Tylers first baptism!

Okay so your probably wondering about what happened last week. I had typed and sent that one email you got and then I spent 30 min typing the other email which had a TON of cool experiences and information on it. There is a timer on the computer and once the time ends it just shuts off. It said there was 3 minutes left and I was about to finish and send it WHEN IT SHUT OFF! so the ENTIRE EMAIL I had just spent 30 min typing deleted...ugh I was so mad. So sorry about that.

Well first of all Hello Family! :) I am so excited to be emailing you today! I look forward to emails every week. I love reading all your emails and then telling you experiences I am having on my mission. I hope you all are doing really good and your loving your holidays. I am doing great out in the mission field!

Well I never really got to say HAPPY NEW YEARS!! I cant believe its already 2010! I am going to be in New Zealand for this whole entire year! I will never see the states for the year 2010. Well New Years Day was really good for me. How was your New Years Eve and day?? What did you do?
At 2 we had dinner with the Sunnexs! It was so good, they always feed us a ton of food and its all really good. We also had some really good lessons with some investigators and we also met a lot of people. I forgot if I have already told you about Nicolas and Mike, but Nicolas is 21 years old and Mike is 19! They are really nice Maori kids but they are pretty rough. We met Nicolas and his daughter on the street and he told us to come back. Anyways we have been teaching them and the spirit has been really strong. They said the believe us and we tell them to pray to know that it is true. I'm really excited to see what happens.

Well Saturday was absolutely incredible!! We had some really good lessons with Koutsion, Shiva, and sister Sing. We taught Koutison (he is a kid from Kidibus Islands and he is 15) we taught him the first lesson and he loved it! He said he would read and pray! The spirit Was SOO strong...it was an amazing lesson. The other lessons went SO good too...sorry I don't have a lot of time to explain them each, BUT the most important thing I wanted to tell you was Ramesh's BAPTISM!!

Ramesh's baptism started at 4:00 on January 2nd. It was so cool to change into white clothes and get ready for the program. Me and Ramesh took pictures before. I will send you some. But I was so full of the spirit and couldn't wait to baptize him. I was really nervous too. But just the thought that I was going to baptize someone into the Kingdom of God was overwhelming. The program went really well. The music was awesome and the speakers were great! Then it was the time for us to go to the font. Me and Ramesh entered into the water...it was freezing!! Then I told him what to do. Wow this was it... I looked up and there was a ton of people staring at me!! I couldn't believe I was actually baptizing someone! This was my first baptism! I raised my arms to the square and said those sacred words!! Then I immersed him into the water..I did it perfect...we didn't have to do it again. After I brought him up I gave him a hug. He said thank you so much. He said he felt so good and he felt clean. He said he had never been more happy in his life. It was a unbelievable feeling. I was so happy. It felt so good, I was so glad he had felt the spirit so strong. After wards we changed (which of course I forgot a towel and dry clothes) but luckily some of the members had a dry white shirt and a towel. I had to wear wet garmets though) but the rest of the program was great. My favorite part was the hear Ramesh's testimony!! It was so cool. He explained how happy he was and that he had found the restored gospel in his life. AWE, I will never forget my first experience baptizing someone. It was incredible.
His name is Ramesh Kuruva and he is from India!

Wow Sunday was also an incredible amazing day!! We taught some really awesome lessons and the spirit was so strong. But I want to tell you the experience with Kevin. He is about 45 years old and is a Maori guy. From talking to him we could tell he has hit rock bottom in his life sometimes. He has gone to prison and had a horrible life, and he changed his life totally around. He is a very spiritual guy. He loves Jesus Christ and God, he knows a lot about the bible and reads it every day. He loves church but recently stopped going because he didn't understand why there was so many churches. Long story short we HAD AN AMAZING lesson on the restoration. The spirit would seriously tell me exactly what to say and right after I would say something he would say "its funny how you say that because...." then he would explain how that related to him. He compared himself to Joseph Smith because he is searching for the truth too. He loved the first vision experience and said he felt good. He told us he would read and pray about what we taught him! I was so excited to go back and see him.

Well anyways last week was unreal. Way cool experiences and the spirit was so strong. I wish my email would have sent last week but oh well at least you can read it now. This week has been INCREDIBLE TOO!! I will have to send you some emails later on today and tell you all the cool things we have had happen to us this week. Well sorry about not sending you any pictures...I will try and send some right now. Well I love you all so much!! I miss you a lot but wouldn't want to be anywhere else then serving our Heavenly Father. New Zealand is so awesome. I hope your enjoying winter sports and Utah. I hope you have a great new year! I love you so much.
Love Elder Kitchen