Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Hermana Van Woerkom's 11-20-14 letter

Hey! Guys! I'm doing great! Thanks for the letters, okay love ya, bye!

No just kidding, okay where to begin...hmmm... Language study is good, still learning haha. So funny story of the week: We were teaching Ramon our investigator (another one of our teachers) and the lesson was on "The gospel of Jesus Christ". So in the lesson I told him that "because of Christs atonement we can be clean from our pescados". Not peCados. So pretty much I told him we could be cleaned from our fishes not sins haha I died laughing. Well the Haitians went home this week :( Super sad, but they are going to be amazing in Haiti. We just got a new group in as well! They are all Latinos so I'll hopefully get to practice my Spanish for realsies! We also got 2 Jamaicans in and 1 kid from Belgium going to the West Indies mission Dutch Speaking. He's from like Argentina or something so he isn't originally from Europe. He was suppose to go to the Provo MTC, but he had a visa mishap apparently so now he's here. He speaks fluent Dutch, Spanish, English, and French I think. Anyway lets just say if he can learn that many, there's hope for me just learning one. So we got to go to the University last week! It was amazing. Our "real" investigator fell through because she had class and wanted to meet with us the next day, but that was the only day we were going to be at the University. It's okay though. I DO have a interesting story though! So we were handing out pamphlets and Book of Mormons and my companions and I were making our way back up the hill and decided to give a pamphlet to this random like late 50's early 60 year old man. So we gave him the pamphlet and shared with him a short message when he then asked if we were all married. So we told him no because we were on a mission and then quickly left. So we left and were walking a couple blocks in the opposite direction, went to use the bathroom, quickly decided after going into the bathroom that it probably wasn't the best idea. So we had about 15 minutes left and 1 Book of Mormon so we stopped by this guy who was sitting down and started talking to him. Then another guy and girl came up to Hermana Bradford talking about our message  and THEN this guy taps me on the shoulder and the same 50 year old man came up and was talking to me in spanish saying "Novia Novia" and so I said "I don't know what your saying" and then in English he says "I want to be your boyfriend, here's my number" and I told him I don't have a phone and if you have a question about the church there are phone numbers on the back of the pamphlet we gave him and pulled out another pamphlet to show him. I then turned around and right across the street was one of the teachers that works at the CCM watching from the distance. I thought I had a handle on the situation so I said in Spanish again "No, I don't have a phone, no thanks" and moved closer to one of my companions who we were origionally talking to. Pretty much at this point we were split up a little bit in three different conversations. So my companions had no idea what was going on. So he kept bugging me, finally I turned around and looked at the teacher across the street and mouthed "help" so he came over and hopped in the conversation talking about the church and what not.My teacher then looked at me because I had a pamphlet in my hand and looked at me like I was crazy because I wasn't talking to him. Anyway my teacher found out really quick that he wasn't interested in the pamphlet. #stalkerstatus. I'm so glad he was there though to help us out. Our companionship definitely learned something from that experience.
 It's as amazing here as usual!  We got to visit with President Douglas the President of the area I'll be in! He told us a little about our mission area and answered questions we had. He said that there are programs there that some of the missionaries do to help people learn english! I SOO hope I get to do that! So in two days I'll officially have been here for a month! isn't that insane!? I don't want time to slip through my fingers and am using all of my time and energy to be a better friend, sister, person, and missionary. The people here are amazing and in 1 week I'll get to go out, meet, and serve them! I'm soo nervous and excited at the same time! Tomorrow I'll get to go out with "the real" missionaries and go proselyte! Can't wait!
 Well I think that's about it! Thanks you so much for the pictures and letters. ESPECIALLY THE PICTURES! I love seeing my cute little nieces and nephew's. Okay love ya'll SOO much!
BIG HUGS!
Hermana Van Woerkom



Sunday, November 16, 2014

11-13-14 letter

Hey hey hey! How's it going?! How's life? Casey has kept me up to date on life. Super jealous they got tickets to The Hunger Games, it'll be way fun! I seriously can't believe I've been out here for almost a month. Next month will mark the big 1 month :) haha crazy. AND next week is Thanksgiving! That's so weird! It doesn't even feel like the "holiday season" here! It's been good hearing from ya'll about the "crisp morning air", the "temperature dropping", the snow your getting, and even mom canning apples! Yum!! Things are still the same here temperature wise. You walk outside and it's super wet and humid, the flowers are still in bloom around the temple, the palm trees are as green as ever. And they have the wild parrots you'd see at the zoo just flying around. You can see the ocean from our bedroom on the 4th floor. It's rained a little bit. Ya know, just another day in paradise :) Okay so nothing too crazy has happened this past week. The weeks are all starting to blur together. We did go to the University this last Friday though! It's about 10 minutes away right next to the store. Um, it's definitely not like the colleges in the U.S., but I wasn't expecting it to be similar. As we were walking to the University we past by street vendors, stray animals, and what not. And one of the dogs even followed us to the University and layed right in front of me wanting me to pet her. Knowing me, it was a struggle not to! We had orientation with the Doctor about the "Do's and Don'ts" of things in the DR. Let's just say that if Lonnie, Lindsey, Carlie, and even Kellie were there they'd be packing there bags and leaving. I even got a little paranoid after hearing the lecture. Anyway back to the University. So we went and talked to some people. The first group was by I'm assuming the Art/Literature building and it was a small group of older adults. 1 woman was Catholic and 1 was just Chrisitan, and the other was actually an inactive LDS member. They were very open to us talking to them which was super nice and we shared a brief message. Then a student came up towards the end of the message we were sharing and thought that my companion and I were Russian. Probably because the literature that was scattered every where was Russian stuff, I don't know. So then we headed towards the History building I'm assuming and ran across this Dominican Asian, yeah that was nice and interesting. And then we back tracked towards the English building and met up with this other guy who we thought was interested in our message. Until he asked if we had Facebook haha. So we quickly just left a pamphlet and Book of Mormon, and made it to the English building. That's where we met a girl named Sindy. She is actually studying English, she's just starting so her English is super rough. But, we are going back tomorrow to meet up with her at the University and we will be "teaching" her for the first time. So it's a real investigator. You know, we are just a little bit cool. Super intimidating, but cool. Okay so we have 46 people in the MTC right now. I told you we got a new group of Americans and we have Haitians. I've been talking to the Haitians and they are SUPER quiet! I've tried to make it a goal to get to know them better and they are actually studying a little bit of English so I LOVE helping them with that. In return they've also been trying to teach me French, so I try to learn a little bit, but it doesn't really stick haha. All I can really remember that's French is the song the cook sings from The Little Mermaid. haha which won't get me very far, sadly. They are leaving this upcoming Tuesday and the word on the block is we are getting Jamaicans and Dominicans! I'm SOO hoping we are getting Dominicans I would love the practice of Speaking outside the classroom. The teachers are helpful, but I just prefer talking with them, they are less intimidating haha. And they'll make a funny face if they don't know what the crap we are saying. Speaking of the language, it's coming slowly. It's mostly Spanglish at this point which I'll take. We went to the temple today and we usually do everything in English, but since a lot of Spanish speakers showed up today we were given head sets and did it all in Spanish. Which was cool. I turned my headset off for most of it so I could listen. Random funny fact: we were doing initiatories and one of the ladies gets this package out of her pocket and was giving me what looked like "candy". So I just took one to be nice and lo and behold it was a cough drop. Apperently they eat cough drops like candy here. Which I'm definitely not use to haha. They also don't have a personal bubble here which is another thing I'm getting use to. They do that thing where they hug and kiss your cheek. So that caught me off guard the first time I was here. But they are super sweet, and very open about everything. Definitely NOT like the U.S. Anyway it's super nice hearing from ya'll! I love hearing about my cute nieces and nephews! Layton will do great in surgery! He is such a funny kid! Just another thing to add I would LOVE for ya'll to send more pictures of the family and what not so I can keep my photo's updated! Maybe that would be a good thing to add to my Christmas package hint hint :) okay LOVE YOU TONS! HUGS AND KISSES!
Hermana Van Woerkom 

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Nov9th 2014




FAMILY! 
How is everything going?! I wrote ya'll individually so you better be happy ;) Okay this letter should be a LOT better than the last one. There's about 17 of us here emailing so we have PLENTY of time to email without being rushed! The last batch of missionaries has left including the Latinos :( super sad about that. There were a total of 58 missionaries and when they left we were down to 17 people ( 2 districts). Then yesterday we got a batch of Haitian missionaries, and they definitely don't speak Spanish and maybe 1 or two words in English. So hand gestures work great. All I can think of to say in French are the things that the cook from The Little Mermaid says when he sings haha. Okay so funny stuff first. So we are all still in the process of learning spanish. We pray every day for the gift of tongues as we study and learn. With that said we still make mistakes. But, I love it because sometimes it's hilarious and I love to laugh! Okay so are you ready? I'll start with MY mistake. So I told you I made a deal with one of the Latina's and one of the Dominican girls that I'd help them with their english if they'd help me with my Spanish. So during gym time after I ran, she would say a question n English and I'd respond to her in Spanish. One of the question she asked me is how many siblings I had. So, in Spanish I said I had 5 and I was trying to be specific so I said "dos hermanos y tres...." And I couldn't think of what "sister" was in Spanish so I turned to my companion and said "Hermana Stevens" how do you say sister in Spanish? UM HELLO it says it on my name tag. THE DUMBEST QUESTION EVER haha. Okay next, so we are in class and we need to sing a hymn, Hermana Stevens didn't know the page so in Spanish she asks what page. HOWEVER she said the accent wrong in Spanish and if you say it the wrong way it means a totally different thing. I'm not going to go into detail, but it refers to a womans body part haha. Needless to say, we are all VERY self conscious when we say that word now because we don't want to mess it up. And lastly, we went to the store two days ago and to improve his Spanish one of the Elders wanted to talk to the cashier. So he says in Spanish "It must be boring working here huh?" and the lady looks at him and says "Sorry, no habla English" hahha even though he was talking to her in Spanish. And lastly, the last night when the Latinas left we all said goodnight and as they were leaving I said to the Dominican Hermana "WE LOVE YOU" and she says "Me too!" haha. I'm sure she meant "me too", but it makes me feel better to know we are all learning and progressing. So yeah, Spanish is coming along. Since the other Hermanas have left my companions (Hermana Bradford: from Henderson Nevada, and Stevens from Layton Utah) and I were asked to be the sister trainers. So we are super excited to tackle this assignment, and we love it! We definitely feel like the strongest companionship in the CCM. A lot of people say that a 3 some is hard. And at first it was, but once we were open with each other and made adjustments I can't imagine not being in a 3 some. I'm determined to come home with the attitude that a 3 some is WAY better than a regular companion ship. Okay some interesting stuff, Hermana Blanch that came in the same time we did is the girl that Shadow Sherwood knows so that's kinda funny. And one of the Elders in the new batch of missionaries that came in is from Greenville and knows James Powell and his family. Apparently Brother Powell is the bishop in his ward. This place just keeps getting SMALLER and SMALLER! So like I said we did go to the store and at first being here I definitely didn't feel like I was in a different country. Then we stepped outside for a 10 minute was to the store and it was a COMPLETELY different story. If you can picture the streets of India where there's a bunch of crazy drivers with mopeds and stuff, that's what it looks like. Trash piled in the gutter and and on the sidewalk. I say a stray kitten eating stuff in there and a huge stray dog walked by us. We make it to the store and I definitely felt like a fish in a fish bowl. Definitely felt like a minority, kinda intimidating. I didn't speak any Spanish haha because I was just nervous. I went by the pastry place and the guy said "Buenas" and I just stared like "ahhh what did he just say to me". I didn't even know what that meant haha but now I do. It's "good day". So like "Buenas dias", but they literally cut all their words down here. So it's like the South, words are missing and slang is thick. At first when we were getting ready to go I was like "Let me out let me out", but by the time we were done it was more like "let me back in!" haha I love it here though, I know this is where I'm suppose to be and it's definitely home. ALTHOUGH they don't have pickles OR salt and vinegar chips. Heaven help me haha. Last funny story so we are teaching our 4th investigator, we got our first one day 2 out here. Yeah all in Spanish talk about WAY intimidating. Now you know why a lot of the Hermana's and Elders were in tears haha. And no I didn't cry, I know that's what your wondering! Okay so our 4th investigator's background: he thinks we are part of the CIA, as some people down here do, he drinks, has a son, is a lawyer, ect. (just to let you know it's the teachers just acting as investiagtors). So we show up and he says he only has 5 minutes to hear what we have to say. So we get in just asking casual questions. So I ask "Oh hey, where's your son how is he doing" and he stops short and says in Spanish REALLY fast "How do you know about my son?" I literally didn't hear anything he was saying so I just stared at him, eyes bulging out of my face, and jaw dropped. So on of my companions (whose had like 10 years of Spanish) picked up where I left off and was like "Oh your friend told us" haha. So if he was questioning before if we were spies or not he definitely thinks so now because apparently I know about his son haha. So embarrasing. One of my teachers also loves to speak spanish like all the gringos and what's funny is I can understand everything he says when he has an american accent and is speaking spanish. So I love to lay my American accent on thick when speaking. It just sounds so funny. Hermano Ramierez teases us all the time about our accents, but let's be honest their accents when they speak English is super funny too. I told you they struggle with my name so one day Hermana Stevens and I made a little sticky note badges to go under our name tag. Mine says "Hermana Van-Algo" which means Hermana "Van-Something". Which is literally what they say when trying to read my name all the time haha. And Hermana Stevens says "Hermana es mental" which means crazy or it's mental just to give Hermano Ramierez a hard time. Well that's all for now, we go to the University to do street contacting, so PRAY for me! I'm super nervous about that. It'll be one interesting test run especially after my experience at the store haha. Oh and in one of the pictures Hermana Bradford and I are holding up Avacados. THEY ARE SO HUGE HERE! Es mental ;) And we got matching moo moo's so if your wondering what the heck we are wearing that's what it is. Temple is amazing, super pretty, love it. Okay love you all, and I pray for you every day! Hope all is well and keep me updated!
BIG HUGS
Hermana Van Woerkom 


Monday, November 3, 2014




Okay so this letter is pretty much going to be addressed to everyone! I've realized that email time is a SUPER SACRED TIME haha so I'm trying to type as fast as I can. Okay, well I'm in a tri-companionship. Something I wasn't really expecting, but definitely a learning experience that I'm ready to tackle. We get along pretty well, I think our biggest focus is learning the language and trying to communicate with each other. So how's the language going you may ask? haha next question. haha no it's definitely a learning experience and I'm definitely learning patience. One of the girls in my companionship has taken Spanish for 10 years so when Hermana Stevens and I are struggling she fills in for us. BUT I've made a deal with one of the Latina girls that I would help her with her English if she'd help me with my Spanish. I DO know how bear my testimony, pray, and say Our Purpose in Spanish. I also know how to say "Hola Mormones" and a bunch of other stuff that's very salvation ;) haha not, but it's fun I love it. Let's see...what's happening in my District...um....oh! One of the Elders was playing Ultimate frisbee and got a concussion and is in the hospital, so he get's to miss his first P-day, but I'm guessing he got to call home. I should have played to so I could have called home, buuut ain't nobody got time for that :). GUESS WHO I SAY DAY 5 at the CCM??? ELDER AND HERMANA HART! I recognized them as my companions and I were running so I stopped to talk to them. I don't think they recognized me at first because it's been SOOO long since we've lived in CO, but they said HI to ya'll and took a picture that you should get eventually. Ah!! I can't really think of anything else to say, um the people here are super nice and funny. The food is definitely different. They do have brownies for breakfast and didn't eat one until today, because I saw that they were the Gharadelli chocolate brownies haha so that's fun. Um....DEFINITELY eat butt loads of rice. Something I haven't experienced, but what others have told me is a banana a day keeps your poop like clay and a banana a meal makes it hard to steal. Probably something you didn't want to hear, but I got a good kick out of that. Bah! I almost forgot you know how Casey and Carlie will say all the time "Sweet mother". I did learn that on day one. It's a popular phrase here so every time I say "AH mi madre" I always think of you Case and Carlie. My duffel bag DID make it the next day in the evening and thank heavens it did because it had all my makeup in it. So the pictures you got from Hermana and President Freestone, yeah I was lookin' like a crusty mess haha. My favorite part of the week would probably be sitting in for Elder Bednars devo. He taught us that we to go and not to wait for a prompting from the Holy Ghost. Look up the talk 20 Marks...I think it was a devo given at BYUI. Anyway he just said "Be a good girl (boy), keep the commandments, and act when prompted." He also said the language will come. I think that's getting to a lot of people here. Day 3 of being here we taught our first lesson and a lot of the Hermana's and even the Elders were crying because they were frustrated. Haven't cried yet haha, but when it comes to the language I'm taking it one day at a time and definitely learning patience. Not my favorite word, but it will be when I get out of here. Sorry this letter is everywhere! My brain is just going 100mph! Okay love ya'll, be safe, remember who you are, and most importantly KEEP ME IN THE SIBLING GOSSIP :) haha  Don't forget you're always in my prayers! 
Love,
Hermana Van Woerkom 

First week in the MTC


Okay so this letter is pretty much going to be addressed to everyone! I've realized that email time is a SUPER SACRED TIME haha so I'm trying to type as fast as I can. Okay, well I'm in a tri-companionship. Something I wasn't really expecting, but definitely a learning experience that I'm ready to tackle. We get along pretty well, I think our biggest focus is learning the language and trying to communicate with each other. So how's the language going you may ask? haha next question. haha no it's definitely a learning experience and I'm definitely learning patience. One of the girls in my companionship has taken Spanish for 10 years so when Hermana Stevens and I are struggling she fills in for us. BUT I've made a deal with one of the Latina girls that I would help her with her English if she'd help me with my Spanish. I DO know how bear my testimony, pray, and say Our Purpose in Spanish. I also know how to say "Hola Mormones" and a bunch of other stuff that's very salvation ;) haha not, but it's fun I love it. Let's see...what's happening in my District...um....oh! One of the Elders was playing Ultimate frisbee and got a concussion and is in the hospital, so he get's to miss his first P-day, but I'm guessing he got to call home. I should have played to so I could have called home, buuut ain't nobody got time for that :). GUESS WHO I SAY DAY 5 at the CCM??? ELDER AND HERMANA HART! I recognized them as my companions and I were running so I stopped to talk to them. I don't think they recognized me at first because it's been SOOO long since we've lived in CO, but they said HI to ya'll and took a picture that you should get eventually. Ah!! I can't really think of anything else to say, um the people here are super nice and funny. The food is definitely different. They do have brownies for breakfast and didn't eat one until today, because I saw that they were the Gharadelli chocolate brownies haha so that's fun. Um....DEFINITELY eat butt loads of rice. Something I haven't experienced, but what others have told me is a banana a day keeps your poop like clay and a banana a meal makes it hard to steal. Probably something you didn't want to hear, but I got a good kick out of that. Bah! I almost forgot you know how Casey and Carlie will say all the time "Sweet mother". I did learn that on day one. It's a popular phrase here so every time I say "AH mi madre" I always think of you Case and Carlie. My duffel bag DID make it the next day in the evening and thank heavens it did because it had all my makeup in it. So the pictures you got from Hermana and President Freestone, yeah I was lookin' like a crusty mess haha. My favorite part of the week would probably be sitting in for Elder Bednars devo. He taught us that we to go and not to wait for a prompting from the Holy Ghost. Look up the talk 20 Marks...I think it was a devo given at BYUI. Anyway he just said "Be a good girl (boy), keep the commandments, and act when prompted." He also said the language will come. I think that's getting to a lot of people here. Day 3 of being here we taught our first lesson and a lot of the Hermana's and even the Elders were crying because they were frustrated. Haven't cried yet haha, but when it comes to the language I'm taking it one day at a time and definitely learning patience. Not my favorite word, but it will be when I get out of here. Sorry this letter is everywhere! My brain is just going 100mph! Okay love ya'll, be safe, remember who you are, and most importantly KEEP ME IN THE SIBLING GOSSIP :) haha  Don't forget you're always in my prayers! 
Love,
Hermana Van Woerkom