Hey!                                                                                                                        January 20, 2014

Woah..Krissy is getting married on Wednesday?! That is really crazy. Well like you said you've gotta take some pictures for me and maybe another video kinda like what Tyler did on Christmas haha that was pretty cool. Dad you made my day when you told me that this skiing season isn't very good! haa it's too bad for everyone else though. I really miss snowboarding and all that. Geez sounds like Tyler is going to take his summer and sell again huh? That's pretty cool. Hey Ty you gotta help me out when I get home given that you are super rich and all right now ;) hahah. Mom it's always cool to hear about who is out on their missions from the ward and everything. Steve actually wrote me this week again, but this time not as a missionary, but obviously already home. He writes in Spanish ha but his Spanish is a little different than what I'm used to here. He said it was really weird coming home and everything. Yeah dad I bet that picture of me throwing our old Christmas tree from the 4 story apartment building was kinda funny. It was really funny when we did it. I have a video and everything that I can show you guys. Yeah mom my Spanish does get better with native companions. Right now I don't seem to see much of a forward progression, because it's already pretty natural to me. A native companion helps a lot with it flowing easier because we speak all day everyday. Something else cool about  Elder Dzul is that he is a convert of 3 years which means he came out right at a year of being a member. He is the only member in his family as well.

 

Well zone conference went really well. Elder Dzul and I prepared little activity and everything and I feel like it went really well. President told us that he really liked what we did and everything. We also learned a lot from President and what he had to say. He is awesome! I love him so much. He has done so much for this mission. He is the best president there is. Oh and to answer the question, no he won't be my president my whole mission....he is leaving the end of June and I'll be leaving the first of August, so I'll have a new president for basically only one month. It'll be really weird, but oh well. So this week we had a lot of things to do with the zone as well. We had a meeting with the stake president and pres. Reeves on Tuesday and we had to get a bunch of progress reports from the zone and everything. On Wednesday we had the zone conference which took up most of the day until about 4 pm. After that I got a little sick in the stomach. It must have been something that I ate haha. Lets just say that I had to go to the bathroom a lot from Thursday until Sunday. I feel well now I think I got over the bug. Well we weren't able to teach a whole lot of investigators this week, but we did put a baptismal date with an investigator named Alejandra for the 25th. Pray for her and for her mom, who won't give her permission to get baptized. We have been finding new investigators pretty well. On Sunday we taught two really good new ones.

 

Well I got to go. Thank guys for your great example and for who you are. Thanks for all the support and for writing every week. Sorry Tyler, Jami, and Kaylee for not writing in a couple weeks. I'll make time next week alright? Let me now how Krissy's wedding goes! I love you guys.

 

Elder Ryan Kitchen

 Dear Family,                                                                                                            January 13, 2014
Hey everybody how's it going? I hope all is well. Sounds like everyone is back on the grinder as mom said. I'm glad that everyone seems to be safe, happy, and working hard. Can you all believe that we are in 2014?? It's crazy. I remember when I thought about the year 2014 when I first started my mission and it seemed like an eternity away. Thanks for telling me about the homecoming of Erik. I'm glad he had a great mission and everything. Did you notice that he has even better english after speaking it another two years? Thanks for letting me know how the family is doing. Dad your right when you say it's going to be weird to come home to 3 cousins married and paulette with a baby. I really didn't think so much could happy in only two years. Zone conference is coming up this wednesday, so I'll let you know how it goes. I'm excited to see how it goes.

Well on Tuesday I received my new companion. He name is Elder Dzul from Cancun Mexico. He isn't from like the tourist part though, rather in a smaller town about an hour away. He is a true native with a lot of Mayan influence. He can actually speak Mayan! His mother spoke to him always in Mayan and his dad always in Spanish. It's pretty cool. He is really short and a great missionary. He has 21 months on the mission, but don't worry he isn't trunky at all. He seems to be really driven and not distracted at all. He is 25 years old as well. Also like I said before there is 2 new missionaries in the ward and 2 other in a different ward in the zone. We now have 28 missionaries in the zone. The ones from our ward have been staying with us this week while their house has been getting ready. They are going to move in today actually. One is named Elder Samayoa and the other Elder Marquez, both from other parts of Mexico. This week we had to do a lot of things. We had to prepare and give the zone meeting, make sure everybody got to their new areas okay, look for houses and approve others, all while trying to find new investigators for his area. The ward is still doing great. We made a split in the ward so that the other missionaries can start working in a set area. They have gotten a ton of referrals and have been working hard on the other side. We were able to find 4 new investigators and also receive quite a few referrals. After all those baptisms we are running dry so we gotta find new people. The work is going well and this week is going to be super busy as well. The time just keeps rolling by. 

Well I hope you all have a great week back home. Keep up the good work and in the case of the kids and mom "endure until summer" and as for you dad...my respects..keep golfing and maybe get a couple ski days in! I love you guys. You really are an amazing example to me and everything I am I owe to all of you. Have a great week.

con amor

Elder Ryan Kitchen

Hey guys,                                                                                                                January 6, 2013

Dad I thought it was funny when you told me about how Kit was licking your arm while you were trying to write me. I miss that dog. I feel like I wasn't really there that long when she was around. Sounds like you've all had a fun week and some good vacations. Mom, you seem sad that they are almost over. I remember that feeling. Ya mom we don't really know why my companion is going home in the middle of the transfer, but that's what's going to happen. He is going alone too, like he didn't come with any missionaries in the beginning. This transfer he is going to be in a trio with two others until Jan. 27th. That's cool that you guys got a new calling! Were you teachers for a year when you got the change? Haha mom you're probably right when you say that it's a prep for grand kids...hmm..that's a weird thought. I wonder who is going to pump out the first grand kid out of Tyler, Jami, Kaylee and I. I guess anything could happen at this point, obviously with Kaylee out of the mix, and hoping that Jami is out as well. WOW I was really happy to hear about Spencer's mission call. I'm glad that he made up his mind and is going. Germany should be interesting. That's cool that you guys fasted this week as a stake. Let's hope that your fast turns out to be a SUU or Snow for Jami, because Dixie seems to be a little sketchy haha. Yep dad I sure did say goodbye to Mr. Trunky. I really liked the transfer with him. We had a lot of success, and we became friends, but it's not too fun being some one's last comp. who is trunky. I'm excited for what's coming up. Yeah dad the girls have definitely brainwashed you...but it's a good thing that you are still golfing. Also something that worries me is that it seems like most of your letter this week was about the dogs. Before we know it you'll be talking to imaginary friends! hahaha I'm just playing with ya pops. You gave me a scare thinking that Zoe died...and wait..did you tell me that Jazzi died yet, or is she still kicking? Anyway thanks for the letters.

Well this week was really interesting. We slept 2 or 3 times in my comp's house in Valsequillo and about 4 or 5 here in my área. There were days when we had to travel and work in his área to go to appointments during part of the day, and then part of the day in my área. It was pretty crazy, but we were still able to get a few things done. Also, there was the misión council on Friday. It's the meeting with Pres. and his assistants with just us the Zone leaders. Sister Reeves makes us breakfast as we get there, and then as it ends around 4 pm we have an awesome dinner waiting for us. It's great. We call it Jedi Council haha well us missionaries anyway. I learned a lot in the meeting. From that meeting we learn about what we need to talk about in our zone meetings and zone conferences. It's my third misión council, and going to be my third zone meeting (we have it every month). Coming up on the 14 we will be having my first zone conference as Zone Leader (every 3 months we have zone conference). Also in the meeting I found out who was going to train and then tell them later...that's always fun :) Also I was advised that a new área is going to be opening in the zone, and it happens to be in our Ward. There will be 4 of us here now. So I had to go search for a house and revise it and everything. We found one, we are just going to see it here in a little bit. There is a whole lot more responsibilities as a ZL that's for sure. It's been good though, I'm learning a lot. This Sunday all 5 investigators were able to come to church and get confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost. It was awesome. Elder Ramírez had to go to his Ward because of confirmations as well, so he was with other elders from his zone and I was with two that share my same church in the zone. After I ended up being with our Ward misión leader after church until the night when me and Elder Ramirez met up again. It's been a quick week. Well tomorrow is the transfer meeting. I'm not going anywhere, which makes me happy. I don't want to leave. I will receive my new comp tomorrow and I hope he has less time than me haha. I have a lot of good feelings about this next transfer.

Well I've learned some good things this week. On the 1st I took some time and I made some new years resolutions or goals. As I thought about some of the small and simple things that I can change, I felt really good. It reminded me of the scripture in Alma 37: 6-7 you should all read it and think of the small things in your life that you can change this year. I know that great is the person who takes care of the small and simple things in life. I feel a greater desire to do every small thing that will help me be a better person, and missionary. Some might think that when the Savior walked among us, it wasn't all that important. The Savior always did the small and simple things that ended up ultimately changing the world. I love you guys!! May this year be yet another year of happiness and success.

Con amor

Elder Ryan Kitchen

Hey Family,                                                                                                       December 30, 2013

How is everyone doing? Thanks for sending all those pictures I love getting them really. Wow you guys are looking really good. Especially in the picture in SLC at the Temple ground lights. I miss going there. I really liked those pictures of Christmas Eve and then of Christmas day breakfast dad thanks. I couldn't get that video that Tyler took to work for a second, but after a while I was able to hack into it and get it to work ;) Well it looks like everyone had a Merry Christmas this year and that all is well. That's all that matters to me is that everyone is happy and safe. There is a lot of changes going on while I'm out here. More than I thought. It's pretty crazy that Samantha is getting married too! wow. Dad I really enjoyed what you told me about how you read Luke 2 and knelt and prayed as a family. Oh you're probably all wondering why I'm writing late again, but it's because we had to be at the mission home at 4 o'clock to drop off Elder Rowe and his stuff. After we helped Pres. with something we ate a sandwich and then left, but it took a little while, so that's why we are writing kinda late. Well it sounds like you are going to have a fun new years as well that's cool that you went down south to vacation and get away from the cold....but....well I understand that mom and the girls would chicken out and not go skiing...but I expect more from my old man. DAD WHAT HAPPENED?! You've been living with females too long haven't you? hahahaha Tyler chickened out too huh? haha well I hope you all have a great time.

Well I'm sitting here already with my temporary companion because we already dropped off Elder Rowe. His comp also is going home a bit early so Pres. just put us too together for the week. He is the zone leader of zona Valsequillo and I'm the zone leader of Mayorazgo so the two of us are going to run both areas and both zones for a week. It's going to be interesting!!! We are running both the city zones haha. His name is Elder Ramirez and he is from Cabo San Lucas...cool huh? I know you'd and I'd like to be with someone with more time left, but he is actually going home in the middle of next transfer, so yeah he is going to be ending soon too hahaha. But don't worry it will only be for a week...well I least that's what I think. This week was awesome!! On Christmas Eve after the huge meeting we didn't really do much, but we were able to make those sugar cookies and use the cookie cutters and stuff. I think I said that in the call already. Then on Christmas day we ate with a recent convert couple who has a son on a mission. They really needed our visit. We ate a good meal and then read Luke 2 and sang hymns. Afterward, we brought a little bit of Christmas to our investigator Juan because he wasn't going to do much and his family doesn't live here. So we brought some food and then watched some Mormon Messages about Christmas and then sang some hymns. It was a cool Christmas. The rest of the week was to prepare everyone for the 29th, our baptism day. This week was another baptistic week!!! 5 people actually got baptized on Sunday!! The family with 3, Juan, and then our investigator Hugo! Hugo's wife is a recent convert and has been listening to the missionaries for a while now. We have invited him over and over, but he wouldn't accept. On Sunday (day of the baptism) after sacrament meeting he came up to me and asked to speak with me. He told me that he wanted to be baptized before the end of the year! I was so surprised. We talked with him and got him an interview and he was baptized the same day with everybody else. President Reeves went to the service as well. He wanted to go because he got to know Juan and did his interview too. I'm so happy for everyone!! It makes me SO HAPPY to be a part of such a great work that brings so much joy to others. Elder Rowe and I were so pumped last night. It was so awesome!! I sent pictures. I love my mission so much. It really is the best experience ever. 

Well I got to go and I've already written a bunch. Have a great New Years and tell everyone HI for me. I love each and every one of you. Thank you for everything and all the support. I LOVED the Skype call it was great to talk with all of you. Yes it's kinda hard on Christmas, but don't worry I'm going strong. I'm not ready to go home yet haha. Keep up the good work and stay strong. 

con amor

Elder Ryan Kitchen

Hey guys,                                                                                                            December 23, 2013

Christmas Eve is tomorrow...that's nuts. Mom, Dad sounds like you guys are excited for the Skype call haha it's just about all you talked about in your letters. Don't worry so am I. It's going to be really weird because it's been so long since mother's day. I hope you all have been enjoying the holiday season and that you have a great Christmas Eve and everything. Dad to answer your question, yes I did open all the presents and I love the watch you gave to me it's great. I just need to take out like one link so it will fit better. I can do that really easy though. I loved all that was in the package. I'm snacking on all the candy and everything. 

Well this week was interesting. We had our Christmas conference on the 17th with president. It was fun and uplifting. It was also Elder Rowe's birthday that day. After that we both ended up getting sick. Elder Rowe is almost always sick, but he felt worse, and I got sick too, but nothing too bad. We were still able to teach our progressing investigators and they all went to church, so next Sunday we will be baptizing 4 awesome people. Jose Juan, and then a family Salma, Miriam, and Eduardo. They're great. President Reeves has a friend he has made at Costco who checks the receipts and he lives in our area and has been practicing English with the Elders for a while. President invited him over to the mission home for dinner, and Elder Rowe and I also were invited and we invited Jose Juan our investigator. After eating we shared a message. It was a cool experience. 

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Keep up the awesome tradition that we had our reading in Luke 2. I love that. I'm going to do it as well. Let us all keep the real spirit of Christmas in our hearts. I'm so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you guys for being so awesome!

love you,

Elder Ryan Kitchen

Hey everybody!!                                                                                             December 16, 2013

I know you're all probably wondering why I'm writing so late. We were able to do some fun things today, but the reason why it's so late is because President Reeves had us go into the North Mission quickly to talk to a referral/investigator from our area that he is friends with. Long story short, we weren't able to make it back this way on time. Anyway...wow I'm 21 years old right now!! Aren't you glad I'm a good kid and on a misión because if I wasn't maybe I'd be out drinking right now for my 21st hahaha just kidding. Thanks you all for all the birthday wishes!!! I won't be able to write you all back, but again I say THANK YOU. I really did have a great day. I met up with Victor after lunch yesterday so I already have my package. I didn't open it up yesterday, rather I waited until this morning and then I just couldn't wait any longer! WOW it's awesome!! You girls outdid yourselves! I LOVE IT SO MUCH. You put some many awesome things in there and so many cool ideas! I love it all. I'm actually wearing the pants right now. Mom basically everything I mentioned is in there haha there were just suggestions, not a list of what has to be in there! ha but thank you. I really enjoyed all the letters and the testimonies in the Book of Mormon. I wore the pajamas that Grandma gave me as well. They are great. I'm going to get studying again in that grammar book too.

 

So this week went awesome! I loved it.  We got to see all of our good investigators and we taught quite a bit. We were able to challenge the rest of Hermana Pilar's family to be baptized and they all accepted!! The rest of the family! We now have 4 more dates for the 29th of this month. We did our best to visit all of them and 8 investigators were in church this Sunday! It was great. We hope to find a lot more investigators this week. We are working with our Ward misión leader a lot more and he has given a bunch of references. SOOOOO the Beltran Leon family got baptized!!! All 4 of them as a family and also their grandma. Five people got baptized by 5 different people 4 of which were missionaries. I got the privilege to baptize Jessil the daughter. It was so cool. They are easily my favorite family I've taught on my misión and I got so close to them. It made me so happy to see them all baptized. The spirit was so strong and they all gave their strong testimonies after...wow it was such a great moment.

 

Well I probably got to go. Sorry for giving you a scare for writing so late. Today after washing and getting a breakfast with some members, we called up our newly made friends from the driving range (going with the bishop ended up not working out). They took up golfing! We were able to talk a Little about their beliefs and get down their addresses and all that, and they accepted visits from the missionaries. It was a fun birthday/golfing/missionary experience. The Brazilian Doctor drives a super cool sports car...yeah we felt pretty cool. After that we went and talked with Marco, that guy that works in the north misión and got a donut. It was fun. I love this work and I am having fun doing it. I love each of you and thank you for everything you do for me. Have a great week!

 

fuerte abrazo

con amor

 

Elder Ryan Kitchen

 

Hey Family!                                                                                                     December 9, 2013

Hola mis queridos how have ya'll been doing this week? I hope that school and work has gone well and that you haven't all frozen to death yet. WOW I can't believe it snowed so much in St. George! That's nuts. I'm sure they're all dying down there. Well here in Puebla thinks have warmed up quite a bit. It gets pretty dang hot during the day still and just right at night. It's honestly paradise here as far as the weather. So my Utah family hasn't gone skiing yet??? I'm down here where snow doesn't exist, so you guys better take advantage of it! hah

Well this week was pretty interesting. We had some great divisions with one of our district leaders. I went with the one who is just jr. comp and is having a hard time getting a hold of Spanish. I gave him so really good tips, and we had a good day as far as missionary work. Elder Rowe got kinda sick a few times this week. We had to make some trips to the Dr. to get him some meds and all that. He has problems with his stomach...Mexican food to blame. Because of that we didn't have a fantastic week, but we were able to get an okay week together. We found this awesome guy named Juan by contacting in the street. We were trying to find a part member family's address that we got and we were walking around in the hot sun after church trying to find it and we weren't having any luck. We decided not to give up. We started asking directions from various people contacting them at the same time. Ends up that we never found the house we were looking for, but because of being diligent, we were able to contact Juan. He was the last person we talked to as well. We've had two lessons, he went to church, and he already accepted baptism and a date and everything. It's a testimony that this is the Lord's work. Anyway to answer your questions...yes it has been tough being with two missionaries in a row going home. It's worse this time though because Elder Rowe is from Utah and likes a lot of things I like! But we are still doing great. We get along just fine and I'm glad I have a good companion during Christmas. Well lets face it I've never had a bad comp. on my mission. I've been really lucky. So today for P-day we went to the driving range that's right by our house. We are planning on golfing with the bishop on my birthday, so we had to go to the driving range to practice today. I hit the ball REALLY well actually. Funny thing is there was about 4 really rich golfers there too, and they were watching us hit our crappy rented clubs, so after we impressed them, they shared with us their brand new Callaway clubs!! We ended up making friends with them and he also invited us to play golf a different P day. We are going to share the Gospel with them because they aren't members. It's going to be a fun missionary experience. One guy was a rich Brazilian plastic surgeon, and the other two both from here in Mexico are also rich. It was fun. 

I had a great experience reading the Book of Mormon this week. Pres. Reeves challenged us to read it before Christmas. I've been reading really fast to be able to get it finished. He promised us that if we did this challenge that we would strengthen our testimony in the BOM. I found that strengthening in 2 Nephi 33 this week. Nephi gives his final testimony of the book and the things that he wrote. It is awesome!!! I loved it and I felt another conformation that it's true. I need to get to Alma 36 (where I was when pres. made the challenge) and I'm now in Mosiah 15. I'm going to make it. READ IT. All of you! It's a powerful testimony and evidence of the Restoration. Love you guys so much. I can't wait to see you on Christmas via internet! Love you!

P.S. the Beltran Leon family is getting baptized as a family this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy! It's the family me and the Elder I trained found! I'm so happy for them. I'm going to the baptism

fuerte abrazo

con amor

Elder Ryan Kitchen