August 17 update

Elder Kenison wrote a short email this week, telling us he has been struggling with a case of bronchitis. We were somewhat comforted that he knew it was bronchitis and knew how to spell "bronchitis"; that probably means he's getting some kind of medical attention!

We learned a little more about his new companion, Elder Mejia, but still no photos. He's been serving about 8 months. His mother and sisters are LDS but his brothers aren't (no mention of a dad). Matt enjoys speaking "a lot more spanish. and we walk a lot more. haha"

He'll be in our prayers, and we'll hope for more news next week!

August 10 update

We were excited to hear that Elder Kenison's new companion, as of last Tuesday, is Elder Mejia, who is from Honduras! We know very little about him other than that; we'll have to ask more questions next week. In addition to Elder Mejia, there's a new housemate from Chile — Elder Romero, who is companion to Elder Rawlins (from Texas). Matt has now been in Cartagena longer than anyone else in the apartment!

it's been pretty crazy learning so much spanish. haha it's been crazy. i found out that elder romero loves Brownies (we make them from scratch haha) and he's amazing at cooking Pan (bread) there is a really popular bread that we cooked the other day haha it was awesome

Matt mentioned he was going to send photos of some of the things (like his bread), but we never got any photos from himis week. Either he ran out of time, or there was a problem in sending. Or he forgot. :(

The weather continues to cause challenges for their proselyting efforts. Matt commented,

it's really hot well warm for about 4 hours, usually about 12-4 then it gets FREEZING!!! haha mostly just windy.

And then this summary of the work:

it's been crazy. no one has really been home. Olga and Natalia are still gone. but we found 3 more investigators and taught lots of inactives. we got them to say that they'd come to church. but we actually had a stake conference in San Antonio. and some didn't want to make the financial sacrifice. well actually alot of them didn't. but we'll get them to come this week haha WOOT!

Meanwhile, back home in Utah, Matt's sister Sarah was married on Friday August 7 to Brian Wright (who served his mission in Honduras, where Matt's current companion is from).

I think it was probably a little poignant for both of them; they have become very close over the years. So I arranged for Matt to be there "in spirit" — and in a life-sized photographic likeness! It was a lot of fun to have him with us, symbolically. He wrote a personal note to Sarah which I read to her when I "unveiled" the cutout at the wedding luncheon; that was a highlight. Everyone enjoyed having Matt around. He was especially popular at the restaurant where we had the wedding luncheon, Los Hermanos, because Matt used to work there before his mission!

August 3 update

We were worried that Elder Kenison wouldn't have much time to write today, but it actually worked out pretty well for him. And we got a great set of photos in addition, more than usual! Happy day!

FAREWELL TO ELDER MECHAM

Elder Kenison's first companion and trainer, Elder Mecham, is on his way home to Arizona. Matt has really enjoyed working with him, and seems to have been "well trained." It sounds like Elder Mecham went up to Santiago on Friday to go to the temple, and Matt stayed with another missionary in a nearby area. Matt will go to Santiago on Tuesday to pick up his new companion.

This picture was titled "Fresia and Marcela saying bye to Elder Mecham":


And this one is "saying bye to Elder Mecham... sad story":


ACTIVITIES OF THE WEEK

Matt had the chance to have a "mini tour" of the mission with Elder Mecham last week, who was given the opportunity to visit his former areas before he went home. He commented,

yeah it was really fun. i saw lots of different places. i enjoyed seeing the mountains haha i've missed them. there aren't really any actual mountains in Cartagena. but there are huge hills haha

In Santiago, the Andes mountains are not far away and if the weather is good, there are spectacular views. But we are sure there will be chances for that in the future.

Matt has been working with Elder Sornoza temporarily while he waits for his next companion, in an area he calls Leo Lleo. We're guessing from the map we have that it's really Llolleo, a city south of Cartagena. Here's a great photo of Matt in that area:

Matt mentioned Elder Sornoza a couple of times in the past — seems like they get along well. I suspect from these two photos that they have enjoyed working together while they each wait for their new companions:


And here's another classic Matt photo, having lunch with an unidentified companion:


In the midst of all the busy-ness of the week, they did have time for some teaching:

Marcela has stopped drinking Tea. for our next visit (with my new companion) we'll ask her if she will be baptized. so hopefully things turn out the best. also changes to El Quisco were fun and changes to Leo Lleo were awesome pretty cool. gorgeous places haha

Today's letter closed with,

I LOVE CHILE!!!!!!!!!!!

That's pretty definite! We're sure glad he does.

July 27 update

We understand today's P-day was a little bit crazy for Elder Kenison; he didn't have much time to write. His companion, Elder Mecham, leaves for home next week, and apparently on their last P-day they are allowed to visit past areas to say goodbye to families and friends. So we think Matt got to have a little tour of the mission today with his comp! Next Monday, they will go together to Santiago, and Matt will drop off Elder Mecham and pick up his new comp. So we're not sure if we'll get much email next week either. But it will be an exciting time of change for Elder Kenison. I know he'll miss Elder Mecham a lot.

The photo shown here is Matt with one of the Latino missionaries, Elder Sornoza. He sent this picture to us last week; we didn't get any new pictures today. We're not completely sure about the two-finger salute we see in so many of these photos... we need to ask about that. (Maybe they just had a tie in a "rock-paper-scissors" game.)

We asked about his Gospel study — for example, does he read "Preach My Gospel" in English or in Spanish? This was the response:

i'm actually reading the Book of mormon and the Libro de mormon together. i'm actually starting to be able to hear what people are saying so soon i'll just be reading my libro de mormon. but i do study the spanish version (of PMG) a little. mostly the book of mormon though.

Nice to hear of progress in his language ability!

In other news, they have five new investigators to work with this week through tracting efforts. We'll hope something good comes of that! Their best investigator should be returning from a vacation soon, and they are hopeful to pick up where they left off.

Here's another typical Matt story. We asked if he saw many of the local people playing soccer.

yeah lots. haha when i was on divisions with elder marquez the ball came rolling down the hill. haha he went chasing after it for the kids it was hilarious haha mostly because elder marquez is a big guy but afterwards we got a good contact out of it with one of the kids parents haha

That's the spirit, Elder! Keep on working!

July 20 update

Missionary, you said? Does THAT look like a missionary?? Well, if you look close (click to enlarge), note that he DOES have his nametag on. So we assume he's still "anxiously engaged" in the work. They had another zone excursion to the beach on P-day, and Elder Kenison seems to really enjoy that (even though he can't go "ride the waves" like he used to).

Matt was sick earlier in the week, then his companion Elder Mecham was sick. So that slowed down their efforts. But they're both much improved (I'm sure the beach helped) and moving forward again. He commented:

I did go on divisions. Elder Mecham went to El Quisco, about 20 minutes away by bus. and Elder Butron came here haha he's an AWESOME elder haha he told me at the end of the night that I walk fast. haha I think i got it from walking with dad haha oh well... we got a lot done though :D thanks dad haha

Here are a few more thoughts he shared about the mission experience so far, to pass on to his friend who will be coming to the same mission later in the year:

Chile is the greatest haha crazy fast spanish though... haha but the people here are great!

some of the food here is interesting. you GET to have lunch with the members every day except p-day. and pretty much they feed you a TON!!! it's great (lunch is the main meal here not dinner). most of the time it's soup. they have a special soup with chicken (like a full chunk of chicken haha) and noddles and stuff. or you have beans and noodles. not a lot of rice but that's just the coast.

oh also the people here are EXTREMELY nice they try to give you Anything they can and most the time they barely have anything. and if you don't eat it they'll get offended sometimes most of the time they understand haha but you just tell them that you don't have time and call it good...

also get ready to see LOTS and LOTS of dogs haha they're everywhere it's crazy! and get stoked Chile is the best i couldn't imagine a better place to serve a mission it's awesome!

Those of you who remember Matt's love for chocolate chip cookies will be interested to know that he requested the recipe (he lost his copy) so he can make some for some members. They won't be quite the same, since he hasn't been able to find brown sugar. But I'm sure they'll enjoy Matt's special treat like so many others have!

One more photo of the whole gang on the beach:

July 13 update

As we've watched the weather forecast for Elder Kenison's area of Chile this week, it's been cool but sunny. Since we're in the peak of summer in Utah, we're expecting them to be approaching the peak of winter. The average temperature (daily high) was about 60° F, which didn't seem too bad. However, Matt reports "kinda a chilly wind though which makes it kind of cold." He also reported:

I've been kinda sick for the past two days. mostly just a bad cough and my throat is dry but i ate a grapefruit last night (which reminded me of grandma haha) but that helped. but i'm getting better luckily.

Elder Mecham, Matt's companion, has less than a month left in his mission. Matt will likely stay in the same area and get a new companion when Elder Mecham leaves. He reported that Elder Mecham is NOT getting "trunky" at all — "haha he's doing really good. and we're working hard haha."

Matt was excited to participate in a baptism this week, a young man named Luis who was taught by the other companionship living in his apartment. The best investigators he and Elder Mecham are teaching, a woman named Olga and her granddaughter Natalia, were sick this past weekend and had to miss church meetings (must be a lot of "stuff" going around Chile).

Finally, here's the "cultural insight" of the week:

also random fact about Chile. so before you take a picture you say "cheese" right. well i was curious if they said something different here. and they do they say "whiskey" which i'm sure with all the drinking here it makes some people smile. haha kinda crazy

July 6 update

Elder Kenison and his companions apparently celebrated the 4th of July with a successful baking experiment (thanks to a recipe from Alessandra):

well 4th of july was fun. haha all of the members when they saw us mentioned it. haha we actually made a cake. it was DELICIOUS!!! all thanks to Ale haha that was really fun. also we had a member come to church who hasn't been in about two years. that was awesome.

Matt's camera is still broken, and we were sad not to get any new photos. We have a new camera on the way to him, to help remedy this crisis!

The work continues somewhat slow in Cartagena, given the time of year and the exodus from the coastal resort town. However, he did have some positive news about new investigators:

well we have really what seems like a golden investigator. we were teaching an older lady named Olga. we taught her about twice. then on our next visit her grand daughter, natalia, joined. she has been following along and asking questions shes been doing really great. Yesterday we took a member along, kenna. And immediately they became best friends. It was kind of funny. The first time we met Natalia we had to tell her that we can't kiss on the cheek we just shake hands. So when Kenna came she didn't know when to do. So she asked kinda sticking out her hand. Haha Kenna knew when she meant and immediately said NO and gave her a big hug and the traditional kiss on the cheek it was funny.

So far, most of the investigators Matt and his companion are dealing with have been female. That's not necessarily a reflection of Matt's unusually good relationships with members of that gender; it's a common phenomenon in Latin countries. We'll hope he eventually finds some strong, complete families to teach!

Matt ended his weekly letter with this note — we really love how he has come to appreciate the scriptures more than ever:

Oh one more cool scripture :) D&C 64:33-34 :) oh and a i read 2 Nephi 29 earlier this week :) AWESOME! Haha the Book of Mormon is true!