ELDER LOGAN CHASE VAN KATWYK
WEEK #49
5/26/15
Hey everybody!
What a blow up of emails with all of these passes happening. I'll be honest, I'm always scared to come and email because of news of new deaths happening and I always fear that a family member will pass away as well. That's why I just pray really hard for yours and everyone's safety.
Anyways, glad everyone had a good week. My week was good too. Josh and Roman came to church again on Sunday. They are really great and we're all excited for them to be baptized :) Josh is really excited to be baptized so he can get the priesthood and just feel clean again of everything he's done. Roman reminds me a lot like Tanner. Very sweet and tender hearted. We love them and Naomi a lot. This past week, we had to get their mom to sign the baptismal form for approval. All week Elder Maluia and I were praying super hard because their mom previously said to Roman that he couldn't be baptized. And so we went to their house to do service and Naomi went to their moms with the form and came back. and it was signed! I was so excited that I felt like I was the only one excited that they were being baptized hahah But it definitely was a good answer to our prayers because she had an open heart to sign the baptismal form. Even Naomi said she was surprised. And so they had their baptism interview with the District Leader. And Josh came out and was like "I think I answered all the questions right! I was like super scared that I was gonna get a question wrong" and I just laughed and asked, "why were you scared?" and he thought about it and I was just like "Cuz you really wanted to pass and be baptized" and he just said ya with a smile on his face. SO, they're getting baptized next week! I get to baptize with my 'son'! :) Nothing better than that haha. So I'll send you pictures of everything next week. Roman said he wanted me to baptize him and Josh wants Maluia to baptize him. It'll be a lot of fun. Super excited!
Training is going great still! and Elder Maulia is doing awesome! He's been growing a lot since he's got here and he grows every single day. I honestly wish I could train my whole mission and just have companions like him. It's super awesome because we're soooooo much alike. It's suuuuuper weird but awesome at the same time haha
Well that's my week. Not too much just preparing Roman and Josh for their baptism! But I love you and pray for you all. Please be safe and make good choices. Keep on keepin on and hope everything is everything!
~~Elder VanKatwyk
5/26/15
Hey everybody!
What a blow up of emails with all of these passes happening. I'll be honest, I'm always scared to come and email because of news of new deaths happening and I always fear that a family member will pass away as well. That's why I just pray really hard for yours and everyone's safety.
Anyways, glad everyone had a good week. My week was good too. Josh and Roman came to church again on Sunday. They are really great and we're all excited for them to be baptized :) Josh is really excited to be baptized so he can get the priesthood and just feel clean again of everything he's done. Roman reminds me a lot like Tanner. Very sweet and tender hearted. We love them and Naomi a lot. This past week, we had to get their mom to sign the baptismal form for approval. All week Elder Maluia and I were praying super hard because their mom previously said to Roman that he couldn't be baptized. And so we went to their house to do service and Naomi went to their moms with the form and came back. and it was signed! I was so excited that I felt like I was the only one excited that they were being baptized hahah But it definitely was a good answer to our prayers because she had an open heart to sign the baptismal form. Even Naomi said she was surprised. And so they had their baptism interview with the District Leader. And Josh came out and was like "I think I answered all the questions right! I was like super scared that I was gonna get a question wrong" and I just laughed and asked, "why were you scared?" and he thought about it and I was just like "Cuz you really wanted to pass and be baptized" and he just said ya with a smile on his face. SO, they're getting baptized next week! I get to baptize with my 'son'! :) Nothing better than that haha. So I'll send you pictures of everything next week. Roman said he wanted me to baptize him and Josh wants Maluia to baptize him. It'll be a lot of fun. Super excited!
Training is going great still! and Elder Maulia is doing awesome! He's been growing a lot since he's got here and he grows every single day. I honestly wish I could train my whole mission and just have companions like him. It's super awesome because we're soooooo much alike. It's suuuuuper weird but awesome at the same time haha
Well that's my week. Not too much just preparing Roman and Josh for their baptism! But I love you and pray for you all. Please be safe and make good choices. Keep on keepin on and hope everything is everything!
~~Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #48
5/18/15
Hey hey hey!
Right mom!? Basketball when you think about it is a great life principal when you compare it to missionary work :) Awesome experience. Hahah I laughed when I imagined Christ playing basketball. It's actually super awesome to think about! :) I always imagined his sense of humor too actually. If he made any jokes with people and had an infectious laugh that everyone loved. Makes me want to know more of the kind of person Christ was. But I'm sure he was a lot better than LaBron James or those hot-shot basketball players ;)
Anyways, my week was great! So because I was training, I was called and invited to go to McAllen for a 3-day Leadership Training with President. But I actually showed up on the 2nd day. Because I'm only a trainer. There at that meeting, we found out who was being called as trainers and who were being called as the new District Leaders. Fortunately, I was only picked as a trainer still instead of being a District Leader and training. (Like Elder Field with me) And so at that meeting we got put into companionships to go out and start working. I got paired up with.....Elder Thornton!!! hahaha and we were working in Hidalgo in his old area actually. So all we did was basically go by his old members. It was super awkard though because Elder Thornton had the lime light the whole time and I was just there eating all there food and such that they were giving us... hahah But it was fun. Then the next day, we had training from president and then workshops. It was super weird being in the workshops since all the trainers were together, because I already had my "child". So I basically used that time to figure out what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong or need to change or fix. Fortunately, my evaluation of myself was really good! :) As well during that meeting I got to see old friends and missionaries I served with. Like I to see Elder Blackman, Pulsipher, and Clark. (Blackman and Pulsipher are DL's now :O) And of course, I got to see my "papi" Elder Field :) and Elder Latu my "step-popi" haha :)
At the apartment I was sleeping at, of course I always have to forget something..... you know that mom :p and this time, I had the privilege of forgetting my towel, and my pillow by accident. So I slept on hard tile floor on a yoga mat with a blanket.... hahah It was great!
Right now, we're looking good to having a baptism on the 31st! :) I can't remember if I mentioned their names but they're Roman, and Josh (who we played against in BB) and they're are cousins and grandsons of a Less-Active. aaaand........they came to church yesterday!!!!!! BOOM!!!!! I was super super pumped. It has been a loooooong time since I had investigators at church. aaaaaand....Josh even brought a friend with him!!!! Let's goo!!!! So Elder Maluia and I were suuuuuper super pumped!!!
On Saturday, us missionaries, we held a "concert". Because we have a lot of talented missionaries in our zone we all decided to do a concert for a missionary/finding opportunity. It was great!!! They had me playing the drums (Somehow. even thought I told them all I don't know how :p) and it was a great success. A lot of members showed up and we even had members performing with us and such. And then we'd have some missionaries giving little talks about missionary related things. It was great
That was basically been my week so far. I'll be sure to send murph a page or a fax that you all say hi! :p Mom you crack me up. I'll be sure to send the note and tell him to start packing his bags or something. Or to do his yard to make it look nice for no one else to move in ;) hahaha
Well I love you and miss you all. Pray for you always. Keep on keepin on and hope everything continues to be everything. have a steller week!
Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #47
5/11/15
Hey everybody!
It was great skyping yesterday and seeing you all. It was fun that 'murph' was getting a lot of popularity and fame during that Skype session :p hahah But it was a good laugh :) Tell Noah I say "hey" for me. Oh and there's been a few times were Brother Nichols has come to mind. Tell him I say hey and hope everything is ok, next time you see him. (premonition??? The Nichols son, Cameron who was Logan's friend all their lives, was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on May 21, 2015).
As for my week, It was awesome! Elder Maluia and I killed a few of our weekly goals and we also had a lot of fun. Elder Maluia and I were walking around to save miles and to just talk to everybody and he sees some kids playing basketball at a school basketball court. So we go up and we challenge them to a game. If we won, we got to teach them, if not, we'd just walk away. So they agreed to it.
So we played two on two against the first set of kids, and we were mopping them super hard! hahah :) Elder Maluia and I tore it up together on the court. There were other kids playing on the other side of the court but the ended up stopping their game so we had a whole buncha kids just watching us play basketball against their friends. After our first game, we got challenged by two other kids and so we played them right after. I was sooooooo tired. I was about to pass out because it was sooooo hot and humid and I barely had any water. But.... We ended up beating them too! we won two consecutive basketball games!! It was super awesome! Turns out one of the kids we played was a son of a Less-Active (which we didn't know till later that night) and he wanted to be baptized. Miracle! It was great.
Other than that, that was mainly our week. Just working hard and eating right ;) I love you all and pray for you all. keep on keepin on and have a steller week!
~~Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #46
5/4/15
Hey hey hey!
So OYM means Open Your Mouth. Just meaning talk to people you see out on the streets. What!?!? So did you lose all my photos mom?? Oh boy. And what computer got stolen? the desktop one or the laptop one? Glad everything is doin great and keepin on!
Wow what a week for me.... And I will tell you why......
So as a mission we had the lowest mission baptism goal for the month of 68. And what the mission accomplished was like low 30's.... Pretty terrible. And so during the week a surprise meeting was called and all the leaders went down to McAllen. During the meeting I was still here with Elder Riding (an Elder I live with) and we worked together here in San Benito. Then at the end of the day, when Elder March and Elder Baker (Elder Ridings companion) came back from the meeting and they told me that Elder March is getting mid-transferred to be a zone leader in mission. So where does that leave me?.....Welll........ they told me I was training!!! Pretty crazy stuff. I'm mid-transfer training right now. And so Elder March left the next day and I got my companion the next day as well.
My "son" is Elder Maluia, another Polynesian companion, and he's from Salt Lake City Utah. He's been doing fantastic this past week and he's been really great. I'll be honest, I'm very lucky to have him as my companion. I was always scared to train and usually they call you and let you know you're training, but they didn't for me. He was in the MTC in Provo but had been on medical leave for three weeks and is now back and his mission got moved, from Nicaragua, to here! I've been having a blast with him. We've been working really hard and He's definitely grown a lot these past few days and he's doing great work and we taught some great lessons together. It's interesting, I've learned and seen a lot of how much I myself have progressed. I love training and being a senior companion, because I feel like I can show everyone else who I am and the kind of person and am and well, to just do and be me. I feel like I can do this work with my own twist to it and it's great! I've noticed how all of my weaknesses had become strengths and I never saw it until now. Talking to people I don't know is super easy now, I'm never nervous to speak to anyone anymore and those sorts of things. Maybe it's just the spirit helping me out or maybe it's really me. Maluia has made some comments like, "Man, how are you so calm when you talk to people or teach lessons? I wish I can be like you to where am as calm and confident and controlled as you are". It never really hit me until one night when I was trying to go to sleep, I finally realized how much of those weaknesses have become strengths. It was really cool.
Now as a senior companion, I'm realizing that there is A LOT to do and A LOT that still needs to be done, especially to be organized with my area and still continue to get to know the members and doing what I can to strengthen the branch and working with the branch president. I've also realized how much I've learned from all of my previous companions and that I know what I'm doing, what I need to do, and how to do things. It's a blast :)
I told Elder Maluia that my goal is to just invest everything I know into him so he can be the missionary that Heavenly Father needs him to be. So I've been working super hard and trying to not let a day go by to where he feels like he's not learning something or feels like he's not improving on something.
I guess a walking experience we had would probably be yesterday. We picked a random street in Harlingen and just knocked on every single house in that street haha But the point of doing it was for him to practice his door contacting skills. During that time, we talked to a Jew, Hindu, and an Anglican. It was super peculiar because you never find any body of those religions haha so I stopped and asked them what they believe because I was pretty curious. It was pretty fun. We both learned a lot.
Well that is the week I had. I hope everything is everything with everyone and keep on keepin on!
Love you all and pray for you all. I'll see you guys next week on Skype at 5pm my time :) Have a steller week!
~~Elder VanKatwyk