Well it seems like its been months since I last had a chance to just relax and I have only been here since last week Wednesday NOV 6! This is the only P-Day I will have due to only being here till the 19th leaving early tuesday morning :D! well the first day i got here was some crazy Stuff i got dropped off at the front gate area after spending the day with my grandparents. We went to the huge downtown mall that was finished in Salt lake city. Then went to a place Called Wallaby's the food there is just so good! I even got a great meal of ribs free :) Missionary power hehehehe.
Anyways i went with a "New Missionary Host" to get all of my materials preach my gospel manual and room ID card and key. (all the doors to the buildings here have key card access to open them I feel so special :P ^_^ I've never had the chance to before ). So i went to my room dropped off my things and right away we are going to class!! OKAY SO HERES THE CRAZY THING I walk in say, "hi i'm Elder VanKammen" and Brother TiaTia's , on of the 2 teachers, face just changes into this face of 'o my gosh Elder VanKammen!' as if he knew me? Well he did some what he went into the MTC at the same time and same mission as my cousin Bryan VanKammen, who just got back 4-5 months ago! SUCH A SMALL WORLD!! So that same day we had our whole orientation thing blah blah, but then we got to teach an investigator that SAME day. Though it was with a group of 30 Sister and Elder missionaries it was amazing the change I saw. This one investigator, Helly, she was from Guatemala and had seen so much war and death. By the end of the class period she was crying in such joy and just speechless! This was not what she was expecting to hear and happen (neither was I so quickly and on my first day!). Later we got to all meet together in our zone. For those who dont know what i mean there are Districts which are the small group(5-10 people) of missionaries like a elementary school in a school district then there is a Zone which has multiple districts in it. had a great time meeting eachother and I found that one district is going to the Chicago West mission!!! Elder Limon, Hermanson, Lyonn and some Sister missionaries. i cant wait to hear the stories i will be able to hear about them over the next two years serving in my home ward/ stake :D My companion at first through out the week was Elder Horvath. he is about 5'6" but the big thing is that he has Polio in his right leg so it has slowed the growth partially of it. He is such an active person doing diving, rock climbing and to as many here at the MTC have seen his amazing upper body strength! Elder Horvath can walk on his hands and then do push ups well vertical! Side fact it was even more astounding when we met the branch president who also had polio in his leg from the vaccine shot in the 50's. Sometimes when he does a flip/ army role and lands on his feet. Anyways, we hav ehad a great time we get along very well. Then one of the Elders was added to our companion ship. It is really sad how it happened because first he had a companion that didn't show up so he was paired with 2 other elders in his district then one of them had depression and went home Saturday. then the next elder in his district also went home on Monday because of depression leaving him the only Elder left in his district! :( Elder Spotten is so insightful me and Elder Horvath had been struggling to come up with planning things out he came in and was an answer to our prayers.
I can't tell you how amazing this feeling is while we teach what they call TRC investigators some are actors and some are real. As we teach them i just feel the spirit so much! The love for my companions are amazing. yesterday we began to struggle unable to come up with plans. something was wrong we get along well but when planning it became difficult. that night we went into a small room and did what is called a "companion ship inventory" where we talk about our thoughts and what we can do to figure things out. At first we were not getting anywhere until the teacher came in and help us along with a scripture about Alma and Amulek how you must work together to have strength on a mission. Focusing on the strength of each missionary. Our problem was as a companionship we had prayed for help, but not specifically. We needed to let the spirit guide what we needed to fix not us! After two hours of just talking working/coming up with goals all was well!
The power of prayer and the scriptures is such a powerful thing, but when you do not listen and work to understand it will not work. I got to be a "New missionary Host" yesterday introducing the new missionaries to the MTC it was so amazing! Elder Freckelton and Myers were the two I showed around the campus! it was such great luck to do this because usually 2 week MTC missionaries never get to do this! To make the week even better we had the chance to have L. Tom Perry (one of the Brotheren from quorum of the 12 apostles, leadership of the church). They don't come but every 2-3 months!
Well this has been a gist of my week and it has been such a great experience well here! Next time I email I will be in Long beach so I would, if you are going to send letters, send them to California address! I love you all!
ELDER CHRISTOPHER VANKAMMEN
Anyways i went with a "New Missionary Host" to get all of my materials preach my gospel manual and room ID card and key. (all the doors to the buildings here have key card access to open them I feel so special :P ^_^ I've never had the chance to before ). So i went to my room dropped off my things and right away we are going to class!! OKAY SO HERES THE CRAZY THING I walk in say, "hi i'm Elder VanKammen" and Brother TiaTia's , on of the 2 teachers, face just changes into this face of 'o my gosh Elder VanKammen!' as if he knew me? Well he did some what he went into the MTC at the same time and same mission as my cousin Bryan VanKammen, who just got back 4-5 months ago! SUCH A SMALL WORLD!! So that same day we had our whole orientation thing blah blah, but then we got to teach an investigator that SAME day. Though it was with a group of 30 Sister and Elder missionaries it was amazing the change I saw. This one investigator, Helly, she was from Guatemala and had seen so much war and death. By the end of the class period she was crying in such joy and just speechless! This was not what she was expecting to hear and happen (neither was I so quickly and on my first day!). Later we got to all meet together in our zone. For those who dont know what i mean there are Districts which are the small group(5-10 people) of missionaries like a elementary school in a school district then there is a Zone which has multiple districts in it. had a great time meeting eachother and I found that one district is going to the Chicago West mission!!! Elder Limon, Hermanson, Lyonn and some Sister missionaries. i cant wait to hear the stories i will be able to hear about them over the next two years serving in my home ward/ stake :D My companion at first through out the week was Elder Horvath. he is about 5'6" but the big thing is that he has Polio in his right leg so it has slowed the growth partially of it. He is such an active person doing diving, rock climbing and to as many here at the MTC have seen his amazing upper body strength! Elder Horvath can walk on his hands and then do push ups well vertical! Side fact it was even more astounding when we met the branch president who also had polio in his leg from the vaccine shot in the 50's. Sometimes when he does a flip/ army role and lands on his feet. Anyways, we hav ehad a great time we get along very well. Then one of the Elders was added to our companion ship. It is really sad how it happened because first he had a companion that didn't show up so he was paired with 2 other elders in his district then one of them had depression and went home Saturday. then the next elder in his district also went home on Monday because of depression leaving him the only Elder left in his district! :( Elder Spotten is so insightful me and Elder Horvath had been struggling to come up with planning things out he came in and was an answer to our prayers.
I can't tell you how amazing this feeling is while we teach what they call TRC investigators some are actors and some are real. As we teach them i just feel the spirit so much! The love for my companions are amazing. yesterday we began to struggle unable to come up with plans. something was wrong we get along well but when planning it became difficult. that night we went into a small room and did what is called a "companion ship inventory" where we talk about our thoughts and what we can do to figure things out. At first we were not getting anywhere until the teacher came in and help us along with a scripture about Alma and Amulek how you must work together to have strength on a mission. Focusing on the strength of each missionary. Our problem was as a companionship we had prayed for help, but not specifically. We needed to let the spirit guide what we needed to fix not us! After two hours of just talking working/coming up with goals all was well!
The power of prayer and the scriptures is such a powerful thing, but when you do not listen and work to understand it will not work. I got to be a "New missionary Host" yesterday introducing the new missionaries to the MTC it was so amazing! Elder Freckelton and Myers were the two I showed around the campus! it was such great luck to do this because usually 2 week MTC missionaries never get to do this! To make the week even better we had the chance to have L. Tom Perry (one of the Brotheren from quorum of the 12 apostles, leadership of the church). They don't come but every 2-3 months!
Well this has been a gist of my week and it has been such a great experience well here! Next time I email I will be in Long beach so I would, if you are going to send letters, send them to California address! I love you all!
ELDER CHRISTOPHER VANKAMMEN