Kenzie in Chile

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