Kyle 7/25/11

Hello everyone,

 

So i'm also staying in the village ward as i told everyone last week, i went down the hill to pick up my new companion, his name is elder Riley, he's a pretty cool kid, he's from knoxville, tenessee. We get along pretty well i guess you could say, but, we don't have a whole lot of things in common compared to elder bowler and myself.

 

This past week wasn't super successful as far as missionary work goes, To answer a couple questions, our investigator kayla, we have our second lesson with her this up coming thrusday and i'm really excited about it! we're gonna teach the plan or salvation! and its gonna be legit! i drew out my own picture flash card things for each step of the plan. I think it should go pretty well.

 

During the week, i think last wednesday, i got into my first Bash with a lady at the door as we were tracting.  . . .  It was a good learning experience.

 

Most of the rest of the week was slow tracting and trying to visit less actives like usual, on the 23 of july we had a stake pioneer day thing at one of our church buildings, i made my own homemade rope!! pretty sweet i know!, we also had games and music and things. Elder riley and myself were in charge of helping the kids make their ropes. it was some good fun

 

I think our p-day activity today is volleyball, but i havn't heard anything from the zone leaders recently, so i dunno if it'll even go through. I want to do more hikes compared to sports. When lame sports are being played at the church gym, i often times go find the relief society room and play piano for the time that we're there. Its more fun for me.

 

Thanks for showing pictures of the yard and mom's huge garden that is growing and growing quite fast!! Thats always cool to see.

 

i got a post card from wisconsin i think it was, but i only got one, so i'm not sure if you sent another one. Mail always gets messed up during transfers. But its back to normal now.

 

The day of transfers, with my new companion elder Riley, i totally blew through a stop sign while driving on accident and it was super scary! The next day, i turned on a blind corner, and the car coming towards me had to swerve out of the way and totally slid off the road and started cussing me out BIG time!! Both little events about made me pee my pants! but dont worry i'm safe!!

 

I love you all so much! thanks for the support you give me! Life goes on here in applevalley!

 

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

The Days Turn Into Weeks - Ames 7/25/11

This week wasnt a whole lot diffrent than last week. The campbell family needed yet another break, we didnt get to see them all week. They are supposed to be baptized this saturday, but if we dont get ahold of sister campbell today we will have to postpone it once again, becasue we need time to schedule the building and make programs and invitations and what not. Sooooo we will see if it actualy happens =/ We have made some good progress with bob though =D we actualy taught him a full lesson and we answered quite a few of his questions. He keeps saying "That makes sence" ha so we are hoping to continue to see some progress out of him. On a compleatly diffrent note, Elder sims' brother just got home from his mission this last week, so we are watching a video his mom sent him of his brother getting off the plane haha pretty crazy stuff! So for the 24th of july, thatcher has a huge celebration put on by the stake. it was way sick. There was a big parade, in which there was a missionary float, i got to be one of the missionaries walking along side the float handing out mormon.org cards. it was so freaking fun. I roughly estamated that i handeed about 200 cards out. It was way fun because i was trying to spot all of the non members out and make sure they got cards saying things like "Check out this site" or "Mormon.org, Pretty legit" haha it was just awesome. At the end of the parade Route there was a big barbeque where you could buy super cheap food, and games for the kids. ending the night with some local singer where all of his songs were about how he cant get a girlfriend and then fireworkds, which were super lame because its such a small town. but it was still fun. I officialy decided that im going to get my pyrotechnics licence and help out with shows like that. Then last night we went to a members house to have a short message becasue the family likes having us over, so before we left they did some fireworks and ended with some nice illegals =D which they apparently bought from Utah, I guess they have lessened the restrictions there on arial fireworkds? update me on this please. So as far as pday goes, we usualy play alot of basketball, and sometimes we play some dodgeball to warm up for basketball. im still not very good at it, but im getting better. After we are all done playing and are just sitting around talking, i like to shoot half court shots just for some fun, I made 8 last week, and there were two times where two of them were in a row. pretty fun. Also, sometime this next week there is a jump up by my ward mission leaders house that i have been wanting to hit. it is small but it gaps over this little ditch. probably only about a 4 foot gap if that. Ill get some video footage of it for you if it goes down =D

Thats pretty much all for this week. Love you all!

> Elder Ettinger <

Another Transfer in the Gila Valley - Ames 7/19/11

As the subject line states, im staying in the gila for another transfer. Im still with elder sims, the only change is that he stepped up to district leader. ha. so not a whole lot there. We moved appartments last week as well. the new one is alot bigger but it isnt as nice. which is kind of a buzz kill, but its no biggie. we dont have a mail box though at the new place, so just keep sending mail to the old adress, because the zone leaders are staying there now and they will take care of our mail. So sunday night we had a fireside. like elder sims and I came up with the idea and pulled it off. It was a youth fireside and we were surprised at how many youth actualy showed up! Legit! it was on youth missionary work like in highschool and stuff. it was a ton of fun to stand up infront of all the kids and teach them and stuff. You always think that the 20 min talks in church were hard. well. an hour long fireside is so easy to do! pretty sweet. A little update on the campbells. We are now planning on the 30th of july for their bap. and we are pretty sure that it will work out well. we are pretty excited about it. not a whole lot more going on than that. Thanks Maren for making the CD's ill be looking for them. I forgot to tell you that disney music is OK to listen to. and elder sims and i occacionaly sing some of the classics. elder sims alerady has a disney cd, but it is in spanish haha. we still listen to it though. Being transfer week our Pday is on tuesday, and we had to shuttle elders to and from the transfer site all morning, so our pday is pretty much eaten up. not too happy about it. so im going to keep this email a little shorter so we can go play some sports today :D

Love you all.

Talk to you next week!!

Elder Ettinger

7/18/11 - Kyle

Hello there,

 

This week has been super great! i have some awesome news! When i was on exchanges with elder Hargraves. We got a referal text from the mission office. And so we wasted no time in going over to the girls house. She seemed super interested in learning about our church and the things that we believe! My first inevstigator in the village ward! WINNER!! ha. I am not being transfered out! staying in the village ward at the same address! just so you guys know.

 

Elder Bowler however is being transfered out :/ i'm gonna miss elder bowler a bunch! its been so sweet to serve with another elder from st george! He's stepping up in the ranks and becoming a zone leader! He's really excited about that new adventure he'll be taking in the mission. He's actually gonna be a zone leader with another elder from st george! he's like elder bowlers best friend. Elder segmiller. Maren probably knows him. I just knew of him.

 

So tomorrow i get to drive down the hill with a different elder. his name is elder bigs, to san berdoo to pick up my new companion! I'm really stoked for the drive down there. its super pretty and awesome right until you get down into the actual gross smoggy valley. I don't really want to ever serve "down the hill" as it is called here in the county. Because up here in AV the weather and air quality is WAY better than down there.

 

Sorry if i forget to answer questions. i always seem to forget! my bad!

 

i still haven't figured out a good awesome powerful scripture to give bishop! i've been thinking of a bunch. but haven't come down to one yet. I'm still workin on it ok?  Maybe i'll have one by the time this email is done.

 

Alright i chose my scripture! i would like to have...D&C 42: 6-7 You guys can look it up and read it. Its a pretty sweet one!

 

Sounds like everyone is doing really well!! I'm really glad that i don't have to ride in the car for twelve hours! that would really stink. However, elder bowler and i have driven all over the place in our area! we get 1000 miles each month. And we went over last month, and we'll probably go over that this month to. Lots of driving!

 

I love you family and friends! Thanks for the support and encouragement!

Have a great week! I'll let you know who my companion is next week!

 

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

7/13/11 - Kyle

Hello everyone!

 

So i know its wednesday and not a monday, and everyone is probably thinking i'm dead in applevalley. BUT! i'm still alive and doing well! The reason we're emailing on wednesday is because we were suppost to have a temple trip today. So last monday was just a regular work day. however, wednesday came around, and the temple trip got cancelled for a few of us. Because no members wanted to take us down the hill to redlands. Oh well, i wasn't to upset about it. Because i know there will be more opportunities to go to the temple over my mission. We get to go just about every three months i believe.

 

The past few days have been sorta different. Monday was a good day for me. Elder Hargraves (Another elder from a different district in our zone) came on exchanges with me. We got some bike tuning done. and a little tracting and things like that. Today, all the way to friday, we're on exchanges again, because my companion elder bowler and hargraves companion, elder teichert, are going down the hill for some leadership meetings or something. Out of our whole zone of like 15, there are only like 6 elders up here in our zone for the rest of the week ha. So we have to cover my area in the village ward. And elder hargraves area in the sunset hills ward! Pretty intense stuff!

 

Elder Bowler was pretty sick yesterday, so we just had our usual tuesday district meeting, and then went back to the house so he could rest up and hopefully feel better so he could go down the hill today. So basically we just slept for like 4 hours during the day. Very un-productive. But thats all you can do when your companion is sick and can't go out and work.

 

I was very happy to see how happy lil' buddy was at jim's house in oatman! and i'm glad he got there safe! Like ames said, we'll have to take a road trip sometime and go see him.

 

Question: dad, elder hargraves has an aunt that lives in st george and works for IHC in the hospital for like pre-mature babies i think. Her name is, Barbra Crossley? Just curious to see if you know her. Since dad knows everyone in the world.

 

I'm excited to get some more pictures and things! Mail is the greatest. However, send our mail to the office, just in case i get transfered to a new area. Transfer calls are this SATURDAY! everyone in our zone wants to stay at least one more transfer. I agree with them. I have a good feeling about our second transfer in the village ward. Now that we have things under control.

 

THanks for everyones love and support! like i say everytime, seems like everyone is having  fun back there at home. And randomly dad is going all over the country! ha

 

Love you all, Elder Kyle Ettinger

Ames is moving!

Good to hear from you all, looks like we all had a pretty slow week ha. this one, like kyles was the slowest of the mission. even elder sims said it was the slowest that he has ever had, but we have some sweet potentials lined up that should be good :D. I got to meet my new Mission pres. he seems like a way fun chill guy ha. there havent been many changes, in fact there have been none. So ill keep you posted on what happens in the coming weeks. glad to hear buddy got to go to oatman. maybe i will have to road trip there on some p day ;) haha. speaking of road trips. we had an 80 mile drive to get to our zone conf. this last week. road trips are so fun! we listened to this conversion story of this catholic guy it was so sick! its called catholic conversion. so try to find it and kyle im sure someone has it out there in apple313. So like i said, slow week this week. the Campbell boys are set for there baptism on the 30th of this month, i hate how it got pushed back so far, but its going to happen, and brother campbell is making some good progress. We also reactivated this family. the dad wants to be ready to baptize his kid in october and then they are going to work towards going to the temple to be sealed. which when that happens if they want to invite me i can go no matter where in the mission i am at :D. so some bad news came to us on thursday... we have to move :( its so lame! to make a long story short, the zone leaders have been wanting our appartment for a long time, becasue it is a two bedroom and theirs is only a one. and when sister cluff called from the mission office saying that a set of missionaries needed to move out of the cota appartments they basicly told her that we needed to go and that they should move into ours... so now instead of moving one set they are moving two. so lame. im pretty not happy about it. our new appt is pretty junkie. at least form the outside. we drove by it the other day... idk. we will see. we dont spend any time there anyways ha so it doesnt matter. So if mom you could be so kind as to tell everyone to just send letters and what not to the mission home, until i have a new address that would be much appreciated. in other news: Iv been riding my bike more. it is so sick. elder sims and i went mountainbiking this morning just in this washy area, the trail sucked but we climbed to the top of this plateau and took some cool pictures. not much more than that going on im sad to say. Im hoping next week will be a better one. :D

Love you all!

Elder Ettinger

ps Dad, i dont work on the campus at all, that is all the zl's do, so if we find anyone that is classified as a young single adult. they get to teach them. even if they arent going to the school :(

The sunsets are pretty amazing here.

The Gila Valley Temple
The reflection is from the hood of the car - pretty artistic eh?

A big fire is burning in our area.

This is our area from a atop the plateau we rode our bikes up.

Kyle's email - 7/5/11

Hello everyone,

This past week has been pretty interesting, its been one of the more tough and even slower weeks than what we've had in the past, which is hard to say, because the slow work here is like dead slow, i didn't think it could get any worse, but this past week just dragged on forever and no real work got done. We Got in with a less-active lday who was from england, i thought it was funny that ames talked to some dude that went to england, twins are awesome. Anyways, we ended up staying there for like an hour and a half just having a good BRT session. (Build relationship trust) and not really rushing right in about the gospel and what not ya know? We haven't gone back to her house since then, but we are probably going to head back over there and talk sometime this week. We think that she's going to a whole new church, so it may be tough getting her to come back. Sadly thats really the only happy good news to report as far as the mission work goes.

 

Yesterday being the 4th of july, most of the day it didn't even feel like a holiday, apperently most of the holidays feel like a regular day out here on a mission. And i totally understand why because even on holidays we go out and proselyte. However, here in apple valley no one ever answers there door if they are home, and most people aren't even home to begin with around the holiday times. The member that we live with, crazy bob, he's even out of town. Lake powell trip for him! ha

 

Anyways, yesterday was an amazing random miracle! It started out being like 106 degree's when we went on our p-day hike, and like half way through the day, some really thick crazy clouds rolled in, and just dumped a ton of rain down on apple valley! for like an hour it was just constant hard rain, we're talking the highest speed setting on the windshield wipers! thats how hard it was! I was like blown away! and so stoked for it to be raining during the hot summer!

 

Dad, i finally got on my bike this week, not anything super impressive, but elder bowler and i have been going on morning bike rides for our excercise each morning, today was our second day. We have a sweet little route planned out thats just around neighborhood. With a couple of empty dirt lots with some small jumps included.

 

I'm really glad to see that buddy will be getting a new home! i'm slightly upset that its not in st george where i could visit him more often. But i'll definately get around to "Boatman" AZ and go see that crazy dog! When is buddy going to be moving there? Also, in my last email i asked for some pictures of buddy? i appreciated the ones in the email. But i was asking if i could by chance have some prints made that i can put on my desk?? sorry i should've specified in my last letter.

 

Everything is going pretty well on my mission overall! And i'm still so glad i chose to come out and serve. I feel like we're gonna have a good week this week as we locate more less active families, and part member families.

 

Thanks for all of the love and support! And keep up the good work with everything back home!

 

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

 

Ames email - 7/5/11

So this last week was good. Kinda slow. sounds about the same as kyles. But the work is still progressing. The other day we were walking down the street and i found a really dirty burned cd, like someone had copied a cd. so we took it home that night and cleaned it up and threw it in the car stereo the next day, i was a little nervous as to what i was about to hear... guess what it was... Phantom of the Opera!!! i know right! the cd is scratched up quite a bit so it skips a ton, but we listened to what we could, ha it was so hilarious. Thanks for your package. im assuming im going to get it tomorrow? we couldnt email yesterday because the library was closed. so yea :D im emailing today. anywho, there is a guy in one of my wards that went to england on his mission back in the day. he went to the birmingham mission? i think thats what it is called. it is the same one that swallowed the coventry and the same on that marcus steed is in right now. so that was fun to chat with him about. he reminded me of "Guy Fox Day" ha which was pretty funny. it was at this same members house where we got our hair cuts on saturday. i now have two bald spots =/ she slipped with the clippers and well yea. you get what i mean. haha the worst part was that she didnt even say anything. it wasnt till later in the day when elder sims noticed it! ha i was so bitter. ha another funny story: we were teaching the campbell boys about the attonment and stuff and during the closing prayer, nick blessed that the "satanic forces wouldnt come upon these two young missionaries"..... O_O HE IS 12!!!  why is he talking like that. haha. he loves showing off his big vocabulary. so its pretty funny when he uses words wrong. like once he substituted PSI with Compressed air example :" The air comes in here and becomes PSI" i just laughed. So on a not as happy note with the campbells, brother campbell decided that we were going over there too much and we weren't letting him have enough time with the boys... so we are now limited to seeing them once a week... it wasnt a fun phone call on a pday. We are going over this afternoon to give devin a blessing before he goes into surgury this week. and i have a feeling that it is going to be a pretty powerful blessing. so im excited. They are still set to be baptized at the end of the month. we are going to keep trying our hardest with them though. Moving on though, you always hear about missionaries sacrificing things to go on missions and all the hardships they have to endure while on there missions. ever since getting here in the gila valley i havent slept with a blanket. because i forget to buy one every week. so i just sleep with a sheet :D stupid right hahaha. i went to buy one yesterday but i didnt think that the 25bucks was worth it at walmart lol so im still blanketless. i'll probibly  get one when it gets colder at night. other than that, everything is pretty much the same. Thanks for all the love and letters. i'll be looking for that package in the mail. have a good week :D

 

Love Elder Ettinger

 

ps. Dad do what you want with the old xbox i dont care.

pps for those of you that know what Inception is, my comp went to level two yesterday ha, he woke up and was like 'I just had a dream inside a dream!'' it was awesome! we talk about our dreams every morning, tons of fun!

ppps the first 11 testimonies in sacrament meeing on sunday were under the age of 12, pretty legit.

pppps i found out the reason why we wear white shirts... you cant see the sweat. (nast huh)

ppppps i meet the new pres tomorrow. we are having a zone conf. should be pretty fun. the zls had a phone conf. call the other day and said he sounds pretty stressed haha. so tomorrow should be fun :D

pppppps last zone conf. we had a little testimony meeting at the end. i got up and bore my testimony and also thanked pres.lunt (who was there) for having a good influence on my dad because without that i wouldnt have been standing there that day. i was inspired to mention it so im glad that he appriciated it