Dear Family! August 28, 2011

I’m so excited to write everyone this week! How are you all doing?! There is a lot going on with everyone eh? Ryan is preparing to serve a mission :) Mom you started teaching school. Jami and Kaylee are back at school. And Dad you’re just busy living the life eh? Golfing, working, and doing all the other stuff. I’m glad everyone is doing so good. Thanks for the e mails today.....well I’ve been trying to get my camera card to work on this computer so I can send you all some pictures but it doesn’t seem to be working so if it doesn’t I’m sorry! That is really cool mom that you are working already! I’m sure you are tired though....being a teacher is probably hard work. I hope you have a great class and that the kid’s don’t give you a hard time haha. It’s probably really nice that it is pretty close to our house. So they are going to call you Mrs. Kitchen. You should decorate the room like a big Kitchen or something....haha no I’m just kidding. Wow Jami and Kaylee seem to look older every time I see a picture of them.. Thanks for sending those! I’m so happy to hear Ryan is doing so good and that he is progressing so much in the gospel. I’m very proud of him and I’m so excited to hear his testimony and see how he has changed when I get back. I wish I could have been there listening to his talk, it probably was very powerful and full of the spirit. Tell Ryan that I love him so much and I’m so grateful for everything that he is doing. He seriously will love every second of his mission like I have. There seriously no better place to be then to serve the Lord for two years. He has given us so much, he even gave his life for us and he asks us to spend two years of our life in his full time service. Missionary work isn’t done when you come home from a mission, it continues on the rest of your life, just a different kind of missionary work haha. I know the Lord will bless each of you if you ask him for opportunities to do missionary work. He will lead you to people who you can help bring into the gospel. All you need to do is pray and become the instrument that God can use to bring his children home.

Well my week was an interesting on, full of wonderful experiences, crazy ones, and opportunities to grow and learn. Last P day we did a lot of service helping some of these non-members and investigators. It was nice to help other people and I always love to see their faces of gratitude. It makes you feel very happy. This week we prepared Nadia a lot for her baptism. We also had to take elders to and from the mission home. We are the closest Zone Leaders to the mission home so we do things like that sometimes. We found out that Stephanie isn’t fully keeping the Law of chastity so we had to move her date back to when she is ready to keep that commandment. Well we had transfers and Elder Chandler got transferred :( I knew it was probably coming though...I’m going to miss him a lot though). We had a great transfer together. The Wade family was sad to see him go. So were Nadia, Jerry and Rose. It would probably be a little hard for someone like Nadia who is getting baptized and a new missionary is coming in that she doesn’t know. But It’s alright because the new missionary that came in is named Elder Moss! He is an incredible missionary. He is so full of faith, knows how to work, very focused, and is a great missionary. He is from Idaho also and he loves to go boating, play sports, be with his family, and he has a very strong testimony. He knows how the follow the spirit of the Lord and I’ve already learned a lot from him. Transfers were good but it is a lot different when you are a zone leader. There is so much more responsibility and a lot of things you need to organize. Like getting missionaries to their areas with all their stuff and just making sure everything happens that needs too. I am the zone leader who knows the area but I have only been here for one transfer and it’s a really big area. I am trying to do my very best haha. It is kind of stressful sometimes but it’s a blessing for sure. Well me and Elder Moss have had a lot of miracles together so far. We have found some new investigators, taught a lot of lessons, and had Nadia's baptism! It went so well and she just looked so happy after she came out of the water. She has a cousin who just recently joined the church so he baptized her. It was just wonderful. I was able to confirm her yesterday and it was great.

So about the Dog experience.....haha well we knocked on this door and someone opened it and then all of a sudden a little dog comes flying out of the door and comes straight for me. It jumps up and tries to bite me. Luckily it just bit my suit and a part of my belt. I felt it but it didn’t hurt at all because it didn’t get a good grip haha. But it was just so crazy....it was a tiny dog with a really bad temper. Wow some of the experiences you have on your mission are just funny.

Well I have to go now. I just want you all to know I love you so much. I think and pray for you a lot. You all mean everything to me and I’m so thankful I’m apart of our family. I hope you all have a wonderful week and be safe. Miss you all so much.....
Love Elder Kitchen