The Joy of Hard Work and Service May 16, 2011

Hello to all!!!!!How are you doing this fine week? Today is cambios here and well....I will be dying here in Tomé, I am excited the only bad is that I will not get to see my converts and members in Talca and Cauquenes but I will call them for sure to say goodbye. I am doing good a little better from my cold but the cough and congestion seem to be lingering with me. I am finishing my drugs so I hope it ends soon. I am good though the past 3 days have been pure fog in Tomé we couldn’t see the ocean for 3 days I thought it might have disappeared haha but it cleared up today but here in Concepcion it is cold and cloudy but oh well. There are 15 missionaries going home today and 20 of us this next cambio with me wow!!!! Time is flying by........haha. but asi es no mas
On Saturday we did a service project up in the house of Clara. We put in a new fence in the front and it went great have pictures but this computer is lame so next week if you remind me haha. It was s fun I sure do love working on construction and stuff.....I surprise the members on how much I know about it....I tell them gringos aren’t all stupid when it comes to stuff around the house...jk but I was a little sore in the arms from digging the holes but it was good sore...I was less sore than Hermanos Ariel and Geraldo haha they were sore haha. they finished the bed frame and delivered it that night too, Clara was so happy and we were too, her dad was grateful too. (Clara was sleeping in a twin bed with her 2 children, someone had a double mattress but no frame so the Elders built a frame and gave both to Clara as a Mother’s day gift)
This week I went to Coelemu on a mini cambio and then had one with the zone leaders....fun haha....it was chill I was telling Elder Carlstrom that he will get to meet you I think he will because they have to change terminals and you will get to meet Elder Thomas my MTC comp he is cool too. I need to see them when I go out there. The week was a tough one but good learning experience I guess. We had one investigator in church yesterday, Katia, it is the friend of our ward mission leader, Jose, we are working with her she said she doesn’t have a strong belief in God but I think she is starting to realize that she does...she is praying and the pure act of going to church was a big step in the right direction. We are working to find people to baptize before I leave I don’t want to leave on a dry spell.......we will find them!!!!!
It went good in Chillán last Monday and I got to see Alejandra and Hermana Miriam. Alejandra and Ignacia were happy to see me and I was too. Nacha is so big and she knows my name perfectly she can even spell Kuykendall...haha. I cannot believe it, she is in first grade and Francisco in 3rd. She kept telling me I have to come back to baptize her haha idk if it will happen but well see jaja. It was nice to be back there. I will be going again to see other people in June I think...just need to ask Pres.
I don’t have much to say because this week was chill but I am good not too trunky, but happy to know I am staying here to finish the mission I love the members here they are awesome sometimes hard to work with but awesome.
Oh, yesterday we had a great success. We have been working with a menos activo familia, Flia, Albornoz Teran, for over 6 months and the mom, Juana, and daughter, Yesenia, had come a bit and the other daughter , Yeins , couldn’t because she works solo los domingos ,but yesterday she took off work to go to church!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so amazing I was so happy to see them there and I know they felt good too. The Dad isn’t a member and is starting to listen...little by little. He doesn’t participate but he listens......we have lunch wit them this week too. So awesome the spirit works miracle, and they have progressed because they started to read the Book of Mormon and saying their prayers daily...it is key!!!!!!! It is so simple and yet we sometimes are so stubborn because it looks too easy!!! ugh I love this work and I know it is true. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week. Love Eric

A trip back to cold Chillan May 11, 2011

Hello!
Like Kellee (5 year old girl that lives at the house we called Eric at) said last night, she is so dang cute, flirtatious but cute haha. She enjoyed talking on the phone “with people that don’t speak Spanish,” she couldn’t believe that you all didn’t speak Spanish haha. She is funny. Well I don’tt have much to tell you all except for everything I forgot to tell you last night haha, no there wasn’t much.

Well left the house at 6 this morning after a long night of coughing and tossing and turning but all good. It was a cold morning when we left Tomé and got off the bus in Concepción and the 4 blocks to the terminal de buses was a cold one it was 7 degrees Celsius at 7 am and then when we got here to Chillan it was 4 degrees. I remember this freezing cold from last year....Tome is much warmer and I am not used to the cold right now haha, Well I sent you a picture of the first thing we did when we got here....yep we ate a great Chilean breakfast!!!!!! LONGANIZA CON HUEVOS Y PANCITO SOOOOOOO GOOOOOD. and then went shopping in the feria....i spent like 50 mil....ooppsssss haha but oh well.

I need ideas of stuff to get for you all I am bad at this type of stuff so send me some ideas so I can start looking for some cool authentic stuff....hhaa. Well not tooo authentic because the Chilenos are great at making crappy knock off stuff haha. But it all good. so send me ideas like idk....just stuff and I’ll try and search it out haha. Well I am cold here but got to get going to be able to see some people before I have to take a bus back at 4 to Concepcion. I love you all so much and hope you all have a great week and well sorry for the short letter but got to go love you so much. Love Eric

my comp fell asleep.....haha

Time is winding down May 2, 2011

Hola familia mia!!!!!!!

¿Qué tal? How you all doing!? I hope you had a great week and as is well. I assume Lisa is getting..........farther along in the embarazo and that Tyler is getting more impatient, Wel as for me I have to be patient because no matter what I have to wait jaja. Well I hope you are all are doing good Ally with work and Happy Anniversary Em & Clay, and Kasey my puppers and Mom & Dad with your moving floor machine thing( treadmill) haha. I forgot the word haha oh well you all entienden(understand). Well seems to me April has come and gone and May is here....Elders Haws, Brown, Demann have been reminding me of the little time I have left to make me trunky soooo this week I will remind then of the very long time they have left...I am so mean, haha no I won’t do that but no I am not trunky got lots to do but I am going to Chillan next Monday to say goodbye to people, looks like I won’t be able to go to Cacquennes nor Talca as they are to far to travel to for the day....but oh well.

I am doing well, this week was a long one and not full of too many good stories, except for Friday haha. Well on Friday there was a huge protest of the students about the bus tariffs and prices and they were in the streets of Tome. Well had to got to Penco to pick up my companion form the mini cambio, we did and heard that the students might takeover the entrance and exit on the highway to keep buses and cars from coming and going. Well as we got to the top of the mountain the bus stopped and couldn’t go further..... well, we had to get off and walk to Tomé................I tell you it was all down hill but it took us an hour!!!!!! then when we got into tome took a bus from BellaVista to centro....is was so ridiculous but funny at the same time we walked with a member of the church from Concepcion, and she has a son in the Mendoza Argentina Mission, she gave us a reference toooo!!!! I tell you God works in mysterious ways but I like it. It was funny but I didn’t have my camera to snagg pics.......oh well it is a good story in the journal.

Found some good new investigators this week and looks like are going to progress and cannot wait to see it and be a part of it. I sure do love this work I have been thinking about how much responsibility we have as members of the church because of the knowledge we have and of the covenants we have made with the Lord. It is a big deal! He shows His trust and love for us letting us be here in these times, What a blessing it is to be here in the last days, to serve him and help in his work. I feel a great responsibility already having served a mission to stay active and to magnify callings after the mission this is real stuff. I love the gospel and love living it, I now understand how easy and joyful the gospel is if we live it and put our trust in Him. I cannot wait to talk to yall on Sunday and hope to here good noticias from all. I love you so much and hope you have a great week. Take care
Love Eric

Happy Easter and Happy Birthday wishes to Allyson, Tyler and Clay April 25, 2011

Hello, Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
feliz pascua!!!! How did you all pass it ? gooood? I sure hope so. it was good, I enjoyed it and well I sure loved the candy it was hard to be patient and wait weeks to eat the candy. It was a very long time but I did it and filled the baskets and well the other Elders were happy hey thought it was all for me and I was like no! my parents sent enough for all and so they now want to meet you all....thanks! now everyone wants to be my friend. haha.
Well yesterday we got our investigator Raul to church in the morning and he even invited us to have breakfast with him before haha he is 82 yrs old......got a lot of work to do with him but I have got faith!!!!!!!!! He enjoyed it, but I think but he is hard of hearing so didn’t catch a lot of what was said but if he felt the spirit that is the important part.

Elder May came to visit with his novia (Fiancee), he was AP when I got here was weirrd to see him but good. also got to take a pictures with the Famila Ortiz and their daughter Danysa that is on the isla doing the marines! she had been out there for 2 months straight and now gets out on the weekends!!! haha we then had a stke/ mission devotional last night and Clara and he boys went and also, our ward mission leader Jose brought his friend too. It was chill and got to chat it up with my groupies haha no! A lot of people went and enjoyed it a lot. Oh ya I about OD on the candy....end of the month money is tight haha jk.

Well Clara is doing awesome!!!!!! she got called to be the secretary in Relief Society so I was stoked!!!! She is so bomb she reads and studies the classes in the week and is reading and everything, so awesome. I just need to get her a bible. she has been sharing the gospel with all and her husband too, even though he is still in jail she said that he has shown interest and seems like he wants to clean his life up when he gets out here soon, so awesome.

Byron is doing good and prepared the sacrament yesterday he is a good kid hope I can help him go on a mission I think he will if the ward does its part!!!!

I am doing good we are finding people right now....well haven’t found a lot but we are getting there. The rain hit us so hard on Thursday and the wind was furious. We were soaked to the bone in 30 min asi es la vida. The mission is great! But, today isn’t too bad. the weather is holding up but we are entering winter. I am doing good, my ankle is giving me some problems with the cold and well stretching is all I can do....We are here in Concepcion today and chilling it up with some Elders from past zones....I have gotten fruggle on the mission haha....no wonder I haven’t bought any recuerdos or stuff like that. haha I got to do it though I need to find some good stuff. I am going to Chillan on the 9th to visit and say goodbye.......weird huh...I am not trunky though I love being here but I am making the best of it.

I wanted to see the Jacksons before they left but maybe pops you could pass me his email to shoot him a thanks for all that he did.

Well that is about it for me thanks for everything and for the card pops it looks great I just got to print it now. I wonder if you could send it to me like a foto to be able to print it at one of the kodak print machines please.

That is about it for me this week I love you all so much and love hearing from you, have a great week and take care.....don’t get trunky hahah. chao les quiero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! la iglesia es la verdadera y Jesucristo vive y dirige su iglesia. les amo!!!!!!

Love Eric

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS ALLY, TLYER, CLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! QUE LOS PASEN CHANCHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Kuykendall and the Chilean Wild Life April 18, 2011

A "Missionary Beach Visit"

Eric and his companion befriending the local goats

A Busy Week and Catching up on Cambio Changes 4/11/2011

Hey Hey Hey,
Well just to start I am not trunky!!!!!!! But well I wish I was flying into San Jose and not San Francisco I haven’t been home for 2 yrs so a couple hrs more won’t make a difference right? I won’t get my plans for two months and there is a reason why haha. Well enough talk about that. The first week of cambios is gone and well here we are again writing! I don’t have much to say but I will try to find cool things to tell.
Martes, Hermano Alarcon was generous and he took us to Concepción in the morning to the terminal to save us travel time and $ on bus. I had to wait till 12:30 for Elder Haws to get there and Elder Call went to Molina. I got to see a bunch of my buddies and it was good to catch up with them and chat a bit. Got to see Elder Stephenson and it was good to hear about my converts in Chillan and about the ward too. @ 2:00 got back to Tomé and got settled in and went to eat lunch and buy food for the week and then off to work as usual. The hills are killing my companion but they still kill me too. haha.
Miércoles, in the morning we had district mtg and it went good the usual no más, a lot of contacts as we need top find people to teach because we have nobody and Byron is getting baptized.......oh well así es la vida! Domingo made us pizza for lunch!!!!
Jueves, in the morning I christened my comp and we hiked up El Santo by foot and it was fun he struggled a bit it reminded me of my first time....haha but we took it slow, did some contacts a usual and in the afternoon after 2 hrs of knocking doors got into a house an the lady was named Paola. She is nice and was interested I have hope she will progress. We taught Byron and got him ready for his baptismal interview and he is good to go!
Viernes, planning in the morning and then had a great lunch...BONELESS chicken breast and longaniza de Chillán so good I loved it, fam Alarcon always has good lunches. We did a mini cambio with the Tome Elders and did a baptismal interview for Patricia, and it was a good spiritual experience, I loved it. She passed and is ready to get baptized!!!!!! We got to work with Elder Brown and he is full of energy haha good elder. We have fun in the house 4 Americans haha!
Sábado, Byron had his interview and he passed and Hermano Alarcon will baptize him!!!!!!!!whoooooo I was so jazzed so got all the ropa lista and it was all ready for Sunday. Saturday was yet a day of finding and finally got into a house at about 9pm and the lady was receptive but she would pry about what we taught because said she was scared. I knew she knew the message was true because I have gotten that answer before and her body language told me too. People just wont give up tradition for God........i don’t get it but hopefully when we pass by this week she will have a change of heart.
Domingo, Byron got baptized and it was so good to be able to see it and be a part of it, now he needs an interview with the Bishop to get priesthood and I will have to make sure it happens because this cannot be put off like other things. I will be a rock in his shoe we need active young men.
I hope to have a great week. We have to go to a mini conference tomorrow in Concepcion and then will work hard all week to find some people. I sure do love the mission and it goes by too fast. I know God lives and loves us. He sent His son JesuCristo to die for us and through Him we can have eternal life, the Book of Mormon is true and was translated by a Profeta de dios, I know today Thomas S Monson is the Profeta and the apostles are witnesses of JesuCristo. HE lives and loves each and every one of us. I love the gospel and love to share it.

Have a great week and cannot wait to here from you all next week love you so much, take care and sigan adelante!!!!!!!!!!

Love Eric

Thanks for the package mom and the flag it is perfect haha

PS :Well hello there again all this is a lil bit of last week news and cambios news too from last week when the computer wasnt working haha

It seems Tome that yet another week has flown by and that I am here again tell you all of the so many exciting things that are going on here. Well to start off Cambios are today and the big news is that Elder Bordolli goes home to Argentina, Elder Call is going up north to Molina, and Elder Demann stays and his comp will be Elder Brown and my new Comp is Elder Haws, of Arizona, who is coming from Parral. So tomorrow bright and early we will be in Concepción to wait in the terminal. Got up early to take Elder Bordolli to the office in Concepcion and took us 45 min to get a bus to take us because we had bags to load. I tell you riding Chilean buses is a fun ride haha but asi es la vida.

Well the conference was awsome as usual and sure helped me see in what I need to improve....lots of things but I know the Lord will help me BE what He wants me to BE. I sure loved the priesthood session and learning about the duties and responsibilidades of the priesthood. I have a lot to learn but I am determined to do it. I am so grateful that I had such great examples of priesthood in my life to instruct and to guide me in assignments. I know I can do better. It was a great conference and I enjoyed it

Technical Issues 4/4/2011

Well I have to write a quick mail because this computer sucks . . . sorry I had a big awesome letter but the internet isn’t working well and keeps deleting me.
I am good and really enjoyed General Conference. Today was cambios and Elder Call is leaving and my new companion is Elder Haws. That is the quick news I will try to get a better letter but the computer keeps shutting off and it deleted the one I had written. I love you all have a great week. Elder Bordolli went home today back to Argentina so we took him to the office in the morning.
Sorry but technology isn’t as reliable as the gospel. Next week I will fill you all in on everything. Love you all take care have a great week talk to you later!!
Love Eric