August 12, 2013

Hey everybody!

Well, I can't believe that I am writing you my last email as a missionary.  I can't really describe the way I feel right now. I'm so excited but at the same time, I feel like I am going to be leaving my home behind again.  It seems like everyday I go through feelings of just wanting to be finished and then there are other times where I feel like I just don't want to leave. I've been so lucky to be able to finish my mission where I have in Sofokrom.  It is such a great place and the people here are amazing. It's the first time that I've served in a larger ward and so it's taken some of the other stresses away that I've had to deal with in other areas.  I feel like I've learned the most from these last four months or so.  This last week or so has been difficult to keep my mind here. Especially because my ministerial card that I carry with me expired on the 5th! (I'm proselyting illegally! ;)...)  This last week was focused a lot on baptisms, which did help me stay focused. I had to do quite a few interviews for those in my district and so I was really busy going to different places to do that and then also we were having a baptism as well.  The one we were baptizing did so well. She was even teaching the relief society how to make meat pies at the church a day before her baptism and so she is getting very involved with the members.  Some of the members and also I have been encouraging her to think about serving a mission as well because I know it would help her out so much and it would really bless her life.  She comes from a pretty poor family and she's been lucky to be receiving a high school education.

So now, I just have a little bit over a week left until I'm on a plane.  This week is going to be a fun week.  I'm really looking forward to the time that I'm going to be able to spend with those in my ward. We are going to be having the All-Africa service project on this Saturday and then throughout the week we'll be having some other random activities.  Then next Monday I'll be over to the mission home in Cape Coast and then Tuesday we'll go through the temple and then I'll be on my way to the airport.  I still can't believe it is time for me to come home.  It almost doesn't even feel real.  Well, I love you guys and thank you all for the support that you have shown me over these last two years.  You've helped me to have an experience that has changed my life and also many others lives as well. Can't wait to see you all next week!

Love Elder Kitchen

p.s. Can't wait for some awesome American food!!! :D

August 5, 2013

Hey everybody!

I've had another great week.  We are moving closer to my last baptism which should be this coming Saturday.  We have had lot of people that have started progressing really well. We had another new person come to church on Sunday and so we had five investigators come to church.  I'm pretty sure of all of them being baptized but it just depends on when they will get baptized. Most of them are probably going to be in September or something.  I've been really lucky lately because we haven't been having to do a lot of finding. It's just been a lot of member referrals and we are so busy with them that we don't have to go around contacting or anything which I don't really enjoy doing.  A girl that we are teaching named Jennifer took us and introduced us to her older sister who lives not too far away and we are going to start teaching her this coming week.  Hopefully if the sister starts coming to church then Jennifer's parents will start letting Jennifer come with her older sister.  This week I'll be pretty busy because I have to do quite a few baptism interviews for other missionaries throughout the week and so I'll be all over the place.  Today is my two year mark which is pretty weird because I'm still here...with two more weeks...haha. My ministerial card even says that it expires today.  It's all good though. I won't ever have this experience again and so two extra weeks is okay with me. Well,  I don't really know what else to say...hope all is well! Talk to you next week...for maybe the last time in Ghana! Love you all!

Elder Kitchen

July 29, 2013

Hey what's up everybody!

Another week has come and gone.  This week it was a lot of fun to be in Sofokrom because they were having a festival thing and so they had activities in the town all week and everybody was around and were having a lot of fun.  Serving in such a small place is pretty cool because you almost get to become part of the community.  The people always love to see two white guys in ties walking around while they are doing all of their activities.  Sometimes it was difficult to teach because the whole town was over watching the football match at the park but good thing missionary work isn't all just about teaching.  One of our investigators was playing the in the football tournament and so it was fun to watch him play and he was excited that we were there. We were also able to talk to a lot of other people and get to know them.  I wish that I could have served the two years with the knowledge that I know now.  The members continue to keep helping us and pretty much all of those that we are teaching came from members.  Members should really be in front when it comes to missionary work because that's when real growth will happen. I think almost all of the people that I have baptized on my mission, almost all of them came as member referrals.  When the work is like that, it's a lot more fun and also successful.  One reason why I have loved being in Ghana is because the missionary work and relationships are a little different here.  I feel like you are allowed to get a lot closer with the members here then you would in other places. I'm going to always remember the relationships that I had with investigators and members here. I was allowed to be myself a lot more and just get to know and love the people.  This week we had six investigators come to church and hopefully one of the six will be baptized before I go.  The one that we are going to baptize on August 10th is pretty much a member already.  She calls herself one and she comes to all of the activities. She's progressed really well and also really fast.  On Sunday after church, the chief organized a big non-denominational service at the football pitch and so all of the members and us as well as a lot of people from Sofokrom all were at the park. I don't really know what happened but it was fun. haha.  Some of the activities seemed a lot like a church in the south.  It was a lot of fun though.  Today we came and played basketball for our activity and I said goodbye to some of the elders that were there because I probably won't see most of them again because they won't be meeting together again until after I leave.  It's going to be sad to say bye to a lot of these people because most of them I will never see them again.  I always thought that I would feel so excited when I was coming back but the only thing that is making me have a desire to come home is family.  If I didn't have anybody back home...I wouldn't want to leave.  I'm really going to miss this place. Well, I guess I'll just talk to you all next week!  

Love Elder Kitchen

July 22, 2013

Hey everybody!

It was just a pretty normal week this last week.  We have been working hard to try and get a good number of people to teach and it's been working pretty well.  We were able to give a baptismal date to one girl for the 10th of August and then she also came to church on Sunday. She likes us to go and teach her almost everyday and so she has been able to progress really fast and she is even planning on going to a lot of the young single adult activites with some of the friends that she has made in the ward.  Another guy came to church for the fourth time in a row as well and he will probably get baptized soon but the problem is that we can't meet him very often and his comprehension is kind of slow because he doesn't understand english too well. Whenever we teach him, it is always with one of our members so that they can translate.  He's a really nice guy though and he continues to progress.  Our relationship with the members keeps getting better.  I'm going to be really sad to leave them because they are all becoming such good friends to me.  I've spent such a short time hear but I feel like we have been able to work with the members better than I have in any other area.  So that's what's happening right now with me.  I'm just really trying to keep pushing hard to the end.  Well, I can't think of much more to say and so I guess I'll just talk to you all next week! 

Love Elder Kitchen 

July 15, 2013

How's it going everybody!?

This past week was our transfers and so the two other elders in our apartment left on transfer and the zone leaders moved in. They are Elder Boakye from Ghana and Elder Brown for Australia (Brown was in my apartment in Praso).  All of the transfers were a success, but it really didn't affect us too much.  I had to start back into the district leader stuff by doing an interview on Friday. I actually enjoy doing baptism interviews because I get to meet the people that the missionaries have taught and are wanting to be baptized.  We've been teaching a girl almost everyday for the last week and she came to church which makes it the third time in a row now. She used to be a Muslim, but now she wants to be a Christian.  She is progressing really well and the ward members are fellow shipping her as well.  We ended up having a baptism this week for a guy named Clement.  He's been coming to church for a while now and so it was good for him to finally be able to get baptized.  We had three investigators come to church on Sunday...two of them it was their third time and then the other one it was his first time. The members have been doing well with bringing people to church.  All three of them have come because of members referrals. The best way to do missionary work is certainly with the members.  I think almost all of my success has come through working with the members. I'm happy that I am being able to serve in an area that has a good solid foundation of members that are able to help us.  It makes the work so much more effective.  Now that I'm on my final transfer...the weeks just seem to be going a little bit too fast. I can't believe that it is almost over.  I'm still loving every second of it though.  Today all of the new guys were talking about food from home and it make me a little bit more excited to come home! ;) haha I'm just kidding. I've actually been eating really well lately. Last night, I cut up some potatos into cubes and then boiled chicken and cut it into chunks and then fried them together and ate it with ketchup. It was so good. Even if you add ramen noodles to it, it becomes like a stir fry thing.  I'm just making the most out of what I have. :)  Well, I think that's about it for this week.  I'll talk to you guys later! 

Love Elder Kitchen

July 1, 2013

Hey everybody!

So this week I luckily feel a lot better than I did last week. We played some basketball at the Stake Center but I took ibuprofen halfway through so now I don't have a headache! :)  So this week we had a mission conference on Wednesday and it was a lot of fun. I was able to see a bunch of people that I haven't seen in a while and for some of them, it will probably be the last time that I see them again which was kind of sad. The meeting went really well though and I got my flight plans!!! haha pretty crazy to see that.  I'm not sure but I think you were also supposed to have it Mom, so hopefully you have it and have forwarded and stuff. If not, I'm flying through London, then Dallas and then I'll be getting to Utah by about 5:05 pm.  Pretty crazy that I have a plane ticket in my name now.  Not that I'm thinking a lot about that or anything... ;)  Don't worry, I'm still working hard.  My companion was still not feeling too great so we had to take it easy for the rest of the week and on Saturday we weren't even able to go out which was no fun.  Sunday we had our Ward Conference and it went really well. We had a new investigator come to church and so hopefully she will start to progress. One of our members invited her. We're still working hard on somebody named Jennifer. She's really smart and wants to come to church but her parents aren't letting her right now so hopefully soon that will change. We're trying to work on that situation.  This week is the last week of this transfer and then next Wednesday I will begin my final transfer. It's so crazy to think about but everything still feels the same.  I still have some time where I can make a difference though so I'll keep pushing hard.  It's like the third period...just a few minutes to go. :)  Well, talk to ya'll next week!

Love Elder Kitchen

June 24, 2013

Greetings everybody!

I hope you all had a good week!  Mine was pretty normal I guess you could say. My companion wasn't feeling well the end of the week so we just did a lot of sitting around which was pretty boring, but we had to do it so that he could start to feel better.  To be honest...it was kind of one of those weeks that's really hard to come up with what happened.  One funny thing that happened during the week involved a mouse in our apartment.  We've been seeing him every now and again since we got there but we could never catch him.  Then in the morning, Elder Moffitt found it hiding in some extra room that we don't use and so I grabbed the cutlass, trying to be the big tough guy and I said that I would kill him. But of course, when the mouse jumped out of his hiding place and ran straight for my feet, I jumped in the air and screamed like a little girl and then I jumped up onto a chair.  We started chasing the mouse around the apartment but he kept getting away.  The little guy was just too dang fast.  We ended up losing him and so we were pretty ticked.  Luckily the next night, I heard a scuffle in the kitchen and ran into see what was going on. As I arrived at the door, I saw one of the elders standing there and he had his foot on the mouse. It tried to get away again but then he crushed the little annoying guy. So that was the last of little Jerry.  So....that's really all I can think about...Today we came to Takoradi and played soccer and now I have a headache because it's so dang hot here. haha.  Well, life's good and everything is still going well.  I can't believe that next Monday will be in July....time is just flying by. Well, talk to you guys next week!

Love Elder Kitchen

p.s. sorry if this email just has a lot of random stuff that doesn't make sense...my head hurts right now...

June 17, 2013

What's up!?

How's life?  Everything is still pretty cool over here. No complaints I guess. :)  Most of the interesting stuff that happened this last week was at the end of the week.  I went on splits with the district leader so that he could come and do the interview for the baptism that we were having. Her name is Celestina and she has been progressing really well since we got here. The other missionaries were the ones to start teaching her.  We got hit pretty hard by rain that day while we were out so we got pretty soaked. Whenever it rains here it just seems to pour. There doesn't seem to ever be just a slight drizzle.  So the interview and everything went cool and so the baptism was cool for Saturday.  Then Saturday the person who was to fill the font went to do it but after it was about knee-high, the city water stopped flowing and so the water was really low. So when you are in
Ghana you just do it anyways.  Elder Moffitt did the baptism and he did a really good job.  I thought it might take a couple of tries because of the water level but it was just once.  The next day she was confirmed at church and everything was good.  So right now we are just trying to build up our teaching pool and find serious investigators.  The members are still helping us out a lot and so it's making the work a lot easier.  Not too
much else it going on, but I'm still really happy here in my area. Hopefully it continues to go well like this.  Well, I'll talk with you all later!

Love Elder Kitchen

June 10, 2013

Hey everybody!

Had another great week this last week.  Thanks again for all of the birthday wishes.  It was quite the birthday...flooding, seven people stuffing into the bed of a truck with two of them being Tongans...it was awesome! haha.  As for this week though, we have mainly still just been getting used to the area and the members have been helping us out a lot. It has been nice to have a lot less responsibility and just be able to focus on my area.  My companion is adjusting well to everything about as fast as you really can adjust to this place. There are no other missions like these ones here in Ghana....I think I can even guarantee it. We should be having a baptism this coming Saturday.  We came and started teaching somebody that the past missionaries were teaching and she's come to church both Sunday's we have been here and so we thought she was ready and so did she. So we'll be preparing her for this Saturday.  During the week we have been working
with some new people that have been referred to us by the members and so hopefully soon we will be having some strong investigators. It's hard coming into a new area when both you and your companion have never been there, but we are managing.  Today we went with a big group of missionaries and also President and Sister Shulz to a cocoa processing factory. It was pretty fun to see how they process everything and get it ready to export to the world. Ghana is one of the leading producers of cocoa and they supposedly have the most quality cocoa.  So the picture here is of us just outside of the factory. Left to right: Elder Moffitt(my comp.), me, Sister Shulz, and Elder Dikane(from South Africa).  Well, we'll talk more next week! Love you all!

Love Elder Kitchen

June 3, 2013

Hey everybody!

I've had such a great week and also day today!  Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!  I've had a pretty good birthday today.  I'm sitting in a vodafone cafe and so I'm actually pretty freezing because of the a/c, also because we were walking in the rain most of the day so I am pretty soaked.  So last Wednesday I left Praso and went and met the person that I would be training. His name is Elder Moffitt from South Jordan, Utah.  He's a really good kid and we have been getting a long really well. So from there we went to our new area  which is called Sofokrom which is about 15 km outside of Takoradi. It's a small town but it has so many members there.  The church has been there for quite some time.  We don't live in our area and so we have to take a short tro tro ride everyday.  Our welcome into the area was really great. The members have been so nice to us and willing to help because we are both new to the area and so we don't know where to go or anything.  So once we got to the area, we just started getting to know places and everything.  Saturday was a lot of fun because there was chapel cleaning and so we went so that we could meet a lot of the members and then after they set up a volleyball net and we played with them. The only problem is that I tore a huge hole in my shirt! Haha, don't worry though, I was able to fix it with my needle and thread. :)  Church on Sunday was great because there were so many people at church!  I haven't been in a place like it since I was home. I'm really excited to have this as my final area.  Today we all came to Takoradi and played soccer and basketball.  It was fun to see a lot of the missionaries that I hadn't seen in a long time.  We ate some good fried rice for lunch and the other missionaries paid for me because it was my birthday!  So pretty much, I'm really loving everything right now.  I can't believe it's actually June of 2013 already.  I don't know how I'm going to leave this place in August.  haha. Well, thanks again everybody for the birthday wishes!  I'll talk to you all next week!

Love Elder Kitchen 

May 27, 2013

Hey everybody!

So I have good news! I received the call to be a trainer which means that I will be released as a zone leader and I will be moving to a place called Sofokrom which is near a bigger place called Takoradi on
the coast in the Western Region. I'm excited to go there because I hear that it is a nice ward with lots of members and also it's on the coast so I'll get to see the beach a lot. It's going to be sad to leave this place though. I've been here for over seven months so I've made a lot of friends that I am going to miss. It's certainly time for me to go though. I've been waiting to be released as a zone leader for quite some time now. President called me last Tuesday and gave me the news and so I went down to Cape Coast on Friday for a meeting where all those that are training came. I ate ice cream and awesome brownies that Sister Shulz made. It's been too long since I've had brownies. So I'll be leaving on Wednesday to pick up the person I'm training and then we will head over to the Western Region of Ghana. I'm pretty excited. It's weird to think that I'll be going to my final area to finish. I'm going to make sure to leave a great impression on those in Sofokrom and finish strong. Thanks for all of the support! Have a great week!

Love Elder Kitchen

May 21, 2013

Hey everybody!

This week was pretty good and also fast.  I can't believe that it is already time to be writing again.  The weeks are going pretty fast. We went on splits in the middle of the week and I stayed in my area. It has been raining almost everyday where I am.  It's nice because it cools the weather down a little but it's bad because everything ends up getting really muddy and then when the rain goes away, the sun comes out and it's super hot and humid.  Splits went well though. I was with a new missionary from Botswana.  It was fun to learn about that country because I've never really heard anything about it.  It seems to be a pretty nice place though.  During the weekend, my companion and I had to go and try to fill up the baptism font but we couldn't because there was no electricity to pump the water out of the bore hole into the church so they zones baptisms had to be pushed back another week.  Sunday was a good day at church. We had one
investigator come. We were hoping for more but it was okay.  Transfer news is this coming Saturday so we will find out what is going to happen and I'll let you know next week.  I'm running short on time so I'll just write more next week!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Kitchen

May 14, 2013

What's up everybody?  

It was fun to be able to talk to some of you.  It was weird to talk because it makes all of you feel like you are so much closer than you really are.  The coolest part is that there is no more next phone call...next time will be face to face!  This week was pretty normal before that though. It still seems like we don't get enough time to be able to actually be in our area as much as I would like to be.  It feels like there are only about 3 days where we are usually able to go around our area and so things seem  to be going a little bit slow at the moment.  We did have a new investigator come to church on Sunday.  He's probably around thirty years old and he came to church with his father who is the 2nd counselor in our branch.  We are hoping to be able to meet with him tomorrow to start to teach him.  One investigator named Peace is hopefully coming back into town this week.  For her, we still just need to get permisson from the father so that she can get baptized which is hard because the father doesn't live in Praso and so we are only able to talk with him on the phone. Hopefully everything will work out.  So nothing else is really happening...transfer news will come at the end of this month on May 25th so everybody cross your fingers so that Elder Kitchen will get what he is hoping for!  :)  Well everybody, have a wonderful week and we'll talk next week!

Love Sam

May 6, 2013

Hey everybody!

So, I just got back from the beach. We played football and Elder Brown and I ate a burger with some french fries....it was a little expensive but very worth it. This week was pretty normal. During the week we went on splits with the elders in an area called Nyenase. It's a little village outstide of Praso. The place is deep into the bush and not very many people speak English. We taught a very old man....he looked like he was at least 100 years old. haha. The place just seems hotter then my area. I was dying when I was there. Coming back that night was awesome because we went to the branch presidents house and his wife had made us a huge bowl of fufu. I ate all of mine and then some of my companions and then there was tons of chicken and also I ate two crabs. They were actually really good. It's weird though cause you just eat the whole thing. The area has been looking a little bit more promising. We've been working with some new investigators and one of them even came to church on Sunday. We were able to watch two sessions of conference on Sunday at church. It was really sweet because it's about the first time I've actually been able to watch it. I'm still enjoying everything and having fun. I'm just trying to make the most out of the time that I have left. I'm excited to call home next week! Hope you guys pick up the phone! ;) Talk to ya soon!

Love Elder Kitchen

April 29, 2013

Hey Everybody!

I'm kind of scatter brained right now with some stuff I've had to deal with today, so let me see if I can try to remember what happened this last week.  So as for our area, it's gotten very small because now we are just in charge of just Branch 2 in Praso.  The area is pretty small and we have a very small membership with quite a few less actives.  We've been trying to work go around and find out where they all live so that we can visit them all.  The problem with finding peoples houses is there are no such things as addresses.  Unless somebody takes you there, you will never find it!  We were able to meet some people that we had never met before and we found a few investigators in the process.  The stressful thing lately is that is seems like I have no time to think about my area.  On Thursday we left in the early afternoon to Assin Foso for a meeting with the stake presidency so we weren't able to proselyte in our area and then on Saturday as well, we had to organized the baptism for some elders in our zone that were having baptisms and so Saturday was also spent doing other things.  The leaders in our branch are great though. They are working hard and making effective plans which is very rare over here. It will just take some time for the branch to stabilize and then grow.  Most likely I'll be leaving in a month though....(I'm just guessing but I think I'll be right. ;) )  Yesterday was a nice day because we were just able to relax and we didn't do too much.  Elder Brown (from Australia) and I bought 2 liters of ice cream each and have been enjoying it. I've been seeing the stuff for the past 20 months but I've just never bought it. It's strawberry and it's so delicious! Today we came down to Abura (Cape Coast) and had our district meeting the the six Sisters in our zone.  They have their own district meetings every week because they are so far from us and so either my companion and I go to it or the assistants go every week.  Now I get to look forward to another 1 hour tro tro ride back to Praso.  Well, I guess I better get going.  Have a great week everybody!  I love you all!

Love Elder Kitchen

April 23, 2013

Hey everybody!

This week has been a little busy but also really great!  Wednesday was transfer so we had to deal with all of the people coming and going from our zone and then I got my new companion, Elder Kariuki from the station.  He's from Kenya and he has been out for about 18 months. He's a quite guy and he's really cool.  The rest of the week I was mainly just showing him around our area.  Now that Elder Oseghe is going to be in Nuamakrom, I won't be going there expect on splits so it is no longer a part of our area.  It took out a big chunk of our area but it will help us to focus on helping the branch to progress.  On Sunday we had a great meeting with the branch leaders.  We all talked about the different things that we need to be doing to bring up the activity in the church.  We're really starting to work more as a team then we were before. I feel like it makes it so much more effective when we work with them because it is their branch and we are pretty much just visitors.  During the weekend, we went to the Relief Society President's house and her daughter was visiting from Kumasi with her kids and I found out that Elder Belnap is serving in her branch and she knows him really well. She even called him to say hello while I was there. It was fun to see how he is doing because ever since the mission split, I don't really know how he is doing.  The lady's name is Sister Leticia.  Last night she invited us over for a little FHE and she made cake and it was so delicious.  Her little kid is not easy to handle though!  During church this week, I was just barely able to escape with a few scratches and only one bite mark! Haha.  I swear, there is always at least one kid who wants to attack me at church in all of my areas.  Sister Leticia felt really bad but I just laughed.  It was pretty funny.  Well, I guess we'll talk next week! Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Kitchen

April 16, 2013

Hey everybody! 

This week has been pretty sweet!  The baptism with the family in Nuamakrom went on so we achieved our family goal with just two weeks to spare! The baptism was actually pretty interesting though. So we got to Nuamakrom and we went to pick up the family in the little village that they live.  When we were about halfway there a huge storm came in and it started to pour!  We ran and took cover under some lean-to shack type thing and then waited until it wasn't raining as hard. Luckily I was wearing my sandals because we had to walk through a lot of water.  We finally got to there house and I was worried that because of the rain they would have thought that the baptism wasn't going to come on.  When we got there, the whole family was inside of their small house ready to go!  I was completely soaked by that time but it was okay.  We waited until the rain stopped and then walked down the very muddy road to the church.  It's the first time since I've come out that I've seen a full family come into the church like this. Then on Sunday they all came to church early to be confirmed. :)  So on Saturday we received transfer news and my companion is training a new missionary for his last two transfers out in Nuamakrom and I will have a new companion named Elder Kariuki from Kenya.  I'm really excited about everything...even though I expect to be leaving in about 6 weeks... ;)  I'll be in Praso for Mother's Day when I call home though.  Yesterday, on P-day, I made a pizza and it was so awesome!  I had to make a make shift oven with two frying pans and a lid.  I bought cheese, which was very expensive but worth it. It actually tasted pretty close to the way they do back home.  So this week should be interesting with transfers and everything.  I'm really excited though. Well, have a great week everybody!  

Love Elder Kitchen  

April 8, 2013

Hey everybody!

This week we were very focused out in Nuamakrom because there is a family that we are teaching that will hopefully be baptized soon. We have a goal in the mission to baptize a family and so we are hoping that they will be baptized at the end of the month to achieve the goal.  On Saturday we went out to Nuamakrom and then walked to a little village outside there called Afosua and met up with the family early in the morning. None of them really speak english but we still went out to their farm with them and helped them with some palm nut stuff and also their rice farm.  Their boy who is about 14 was showing me how to catch mud crabs in rice farm.  Where the rice is it's really wet so they dig small holes and it fills with water and then the crabs go there so that they can reach their hands in and catch.  I was so exhausted but it was so much fun.  The mother and father weren't able to come to church on Sunday because they had to protect the rice from birds but their three older kids came to church.  Sunday we went to both Nuamamkrom church and Praso church because Praso is going to church at noon now.  I'm still hoping that they will be putting missionaries in Nuamakrom but I'm not sure if it will happen until May now.  Everything else is going well and I'm happy.  I'm tired right now because we played soccer for our activity today so I'm going to go and get some rest. I love you guys!

Elder Kitchen

April 2, 2013

Hey everybody! 

I just had another normal week.  Easter was fun but it sure is a lot different then it is at home. The people where I am didn't really seem to celebrate it much even compared to last year in Sunyani.  This week we were pretty busy trying to get the baptism prepared and everything to go smoothly.  I ended up coming down to Cape Coast so that I could do an interview for the Sisters because they were having a baptism.  Saturday was the baptism and it went smoothly.  I still really love that village, Nuamakrom.  The people there are just so simple but so nice and genuine.  It's weird to think about their lives there compared to our lives back home and what we feel like is important compared to what they think is important.   It's a whole different world there.  Sunday we also went to Nuamakrom for church.   We even met the bishops son who is not a member because he has been living away from home for a while but he knows a lot about the church and wants us to teach him.  Yesterday was a public holiday for Easter so the church in Praso had game and activities at the  church in the morning so we went and played some games and stuff with the members.  This coming week is going to be a busy one. I don't even think I'll have enough time to really even be in my area.  We are going to be traveling quite a bit and next week will probably be similar.  I'm getting really tired of traveling because it's the most uncomfortable way of traveling here.  You get packed into a tiny van the has more seats then it's supposed to and then you go over extremely bumpy roads and the van has no shocks so it just shakes the whole time. Haha.  It's always an adventure getting in one of those things.  So life is going well...I can't believe it's April already. The months just keep flying by! Well everybody, have a great week! 

Love Elder Kitchen

March 26, 2013

Hey everybody!

I'm just completely spacing everything right now...I can't even remember what happened this week.  I swear I have short-term memory loss whenever I walk into the internet cafe to write you guys.  Okay...I think I remember now. So I was sick at the beginning of the week with a pretty bad cold.  It got to the point where I almost lost my voice.  The problem with that is that people barely understand me as it is and then with my voice almost gone...they couldn't understand a word that I was saying.  Luckily I started to improve and now I'm better.  We are planning on having a baptism of three people this coming Saturday out in Nuamakrom.  We have a couple of investigators in our branch in Praso that are progressing well too.  We just gave a baptismal date to one who has been coming to church for a really long time.  She's 17 years old and very shy but she is so committed to the church...even more than a lot of the members.  Right now we are just right in the middle of the transfer and so things seem to be dragging a little bit. It's been a long time since I have experienced a change of any kind. Hopefully soon there will be something because when there are no changes...then things just drag a little bit.  Yesterday for our p-day activity we played soccer at the school that's owned by Elder Gaye (a seventy) in one of the areas in our zone.  They have a really nice sport court and we played on that.  I scored two goals so I'm sure I was the MVP of the match. ;)  haha  It was a lot of fun though.  Well, that's about everything this week. There was no crazy bike rides in the African bush but that's okay. To have those stories, I must first experience them and that isn't as fun as it sounds...it usually ends with me being really tired. Well, have a great week everybody! Thanks for the emails, it's always great to hear from you all!  

Love Elder Kitchen

March 19, 2013

Hello everybody!

I've had a great week as I always do. ;)  We had a baptism this last Saturday out in our village, Nuamakrom. The women's name is Martha and her husband and family are all members so it was fun to be able to complete a family. :)  Over the weekend I started to have a cold and then it didn't make it any better when we went out to Kenkuase on Sunday.  We rented bikes in Nuamakrom to take out to Kenkuase for four cedis.  The problem is that the bikes are absolutely terrible. They are old 'Doc Brown' bikes with a basket in the front and they feel like they will fall apart when you are going over any bump.  The bad part about that is the road there is a dirt road with lots of hills. Then to make it worse, my bike got a flat tire on the way there so I was struggling to say the least.  We finally got there and found out that they have one new investigator coming to church.  It's farming season so it's hard to get new people out there at this time.  We left early and finished church in Nuamakrom.  Monday I was still having a cold and a sore throat and then I decided to make a very sugary shake (a very bad idea).  I was so excited as I was putting ice cream, sweetened-condensed milk, and oreo type cookies into the blender.  It turns out that my body doesn't like sugary things like it used to.  I felt so sick the rest of the night. I woke up feeling a little better but I still have a cold.  We went to Foso as well this last week and we found out that they will be putting missionaries in Nuamakrom either in mid-April or late-May.  It will cut my area down but it will be really good for Nuamakrom and Kenkuase.  As for right now, I'm tired because we've been running around doing stuff for the sisters after district meeting and now I have a long and uncomfortable tro ride back to Praso...gotta love missionary work! :D  Thanks for the emails everybody! I love hearing from you! Talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Kitchen

March 11, 2013

Hey everybody! 

This week has gone well as usual.  We had our stake conference this week and so we went to Assin Foso to the stake center.  The meeting was presided by Elder Dickson of the seventy.  I've talked a lot about him because he is the area president here and so I've had the opportunity to hear him talk a lot.  He is such an amazing man.  He said in his talk that he would be speaking in the coming General Conference so make sure you listen for him because he is by far my favorite Seventy.  He told us about how it has been fifty years this month since he had his arm amputated from having bone cancer and at the time, the doctors told him that he would have almost a zero percent chance of living.  He ended up serving a mission just 8 months later and he was having to learn to do everything with just his left arm.  He was talking to the missionary age people and he was telling them that they need to go and serve missions.  One of our newer investigators even came to the stake conference with us.  She's progressing really well and her aunt that she is living with is the relief society president.  So some of you were saying that you were expecting me to get transferred...haha don't be expecting that until possibly the end of May.  I might be calling home in the same area as I did at Christmas.  I'm pretty sure that I only have one more area to go to before I finish.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens though.  Life is still going well, Ghana's still hot but I love it! haha.  (I'm sweating profusely as I am writing this...)  Thanks for all you guys do for me. I love all of you so much! Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Kitchen

March 5, 2013

Hey everybody!

We had a great week this last week!  I'll just start with the transfer news because I told you that this week would be transfers.  So we got the call and found out that my companion and I are both staying in Praso together!  My companion was surprised because he thought he would be getting released as a zone leader this time because he has been a zone leader for a very long time.  We are both happy that we will be staying though.  It probably means that I'm going to be here as least until the Mother's Day call home...I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  We went on splits twice this week and both times I stayed in my area.  On Friday we went to do a baptism interview for one of our investigators out in Nuamakrom but she was feeling very sick and so we felt like it would be best if we pushed her baptism back until she was feeling better. She also was happy with that because she didn't want to be sick when she was baptized.  The baptism can't be this coming Saturday either because we'll be having Stake conference and the area presidency will be presiding there. When I was on splits one of the days, we passed by the Relief Society President in our branch and she wasn't home but her niece was there and so we talked to her for a minute and then invited her to come to church and on Sunday she came!  She is going to a nursing training college and that's why she is living with her Aunt.  So now we have a new investigator in our Praso branch which is struggling a little bit because it's so new and small but hopefully we'll be able to help it out.  The power has been going out a lot lately.  I guess they have been having electricity shortages and so they have to share the electricity throughout the country. So when we have power it means another part of Ghana doesn't have it.  It's certainly not something that would happen back home in America.  It makes me grateful for what I have back home though.  We've had a couple of big rainstorms as well.  The rain comes down so hard and it's not even in drops.  It's like there is just a waterfall coming our of the sky!  Depending on the way the wind is blowing it either comes through the window onto my bed or my companions. Luckily last night it wasn't getting on my bed. ;)  Well, I'm 19 months today.  That's pretty crazy.  Time just keeps going by faster and faster.  Well, thanks for the emails this week everybody!  Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Kitchen

February 19, 2013

Hey everybody! 

This week was great because we were able to see Elder Quentin L. Cook and the devotional was great!  He was also accompanied by Elder Dickson of the seventy and he spoke with his wife as well.  The day before we had the meeting, we had our zone leader council.  After the meeting, we stayed in Cape Coast with all of the zone leaders and had a dinner where we all contributed some money and then we had a testimony meeting after it.  It was probably one of the coolest experiences of my mission so far. The 14 zone leaders and the 2 AP's all sharing their testimonys together.  It really brought the Spirit in well.  Then my companion and then one other companionship went to sleep at the AP's apartment which means a hot shower and sleeping in the A/C!!!  They live on the same compound as the mission home so they get these nice things.  It was the best night of sleep that I have gotten in such a long time. I didn't have to sleep under a net and I felt cold so I had to put a big fleece blanket on myself!  The meeting with Elder Cook went great.  We were all able to shake his hand and it was awesome because it was the first time I have been able to shake the hand of and Apostle.  This weekend my companion and I have really been trying to get to know the few members that we have in our Praso branch. We've been visiting the branch president a lot and he is a great guy. He hasn't been in the church for too long but he has such a strong testimony and he will help the branch grow.  Everything else is going well.  It's still hotter then blazes out here but I guess that's normal now. :)  Well, have a wonderful week everybody!  Love you guys! 

Love Elder Kitchen

February 11, 2013

Hey everybody!

This week was great because we were able to have a meeting with somebody from the quorum of the seventy. It was Elder Curtis who is the second counselor in the Africa West area.  We had our meeting with him on Thursday and the zone leaders were lucky to meet with him before we had the meeting.  We just talked to him about how our zones are doing and how he could help us.  It was probably my favorite mission tour that we have had so far.  Elder Curtis was really nice and had a good sense of humor. He wasn't just completely serious the whole time but I learned so much from him.  The main thing that he talked about was faith. President Shulz also instructed and he talked about the Plan of Salvation.  Then we also found out that this coming week on Thursday, we are going to have a Mission Devotional with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Twelve.  This month has been a lucky month.  We are preparing to have another baptism on the 23rd of February.  We went out to Nuamakrom on Friday and there had been a big rainstorm the night before and it looked like a tornado had hit the place.  Trees were all on the ground and also lots of houses lost their roof.  Even the school where almost all of the kids go lost its roof completely!  The people didn't really seem too upset about it though.  They just kept doing their normal thing and just trying to fix the roofs and stuff.  Today we came to Cape to play football on the beach and then we ate really good food at the restaurant next to the Cape Coast Castle.  This coming week should be a really enjoyable one. We have zone council and then Elder Cook is coming! Well, talk to you all next week! 

Love Elder Kitchen

Here are a couple pictures from the Zone Council.



February 4, 2013

Hey everybody!

Sorry about not sending an email to everybody last week. After I responded to a few emails then the computer stopped working and it wasn't even worth trying to fix so I just decided to wait until today! The whole internet situation here isn't the greatest but we are able to manage. This past week was really good. We have been preparing a few people to be baptized out in the village called Nuamakrom and it went well so we were able to have a baptism of five people. We went to church this week in the new branch in Praso this week because it has been a while since we went there. They are doing well. The newly called leaders are really trying to do well. There are a lot of less actives here in Praso and so there isn't a lot of people coming right  now to the new branch. We're trying to help them reactivate some people so that we can also teach their families who aren't members. We also went on splits this last week and I went and was with my old MTC companion in his area. We had a really good day and we were able to teach a lot of people and it was cool proselyting with him. We are having a mission tour this coming thursday and Elder Curtis of the Seventy will be here. I really like when we have Seventies come in. Well nothing else really happened this week. I'm going to be 18 months tomorrow which is pretty cool. It's weird that I've been out for that long now. Well, have a good week everybody! Love you all!

Love Elder Kitchen

January 21, 2013

Hey everybody!

I've been having the hardest time lately finding things to say in my emails.  This week was just another normal week.  Proselyting in the Praso branch where we are is going kind of slow since the split and it's been hard to find people to teach, but when we went out to the village called Nuamakrom where they have a ward, there were a lot of referrals waiting for us that have been coming to church for quite a while.  Nuamakrom is a great place because it's a quiet and humble place.  It's about a quarter of the way to Assin Foso on a really dusty road and bumpy road.  The taxis that go there have so much dust but when you finally get there it's worth it because the people are so great.  Because it's in the middle of nowhere, most of the people don't speak english and their main source of income is farming.  The usually farm things like cocoa, plantains, and cassava.  We have about 13 solid people that we are teaching out there and two of them are husband and wife with some kids.  The ward mission leader is a great help to us because he takes us around and translates the lessons if the people don't speak english.  On Sunday we went there for church and taught some of the people after.  We were able to set a few baptismal dates for next month and so as long as they keep progressing and we are able to meet with them then they will be baptized.  Today we came down to Cape Coast and for our activity we were able to watch the Best Two Years.  That show is a lot more fun to watch as a missionary.  I was able to relate to a lot of things that they were saying and doing and it was really funny.  Nothing too much is happening this coming week but it still should be a really good weeks.  Well, thanks for the emails and everything you guys do for me. Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Kitchen 

January 15, 2013

Hey everybody!

This week has been another good one.  During the week we went on splits so that I could go and do an interview for the other Elders in our apartment.  We went out to a small village called Nuamakrom where they have a ward there.  It used to be part of the others proselyting area but now it is going to be a part of my proselyting area from now going because of the splitting of our ward.  It's about a 20 minutes taxi drive to the place on a really crappy dirt road. The taxis that go on that road are so crappy and your shirt gets very dusty when you even just sit on the seats.  By the time you get to the place, your shirt is completely covered in dust.  The interview went well and then we went around a little bit and he showed me some of the members that we will be working with and some other things about the area before we came back.  That place is cool.  We are going to be going there this coming Friday to meet some of the investigators and get to know the area better.  We don't have any baptism dates set right now but we are hopefully going to have some people progressing really soon.  It's going to be a little slower now that we are in the new branch in Praso.  Last night we went to a family home evening with one of the members and they gave us a huge bowl of fufu with fish and goat and it was so good.  I felt like I was going to die because I was so full.  Then he took us back to our apartment in his car which was awesome because it's rare that we get to ride in a nice car.  So life is going well right now and I'm happy. I guess I'll just talk to you all next week! Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Kitchen

January 8, 2013

Hey everybody!

So another transfer had come and gone and my companionship wasn't effected so I'll be with my companion for at least another 8 weeks because this transfer is an extended one.  The day after zone council, my companion and I went to Assin Foso to meet with the stake presidency there and it went great.  We went back to the zone leaders apartment there in Foso and slept there for the night and then came back to Praso early the next morning.  Before we went to Foso, we did a service project for one of the other companionship's investigator.  We helped weed and move big cement blocks around to help the mason who is building the place for the woman to live.  It was a lot of fun but really tiring.  For lunch the other companionship and us went to the apartment and made a big french toast lunch.  It was a lot of fun and it was good to see their investigator so happy.  Two Sundays ago, our ward was split into a ward and a branch so my companion and I are in the branch and there will be a lot of work to do there.  The membership is much smaller and the proselyting area won't be that easy, but we'll still manage.  Transfer news came and took two of our elders from the zone and we'll be sad to miss them but we'll be getting two good ones in return.  Our area is tough sometimes because most of the people don't speak english so we are always having to take people around with us to translate.  In the bigger cities it isn't as bad because more people speak english.  That's one of the challenges of being more in the villages but you usually get to baptize more people.  Well, everything is still cool here.  It was good to hear from all of you. Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Kitchen