Working on finding investigators

This week was super easy but that also made it kind of long. We had a ton of meetings to go to this week so that took a lot of our work time. Because of that, we are short on new investigators so our list of people to teach is still super short. But, the investigators we do have are super awesome. We have this guy Juan and his daughter Carla, The Parra family. If I was allowed to pick a favorite family to teach it would be them. They are all so funny and treat us so well. Even little gringo me that doesnt speak very much spanish. But I think I have learned more spanish in their house than anywhere else on the mission. We also have this old Evangelist couple that are super super Evangilist. Like this one time we asked her to pray, (her name is Blanca and she is probably 75 to 80 years old) so she stands up and yells this prayer, and the whole time throughout, the man (Luis) was like "GLORIA A DIOS ... GLORIA A DIOS" and they were waving there arms and getting super into it. Blanca more or less preached a sermon than said a prayer but thats ok. 

There is also this one family we found in the most flaite apartments in our whole area. There were a ton of drunk people and people on drugs, and punk teenagers cussing at us in English. Like it was sketch town, but we felt like we should contact it, so we did and there was only one family that let us in, out of the whole place. Osvaldo and Marta and their two daughters. They are so cool because they are trying to find God in their lives and they recognize how bad things are in the world (especially where they live). Even their teenage daughter knows how bad things are and is trying to do what her Heavenly Father wants, and recognizes how bad and stupid the things are that the world teaches. What awesome parenting right? And she was the one that was particpating the most in our lesson and they all seemed really interested in us. Especially since here we are young men trying to bring the gospel to this "dangerous area" they said. I hope we are able to help them. 

Anyway as for General conference we get awesome special treatment, we go to the stake center like everyone else, but we get to go to what's called the "gringo room" and watch it in English. So thats good. I'll be able to understand it. 

I'm exited for Joe almost being done with school. That's awesome! Work hard! I love all of you and I miss you. But I know this is the place for me right now and I am so grateful for it. Thank you for all of your examples to me. You guys are The Best! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Kennedy

Week 1 in Chile

Hey All!

Chile is so awesome! I love it here. My area is pretty flaite (ghetto) but it isnt the most flaite area in the mision. Our pention is actually really nice compared to a lot of the places people live in around here. My companion and I share our pention with 2 other elders who have been in this area for 6 weeks. The other elders names are Elder Salinas from Uraguay and Elder Gonzalez from Honduras. They are super awesome. Elder Salinas and my companion have been out the same time which is a year and ten months. Elder gonzalez has been out a transfer longer than them. 

We never eat lunch in our pention because the members feed us. Here luch is the biggest meal of the day. So typically for dinner we will just make sandwiches or completos or something easy like that. For those that dont know what a completo is, it is a hot dog but on the hotdog you put all sorts of stuff like palta and tomate (avocado and tomato). They are super good. Food down here is super good. I havent had one thing i didn't like. The water here is totally drinkable the only issue with it is it is full of minerals that make it taste really weird, so what we do is buy little packets of sabor or flavoring of different juices and mix it in. So pretty much I'll be staying hydrated by dring lots of juice which is kind of awesome. people here never serve water at their homes. It's always juice or soda, usually it's Coca~Cola. Our daily schedule is really easy. We wake up at 7:30 a.m. and go to bed at 11:30 p.m. (Chileans really like to sleep in and stay up later so we get to as well). Throughout the day my companion and I really are only able to do one thing. CONTACT. We do a lot of contacting because our sector called "Parque Combarbola 2" is a new sector and the other elders only had one progressing investigator on our side. So my companion and I are "White Washing" so we get to knock a lot of doors. Or yell at gates which is actually a better way to describe it cause everyone here locked gates in front of their houses so we stand at the gate and yell "HALO" to get their attention. It's amazing how the people here know exactly which house you're yelling at. I've only been here a week, so I don't really miss American food. The food here is better haha. Their bread is all home made and delicious. And if I ever do miss American food, there is a Lider (Wal-Mart) really close to our pention and that sells American food if I want it. The funny thing about that Lider is it is technically in the mission boundaries of the Rancagua mission. But we are allowed to go there anyway. Im telling you, this place is super similar to parts of L.A. The only diffrences are the big gates in front of every house, all the dogs that just roam the street, and everyone speaks spanish instead of just half of them. 

People here love to say hi to Gringos. "Hi, How are you?" they'll say in their super heavy accents haha it's pretty funny. Chilean spanish is diffrent than regualar spanish. They have their own words and phrases that dont mean anything anywhere else like" flaite, or palta. Or they will say Bacán when something is cool. They rarely say their 's' in words so when they say Estamos listo for example it sounds like 'tamo' li'to. It's cool though and I love it here! The weather is gorgeous. Today was P-Day so we met with the Zone and played "baby" which is a form of soccer they play when they dont have a big field to play on. (basically that's all that's played here cause there are no big fields . We are working hard but always having fun while doing it. I love my comp he is awesome. Also, sorry Renee, but I left my camera in my pention so I can't attach any new pictures, but i promise double for next week. PARQUE COMBARBOLA FOR LIFE! 

LES AMO!!

Love Elder Kennedy.

Note from Ian and the Mission President

MISION CHILE SANTIAGO OESTE
Presidente Richard W. King
Correos, Casilla 149
Pajaritos 1921
Maipú, Chile
Fono: 56-2-531-225814 March 2013

Dear Brother and Sister Kennedy,

Sister King and I were pleased to welcome your son, Elder Kennedy, to one of the finest missions in the world, the Chile Santiago West Mission.  He is well and happy, and we are impressed with his enthusiasm for the work.  After greeting him at the airport and a brief tour of the beautiful city of Santiago, we arrived at our mission home. I interviewed your son and gave him a priesthood blessing.  My Assistants and office missionaries then gave him a brief orientation to the mission.  We had a delicious lunch together, he met his new companion, and that afternoon he left the mission home and departed for his first area of labor.

Elder Kennedy has been assigned to work with Elder Burk, who will serve as his training companion.  Trainers are chosen for their competence, patience and dedication, and are selected after prayerful consideration.  With this letter we are including a photograph taken of your son and his new companion with Sister King and myself.

Please accept our deep appreciation for raising such a fine son.  We feel a genuine fellowship with you in supporting and providing him this opportunity to grow spiritually as he labors to bring souls unto Christ.  It is my prayer that the Lord will inspire us all to sustain him in this challenging assignment.  Please write him frequently, weekly if possible.  Express your love, support, and confidence in him.  You will witness miraculous changes in his life as he engages fully in the service of others.

Being parents ourselves, we understand your desire to occasionally send packages.  For your information, packages sent to your missionary through FedEx often require large duty fees which must be paid by the missionary.  Those sent through Global priority mail, marked missionary supplies and valued less than $100 usually arrive duty free and within 2 weeks.

If you have any questions or if we can assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to write.

Sincerely,President Richard W. King
Chile Santiago West Mission

KingRW@ldschurch.org

Here is Elder Kennedy's note he was able to write:

Below is President King (Mission President), Elder Kennedy's new companion/trainer (Elder Burk), Elder Kennedy and Sister King (Mission President's wife).

This is the area Elder Kennedy is currently serving in: La Cisterna

Made it to Santiago

Elder Kennedy made it to Santiago on Wednesday morning at 7:25 a.m. 
It was a long flight that was slightly delayed. This was his journey on Tuesday-Wednesday (Mar 12-13): 

This is the Provo MTC. Located right in the heart of Provo UT. It is the largest MTC in the world. He spent his first 6 weeks here learning Spanish before entering "The field" (before he left for Chile).

On Tuesday he was driven to the Salt Lake Airpot and commenced his long day of traveling by boarding a 3 hour flight at 1:30 p.m. MST with a just short of a 3 hour layover in Atlanta Georgia's International Airpot.

During his layover we were all able to talk to him. He has grown so much! He mentioned he was sad to be leaving the friends he made at the Provo MTC, but he was very excited to be headed to Chile! He was on a flight with 22 other missionaries. He only knew one of the missionaries which was a sister missionary.

We had the opportunity to hear him recite from memory the primera visión (first vision) in Spanish! It sounded so great! Fellow Spanish missionaries from the MTC said his accent was amazing. 

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng

Then he boarded his 9 hour flight to Santiago at 10:40 p.m. EST.  His flight was supposed to leave at 9:55 p.m. EST but was delayed by 45 minutes. 

After just under 9 hours in the air, he landed safely at 7:35 a.m. UTC-3 (which was almost 5:35 a.m. his time/MST) on Wednesday March 13th.

Leaving tomorrow

Hey!

My Last week at the CCM is flying by. I can’t believe I’m leaving so soon. Being a ZL has been fun. Ha! I’ve been training the new ZLs that will take my place when I’m gone. The language is coming slowly. But I think once I’m submersed in the culture and surrounded by Spanish (Chilean Spanish is a slightly different accent and they use some different words), I’ll be better at it and progress faster. It is crazy Joe is going to graduate so soon. I am proud of him. My favorite part of the MTC is just how awesome and spiritual my district is. HAHA Joe- the wrap bar is where it is at! On P-day we usually just hang out (my companions nap it up). I usually try to read Jesus the Christ. That book is awesome! Ha, and of course I have played Four-Square. Whenever I'm not shooting well in b-ball I play Four Square. Joe- you're so right! They are the most intense games of four square ever! And yes, Pranks “be happening” like crazy around here. I have been pranked super hard. There are some awesome Elders in my district that love to go around the residence and prank, but I usually don’t get involved. haha sometimes peoples heat gets cranked all the way up so they are baking hot at night. But other people go all out. For instance, I’ve seen shaving cream be put on top of a cupcake to make it look like icing.

TRC is awesome. It is a lot of fun. That’s what we do at the end of our p-day. It’s a really cool experience. Te amo,

Elder Kennedy

P.S. Hope to be able to talk to you on Tuesday when I fly out!