Transfers Ames 5/7/12

So we jumped on the computers real quick to tell ouur fams about transfers.

Im heading over to New Mexico! Im not sure what area or even town, im pretty sure ill be in Deming though.

I really wanted to get over to NM at some point in the mission so i could hit every border in the mission. So when i get there i will have north in my first area, west in Marana, South here in Sierra Vista, and now East in NM. Pretty sweet.

So i Dont know anything about when church is, or what my number is... this could be interesting.

I honestly dont think a four way call will be possibul, Ill have to see what i find in NM

We are allowed to call the day before for a few minutes to finalize times and what not. so we will probibly have to do that.

kyle email your phone number when you email the parentals so that i can get it from them saturday if i dont get it your email before then.

make sence?

It will all work out haha.

anywho. Just jumped on real quick.

Love you all!

Elder Ettinger

5/8/12

So im currently in another state... pretty fun :D although we just
lost an hour of pday in less the a second crossing the border, not so
fun.
The computers that we email on here in Deming are super duper slow. i
honestly want to say they are running dial up here. super slow. it
took me 8 minutes just to get on the internet and get signed into my
inbox. Slug slow.
Im kinda sad to be leaving Sierra Vista, but the area was really
stressfull and im glad that i can move on to a diffrent kind of work.
We are in a car share, which is just what it sounds like, we share a
car with another companionship. So im going to try and borrow a bike
again for the days that we dont have the car. We will see how it works
out.
I tested my idea about the four way call with another set of
missionaries. And it seemed to work! so we will give it a try. Kyle
has my phone number so im expecting him to call me saturday night and
then we can test out the system :D it will all work out ok. My chuch
here is weird, we switch off each week going down to a branch that is
in our ward boundaries so im not sure what time will work to call. i
think sometime after two should work just fine. we will see.
Im not sure what my new address is yet, ill get that to you next week.
Cant wait to talk to you all sunday!
Cant wait to start seeing the miracles in the area!
love you all lots and lots!
Elder Ettinger

Transfers! Kyle 5/7/12

Hello family,

 

man i am super proud of dad for finishing his second ironman! are you gonna do number three next year dad?

I am being transfered out of the rialto first ward! i am really excited to see where my new area is going to be, as well as my new companion.

 

I am really jealous that maren bragged about her little cruise thats going on right now! that little butt! but i am happy that she is able to have her fun and what not.

 

This past week we were able to teach our less active lady, we brought her over a brand new bible for her to have, and she was so happy she started crying. We read in the scriptures with her, and gave her a comfort blessing. It was a really neat experience.

 

yesterday we were invited to go to members fast sunday dessert party ha. Elder petersen and myself rode around on scooters and were doing a bunch of tricks trying not to hurt ourselves. it was a good time.

Also at that same members home, i asked one of the dads to look up the ironman race results, so i knew that dad finished the ironman before reading the email. i was just getting way anxious!

 

I know that obedience is an important thing in the mission, i am deffinatly going to put  forth more effort to being a more obedient missionary with "No regrets" as we were told to be in the MTC. Man that mtc experience was almost a year ago!

 

Today we are going to be going to do some awesome minigolf for the last time! i am really going to miss the ward and some of the missionaries in this zone.

 

for mothersday, i am really confused and stressed. because i am not sure what my church time is going to be yet. And i will have a new phone number. so i wont be able to give you that either. i will probably ask president if i can send you an email tomorrow afternoon when i have my new comp and area, so i can give you the best time that i will be able to call. i am praying that it will work out well.

 

Thanks for being so awesome and such a fun adventurous family!! our family is the best!!

p.s..i dont remember if i told you this, but a member in our ward was best friends with Bro. Bean!! when he lived here in california! i thought that was way awesome! i told him to tell him hi from me next time he goes to see him. small world yet again!!

 

Love you guys! be safe have fun!

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

Elder Bevan and Elder Ettinger

A member that Kyle played drums with

hey guys!!   5/9/12

 

I am back in the wonderful HOT desert!! it is so good to be back in the fresh air! i love it so much and i've only been back for like 2 days! ha

 

i am serving in the Hesperia, Maple ward. And i am also a District leader again. I only have one other companionship in my district but, one of the elders is a good buddy i made in rialto, so it was cool that he and i followed eachother up to this zone.

My new companions name is elder king, he is from nebraska.  so far we are getting along well. There is alot of silence in the car. But i am pretty use to being a quiet kid since leaving on my mission. it helps me be patient with people. by just not saying anything at all. So i am pretty quiet most of the time.

Anyways,

 

My new appartment address is:

 

14364 Sequoia Rd. #4

Hesperia, CA

92345

 

My church is at 1:30, so its gonna be a pretty late call i think to talk to the family on sunday.

Like ames said, i have his number, and we will be able to call saturday night to do a test run.

I am excited for the area, and the new companion. I am even closer to home because the 15 freeway splits our area in half. part of the ward lives in the city of hesperia, and the other half lives in the city of Rialto. fun stuff

 

Hope all is well! take care!

 We will talk to you on sunday!

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

Not such a good week.  Ames 4/30/12

There were some good things about this week im sure, but the cons of the week definitely out weigh the pros this time...

Tuesday night we were having dinner in a kind of getto part of the ward, when we went to leave to go home, my bike was gone! Some fool just came up to the portch and swiped it. Flippin Gay! It definitely put a damper on things... but it gets worse. Saturday night we were out with our ward mission leader and we decided to go grab some cookies to take to a family. So we are driving down fry (Sierra VIstas Main Road) and Elder Woodland pointed out a guy riding my bike down the road! We tried following him the best we could, but he was weaving through parking lots and the ultimatly cut down an alley way and we lost him... :( we were so close! Unfortunatly he cut off my bike lock and removed the lights so it would be harder to identify. We combed over a trailor park that we are pretty sure he went to, but found nothing. I made the stupid mistake of throwing out my papers back when i was in marana, i didnt think i would need them, So im calling the bike shop in the Gila valley today in hopes that they can help me out... Not fun at all. I think my initial mistake was buying a nice bike to begin with. But, it wouldnt be a completed mission if my biked didnt get jacked right? haha trying to think on the bright side.

Im working on getting a new bike, but i dont want to too soon becasue there is always the chance of finding that guy again, im praying that he is stupid enough to ride it down a main road again.

We also had interviews this week, I always get so anxious for interviews even though i know they are going to be fine. We talked about  specific disobedient issues with the zone. I hate disobedient missionaires. I wish everyone could just want to work uber hard and leave with no regrets :D

anywho,

Good luck to dad on the ironman this week! Im sure you will do great. Just imagine your cheer section along the route.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going!

Im hoping this week has some more in store than this last week.

Love you all :D

Elder Ettinger

 

 

Pictures from Kyle  4/30/12

Etiwanda Falls

Entrance to a nationally known motocross track

Kyle 4/30/12

hey there folks

 

Good luck on the ironman this week dad! i pray for you all the time! Be safe out there!

 

This past week has been fun, and also super lame at the same time!!

on wednesday i was able to go on exchanges with elder bowler, you all remember him i'm sure, bowler came up to my ward, and we tried contacting a bunch of people and we were having no luck. We decided to go to the top end of our area, and out of no where i hit a stupid pothole in the road! It bent both sides of one of our wheels and the tire instantly went flat! i laughed and got out and got the spare tire on in about 6 minutes! pretty quick, and then we headed on our way. Well the dumb part about it, We had to get a new rim for the car, and the only place that has them, was at the Chevy dealership! So we dropped the car off, and they said they'd call us when it was done. About six hours later i called them, and they said they decided to get more things fixed on it. Well, two full days later we finally get our car back! and the church was charged over $1000 dollars for a new rim, 4 new tires that werent necissary, a brake job, and i think they messed around with our transmission, because it now leaks trany oil!!...that just testified to me, of why we dont get cars fixed at dealerships! they are a bunch of scam artists!

 

On mothers day, our church is at 11-2 o clock. Sounds like we may have some troubles getting in touch with each other. i think it would work best if ames and i called eachother first like on christmas, and have him try and figure out the 4 way call thing. Because i am not tech savy on that kind of stuff.

 

The mission is going way fast! we will be out a year in about 18 days! thats really crazy! i cant believe that we are already this far into our missions! i am hoping to stay in this area, but for sure get a new car.

 

Thanks for all of the love and support that you guys give me! it really helps me stay motivated and want to work hard for the lord! i can deffinatly see that a mission is a difficult thing to do! but it is well worth it!

 

Hope all is well!

Love, Elder kyle Ettinger

Kyle 4/23/12

Dear family,

 

hey there!!

 

It is pretty crazy how fast time goes! ames and i have been out here for 11 months now! and it already seems like it is almost May!

 

This past week we were able to find a few Lost sheep, aka members that say they are members but the ward never got there records here. So we were able to get a little info from a few of them, to try and hunt their records down.

 

Alright so a few weeks ago, i forgot to tell you, i was invited to stand in during a baby blessing!! it was pretty awesome not gonna lie! it got me thinking of the family i am going to have down the road! And that i'll be the one blessing the baby. Fun stuff.

 

Also, i dunno if you guys remembered or not, but Elder Ballard of the twelve came to speak to JUST the san bernardino missionaries. We were very thrilled!! before the meeting started we got to go up and shake the hands of an apostle!!!!!!!! so sick!! We shook elder ballards hand, elder Higham who is an Area seventy for the Southern california missions, elder whiting of the seventy, and elder bowen of the seventy! all four of them spoke to us! and it was an awesome experience! We learned about the priesthood, and the athority that we have as missionaries, and how we are to use the power of that athority that we are given. It was pretty legit! Elder ballard is a super funny guy! he made some pretty funny jokes one comment he made was..."Have you had someone come up to you and say that they are already saved??....Well thats the biggest false doctrine if i ever heard one!" ha it was great.

 

I cant believe that we are winding down to the end of this transfer! The missionary work in the area is still slow, but we still see some neat miracles here and there!

 

Congrats maren for graduating!! Those pictures you shared were pretty neat! thats crazy that it took forever and a day for everyone to get there diploma.

 

Mom, is the professional ironman guy gonna sleep in my room or ames'? if he is in my room, tell him to NOT touch my piano!! ha just kidding.

 

My interview with president godwin went really well, we discussed some issues that were going on between the south side elders, and we also talked about the training that i did with elder bevan. i also had pres sign one of my "st. George" brand ties, since he will be retiring in sunbrook estates after there mission is complete.

 

Thanks for everyones love and support! continue to set a great example to everyone around you! it helps bring people closer to christ!!

 

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

 

Temple + Miracles = Dope Week:)    Ames  4/23/12

So this week was really really awesome! Not tons of sruff going on, but enough to make it a sweet week.

Our P-day this last week was on tuesday so we could go to the temple. We went to the 8 oclock session so we had to leave Sierra Vista at like 5:45 to get there on time! it was really early but im glad that i wasnt the one that had to drive over there. The Temple was really fun, when i first walked into the chaple to wait for the session a lady from my ward in thatcher was there, Sister Thatcher actualy haha, im not sure you remember me talking about them, they were the family that elder sims and i played that "Sliders" game at. Love that family. So that was a great way to start the session. I learned tons and tons this trip too, I love reciving revelation in the temple. On Wendsday we went to see our new investigator, he is super solid and you can just tell that he is ready to hear the message this time and that the events in his recent life have totaly prepared him to listen and accept this time around :D Unfortunatly he will be out of town until may 12th so we will probibly get him into the water in june :D Also this last week we had a really cool miracle: It was saturday evening and we were waiting for our ride to pick us up for dinner because we didnt want to bike across the whole ward to get to dinner. So we are waiting and one of our appartment neighbors pulls up and they start walking to their appartment and you can tell he is trying to decide if he wants to say something to us or not. He came over and asked us if we had any churches in Sierra Vista! We explaned that their were a couple diffrent ones and told them the diffrent times as well and briefly explained what they could expect at church. Super awesome! So i told our zone leaders who go to the other church building to keep an eye out for them and to let us know if they show up... THEY CAME!!! and from what the zls said they were really impressed and enjoyed it! Missionaries one, Satan zero! Winner. In Preach my Gospel it talks about the "Elect of God" and how we will be put into their path or they will be put into ours. It was such a great testimony builder of being ready and worthy to talk to those who are put into our paths. Really cool.

Thats really crazy that Maren graduated! I didnt even know that it was this last week. I figured it would be sometime in May. Im  not gonna lie, im glad that kyle and i were out here so that we didnt have to sit though the whole two hours of names, but im also a little bummed that we didnt get to see you walk as well. Dad did you use the 70-200 mm Zoom lens on my camera? pretty sweet eh. I love photography so much, im thinking of trying to do that on the side of whatever carrer path i take. Should be fun :)

When is the Ironman this year? Ill be cheering for you dad from Sierra Vista!

I hope that you all are having uplifting experiences like kyle and i are certainly having :D

Love you all!

Elder Ettinger.

Where Ames lives

Monument near Sierra Vista

Ames  4/16/12

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! how old are you now? 60? haha just kiddin love ya dad!

This past week has been a slow one for us, i wish we could constantly have like 50 people to be teaching. that would make time just cook by.

We went on exchanges this week and i stayed in my area with the DL. We contacted a referal from the previous week and he became a gator! so that was actualy really awesome. He has met with missionaries in the past but his wife wasnt ever a fan of the church. not anti, just not into it. He said that this time he was willing to "Leave her behind" and attend church without her. We have a return appointment on wendsday so we will see what happens. This guy has 5 labradors in his house! haha it was nuts. Elder Sears and myself walked out of the house COVERD in hair. Pretty gross but worth the spirit that was there.

Also while i was with elder sears, we went tracting and met some of the meanest people on my mission! all on the same street! it was really annoying. having people yell mean things at and about you can really put a damper on your day. I just do my best to laugh it off and move to the next door, but it can really build up on you. Life of a missionary

It seems like the whole family is moving on to the next chapter of life so to speak. Kyle and i are hitting the hump, mom is running marathons, maren is graduating from flippin college. and dad is raising chickens... haha. should be fun to see how everything works out.

Yesterday at church a lady that was in one of my wards over in thatcher was visiting her parents who are in my ward here. That was fun to talk to her for a few minutes before sacrament meeting and get a report on ol' thatcher 5th ward. We are going over to the Temple tomorrow so that is really exciting. ♪♫ I love to See the Temple ♫♪. Also i emailed a family over there and we are going to be able to go out to lunch with them after the session :) cant wait!

I hope all else is going well!

Love you all!

Elder Ettinger

Kyle  4/16/12

hello family,

 

Well i gotta first off say that this is probably one of the fastest april's i  have ever lived through!! It was moms birthday, and then all the sudden it was marens birthday, and now its dads birthday today! Happy birthday dad! i hope your day goes well!! and why did you open the card early? i put happy birthday on the card just so you wouldn't open it early! you little bum! i hope you enjoyed the card!

 

This past week has gone by super quick!! We were able to teach our less active  again, we read another scripture in the book of mormon with her. her name came up in ward council, and the RS president said that she came to her house to sing happy birthday to her with her grandson. please note: this is a huge miracle! she NEVER ever wants to see anyone in the church except us and her visiting teacher! so this is a big step for her! we are very excited!

 

We were able to go pull weeds last week for a Bro in the ward, he is legit! he is actually visiting his parents in st george right now!! i told him to bring me back some red dirt in a jar or something ha! We pulled weeds at his house for an hour or two, some of it was in the pouring rain! it dumped buckets this last week! it was super fun i love the rain!

Did st george get rain last week?

 

We have been able to contact alot of unknown members in our ward, the ones who havn't recieved any contact for a long time! its really fun to see the people that still love the church, and the ones that are kinda bums and want there records removed from the church.

 

We are looking forward to the week to come, i think we have president interviews at the end of this week! and elder ballard is going to be visiting us on the 21st!! i am quite stoked for that!

Hope all is going well!

Good luck on the marathon prep!

 

Congrats to maren for graduating!! i am very proud of you! and very grateful for the example that you set for ames and i! Keep up the good work! and good luck in North Carolina!!

 

Love, Elder kyle ettinger

Kyle   4/9/12

Hello there everyone,

 

Man i gotta admit i am quite proud of mom getting first place in the race! i really wish i could've been there!

This last week has been a fun week, however we still havn't been able to meet with many of our investigators. We met with the sister that lives in our complex, we read a chapter in the book of mormon with her, it was really fun taking the chapter verse by verse and explaining it as we went. It even helped me understand the chapter better. So i am gonna start using that in my own personal study.

 

Couple days ago saturday, we were able to help set up tables and chairs for our wards easter egg hunt. Does our ward do one of those back at home?because this thing was legit!! i would be very upset if a utah ward was slacking off, and a california ward was keeping the spirit of easter!

 

Today for p-day we went on a KILLER bike ride! It was called "Blue mountain" it was uphill the whole way up, it was only a 2 and 1/2 miles, but it was a very steep climb! i passed out once, and almost passed out 2 more times, but i did manage to get to the top, where we were there for about 15 minutes, just enough tuime to get a picture, and attacked by a swarm of bee's, so we promptly left the mountain. Of course going back down was a hoot, as dad would say, or a riot!

 

I deffinatly see the blessings when i am a more obedient missionary. I dont think i am a 100% obedient, but i am not the worst in the mission. There are some weeks where i feel like i am just stuck in a rut, and i need alot of prayer and faith to get out of it. We had a zone fast yesterday on easter sunday, and i am hoping it will help me boost up and get out and work hard as i can.

 

Being back in a car area we are able to do alot of less active work. We have about 3 or 4 families that will soon become "Regulars".

 

Thats way tight that you guys have the chicken coop going. What are the type of chicks you bought? you should've waited till i could give you some advice from farmer bevan. He said there is like a red hairing, or something that produces the most eggs, and they are also good to kill and eat. So thats why i asked.

 

Missionaries in my zone continue to brag about dad doing alot of marathons and the ironman. i told like 3 people and it spread like a wild fire!

 

Thanks for everyones love and support! I hope mom had a happy birthday!! And happy birthday to you maren! and dad next week.

 

Love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

Ames       4/9/12


So this last week was a normal week here in Sierra Vista, thats funny that lena used to live here. ITs not all that much of a city haha. Its weird how i havent connected with this place like i have my last areas, its just not there. Its not like a bad area or anything, just no connection. I wouldnt mind getting transfered in a few weeks. Elder Sims goes home at the end of this transfer, I dont know if i mentioned that or not last email. Its flippin crazy! I remember when i ifirst got out in the feild and i asked how long he had been out and he replied "Just over a year" and now he is about to get on the plane. Time is going by way too quick. Kyle and i have less than 6 weeks until we hit the hump.
Congrats to mom on here winning that race! thats so cool. and the fact that you are going to be running the St.George Marathon next year? that is so cool. IM sad that us kids cant bike up the route and cheer on both of our parents. Are you plannin of running together or no? 
Do you all have any cool plans for the summer. Kyle and i will be doing missionary work. haha. IF you go anywhere super cool like japan im going to be mad. Just becasue you are saving millions not feeding kyle and i doesnt mean that you can just go wherever you want to :D
So i want to get a sweet hand gun when i get home, or before i get home... President killpack said that i could buy a gun here and have it shipped home. Obviously i would still have to be 21 but guns are much cheaper here because there are less taxes on them and what not. What do the parentals think about that idea?
Our missionaring this week was slow. but picked up a bit at the end of the week. We are excited for this week. we were able to get back in contact with a couple gators, We are planning on  setting a baptismal date with one of them for the end of the month, i think its more that possible :D
Loving the work and loving you all!
God Speed.
Elder Ettinger