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