Dang Im good! I got a whole bunch of letters done already, and the mail hasnt come yet!
well this past week was the best yet. My spanish is really starting to improve a lot now. I can speak about a lot of stuff without having to think about it, but there is still a lot to learn.... for instance, 96% more of the language. The TRC (teaching resource center) was also the best yet. We got our first commitment to "baptism". of course its fake but the lesson still went really well. The contact in spanish however didnt go so great...
I was feeling very confident going into because i knew the topic pretty well. We had to pick up a new investigator and take the bus with them on the way to church. of course this is all role play but the investigators are all return missionaries who are fluent. So we greeted her and went to the bus and sat down and started talking. i asked about her keeping her commitments to read and pray about the book of mormon, and everything went as planned. but then about 10 minutes in there was a lull in the conversasion and she decided to ask us about baptism, and why her catholic baptism wasnt good enough. I must remind you this is all in spanish. My freaking companion thought she said something completely different and said something that made him sound dumb, bless his heart. he could tell he messed up and just looked at me. this was a question i could barely answer in english, now i have to figure out how to answer it in a language im started learning three weeks ago. I somehow managed to choke out a rough explanation. I remeber saying something about the priesthood and 8 years old. Who knows...
Other than that everything went well. We said goodbye to another district this morning. This was the very rowdy district in our zone. Things form now on will probably be a lot quieter which is cool i guess. One of the elders, Elder Poyfair, who is the exact equivelent to the VanWilder of the mtc, loved elder moser and i so he gave us his "inheritance". Its literally a small mountain of little toys and candy and other random junk. so needless to say i will be able to keep myself entertained for while now. Our district is now the second oldest in our zone. thats crazy. after next week i think, we will be the oldest. It feels like we just got here. But seeing the new elders come in and how bad they are at spanish only encourages me. is that bad? probably but i dont care, i had to go throught it.
So i finally read dahlins email for last week i think. that totally blows about his companion not letting him email home. if my companion told me that i would probably break his arm, and then i still wouldnt get to email cause i would be on a plane home. but it sounds like this transfer he is in is shaping up to be sweet. My companion for some reason always wants to go to the book store to get random crap, so i just look at all the book of mormons in all the diferent languages. Japanese is the coolest to look at i think cause it looks like the matrix writing to me... also cambodian is pretty sweet.
Mom, my letter this week to you is a little bit...eh...more than a letter. so if it doesnt come on the day everyone elses comes dont freak out, it should be there the next day. Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week. it looked like my plea for more letters worked! ;) Its a good thing kyle finally worte me because i was about ready to sick the plauges of egypt on that guy...like boils and frogs status.
To all the girls, how was Disneyland? let me know.
Sorry to kim for forgetting to give her a b-day shout out in last weeks emails. Michaela too! Happy Birthday!
Elder Willis left this morning. We saw eachother sat. night and said we would say goodbye the next time we saw eachother, but we never did. sad day. bueno suerte to him.
dad, check my account, im out of cash. dont ask questions, just check it
Nothing really super profound happened this week. pretty quiet. As a missionary we are told to teach simply and powerfully. things for me are getting really simple. i would encourage all of you to do the same. its easier in life when things are simply. The gospel is amazing and serving a mission is the best decision i have ever made.
Until next week, adios.
Elder Kitterman
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Zack's Letter September 20, 2010
Hola everyone!
So three weeks has flown by! iIt feels like I just got here. Im finally used to everything that goes on here; theres a lot. Im learning so much its ridiculous. Like last night a couple elders locked themselves out of their room so I learned how to get into a locked room using nothing but an envelope, dental floss, and a vacuum cord. Im not even joking. It was straight up McGiver. But im alos learning so much about the gospel. One of my roomates, Elder Rupp knows everything gospel related so i just ask him weird questions all day about stuff that is church related and he knows...like the other day i was wondering about Kolob so we had an hour discussion about it and now I know a lot more. its way cool.
I have a lot I want to cover and only a little time so here we go.
Mom- You asked about if i got into the choir. Im very upset about it. They were putting together a special choir to go to the priesthood session of conference coming up and when i went to fill out the paperwork for it, there was all these questions about highschool choir and how many years you have been singing and special awards and all this lame crap. I was mad about it so i put down that my name was elder potter, i had attended hogwarts for 4 years and i was headboy in my 4th year. also, I had outstanding results on my OWLS as well. i thought it was funny...until this morning when a few other elders got a notice saying they got in when they didnt ever sing in any choir. i was pissed. i could have gotten in. but i guess thats what i get...Thanks for finally sending the package with some of the stuff i needed. i havent gotten anything except those two that sarah and kim sent me a while back and im tired of wandering the halls at night looking for handouts of food from the other elders. i hope theres some food in there. Im glad to hear the flower shop is doing well, but im also glad i gert to miss putting up the trees. have fun dad. Thanks for the update on the ring ceremony. im glad coach didnt make me sound bad haha. if you havent already, send all that stuff you said you got from it, except the dvd.
Dad-Send me the top 25 listing for college football. im dying here. also get me president smiths address. I want to write him. Make sure as well that coach McCarron is being forwarded these emails, and mention to him on the email that he needs to email me on this account about how the team is looking. His email is on the school website under athletics. My comp wanted me to tell you that he is a huge dallas fan, but i told him it didnt make up for the fact that he likes michigan and the yankees. but its a start.
I figured out a few other things i want. I want my fav blue batman shirt. some guy down the hall wears a batman shirt a lot and he thinks hes the coolest. hes not even a true batman fan, and i want to drop kick him in the face when he wears it. but i like him other than that. alos i want that picture of me when im young starring up at the giant cristus in salt lake, as well as the pic kim took of me at socals where im looking up at dad leaning against the wall. pretty please.
So last week was way exciting for a bunch of districts, mine included. A travel plan is very comparable to willy wonkas golden ticket. or early paroll, you pick. a district that has really helped me and my comp out are leaving, but because they are going to mexico, its only natural their visas havent cleared so they got tempoarily reloacted to places like portland, san bernadino, arizona, and salt lake. i will probably get relocated untill mine clears, but if its salt lake im going to hang myself. portland would be legit. it only lasts usually like maybe one transfer if that. so im not worried about it.
Somebody get me dahlins address. ive been waiting for a letter but i got nothing so far. alos nicks if you can (im speaking to the general public)
So i think thats everything i wanted to cover. The TRC (teaching resource center) went extremely well this week. I learned a lot of spanish and can almost understand just about everything my teacher says as long as its gospel related. i know that doesnt sound good but ive only been here three weeks, i think its awesome. I was slightly dissapointed with this weeks letters. i wrote a lot last week and didnt get a reply from a lot of them. but if you did write me im very thankful for that. Letters are a missionaries life blood. Keep them coming por favor.
Sierra is not keeping me udated on track enough. im going into track related withdrawls. i miss it soooo much. also how are my babies doing? (the stang and the vette) please take good care of my car sierra. Make sure you drive the vette at leat once a week dad, i was and it was running great.
Dad- Im out of time so i will hand write you instead of another email.
I love all of you. till next week!
So three weeks has flown by! iIt feels like I just got here. Im finally used to everything that goes on here; theres a lot. Im learning so much its ridiculous. Like last night a couple elders locked themselves out of their room so I learned how to get into a locked room using nothing but an envelope, dental floss, and a vacuum cord. Im not even joking. It was straight up McGiver. But im alos learning so much about the gospel. One of my roomates, Elder Rupp knows everything gospel related so i just ask him weird questions all day about stuff that is church related and he knows...like the other day i was wondering about Kolob so we had an hour discussion about it and now I know a lot more. its way cool.
I have a lot I want to cover and only a little time so here we go.
Mom- You asked about if i got into the choir. Im very upset about it. They were putting together a special choir to go to the priesthood session of conference coming up and when i went to fill out the paperwork for it, there was all these questions about highschool choir and how many years you have been singing and special awards and all this lame crap. I was mad about it so i put down that my name was elder potter, i had attended hogwarts for 4 years and i was headboy in my 4th year. also, I had outstanding results on my OWLS as well. i thought it was funny...until this morning when a few other elders got a notice saying they got in when they didnt ever sing in any choir. i was pissed. i could have gotten in. but i guess thats what i get...Thanks for finally sending the package with some of the stuff i needed. i havent gotten anything except those two that sarah and kim sent me a while back and im tired of wandering the halls at night looking for handouts of food from the other elders. i hope theres some food in there. Im glad to hear the flower shop is doing well, but im also glad i gert to miss putting up the trees. have fun dad. Thanks for the update on the ring ceremony. im glad coach didnt make me sound bad haha. if you havent already, send all that stuff you said you got from it, except the dvd.
Dad-Send me the top 25 listing for college football. im dying here. also get me president smiths address. I want to write him. Make sure as well that coach McCarron is being forwarded these emails, and mention to him on the email that he needs to email me on this account about how the team is looking. His email is on the school website under athletics. My comp wanted me to tell you that he is a huge dallas fan, but i told him it didnt make up for the fact that he likes michigan and the yankees. but its a start.
I figured out a few other things i want. I want my fav blue batman shirt. some guy down the hall wears a batman shirt a lot and he thinks hes the coolest. hes not even a true batman fan, and i want to drop kick him in the face when he wears it. but i like him other than that. alos i want that picture of me when im young starring up at the giant cristus in salt lake, as well as the pic kim took of me at socals where im looking up at dad leaning against the wall. pretty please.
So last week was way exciting for a bunch of districts, mine included. A travel plan is very comparable to willy wonkas golden ticket. or early paroll, you pick. a district that has really helped me and my comp out are leaving, but because they are going to mexico, its only natural their visas havent cleared so they got tempoarily reloacted to places like portland, san bernadino, arizona, and salt lake. i will probably get relocated untill mine clears, but if its salt lake im going to hang myself. portland would be legit. it only lasts usually like maybe one transfer if that. so im not worried about it.
Somebody get me dahlins address. ive been waiting for a letter but i got nothing so far. alos nicks if you can (im speaking to the general public)
So i think thats everything i wanted to cover. The TRC (teaching resource center) went extremely well this week. I learned a lot of spanish and can almost understand just about everything my teacher says as long as its gospel related. i know that doesnt sound good but ive only been here three weeks, i think its awesome. I was slightly dissapointed with this weeks letters. i wrote a lot last week and didnt get a reply from a lot of them. but if you did write me im very thankful for that. Letters are a missionaries life blood. Keep them coming por favor.
Sierra is not keeping me udated on track enough. im going into track related withdrawls. i miss it soooo much. also how are my babies doing? (the stang and the vette) please take good care of my car sierra. Make sure you drive the vette at leat once a week dad, i was and it was running great.
Dad- Im out of time so i will hand write you instead of another email.
I love all of you. till next week!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Zack's Farewell Slideshow
Here is the slideshow from Zachary's farewell party for those of you who weren't able to be there, or just wanted to watch it again because it's so awesome :)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Zack's Letter Spetember 13, 2010
Hey everyone! Sooooo week 2 done! This week was a lot better than the the first week, just because im finally getting a feel for the crazy schedule. I have been asked by some people what my schedule is, so here goes. everyday we wake up at 6 to get a hot shower and not wait in line. breakfast is at 7, thats usually not great. then its usually to class for gospel/language. we have about 6 hours each day of that, and then at least one hour of personal study, one hour of companion study, and a few hours of MDT (missionary directed time) where we can do what we choose as long as it is productive to our purpose as missionaries. Elder Moser and I usually study spanish or teach lessons to other elders. lunch is at 11:30 every day, we have gym at different times each day for a little less than an hour. dinner at 5:30, and then back to the halls at 9:30. then we mess around till lights out at 10:30. i can never fall asleep till later cause my mind goes over everything we did that day and its a lot. im always tired but im getting used to it. the work is going great, and the spanish is coming, slowly but surely.
MOM!!! A miracle has happened! it came in the form of a chicken pox shot. haha the immunizations lady had one random one in her fridge that she said she would give me, so i got it. it was 80 bucks, but i paid for it myself (your welcome dad).
The guys that run the MTC gym area told me and elder badger that we cant bring our own running equipment out to the field, so no more resistence workouts. we were pissed. i guess soccer it is... one of the elders in our zone sprained his ankle. dont worry, it wasnt my fault this time. they tell us not to play competetively...ya right. it was district on district and we were winning. so naturally someone got hurt.
Thanks to Kim and Sarah for the pakages! Ya i was laughing after i said to send healthier things and then got those the next day, but its all good. i shared! so i have a lot of people to write but i swear i will get to them all! thanks everyone for the dear elders. i got several a day and i love it! some of the other elders get jealous, but what ev. im loved.
So Im on the top bunk in my room and the other night, i think i was slepp walking, cause i barely remember moving around and then slamming onto the floor. i tried to roll out of bed like i was next to the ground and fell all the way down. My comp woke up and was like "what the heck elder?!" I didnt know what was ggooiing on so i just said "im good", got a drink and went back to bed. I did something else really cool at gym the other day too. it was before elder badger and i were told no outside equipment, so we has the running band, which is a very long bungie cord you attach around your waist. it streches rreally far but is wrapped around by fabric like material, so it only goes so far before it catches and wont go any firther. me and another elder had the bright idea to face eachother while strapped in and back up till it was streched all the way, then we ran at ecahother full speed and passed one another barely. so now we are running away from eachother at more than top speed with a cord attached to each of our backs. it cuaght and we both got yanked hard back onto the ground. i had a light bruise across my stomach for a while buts its gone. it was awesome...it made me feel like i was back home with kyle nick and dahlin. Dahlin would have thought up the idea, Nick would have told us exactly how to do it, and me and kyle would have executed perfectly...
Me and elder moser had a 5 minute message we had to share with a member of our branchh president. it was to see how our teaching was coming along, and all we had time to do was get to know him and get a return appointment. he is a tough guy when it comes to teaching. he was pretending to be a guy going to work on the bus and we had to contact him. all thhee other guys on our district couldnt get a return appointment, but elder moser and i did! it was way sweet.
Congrats to Brendy on the engagment! wanna know how i know? My teacher is Dallin West from Gilbert, who is a friend of Brendy and Aaron. He told me haha.
A lot of people have been asking me questions...i cant really think of them right now and i only have a little bit of time left, so just know that if you dear eldered me before friday this past week, i will be writing you and answering your questions in my letter. Mom, can you send me my rcc track sweat shirt? we are up before the sun on service days andd its getting cold.
Well my time is almost up. I love you guys and hope to hear from everyone this week! My letters will be puut in the mail today.
Elder Kitterman
MOM!!! A miracle has happened! it came in the form of a chicken pox shot. haha the immunizations lady had one random one in her fridge that she said she would give me, so i got it. it was 80 bucks, but i paid for it myself (your welcome dad).
The guys that run the MTC gym area told me and elder badger that we cant bring our own running equipment out to the field, so no more resistence workouts. we were pissed. i guess soccer it is... one of the elders in our zone sprained his ankle. dont worry, it wasnt my fault this time. they tell us not to play competetively...ya right. it was district on district and we were winning. so naturally someone got hurt.
Thanks to Kim and Sarah for the pakages! Ya i was laughing after i said to send healthier things and then got those the next day, but its all good. i shared! so i have a lot of people to write but i swear i will get to them all! thanks everyone for the dear elders. i got several a day and i love it! some of the other elders get jealous, but what ev. im loved.
So Im on the top bunk in my room and the other night, i think i was slepp walking, cause i barely remember moving around and then slamming onto the floor. i tried to roll out of bed like i was next to the ground and fell all the way down. My comp woke up and was like "what the heck elder?!" I didnt know what was ggooiing on so i just said "im good", got a drink and went back to bed. I did something else really cool at gym the other day too. it was before elder badger and i were told no outside equipment, so we has the running band, which is a very long bungie cord you attach around your waist. it streches rreally far but is wrapped around by fabric like material, so it only goes so far before it catches and wont go any firther. me and another elder had the bright idea to face eachother while strapped in and back up till it was streched all the way, then we ran at ecahother full speed and passed one another barely. so now we are running away from eachother at more than top speed with a cord attached to each of our backs. it cuaght and we both got yanked hard back onto the ground. i had a light bruise across my stomach for a while buts its gone. it was awesome...it made me feel like i was back home with kyle nick and dahlin. Dahlin would have thought up the idea, Nick would have told us exactly how to do it, and me and kyle would have executed perfectly...
Me and elder moser had a 5 minute message we had to share with a member of our branchh president. it was to see how our teaching was coming along, and all we had time to do was get to know him and get a return appointment. he is a tough guy when it comes to teaching. he was pretending to be a guy going to work on the bus and we had to contact him. all thhee other guys on our district couldnt get a return appointment, but elder moser and i did! it was way sweet.
Congrats to Brendy on the engagment! wanna know how i know? My teacher is Dallin West from Gilbert, who is a friend of Brendy and Aaron. He told me haha.
A lot of people have been asking me questions...i cant really think of them right now and i only have a little bit of time left, so just know that if you dear eldered me before friday this past week, i will be writing you and answering your questions in my letter. Mom, can you send me my rcc track sweat shirt? we are up before the sun on service days andd its getting cold.
Well my time is almost up. I love you guys and hope to hear from everyone this week! My letters will be puut in the mail today.
Elder Kitterman
Monday, September 6, 2010
Pictures of Zack's Farewell
We had such a fun weekend to celebrate Zachary leaving on his mission. It was filled with good food, lots of fun, and tons of amazing people with one thing in common; a great love for Zachary.
The food
The Par-tay
After his Farewell Talk Zack's Letter September 6, 2010
So just so you guys know, most missionaries are aloud to check email once a week, and it would be nice to get the low down from eveyone! The mtc is great! I realy love it here. My companions name is Elder Moser, and he is a cool dude. Hes a smaller guy, but he played middle linebacker, basketball, and baseball. He works as hard as i do, so i got pretty lucky in that sense. we have a lot in common, but wednesday he came out of our room wearing a yankees shirt... i threw up a little. as if thats not bad enough the next day the whole district was talking and we found out the probably the only Ohio state fan in the whole branch (me) got stuck with probably the only Michigan fan in the whole branch (elder moser)....but i pray for patience. Let me know how sports are going.
how is everyone? this past week has been a little strange. Dearelders come monday through friday at around 4 so if you send it before like 12 it will get to me that same day. but today is monday, my p-day, and it is alos labor so no dear elders today. Ive gotten letters from Mom, who must know not to start a story without finishing the WHOLE story, kiera and connie, and Nick. I want to thank Nick especially for his letters, they are a big help. Im writing mom her letter later today and there will be more questions and a few more details in that.
Basically the spirit here is awesome. everywhere we go we are followed by the spirit. I love it. Spanish is coming along, its only been 4 days but Ive already learned to pray and testify in espanol. Everyone thats been here for a while always tells us that no matter how badly you think you suck at it, it will come. So i try not to get frustrated but its tough sometimes. other than that we have learned a lot about our purpose as a missonary and a little bit about how to teach. Elder moser and i are awesome teachers. we have taught a few lessona in english to get the hang of it and i swear its as if we have ben out in the field doing it for 4 months together. we are studs. i love teaching and all the teachers say that i can hang with the best of them. its easy for me.
Congrats to casey! thanks for telling me like you said you would you punce, but im excited for you. The short sighted side of me is jealous of you, because learning a new language is hard, and i can only wonder how awesome it would be to just go out and teach in your native tounge right away. your going to love the mtc! you know everyones first name right away (elder) and the brotherhood only after a few hours is unparalled. Word of advice, study pmg. its the life blood of a missionary, and because i studied it before i came im heads above the rest of my district in terms of teaching.
So my district is 11 guys, and they are feaking sweet. there is one elder, elder snow, who is hilarious. he and a few other elders think i look a lot older than everyone else, like 24, but because they know im not they joke around about it a lot and call me padre kitterman or abuelo kitterman (grandfather). old man jokes all day, and being helped out of my chair, when i dont hear something and say "what" its always "turn your hearing aide up!" its hilarious. there is another elder, elder badger, who got full ride offers from the following schools to play football (safety): BYU, utah, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Florida st, LSU, Oregon, and Notre Dame. he chose Notre Dame...ugh. but regardless we become fast friends. they are holding his scholarship so he brought a whole bag full of work out equipment. like a portale sled, parachute, ladder, and some other stuff. we fill up bags of sand and load them onto the sled and while everyone else is playing sissy soccer at gym we are running with a 75 pound sled attached to us up a small hill. hows that for dedication?
make sure everyone knows to use dear elder, i need some mail! i hate to compare the mtc to prison, but mail is all we have besides ice cream on sundays and wednesdays....i live for sundays and wednesdays. i cant write anyone until they write me first so i have their adress. oh i opened up a tie the second night cause i was way tired and frustrated from spanish. it happened tobe nicks tie, which was exactly what i needed to see cause at that moment the tie represented that i am not the first, nor the last to be frustrated at something in the mtc and everything will be ok so thank you nick. My time is almost up, we only get 30 minutes to write. i love all you guys and i hope your doing well. tell sierra i want her to take the tv already! you big baby...
how is everyone? this past week has been a little strange. Dearelders come monday through friday at around 4 so if you send it before like 12 it will get to me that same day. but today is monday, my p-day, and it is alos labor so no dear elders today. Ive gotten letters from Mom, who must know not to start a story without finishing the WHOLE story, kiera and connie, and Nick. I want to thank Nick especially for his letters, they are a big help. Im writing mom her letter later today and there will be more questions and a few more details in that.
Basically the spirit here is awesome. everywhere we go we are followed by the spirit. I love it. Spanish is coming along, its only been 4 days but Ive already learned to pray and testify in espanol. Everyone thats been here for a while always tells us that no matter how badly you think you suck at it, it will come. So i try not to get frustrated but its tough sometimes. other than that we have learned a lot about our purpose as a missonary and a little bit about how to teach. Elder moser and i are awesome teachers. we have taught a few lessona in english to get the hang of it and i swear its as if we have ben out in the field doing it for 4 months together. we are studs. i love teaching and all the teachers say that i can hang with the best of them. its easy for me.
Congrats to casey! thanks for telling me like you said you would you punce, but im excited for you. The short sighted side of me is jealous of you, because learning a new language is hard, and i can only wonder how awesome it would be to just go out and teach in your native tounge right away. your going to love the mtc! you know everyones first name right away (elder) and the brotherhood only after a few hours is unparalled. Word of advice, study pmg. its the life blood of a missionary, and because i studied it before i came im heads above the rest of my district in terms of teaching.
So my district is 11 guys, and they are feaking sweet. there is one elder, elder snow, who is hilarious. he and a few other elders think i look a lot older than everyone else, like 24, but because they know im not they joke around about it a lot and call me padre kitterman or abuelo kitterman (grandfather). old man jokes all day, and being helped out of my chair, when i dont hear something and say "what" its always "turn your hearing aide up!" its hilarious. there is another elder, elder badger, who got full ride offers from the following schools to play football (safety): BYU, utah, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Florida st, LSU, Oregon, and Notre Dame. he chose Notre Dame...ugh. but regardless we become fast friends. they are holding his scholarship so he brought a whole bag full of work out equipment. like a portale sled, parachute, ladder, and some other stuff. we fill up bags of sand and load them onto the sled and while everyone else is playing sissy soccer at gym we are running with a 75 pound sled attached to us up a small hill. hows that for dedication?
make sure everyone knows to use dear elder, i need some mail! i hate to compare the mtc to prison, but mail is all we have besides ice cream on sundays and wednesdays....i live for sundays and wednesdays. i cant write anyone until they write me first so i have their adress. oh i opened up a tie the second night cause i was way tired and frustrated from spanish. it happened tobe nicks tie, which was exactly what i needed to see cause at that moment the tie represented that i am not the first, nor the last to be frustrated at something in the mtc and everything will be ok so thank you nick. My time is almost up, we only get 30 minutes to write. i love all you guys and i hope your doing well. tell sierra i want her to take the tv already! you big baby...
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