Hey everyone!!
FIRST OF ALL...
I NEED TO WISH MY AMAZINGLY CUTE LITTLE BROTHER ELI A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Eli, I hope you have the greatest day ever! I wish I could be there to give you the biggest hug of your life! I love you to the moon and back, bud! Eli, I know this is nothing...but I want you to know that I miss you so much and wish I could be there with you this Saturday!!! I cant believe youre almost 12 AND almost a Deacon!! Im so proud of you Eli. I love you to DEATH!!!!

On our way up to San Cristobal

 I hope youve all had a wonderful week...I need to say that this email will be pretty short. Today, my companion and I, along with my roommates, went to San Cristobal which is about an hour metro ride. After get lost almost 10 times, we made it back late!
This week has definitely had its ups and downs but I can say with all of my heart that I love being a missionary. Its the best feeling EVER! Ive had so many amazing experiences this week...truly amazing experiences. My Heavenly Father testifies of his mercy and love every single day through little miracles.

Hermana Garcia looking out over Santiago. I am so blessed to have her as my companion!

SANTIAGO

 Dad, I took your picture with me today so that you could revisit this mountain! I felt very close to you today and it made it really special to stand where you once stood.

I brought a picture of my Dad with me since he served here in 1988

Dad stood at the top of this same mountain when he served in Santiago...

 The language is coming. Hahaha. I have my great days and then my not so great days. BUT this is kinda cool. Ive had many many people, all native Chileans, tell me that theyre impressed with my Spanish and that theyre surprised that Ive only been in Chile for 8 weeks! They say I dont sound like a GRINGA AT ALL. Best thing Ive ever heard in my life. Keep praying that the language will keep coming!

This is my favorite wall that we pass everyday, even though it doesn't make any sense!

Sunset near our apartment

Santiago Temple at night

I'm not sure what faces we're making, but the helado is AWESOME here!

I went on Divisions this week in a place called Diego Portales. All of the girls I was with ONLY spoke Spanish. Two from Argentina, and one from Dominican Republic. As I was on my way there on the metro, I was praying SO hard that I would be able to at least communicate with them. I was terrified, honestly. So nervous. But dang, the Lord blessed me with the Gift of Tongues that day because I was having some REALLY GREAT conversations with those amazing girls. It was a fantastic experience! They were teaching me Spanish, and I was teaching them English!

Elder Steeves and Elder Campbell will make great missionaries!

Our District in the CCM

I truly am so grateful for this experience. I cant say it enough. Its so rewarding on so many different levels. Sure, its so hard sometimes. But Ive already learned so much about myself, and so much about my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. This is an experience that I would never ever be able to have, anywhere but here. I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!!

xoxo
Hermana Randall

My wonderful, beautiful family! Im finally online!

Its been a pretty long week thats for sure. I cant believe that Im finally out in the mission field! It blows my mind. How is everyone? GREAT I hope!! I want you all to know that I miss you all like crazy. 

Well, my first area is Cordillera and Im totally in love with it here. I'll admit, when I first got here, I think I went through a bit of a culture shock, even though I had been in the CCM for 6 weeks! Its much different here than it is in Providencia, thats for sure. But a GOOD different! Theres definitely a wealthier part here, but most of this area is pretty run down. 

The mission is hard. Harder than I ever thought it would be. I know Ive probably said this a bazillion times, but its something youve heard would be hard your whole life, but its nothing you can really PREPARE for. Its something you just have to experience! Funny thing is, when I was in the CCM, I was secretly wishing that they would let me out of there! But the second I left, I felt HOMESICK! Weird how that works, right? There were so many people there who made my experience so great because of the amount of love that they showed me. Love honestly changes everything. I cant thank my teachers and friends at the CCM enough, because they gave me such a source of strength when I needed it more than ever, and for that I will be FOREVER grateful. My family away from family, forever!

MORE OF MY LETTER BELOW THESE PICTURES!!!!!!

My favorite Chilena, Hermana Saavedra. She became one of my best friends in the CCM.

All of the sister missionaries leaving the CCM for the Mission Field!

Sister Doll, the CCM's wife and MISSION MOM to all of us!

Me and Hermana Mayfield with Hermano Pino, our favorite guy teacher. He seriously had one of the biggest impacts on me as a missionary. So thankful for him!

Me and Hermana Mayfield with one of our favorite almost teachers, Hermano Antileo! He served his mission in Knoxville, TN and speaks AWESOME English!

Elder McOmber from Dallas TX(that left at the airport with me) and Elder Jensen from Canada. Both in our district and awesome guys!

Me and Hermana Maxfield with Elder Steeves and Elder Campbell from our district

My companions name is Hermana Garcia, and BOY is she amazing. I dont know how I would be handling this transition without her! Shes so positive, so upbeat, so uplifting. She was born in the United States, but moved to Guatemala at a young age, so shes fluent in both English and Spanish! How amazing is that? Shes the funniest girl ever, ALWAYS has me laughing and shes such a hard worker. This past week has been one of the hottest weeks this summer....36 to 38 celcius...no idea what that is in Farenheit, I don't remember how to convert it and NO ONE seems to know what Fareinheit is here in Chile! Hahahaha it drives me nuts. BUT, we ate at McDonalds today for P-Day and it made me feel so much better!

Me and Hermana Garcia at  MCD's

Our roommates are Hermana Mayor and Hermana Jimenez, both from Argentina! Hermana Jimenez was with me during the CCM, and was one of my really great friends so its been so amazing to go through this with her.

Me, Hermana Garcia, and our roommates from Argentina Hermana Jimenez and Hermana Mayor 

Me and Hermana Jimenez in front of our ward building. Love our ward!

So Spanish... Pretty sure that Chilean Spanish should be classified as an entirely different language. First day I got out here, I literally thought about 40 times..theres no way that this is the same language all of my teachers spent WEEKS trying to teach me in the CCM. Not going to lie, it is the most frustrating thing EVER barely understanding everything. Honestly, I feel like the only thing I can do right now is spit out a good testimony and a decent prayer! AHHH! I know its only the first week, but dang. This will be an exciting adventure though! Hahaha. 

RANDOM FACT: WE HAVE NOOOO HOT WATER. SO, WHEN WE TAKE SHOWERS, IT'S ICE COLD!!! MAKING ME TOUGHER, THOUGH!:)

So it was my FIRST full day in the mission field, super hot, were walking along this street and I feel like Im dying. Next thing I know this truck drives by us really fast and I hear this loud POP noise. I immediately thought, dang, that sounded like an airsoft gun!!! Next thing I know, my arm is killing me and I look down and its bleeding! SOME DUDES thought it would be hilarious to shoot me with a BB gun or something and now I have this huge bruise! hahaha. Normally I would have laughed so hard, but since it was my first day and I felt like I was in a dream, I was DONE! Hahaha. That was a great, welcome to Chile. Right? My companion took this picture a few days later, can you believe it?

BB gun wound from "the drive by"

Got a package from y'all! Made my week! Sorry I look so bad...it's really hot with no A/C!

Okay. Momma. There are some mission CDs that we have that are passed down that have some old EFY soundtracks. It was playing one day when I was SUPER homesick, and guess what it was?

"Like stones in the river we are tossed and turned, when the current moves so strong. Stones in the living waters over time, shaped until the edges are gone. Polished and smooth, thats what we will be if we put ourselves in Gods hands. Each day of our lives, is a gift from the Giver. Smooth all the edges like stones in the river." I may be wrong, but I remember hearing you sing this all the time growing up! It was such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. Just a reason that I know that he knows me better than I know myself. I listened to that ENTIRE EFY 1999 CD all the time now, because it means a lot to me, and reminds me of my sweet mother and my wonderful family.

I miss you guys SO much. I hope you know that! Im sorry to the people that have written me and I havent responded...Im still trying to learn how to manage my time. I promise Ill get around to it soon! Thank you EVERYONE for all of your support. It means the world to me!! Youll never ever know....

Im so thankful for this chance to serve a mission for my Savior, Jesus Christ. Im so honored to wear His name over my heart everyday! What a priveldge it is. 

xoxo, 

Hermana Randall

Randall Family,

Hello from Chile Santiago Este! We just want to send you a quick note letting you know that your daughter has arrived to the mission safe and sound.

Attached is a letter, and a picture of her with President and Hermana Wright.

Please send all letters and packages to this address;

Misión Chile Santiago Este

Cristóbal Colón 6824

Region Metropolitana

Las Condes, Santiago, CHILE

Dear Family,

Guess where I am? Finally in the mission field! We arrived at the mission office this morning around 10am and we've been learning about all this mission stuff(for lack of a better phrase) ALL day! I would DEFINITELY be lying if I said I wasn't nervous and wasn't overwhelmed. It was surprisingly REALLY hard to leave the CCM. We had to say goodbye to so many amazing people that I had become so so so close to, people that I probably won't see until either after the mission, or even in this lifetime! I'm seriously so thankful for my experiences in the CCM--it has already changed my life.

I got my new companion! Her name is Hermana Garcia, and she's been here for 16 months, so I'll "kill her off", or I'll be her last companion! I THOUGHT she was full-on Latina and I was freaking out because of the language barrier, but turns out she was born and raised in California with English as her first language! I can already recognize that as a huge blessing. My first sector(area) is called Cordillera, by Puente Alto. Herman Garcia has only served in TWO sectors and she was in her first sector for 1 year and 1 month! Crazy, huh? I'll probably be in this area for a long time.

I already miss Hermana Maxfield like crazy. We got so close these last two weeks! I miss you guys so much and can't wait to email you next week and send you so many great pictures. Please pray for my Espanol! I feel like I've plateaued hardcore. I pray for you guys every day, and I can't wait for the day when I get to give you all a big hug! Thanks for being such a great support to me! I love you all so much, with ALL of my heart! You'll hear from me soon!

XOXO,

Hermana Randall

Hello,
First of all, I just want to say that I've been sitting in this computer room, reading you emails and laughing and crying all at the same time...everyone probably thinks  I'm CRAZY. Kade...the "I like turd" all over the place literally made me laugh so flipping hard hhahaha. You guys have no idea how much I miss your sense of humor. It's our last week in the CCM and it's very bittersweet that's for sure. 6 more days until we're out in the mission field! WOOHOOOO!!!!

I miss you guys like crazy!!! How is everyone? This week has been ABSOLUTELY fantastic :) Last PDAY me and Hermana went to a frozen yogurt shop and it was SO YUMMY!!!! Today we went grocery shopping. The dog in the picture with me is one eared Nefi!!!!

This is something pretty funny. Sometimes here at the CCM we feel like we're in jail. We're not allowed to leave and when youre in a classroom 14 hours a day you feel like you're losing your sanity. Honestly. hahahaha. Well we've started these games to keep us entertained and it's literally the CRAZIEST thing how the smallest things in the world bring you so much joy as a missionary. Every day when we leave the cafeteria at lunch, we find the MOST unripe orange (which isnt hard at all) and take it outside and just throw it to each other. Pretty soon it becomes this massive game where all these districts are just chucking these oranges at each other and we're trying not to make them explode! Hahahahaha it's seriously so fun. I'm going to miss the CCM so much. Everyone here has had such a profound impact on my life that I can't imagine not meeting them. It's been such a blessing.

The two girls sitting on the bench with me are Hermana Bodrero from Mesa and Hermana Andews from Vegas. They're both in my District and I love them so much!!!

Yo sé que la Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Ultimos Dias es verdadera. Yo sé que nosotros tenemos un amoroso Padre Celestial y sé que estoy en Chile por un razón especifico. I love you guys so much! And hope you have the best week ever :) Talk to you next week from the Mission Field!

Mom 

I miss you like crazy! You know, today was our last P-Day befroe we go into the field so I had so much to do! I miss you guys so much! I seriously can't believe I'm in Chile sometimes. It blows my mind!!!!! It's so beautiful and I've DEFINITELY gotten a tan which is a definite PLUS!! This Thursday we're going CONTACTING in the REAL WORLD and I'm so nervous. Honestly its the most frustrating thing when you know what you want to say, but you cant figure out how to say it. And then on FRIDAY were going on splits with REAL LIFE missionaries. Holy cow I'm so so so nervous but so so so excited. It's going to be an amazing experience, I just know it!! I'm so glad you guys miss me. Does that sound weird?? Because it's true! I know I wasn't the GREATEST sister and daughter ever, but dang. I sure do love you guys more than I could ever really comprehend. I'm trying to watch what I'm eating but it's really flipping hard when all they serve you are CARBS and the PAN is so good. Chilean bread is heaven. 

Honestly, logging on each week is so overwhelming in the CCM because SO many people have emailed me, and I feel so bad because I don't have any time to write them!!! But it's okay. Hopefullly in the field I'll have more time... I've heard we have 2 hours! SWEET!I love you so much mom, and I'm so grateful for everything you guys have done for me!!!! BTW my two favorite teachers, Hermano Filipe Antileo and Hermano Bastian Pino (you should look them up on facebook) told me to tell you guys that they say hello! Theyre the best.

Dad

I miss you so much!!! I got your letter this week and it totally made me the happiest person ever! It's funny....I always seem to get letters when I need them the most! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm really glad that you think I've grown up and matured a little! It's crazy, because when you get here, you feel SO inadequate because you quickly realize that you don't know as much as you thought you did because everyone else seems to know more about the Gospel and more about Spanish! It was definitely a very humbling experience to say the least. Thank you so much dad. The more I'm out here the more I realize how insanely lucky I was to move so many times, to live in so many different places, to see so many different things. Because of that, I feel like I bring a different perspective and I never ever noticed that until I got here! I love you so much, Dad. I can't even explain how much!! Honestly, I love reading "dont take it too seriously"because its a GREAT reminder. When I start freaking out or blowing things out of proportion, I just think of that over and over again and it helps me so much. I love you to death dad! I sent you and mom a letter today so hopefully you get it soon!!!!

Eli BOY

Eli I miss you so much!! Hahahaha that's so funny! It was the weirdest thing EVER not watching the Super Bowl and having NO IDEA what was going on. All of the Americans in the CCM were going crazy!!! Funny story, we actually started guessing final scores of the game and all the guys started guessing plays and all this stuff. We literally felt like we were going crazy because it's something that were just SO USED to knowing, you know? Soulds crazy but whatever!!!!! I miss you so much Eli. I would do anything to give you a HUGE hug! THanks so much for hoping that I didnt get sick!!!! I didnt :) You're the best Eli boy!!! Give everyone big hugs!

Koy!!!

I'm doing really good, Koy! I miss you so much though. Today I was able to print off a bunch of pictures of all of us together and I'm just so so so so happy because of it. I love you guys so much!!!! OH MY GOSH please write to me en espanol!!! I love it!! Koy, I'm so sorry you still have a yucky cough...that's so depressing. Are you feeling better besides that?? I really hope so. I miss watching you boys play basketball! As crazy as it sounds, it made me feel so connected to you guys. I can't wait to see you play again and cheer you guys on like crazy!!! AHHH Koy that's so awsome!!!!! Dude when I come back you're going to be huge and it's gonna be freaking weird for me to adjust to having huge brothers. hahahaha. I love you so much Koy! I seriously do!!! I hope you have the best week!!!! LOVE YOU!

Kaderade!!!

I hope you've had a great week :) I'm so glad you thought so!!! So really freaking cool things happen here at the CCM, and I'm freaking out that pretty soon I'm going to be like a REAL life missionary!!! AH! Oh, Kade I can't wait to hear what you got on your SAT! I bet you killed it. In a good way. You're such an amazing student and amazing person and you are going to go SO far in life. I just know it. What colleges are you considering apply to? Fill me in on everything!!! I'm so glad you and Alec have gotten closer! He's a good kid. Sometimes moving sucks, am I right??? It really does, but sometimes it sucks just so it can teach us stuff that we wouldn't have learned if we hadn't had been put in that position, ya know? I miss the days where we'd drive to school every morning, jamming to music, singing our lungs out! I love you so much Kade. You'll never know how much you, Koy, Eli, Mom and Dad mean to me. I hope you have a great week!!!!!

Love you to the moon and back,

Hermana Randall...Kenz

WEEK NUMBER 5!

Can you believe it? Just started my 5th week out here in the mission field and it blows my mind! Honestly the whole saying "the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days" is a REAL THING. It couldn't be more true. Well....actually my first 3 days here at the CCM literally felt like 3 years. Hahhaa. So sometimes the days can actually feel like years. 

It's been a really fantastic week...probably the best week I've had so far. Today we said goodbye to all of the Latinos that came two weeks ago, which means tomorrow we get the new batch! I'm so so excited to meet them. I actually think one of my friends, Morgan Lesh, is coming in that group tomorrow! So hopefully I'll get to see her! TWO MORE WEEKS IN THE CCM.

One reason why this week was really fantastic was because I got TWO letters and a little package in the mail! Such a surprise!! One letter was from you mom (which means REAL mail instead of pouch mail is faster) and one was from Sister Melissa Skinner serving in her mission in NY! She was one of my good friends from school! I also got a package from the one and only Sister Maisey--they were Christmas cookies, so it totally made my day! Thanks so much, Sister Maisey!!!!

GUESS WHAT! Another one of my really good friends from school, Sam Cagle, is serving his mission in the Santiago North mission. I honestly never ever thought I'd see him, but the other day as I was practicing my Spanish on this computer program, I turned and BAM! There was Elder Cagle, sticking his head in and waving to me! Honestly, it was such a tender mercy from the Lord. I felt so comforted by the advice he gave me and how HAPPY he seemed to be! Plus, it's pretty cool because I was there when he opened his mission call and NEVER knew that 6 months later, I would be opening mine and reading the SAME WORDS--"Santiago Chile". So amazing! 

The previous batch of Americans that came two weeks ago brought the Flu over with them....great. Haha. The flu is NOW spreading like wildfire and everyones freaking out. Please please keep us missionaries in your prayers! We're trying so hard to learn and do our best and it's so hard to do that when you're sick!! hahaha

Little random tidbit, but down here in Chile it is completely normal to see stray dogs EVERYWHERE. Literally everywhere. As missionaries, we aren't supposed to touch them because they could have fleas and that would be nooooo fun but it's so hard cuz all they want is LOVE! There's this one sweet dog named Nefi (Nephi in Spanish) and she has one ear (yes, she's a girl haha) and she just waits for us missioaries to leave the CCM gates to go exercising every morning and just runs with us and follows us and it's the sweetest, saddest thing ever. 

We have these two INCREDIBLE teachers. Hermano Gonzalez, and Hermano Diaz. I had a really cool experience with each of them that I want to tell you about. 

Hermano Gonzalez ALWAYS has the Spirit with him. He brings it instantly to ANY room ANYWHERE. The other day, our entire district was just having a really really hard day. We couldn't focus, we weren't motivated, we were just really down and hard on ourselves. He comes into the room after a break and says, "I have a suprise for you all. Close your eyes!!" So we did. All of a sudden, the sweetest sound filled the air, and the Spirit just hit us like crazy. He plays the harmonica--like for real, but started playing "Come Come Ye Saints." For those of you who don't know the lyrics to that song, the lyrics kinda go like this: "Come come ye saints, no toil no labor fear. But with joy, wend your way. Though hard to you, this journey may appear, great shall be, as your day. Tis better far for us to strive our usless cares from us to drive. Do this and all, your hearts will swell, all is well, all is well." As you can imagine, it was EXACTLY what I needed at that time, and after he was done playing, we all opened our eyes and we had all been crying. It was such an amazing experience. 

Hermano Diaz is the ginger-iest Chilean you will ever see in your life. ACTUALLY, everyone thinks he's a Gringo the first time they meet him and its hilarious. His relationship with the Lord is unbelieveable and the LOVE he has for everone is unreal. Yesterday, Hermana Maxfield and I had a lesson with our investigator, Amador, (who is played by Hermano Diaz, but modeled off of one of his REAL investigators on his mission). Amador, a few years back, had lost his son in a tragic accident, so we were really trying to help him. It was our last lesson to teach him, and we had a really strong impression to take him to the temple grounds to teach him. When we got there, we walked around the temple, and then went down and sat in front of it. As we began our lesson and began talking about how the temple makes it possible for families to be eternal, the Spirit was just so strong. There was one point in the lesson where Hermana Maxfield was bearing her testimony and I just looked up and the sun was reflecting off of a window onto us and the wind started blowing and I just started crying because I knew that our Heavenly Father was so pleased with us, and knew the real intentions of our hearts. Hermano Diaz called a timeout in the lesson, and just started crying. Turns out he had just found out that the REAL LIFE Amador, his real investigator and convert, was getting sealed with his family for all time and eternity next month. We all sat there and cried. It was an incredible experience and truly reminded me why i'm here.

I'm so grateful for this experience. As scared and nervous as I get sometimes, as much as it can be out of my comfort zone, I love it so much. Jesus Christ, our Savior, is my brother and my best friend. I'm so grateful for the sacrifice he made for us, and for the blessing to HAVE the Gospel in our lives. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon. If you ever want to know if this church is true, or if you want to receive a direct answer from God, then I challenge you to read Moroni 10:3-5 and pray to our Father in Heaven to know if what you are reading is true. I promise that you will receive an answer!!! 

Guys, I love you all so much! Hope you have the best week!!!!!!!!

Chao, 

Hermana Randall

Hey my favorite family!

I love you guys so much. So right now, I'm so frustrated because I got the one computer that didnt work so hopefully they let me write for more than just 30 min because it took so long to fix! GAH!

So tomorrow we finish our 3rd week and start our 4th. DANG. How crazy is that? Were almost halfway done! I'm going to miss the CCM so much, though. The new batch of missionaries came in this week! Lots of them, too! We got two new roommates and theyre the sweetest--their names are Hermana McNevin from Colorado and Hermana Vincent from ARLINGTON TEXAS!! Crazy, right? Theyre so kind and so fun! Theyre both going to the Santiago Oeste mission. Since its our 3rd and 4th week, we got some new teachers and let me tell you...they are AMAZING! They seriously bring such an amazing spirit. Most of them don't speak English very well, but its amazing, because I feel like most of the time I don't need them to speak English for me! NOW its pretty difficult for me to speak Spanish back, that's for sure. Hahaha. It's usually a train wreck cuz it takes so long for me to come  up with something on the spot that I end up forgetting what I was trying to say!! Haha. 

I really feel like I'm progressing in the language though, and that makes me so happy. Whenever I say prayers or my testimony or even recite the First Vision in Spanish, the teachers make a point to tell me that my accent is coming along very well, and those kind of compliments are very needed. It's really hard to NOT feel pressure to learn the language faster than I can, and it's really hard to not be so hard on myself, but the teachers here do a great job of letting us know that we're doing well and that's more than I could ever ask for! Hermana Maxfield and I taught a new investigator this week named Jose Antonio, and during the lesson, the Spirit was just SO incredibly strong! After the lesson, our teacher said that he was almost in tears because of how much he was feeling the Spirit. He said we SURPASSED his expectations by a ton!! That was the greatest news ever.

I have never ever understood how you could fall in love with a culture and it's people that you don't even know, but HOLY MOLEY it's a real thing. This place is the greatest!! The people here are incrdible. I know I say that every week, but thats because its totally true!!! 

FAMILY: I just want you guys to know that I pray for you each individually, EVERY morning and night, every meal, before every lesson! I thank Heavenly Father constantly for the priveldge that I have to be in this family. BOYS, I miss  you like crazy. You would seriously love this place so much. Every morning we go and play some intense futbol games and its the BEST!!!! Sometimes as a zzone, sometimes as a district. I have some huge bruises from that! During the week, the parks are PACKED with Chileans playing futbol y basketball and buying helado from the little shacks. Its just the greatest! I know youd love it. 

Me and the wonderful Hermana Maxfield in front of the temple today. I{m realizing that were given the companions that were given for a reason. I love her so much and I{m so gratefull for the strength that she provides for me. PLEASE SEND ME PICS SO THAT I CAN DOWNLOAD THEM TO MY SD CARD AND PRINT THEM OFF NEXT PDAY I LOVE YOU LOTS!

 

I just want you guys to know how much I love you!! 

xoxo

Hermana Randall

It's been two weeks since I arrived at the CCM! ITS SO AWESOME HERE. Mom, Dad, Kade, Koy and Eli. I can't even explain how much I love you guys! I think about you and pray for you 24/7!!! 

My teachers here are amazing. SO amazing. Three of my most favorite teachers are Hermano Pino, Hermano Ruitor, and Hermano Canas. Hermano Pino just got back from his mission to Peru about 4 months ago and has the most amazing testimony!! Its crazy, because he doesnt speak much English, but we're still SO close to him. Honestly, I feel like he's one of my best friends here! He's such an incredible teacher, all of them are!! Even though he's only 20, I feel like he's so wise and teaches us so much. I'm so forever grateful for the love that they show to us! You can tell that they really care about our success in the mission field and its so great. 

This morning, 5 districts left the CCM, leaving for the big bad world!! Theres literally only like 20 of us left here at the CCM. Its so empty its weird! But you know what that means... tomorrow afternoon is when the NEW NOOBS come in!! Its honestly like high school here in that when you first come to the CCM you feel like a noob freshman until the old guys move out. Now, were technically sophomores here so we think were pretty dang cool. Haha! 

Hermana Smith and Hermana Phelps left this morning too, though. Honestly, I can't thank them enough for the impact that they made on me. They changed the first two weeks of my mission. I was so lonely, so homesick, and so wanting to go home, but they made me feel so incredibly loved that I kind of forgot about all of those awful feelings. Last night, everyone was hanging out and saying bye, and we all got in a big group hugging each other, and sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again"and everyone was crying and laughing and hugging and there was just SO MUCH LOVE. The Spirit was so strong. Theres something really amazing about feeling united, feeling like ONE. If you think about it, were all here for the exact same reason...because we love our Lord and Savior Jesus Chirst and we want everyone to know Him and follow Him. We are ALL in this together, and its the best feeling. It was pretty hard saying bye, but I know the Lord will take care of them!!

GOTTA SAY THIS REAL QUICK. I'm in love with Chile. Everything about it. The people, the hustle and bustle of Santiago, the food, the LANGUAGE. Its absolutely incredible. The Chilean people are the warmest people you will ever meet...and even if you cant speak that great of Spanish, they get it! I already dont want to leave this place. Its definitely pretty frustrating though, when you run into people who want to talk to you and you want to talk to them SO BAD but the language barrier is just too thick. I'm working on it though! It'll come with patience. 

PATIENCE. One thing that I KNOW the Lord is trying to teach me right now. I never really considered how hard it would be to be with someone literally 24/7. Its exhausting. I feel like Im somewhat introverted as well, so sometimes I just want some ME time and its almost impossible here at the CCM!!! I love my companion, Hermana Maxfield. As different as we are, were alike in a lot of ways. We both have an enormous love for music, so were are ALWAYS singing!!! We also have some really good conversations, ones that make you think, you know? Shes a beautiful person inside and out! 

Dad, real quick question. Do you know an Elder Hardenbrook who served in Santiago North from 1989 to 1991? If so, I know his son!!! His son is serving in the Oeste mission, west mission, and just left for the mission field!! Hes a great guy!!

One really great thing that just keeps me going is that I've been told many times by different people that my accent when I speak Spanish is really good!!!!! That makes me so happy, because I really really try to pronounce the words the way native Chileans would! The Spanish language is so beautiful, so much prettier than English! 

So we have this investiagator named Hector...hes actually our teacher Hermano Pino, but we pretend hes a real investigator. Weve had about 3 or 4 lessons with him, completely in Spanish, which is really hard. But here at the CCM they put a really big emphasis on TEACHING BY THE SPIRIT. You can be 100 percent perfect at speaking spanish, but if the Spirit isnt with you helping you, you arent going to get through to your investigators. Well, our last lesson, IT HAPPENED FINALLY. It was almost as if I wasnt even thinking about it, and I was just speaking and the Spanish was coming to me. And then a scripture that I had read a few days ago popped into my mind and I asked Hector to read it and it just was incredible! The Spirit was so strong, and I cant really explain it, because I know that it wasn't all me. Ive learned that if God knows your trying your best, He will 100 percent help you make up the rest. He's our LITERAL Father. What Father wouldn't do anything for His children?

Funny story, we were teaching another one of our investigators, Carla, and mi companera Hermana Maxfield was trying to explain that God has a body of flesh and bones, just like us. She accidentally said "carne y juevos"instead of "carne y huesos". For those that dont know, "juevos"in spanish means eggs. So she told our investigator that God had a body of flesh and eggs, and Carla, our teacher Hermana Munoz, just busted up laughing. It was a totally innocent mistake, and we had NO IDEA!!!! hahaha it was so great. I'm grateful for laughter because without it, we'd be goihng crazy down here.

A little bit about the food here at the CCM...its CARB OVERLOAD. Honestly, I think theyre purposefully trying to fatten us up. haha. But the bread here is INCREDIBLE, so I will willingly get fat for the pan. Dad, I LOVE MANJAR. hahaha which probably isnt a good thing, but man oh man, I could eat it all day! Something weird is that they eat there cereal with yogurt instead of milk, so every morning we have cereal and yogurt!! Im actually really strating to love it!!  They have this store here called Liders and it is owned by Walmart, so they sell some american great value brand items. They have Ritter Sports here!!!!!  That's so good, but so bad!!!!!

One important thing that I learned this week is from 3 Nephi chapter 26 verse 9. It says "And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them." Ive realized that most things that are WORTH IT never come easy. Imagine if I just walked into the CCM, not even having to TRY to learn Spanish or teach by the Spirit. What if it just came to me? Of course that would be so much easier, but what would I learn?? Yeah I wouldnt get so frustrated that I ended up crying, yeah I wouldnt be so hard on myself that I end up pushing myself TOO hard, but I wouldnt be personally progressing. Our faith and our loyalty HAS to be tested. Our loving Heavenly Father wants to know that we have tried our hardest to please Him and be on His side and He will make up with rest. 

I want you all to know that I love this church and this work so much. I'm so beyond grateful for this experience and I owe it all to Him. Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. He wants us to come to Him! I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon and for the strength that its been to me. I challenge you all to read it! It will change your lives. 

Have an AMAZING week! Remember to pray!! 

Lots of love,
Hermana Randall