MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! How is everyone. Thank you so much for the Christmas presents. I really love the new Camera thank you so much. Tell Austin I really Love his gift I have it hanging on my board with the picture he has drawn for me.
How is the house? How surprised were you when I called? I was so excited when I asked for a phone pass and the Sister said okay. I cant believe I am delayed. I was just making fun of Elder Helvey about being delayed and how Its a good thing Im going State side so I wont have to visa wait or anything like that, and then BAM! I get delayed. For those of you who dont know I have been delayed until Jan. 4th because the transfer dates are different in D.C. because there are an English Zone with language missionaries mixed in. I am really excited to call home... AGAIN!
Arielle's mom Shauna sent me a voice recorder so If you want me to send you a tape or two of how the mission is going just send me some tapes and I will send them back with me on them :) Thank you so much for the calendar and mints Bishop Penovich that was a great present to recieve. I enjoyed all the Christmas Cards I've recieved. I've only been gone for 2 months but I can see quite a bit has changed in just those two months.
Well we have a Christmas Devotional at 10:00am and Greg Olsen is speaking. I am so excited to meet him. I'm hoping tonight I can get good seats the rumor is First Presidency member is going to speak tonight. I might not write alot of letters today so If you don't recieve a letter from me this week don't worry I didnt forget Today is my P-day and they have only given us a few hours to do what we want and I have laundry to do. So no worries I still Love You all very much. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and remember there would be no Christmas without Easter. JOYEUX NOEL!!!
Love Elder Van Dyke
Friday, December 25, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
December 18, 2009
Hey Family :) How is everyone. I hope all is well in the Aspen 8th ward and at Home. This week in the MTC there has been some very interesting changes. Yesterday Elder Helvey received a notice to go to the travel office where Sister Law works and when we talked to her she gave us some good and bad news. The good new is On Tuesday Elder Helvey is leaving to Salt Lake City South until his visas for France and Belgium come and the bad news is now I wont have Elder Helvey as my companion so for the last week I will get another new companion. Elder Helvey or Grandpa Helvey as we like to call him has been here for 11 weeks now so he is very happy to be leaving. After about the 6th week of being here you really get an urge to just break out for a day LoL. It wouldnt be so bad if we could get a little change in the schedule or in the food any change would make the stay here better.
Thank you so much for my packages Elder Helvey and I love them especially all the food :) and Soeur Chugg and Soeur Hurst love the advant calendars. This yearis going to be one of the most weird Christmas's ever. The one thing I am looking forward to however is hearing a member of the First Presidency speak. I hope and pray every day that it will be President Monson but who knows they are all great speakers. This Christmas I would like for you to think about not Christmas but Christ and remember the 3 gifts that God has given to us.
1st gift Jesus Christ His only begotten son and His Atoning sacrafice for us.
2nd gift Gift of the Holy Ghost. As long as we live worthy the Holy Ghost can always reside with us and help us make the right choice and lastly but most important The greatest gift of all the gifts of God.
Eternal Life where we will reside with God, Jesus Christ, and our Families. Isnt that what Christmas is all about? Remembering God giving up His only begotten, Jesus and His Atoning sacrafice for us that we may be perfected and live with our Father in Heaven for Eternity.
The most impoartant thing I will be missing this year Family. Spend as much time as you can with your family. Tell them you Love them. Give your children a hug tell them how special they are to you. Have a circle of love. The circle of love is something we do in the MTC where everyone gathers in a cirlce and we choose one person to go first and that person sits in the middle while everyone takes turns going around and telling them how much they have impacted their stay at the MTC and tell them how much they love them as a Elder/Sister It is a very spiritual experience when we do this you can really feel the Holy Ghost filling the room. It is an amazing thing to experience. So this Christmas I would ask you to maybe open presents on Dec. 26th and on the 25th Remember who this Holiday is really about Jesus Christ Our Savior.
Elder VanDyke
Thank you so much for my packages Elder Helvey and I love them especially all the food :) and Soeur Chugg and Soeur Hurst love the advant calendars. This yearis going to be one of the most weird Christmas's ever. The one thing I am looking forward to however is hearing a member of the First Presidency speak. I hope and pray every day that it will be President Monson but who knows they are all great speakers. This Christmas I would like for you to think about not Christmas but Christ and remember the 3 gifts that God has given to us.
1st gift Jesus Christ His only begotten son and His Atoning sacrafice for us.
2nd gift Gift of the Holy Ghost. As long as we live worthy the Holy Ghost can always reside with us and help us make the right choice and lastly but most important The greatest gift of all the gifts of God.
Eternal Life where we will reside with God, Jesus Christ, and our Families. Isnt that what Christmas is all about? Remembering God giving up His only begotten, Jesus and His Atoning sacrafice for us that we may be perfected and live with our Father in Heaven for Eternity.
The most impoartant thing I will be missing this year Family. Spend as much time as you can with your family. Tell them you Love them. Give your children a hug tell them how special they are to you. Have a circle of love. The circle of love is something we do in the MTC where everyone gathers in a cirlce and we choose one person to go first and that person sits in the middle while everyone takes turns going around and telling them how much they have impacted their stay at the MTC and tell them how much they love them as a Elder/Sister It is a very spiritual experience when we do this you can really feel the Holy Ghost filling the room. It is an amazing thing to experience. So this Christmas I would ask you to maybe open presents on Dec. 26th and on the 25th Remember who this Holiday is really about Jesus Christ Our Savior.
Elder VanDyke
December 11, 2009
Dad I need my mailing address for the feild I want to write one of the 3 week missionaries that I met here and ask him what I need to work on so I can hit the ground running. He is a 3 weeker but he is going to Reunion Madagascar and he wont get his visa stuff until December 20th and then he goes from Washington D.C. to Reunion.
Bonjour comment cava? I am doing amazing. I hope all is well back home. I was talking to Soeur Roubicek and Frere Vincent and I found out that their friend served his mission in New Caledonia which is where my two Sisters are serving. I also found out he lived in Washington D.C. South but he spent alot of time in the North and he has been to the Ward im going to serve in and its an English speaking ward and the missionaries translate every Sunday for the French speakers who are all from Africa which is tres cool. He also told me that there are only 3 areas and 6 missionaries. It was really cool to hear him talk about it. French is really coming along great I'm picking it up pretty well my teachers tell me that I am improving really fast because I try to speak it so much during and outside of class.
So in the MTC we have this thing called the Referral Center a.k.a. R.C. and we go there every Thursday from 9:00am-10:30am On Mormon.org there is a thing where you can ask a Missionary LIVE! and I was doing that yesterday and I had the most brillant 'chats' as we call them. My first chat was with a Lady her name is Iria and she is a little embarrassed about being Religious and she asked me if I have ever felt that way I said yea lots of times but then I remember that it doesnt matter what others think because I know what I believe is True and nothing can change that. As we were talking she opened up little by little and as I was typing I could feel the Spirit flowing through me and helping me testify to her of the truthfulness of our message. I invited her to meet with the missionaries she declined however she said she didnt want anyone to force religion on her I explain our purpose as missionaries is not to force you to be 'Mormon' We want to INVITE(keyword)you to come and listen to our message and we INVITE you to hear more about the gospel and Jesus Christ and God. She still declined but I asked her if we could talk again next week and she was excited to hear that. I feel as if I knew her in the pre-mortal life and now im getting the chance to teach her.
My last chat wasnt the best chat here at the MTC the worst possible chats you can get are 1. Why is your church racist and wont let 'blacks' hold the Priesthood? 2. Where is Kolob? 3. Why do you practice polygamy? 4. I think im gay. 5. Why cant you drink... coffee, tea, alcohol, caffeine, etc. 6. If I smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes can I still be a member? and so on and so forth. We missionaries HATE those question or when members get on just to talk to missionaries and ask us about where we are going etc... mainly girls which is really annoying.
Well on Thursday my last chat was from a Man saying he thinks he is Gay. I don't know how you think you are something either you are or your not anyways remembering the most important Christlike Attribute PATIENCE! I asked well are you religious? He said he was a member of our church I though to myself great I can just give him the old Go talk to your bishop speil. I told him that he said I don't feel comfortable talking to him about it. I said okay well how can I help you then? He asked me what I though he should do. Apparently he wasnt listening when I said 'I think you should go talk to your Bishop' So I replied well have you prayed to God for help? he said he had but he feels like God has abandoned him. He thinks God hates him and thats why he gave him these feelings. I told him we all go through different trials in our lives. He said well if I dont act upon these feelings then I will be denying God because he gave me these feelings. I said so your saying If someone has a bad temper and wants to kill someone then they should act upon those feelings? If someone has thoughts of suicide them they should act upon those feelings? I explained to him we all have feelings both positive and uplifting and negative and demeaning but if we always acted upon those feelings then we would constantly be sinning. He thought about it... For like 5 min. then he responded well how do I get God to Love me again and help me. I told him we are all God's Children He loves us CONSTANTLY and even when we do bad things like our earthly parents he is disappointed but will always love us no matter what. He said I cant feel that love so I asked him again have you Prayed to him? he said yes. I asked Sincerly? With a change of heart and a willingness to do whatever he asks of you? He said he hadnt I commited him to pray to god to ask sincerily and if his answer is go talk to your Bishop then dont be scared dont question God he knows all He is omnipotent and if you do what He asks He will bless you and help you through this trial. Then I set up an appointment with him next Thursday to talk with him and tell me about his experience. I feel as if Im already in the field. I have been unsure of the French language and teaching in it but after that experience I now know that no matter what language I speak the Spirit speaks it fluidly already and all I have to do is be obedient and be worthy and he will be by my side helping those I teach to understand the message I have to share with them.
Elder Van Dyke
Bonjour comment cava? I am doing amazing. I hope all is well back home. I was talking to Soeur Roubicek and Frere Vincent and I found out that their friend served his mission in New Caledonia which is where my two Sisters are serving. I also found out he lived in Washington D.C. South but he spent alot of time in the North and he has been to the Ward im going to serve in and its an English speaking ward and the missionaries translate every Sunday for the French speakers who are all from Africa which is tres cool. He also told me that there are only 3 areas and 6 missionaries. It was really cool to hear him talk about it. French is really coming along great I'm picking it up pretty well my teachers tell me that I am improving really fast because I try to speak it so much during and outside of class.
So in the MTC we have this thing called the Referral Center a.k.a. R.C. and we go there every Thursday from 9:00am-10:30am On Mormon.org there is a thing where you can ask a Missionary LIVE! and I was doing that yesterday and I had the most brillant 'chats' as we call them. My first chat was with a Lady her name is Iria and she is a little embarrassed about being Religious and she asked me if I have ever felt that way I said yea lots of times but then I remember that it doesnt matter what others think because I know what I believe is True and nothing can change that. As we were talking she opened up little by little and as I was typing I could feel the Spirit flowing through me and helping me testify to her of the truthfulness of our message. I invited her to meet with the missionaries she declined however she said she didnt want anyone to force religion on her I explain our purpose as missionaries is not to force you to be 'Mormon' We want to INVITE(keyword)you to come and listen to our message and we INVITE you to hear more about the gospel and Jesus Christ and God. She still declined but I asked her if we could talk again next week and she was excited to hear that. I feel as if I knew her in the pre-mortal life and now im getting the chance to teach her.
My last chat wasnt the best chat here at the MTC the worst possible chats you can get are 1. Why is your church racist and wont let 'blacks' hold the Priesthood? 2. Where is Kolob? 3. Why do you practice polygamy? 4. I think im gay. 5. Why cant you drink... coffee, tea, alcohol, caffeine, etc. 6. If I smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes can I still be a member? and so on and so forth. We missionaries HATE those question or when members get on just to talk to missionaries and ask us about where we are going etc... mainly girls which is really annoying.
Well on Thursday my last chat was from a Man saying he thinks he is Gay. I don't know how you think you are something either you are or your not anyways remembering the most important Christlike Attribute PATIENCE! I asked well are you religious? He said he was a member of our church I though to myself great I can just give him the old Go talk to your bishop speil. I told him that he said I don't feel comfortable talking to him about it. I said okay well how can I help you then? He asked me what I though he should do. Apparently he wasnt listening when I said 'I think you should go talk to your Bishop' So I replied well have you prayed to God for help? he said he had but he feels like God has abandoned him. He thinks God hates him and thats why he gave him these feelings. I told him we all go through different trials in our lives. He said well if I dont act upon these feelings then I will be denying God because he gave me these feelings. I said so your saying If someone has a bad temper and wants to kill someone then they should act upon those feelings? If someone has thoughts of suicide them they should act upon those feelings? I explained to him we all have feelings both positive and uplifting and negative and demeaning but if we always acted upon those feelings then we would constantly be sinning. He thought about it... For like 5 min. then he responded well how do I get God to Love me again and help me. I told him we are all God's Children He loves us CONSTANTLY and even when we do bad things like our earthly parents he is disappointed but will always love us no matter what. He said I cant feel that love so I asked him again have you Prayed to him? he said yes. I asked Sincerly? With a change of heart and a willingness to do whatever he asks of you? He said he hadnt I commited him to pray to god to ask sincerily and if his answer is go talk to your Bishop then dont be scared dont question God he knows all He is omnipotent and if you do what He asks He will bless you and help you through this trial. Then I set up an appointment with him next Thursday to talk with him and tell me about his experience. I feel as if Im already in the field. I have been unsure of the French language and teaching in it but after that experience I now know that no matter what language I speak the Spirit speaks it fluidly already and all I have to do is be obedient and be worthy and he will be by my side helping those I teach to understand the message I have to share with them.
Elder Van Dyke
Monday, December 7, 2009
December 4, 2009
How is everyone I hope all is well. I havent been receiving any letters from people in the ward whats up with that? JK. Anyways this MTC experience is pretty weird days go by like weeks, weeks go by like days I cant believe im already going to be in the field in 3 weeks. My roommates Elder Rodriguez, Elder Williams, and Elder Nufer are leaving to the West Indies Monday Dec. 7th. They are only allowed to pack 1 bag of 44lbs. and 1 carry on of 16lbs. because the plane from Trinidad to West Indies is such a small plane they can only have so much luggage. Lucky for me I get first dibs on everything before it goes into the free box :)
On Wednesday one of my sister companions Soeur Hurst went to the Dr. for a previous neck injury that hasnt healed and it has been almost 2 years since the accident and is now getting worse since being in the MTC. Soeur Hurst went the the Dr. to get it checked out and the Dr. told her that she could go home now(Wednesday Dec. 2)or he would give her until December 28th and if she wasnt all better by then she would be sent home and be medically released and if she was all better but she still feels pain in her neck then they would send her state side instead of New Caladonia well she is still here right beside Soeur Chugg and I and on Thursday she had an MRI done and Today Friday they got the results everything was fine except they found a cyst and they hope that the cyst isthe reason for all of her pain and so she is getting scheduled for surgery in the next week or so. I would ask you all to remember her in your personal and family prayers she is as a sister to me and to lose her would be horrible I wish you all could meet her. She is one of the smartest sisters here in our zone please pray for her that she may recouperate and be able to serve her mission I love you all.
Speaking of Smart I dont know if I have already told you but Elizabeth Smart is in my zone. Let me tell you now you can see the spirit radiating off of her. Soeur Smart and her companion Soeur Vedeja are amazing sisters and are just what we needed to keep myself and the other Elders on track and studying instead of playing NINJA! :) our favorite game besides verb 4 square which is okay but you have to learn verbs which is pretty hard. Anyways I will write you all more next week. I love you all please write me on Dearelder.com in your spare time and please remember Soeur Hurst in your prayers
Love Elder Van Dyke
On Wednesday one of my sister companions Soeur Hurst went to the Dr. for a previous neck injury that hasnt healed and it has been almost 2 years since the accident and is now getting worse since being in the MTC. Soeur Hurst went the the Dr. to get it checked out and the Dr. told her that she could go home now(Wednesday Dec. 2)or he would give her until December 28th and if she wasnt all better by then she would be sent home and be medically released and if she was all better but she still feels pain in her neck then they would send her state side instead of New Caladonia well she is still here right beside Soeur Chugg and I and on Thursday she had an MRI done and Today Friday they got the results everything was fine except they found a cyst and they hope that the cyst isthe reason for all of her pain and so she is getting scheduled for surgery in the next week or so. I would ask you all to remember her in your personal and family prayers she is as a sister to me and to lose her would be horrible I wish you all could meet her. She is one of the smartest sisters here in our zone please pray for her that she may recouperate and be able to serve her mission I love you all.
Speaking of Smart I dont know if I have already told you but Elizabeth Smart is in my zone. Let me tell you now you can see the spirit radiating off of her. Soeur Smart and her companion Soeur Vedeja are amazing sisters and are just what we needed to keep myself and the other Elders on track and studying instead of playing NINJA! :) our favorite game besides verb 4 square which is okay but you have to learn verbs which is pretty hard. Anyways I will write you all more next week. I love you all please write me on Dearelder.com in your spare time and please remember Soeur Hurst in your prayers
Love Elder Van Dyke
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