March 7 update

Well, the day has come.  Our email again today was pretty brief, but sweet; and may likely be the last email we receive from Chile!  Elder Kenison will finish his service a week from today and get on the plane Monday evening.  He doesn't expect to be able to write us next week, so if we do get a letter, it will be a surprise bonus.  WOW — hard to imagine that this wonderful phase of our lives is coming to an end!

Elder Kenison is really enjoying his final companion, Elder Rubert.  We asked him to tell us about him:

One word.. "¡trabajador!" haha He's a good missionary, he's workin hard so I don't get trunky haha

Elder Rubert reported a little more detail in his letter home to his family. We're grateful they shared it with us!

well my comp is freaking awesome. The first thing he said when he got to the pension was look around and say something to the effect of, we got to get this pension listo (in shape) for your next comp so that you can get some really good work done, and also we need to get the ball of baptism rolling for next change.
He got in and worked right away. (cool) but more than that he is soooo chill.... He also introduced me into mate...Which is AWESOME and ridiculously delicious.
the one problem is that we talk and chat a little bit too much so we are in bed on time but we don't sleep (i suppose there are worse things) but we tore up the moldy walls and we are going to paint the whole pension...

We also cleaned the whole house and got rid of all of the junk that was left around the pension. All in all things are going really well. I told him he was my favorite companion...  :)

That's an impressive description.  We hope the desire to clean and work doesn't get lost on the plane home from Chile!!

He's had a hard time getting immersed into the area for such a short time.  This was the report on investigators and the progress of the work this past week:

Just visiting tons of people! haha I can't keep everyone straight so I just memorize the names before the appointment and then forget them after haha. kinda crazy.

We just hope Elder Rubert is keeping them all straight!  It sounds like they have a couple of investigators who are close to baptism, but that will happen after Matt leaves.

We joked in our email that we might have time to send one more package to him if we hurry, and asked if there was anything he needs.  He responded:

Yeah. A girlfriend would be nice :).

Aha!  So there IS a sign of being trunky!!  But he's not letting it slow down his service.  We're very grateful for that.

We were glad to get a few photos of some recent visits and companions. We just wish he had sent one of his current companion and area!  This shows his last zone:

This photo includes Elder Cevallos, Elder Smith, and Elder Kearsley:

This is Elder Leavitt, who he's encountered a number of times during his mission and enjoyed getting to know:

And finally, Elder Dallon Smith, who said some nice things about Matt last week:

It's STUNNING to look at these photos and then realize that we'll be seeing Matt in person in JUST EIGHT DAYS!!

SADLY, THIS WAS PROBABLY THE
LAST LETTER WE'LL RECEIVE
FROM OUR MISSIONARY!!!

We love you, Elder Kenison, and can't wait to give you UN ABRAZO GRANDE!!