January 20th - The Best Week Yet!!

Hola Familia, 

Hermana Corniea says that she is awesome and that she loves ya! The work is definitely going.   We have some goals for this transfer.   We are taking President Monson's advice from the broadcast this last June and involving more members.

My teeth are fine.   I just need my root canal tooth re-colored.  Yep, I'm still painting my fingernails.  Today they are purple but last week they were pink! I did get the package from Grandma, It will be so helpful.

There is an update on T. later on in this letter.  We are working with a man named M. who we were going to drop but he showed up at church yesterday, so we are giving him one last try. We are going to try with the members. I will let you know some more things that went on in my snail mail. 

I hope that this week went well for you! This week was possibly one of the best weeks on the mission!  We found some new people to teach, but the highlight of our week was Saturday.  We did a church tour focused on the Restoration.  It was so cool. We first started talking about the Spirit and how it feels. We read Galatians 5:22-23. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. "  We asked T., our investigator what stood out to her and she said peace, love, and gentleness.   We told her that if she feels any of this today, that is the Spirit testifying of truth.  

We started out in the chapel and talked about the sacrament and why it is important that we partake of it and the significance of it. She said she understands now why we come to take the bread and the water. We then went to the back of the chapel and explained that we were going to turn the lights off. We explained that the world was in darkness until God called a prophet and we shined a light on Adam. We explained that Adam was a prophet and how he taught the people the teachings of Christ but eventually the people rejected him. We then turned the flashlight off. We did this for Noah, Abraham, and Moses.  We told her that even after Moses we were in darkness.  We then went to the Relief Society room. Before we entered, we asked her what God gives us to bring us out of darkness, and she said "a prophet". We answered "Exactly".   Not only a prophet, but God sent his own Son, Jesus Christ.  We had 20 Chairs lined up with pictures of the life of Christ in chronological order,  starting with His birth, through His life and His death and resurrection.   We explained that Christ set up His church when He was on the earth.   Even after he was crucified, He was still the head of the church.  We explained that one of the apostles, Judas Iscariot, died and so the apostles got together and called Matthias to replace Judas.  The apostles continued to go out and preach the gospel but the apostles were getting killed and martyred faster than they could be replaced.   Eventually, Christ's church fell without His authority, and so we were in spiritual darkness again. We asked her the same question we had asked her before, what does God give us to bring us out of darkness?  She answered again, "A prophet."  Then we watched the DVD about the Restoration.   After the movie we asked her how she felt.  She said she felt happy but also sad because of the prophet Joseph Smith's death.  It was one of those moments where the Spirit touched her so much that she wanted to cry.  We then told her that it didn't end with Joseph Smith.   We went through the pictures of the prophets and apostles that were on 15 chairs on the other side of the room. We asked her what this means to her.   She said that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. We then took her into the baptismal font room and committed her to baptism on the 15th of February. She said that she was excited!  She could imagine the only thing holding her back was her nerves.  So, we knelt right then and there in the baptismal font room and she prayed to know if this is the true church and if she should get baptized on the 15 of February.  We pondered for a moment and asked her again how she felt.  She said she felt at peace.   We said that this is her answer. She knew it was.  It was one of the best days of my mission!!

This week I studied in the book of Acts and Preach My Gospel on how to be more effective teachers.   And how to begin teaching especially by using the scriptures. As I was reading, it was really cool to see that the apostles were set apart with power and authority and that all of them were preaching the gospel which is like a district of missionaries. I am learning some really cool things about how our missions are like the apostles and how they taught with boldness in an area. One thing that I found funny while reading the book of Acts, is Saul and Barnanbus have an emergency transfer!  Haha!! It is the end of Acts 15.

One thing that Hermana Corniea and I are doing are working with members a lot more.   We are trying to take President Monson's advice and to only knock only when we really have to because we have noticed that it isn't effective.  We are going to be doing a lot more church tours and things that we have seen work. It's the people that matter.

Speaking of this, a couple of transfers ago, Hermana Palafox, Hermana Howell, and I were teaching a Brazilian man named M. I want to let you know that I received news that he got baptized two weeks after he got to Brazil.  He now has the Aaronic priesthood and is preparing to receive the higher priesthood at the next stake conference. It was such a reminder to me that even though I am planting seeds they will eventually get harvested. I have truly seen the fruits of the labors the Lord has blessed me with. It is not because of me that I am seeing success it is because of Him!!

Much love to you and everyone!!
Hermana Fitz

Success in Ventura, CA and Brazil!!

January 13 - To Transfer or Not to Transfer...

Hey Family,

I am not being transferred, I'm staying in Paso Robles, Atascadero, and Templeton and my companion is still Hermana Corniea. YAY! 

I am getting better with the Branch. We have weekly correlation with our Ward Mission Leader and a stake missionary who really helps out. We are really trying to get a fellowshipper for T. because the Young Women in the ward aren't very helpful. Kinda like the YW in Texas when I was going there.  A little cliquish, and they don't want to include anyone.   But we going to try this week. We are going to start working with the Young Women leaders to help the girls understand the importance of being their own member missionaries. 

We have been showing Mormon Messages.   We have even used them in district meetings.  

Here is the information for the new president and wife that we will be getting in July.  "The calling of 122 new mission presidents in the Church for 2014 was announced by the First Presidency in the Church News on Saturday, January 11, 2014. For your information, Brother Dell C. and Sister Maurine Felix from Cottonwood Heights, Utah have been called as mission president and wife to succeed us (President and Sister Castro) on or about July 1, 2014."  

Only five more transfers till we go home! CRAZY!!!  I feel like I just got out.

This week was so good!!  On Wednesday, we split our area so now we are covering the East half of Paso Robles, Atascadero, and Templeton. It was so great to finally see some progress and improvement. We are tracting and visiting a lot of potentials all the way back from 2009. Most of them don't live there anymore but we are definitely finding new people who are interested in our message. We found a new investigator this week named R., who is studying with different religions. We have an appointment with her this Wednesday.  She is talking lessons from the Jehovah's Witnesses on Thursday, and on Friday, she goes to her own Catholic Church. She is just someone who is searching for the truth because her family is all different religions as well. 

We taught T.  and shared with her, her divine nature. She hasn't been reading or praying so we are going to try a different approach this week. When we visit the house she is easily distracted so we are going to do a church tour thing with the first two lessons. We also taught M. and this week is either do or die week for him. We had a former member come to church named J.  He is the husband of a member who was being taught by the missionaries but he didn't like how we were changed all the time.  We just introduced ourselves and asked how he was doing. Just small little steps in the right direction.  I am so thankful for being able to stay in the Paso Robles area and be with Hermana Corniea again.

This week I have been studying in the gospels. It is so interesting how much more I have learned about the life of Christ and how he is the example of what we should all strive for. I loved the part of where John was baptizing and the disciples were baptized but it says that Jesus baptized none. We should as missionaries have the goal of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and baptizing every transfer.  If we don't, we just have to know that we gave it our all and did everything the Lord wanted us to do to gain more experience and knowledge of how to be better missionaries. 

I also studied this talk given by our Branch Mission Leader about how to help the members get excited about doing missionary work. It is something that Hermana Corniea and I want to implement in our goals this transfer. Hermana Corniea and I are great!  We are so excited to have another transfer together. We know that this will be our best transfer yet!   It is so great to work and be part of a great work. 

If I get a chance,  I will have to send you something that has changed the way to work with members. Make sure dad is doing his missionary work as well at work.  I am sending my package home today.  Keep everything in it because I want to keep the Mexican backpack that I bought. If you're going to Costco, I'd love some dried mango, rice and quinoa, lentils, and what ever you want to surprise me with. 

Love you and talk to you soon!

Kenzer Lou/ Hermana Fitzpatrick 

Things are great and miss you alot! 

January 6 - Feliz ano nuevo!!

Hey family,

Feliz ano nuevo!
What happened this week  wasn't expected. On Monday, Hermana Corniea got a concussion from our zone conference activity of dodge ball. We had fun while playing but the elders got a bit too competitive. We talked to Sister Castro and Sister Judson and they said the best thing to do would be for Hermana Corniea to rest. So on Tuesday after district meeting and all of Wednesday, we went back to our apartment so Hermana Corniea could rest.   She had a constant headache  and the light made her feel worse. 

On Thursday, we went and helped out at the food bank.   Then  we went out of our area to go teach and help people. We weren't having any success.   The people that we planned for weren't home and our backups didn't workout as well. So we went to the City Hall to see if they could help us because this upcoming Wednesday we are going to re-split the area to give everyone enough Spanish work. We were thinking about splitting it down the 101 in Paso and we will keep Atascadero and Templeton and the other Hermanas will keep San Miguel and Shandon. 

We had the Spanish conference which was totally awesome. I loved it and it helped me figure out more ways to have an effective language study and to learn some of the grammar principles. Then, on Saturday, we visited J. to talk to him about coming to church and listening to the cd's because he can't read. We planned our week and then we began our new hour of church on Sunday. It was so great. 

This week, I had a lot of time to study! So I made it a New Year resolution to read all the Standard Works in 2014. I have started with the New Testament. In Matthew 11:28-30,  it says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  From this scripture, I learn that we have to come unto Christ in order for him to take our yokes and burdens and then he will give us rest. I also was reading in Matthew 24:5-8, for the signs of the second coming. "For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many.  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall e famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows."  It was really interesting that all of these signs have been fulfilled. I have read all the way from Matthew to Luke and have learned a lot.  While I am reading I am highlighting all the word or titles for Jesus and Heavenly Father.

I hope Littles feels better. Tell her ankle problems just run in the family. I can't believe that school starts again. I will send pictures soon. The funniest probably was what was mentioned above. It was funny but not funny. 

The most spiritual thing I did this week was my studies and things that I have learned while reading. 

T. is good.   She came to church.   Hopefully we find the thing that strikes her interests this week. We aren't teaching alot but we soon will be. We don't really have any part member families.  They are either members or less active members.  

 Hermana Corniea is doing alot better and we are going to do work this week. This has been the wierdest transfer of my life because Satan has really worked at me and Hermana Corniea because if we stay in for a week then we are sent home and for both of us it has been about three days each. I'll write more to you in your letter this week.

Love yall 

Hermana Fitzpatrick/kenzer lou

Me.  My Mission.  Serving the Lord.  Perfect!!

Being a missionary is absolutely THE BEST!!

Have I said how much I love these people lately?

Just a little Insane Asylum....

Just a road in Paso Robles. 

My companion, Hermana Corniea

Exchanges with Hermana Linford.  Fun!!

Christmas morning!  Thanks Mom!!

December 30 - Countdown to the New Year

Hey Family,

IT was so nice to hear from y'all too! I bet it was so fun to see Grandma and Grandpa. Thank you everyone for all the packages but most of all, thank you for the love that I felt. 

The rest of Christmas was great. Dinner was OK but definitely not like your cooking. It is nice to have leftovers. Hermana Corniea loved her stocking. We definitely will be using the gift cards and everything. Some of our goals this year probably eat better. I have been eating fine but the Mexican's just like a lot of meat and we are just going to add some more fruits and veggies. We are going to make some other goals I just haven't thought of it yet. 

This week was so great. This week really showed me what the real meaning of Christmas is. We went caroling and shared a quick five minute message with our less actives, members, and investigators this week. We had a lesson with T.  She is progressing slowly but we know that she will eventually get there. She hasn't started to read the Book of Mormon but our plan for this week is to help her visualize through videos what is going on in the Book of Mormon because it is hard for her to understand. 

We also had a lesson with M. L. We talked about how he needs to come to church and start reading and praying as well. We dropped a couple of people as well this week.  On Wednesday we are going to re-split the area because the Hermana's before Hermana Corniea and I have cleaned out all the Spanish.  We are going to split it more based on Spanish population. 

We also had a lesson with J. who was taught the Restoration.  He wants to come to church.   The only thing he is lacking is transportation.   We will work on that this week as well. 

This week I have been studying the scriptures, especially the life of Christ in the Bible and reading the Book of Mormon.  I really want to read the Ensign from last conference on hastening the work or the Lord's plan. It is so true that we are on the Lord's team and that no missionary is better than any other missionary.   We all wear the same jersey.  But we also need to realize that the members wear this jersey as well and they need the opportunity to fight or help their friends come and learn more about the gospel.  

I have had a great but hard week. It was great to talk to my family but it made me think of home.  People always tell me that it is quality over quantity but when I set a goal I like to achieve or exceed it. But we are going to do our best this week and whatever the Lord's will is, we will succumb to it. Hermana Corniea and I have a plan to work with the members and try to get some referral's.   We just know that we need to have them take part more in the missionary work. We can't just be knocking for most of our day anymore.  The members need to help as well. 

With Hermana Corniea and I,  every day is pretty funny.  

We are teaching a couple other people but not a lot.  There is not a lot of Spanish in our area.  But there is  in the other area.   That is why we are going to split it. 

For New Years, we are going to buy some finger foods today and crackers so we can kinda celebrate New Year's Eve. 

Too bad we can't watch football or see the ball drop but we are going to drop our own ball at 9:30 because that is when it is midnight in NYC. We have to be creative as missionaries!!  

I want y'all to read the talk from Last Conference about Hastening the Lord's work by a member of the Seventy.  He talked about a football in it. It asks us to do three things to help the missionary work grow as the members start helping the missionaries.  The next time you have the Elders over for dinner, ask if there is someone who they are teaching that y'all can pray for. It is one of my favorite talks. 

I try and start thinking about things for when I finish my mission.   It is really just hard to go from being so focused on others to having to think about yourself again. I really don't like it.   I'd  rather just help other people out with their problems. Sorry this is so short nothing really happened this week that was exciting. 

I want you to know that everything is so great!!  I have missed talking to y'all. Make sure your new years resolutions happen. One member told us that one thing their family does is make their new years resolutions and put it in a white stocking because this is the gift that they are giving to Christ.   Next year they take it out of storage and open it and see if everyone had fulfilled their new years goals.   So cool! I will write more and send pictures next week!  

Have a great week and Love ya Lots

Hermana Fitzpatrick/Kenzer Lou

December 23 - Bonus Email!!!

Hey Familia,

I did get all the packages no preocupe! Yep, I'll still call at five your time. Hermana Corniea is from American Fork, UT! She has been out as long as i have. We were companions in the Missionary Training Center. 

On Christmas Eve, we are going over to a members home to make tamales.   Christmas day will be like any other normal missionary day. Hermana Corniea and I are trying to make it as normal day as we can that we would have hd with our familia. We have done some caroling but not a lot.  We will do more caroling this week. 

The weather here is not like your perfect weather. We have 46 degrees this day. Gray skies, no sun, and its windy all the time. 

No,  I am not the driver. Tiwi is a lamo but its ok we haven't gotten yelled at too much.  

The Christmas devotional was so good!   I especially loved the video of what the real meaning of Christmas is. I loved the fun games and getting to enjoy all the other missionaries companionship. They talked about the true meaning of Christmas and people shared their musical talents in between the Bible videos the church has released.  We had some fun games. One was passing the present.  I got down to the last three which was fun. We ate pizza and had a great time.    

This week was really good. On Wednesday, Hermana Corniea and I went to the temple which was a very special experience. We got into our session and we had about 200 other missionaries join us from the San Fernando Mission. It was so cool to see all the missionaries. It was like the Army of Helaman but it also was like the second coming as well.  We were thankful to be able to enjoy that experience. 

On Thursday, we had Exchanges with Hermana Linford and Hermana Wright. They are so awesome!  Hermana Linford and I found a new investigator who was walking towards us so we went up and talked to her. We had a lesson with M.L.  We were very bold with him and told him that his spirit is like his car broken down and that we as missionaries are the fixers. It was such a cool analogy that I came up with but I know it was totally through the spirit. We visited a couple of other people and we taught the gospel to their needs and made it fun too. We taught a couple of less actives and we help one less active named Jorge. He hasn't been coming to church or doing anything because he forgot he got baptized because he doesn't remember it at all. So we taught him about faith and how we need to start from one step and keep progressing using the example of a seed. Then eventually we will be an tree but we also told him that it takes time to become a tree. 

We had the Christmas devotional and then on Saturday, we had a lesson with Tibni. We taught her the law of chastity and the Word of Wisdom. We explained that Heavenly Father views her as a princess and wants the best for her and he gives us these commandments that way we can go into his presence one day. 

We had a couple of miracles this past Sunday. We called Mario on Saturday to see if he was going to Church and he kept giving us the answer that he will try. But on Sunday morning as church was starting, Mario and his two boys showed up to church and stayed for the whole three hours. That was a miracle because we were on the point of dropping him.

This week, I studied how to find people in Preach My Gospel, King Benjamin's talk in Mosiah, and of course the Christmas Story in Luke. 

Remember to take pictures for me this week and especially of the food, egg hot cakes, the tree, presents and the pictures of my siblings and their presents and just of the whole entire day.   You can even send me a video just like Christine sends videos of the boys. You can just email it to me. I would love it especially when everyone goes out to see the presents and tree if they could send me a quick Christmas message through the iPhone. 

Hermana Corniea and her mom have a voice recorder thing that they send back and forth to each other with messages and things that are going on it is so cool. 

I can't wait to talk to you in a couple of days! Y'all are awesome and thanks so much for the love and support you give me. I can't wait to talk to you but give me at least a couple moments to talk to my dog! How is my little girl? 

Tener un noche buena y navidad

Feliz Navidad y Merry Christmas

love you/ te quiero

Kenzer Lou/ Hermana Fitzpatrick 

December 23 - The True Meaning of Christmas

(email received on 12-23-14)


Hey Mom,

Hermana Corniea and I are trying to help out an elder who has no family support and has recieved no packages from his family so I am going to be buying some stuff for him. Hope you don't mind.

Love 

kenz

December 16 - Christmas Countdown

Hola Familia,

I'm so excited to talk to you too! I will be calling from our cell phone. It'll be ust Hermana Corniea and I.  We have to take turns.  She is talking to her family at 3:00 our time. Yep, we only have one hour to talk but that's OK. 

So, Christmas day...We really don't know exactly what we're doing yet, but we will figure it out this week. 

This week because I have been sick. On Saturday, every three hours I was throwing up and felt very nauseous and dizzy. And, again on Sunday too,  but I am feeling much better. My stomach still hurts a little bit, I don't know what is going on, I have never felt this sick except the day we were going to the temple to do baptisms and I just wanted to stay home becuase I was so dizzy.  I think it was the stomach flu.   I didn't get my flu shot this year because last time at the MTC I felt sick. 

Thanks for sending my Christmas boxes to my apartment.  No, they won't get stolen at the door.   We are usually home when they come anyways. 

We do get to speak Spanish a little bit but not a lot. I look forward to Sunday because we eat lunch with a Spanish family who I absolutely adore. 

The funniest thing that happened this week was just surprising Hermana Corniea with her presents for her birthday.  She told me I was very sneaky!!  

The most spiritual moment was trying to help our one investigator with a baptismal date to try and address her concerns about baptism and how women don't hold the priesthood. She doesn't like men because she was abused by her dad when she was younger. Her name is T. and she is 13 years old.   We just love her to death!!  

 From my personal study this week, I have been going through my English Book of Mormon and marking down the titles of Christ and Heavenly Father. It is so interesting how every page talks about Christ. 

I'm so glad your Family Home Evening went fabulous and that it was a success. 

Most of the new elders that come in do look like they are 12. I will for sure write more in my snail mail to ya. Just know that I love ya!  Decorate some cookies and eat some of Marybeth's soda cracker toffee for me.

Love more than the whole world,

Kenzer Lou