Hermana Heywood

Kaitlynn in the Chile Puerto Montt Mission

Monday Morning Call with You, July 27, 2026

July 27, 2026 · Puerto Montt, Chile / Herriman (home)

I talked with you for about forty minutes this morning while I got ready for work. Mom was on from the kitchen for the first half. You and your companion were making breakfast, and most of the call was you showing me things: snow, photos, texts, and eventually the bread.

Stuck in Coyhaique

You started telling me about the flight and I did not catch which city at first. You had gotten to Coyhaique the Monday before and were supposed to leave Thursday, and then it snowed enough that the planes could not go. Your flight was canceled and moved to Friday, that one was canceled and moved to Wednesday, and then Elder Bylund in the office found you a flight on a different airline for Sunday right after church. So you were back, and you had just gotten your laundry.

The snow you prayed for

You said you thought God answered your prayers, and that when you say snow you mean Utah snow. You showed me what you woke up to. You told me you had not seen real snow in a full year, only rain, and that the one time it snowed in Punta Arenas it was just dust and did not count. I told you that is a tender mercy. Later you showed me the window you had been staring out of every morning, and I told you it looked like it could have been a painting. You said it is gorgeous.

First class

The elder in the office who got you the Sunday tickets got you first class. You said that when you boarded they said your name and offered you water and you got so wigged out you said "I'm not her, I'm her. Hermana Heywood." Then the man winked at you and you thought, stop, you're gross, and figured he was about thirty.

The office photos and the run

You had gone on a run that morning with President Mackay. You showed me the office photos and walked me through everybody: President Mackay, an AP office elder, the elder who got you the first-class tickets, the elder in charge of money, the elder in charge of housing and lots of random things, your companion, and you. You looked at one of them and said "Wow, I did not realize how close he is to me in that picture. Gross." I said I felt like there was a Nacho Libre joke in there somewhere. You also showed me an elder who came to the mission skinny and does not look that way anymore, and when I asked what happened, you said whatever it is, it is super yummy.

Elder Bylund's message

You showed me a WhatsApp and made me try to translate it first. I got out "Secretario Ejecutivo" and something about traveling to your house and confirming your airport, and you told me "good job, Dad" and then gave me the real version: he is going to start your travels home and wanted to confirm the airport closest to our house. You said he already has your flight home to Utah. I asked whether we should tell him you need a five-day layover in Oahu, and you said you should have told him the closest airport to your house is in Oahu, Hawaii.

You also showed me the course they give every missionary at the end to make their plans.

Brandon Carrasco

Then you showed me the best text you said you have ever received. You had invited him to be baptized, and the next day he wrote back that it took him all day but he made a decision: he will be baptized, and take the teachings of Jesus Christ and keep his commandments as far as it is possible for him. You said "This man, he's so good." I told you his name is Brandon Carrasco, and you said yes. You went looking for a picture of him and all I got was a black screen.

Praying over your breakfast

You asked if one of us would pray, and I said sure, but I only know English. You told me I had to start and end in Spanish, and coached me through "Padre Celestial" and "en el nombre de Jesucristo, amén" while I mangled both. In between I prayed in English, and afterward you told me, "Perfect. You're more Spanish than I am."

Bread and eggs

I asked your companion what her favorite style of eggs is, and she said scrambled, and I told her that is awesome, because who even knows the word "scrambled." Then you held up your bread. You told me every little shop over there puts out a big bin of fresh bread every morning: you pick it with tongs, bag it, they weigh it, you buy it, and it is still warm. You had a second loaf that said "protein" on the bag, and you told me you do not believe that and you think they just added protein powder.

Where the money went

You said you spent about two hundred dollars on food that week, and when I asked why so much, you explained that prices change from city to city and you had to buy day by day because you never knew how many days you would be stuck.

Then you explained the whole system to me. Two elders run all the missionary funds, and because you travel, they give you money up front. Last week up north you had to buy shoes for a missionary who had none and no money to get any, and the office gave you four hundred dollars because good waterproof shoes are expensive. You found shoes for about a hundred and used the rest for food. You never had time to return the leftover and get it re-registered before you left again on Monday, so you just took it with you. You called that a tender mercy, because normally they only give you about a hundred or a hundred and seventy, and you used almost all of it during those six days in Coyhaique. You said God is really good and his timing is perfect.

Victoria, and Damien

You told me you texted Victoria and Carlos and Victoria never answered, and that the missionaries in that ward have not been having lunch with her either, so you think she has something against the missionaries now. You said that is funny but fine.

Then you told me about Damien. He is a member from up north who happened to be on your flight, there for work, with a car, and he drove you and offered to take you back to the airport too. You ended up paying for a transfer anyway because his flight was a different day. I asked whether he was handsome and you said he is married with kids. Then you told me he is a recent convert: his son got baptized first and is now serving in the Dominican Republic, and Damien got baptized two months after his son left, because he could not wait to be with his family.

Charity

You said your companion learned charity by being your companion, and then told her not to lie because she is a missionary and should just not answer the next question. I said charity is good for all of us and makes life easier in every situation, which is exactly why it is so hard to get. Somebody said that living with anyone requires charity except with me, and you said "That's gross. I'm sorry... My parents are gross."

Reese's farewell, and Natalie

You said Mom emailed you that I went to Reese's farewell and gave a great talk, and then corrected herself to say Reese gave the talk. I confirmed I did not give the talk.

You asked whether we were able to talk to Natalie, and I told you Saturday and Tuesday, and asked whether you got my email too. You had.

The meme, and Alexa's contacts

You had just opened my last email and were looking at the Michael Scott meme that says "I'm dead inside," and said that is how you feel. I retold you the finger-in-the-eye line: someone comes to me and says their eye hurts and they have their finger in their eye, and I ask whether they have tried taking the finger out. Then I told you about Alexa taking her contacts out, and me telling her she would just have to wear her glasses to church, and her not wearing them because they did not go with her dress.

Chilean Spanish

You said yes, I can come to you in Chile and you will teach me Spanish, and then nobody will understand either of us. Earlier you had told me your plan for the day was to ask for money, and I asked whether you already had your cardboard sign, and you said it says "más plata por favor." You taught me that plata is money, that dinero is more Mexican, and that if you have to talk with a Mexican it is just over, because you speak Chilean Spanish and nobody in Latin America understands Chilean Spanish. I said you would at least understand them, and you said, "I will. But they won't know what I'm saying." You also explained "mensajito" to me, which is mensaje plus the -ito they attach to everything.

You asked where I had been hiking and what mountains those were. I told you the Herriman hills, right behind our house. You said "Man, I miss my desert."

Then you asked whether I could see the column of light behind you and said Jesus is coming and you are being taken to heaven. I told you that you were being raptured.

Plans, and Bryson

You were off to get your companion's haircut and pick up her shoes from the mall, and you said if you had money you would love to get your nails done, but first you have to go get money from the office because you spent yours on food. You mentioned lots of InDrives, and when I asked, you told me it is Uber.

You told me Bryson answered your email and asked whether we told him to. We did not. I told you he did that on his own, like a big boy. You said you would probably email Natalie, and that you had texted her on Google Chat and she talked back a little.

Natalie, and being proud of her

I asked how Natalie seemed to you. You said she told you learning to teach was super hard and she has been humbled, but she thinks she figured it out, which you said is funny because she is going to get to the field and say "I didn't figure it out."

Then you went looking for the email about her roommates. You read me the part where she said Sister Cyder is evil, and then the walk-back: not really evil, just super sarcastic and trying to make up for it in the wrong ways, and that she thinks the worst of people until they prove to her that they deserve love or approval, and is always judging, so watch out.

And then you read me the part you said made you really proud of her: "But I've been really trying to love both of them and see they're good and not just their bad. The things that are annoying."

I said "Good job, Nata." You said "She's so good," and that every time you look at her Google Photos it makes you a little sad you did not get to see her before she went, but that you are really proud of her and she has grown up. I told you she is, and she is trying hard, and I am proud of her, and I am proud of you too, like I said in my email.

Close

I told you I was going to the bathroom now. You said "Okay. I hope you have fun in there." I said I loved you and would talk to you later that day, hopefully. You said "Love you, Dad."

Cleanup Notes