March 26 2011

Soooo this week was way interesting. Some of the things included, but are not limite to:

-My comp drinking alcohol

-Me walking around with a pack of cigrattes in my pocket
-My first bike crash in the mish

-One of the best baptismal services followed y}by one of the worst conformations the next day

All in all it was a great week. So I know your all wondering about the alcohol, so I will start with that. No, my comp is not trying to get his booze fix here in the mission. We went to Daisys house on Teusday (the lady who got baptized last week) and she offered us left over lamb her and her famliy had eaten the day before from the celebration from the wedding. As we were earing she offered us Topache, which is a drink that they make here from fermented pineapple. I had heard about it before so i asked her "doesnt that have a little bit of alcohol in it?" And she told me no, as far as she knew. She but the pitcher on the table and then left to go do something, so i grabed it and smelt it. I thought i smelt a little bit but i wasnt sure. So my comp, having a little more experience in that area (past life stuff, dont ask), smelt it and said he couldnt smell any. He took a small sip, his eyes got really big, and then spits it back into his cup. "our convert is drinking a whole 2 days after her baptism" was the general concensus. But she didnt realize and felt way bad after we told her that is has a little bit of alcohol. But the lamb was good...

We inherited possibly the crazziest woman ever as an investigator a week ago. We are convinced she is bi-polar, and possible dual personalities. We got a call monday night from a member that lives above her saying that she tried to kill her son in law, and now she doesnt want anything to do with the church. So we went first thing teusday and she wasnt happy to see us. After getting her calmed down, we talked for a while, and she changed completely from not wanting anything to being like a saint again. She was a big smoker, but had left it for her baptism 2 weeks ago. After everyhting that happened, she wanted to smoke, so she bought a pack but hadnt opened it yet. She came back to her senses and wanted us to take the pack and throw them away. We glady did, so i put them in my pocket and forgot about them. Later that day, in a lesson i reached for the phone in my pocket and pulled out the pack, fogetting they were in there. That was awkward...The lady we were teaching was like "Oh you guys smoke?"

I had to go to Escarsega, the town i used to have to go to every monday when i was in Champoton, to do divisions and a baptismal interview. Its a pretty big area, so they are on bikes. I was going down a small hill on a small road when all of a suden i saw two cars and another biker in between coming. i braked and turned, but to no avail, the front tire lost traction and slid out from underneath me. it was no big crach, but the embarrasment...

The coolest lady ever is getting baptized this week. Her name is Berenice, and she has three small kids that are OUT OF CONTROL. Her littlest is my favorite though. She is like 3 years old, but cant stay on her feet for more than 30 seconds. she runs into everything and falls down constantly. She is so used to it now it doesnt even phase her. On sunday just before the sacrament started she comes sprinting in front of her mom from the bathroom into the sacrament room, and full on face plants/body smalls the closed door. She falls backwards, gets up and shakes her head a little, and continues running. We call her "the wrecking ball"

We also have two other baptims planned for tomorow. It is a 19 year girl named Fabiola and her 8 year sister Lizbeth. They are great, and are going to be the first converts of their family. But now we have already started talking to their mom and she is getting pretty excited too. We just have to get her to take sunays off and stop smoking. The other baptism we have planned will be on Satruday after the second session.

Speaking of general conference, I am beyond stoked. I love conference so so much.

Love,

Elder Kitterman

March 19 2012

It was so cool hearing about Dahlins homecoming! Pretty much the general theme i got from it was that he is taller, his testimony in japanese rocked the house, and he is ripped. Thats pretty cool i have to say. Down here in good ole mexico, i have slowly traded my six pack for a keg. But they say as your tesimony grows, so does your gut. So im doing alright...

No im not fat mom. Just more to love is all.

Well this week was insane. All in all, our investigator Deici (pronounced Daisy) got baptized Saturday after getting married on Thursday. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, did. We married them in a small town named Chiná, about 30 minutes outside the city because there is not as many requirments there for marraige. Well we ended up going there 4 different times over the course of 3 days. We had to shovel out a crap load of money to correct a spelling error on one of her important documents, and she had already given us pretty much all she had to pay for the wedding registration and what not. We had to sweet talk sooo many people so that it could get done. But the weeding made it all worth it. They were so happy. It was held right there in the office of one of the city hall workers, and there was about 13 people, 8 of them being our district. But it didnt matter that there was no dress, or fancy dining hall, or lots of food, or any formality really. They were just happy.

Saturday rolled around, and we went to the chapel about 2 hours before the baptism was going to start to start filling up the font. We didnt realize that niether of us knew how long it actually took, and to our horror the bishop was there and told it it takes 4 hours cause the water comes out slowly. So us and two other Elders from our district starting filling up buckets and buckets and dumping in the font to start and speed it up. Everyone startes showing up, and it was only about knee high. We got so desperate as to dump the jugs of drinking water in. Not all of them... but a few. We got it as full as possible, about mid thigh, and started. It was a packed house thankfully, and I got to baptize her. I had to do it three times because her dress kept coming up, but luckily she was a champ and had a smile on the whole time. All in all, it was the most work ive had to do for a baptism, but it was for some reason one of the most fufilling.

We had changes today. our zone got wiped out. Elder Higginson and I are the only companionship that stayed together. Everyone else got a new comp or left. One area got closed, and we are absorbing it. Our area more than doubled, and now we have about 1/4 of the whole city. Its insane.

We have a lot of good things coming up. I hope and pray that all of you do too. Dahlin, write me asap. Nick, have a great homecoming, and then write me asap. that is all.

I love everyone!

Love,

Elder Kitterman

March 12 2012

So this morning we got up at 4:00 to go with a couple to go get their blood drawn and pictures taken to so they could get all the paperwork in order to get married. I have no idea what they ask for in the states when you want to get married, but here they make you jump through hoops. So we go before the butt crack of dawn and we are waiting outside the hospital for forever. Luckily we were one of the first ones in line, but son after we got there, everyone and their uncles starting showing up. it was like amad house. When it got time to open the doors, slowly everyone starting moving closer and closer until all the people in the front could barely move. I thought a brawl was going to break out. These people take their health care very seriously, because to be honest, its more like a first come, first serve type thing in te hospitals. There is little to no organization. It made me grateful to live in america. Sure we have plenty of issues with health care and stuff like that, but i will take that over what they have here anyday.

But all in all, everything got done finally. We have been asking this couple to do this for weeks now, and they always put it off. So we went with them to make sure they did it. The womans name is Daici and she will be gettin baptized with her little 9 year old niece this coming saturday. We are stoked because its the first baptism the ward has had in a while. Then the following week we have a cool 18 yeard old guy named Edgar, who we finally just got to change jobs so he could go to church and get baptized. He is super stoked and we are already teaching and ridicously deep topics in the lessons like endowments and exaltation and all the stuff that converts never even hear off. The crazy part is he justs picks it up himself reading the scriptures and listening in church. In addition, we have a 16 year girl who has a 1 and 1/2 year old son that is extremely anxious to get baptized. She has been waiting for some time, because she isnt married to her boyfriend. She is underaged, so she has to wait till her dad gets back from fishing for 2 months to sign the paper so she can get married and then baptized. Things are moving pretty well here.

I always thought that as I gained more time and wisdom in the mission, I would be able to find more time inbetween everything. But its the exact opposite. Im not only finding, but also looking for more opporunites to work more, do more, help more. Its wake up, do work, sleep, then do it again. Most times, the last person I think about is myself, and thats where true happiness is found. Ive realized that satisfying your own personally desires or needs can be, well, satisfying, but its far from fufilling. The biggest lesson Ive learned on my mission is to be humble. To give up yourself, and give it all to the Lord. It sounds so cliche, but "getting lost in the work" takes on a whole different meaning when it actually happens. The smile is no longer a forced habit. Its genuine.

Sorry the isnt any photos this week, or any really cool stories for that matter. I will pay more attention (i tell myself this every week, but this week its goning to happen) to what goes down during the week. Congrats to Dahlin and Nick for finishing strong. Write me when you get home!! Hope everyone has a great week. Love you!

Love,

Elder Kitterman

March 5 2012

¡Eyyyyyy!

 

So sorry for not writing a letter to everyone last week. It got a little crazy with all the special changes. For those who have no idea what im talking about, two weeks ago I got special changed to the other side of the city of Campeche with Elder Parra, who was already in my zone, and then a week later, last monday, he got special changed out and Elder Higginson arived. Im now in an area called Santa Lucia, and its.... well there arent any other words besides "pretty mexican", which is a really good thing. All my areas have been "pretty mexican", and thats how i like it. There are a few areas in the mission that have a lot of money, but they are all in Merida or Cancun, and speaking of those thats where Elder Higginson is coming from right now. Its my first white companion in like 10 months. He has 15 months in the mission, and has spent his whole time here in Mexico in one area. Well, technically it was 2 areas, but they are right next to eachother and share the same chapel and everything. So he is prety stoked to be here. He is from Hunington Beach and is a machine. He was surfing from the time he could walk, is super duper nice and friendly with EVERYONE (sometimes i dont understand how he does it), and is pretty much the kind of guy you dont introduce your girlfriend to. We are already throwing fire here.

 

We usually have no idea where we are, but amazingly we have rarely gotten lost. We kinda just walk in the direction we think it is, and we get there alright. We have some pretty solid investigators going and we are finding truck loads. We dont have any baptisms line up for this week, but the week after there are two women that are going to get married really soon and we are shooting for the 17th of March. Back in my last area, the family we were teaching in getting baptized this week. Armando and Minerva. I had some of my funnest and most interesting lessons with them, and Im hoping that I will be able to go see their baptism. I dont have a lot of pics from this week, but I hope to take a lot more this week now that everything has calmed down. I just have one of us and the other Elders in our ward. Elder Higgonson is the one on the far left. There are two pairs cause its a big ward. Sorry I dont have too much more, but hopefully next week! I love you guys. Have a great week!

 

Love,

 

Elder Kitterman

February 27 2012

Zack had a crazy week with some emergency changes, so he didn't have time to write a general letter.

February 20 2012

I have no idea what I want to write today. I know right, BIG surprise. I will start with the highlights

The baptism went great. But it was only one. Maria Louisa's mom got really sick and she had to leave town to visit her in Champoton (my last area, go figure). She should be getting baptizing this coming saturday if nothing else comes up. I dont think it will since she has waited long enough. But Monsserrat was baptized by her grandpa and it went great. She was suppppper excited about it. That always helps. But when we got home that night, the lady that lives below up that we rent the house from gave us some interesting news. She has been hearing on the news lately about men that live in the state of Chiapas (South-east of Campeche) and Guatemala(thats right Carlos, im about to rag on your hood) that get young women to fall in love with them over the internet by sweet talking them and sending money. After a short period of time they pay to have to travel to wherever they are at and then pretty much kidnapp them and sell them for prostiution and drugs. Well this was somewhat alarming to all of us because Monsserrat has been internet dating a guy she has never actually met for a few months and already has plans to move to Guatemala towards the end of March to get married and live happily ever after. Supposedly, he is working in New York right now, and for that reason cant come to at least meet her first or anything. The whole situation is very sketchy. I would really rather not have a convert kidnapped. We talked to her after her confirmation and explained that she now has the precious gift of the holy ghost, and if she seeks it out, she will find guidance. We also advised her to talk with the bishop, as she was officially out of our hands. Crazy stuff.

Other than that, it was a quiet week. Just working hard and trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible. Its getting hot again! Today we played baseball. First time in a long time... It was kinda interesting, seeing as they young men we played with didnt have any idea how to do anything, but it all worked out and was fun.

I attached pics from Monsse's baptism as well as the baptism from last week.

Well i hope everyone has a great week and is loving life. Peace

Love,

Elder Kitterman

February 13 2012

Hey everyone!

 

So i decided to write the peeps first today, so im left with pretty much no time to write. The baptisms went great. It was actually one of the better services ive been in. They are going to be fantastic members. We have two more baptisms this saturday. A 20 year muchacha we have been teaching for a while and the lady that was abandoned (sp?) by her husband a few years ago with 3 little kids. Well I will make sure to write a better letter next week! Have a good one. 

 

Love,

 

Elder Kitterman