Dear Family, August 21, 2011

I am so excited to e mail you all this week. How is everyone doing? I can’t believe the summer is pretty much over for all of you. Wow sometimes the weeks just fly by haha. Sometimes I just can’t believe I’ve been out on my mission for this long already. In some ways it went way too fast....and others it seems I’ve been on my mission for an extremely long time. I’m just doing my very best to serve the Lord my very hardest and I want to stay strong until the very end. I love this work so very much....I feel such a great desire to work so hard for our Heavenly Father and bring as many of his children into the gospel as I can.

My week was a really great week. The elders in our zone are doing much better now and we didn’t have to go to the hospital at all this week. So we got a full week of proselyting this week which was a blessing. We worked so hard and we taught so many lessons. We also talked to a ton of people on the street and just everywhere we went. We had some really wonderful miracles and had some very spiritual lessons. We had 7 investigators come to church and the wade family got confirmed!! YAY!! They are all Maori (like half white/Maori). It was a great week. We had some miracles in the zone and we also had some trials....some fall throughs with some of the baptismal sets and things like that. Last Monday we went bowling with the zone and it was really fun!! Guess what? I won both of the games!! haha.

So right now we have Nadia (Jerry's cousin) set for baptism for this coming Saturday! And we have Stephanie, Formen, and Alexis's baptism also for this Saturday. We are also hoping for a miracle with a lady named Linoa. She is so ready for baptism and wants to be baptized this Saturday! But the only thing stopping her is her partner isn’t really having an urgency about marriage. But she can’t get baptized until after they get married. So today we are fasting with her that the Lord will soften her partner's heart and that he will want to be married. Please keep that family in your prayers because they are a great family. This week we also had some incredible miracles. We met a lady on the street named Lisa and she invited us back to her house. We had a really great lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ and talked to her about becoming clean from her sin, repenting, changing her life, and getting baptized. The spirit was so strong and it told us to set her with a baptism date. So we did. She has set a goal for next month...September 10. Wow and she came to church yesterday and a fireside we had. She is just great!! On Saturday we had a trade off with some missionaries in our zone. Me and this other missionary from Tonga, named Elder Pohahou had an incredible day in our area. We just worked so hard. We were able to set two more people for baptism for next month! Their names our Nick and Claire. They are both Maori and just want to change their lives. I just love meeting people and helping people change their live and follow Jesus Christ. I love seeing people stop drinking, smoking, and doing things like stopping breaking the Law of Chastity. It is just amazing to watch people do so much for the Lord! Sunday was just amazing. All 4 of the Wade family were confirmed members of the church today. It was such a wonderful site to see all of them up at the front and us laying our hands of their heads in front of everyone at sacrament meeting. I was able to confirm Arna and Daesharn. And Elder Chandler confirmed Quinton and Xazier. Wow I just love that family so much. Church was good I taught a powerful lesson on the life of Jesus Christ in gospel principles class. Last night we had a Come and See Fireside. They have them a lot but only the City Zones can come to them. So this was my first one because I’ve served my whole mission in the Country. The come and see fireside is an incredible event. It is put on by our mission president and the APs. All the missionaries in the City are invited to attend if they bring some investigators. It’s a fireside focused all on people that are learning about the gospel. There was a lot of beautiful musical items, a video presentation, recent converts bearing their testimonies, singing, and some a presentation/talk given by our mission president. He talked all about the Restoration, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. It was so powerful. There were SO many people there!! There was one part where our mission president had all the full time missionaries stand up and go into the isle and sing called to serve. Wow the spirit was overwhelming. Missionary work is so powerful and it is only a once in a life time opportunity to be a full time missionary like this. I just love it!

Well Transfers are this Thursday so we will see what happens....I probably will stay here....but I think my companion might go because he has been here in the zone for a long time. I’m going to be sad if he does go because I will miss him. We get along so well. We laugh and know how to have fun while doing the work. He is such a great missionary and I’ve learned a lot from him. We also have had so many wonderful miracles together and have been able to baptize a lot. He is from Idaho and so I hope to see him after the mission someday haha. Elder Chandler is from a very big family. There are 10 people in his family, he is really funny and all his family looks way cool. I hope to meet them someday.

MOM!! I'M SO happy you got a job!!! :D CONGRATS!!!!! That is so wonderful and it makes me so happy for you....I’m sure your just overwhelmed with joy. I know it truly is a blessing from the Lord. He has blessed you because your faithfulness and prayers. I’m Sure you already have but remember to show the Lord gratitude and thank him for that incredible blessing. Wow that’s perfect...4th grade is a good grade to teach. And Lehi isn’t far at all so you are close to home. I’m thankful you have finally got a job and you'll be able to start working now. I bet you guys had fun setting up the room and getting ready. If I was there I would have loved to help you. I love you mom....your just a wonderful mother and you deserve this so much. You'll be an incredible teacher and I’m sure the kids will love Mrs. Kitchen :) haha. I can’t wait to see your room and watch you teach when I get back haha. I will be praying for you mom and that you will have a great start to the year.
Okay so about the New Zealand Trip thing.....I will tell you my preference but really mom and dad it’s up to you and I will be happy with whatever you decide. I understand about time and also the expense. Well my first preference is the one where I go home and then we all come back around Christmas and stay for about 16 or so days. But really if that doesn’t work out then maybe we can all come back in a year or whatever. But really if it works out because of money and everything I would still absolutely love if you came here and picked me up. It is just a blessing that you can come to New Zealand. I would still have a wonderful time and would love every second of it. So really I don’t mind what you decide to do :)

Well I’m so happy that Ryan is having his interview with Bishop about becoming a missionary. Wow that makes me so happy. I’m excited for him!! I’m just thankful for everything that is going on with everyone. Well I got to go now....I will try and send a couple of pictures on this and then hopefully I can send that DVD home. I love you all so much. You’re always in my prayers.

Love Elder Kitchen