September 19 2011

Well this week seemed like a serious blur. A lot of good things happened though, such as another baptism! Alberto was baptized by my comp and I confirmed him. It was way sweet. He is the boyfirend of a young women in the ward and had been listening to the Elders before us when they stopped teaching him cause he didnt catch on to a lot of things as fast as they would have liked. Sometimes I wonder if some Edlers understand why they are out here. But it turned out great cause all he needed was some patience and love! He was as excited as a toddler on christmas morning. It was first class.

In other news, I was attacked by an extremely drunk women. We were walking down the sidewalk near a bar (it was the middle of the day saddly) when whe blinded sided me. She could even hold her self up, but managed to slip out of the grasp of her friends who was only slightly drunk and threw herself at me. I pushed her off me and she fell back into er friend. Butthen she kept trying to grap my hand andwhen i walked away she turned to my comp and said "see how they reject me!" He thought it was hilarious and I wanted to take a shower.

We are teaching a cool guy named Aladar. He is a fisherman, but is higher up on the chain so doesnt actually fish, he just waits for his fishers to come in with their haul and he pays them. We teach him on the dock everyday where he waits for them to come in. He used to be into drugs, drinking, and everything else there is, but started to going to rehab and was there for 10 years. Now he is wanting God and progressing very quickily. The other day we finished a lesson and asked if we could come back the next day. He told us of course, and then sternly told us "Dont abandon me". Sometimes we feel like we bother certain people with how much we always want to teach them, but it was great hearing someone tell us otherwise. I feel just as Aladar does sometimes when praying. I plead for Him to be with me.

We are cruising along her in Champoton. We are going to make this branch a ward. Its going to take a little bit of effort and more baptisms, but we feel like its supposed to happen soon. Speaking of growingbranches, I talked to Elder Skeen who is still back in my last area Leona Vicario, and there are rumors of the church building a meeting house for the branch there. They said the attendance rate has picked up enough in the last 6 months to do it. I was transfered there 6 months ago!! They should dedicate that building to Elder Skeen and I, after Chrst of course...

Well nothing more I can think of right now, but im sure I willremember more right after I leave. Oh well, theres always next week i guess. I hope everyone is chillin back home. Much love.

Love,

Elder Kitterman

September 13 2011

Sorry I didnt write yesterday. Our zone leaders called us out of nowhere and we had to leave for district meeting 1 hour early for some stuff. But luckily they let us write quickily today. Yet again, this will be a shorter one, but a lot of good stuff happened this week so I will jump right in.

We had 2 baptisms on Sunday. Cesar and Julisa, 9 and 12 years old respectively, recieved their saving ordinances. Their mom is a less active we have been reactivating and now they all are coming to church each week. Good stuff. The baptism went well, except our mission leader forgot to tell us the font was still filled from a baptism they had a week before we got there. When he remembered there was only an hour before the service started, so we quickily drained it and washed it (stilled water for 4 weeks= bad smell) and refilled it, but we didnt have enough time to fill it all the way. Luckily they are small kids so it wasnt too bad, but it was still interesting dunking them in about a foot and a few inches or so of water.

This week, all our efforts for the past 3 weeks finally paid off. Its as if the Lord just wanted to see for how long we would work as hard as we were before blessing us. Well it happened this week, and now it looks like we will be very busy from here on out, at least for a while. We found one woman that particuarily stuck out to me. She is a single mother of 4 very young children named Brenda, who cant read. So we are teaching her the gospel and how to read. This is like my 5th investigator in my mission that we are teaching how to read, so Im getting pretty good at it. The first time we talked to her, we talked about the doctrine of christ, or faith, reptentance, baptism, holy ghost, and eduring to the end. It went well, but she shared with us her belief of how it doesnt matter which shurch you go to, they all lead to the same God. This is the universal belief among the inhabitants of the penisula, and from what i can tell, most of mexico. It can be the hardest doubt to overcome many times. So the very next day, despite fear of what she might think or say, we taught her the restoration through Joseph Smith. She was smiling from the moment we started, and cried when I recited the first vision. She said she "felt full of joy, and felt a warmth in her heart".

For the past 6 months or so of my mission, I have had to take bus or van rides for at least an hour one way every monday for district meetings. I used to try and read, but that gave me a headache, so now i just think. its sometimes the only time during the whole week I just get to stop and think about everything. They become moments of small impressions and feelings of great joy and love. I cant put into words how unbelievable it is to be here, sharing what God has in store for all of us if we are faithful. Trying to describe it wouldnt do it justice, but trust me, living the gospel the way it was intended to be lived is worth every ounce of effort it requires and much much more.

I should have some more buenas noticias next week. Till then.

Love,

Elder Kitterman

September 5 2011

Every morning when I put on my name badge, I do my best to shine it on my pants because of how worn and stratched it already is. I remember back to when it would take huge beatings, chopping firewood, emptying small pools with nothing but 5 gallon buckets, climbing trees to get down delicious fruits. It all seems like it happen just a few weeks ago and then I look at my name written in white and how yellow it looks from the sun. Its hard to believe Im in the second half of it all.

 

Ive only been in Mexico for 9 months though really. It seems like nothing. But then i think back to my first night in a hammock and realize I cant remeber what laying down in a bed feels like. I love my hammock like it were my own child, but man do i look forward to the day I can lay down in a nice soft bed, without swinging. Enough of that, Im getting bedsick....

 

This is going to be a short one. We are still getting used to our new and improved (not!) P-day, with a now increased travel time of 2 hours to our district meetings. In addition to a 2 hour bus ride, the meeting now starts earlier, so we can get back to the house before 9. Plus there is clothes to be washed, a tiny match box house to be cleaned, groceries to be bought, studies to get in, and people to write. But we are getting it down pretty good.  We had a much better week than last and we finally known the area well enough not to get lost. We looked high and low for new people to teach this week, but with only little sucess. But then Sunday rolls around and we have have people showing up left and right that we have never seen and arent members. They´re not joking when they say the Lord works in mysterious ways.

 

This week I finally tracked down the Elder that was here last before the brought us in. This was his first area and didnt learn it very well so he couldnt explain anything in great detail, but he told me about a teenager that they had taught a few times a while back that had gone to church once. He is the boyfriend of a young women in the branch. For whatever reason he stuck out to me even above the rest he told me about. We found him and taught him within a couple of days and when we asked him if there was anything he wanted to talk about, he answered baptism. We taught him and he says he wants to be baptized soon, so we are hoping we can help make that happen. There are people all over the place that are prepared, but its just so dang hard to find them sometimes!

 

We are in the fish capital of the mission. The members we ate with last night gave us each a whole fish, head and tail and everything included. They dont filet it, they just cook it how it comes from the ocean. It was bomb. Also, on Wednesday we ate shark and that was way good as well. I love fishing communities. I have photos, but the freaking computer isnt letting me attached them. I will send them next week fo sho.

 

Thanks to everyone that gave me a happy one year shout out. Im really loving it out here and im excited to see what the future has in store. Hope everyone has a great week! Take care peeps.

Love,

 

Elder Kitterman

August 29 2011

I could die Im so tired right now. This area back in the day used to support 3 companionships very easily, all with bikes. Now we are the only ones, and for a reason we do not know yet, we have no bikes. So we walk around, lost, all day. As I mentioned last week, we dont have any investigators really, and all the directions for some of the old inves that we decided to visit dont make any sense so we couldnt find them. So it just turned into more walking in the ridiculous sun. And all the water in our area just makes the humidity worse. But I honestly love this branch. They are extremely amazing people here, and from what I can tell, came from very humbly beginings.

And I was just informed that I swore hard core in my last letter. My bad, I will try and type more carefully haha

So this week, I hit my one year mark. Im pretty excited, but like a few of you mentioned in your letters, it seems bitter sweet. I feel like im just getting started, and now its half way over. Time has gone by so fast. I though about what I wanted to write to mark it, and something happened this week that goes right along with what I wanted to talk about.

I try my best not to write negative things home about my comps. No matter who they are, or how we get along, I try and remind myself that I dont know what types of things they have had to deal with and although sometimes the way they are drives me insane, I dont see it as an exuse to complain. But what happened this week with Elder Martinez strengthened us both, so I want to share it. Right from the start Elder Martinez and I got along amazingly well. Hes hilarious and really super outgoing and we gained eachothers trust very quickily. Consequently, he began sharing with me his methods of missionary work, which seemed to be more play and less work. I laughed with about it, but wasnt about to let him start doing any of that. Friday afternoon rolled around, and our only appointment within 4 hours ahad fallen. It was 2:30, and as hot as I have ever felt it get here in my whole mission. We had nothing, and to top it of, we were lost. We sat down for a seond after knocking for a little while to get out of the sun in the shade of a house. He seemingly jonking told me he saw an internet café a few blocks back with AC, and that we could kill some time there. I laughed and didnt say anything. He brought it back up a few minutes later. I told him we werent going to do that. Then he began saying how tired he was, and that going back to the house to take a nap was a good option. I said no. "Arent you tired Elder Kitterman?" I thought for a second and answered "yes, very". "But you dont want to sleep?"...."Nope". He laughed a little then became somewhat annoyed. "Who understands you Elder Kitterman? Your tired but wont sleep. Your burnt red but wont stop walking around in the sun. Why do you do this?". It was a valid question. I sat there thinking for a few seconds. Its almost sensless inst it? I live a tiny house, in a hammock that I cant lay completely flat in because the walls are too cose together. Its usually hotter inside our cramped house at night than outside, and thats hot. Our bathroom is hanging on by a thread, and despite the fact that Im burnt, lost all day with nothing to do, and thoudands of miles away from what I know, I go out everyday to do the same things. Teach the gospel. Why do I support some much adversity? I sat there thinking about Elder Martinez´s question for quite some time. And then it hit me. I finally had my answer. "Because I love the Lord".

There is plenty of reasons why I came out on a mission. Any common reason seems to be one of many reaons why I personally came on a mission. All those reasons are still valid today. But you know what? None of those are why I stay. I stay because I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I know he loves me. I desire to share that love with everybody, no matter where they are. Its why we do what we do as members of His church, even if we dont realize it. It is the greatest commandment and needs to be our motivation for why we keep his commandments, and suffer all things with patience and humility.

I wish I could tell you that when we got up from that shady spot in some random street, we found a family of 6 that was beyond prepared. But we didnt. We didnt find anybody.

Later that night, on our way to our only other appointment, Elder Martinez apologized, and shared his testimony of why we are here. He told me that we represent Christ, His church, and our families, and for that reason we had nothing more to do than work. He told me we were going to do amazing things here in this area, and that it would be because we loved the Lord. I couldnt do anything but smile and tell him that I loved him. He made a turn around that night that, if he continues following, will change his life forever. Its changed mine.

Elder Martinez is in what we could call a "rehabilatation stage". Sometimes it takes a little bit of pushing to get him going again, but once we are moving, man are we moving.

When I left one year ago, I had no idea what was ahead of me. I though that after a long 2 years, I would return and pick up my life, with a new language and a slightly different person. But within this first year I realized that is exaclty what I want to avoid. I have left behind the things of my past, only to enter into the work of God, and its not a 2 two trip. The things I have learned have changed me and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for everything everyone has done for me back home. Thank you Dad for all your advice and help, even in the roughest parts you helped me find a way through. Thank you Mom, for having patience and a big enough heart to always put up with my many complaints, and especially for your genuine desire to help not only me, but everyone around me. Your charity is surely a testimony to me that it really is "the pure love of Christ". Thank you Kim and Nick for all the many ties and photos, but even more than that, thank you for always sharing your testimony and words of encouragment. I realize I have never told you, but they have served me countless times in my work here. Sorry Nick, that I havent written you more brother, but that will change in this next year. Thank you Sierra for holding true and faithful, even when the path got dark, and you couldnt see the rod. I know the Lord is extremely pleased with the progress you have made, and just know that if I can do, you surely can. And last but not least, thank you everyone that has ever written me, prayed for me, or even thought of me while Ive been away. Your thoughts and prayers have never gone to waste, as I have truly felt guided by the holy ghost, even at times when I was down and couldnt seem to find my way. I wish I could name names, but Im too afraid to miss somebody, or simply run out of time.

I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that he loves us.

Love,

Elder Kitterman

August 23 2011

SOOOO I got changd. Good and bad. Good cause Im now in an amazing area but more on that to come, and bad cause we were throwing fire over there in Leona Vicario! But Elder Skeen is going to train there so that should be some legit fun for him. But im going to be sure to keep myself up to date with how our investigators and converts over there are doing. The scariest part about being a missionary is having your favorite converts, which is basically all of them, fall after you leave. 

We pretty knew i was leaving, and therefore we told the whole branch before hand. No joke, I ate 6 full meals after church on Sunday. And to end the day, we went with Andrea and all her family that we have been teaching since I have been there. I was super tight with this family. They made me a few things to help remember them, one of which was a Hello Kitty card (they call me Kitty). Inside the card was little pieces of paper, each one with a different name on it of each member of thier huge family we have taught or know well. 14 members in all, and although only 5 are members and 4 others are being taught so far, I have every hope and all the faith in the world that one day, they will all be saints. It was tough saying bye to them, but I left with peace in heart knowing I did good for at least a few. 

Ok enough for that stuff for now, on to the good stuff! I have been changed to the state of Campeche, which is the direct oposite side of the penisula from where i was in Quintana Roo. My area is called Champoton, and is an hour south of the state capital, the city of Campeche. Its a small city, and isnt quite yet a ward, but has a very solid, decent sized group of members from what I here. I have a real chapel again! My comp is Elder Martinez from the DF, capital of Mexico. He has 9 months and is as solid as they come. Words cannot describe how stoked I am to be here and with him. 

But we havent even gotten to some of the best parts! We are white washing the area, or in lame non-missionary termanology, we are both brand new to the area and have no clue whats goin down. The Elder that was here before us was super dead and didnt work cause it was his last change before ending his mission. Earlier today we went through our area book that should have all the teaching records of the investigators, and its empty except for some really outdated records from a few months back. You might be thinking, "Why that doesnt sound super fun". Wrong! We get to start over here and wor from the ground up. I had to do it in Leona, so i guess the Lord will have me do it here again. 

Yesterday was fun. I woke up to no power in the house. No biggy, the suns up. But i go to turn on the shower, and the tank above the house that holds the water is empty. In cases such as those, we just turn on the electric pump outside that pumps water up. The key word there was "electric". We had no water, ad no way to get water to where it needed to go. I had to finish packing also, so i did te best i could washing my hair and face with water from our jug of drinking water. Then it was on to the bus station for a 8 hour, 3 bus transfer trip. Most awkward 8 hour of my life. I hate traveling alone as a missionary. 

On my last bus ride that finally took me to Champoton, it was late and already bitch black outside. All i could see out the window was a few bushes on the side of the road and then nothing. All of a sudden, a flash of lightening off in the distance lit up the Gulf of Mexico. Water! You might be surprised to find out that I am so excited to see water on my mission when serving in the yucatan penisula with some of the best beaches in the world. Well dont be, cause they keep us on a short leash from the beaches here. Turns out, my whole area borders the gulf. Its a fishing city. 

When we got back to the house finally, it was a disaster. We spent the whole morning just cleaning it. But now its super clean and I can actually think. Im super stoked for whats ahead. its going to be harder than usual, but with more afflictions comes greater sucess. 

Well its a work day, so I dont really have any time to write anybody personally, but next week i will hit everybody up as best I can! Thanks for everyone that always writes me, and Im sorry if I dont write you back. Have a great week!

Love,

 

Elder Kitterman

August 15 2011

I can never figure out how to start these letters home. I guess most would just say hi or something, but that seems so boring...

 

Howdy from down-under! Thats better

 

So this week was, as they say in mexican speech, mas o menos. Thats so-so, average, or more or less for you only Mmurican speakers (Dad). I will just come right out with the bad. Our best family of 5 dropped us hardcore this week. That was definetly a low-point, but we just kept moving forward and it turned out alright. It was German, the man who had the dream a few weeks ago, and his family. He was in cancun all week trying to find a job, and when we finally talked to him friday night, he started attacking us about how we got him to stop reading the bible and how we dont even believe in the bible. If you ca tell he was big in the bible before. He wouldnt even listen to us was the worst part. His mind had already been made up and he wasnt going back. The saddest part is that he had already recived his own testimony of the Book of Mormon and felt the spirit in church twice. But he claimed that he only liked the Book of Mormon because it was instructive, but to him was nothing more than a book Joseph Smith wrote, and then continued attacking our tiny branch and some of the members. Words that will forever ring in my ears- "I feel good telling you guys no". We still have no idea who he talked to. He says all these doubts came to him on their own, but that just doesnt happen when your feeling the spirit that you had already self identified as he had done in the weeks prior. I felt really good about my english in that last sentance!

 

Although that was a tough blow, we rolled with it as all missionaries must learn to do. We were a little down in numbers this week of people that went to church because of that, but we did have a young man go that we have been trying to bring for a month. And he also brought 2 of his cousins! He is actually the brother of Chopo that got baptized last week. He seemed to like it, and after church we watched the Joseph Smith movie with him and his family. Afterward, he was so taken by the stick pull game that he wanted to play. Its the one where you sit down facing eachother, put your feet up against one anothers, and each grab onto a stick and pull until someone gets pull over by the other. While we were playing around with that, Andreas husband, who were are finally teaching slowly but surely, arrived. Hes a pretty big guy, cause his work is just manual labor. Whats funny is that Elder Skeen and I earlier in the week had talked about the Lord giving certain people physical strength in times when needed in the Book of Mormon and now a days like when something heavy falls on somebody and there is nobody else around. So I told Andreas husband, Jorge, that we will play, and if i win he has to go to church the next week and if he wins we wont ask him again when he is going until he tells us he is ready. he agreed very quickily. I was a litle worried, with a year without any type of heavy lifting. I maintained a prayer in my head pretty much the whole time, hoping that it was something just to ask the Lord, and also that i wouldnt be so embarrased. We broke 3 broom handles each within the first 10-15 seconds, and bent a metal pole that wasnt super thick to start with. Finally they found something strong enough, and we went at it for like a straight 60 seconds. That much pulling, someone is bound to tear something. But we kept going. Like 3 or 4 times, he lifted me just a few inches off the ground, but I came right back down. Finally he came up and over. He stood up saying he just got tired and gave up, and said that he would see if he would go to the church. If he does, it will be a miracle. If i had just played for fun, i would have lost within 10 seconds guaranteed.

 

Today we went bowling again. Well i should say I went bowling again. The last time i went, it was with this same district, just all different people. Im the last one left. Next week is changes, and I think im leaving unfortunetly. We are teaching a lot of great people that will probably all get baptized next change, so thats a bummer. But being changed is always pretty exciting so either way it will be good.

 

Well thats about it for now. Just livin it up, doin it big here as always. Year mark is just around the corner, should be fun! Much love to all, and make sure to do something for somebody else this week.  

Love,

 

Elder Kitterman

August 8 2011

This week went by crazy fast. But none the less, it was solid.

We had another surprise baptism. Chopo, age 11, brother of another convert named Andrea, was baptized on Sunday after church. I love surprise baptisms, but they are a lot more work and stress...

He had been ready for baptism for a while, we were just waiting for his mom to get back from vacation with one of her friends. Nobody was sure when she was getting back, but it wasnt going to be for another week or so. We really wanted to baptize him this wee, so we prayed asking for his Mom to come back sooner. Well, our prayers were answered, but we may have caused a car mugging of 15 different people to get it. She was in the state of Jalisco in a rental car i think when her and her friends were made to stop on a long stretch of highway in the middle of nowhere. They made them get in the back with a gun, and tey drove them to a house a little ways ff the main road. There, they put them in a house with like 15 others, who had also had their cars stolen. they told all the people not to come out for 1 hour, as they all drove off with the cars they had stolen. Nothing bad happened, and they were all alright. But that kinda ruined their vaction buzz, so they came back early, and told us we could proceed with the baptism. She isnt a member, but we are working on her to get her to start going to church with her 2 daughters and now her son who are all recent converts.

We have people no coming out of the woodworks to talk to us. Its a big turn around from not having any investigator beside one lady who refused to accet baptism, Hermana Chuy (btw, she randomly showed up to church this week). We had more investigators attend church this week than we did street contacts, that is, talking to people on the street or knocking doors. Thats good and bad. Its good cause we are working very effecting and finding new people through other members and converts, but bad cause it makes us look freaking lazy... We will be fixing that soon though haha

But on the up side, the Lord isnt having us miss all of his prepared people because we dont talk to everyone we see. We were walking through central, when i remeber looking to my left to cross the street, and when i looked back to the right i noticed a man sitting there with two little kids. Before i realized what happened, i was shaking his hand introducing myself. We set a return appointment, he accepted baptism, then cae to church, loved it, and is now an extremely promising investigator. Im glad the Lord is patient enough with me to still promt me in the right moments.

The man, German, who had the dream last week continues strong in his search for the church. Well its not really a search anymore, cause is pretty much knows he has found it. Now we just have to get them married! Yup, not married, but they want to so thats the good part.

Well thats it for this week! Sorry not alot of pics yet, I will tr and get on that. Love to all

Love,

Elder Kitterman