Wednesday, February 11, 2015

2-10-15

QUE LO QUE!
Okay first I want to say HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE GAVIN MAN! Ï hope you have a fantastic one! I´m sending him a little letter in the mail. Sorry it´s coming late! Things are fantastic in Bonao. My companion and I are still as crazy as ever, and loving every moment here. This week we had a zone meeting and I didn´t get any of your packages or letters sniff sniff, but I know it´s coming. I did however get a letter from one of my old companions at the CCM. We were just talking about the crazy experiences we´ve had thus far. 
I told her that the two motto´s that I´m sticking to while on my mission is 1. to expect the unexpected or expect what you don´t want to happen to happen. Let me give you an example of this. Ahem I told you my biggest fear at the beginning was losing my luggage on the plane and getting put into a trio on the mission. And all of that happened day 1. After that my trainer left me in the middle of my training, leaving me to an area I didn´t know. And my second motto is President really is inspired on where he needs us and who we need to be with, so just be patient and you´ll figure out they why´s soon enough. Sometimes I feel like I´m not going to make it out of here alive! Just kidding, but I´ve grown sooo much from this roller coaster ride and it´s definitely been fun. 
Okay a little about my investigators, so one of the family´s that is progressing was suppose to go to church with us, but the husbands mom got sick and they had to drive up to Constanza  to help her. Boo! So hopefully they´ll get to come this week. 
We also had a Noche de Hogar as a ward at a members house. You´re going to like this Casey. We were in the middle of playing a game that involved closing our eyes and I didn´t want to play the game after I looked up and found directly above my head a roach on the wall. All I could think of is 1. Lindsey yelling ¨La cucaracha¨ and 2. Casey singing that obnoxious made up song of his ¨everybody in the roach pit all eyes on us¨to that brittney Spears song. Lets just say that if I felt anything touch me while my eyes were closed I was going to book it out of that house. 
And lastly, to answer your questions this is what I´ve been eating down here...They looovvvee la bandera which is rice, beans, and meat. This is pretty much their life. They also do empanadas which are the bomb. They do have those nasty sardines, but I´ve been blessed to dodge those bullets on multiple occasions, Quipe, they make arroz on leche which is like rice pudding, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this fruit that I´m for certain they don´t have in the states called Chinola. So flippin good. They have a yummy thing called San cocho I don´t know if that´s even spelled right but it´s like a soup that they like throw in like a whole chicken or meat with bones and everything that´s pretty good, Habechuela which is like beans. And that´s pretty much all I can think of for now. 
Okay Hope all is well and love you tons! I´ll keep you posted on those packages!
Love
Hermana Van Woerkom
 I forgot to mention this month is the month of Carnival. And let me just tell you that it´s nothing like the movie RIO from Disney. It´s like some devil worship thing that people do every sunday. This picture is hilarious BECAUSE we are headed to La Vega for a Conferencia de Zona and La Vega is the number 2 world wide from what my companion said when it comes to the Carnival festival. This picture is all the set up for carnival and off to the left you can´t really see it, but there´s a fence and that´s where this small white church building is. Literally they built carnival all around our church building in La Vega. What apostasy right. And I´ll send you a picture too there´s a picture of Satan looking down at the church building parking lot that Hermana Santana and I took a picture with. Funny huh_
 

2-4-14

Hola familia!
This weeks been crazy, but fun! First off it was Hermana Santana's Birthday so I HAD to do something special. The first picture is evidence of what we did. Yes, I bought a little bottle of bubbly to celebrate the big 21! Of course it was the sweet bubbly of soda. It was pretty embarrassing buying it at the colmado, asking for the non-acoholic grape juice! 
Things are progressing a little in Bonao! We've been meeting with our investigators and have two families that have said they've prayed about it and know the church is true. Something cool that happened is one of our investigators is blind and at the beginning when we've been teacher her she had really bad depression. Since we've been meeting with her she's a lot more happier. She always wants us to visit every day and wants to know more and more about the gospel. Since she can't read we were going to put an order for the CD's of the BOM and Himnos on tape. The next day Hermana Santana got a package from her mom for her Birthday that had the CD's on tape! It's was a little tender mercy because she hadn't even asked her mom or said anything to her family about them. 
We also had a special broadcast specifically for the Carribbean given by Elder Holland, Elder Packer, and some other important people that I can't remember right now. IT. WAS. AMAZING. They had translators for Elder Packer and Elder Holland. But at the very end of Elder Hollands talk he bore his testimony in Spanish. It was so amazing and so powerful to hear his testimony in a language he doesn't know and is uncomfortable with speaking. It just shows that it's the spirit that's felt not the words that are said. He's also coming on a tour of the Carribbean areas in March so I'm hoping he stops by this neck of the woods!
Well I hope everything is going well. Its so nice seeing pictures of my cute little nicece and nephew (a.k.a Kins and G-money). So START SENDING PICTURES OF THE OTHER TATER TOTS! 
Here's my mission address for letters you've been asking for : SDQ 8013, POBOX 025725, Miami, FL 33102 5725 and packages: SDQ 8013 2250 NW 114th Ave Unit 1A Miami, FL  33172 3652
Love you all! 
Hermana Van Woerkom

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

A week behind 1-28-15



Hola Familia,
I'm going to make this letter short so I can send as many pic's as possible. The area is really opening up more and so are the members. They've been feeding us a lot more which is a good and bad thing. Sometimes I get super sick lol. Our investigators are also growing in the gospel as well and it's been really cool seeing them grow. We asked one of our family's that I LOVE if they would countinue reading and pray to know if the church was true. And the wife said, "Well I believe it's true, it makes sense". I was so happy and excited that I forgot my inflatable baptismal font. Next time though. haha just kidding, but it's been a LOT better here in Bonao. 
Here are some pictures from our waterfalls activity and our little Hermana's sleepover we had with Bonao 2, the sisters in our zone. Love you all and thanks for the letters. 
con amor,
Hermana Van Woerkom 
 
My area