Hermana Heywood

Kaitlynn in the Chile Puerto Montt Mission

Morning Call with You (Coyhaique, Emergency Travel), June 29, 2026

June 29, 2026 · Coyhaique

Mom and I talked with you for about forty-eight minutes this morning while you were on emergency travel in the south of the mission. President Mackay had sent you and Hermana Figueredo back down to Coyhaique and Punta Arenas to keep a struggling sister and her companion from separating and to keep that sister from going home, and you were calling us from inside a pharmacy in Coyhaique.

Emergency travel back to the south

You said you were in Chile again on emergency travel. You had gotten to go to a dinner again and were in church with your old ward, and you went to a family home evening with the ward, which you said was pretty cool. There was frost everywhere and it was cold. I asked whether going back was surreal, like going back in time to see everybody again. You said it was really weird; you played the piano for church, and it was as if you had never left, since you had been there the week before. You said your whole life is in Chile.

Revisiting Punta Arenas

I asked whether you thought you would ever go back to the foot of the mission where you started, Punta Arenas. You said you actually already had: you went and had lunch with a member in the ward you started in, having been there at the beginning of the week. You said it was strange because it was literally a year ago that month that you had been there. I asked if it felt like more than a year. You said it felt like a lifetime ago, and that the house you had stayed in was the house you had basically lived in for a long stretch, so it was really weird.

The pharmacy and Chilean stores

I asked where you were, whether you were in a grocery store. You said you were in a pharmacy in Coyhaique. You explained that Chilean stores are organized differently: regular stores often do not sell makeup, medicine, shampoo, or other self-care items, which are instead sold in pharmacies. You noted the pharmacy did not sell sunscreen but did carry hair dye, perfume, and makeup. You pointed out a perfume you liked that had cost about four dollars the last time you bought it and was still cheap.

Perfume shopping for me and Bryson

Most of the call was an extended perfume-shopping session, mostly between you and Mom.

You worked through the pharmacy's perfume selection looking for scents that matched colognes we wear. The goal was to find a knockoff or local version of my Eternity and of the cologne Bryson likes (Acqua di Gio, which you called "geo aqua" and "the ark"). You said the Chileans are "fanatics of perfume" and that the local perfumes are good quality, probably better than what we get in the States.

You smelled several options and described them: one for around 17 to 18 dollars that smelled like my Eternity but a little different, and another at 25 dollars that smelled almost exactly like it. For Bryson, you looked for something more citrusy, since that is the note he loves; you found citrus options around 28 to 36 dollars depending on size. You asked me to decide what I wanted. I said I didn't like being asked to decide on the spot.

The scent you settled on for me was an Antonio Banderas perfume that you said smelled just like my Eternity. You offered the big (200 ml / 6.7 oz, the jumbo size of my Eternity), medium, or little size; I said one, big. I told you to make sure we paid for it and that it did not come out of your account; I said I would transfer the money. You said the total would be about 71 dollars and pressed me to decide before you tapped your card, because you were about to pay. I said to get it. You tapped the card and bought two perfumes.

You noted there were Carabineros [Chilean national police] in the store. After paying, you said you had to put all the men's perfume in your purse and backpack so the store would not think you were stealing; you declined a bag because it would have cost extra. You said Hermana Figueredo's card had not worked, which is why you used your own.

I raised a logistical concern: how we would get the perfumes home, and whether you would be forced to carry them around until you came home. You said it was fine because you are not moving again before going home, so you could just keep them at your house and wait until then; there would be no problem with travel.

The emergency: trainer and trainee

I asked about the emergency and whether everything was okay. You explained that a sister had wanted to go home, set on it, because she and her companion were not doing well. President Mackay sent you and Hermana Figueredo down because it was the end of the transfer; you had already had the transfer call the day before, and the next day was when everyone would change. He sent you so the two sisters would not leave each other and so the struggling sister would not leave the mission.

You explained the dynamic: the companion who was training the struggling sister had trained her harshly, treating her like a daughter who was incapable of doing anything. That trainer was Hermana Artieda, who you said had been one of your own companions. You said you love Artieda but that she is a little intense, and with the missionary she was training she had treated her like she did not know how to live life at all. You said Artieda is ending her mission, so it was not a long-term problem; the struggling sister just had to hold on a couple more days and give her new companion a chance.

I asked whether Artieda had been that intense with you. You said no, because you had been a fully capable missionary, so there had been no reason for it. You said you thought Artieda just wanted her trainee to be a fully capable missionary right out of training, which is not how it works; you said it takes a full mission to make a fully functional missionary. Later you confirmed the sisters were going to stay in the mission, which had been the goal.

Natalie's nametags and home MTC

I told you that Natalie starts her home MTC in a week and two days and that she got her missionary nametags. I sent a picture of Natalie in her tags to the family group. You said Natalie looked so little in the photo. I said Natalie had just gotten back from a gardeners' reunion when she opened the tags, after a long ride home, which is why she looked like she had just gotten out of bed. You said it again, that Natalie looked so little.

Twelve weeks left and Christmas-in-winter

You said everything in the south reminded you of Christmas because it was getting colder, there was frost on the ground, and you kept smelling cinnamon-like scents, which you said was driving you nuts because Christmas was seven more months away. Then you said something you found weird: you come home in twelve weeks. I agreed it was weird and said it was going to go by fast. You said it was already going by really fast.

Flight stress and travel

You said you were leaving that day, with your flight at 5:30, and that it was about eleven in the morning; you had to leave soon because you were going to have lunch with a member first. I said I get stressed about flights and asked if you did too. You said you had been thinking about it recently and that, with all the trips you had been on and how much you had traveled, flying does not stress you out anymore. You said you have been on more flights than I have. The exception is when you are running very late, which has happened. I said you have to rely on your Uber. You said the problem usually is not the Uber but the time you leave, because some of the people you live with are really slow to pack.

World Cup

You said that when you get home you are going to watch football (soccer), and that you have been watching the World Cup on every TV you have found. You said you have to root for Messi and Argentina because Hermana Figueredo is Argentinian. You asked whether anyone we know watches the World Cup. I said a lot of the guys at work watch it. You said maybe you would be friends with them, and mentioned that a young man from BYU who had wanted to date you also watches it. I reacted, "with boys? Gross," and you echoed it back.

Back to Puerto Montt; transfer week

I asked what you would do when you got back to Puerto Montt. You said go to work, with lots of presentations over the next couple of weeks. You have to say goodbye to the missionaries who are ending and welcome the new ones. You confirmed the transfers would happen the next day and that new missionaries would be coming in that week. You stepped away briefly to call some missionaries and then came back.

Coyhaique restaurants

I recognized a restaurant called 04:55 (Cuatro Cincuenta y Cinco) as a really good place to eat. You confirmed it is a burger place you had gone to, and that it is really good. You said there isn't one item better than the rest, but there is a burger like a Culver's burger, with mushrooms, that is really good. You mentioned another place in Coyhaique called Chepio with really good music.

Companion dynamic

You described your relationship with Hermana Figueredo. You said you joke that you are like a married couple who fights all the time, because you do. That morning she had made you very mad, and you had to decide between your relationship and being right; you decided on the relationship, but it took you fifteen minutes. She called you a good husband; you said you are the best husband she has ever had.

Scarf

You showed your scarf and said it was made of wool (lana). You said you bought it in Chile, that it is very warm, and that you have never been so warm as when using it.

Closing

Near the end you said you had to go and could not pay attention anymore, apologized, and said you love us and would try to be more present that night. We exchanged love-yous and said goodbye. After you hung up, I said at home that I don't like being put in on-the-spot decisions, and there was a maple smell and a text that had annoyed me.

Cleanup Notes