Photos from Kyle

We received some photos from Kyle today.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

Who leaves a piano on the side of the road?

Playing with someone's pet python

Why do missions fly by? Ames 8/22/11

So time is going by way to fast! honestly, we are 1/8th of the way through the mission already! idk if that seems that long to everyone else out there, but it went by so fast!

This week was just another week in the Gila valley. Not a whole lot going on. Exept the fact that i got no mail this week, NO MAIL! what is this peeps? haha jk its not that big of a deal. The campbell boys are getting ready for the baptism this week, we made them some invites, and have the program all set up. im so excited about it :D.
A fun little mission fact for you though, this next transfer, including the couple missionaries and the mission pres, we will have 230 missionaries in the mission! there weren't even that many when the mission was twice the size! its pretty crasy, the lord must have alot in store for the mission.

As far as obedience goes mom, im the most apostat missionary in the mish... not. haha we follow the rules alot closer then most of the other missionaries. but i guess we aren't perfect. on the other end of things though, you  have the 110% missionaries that are so obedient that they start making new rules and crap. its pretty lame. Elder sims was telling me that President Walker a while back said "You aren't on your mission to be obedient, you are here to save souls." so as long as we are using righteous judgment we are doing fine. which we do. :D

So funny story that happened this morning, i was reading in the new era, as i do sometimes, and i came across a photo of a bunch of young women. I just glanced at it and i thought one of the girls looked like Tori Leavett, so i looked a little closer, and it was! ha, So i scanned around the pictures and i recognised about 8 people that live up in diamond haha. the new era is from like 2006 so its a super old photo, but super funny!

Not a whole lot more going on, Transfers are this next week, so im not sure whats going to happen there. im pretty sure im going to stay for at least one more, im hoping its with elder sims, we have gotten along real well.

love you all!
> Elder Ettinger <

Investigators who just walk into church? Sweet! Kyle 8/22/11

Hello there,

So this week has been a pretty big change for the village ward success that we've been having!

Earlier on in the week we got two referals from the sisters in the ward above us, they said that a couple just walked on in to church and was really interested in what was there for them. We got their address and called them up as soon as we could. We had our first lesson with them on tuesday! There names are Valerie and Lawrence, Valerie right off the bat of the lesson asked us when she would be able to get baptized! we told her that they would have to hear some lessons, and learn about the gospel before jumping right into getting baptized! Lawrence is super excited as well! and i'm super super stoked for how solid these two are gonna be! Recognizing the miracles  is so awesome!

This transfer has totally flown on by! I want to stay in this ward again so i can teach the 4 investigators we have now!

Elder riley and i are sorta getting along more, this past week has had some tough days but, i'm pulling through the rough spots.

Sounds like the Garden is in great abundance this year! keep up the good work on it!

I also enjoyed the picture of you guys going down the river! looks super fun! reminds me of the river trip ames and i went on as deacons with dads priest quorum.

Obeying the rules? I try my very best to obey every single mission rule! There are some that everyone has their own opinions about. But, i try and follow them all! 

My mission is the coolest thing ever! and i know there are little miracles here and there everyday! its so great!

Thanks for all the updates and prayers and support! You're all so great!

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

God Speed Ames 8/16/11

I love using the phrase "God Speed" whenever i can ha, its just so cool. This last week was a real winner, and i will tell you why (Duh). The Campbells have set a date! pretty freaking stoked! There were a couple families focusing on them through this miracle lesson that we have been doing, and brother campbell has changed so much in the last two weeks. The baptism will be on the 27th, so its still a couple weeks away, but we are still going over there, and we are going to keep making it solid, they are already inviting people, so that is making it a little bit better as well, there are going to be so many people there. its nuts! Also this week, we got to do some service building an awning. it was so fun! im glad that mom and dad made us kids work hard growing up becasue now its all just fun and like no work. We were also doing some drywalling at another members house, and i was wiring up some kitchen outlets, three of them were cold (Not connected to power) but then i had to hook them up to the power that came out of the ground, and their house is old so it doesnt have a breaker for all of the house. so i was hooking up the hot lines to power these outlets i just put in, and i got electrocuted! haha it was freaking cool. and it didnt even hurt! i was kinda surprised! So yesterday when we were over there again, i wanted elder sims to touch it so he could see what its like, but he wouldnt do it. So Brother flake got some spare wire and jammed it in the outlet and then took the other ends and zapped elder sims when he was up on a ladder. haha. it was funny. Naturally though he had to come in the other room and get me too. which then tripped the breaker. but when he got back from out side we told him that he had to do it too, so i got to shock him. Super funny. Dont we all just love missionary work?

Thats pretty much all thats going on. Im emailing on tuesday because today is our Temple day! im so excited! its been too long! like over two months since i have gone!

Anywho. Pretty Short today, Transfers are coming up on the 30th, man this one just flew! Im hoping that i stay in the Gila also with elder sims, we have become pretty tight, but he is more than likly going spanish. so we will see.

Love you all!

--

> Elder Ettinger <

Kyle 8/15/11

Hello Everyone,

So this past week just flew on by! It was pretty awesome!

We went out tracting on wednesday morning and got into a house with a girl named katelyn, she seemed pretty interested in what we had to say! and we got to set up another appointment for this up coming thursday! so we're pretty stoked about it!

Our other investigator kayla, isn't super excited about us ever coming over, whenever we get in her house she's always busy and can't talk long, so we set up an appointment, and she keeps bailing on us! so we're just gonna give her some space to chill and we'll try and contact her again in a few weeks.

So i've become somewhat attached to a younger couple in the ward, he and his brother recently got married about 7 or 8 months ago. well, this past month BOTH of them are now single guys! i'm so ticked off! one of the brothers john, his wife just left one night and took all of her stuff and no one has seen her for the longest time! its so upsetting! we're gonna make occasional stops to their house and let them know we're there to help... oh and they're gonna be laying a whole back yard with sod soon!! Woo!! i'm so excited for doing that! Bishop has me well trained for it!

my companion and i have been getting along more and more as i keep my mouth shut more and more ha. He's just not a sarcastic person, and he always relates EVERYTHING i say to the gospel! basically to make me always feel quilty. oh well!

Sounds like everyone else had a blast on the river trip! i'm excited to see pictures of it! gotta love mail!

We're about to head out to get our hair cut! i'm gonna get mine cut as short as the mission standards allow.

have a great week everyone! you're all in my prayers! and missions are so fun!

Much love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

p.s we'll be 3 months this thursday! Party on!

Kyle 8/7/11

Hello Everyone,

So this week has actually been better than the past few as far as the missionary work goes.

We still haven't got the chance to go see kayla, but we really need to get that going! Because she seems like she really wants to learn! But, shes so busy with work and school also starts this week. So i hope we can get something going again with her. we shall see!!

We got a referal text from the MTC, someone in our area requested a book of mormon, so we instantly dropped what we were doing and headed over to his house. He said he had been to that "Cove fort" place in Utah?. i couldn't remember where it was. He said all he could remember is signing up for a free gift. So he really didn't even know that he was getting the book of mormon. But, we plan to try and take him a lamb of god dvd as well. SO maybe we'll get into his house this time.

Our main focus and success this week was updating our ward directory. By finding out who had all moved out of the ward. We have found this last week that over 15 families have moved out! So now we know not to waste our time assigning them home teachers! No wonder our ward turn out is so low! The people who should be coming aren't even there!! Crazy!

Today we're emailing at a widow members home, and doing laundry. Her husband loved cars! So she has like 10 different porche's and a ton of motorcycles to! i was like in heaven! i'm gonna head back out to her shop to look around more after my emailing.

The picture i sent of my desk was a few days before a p-day, where i got to finally buy a CD player to use. So now i do have one. Maren sent us a couple different CD's awhile back. As of right now, my companion will only let me listen to the church one! and no disney because he's so strict with it. Thanks for sending the package! i'm excited to get it!

I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and advice and everything!

Take it easy now!

love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

Missionary Mail Ames - 8/8/11

Not a whole lot going on this week, as far as investegators go we are just the same as last week, although one of the campbell boys bore his testimony yesterday, i didnt get to hear it because i was in 5th ward, but elder sims said it was really cool, and the bishop later told us that his testimony answered some lady in the wards prayers! so that was pretty cool, Other than that we have just been doing some more member lessons this week, i think we got 13 more in. So at least the members are getting a little more excited about the work in the area. so just a few things that i wrote down to mention in my email this week: I broke a members chair at a dinner appointment this last week, i leaned over a little too far, and next thing I knew i was on the floor! haha, it must just run in the family. I also dropped my planner in the freaking toilet! and as kyle knows, your planner out in the field is pretty much your life. haha so i had to get a new one. good thing we were only a week into the transfer. So i was going to attach some pictures but since you want we to send some ill just do that instead, and then i can write some little notes on the back of them. Ill send you a good amount.

Thats pretty much it for this week, have a good one!
Love you all!
Elder Ettinger

Photos from Kyle

This is one of Kyle's mission service activities.
Bishop Cooper and Clyde prepared him well.

Kyle's first district in Apple Valley
?, Elder Bowler, ? Kyle

Elder Riley, Kyle's new companion,  and Elder Ettinger with
the mission bear and Kyle's Greenie cake.

Hello All - Kyle 8/1/11

Hello all,

 

So this week has been pretty much the same in the village ward, not much work going on. but a few cool things to report.

 

Our investigator kayla bailed on us, so we tried going back the next day to see if she was home! she was! but, we only got to chat with her for about ten minutes or so.

We are still trying to contact the less actives in our ward, and there are just hundreds to go through! its so crazy how not updating your ward directory wastes time for us as missionaries!

We have a cool family in the ward, a fomer bishop brother cannon. They're the ones i told you about a few weeks ago in an email, saying how they knew the snyders in our stake...

well, they're going back to st george in october, and i gave them our home address, so they could meet the parents of the missionary in their area. I was excited to tell them about where we live and how it would be legit to have them see you guys. Anyways, i'm planning on printing out some pictures to send home today after email time.

 

Today for p-day, we got to go on this sweet hike with a small waterfall and stuff! pretty exciting! and the weather was way nice!

 

Speaking of weather! we were taking a nap during lunch on a nice sunny day, and all the sudden i woke up to the loud thunder??.... Look out the window, and it was just dumping rain! it was super random! but it was nice to! because it helps cool off the desert! but, after the rain its always super gross and humid.

 

Elder Riley and i.... Not getting along as well as elder bowler and i. But, i think its my sarcasm that dad warned me about before going out on my mission. I'm trying not to joke around as much. To not offend him anymore than i probably have already. But, we're still doing our best to work hard and get lots of less actives visited!

 

Sorry this week doesn't have much to report! It sounds like everyone else is doing great!

 

Thanks for all of the support and love and awesome emails! its something i look forward to.

 

enjoy your week!, love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

YO YO! Ames 8/1/11

So the yo yo subject line comes from one of my ward mission leaders, he always says yo yo or hey hey when we call him on the phone. And i guess while im on the topic, Last week dad mentioned about the mormon message about the two kids from Safford and thatcher high schools, im assuming that you read about it in the new era? if not go look in there cuz there is an article in there about it. I have seen the new convert kid at the local car wash where he works and where we get free car washes =D. also, The "Brother Palmer" that is mentioned is my ward mission leader, he is so tight, we went by his house this last week and milked his goats haha. That story is cool and all, but being here in thatcher you learn of the real story haha, the kid that baptized his friend as of right now isnt going on a mission, he is staying home for his girlfriend. . . .  like come on, there has to be some law written in heaven that is irrevocably decreed that you cant be in the new era and not go on a mission. what kind of example is he setting for his new convert friend, i would say a pretty bad one!... moving on. This week elder sims said, "This was the worst week for reporting numbers of my whole mission, but it wasnt the least productive" We only taught 2 lessons the whole week to our investigators, and both were at bobs. I'll talk about the campbells in a minute. So why was it a productive week you ask? well we are starting a new way at approaching the work in this area, We are teaching a short lesson to the members of our wards what we call the "Member Miracle lesson" Which basically challenges them to pray for a miracle to happen so that they can share the gospel with a less active or non member friend. it was from this lesson that we were able to start teaching bob a month and a half ago now, so we decided to take it to the next level, This past week we have taught said lesson to 19 diffrent families. and some of them chose to focus on more then one person, so there are like 25 diffrent people being prayed for in every family and personal prayer this week. and elder sims and i are praying with the families so we have a white board with all the names down that we have to read becasue there are too many names to remember :D we are so excited to see the miracles just start pouring in :D like i said we have taught it 19 times and we have at least 5 more this week and we call people every day to set up more appointments. So on to the campbell family, The boys didnt get baptized this last saturday, buzz kill. sister campbell told the boys on sunday that they needed to get permission from their dad to be baptized that next weekend, (Up to this point bro campbell said it was ok if they took the lessons and could honestly tell him that they had a testimony) well they went and asked and i guess he flat out said no and sister campbell told us not to come over for a week to give him some space, so we really have no idea what to do. a couple of families from the member lesson thing are praying for bro campbell, so we hope to see some miracles soon =/. On a more crazy coincidence note, we had dinner last night with the hatch family in our ward, check this out: They have a set of Identical twins, and yes, they were born ten weeks early. You think that is cool? well its not as cool as the fact that they have a daughter named maren!! spelled the same way! I was freaking out! and to put some icing on the cake, they know some people in our stake that kyle and i went to high school with. Robert and Raymand Patterson's family, yea the mom of this family lived next to the pattersons when they lived in Vegas. What the freak? So thats my fun little story for the week. We start doing some follow up appointments with the members this week ill let you all know what goes down!

Today for p-day we are going to Fry mesa, its a little mesa just south of the gila, The weather is always cooler up there, and we are going to go hike around a lake, and maybe do some fishing. and naturaly im going to have to skip some rocks =D. other then that though we usualy just play some basketball, which im not so good at but i like playing and getting better so its good too.;

Much love

> Elder Ettinger <

ps. Im so glad i just remembered this, Dont send any more mail to the cota appartments!!!!!! we now have a po box, but in order to stop having all these mail issues, just send the mail to the mission office in tucson.