Dear Family,

This week went by pretty fast. I am doing good but have been through a lot of trials again this week. I'm grateful for them because they make me stronger. But we also have seen incredible miracles and have had some really great experiences.

Last Monday we were able to go to this chip and putt place to play golf. It was a blast and I did pretty good. We might go fishing again this Pday. Its fun that we get to do some fun things on P days. Tuesday we drove down to Tokoroa for district meeting. We have been driving a lot because my district is so big like the area. We have been traveling down to Murupada ( a small town) because we have a investigator set for baptism down there. Her name is Jasmine. I love going to the branch sacrament meeting. We got to go again yesterday and I felt the spirit so strong. It was there branch conference. I bore my testimony and I got pretty emotional has I talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As a mission we have been studying a lot about the Atonement. I have learned more and just have developed a stronger testimony about the Atonement.

Last Tuesday Elder Keys, my zone leader and I went on a trade off. It was awesome and we had miracles happen. We also met these people that are less active members. But they turned to the wicken religion. Its like they are witches. They were kinda explaining it to us...how there is good or white witches and bad or black witches. Its pretty interesting but really weird. They believe in healing and many Gods like the Greek Gods and stuff. It was kinda freaky though...we only stayed for a tiny bit then left. We went out to Murapanda and we were clear out in the middle of no where at our investigators house. Elder Russell did a funny thing. He yelled at the top of his lungs and said I know the Book of Mormon is true. It was hilarious. We found this really wonderful lady named Kathryn and we set her for baptism this week. She really wants to change and when we taught about the gospel and that we can become free and clean from sin she got very emotional. It touched my heart because it is just incredible to see what the gospel can do for people that don't have it. Thursday I went on a trade off with Elder Eckery over in my old area. Fairy springs...it was good to see the members and also people there. It was fun to work in the area. The biggest miracle that stood out to me this week was that Jessica's partner Adam wasn't that interested in getting married, and they have to so she can get baptized. We fasted and prayed for a miracle and he totally changed his mind. They are getting married, he's interested in the gospel, he came to church, and he's decided to quit drinking and smoking. Wow it was incredible. It seriously is just indescribable to see people completely change their lives to follow God.

Well that's about enough of my week. I am just staying very busy as usual. Oh yeah we found out who our new mission President and his wife will be. They aren't coming until I think June or July. Their names are Paul and Rebecca Lekias. I am going to be really sad to see President Porter go but at least we still have a while with him and guess what, they are moving to Alpine Utah!

Well I am sorry again that this e mail isn't going to be long either. I had to finish an assignment for our missionary work. So I didn't have a lot of time to e mail but I am doing okay. I'm here to serve the Lord with all my heart. We have hopefully 3 baptisms coming up this Saturday! Please pray that they will all go through!

I am always so glad to hear how your all doing. I hope everyone is doing wonderful. Sounds like your winter has a lot of snow and hopefully some of you will be able to go snowboarding. Spring is just around the corner for you and winter for me. I will make sure that next week I will have some good time to send a good e mail.

I love you all so much.
Love Elder Kitchen

Dear Family,

Thank you for your e mails today. It was nice to hear from you. Things are going good for me on the mission. But yeah dad your right sometimes you have a lot of trials while being a district leader. I just keep relying on the Lord for help. Sounds like things over there are going good except for Ryan. Man I feel really bad for him. I cant believe he had to have surgery....that's no good. So did they knock him out while they did it or did they just numb his knee? I bet your really bored and just wanna walk normal Ryan. I'm sorry to hear about your knee. I hope it recovers fast so you'll be able to do things again. The pictures looked like it is pretty bad.

Well just a quick up date on my week. We have been just busy teaching all our new investigators we've gotten. Some are progressing a lot and others are not. We had some really good dinners with the members this week. Aw I love it when the members feed us really good food. I went on some trade offs with the elders in my district and so that was good to work with them and help them. This Saturday we did have a baptism. It went really well. Our ward mission leader couldn't make it so I had to conduct the baptism. I made some little mistakes because it was the first time I have conducted anything like that. The baptism went great though. Yesterday we drove out to a little town called Murapada, there is a small branch out there that we cover. It was good to attend their sacrament meeting. It reminding me of Niue because it was small branch. We both spoke on missionary work. We then had a lesson with Jasmine (shes an investigator out there) we set her for baptism for the 26 of February! It was a miracle! We had a great week of missionary work.

It seems like I'm never going to leave Rotorua.....I love it here but I feel like I've been here forever. I kinda want to go and experience something else. I've been here for 7 months! I know the entire city now...we have to come back here someday because there are a lot of cools things we can do here...its like a touristy town.

Thank you for sending the pictures. It was cool to see the girls doing their plays. I wish I could attend one. That cool a seventy came to your stake conference. Oh yeah about our second cousin up in Auckland....she wrote me a letter and somehow I got it. That's cool shes up here the only thing is that I don't think its allowed to see family. So I don't know if I would be able to see her...?

ehhh I'm sorry my e mails are boring now....and I'm sorry this one is a little short. I just need to get off now. But just know I love all of you. miss ya heaps. I hope Ryan feels better. I pray for you. Tell everyone hello...

Love Elder Kitchen

Dear Dad, Mom, Ryan, Jami, and Kaylee

Ahhh man I miss all your faces so much. I love seeing pictures of you and I also have a family photo of us on the wall by my desk. How have all of you been. Wow can you believe its been so long since I've seen you. I can still remember when we went to Ghandis for lunch and then you dropped me off at the MTC. As I reflect on my mission I truly have experienced so many wonderful things. I really miss Niue and all the people there. I miss Hamilton and all the people. I miss the missionaries and everyone I met. I also miss all our extended family and friends. But even though things change and time moves on. I'm grateful for the people, experiences, and places I've been blessed with now in my life. I am so truly grateful for everything the Lord has blessed us with. I feel so incredibly blessed by God and I love to express my love to him every time I pray. My heart is so full of love and gratitude for you as my family, for our Heavenly Father for everything I have, and for my Savior Jesus Christ for giving His life for us.

As my mission progresses and time goes on, my testimony of the Savior increases all the time. I learn more about Him and his perfect life. More of His love and extending hand of mercy for all of us. And most of all for his infinite Atoning sacrifice for all man kind. As I see the other side of the world and all the evil and bad things around us it just makes me so grateful to have the gospel in our lives. I couldn't imagine not knowing the things we know because of the restored gospel. I would just like to thank you mom and dad for raising me in the gospel. Even though we weren't perfect at everything I'm grateful for the righteous example you have set for us your children. I know I am here today because of both of you. I'm thankful for the sacrifice you both have made for me. I'm thankful for all the patience, love, support, and everything you've done for me. I could seriously never ask for better parents. I love you both with all my heart. You mean everything to me. Your wonderful role models and I hope I can one day become a great parent like you guys are. Thanks for all the hard work you've gone through to raise us. I hope and pray that I can at least come somewhere near repaying you both back from what you've done for me. All I have to ask is to please continue to be righteous, keep the commandments, repent everyday to God and continue to stay on the straight and narrow path. What a blessing it is for the knowledge that we can be a forever family. Because heaven wouldn't be heaven without any of you.

Again another week has passed by and I'm doing great. This past week I went up to Auckland for a leadership training. It was a really spiritual experience and I learned a lot. President Porter is sent from God to be our mission president. He is wonderful. I am going to be sad when he leaves. We have found a lot of new investigators this week. Right now Judy is still set for baptism for the 26 of Feb. Her daughter started to listen to us and we had a great lesson with her. Jessica our investigator just had her baby. we went to the hospital and visited her. The baby isn't doing that great and its a little sick, so we gave her a blessing. It was the first time I have ever gave an infant a blessing. It was a great experience. We would love your prayers to be with Jessica and the baby. Jessica is still set for baptism on the 26 of Feb. Anita is another 9 year old girl we set for baptism next Saturday! The mission is focused on baptizing weekly or at least 4 a month. It takes a lot of faith, obedience, and hard work for that to happen. I'm trying to improve and do everything I can to accomplish that.

So I was wondering if there are any updates on my friends, like those on a mission or ones from home? How about family?? How are the cousins, anything new? How about you guys anything new happen?? I was sad to hear about Ryan. I sent him an e mail. I hope he gets better soon. That's cool Matthew got baptized.
Well i have to get going now. I'm grateful to been able to e mail you every week. what a blessing. Well I love you, have a great week.

Love Elder Kitchen

Dear Kitchen Family,

Wow it is almost February and Time is just going by so fast! I loved reading all your e mails and to see how your all doing. It is always good to hear from my family! I am doing great and everything is fine with me. There was a lot of rain but that's about it. I didn't feel any earthquake or anything serious like that. I am just still working hard and do my best to serve the lord. Guess what? I didn't get transferred!! I am still here in Rotorua can you believe that??!....I've been in the city of Rotorua for 6 months and since I'm staying another transfer I will be here for at least 7 1/2 months. That's longer than Niue. I feel like this is my new home or something. Its funny because ALL the missionaries that were here when I got to Rotorua are all gone plus even a lot of missionaries have come and gone since I've been here but I'm still here! Elder Afa got transferred to North of Auckland. I guess there is still more work for me to do here.

I am still the District Leader and my companion is still Elder Russell. Elder Eckery is still in my district and he is training a new missionary from Utah. His name is Elder Beecher from Ogden Utah. He is a great missionary and I'm glad he is here with us. Also Elder Saunders got transferred from my district so now its Elder Ales here with Elder Naicker. They are all great missionaries and I'm glad I get to serve with them. Elder Ales was in my intake (he came into the mission field the exact same time as me). We have been working with a lot of part member families and a few less active families to come back to church also this week. We have also been blessed with 7 new investigators and so the teaching is even going up more and more. We have 3 investigators set with a date still so that's a blessing. Jessica came to church yesterday and her non member mother and partner (kinda like a husband) came with her too. It was great to see all of them at our church. We got a new ward mission leader a couple of weeks ago so it is great to work with him. His name is Brother Bryant. He and his family had us over for dinner it was very good. We also have been working with this less active mother that is raising 5 children by herself. She still has a very strong testimony and all the kids love the church. Her daughter is 9 years old and isn't baptized so we're going to work with her. They are awesome kids and ask some really good questions about the gospel. We are teaching some people from Turkey (Europe) they are really cool. Man I'm sure I've told you about all the different culture here. I feel like sometimes I'm serving my mission in10 different countries. There are so many different races and cultures here living in New Zealand. We have been really involved with a lot of different people or families from Japan, China, India, Philippines, Europe, Africa, The islands (Tonga, Samoa), people from Thailand, Australian, and just a ton of countries. I love to experience all the different culture. Like just last night a Phillipino (I cant spell it) family had us over for dinner. (they are members) they fed us some culture food it was great! A lot of our investigators are also from different countries like one is from Papa New Guinea.

I just love my mission. My testimony is increasing everyday. I'm learning so many new things, I feel like I'm becoming more mature and a better person. And I love just living the missionary life. It truly is the best two years. I go through trials and hard times but I helps me become stronger. I love the people here So much. The Maori people are just the best. The members are great and the Elders and other missionaries are some of my greatest friends. This truly is a once in a life time experience that you can never put a price tag on its just incredible.

Well thank you so much for all the photos, everyone looks great. I miss all the family a lot. It was cool that one Elder wrote me. I remember him he was awesome. Maybe you guys could write him back or something....I still need to write my friends back.

It was great to get a letter from Jami. She is so good at writing me. Tell Jami I'm sorry but I don't have time to write her back. But i will answer some of her questions. But tell her thanks for writing me and it was good to read how she is doing and everything. She asked about something really cool about New Zealand. Well the food is cool how the cook it and stuff. The make some really good Fish and Chips. The Maori people when the greet they air kiss right next to your check. I'll have to think of more. Sorry I'm really bad at remember things like that.

Well I love you all have a great week.
Elder Kitchen