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Sunday, February 21, 2010

Elder Kitchen has had a great week

Hello Family!!
Wow its good to read all your e mails and get the chance to write you again. I love how every P day I get the chance to e mail you guys and let you know how my mission is going and to hear everything that is happening in your lives. Thanks so much again for everything you do and all the e mails you send me.

How are you family? The weeks go by pretty fast out here on a mission. I have had some really incredible experiences this week and have felt the spirit so strongly. I already feel like I'm changing into a man and I've learned and grown so much. Its hard being away from you guys but it makes me realize how much I care about my family and how much I love you guys. I'm doing really good out on my mission and everything is working out really well. My testimony has strengthened like none other and I have witnessed many mighty miracles from God already. My relationship with the Savior and My Heavenly Father has strengthened and my faith has increased. I have been trying to do all I can to strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ. He should and is the center focus of everything we do. I've been studying the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its touched my heart and my love for the savior has increased. I would just encourage all of you to study, ponder, and live the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is the most important thing in the universe. It was the perfect, selfless, best thing Jesus Christ could have done for each one of us. I would encourage each one of you to use the Atonement in your life everyday. Repent of even the small things you do and focus of the cleansing power of the Atonement.

Well this week has been absolutely amazing. A lot of our investigators are progressing very well. We have also gotten 6 new investigators this week and a lot of potential ones. We have been talking to everyone and teaching a lot of lessons. Galvin and Kristina are doing so well. They really are golden investigators. They have came to church every week, they are reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and they are setting goals to get married. And also this week we had an incredible lesson on the word of wisdom! (Galvin smokes and Kristina drinks coffee) Well guess what! That was on Tuesday and Galvin hasn't touched a cigarette since!! Kristina hasn't drank any coffee either. Galvin told us its so hard and he has to pray his guts out every time the urge comes to smoke. They really are amazing people and I'm sad I wont be here to witness their baptism. Graham is also doing very well. He is still set for baptism on March 6. I wont be here for that either.

The members in the Claudelands ward are just unbelievable. They come to so many lessons, give us referrals, and do so much for us. They are awesome cooks and some sacrifice a lot to feed us meals. Well on Thursday we had zone conference. Elder Neilson (from the seventy) and his wife put on the zone conference. President and Sister Porter spoke to us too. Wow it was the best zone conference. I heard missionaries say it was their favorite one they have ever had on their mission. The spirit was SO powerful!! It was breath taking how incredible the talks were. I learned So much. I took so many notes. I cant even describe how amazing the zone conference was so I'm not even going to try hahaha. He bore such powerful testimony about the church and about the Savior. Those general authorities are extremely powerful men. They have unshakable testimonies and have the power of the spirit when they teach.

Well Saturday was AMAZING!! Yes Shelley, Danielle, and Kieran Boyd were baptized. Brother Henderson (their next door neighbor that has been apart of their conversion the whole way) baptized them. The program went great and the spirit was powerful. The speakers were perfect and there was some really cool musical numbers. I cant even describe my feelings as I watched them be baptized. Just to know I was apart of helping them enter into the Kingdom of God was unbelievable. I was SOO happy and I got really emotional. It is really the greatest sight to witness an entire family be baptized. It was my first family to baptize and it was awesome. They all were shinning and smiling so much after they were baptized! They said they felt so clean and amazing. It was an experience I will never forget.

Well Sunday we confirmed them members of the church and gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost. Brother Henderson confirmed Shelley, Elder Sessions confirmed Kieran, and I confirmed Danielle. Wow! it was my first time giving someone the Holy Ghost. It was so cool. It really was a sacred experience and I'm glad I have the priesthood and am worthy to do that for Danielle. This week has been incredible. Thank you so much for praying for me and for the investigators, I've felt your prayers.

It was so good to hear your responses to me telling you I'm going to Niue. I was so excited and couldn't wait until today so I could read what you all thought. I bet you were all so shocked and were so happy. I sure was and I am still overwhelmed. That's so cool you all got to read it together at the Pugmires house. I am still so excited to go to Niue. It really is going to be a once in a life time opportunity! I cant wait but I am really going to miss this ward. I said goodbye to a lot of them yesterday and they were all so sad. They have been amazing ward! I really hope I can come back and see them someday.

I cant believe I'm going to Niue!! Its so crazy huh?! There isn't very much people there at all. I am probably going to be teaching a lot but also doing a lot of service for the people. I don't know what day exactly my p day is yet. Well I have heard about the hurricane that hit Tonga. I don't know about Niue either, hopefully I don't get hit by one! I will take a lot of pictures and write in my journal. This really is a once in a life time opportunity! I am so excited and blessed to go there. I am still way shocked. I bet I will have a huge culture shock. Well I will keep you all undated every week.

Well my new flat is so cool. Its really nice and really big. I'm sad I didn't get very much time to live in it but this is where the Lord wants me to go. I'm pretty sure Elder Sessions is staying in Hamilton and getting a new companion. But we don't know yet because transfers are not until Thursday. I'm like the only missionary that knows that I am getting transferred. My companion is happy for me. He said I'm so lucky and is jealous of my call.
Oh yeah I am going to be there during my 20th birthday!! Cool, I'm going to be living on a tropical island. Wow its like my dream come true. And I thought of something. I had summer in Utah and then came to New Zealands' summer and then I will miss New Zealands winter and be in summer in Niue and then when I come back to New Zealand it'll be their summer!!!! WOW I will have like a whole year in summer, maybe even more than a year.

Well about the pictures, I am going to try to put all my pictures I have taken so far on a DVD and then send them to you. I hope I can do that otherwise hopefully in Niue I will have a little more time to e mail you. I will hopefully send a bunch then! sorry I haven't yet, its just so hard...no time.

Tell Grandpa and Grandma (both sides) hello and that I love them so much. I will write them soon. I love you mom and dad heaps and heaps! I miss you both so much. You mean everything to me. I'm so grateful to be your son.

I love you all so much. Your the best family I could ever ask for. You mean everything to me and I pray for all of you every night. Thanks for everything you do. I hope all is well with school and work. I miss you all. Let me know whats going on in your life. I hope your having some fun times. Well it was so good to e mail you again.
I love you
Love Elder Kitchen

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Elder Kitchen has been called to serve in NIUE!!!

Hello family! I hope you all are having a happy valentines day!! Yesterday was mine and it was great! I sure did get your package you sent me for Valentines Day! President Porter and his wife came to Hamilton on Friday and they gave it to me! Thank you SO much for sending me it. I was so excited to get the package, I wasn't expecting anything for Valentines Day so it was an awesome surprise! Mom you picked out really good candy!! They are my favorite flavors in both the skittles and star burst, and I love reeses and they don't have them here. Thanks for the gum and especially the letters. I loved reading each one of them. That was so sweet of you guys to write me individual letters and cards from each of you. Mom the card you and dad wrote me was very nice and it was sweet. Thank you so much. I love you all so much and I'm grateful I can be in the mission field and that the Lord is blessing you at this time. It seems around every holiday I get kinda home sick but I just have to remember its only two years and this is definitely where I'm supposed to be. I still miss home very much and I miss you guys the most and my friends.
Well I hope your having a blast in St.George!! That's awesome your down there enjoying the weather. I bet its a lot nicer than where we live. Well tell Grandpa and Grandma hello for me. I miss them a lot and I'm so glad I'm serving in the same place they got to serve. If they don't already know tell them I met the Loesi's son in Hamilton. He is so awesome and we are really close. I was going to meet his parents (Viliami and Vicki) but I guess they went on a mission to Tonga or Samoa (sorry I cant remember). And tell the Pugmires I love them all so much and miss them like crazy! I wish I could be there with you guys having fun with them, their family is crazy and they are the best. I miss them a lot. Tell Kylie I love her and miss her so much. Tell her sorry I haven't wrote her yet, I've been incredibly busy, she needs to write me to tell me all the things she has been up to.
Well I'm doing so good right now, this week has been So awesome!! First of all we didn't have the baptism because we postponed it to this Saturday! February 20, so I'm so excited because Shelly, Danielle, and Kiren are getting baptized. It is my first family to baptize. Its amazing and they are really excited. Oh yeah and we also set Graham for baptism on March 6!! Wow so we have 4 people set for baptism right now. We really are getting so many blessings its crazy. We had a lot of lessons as usual and we talked to 100 people on the street this week. We call them "preach by the ways." That's a lot considering we are always busy having lessons and everything. I had trade offs with one of the zone leaders on Tuesday! It was so awesome. I learned so much from him and we had some really cool experiences that day.
And yes Wednesday we finally moved into our new flat, it took us 3 hours to pack, clean, and organize everything to be ready to move, then we moved everything into the new flat. The whole moving process took us about 7 hours. The new flat is so much nicer!! It is way bigger than our old one and a lot nicer. We finally moved in all the way and we cleaned and organized all our furniture and stuff so the new flat looks really good. I love how it is actually in our area and we don't have to ride forever just to get to our area. Its really nice.
This week was really awesome and I had some amazing experiences but I have some REALLY AWESOME NEWS!!!!!!!During my interview with President Porter he told me I am getting transferred!! AND GUESS WHAT?!?!
I'M GOING TO NIUE ISLAND!!!!!!
Can you believe that?! When he told me I was so incredibly shocked out of my mind and I was blown off my seat because I was so surprised!! There are like 230 missionaries in the New Zealand Auckland mission and only 2 at a time go to Niue island! He said my companion is already there and so I got picked out of 230 missionaries to go to Niue Island!!WOW I cant believe it, all the other missionaries told me it is their dream to go there and that I'm so lucky!! My mission president told me he was sending me there because he knows I'm exactly obedient and that he can trust me. He said he prayed really hard about this decision and this is where the Lord wants me to go. He told me that my companion is going to be a Tongan! He also said that I'm probably going to be out there for about 6 to 7 months!!!Can you believe this I'M GOING TO TO BE SERVING ON A TROPICAL ISLAND PARADISE OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN WITH JUST ME AND ONE OTHER MISSIONARY FOR 6 MONTHS!!!!!
Well let me tell you some things I know about Niue. It is really hot there!! It is right next to Tonga and close to Samoa!! He said I am probably going to get to wear grass skirts and sandals. It is a full on tropical island paradise. Its not very big at all and there are only like 1000 people on the whole island. Niue means coconut so there is A TON of coconut trees there. They said there is naturally grown pineapple, coconut, bananas, and all other kinds of tropical fruit there. They said you can just pick it off the tree and eat it. They said it is absolutely beautiful there and is extremely green. The food is so good. The people are extremely nice and full on islander people. I am probably going to be like the only white person there!!!
Wow my mission president said it is going to be a experience of a lifetime. It said it is going to be a completely culture shock and that I'm going to get more culture than I've ever had in my life. I'm going to live just like the islanders and probably going to do heaps of service. President Porter said they are going to love my bubbly personality and that is one of the reasons why he is sending me there. HE said I'm the perfect missionary to be going there and he knows exactly why Heavenly Father wants me to go there.
I seriously cant believe I'm going there! I am so excited!! It really is going to be a once and a life time opportunity!! Wow this is crazy! I know I will be able to e mail there. I'm going to take heaps of pictures and write A TON in my journal! He said he is planning on me flying out on Saturday February 27! It is like a 3 hour plan ride I heard but we'll see. Wow this is insane...he also said its going to be just like the movie the Other Side of Heaven!! You should watch that and think of me. That movie the missionary goes to Tonga I think and Niue is the island right next to it.
Wow I feel like I got another mission call. I wish I could talk to you guys on the phone about it. I'm so excited. This is seriously always been my dream to live on a tropical island paradise and just eat naturally grown tropical fruit right off the tree,and now I get to. I'm going to be there for a while. He said its different because we have no missionary leaders, no zone conference, no nothing, its just me and my companion in the middle of the pacific island. Well I wish I could type forever about this!!!
Well I'm going to send this e mail because I don't want it to get erased on accident. Okay. I will probably send other one. well I cant wait to hear what you guys think, Love Elder Kitchen

Monday, February 8, 2010

Doing Great in New Zealand

I am doing really good out here in New Zealand. Last week was another awesome week with many amazing experiences and miracles from God. Wow we really are blessed here in the New Zealand Mission. I'm enjoying everything about my mission...well almost. The only thing is sometimes its kinda hard to bike all day in the hot sun and when your really tired, but its not that hard. I will write about my experiences this week.

Well last Monday for P day we played tennis, it was really fun! My companion played in high school so he was really good. We went with two other missionaries so it was fun. We are playing tennis again today but a TON of missionaries are coming this time. I'm excited for that. I don't know if I have ever told you about Raymond. He is a guy in our ward...and he is probably my favorite person in the ward. He is from Israel and he is kaddish (a Jew) but he converted to the church 5 years ago. He is so funny. He talks more than me and just says the funniest things you'll ever here. He is a little bit older and lives alone but is just funny. If we ever come to New Zealand you guys will have to come meet him.

Well we had trade offs again this week and that was fun. We taught a lot of lessons like usual and talked to a lot of people on the street. We also did a lot of service this week. We weeded Raymond's garden for him on Wednesday and we mowed Sis Bryars front yard too. Then on Thursday we mowed her back yard. Okay seriously I have never seen longer grass in my life!! It took us ages, there was heaps and heaps of grass, (oh sorry that is my Kiwi talk), and we also mowed Galvin's lawn this week too. I will tell you about Galvin in a sec, but anyway this week was great. We have started teaching some new people and some of our investigators are progressing slowly.

There was two really cool things that happened this week. First was we set Shelly and Danielle for baptism on Feb 13!! This Saturday!! Cool huh?! I'm so excited. The other thing is we met Galvin on the street and he was very interested and told us to come over. We met his partner (partner is what they call the person they are living with but not married to) and it ends up she had been investigating the church in the past and has prayed and knows its true. She just wanted Galvin to gain a testimony. Well Galvin came to church and we have been teaching him. The spirit is so strong during every lesson and Galvin said he has prayed and knows its true. He said he wants to come to church every week. Kristina and Galvin want to get married, Galvin wants to stop smoking, and they both want to get baptized!!! WOW it was a miracle. I know the Lord had blessed us with this miracle because we have been exactly obedient.

Well this week has been amazing. Six really keen investigators came to church yesterday. It is only a matter of time before all of them will be baptized. This mission seriously is a mission of miracles. Its so awesome to be a part of it. I'm so glad I'm on my mission. Its changed my life already and I have grown so much. Well thanks so much for all your prayers and everything you do. I love each and everyone of you so much. I miss you all tons too but I know you're all doing great and I am too. Well this next week is going to be awesome! We are finally moving this Wednesday, we are doing two trade offs with the zone and district leaders, we have interviews with the mission president, and Shelly and Danielle are getting baptized this week!!! WOW a ton of things are going to happen this week. So can you all please pray that all will work out. And please pray for Shelly and Danielle.

I love you all. Your the best family I could ever ask for. I wish I could be doing all the fun things with you but I'm way glad I'm out here on my mission. Thanks again for everything.
Love Elder Kitchen

Elder Kitchens companions

Tehuacan (5/14/2014) to (8/6/2014) Elder Conrad from Draper, Utah

Nealtican (4/2/2014) to (5/14/2014) Elder Christensen from Denver, Colorado

Nealtican (2/19/2014) to (4/2/2014) Elder Sanchez from Chiapas, Mexico

Puebla (1/8/2014) to (2/19/2014) Elder Dzul from Cancun, Mexico

Puebla (10/15/2013) to (1/8/2014) Elder Betts from Mexi-Cali Baja California, Mexico

Atlixco (7/23/2013) to (10/14/2013) Elder Ortega from Nayarit, Mexico

Puebla (3/19/2013) to (7/22/2013) Elder Burden from Snowflake, Arizona

Puebla (2/19/2013) to (3/18/2013) Elder Knowlton from Springville, Utah

Atexcac (1/8/2013) to (2/18/2013) Elder Olvera from San. Luis Potosi, Mexico

Atexcac (10/16/2012) to (1/7/2013) Elder Tinoco from Dorango, Mexico

MTC (8/15/2012) to (10/15/2012) Elder Astle from Northern California




























































































































































































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