Kenny’s Week 27: I dragged a dead pig 🐖



Yippeeeee six months out!  That’s wild, feels like I just got here. But hey, quite the experience nonetheless! Had some interesting moments this week, might have thought I was going to die at one point... I’m ok mama…

- Helped one of the members here on their farm again... his pig had died somehow before we got to the farm, so we went through a ridiculous struggle just dragging it out of the "campo." It blew my mind how BIG that one pile of flour was... Y'all can see what I mean in the video!

- Had an epic zone conference, focusing on the importance of the Book of Mormon: another set of scriptures comparable to the Bible specific to the LDS faith. It contains "the plentitude of the Gospel of Jesus Christ," I highly encourage all who haven’t given it a read to do so!

- There was this cool table that was set up like the symbol from the Incredibles, of course had to snap a Pictures with that haha

- Stopped by the workshop here a few times to talk with some of our amigos, they're all pretty dang nice and we had a friggin epic lunch with the gang!

- Story time: We were talking with an Abuelo and his son who's learning about the Gospel. The father is a member of the church from many years back, and has an unwavering testimony of Jesus Christ, but his life is brutal. His back kills him, inflamed stomach, works about 11 hours a day selling bread on his bike... Anyway, he snapped at his son one night when we were talking, simply because he thought his son wasn’t putting in enough effort in the aspect of the Gospel. He stood up and started GOING OFF. I mean, there was a knife on the table where we were sitting, and once he went to grab that, I started planning an escape route right then and there...

Luckily, nothing happened in that regard. He just started yelling about how fed up he is with the world, the people who live literally across the street that have never worked once, and steal everything from people who do work, and who "prosperar en iniquidad," or prosper in iniquity. I gotta give it to him, he's justified, but it was just unnaturally brutal, the way he laid it out.

- However, to end the email with what we told him, while we may be surrounded by injustice and those who thrive on malice, the hope for a better world comes in and through Jesus Christ. As He took upon Himself the sins, sicknesses, and pains of the world, being able to find comfort comes through Him, who "knows how to succor those of His people according to their needs."

Long story short, don't play with knifes. It scares us missionaries :)

Enjoy the pictures… I’m keeping up my Rubiks cube collection!

~Kenny






Uncle Christopher’s thoughtful reply:

Dear Elder Chalk

              Those videos caught me off guard because I opened them before reading your email, lol.  😊  Between you are your cousin/sibling missionaries over the years I’ve always come to expect some humorous animal stories.  So that pile of particles next to the pig was flour, assume it was for pig consumption and not human?  ☹

              Great plug for reading the Book of Mormon, I accept the challenge.  That’s the sign of a good missionary, inviting everyone to read the Book of Mormon, including your friends and family!

              Love how the workshop is now apart of your travel circuit.  I’m getting a good feel for your routine and daily life.  That will help when Daron and I move down there to start our rice cooker business, lol

              Sounds like the abuelo has that stereotypical ‘Latin machismo’ where the dude is in charge no matter what.  Glad the knife was only briefly brandished rather than utilized…

              Did you get a chance to share your wise words with him, or did the situation diffuse and you found that exist you were looking for?  Would have been good for him to hear “while we may be surrounded by injustice and those who thrive on malice, the hope for a better world comes in and through Jesus Christ”

              Photos of the week: love that you’re making friends with the local street dogs, good food at the workshop, you and your companion look to be all smiles, & love that you’re keeping up the Rubiks cube (just got Callister a 10x10 and a Gigaminx, you’d be proud).

              We love you, we support you, we’re on your team, take care of yourself, and keep your eyes open.

 

Christopher Schmutz-Parente

Project Manager | Subsea Projects North America

P  +1 281 591 3432  |  M  +1 832 367 4116

christopher.schmutz-parente@technipfmc.com

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