Kitchen Family,                                                                                              September 21, 2012
Hey how is everybody doing?! I hope that all is well, and that you are all happy and healthy. First of all, oh my goodness mom thank you so much for the homemade cinnamon rolls!! They were absolutely amazing. I shared them with my room, and multiple people said "those are easily the best cinnamon rolls that I have ever had in my life." And I said "Yep my momma lives up to her name." Anyway thank you very much. Also, thank you for sending me the addresses of those guys. Dad I got a kick out of that picture of you and Kit. I'm also glad that she is home and out of "doggy-prison." Well it sounds like everyone is busy and living life to the fullest. Mom it sounds like school is busy for you right now...I wish you the best of luck. One thing that came to mind is when I was reading the Biography of Thomas S. Monson, one of his seven words of wisdom that he has lived his life by is: Balance. I can't remember the other words, but I recommend reading the book. And Dad it also sounds like you are busy at work. I also wish you luck, and I hope everything goes well. That is so cool that Tyler can get half-off tuition because of his mission to New Zealand! Is he going to go there for sure next semester? Also, is here still dating Skyler Hardy's litter sister...haha I'm just curious.

Anyway to answer a few questions I did not see that broadcast of Dallin H. Oaks or the Provo Mission President, but the whole MTC will be able to see the re-broadcast of the Brigham City Temple Dedication this Sunday, so I'm excited for that. I have some pretty dang cool news for everybody. So, we have a musical genius in our Zone whose name is Elder Madsen. This Elder can literally take whatever song he wants and make is our arrangement to it. He is amazing. So anyway, here at the MTC every Sunday night fireside there is a special musical number preformed by someone or a group of Elders out of the 2500 or so that are here right now. You have to audition in from of the MTC President's wife to get in for the musical number. All week long groups of Elders try out to sing in the musical number and only one is picked. We tried out with "Ye Elders Of Isreal" (Elder Madsen's style) and the same day we were notified that we are going to sing for the special musical number this Sunday in front of the entire MTC!! Wow! We all can't believe it. It's going to be an experience that I don't think I'll ever forget.

All is well here at the MTC. It's amazing how fast we all learn Spanish. I'll tell you a quick cool experience that my companion and I had this week. We were studying on a bench when a couple of Spanish speaking Elders came up to us. They were brand new missionaries that had only been here for a couple of days. They must have been doing something for class because they tried their best to bear their testimonies in Spanish and then they left. I was amazed after they left, because it reminded me where I was at not even a month ago. They could barely even speak, and that was me a month ago. It is blowing my mind how fast we learn Spanish out here. I know it is only because we are the Lord's missionaries and he is helping us as we work hard and be obedient. This week my companion and I taught a 45 minute lesson in Spanish with no notes. I testify that the Spirit of the Lord speaks all languages. I fell the spirit so strong as I teach. Yo se que El Evangelio de Jesucristo es verdadero. Jesucristo es el Salvador del Mundo. Dios es nuestro amoroso Padre Celestial. El Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios. Yo se que familias podemos juntos para siempre mediante el plan de Padre Celestial. Yo amo ustedes mucho!. (I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ its true. Jesus Christ is the savior of the World. God is our loving Heavenly Father. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that families can be together forever through Heavenly Father's Plan. I love you all!) To put it simply :)

Until next week
Love
Elder Kitchen

Hey Family!                                                                                                   September 14, 2012
How's it going everybody?! Well I've now been here for a month, and it literally feels like a couple of weeks. First of all I wanted to thank you for sending me the candy, goodies, the knife, and the card reader. I got it all okay. Thank you :) I always enjoy getting a cool package. My next request would be some cool little super hero or other funny stickers so I can put them behind my tag, give them to Elders in my district, and put them on letters. Ha I know its a funny request. Also, if you could get creative with some dollar store kind of stuff...like bouncy balls silly putty kind of stuff (you have to get creative out here or you'll go crazy) (I know you are all busy, so time-permitting) Thanks! :)

So anyway wow sounds like everything is going great with everybody. Thanks Dad for sending those pictures. It was really fun to see Kit! I miss that dog already. Also, that fishing trip looked really fun, I'm glad you had a good time. Thanks for that knife, I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled a sweet Benchmade out of my package. Thank you Mom for the goodies and the card reader, I always love the things you send me! Sounds like school is going good. That's cool that you saw Trevor's mom. Tell her that me and Trevor have been keeping in touch. I got a letter from him the other day, and I just sent one back today. Also, I'm starting to get in contact with my other friends who are out on their missions, so that's fun. If you could look in the phone book or something and get Chandler's mailing address that would be way cool because I want to hear from him. Also if you could get me Spencer Neilson's address so I can send him a "you better wake up and serve a mission" letter (in a nice and encouraging way). Oh and I want Tyler, Jami, and Kaylee to know that the letters I sent them weren't meant to be  ONE-WAY letters ;) I'm joking. I can't believe Tyler is working two jobs and going to school, that's crazy. Tell him good luck and I hope he is doing well. Tell Jami and Kaylee I love em' to death, and to be good girls.

Well I'll tell you a little bit about what is going on with me. I won't lie, I'm way over the food. Mom, I miss your cookin'. Tell Tyler that I've already been here longer than him, and that I still have double the amount of time to go haha. For the most part though, I still love it here! I love my district and zone and teachers so much (as I've mentioned). I love the spirit that I feel here on a regular basis. I love being a missionary for the Lord I can't express how much I love it. We study all day long, but I know it's so we can be better missionaries and so we can speak the language. Yesterday we had a "zone conference" (MTC style) and it was so good. A group of missionaries and I from our zone put together a musical number "Ye Elders of Isreal" it was fun to be apart of it. We got a chance to hear testimonies and listen to words from prophets. I spirit was so strong in the room the air was thick. I want you to watch something on Mormon Messages called "Patterns of Light" its a 3-part series with Elder David E. Bednar on the Light of Christ. They are only like 2 minutes a piece, but they are so good! Watch them! That reminds me...has that Mormon Message with all of us in it come out yet? Anyway I'm about running out of time. A meaningful quote I heard this week goes like this: "Be the kind of person that others will see and want to get to know Christ because they know you." I love each and every one of you and I'm so grateful for all the support. Don't worry about me for a second, because I'm doing great out here! I love it. I'm so grateful for everything I have. We are all so blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. Recently, I was thinking back on our family trip to New Zealand. That was the best trip of my life. I think the thing that made it so good is being together as a family. I came closer to each one of you guys on that trip. I'm so grateful to have the knowledge that family can be together forever through God's merciful plan. I know that God does live and he knows each of us. I know that the Jesus is the Christ; the literal Son of the Living God. He lived and died for each and every one of us. I'm humbled to have the responsibility to bring these simple truths to the people of Puebla. The Gospel has changed my life, and continues to change it everyday. Let it change yours as well :)
May God bless
With love,
Elder Kitchen

Hola Family                                                                                     September 7, 2012

Hey guys! Wow I can't believe a week has already come and gone. It's crazy how fast time is going out here. I'm sure all of you feel the same way with how busy you all are! It sounds like you are all having a good time. I'm sure Bryce Grand Canyon was a good time. I'll have to go check it out when I get home like Mom said. Oh and Dad the shoes are perfect size and I love them so no worries there. I'll try and find this Sister Belliston to give the other ones to. Is it the Sister Belliston that is in our ward? Anyway yeah I'm sure you are all excited to pick Kit up! I miss that dog already. And mom It's so good to hear that you are loving your class this year. I'm really glad that it all fell into place for you. I'm not surprised :) make sure to thank the Lord. Thanks Dad for the advice about writing in my journal. I have done an okay job so far, but I swear I was better at writing in it when I was at home ha I'm just so busy and when we get back to the room after a long day the last thing you wanna do is write, but I still do it. I'll do even better because, like you said, I want to remember this experience forever. Oh and Mom It's cool to hear about your calling as Sunday School teachers! It seems like its been a while since you've had callings. Its crazy because our ward is so big. Real quick I have just a couple things in mind that you could slip into the next package: My Gerber knife that Dad gave me (apparently you can have them as missionaries because everybody has one here) and that memory card reader that I bought so that I could put pictures onto the computer from our old camera. This would be great because that way no matter what computer I'm using out there in the field, I can plug that baby into a USB port, stick my memory card in, and attach pictures for ya'll throughout my whole mission! Sounds good right?

Anyway a little bit about me this week...if I can remember haha. The days seem to blend together I swear. The language is still coming along just fine. We're finally learning how to speak in past tense and future tense which makes it so much easier to talk and teach. I'm really glad that we're going through this at the MTC, because we're learning so much. Some hot news...me and my district have picked up 4 square at the gym...it gets pretty intense (suppose to be a joke, but at the same time its true). Anyway getting I'll tell you about a couple of experiences this week that are just now coming to my memory. For the Tuesday devotional a Elder from the 70 came with his wife. They are from Germany and they just moved here to the States. His wife have a really enthusiastic talk that was really funny because she couldn't speak English very well. Elder...I would give you his name, but honestly I can't remember because it was a weird German name. He gave an awesome talk and if was a good experience.
Another cool thing that happened this week happened after some of us had taught a "progressing investigator" (MTC style). We were all a little discouraged because this particular investigator is being really difficult for us I'm guessing so we can learn. Anyway we were all kind of frustrated with the language and stuff. So our teacher took us to a different room instead of normal class we watched some clips from Elder Holland and just talked about what we could do better. Afterward I gave the closing prayer, and again it was one of those times where I was speaking better than I thought I could. It was awesome!! I felt the spirit really strong. I am so happy out here. I love it!!

Well guys I got an elder sitting behind me that has been waiting to use the computer for a while now. I just want to let you know again how much I love each and every one of you. I am so grateful for all your love and support. Tell Grandma and Grandpa Kitchen and Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth thank you so much for your support and that I love them. All is well here with me so don't worry. I know I'm doing the Lord's work and that there are people out in Mexico that need to hear the message that I have. Remember how blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives. Well good luck with everything that is going on! May the Lord bless the Kitchen family :) Amo ustedes con todo mi corazon.

Adios!

Elder Kitchen

P.S. "Adios" literally means "to God"

Hola Mi Familia,                                                                   August 31, 2012

 

Hey how is everybody doing?! Man, I can't belive that I've been here at the MTC for over 2 weeks. It has gone by really fast. The days are really long, but then when you look back on the week you just had, it goes by in a blink. Well everything is going great here at the MTC. I'm still loving it here its really not bad. Its crazy because remember what Pres. Welch said in my blessing as I was getting set apart about me knowing I am in the right place at the right time?? Well yeah that has totally happened to me already from day 1. My district, companion, teachers, zone, branch presidency, zone leaders, etc. are all so sweet. Me and Elder Astle get along so well. He is a great guy and we share a lot of the same interests. We both have a drive about us that we both want nothing less than to be obedient and work hard. My district is so great as well. I'll name off the guys...whoops...I mean ELDERS for you: Elder Hauser/Elder Hansen; Elder Garcia/Elder Ellison; Elder Doughtery/Elder Allred; Elder Stephens/Elder Chote; and finally Elder Yano/Elder Thompson. Yeah we have a big group. Most districts have about 6-8 elders and we have 12. It is a blast, and all the Elders work hard, but when at the same time we all like to have fun. It great. I know that I'm here at the right time and everything. I wouldn't want it to be any different. Oh and to answer mom's question our investigators are actually our teachers that are acting as someone that they taught when they were on their missions. It really does feel real though because they don't ever come out of character. We have to be speaking spanish the whole time during our lessons. The teachers here at the MTC are mostly BYU students that have been home from their own missions for only about a year. We have one teacher that has only been home from his mission a month! Also you asked if we have to speak the language all the time. The answer is agency haha. We are encouraged to SYL (speak your language) as much as you can. During class and throughout the day, we do our best to speak the language as much as we can, but when we are in some certain situations we just want to speak english. There is acutally goals that districts make that they won't speak english for an entire day, or for certain periods of time in a day. The longest my companion and I have gone without speaking english is about 3 hours. Its pretty crazy how much spanish we know already I won't lie. But, I'm well aware that as soon as I step foot in Mexico I won't have a clue what anyone is saying!! Don't worry I'm looking forward to it.

 

Anyway, it sounds like you guys are all really busy with everything going on at home! It's that time of year. I hope Jami, Kaylee, and Tyler are all doing okay with their classes and workin' hard. Dad it sounds like work is going good and that you guys are having a good time, I'm glad. How's the golf game?? Hopefully it goes to the pit by the time I get home so I can kick your butt haha ;) I'm jokin'. Mom I'm so happy to hear that experience that you had! It makes me think back to the everything that fell into place when you were looking for a job at Shelly. I know that didn't end up working out....hmm...maybe it was just a trial of your faith, and now here comes the blessing when you least expected it! :) It's so cool to see everything work out for you and that you're teaching 5th grade with a picture perfect class. WOW. We are very blessed. Make sure to thank to Lord for all of our blessings. We enjoy so many each and every day. Tell Jami and Kaylee to keep up the good work and to keep their noses clean. High School is make or break. It can be one of the greatest times of your lives. It is what you make it. Either you work hard and enjoy every moment, or you end up looking back with some amount of regret. In any case and no matter what you make out of the experience one thing is of necessity; the greatest importance: Make good decisions. Family first. Do the basic things that matter most, scripture study and prayer. Keep the commandments. Strive to follow the prophet. By listening to their words you will come closer to God. Most importantly look to the Savior as your greatest example. Strive to be like him. Follow him and his teachings; his church and you'll find in yourself a better version of yourself. I promise that this is the case. Do these things for yourself, and you'll find yourself happier than you've ever been. ENJOY IT :)

 

Just to finish up I wanted to share with you a really cool experience that stood out to me this week. On Tuesday we had something that is called TRC training. It is when real members of the church volunteer time out of their day and come to visit with missionaries just as themselves, so that we as missionaries can get a feel for what it is like to get to know people and share a message. We had only had a few minutes to prepare a short spiritual message, and yes, you guessed it, it has to be all spanish :) So we go in there and talked with this awesome lady named Joseiphina I think. In our broken spanish we got somewhat aquainted with here and continued to share a simple spiritual message with here about God our Heavenly Father and how he loves every one of us. I spirit filled the room as we spoke and shared scriptures. At the end my companion shared his testimony, and then came me. I don't remember everything I said, but as I walked out I remember thinking to myself "how in the world did I speak spanish so well." It wasn't that I was saying things I'd never learned before, but it was the manner in which I was able to say it. It was simple, yet strong. I love being a missionary. I want you all to know that this is the Lord's work. God loves us and has a plan for us. Central to that plan is the Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for my Savior and His Atonement; it has changed my life forever. We can all develop strong relationships with our Heavenly Father if we just Come Unto Christ and follow Him. Thank you all for your amazing examples in my life. Thank you for your love and support! It means the world to me. I love each and every one of you, and I miss you all. God be wich you til' we meet again ;)

 

Love

 

Elder Kitchen

 

P.S. if you have time you should all read Moroni Chapter 7 the whole thing. Its great. Love you!

Hey guys!                                                                                                           August 24, 2012

This is going to be a really short email because here at the MTC we only have 30 minutes alloted to email. I´ve already emailed Mom and Dad, so right now I´m going overtime so it has to be quick. I think next time I´ll just write one email to answer everybody´s questions n stuff.

So to answer some questions, no I haven't seen JT yet, but like you have seen with Kaiden Worthington I have seen a lot of people I know. I've seen probably 35 people that I know from American Fork or surrounding areas, so that has been fun. The language is really tough, but I seem to be doing well, especially since I've only been here just over a week. We had our 3rd lesson in spanish with our investigator yesterday and we had learned how to challege for batism. So we challenged her and she said yes! Ha I know its the MTC, but it was still way cool. It's amazing how much you have to rely on the spirit as a missionary, especially when speaking a new language. This Tuesday was our first weekly devotional and guess who came?! Elder Neil L. Anderson of the quorum of the twelve!! It was fantastic. Our first week here and we get an apostle.

Anyway I'm sorry I got to cut this one short! Try and get some mailing addresses for me cause I forgot... like maybe Chandler or something.

Jami and Kaylee I love you and I hope you have a great start with High School... wow.. crazy to think about. Tell Tyler I love him and good luck with school. Mom and Dad thank you so much and good luck with everything going on right now.

I keep all of you in my prayers every night you guys mean the world to me. I know this is the work of the Lord here on the earth; I know it without a shadow of a doubt. I am so humbled and greatful to be apart of this great work. I can't wait to bring the wonderful message of the restored gospel to the people in Puebla Mexico. It make me so happy. We are all so blessed beyond belief! I'll try and write more next P-day, but I don't seem to be given much time. God bless!

Elder Kitchen

Hey whats up family                                                                                           August 18, 2012

I'm writing so soon because we don't have real P-day until next Friday. Today is like a mini-P-day I guess. Anyway I'm really enjoying the MTC so far. The first couple of days were a handful! There was a lot to take in and I felt somewhat overwhelmed, but I'm doing awesome now, so no worries. My companion's name is Elder Astle and he is so awesome. We were meant to be companions I swear. We have a lot in common, and we get along really well. He is 20 turning 21 in October, and he is from North California. We both have committed each other to doing our very best, and trying to get the most out of our MTC experience. Oh I also love my district. There is a lot of really cool guys in the district. We have guys from New York, Texas, Cali, Kansas, Arizona, Oklahoma, and one more state I think. There is only like three of us from Utah. We all seem to get along so far and there is some funny guys as well!

Anyway, the language is actually really frustrating right now. I know this is only my fourth day, but being out here on a mission makes you just want to teach and speak and share my message, which I can't because I don't know Spanish. I need to be more patient though. Its humbling because I swear my companion has like a photographic memory, so when he looks up a Spanish word he'll pretty much remember it. I don't have that gift, so its frustrating. I know that I'll get it down though in no time.

Just a quick story about our very first lesson her in the MTC. We got here on Wednesday and on Friday we had to teach a lesson to an investigator in Spanish! It was stressful. The funny story is that we prepared something to say before we got in the room, but she just let us in right away so it was a quick change of plan. Because of this I just went straight to my seat and forgot to shake the investigator's hand as she had it outstretched toward me following me as I sat down ahahaha. My district was making fun of me. It was a good one. Well I just wanted to let you know that all is well here in the MTC and that I'm absolutely loving it out here. I have been blessed with a great companion. To be honest for being here only 4 days I already know quite a bit of Spanish like I can say a basic prayer and testimony already. Also I really enjoy my teacher Brother Clifford he is a good guy. Well guys I'll tell you more about whats going on my next P-day which is next Friday.

Adios!

Love, Elder Cocina ;)