Last Letter from Hemana! 1 week and she will be home!

Hello!

Well this weeks has been amazing! We loved General Conference! I've learned so much this past week from all of the apostles that I'm not going to have time to write it all down (that and we showed up a little late to the internet because I'm visiting areas today haha). Anyway today was super nice! We went to La Union and visited all of my homies there! Everyone is doing so great! There are two of my old investigators there that are getting baptized so fingers crossed that I can get to go before I head out! 

This weeks has been filled with a lot of funny moments as well. For example, we had intercambios and that night I spent with Hna. Macias, in the middle of the night she woke up screaming, turned the fan off, and went to bed. Little to say, didn't sleep at all that night. Then we found this crazy huge catipillar (pics attached), and later contacted a lady who DOES NOT believe in the resurecction. We didn't have too much time to talk to her so we set up an appointment for the next week. You know what her name is? RESURECCION hahaha! How ironic! 

In total this week has been so fun! I'm so grateful to be a missionary! I've learned so much and am continuing to learn everyday. 

LOVE YOU LOTS! 

Your SISTA

Hermana Van Woerkom 

FINAL LETTER AS HERMANA VAN WOERKOM! 

Can't wait to have her home!!!

Hey everyone,

It´s really weird to think this will be the last email I will be writing you as a missionary. I remember my first time opening this email up and getting so excited to know that my call was assigned and on the way to the house. Now 18 months have come and now I´m wrapping things up here in the Dominican Republic. I don´t really know what to say in this last email, I kinda feel pressured haha my last council before I come home, hopefully it´s good haha. 

For starters the mission definitely wasn´t what I thought it was made out to be. All I can really say is being in the mission the months are short, the weeks are shorter, and the days are SOOOO LONG!  Honestly there are days you think the mission is never going to end, but I´ve loved every second of it! I would have never had an opportunity like this where I could have changed and grown so much, in such a short amount of time. I´ve had a little of every thing.....difficult areas, amazing wards, difficult branches, hard companions, great companions, nice apartments, and apartments that I´ve had to share with the critters of the DR. All of this has changed me and my outlook on life. 

During my first couple transfers in the mission it was a little hard. I had no idea how to speak the language, I had two hands and two feet to use to serve others, until I broke one of my feet, and then I just felt very defeated. When we had interviews with President Douglas, I asked for a blessing. In it he blessed me with the opportunities that would help me learn and grow in the way to help me know who I am, and who I could become. And gave me the counsel to listen to the Holy Ghost. 

Looking back I can definintely seen the fruits of following that counsel. One quote that I´ve taken to heart says, ¨when we open up to the spirit we learn God´s will, however, our resistance to the spirit diminishes our progress¨. In order for God to changes us we have to be willing and accepting of his counsel. I´ve learned that we gain nothing if we don´t choose to change. We aren´t going to progress, we aren´t going to be better, we are simply just hurting ourselves. BUT if we do make that choice, God can change us from the ¨cottage¨we are to that ¨temple¨he wants each of us to be. He does that through the Holy Ghost. I can honestly say if you ask God how you can change he will definitely show you your weak points and gives you those promptings through the Holy Ghost. And boy have I found out that it works! The Holy Ghost doesn´t beat around the bush and will tell you honestly and bluntly how you can change haha! But the amazing thing is he works with us at our own speed and if we choose to better ourselves we become so much more of what our Heavenly Father wants us to be. 

From the beginning I honestly thought that the mission was to change the lives of others, and it is, but I´ve come to realize that it´s changed me. Of course it´s changed me physically, I´m more crusty haha, you can see all my awkward tan lines, the bags under my eyes, the battle wounds with the thorn bushes, and the scars from my blood doing services to the mosquito. But what I now see and hopefully others will be able to see as well is how much more I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior. How much I´m striving to be a more devoted disciple. 

Even though the plack is coming off, I can´t and hope I will never go back to the person I was before the mission. I wasn´t a terrible person, but I wasn´t the person sometimes I could have or should have been. It´s bitter sweet having to end my calling, but I´m looking forward to continue demonstrating my love for my Savior and Heavenly Father through my future callings. And definitely looking forward to coming back as a senior missionary when I´m old and wrinkly!!  

Again I am so grateful for this opportunity I´ve had to see other´s through Gods eye´s, to have been able to be an instrument in this great work, and to have shared the truths that I now know without a doubt are true.

Love you all and see you.....well next week!

HERMANA VAN WOERKOM

 

Second to the last letter

Well family,

the p days keep flying by! This letter is going to be a little short because I´m up in Puerto Plata today visiting all of the members and recent converts here! It has been soo nice! It´s crazy to see all the changes that has happened not only to the area, but to the people as well! The less actives that we have taught have now been reactivated and have gotten their mission calls all around the world! How amazing is that! The members here are still as strong as ever and continue helping move this missionary work forward. We got to visit some of my favorite members here. We ended at the house of MariLuz where we had lunch with my old comp who I trained, who is now training her new companion! The posterity keeps going haha! Wow but really the more I´m here in this area the more it´s making it hard to come home! I didn´t think that could ever be possible! I mean of course you´ve known that Puerto Plata has been by far my favorite area, but it´s just been really tough to say goodbye. I´ve had to hold back the tears more than once or twice! But, I´ve made the promise that I would come back with my family the next time I came. Which they were super happy about, but I think that was more for me to make me feel better than for them haha. Really I am so grateful for the experience I had here in Puerto Plata, I wouldn´t trade it for the world. Well nows my time to sign off, but talk to you next week! 

Love,

Hermana Van Woerkom

3-23-16

And another P'day bites the dust,

Well this week was jam packed full of fun! We started off the week with a zone meeting and discussed what we could do to better our areas and strengthen them. We also had a conference with Elder Cornish of the seventy who helped explain to us the escalater of success as missionaries. Inbetween the meeting we had a lunch where he asked to sit with my companion and I, and a couple other sisters that were with us! He was super helpful and nice!

Then after that we had a trip to the hospital. Don´t panick, it wasn´t for me this time, it was for my companion. But don´t worry it was just a check up for her and everything is fine. By the way, I did wear green last week so that´s why nothing happened. Remember last St. Patricks day in the mission I broke my foot. Haha oh the memories. Anyway the fun thing about that is I got to play translator because the doctor didn´t know what her symptoms were and my comp didn´t know how to explain it. Well cool thing is now I have new vocabulary that might come in handy one day!

And the highlight of the week BY FAR. I SAW A DASCHUND! We were walking up to a less actives house and out of the blue I see this weener dog walking around and of course I had to take a picture to represent the herritage! I asked the owner what his name was and naturally she was in her thick accent ´hot dug´ HAHAHA. Too funny, but yes we connected hotdog and I.

Well I´m super stoked for Womens Conference this week! Even more so for EASTER! What better way to celebrate the Savior than on the mission testifying of him and having the opportunity to be a representative of Him. Love you all and have a great week!

Hermana Van Woerkom

March 12, 2016

Hey everyone,

Well nothing to crazy has happened this week. Just getting into the swing of things again with the new comp. I guess I forgot to explain that I talk in my sleep because apparently when she went up to go to the bathroom I sat up in bed and said "okay, tell me what happened." haha oh man. She got a good kick out of it.

Well this week we've been hitting the ground running contacting and helping establish things a bit more here before I leave. We have 3 baptisms set up here before I leave!! And I have one baptism in my old area. Unfortunately I won't be able to go to it because it's the same day as one of the baptisms we've set up.

Anyway it's been really interesting seeing people changing over these past weeks. For some of our investigators, even the members it's been anything but easy. I got to read a talk by one of the apostles and found this lovely quote that says, "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes to rebuild that house. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is he is building quite a different house than what you had planned." As missionaries we set goals, and invite people to act EVERY SINGLE DAY. It's almost like mini new years eve goals haha mostly in the way that people accept the challenge and never do them. But, that's because sometimes we get caught up being comfortable. We like where we are and we are happy with the "cottage" of a house that we've built in our lives. BUT one thing very important is we need to give up OUR idea of who we want to be and submit to the will of the Father. That is when he will turn our living house into a mansion, a perfect temple of the Lord. Sounds really nice, but it's not easy, there's walls that have to be demolished, things taken out, things put in, but as we accept these promptings to change, he can make us more glorious, and more perfect than we could ever be.

LOVE YOU ALL

Hermana Van Woerkom

WOW

I just met my murderer! Just like Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Carribbean movie I´ve been given the black mark! Last transfer what happened with the time! Well my companion is my 2nd step daughter! Her name is Hermana Robinson from Jamaica. Yes mom and dad, when I heard her name I automatically thought of the song by Simon and Garfunkel ¨here´s to you misses Robinson¨haha. Anyway things are going to be good here, I´m still kicking!

Well I´m going to write you a looonnnggg letter to compensate for last week! My B sorry for that! Okay funny stories! So Monday night, I slept talked to my companion! I like apparently sat up really quick and said in Spanish, ¨Hey I think someones in the house!¨ Definitely freaked out my companion to say the least! haha wow so embarrassing! Anyway she couldn´t sleep the rest of the night and I slept, like a rock! haha. 

Okay as for area wise we have had to change Olga´s baptismal date for the end of this month due to the Canal breaking! We are O U T of water here! We get water trucked in to us each week. They say that the canal will be fixed in 2 months. Lets hope sooner than later. Anyway that´s a no go for the baptism because we have no water to fill up the font. She is also having some problems with her family she needs to take care of and feels stressed and unprepared. So we are still working with her!

We are also working with some less actives as well! Before I tell you about them I have to tell you an interesting story I´ve learned for the week. So we went to a recient converts house and shared a message with her. During the lesson there was an empty box of what I thought was trash, because there is just a lot of trash here in this area. Anyway after the closing prayer Geresly began to say she didn´t know what to do and pointed to the box. When I peaked inside I found the tiniest little bird. It was the cutest thing and it fell out of the palm tree and they can´t stick it back up because it´s too high. So they are trying to take care of it. Any way fast forward to the next day. We had a reference of a lady who is less active. So we were trying to find her house, found it, and when she came out she did a double play and then invited us in. She was so surprised to see us! When we talked about the people there and those we reactivated and come back to church she was so surprised and said, wow I guess everyone is back to church. The only one that is lost is me. AH! So we shared with her that she isn´t lost and that we miss her and want her to come back. So how does this apply to the bird you might ask. There definitely is a gospel principle. Just like the box, I though nothing of it and did

n´t know what was inside and just thought it was trash. But in Luke we read that God knows and counts every sparrow so how much more does he know where we are in our life and how we feel. Heavenly Father knew where this less active was and gave us the opportunity to help her. I know that God watches over us and we are not forgotten. 

LOVE YOU TONS

Hermana Van Woerkom

Feb. letters

Hey,

Wow this week has gone by super fast! It feels like I just wrote ya´ll yesterday! Well nothing new is happening here in Villa Gonzalez. Things are just very calm here in the countryside. We are working hard on the less actives here! Some of the sisters have helped us by coming to appointments. It´s all about the fellowshipping really! Speaking of that´s probably what the main theme of this week has been. Having charity for others. My companion as well as my old comp, and I have been going through really really rough trials these past couple weeks and it´s been really hard seeing them struggle. During one of my personal studies I got to read the talk by elder holland called, Are We Not All Beggars. In it, he explains that we all go through various trials in life, but essentially our purpose it to help those around us and forget about ourselves. It says in the scriptures, ¨For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it¨. Our purpose is to forget about our needs and wants and lose ourselves in the service of others. I can testify that it´s soo true! Elder Holland closes with, älthough we aren´t our brothers keeper, we are our brothers brother, and because we have been given much we too must give¨. 

I´m so grateful for the opportunity I have to strengthen my companions in the mission and have their support and strength as well. I hope that we all can take on that challenge to forget ourselves and just go to work. 

Love you all

Hermana Van Woerkom 

Hey everyone,

Well before I tell you the news of the week let me start out asking WHO FORGOT ME IN THEIR PRAYERS THIS WEEK!  Before I tell you what happened lets take a walk down memory lane. Well we all know that when I get sick I go HARD! First incident of the mission, broken foot, the sicknesses that followed are- the double headed dragon or throw up and...well the other thing lol..... after the double ear infection, followed by the bronchitis incident, and now. Well I thought I would be done and have my fair share of sicknesses BUT what better way to end the mission than getting the DANG DENGUE! 

It´s been miserable to say the least, but keeping my head up and plugging along! You just have to laugh you really do. They are taking some more tests to make sure that my platelets are going up because they´ve been down. So as I´ve been going in and out of sleep, laying in bed I´ve been thinking about musicals and after getting halled in to the clinic they gave me papers that had a number and we´ve just been filing in and out so I´ve had moments where I´ve felt like a poor Jean Valgean and was a number staus for a while haha. But, it´s all good I know that I´ve got a name right haha.I do have to say I did feel like the room was full of Javer´s because we were on the justice status up in their NO MERCY! It was poking and prodding with needles. I definitely wanted my Lindsey! I kept telling them please go for this vein! And then they´d ask why and I had to tell them my sister is a nurse and says it´s really good, they´d just roll their eyes and do it haha. I needed my sissy! Anyway I´m trying to fight it off, it´s just been really draining! 

Other than that I´ve been trying to see the tender mercies of it as well. Well first off I´M ALIVE haha for now. No We have a baptism this Saturday so I´m trying to hold out for it. It´ll be amazing, and I´m hoping the members will support. YOU BEST BE SUPPORTING YOUR MISSIONARIES IN YOUR WARDS! We have another date set for march and an investigator in my old area set his baptism 2 days before I go home! Way to end the mission right? 

Shout out to Lonnie! That´s too funny that she had the baby on a Pday! Good planning! haha! I can´t wait to see my new little niece! WELCOME TO THE FAMIMLY COLETTE! Love you already and your FAV AUNT ill be home soon! 

Love you all,

Hermana Van Woerkom

Feb. 3, 2016

Hi everyone!

Well, this week has been full of growing experiences. I´m slowly, but surely trying to learn the area, the investigators, and less actives. I´m in a branch again which is interesting, very very different from my first experience with the branch in Bonao. We definitely walk a lot here! Villa Gonzalez is 45 minutes away from Santiago, next to a pretty mountain range. Most of the people we teach, as well as members work on the farms here. This area is known for their nice, green, TOBACCO haha. So it´s a definite change from all of my other areas. With all of the rows and rows of tobacco fields we pass, it wouldn´t suprise me if this little town didn´t supply all of the DR. But like I said, I love the area here. We do a lot of walking which is something that I´ve missed compared to my last teenie tiny area. 

I´m starting to get to know the members and they are very sweet. We apparently get fed every Sunday, which isn´t the norm in the mission. And now we just need to get them excited to go out a little more with us, but this week we have gotten the support of the YW as well as an RM. 

As for the investigators here I´ve run into a first which is we are teaching many spouses who one of them wants to be baptized and married while the other just doesn´t want to be married. BAH! And they have all lived together for 20 plus years! There are a couple as well that they are together but one of them is married to another person, and it´s just too expensive to get a divorce. SO in other words we will be focusing a lot on the famliy.

I´ve thought a lot this past couple weeks about my little Primary class that I taught before I went on the mission. As we were helping them get ready for the primary program they sang a special musical number that I love so much. Their theme was on the family and the chorus said, ¨God gave us families to help us become what he wants us to be, this is how he shared his love, for the family is of God¨. This has just been a really neat experience teaching our investigators the importance of the families. President Christofferson said, Ä family built upon a marriage of a man and a woman supplies the best setting for God´s plan to thrive. And it´s true! we all have the same goal here on the earth and that is to live with our Father in Heaven. What better way to make it back to him by working in our families, SUPPORTING each other. 

Catch you guys later! 

LOVE,

Hermana Van Woerkom

jan. 27, 2016

Jan 27 at 2:25 PM

Hi everyone,

Another transfer bites the dust and I'm in a new area! My step-daughter is training this transfer as well as my daughter! Cool huh? THey both will be spending a whopping 9 months in their greenie area! We were both shocked when we heard that my old comp was training! She was already saying her goodbyes and everythign haha soo funny. The other part that is super funny is I'm in Villa Gonzalez....okay that's not the funny part super excited to be in the countryside again, the funny part is that I'm still in the same zone. So it's sad that I'm leaving, but not really because I'll see everyone again next Monday haha. I'll still be in the 100 fuegos zone as #labomberahastalamuerte haha still kickin it up. My new companion's name is Hermana Butterfield, she's from Utah, and we are looking forward to see what's in store this transfer.

And what better way to start off the transfer by unpacking and finding a stinking baby tarantula in my shoe! Yes, believe it. Luckily it was dead, but I was very freaked to say the least. It was just a happy 12 weeks left in the mission present I'm sure. I'd blame Hermana Bossard for the prank, but she's not that good haha. Well it's crazy to see that things are starting to wind down, and that this will probably be my last area. It's defninitely more bitter than sweet, but living each day moment by moment!

Love you,

Hermana Van Woerkom