the next time scheduled for "changes" which occur every 6 weeks) — he's loving his work with Elder Balling, got the apartment cleaned up and organized, and feels there is still plenty they can do together in their current area. It's always great to hear that companions are "bonding" together!

This was a photo we didn't expect: Matt with his dentist and dental assistant! He apparently went back in this week for a checkup of his recent work, and for his companion to have some teeth looked at.


The big event of the past week was the baptism of their investigator Auram.

it was AWESOME!!! haha besides the fact that the Calafont (water heater) ran out of gas and we didn't notice right away. haha but it was still good. the water wasn't to bad. haha for me at least. but of course i wasn't the one who went all of the way under. haha the hardest part was remembering her name. Ayram Javiera Almuna Cabezas. haha pretty crazy. but yeah.

the baptism. haha it was amazing. Ayram and her mom were there. and her Grandparents, who before didn't even talk to us, were there, it was really nice :D Elder Balling gave a really nice talk about The Holy Ghost. so overall it was a really nice baptism. :D