Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Pictures





Oh yea I almost forgot We went to Bill Marriots house today for P-Day and I will send another email with those pictures. Did you know that Bill is LDS? I sure didnt.

April 28, 2010

Sorry I didnt write last week some things came up that I had to take care of and I didnt have alot of time. Elder Olson and I have been really busy getting work done.
Just last Sunday Helene received the Holy Ghost and Marius who has been a member for almost 1 year had his named anounced and he received the Melchizadek Priesthood. Pretty cool Sunday. Elder Olson and myself have also been really busy pulling pranks on our roommates (see pictures) We have also spent alot of hours searching for Less-Actives and alot of them have moved and their phones dont work so we have alot of "Lost" members out here.
Funny story so after 6 months I have finally made my first big language mistake. Before I would maybe mix up words and put pronouns in the wrong spot or something grammatical like that well the other day we were teaching Helene about Family History and Temples and we told the story about the people who drowned in the big flood during the time of Noah and how those people need their work done well I didnt realize how similiar the word for Drown and the work for Naked are so instead of saying the people the Drowned I said "The People that were Naked during the big flood." UHHHH..... OPPS... haha we had a good laugh about it though. Her face oh man her face was just so funny...
We did have a guy tell Elder Olson and I that Mormons dont even believe in the 10 commandments we told him we do and he said well you sure dont follow them. ummm... okay crazy guy you can think what you want well we asked him were he got his "information".... the internet... do you believe everything you find on the internet? Man some people... Satan has really got a hold on society and he isnt going to let go anytime soon. So my warning for this week... Dont believe everything you find on the internet... Remember Moroni 10:3-5 The Holy Spirit isnt limited to testify only of Gospel truths but ALL truths. Just please remember that. Love you ALL
-Elder Van Dyke

Thursday, April 8, 2010

April 8, 2010

This week has been an amazing week. Elder Olson and I are getting along really well and he has been helping me learn French ALOT! I am begining to teach alot more now. I am still struggling with understanding but according to Elder Olson I understand alot more compared to the other missionaries when they were new. He says I can speak it alot more fluidly too.

Sorry for not emailing yesterday we are going to the baseball game today as a mission and so President Mansell changed P-day to today. Dont worry I havent completly forgotten about you.

I hope everyone watched General Conference. It was weird not watching it at home in my pajamas. I hope you all were able to get the things that you needed from it. I know as a missionary there were alot of things I found really useful not only for myself but for my Investigators and their familys.

This Sunday is the Baptism for Helene! We are so excited and she is even more so because now she can "be baptised the right way" and she always reminds us :) she is going to be an amazing new member you can feel the spirit everytime you walk into her home there is something about her and her home that make me feel comfortable almost as if i was teaching here in my own home back in Utah. Marie found a way so now she can come to all of Church every other week and then Sacrament meeting the other weeks. She is so happy and is really excited to be able to come every week now.

Elder Olson and I are really getting the work going now. There were a few things that were missing with Elder Mezerai but Elder Olson has shown me the rest of the things that we need to do. When President first made the changes I was really upset and worried but now I can see its not President who makes the changes Its the Lord and after seeing the change not only in my companionship but also in the zone I just need to relax and know that the Lord knows what He is doing and everythings will be all right.

I dont know if you have been watching the weather for D.C. lately but it is HOTT!!!!! President gave us the go for taking off the suit coats. I guess this is one of the earliest times they have ever done it because usually they dont take off suit coats until the end of April. The Humidity factor really does add alot.

Elder Olson received this Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart from his Mother who is also Canadian I really enjoyed it and decided it would be fun to share with you all. I am having a wonderful here so dont worry about me just remember to keep President Monson and those searching for the gospel in your prayers. I Love you all and may God Bless you


-Elder Joshua Van Dyke


The Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart

50° Fahrenheit (10° C)
· Californians shiver uncontrollably.
· Canadians plant gardens.

35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)
· Italian Cars won't start
· Canadians drive with the windows down

32° Fahrenheit (0° C)
· American water freezes
· Canadian water gets thicker.

0° Fahrenheit (-17..9° C)
· New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
· Canadians have the last cookout of the season.

-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)
· Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
· Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-109.9° Fahrenheit (-78.5° C)
· Carbon dioxide freezes makes dry ice..
· Canadians pull down their earflaps.

-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)
· Ethyl alcohol freezes.
· Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg

-459.67° Fahrenheit (-273.15° C)
· Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
· Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"

-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)
· Hell freezes over.
· The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

March 31, 2010

So this week we had Fast and Testimony meeting. It was amazing. We confirmed Daniel and Gabriel members of the church. It was such an amazing experience to give someone the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I could just feel the Love from God to these young boys it was amazing. Before I was really nervous and didnt want to do it because I didnt know what to say I had never done it before. Well I did it and There was a long pause after I said "Receive the Holy Ghost" I was thinking Oh no why isnt anything coming and then all of a sudden I started getting all these things to say and I knew they were directly from God. It was an amazing experience. The best part was during the meeting Daniel wanted to bear his testimony and once we got up there He was just Blank faced and didnt know what to say it was really funny. But then I gave mine and he stood up there with me it was really cool.

Helene went up and bore her testimony it was really awesome you could feel the spirit in her words as she testified of her knowledge and faith in the Savior and as she testified of all the things we had taught her it was amazing she is really progressing to her Baptismal date which is on April 11 then we have Guy and Mouna and their little daughter Gidnee she is hilarious. Well we finally got them to come to church they were late but they made it. I Love the memebers of our branch because they just make everyone feel so welcomed and a part of our family.

Well big news Elder Mezerai is going to D.C. North to be the new District Leader and Im staying here in Takoma Park for a little bit longer. I am Receiving Elder Olsen he is from Utah and he has about 8 months left I think so he knows quite a bit of French. Elder Bishop one of our roommates is going home TODAY!!! We got to meet his parents. Elder Bishop actually knows Jake and he had been over to Uncle Cals quite a few times. Well we are really excited for the new Transfer and the only sad part about the whole transfer is Elder Hirschi who speaks just about as good of French as Elder Mezerai well he is going to the English program and he is definatly not happy about that one bit. Because the APs told him that he wont come back to the French program and that he is probably going to die in the English program. So that was the only negative about the whole transfer other than that everything is really good.

We have 3 sisters who speak French at the V.C. now so that will be alot of fun and then we received one new Elder his name is Elder Anderson he had the same instructers as me in the MTC. Its really funny because when he got here he pretty much knew all about me Soeur Roubicek and Frere Kelly talked about me alot he said LoL. Anyways I dont have my camera cord so I cant send picture right now but I will send some next week I promise. I Love you all and God Bless you

-Elder Joshua K Van Dyke

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

March 23, 2010

Hey Family

How is everyone doing. The Mission is going great we have been hit with some major rain for a couple of days but it is all good now. Nice bright sun for today. Today we went to the Washington D.C. Temple it was amazing so beautiful. I love the feelings I get when I attend the Temple.

Anyways Elder Mezerai and I have been doing alot of finding lately and alot of teaching. I love teaching my brothers and sisters who are looking for the "truth" as they all call it. It is a really amazing experience to see they understand the gospel and when they put their faith to work and act upon it and they find their own testimonies AHHH!!! What an amazing thing to see.

I love all my brothers and sisters out here. They are so kind and patient with my French which is improving slowly but surely. When I first got my call and I saw that I was going to be serving state side I was happy but at the same time like STATE SIDE!!! I really wanted to go some place cool and different. Oh boy was I ever wrong. D.C. is like every country in the entire world put into one small square of land. I have eaten so many different kinds of foods from Fou-Fou to Rabbit and Kous-Kous to Catipillar. Next week we are having either Squirrel or Ground Hog which every Sister Louise catches in her trap this week. I never though I would be having such a variety of culture in my LIFE!!!

This week we were able to teach Helene who when we asked her to read the Book of Mormon studied Mosiah 18 and took 1 full page front and back of notes. Then when we checked on her she told us the entire story and told us what we were suppose to teach her. Well this week we taught her about baptism because we gave her a date last time and she accepted it but was a little unsure of it because she was already baptised by immersion well we showed her a movie about baptism and talked about proper authority well after all we did Elder Woffinden(Senior couple) Pull out the Gospel Principles manual and showed her the picture well come to find out it all clicked for her after she saw that because when she was baptised the she went into the water by herself and the preacher stood on the land and she dunked herself so it all made sense to her after Elder Woffinden showed her that one little picture. As we were leaving we reminded her about her baptism and she said "I want to be baptised and this time the right way with someone IN the water WITH me!!!"

It was really funny and then the next day during district meeting she called us and said she had a dream about the Lord and she said it was amazing and that when she woke up she wanted to read her Book of Mormon but couldnt find it and asked if we took it well we all checked our bags and come to find out ELDER MEZERAI STOLE HER BOOK OF MORMON!!! LoL it was really funny because he was the first one to say I know I dont have it and after we all checked our bags he said Im sure I dont have it but I guess I will check my bag and there it was! We had a good laugh about that and Helene thought it was pretty funny after we explained it to her. She was just happy to get her Book of Mormon back.

Next month Elder Mezerai and I have 4 baptism so far but transfers end on the 31 so we dont know if we will still be together but after a talk with President im about 80% sure Im staying here with him. But you never know. Well I have to go I Love you all and would love to hear from you. Write me! Oh Chelsea HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY!!! and Mom, Dad HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! I hope it is a great one.

Love,
-Elder Van Dyke

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

March 17, 2010

Salut ma Famille!
This week was really cool we baptized the two sons of Marie. Daniel and Gabriel. Elder Mezerai baptized Daniel and I baptized Gabriel. Really cool experience. Our "3rd missionary" PaPa Denis he is a 65 year old African from Congo he has been living with President and Sister Miller (Branch President) well whenever we needed a 3rd male he would come with us and he was suppose to go back to Congo on Monday he spent Friday-Sunday packing everything up couldnt sleep because he was so excited/stressed so the Millers take hime to the Airport at 5:00am Monday morning after they get all his bags checked and pay and extra $150 for all that the Lady at the counter asks for him Passport so he gives it to her and it was EXPIRED!!! SINCE 2008!!! the Millers about had heartattacks they love PaPa Denis and just love him so much they spent almost all of Sunday in tears well when they found out he wasnt leaving oh man! One of the Sisters in the ward Sister Monica went with them and she said they both froze up for about a minute and they sister Miller finally started to speak and try to figure out a way to get him on that plane but President Miller who is about 6'2-6'4 just stood there in a daze Sister Monica said that she felt so bad but then when she got back to her apartment she said that she just blew up in laughter and couldnt contain her self. It was a very interesting/funny experience but they finally got everything all settled and he got a temporary Passport to go back to Congo so he will have to reapply for one once he gets there but he is leaving Friday.

I also failed to tell you that I broke my hockey stick but dont worry President Miller works at the temple and he is the head person of maintenance so he is going to take it to the wood shop and fix it for me so all is well :) You know i couldnt survive another 6 months without any hockey. I heard the good news that Canada won Gold and Silver in Men's and Women's hockey and won the most Gold medals. So that was good to hear.

The mission is doing excellent right now. We are kind of worried for transfers because Elder Mezerai and I got things going here in our Area and we dont want to get changed up now. So hopefully the spirit will guide President Mansell to keep us together for atleast 1-2 more transfers. We will see on Mar. 31

Right now we are working with a Women her name is Helene we went and checked up on her the other day taught a little bit about Baptism and set a date for April 11 it was amazing when we got there we asked her how her reading was going we assigned her to read Mosiah 18 well she pulled out her Livre de Mormon and she opened up to Mosiah 18 and there was a full sheet of white lined paper full front and back of writing so we were really nervous and we asked "are those some questions you had?" She said no I read and studied it and wrote down everything that I understood. Our jaws about hit the floor!!! She did a Book of Mormon study by herself!!! She is the first investigator that has ever done that according to Elder Mezerai and probably the first out of all the members and most of the missionaries too! When we saw the effort she had put into reading and praying we knew right then to set a baptismal date and for the first time since I have been here see answered without a seconds hesitation YES! You could feel the spirit in the room so strongly.

We also figure out that night that Sister Woffinden(Elder Woffinden's Wife) Can read French! She cant speak it except to say Hello, Goodbye, and Thank You but she is amazing at reading it she says she can read it but doesnt understand a single word she just read. We dont care! Now we can use both of the Woffindens for our appointments before we could only use Elder Woffinden because he went to France on his mission and he can still speak it really well. I hope I will still be able to speak and understand French when i'm 62. Well those are some of the few miracles that happened to us this week. I Love you all
-Elder Van Dyke
P.S. DUSTIN AND NATHAN WRITE ME BACK!!! Dont make me send Chelsea after you!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

March 9, 2010

This week has been a Crazy week. Sorry for my short messages the last couple of weeks we have been really busy finding and not alot of teaching but we are on a good stream of both right now. But anyways

This week we baptized Marie's two boys Daniel and Gabriel. I batized Gabriel and Elder Mezerai baptized Daniel it was an amazing experience They both scream when they got in the water even though it was really warm. I guess they spirit was just too overwhelming for them :) We also Confirmed Marie a member it was really cool. Elder Mezerai and myself are working really hard to reach our goal of 6 baptizms this month. We have two and we should have for sure 3 more the rest of this month and one we are not 100% sure of yet but the Lord is helping us to know with a surety that we will reach the goal. So weve put our best foot forward and we continue on. Our best Member Missionary that we take with us EVERYWHERE whenever we are in need of a 3rd Male he is GOING HOME!!! Back to Congo on Monday so now we have to use our Senior Couple the Woofindens which is kind of a hassle becasue they never say No but we feel like maybe we might overwhelm them with all the appointments we need them for but they say its all right. We will see.

So this week during our lesson with Marie and Daphne and the two boys Daphne asked what a Patriarchal Blessing is so we explained it and she WANTS IT!!!! So we explained it to hear a little deeper and she was asking questions left and right and she was just so excited so I showed her mine and what it looks like. Well I realized I havent looked at it since the 2 week I was in the MTC. So for Personal study the last 2 days Ive been studying my Patriarchal Blessing and WOW!!! It makes alot more since now then it did just 4 months ago. I talks alot about my mission and the things it says are just amazing. So I just wanted to put a question in all your minds. When was the last time you looked at yours? If you dont have one. Why not? They are amazing I realize now how important it is that we have them. They are like a 3rd set of scriptures but they are meant for only one person. YOU!!! How cool is that. God loves you soooo much that we wanted you to have a little help in like its kind of like for example life is a test and so God didnt want us to know all the answers so thats why we had to pass through the veil of forgetfulness and then we didnt want us to be completly oblivious so he sent us prophets and teachers and they those that are memebers of the church we have Patriarchal Blessings that are another guide that give us a greater direction and knowledge of what we need to do. I know I have only been in this World for 19 years but in my Patriarchal Blessing it lets me see the years before this life and it goes on to tell me of all the wonderful blessings i will recieve in the life after this one. How cool is that! I know that if we all will spend just a few minutes going over our own Patriarchal Blessings and look at all the promises the Lord has given us we will know what we have done and what needs to be done.

Well I Love you all and for those of you who dont know what a Patriarchal Blessing is. Ask a member or better yet ask a missionary. They are a wonderful blessing to have and Really will help you understand things more clearly. I Love you write me :)
Love Elder Van Dyke