Ames 11/28/11

I know i pretty much say it every email, but time just flippin flies by! This week, like kyles was a pretty slow week. With thanksgiving and taking over the area from elder turnbull and wrapping my head around this training a new missionary idea. Crazy stuff thats for sure. We were only able to teach about 4 lessons this week, so that was lame. But we had some fun stuff happen. Saturday night we were asked to give a little talk in Primary, man i love the little kids! they are so fun. I miss my little primary class. Also, Saturday night we were asked to do a youth fireside the next day! the decons quorm president forgot to get someone to speak at the fireside! (Dad dont let this happen) So they asked us missionaries to do it. Luckly for me i still had my notes from when elder Sims and i did that fireside back in thatcher. so we pretty much just mirrored that one. It was SO much fun! We talked for about an hour, and it was so easy. Im loving how i can just stand up infront of people and not be nervous at all. Also this week, we tracted into a pastor  and he was really nice, he explained how he didnt want to argue about religion but he was more than happy to "Have us over and show us what the bilble really says" haha. he gave us some buisness card and his cell number. I felt really prompted to tract that street that day and he was the only person that showed us any intrest. So maybe we are supposed to go back and talk to him sometime? we will see.

 So dad asked how senior comp is going. Its going good, im kinda realizing though that once you "Go" senior comp you stay senior comp. So im pretty sure i will be here the rest of my mission. which is a bummer at times because you have alot less responsibility when you are Junior Comp. But obviously im supposed to learn how to be a leader and all that. So im not too worried about it.

 My thanksgiving was pretty good, we only had one dinner, and there was zero work to do becasue no one wanted the missionaries around. So we pretty much just kicked it with another companionship.

Hope all else is going well.

Love you all!!!!

Elder Ettinger

ps. i think im getting a wart on my thumb... i havent had one for like 10 years! im so mad.

pps. I want a sweater for Christmas, a mission appropriate one of course. what do you all want?

Kyle 11/28/11

Hello Family!

Thanksgiving this past week was pretty good! it was very different compared to not being at home with the family. But i still had a good time. We ended up eating a full lunch, and two dinners on thanksgiving! holy cow! it was so much food it wasn't even funny!!

My first real district meeting is going to be tomorrow, they don't hold district meetings on the same day as transfers. But since the missionaries in my district all stayed again this transfer, we were able to go to lunch and get to know everyone. We have 3 sets of missionaries in my district including E. Thorpe and myself. and there are 4 Districts in the applevalley stake, hope that answered dads question.

I got a call from the lake arrowhead missionaries last night, i thought they maybe found uncle tim tracting or something. But they just needed a phone number from me. I told them to look out for the glassetts up there though.

So i was gonna start christmas shopping... Any requests from the family? if not, i'll just send some coal off of some railroad tracks down in the sticks of our area. ha

Hope you guys have a wonderful week!!

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

p.s.. i woke up this morning with a killer sore back, and a bad cold, AND a sore throat!! Yay for me!!! Don't worry mom, i took some medicine.

Ames - 11/22/11 Big news!

So i pretty much thought that i would be staying with elder turnbull for another transfer, or have him leave and me "Mom" another companion. That wasnt the case.. I got a call from President Killpack this last thursday. I, like kyle, got a calling. I didnt go district leader though, Im Training! Holy Cow! i was, and still am, super nervous about the whole thing> My new comp is from Coalsville Utah, and i just met him like a few hours ago. Im mostly nervous because i still dont know what im doing really. But i know that it will help me to grow as well. So thats why im excited for it.
Crazy awesome week this week. On thursday night we had a lesson with all those girls like we usualy do on every thursday. But this last one the oldest girl, told us that she wanted to be baptized on saturday! Elder Turnbull and myself were freaking out! haha, so we threw together a baptism on friday and she was interviewed and baptized on saturday! and then confirmed on sunday at church.  Elder Turnbull did the baptism and i was able to do the confirmation. The lord knows how to bless us thats for sure :D
Im glad to hear all the fun times in japan. When we are off of our missions we will have to go :D. Speaking of sushi though, we are going to an all you can eat chinese place tonight with some members. so that should be tasty.
One other way sweet story. We were eating lunch at this sonoran hot dog stand (Hot dogs wrapped in bacon :) ) and there were a bunch of missionaries there and this guy comes up to all of us and bets anyone of us to eat a habenero pepper and keep it down for 10 minutes, and he would give you 20 bucks. None of the missionaries were stepping up to the plate, so naturaly i HAD to. So i shook his hand and popped that pepper in my mouth. It was pretty hot, but not as hot as that chilli that i had back in the Gila Valley. Ten minutes were up and i scored a 20. =) best lunch on the mission so far. 
All else is going good. Like i said im nervous about this whole training gig. but its going to be a blessing i know it. 
Love you all so much!
have a great Thanksgiving. (We are eathing with the Westfalls, so dont be surprised if he calls you again)
God Speed
Elder Ettinger

Now you see it . . . 

Now you don't.  Missionary service

Elder Sims, Elder Ettinger and Elder Staley, Ames' new companion

Additional news from Kyle 11/21/11

Hello family again, i was givin permission to jump back on the computer real quick to let you guys know that i was called by our mission president earlier tonight, and president called me to be a district leader :) just wanted to let you know i accepted the call, i'm super nervous but if i get a good district, it'll be a really fun time. Some extra prayers for my calling would be very appreciative! love you all! have a great week!

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

Kyle is no longer a greenie!

Hello everyone,

I'm once again staying in the village ward of applevalley!! i decided i'm just gonna serve here for the first year of my mission, and then serve in lake arrowhead the other year. ha

So this past week has been a pretty slow week, but we did have some great success one of the days! Sunday was a really great day for two reasons! The first being that the _______ family came to church again! for the second time in a row! i was totally stoked about it! And one of the sisters said afterwards, "Church just felt right today".. I was so happy to hear that i was smiling way big! and she thought i was really weird! it was great! ha and the second thing that made my day was that the same sister stopped smoking! She held strong to the 15 steps that we taught her, and now she has alot less cravings to smoke, and she's really excited to know how much money she is going to save over the course of the years. It was a good day!

Today it is super foggy outside! and we're going down the hill a little bit to hike the mormon rocks! It'll be my second time! but elder thorpe hasnt been so i'm going down for him. but it will also be the last time that i get to see one of my good missionary friends Elder Tenney from richfield UT. He's being transfered down the hill.

Our zone is going to have some crazy problems next transfer because the spanish elders car is leaving one of the appartments. leaving me and our car in charge of trying to give rides to....lets see... 10 other missionaries!!!! How the crap is this suppost to work??

As missionaries, we never hear about the news. So i didn't know that a twin missionary died in texas. Thats really sad!!

Hey dad, so we have a member in our ward that is wanting to buy a small fishing boat. I told him you might be up for selling/giving away the two small marine engines out in the shed. (if you still have them) just let me know! thanks

i'm very excited that i'm staying for the holidays this next transfer! thanksgiving is going to be spent at about 4 or 5 different members houses! Lots of invites ha! But christmas is going to be spent with my favorite family. We're gonna go over to there parents house and have dinner and stuff. It should be a good time! I don't expect alot of christmas presents this year. if not none at all. Just a heads up on that.

Hope your week goes well! and everyone is adjusted from japan! i'm excited for the cards and pictures!!

Love you guys!

Elder Kyle Ettinger

Dense fog in Apple Valley, CA

Ames - 11/14/11

I cant belive that this transfer is already over! holy cow this one went by fast! probibly the fastest so far on the mission.

This last week was a pretty cool week. On Thursday we had a half mission confrence, and Elder Halick from the Seventy came to speak to us.

It was a really good confrence, and i learned alot. We then all had lunch together, and Elder Halick sat at our table! so i got to eat lunch with a General Authority! yea its pretty legit! He then went over to the other side of the mission, for the other half, but he was back on sunday for our stake Confrence. So we got to hear from him a couple of times. He was super nice, and it was really cool that he didnt act like he was something special, he is just a normal guy!

Its flippin crazy that kyle and i hit  6 months this week! It went super fast for me, how about everyone else back home? Time just flies. 1/4th of the mission is gone =(

Japan sounds awesome. Im still super jealous about the whole thing, and the fact that you are going out for sushi is pretty much the dumbest thing i have heard all mission... such a let down =( haha. its all good though. What time did dad end up running it in? was it alot diffrent the the STG because of the altitude? did ya get any squeeses while you were running? haha

So this week, i was thinking about the mission, and how we are to share the gospel with everyone that we see, and especialy when the spirit prompts you to talk to a spesific person. It reminded me of the time in D-Land when we were riding the train around the outside of the park when it was raining really hard, and dad started sharring his testimony with that random english guy. I just remember being so embarrased that dad would do that!, but looking back on it now, thats exactly what we ALL should have been doing! Props Dad! That is one thing that i have changed in my life, not being ashamed to share what i have with those around me!

Love the Gospel!

Love you all

God Speed

Elder Ettinger

Kyle - 11/14/11

Dear Family,

Hey everyone! This past week has been pretty good! But i'm especially excited to report for the events that happened yesterday. It was by far the best sunday on my mission thus far.

I know i've told you about the _______. Who are two sisters with 5 kids. And one of the sisters is married. Elder thorpe gave a talk yesterday. And they finally came to church!!!!!! They stayed for sacrament meeting, and for primary and sunday school for them and the kids!! i was so excited about it! That's not all! After church we went over to their house to teach them a weekly lesson. We showed the kids the restoration DVD. But then we also went over to try and get ____ to stop smoking. The church has a stop smoking lesson, with 15 steps you do everyday. and its garanteed to work. We're praying so hard for her! and your prayers would be much appreciated!

Today for P-day we're playing dodgeball against another zone. And then we're also gonna watch the movie tangled. It should be a pretty exciting day. 

I hope japan has been a great trip! Sounds like you were treated like kings and queens at the marathon! Wish we could've beent here to help cheer dad on.

thanks for all the love and support! Missions are so legit!

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

Kyle - 11/7/11

Hello everyone,

So this past week has been pretty good. We were able to teach a few less active lessons, and a lesson with our investigator. Who we got more information about. He has this choir ... That he goes to at the first sunday of each month. So we're gonna try and commit him to come to the second and third sundays of the month in a row. We'll see how that goes this week.

We Were also able to teach another kid in our ward, who is turning 9 in the beginning of december, so he has a baptismal date for dec 3 a day before his birthday. So its not gonna be a convert baptism. But the whole family has been one of the families that i KNOW with out a doubt i was sent here to help. Its been a bumpy road. But they're now considered an active family again! i'm way stoked about it. Also they're gonna be moving to hurricane UT in Feb 2013. So we'll be close in touch after my mission.

For halloween This year, i went to walmart and used some of my walmart gift card to buy Phase Ten. To play at another mission appartment. There was like 6 elders all playing games. We had a really good time. We had to be "IN" at 6:00. But it didn't matter what appartment. Which was a really nice thing for us.

From japan, maybe if your could just send some cool pictures. i'm trying my best not to accumulate to many things... accept for shoes as you saw last week. I've only bought one pair of shoes since i left. The others were given to me, or i already had them when i came out.

Thats about everything thats going on for me this week. Thanks for the pictures of our mission plaques. They look really good!

hope all is well in your travels! i pray for you lots!!!

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

A note to the deacons..

If you're not sure if you're going a serve a mission, think about the many blessings that heavenly father has given us. He Died for us, he suffered for us. And giving him two years to bring our fellow brothers and sisters back to him. Is only a little task for us to do. Serving a mission has blessed my life so much! i've learned many different ways to help others come closer to christ. The blessings and miracles are there every day! If you ask what you should do now to prepare?... Begin to read the Preach My Gospel Manual that you use as a missionary. Its something i wish i did alot more before my mission. Read it from cover to cover, the information we recieve from it, is inspired and helpful! GO GET EM!

Elder Kyle Ettinger

Ames - 11/7/11

Once again its crazy to look back on how much time has gone by and how much has been done in that time. Crazy stuff thats for sure.

This week has been alot slower week than last, we didnt get to teach very many lessons, and we didnt get to see as many investigators, but its all good.

Sometimes they can all be super frustraiting, like you just want to force the gospel on them becasue you know that it will blss the so much! t they have their stupid agency which lets them choose the wrong path =/ We have a lesson with the ____ girls tonight, the oldest one said that she would have an answer for us tonight about baptism, so pretty excited/nervous about that. Also this last week, our other investigator  brought up some more concerns that we didnt even know he had, which makes me feel that he is alot futher from baptism than we thought =/ so that was quite a bummer. But i guess we have to have the not so good weeks in the mission so that the good weeks seem better. =D

Anywho! unfortunatly last week we were not able to carve pumpkins with the other elders, President wanted us to all be home at our own places. I was so bumbed becasue i got this sweet joseph smith stencil off of the computer that i really wanted to carve... Im going to do it next year for sure!

One cool thing this last week was that we had interviews with our mission president, He is such a legit guy! the very first question in the interview was "How are you doing personaly?" he cares about us as a real person before he worries about the missionary behind that person. Pretty sweet. So those were really good. He told me that im doing good things as the senior companion and that he can really tell that i have helped out. I didnt think I was doing that great of a job personaly, but i guess im doing more than i think.

So those are some pretty sweet looking bikes, how much did those puppies go for? Did you have to sell the Tent Trailer to afford that? haha remember how mad us kids were when dad used that money to by his other road bike haha good times.

So a little encouragement for the Geekcons :

     When it comes to serving a mission, there is nothing that you can sacrifice that will even come close to the blessings that you will be giving to other people. You will meet people that according to the world "Have it all", but in Gods eyes they are missing something that is much more important. It isnt up to them to find what they are missing, becasue many of them dont know that they are missing anything at all. It is up to Me and You and every other worthy young man out there to find them and share with them what they need. We have the responsibility to find them. It is up to us! (Hope that is good =P)

 Cant wait to hear all the stories from japan!

I want Pictures!

Love ya!

Elder Etttinger

On the basketball hoop taking photos of other missionaries