Greenie

Dear Family,
  1-11-16
      We left today at 6:15 am from Utah. (Hooray, no crazy people!) [Ammon is referencing a man on his flight out to Utah that refused to put his seat up until he was threatened with the Marshall and his name put on the no-fly list.]  I arrived in Rancho Cucamonga at about 5:00 pm.  On our layover we met a Sister Parish who was kind enough to buy us lunch, she just came from a funeral for a close family member, but she displayed the true character of Christ. When we blessed the food, we asked the lord to bless her for what she did for us.  Elder Low and I are with a senior set of missionaries, Brother and Sister Hess (they’re in charge of the cars and for medical inquires, so if we have an accident we call them first). I partly miss the members of my district in the MTC, It's like me missing you guys, but I never knew I had them as a part of my family.

1-12-16
    WE GOT MY BIKE!!!! It cost 459$ and I had to call the Bank in Fulton to clear my card so that I could use it here in California. My MTC companions are all being split up today, but we are all serving in the same zone, the HIGH dessert. My new companion is Elder Chamberlain, he is like an Apostle, but he isn't one (yet), so he is more like a pocket apostle until he is set apart.

1-13-16
    We were given some people to visit by the bishop. All of our appointments fell through so we had no one to meet with us, but we did find a new potential Investigator named Richard Nathan, he is a person of senior age, and we committed him to read the Book of Mormon and to come back and teach with him again. We also plan to tract everyone down who dropped us and teach them. Elder Chamberlain is taking the time to teach me how to be a proper missionary of the lord.

1-14-16
The day started out rough, we were late out the door for our morning run, we ran to Elder Infanger and Elder Low's apartment, we had to be back in our apartment in 2 minutes. They live half a mile away or there about. We left the apartment at 12, we found another potential investigator Steve who is a marine, we found him when we were tracting (and were about to give up in that Area). We met with Omar who is of the Muslim faith and wanted to know more about god. We tried to teach the restoration but he started drinking when the lesson started. We later had dinner with the Mayo family, they’re a family of 6 and are very nice people. We than had Missionary Counsel with the Deputy Ward mission leader.

1-15-16
  We went and worked at a food bank today and then went to teach Omar, but again he was partly drunk and was smoking (not in our faces, he was kind enough to blow away from us) it was hard to have the spirit of the lord with us there, but I did use all the things that Dad taught about Muslims and Asia and Palestine and that area, to help teach him. For dinner that night the other elders gave us the pizza that they couldn't eat. Companionship inventory only lasted about 30 minutes instead of the full 2 hours.

1-16-16
    We taught Richard today, he had questions on the godhead, (I made Jared proud of me and was able to use the bible (Richard likes the bible) Luke 10:21-24), and he was like "I never saw that in there."

1-17-16
    I met the ward today they were friendly to us, I had to go up and talk for 5 minutes and bear my testimony, and I did it. We met with some investigators Jenna and Christian (they are planning on getting married, we offered to have bishop marry them on the baptism date, but they are thinking it over).

1-18-16
    It’s P day and it is awesome, we bought our food, then played basketball for 3 hours (Elder Chamberlain was a forward on the basketball team, so it was fun) then we played "savage ball" or as known to Seth as "Beep". I lasted about an hour before I got out, and they said and I quote "Elder Van you are a beast" and “you’re an athlete at these games". An elder did bend his toenail up and it was bleeding. We left at about 5 pm to get ready and showered for our dinner appointment. We had dinner with the Kaysers, they are a couple of the senior descent, and they served a mission in Scotland, doing what grandma and grandpa did, Brother Kayser was a Mechanical Equipment Technician. And dad you will love this next bit they have the exact same car as you, a Lincoln Town-car, except theirs is white. We went out proselyting and set up an appointment with some potential investigators. Elder Chamberlain went to bed not feeling well, but he was fine the next morning. I love and miss you all, (pictures help), and even though I thought that I wouldn't miss you guys this much, I was wrong, I miss you all in all your entirety, and when you see the missionaries in the neighborhood, please invite them in, because (pardon my French) it sucks when you can't meet with anyone in the neighborhood.

P days are on Monday's now, because we are in the field and the reason that this letter is so late is because of Martin Luther King Jr day and because of the power outage at the library.

And there is a misconception that Californian's are rich, I am here to tell you that, that is the exception not the norm.

I love you all, and don't you forget it!! Adieu my family, Adieu

  Sincerely yours in the service of the lord,
      Elder Ammon Van Engelenhoven