I MADE IT!!!

Hola my dear family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I made it to Chile. I already love it here. Today its been a warm 70 degrees, and so dang beautiful!! The flight was honestly the worst thing in the world. It was 9.5 hours of pure misery. I think I got about 1 hour of sleep all together! But thats okay, everyone keeps telling us that theyll take it easy on us today!!! Leaving  you guys at the airport was seriously one of the hardest things I think Ill ever do. PLEASE tell the boys that I dont have enough time to write them today, but ill write them next week for sure. i promise :) sorry if Im typing weird, the keyboard is totally WHACK when its in Spanish! Ive made some really good friends already. Hermana Griffin from Austin, TX that plays soccer for BYU and Elder McOmber who is from dallas and was the guy at the airport when we said goodbye! I have a feeling that Ill get really close with both of them. 

COOL STORY! As me, Hermana Miller and Elder McOmber were waiting to board the plane in Dallas, I turn and see a missionary walking by us. She looks at us and says, "Are you guys just leaving??" Turns out she was just getting back from her mission in the Phillipines. I looked at her name tag and it said "SISTER HAGEE". We put together that I was the Mckinney Randall{s cousin!!! We both started crying and hugging, and she said Remember. Work hard and be obedient. Youlll love it. It was JUST what I needed!!!! 

The CCM is really cozy and nice. Everyone here is really kind, they just keep speaking ONLY spanish to us and its really awkward cuz we never know what to say back. The temple is literally RIGHT across from me right now and its absolutely gorgeous. We just had lunch and met a lot of people....but they were all looking at us like HERE COMES THE NOOBS and it was really intimidating. hahaha. I cant wait till Im an oldie here in the CCM and can walk around with confidence! haha. I love you guys so much you have no idea. You guys, each individually have shaped me into EXACTLY the person I am today and I cant ever thank you enough. Im out of time now, but just remember that I love and miss you guys dearly! I love you to the moon and back. Talk to you next week!!!! And I promise ill send lots of pictures :) 

Lots of love forever and ever,
Kenz xoxoxoxoxxoo 

Hi, I'm Kenzie :-)

And this is my awesome family.

On December 30th at 6:30pm, I board my flight to Santiago, Chile to start my 1.5 year-long adventure. I'm a 19 year-old girl getting ready to leave my family, my home, and the "world" behind, so that I can serve as a missionary for my church. Some people who don't know much about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or "Mormons," think it's absolutely nuts to send 18 year-old boys and 19 year-old girls out into the world for 1.5 to 2 years to teach about something so BIG and important. Since we are so young, there must be a reason, right? There must be something motivating us to make such a commitment!

Sure, I'm thrilled to be completely immersed in a culture that I'm not familiar with. I'm so so so excited to be able to learn a language that I studied in high school, but never thought I'd become fluent in (OR learn to love it). I'm so happy to know that for the next year and a half, I won't be focusing on myself, but on serving others. But above all, I will be dedicating a small portion of my life to the work of The Savior. I will give up something very small for a man that gave His life for every single one of us, who gave up EVERYTHING for us. Though there have been many things that I've been unsure about throughout my lifetime, one thing that I am very certain of is the love that I feel from my Savior, Jesus Christ. Why wouldn't I want everyone to feel that love, too? :-)

While I'm gone, my parents will be updating my blog with emails and pictures that I send home once a week. You're welcome to email me too, if you'd like. My email on my mission will be emily.randall@myldsmail.net. Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful 2015 and an awesome half of 2016. :-) Merry Christmas!

xo,
Kenzie