Hey fam!!                                                                                                                       April 21, 2014

Sorry you all didn't get my letter last week. I swear that I sent it…but oh well. I sent it right when I got on today, so it should get there. That means you'll get to read two letters this week :) Let me know if things aren't sending. Well I enjoyed your letters this week. Thanks for those pictures! That Easter dinner looked really good. I can't wait to enjoy your amazing cooking mom!!! You have no idea. Yeah Dad we totally did feel the earthquake. We were studying around 9:30 am and the whole house started shaking and moving, it was way weird. It was the first time that my and comp and I had felt an earthquake like that. It really wasn't that strong, but we've never felt one. Actually all the people here didn't even say anything. They are really used to them.  Mom that's cool how me and Tori might have a homecoming talk together. That would be really cool. I got my package! We went to the offices today to get a ton of material and it was there. I haven't opened it yet, but I'm sure it will be awesome, so I'm excited.

Well this week was pretty good. We have been finding new investigators and we found an awesome part member family this week. We are going to try and invite them to be baptized with dates this week, so pray so that they'll accept!! We are excited because we also have a lot of new appointments for new people. Things are looking up. Also in the zone we had an increase of 10 baptismal dates this week, so things are going pretty good. I love my companion! He is great and we are getting along just fine. He is a really good guy. Today we went to the offices like I said before and they are right by Chile's restaurant. We ate there and then got materials for the work. I took a picture for you guys. We also had a ward anniversary and ward conference this week. At the activity on Tuesday we ate and saw all the organizations do their programs. There is a lot of mariachi here and one of the groups played. It was cool! They are really talented. Things are going good. This week is going to be pretty calm, but the week after that we are going to have a ton of things going on. I'll let you know about it next week.

Well I love you guys. That's way cool that Jami gave a talk in church. I'm sure she did really good. As missionaries over this Easter week we thought of and taught a lot about Jesus Christ and His atonement. We especially focused a lot on the fact that he died and HAS RISEN! What an amazing thing! There are a lot of people here that know that he was resurrected, but don't quite comprehend that HE LIVES. He is the LIVING CHRIST and to our great blessing He guides and directs His church in these latter days. We read the Living Christ with a few people (it's the declaration of the first presidency and quorum of the twelve in year 2000). You should all read it even though Easter has past. Read it as a family and ponder about the great truths found within. Ponder about the amazing gift of the Savior in your own life. Because of Him we can live. Like many who proceeded Him, He was born, lived, and died. Unlike anyone in history He conquered the grave and rose again. He payed the price and because of Him we too will live again. I love Jesus Christ and I know He is my Savior and Redeemer. Watch the video on lds.org called "Because of Him" on the internet. It's great!!! I love you guys! Thank you for everything!!! Do you best each day. Give it all you got, and remember that in the end all belongs to Him and we are nothing without Him. Have a great week.

con amor

Elder Ryan Kitchen

Hey family!!                                                                                                               April 14, 2014

Hey so I decided to just add Grandpa Kitchen and Grandpa Ellsworth's emails into the list with all of yours so that way you don't have to worry about forwarding it Dad. It will just get to their email without any problems. Well sounds like you all have had a great Spring Break. It's funny because here when people hear "spring break" they think of the spring breakers that come down from the U.S. to Cancun and Vera Cruz and all those places to party. Here in Mexico their spring break is all this week. They call it Semana Santa (Holy week) because and Easter and all that. Almost everyone is going to take it off and not work. We may have kind of a slow week because of that. Thanks for the pictures that you sent, dad. It looks like you all have a good time in St. George and at Zion's. I forgot just how pretty that place is. Mom that's CRAZY that our missionaries have so many wards!! 15 wards and 2 stakes...wow I feel overwhelmed with 2 wards haha I don't have anything to complain about. That's cool that Brett came to the ward to speak. Yeah everybody seems to be getting home now. HAHA yes I know Megan Line she was a good friend. We didn't hang out very much, but I know her well. That's cool that Cam is dating her. She is a good girl. Dad that was a pretty funny story about what Kit did. She just ran into the neighbor's house huh? That's funny.

Well this week was pretty busy. On Tuesday we had the zone meeting. We had to get some things together with that last Monday. We only had one day in between to prepare for the zone conference. We had to get a food ready for 40 people and everything. It went really well. President, his wife, and the assistants came. President talked for a moment about something he said "he didn't want to talk about." He talked about how the new President and his wife will be arriving soon and he wants us to pray for them to arrive well. President Reeves is amazing. I'm going to miss him and it will be really strange with a new one, but oh well. The new President's name is President Stellmon...I think that's how you spell it...from Idaho. After the zone conference and all I was reflecting about how we did and I feel like we did a great job. It was Elder Christensen's first one as a zone leader. I've been teaching him "the ropes" to being a zone leader. I realized just how much a mission teaches you. I feel like I'm developing leaderships attributes that I never had before at home. As far as our area...we are struggling a little. All the people that we find end up not being too interested. We had a ton of appointments fall through as well. It's okay though we aren't going to get discouraged. We are going to keep working hard to find those that need the Gospel. 

Well I LOVE YOU ALL. Thank YOU for everything that you are in my life. Each and every one of you have played an important role in my life. I am grateful for all of the support and the blessing that our family receives on a daily basis. I can see the hand of the Lord in our lives. He blesses those that keep his commandments...it's the way it is :) Keep going strong! Conference was great! Study it up! Nothing better than living modern scripture to keep us on the straight and narrow. ¡Adiós!

con amor

Elder Ryan Kitchen

Hey fam,                                                                                                                        April 7, 2014

It's good to hear from all of you! Thanks for always writing me. I'm glad to hear that all is well and especially glad to hear that Tyler is doing better. That was a scare. That's cool that you guys went down to St. George for spring break. I forgot that it was spring break for you guys. I guess at UVU it was like in March right? I still remember that awesome road trip that Tyler and I with a bunch of friends went on. That was a super fun trip. Well I hope you guys have fun down there. I'm still pretty excited to see the house. I'm sure you guys are pretty used to it by now, but I'm still excited about it haha. That's cool to hear about Jami's friend that's going to be baptized this weekend! How cool. Who are the missionaries that teach her? Are there more missionaries in our stake now that more have gone out on their missions, or is it about the same? I think I remember that before I left there was like a pair of sister missionaries for the whole entire stake. You all asked about conference. We tried getting it in English, but we didn't have very much luck this time. The Internet wasn't working very well, so we watched it with the satellite signal in the stake center, but in Spanish. I understand everything just fine, but it's just not the same listening to a translator instead of their real voices. It was good though and I really liked it. We tried our best to get people to it and invited and even passed by for many, but at the end of the day we didn't get anyone there. Oh well. It's apart of the mission :)  

Well this week has blown by really fast. Last Tuesday we went to the transfer meeting and everything. I was anxious to see who my new companion would be. They announced our zone first. I am now with Elder Christensen from Denver, Colorado. He is a great missionary and a way cool guy. He is from the same generation as my last companion Elder Sanchez, so we has around 18 months on the mission. It's been nice being with a people now that doing have quite as much time like the ones that ended their missions with me. Elder Christensen played baseball in high school like me and is really smart and a good singer. He went to BYU Provo for a year before his mission and is going to study mechanical engineering with a focus on like space ships and air planes. Sounds really cool. He is a brand new Zone Leader, so I'm showin' him the ropes. This week after the meeting we had to help the zone get to their areas and all that, so we weren't able to do much on Tuesday. We had a couple of normal days, and then we went to the mission council in Puebla on Friday and that lasted most of the day, then the weekend was full of conference. This week is going to be even crazier. We have the zone meeting tomorrow and then Zone conference on Thursday. Yes there is a difference, dad. The zone meeting is just us the zone leaders and the zone. We give announcements, talk about mission rules, goals, and we teach the zone and do practices. The goal is to transmit was we learned in the mission council and we do it every month. It's a new meeting for missionaries. Now the zone conference is with Pres. Reeves and is only once every three months. It's longer and everything. So this week is going to be really busy as well. In our area we are just really trying to get some new investigators. 

My favorite talk in conference was the talk that President Thomas S. Monson gave during the priesthood session. I loved the question that he asked all of us: "brothers, are we the same person no matter where we are or who we're with?" I feel like it was a really good question and a good talk. I really like it. Well I hope that you all have a great week. Oh, I got grandpa kitchen's letter! It was awesome. Can you send me his email again so I can email him? I would send a letter, but honestly it's kind of a difficult process to find a post office and everything. There isn't one here in the town. Thanks for everything that you guys do and the support. I love you all!! 

Con amor

Elder Ryan Kitchen

Hey guys!                                                                                                           March 31, 2014

Wow dad you scared me with the golf story and Tyler and all. Man I still can't believe that Tyler got hit by a golf ball on the head...poor guy. I'm really glad that he's okay though...man the way you explained it and all freaked me out. That's pretty nuts that he got stapled in the head. So he is doing alright? Let him know that he's in my prayers and that I hope he gets well soon. Sounds like other than that, things went pretty well this week for everybody. Mom good luck with clear creek and all. I remember that I did go around making mischief, but that's kinda just how I was as a kid haha. That's cool to hear about more mission calls in the ward. He will leave just as I get back...wow he won't be done until 2016!! Crazy. Year I'm pretty sure Tyler Cox will also get back around the same time as me too because he was in the MTC with me.

Anyway this week was kinda rough. Like I mentioned before, we dropped some investigators that weren't progressing and have been looking for new ones. It's tough because we'll find some good ones and they'll accept us and everything, but when we go back for another visit they aren't there. There is obstacles in little towns, but it's okay we'll keep working hard to find the chosen. Yeah mom we have been working with the wards we have to do those activities about every two weeks. They should work out pretty good. We did another on Friday, but because of lack of communication with the ward and how fast it came up, there wasn't much success this time. It's okay we learned from our mistakes and we hope to do better next time. We did exchanges (splits)...divisions whatever you what to call them with a companionship that is in their training. I went there with the trainer Elder. We had a great day. We were able to find two new families with a total of 7 new investigators!! It was cool. Well the transfer has come to an end here. SUPER FAST HUH? It seems like yesterday that I arrived here in Nealtican with my new companion Elder Sanchez. Guess what? Elder Sanchez is transferring, so I will be receiving my 5th new companion in 5 transfers. I'm on a streak right now. Maybe I smell bad or something...haha jus messin'. This is a lot of changes in our zone here, so this week should be kinda busy for us. We also have the mission council on Friday. It will be my 6th one now. It should be great as always. 

Well it's good to hear from you guys each week.  Keep up the good work guys. Dad you reminded me to tell that story. It is a story that Elder Montoya talked about in his talk at stake conference, and not from Bishop Mendez. Just as he was finishing up his talk he said that he'd finish by telling an experience and how this experience helps him understand the Atonement of Christ. His youngest son is 25 or something and he said that he was a trouble maker when he was a little kid. When he was 3 years old they were adding on to their house on the second floor. The workers always left their equipment there tucked away each day, ready to be used the next day. One day when on of the workers forgot to put away a ladder, his son went exploring upstairs. He got up on the latter and climbed to the top where he was trying to lift himself up onto a ledge (behind him was an open space that went dropped down to the ground outside). Suddenly the ladder fell and he was hanging for dear life. He began to scream for help "Papi!" "Papi!" Help me!! Elder Montoya was downstairs and was able to hear the cries of his son. He rushed to his aid and just in time as the strength of his son was to give out, he arrived to save him. He explained how glad he was to arrive and to be able to save his son. He continued, another Father, and another Son were found in a similar situation that dark night in Gethsemane. The Son suffered, but so did the Father. As He hung in agony on the cross he cried out: Eloi, Eloi, "Papi!" "Papi!" Why hast thou forsaken me? The Father allowed His Son to suffer for each of us. As much as he may have wanted to save him...he let it happen for the salvation of each one of us. I felt really touched as we testified so boldly of the Atonement. I hope you all can catch the Spirit of his testimony that day. I also know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and friend. Anyway I hope you have a great week!! Love you guys.

Con amor

Elder Ryan Kitchen