Monday, February 29, 2016

Crap*

Dear Family,
   Life is okay, it is a bit slow, because people here are dropping like flies. Our potential investigator pool has dropped from 20 to 10. So we decided to visit former investigators, and a lot of them are Jehovah Witnesses, and I have a few questions for you dad,
     1) For Jehovah Witnesses, they claim to be the church of god but they are nothing more than a study group.
     2) They claim to be the church of god, if that is so where do they claim their authority to preform ordinances such as baptism
     3) They go out a "Teach" the gospel as "Missionaries" but don't you need to be called of god and given that authority to act in god’s name for the salvation of his children.
 
This past week and a half has been just CRAP* (said in a Scottish accent) because it has been nothing but people dropping us.
 
Thank you dad for filling out my taxes.  I like cookies.  I would like the recipe to your hot chocolate, there are few people that even approach it, but even then it still missing something.  Thank you dad you prepared me in building my testimony, out in the field Satan tries in every which way to break and discourage you, but you have built me up enough that when I become discouraged I can fall back on that testimony that we have built together and continue on in the work.  There has already been a missionary that has come out with me that has gone home, due to being discouraged and which it brought back his depression. Thank you for loving me enough to build me up (see Helaman 5:12). I am living alright within my budget, food is slightly cheaper here but not by much.  I would say the most difficult thing is dealing with people that say no to the gospel even after we have taught them.
 
Ari, yeah those headlights are bright, a lot of people out here have light bars on their cars and it’s useless because everyone is in by 8 and it doesn't get dark till 7:30 pm. How was the baptism, were there lots of people? Who talked and on what subject, were there any investigators that showed up to it, if so how did he/she feel about it?
 
Seth, that is awesome you can once again play sports, and you get to do honors classes.  I recommend going as heavy as possible with AP classes so that when you graduate you have some college credit to use, if you can get it now, even better.  How is the room, is it in one piece, is it messy, what is it like to have a room all to yourself?  If you can find my notes to any of my old classes you are welcome to use them to study, I can't vouch that they are understandable.
 
Abigail, I haven't seen your hair, but I hope you love it.
 
Ambria, I hope you have a good freshman (or err woman) year. I highly recommend to pay attention to your studies because some people out here didn't and they are paying the consequence for that choice. I hope you continue in basketball, if you go on a mission you will know why.
 
Braden Barton, I hope and pray that you will succeed in whatever you do, whether it be school, job, or a mission, I hope the best for you now and in your future. And quick question have you asked or planned to ask anyone to Mormon prom or school prom, which is something that I wished I could get a do over on (looking back with hindsight). You have no idea how badly I want to listen to anything that is not MOTAB.
 
Stirling White, I hope school is awesome for you.  I meet a nurse anesthetist out here and she loves her job and has an okay life now, it was better, her husband died in a car accident, thus we are teaching her. I hope you go on splits with the missionaries there because they are nice to have with a member. In fast and testimony meeting bear your testimony, there is nothing more powerful then bearing witness of Jesus Christ.
 
I love you all, and there is nothing in this world or the next that will change that.
 
Sincerely yours in the service of the lord,
Elder Ammon Van Engelenhoven
 
*Reference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJVFJ2kb62c
 
 

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Water

Dear Family,
 
I wish to say that I love you all.  Seth I hope that you read your blessing every day and that you will continue in your path for magnifying your priesthood. Ambria and Abigail I don't know exactly what your hair looks like but if it looks good to mom then it’s good for the mission. Ari all I can say is that you are lucky that you didn't have to replace a tie rod instead of a headlight. And Kyler I haven't heard from you but I would like to encourage you to pursue school, and to continue in your progression to become a nurse, some missionaries need a good nurse, (not that I have needed one;) and dad as I have been out in the field I have realized how much you were preparing me for the mission, and I thank you for it, because there are some things out here that if you didn't prep me for I would have been stumped in the questions and in their clever wording. Mom, I thank you for the love that you have given me (even when I didn't deserve it), because there are a lot of families out here who don't have parents that care or "friends".
 
2-15-16
    We had to change our cars out, a Cruise for another Cruise but with a different paint job. And the new cruise NEEDS a good washing because it is so dirty that we were willing to go back to our old cruise. We then played Chess-Capades with its inventor Bro Davies, it’s fun but it sucks up all your time on a p-day so you only play it if you don't have anything to do, and can dedicate the day to it.  We later played basketball and had an investigator come and play, after that we went back to Bro. Davies to finish the laundry and finish the game.
 
2-16-16
   We had an interesting District Meeting, because Elder Carson broke his wrist in 6 places, and was in the hospital down the hill in Rancho, so Elder Hatch had to conduct, and it was funny and awesome when he did it.  We retaught the plan of salvation to an investigator, and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and I found it to be lacking but it was okay.  We then taught another lesson to another investigator and he liked the Fatherhood comparison to himself and Heavenly Father.
 
2-17-16
    We did service at The Lords Table today and it was great, apart from the rude manners of one of the people in line waiting for food, who had just gotten out of jail that morning, and was hungry by a lot. We then came home and skipped lunch to make it to an appointment on time, but we didn't teach them because they were all screaming and yelling and they were not at all able or willing to calm down, so we got up and left ASAP. We visited potential families and then had dinner. IT THEN RAINED!!!!!!! And a poem to go with it
 
                       "Water, water, everywhere,
                        and all the boards did shrink,
                        Water, water everywhere
                        and not a drop to drink."
 
This poem applies so well to California, because all the people are thirsty for a drop to drink, that they look for the gospel AND THEY WASTE IT ON THEIR LAWN TO WATER THE GRASS!!!!!!  (A curse upon them and their lawn)  We then to taught the restoration to a member and watched the HOUR long movie, 'The Restoration.'
 
2-18-16
We taught Malveua Thomas (a golden drop of light that fell from the sky) and I need to work on my delivery.
 
I got to go, I love you all,
 
Sincerely from the field,

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Working

Dear Family,
 
I have been well, and am currently on the way to be a better missionary.
 
2-8-16
We cleaned the apartment today, more for the deep cleaning of the carpet and for the counter tops and the dreaded stove, (you apparently aren't supposed to burn everything out of the oven then clean it because it could light the oven on fire) so we had to scrub it for forever but thanks to hot water and scrub brushes we finished cleaning it.  We then left to the zone activity which was Volleyball, which looked suspiciously like soccer and football.  We left the activity a little later then we planned so we had to have a 10 minute COLD shower, because the hot water has to travel so far (not even 20 feet), but the pipes go up out of the top and make a u-turn and go under the house and provide water for us and our neighbors, but when we were leaving for our appointment they called us and cancelled.  We then went tracting and had dinner at the James’ and we were served Philippian monkey rolls (which is pork because you can't  buy monkey meat in California (the one none too crazy law they have here)). Later we saw a truck that said "JUST DIVORCED"; oh how the world has warped it's perceptions of what is right and wrong, they purposefully mistake Good for evil and evil for good.
 
2-9-16
Zone meeting was today, the main portion of the meeting was on preparing for your investigators and not "winging it", and it lasted from 10 am to 5 pm (I was in a meeting for 7 hours and wasn't bored out of my mind.)  After we talked about everything in the first hour of the meeting we actually went into the doctrine, we asked questions and bounced them off of each other. It was a very insightful meeting, they even had an activity for those that were visual learners, they drew pictures, and I got to read more. We were late to our dinner, they drove FAST, not like 5 mph but like 15 mph, (assuming he means over the speed limit LCVE) we got there safely and told ourselves never to be late again.
 
2-10-16
We did Mormon.org training today, we later taught Richard to use the footnotes in the Book of Mormon to gain a further understanding. We then went and tracted Chestnut and found 3 potential FAMILIES that we could come back and teach (Thank you for your prayers and fasting), although one the members of a family got arrested for Drug use and not reporting in to his parole officer in 3 months (yes, people in California are arrested for drugs.)  We tracted some more but my companion, Elder Chamberlain was grumpy for the rest of the night because we got no one else. We then had dinner with the Pluffe family, we had a sandwich and taught a short lesson on Honesty, then tracted the rest of the night with a grumpy companion (yeaaaaaaaaaaa, NOT) we then went to Bro Rowland to boost ourselves up some (my companion more than me, I was still on a spiritual high from meeting 3 potential families).
 
2-11-16
We met with Malveua Thomas and taught him the restoration, he accepted it and our challenge to read and pray about the scriptures and tracted the rest of the day.
 
2-12-16
We ripped out carpet for some members that were using it as a dog room and the carpet was still wet in some places, all of our appointments cancelled but Malvuea called us and wanted to be taught the next lesson. And we tracted the rest of the day.
 
2-13-16
We did service with the Elder's Quorum and cut wood for the widows and the widowers.  We cut about 1 and a half to 2 cords of wood.  We then weekly planned for the day because guess what... our appointments dropped us for dinner.  We went to the Orozco's and they told us not to preach to their family.  We then went back and finished weekly planning.
 
2-14-16
Malvuea Thomas came to regional conference, and he liked it so much that he requested a copy of the broadcast, we then visited members and tracted till dinner, which by the way we were put in between a rock and a hard place, they said "come out to eat with us or we will have a pizza dropped off at your place" it's a Sunday, I believe that there is something called keep the Sabbath day holy and we weren't able to convince them that they didn't have to give us a pizza but they gave us one anyway.
 
Sincerely yours in the service of the lord,
Elder Van Engelenhoven
 
 

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Pie, Shot-Guns, & Shoot-Outs

Monday, February 1, 2016

Bloody

Dear Family and extended ward and friends,
  I am doing well, I am currently serving in the Mojave River ward, in Hesperia, or as more commonly known to the people in the mission as the "Elderly ward". I thank you from the bottom of my heart/taste buds for the Pepper, most of the food I have been preparing has had need of such flavor, because the pepper here is so finely ground that it goes up your nose by just sprinkling it on your food, so again I thank you for it, for anything else that I might need I would like to have a sweater and an electric razor please. The times that we can go and email is sometime after 10:00 AM on Mondays. I would like to congratulate you on losing 25lbs dad, at the rate that I am eating, I may join you. For personal study I can study for a full 1 and 1/2 hours personally, and a full hour as a companionship. In my studies I have been reading through the Book of Mormon and have thus far been enlightened in my understanding and edified spiritually as to the ways of the Lord. I have also been studying Preach my Gospel, right now I am okay on my money, I have budgeted accordingly so that I can have a little wiggle room for right now. The dinner appointments have thus far been good (oh have I got a story for you but we will get to that latter) we have about 2-4 dinners a week from the ward. I have been able to focus more and more, but I have been more careful in the way that I have been teaching so that I have their attention comparatively to the TV. So onto the week of adventure for Elder Van Engelenhoven, He is a man and he is on a mission (if you can't tell that last sentence was done in an announcer’s voice for the cheesy cartoons back in the day). A LOT of people here say that "well Back in my day...............3 hours.... later.....because of the (fill in the blank and I think you get the jest of it) so on to my week.
   1-25-16
Well, we went shopping I made the painful discovery that razor heads are expensive on the mission, I also discovered that Potato bread is cheap, and tastes good. Elder Chamberlain and I played Monopoly and it started out as a tie but we worked it out to a stalemate (hahaha, work that one out), we then played Basketball for a while, I had to take a break I ripped the blister off the bottom of my foot (my foot is fine now) while playing.  I can now dunk, kind of, depending if I can get a running start, so some elders were playing Dungeon and Dragons, and all I have to say about it is that they were not smart in anything as to their approach of getting me to play or to accomplish anything of relevance such as MISSIONARY WORK!!!! It’s a game that is best suited for NOT ON YOUR MISSION. We then taught an Investigator, James, we read the first part of the Book of Mormon.
    1-26-16
We started off the day by giving out food to day in a soup kitchen, in Victorville and let’s say that the people there liked to talk (to anyone or anything) we then came home and finished our studies.  We taught another investigator, Richard Nathan. We later had dinner with Bro Hickman, (this is the later story that I said we would get to) he fed us spaghetti and meatballs, it was so good it was delicious unto my stomach and to my soul; but I then had to have 2nds because Elder Chamberlain went up and refilled our plates, I was properly stuffed, so we had the absolutely brilliant Idea to follow the plan and go tracting, (this is not the end of the dinner story.)  Then ran into another investigator who told us to come back at a later time, so we made it back to the apartment and updated the Area book and weekly planned, upon the conclusion of our planning and prayer I got up off my knees and made it to the bathroom and promptly threw up all of my dinner, and Elder Chamberlain saw blood in my throw up but it was not my stomach that was bleeding but my nose, I THREW UP SO HARD THAT I GAVE MYSELF A BLOODY NOSE, that was a fun sleepless night.
And I am almost out of time,
Sincerely yours in the service of the lord,
     Elder Ammon Van Engelenhoven

Sunday, January 24, 2016

In the Field

Dear family,
   I would like to say that I love you all, and that I am doing well here. My address is  6541 Woodruff Place, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91701  I can't remember the last day that I sent to you guys so i will start on the 19th.
1-19-16
   I woke up all sore, all over, because we played basketball and Beep the previous day. Elder Chamberlain had us do a killer workout on our abs. I have never been so happy to take a cold shower. It was district meeting today and it was basically everyone talked about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. It rained after the meeting (the great and terrible day of EL NINO) that was not so great and terrible and was rather short lived. We went to visit Steve and instead of finding Steve we found a family living there instead. We tracted and found no one, we then had dinner with the Mcbrides, and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
1-20-16
   We had a missionary Broadcast to day it was properly enlightening, I particularly liked David A. Bednar's Q and A section. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a less active named Rowland, and then we tracted the rest of the time until we met with Christain and Jenna, we had a member there and it was awesome. We latter met with Ryan and he was with his sister because his sister was having complications with her baby, he asked us to pray for his sister and the baby.
1-21-16
    Today we started off by giving service to a farm that grow squash for free and for anyone. We moved soil media, and their version of what dirt should be (its more sand than it is dirt). And people have the craziest idea's and misconceptions of Missouri, and during this interrogation of the kid from Missouri, I slipped into a southern accent, and they said because of my Military like conduct (Do I act like I have a military like conduct, and if so have you ever noticed that about my character?) that the true patriots of the USA come from the Mid-west not the south. They also that the people from Missouri are a bunch of inbred hicks and hill billy's. (Don't worry I proved them wrong, FAMILY HISTORY). We were fed lunch there, the soda they gave us was 3-4 years out of date. We later went tracting and we ran into the president of the gun club, and of course the Missourian in me came out and we had a wonderfully awesome conversation about guns. He then offered to take me shooting with him because I wasn't afraid of guns, we had to explain to him that as missionaries we aren't allowed to handle guns so he said to visit him after the mission and go shooting. We then helped him by moving the shelves for him so that they are closer to the door for him to grab his stuff and be gone in a moments notice. We latter went to Wendy's and had dinner. It was okay, I don't think that I will be able to eat there more than 2 times a month for myself, because of the way that I have budgeted my money:) We then taught a Less active and we went over and were late by A LOT to mission Correspondence with the ward.
1-22-16
   Well we wanted to contact more people so we decided that we need to better clean the Apartment and our desks (and just so that you all know, my stuff was all neatly folded stacked and put away so you can stop the looks of disbelief.) We then had dinner with the Powells and raced off to our next appointment and we got our new investigator to commit to Baptism. By the end of the day it was so late and we were so tired because we were weekly planing that our brains were like the inside of a 1/2 lbs Reeces peanut butter cup, mush, and the best thing to go with mush as a brain is guess what... Sleep deprivation.
1-23-16
   We helped a widow move some mattress and we talked to a guy who was bible bashing on GOD and the weakness of man. (He should take a look in the mirror) because he was a preacher but never went to church. We taught a lesson to more less actives and we tracted more. We then had dinner ribs, potatoes, broccoli,( which I will have you know tasted better if you put BBQ sauce on it) and carrots.
1-24-16
   I studied in Isaiah and I agree with Nephi that Isaiah did speak plainly, to the understanding of the jew, but thanks to the foot notes I understood. Christian and Jenna didn't make it to church.

I love you all, and don't you forget it.
    Yours in the service of the Lord,
       Elder Ammon Van Engelenhoven

Monday, January 11, 2016

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