ELDER LOGAN CHASE VAN KATWYK
WEEK #10
8/25/14
Hey everybody.
Glad to hear everything is everything! About that earthquake, there was a recent convert, who asked me "hey do you live over by napa area in California" and I said yes. and he told me about the earthquake. Later that day, he was watching the news I guess and they said that it was worse than they thought. So he actually called us and offered to call the house to make sure everyone was ok. But we just told him that it was ok because the branch president would've been informed and told me immediately if something happened. So I'm glad nothing happened.
Man, Liam has a full head of hair!!! Holy Cow!!! He's getting too old already!! haha I sure hope everything with g'pa will be ok. Haha, mom I like having a lot of questions to answer. It's fun. It makes me sure that I haven't forgotten anything. A lot of the times, your questions usually compare to what I have to say anyway. If not, then I usually just put in an experience that I really wanna share somewhere in the email.
So me and Elder Field go to the local library to email. Which is just a couple a minutes away from where we live. The weather doesn't really affect my missionary work. No weather's gonna stop me ;) And nope I haven't gotten sunburned yet. *fingers crossed*. But ya being in a car all the time gets us away from the sun. I loooooooove biking in the rain though. It's soooooooooo fun! haha I don't really know how to explain it. But I just think it's a blast to bike in the rain.
Man this whole week has been full of success! And so much great news so I don't know where to begin. So it basically all started on Tuesday during an exchange (and I stayed here in Alice) with Elder Hatchett's companion (from exchange 3 weeks ago) Elder Cruz (yes he's got some native blood in him so he can speak spanish really well BOOM!). So on Monday night, while we were planning, Elder Field and I had an impression that we really needed to go visit one of the ward members (because we were supposed to have a dinner appointment at her place but she cancelled saying it was a family emergency). So on the exchange, we stopped by her house and we found her on the verge on crying and laying on her couch. And so I asked if everything was ok and she told us that she just had $200 stolen at her work (she's been having some financial problems). And so we just stayed there and talked to her. She then saw us on Wednesday and thanked us so much for being there for her for have someone to talk to. During the exchange, we tried to stop by all those 5 referrals we received last week Saturday and I was able to practice my "How To Begin Teaching" with somebody we found working out in their yard. We tried to track Alan down because we haven't been able to teach him and his baptism was coming up. And so I went to his friend, using my "terrible" spanish, and tried to figure out where Alan has been and stuff so we could go teach him and he told us that Alan had a day off that next day (wednesday, after the exchange) So after that we went and visited some more people, and I was actually able to lead the Restoration lesson with this guy named Marc (really cool dude). Anyways, Elder Field and I reached ALL of our goals this week. Friday we were at a dinner appointment and we were basically handed another investigator. Her name is Melissa and she's 10 and she has a baptismal date for this Sunday as well. So that's 3 investigators now. Then yesterday, ALL of our investigators showed up to church (minus Alan :( ) and then yesterday we were actually handed another investigator named Odelya who's 14. And she's in a part member family too. And so we taught her the restoration and she accepted a baptismal date for the 31st also because she's been to church twice already. BOOM Thats 4 investigators now! Just like that haha So with these part member families we're just rackin' up the numbers for members present and we just nailed our goals. So we have 3 or 4 baptisms coming up this Sunday. What is up! :) Now hopefully, we can be able to track Alan down again so we can get him baptized after the 31st since he didn't go to church yesterday. So ya that's my greatest success. Reaching all our goals haha
Something I'm working on this week would probably teaching the Restoration better in spanish. I had a revelation during the lesson with Odelya that I should do that. Something that I'm grateful for this week would probably just be member work and the trust they have in us. And being able to bring part member families together to be sealed in the temple so they can be together forever. I didn't really have an embarrassing moment this week, although I wish I had one. So save that question for a later time!
Ya feelings of new missionaries are sure different. But I was definitely calm and patient and was just willing to accept learning and am excited for experiences. Everytime we're in a spanish lesson, and I'm literally the only one that has no idea what the heck is going on, I just get excited and I think "man I can't wait till I reach that point". So I guess instead of being upset or frustrated, I just keep looking forward to what I'm striving for. And I know I just have to do my best and work hard and then I'll get there some day. Not really any point being upset or frustrated about something you can't control. I also feel like when you're upset or frustrated, that just shows how much lack of faith I would have. Just have to doubt not and go forward with faith.
Oh and something also awesome that happened was I was able to give a blessing to a recent convert because she was needing surgery for medical issues. That was actually an extremely awesome blessing I felt like. I definitely felt the spirit. But she did have to go to surgery and she texted us and she's doing great! So i guess we shall see from there!
Well I'm glad to hear everything is everything and you're all doing good. Think about you all and I love you all very much.
Stay tuned for next week!
Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #9
8/18/14
Hey everybody,
Man sounds like things were craaaaaazy! hahah I definitely enjoyed the obituary of grandma and all that stuff. Wish I could've been there for it. But I'm glad to hear it, and everything, went really well.
So lets seeeee one thing I learned this week..... I would have to say I learned a lot about patience in myself. So on Friday or Saturday, I did my normal routine and stuff, such as showering and taking care of the gauze and stuff like that. My back has had it's times of not doing so good because we keep getting fed tortillas. Anyways, and I was looking at my back and I just got really frustrated and upset and sad, thinking to myself "I just wanna be home so I don't have to put this stupid gauze in because I have no idea if I'm even doing it right or if it's healing or anything".
Because we had weekly planning on Friday, at the very end Elder Field has a "what kind of person do I want to be when the mission is over?" So I gave him a few examples and one of them was patience in myself. So he counseled me to make "a vision" of the kind of person and to write it down and then make goals to help me to achieve my vision. So when we did personal study the next day, I decided to do just that and the way I studied was by just reading chapter 6 of PMG which is the chapter on Christ-like attributes. While doing that I remembered the scripture I gave at someone's house while sharing, (Alma 34:41) and then a verse I have read in D&C 24, both about patience. So I wrote those two verses on a sticky note and put it on the wall in front of my desk so I can read it everytime I'd be upset. And I learned that patience is not only putting up with somebody but accepting Heavenly Father's will and timing without becoming frustrated, upset, or depressed.
As for investigators...we only have 3 right now. Alan and two new ones that were basically handed to us because their dad is a member of the church. They both actually came to church yesterday! :) cha ching! But I don't really have any favorites because they're both spanish and I can't understand any of what's happening.... hahah
My favorite contact experience would be...I was on an exchange while Field was at a 3-day leadership training. I met this 30 something year old guy named Pablo and this guy made me love being a missionary. He told us that he just felt like there was just something missing and he just couldn't figure out what. And he'd previously been invited to church but he's never showed up. So we were telling him the blessings that come from going to church and why he should go. We were sort of just making him comfortable with the whole idea. He told us that everytime Sunday comes around there is always something that comes up that he has to do. To make a long story short, we made him set his priorities and realize that he needs to go to church. At the end of the lesson we had him say the prayer, and he asked Heavenly Father to help him to be able to go to church and make it so that nothing will happen so he can go to church. We visited him everyday after that just to make sure he's still had going to church as priority number one. It was just so cool to see how determined he was to go to church. He even brought his mom out and told her "mom, no excuses. I need to go to church. I'm making it a priority because I know I need to go to church".
When I think of someone I've met on my mission that I admire it is a member by the name of Sister Cardona. This lady is such....I don't even know how to describe how great she is. But she's a single mom, with a boyfriend and two little kids. Her son has this syndrome or something where he basically does the opposite or what someone tells him to do. And so with his young age, figuring out the world, it just doesn't go well because he can't learn what's right and wrong. She's tried everything she could to get him medicines to calm him down but nothing works. She told us that she's tired of getting bad looks from everybody at the grocery store because he'll be hiding behind the clothes racks and scare people or he'll be screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. On top of all that, she needs to have surgery because she has a tumor that's moving around her body so she potentially has breast cancer or something like that. I admire her because even after everything she has to go through in her life, she's still one of our best member missionaries. She's just a great example to me.
My spiritual experience this week would that we got 5 referrals in one day and that all of our investigators came to church. Like basically in one sitting. I just so happens that Panda Express just opened up here so we know these guys that work for Vivant Alarm company (the company is from Utah) and a bunch of these guys who are here for the summer are RM's and one of them gave us 5 referrals from the people he sold to.
Hahahah funny story.... oh man.... I actually still crack up with this one. So I went on exchanges last week with another companionship. One day we were biking in the suuuuuuper hard rain (which by the way is sooooooo awesome!!!!) Anyways, it was getting to be dinner time and so we stopped at a Mexican restaurant (I tried cow intestines and it was actually really good! crazy right? That's coming from me ;)) Once we were done eating, we were biking to someone house and there were huuuuuge puddles everywhere which is always fun to ride in. and one of the elder hit a pothole with his bike and fell in this hhuuuuge puddle!! It was in front of a gas station so eeeeeverybody saw it!! It was sooooooo funny!!!
I think that around the same number of people came to my branch yesterday.
I think the hardest thing about the mission so far, would probably be just being confident and talking to people I don't know especially if they only know spanish. But I mean it's getting a lot better and my teaching skills are a lot better. So it all just comes in time.
Sure love you all and miss you all. Hope everything is everything with everyone!
Elder VanKatwyk
8/18/14
Hey everybody,
Man sounds like things were craaaaaazy! hahah I definitely enjoyed the obituary of grandma and all that stuff. Wish I could've been there for it. But I'm glad to hear it, and everything, went really well.
So lets seeeee one thing I learned this week..... I would have to say I learned a lot about patience in myself. So on Friday or Saturday, I did my normal routine and stuff, such as showering and taking care of the gauze and stuff like that. My back has had it's times of not doing so good because we keep getting fed tortillas. Anyways, and I was looking at my back and I just got really frustrated and upset and sad, thinking to myself "I just wanna be home so I don't have to put this stupid gauze in because I have no idea if I'm even doing it right or if it's healing or anything".
Because we had weekly planning on Friday, at the very end Elder Field has a "what kind of person do I want to be when the mission is over?" So I gave him a few examples and one of them was patience in myself. So he counseled me to make "a vision" of the kind of person and to write it down and then make goals to help me to achieve my vision. So when we did personal study the next day, I decided to do just that and the way I studied was by just reading chapter 6 of PMG which is the chapter on Christ-like attributes. While doing that I remembered the scripture I gave at someone's house while sharing, (Alma 34:41) and then a verse I have read in D&C 24, both about patience. So I wrote those two verses on a sticky note and put it on the wall in front of my desk so I can read it everytime I'd be upset. And I learned that patience is not only putting up with somebody but accepting Heavenly Father's will and timing without becoming frustrated, upset, or depressed.
As for investigators...we only have 3 right now. Alan and two new ones that were basically handed to us because their dad is a member of the church. They both actually came to church yesterday! :) cha ching! But I don't really have any favorites because they're both spanish and I can't understand any of what's happening.... hahah
My favorite contact experience would be...I was on an exchange while Field was at a 3-day leadership training. I met this 30 something year old guy named Pablo and this guy made me love being a missionary. He told us that he just felt like there was just something missing and he just couldn't figure out what. And he'd previously been invited to church but he's never showed up. So we were telling him the blessings that come from going to church and why he should go. We were sort of just making him comfortable with the whole idea. He told us that everytime Sunday comes around there is always something that comes up that he has to do. To make a long story short, we made him set his priorities and realize that he needs to go to church. At the end of the lesson we had him say the prayer, and he asked Heavenly Father to help him to be able to go to church and make it so that nothing will happen so he can go to church. We visited him everyday after that just to make sure he's still had going to church as priority number one. It was just so cool to see how determined he was to go to church. He even brought his mom out and told her "mom, no excuses. I need to go to church. I'm making it a priority because I know I need to go to church".
When I think of someone I've met on my mission that I admire it is a member by the name of Sister Cardona. This lady is such....I don't even know how to describe how great she is. But she's a single mom, with a boyfriend and two little kids. Her son has this syndrome or something where he basically does the opposite or what someone tells him to do. And so with his young age, figuring out the world, it just doesn't go well because he can't learn what's right and wrong. She's tried everything she could to get him medicines to calm him down but nothing works. She told us that she's tired of getting bad looks from everybody at the grocery store because he'll be hiding behind the clothes racks and scare people or he'll be screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. On top of all that, she needs to have surgery because she has a tumor that's moving around her body so she potentially has breast cancer or something like that. I admire her because even after everything she has to go through in her life, she's still one of our best member missionaries. She's just a great example to me.
My spiritual experience this week would that we got 5 referrals in one day and that all of our investigators came to church. Like basically in one sitting. I just so happens that Panda Express just opened up here so we know these guys that work for Vivant Alarm company (the company is from Utah) and a bunch of these guys who are here for the summer are RM's and one of them gave us 5 referrals from the people he sold to.
Hahahah funny story.... oh man.... I actually still crack up with this one. So I went on exchanges last week with another companionship. One day we were biking in the suuuuuuper hard rain (which by the way is sooooooo awesome!!!!) Anyways, it was getting to be dinner time and so we stopped at a Mexican restaurant (I tried cow intestines and it was actually really good! crazy right? That's coming from me ;)) Once we were done eating, we were biking to someone house and there were huuuuuge puddles everywhere which is always fun to ride in. and one of the elder hit a pothole with his bike and fell in this hhuuuuge puddle!! It was in front of a gas station so eeeeeverybody saw it!! It was sooooooo funny!!!
I think that around the same number of people came to my branch yesterday.
I think the hardest thing about the mission so far, would probably be just being confident and talking to people I don't know especially if they only know spanish. But I mean it's getting a lot better and my teaching skills are a lot better. So it all just comes in time.
Sure love you all and miss you all. Hope everything is everything with everyone!
Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #8
8/11/14
Hola familia
Wow sounds like quite the week. I know grandmas in a good place and is resting from all her troubles :) thank goodness for the plan of salvation because, at least for me, it eases up the sorrow because I know I'll see them again. Nope the picture of the Savior on the window isn't there.... I don't think haha and there's only me and Elder Field because our mission got split so me and my comp are the only missionaries in the area. A lot of area we have to cover. Teaching Gospel principles and Elders quorum wasn't bad really. There's not many people that go to Gospel Principles. Like yesterday, there was only us and then one other person. I do have my bike and it. is. SWEET! especially the fanny pack too! you definitely gave me some sweet hook ups mom haha Anyways, there was no such test we had to take. So good thing I didn't waste any time studying for that. Ya my comp is the DL but this area is a bike/car mission because my area is so big as well.
So one thing I learned about my comp this week woulllld beeeee he wants......'scuse me, he's GOING, to marry Taylor Swift and he had a Taylor Swift shrine before the mission.
So I went on an exchange tuesday and wednesday and I met alot of cool people. Someone I enjoyed meeting would probably be the Gonzales family. They're recent converts and the oldest son is having some drug problems and knows he's needs to quit but is having trouble. So me and the Elder I was with tried to give her words on encouragement because also, they were having financial troubles and they had 4 days to come up with $500 or CPS were going to take the kids and the parents were going to be homeless. So the next day me and the Elder I was with decided to fast for them. I don't know what has happened with them yet but I will get back on that if i remember next week.
A silliest experience was that on Saturday, we went to Robstown for a baptismal interview for an investigator that our zone leaders taught. After that, we went to Dairy Queen and this guy walks in and sees us and was like "Hey I know you guys. You guys biked all the way here from Salt Lake City!" and we just went along with it. Then he leans on the counter and starts shouting to the workers "Hey! Did they get their food yet?! They biked all the way here from Salt Lake City!" and he was like shouting to all the workers to get our food ready and stuff hahah and then he ended up paying for me, my comp, and the zone leaders. So that was interesting hahaha.
My spiritual experience would probably be that I finished reading the Book of Mormon. And while I was reading it, I could definitely tell that there was something so special about this book. And I just started thinking about how perfect and well planned out and prepared this book was. My testimony definitely strengthened and I just grew to love it and I just loved everything that was in it.
Hmmmmm something cool about my companion..... I dunno really. He's an awesome dude and we get along really well. He works hard and has good intentions and during comp study he tell me some deep doctrinal stuff that are totally just mind blowing haha.
And for the last question, I don't know if you're talking about my mission president at the CCM or here. But my branch president here lives near a city called Orange Grove. Waayyyyyy out in the boonies. He owns a ranch with a buuuuunch of animals so we go over there to do service for them and help with the animals.
So my cyst is definitely a pain to take care of. Like I don't like having to do all that stuff but, I just gotta do it anyway. I definitely feel like my patience is tried a lot. Too bad I wasn't at home and having this get taken care of because I have no way of knowing if I'm doing things right and/or if it's healing. But I guess we'll just see how it goes.
Pray and love you all a lot. Hope everything is everything with all of you
Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #7
8/4/14
Hey everybody!
I'm really glad I got to see Grandma too. If you ever see her again before she passes, give her a hug and tell her that I'll see her again. Still wish I coulda gone to reunion.
So first off I'll answer the questions. My first area is In Corpus Cristi called Sinton. Church was pretty good! It is a VERY small branch. Like I've honestly never seen a branch this small. Apparently we're the Gospel Principles teacher so we taught that class and then we taught Elder Quorum. My companion is Elder Field and he's from Pheoniz Arizona and has been out a little over a year. One thing I like most about this area is EVERYBODY including the hardcore gangsters respect us missionaries and we've gotten honked at and waved at numerous times.
Oh! and The branch president made me get up and introduce myself hahah So i was the first one to speak during the testimony meeting. Since when do I ever get up and bear my testimony!? hahah just kidding. But ya it was good. I actually kinda had a feeling I was going to have to so I was pretty prepared. Just a little side note! haha
Haven't really eaten any new foods yet because Alice is more English speaking and such so that experience is still to come. My companion is sooooooooo awesome. He reminds me so much of Mason and his name is Tanner also, he's just hilarious and he's definitely a hard worker which I love. The language is coming slowly but surely. And I can pick out words here and there when we speak to Natives. The funnest person I met this week was a man in the branch by the name of Brother Campbell. He's just one of those unique people that you just can't describe but he's like the best ward missionary I've ever seen. He's just awesome haha
Ok so I've had a lot of experiences for my first week so I'm trying to type really fast haha. So my first day, me and my companion walked. My bike was at a different town because we put it on a truck cuz a member gave us a ride to Alice because we had no more miles for the month. Next day, we rode our bikes and it was SOOOOOO much better than walking!! oh my goodness I'm so grateful for bikes (sorry mace). and then the next day, we drove the car because it was a new month. I've already had 6, 7, or 8 dinner and lunch appointments already.... haha but it's ok. There's a group of guys down here that work for the vivant alarm company that are working here for the summer and they're super tight and they've invited us to lunch twice. and they're all return missionaries but one i think.
So we were biking down the more poorer part of town and people here seriously don't know how to take care of their dogs and they just chase after you so me and Elder Fields almost decked some dogs in the face hahah. Work here has been kinda slow. There's alooottt of less active members so we've been going around and meeting them and talking with them and such. I'm really grateful for my talent of drumming, beatboxing and music because that has gotten people to be comfortable with me. OH! MOM, the camel bag is AWESOME. and thank you so much for sending me my drum sticks! it was definitely a good idea haha.
Anyways, so i had a little spiritual experience yesterday. It was getting late and we only had time to meet with one other person. And it was between people by the names of Leticia and Alan. I haven't met Laticia yet and we stopped by Alans house numerous times and he was never home. So my companion asked which one we should visit. So I thought about it for a minute, and I had a feeling we needed to go to visit Alan. So we headed over there and he was home! Long story short, we taught him the restoration (in spanish, so I had no idea what the heck was going on haha) so comp taught everything really. And he remembered everything from the previous meeting they had with him about the whole restoration. He told us his story about how he came across the border because he's 16 and living here by himself (so he's illegal but we'll deal with that later) anyways, at the end we had him pray and my companion told me that Alan was grateful for us Elders stopping by even though he wasn't home. And he promised God that he was going to "congregate himself" to this church and that he will do everything he can to do that cuz he feels like he really needs to be baptized. So his baptism date is this 31st. So fingers crossed! but I have a really good feeling about him anyway.
I'm glad that Kassidy came to church.
I'm glad everything is going well for all of you! I pray for you all and love you all
~~Elder VanKatwyk
8/4/14
Hey everybody!
I'm really glad I got to see Grandma too. If you ever see her again before she passes, give her a hug and tell her that I'll see her again. Still wish I coulda gone to reunion.
So first off I'll answer the questions. My first area is In Corpus Cristi called Sinton. Church was pretty good! It is a VERY small branch. Like I've honestly never seen a branch this small. Apparently we're the Gospel Principles teacher so we taught that class and then we taught Elder Quorum. My companion is Elder Field and he's from Pheoniz Arizona and has been out a little over a year. One thing I like most about this area is EVERYBODY including the hardcore gangsters respect us missionaries and we've gotten honked at and waved at numerous times.
Oh! and The branch president made me get up and introduce myself hahah So i was the first one to speak during the testimony meeting. Since when do I ever get up and bear my testimony!? hahah just kidding. But ya it was good. I actually kinda had a feeling I was going to have to so I was pretty prepared. Just a little side note! haha
Haven't really eaten any new foods yet because Alice is more English speaking and such so that experience is still to come. My companion is sooooooooo awesome. He reminds me so much of Mason and his name is Tanner also, he's just hilarious and he's definitely a hard worker which I love. The language is coming slowly but surely. And I can pick out words here and there when we speak to Natives. The funnest person I met this week was a man in the branch by the name of Brother Campbell. He's just one of those unique people that you just can't describe but he's like the best ward missionary I've ever seen. He's just awesome haha
Ok so I've had a lot of experiences for my first week so I'm trying to type really fast haha. So my first day, me and my companion walked. My bike was at a different town because we put it on a truck cuz a member gave us a ride to Alice because we had no more miles for the month. Next day, we rode our bikes and it was SOOOOOO much better than walking!! oh my goodness I'm so grateful for bikes (sorry mace). and then the next day, we drove the car because it was a new month. I've already had 6, 7, or 8 dinner and lunch appointments already.... haha but it's ok. There's a group of guys down here that work for the vivant alarm company that are working here for the summer and they're super tight and they've invited us to lunch twice. and they're all return missionaries but one i think.
So we were biking down the more poorer part of town and people here seriously don't know how to take care of their dogs and they just chase after you so me and Elder Fields almost decked some dogs in the face hahah. Work here has been kinda slow. There's alooottt of less active members so we've been going around and meeting them and talking with them and such. I'm really grateful for my talent of drumming, beatboxing and music because that has gotten people to be comfortable with me. OH! MOM, the camel bag is AWESOME. and thank you so much for sending me my drum sticks! it was definitely a good idea haha.
Anyways, so i had a little spiritual experience yesterday. It was getting late and we only had time to meet with one other person. And it was between people by the names of Leticia and Alan. I haven't met Laticia yet and we stopped by Alans house numerous times and he was never home. So my companion asked which one we should visit. So I thought about it for a minute, and I had a feeling we needed to go to visit Alan. So we headed over there and he was home! Long story short, we taught him the restoration (in spanish, so I had no idea what the heck was going on haha) so comp taught everything really. And he remembered everything from the previous meeting they had with him about the whole restoration. He told us his story about how he came across the border because he's 16 and living here by himself (so he's illegal but we'll deal with that later) anyways, at the end we had him pray and my companion told me that Alan was grateful for us Elders stopping by even though he wasn't home. And he promised God that he was going to "congregate himself" to this church and that he will do everything he can to do that cuz he feels like he really needs to be baptized. So his baptism date is this 31st. So fingers crossed! but I have a really good feeling about him anyway.
I'm glad that Kassidy came to church.
I'm glad everything is going well for all of you! I pray for you all and love you all
~~Elder VanKatwyk