Quick Update and Primary Message

We didn't baptize this week so the streak ends at 5 weeks. I can't really complain. We are also looking good to baptize this Sunday that is coming. So I guess I can handle one week without a baptism as long as it doesn't happen again. ;)

 

Things are going good with the young companion. He will be with me for another 2 weeks and then leaves on his mission in a couple months. It's been very different working with him because on top of everything he is very shy and at times antisocial. So I do a lot of solo teaching and contacting but he is coming along. After two more weeks he will be a pro missionary.

 

We haven't had anything too crazy happen this week and I am suffering from something I like to call Falta de Fotos or in other words I haven't taken pictures for like a month apart from baptisms so I have none to send.... I know, I know, I should take more and I will regret it if I don't. I have heard it all. I'm just not thinking about it, but I promise to make more of an effort.

 

I love you all. Thanks for all your support and love. Have a great week.

 

Elder K

And a short message to the Eastridge Ward Primary...

 

Dear Primary of the Eastridge Ward,

Being a missionary in Mexico has taught me a lot and I have seen many people change their lives when they read the scriptures and live the Gospel. Our Heavenly Father loves all of us and wants us to share the blessings we have with everyone. One of the best ways we can do it is by being missionaries. Start being a missionary now to your friends and families so that you can be ready to serve a full-time mission. I know that the church is true and that through scripture study The Lord prepares us to be missionaries so he can use us to spread the gospel to all the world.

Elder Kartchner

More Baptisms!

Things are going great here. We baptized two more people this last week. So that makes it 5 weeks in a row. We are pushing for 6. Also, my district won district of the week because everyone baptized and we had 13 baptism of the 16 in the zone. It's been a good but crazy week.

We don't have transfers for another 3 weeks but they moved my companion to Monterrey on Friday and I recieved a "summer missionary". A summer missionary is what they do when there aren't enough missionaries. They are priest-age youth that help out for a couple weeks. So they aren't officially missionaries. I will be with this summer missionary from Monterrey for 3 weeks. It's a new challenge to say the least.

It is still pretty hot here but not as hot as other parts of the mission so I am greatful for that. Here it cools off pretty good at night so we just turn a couple of fans on and we sleep great.

I am wondering if the letter of stories is ever going to get there. I think I might have to make another attempt.

This year has been so long but I feel like I just left home. It's starting to scare me about how fast the end will come.

I am getting use to being District leader and still learning but the Lord always throws somthing else in when I start to feel good about where I am at.

Well, have a great week and good luck to all that are starting school. I love you guys.

Elder K

Baptisms and More

Well we had two more baptisms this week and yes, one of them was the guy from the story [last week]. It was a little harder than I thought it would be to get him to church on Sunday, but we got it done. So that makes it 4 weeks in a row and we are looking good for 2 or 3 baptisms this week. I put the pics [below] from this last week and the week before.

 

Our apartment here is pretty good. It's one of the nicest ones I have seen so far in the mission. We don't have a washer or a dryer so we go to members' houses or the Laundromat. In this area we didn't have an Iron so I went and bought my own because there are a lot of areas that don't have them and others that are really crappy.

 

We don't have bikes here in this area so it's a whole lot of walking and taking crazy buses. Those that know of the Guatemalan chicken buses have an idea of how it is. The only missionaries that drive are the assistants so I don't think I have to worry much about that but, if I have to drive my USA license works just fine.

We have a good number of kids in the primary here but they are all on the younger end. The older classes are much smaller. It's weird seeing Amber getting baptized and thinking about how big everyone is getting. It is just starting to sink in how long I have been out here. A life time but no time at all.

 

Things are going good here in Mexico. Every day is a struggle, adventure, and a blessing.

I love you all and thank you for your support and love.

Elder K

 

 

A Spiritual Boost

Well, we had another baptism yesterday and we have a few set up for this week--three weeks in a row and going for the fourth. I am trying to send a pic of the baptism but the computer is being dumb so who knows. It might have to wait till next week. Sounds like all the little kids are changing a lot. It will be weird to see them all in a year... thats right one year down.

 

This week flew by. I don't know what is happening to the time. I feel like I just wrote you guys yesterday. A little story that comes to mind from the week is of one of the people that is going to get baptized this coming Sunday. His wife got baptized a couple weeks ago and we have been working with him. He smokes a lot. He also hasn't had a job for a while. In a lesson we had on Friday night I was a little sick of his excuses for smoking. So I told him, Look God won't give you work because if you have work you have money to by cigarettes. The day you quit smoking is the day you will find a job. After a little pause to let him think and me feeling a little afraid of what I had just said and promised, I asked him what he was going to do. He said, "Well you don't give me much of a choice. I have to quit." He didn't smoke Saturday or Sunday and Sunday night he reveived a call and starts work today. It was a big testimony builder for me and now he is going to get baptized.

 

God is always listening and always watching. Never let doubt enter into your minds. Any feeling of sadness stress, anger, or any feeling that we don't like having is not from Him. If you are feeling any of these in the moment get on your knees and tell Him to take them away and do your part and continue living. I think it was Pres. Eyring that said 'Many are willing to die in the name of Christ but few are willing to live in the name of Christ'. Have faith that He knows what he is doing and in the plan that we have been taught and live!

 

I love you all have an awesome week and I will send pics next week.

Elder K

P.S. Here are some scriptures that have helped me in the past week to deal with things a little better. Read them carfully and with a lot of prayer and they will help.

D&C 29: 12-13

Matt 19:29

Matt 18:21-35

Good Times

Well, things are going pretty good here in Mexiville. I can't believe you still haven't gotten the letter of stories. I sent it over two months ago. Well, I have a story or two to put in this email. This week we killed it. We had two baptisms and 7 new people in church. 7 means the people that can get baptized so counting little kids it was like 12. We started out with two families and we were happy, but then when we started sacrament people kept coming in one by one. Every time the door opened the entire ward looked back to see who it was then at us with looks of 'no way'. It was pretty funny and awesome. So we have two weeks in a row baptizing and we are working for a third.

The area I am in is a little bit poorer, but not bad. We eat good. I do get to travel a little more as District Leader. It's cool sometimes. I keep telling myself I get to travel more, I don't have to. I sent pictures of the baptisms we have had and also some of the storms that come almost every afternoon. The picture of me and my comp in the truck has a funny story. We were walking to an appointment when it started sprinkling. We looked toward the mountain and some of the ugliest clouds I have ever seen were coming. We started running to get to the appointment before the rain got to us. We almost made it. The wind came and I swear there was a tornado or something. So much water and wind we could hardly see. We knocked the door and waited meanwhile being drenched with water to the bone. They never came to the door so we went to the side of the house on the corner where the rain could only partly hit us because is was raining sideways. Then a guy ran out of his house and yelled, "Get in the tuck!" There was a small blue truck right in front of us. Without a thought we jumped in to wait out the storm. The man went back in his house. As we waited 20 min. or so we got thinking. What if this isn't his truck? Also the street was like a river and and we were worried it was going to take the truck. In the end all was well we left a thank you note on the back of a Joseph Smith pamphlet and went on our way.

Well it's not the greatest story but its the best I've got this week. I love you guys and have an awesome week.

Elder K