Kyle - 2/11/13

Dear family,

Man seems like every week there is something crazy going on! 

Lots of events going on back in utah huh?

Thanks for all the emails and the stories shared this week! its always fun to hear whats

been going on.

Mom, i laughed super hard at your tumbleweed story! Haha i could picture you telling us that

in person, and it made me laugh alot! thanks for sharing!

Thats so crazy that seth is getting on his way into his next life adventures! Like ames said, i thought he said he didnt wanna be like his brother and dad going into the military. But whatever floats his boat right? I will miss working with him at the ol STG golf course!

This past week for me was pretty bogus, i was sick up until saturday. Really bad cold and a really bad sore throat! Pretty lame if you ask me! So we really didnt get to work to much, because the cold finally kicked in here in Hesperia. It rained a few days ago, and a couple of days ago it snowed! it was the second snow i witnessed in my mission so that was really awesome!

Saturday morning elder jackson and i went to the applevalley jess ranch fishing ponds to catch us some trout! Man casting that rod just took me back to kolob fishing with ames and dad in the ol' aluminum boat (that has probably flattened out from the snow up there right?).

Its so crazy to see the changes that have taken place in missionary work since the time that i first came into the field, till now. We will be capping out our 250 missionaries in the mission by mid-summer! 70 of those will be sister missionaries! Holy crap! i am super nervous that the mission is going to become a huge dramafest from the younger sisters and elders. We will see how it plays out though.

The weather is cold, winter is here, and i cant wait for it to end! i've become to adapted to Cali weather that 55 or 60 degrees is cold for me. pretty ridiculous.

I'm glad that you guys got to go to Brittans mission homecoming talk. Its nuts that all of our buddies are starting to come home now! i think ames and i are next in line!

Dad, thanks for getting us the info for sister Davis' sisters place. We will call her up today and see if we can stop by. i know where rocksprings road is, and it isnt going to be in our area. But the elders that are serving in that ward are bosses. So hopefully they can do some good work there after my companion go over and say hi.

Maren, Not going to lie, i am kind of getting bored of the ward here, seeing that i hit 9 months in this ward a couple days ago. Elder jackson and i talked, and we would love to serve together for my last 2 transfers. And a few months ago i requested to our mission president to keep me here for the remainder of my mission. We will see what happens. i'd love to just finish out here. But a new ward would be pretty nice at the same time. Lots of ward members just make fun of me all the time and tease me. Which is starting to get annoying. because they get all offended if i tease them back.

Thanks again for the emails and the support! it means so much!

Transfers are going to be a week from tuesday (19th of Feb) so keep that in mind

as far as sending mail and what not.

love you all!

love, Elder Kyle Ettinger

Ames - 2/11/13

I cant believe that the month of febuary is already a third of the way
over! Why is it that time just goes super fast? i remember as a kid it
seemed like sitting 15 minutes in the corner lasted eons! Ha, the
reason i bring up the corner is because we were at dinner this week
and a little kid got in trouble and she had to stick her nose in the
corner. Reminded me alot when kyle and i had to go to separate
corners. Good times :)
We had stake Confrence this week, the theme of the confrence seemed to
be missionary work and the temple. Pretty cool. One of our mission
presidency councilors and his wife spoke, they are the parents of my
first ward mission  leaders wife. They are the ones that replaced Dave
Lunt. Also, a member of the temple presidency spoke, he was also
my first ward mission leader in the other ward i served in. haha. It
was fun to see him again, they left for a mission in the palmyra
temple while i was there and they got called home early to serve in
the temple presidency here in the GIla valley Temple. Its neat knowing
so many people in these small town areas, you make alot of cool
connections.
The work here is going great. Our investigators are still doing
awesome. The wife was able to get a ride down to duncan yesterday for
the general stake confrence session. Afterwards she told the members
that she came with that she loved it. Its so neat how receptive this
family it. Iv never seena anything like it :)
Glad to hear that Brittan is doing well. We emailed back and forth a
bit here and there over the mission. Good kid. I didnt realize that
Seth was going into the military. He always told me growing up that he
wouldnt be going into the military. Thats cool though that he is going
to be able to use his Korean. haha, speaking of Korean, the elder
sitting to my right is from south Korean, Elder Kim. He is super cool.
Another cool piece of news, the last stake president here live in my
ward, he just got called to be a mission president! we were so excited
for them. They feed us all the time and treat us like family. What was
funny though was that Elder Phillips and I were talking a couple weeks
ago how he would make a super good mission president and how she would
be the best mission mom. Hmmm, Prophecy? I think yes! They will be
serving a Prochegees (however the heck you spell that) mission. They
will find out where in the beginning of march. Did you guys know that
they are opening fourty something missions this summer! They have
called more mission presidents this cycle than ever on the earth!!!
The lord is truly hastning his work. Its neat to be a part of it.
i hope all else is going well back home.
Love ya lots!
Elder Ettinger

Ames - 2/4/13

     Another great week here in the Clifton ward. Lots of things are starting to happen. One of our Investigators showed up to church on sunday. Her husband wasnt able to make it because he had to work, but we are super excited that she wanteed to come by herself with her kids! They are an awesome family, we have a lesson with them tonight so ill let you know how that goes next week!

     I am super excited to be able to do some diving when we get back, i personaly dont think a refresher would be needed, diving is like riding a bike, when you learn you never forget how to do it. Thats my opinion at least :) Im glad that we now have reasons to go to the east side of the country and explore the atlantic :) Its going to be fun.

    Transfers are in two weeks, why do they seem to go faster and faster each time? Its nuts! I, like kyle, hate it when people ask how long i have been a missionary. When i say 20 months people always say, "Your on the downhill slope." Its sad. Iv loved (And still love) being a missionary. There have been times where I have looked back over my mission and wished i had worked harder or smarter at times, but looking back now i feel like i have done a pretty good job, Its been extreamly rewarding.

     There is a family that will be traveling up to St.George at the begining of April, around easter sometime. They said they would be happy about taking some things home for me. Im going to send as much stuff as i can so i can travel light leaving tucson :)

     Maren and Jakes car looks pretty spiffy. I was surprised to hear that the Subaru started pooping out. I thought it would have lasted a long time.  Maren, what is it that you are doing in this lab? what sort of breakthrough did you make? Sounds like lots of fun :)

     I hope all is going well for everyone! i cant believe we are almost going to see each other again!

Much love,

Elder Ettinger

    

Kyle - 2/4/13

Dear family,

Hey everyone, sounds like everyone in the family has been doing some exciting things!

Thats awesome mom that you are working hard to get ready for your first ironman!! i am just so stoked that ames and i will be able to support you and dad this year! i have truly missed those family events! Maren and jake, thats super dope that you bought a newish car! i have seen quite a few of the elantras cruzing around where i live. pretty awesome car!

i was doing some math the other day. if i didnt serve a mission, and kept working full time. i could've bought a 2011 camero haha. There is a guy in our ward that showed us his, i may or may not have been priviliged to drive it around the block a couple times. But anyways, i am so glad that ames and i are serving the lord! its so much fun!!

This last wednesday we had exchanges with our district leader. I finally left my area for the day! I havent been on exchanges for like 5 months now! so that was good. The people we ate dinner at had some super awesome sand rails in there garage! they were like 80 or 90 thousand dollars each! but they were so so sick!! i love talking to people about offroad.

while on exchanges, elder jackson found a few potentials for us to visit. We went back a few days later and gave a few families the finding faith in Christ videos. one of them watched it and wished that the video was longer! (its only 20 min or so) but we gave him a copy of the book of mormon and he said he was really wanting to read it. We have him one chapter to start in, but his response was "to be honest, i will probably just read the whole thing" we were super amped about this!

One thing i am starting to really really hate is how quickly people tell me that i am going home soon. I still have over 3 months, its not coming to a close quite yet! so i am gonna keep telling people "oh i've been out over a year" 

Thanks for everyones love and support! it is so awesome!

i love this work and this gospel so much!! keep sharing

it with others in Utah and North Carolina!

love you all,

elder Kyle Ettinger