Hola Familia!                                                                                                        April 22, 2013

Well here I am again in a little internet place writing the family. I really enjoyed reading the emails that you send Mom and Dad. Dad you make me crack up when I read your letters haha. Sounds like you got a long summer filled with high school girl drama ahead of you. You'll have to find refuge out at the golf club and hunting with Kit the chubbster. So you sent her out to the doggy fat farm and she's already gained it all back huh?? haha. I'll have to say I'm not one bit surprised to hear that you're all in St. George again. I swear you're out there every single weekend. Sounds like it's been quite some work getting it all done, but that it's a cool place. Tell Ashley and Sean congrats for me again. I wish them happiness and success. It's too bad that I can't be there for the wedding. Just tell Tyler that he's gotta wait for me now because I've already been out here for a while and he doesn't have a girlfriend right now. Wait it out from me Ty! Well I'll be praying for you safety and success out in Washington D.C. Tyler. I'm sure you'll do fine. Oh and Mom yeah everything arrived safe and sound in the package. I love all the shaving stuff you put in there and the shaver is awesome! Thank you so much! Also, I really liked all the candy and stuff. Between my comp. and I, we've been able ate it all already :) my favorite was the Cadbury eggs. Oh and I ended up buying a nice tie with the 100 pesos that was in the golden egg, so thank you.

Anyway we've been working really hard this week. Elder Knowlton and Elder Durffee had a baptism this Saturday of a woman named Lupita. It's kinda funny because right before the changes when I was with Elder Knowlton, I'm the one who contacted her and set up an appt. I'm glad she got baptized. As for Elder Burden and I, we had some great lessons with our investigators this week. With the family Estrada we had a killer lesson! I invited them to be baptized and they all accepted! We felt good about the 27th, but unfortunately they didn't show up to church, so we'll have to push it back a week or so. They are awesome though. Also the Family Beltran Leon, they are doing great. We had a great lesson on Tuesday with them and at the end we were all smiling and talking before kneeling prayer in a circle. I felt pure joy in that moment being with all them. It's those kind of moments that make all the hard work worth it. Family Beltran Leon are probably some of the closest people I've gotten to on my mission this far. I love 'em. They came to church finally too so that was awesome. We also had zone conference this Friday, which went really well.  I learned a lot that I want to apply to the work. Well the work can be hard at times, but it's so worth it, and I'm learning so much out here. It's a privilege to come out and preach the work of God to so many of God's children. 

Well I better get off now. I love you guys really. I hope you know that. If there is anything that I can do...anything in any small kind of way, please let me know :) I hope that you find this email with a smile and that you're all doing well. Keep up the good work! 

Con Amor,

Elder Kitchen

P.S. I don't remember if I told you, but a few weeks ago I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish all the way through! It was a great experience. I recommend that each one of you read the B.O.M again no matter how many times you read it. It's true and a powerful testimony of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. Reading it in Spanish not only increased my knowledge of Doctrine and testimony, but it also helped me learn Spanish. It is a powerful tool in our lives. Never take it for granted. It has helped me so much in my life from before my mission with all the trails, and continues to help me today. 

Hey everybody!                                                                                                 April, 15, 2013

Sounds like everybody is alive and well, so that's good to hear. I just realized that today marks the day for 8 months out here on the mission...in some ways it seems like I've been out here for quite a while, but for the most part it's just flyin' by. First of all...HAHAHA Dad I was laughing SO hard when you were telling me about the story on your mission with the habenero peppers! I started to read it out loud so that the rest of the elders here with me from the district could hear as well. They got a kick out of it too. Fortunately, the tacos only had really little pieces of habenero peppers that had been soaked in purple onions. They were amazing tacos!! Even though it was little pieces, I still was sweating and my lips were burning, but it wasn't too bad. Mom thanks for always letting me in on all the people from the ward coming out here to the mission field. It's exciting how many from our ward are going out. I love hearing from you guys every week, thanks for being so great at writing all the time. Also, I loved hearing from Tyler.

So this week went really good. We weren't able to teach as many lessons this week, but at the end of the week we had 7 progressing investigators! We are teaching 2 small families right now, and we love them. Familia Estrada (recent new invest.) are doing really good! We've taught them the first lesson and another lesson where we gave a blessing and talked about faith. They have come to church twice, and we plan on inviting them to be baptized on the 27th :) They are really prepared, so I'm confident that they'll accept. As for the Beltran Leon family they are still progressing just a little bit slower. I had my companion invite them to be baptized, and they said that they've already been baptized. So we have got to do some more teaching so that they can understand really well. We are still able to teach them about twice a week. As for other, we have about 5 others that aren't progressing right now, but we are working hard to get into better contact with them, so that they can start progressing. I love it out here it's going really good! Elder Burden's Spanish is coming along really slow, but it improves little by little. He got sick on...Friday I think it was, so we weren't able to work much that day. Oh Dad, thought I'd just make you jealous again and tell you a place called Mega Taco that we went to, and they are SO good!! I want to bring you there if we visit someday. 

Well I better wrap it up. Love you guys!! I'm so grateful for all the love and support that you give me each and every week. OHHH yeah this morning we visited the mission office and guess what!? My package was there! Hahahaha mom good work on the Virgin Guadalupe job :) It made it safe and sound, and I decided to open it up right there in the mission home! Thank you so much! Wow it was like I was there at home and found my Easter basket hahah it was just like it :) love you mamma! Thank you :) The shaver stuff is perfect as well because I needed that! I've been shaving without shaving cream for a while haha. Where did you get the $100 pesos? Just curious. But yeah thanks again, it really means a lot to me and I appreciate it. It was just like Easter. Well keep up the good work guys. I'll talk to you next Monday!

Con Amor,

Elder Kitchen

Los Kitchen                                                                                                                    April 8, 2013

Hey everybody how's everything going? Sounds like you've had a crazy, but fun week in St. George this weekend. Did you enjoy spring break? Man it seems as though you go to St. George every week haha! How's the weather up north? Still freezing? Oh hey let Grandpa and Grandma Kitchen that I received their letter this week, and that I really enjoyed reading it. 

Well this might be a short one cause we're already running short on time. P-days are just the way that Tyler told me that they'd be: super busy. I'll let you know a little bit about our week and then I gotta go. On Tuesday we had a training meeting with President with all the trainers and new missionaries. After that meeting, we had a leadership meeting until about 6 (all day meetings). In the middle of the week, we were able to have some really good  lessons! Our progressing family of 4, the Beltran Leon family, are so awesome and we love them so much! We had 2 lessons this week with them, and we have another appointment with them on Tuesday. They said they are going to feed us some tacos with habanero peppers in them...wish me luck! I'm excited to try them though. They are so nice to us. Also this week we were blessed with another 5 new investigators! I can't believe it. 3 of them are a older couple with their daughter that still lives with them. They all came to conference and they liked it. I'm excited to get this week started. I hope and pray that we will be able to teach them with power and help them receive our true message. To answer your question, I did get to see all of conference  (3 sessions and Preisthood in English and the other in Spanish). It was awesome. Oh and yeah my package hasn't arrived yet, but I'm sure it will soon. 

Well I better sign off. The Lord's work is some tough work, but it's very rewarding and I find joy in doing it. I am growing so much out here in every way possible. Thank you so much for all the love and support :) Until next week,

Con Amor

Elder Kitchen

Hey guys!                                                                                                                    April 1, 2013

 

How is everybody doing this week? Sounds like you're all enjoying your spring break vacation. That is way cool that Uncle Jason's mom is staying at our house and going to General Conference! If ya get a chance tell her I say hi.  Mom that's cool to hear about that video that Cree put together with all the missionaries. There are so many from our High School class.  To answer your question mom we didn't do anything at all for Easter haha. Here in Mexico they have vacations for like almost two weeks. Its called la semana santa which means the holy week. It's to celebrate or remember the death and resurrection of Christ. There are people here who volunteer to do a representation of what Christ went through so they get whipped, hit, carry the cross, and they hang them up with rope....kinda weird huh? I've heard that in some little towns they actually use nails to hang the person too. It's very catholic here in Puebla.  My new companion is from Snowflake, yeah it's way close to Eagar I know. Small world right? Yeah his Spanish is coming little by little...it's rough for the first little while I remember when I just got here too. He is really cool though and we are working really hard trying to do the best we can out here.

 

Well this week went awesome! I've spent what little extra time I have just studying the map and figuring out the bus routes. We've also been visiting and teaching members in efforts to receive referrals and so they can help us get to know the area a little. Last Sunday (8 days ago) I gave my first talk in church in Spanish. I talked for about 15 minutes without much problems. Elder Burden and I were fasting on Sunday because we really need the Lord's help right now. Welp the Lord has blessed us like crazy this week because we got 7 new investigators in this new area!! We are really excited to begin teaching all of them everything. Three and the new investigators were a reference from other missionaries and we contacted them on Wednesday and we had a great Restoration lesson on Thursday morning. They understood it really well and they are going to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We have another lesson tonight at 7, so we need your prayers! They are a great. Things are going really good and I'm learning a ton out here these days. I LOVE MY MISSION! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Mexico Puebla Sur is the best mission in the world. Lately we've been fed some really good food...dad you're missing out big time ;) We've have to come back and get some tacos someday. Man we've had some really powerfully spiritual lessons this week. I literally leave to lesson amazed at how much the spirit guided the lesson. It's an amazing experience to have the spirit of the Lord work through you so that God can touch the hearts of his children that need to hear the Gospel. Oh I forgot the mention last Sunday when I gave a talk between the two companionships, we have over 30 less actives in church and like 5 investigators. It was a blessing to be apart of it. Let me know if you've got any other questions for me.

 

I love you family! Don't ever worry bout me I'm doing great out here. Just keep doing what you're doing and working hard. No matter how busy you all may be...never forget to do the things that matter most, individually and as a family. The word of God brings us closer to him and helped us to learn how we should be. Prayer is literal communication with a loving Father in Heaven. With real faith you will receive answers and comfort. Read Mormon 7:7 its about eternal life. Also read the book of Enos as a family and think about your own conversion experiences. Have you truly and faithfully done what Enos did? If not, then now is the time. Everyone needs to become converted to the Gospel. Conversion is more that just mere belief or going through he motions; rather is a lasting effect that changes who we are forever. Little by little we can have converting experiences throughout our life time, but we need to faithfully seek them and ask for them. Everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Become who you've always wanted to be because its possible through Him :) Thank you all so much for everything you continue to do for me and who you are. Happy Easter! Enjoy General Conference and listen with PURPOSE...don't just listen. Prophets and Apostles live today and they guide and direct us to do what God would have us do in these the last days. I can't wait to hear from them. Ey mama I can't wait to see ya on May 12th! It'll be a early birthday present for ya. Alrighty gotta wrap it up. Can ya'll believe on the 25th it'll be a year since I opened my call?? Werid. Time flys. Until next week,

 

Con Amor

Elder Kitchen

 

Los Kitchen,                                                                                                            March 25, 2013

Family!! Welp I have appoximately 10 minutes to write you guys this week...sorry! It's been a pretty P-day this week. We've had a crazy week trying to get the new house we're staying in all ready and figuring stuff out. Just to comment real quick on some things...sounds like you had a great week and everything is going well. I loved hearing about the guys who stayed at the house and that you've been sharing the Gospel with them. Nice work fam!

 

Okay, so my new missionay's name is Elder Burden and he is from Snowflake, Arizona. He was only in the MTC for 6 weeks and hardly knows any Spanish at all, so it's kinda hard sometimes. This week we worked really hard though. I'm still in the same ward (4 missionaries now) and Elder Knowlton is still DL. He stayed and I'm in the new house. The area boundries were split and we have the part that I dont know very well at all. They also have most of the investigators. It's okay though I'm up for the challenge. We have an invest. named Amado who has  a baptismal date, so that's cool!! It's going to be a slow start, but we'll get it down.

 

Well sorry, but I really gotta go now. Love ya'll and may God continue to bless our family.

 

Elder Kitchen