Sleepless Nights, Dreams of Snowboarding and loving the work of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Hello family, ¡Ay Caramba!
What is up on the northwest side on the globe.....What is the news of the news? What is the word from the cool cats? haha everyone knows dogs are cooler! Well what is up with yal and what would you like to tell me?.....nothing? Good well you are all in luck because I am long winded and I could talk for hours without stopping........here I go
Well there were not too many things exciting about this week but it was a tough one and took me to my limits of frustration and sleepless nights. I think our neighbors have become accustom to having a party every Saturday night and with the crappy paper thin windows and walls everything is heard. The guy’s parents go out of town every weekend and his friends come over....this past Saturday consisted of a lot of beer and drugs loud music and then foot races in the street and very bad counting skills or should I say none at all. It was 3 am and I was mad and very tired, Elder Stephenson kept me from going outside and yelling. I thought about calling the Carabineros but they are so lazy they wouldn’t do anything....so I had to lie in bed and try to sleep. Next time I will call the cops though it is ridiculous and best of all we know one of the guys and he is an inactivo and denies it every time we call him out on it. I can tell it is him by his voice and because his girlfriend is always there, oh well the life of no sleep. I have not slept well all week and it is starting to take a toll. It has also heated up but then sometimes the temperature just drops, weird. Oh, Elder Sarmiento is Elder Stephenson´s companion, we live in a house of four because it is a barrio and it is so big. Elder Sarmiento gets up to go to the bathroom like 100 times a night. I was on the top bunk and it squeaks and moves a lot every time he gets up, and so now I am sleeping on the floor where only big earthquakes move my bed.
This week was also tough because it was a hard to get a hold of our investigators. It seems like they all went out of town or something. Umberto, the older guy, was progressing really, we passed by and left notes and called but could not track him down. It was disappointing as were trying to get him ready for the 5th to be baptized. We had trouble meeting with Carla as well because it is far from our house and we need to leave by 9pm to make the 30min walk back to our house. Daniela is progressing a lot but had a hiccup this week as her boyfriend had to move in with her because he couldn’t stay where he was. So now we are trying to find a place where he could rent close so that she can get baptized. When she told us she felt bad because she couldn’t just leave him with out a place but, it is okay now they are looking too. With the help from us and a lot of prayers I know she will be baptized for the 26 Sept. I told her we will work towards that day and she is still full speed ahead. It is good to see her desire to be baptized. Margarita is doing well and is reading and praying and she loves to go to church and the youth activities. It is nice to see the desire she has to continue and follow in the church and learn more. I think her sister Ivonne has helped in that department to helping her learn from her mistakes and stuff. The only problem now is with her mom with have taught her a couple times and invited her pray and read the Book of Mormon and well she did and she straight up told us "I did read and pray but I am not going to change" I know she felt the spirit and received her answer but she will not follow it. She didn’t say her answer was no she said she wouldn’t do it and so now she has been really rude to us and this Friday there was a combine youth activity and Margarita did all her stuff to go and her mom didn’t let her go and Margarita was mad. I was also but had to keep my cool....I don’t know what to do. She almost didn’t let her go to church but we passed by and picked her up. She called us as we were leaving at 10 and said "My mom will let me go but you have to come get me” she then said for us to hurry up before she changed her mind, it was funny she is cool. Ivonne had to work and so that is why there was a problem.
I love the work but it is not easy and well why should it be it is called work? I am having fun I am tired but I am having a lot of fun. I cannot believe how time flies and next week is cambios and I am hoping I will stay here with Elder Pierce but I don’t know it is possible that he will leave but we will see. We had an activity in the morning and played dodge ball and had barbeque it was fun but took a long time and it is an ugly rainy day. I have a NDH tonight and got to get home to make the refreshments así es la vida. I am trying to think of easy and good things to do so if you got ideas tell me please. I am going to try an apple crisp this week I think but the problem is brown sugar does not exist here but with try it anyway....don’t send any. They have something that is like it that I will try, I will let you all know how it turns out but ideas would be nice.
I love you all so much and think about you all a lot. I have had a lot of snowboarding dreams lately my body is in that mode now. The finger wrestling masks are awesome. I always have them with me, please send more and other cool stuff . I am such a child but I play thumb wars with the people and they like the little masks. I want to do a tournament. 18 Sept is coming up it will be fun and I will eat a lot and so the diet and fasting should start now. I love you all and take care. I know the scriptures are true and that there is a Prophet today and we are lucky to hear and read His words and those of the other leaders. I was reading some talks from conference and don’t know why I was so stupid not to pay attention and heed their words it would have saved me form a lot of pain and suffering but, have learned from that and wont do it again. I love you all and take care.
Love you, Eric

Learning to Teach by the Spirit

Dearest Family, People and Kasey :)
Yo what’s up my peeps de la USA? What’s the news on the mainstream? ¿Qué cuentan chiquillos? Well I have heard from mom and pops it has been a busy and exciting week full of unexpected surprises but at least the surprises didn’t hurt the family. Scarey how things can just change in a second. Well I hope you all had a good week and a weekend to rest up a little. Well I guess the big national news here would be the 33 miners that are trapped still but at least yesterday they made contact with them so they are all alive but say it will take up to 4 months to get them out. I don’t know but that sounds ridiculous to me and I don’t know all the facts, but if I was working I would go as fast as possible. That is all we are hearing about right now.....and the earthquake, not to sound mean but I am bored talking about the earthquake.....oh well.
Well this week was a long one and yesterday I was so dead I didn’t even have the energy to tell stupid jokes. A bunch of people told me I look like the walking dead but thanks to the house next door and the party they had all night I didn’t sleep at all. They were loud and had the music blasting all night, then at about 3 or 4am they went out to their cars and sped away but somebody didn’t turn the tunes off. No sleep.....zero courtesy...I was mad but what is done is done. I put my mattress on the floor because it was hot this week so I have been sleeping down there. It is a lot more comfy and I don’t get woken up every time Elder Sarmiento shifts in his sleep...it is a curse to e a light sleeper because nobody suffers but you.

We worked so hard to get investigators to church yesterday but satanas was working hard and we only had 1, Margarita, she did get confirmed so I am super happy. She was super nervous. I guess a kind of sad thing happened this week, well more caught me off guard. Margarita´s sister Ivonne was baptized in April and since we started teaching her sister’s and family we have been going by almost everyday to check on them and keep them progressing, well Ivonne wrote me and Elder Pierce a letter saying how much she appreciated us and what we have done for her family and said that we have become part of the family, she said she found out in a couple weeks there is a possibility that one of us will leave the sector and she has been down about that. She told us to not tell her when we leave because she knows it will be hard on her. It just made me realize how much the people Iam teaching depend and love me and how hard it really is to say goodbye to people who helped change your life and better your family. I try my hardest to not think about leaving a sector because it is so hard to say goodbye and it might be the last time you see this person. While it is sad it gave me that extra boost to do my best to stay in contact with people while I am out here and after too. It sure is hard to say goodbye. I too feel that the people I am teaching and members are part of my family I would do anything for them like I would for you guys. I just need to live worthy to be able to be an example to them all my life to help them achieve the vida eternal (eternal life).
This week we had a 2 day training with the assistance and it was about the new focus of the First Presidency of the Church. All the new mission presidents this year are starting this new program and next year it will be put in all missions. Basically we are teaching the same lessons but the church has come up with some other focus lessons to help the investigators be converted to the gospel and not just baptized so that they can stay active in the church. They are called ´´The 8 Simplified Lessons´´ and basically focus on the way we can receive personal revelation and how to teach and listen better. Teaching to what the person needs to help them be converted. We had this 2 day training to go over all the lessons in detail to help us learn how to teach them and we focused on listening to the Spirit and talking when He wants us to speak. We did a practice where it was just me and my companion and we extended the baptism invitation but when we felt the Spirit tell us to do it and then others how to respond yes or no according to if they felt the Spirit or not too. It really helped me learn how to recognize the spirit when He tells me to talk and not to try and solve things with my knowledge but put my faith in God and wait and listen then speak according to the promptings from Him. It was a very uplifting training for me and I am so grateful for it. At the end we had to do a practice and we had to teach according to what we knew about the person which wasn’t much it was about six points or so. Elder Wilde was this person, we had five minutes to plan how to start the lesson just how to start. Elder Pierce and I planned something and with luck got called on....I said a prayer in my head and started.....as I talked I could feel the spirit guiding me and as my companion spoke I listened and prayed...I didn’t think about what I wanted to say but put my faith in God and the Spirit to tell me what to say. We both listened and He opened up to us. I felt the Spirit so strong and I felt guided by Him, it was just a practice but I know if I can do that with all the people I teach I will be a better and more powerful missionary. I know this is the Lords work and He guides us in it. We shouldn’t be afraid to open our mouths and talk because He will tell us what to say in the precise moment when we need it. I am amazed at the things I say sometimes because I know I don’t have the capacity to teach alone and yet with the help of the Spirit I can reach out and touch the hearts of the people I was edified this week and I know I can be better and I am striving to do that, to teach better, to prepare better but most of all to listen to the Spirit better because He will guide me in the work.
It was a good tiring week. We had a mini cambio too, so it threw some stuff off but oh well. We had a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and last night and I am sweeted out I have eaten a lot of brownies and other sweets I need salt now! I am perfecting the brownie and it gets better every time. Oh I got the package thanks mom but one question....Why did you send me potato pearls? they feed me here! but thanks mom I think I will start eating them for breakfast. I sure do love them thanks mom I love you. Thank you for all you do for me and for your love and support I love you all so much and hope as is well with you. I know the gospel is true and that we have the knowledge of the things that will guide us to the life entera. I love you so much and have a great week. Love you say hi to all for me.
Love Eric

A Busy and Awesome Week

Hey Yal,
¿cómo anda la cosa? jaja Well how is everyone doing and what is new with yal? I hope everything is good with you. I am sure you have seen the email I sent earlier and by now know that yesterday we had a baptism and it went so good and the spirit was surely felt there by all.
Margarita Soledad Hernández Garcia (13), is the second in her family to be baptized. Her older sister Ivonne was baptized in April. She is super cool, we started teaching her 4 weeks ago and I still remember the first visit we had with her, she didn’t say a word, she is super shy but little by little she came out of her shell and now when we visit her house she is a talking machine....well not quite but she has more confidence to speak up and answer questions and make fun of my stupid jokes.
Everybody says that my jokes are stupid and lame but they all crack up and well it doesn´t matter how bad it is if they laugh you have achieved the goal an well they always laugh no matter how lame my jokes are . But I have also learned it is all in the way you tell it.....a lot of excitement leading up to a super lame punch line gets them everytime haha, but it is all good. Margarita really likes the church and it helps that her sister Ivonne is there to help her and keep her going. We are now focusing on their mom. She has showed some interested when we have gone by to teach the last couple times she has sat and shared with us. We are working with her the other sister Leslie. They are a cool family and I love going by their house we have a lot of fun but also have had a lot of spiritual moments too. Yesterday went awesome though. Her mom and sisters came to the baptism to support her and the spirit was super strong. It was good to see the support of the Young Women leaders too it is a new presidency but they stayed to support Margarita in this. I was really honored to be able to baptize her. I had to borrow pants from Elder Stephenson.....size 34....a little tight but they did the job. They were teasing me and making comments about my tight pants and skinny waist but oh well it sometimes is a burden to be beautiful like me (jaja jk lol) it went awesome though and I am still jazzed about it.
We also had another investigator in church yesterday, Umberto, He is a grandpa but he is really interested in the church. He came alone to church yesterday. He is really nice and loves when we come over, we have to teach a little slower but it helps us to focus on his needs and he understands it all. He has a date for the 5 Sept and I think he will make it for that day. Saturday night we passed by one of our other investigators that was progressing but has kind of lost steam, Daniela. She looked different when we walked in and we talked for a bit and as we were talking she got really serious and she said, "quiero bautizarme en septiembre” (I want to get baptized in September) I was blown away because she has been going through a lot of tough stuff and kind of lost the desire to get baptized but she said she had thought a lot about it and said that she needs to take this decision in her life to help with other ones. It was so awesome she even set her own fecha for the 26 Sept. It is awesome it just added to a great weekend. It was such a good feeling to hear those words from somebody, to know that they really understand and want to do to be baptized. It is amazing the power of the spirit.
There was a little bit of panic last night when we got a call from Ivonne, sister of Margarita, saying that a couple of her family members heard about the baptism and started to talk bad about the church and telling Margarita how dumb of a choice it was. We canceled our 2 appointments to go out and see her. She was a little upset but it wore off. We talked about 3 Nefi 14:24-27, where it talks about the house on the rock and sand, and about how when we obey God´s commandments we are built on the rock and when we don’t we are on sand. We then explained about what happened to each house, on the solid foundation of the rock the house was firm but on the shifting sands the house fell. We taught about how both of the houses had to experience the afflictions and challenges, temptations and teasing, but if we stay firm in our faith and obedience we will stand still, and not be washed away by the words of others. She felt a lot better after and I felt the spirit really strong. She is super cool and I am so happy for her because now she can enjoy her youth in the church, she is like my little sister I love her so much and wish the best for her. When I got the call we were in the house of members eating lunch...late lunch at 6.... but I just got so mad and after the call everyone asked what was wrong....2 hours had barely past and satanás was at work. The way to fight him isn’t to throw punches or yell and scream but to show and practice the truths of the gospel and to testify of the power of God. I am very thankful for the call from her sister to give us the heads up. I know Margarita has great examples in her life. I know the spirit of God wins every time and that we need to hold strong and follow the commandments because the challenges will come no matter what but we need to be prepared. The adversary is aware of the work we are doing and he can try to stop it but he cannot understand the power of the atonement of Christ nor the power of the truth. This weekend was a very spiritual one for me and I will keep trying my best to keep it that way.
As you can tell by the photos we played fútbol with the hombres jovenes (young men) on Saturday, it was super fun and I scored a goal. I got some awesome pics. It was a bunch of fun but man was I tired after, cannot wait till the church is done to be able to play there without lame people complaining because it is ours. We heard we might be back in it on the 15 Sept....but we will see I sure hope so.

This week we have a 2 days training with the assistant, so 2 days of hard work and sweat in the church building and 2 days lost to work in my sector but oh well, I know it will help us so I am going with a good attitude ready to learn.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week. Work hard I cannot wait to hear back from you all. Love you so much. I know God and JesuCristo live and love us. They will help us find the way home and will guide us every step along the way. I love you so much and miss you a bunch too. Take care. Compórtense bien (behave well).
Love, Eric

Chef Kuykendall brings Corn Dogs to Chile!

Hello!!!
How is everyone doing this fine beautiful winter day? The sun is shinning it is a nice brisk 55 degrees, oh fine day it will be. Well what do you all have to say? .................nothing hmm well lucky for you I have a lot but not a lot to say but if I ramble on and on and on and on.... maybe it will look that way haha. no just kidding....I am looking forward to read your responds to my first email today....answer wisely because it might change my future...haha. well enough of the silliness lets get down to business...

This week was long tiring and well lets just say pretty darn good. I just want to sleep for 10 hrs but cannot and mas encima, I need to catch up on some letters to people. Last p-day I decided to try something new for lunch......so I made CORNDOGS!!!!!!!!!! Yes you heard me I am bringing the states to Chile. It all started with finding the batter recipe and the ingredients, they turned out good but will have to make some small changes for next time to make them that much better. But it went good and us 3 gringos were content.
I found out some more about the changes that are going down in the mission on Tuesday and about the plan that Pres. Humphrey has for the mission so that we can have mor éxito ( more success). I was a little sketchy on first hearing them but I need to put my pride away and follow with faith. We will be having more mini cambios with the District and Zone Leaders so that they came get to know our investigators better so they can help us with them....that was a part I didn’t like....the way I felt was....was that I should know best how to help them and shouldn’t need other people to come in and do the work for me......I know I am very pride full and all missionaries are different. I like to feel the spirit strong but also make it fun and interesting....2 things I love the most the spirit and fun. I guess this is another test of faith for me and I know the more I fight it the less success I will have and I want to stay here I love this sector and the ward.
By the way, I talked to the guys working on our building and now they say it won’t be ready until Oct. so I may never getting to see the inside of it..... Lame right?
We had a mini cambio with the Zone Leaders and I went to the other sector. In my sector they visited Daniela, Margarita and Carla to do interviews and try to get them ready for baptism this coming week. They all committed to it so for the rest of the week, Elder Pierce and me were running around to finish up teaching and help them do the changes so they could be ready for there interviews on Wed. That is why I am dead tired. Margarita is the most ready and I know she will get baptized this coming Sunday, she is cool and she loves the church. The stake had a youth activity this past Saturday so we got her pumped up to go and asked some young women to pick her up and they did and she had a blast. She loved it so much. We talked to some other people who went and said that she was having fun and participating and everything. When we saw her that night she was happy and is starting to open up and not be so shy. It is her birthday on Wed, so we have an appointment at her house and were are going to get a cake and celebrate with her...it is going to be so much fun. We did one with her and her sisters last week and it went great...we had so much fun and I made a brownie and they loved it, it was the hit! This Sunday her parents didn’t let her go to church so we went by and talked about faith and told her to talk to her parents to get permiso. I am sure she will have it. I am praying and she and her sister are praying as well. I asked her why she wanted to get baptized and very quietly she said “I know it is true and I like the church” I think a part to is that she saw the change in her sister’s life and she wants that too. So I am praying for her so she can get baptized.
Daniela still needs to quite smoking and Carla needs to go to church but they can still get baptized this month....faith and hard work.
Yesterday was Glenda Skinner´s last Sunday and she is leaving to go to Peru on Thursday so tonight we planned a goodbye at her house. It will be fun. I know I have other things to say but cannot remember now. I love you all so much and hope you are doing well. I know the gospel is true and that we are children of God. Take care and I love you so much.
Love Eric

Sick Companions and Cold Showers!!!!!

Whats up!!!!!!!!!!
How is the old family doing this week and What is new to tell me? I just love to hear what is up with you all it is all exciting for me to know. This week was a weird one but a fun one at that. E Stephenson got super sick on Sunday last week he was in bed almost all week and my comp E Pierce got sick too during the week. I think migraines are being passed around because one night we all woke up with them but I came to the rescue with my 20 kilos of pain killer. I know how parents feel know when their kids get sick, take this do this eat this and the kids don’t listen. Oh well! We had to do splits to not lose time with all our inv, so we did splits and two would stay home. The week was tough but it finished good. I am dead tired I haven’t been sleeping well but it will pass hopefully Getting up in the morning is harder because it is freezing in the morning. The thought of jumping onto cold tile is enough to keep you in bed, and even worse yesterday the califont the water heater thing broke! So cold showers woooohooooo!, Our showers are shorter but man are they cold bone chilling hah! My shower this morning was 5 sec to get wet and then 30 to rinse off fast but so cold and then 20 min in front of the room heater to thaw out. The guy should come today or tomorrow to fix it I hope. Oh well that’s the life, got to take it all in and just laugh.

I put some of the pics from the bday celebrations of my companion and I was able to keep it all a secret and he didn’t even know. He enjoyed them which made me happy, it sucks to be away for your birthday but passes a lot easier when the members help to make it a fun time. We ate a lot of sweets and I made two brownies. I am the cookie king! Some members have heard about it and now want to do FHE with us but the catch is they have to invite non members, but chilenos will do anything to taste a good gringo brownie. I stole this idea from the Hermanas, ´´hay que cocinar rico para convertir,´´ no but I figure why cannot we have fun eat and teach all at the same time plus it help the people open up and see we are normal people and like to enjoy ourselves too. It also helps get the members involved. I tell FHE are the way to help inv progress because they can see the fun we have and get to know members and a more chill level. I sure did take FHE for granted before the mission,but this week we have 2 planned so far with inv and trying to get 1 or two more also. We are FHE kings I wouldn’t go that far we just like to eat

We had celebrations at Yvonne´s house with her sisters Margarita and Leslie on Monday and then later that night at Glenda´s house the girl who goes on her mission to Peru next week , with her family and then Tuesday night at familia Cristy, they live across the street, and then last night we did a party for Rafael, he always goes out with us he is cool, Rafael is working on his mission papers. He was baptized last year. We did a party for him to show out gratitude. He had no idea and when we surprised him he looked to me and said´´ me enganaste´´ haha like you tricked me, but it was fun I made a brownie and we had cake that E Pierce’s family sent him along with had lots of food. It was fun as you can tell by the fotos and the hats and masks. It was a good time to shake off all the frustration from the week before. Don’t get me wrong worked hard this week and Margarita went to church and she is going to the stake youth activity this Saturday and the girls in the ward are going to pick her up. It is super cool that they are befriending her. She is super shy so it will be good for her.

I got some sad news from Elder Scott about my last sector in Chillan, he said that he and his comp got moved out of the sector because they were having trouble finding people and stuff....Ie feel bad for him because that is a discouraging thing to have happen... in his email to me he sounded pretty upset. It was a hard sector a lot of older people live there. I just hope it doesn’t happen to me here. They said that our church building won’t be done till Oct now and it is killing our assistance and inv going to church. Tere are trials for a reason. I hope you are all doing good and are happy, I love you all so much and miss yal too.

I know the church is true and that God loves us all He knows us by name. I know our goal is to find happiness in this life and if we do we will find the path to His presencia. I love you so much take care and have a good week
Love Eric

PS: I found a corndog batter recipe on the web and today we are going to make corndogs wooooohoooo I am so happy!