tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56404320774622456882024-02-20T08:36:11.853-08:00Elder James VanderMeyden's Costa Rican MissionElder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-65984816375576941602015-12-28T13:21:00.005-08:002016-05-31T13:17:16.145-07:00Chapter 30: The Final Frontier<div>
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Well, here it is, the final email. The final p-day. My final moments as a missionary. It feels really weird to be leaving.</div>
For
my last p-day, We plan on playing bola (futbol soccer, sorry). I
already packed because I have to go to San Jose EARLY tomorrow. Then we
are going to have pizza with a member. I said goodbye to everyone, but I
really don't like saying goodbye. It's hard.</div>
I loved Christmas, even if it wasn't white ;)<br />
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Also, Weird thing. They´re sending me to San Jose without a companion.
There will be at least one other missionary with me but she´s a
sister... That´ll be really weird for me. The last time I was alone
during changes was my very first change from Nicoya to Siquirres, when I
had to take a Taxi for 3 minutes alone to go from one bus stop to
another. :P good news is that there will be missionaries waiting for me
in San Jose. The La Rita Elders will be Elder Garay's companions until transfers.<br />
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Mom asked me for what I have learned, what I would change, and what advice I can give. So here it is:<br />
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The most important this I´ve learned from the mission would be True
humility. Accepting God´s will over what one wants. being obedient to
the commandments comes with this and blessings come from this. The great
example of Humility is Christ:<br />
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Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. <br />
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I´ve
learned that we must always trust that the Lord knows best, even when
we want something contrary to his will. He will always choose the best
path for us. He will always lead us to become what the best we can. He
will always give us trials to help us develop the attributes that He
needs us to have. And, if we are humble to Him and His plan for us, we
will be perfected in Him. We can be a powerful tool for good in the
lives of many people.</div>
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Different? I wish I could
have given my all and not fallen in the worldly temptations such as
watching television and wanting to know about the new movies and
lingering in places where they played music just to listen, that so
easily beset me. To be honest, they weren´t good things that I did in
the mission and I could have overcome it if I had given 100% and not
just 95%. That is my biggest regret.</div>
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Advice?
I´d say to keep reading the scriptures always. Many less active members
start on the path of less activity just because they don´t have a good
base of praying or reading the scriptures daily. GET THAT HABIT. It
could save your <i>eternal</i> life.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidtg2uOb0Kv35A9T2M13vETKhNV-Bs_hhFDpEJ5pPkiGOE23iCvqBCqbo9n8SDG6LW25sW1TqYgk5Y6qK8lbtTFIIHUuG8hw7hO23e3cNg96N0eo16Ed3iF9FrCyH3Mlfc_SpXVmb99zKx/s1600/DSCN7076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidtg2uOb0Kv35A9T2M13vETKhNV-Bs_hhFDpEJ5pPkiGOE23iCvqBCqbo9n8SDG6LW25sW1TqYgk5Y6qK8lbtTFIIHUuG8hw7hO23e3cNg96N0eo16Ed3iF9FrCyH3Mlfc_SpXVmb99zKx/s400/DSCN7076.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Quiros Family</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with my new Christmas Hat and gloves</td></tr>
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For the last time,<br />
Elder VanderMeyden signing off<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcjDk6842B0HYInpglx7_Mlc-rVV2cAPi-t2XXzZVqgNrYIyb6i2wsTF_18sCvhst94XdQ43wOxoNosKsdc3kQ5F85E14TiR1h7UZ8I8nAGRHN8VIL39zn3hmDgy6t3euanlyeTeI-3RK/s1600/7383_10208441246017040_6529700178294886407_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcjDk6842B0HYInpglx7_Mlc-rVV2cAPi-t2XXzZVqgNrYIyb6i2wsTF_18sCvhst94XdQ43wOxoNosKsdc3kQ5F85E14TiR1h7UZ8I8nAGRHN8VIL39zn3hmDgy6t3euanlyeTeI-3RK/s320/7383_10208441246017040_6529700178294886407_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the airport</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTnsk5W7de8bqNalMtW6-HmJ2OHZ5lGPxaxhyphenhyphenff_4d7Kqz-K0wG-eCvKy4W007goIC8SLVcD2Bg6tf0rySbq3d67Y3xt8nAti3lroMSY1vZNuwFWFNMKNC3bih7H1RdA__-JZFjfyo8RMA/s1600/535282_10208441250457151_78053691639604777_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTnsk5W7de8bqNalMtW6-HmJ2OHZ5lGPxaxhyphenhyphenff_4d7Kqz-K0wG-eCvKy4W007goIC8SLVcD2Bg6tf0rySbq3d67Y3xt8nAti3lroMSY1vZNuwFWFNMKNC3bih7H1RdA__-JZFjfyo8RMA/s320/535282_10208441250457151_78053691639604777_n.jpg" width="176" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hug from Emma</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A visit to Temple Square on the way home from airport</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaS77nIY5TtBsWqcJwSUjeMoRoYTx6A7vcXSAFRW0dUix-TojxnS3ZP9wOIqrhmcvPFgHFzyeAqSVBeXSOzLScY58xZ8mUTxmFYKJkTR-rWSgy5UQFWOficf0CB5-zeejrnpdgm4rABkSQ/s1600/942793_10208338647929745_8450422772098519919_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaS77nIY5TtBsWqcJwSUjeMoRoYTx6A7vcXSAFRW0dUix-TojxnS3ZP9wOIqrhmcvPFgHFzyeAqSVBeXSOzLScY58xZ8mUTxmFYKJkTR-rWSgy5UQFWOficf0CB5-zeejrnpdgm4rABkSQ/s320/942793_10208338647929745_8450422772098519919_n.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mom hug</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7Sv-FtQ7ylASAB-hNjjLjHJbSsJ-EB_7mz8B_x4DjCtep1ggBTRMNykn7v1vrXCql7I39TjpdDoF-TqUFsiuZT0xPtN6gb8_x-NMEJp8wmTuKMxESLg4jV7EjqV5dlk3W0FHmJYi3wr-/s1600/1540458_10208338645929695_7318100236805468405_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7Sv-FtQ7ylASAB-hNjjLjHJbSsJ-EB_7mz8B_x4DjCtep1ggBTRMNykn7v1vrXCql7I39TjpdDoF-TqUFsiuZT0xPtN6gb8_x-NMEJp8wmTuKMxESLg4jV7EjqV5dlk3W0FHmJYi3wr-/s320/1540458_10208338645929695_7318100236805468405_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aiden with his sign</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4c_zhyphenhyphenM8hLurb1HjkWbhm63NdFY8NNVZQw8q3FvNZsiGNa34U1vbga1Cv1_v3rFdjZn2EdCLHPiJVoL5DgoYuJz_G5bInIpRYpNM4eQgwMjT-FIBCYz22JXEEppaGyAdk1MeVl9wQILi/s1600/1936988_10208338645889694_394483888940143895_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4c_zhyphenhyphenM8hLurb1HjkWbhm63NdFY8NNVZQw8q3FvNZsiGNa34U1vbga1Cv1_v3rFdjZn2EdCLHPiJVoL5DgoYuJz_G5bInIpRYpNM4eQgwMjT-FIBCYz22JXEEppaGyAdk1MeVl9wQILi/s320/1936988_10208338645889694_394483888940143895_n.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking out to greet us</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_GpIwpaNQBYOm_coL87NzyAiLxaRXPvsGuNay5z81taK32TcfD58vUqo9j4VLygL3izudXLbBacGBUSgt1pW0Q939Ki3GRB9bpxVLEYEaebbaF1kOgFLmZA0sdj40-6_GvS7jdFLmjYS/s1600/12400793_10208441250777159_375305872261442802_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_GpIwpaNQBYOm_coL87NzyAiLxaRXPvsGuNay5z81taK32TcfD58vUqo9j4VLygL3izudXLbBacGBUSgt1pW0Q939Ki3GRB9bpxVLEYEaebbaF1kOgFLmZA0sdj40-6_GvS7jdFLmjYS/s320/12400793_10208441250777159_375305872261442802_n.jpg" width="176" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hug from Jenni</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2b4G0O0KNC4NIcf-w8ROp8LNKnd_f9ds371BSHw4whY4JbIEbVQ9JcsBq6UcZlHaODQLlTvas61MFEgZ_UmF264AZ5WV4rYpLn3WyTiW45W72XzRWXY73z1i_W627Vmwkm63orfayuHa3/s1600/DSC06639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2b4G0O0KNC4NIcf-w8ROp8LNKnd_f9ds371BSHw4whY4JbIEbVQ9JcsBq6UcZlHaODQLlTvas61MFEgZ_UmF264AZ5WV4rYpLn3WyTiW45W72XzRWXY73z1i_W627Vmwkm63orfayuHa3/s320/DSC06639.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The temple in Costa Rica</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikF6dEOcvzC8KN3kCKDnbPZ4OYLo4_1B4cy8eX4x-Vrh0JeVxf9jdn2m3JZkqdSjjyn7QX9Tk-Gk53Kvgb7TNjis6Kai-MFfdNniCL6_whr_rXqrj7rB1lZuCJ1zEXFEckaMG0hBbpRsi/s1600/DSCN7180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikF6dEOcvzC8KN3kCKDnbPZ4OYLo4_1B4cy8eX4x-Vrh0JeVxf9jdn2m3JZkqdSjjyn7QX9Tk-Gk53Kvgb7TNjis6Kai-MFfdNniCL6_whr_rXqrj7rB1lZuCJ1zEXFEckaMG0hBbpRsi/s320/DSCN7180.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last day in the mission</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4EllUg5XsIfAT3FB4SPvDKdPfJb9GhQv4_ic2cEIbJbcCw0B-qfLFkuARRrUW-axQg-zUWdMlhMFvYJ5K-tfknfxu6JsA9x0fPfCerWgenKyLaF-KSNRDN4CpUwYcuVXO4NrwgnerOo6/s1600/DSCN7191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4EllUg5XsIfAT3FB4SPvDKdPfJb9GhQv4_ic2cEIbJbcCw0B-qfLFkuARRrUW-axQg-zUWdMlhMFvYJ5K-tfknfxu6JsA9x0fPfCerWgenKyLaF-KSNRDN4CpUwYcuVXO4NrwgnerOo6/s320/DSCN7191.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My handprint on the quilt</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9gGhqjK7BWTWyaBDtESJL9RR4CEWckNxrLR5WZeK3IgRYgWt7XXdAplLUr6-I7hOCw1XEeMRpn-aUOj7qOzGcIMYOkgq03xt6Ys78BCTzeQx_-aBOnW3-KcHZO6pIb6d4A76XeoM2676/s1600/DSCN7193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9gGhqjK7BWTWyaBDtESJL9RR4CEWckNxrLR5WZeK3IgRYgWt7XXdAplLUr6-I7hOCw1XEeMRpn-aUOj7qOzGcIMYOkgq03xt6Ys78BCTzeQx_-aBOnW3-KcHZO6pIb6d4A76XeoM2676/s320/DSCN7193.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and President and Sister Hayes</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9suJm4L6art0oVUHkcXvYdT4YIP9O-yUQUz2is5twCFnmVqCxlZ87qaFWZRhC3k408fud6g3gOhL2HRDRSAt4QEEARVWzR14O7CVckTvAyITjdZbJh9HOC_uv4eyr3H6iP1iLeufiggYi/s1600/DSCN7196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9suJm4L6art0oVUHkcXvYdT4YIP9O-yUQUz2is5twCFnmVqCxlZ87qaFWZRhC3k408fud6g3gOhL2HRDRSAt4QEEARVWzR14O7CVckTvAyITjdZbJh9HOC_uv4eyr3H6iP1iLeufiggYi/s320/DSCN7196.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hermana Flor</td></tr>
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Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-40257853524066265942015-12-26T14:28:00.001-08:002016-01-13T11:57:52.792-08:00Chapter 29: Merry Christmas<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1451168633805_8037">
<img height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimfCBcntx63h8L9bzMW5ZFXG9_ULLHcrMyaWdQ5WBMMigfOOX7Q-5KznZFnLcYEyE6-6pILTRNXHamp5WIBC6uogi4vM_68Mr2ogjnyz0LUDwuntek-IcSqVszVbD0fiNz1ByV2PTDGVvj/s320/DSCN7057.JPG" width="320" /><img height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJkA3m3DysdS6IGKZvUYX6Ml5iTiNI3slYv2vOhR6a9Ejq7WTON_PcGQumuaRwNl58Dru7cW_8P5HFqzZc9DeyQ70EgmZ855AC2_tzLumplqN7J1CS907BRCH8PLw_0IJBV8EEtprSUlX/s320/DSCN7053.JPG" width="320" /><br />
So, as you can tell by my pictures sent home I learned how to sew shoes. I can totally be a shoemaker when I get back, but I don´t think I will. :P The person that showed me is a very inactive member with a great heart but a little bit apostate. :P He´s great though. :) Oh, the first picture is my shoes. I had them since the beginning of the mission, but you can see they did not last. The Mission Christmas party was fun. We got to go to San Jose and see the entire mission together in the office. A funny thing happened with the songs. The plan was to start out with <u>It´s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas</u> and <u>Pine-cones and Holly-berries</u> BUT the President´s daughter, Lizzy, was going to sing it with Elder Nelson and get the entire group to sing it as well then Elder Nelson BACKED OUT! Unfortunately I was sitting right next to him and earlier in the evening I had sang the first line of the song while reading the program agenda. Elder Nelson threw me under the bus and I had to go in front of everyone to sing a sone that I have never practiced, and only heard 2 years back. The good news is that Lizzy called up another Elder and sister up to help us out and the words were on the projector. :PI loved the party. It was sad that, with almost all of them, this will be my last time seeing them. There were some people that I met for the first time and I´ll not seee them again until a Mission Reunion! The worst part was that I almost didn´t have time to take any pictures! I was a bit upset because the party ended late and they told us to go straight to our houses but I thought we would have time at the end to take pictures so I didn´t take any before. In the end I ran the entire room doing quick pictures with everyone that I know.Another sad thing that happened is that after the party we had to sleep in Tibas, San Jose, on inflatable matresses. What was sad about it was that it was very cold that night. So cold that I couldn´t sleep well. I kept waking up because I was cold. I even had to use the hat and gloves that mom sent me in my Christmas Package. :PWe played Go fish on the bus ride home, especially because the bus stopped halfway because of an accident in the road. :/ But Go fish was fun! :D<br />
<br />
<img height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJnGpQEzlNusu72w-NZoOQojg3_uXUNnjoX-0D_WRePWbOEhYpkfU7qeLAimUmEVSZV4D6aZw7pAfrqg2CRsoDtQQ0vcnFlwCWV3y2KXHHTdzxtYwrYW4QoeaLIBoariBJnX4COBpZb6B/s400/DSCN6908.JPG" width="400" /><br />
<br />
For the most part Christmas is food here. The only celebration that they do is the 24-25 transition where they throw a party at midnight. One tradition is that they buy grapes and have 12, each a wish, and those that you are able to eat in the first minute of the 25th will come true. :P<br />
<br />
I plan on going to visit families in my area for Christmas to say goodbye. It is weird that this is my last full week in my mission as Monday I will be traveling to San Jose to begin my transition home.<br />
<br />
Welp, one last chance to email me. Next week I go home. Thanks for all your support - see you soon!<br />
<br />
Love, Elder V</div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-69395970418462588502015-12-26T14:26:00.002-08:002016-01-13T11:57:58.087-08:00Chapter 28: This week in a galaxy (country) far far awayThis week was very weird. For the first time I felt the end coming. Up until this point everything has been normal then one day this week it hit me that there are less than 20 until I´ll be greeting in person my family and friends. What would I have done without the support of all of you? I don´t know and I´m so glad that I don´t have to. As I was going through some of my stuff I found a huge stack of letters that I´ve received from all of you. I was surprised to see how many letters I´ve received in 2 years and I want to say thank you for everything that you´ve sent me.<br />
<br />
So on to this week. I had an excellent time this week sharing to me companion the entire Star Wars movie series. It all started in an less active´s house in a country far far away when the cable channels are preparing for the new movie that is about to be released. Speaking about the movie, I´m extremely excited that it will be in theaters by the time I get back. :) But I had the chance to share the story of Anakin and the reason that he turned over to the dark side for fear just as how if we have fear we can´t have faith. In other words, I related the gospel to the movie and talked about how Darth Vader repented at the end but for everything he did he might still only have a chance at telestial glory... sorry Ani. :P<br />
<br />
We also had an awesome moment when an investigator invited us to eat lunch with them after church Sunday. It was good 1 because we didn´t have lunch plans and 2 because we were able to meet her 2 daughters, mother, and husband and teach all of them a lesson. They had many questions and are excited for us to come back. Unfortunately she can´t be baptized soon because she needs to get married, but they are working on getting a house from the government so they can´t be married until after the papers have been processed in the government. :(<br />
<br />
Speaking about people with a ton of questions. Today we had a lesson in the morning with a reference that we were given this week. He had a ton of questions about the in depth about the Plan of Salvation. I felt like he wanted to show us that our faith was wrong but he never openly fought with us and he was very respectful even if he didn´t share our beliefs.<br />
<br />
Anyway, that was what happened this week.<br />
<br />
See you soon,<br />
Elder VanderMeydenElder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-60624945918881723012015-12-07T12:12:00.001-08:002016-01-13T12:09:02.193-08:00Chapter 27: Let the Festivities Begin<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This next week we have a
service project as a zone here in Cariari, we´ll be doing something (I don´t
know what it is yet) in a retirement home in our area, so we´ll see how that
turns out. I´ll be sure to take pictures. :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I only have 1 other
P-day that is normal because in 2 weeks is the Christmas party and the 28th is
a day of travel and packing for me. I am really sad my mission is ending. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One awesome moment this
week was that a family gave us a fruit that grew on a tree. They told us that
it was Cacao the chocolate plant. I put a video on dropbox of me eating this
sour, but sweet slime. We still haven´t made the chocolate yet, but we´re going
to do it this week. :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One this that frustrated
me this week was that while we were in the sacrament meeting 2 loud explosions
happened nearby. I imagine that they were a set of punks exploding fireworks
near the church just to bother us. There were 2 explosions at the beginning, 2
at the end, and 2 in the first class. It was exciting and frustrating, but we
didn´t let it destroy our day. :P<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Oh, a sad moment is that
we didn´t get to see the Christmas Devotional, for they did not broadcast it to
our chapel. Good news is that I´m listening to it as I write to you right now,
and I downloaded it to pay more attention later. :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Love you all,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Elder V.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-72682612160135071552015-12-07T12:11:00.002-08:002016-01-13T12:22:52.926-08:00Chapter 26: A sloth and being hungry<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449511544569_67651" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My week went really well. :) We saw another sloth on
Sunday, we don´t have changes, A young man broke my umbrella but I have a big
rain coat, It rained half the week but was abnormally dry the other half. I
don´t actually remember much from this past week. One thing that´s really sad
is that Rene (our new convert) moved out of town for a month, so he was not
able to make it to church this week. He moved to Barra Colorado (or whatever
it´s called). It´s the other island in our area that is mostly used for fishing
trips. :P He´ll be coming back soon though, and the members are staying in
contact with him. :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">This week we found a family of old investigators
that said they´d come to the Church this week. I know that they have a ton of
potential, even if the father says that he´ll never change religions. :P<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I´m doing well. A bit hungry but good. This week we
ran out of money on Thursday so we suffered a bit of hunger, but now we´re
good. One of the problems that we had was that we did many trips to far areas
with buses so we didn´t keep track of the money as much as we could have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Church was a bit disappointing. We had hoped for
many people, both investigators and less actives, but very few made it. Only 43
made it to church this week and we don´t know what happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, that's all folks, see ya soon!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-73997526866045096112015-11-23T12:40:00.005-08:002016-01-13T12:38:26.499-08:00Chapter 25: When it Rains, It PoursThis week was actually excellent :) We were able to visit many people have and a baptism. :) <br />
<br />
I forgot that Thankgiving was this week. Eat some turkey for me, ya'll. Everyone´s getting ready for
Black Friday this month and some discounts came early to trick the
people into spending their money early. :P (what one person tells me is
that they do discounts of 30% right now so that way when it comes to 50%
that they´ll have very little to sell. :P ) I´m not able to eat turkey
but I was able to save the chapel with my companion.<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28428">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28429">
This
week it has been raining hard. So hard and unexpectedly that Elder
Garay and I have been caught in the rain without our umbrellas on more
than one time. One of these times was for an activity that we had in the
chapel. We were going to watch Meet the Mormons on a really old
projector that out stake has. Everything was going well until we started
on our way to the chapel an hour before it began and it started to
pour! When we finally arrive (after calling a taxi where the window
didn´t roll up :P We found the chapel filling with water. Luckily it had
not yet hit the electric devices that we had in the center of the floor
but before we clean up the mess we had to find the problem. Turns out a
tube that was a drainage pipe on the roof had gotten clogged and the
flat area on the roof where the air conditioning unites are positioned,
had filled with water. The water was overflowing the sides and entering
under the main door into the chapel. Fortunately, we got that solved and
the water dried before other people arrived. Unfortunately, with all
the rain, only 2 individuals came on time and one family showed up late.
We decided to postpone the activity until further notice. :P The good
news is that if we didn´t have the activity, the baptismal font would
have filled all by itself that night so that when we showed up the next
day for the baptism the entire chapel would have been filled with
rainwater. :P</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28430">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28431">
Baptism went well. We had a nice
spiritual experience and I was very happy to see that his mother and
brother came to support him. :) I´m so happy for Rene! :D</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28502">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28432">
Today we wanted to play soccer, but it rained really hard and the cancha está mojado. :P</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28501">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28433">
Our
branch wants to go paintballing with the youth, but the youth want to
go with us, so we´ll see what President says about that. :P<br />
<br />
This week some of the youth came out with us to do visits, do practices
in our house and learn about being a missionary. They actually let us
borrow a few bikes to get to and from far away areas (namely Semillero,
the place where Rene lives). I know that we´re not assigned to be bike
missionaries, but it was necessary for practicality and it´s not against
the rules. I felt free while I was riding the bicycle and I´m excited
to get back to my bike back home. I was a bit frustrated witht the bike I
was using because every time I wanted to go fast the chain came off. :P
I guess it help me not get too out of hand, but I wanted so much to
just ride forever! :D<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1448295581456_28500">
Also, we saw an armadillo last
night as we headed back to the house. I couldn´t get apicture because it
ran away when a car passed by, but it was awesome to see it. :)</div>
<br />
Also, A girl in our branch here in
Cariari loves the music from Teen Beach Movie and I was singing karaoke
with her this week. It was really cool and even though she can´t speak
english, she´s heard the songs enough to know how to say the words. It
was really cool to sing with her. She´s only 11 years old. :)<br />
<br />
We also had a primary program here in Cariari, it was fun, and the best
part is that even with the POURING RAIN we still had 51 people show up! I
was extremely happy to see the willpower the people used this week to accomplish their baptismal covenants. :)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg98MNMeILTmO17uiv6-30H_V9qaQhT9CHgOx55TxtRp57B8mrN08xuPYaQkT6TS1u8jBodB_TP8bHX9GpNWOt0YPx-F0JCoVKCVCvV-s2TEH4WpVI_OiGQWENbEFwnaJLzpVZ-YXY3Pp_O/s1600/DSCN6822.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg98MNMeILTmO17uiv6-30H_V9qaQhT9CHgOx55TxtRp57B8mrN08xuPYaQkT6TS1u8jBodB_TP8bHX9GpNWOt0YPx-F0JCoVKCVCvV-s2TEH4WpVI_OiGQWENbEFwnaJLzpVZ-YXY3Pp_O/s320/DSCN6822.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this is us with Rene on his baptism day</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-677638271680069452015-11-18T07:27:00.002-08:002016-05-31T13:22:42.450-07:00Chapter 24: Young Men and AnimalsThis week we had a huge responsability: The young men! We were in charge of taking them to and from our Stake conference this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday! It was an exhuasting weekend, but well worth it. My question for you today is: Was I as crazy as these youth are or was a good kid?<br />
<br />
THIS WEEK WE SAW MANY ANIMALS! 3 Turtles in a river hanging out with 2 crocodiles. That same day we saw a street crab (I think it is a river crab but it was big and far from the river, either way, it was angry and we decided to bother it for fun... I should be sending the video) And today as we went to lunch we saw an iguana in the street! :D I love seeing animals.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
This week we had a great capacitation about home teaching. It was stake conference this week so we saw both the branch president and the mission president. :) I love the stake conferences but I was busy helping with tech that never wanted to work so I couldn´t listen to the main session. The tech never worked so we had to shove 530 people into two rooms instead of the 450 planned. That was a huge challenge, but we fit almost everyone in there :P I also got to see a bunch of people from Siquirres because they are in the stake as well. i love it! :D<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhij-RzKAtKcScityhXq4M0Gj8g5NV0JHojVQ-oGzrdrccVLLv9dKYL7vRe054MOUtpyJ4qQ7Y2esJF58rNCGJ6rx-H38RUUupRKBNvVbRVeo6HB3zEhZtuvu5oPtnY9Vyv3p3gqKcTdJTf/s1600/RSCN6529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhij-RzKAtKcScityhXq4M0Gj8g5NV0JHojVQ-oGzrdrccVLLv9dKYL7vRe054MOUtpyJ4qQ7Y2esJF58rNCGJ6rx-H38RUUupRKBNvVbRVeo6HB3zEhZtuvu5oPtnY9Vyv3p3gqKcTdJTf/s320/RSCN6529.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
The baptism is on track. Parental permission and interview are both checks! :D All we need now is to plan it well. The baptism is planned for Saturday.<br />
<br />
Some of our investigators are: Rene- the youth that will be getting baptized, he loves the church and is excited to continue in the church<br />
Katerine- a lady that I found with Elder Lewis in divisions about 2 months back<br />
Dayana- future wife of a less active member named Wilson. He´s the ex-husband of the mother of the family that is giving many references and doing mission work with us.<br />
Norberto- A retired man who is ex-police. He´s a great guy that reads the Book of Mormon a ton, but thinks that all churches are good so continues in a church where the people come to pick him up every sunday.<br />
Luis and Daisy- A couple that were old investigators when I was with Elder Coronado that we were able to visit again. Their no longer receiving the Jehova´s Witnesses so they are more open to receiving us. :)<br />
Mindy is the wife of another less active member named Johan, they don´t come to church anymore and we can´t figure out why, it´s all excuses with them. >:/<br />
Those are some of our investigators. :P<br />
<br />
Have fun eating Turkey ;)<br />
<br />
Also, I´ve been eating a ton af fish recently. In the last few weeks I´ve had fish in at least 5 different ways, including fried, grilled with white sauce, in soup, and breaded. The best news is that they have caused no allergic reaction in my body, just TUNA from the can. :P<br />
<br />
See ya soon!<br />
Elder VanderMeydenElder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-32425030813314149962015-11-09T14:40:00.002-08:002016-01-18T12:14:58.907-08:00Chapter 23: I'm a little red, He's a little golden<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">This week was a
great week because the reference that we received last week from one family
came to church AGAIN and asked us what he can do to get baptized! He´s a golden
investigator and will be my first investigator of 3 weeks. I had actually lost
faith that someone like that actually existed. It really made my week (and even
my month) to hear that he was going to start to stop drinking coffee! I was
very surprised because he is More of a sporty person that normally wouldn´t
have time for church, but he has some great support from his friends in the
church! :D He even asked his mother´s permission in front of us and she
gave it. Hopefully we can get his interview done next week and in two weeks
we´ll have more pictures for you all :)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">That was the
best part of the entire week but today we were playing soccer as a Zone and I
was in the goalie position. Turns out everyone loved my performance and many
people asked me to be part of their team. One funny thing is that on the bus
ride ith the other Elders to go do internet one of the Elders that had played
against me told me that I should try to find a team in my area and continue
playing after the mission because I was good. The funny thing is that this same
Elder was the one that was trying to scortch me (kick the ball very hard to
make the goal) and I stopped about half the goals from him (at the risk of my
wrist, but it was fun). It was an amazing day, even though I got very burnt by
the sun. :P Yeah, that's the red part - I wore long sleeves so I wouldn't get
burned, but my hands got burned bad (and my face).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I had another
video, but it wouldn't go through, but just imagine this in a video: The video
explains everything that happened this week. I saw toucans (my first time -
they are SOOOO COOOL!), We had 65 in church, one person wants to get baptized,
we had 2 stories from our mission leader (one he was tied to a chair so that
the members could change his shoes because they had horrible holes and the
other was when he had a confrontation with the jehovahs witnesses, they didn´t
know he was a missionary at first but ended very mad because they couldn´t win.
He said that he can´t even remember what they said, but that it was very true
and following the spirit. :) ) good news that we are eating at a
restaurant and we love the food and we pay the normal amount. :) AWESOME!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">See ya later,</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: ""serif"","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Elder
VanderMeyden</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-13628894113311301202015-11-02T12:21:00.000-08:002015-11-02T12:21:05.940-08:00Cookin our own food<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwNCHd2UZAMwtIwA2HK3rNPYoGfGTMQPGf6y1o2zycOVNbPObHemo3j2qSEer6ZGaTVWDWdF1FA3EGkPDftsA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-34614321521978015332015-11-02T12:03:00.001-08:002016-05-31T13:23:45.285-07:00Our zone! Atlantica! Plus One of our friends!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqO55YXUo3B1a4ZvcZE2cIJLxJIqhLs25IxQhwjpU9MECMJLNrNJ5sswxQpGEsY3LOj0ARcWUIZ16SayPzTeYM8E6ul8th1dbKVTYAWjuseK-XjY4Py9coL1A2CaTBZPEoa7aCT-3SQtlQ/s1600/IMG_1673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqO55YXUo3B1a4ZvcZE2cIJLxJIqhLs25IxQhwjpU9MECMJLNrNJ5sswxQpGEsY3LOj0ARcWUIZ16SayPzTeYM8E6ul8th1dbKVTYAWjuseK-XjY4Py9coL1A2CaTBZPEoa7aCT-3SQtlQ/s320/IMG_1673.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxCdHUYVRDZqDceA0F1hqQgopu4TmpbGodu66qUxj4SsLJt1PhyphenhyphenDBiw7Jt1YONcS6QU199W7vcjM3Ab19SYThR3eqxhUetkms3jQXRKDz4OqhgBJiI9eu6FMYeZphAPsjcbNdadv0o3Lj/s1600/DSCN6696.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxCdHUYVRDZqDceA0F1hqQgopu4TmpbGodu66qUxj4SsLJt1PhyphenhyphenDBiw7Jt1YONcS6QU199W7vcjM3Ab19SYThR3eqxhUetkms3jQXRKDz4OqhgBJiI9eu6FMYeZphAPsjcbNdadv0o3Lj/s320/DSCN6696.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Miguel with us</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-87348713619175223032015-11-02T12:00:00.000-08:002015-11-02T12:00:02.188-08:00Chapter 22-B: Did I tell you it is hot?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwChAe1v61I6Y6EiIoT8b4o4V3j2XmKKNVh1i37xHoXqvgRdWC9_2XfUMu2BXCCwFDcOSDGIWmB8h1zUOStww' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-41831738363781967532015-11-02T11:58:00.002-08:002015-11-02T11:58:33.190-08:00Chapter 22: It's Hot - really really hot!<div>
My week was fun. It was super hot this week and I sweat a ton and the fast sunday fast nearly
killed us both for lack of water (I´m exagerating, but it was brutal :P
). I really love fasting, even though it´s hard. It is a good way to
sacrifice. :)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I loved the Zone conference. One
funny thing that happened at it was the fact that Presidente Hayes was
talking about how the missionary work is the responsibility of the tribe
of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) and he says "and all of us here are from
the tribe of Joseph"</div>
<div>
My companion looks at me and whispers "should I tell him? I´m going to tell him"</div>
<div>
I whisper "no, don´t worry about it, I´ll tell him in the interview."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Jaja
I laughed when he said that. :D (For those of you who don't understand,
I am not of the tribe of Joseph, I am of a different tribe).<br />
<br />
It was also really hot (did I already mention that?) and I had fun making exercise in the morning
awesome! I run in place while trying to play the piano! It´s super hard
and soooo much fun. :)</div>
<div>
We got brownies at the zone conference and the lady that cooked was someone that I knew from Heredia. :)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One
of the coolest things (cause, yeah - everything <span id="goog_1337804206"></span><span id="goog_1337804207"></span>else is really hot) that happened this week was the family of Sabata,
Candy and Gilson (members) invited 2 friends to church who came! One is
from Uruguay and had to ditch his bodyguard to come to church. He
really enjoyed the meetings and said that we make less "noise" than the
other churches. :P The other is Tico and also enjoyed the meetings, but
he had friends who are members so we´ll see when we can meet with him
this week. :)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Today we´re going to make piña colada and arroz con leche with one of the youth from our area. :) It was super hot this week.</div>
<div>
Oh,
and Happy Halloween. Here is my contribution to the pumpkin carvings:
(A carved carrot and quasi carved pineapple). We can´t celebrate
halloween here. The entire contry thinks it´s demonic
(and in a way it is), but even the members are spooked by it. :P It
might have something to do with a rumour I heard that they sacrifices
children in one of the rural areas of the country a few years back...
Yeah. :( So this is the best I could do).<br />
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Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-76815821679848511122015-10-26T13:00:00.000-07:002015-10-26T13:00:05.530-07:00Chapter 21: Is it Halloween or Christmas?<span style="font-family: inherit;">Happy Halloween! We are not really celebrating Halloween this year, that and all the people are
already taking out Christmas stuff here. I actually helped someone
decorate their house this week. Halloween is not celebrated in Cariari
from what I´ve seen.They
do have pumpkins here in Costa Rica, but mostly in San Jose (I haven´t
seen any here in Costa Rice). But I´ll see what I can Carve out for Halloween :)</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This week was so much better
with my companion. I really enjoyed the week because we had many people
that we visited show up to church. Mostly less actives, but the less
actives brought a non-member as well. :) Plus, we received a great
reference of a family that are married and want to learn more about the
gospel. The received a baptismal date following the spirit and I hope
that we´ll be able to help them progress. :)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My
week went by slow, which was very strange, but very enjoyable. WE
actually had a great moment when we found a Less-active that I had tried
to contact with Elder Coronado over 4 months back. What was funny is
that we found his wife so long ago just doing a contact, but she said
her husband is a member and he had actually been lost from the list of
members because he moved from one part of Cariari to another. We tried
visiting him again but he wasn´t there, but now we know his schedule so
we´re going to visit him when he should be home. :) He´s part of an
entire group of members that were youth at the same time. From what we
can see is that those that went on missions came back with honor and
those that didn´t got girlfriends outside of the church and started
living with them, then had children and went less actives. It goes to
show the power of the mission and the change that it can have in the
lives of the missionaries. :)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">For p-days, we´ve
actually been writing here in Cariari with the entire district (they
come here because the internet is better and less crowded than
Guapiles). We normally plan Soccer games after the internet and eat
pizza as a district sometimes.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We´ve
been cooking for ourselves this week for the most part. We had
Spaghetti, fried chicken, tacos from fried pork, fried chicken, salads,
and tacos from fried chicken (we bought a bit to much chicken so we had
to cook it all this week, but I didn´t get sick. :P ) One day we ate in
a soda (a restaurant similar to a fast food joint, but with more
options) and while eating we talked with our cook and after we finished
and were waiting to process the food I was thinking "how great would it
be to eat some ice cream, I think I´ll come back here in an hour to buy
some" when the lady that served us came out with two bowls with Ice
cream. It goes to show that if you have a good relationship with the
cook you can have more perks. ;)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">With Grateful month (November coming), my mom asked me some things I am grateful for: The
first thing that I am thankful for in my life is the Holy Ghost and how
it helps me in my life. Also the Atonement of Christ. But other
not-so-spiritual things would be the blender that we bought this week.
We´ve been making fruit drinks and smoothies every day this week and
they are delicious. :)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Have a great week!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Elder VanderMeyden</span></div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-1700252152870146642015-10-19T13:50:00.001-07:002015-10-19T13:50:49.297-07:00Chapter 20: uh oh, what just happened?<div>
<div>
One spiritual moment that I had was small but necessary. Yesterday my
blood pressure dropped or raised (I´m not sure but I´m okay, I already
talked to the nurse and it probably won´t happen again) and we had to go
to a less active member´s house until I got better. They gave me a
great drink of milk with oats but they served it hot in a glass cup. I
could not lift the glass to drink it but then I remembered that in lunch
the sister gave us bendy straws and instead of throwing the straw away I
felt like I needed to keep it so I put it in my bag. It was a great
help for me to have that straw there and God was looking out for me so
DON´T WORRY about what happened Everything is OKAY!<br /><br />My week was excellent. I smoothed things out with my companion, but we
still are having problems with getting people to church. This week we
have planned to find many news and many less actives. WE´re going to a
new area to meet a reference and help find less actives. :)<br /><br /> We had an amazing Zone meeting that took an entire day´s work out of the picture. But it really was amazing. :) The
Stake President was there with us and shared with us his goals for the
stake and experiences from his mission. Even though we hardly worked
that day it was really worth it because I received the inspiration while
we were at the conference for the way to talk with my companion and tell
him my goals for our area and what we need to do to accomplish it. I
was working hard in seeing the things I was doing wrong this week so
that we could make this area explode. :) and once I saw my faults I was
able to start on fixing them. :) My companion also saw the things that
he had to change and bit by bit is working on them as well. :)<br /></div>
Love,</div>
Elder VanderMeydenElder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-13395510125401450322015-10-17T07:39:00.000-07:002016-01-13T13:41:39.899-08:00Chapter 19: Water balloons, cow pies, and crazy addresses<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Today we had an awesome Zone activity, which really
helped turn the entire week around. WE played with Water Balloons! We had a
whole dodgeball type water balloon fight that was so much fun. I never actually
hit anyone during the game but they had a hard time hitting me. :P After the
game though (while a few other missionaries went for more water balloons I hit
a few people with hidden balloons, but most importantly I gave the hidden
balloons to other people. I don´t like to be the bad guy when in games like
this because it always comes back to bite you, but it´s fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I had a few trials, but I can see a few of the
blessings that are coming from them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I also broke my glasses this week, but it´s not a
big deal because I taped a piece of wood to it and they work, and if I really
need i,t I have a backup and contact lenses, which I used today in the
activity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And to put the icing on the pie, I stepped in a cow
pie. :P But honestly, it´s not all that bad... okay, the smell was bad, but I
got it all cleaned up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The good news is that with my studies and the people
we met I had a real good week. WE actually got a less active recent convert to
come to church this week. plus we met the father of another re-activated member
and he gets along with us well. He´s funny and he knows that he´s not
cumpliendo con su parte, but he´s happy and will come back when the time is
right, we just need to keep inviting. :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I didn´t have changes this week and now the next
changes are in 6 weeks, the last week of November, but from how it looks I´ll
be staying in Cariari until the end of my mission. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">SO IF ANYONE WANTS TO SEND ME A PACKAGE OR A LETTER,
MY TIME IS GETTING SHORT, SEND IT SOON OR I MIGHT NOT GET IT. SEND IT TO THE
MISSION HOME AT: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">ELDER VANDERMEYDEN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">COSTA RICA SAN JOSE EAST MISSION<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">APARTADO POSTAL 249-2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">ZAPOTE, SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">CENTRO AMERICO<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I always use the mission house address, 1. in case
things change and I get transferred 2. because the address for my house would
be (but not exactly):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Elder VanderMeyden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">entrada del vavula 3ra calle a la izquierda<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">2da casa mano derecha, verde y amarillo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Cariari, Limón Costa Rica<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">América Central<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Which being translated would be<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Elder VanderMeyden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">the entrance of the vavula 3rd street to the left<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">2nd house on the right, colors green and yellow<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Cariari, Limón Costa Rica<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">América Central<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The adresses are horrendous especially when someone
gives you a reference. One of the worst I´ve received (and it´s a joke in the
mission) is when they use references like "the mango tree" or the
"dead dog in the street" The first is bad because the area had about
50 mango trees. They are so bad with directions. :P<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Speaking of Monkeys (I know we weren't but hey) :) ,
we heard, but did not see, a few of them this week. They are called Kongos by
the ticos. :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Love, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Elder VanderMeyden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">ps - my ponderize scripture was Mosiah 3:19: For the natural man is an enemy to God, and
has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields
to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and
becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a
child,submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all
things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth
submit to his father.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-83954876770150086912015-10-05T14:55:00.000-07:002016-01-13T13:42:57.749-08:00Chapter 18: UhMazing ConferenceI loved the General Conference and I had a great
time translating some of the commercials (that only came in English)
for
the Latinos that were with me.I really enjoyed it. I really liked the
holy places potter´s spin talk, but I left my notes
at home, sorry. It´s not my favorite talk, but it was the first to come
to mind that I loved. I´ll be looking for my scripture to ponderize ;)
And you all? What is your favorite scripture to ponderize this week.
Please send me your scriptures. We didn't call it ponderize, though. in
spanish the word is meditizar.<br />
<br />
I was able to go on divisions with Elder Lewis and that was fun as well.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
We
got a few great references and one of them says that he wants to get
baptized with the rest of his family because the saw a General
Conference while surfing channels in April back when he lived in
Nicaragua. :)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I was also asked to translate
for a man from Madagascar who wanted to watch the conference in Spanish
even though he is still learning. Needless to say we finished that
session of conference in the English room. It really goes to show the
power of the Gift of Tongues. This man from Madagascar is not a member
of the church but an invited person. He´s been in the country for one
year and still has difficulties, while the majority of the missionaries
that are here in Costa Rica learn the language sufficiently to watch
conference in under 9 months.</div>
<div>
<br />
I also had rice and shrimp, an amazing recipe that I will take back and share with you all. :D<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
A
funny thing about that talk by Pte. Uchtdorf. There was a sister from
our ward and she had a shirt that said "Simplify" but it
was in english so she didn´t know that it was Simplificar until I told
her. :P</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Adios,</div>
<div>
Elder VanderMeyden</div>
</div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-15099629673132128202015-09-28T14:30:00.003-07:002015-09-28T14:30:36.470-07:00Chapter 17: Crisis Averted<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443465315547_13800">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443465315547_13803">
This week there was a huge miracle with my Mom. She had a virus attack
her computer and she lost my pictures from November of last year until I
showed up in Cariari. The miracle is that since I got into the office
something told me that I should put my pictures onto a flash drive and
not erase them from my camera. She had no idea that I had these backups
and she wrote me devastated. When she told me what happened I told her
not to worry about a thing and told her what the Spirit had prompted me
to do almost a year ago. At the time I had no idea it was a prompting,
but I followed it nonetheless. The Lord knows that my Mother would have
lived with that guilt for so much time if I hadn´t had the backup that
he gave me a way to be the way for Him to save the day.<br /></div>
The other crisis is about our mission trip. The
house of the mission was full and we were going to get there late so we
were not going to get a bed until Elder Garay had the Idea to sleep in
Tibas. It was a great idea with only one problem, how would we get to
the temple by 6:30 when they asked us. the other house had a micro bus
coming to pick up everybody but for us, nothing. We wake up in the
morning with faith that there would be a bus at 5:00 to the temple so
that we could get there by 6:00 but as we waited in the station the 5:00
turned to 5:30 and the 5:30 to 5:45. there were other people in the
line but no bus came. All of a sudden at 5:50 a bus rolled up and we
were off! The bus that normally takes near an hour when there is traffic
took 35 minutes and we showed up at 6:25 just as they opened the
temple! :D I was so happy. :) <br /><br />My week went by too fast. The Temple was on Wednesday so it felt
like we only had Thursday through Sunday to work. I loved work this week
but it was WAY TOO HOT! I actually couldn´t sleep last night until I
showered at 1 in the morning, and that was even with the fan on. the
strange thing is that I´m only dying of heat inside the house but when
I´m in the streets I feel hot, but not that bad. I´ve been asking for
many glasses of water though. :P<br /></div>
One of the most memorable
moments this week was the lunar eclipse that we saw yesterday. We were
teaching a family when their neighbors came in telling them to come see
the moon. I ran outside not knowing what to expect and BOOM! the Moon
was eaten by the shadow of the earth. It was awesome.<br /><br /><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443465315547_13816">
This week
was a bit hard trying to find news especially because we focused our
short time on visiting the investigators that we already have and invite
them to church, even though none of them made it. We´re really working
on trying to get people to the General Conference.<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443465315547_13817">
Love to all,</div>
Elder VanderMeydenElder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-36980432736948896182015-09-22T08:53:00.003-07:002016-05-31T13:28:20.555-07:00A poem for General Conference<div>
So, I wrote this back in June, but with conference coming, I
thought you'd like to hear it. I am definitely not a poet, but just
gowithit. :P</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
The Living Prophet’s Voice</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
How would it
have been to talk with Moses, who saw God face to face</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Or maybe to
our father Adam, who chose to fall for the human race</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
To hear the
covenant of Abraham, from him would be a treat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Your dream
interpreted from Daniel, Oh Boy! Would that be neat</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
To hear the
voice of Christ Himself, proclaim His Gospel true</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
To be with
Him and the Apostles, to be among the few</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
To hear
Prophets of old, so bold, so strong, proclaim the word of God</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Written for
generations to know and love, it is our iron rod</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
They lead us
to the tree of life but wait “There’s more!” I say</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
We have the
words of Prophets old but there is one today</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
We can
listen to his voice as well, the truth it sings so clear</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
He gives us
warning for our day, our prophet kind and dear</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
We listen to
him twice each year, in April and October</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
But when the
conference ends, the inspiration is not over</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
I turn the
computer on, and make a very simple choice</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
To the
internet I go, to hear a living prophet’s voice!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<wbr></wbr> <wbr></wbr> JV
June 6, 2015</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-40187515806416405712015-09-22T08:38:00.000-07:002015-09-22T08:38:09.844-07:00Our Visit to Turtle Sanctuary Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx8rW2cxL4vKSUzUMD2RhB8zZnrVN9Yz9fIZ6D_oBFoUEJ3nTpv_8xqkPzqGaEpsk7oauGiPP4SKS2mYj6q7w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-41735034787478520952015-09-22T08:35:00.002-07:002016-01-18T11:56:07.084-08:00Chapter 16: It's all about that Bus<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_8996">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_8995">
So this week most of my moments happened around a bus stop.<br />
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_9000">
This week was good, the 15th of September came around again, but
this time like a thief in the night. I almost forgot that it was the
Costa Rica Independence day and I didn´t prepare anything! I felt sad
but my companion isn´t one for celebrating anyway. We had some
difficulty visiting some people just for that reason, but I wasn´t going
to give up. We found a way to get in some quality visits during the
worst hours due to a bit of inspiration from our friendly neighborhood
Holy Ghost. :)</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_9001">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_9014">
One moment I had this week is
that while waiting in the bus station there was a small television where
they were showing Avengers 2. We didn´t stay long because our bus came
and I shouldn´t have been watching it, but it really showed that the
world didn´t stop when I lef the USA but at the very least the new Star
Wars will still be in theaters by the time I get back. :P</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_9015">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_9016">
One
cool thing that happened this week is that we were waiting for the bus
yesterday and a car past by really fast. About 100 meters down the line
it stops and goes into reverse all the way to where we were and offers
us a ride! They were an LPE that I had done a long time back and I it
was so nice of them to help us out.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_9017">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442843163292_9018">
Okay, funny
story, while waiting for yet another bus I ran into a man that I had
met in Zapote. We had given him an english lesson, Elder Hoover and I, and
now he´s speaking English relatively well. :) We had a full
conversation in English and I didn´t get lost in what he was saying. A
great improvement in 7 or 8 months! :D<br />
<br />
My most memorable lesson this week was the lesson with C and her
family. We shared a small video and shared about it. It was actually the
"living below your privileges" from Pte. Utchdorf. It was a strong spirit and I hope they felt edified. :)</div>
</div>
My
dad mentioned all the missionaries that spoke in stake conference about
a principle that they learned and loved on their mission. He asked me
what I would say. One principle that I have learned to love is the power
of prayer. :) More on that later, I am out of time.</div>
Elder VanswizzlemizzlederMeydenElder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-36148123631046770922015-09-14T14:34:00.001-07:002016-01-18T12:02:17.384-08:00Chapter 15: Frog Water<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24721">
I am doing well this week. I
absolutely love it here, don't want to be anywhere else! It was a rather
boring week for me no big news or milagros.
Right now I have a bit of a head ache because we were playing soccer as a
district and it was so much fun. :) But I did get a ton of water in my
eyes because of sweat and rain so they dried out. :P<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24724">
<br />
For those of you who have missed my moments: <br />
<br />
Foody
moment: They have a drink here called "agua de sapo" Or Frog´s Water.
It´s really good even if it doesn´t sound like it :P It's actually agua
dulce with lime juice.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24725">
Oh
crap moment: This week some missionaries from Guapiles wanted to borrow my
Meet the Mormons DVD but I forgot to send it with a member so we had to
send it through the bus system. Jaja a bit of a crazy thing. :P</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24889">
Happy
Moment: There was one day when things weren´t going so well but I
decided to ask for references (following the spirit and I didn´t even
know it) and they gave us 2 and told us that they might have more in the
future! :) </div>
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24890">
Church was great, we had 54 people show up. That´s the 3rd time
above 50 and two weeks in a row, especially considering that quite a
few people didn´t show up because they had to work or something. :P</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24891">
One
of the most exciting things this week was the fact that we had the
Mother´s day activity in the branch (it´s about a month late but better
late then never) and I got to help with the cooking of the food and
preparing of the salad so now when I get home I can make some Platos
Ticos. :)</div>
<br />
Each week we receive a message from Pte. Hayes telling us about a principle of the gospel. This week was this:</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24888">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24887">
"We
arrive at the 4th principle and 2nd ordinance of the Gospel according
to the 4th article of faith. My favorite chapter of the entire Book of
Mormon could possibly be chapter 19 of 3rd Nephi. This is where we watch
the process of the sanctification of the Disciples of the Savior take
place. This is the second day of the Saviors visit to the people of
Bountiful. However, before he arrives the second day, the disciples have
begun teaching the people the very same words the Savior taught the day
before. That is when we read that the disciples pray.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24886">
“behold,
they knelt again and prayed to the Father in the name of Jesus. And
they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that
the Holy Ghost should be given unto them.” Verses 8 and 9.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24892">
These
verses surely teach the importance of the Holy Ghost. Of everything
that had been taught the day previous, (Chapters 11 thru 18) the
disciples pray for that which they desired most, The Gift of the Holy
Ghost. It causes me to realize the importance of that gift in my life.
As you continue to read we find out why.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24893">
“
And it came to pass when they were all baptized and had come up out of
the water, the Holy Ghost did fall upon them, and they were filled with
the Holy Ghost and with fire. And behold, they were encircled about as
if it were by fire; and it came down from heaven, and the multitude did
witness it, and did bear record; and angels did come down out of heaven
and did minister unto them.” verses 13 and 14.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24726">
If
this is the description of what happens when one receives the Holy
Ghost, it is no wonder why the disciples prayed for it most. As you
continue to read in chapter 19, it appears to be a necessary step to
what happens next to the disciples of the Savior.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24894">
The
doctrine is very clear. Baptism must first occur by the power and
authority of the Aaronic Priesthood, and then by the power and authority
of the Melchizedek Priesthood the Gift of the Holy Ghost can be given.
In John of the New Testament chapter 20 verse 22, the Savior does the
same to his Apostles in Jerusalem. They had been baptized three years
previous. They do not receive the Holy Ghost immediately, as we can see
from Acts 1:5-8. However 10 days later in Acts chapter 2, the Gift of
the Holy Ghost is present.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24895">
The
reception of the Holy Ghost is absolutely necessary in our progression
to become Sons and Daughters of Jesus Christ. May we all live worthy to
receive and use this wonderful Gift."</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24896">
Have a great day! Pray for us missionaries!!</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1442261781439_24897">
Elder VanderMeyden</div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-90915354847381648792015-09-08T12:31:00.000-07:002015-09-08T12:31:57.564-07:00Chapter 14: Sick and Soccer and Youth<div>
This week was a good week with one exception. I got sick. But I'm
better now. One thing that really helped me was the ability to sweat it
out playing Soccer with my companion today. He´s really good and I´m not
so I asked him to teach me a bit while we do exercise in the mornings
before getting ready. The best part is that we live within 100 mts of
the church now so we can use the chapel to practice.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This
week was very good. We used much of it to visit some families that
formerly didn´t receive us. I feel sad that someone who was touched by
the gospel could turn 180 and forget the truths they had learned. One of
the members that we visited, a very good man, told us outright that he
knew that the Book of Mormon was false. What can we do? I can´t just say
"No, you´re wrong." I felt like I couldn´t do anything to change his
mind and I was frustrated inside. He still lets us visit him so I hope
that our light will be able to reignite the fire that he had before.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One
the other side, the joven (youth) that I mentioned last week came again
to church. We visited him on Saturday and his brother was also there.
We invited them both and they both came, as well as a joven that lives
next door that is an inactive member that we met this week. I was very
surprised that we had so many jovenes in the chapel. In addition to that
there were 60 people! I was astounded. We´re going to be working with
the youth to invite more friends to the activities and then to the
church so that we can enter into more houses and bless people with the
gospel.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Have a great day,</div>
<div>
Elder VanderMeyden<br /></div>
<div>
ps - my return date home is officially December 30th. New Year's Eve Eve. </div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-12707762379956714002015-08-31T16:02:00.002-07:002016-01-18T12:23:15.075-08:00Chapter 13: Sticking Around<div aria-labelledby="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40331 " class="thread-body" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40331" role="presentation" tabindex="0">
<div class="body undoreset" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40420" tabindex="0">
<div class="email-wrapped" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40423">
<div id="yiv5999619707">
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40422">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40421">
I
am sticking around and so is my companion, so we are hoping to see many
miracles this next 6 weeks. :) I am super stoked about this. I have
wanted to stay and I am! I really love this area and the people!<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40424">
<br />
My
mom asked me a bunch of questions and told me to answer a few of them.
So here are the questions and my answers (maybe I will answer others on
another day)<br />
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40438"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40437"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40436"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40441"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40440"><br />1. What has been your biggest challenge</span></span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40435"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40434"> this week?<br /><br /><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40439">2. What has been your biggest concern?</span><br /><br /><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40433">3. What has been your biggest success?</span> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40429">Biggest success is that we met and taught the aunt and uncle of the
Hermana Susan this Friday and we made a real impression. On Saturday I
felt that we should invite them to the church before we finished with
our lesson at her house. And SUNDAY... THEY CAME! I shared with
them the Book of Mormon and they said they would read it. I know the missionaries there
in Pavas (I think it`s the other mission :P ) will have some amazing
new investigators this week. :)<br /><br /><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40605">4. Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?</span> </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40610">Favorite
person? I`d say a joven that is called Miguel. He came to church for the
first time since I`ve been here, is 16 years old, and his entire family
is less active. I`d never even met him! And he wants to serve a
mission!
:D He came on the perfect Sunday too because they set apart the
missionary that left from our branch that day. :) We`d met the family of
him but never him, so we`ll be going back to his house this week. :)<br /><br /><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40611">5. What has been your most significant tender mercy?</span><br /><br /><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40612">6. What are you looking forward to this coming week?</span><br /><br /><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40613">7. Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.</span><br /><br /><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40614">8. Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?</span><br /><br /><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40615">9. What service have your been performing this week?</span></span>
The service we performed today is a biggy. We cut down two trees so the
owner could expand his house.We left the two big trees bald. My
companion climbed the tree and macheted the branches and I took the
branches (palm fronds) and moved them to the fence.:P It took a lot of
work and time but we sacrificed our
Preparation day to get it done. :)</div>
</div>
Also, my mom told me
that in Stake Standards Night last night, President Webb invited some
recently returned missionaries to the stand and asked them some
questions. My mom asked me some of the same questions. The one I will
answer is 'What is one thing you wish you had done to prepare for a
mission before you left': One thing
that I wish I had done before my mission is read the bible and Preach My
Gospel. If I had done these things the mission would have been much
easier. :P<br />
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40618">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40617">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40628">
Also,
new record this week with Lessons, the impossible 50 without
divisions. Now that we`ve done that we`re going to back down to work on
other key indicators (mainly LPEs and News). Don't worry, though. I am
not in it for the numbers, but the people. It is pretty awesome, though
that the miracles are falling in line with our goals.<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40627">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40626">
Thanks for everything,</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40616">
Love you,</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441049542610_40624">
Elder VanderMeyden</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-82418942730711533722015-08-24T14:55:00.000-07:002015-08-24T14:55:13.543-07:00Chapter 12: Improv and Feeling Old<div>
<div>
<div>
Yep - that's right. I´m felling a bit old in the mission
but looking back, I´ve only had 3
companions with more time than me: Elders Saavedra, De Leon, and
Hoover. It's crazy to think that I only have 4 months left on my
mission. I´ll ask president the actual day we head home. I think it´s
still under
thought but it may be before new years. I know we´ll be here at least
until Christmas, so don´t worry you´ll have that last call ;) A bunch of
our group wanted to make it back before school starts and some schools
start a bit earlier than mine. so President changed our release date
(sadly) from January 6 to end of December. But it does mean less time
and I´ll be back home. I still don´t feel like I should go to school
right when I get back. I
know it´s weird, but the 2 major points that keep running through my
head are that 1 I want time with the family and 2 I want to work so that
I can come back to Costa Rica (especially if I have some converts from
this area that will be going through the temple after a year of being
baptized). A third would be money for going on dates and being close to
home for a bit to get some rest.<br /><br />This week was amazing en cuanto a la obra (talking about the work). I
was ASTOUNDED when I saw the 58 people in the chapel and 5 of them not
being members. Does anyone remember the family that sent us a really
awesome text at the beginning of my time here and then they dropped us
out of nowhere? I took my companion to visit them and see how they are
doing. THEY ACCEPTED US AGAIN, CAME TO CHURCH, AND ASKED US TO HAVE
ANOTHER VISIT WITH THEM TO PLAN THEIR MARRIAGE AND BAPTISM! It was a
simple thing that happened and Satan entered into their relationship. We
explained that to them and everything changed! :D It just wasn´t their
time before but NOW IS! I don´t know what a matter of 8 weeks can make,
but God has it all planned out perfectly. :D<br /><br />This week we also
had a conference with a broadcasted conference in
Honduras with the new President of the 12 Apostles, It was an amazing
conference and I received multiple answers to my prayers. One thing that
made me laugh is the fact that they were talking to over 1000
missionaries and they brought up MARRIAGE!!! I can only imagine all the
groans going on ALL OVER Central America. :P It was an amazing
conference though and I have a goal to study better for all of my
investigators. We have multiple families progressing right now and they
need my help! I´ll let ya´ll know if I have changes next week, but I´m
not expecting them (unless we open Cariari 2).<br /></div>
And now for the improv comment: One thing that was really funny about the church this week was that I
was asked to give a talk 5 minutes before the services began and I gave a
great improvised talk about the atonement and someone told me that I
had given them a different perspective about the atonement! After that I
was in charge (with my companion) of the Gospel Principles class (which
was FULL by the way) which was about Pray and I only had 10 minutes of
preparation. AND last, but not least, the teacher for Elders quorum was
not there and the backup was a counselor of Pte Soto (branch president)
and he told me to give the lesson because he "had to do something with
Pte Soto." So I gave a lesson on filling out homes with light and truth
based off a talk that I had NEVER read before. It turned out well! I´m
so happy that I learned a bit of how to get participation and follow
the spirit! :D<br /></div>
Love ya'll!</div>
Elder VanderMeydenElder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640432077462245688.post-89442354695604469632015-08-17T20:10:00.001-07:002016-05-31T13:30:13.044-07:00Tortogeuro (turtle preserve)Here are some pictures from our visit to the turtle preserve.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHECLjT4n7Ujk-PGiB1yTbedEc_XNx5ESkrKipRypNqrgsFAW1EnYNicSOrrSlF1-Xj0v6LHB8JHo8AaP3HE8nvCIs1TrNfrjoyfSMBCo96VeZBOqFI0v_t4DcUoLY5k5q3TqsOUUobFTA/s1600/DSCN6436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHECLjT4n7Ujk-PGiB1yTbedEc_XNx5ESkrKipRypNqrgsFAW1EnYNicSOrrSlF1-Xj0v6LHB8JHo8AaP3HE8nvCIs1TrNfrjoyfSMBCo96VeZBOqFI0v_t4DcUoLY5k5q3TqsOUUobFTA/s320/DSCN6436.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBrBGCecwpPq7v97etynW_rp-UFvEr_9UHwGKo49t-1toDfpUN9WVK7oKJTwyaRHHzyS3jlLNWmc8KLs9WLSwJCUGPaju4kZ7i7bUwn9q9AXSAkq8JuOs7K7nyqpw8tyTYBFATZ4UxMhoe/s1600/DSCN6438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBrBGCecwpPq7v97etynW_rp-UFvEr_9UHwGKo49t-1toDfpUN9WVK7oKJTwyaRHHzyS3jlLNWmc8KLs9WLSwJCUGPaju4kZ7i7bUwn9q9AXSAkq8JuOs7K7nyqpw8tyTYBFATZ4UxMhoe/s320/DSCN6438.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglYY3ShJGam93sifhhjjBna7f8CiMGZcxAlkgicBiCqDgZO1R1UvwD9ngBzAGONYp8iz7v8suOHaqQdZHQ71aBKMp-x7MuPABi4EAEGvIhh7C8nCrbzEkJoIBd4IaO146-kbeRvzgiVjCM/s1600/DSCN6475.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglYY3ShJGam93sifhhjjBna7f8CiMGZcxAlkgicBiCqDgZO1R1UvwD9ngBzAGONYp8iz7v8suOHaqQdZHQ71aBKMp-x7MuPABi4EAEGvIhh7C8nCrbzEkJoIBd4IaO146-kbeRvzgiVjCM/s320/DSCN6475.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turtle Nesting Grounds</td></tr>
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Elder VanderMeydenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10063487308350483993noreply@blogger.com2