Some really important lessons...

Before Kyler left, we had a long talk about many things. The answer to most of his concerns was to learn to depend on his Heavenly Father--that way, he would more likely be in the right place at the right time, be doing the things that Heavenly Father wants him to do and be finding the people he is meant to find. Most of the time, this will depend on his humility and conversations with Heavenly Father. His last letter was very encouraging with grasping this concept...

Excerpt from his September 9th letter: Mom its way awesome here. I don't think I've ever felt the spirit before like I have here. It's weird cause when I pray for stuff I really feel like Heavenly Father is listening to me. When I ask for help with some part of the language that's really hard, I pray and its like--woah!-- that's a big difference than how I was feeling before. When I stop and pray for the spirit, every time I've asked, I've felt it instantaneously. Sometimes I have a hard time focusing because I'm thinking of family or friends at home. I pray and ask him to keep me strong and to help me stay focused and work hard and I really feel a difference. I pray for everything now and feel a great peace once I have. They teach you so much stuff here and its been just awesome. You can't help but to know the church is true; You feel it everyday and I really think my testimony has grown to much more than what it was before.

His mom is sure proud of his growth! He's going to have a great mission if he remembers this one lesson...PRAY!

The CCM - Week 1

I returned back to work the day after Kyler left. The manager, Joe Love, over the Welfare Canneries came into our office with another gentleman. When we told Joe that I had just put my son on a plane for the Argentina MTC the day before; the man with him poked his head into my office and said "I am from Argentina! I know the MTC president (I forget his name) and he is a wonderful man. He will have a wonderful experience there." Then he asked me, "How much did your son weigh when he left?" I told him about 155 lbs. He then told me, "He will leave the MTC weighing about 190 because the MTC chef is a wonderful cook. He used to cook for the Vatican in Italy."

This is an excerpt from Kyler's 2nd letter home:

The MTC or the CCM as its called here is awesome! There are a bunch of people here from Utah and they get new ones every three weeks. We're the latest bunch. The last one had like ten people in it so we are a really small district. We're atually the smallest one here. The next smallest has like six i think. The elders are totally awesome though and they help us out so much with all our spanish and everything. You're right the food is awesome the cooks are really nice and we still cant understand them.

Half the missionaries here are latino´s from all over south america. Spanish is going well and we can already pray, bear our testimony and preach the first couple of principles from the first lesson in spanish and we can basically get by... kinda. They teach you so fast here. They basically pound it into your head whether you want it or not. We go to bed tired every night with our brains burned out but they say if they're not burned out then you are doing something wrong ;) I've been writing in my journal every night and i plan on keeping it up. I love it here and I've felt the spirit really strong in different situations.

The week after Kyler's farewell was another Elder's homecoming (Braden Awerkamp) in our ward. He sat in the same seat Kyler had sat in the week before. After he spoke, I thought, "If my son can come home with that kind of testimony, two years will only be a small investment." I sure look forward to that experience.

I didn't sleep well the first night Kyler was gone because I didn't know for sure that all the connections were made in Dallas. Kyler arrived in Argentina at 7:25 am, Thursday, August 26th. Thursday's turn out to be his P-day in the MTC, so he was able to write a quick note home:

"Hey mom and family! This is my message just to let you know that I've made it here safely. :) The plane ride wasn't to bad the first one kinda stunk cause it was cramped but the next one was better ha ha even though it was longer. The seats we're more comfy and I slept most of the time. I'm excited to be here and can't wait to learn what everyone is saying. Hey our P day is on thursday so if you write i need to have it on a wednesday so i can read it by thursday. Thanks so much i love you guys have fun!"

He was so positive and upbeat. It was nice to know he was enjoying his new adventure!

It turns out, besides Elder Shaw (pictured above), they met another missionary, Elder Atkinson, in Dallas. All three of them were called to the same mission and have turned out to be the only three currently in the CCM going to Uruguay. They are the only missionaries in their district and have a "tripanionship" --as Kyler calls it.