Elder Kitchen and his wild island adventures!

Happy Easter Family!!
I love you guys all so much and I hope you all had a great Easter! Mine was really good and I got a lot of candy from the members and Easter eggs too. I bet you all had a blast this past week and its good to hear you're all enjoying the sun down in St George. I sometimes wish the sun would go away for a day or two here, it's so hot here! I'm sun burnt right now and I'm getting really tan! Its so weird to have had Easter on a tropical island. I'm really glad your having fun down in St George! Tell everyone hi for me down there and that I love them all so much. I'm so glad to have read your emails today. Sorry I took so long to email...today has been a way crazy, fun, exciting day!! I have been waiting ALL week to send you guys this e mail!! THIS WEEK HAS BEEN EXTREMLY AWESOME!!! I've had some of the most exciting, unique and culturally shocking experiences this week. It's been an incredible week and I loved it so much. Last Monday was a great P-day but we didn't do that much. There was some really good lessons in the evening. Tuesday was a way sweet day, in the morning we did some service with Ben. He is 21 and he just got back from his mission in Cicitbus Islands (I spelt that wrong). Well guess what?!?! we went over to this place and there was a bunch of pig sties (pig pens)and there was all these pigs in them (there is a lot of pigs on the island). Well then they told me we were taking one. They pointed at one of the two pigs and they said "jump in Kitchen!! your going to grab the pig!!" I was like What? haha well so I jumped in. My feet sank in mud and I almost fell. I started walking over to the pigs and THEY FREAKED OUT!! They started screaming and running so fast away from me. Man I probably looked like an idiot running around this muddy pig pen trying to grab a pig. They were laughing at me so hard (mainly laughing with me not at me). It was an experience I've never had, I'll tell ya that. Well I finally grabbed the pigs back legs and pulled it up! It was really making noise at this point. Well I handed the freaking out pig to Elder Fanguna and he took it. We transported it to another pen. After that we went in the jungle and gathered coconuts off the ground. We got A TON of them. it was great. We went back had our studies and then had some lessons. Later that night Elder Fanguna got his fire stick out, lit it on fire and started to practice for tomorrow. Then he gave me it and told me to spin it!!! HAHA well I did! Man it was really hot, I almost burned myself. It was so cool to fire dance, well spin it. We practiced our Fijian dance that we were going to perform tomorrow and then went to bed, we had a big day ahead of us. O MY HECK if you think that was interesting and exciting wait to hear about Wednesday! It was the very best day of the whole week. I had more culture in this one day than in my whole life. It was the coolest experience and I have had so many experiences in my life. Well first off, we went and cut a members grass early in the morning. President Porter and his family came with us. We all were just cutting the grass with weed whackers when all of a sudden it started raining like CRAZY! but we all just kept cutting grass. Then it started to get harder, we were all ready soaked so we just kept going at it. Anyways by the end we were so soaked and just having a great time. We took pictures, and just stood under a rain gutter and got drenched. It was an awesome experience. Then right after President dropped us off at our flat Elder Fanguna said "lets go, we are going to kill the pig now for tonight!" So we hopped on our bikes (president and his family had our van that week) in the pouring rain. Wow it was crazy to ride our bikes in that much rain. Well we got to Ben's house then hopped in the back of his truck and headed up to the place. Well we all got out of the truck and then guess what?!?! THEY SAID I WAS GOING TO KILL THE PIG!!! hahahaha wow!!! They gave me a knife and said lets go your going to stab the pig. Don't worry family I video tapped the whole thing! Well we started to walk over and there was two pigs in the sty. They pointed at the one it was and was like okay Kitchen jump in and get the pig. Wow what an experience. I jumped in again and wrestled until I finally grabbed the pig. WOW it was screaming SO loud. I think it knew it was going to die. So I handed it to Elder Fanguna and he wrestled with it and held it down until I jumped out. Man it was freaking out and Elder Fanguna had trouble keeping a hold of it and not letting it run away. Well at this point my heart was beating So fast. They were both laughing and yelling at me Kitchen grab the knife and stab it!! Hurry Hurry. I felt bad because it didn't die right away. The whole time they were both just laughing so hard at me. It was such a crazy experience. Nothing like I've never had before. I wasn't good at it because I'm used to just shooting animals. Well Jami Kaylee and mom your probably horrified, but they made me do it. I wasn't that sad, it was pretty sweet. I just felt bad when it wouldn't die. Well they made me hold it up and we took pictures. They were all like Kitchen "that's awesome, your first pig." After that we took it over and cleaned it. They blow torched it with fire to burn the hair then they scrapped it off. Then guess what? they made me clean it. I cut it open and scrapped all its organs and insides out. Wow it was a unique experience. .........I'm kinda running out of time and there is so much to tell you so I'm not going to go into detail anymore. We finished cleaning the pig and then guess what. They cooked all its insides, like heart, lungs, liver, tongue, stomach and just everything...and they made me eat some of it!!! SO I ATE PIG ORGANS. I have no idea what I ate, it tasted so weird. Well i did a lot of cool things after, husked a coconut, cut it open, drank the juice, scrapped it out. We then made our customs for the party that night. We made them out of banana leaves and really cool plants. Wow seriously the Niuean Party was amazing. It was absolutely incredible. There was heaps of people, cool music, and a lot of exciting things going on. President Porter and his family loved it. You should have seen how much food there was there! IT was the biggest feast I've ever seen! SO MUCH FOOD. It was so good too. I ate the pig I killed too. Well after the huge feast I got ready to dance. Then guess what I Fijian danced. It was me, Elder Fanguan and two other guys. We were all dressed up in these cool islanders costumes and danced really good. It was an experience I'll never forget. There was tons of people watching me and I had so much fun, it was really cool. I wish you could have seen it but some one recorded it on my camera. It was this sweet Fijian war dance. We did a Hawaiian dance too. So I did TWO dances in front of everyone. They were all laughing and having a good time. Well afterward Elder Fanguna Fire Danced!! Man it was so awesome. coolest thing ever. He is as good as the pros at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. Then guess what!!! Everyone was calling my name to go up and a member pushed me up SO I FIRE DANCED!!! I just spinned it, and acted like I was about to eat it. I dropped it accidentally too. MAN you should have seen it everyone was laughing their heads off. I wish I could type forever about these experiences. That day was incredible. I wrote so much in my journal, took so many pictures, videos, and will always remember it. I have experienced so much culture here its unreal.
I love you all so much. You mean everything to me. Happy Easter, have a great week in St George, be safe. I love you so much and miss you. Until next week. Love your son and brother Elder Kitchen

Hello Family!!
How is my family doing?! I hope everyone is doing wonderful. It sounds like your all doing great and loving life from your emails. Thank you so much for sending all those emails to me. There were really fun to read. I'm so glad I was able to hear about how all your lives are going and the things you've been up to. It sounds like your all doing great and that's a blessing for me to hear.

Well this week has been kinda crazy because President Porter is here! We have been extra busy and been having a lot of things going on. The emails you sent me were pretty long and that's good its just I don't think I have time this week to respond to some of them. I am almost finishing writing letters to each of you and I'm planning on sending them with the DVDs that have my pictures on them this week. I know I promised last week but its been just crazy I'm really sorry. I really am almost done with the letters and then I just have to send them so you will get them soon.

Well this past week for me has been great. Ive had some more very sacred and spiritual experiences. I know that this truly is the work of the Lord and that he is always with us. I know that I can't succeed in this work without the spirit. It is the only thing that confirms to the people what we are teaching is true. I'm trying extra hard to do everything I can to qualify for the Lords spirit and for the Holy Ghost to always be with me. I'm trying extra hard to become an even better missionary and a greater instrument in the Lords hands. I want to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength for these two years and have NO regrets. I am working extra hard to improve the work here and have faith that we will see miracles here including baptisms!

Last Monday we played a lot of sports and also painted inside of our house. It was really good. Tuesday was a really good day. We had lessons, did service, and had some cool experiences. Wednesday we did a lot of service also and had two really good lessons. Thursday was probably one of the best days this week. We had a spiritual experience of getting lead to someone we taught the 1st lesson too. Her name was is Joane. She doesn't even believe in God but we will see now because the spirit was so powerful in the lesson. We taught 4 lessons of Thursday. It was just a really good day. Friday President Porter and his family came to the island. It was President Porter, Sister Porter, and 3 of their children. Scott (their son that just barley got off his mission to Brazil a couple of months ago), their daughter; I forgot her name (she is probably like young 20's) and their youngest son David. If I had to guess he is probably 14-15 years old. It was so good to see them. They all were so excited to be here in Niue and to see me and Elder Fanguna. President Porter and his family stay at the resort on the island. They have been having a good time here. Their main purpose here was the conference. Then President Interviews a bunch of members on the island and he is going to interview each of us. He does a lot of things here. He is only staying here one week and is leaving next Friday. Our singing at church was great and President loved it. Next Sunday is the Alofi branch's musical fireside and I'm singing again hahaha. President Porter did talk about Elder Fanguna staying probably one more transfer (thats six more weeks) and then he will go back to New Zealand and I will get a new companion. We had a really good feed and arrival party with them on Friday night. Well Saturday was just incredible day. We had the priesthood session of Branch Conference and then another combined Priesthood and Relief Society session afterwards. Wow President Gave AMAZING talks both sessions. Everyone gave such great talks and the spirit was so strong. Seriously President Porter is one of the best speakers I've ever heard. He talks with authority and by the power of the spirit. He is such an incredible mission president. I'm so grateful he is my mission president. I really believe that one of the reasons I was sent to this mission is because of him. He just is incredible and I feel the spirit so strongly every time he speaks. On Sunday branch conference was just wonderful. The spirit was so strong and I learned so much. Our singing went really well. I was so glad I got to sing again. There was a ton of members, less-actives, investigators, and non-members that came. There was so many people. It was a great spiritual branch conference. The fireside last night was also just amazing.

There is just a couple more things I wanted to share about my week. One is we had a cool experience. After the Saturday night session President said we could just go back to our house and take the hour and half we had left to proselyte off. So we went home and I decided to make cookies because I was craving them. I some how managed to get all the ingredients for cookies. So I made all the dough and then I tried to turn on the oven and it wasn't working. Me and Elder Fanguna did everything we could to try and get it to work but it was just broken. Well we didn't know what to do and really wanted to make our cookies so Elder Fanguna suggested we prayed. It is kinda a dumb thing to pray about but we had faith that according to Gods will he would fix the oven. So we prayed with so much faith and I was the one that prayed. I just knew it was going to work. Right after I finished praying we switched the on switch and IT TURNED ON! Wow it was a miracle. It was a strength and spiritual experience for me to know even the smallest of our prayers God does answer.

Well Niue island is amazing. I'm still kinda getting the language. I could do better its just so hard. But its coming along. I'm getting to know the people really well. I'm loving the culture so much and mixing very well with it. Elder Fanguna says I'm becoming an islander. I'm just loving serving here with these amazing people. There's so much culture and loving people here. I'm experiencing so many cool things here. This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I will always remember this time period and experience in my life. I just love it.

Well we haven't done a lot with president yet, just the conferences. He has been so busy doing everything for the conference. Now that the Conference is over we are going to have some cool experiences. Like this Wednesday we are going to dance, watch Elder Fanguna fire dance, have a huge islander feast, and do some cool games and things. I'm excited. Well everything is going great here with me. I'm just loving the island, and loving my mission. I really have grown so much and experienced, learned, and grown so much already its just unreal.

I just want all of you to know I'm so grateful your my family. You seriously mean everything to me. I love you all so much. I'm grateful to call you my family. I couldn't ask for better parents, or brother, or sisters. Your all just incredible. I really miss you more than you know and think about you a lot. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else though. My mission seriously is the best two years of my life. I love it and I love bringing our brothers and sisters back to our Heavenly Father. I'm helping to rescue souls and save the eternal lives of human beings. Its the most important work I could be doing. Keep it up on your family scripture study and prayer. Your doing great. Well thanks for everything you do for me. I love you so much and pray for your well being. Please do the right thing, be safe, and just enjoy life. Until next week....

love your son and brother, Elder Kitchen

Hello Family!!
Awe it was so good to read your e mails this week. Like I always say I always look forward to Monday to read them. I'm grateful that you sent me great emails and everything is great over in Utah. I love it over in Niue but let me tell you I miss Utah SO much sometimes. It sounds like a lot of cool things happened this week. The emails were interesting. I miss you guys a ton. Our family is the best. Well I'm glad your week was awesome and everyone is doing good and is safe.

Well my week was great! Not a ton happened but it was still a great week. I'm not going to go into very much detail about my week because I want to spend most of the time just talking about other things. This last week we did service everyday! Some days we did service for about 5 hours!! We did some construction work, some weeding, some cutting grass, and some other random service for members and investigators. Service is great and I always feel amazing after knowing I helped people. The work here really is very different than in New Zealand, we have only about 2-3 lessons a day and we spend the other time doing service, visiting with less-active members, activities with investigators, and other random missionary activities. All of our investigators are doing great. Yoka-Peta still hasn't received her divorce papers so she doesn't have a baptismal date yet. The work on the island is very hard too, but I know if I have faith that Heavenly Father will bless us with miracles. I had a very spiritual experience yesterday evening during a lesson. The spirit lead me to know exactly what to say in the exact moment I needed it. It was amazing, the spirit was like talking through me to Lisa (an investigator). It was an experience I will never forget, the spirit was so strong and I have experienced the promise the Lord gives us that the spirit will tell us what to say the very moment and hour we need it.

I tried some interesting foods this week. I tried pigs head hahaha!! And I also tried raw fish!! The pigs head was kinda weird and let me put it this way I didn't get seconds. And the raw fish was nasty, I hated it! Everything else I ate this week was really good and delicious. I'm getting better at volleyball so that's good. The language is coming along pretty good. I am also practicing another song because I'm going to sing in the musical fireside they are doing the first week of April. President Porter is coming this Friday and is staying for a week. So I'm excited to see him and his family. We are having a big ward conference this weekend, and I'm singing a Niuean song with Elder Fanguna for our Branch President this Sunday. (They love singing here as you can tell). I am also excited because when President Porter is here we are going to be doing some cool things, like we will have a huge island culture party and feed. Also Elder Fanguna is going to fire dance and some other cool things are probably going to happen. Well my week was great and everything is good with me. I'm just loving every second of my mission. I've learned and grown so much. I've experienced so much and my testimony has strengthened so much also.

Things are great on the island! I'm loving living on a tropical island and I'm getting used to the way of life. The people here are so funny and you see most of them everyday because its such a small island. Did you know Niue isn't on some maps. Its a tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!! Crazy huh?! So about the golf course, it is only 9 holes and it isn't very well taken care off. Its really green because its a tropical island and looks good because of all the coconut trees. But the course isn't that great. It was still really fun though. I had a blast and it was fun to play some golf. We played with some old clubs and I haven't golfed in a while so I didn't do that great. But I still had fun. We were the only ones of the course that day. Sometimes there is quite a few but on Monday afternoon, nobody. Elder Fanguna hasn't really ever played golf before. We also went with Ete our ward mission leader, they both just played for fun.

So how about all your lives?! How are things in Utah?! Its so crazy that I'm clear in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! Is there still a lot of snow in Utah? Wow its hard for me to even think of snow because I haven't seen it since last winter when I was in Utah! Do you guys still go skiing a lot? It sounds like you might go to St George for spring break, that will be fun. Thanks for everything. Like seriously your the best family ever. I can really feel your prayers and I know Heavenly Father is blessing our family. I hope your week will be great and just know I always think about you all and pray for you every night. Tell all our extended family I love them so much and miss them like crazy! I'm going to start writing everyone this week. It will take a while because there is so much. Man I miss my friends too. I wish I could stay in more contact with them. I have no idea what a lot of them are even doing with their lives. I wish they would talk to you guys so I could know what they're up to.

Thanks again for everything. I love you guys. You mean everything to me. Let me know if there is anything I can do for our family. And I promise I will write letters to all of you and send those DVDs with pictures on them this week! So hopefully you'll get them soon. I'm grateful to know everything is doing great with my family. It gives me comfort. Well until next week.. have an amazing incredible week.
Take care and remember I love you.
Love Elder Kitchen

Dear Family!
Faka Lofa Lahi Atu! Maolo a koe? (means how are you)
Wow it is so good to e mail all of you again. I'm so grateful we have this opportunity to e mail each other every week.
Well it sounds like everything is going good with you guys and that you had a great week! I'm glad to hear everything is all good and everyone is having fun. How is Utah? Wow I cant believe I've already been out for 4 months!! Crazy huh! Time on a mission sometimes goes really fast for me and than others slow. When I lookAbout the golfing! Its funny you asked because we are going golfing TODAY! we are going to go golf the course here in Niue. There is only one nine hole course here. Im excited to go today forward time goes by pretty slow but when I look back it flies by! It doesn't feel like I've already been on my mission for four months!!

Well I miss everyone of you so much and I miss just being around you. I also miss my friends a lot. But serving in Niue is great. The people here just treat you like family and they are so loving so it makes me feel like home away from home. How is life going for all of you? Hows school going Ryan, Jami, and Kaylee? It sounds like school is busy for you mom. And dad work sounds great for you. How are the dogs? I miss Jazzi and Zoe....I wonder if they even remember me anymore hahaha just kidding. Anything new happening in Utah or with our family? I hope everything is great with you and that your all receiving many blessings from Heavenly Father.

That is awesome about Devan's mission call. I feel horrible I'm doing So bad at writing my friends! I miss hearing from all of them and I wonder what they are up to in their lives. Man I'm glad you heard about Devan's mission call. Tell him Congratulations and that I miss him and I know he will do great for me if you get a chance. Tell him I will write him too.

Well this week has been another eventful, cool experiences, and a successful week. We have had quite a few lessons this past week. In Niue we dont teach as many lessons as in New Zealand but we do teach some. We do a lot of service, trying to contact the investigators, and just trying to help them in any way. A lot of people on the island have already heard the gospel so we just have to help them and be a great Christlike example to them. We tried to set Yoka-Peta with a date this week but she still is waiting for her divorce papers. Jay, Suta, Elijah, and Yoka Peta are progressing the most. This week we also did alot of service. Most of the service we do is yard work for people. We cut grass, pull weeds, fill in holes, move rocks, and just heaps of random service.

We helped the village with their village service this week. We had a lot of good feeds this week. Wow you don't have to worry about me starving on the island. They feed me SOOO much. I swear after every lesson they bring out food, and a lot of it! and it is so good. And yes I've ate A LOT of taro. Taro is kinda like a potato but not. They eat it a lot here. The food here is great. Oh yeah mom guess what? So far on my mission I've learned to like A TON of foods I didn't before. I am a LOT less picky and I eat so many kinds of food. It is really rude not to finish everything they give you in New Zealand and here so I've learned to like things I didn't before. Like fruit for instance, I like every kind of fruit now! I love water melon now, I had to because I've eaten it like crazy on my mission. I can stand tomatoes now, I know your going to be excited about that. I cant remember a whole lot more all I know is I am a lot less picky!

This week I got to eat pure natural Niuean Food and experience how they eat. On Thursday night Bro Heaksi cooked naturally grown food and animals from the island over a fire. Then we ate it on coconut leave plates, it was awesome. We also ate with our fingers and had no silver ware. Oh yeah I also got a cut this week and it got infected. I went to the hospital here in Niue and they gave me antibiotic. They also have me go up there everyday to clean the cut. Its a lot better now. About the golfing! Its funny you asked because we are going golfing TODAY! we are going to go golf the course here in Niue. There is only one nine hole course here. I'm excited to go today.

This week I've had some really spiritual experiences and lessons. We've had some really cool experiences and I've learned a lot. I am getting better at the Language and I am also getting used to the culture. I am becoming like an islander a little bit, Elder Fanguna says. Elder Fanguna is awesome. We are great Companions and we have a lot of good times. He is hilarious and we teach really good together. We never have problems and he has really helped me get used to the island. The people here just love him, he has been on the island for 8 months already. He can also speak the Niuean Language fluently.

Wow Sunday was an incredible experience for me! Well we went to the Alofi branch's Sacrament Meeting this Sunday and then went to the Toi branch's church. The Alofi is the big branch. They have a lot of members come to church. Well the reason why is because me and Elder Fanguna blessed the Sacrament, spoke in Sacrament meeting, and SANG!! Yup that's right I sang a trio in front of everyone. It was Elder Fanguna, John, and ME. We sang "I Need Thee Every Hour". We sang very good and everyone said that I have a really good voice. Man I cant believe I sang in church. I was so nervous but it wasn't that scary when I was actually doing it. I wasn't even nervous giving the talk. My talk was on missionary work of course and it was about 13-15 minutes long. I never looked at my paper. I just looked at the people and gave my talk. It's crazy how I used to be so nervous to give talks in church and now I'm so good at them and not sacred. Then after the Alofi Sacrament we went to the Toi one. We blessed the Sacrament there and I also gave the closing prayer. I did a lot during the Sacrament Meetings yesterday. It was an incredible experience.

Well I just want to let you know my testimony is getting stronger all the time. I know that this church is true with all my heart. I know Heavenly Father lives and that he loves us. I know Jesus Christ is His Son and our Savior. And I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way we can receive Eternal Life. I've experienced miracles on my mission and I know that I am a part of a great work. I am helping the salvation of human souls. This is the most important thing I could ever be doing. I love my mission so much and I'm so glad I'm here. I am changing peoples lives and its a indescribable feeling to watch them gain the testimony that this is true. I wish I could have more time to write you my testimony but just know my faith has increased so much and I my testimony has strengthened so much. Just remember to try so hard to obeying Gods commandments and try and have family scripture study, prayer, and family home evening. I know they will help. Well I'm very grateful to be your son. I am thankful to call you my parents and family. I love you Ryan, Jami, and Kaylee and I'm so grateful you're my brother and sisters. I miss you all like crazy but I'm grateful to be here. I seriously love all of you SO much. You mean everything to me. Thanks for everything you do. I pray for blessings for you guys every day. Just try and do everything you can to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ and have the Atonement work in your life.
Well I couldn't ask for a better family and I'm so grateful for everything you do for me. Keep being who you are and living life. I love all of you so much and hope you all have a great week.
Love Elder Tyler Kitchen

Life on Niue

Hello Everyone!
Wow I cant believe I've already been here a week on the island! How is every body doing in the family? Man, I miss you guys all so much. Its really weird to think your all having fun in the snow and all going skiing and I'm here in the HOT HUMID sun! . Well this week has been really great for me. I love being on the island and serving the Niuean people. I am like one of the only white people here. There is a few of them living here and I see some on vacation now and again. A cruise ship came to the island of Niue on Tuesday I think. It's crazy to think I'm serving my mission in a vacation spot. It was so good to read your e mails and to hear from you mom and dad. I'm glad we get to e mail every week and tell each other our cool experiences.


Well my week was amazing! Living and serving my mission on the island is unbelievably awesome! Its like a dream come true and I love it all so much. I'm having so many cool experiences and we are also having good success with the Lords work here. Last Monday and today we went site seeing! WOW the island is beautiful! There was so many cool things they showed me and I took a lot of pictures. It was incredible some of the sites we saw. This island is really cool. We also had some good lessons in the evening. Tuesday we did alot of service in the morning...but sometimes its really hard because its so hot even in the morning and flies attack you! WOW I've NEVER seen so many flies in my life. They are everywhere!! I get so hot, tired, and sweaty but its alright, we had some really good lessons. We are teaching a 17 year old girl and a 16 year old boy named Lama and Jay. They are awesome! They are brother and sister and they are progressing really well. We are also teaching a Lady Named Yoka-Peta and we are going to probably set her for baptism this week. We are also teaching a lot more people and some are progressing a lot. The work here is awesome and I know the Lord is with us here. I can feel the spirit so strong in the lessons and I've seen the Lords hands in all things here. The people here are so humble, friendly, funny, nice, spiritual, and just loving. I love being around and teaching the people here. I pray all the time for miracles and I've already seen many here in Niue. I know the Lord is with me and Elder Fanguna.

Well Wednesday was a crazy day!! We had a couple of lessons and they guess what, we killed a pig, gutted it, and roasted it over the fire! In Niue and Tonga they do that all the time. Man, it was a crazy experience. We were with the branch presidents family (the Hekau family). He has a boy that just came home from a mission named Ben and one about to leave on one. They all grabbed the pig and stabbed it! Then they gutted it and cleaned it all out. Elder Fanguna then put it on the stick and began to roast it. Guess what I ate my first weird thing! PIG FEET (like pig hoof) hahahaha...it actually wasn't that weird...just different, but the pig was really good after it was done roasting. We had a big feast with all the Hekaus' extended family. They are all so cool and really nice to me. They feed us a lot and they make really good islander food.

Thursday and Friday were really good days. We had amazing lessons, served the people, helped people out, contacted people, and tried our best to have lessons. Its kinda hard to have lessons here. At least much harder than in New Zealand! Friday night we played Volley ball with the investigators, members, and non members. Its a really good way to get to know the islanders and ask them if we can come teach them. It was really fun. They are so good at playing volley ball here and I'm getting better slowly. Saturday we did a bunch of service with the members. Ete and Sunny are both members and they help us out with service A LOT. We meet with some less actives and had a meeting with our branch president. Me and Elder Fanguna aren't the branch presidents, we are just one of the branch presidents counselors. Sunday was another great day. church was good and we had some lessons. We also had family home evening with the Hekau family.

Wow it was a great week. I am finally getting to know every ones names and getting to know everyone well. They are all so funny and really cool. I'm glad I'm serving with them. Ete comes with us a lot he is so awesome. It is really fun driving around the island to village to village for our lesson appointments. We drive a manual van. Elder Fanguna drives but I will soon.

Everything is going great here. Don't worry about any storms because there isn't any warning. I'm loving it here and I'm doing great. I'm glad your all doing good back home. Let me know everything cool that happens back home. Well I love you all so much! I will get better at writing everyone.
Well about the pictures...I will try and send some today. This computer is really slow so I don't think i will be able to send very many. I am still going to send you those DVDs with all my pictures from New Zealand on them. I will write you some letters too. So you will have a bunch of pictures then. I'm sorry I've been really bad at that. Its just crazy on a mission.

Well I really do love you all so much. I'm grateful to be apart of your family. I am also grateful to be your son mom and dad. I miss you all so much and sometimes wish I was having fun with you guys but this is where I'm supposed to be. I love my mission and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I know this is where the Lord wants me to be and I'm helping his children come back to him. My testimony strengthens everyday. I love this gospel and I'm so grateful we are apart of the true and living church on the earth. Thanks for everything. your the best family I could ever ask for.
Love Elder Kitchen
PS. the mosquito's here are like monsters eating me alive, I've already bought mosquito repellent but its so expensive here, if you can maybe you can send me some if that's okay....thank you so much.

Elder Kitchen arrived on Niue!

Fakalofa Lahi Atu from Niue!
It means Hello to you from Niue!
I am so glad to be able to e mail you guys from the island of Niue.
Wow I cant believe I'm here on the tropical island paradise of Niue. Its like a dream that I haven't woke up from. I cant believe I'm serving my mission in a place like this. I feel extremely blessed that the Lord has called me to serve here and I know there will be many experiences and things that will confirm to me this is where I'm supposed to be.

Thank you for all the e mails and everything you have been doing for me. I can feel all your prayers and I'm very grateful for you all. I love you all so much and I pray for you every night. Thanks again for putting money in my account, I bought some shoes for service in Niue.

Well first of all I will just tell you some of the experiences I had before I arrived in Niue. Well it was kinda hard for me to know I was leaving and I wasn't going to see any of the members or investigators in the Claudelands ward. They all gave me gifts and were all really sad I was leaving. My companion said he was going to miss me a lot and that he loved that I was his companion. He said I was his favorite companion on his mission so far. Well one thing that happened on Tuesday was we taught a 90 year old man named Keith. It was incredible and we taught him how to pray. It was a life changing experience to realize even after 90 years he never really prayed. I feel blessed to have been apart of that miracle. We also met a lot more investigators and had a lot of lessons last week.

On Wednesday we got new mattresses (figures I only slept in them for one night haha). Well Wednesday was the last day in the Claudelands ward. It was very sad to say goodbye to everyone. A lot of them gave me gifts and Bro Sunnex had us over for dinner. I had a lot of fun times with the members and I got to bear my testimony and let all of them know how much I love them. One thing that I loved so much was Galvin and Kristina told me that its not "if" they get baptized its WHEN! Aw its like music to my ears! I was so happy. Well there was a lot more experiences I had saying goodbye to everyone but I don't have time to type them all out. It was just sad to say goodbye to all of them. I hope I can see them again someday.

On Thursday it was transfers. We drove up to Auckland and went to the stake center we always have transfers at. It was cool to see all the missionaries and everything. I only got to take one 40 pound bag and my back bag to Niue. So I left the other two bags and my bike with President Porter so he could keep them at the mission home for me. I said goodbye to Elder Sessions and then headed off with some other missionaries. I'm going to miss Elder Sessions, he was a really good missionary and I feel blessed that he was the missionary to train me.

Well my flight wasn't until Saturday so the rest of the day on Thursday and all of Friday I was with two other missionaries in South Auckland. The area we were in was the closest area to the Auckland Airport. I was with Elder Larson and Elder Drake (they are the zone leaders in the Manuara area). It was so awesome being with them. They are incredible missionaries and I learned so much from them. They were extremely nice to me and helped me out so much. It was awesome to live the life of a zone leader for a couple of days. It was different then just normal missionaries but we still had a lot of time to have lessons. We had some experiences that were just so incredible. We met with this less active guy and then out of no where his daughters boy friend came and sat in. We taught him the message of the restoration. Wow the spirit was so strong. It was one of the most incredible lessons I've ever had. It was truly a miracle sent from God. We also had a lot more miracles and some really good lessons and experiences.
Oh yeah I got to drive the car!! HAHA it was so weird to drive on the wrong side of the road and wrong side of the car. The zone leaders needed to verify me just in case I would be driving in Niue. I did really good. It was weird and I needed help from them just telling me what to do at first but then I got the hang of it. It was a cool experience and maybe if we come back to New Zealand I can drive us around!

Well it was awesome being with the zone leaders. I packed for Niue and then went to bed.
Saturday morning they drove me to the airport and dropped me off. It was weird being alone and not with a companion. I went and got my ticket, checked my baggage on, and went through security and customs. Then I went on the airplane. It wasn't a huge one but it was pretty big. (I was surprised how much people were on the plane). Well I got a window seat and enjoyed the flight over to Niue! It was about a 3 and half hour flight. I slept most of the flight because I was really tired.

Well I left New Zealand on Saturday but got to Niue on Friday haha! In Niue right now it is Monday, so it is the same day as the United States (you guys) but it isn't the the same time of day, it is the same time of day as New Zealand. My flight left New Zealand at 9:15 a.m. and I landed in Niue about 1 p.m. Well it was a crazy experience to land in Niue. The plane looked like it was going to land in the Ocean and then all of a sudden land appeared and we landed on a runway. WOW the first look of Niue was INCREDIBLE!! It was SOOOO green, A TON of palm trees and coconut trees, and A Ton of green tropical plants. When I stepped out of the plane the weather testified to me that I was really in a tropical climate. It was a really hot muggy gust of wind. Wow it is so humid here its unreal. But I am getting kinda used to it....well kinda. I stepped of the plane and walked over to the tiny airport building. There was heaps of people welcoming everyone from the plane. I got to see Elder Whit (the missionary I'm replacing) for only a second. I didn't ever get to talk to him really because he was across the way waiting to get on the plane that just dropped me off. He was so excited to see me even though he's never met me. He said I would love it here and told me good luck and just enjoy and love every second of it. He seemed really sad to leave Niue. Well then I got my luggage and then met my companion!!
My Companions name is Elder Fanguna! He is from Tonga! Isn't that freaking Awesome!! I don't know if I told you that before. He speaks Tongan of course, Niuean, and English. He is better at Tongan and Niuean then English. He can speak it fine,he just cant talk very fast and stuff. His accent is so cool. He is an amazing missionary. President said he is really obedient and a really loving and friendly missionary. I know that's true now. I love Elder Fanguna already! He is so cool, really funny, a really good missionary and has a very strong testimony. He has 4 sisters in his family. He is the only boy in his family. His dad is the stake President in their stake. He is from Matahau Tonga. He has a lot of talents he played rugby and was really good at it. He is really good at volleyball and heaps of other sports. He is REALLY good at singing and dancing, and guess what?!? HE CAN FIRE DANCE!! Remember the ones at the Polynesian Culture Center in Hawaii!? I haven't seen him do it yet but he showed me a video on his camera, he said he will show me soon. Well he is a hard core islander and has lived a totally different life than me. But we are getting along really well. He is just so cool and I'm so glad we are companions!!

Well there is SO much to tell you about the island of Niue!! It is definitely a tropical island! It is SOOO tropical here! There is A TON of coconut and palm tress everywhere! There is tropical fruit growing on tress everywhere! I got to try my first natural coconut right off the tree. I cut it open and drank the coconut juice! Wow it was SOO good! I also tried the coconut fruit, it was dang good also. I got to have my first banana right off the tree too. I tried some other fruit too! And they are all naturally grown tropical trees. Well the island is GORGEOUS!!! The island is so BEAUTIFUL it is breathtaking! Niue is like a huge rock sticking out of the ocean. So there is amazing looking cliffs with green plants and trees all over them. I can't even describe how amazing it looks. The ocean looks really beautiful but there isn't a lot of beaches because its a rock. I cant get in the ocean anyways so it doesn't matter. The weather here is really hot and humid. There is heaps of wild chickens everywhere! There is lizards and little crabs that come into the flat! There is also huge coconut crabs on the island. I haven't seen alive one yet just a dead one.
Our flat is really cool. It is a small house next to one of the chapels. It's pretty old but its nice. There are 3 of our church's chapels on the island. There are two branch's though. One switch's off because they are far apart.
Well I have been to a lot of the island already. It is just breath taking! I cant believe I'm serving here! I've been too a bunch of the villages on the island. There are 13 small villages on the island. It really is kind of primitive. But there is still electricity, running water, cars and stuff. We have a van that we drive everywhere and we get to pick up members and investigators and take them to church.
WOW the people here are so COOL!! They are hard core islanders! They have an extremely different way of life than we do. It is a pretty big culture shock for me but I' loving it. They do things really different and they live so differently. The food here is different and I know I will probably be trying some weird food here. I tried wild pig today! They have these wild pigs on the island with big curly teeth. I haven't seen a live one yet.
Well the members are just amazing. They just treat me like family. They are so nice to me and are very funny. I love being around them. I'm getting to know them really well because we see the same faces every day! The investigators are really cool and we have had some lessons. We had most of our lessons with less active members.
Well most of the people speak in the Niuean language. They speak in English for me but I want to try and learn the language. I've already learned some phrases but its going to be really hard for me to learn but I will try my best.
The island way of life is extremely different then our type of life. I have experienced more culture in this past couple of days than in my whole life. The missionary work here is extremely different here too. We do heaps of service and just love the people. The people here are so chill and relaxed people. Well I've had some crazy experiences already. I can't believe I'm on my mission here!
Church was great. Me and my companion are the branch presidents' councilors!! HAHA can you believe that. We also bless the Sacrament. I got a chance to also bear my testimony and introduce my self to the members. We go to the smaller branch in the island because it needs help with Priesthood. The other branch is pretty much a ward size! There is a ton of members.
Well I kinda have to go....There is so much more I could tell you! I wish I could type forever! There is so many experiences and stories I'm having. WOW I cant even describe it. Well don't worry about the hurricane or whatever, the warning here wasn't very strong. Well don't worry about me, I'm loving the island! It is kinda scary doing all these things I'm not used to but I will be fine. I love it here. I'm very grateful to be here. Well I miss you all SO much!!
I love you all more than anything! We are going to go site seeing today for P day!So I will take a lot of pictures. Oh yeah about the pictures I put all the ones from my mission so far onto a DVD and I'm going to send them to you. I will send the Niue ones next Monday through the e mail.
Well I hope I told you a lot about Niue. I did my best to remember everything. I pray for you every night. I can feel your prayers here. Well I love you all so much! Thanks for everything! I couldn't ask for a better family! You mean everything to me. I love you more than anything!
Love Elder Kitchen

Elder Kitchen has had a great week

Hello Family!!
Wow its good to read all your e mails and get the chance to write you again. I love how every P day I get the chance to e mail you guys and let you know how my mission is going and to hear everything that is happening in your lives. Thanks so much again for everything you do and all the e mails you send me.

How are you family? The weeks go by pretty fast out here on a mission. I have had some really incredible experiences this week and have felt the spirit so strongly. I already feel like I'm changing into a man and I've learned and grown so much. Its hard being away from you guys but it makes me realize how much I care about my family and how much I love you guys. I'm doing really good out on my mission and everything is working out really well. My testimony has strengthened like none other and I have witnessed many mighty miracles from God already. My relationship with the Savior and My Heavenly Father has strengthened and my faith has increased. I have been trying to do all I can to strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ. He should and is the center focus of everything we do. I've been studying the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its touched my heart and my love for the savior has increased. I would just encourage all of you to study, ponder, and live the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is the most important thing in the universe. It was the perfect, selfless, best thing Jesus Christ could have done for each one of us. I would encourage each one of you to use the Atonement in your life everyday. Repent of even the small things you do and focus of the cleansing power of the Atonement.

Well this week has been absolutely amazing. A lot of our investigators are progressing very well. We have also gotten 6 new investigators this week and a lot of potential ones. We have been talking to everyone and teaching a lot of lessons. Galvin and Kristina are doing so well. They really are golden investigators. They have came to church every week, they are reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and they are setting goals to get married. And also this week we had an incredible lesson on the word of wisdom! (Galvin smokes and Kristina drinks coffee) Well guess what! That was on Tuesday and Galvin hasn't touched a cigarette since!! Kristina hasn't drank any coffee either. Galvin told us its so hard and he has to pray his guts out every time the urge comes to smoke. They really are amazing people and I'm sad I wont be here to witness their baptism. Graham is also doing very well. He is still set for baptism on March 6. I wont be here for that either.

The members in the Claudelands ward are just unbelievable. They come to so many lessons, give us referrals, and do so much for us. They are awesome cooks and some sacrifice a lot to feed us meals. Well on Thursday we had zone conference. Elder Neilson (from the seventy) and his wife put on the zone conference. President and Sister Porter spoke to us too. Wow it was the best zone conference. I heard missionaries say it was their favorite one they have ever had on their mission. The spirit was SO powerful!! It was breath taking how incredible the talks were. I learned So much. I took so many notes. I cant even describe how amazing the zone conference was so I'm not even going to try hahaha. He bore such powerful testimony about the church and about the Savior. Those general authorities are extremely powerful men. They have unshakable testimonies and have the power of the spirit when they teach.

Well Saturday was AMAZING!! Yes Shelley, Danielle, and Kieran Boyd were baptized. Brother Henderson (their next door neighbor that has been apart of their conversion the whole way) baptized them. The program went great and the spirit was powerful. The speakers were perfect and there was some really cool musical numbers. I cant even describe my feelings as I watched them be baptized. Just to know I was apart of helping them enter into the Kingdom of God was unbelievable. I was SOO happy and I got really emotional. It is really the greatest sight to witness an entire family be baptized. It was my first family to baptize and it was awesome. They all were shinning and smiling so much after they were baptized! They said they felt so clean and amazing. It was an experience I will never forget.

Well Sunday we confirmed them members of the church and gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost. Brother Henderson confirmed Shelley, Elder Sessions confirmed Kieran, and I confirmed Danielle. Wow! it was my first time giving someone the Holy Ghost. It was so cool. It really was a sacred experience and I'm glad I have the priesthood and am worthy to do that for Danielle. This week has been incredible. Thank you so much for praying for me and for the investigators, I've felt your prayers.

It was so good to hear your responses to me telling you I'm going to Niue. I was so excited and couldn't wait until today so I could read what you all thought. I bet you were all so shocked and were so happy. I sure was and I am still overwhelmed. That's so cool you all got to read it together at the Pugmires house. I am still so excited to go to Niue. It really is going to be a once in a life time opportunity! I cant wait but I am really going to miss this ward. I said goodbye to a lot of them yesterday and they were all so sad. They have been amazing ward! I really hope I can come back and see them someday.

I cant believe I'm going to Niue!! Its so crazy huh?! There isn't very much people there at all. I am probably going to be teaching a lot but also doing a lot of service for the people. I don't know what day exactly my p day is yet. Well I have heard about the hurricane that hit Tonga. I don't know about Niue either, hopefully I don't get hit by one! I will take a lot of pictures and write in my journal. This really is a once in a life time opportunity! I am so excited and blessed to go there. I am still way shocked. I bet I will have a huge culture shock. Well I will keep you all undated every week.

Well my new flat is so cool. Its really nice and really big. I'm sad I didn't get very much time to live in it but this is where the Lord wants me to go. I'm pretty sure Elder Sessions is staying in Hamilton and getting a new companion. But we don't know yet because transfers are not until Thursday. I'm like the only missionary that knows that I am getting transferred. My companion is happy for me. He said I'm so lucky and is jealous of my call.
Oh yeah I am going to be there during my 20th birthday!! Cool, I'm going to be living on a tropical island. Wow its like my dream come true. And I thought of something. I had summer in Utah and then came to New Zealands' summer and then I will miss New Zealands winter and be in summer in Niue and then when I come back to New Zealand it'll be their summer!!!! WOW I will have like a whole year in summer, maybe even more than a year.

Well about the pictures, I am going to try to put all my pictures I have taken so far on a DVD and then send them to you. I hope I can do that otherwise hopefully in Niue I will have a little more time to e mail you. I will hopefully send a bunch then! sorry I haven't yet, its just so hard...no time.

Tell Grandpa and Grandma (both sides) hello and that I love them so much. I will write them soon. I love you mom and dad heaps and heaps! I miss you both so much. You mean everything to me. I'm so grateful to be your son.

I love you all so much. Your the best family I could ever ask for. You mean everything to me and I pray for all of you every night. Thanks for everything you do. I hope all is well with school and work. I miss you all. Let me know whats going on in your life. I hope your having some fun times. Well it was so good to e mail you again.
I love you
Love Elder Kitchen