December 9th - Paso Robles

Hi Familia,

Paso Robles is kinda not such beautiful place in the winter,  but I love seeing the hills and things. I haven't really seen any vineyards, just a lot of advertisements for wine tasting. It's ok, I kinda feel like I left my heart in Ventura. It is a small area and we aren't really doing that much Spanish work. We are kinda doing both English and Spanish because our branch has enough priesthood to be considered a branch but we only fill up the RS room. 

Hermana Corniea's Spanish is really good. Our new district is OK not as fun as my last one but it's OK. There are two other Hermanas in our apt so in total 4. 

I liked the Christmas devotional especially Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk. 

I so sorry about Uncle Talmage's dad. I hope everything goes well at the funeral. For Christmas, you can send the boxes to my apt because I think they might get here a little faster or just whatever you want to do. (***If you would like Mikenzie's address, email me or message me on f/b)   Here is my christmas list in total: 

                 1)Forever Midnight scent in Bath and Body works

                 2) Makeup (I need everything)  

                 3) Mormon Messages DVDs

                 4) Scripture Covers XL for my spanish scriptures

                 5) Cliff  bars( peant butter crunch) and Muscle Milk (not powder)

                 6) Bed Head shampoo and condition 

I will be calling at 4 p.m. Christmas Day, California time.   So 5:00 AZ time. I think. 

I will have to tell you more about what has went on since I got here in my weekly letter to you. But I want you to know that I am fine and I love you and know that I am doing my best even when things get in the way. 

I can't wait to talk to you and tell you everything. I even want to talk to my dog. How is everything? Everyone? Gracie? I will rant to you in my weekly letter. Just know that everything is ok for right now. I can't wait for what this week has in store for us!!  I have some pictures but don't have time to send them. 

Funny, our area is near the state hospital for the criminally insane no worries!!!   :) 

Love y'all alot

Te quiero mucho

Hermana Fitzpatrick

December 2 - I Love Mexican Parties!!

Hola Familia,

 

For Thanksgiving, the whole branch had a Mexican party. Oh, I loved it! They know how to dance and party!!  It totally changed my mind, I want to marry a Mexican, haha!!!  The mission does things to you. We had turkey and mashed potatoes. It was just all fun. Because we had an awesome party at the church, we didn't go to Marie Callendars. 

I am getting transferred to Paso Robles. My new companion is Hermana Corniea, my MTC companion. 

I can't wait to talk to you too!  I think the Christmas Party/FHE is a great idea. It would be great to involve the missionaries or even the less actives.

I want to put on more bath and body work stuff on my Christms list, and if I think of anything else I'll ley you know. 

Nothing too exciting happened this week. I kinda hate holidays and other things because it makes me think about y'all which isn't bad.  I just miss our family traditions. 

Did you go black Friday shopping? How is everyone? So you might want to send the packages early, too, because I am going to the northernmost part of the mission. I will still be knocking but it will be ok. I am just excited but it will also be a little sad because I loved this branch and have made some of the greatest friends here. I definitely want to come back here off the mission and have a party like the real Mexicans. It's crazy how these people become your family.   You know that you are going to have leave eventually but part of me too wants to come live out here. I know it is expensive! 

I love it here!!  It's December and it is still like 70-80 degrees outside. Everything is great, I will have to write more to you in a letter because my mind is a little flustered right now. But we are officially on the countdown of the mission because this is transfer #7 and we only have six more. 

Hope y'all have a great week and everything goes well. I'll tell you more in my letter and love you from the star up in the sky to the deep blue sea. Ok not my best but I try to explain.

 

Love y'all so much

 

Kenzer Lou/Hermana Fitzpatrick

Nov. 25 - Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hola Familia,

The weather here is still sunny and warm but it does get a little chilly in the evenings. I am warm enough at night and during the day if it is chilly I wear my jacket. I am wearing my boots and my jacket. 

Our next transfer is next Tuesday, so next Monday I will tell you if I am staying or if I am going. I wasn't joking when I said the sun has turned my hair colors. It is so white that my roots show. Sometimes i really just want to dye my roots but I know that you would kill me. It is so long but I don't want to cut it, I want to see how long I can let it grow. haha. Only on Sundays, do I really get a chance to curl my hair. 

That's so great that everything at home is going well and that class is going great too. Sometimes I wish I was at school and then I kid myself. I wouldn't want to be at school now, because i would have a lot more stress!  

Everything in Ventura is great. This week while teaching people, we were explaining to a man the mormon.org website and he gave us the Christ card we ha given him back and said that he was Christian. It was kinda funny but sad. Our investigators our good. We are very close to getting one of our investigators to Church it is hard because she is by herself and only a couple of the members live in our area and a bunch of less actives.   She is so close we can feel it. 

For Thanksgiving, we are having dinner with a member and going on as a usual day in a missionaries life. We will go visit our less actives and investigators and probably knock a little.  We will stay out until about 8:00 like our normal schedule as a missionary.  

We aren't doing service really anywhere. We ask everyone we talk to if there is something we can do to help them.  They just say all is good.  It is the Mexican culture as well to not have help from anyone.  They are kinda stubborn and want to do things themselves. 

I haven't seen Hermana Rubow but I get a letter from her about every week or so. She tells me her mom asks a lot about me. 

This week was so great. Spiritually uplifting, filled with new knowledge and revelation. I loved Zone Conference. It was so great and so inspired. I especially loved the panel part. It was so good to have some questions answered by missionaries who have great experiences. I loved the EDPEP parts as well. I received guidance on things that i need to work on in my teaching skills and how to use the scriptures by explaining it more fully and not just rushing into it. 

We taught a little bit this week. We taught C. who is progressing at a snail's pace because she works a lot. This week she worked from 2 in the morning till six at night. We shared a scripture. We are just struggling to get in the door it has been about 4 months of teaching and we haven't be able to get in yet but we are going to teach the Plan of Salvation this week with a visual. We re-taught A. the Restoration and we wanted to show him the DVD but he doesn't have one. So we are going to try and find a member who we can have a FHE with so he can get gain friendship and be able to do things with the knowledge that we are giving him. We taught a couple of news the restoration and we hope that they will be progressing. 

This week I studied a lot in the book of Alma. I'm starting to get into the war chapters.  I find it so interesting that even during the peace years Moroni was still preparing the cities to be fortified. One of my favorite scriptures is Alma 48:17, "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."  It makes me think about what more can I do to become like Moroni? 

I also studied this week about harvesting. In the New/Old Testament and the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants it talks about harvesting and how the field is ripe or ready. I also studied in Preach My Gospel this week about Christ like attributes and how we can gain them. It is through prayer and following Christ's example. 

We learned that when it talks about harvesting in the scriptures it is it ripe. Ripe in the scriptures means to be ready. I've learned that the missionaries aren't the ones who plant the seeds who help them grow.  They are the ones that harvest to bring people unto baptism. We also learned that we need to be persistent when talking to people about this gospel. 

I really enjoyed this week, especially for the leadership and new attribute of obedience. It is through obedience to simple rules that I have seen blessings. It is through obedience and by being obedient that we will be privileged to reach our goal of 40 worthy converts. 

We had Zone conference this week. It was so great but it started at 9:40 in the morning and lasted until about 7 at night. There has been a lot of complaints about headaches in the mission. I am thankful that I have only gotten a couple from stress and things but other than that I have been good. 

Oh, last night was an experience!  We went over to a members house to eat dinner and she feed us burritos.   Instead of real authentic Mexican beef or meat in them, we ate donkey burritos!!   It wasn't that bad. I kinda liked it. We had my favorite food this week called Chile Rellenos. They are so good, I want to make them for y'all when i get home and real tortilla chips and all the stuff that is bad for you.  I definitely have become accustomed to chilis.  Most things aren't really spicy anymore.   I love horchata!!   Every Mexican has horchata in their fridge. 

We have seen a lot of miracles this week.   And now that transfer week coming up, we are going to rock the house or the mission out of this world!!   I like to end every transfer going out with a bang.

Te quiero mucho and I love ya lots

Hermana Fitzpatrick

Kenzer Lou    

November 18 - Absolutely Loving My Mission!!

Hermana Wright

Elder Hernandez.  He was our District leader.  

Such a great and humble guy.

Hermana Palafox.  No, I am not crying!

I miss her already and she hasn't even left yet...

Just another beautiful California sunset.

Yes, be jealous! They're beautiful!!

Hermana Walker.  I love her.

My birthday trip to the Los Angeles temple.

Beautiful day.  Beautiful temple.  Beautiful friend.

ola Familia,

Estoy bien. I got the rest of my boxes thanks so much mom. I really appreciate it. I did get the gift cards and the hot chocolate. 

I can't wait to see the pictures from Thanksgiving. Send me a lot and I will send you some too.

Thanks for all the updates and news on everyone. Crazy how time goes by so fast on all those things.  I'm so happy for  Sister Maybin. I bet she was a beautiful bride!

How are you? This week was really good. We taught a lot and found some new investigators.  We also helped some of our less actives. We had a wonderful conference last week.  We learned a lot from it.  We learned that how we  begin teaching is really important. 

We had exchanges this week as well with Hermana Bartschi and Hermana Wright. They are so amazing. I went with Hermana Wright.  We found some new investigators who are really searching for the truth. One of the investigators is Myra, she hasn't been going to her current church because she has a four year old little boy who makes a lot of noise and things like that. She wants to know the truth and figure out for herself what Heavenly Father wants for her. We knocked on a lot of doors.  We even found some new places to knock. It was a really good day.   I loved learning from Hermana Wright. In our exchange review, I learned a lot. I learned that we can even teach to our investigators specific needs and teach for understanding. Hermana Wright, told me to just go for it!!  I love exchanges. They help me grow as a missionary help me to become the person that Heavenly Father wants me to become.

This week I have been studying in Preach My Gospel chapter 4. I really love how President Hinckley tells us how we can recognize the Spirit.  One of my favorite parts is praying with faith. The only way that we will be able to use the full power of the Spirit is if we pray with faith. I read in True to the Faith, on prayer.   One thing that stuck out to me is that the power of our prayers depends on us. We can be tired and exhausted, but we always need to pray with faith with all the energy of heart. 

I'm still reading the Book of Mormon in the book of Alma. I'm so close to the wars chapters which are my favorite because they just show how diligent, obedient, hopeful, and trustworthy the Stripling Warriors were. 

How was your class? What did you teach?   I can't wait to speak Spanish with Blake and other people in the Tuscon area. Can you imagine if I walked into a Mexican store with my blonde hair and white skin and then began to speak spanish?  That would be pretty funny!!   I will write more in my letter to you. Love you so much!

Paz ofuera = Peace out

Love ya.
Kenzer lou/ Hermana Fitzpatrick

November 11, Everything in Ventura is Good!!

Companionship last transfer!!!!!

 

Bombing it up in Ventura, No mom, I did not dye my hair.   It is the darn sun!!   I think I will be bleach blond by the time I come home because it is November and we are still having sun and in the late 70's early 80's!!  This is my one of my favorite companions, Hermana Palafox.  She is awesome!!  I miss her!  

Hola Mi Familia,

That's so funny! 7 trips to Goodwill. haha Everything in Ventura is good! This week was kinda tough.  We went to go see H. and he dropped us. He didn't want to learn more.  He said when he has time he will come to church. But we didn't get time to ask him why because he had a friend visiting.   We will go back this week and see if he can explain more and we will invite him to the dia de gracias actividad este sabado. 

We haven't heard anything about the missionaries in the Phillippeans but we heard there was a class 5 typhoon and about 10000 people died but that all the missionaries got evacuated. No one else I know in Mexico City. I have to write Elder Larsen, I have been a little busy it has been like 3 months since I last wrote him.  Ooops :)

On another note of people we know, We had dinner with some members se llama la familia Hernandez. Their names are Bertha y Roberto and their kids Edith and I don't know the others. But we were talking about missionaries and I knew.  I mentioned that Caroline Briggs son, Andrew, served in the California Ventura mission. I just didn't know which areas.  Well, this familia es really good friends with their son Andrew and are still in contact with them. I told them I know his mom and his brothers. All of these small connections is really cool.

I did get some of my boxes and everything is great. Thanks so much, you are the bomb!  I love the boots that you sent me and the jacket too.

No I can't believe Christmas is around the corner.  We are putting our Christmas tree up today.   I have given in to egg nog already.  My new favorite thing to drink which is not low calorie is Horchata. Me gusta mucho. We don't have a dinner appointment yet for thanksgiving but probably next week.

This week went by so fast but it was definitely a trying week. This week we taught a lot of our investigators and found some new investigators. Diana told us that she will be moving at the end of this month to Los Angeles so we will be getting her information and send it to Sister Jones for the missionaries in Los Angeles. It still makes me sad that we had to drop H. When someone drops you, you always question did I give it my all?   Did I sacrifice enough for them to know what they won't have if they don't accept it?   And the answer is, we give it our all and we may be disappointed but we have to pick ourselves up and continue with a bright, happy smile. It is difficult, but I know that one day he we will realize what he has been missing in his life.

We knocked some doors and found some new people who are ready for the gospel but we have to see if they will progress. I know Heavenly Father puts people in our path for a reason. We did visit a lot of less actives this week and we are trying really hard to get them back. One thing that we thought of is doing formal invitations for them because it may make them think that they are wanted and needed back in the church. Right now all we can really do is love them until some thing makes them need the church again.

This week I have been studying in the Book of Mormon, the missionaries chapter and how Alma tells his son Helamen that he needs to keep the commandments or else he won't be able to enter into the presence of God. It is really interesting. I finished the Laws and Ordinance chapter of Preach My Gospel and today it was interesting how service is the law of consecration. I loved it!   That is what the High Council speaker spoke on in Sacrament meeting; the difference between the law of sacrifice and consecration. I am also reading in the Bible from Genesis.   It is really interesting all the customs and laws that they had back then. Yesterday, it was interesting in sacrament meeting. The high councilman talked about sins of omission which are the things we do to get out of our calling like not having FHE, family scripture or prayer, saying we are too busy or don't have time. He told us that we can't get into the celestial kingdom with these sins. The difference between the law of consecration and the law of sacrifice is this; the law of consecration is giving our time, talents, money, and property to the church but sacrifice is giving all that we have both temporal and spiritual. He shared Matt 19: 16-22 and one thing he emphasized is "what lack I yet?"   Not giving up his valuables didn't keep him out of the kingdom of God but not willing to live the law of sacrifice did. So, do we serve willing?

Hermana Rubow wrote me a letter with love you to the moon and back.   It exactly how you sign your letters to me.  It reminded me of how much probably her and me and you and her mom are so similar.

How's school? How is dad? Can't believe how big littles is getting. Tell her I want an email from her soon and mi hermanito, Blake

Te quiero mucho,

Love y'all a lot

write some more this week too

Hermana Fitzpatrick

kenzer Lou 

November 4 - A Letter from a Sweet Companion

Sister Fitzpatrick,

The email you sent me was the sweetest thing ever. Thank you so much. I'm so blessed to have served with Hermana FItzpatrick. She has been one of the most charitable people I know. She served me everyday and she always tried very hard to help me have a good time my last transfer. I knew Heavenly Father put us together because he knew we needed each other. I now have a best friend for life. She is growing so much, and she loves to serve. She has many talents to give and she will become what Heavenly Father wants her to become by the end of her mission. If I'm ever in Arizona I will send you a message do we can meet. That would be wonderful. I am going to move to Utah. I'm not sure when, but hopefully this month. Thanks so much for offering Mikenzie's grandparents home. I will let you know. And thanks so much. This is a big blessing to know that I have friends everywhere I go. If you ever need anything please let me know. Have a great day!

Love Nubia Palafox

November 4 - Everything is Good!

Hi Family,

 

How are ya'll? Everything is so good and the weather is as sunny as ever and its November!   H. is so great.   He did come to church. He wants to come to church again but he won't commit to a date to be baptized because he wants a sure answer.   We think that he has his answer.   He is just not willing to act on it yet.  We are teaching a couple of people.  We are teaching a woman named Diana who just had a baby with her pareja (significant other).   She was on the way to the hospital because she was having problems breathing.  We said a prayer with her and told her we would stop by this week. 

We are knocking on doors a lot, but it's ok, its one of my favorite things to do. I love it even if a door gets slammed in your face or if people aren't interested. My Spanish is so good!!  It's really funny. Ok, funny moment...  so during district meeting I was asked to give the closing prayer in English.   When I asked for.... "please bless" I started to say por favor.  So embarrassing, but it was funny too. I am also getting complimented a lot for how good my Spanish is. That's good because I worked my butt of to get where I am at. 

Thank you for contacting Hermana Palafox.  I know that she really appreciates it.  Yes, she did cut her hair.   The big kicker is that she cut it herself on the mission because when ever she had a bad day she just went and cut it!  It did look cute!   I'll see what I can do for Hermana Walker. The shoes from payless are great and a lot better.   I like not looking like a big foot clown with those Dansko clunkers, even though they're good shoes.  They aren't hurting my feet or anything.   Sometime I do get rocks and stuff but that is normal. It wasn't the buckle that broke.  It was the screw that held the strap in.  

Anything from Costco would be great, I need to by some calcium pills because lately I have been getting a pain in the back of my upper thigh and we think it is because of lack of calcium or potassium because the almond milk doesn't really have any even though it says it does.  Some gift cards I could use are Mcdonald's, Subway, Chipotle, Taco Bell, just to name a few. They have a Marie Calendar's here too. 

That's great you're having the missionaries over for Thanksgiving dinner!  No one has signed up for Thanksgiving dinner yet. 

We aren't allowed to Skype at Christmas  It depends on the mission president.  Mostly you can Skype if you are a foreign mission (your family lives outside of the US). So, no sorry.  But you will get to hear my voice!

The next transfer is Christmas! 

The best thing that happened to me last week is just knocking on doors.   Sometimes its funny because people have said "oh, I have already got this" or they don't even answer the door. The funniest thing... We had Halloween this week so we had to be in early.   We get this knock on our door, but we don't answer it.   All we hear is, "Is this is where the Mormons used to live?"   

The most spiritual thing that happened this week was when we went to go visit a less active who just had a baby and has two other kids with her ex-boyfriend who was really having a hard time.   We stopped by and shared the talk Happily Ever After by President Utchdorf. This woman is the mom of three kids, doesn't work, is going to school, and has no one that is supporting her. 

The biggest impact that I have made on my mission is planting seeds.   I read in Alma this week that no matter what it is the joy and the opportunity to share the gospel that is important.  My favorite chapter in the BOM is Alma 26 because it is the talk that Ammon gives when he comes home from his mission. 

My pday/workout clothes are good no worries. 

All I really want for Christmas is the Mormon messages DVD's, letters and pictures.

 

Write ya a snail mail this week!

 

Love lots

 

Kenzer Lou/ Hermana Fitzpatrick

October 28 - Happy Halloween, Almost

Hola Familia,

 

Happy Halloween to you too. My new companion is Hermana Howell. We were in the MTC together. No it is just me and her. I'm not training, I am still driving. Tiwi is good, hasn't yelled at me for a while. 

My hair is fine. I don't need a cut or color yet but when I do I'll let you know. One thing that I probably could use is a new El Libro de Mormon because my book of Mormon has been breaking because I use it so much. :) 

We are getting dinner invitations. For meals, it is the basic Mexican meal beans, rice, tortillas, but I can't wait to make chili rellenos for y'all because they are my favorite thing to eat. 

No I haven't had to talk in church yet but I do participate in Gospel Principles and Sociedad de Soccorro (Relief Society). I haven't shared my testimony on fast and testimony Sunday because mostly the members take up the whole time, which is a good thing. 

My Spanish is getting better.   I think when I do go back to school, I will minor or double major if it is possible in Spanish and the health stuff. 

The missionary work is going good. We are reknocking doors that I have already knocked or that other missionaries that I know have knocked. Because there isn't a lot of Spanish work in this area, we only have pockets. 

Thanks for the article. Don't worry about a camera I just bought a new one so it will be good. Now I can send you pictures!!  Look forward to those next week. :) 

This week we taught a lot of lessons but one miracle that I want to share is with one of our investigators named Humberto. We have taught him everything and we were really stressing the importance of coming the church. When we began he told us that he didn't want to have a church tour. But we asked him yesterday and told him that we had the time to take him and HE ACCEPTED!!!  SO exciting. We were on the verge of dropping him because there wasn't anymore we could do if he didn't come to church. So we committed him to come to church next Sunday and he said that he would.

 

One thing that I learned that was interesting this week. During my studies I have been studying a lot about the Restoration of the Gospel in my Preach My Gospel manual. I have been reading in the Book of Mormon too.  One thing that I discovered is that in Alma 18 you could sum up Preach My Gospel in two pages. I also discovered that when we were baptized we took upon ourselves a covenant to Preach the Gospel. We were called as missionaries at the age of eight years old. We didn't have to be set apart or reach the ages of 18,19,20,21. When baptized, we promised God that we would share the gospel.  When we share the gospel, that is when we are truly converted to this Work. So when we share the gospel we are showing God and Christ that we are truly converted to the gospel.

 

I'll write more in my snail mail

Love y'all

 

Hermana Fitzpatrick, kenzer lou

October 21 - Still in Ventura!!

Hi FAM,

 

I'm not being transferred. I'm staying in Ventura! I'm excited but also a little bit bummed because I have been here and knocked a lot of our area.  But I guess we will just re-knock doors. 

Thanks for fixing my skirts. I can't write a lot because it is a busy day but I will definitely write a snail mail. 

This week we had a taught a lot of lessons and some other stuff went on. Are you trying to avoid my question of the scripture cases?  This week went great and everything is fine. I love the mission!!   When I have companions that leave I cry.  I think about when I have to leave.  That's so great you're having the missionaries over for Thanksgiving!  Remember when you feed the missionaries on that day,  don't feed them too much because some people they visit will invite them for dinner too.  They will end up having more than three Thanksgiving dinners!!  

We are getting a bunch of people from my first district here so it will be great!  Hermana Romero is coming here to be in Engish. 

Not yet for the missionary cards. I haven't sent any pics yet because I need a cord for my camera but my camera broke this week.  We are going to go to Target and get a new camera today.

 

I love y'all and will write more in my snail mail love ya

 

Hermana fitz

kenzer lou

Snail Mail - October 3rd

Mom,

Everything is really good!  My companions and I are doing really well.  We are teaching a couple of people.  One man's name is Murillo.  Our next transfer is on October 22nd.

We pick up our email in the Family History Library at our church building.  I do need some sort of jacket because it's starting to get just a little bit cold.  I would like some scripture covers for my Spanish Bible and Book of Mormon.  They are separate books.  (Spanish looking ones, would be cool!)

I'm doing good on your Costco run!  Thanks, though.  I really don't need anything at the moment.  Did you ever get in contact with Hermana Walker?

I loved the Relief Society broadcast last Friday night.

I can't sent my pics from my camera because I don't have a cord for my camera to put into the computer.  I'll send my pics home soon.

I'm glad everything is okay at home.  (***sidenote, Mikenzie hadn't received my email for the week when she sent this letter.  It was stuck in cyber-space somewhere.  I felt terrible!!!!)  As a missionary, when you don't get any kind of email or letter, your mind starts to wander and think of the worst thing possible.

I love that you guys miss me.  But, could you please not tell me how much time I have left!!  It kind of makes me sick!!  You can tell me you miss me, though.  Everything is great here.  I've been thinking about it, and if I get the chance to extend my mission, I'm going to take it!!  Some things are hard.  But I'll get through it!!

Te Quiero Ustedes,

Hermana Fitz

October 14 - I Love This Work!!

Hola Familia,

 

Todo esta bien. Mis faldas still fit y yo tengo suficiente. Yo compro un chaqueta es muy bien. me gustaria boots pero no es neceisario.   (All is well. My skirts still fit and I have enough. I bought a jacket and it is very good. I like boots but not necessary.)

Did you get a chance to get my scripture cases? Just wondering. If not, it's ok.  I think my snail mail letter probably got sent to Grandma's house because I thought you were going to be in Utah for the whole week. 

I did get your package thank you so much. I am looking forward to transfers.  But it will be a little sad because one of my companions, Hermana Palafox is leaving.  But it's ok.  I love her so much.  She was companion with Hermana Walker so it was easy for us to transition and not have a sad day on our first day together. 

I'm so glad that Sydnie liked BYUI.   It's such a great school!  

This week we taught a lot of lessons. We have a couple people who are interested in our message.  The only thing keeping from from progressing is they need to come to church. 

This week I have been studying in Preach my Gospel and how we need to be consecrated missionaries. Not a lot really happened this week. We have exchanges tomorrow and I'm really excited. My Spanish is good. It is getting hard to write and speak in English. I am going to have such a hard time going back to school. 

I will write more in my letter to you this week. It's crazy how Much I love this work and the people. You're right they are going to have to kick me out or handcuff me to the airplane.

 

Te Quiero,

 

Hermana Fitzpatrick 

October 7 - A Little Difficult, but Good

Hola Familia,

 

This week has been good, a little difficult but good. I'm glad everyone is doing good and catching up on stuff. I loved conference but it was a little frustrating as well because I knew what y'all were doing too.  It's always a little difficult on the days that you know what your family is doing. My favorite talk of Conference was President Uchdorf's talk and a couple others. 

I will get the chance to go to the temple again next August. Some of the personal revelation that I received from conference is that the family definitely needs to be a whole lot stronger. It was emphasizing time and time again that we need to hold weekly Family Home Evenings, have family prayer and scripture study daily. Also the youth can't rely on their parents for a testimony they need to grow it themselves. We watched Conference at the church. Our Ward Mission Leader is great.  He only speaks Spanish.   When we report on our investigators for the week, I talk to him.  We don't have any progressing investigators yet, but we will have some soon if we pray with faith. 

I am absolutely loving my Spanish!!  I am definitely still learning but from where I was to where I am now is a miracle!!  I am comfortable with speaking and understanding. All three hours of church is in Spanish and I can now participate in Gospel Principles class and add comments.   Before, I wasn't able to or could. 

I am sending a box home full of mission stuff just keep it for now until I get home and decide what to do with it. The other things in the box are that a bunch of my skirts from the missionary store haven't lasted the pencils only 3, the zipper broke, so if there is anyway you or someone could fix it, if not, totally ok. I am sending back the book I got for my b-day because it isn't approved.  I'll be able to read it when I get home. 

I didn't get a package yet. I am fine for skirts and everything right now. I will tell you what kind of jacket or coat I need in my snail mail. 

I want to tell anyone that can hear or read my words the best thing to do is go on a mission. I have never had a stronger relationship with my Heavenly Father and elder brother Jesus Christ or needed to exercise the atonement like I spoke of in my fairewell talk.  Sometime the mission is difficult, and other times the mission is joyous. But the thing that keeps me going is becoming the missionary/person that Heavenly Father wants me to be. When it's rough, I just work some more and I continue working until those feeling pass.  Because I know that the feelings of inadequacy, fear, anger,and frustration are not from God. I have learned to love to work and to love the people that we teach.   Even the people that slam the door in our faces. It's hard, too, because you know how the gospel of Jesus Christ can bless everyone and you want to bring them into the fold.   But their free agency is the thing that is standing between them and their salvation.  

I really loved the quote that was given from President Monson during Conference, "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the lord's vineyard, and to bring souls unto him." I love the Chapter in the Book of Mormon found in Jacob chapter 5, because it is the last time the vineyard is going to be gathered. We are his servants and he labors with us. During this chapter, also the Lord asks what more could I have done for my vineyard? Three times. NOW IS THE TIME! Members and missionaries need to work together. I love everything about the mission. I know that although I am not having baptisms I am planting seeds. I hope that y'all are doing great. I love ya!

 

Te Quiero,

 

Kenzer Lou/ Hermana Fitzpatrick

September 30 - Busy in CA!!

Hola familia,

 

I just got your letter today.  No worries. Everything is good here in CA. I am staying warm enough.   It's getting a little chilly but I should be good. I'm usually wearing my pencils skirts with a shirt and a cardigan or my shirts that you got from Sister Missionary Mall.  My companions and I are doing great!

I really don't need anything now from Costco.  If I think of anything I send it in my snail mail. 

Our area is really good.   We actually have investigators now.  Our investigators are good. We are teaching a man who is from Brazil who doesn't speak Spanish or English. He speaks Portuguese. He is our miracle!   He wants to be baptized because when he was in a coma two missionaries came to him and told him that if he wanted to live then he needed to find the church of Christ.   Other than that, we have been knocking and teaching. 

One of the funniest things that happened this week was when I was teaching a man in English.  I was  explaining the restoration and I couldn't think of the word in English for miracle, which is Spanish is milagro. 

During my studying,  I am studying 2 Nephi 31 and how we can become Doctrine of Christ members and missionaries. 

I will send my camera chip home soon.   I needed it to print off some pictures. 

Sorry,  I don't have that much to write but I will write more in my letter home.  It's been a little busy. I will write more in my letters.  We are going to check out some thrift stores because Ventura is known for them.  The we are going to the harbor.   We're also going to check out a Mexican store to see if they have scripture stuff.   If they do I will write you. 

 

Te quiero muchisima,

 

Hermana Fitzpatrick  

Sept. 23 - "I Only Have One Year Left..."

Hola Mi familia,

 

Where to start? I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It's so crazy that I only have a year left on the mission. 

This week went by so fast. We taught a little bit this week. We taught our investigator, Rodolfo who is doing really well but he can't come to church until November because he needs his schedule changed with work. So we have to reset his date for baptism. We taught Claudia this week too and she is progressing slowly but we are taking it step by step.

We had interviews with President Castro this week.  My interview went very well I might add. He asked me a couple questions and then he talked about how I am doing as a missionary. He loves my attitude. He asked me if I have always been like this.   I told him no.  I told him that I have found my purpose in this life.  It was really good. 

We had a miracle this week. I have been praying for one and it definitely was a testimony of Heavenly Father answering prayers. We got a call from Elders in our district.   They asked us if would we like to have a baptism this upcoming month.  We called them right back!!  The story is, this man was in a coma and while he was in coma he dreamed that two elders came to him.  He pictured their white shirts and name tags.  The two elders told him that if he wanted to live he would have to follow the true gospel of Christ.  He woke up out of his coma and he is living with members.   He came to a English ward but he is Portuguese.  Maybe I'll just learn Portuguese while I'm out here too!!   We have an appointment with him on Tuesday.  We are really excited! 

This week has been great. I have been studying on sacrifice a lot because President Castro said that we are living the covenant of sacrifice.  While I was studying a few things came to my mind: 1) President Castro said that if you can't give 100% to this work how can you give a 100% to your family in the future. 2) There are a couple of scriptures that express this too. One says take the cross upon you and deny yourself and the other talks about reflecting on what is to come and what you are missing out on.  It says those that do this are not fit for the kingdom of God. Also in Preach My Gospel it says to cast your line out fully each day.   I know that is what I am doing.  I don't think about things that don't matter or what I'm going to come home to. Right now my purpose is to bring Heavenly Father's children back to him. 

It is hard being in a tri-pan. I really love one companion like a Sister but the other is really pushing my buttons. But I know I am here with them for a reason. My Spanish has improved so much that it is hard for me to talk to English people or even write in English. I got permission from President to study my Spanish an extra hour every day.  Instead of getting up at 6:30, I get up at 5:30 to study. It's part of the sacrifice that I am willing to give to improve myself and to help my investigators. I really love Spanish!!  I know that I am working my bum off to get where I am at right now!! 

Thanks for all that you do for me and all that you are. Me exctrana ustedes muchisima pero estoy en la manos de Dios.  (I miss you a lot, but I am in the hands of God.)  I hope all is well with the family and that I get your letter soon because my time is almost up. Tell my brother and sisters to write me and I will snail mail ya more this week.  

Love ya'll more than you know. It's weird how people forget you or the things that you realize that are important. I realize that the TV, Cell phone, and other worldly things aren't important anymore and I really don't miss them.

 

Hope to hear from ya soon or next week on P-Day

 

Love

 

Hermanita Fitzptrick (Kenzer)   

***Although I had sent an email earlier in the day, it must have been lost in cyber-space.  She hadn't received it by the time she sent this email.

September 16 - Everything's Great!!!

Everything is great!  Transfers were difficult, but I got through them.  Hermana P was companions with Hermana Walker too.  It was a rough day for both of us when she left, but we got through it.  It's crazy to see how fast 18 months goes!!  Hermana Walker is home now.  I want you to become her friend on facebook.   I know she would love to be friends with you. I gave her your cell phone number and one of the mom business cards you sent.   She lives only 15 minutes away from Aunt Danae's house. 

This week has been good. Hermana Walker helped me so much with my Spanish and I can now talk and understand almost everything that is said in Spanish.  Hermana P is a native so we talk in Spanish all day.  It is starting to get hard to do things in English!!  I am forgetting how to write stuff in English too. But I love it!!!   It means the language is coming. 

I got the package this week. Thank you. I love my translator and GPS.  Gracias. 

This week we have been doing a lot of finding. I love knocking on doors. We found a couple of people this week.  One lady wants us to come back.  She didn't have time to talk because she had company. She told us her husband just died 15 days ago.  We are going to go back to teach the plan of Salvation. We found a couple of other people, too. 

I have been reading in the scriptures this week in John 6. If you haven't read it, it is good. I have been wondering why we take the bread during sacrament why can't it be crackers or something else. It is because Christ is the Bread of Life. I love reading from the scriptures and studying in the Preach My Gospel manual. 

It's so crazy how fast the time has gone. The next time I see you, I won't be able to speak English. HaHa!!  Blake will have to translate what I am saying. 

As I think about it, I really don't want to leave the mission. It will be a sad day but good day too!  I'll see y'all again.   I am so happy for all the eternal friendships that I have made on the mission. 

Thanks for all the updates. Just remember the scripture, I don't remember where it is, but tell Sydnie that there is opposition in all things. 

Three companions is ok.  Definitely not my preference,but the Lord knows what he is doing and I should leave it up to him.  I can definitely tell you that during this week the Lord has been carrying me because had I not had a companion like Hermana P, I think I would be crying every day because she and I felt the same way at transfer meeting.  We both were crying because of Hermana Walker.   She had such a great influence on both of us.  

That's creepy that we only have 14 more Saturdays till Christmas!!  It's weird how fast the time goes by.  Thanks for being a great missionary mom. 

Hermana Walker would love to meet you when you go out to Utah.  I'm sure she would love to hear from you. I definitely want to see her after I get home.   I saw Hermana Rubow.  She is doing great!!  Have you talked to her mom lately? 

I love y'all so much and can't wait to see you.

 

Love

 

Kenzer Lou

September 9 - Transfer Update...

Hola Familia,

Well for transfer updates here it is: I am staying in Ventura.  I am going to be in a companionship of three missionaries.  Hermana P and Hermana H are my new companions starting tomorrow.   I am the Designated Driver. Yay, TIWI!!!  I am so grateful for Hermana P because she is a native speaker.   I didn't know how I would make it through this next transfer not being able to speak the language and trying to help my companion.  Hermana H was with me in the MTC and we didn't get along too great.   Heavenly Father is trying to humble me.  I will make the best out of it. It's all about my attitude. 

Our week was great, we didn't reach our goal of 100 declarations but we got 53 which is really good considering the standard of excellence is 20 declarations per week. Knocking on  doors is hard here in California. I love knocking on the Spanish people's doors.   But you never know what to expect when an English person answers. This week we got an Athesist women who said no thank you to everything that we asked her.  We also ran into people who are still very hard-headed about Prop 8. 

I didn't get my package yet because they usually stop the mail before transfers. Some things that I will be sending home are letters from MTC up until now and some things that I can't have like the Spanish book that you sent me for my birthday.  It isn't approved so I have to send it home and wait until I get home to read it.

The funniest thing that happened this week is I had to play the piano for  a baptism that the elders had.   We parked our car in the front of the church.   After the baptism we had to go back to our apartment to plan.   We were trying to get our car to open,  then realized that we parked our car in front of the church, and here we were trying to get into a members car in the parking lot in the backside of the church!  Funny!!  

From studies this week, I learned that we need to sacrifice in order to have faith for our eternal salvation.  We also need to have love with charity.   It's what happens when you leave a companion. You grow and learn together and then you have to sacrifice in order to be humbled and to grow even more outside of the comfort zone. It's these days that I wish I could just call you and tell you what's going on and get your advice on how to move forward. But this is part of the mission; learning to grow and to become the person that Christ wants me to become.  Sometimes, I just wish that I didn't have such a big heart.   When I love people, I love them with all my heart and its hard to say goodbye even if it is for a short time or a long time.   I just want to bawl my eyes out.  You know me.   Change is difficult.  I wish I could deal with it easily.   But it never happens the way I expected it too.  Don't worry, I'll be fine. It will take a little bit but I know that Hermana Walker and I will be friends for life and even after. She lives up in Farmington and so I will visit her when we go visit Utah. But I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to work with her. She has become one of my best friends. 

I love you and all that you are doing for me. I will have to give Hermana Walker's info so you can meet up with her or have her call you.

Love you muchisima,

Kenzer Lou

September 2 Just a Little Bittersweet

Hola Familia,

 

How are you? Everything here is great. Ok maybe not totally great but is better than what it could be. 

Today is Labor Day.  No one is inviting us for a cookout but we are good for eating at home. My companion is great. Hermana Walker is one of the best missionaries and one of the best people that Heavenly Father could have put me with. But this is a bittersweet week, I know that we all have to move on and go forward with our lives but I don't want Hermana Walker to leave. She is one of the best companions I could have had and we get along so well. She is one of the people since I first met her that I feel like I met her before this life. When you meet someone you just connect with you love them with your whole heart and that is what happened with Hermana Walker. Our transfers are on September 10th, so we will see. Not looking forward to that day though. 

I get to see Hermana Rubow when we have a big zone meeting or stake conference. But other than that we really don't see each other. I got to see Hermana Corniea, my first companion, too, this past week.  It was so great!   It is crazy.  It's so true what you mentioned in your email, we were just talking about that this morning. That had we have not served missions, I would have never met an Hermana Rubow, Hermana Corniea, Hermana Walker, Hermana Romero, or an Hermana Taylor!   

I love the tidbits and bits of good gossip you share.   I'm so glad that you are ok after your accident and nothing serious happened!  

We don't have any zone conferences coming up. My Spanish this week has been hard. I feel like six months out I should be able to speak more and be able to say more but I am still doing basic Spanish. It's hard to not compare yourself to other missionaries. One of the things that we learned at a meeting we had was about adjusting to missionary life.   One of the things that was shared was that  most missionaries are not fluent by the end of the missions.  But, that's okay.  The Spirit is the true teacher!!

This week we are mostly finding people and teaching the investigators we do have. But since this is Hermana Walker's last week we want to go out with a bang!  This week we are setting the goal of trying to share the gospel with 100 people.  And we are going to knock on doors one whole day. We are so excited!!   

I can't wait to get my package and since the kids have the day off tell them to write their sister who is a missionary!!  Haha!! I will write more in a snail mail. 

Hermana Walker and I decided that we are going to have a mission reunion cruise.  It would be so fun!  We could go somewhere where they speak Spanish so all the Spanish speaking missionaries can use their Spanish. 

I will try and send you pictures this week. I am going to send a box home because I have a little bit too much stuff.

I hope y'all have a great week and share the gospel. I have been reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and started Matthew. It is interesting how the people who needed to be healed by Christ had to have faith first. And Christ asked  "Believe that I can do it?"  The people could have believed but the true test was how big was their faith was. The people were healed according to their faith but first they had to act to believe on the faith that they had. Interesting. 

I love you and feel your love and prayers.   I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I want my sisters and brothers to know that serving a mission is the best decision you could ever make. You make friends that you would have never met, bring people back to the true gospel, and receive gifts that are through the power of God. I know that one of the gifts that Heavenly Father has given me is His love for the people that we meet and are teaching. I feel a love for them but I also feel God's love for them working through me.

 

Keep going strong and love y'all every day and missed often,

 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

Kenzer LOU

August 26th - I Love My Mission!!

Hola Familia,

This week has been so good. We have had a couple of miracles this week.  First, we went to go see a lady who we talked to awhile ago. She let us into her house which usually isn't normal.   Usually, we will teach outside the door.  We read a scripture with her.  She told us about how she has had a hard life and hasn't ever experienced real happiness. We could feel the Spirit so strong that she was almost in tears.   I couldn't really tell if she was crying or not. 

The other miracle we had, is that we went to go visit a less-active member and we found her sister instead who is also less-active that we didn't know about.   She has been looking for a sign to give her some direction in her life.  She viewed us as her sign. It was such a really cool week!  Filled with miracles!!

We went to the temple this week. The Los Angeles Temple is HUGE!!!!!!   I loved it!!  It was so great!!  We definitely will have to go back there.   We then went to the Visitor's Center.

My companion is the best companion ever!! Her name is Hermana Walker and she is from Farmington, UT. She lives down on Main Street just a little bit away from Aunt Danae.  She is definitely one of the coolest people and has taught me a lot. She talks in Spanish all the time.   She sounds native, which gives me hope because when she came out she knew no Spanish at all. I will definitely be visiting Hermana Walker when I get off the mission.
Transfers are on September 10th which we are not looking forward to because Hermana Walker goes home...

The funniest thing that happened this week, ok maybe you won't think that it is funny, happened on the day we went to the temple and returned back home to normal missionary teaching. We were coming back to our apartment and there were a bunch of police cars. We wanted to go see if the other sisters that live in our apartment complex were ok. We starting walking and we overheard that a gang member had barricaded himself in an apartment with a pistol. It was really interesting to see the police and the SWAT team with machine-looking rifles. When you're a missionary, nothing normal ever happens were you live!!

I know that Sydnie will do great wherever she goes to college.

That's so cool that Kellie wants to hang out with me and she is already asking when I come home. HAHA!!  Not for a while but time surely has flown by!

I don't know if you read in my last letter about that translator thing but it would be great to get that to help with me words in Spanish. It is coming but it definitely isn't easy.I thought about pulling a John Groberg move where all I do is stay up and read the scriptures in Spanish all night. But that would just be dumb.

We were so tired when we went to the temple because we had to wake up 3 in the morning because the lady that took us left her house by 4:30 a.m.   HAHA, Such is life!!  Sometimes I wake up  and wonder when can I go and rest from my labors.   The answer is never!!   I definitely love being a missionary and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!!  

I got a lovely package this week from Sister Rawe.  Very unexpected.  It tells me that we are never forgotten. We may move away and move on with our lives but we always have friends around the world. So thank you, Sister Rawe for the Birthday package.

I will snail mail ya again this week.

Love y'all/ TE AMO

Hermana Fitzpatrick

Kenzer Lou 

August 19th - Loving Ventura!

Hola Familia,

 

Como estan? This week has been really good. I'm getting use to Ventura area and I love it. We have been doing a lot of tracting because we don't have a lot of investigators so we are knocking on the doors. We had a miracle this week!  We went to see some potential investigators and we didn't find any of them at home.  We were going back to our car and we ran into this man who we really didn't want to talk to but since we talk to everyone, we did. He knew who we were a little bit because he talked to some missionaries in Mexico. We set up a return appointment with him.  When we followed up at our appointment, we taught about the restoration.   Hermana Walker was committing him to be baptized and before she could finish he said "Yes".  Rudolfo is his name and he will be getting baptized on September 21st!!!   Can you imagine if we just listened to our carnal man and didn't talk to him?  

We met another man who we weren't trying to find.  He was wondering why there are so many churches today.  We gave him a Book of Mormon.  We wanted to come by on Saturday to invite him to church.  We ran into his wife who is firm in her own beliefs.   She just wanted us to go see our own members of our church and not others. We explained our purpose which is simply to "invite others to come unto Christ." We asked her if she knows her Savior.   She really didn't care if she knew her Savior or what we were doing as missionaries. C'est la vie!!

Also we have run into more Jehovah's Witnesses here than ever before. But it's a chance that we have to share the gospel with them. 

I definitely need to work on my Spanish.  I feel like I should know so much more since I am almost five months out.  I still feel like I know the amount that I can out with from the MTC. But I am getting better and eventually I will get it. 

I will send pictures.  I need a cord thing that will go from my camera to the computer. I will send the chip home soon anyways. 

The weather here is cold in the morning and at night but nice during the day. Just a little cold like you need a little jacket or something. 

I love my new area.  I think Heavenly Father knew I needed to be somewhere else, too. I wasn't happy in Newbury Park after leaving such a great area.  It was tough not having any Spanish people to teach, just English.   I think I would have lost some of my Spanish if I would have stayed.  I had a feeling that I shouldn't have unpacked my bags, but I couldn't just  live out of my suitcase for six weeks, so I unpacked. 

I'm so glad to be in this new area.  I love Ventura!  Hermana Walker and I should be going to the temple sometime this week, which we are really excited for!!  We could only find a couple people to go with and they both leave around four thirty in the morning. So, it will be an early day but we will be able to do a great amount of temple work. So fun!!! 

I will have to snail mail today and let you know what I could use. I could use some Subway gift cards as we're always out and about during lunch, but that's all I can really think of. Some of the restaurants out here I have never heard of like Marie Calendar's and other things. 

I haven't really thought of getting my hair cut and colored yet just because I have been so busy. But I will tell you my hair is changing from blonde to brown so crazy. I hope it's not stress! :)

 

I'll snail mail soon.

 

Love y'all,

 

Hermana Fitzpatrick

Kenzer 

August 12 - Whoot Whoot...I'm In Ventura!!

Hola Familia,

Well this week is a crazy one!!  The hymn, "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" takes a whole new meaning this week. 

I have been in Newbury Park up until Friday. While Hermana Prestgard and I were doing our weekly planning, we got a call from President Castro. When President calls you know something is up because President usually doesn't just call you.  When he called he wanted to talk to all four of us in the apartment. The other Hermanas weren't there so he told us to call him back when we were all there.  We called the Hermanas and they didn't answer so I texted them.   They called back right away.  When they got back to the apartment we called President Castro back.  We couldn't hear him very well because he was in his car, so he told us he would call us back in ten minutes. While we were waiting we made lunch and then he called back. He told us that one Hermana had to go home because of a medical issue and so there was one Hermana without a companion.  He talked to the other Hermanas and they ageed to be in a Tri-panionship because they know the Newbury Park area better.  And then he talked to me and told me that I was going to Ventura!!!   He told me that the English traveling sisters were doing an exchange in our area and that they would pick me up at 8 that night.  President Castro called at about 1ish.  The crazy thing is that at the beginning of this transfer, I felt like I shouldn't unpack my bags.  I did anyways because I don't want to be living out of a suitcase. So I am writing to you from Ventura, it has been a crazy week!!!  

My new Companion is Hermana Walker and we did exchanges with each other last transfer when I was in Thousand Oaks.   She is awesome and great!!!  But she is going home at the end of this transfer.  I can tell you it was a huge miracle from the Lord, that I fit all my stuff especially from my birthday in my suitcases and especially in the car of missionaries because we only have a Toyota Corolla or Chevy Cruze.  

All is well!!   I am really looking forward to working here. I haven't been in this area long but I already love it and know that I will find people here to teach.  My Spanish is going well because we are actually speaking Spanish.  It's great, even if I still feel like I'm learning. 

GUESS WHAT!!!!! Hermana Rubow is in my zone. Yay!!!  I love that!   I have missed her!! She is doing great! I also got to see one of the Sisters that came two weeks ago who Elder Larsen wrote about because she went to school at USU-Eastern.  She knows him because he served in her area and tried to teach her roommate.  

I haven't really had time to think about myself and my hair but it's crazy. I don't know if the mission is doing it to me because my hair near my roots is turning like brown. Ewww!  I'll find a P Day where I can go get it cut and colored.  

I will start to read the books and Liahonas in Spanish that you sent.  I will make my cake this P Day most likely because I have to go to the store to buy oil and eggs. 

I finished the Book of Mormon this week not in Spanish but in English.  It is always so good. I started Doctrine and Covenants.   I have never read it before, but I really love it. 

One of the scriptures that I love is D&C 24:15.  It talks about how if you go into someone's house and they don't accept you because of the name we bear which is Christ name, if you wipe your feet and leave dust like Pilate did with Christ, you cleanse your hands of them. 

I can't believe how fast the time goes and how fun the mission really is. Some people are sticklers about their mission.   But you know what,  it doesn't need to be all strict.  Yes, we need to follow the rules, but its okay to have fun too!!

How are Sydnie, Blake, and Kellie?  How's dad? I really miss y'all but it will be a great year!! How are you mom?  How was your birthday?  I love all that you do for me and all the notes that you send! 

Love y'all so much

Hermana Fitzpatrick

kenzer Lou

August 5th - Thanks for All the Birthday Wishes

Hi Mom and Family,

I got all my packages and everything. Thank you so so much!  I couldn't have asked for a better family than y'all!  

My new area is Newbury Park.  It's really different from Thousand Oaks.   I miss all the friends and the people in the branch in Thousand Oaks and all the people that I was teaching.   I have gotten so close to all of them. 

In my new area, the missionaries decided to split the area. There is hardly any Spanish or they are really wealthy Spanish.  This is just a little frustrating because I am used to making numbers and now we aren't.  I'm trying my very hardest to remain positive.   But coming from a great area to a not so great one is a bit of a change.   I just need to find the reason I am here.   We are not even in a ward.  We are in a Spanish unit which is in a ward.  There are only 15 people that show up every Sunday and some of them really don't want to be there. It's a little bit different, a little bit difficult, but we will try our hardest to be successful and do what the Lord would want us to do.

I love my companion.   I am dealing with some difficult people that we live with.  Sometimes I just have to bite my tongue when this person speaks, but other times I just want to blow my top off and say that you can't change everyone that lives under the same roof.  This person was the only one out of the whole entire missionaries that didn't want to watch me open my birthday presents. Which by the way were awesome. I love all the mustache stuff and I love all the new clothes. I now have a mall of a closet. 

I don't have a real bed but I have a better mattress than what I did have. It wasn't too difficult to make the transfer, but I do need an SUV to get all my stuff to Ventura. It does take about all day.  I did remember all of my food and the blender of course. 

It was really hard to say goodbye to Manuel.  I got really close to him and could relate a lot to him.  I could see the changes he was making as a person. When I told him that I was leaving he wanted to give me a hug but the darn mission rules held me back.   I made him promise that after the mission, he would be able to give me a hug.  I asked President Castro if I could write him while I am on the mission because he really made a difference.  I really know that he needs this. 

Right now we are not really teaching anyone.   But this man named Manuel seems very promising. I think I have luck with the name Manuel. 

Since they split the area the other companionship has most of the Spanish. We only have one other investigator than Manuel and one for baptism and that is it.  But we will be able to find people. 

The funniest thing that happened last week was getting lost because we don't have a GPS. If you could send it ASAP that would be great. 

Nothing too spiritual this week. 

Most challenging thing is trying to find people when we really have nothing to work with.

I'll write you some more snail mail this week. 

Love lots,

Kenzer Lou 

July 29 - Off to Los Robles!!!

Yep You are right Transfers are tomorrow. I am getting transferred to Los Robles. I am still really close to Thousand Oaks just a street or so away from it but it should be fun. I am so excited but I will most definitely miss the friends that I have made here. This area really helped my Spanish grow and I love the president of the branch because we would have celebrated our birthdays together.   His birthday is on the fourth of August too. I love birthdays!!  It'll be fun to celebrate my birthday but it won't be the same as if I was home.  It most definitely makes you feel older. 

We haven't been able to meet with Manuel this week but we are going to try today.  We visited with Daniel last night and taught him how to pray.  He still prayed the way that he does naming the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and then starting his prayer.   But we are working with him. 

I haven't been playing the piano lately but it's okay because that is not what I was called to do. I was called to preach the gospel not play the piano.   But if I can help, then I do.  

On the fourth of July, we went to the mall because the Ward Mission Leader invited us.   We had to go back to our apartment an hour early, at 8 p.m.  The fireworks were right outside our apartment. It kinda like the thing they do at Southlake Town Square, where people sit on top of the parking garage for the fireworks.

My shoes are fine.  My socks are fine for the moment too. I do have enough things to wear. I don't need anything right now but if I think of anything I will be sure and write it in my snail mail.

I can't believe how old Kellie looks!!  Where does the time go?  One thing I do know is that time is flying by even if we are on the Lord's time. 

I really love the quote you shared from your Gospel Doctrine class, D&C 112:19, because yesterday, I really didn't want to leave because I feel like I still need to help Manuel and my other investigators. But maybe, I've done all I can here and I need to move on and find other people. I am going with a companion that Hermana Taylor had in the MTC. 

The best thing I ate this week, IDK maybe just food in general. 

The funniest thing that happened this week is last transfer we made fun of Hermana Romero and Elder Smith and then went to Paso together.   Now this transfer we made fun of Elder Jarnagon and he is going with me!!  It's just a pattern I guess. 

The most spiritually thing this week was probably having a little miracle with Daniel's brother-in-law.   Next time when we have an appointment with Daniel his brother-in-law said he will listen with him. 

This week in the scriptures I have been studying Samuel the Lamanite and how courageous he must of been to get on the wall and declare repentance unto his own brethren.  But I really love the war chapters and I can't get over Captain Moroni.   He was just a beast in the scriptures and willing to do what was asked of him. 

Thank you for everything mom and I hope that as your birthday is coming up you have a happy birthday also. Something special will be coming your way.   

Love alot,

Hermana Fitzpatrick   

President Parra and his family.

I love this Spanish branch!!

Our Ward Mission Leader got each of us a pen

with our name and mission engraved on it.

Mine had a mustache on it.  

I think I must be obsessed with mustaches!

The Hermanas in my district.

Me, Hermana Taylor and the Saylor family.

Sister Parra and us.

She is the mamma of the whole Parra clan!

The Elders in our district.

  

July 22 - Everyday a Missionary!!

Well Before I get started, I though of a couple of other things I need.  I really want some more Bath and Body works perfume either Dark Kiss or Twilight Woods.  Also, The Works CD;  it's kinda country but for missionaries and I think that is it.  Ok,  now I will start... 

Hi family, I am doing great. This week was way better than last week. You asked how we get our mail.  The mission office waits for the mail truck to get there and then they put a sticker on any packages to where we live and they ship it out either that day or the next day. As for snail mail, it really depends on if the mission office sends the mail or not. Sometimes we have to wait for someone to bring it to us.  

Zone conference was great, we learned how to become a Doctrine of Christ Missionary. We start out on our mission thinking mostly about ourselves.  Then, we have to have a change through Christ's grace.   We are lifted.   3/4 through our journey we have another change.  We have the Holy Ghost with us too. By the end of the mission, we are embraced in a hug which is symbolism for having God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost with us through our entire mission. Hopefully, that made sense.  

I didn't get to see Hermana Rubow at Zone Conference.  It was only us and another zone. She wasn't in the other zone.   But I did get a letter from her this week. 

My Diligence Recitation went well I think.   It is easier with both English and Spanish.   I get tripped up when the Mexican people mumble in their Spanish.   I cannot understand a word they say when they mumble. 

Manuel is doing great.  He came to Church again this week and he feels a lot more comfortable than he did the first time. The only thing holding him back from baptism is his alcohol addiction.   But other than that he is set to be baptized. 

As for Daniel, we had an appointment with him this week but he wasn't there. We tried again and he wasn't there so we are going to try again and we are just going to start reteaching him because he has an understanding of like a two year old. 

I am looking forward to transfers. I feel like I will be leaving the area but again I really don't know. Transfers are on the 30th of July. So in like 8 days. 

I'm glad everyone is busy.  I can't believe school starts up so soon.   It's a little scary to think that  when school starts up again it means I will only have a year left.   To put it in even scary terms, after this transfer, I only have ten more transfers left!!   

I'm glad your lesson went great in YW.  We taught the YW lesson too, this Sunday.   Our lesson was on Temple Marriage.   We taught the YW how important it is to stay worthy because of the Divine Nature that they have. It was so fun to be in YW and understand a lot because it was in English.   But my Spanish is coming along better and better. 

We have a lot of appointments this week which is fun.   We get the call this next Sunday on who is going to train.   Then on Monday we will know who is being transferred. 

This week our Ward Mission Leader gave us each a pen with an engraving of our missionary name and where we are serving.   Mine has a mustache on it to remind me of TiWi.  We put a mustache on TiWi because he is an old (fart).  He did die this week but he came back alive. But it was nice to not hear aggressive driver for a couple of days but I haven't been too bad :)

I will send more pics.  This computer for some reason hasn't been reading my camera chip card.  I will try a different computer next time. 

I love y'all and love the letters each and every day. Thank you for all that you do. Have a good week, I'll snail mail this week later too. 

Love always,

Hermana Fitzpatrick

Kenzer Lou

Kenzer

kenzie

Missionary