Week 3 : King Kong!

Elder King "Kong" and Elder Bennett with their Latino companions from their district.

Things are going really well here.  The Latinos love to talk to me and they also call me King Kong since I'm so giant here!   I'm literally taller than everybody here including all the teachers and all the missionaries!  It's pretty sweet :) I definitely stand out!  We just switched out the last group of Latinos for the new group.  I loved them and it really sucked to see them go, but this new group is also amazing!   I get along with the Latinos well and they love me!  Haha... probably has to do with my last name.  They always yell "Elder Rey!"(Rey means king in Spanish!)   They love it!  They are amazing people and the love they have for the gospel and the things they have had to give up to become missionaries is insane.  One of our new roommates,  Elder Monrroy, had to chose between his house or the mission.  His dad is not LDS and didn't want him to go, so he kicked him out of the house when he decided to go on the mission. He is such an example to me of the pure love of Christ and the sacrifices we all make.  We got all new teachers this week!  They are very tough but still way good!  We are learning a lot!  These teachers focus more on the basics of language structure and then the more advanced teaching tactics!  My testimony and love for the gospel grows every day!  I never was to motivated to do a lot of things before, but here, I'm so motivated each and every day to learn the gospel and teach people!  It's so nice!  It makes getting up early so much easier! Sundays are the best day since everything is in English, so we can just relax and pay attention to the message :)  

Week 2 News from Chile!

Traveling each day from the mission home to the language training center on the mission bus!

From Elder King's week 2 email message:

The schedule is so busy here the days fly by!  We didn't even realize what day it was this week till it was Sunday and that it was over!  There really is no free time.. but i love it :) The schedule is awesome I seeing myself progress each day and that makes it even better!  We got to go through the temple this last Wednesday!  IT WAS AMAZING :)  Soooo different than the temples back home... maybe half the size? But it was amazing.  One of the latino elders I'm really close with asked me to be his escort which was very amazing and humbling!  Almost all of the latinos here have never been through the temple.. I had no idea you were allowed to be a missionary and go through all the stuff we have to do without the temple endowments.  But it was amazing to see their faces!  District leader is still awesome!  Its a lot more stress having to watch out for all of them, myself, and prepare more lessons than the 3 that I already have to prepare each day... but it helps me grow a lot and I love the extra responsibility.  My testimony grows each and every day and I have grown to love the people and the gospel here more than I even thought possible!  The blessings I've received from teaching and with the gift of tongues is amazing as well.   Scripture for you guys is  1 Nephi 5: 8.  Think about it with me and my soon to be missionary little brother Braden in mind. 

1st P-Day Email! - with pictures:)

Finally made it to Chile!  Elder King at the mission home in Santiago.  He loves the MTC experience.  Information from his first p-day email:
Hey guys!!!! this place is amazing!  i dont have much time so im just going to randomly say as much as possible so i dont run out of time! we only have 30minutes to write.... we are the first group ever to stay in EL Cantera    which is the name of the mission home we are staying at!   there are like 40 of us in the house and its was big! and very pretty!!   there are alot of latinos and latinas and they are so awesome!!! they are amazed at us haha we stand out quite a bit!   me and the three others,  two of them you met at the airport in utah, are our own district! and.... Im the District Leader :)  its a lot of responsibility but really awesome and really a big blessing to be!  i have to teach sunday school on sundays to my disctrict which isnt too bad since there is only 4 of us, but its still a little scary but way good to learn!  ive got a new found confidence since coming to the mtc!  im alwasy answering questions, always participating in front of everybody and always volunteering! plus... on sunday i was the first and 1 of 3 americans or gringos and we get called sometimes haha  but i was the first one to bear my testimoney   and i did it in spanish! haha it was way cool!  the spanish is getting there.... its still very hard to communicate with the people here.. we can only pick out words here and there in the sentences and then guess what the person was saying! they didnt really teach us sentence structure so our spanish is very rough when we answer back but its understandable so it works!!   we are learning though and greatly improving each day, we can all now bear our testimonies and pray and give basic lessons plus ask the more commoon questoins and introductions and such!  its very nice to be able to talk to people though!   Chile is amazing! extremely modern and extremely busy!

First Companion!

First email from Chile:  May 8, 2013:

Hey guys they gave us a little time to email our families before we start going with everything here soon, things are pretty crazy here haha the drivers are TERRIBLE. we{ve almost got into crashes mutliple times it seems like but the drivers just act normal like it happens like this everyday haha the weather is amazing, no wind, no cold air, no bugs and no clouds.  just really warm and sunny weather.   The mtc in directly across from the temple but that housing is for the locals and those that are advanced in spanish, me and the rest of the north americans(we are the first ones ever to be here in this house) are staying in the mission home, there is a picture of it when you search about the mission on the internet.  We started a little of the language today and got all the books we will be needing for the work.  A lot of information haha  but my companion, elder bennett, (the one from morgan) is really awesome   we get along well so far!   have to go now for dinner and some big fireside thing with all the people staying at the house.. there are i think 29 sister missionarys and 11 elders haha we are outnumbered... Miss you guys and hope to hear from ya soon!  Love ya all

Elder Bennett is the elder on the left.  Elder Osbourn is on the right.  They flew to Chile together on May 7, 2013.

Mission Departure Date

May 7, 2013:  Saying goodbye at the SLC airport.  Jordan flies to Chile MTC at 1:00 p.m. We are smiling on the outside...