Hello my dear family! 

Just need to say, HAPPY FATHERS DAY, DAD! I love you so much and I hope you had the best, most relaxing day because you deserve it. I miss you guys more than you know. Seriously. I cant wait to give each of you a BIG HUG in 12 months!

This week has been a roller coaster for me, but its been full of new experiences, good experiences. I have noticed over the weeks that my love for the people here, especially my sector, especially my ward, has grown tremendously. I love them with all of my heart. I think everyone wants to feel accepted, to feel loved, to feel like they have a place, right? Well my ward has done a great job of helping me feel that way and i am so thankful for that. They have been such a blessing to me. Im not going to lie, I have been struggling a lot these past 6 weeks, but people here are incredible and have helped me so much.

My companion Hermana Valladares

Every Tuesday we have had lunch with Hermana Campillay, the sweetest, most precious and tender 86 year old grandma you will ever meet. She doesnt have much, her and her two children have their own families and kids and they all share a house with separate rooms and a bathroom outside. But every week she gives us the most incredible meal, always making sure we are stuffed to the brim. This week I was still struggling... and the day we had lunch with her I was a little grumpy. I remember sitting at the little table in her bedroom eating her food and thinking of all of the problems that i felt like i had. i remember feeling so sorry for myself. after the meal, we shared a scripture with her and were thanking her for always giving us so much love. You know what she said to me? She said she felt guilty sometimes in the mornings, when she would make a cup of tea and eat some bread because she knew that people were out in the cold, suffering. SHE, Hermana Campillay with her humble home and her humble life, felt bad for being so fortunate. This taught me a really big lesson that day. Though I may be struggling sometimes, there are always people who are struggling more, and my job as a missionary is to bring the joy of the gospel to their lives. 

Kade, Koy, Eli, I love you guys more than you will ever know. I hope youre enjoying this summer!! Make the most of it, okay? MAKE GOOD CHOICES, REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR, do I sound like mom yet? :)

Mom and Dad, thank you for all you do for me. I promise I appreciate you guys more than you know. I love you all so much and miss you to death!!!

xoxo

Hermana Randall

i love you guys so much!

I was so glad to read all of your emails...thank you so much for all of your strength. I sincerely believe that Heavenly Father talks to me sometimes through other people, and it was so good and so comforting to read your words. Have I mentioned that I miss you guys so much? Cuz its true. 

Some really interesting things happened this week. Where do I start? WELL first of all, Hermana Mayor, my roommate from Argentina that Ive lived with for 5 months is going home :( Turns out her ankle issure that she has been having for about 2 months was actually a lot worse than everyone said and she has to go home for recovery. That was pretty sad, but were excited for her to get better so that she can come back out!! NEXT we have an investigator named Franco, who is a 17 year old who is friends with a member of our ward. We went over to his house this week to meet with him and guess what he said to me? He goes, "Hermana, listen...I dont want to sound creepy, but I think I know you." Yeah, totally sounded creepy, but next he yelled, "I HAVE SEEN ALL OF YOUR YOUTUBE VIDEOS. YOURE AMAZING." Hahahahaha craziest thing ever. Its crazy when you feel like a nobody sometimes, a gringa lost in Chile, and then someone says they KNOW you...the you before the mission. So that happened. Then later on in the week we were at a recent converts house, Patricia, and she said, "You will never believe who I was just watching on YouTube. Some girl named Kenzie Randall....." You can imagine how shocked I was because I have NEVER mentioned anything, but turns out she was on Facebook and saw an ad for me? Im not sure. THEN you will never believe. The other Hermanas in our ward were visiting a family yesterday night.... and apparently I was on some news channel in Chile. They played my video and said that I was a talented solo artist on YouTube.... Anyway, they paused the TV and took a picture with me! CRAZY, right?? I definitely never expected any of this to happen!

Random story... Today a drunk girl came up to us and started hugging us and calling us angels. She started telling us these crazy stories and would just sling herself on us and start kissing our cheeks but when I say kissing, they were not pecks. We had slober all over our face it was awful. It was probably the weirdest experience ever. hahahaha. 

Well, this week I am very grateful for the tender mercies from my Heavenly Father. I was on divisions in Diego Portales this week and I was with Hermana Rivero and we were teaching a less active member, and she wanted to share a video with her from LDS. org. She was trying to describe it to me, and I literally didnt understand anything. But when she pulled it up, it was the video thats called "The Light of Christ" I think...the one about the guy telling his life story while hes walking in the desert? hahaha sounds crazy but we watched it together before the mission. DANG it was something that I needed to hear. Ive learned that when we have trials in life, and were praying for the burden to be lifted, we often dont receive that freedom of the trial, but the Lord gives us little assurances, little tender mercies. Elder Bednar said that these assurances "do not occur randomly or merely by coincedence. Faithfulness and obedience enable us to receive these important gifts and frequently the Lords timing helps us to recognize them." I know that is true. No matter how much I struggle, the Lord is always going to help me if I just keep trying. He will never leave me, He never leaves any of us. 

i have a weakness for dogs.
always petting them.
always loving them

I love you all so much and Im so thankful for your support. You will never understand how much you mean to me.

xoxo

Hermana Randall

Hello my dear family.

I miss you all so much... like crazy. I dont think I will ever get past the point of missing you guys. Im so glad to hear that schools out and that you guys get to rest finally! HA just kidding we know rest isnt a thing in the Randall family. Kade and Eli, I hope you guys are enjoying your camps this week! I cant wait to hear about them! And Koy, I hope youre enjoying life at home this week as an only child :)

This week has been pretty hard. I have felt like I am being tested all of the time and its got me pretty discouraged. The mission is NOT all rainbows and butterflies haha. There are definitely times when I feel like theres a raincloud following me around all day. BUT through all of this I am thankful. At least, I am trying to be. I know that these trials, these difficulties that I am going through are for my own good. That in the end, Im going to look back on this time and cherish it because im going to see HOW much I truly grew. But for now, Ive just got to rely on the grace of my Savior to help strengthen me. 

Today I am very thankful for my companion. She has been a rock solid support for me. Its funny how God knows exactly who and what I need, even when I think I know whats better. We had the opportunity to take some recent converts to tour the temple grounds this week and it was a really great experience! I not only felt the Spirit, but I got to develop some really great relationships with the members in my ward and it was very fulfilling for me. 

Finally, family, friends, acquaintances. I just want you all to know of my love for the Book of Mormon. It has changed me as a person. It has constantly given me answers to my questions. If you have not read the Book of Mormon, or dont know what it is, I encourage you to read it! Read it because it is the most correct book on this Earth, a book with a very special and sincere promise. If you've read the Book of Mormon, great!!! i encourage you to read it EVERY day and not only read it, but study it. You will notice a difference.

I love you all!!!

Hermana Randall

 The verduleria where we buy our fruit every pday! its th cutest... haha

We had intercambios with Hermana Vasquez from Peru (from Pirque). Love these girls.

mi corazon

And as always, Im a huge fan of Hermana Jimenez.
 She CRACKS me up, and allllways makes me smile. So thankful for her!

Hermana Amarel (who i met on facebook before the mission
and was in my district in the CCM)
 was one of our guides for the temple grounds tour!!
I love her to death!

Me and Hermana Valladares with Ceci! 

Our group at the temple!! We went with Patricia and her sister Ceci.
They are both angels and I love them so much.
It was such a great experience because the Spirit was so strong. 

Carlos is about to turn 18 and hes getting his mission papers ready!
Its really funny because he REALLY wants to go to the
States on his mission, so he is ALWAYS wanting to practice English!

 At the temple with a recent convert, Joaquin, and a member in our ward, Carlos!

The temple at dusk...beautiful!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA! I hope you had such a great week, because you deserve it more than anything! I was seriously so happy to see that you guys got to make a little time in your hectic week to celebrate it with such a cute cake and BEAUTIFUL flowers. Im impressed Dad and boys.... good work :) 

This week has been a lot better than the last. I have learned many things and I feel like I am growing from the constant struggles that I have. FIRST OFF heres pretty crazy news. I am now in a trio. We think its only for this week, but its because Hermana Mayor has had a pretty bad sprained ankle for a long time...so bad that she cant walk very much and has to rest a lot because its constantly bothering her! This has gone on for about 2 months. She was in a boot for an ENTIRE change and nothing has changed, so President and Hermana Wright decided that she needed to rest for a week in there house! Anyway, that left my dear friend Hermana Jimenez without a companion, obviously. So this week we get to be a trio. Its really funny because Ive heard all about how DIFFICULT a trio is and can be, but never ever dreamed I would have the chance to try one out! Well this is my chance. This week should be interesting!!

 TRIO WOOP WOOP...
 Cordillera officially has a trio for this week. 

Me and Hermana Valladares

We have made a lot of progress this week with our investigators. Remember Samuel? Precious, sweetheart Samuel (from Up)? Well for a while he was not progressing much at all because he just WOULD NOT for the life of him go to church. He didnt want to make the effort. It was the most frustrating thing because I literally love him so much....I want him to be able to ENJOY the blessings of this gospel and he knows its true, he has said it so many times and he just never could take that baby step of acting on his faith. WELL on Thursday Hermana Valladares and I were out in the street and we get this call from Hermana Wright, the spouse of our mission president, and she said she wanted to go out prostelyting with us because President had a meeting in our sector. WE ALMOST DIED because how nerve wracking is that?? haha. We had 2 set appointments during the time that she would be with us, and of course, when we called to verify them, they cancelled on us! HA oh the life of a missionary, right? So when we were with Hermana Wright, we decided to go visit a certain family, hoping that they happened to be there so we could teach someone! As we are walking to there house, we happen to walk right past Samuels house and he just HAPPENS to be outside! Of course, being the sweetest human being, he tells us to come in. We had a lesson with him on The Plan of Salvation...the crazy thing is, he was so intrigued by it even though he has been taught by missionaries for a year! it was like he had never heard it before. We ended the lesson and began to talk about baptism again, but Samuel said he didnt know why he could take a little baby step. He didnt know why he was so scared of commitment. Thats when Hermana Wright told him that he should read Alma 32 in the Book of Mormon....the best chapter EVER if you want to learn more about faith. Honestly, I thought "there is NO way that he has never read this chapter before...". WELL we had an appointment with him on Saturday, just me and Hermana Valladares this time. He hadnt read the chapter all the way through, so we decided to read it with him and let me tell you... something changed in him. He was so thoughtful, reading each verse over and over. Then he would stop, and start thinking out loud. Finally he said "Thats it, Im going to exercise my faith and Im going to go to church tomorrow. BUT im going to go alone. I dont want anyone to have to help me. Im going to go!" I honestly COULD not believe it. It was literally a miracle.

The next day was Sunday and was Ward Conference. And guess who was there? Samuel. We sat right next to him during all of sacrament and he was very attentive and asked a lot of questions. He didnt say much afterwards (hes a very thoughtful person) but seemed to be very content and the ward members were SO good at coming up and introducing themselves and making him feel comfortable. I just have to say that I know God is our loving Father. He listens to us. He knows the needs of each one of us. He hears our silent, unspoken prayers. He knows Samuel, and I have complete faith that He is answering Samuels prayers, he just hasnt recognized it yet. 

me and hermana sullenger... we have become SUCH great friends.
I seriously love her so much!! Shes from Utah,
and has been out on her mission for almost 7 months.
its crazy to think that shes the only one
i get to speak english with on a daily basis!!

 

The language is coming along really well (at least I feel like it is). We had a lesson with new investigators this week...two cute grandparents and their son who is like 40 years old....and during the middle of the lesson I was talking about this earthly life in the plan of Salvation and the old man, Fernando, began to smile really big. He finally said "I just have to say, I am SO IMPRESSED with your Spanish. Youre an American and you can speak so incredibly well!!!!" Okay I feel like he was just trying to make me feel good, but oh well, it worked!!! it made me so happy. Its been a really good week and im praying that I can do some more growing this week. Tomorrow we get to take a recent convert to the temple to do a little tour of the temple grounds and one of our investigators is probably going to be able to come too! I know that they will be able to feel the peace and comfort that the Spirit brings. 

ZONE PICS!!!!!!!! from zone conference this week....
our last with President and Hermana Wright!! sad day...

I love you guys so much, and I am SO thankful for this Gospel. Remember to always say your prayers and to read your scriptures every day, even if its just a little verse or part of a chapter. I promise that doing that will bless us so much!!!! I love you guys SO MUCH!! Until next week!

SHOUTOUT TO MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD, JOSHUA KELLER, WHO JUST GOT HOME FROM HIS

MISSION IN THAILAND. Josh, I cant believe youre finally home....it seems like it was just yesterday that you left! I love you tons and Im so happy you get to be with your family!! Congrats!!!

xoxo

Hermana Randall

"The Lords got this"