November 15 update

Elder Kenison has been serving for 20 months on his mission (including the 2 months in the MTC), and this week met his 11th companion, Elder Jared Hassler.  We asked where he is from:

PROVO UTAH!!!! WAHOO!!!!

Elder Hassler is a "greenie" — just barely arrived from the MTC — and so will have some of the normal challenges of adjusting to the new culture, getting comfortable with the language, etc.  But it sounds like they are off to a very good start together.  Matt is pretty easy to get along with, but we believe he has been very blessed to have wonderful companions throughout his mission.  We were able to contact Elder Hassler's mother today, and she also reports her son said the two have become best friends already.  We're looking forward to photos and more reports in the future.

Meanwhile back in Talagante, the work is progressing.  Fanny came to church on Sunday but her boyfriend Francisco didn't make it.  They're hoping to have a baptism soon with that couple!

There are two young women in the branch named Sindy and Simone, and Matt reported:

They're both been working a lot, passing out Books of Mormon and stuff really trying to help us out. It's been awesome! We taught one of Simone's friends, Ivan, and one of Sindy's friends, Carlos. It was pretty cool. both of them are pretty interested. :)

We loved this little story.  When he was waiting for his new companion to arrive he worked for a day in Maipu, near where he served previously:

When I was in Maipu on divisions on Monday Elder Merino and I (my companion for the day) were walking down the street looking for an address. and we stopped and talked to a lady. When Elder Merino said, "Hi we're servants of Jesus Christ, and we'd like to bless your house by saying a prayer." She looked at us and started to cry. I don't mean cry like cry I mean cry like.... she was bawling.
We went in and blessed her house, and she said that we could not have come at a better time. Her husband had made some bad choices and had left the family. It was pretty crazy. But it was such a good feeling to help. I'll have to check up on how they're doing later. haha it was awesome! :D

 As I mentioned, we didn't get any new photos this week.  But here is one from last week that I found intriguing.  Matt said

some guy a little drunk just sitting on the curb. and my zone and i were waiting to take a bus (when we went to pomaire) and so i just sat down and talked to him. about nothing really he just wanted money. so we said that he could go and get a job and stuff . haha it was prety cool though.

This is typical of Matt's personality — just talk to anyone, even a stranger on the street dealing with some challenges.  But to have him comfortable enough to do that in Spanish is one of those good signs of his comfort level in the language!

Here's a final photo, showing Elder Kenison with Elder Urbieta, one of his previous companions, who also went home (to Argentina) last week: