Sept. 20, 2010

Hello family,

So yes as you know I worked in Wanica this past week. It was cool to work with a native and it helped my Dutch a lot....or maybe it just destroyed it but in a good way to sound more like a Surinamer.

Elder Wehl is a really good missionary. he sleep farts though. I told him it sounded like an elephant was in his bed. he fell on the floor laughing. He laughs a lot .....a lot. He also has an active snese of other emotions. At the end of the week I said the zone leaders called and were going to pick me up to take me back to Koewarasan. he cried and said he was going to miss me. He really seriously cried......After just a week. It was awkward because i thought he was joking at first, but nope. It was for real. I was not ready for that one. I guess i should be appreciative that I was around someone with that kind of charity to love someone so quickly. I do love him, but i was quit ready to shed tears about leaving someone I would be seeing the next week.

The baptism went great. The hardest part was getting the baptism form filled out. Sis. Wijngaarden's family were all yelling at me telling me how to do it because they had taken a year of English in school so they thought they knew what they were doing. WHY WOULDN'T THEY JUST LISTEN TO THE NATIVE SPEAKER! I've spoken Englich(whoops.... IRONY ATTACK) for 19 years! THe service went great though. We had another area baptizing so we had 4 in the same day.

Even with all that I'm happy to be back in Koewarasan with my assigned companion. I'm really hoping that we get to stay together next transfer. We've developed a great friendship. I think that's been the difference in having some successthis transfer. When you have a companion you want to work with it lets you have the Spirit with you and you can do the work of the Lord not just the work of to white guys in a strange land.

We had 5 investigators in church on Sunday. 2 of them have a solid baptismal date for next Saturday. We'll be working with the lady who is afraid of tithing this week to see if we can't strengthen her faith to just get baptized and see what miracles follow. One of the baptisms is that Muslim girl and the other is a Hindu(by race not religion) lady named Zr. Basant. SHe would be getting baptized this saturdya but she had to take to daughter to the hospital because a pepper exploded in her face so she missed chuch.

I also got the letter to Grandma Jean sent off while I was outside of the jungle last week so you can watch out for that letter. It has some new pictures in it.

Hmm what's a random detail....My bike is .........well old. We don't bike as much in this area so I have some fatness accumilating around the mid-section. No strange foods this week.

Oh yeah Br. Salijo said hi to me yesterday. He was impressed with dad's elk.

Well that should be good. I love you all. thank you for everything: your prays, letters and evrything else.

Love,
Hayden

Hello everyone people,

Yes i did get the other e mails. So no need to worry.

I'm glad everyone is doing good. I really happy to hear Jase is almost at eagle status! That's sweet. And yes good luck with the straight a's. Very possible for you Jase. I feel wierd that you're going back to school already. That seems like a short summer compared to my 6 month summer so far.

Wow dad. Going to work huh? Well I'm glad you get a little better everytime i hear from you. And mom good luck with the math. You should be fine. It's jsut elementary math right?

The Dirkmaat's are leaving for home friday so probably dont' send things there. That's nuts.... I thought they would be hear forever when i first got to Suriname. When i heard how long they had way back then i thought they had a long time left but 6 months was like nothing. That makes me think. 6 months went by so fast. why do i stress? A mission isn't that long. It's jsut hard to get it into to your head that 2 years isn't as long as you always thought it was and you don't have a long tie to serve the Lord in this way.

hey guess what GREAT NEWS! We had a last second baptism this week! we just got it approved wednesday. The bad news is my camera got baptized as well. I gues when i talked about how baptism clenses us from sin my camera wanted to be clean too so it hopped in my pocket right before i baptized.....I know i know typical me. The kid's name that was baptized was Anferny. He had a great experience with the baptism. He said , "Ik voelde me zo licht" which being interppruted means " I felt so light." That was cool to hear. Hopefully Elder Bells dad will send the the pics...ha

We have 2 more missionaries leaving Suriname next transfer and their replacements are nowhere in sight so it looks like we will have 11 missionaries in the whole country until someboby gets this visa problem figured out. I remember how i felt when i got delayed and i feel terrible for these others becuase some havn't been here for about 3 months!

Today for p day we played untimate frisbee in the mud and one of our Elders got chipped teeth.....we'll definitly play again next week. My clothing is completely mudded so i hope i can wear them again because some of the clothing was the shirt that Parker made for me and i like that shirt a lot. Thanks Park!

Wow Reading that e mAil of Tanner's just makes me realize more how short a mission is. He has seriously almost been out a year. I've seen a cuople of times that Jase has said that he feels like i've been out forever but i can't belive the trip to New York was over a year ago and the call opening and the fair and ......wow.

SO yes about the card reader ....uh hold off on that i guess. SO do you want me to buy a new camera here or do you want to sned me one? Or do we just not trust me to have one? I might try to get mine fixed so I'll tell you how that works out and then tell me what you would rather have me do.

I sent Grandma Pat a birthday letter with pictures so be on the look out for that. I think it will miss her birthday, but its comin'!

Wow thats sweet that Austin went ot the temple and his dad got to go. Tell them both hello for me.

I love you all. Thank you for letting me know what's going on and that you're all happy.

Love,
Hayden

Hello the family,

1. Yes, always
2. South most area. Not too far from the other area but rediculously
huge. Toit lui fautweg. Number unkown. It's probably the nicest
apartment in Suriname apart from the washer and observation deck
toilet.
3. No package
4. Yes i saw the pic.

Elder Bell's a big guy with blond hair. We are getting along together really good.

We had only one investigator in church this week so this week we will
have to find 2 really cool people who are ready and able to be
baptized in 2 weeks if we want to fill Pres. Gamiette's order of 3
baptisms.

I really like this area so far. The members here are great. It's a
little bigger branch so we have the chance to work with them more.

Sorry I'm writing boring. I've come under yet another sickness. During
the week I only had a headache so i was able to work without much
problem. Now I feel a bit weak and sick and tired so I've lost my
ability to use colorful imaginative words. ....a monkey tried to steal
my fingers this week. It was big.
My pills are working just fine. I'm not having stomach pain much
anymore just ....woooooooooooooozzzyy. It's P-day though so hopefully
taking a nap will be what i need.

SO yes everything is going fine here. New good strong branch and good
apartment so I'm happy.

Elder Bell's dad should be sending you a pic soon so hopefully it will
make up for my boring writing.

I'd glad that surgery isn't necessary dad! Good luck with the arise
performance! I sent a letter telling Jase and dad happy birthday so
hopefully that comes soon. I love you all and am so grateful for your
suppport!

Love'
Hayden

June 21, 2010

Happy Fathers Day!

I'm glad your Fathers day was good dad. Mine was too. The branch has a small little dinner becuase there are only 2 dad's really in the branch they decided to include the Elders in the eating.

We didn't have any ivestigators in church this week except The 2 little Grootfaam girls and it's still a question if they can get baptized alone because dad and mom aren't making a real effort to come to church. We don't know what's going on with Lloyd. If he doesnt come to church next week I don't think we can keep teaching him because it took 2 months of teaching to get him to church once. But if he keeps reading like he usually does hopefully he'll keep that desire to be baptized. We have another ivestigator who is pretty cool. I don't know if I said someting about him alrady but he is 19 and lives in a house owned by another church. I think he really knows this church is Christ's church but he just doesn't know what to do if he leaves his church.

Jase you can tell Sam sorry for me ,but I lost all my adresses so I dont't know how to write her back because I would love to. And tell Grandma J that her letter from June 1 just got here. She wanted to know. And tell her thanks for keeping up so many letters. She's awesome.

Well my language is going good. I get compliments all the time on it. But I still hardly understnad what people are saying. Luckily My companion gets most of what people say.

So by the end of this transfer i will have been in Suriname for 6 months...in the same area! I'm certainly not mad though. It's kind of fun having to get to the area so well. I feel like I'll stay for at least one more transfer so Elder Bytendorp can know the area a little better but who knows what could happen.

We're gettin along just fine. Elder Bytendorp likes to correct me a lot more than Elder Schroth did but when I am humble about it i find its actually a help to me.

I love you all so much. But now I realize I can stand to be away for another 18 months:)..of course not without much help but I know I can do it. Thank you for your support. I hope you all are having a great summer so far !

June 7, 2010

Hello family amily amily(i don't know i just did it)

I'm starting to love to get your letters for a different reason now. I use to think it was a time i didn't have to think about the pressures of missionary work. Now i love them because... well i don't know just because i love you all i guess. It's helps me to think of the big picture i guess. You're all just goin about life and doin the things you do without me. But i'm happy about that.

We've had a lot better week this week. We had a spritual lesson, i called a lady "brother", and i was riding up to contact a guy and he did one of those step for step fart things. SO i jsut thought i'd contact him anyway to see the look on his face when he figured out that some one was right behind him.

The spiritual lesson was great though. It was this family that had been on and off investigators for a few months and we were about to drop them if somehting didn't happen. We shared Moroni 10 3-5 and broke it bown for them and that brought the spirit very strong. Then i decided to ask the dad to have a kneeling prayer and ask if Joseph Smith was a Prophet. Elder Bytendorp said he felt the spirit really strong right when he asked. I didn't really know because i didn't really understand what he said ha ha. But I know i had to be feeling the Spirit to ask him to do a kneeling prayer. They have of few things to take care of before baptism but their daughters come to church quite often so maybe they can be baptized by the end of the month.

Me and Elder Bytendorp have gotten along pretty well. It's still in the awkward stages of things but there's no problems to interfere with us becoming good friends. Except that he has Disney music cd that makes the neighbors question what the heck we are all about. ha ha. But he's pretty good. If i think there's a way we can be more obedient as a companionship he's pretty open to hear about it.

I'm really happy to hear Jase is enjoying his summer so much already. ANd i'm glad to hear there are still very strong friendships within the family. See Dad he doesn't need the bpoat to have fun...but i do so you just get nice and rested for the next 2 summers. And i pray everyday that you wont' need that surgery and can heal properly and get back to beating young black kids at basketball.

Well I could probably think to complain about some pressures and wondering if i'm doing good enough f0or what Heavenly Father wants of me, but that's no fun to hear aobut so I'll just say this. THis is definitley a transfer of learning as i lead the area and try to teach it to some one. I've been able to lead lessons even with the language and had a companion who wants to be obedient too.

I love you all very much.

Love hayden

June 1, 2010

I'm glad to hear that Jase gets a break from the stress of school now...more time to study scriptures??? And that's cool you got to go down and see Elder Schroath. He might have been humoring you when he said i was his favorite companion, but we did have a great last few weeks together.

I'm glad to hear your doing a little better Dad. I hope you don't have to get surgery and you can get back to your life as my hard working example.

Wow my you miss school? You must have had some great kids this year. I hope you have that same luck for next. It's weird to think that summer is going to pass without me there. I know what you mean when you say it feels like I've been gone forever, it's weird though because i feel like it hasn't been that long at all but also very long.

My new companion, ELder Bytendorp, is very different from Elder Schroath. Elder Schroath was just solid and seemed like he new everything that i didn't, but Elder Bytendorp has been in areas of Suriname where they only speak Surinams Or English, So his Dutch is not too much better than mine. He's only 2 transfers ahead of me as well. It's a difficult switch from going from trainee to holding down the area. This week was weird because i had to work in other areas until my compaion got here so it seems like i had already forgotten my area a bit at first but now i'm getting the hang of things again. I've mostly been praying for the Lord to be patiently with me as i try to do these things the right way. I'm grateful that you have faith in me and encourage me to keep going because i need all the strength i can get. I'm still in the stage where i wish this was a lot easier, but then i guess there would be no point in going if i wasn't going to grow. This is the hardest thing on my mission so far because i'm so worried that the area is going to fall apart sometimes, but then i realize it absolutley cannot fall apart. And if the misson President ever pulled missionaries out of the area then that would just be the Lord's will. I wish I could understand the Lord's will better not worry when somebody doesn't come to church and thinks it's my fault. I do everthing i know ow to do. It's not a perfect effort but the Lord knows what i was capable of before i came here so i must do my best and as Henk says " God does the rest".

I love you all very much. Tell Grandpa V happy b day soon.

Love Hayden

That's a happy missionary!

May 3, 2010

Hey YOU GUYS!

Well all is well. Thank you for all your support. I'm really trying to be happy now for you and for me. I want you to be happy for me and not worry about me so I'm going to try and give myself an attitude adjustment as best as I can for now on.

You can probably send my medication here. The Dirkmaats can't find a good place to get a prescription.
Also if you could send socks( preferably gray) and black shoe polish with it that would be cool too. Oh yeah and the conference issue ensign.

So yeah that is the right phone number and I would like you to call 8 o'clock our time and I believe that's five o'clock yours.

Good job Jase! I'm excited for you to be in Pack TV. I hope you get that same relationship with Smith as I had. I was like his most trusted employee. When he couldn't count on anyone else, Hayden was there...and other Hayden I guess.

And good job dad for beating a little black guy! I don't really know what you're talking about with the selling soap part. I don't think I've seen them around before, but good job at humbling him. Maybe he's ready to receive the gospel now?

This past week has been interesting.

We found out that Henk smokes. He said that he wanted to stop slowly but we committed him to go cold turkey so he could still be baptized on Saturday. Also we still don't know how we will baptize him. But he's still doing great. As long as he keeps reading the book Of Mormon he will get the strength he needs to stop.

My bike tire popped again. I was a reparable leak though. That's good because usually these Chinese tubes literally explode.

We taught a less active and a visitor came to visit ( that's what visitors do i guess) and sat down with us. I don't think I've met anybody that sad and dark feeling in my life, Especially when he straight up said it was impossible for there to be a Resurrection. I felt really bad for that guy after we left because he just would not listen. But it made me realize that I do care for these people and want to do something to make them want to listen and believe that we can have hope and happiness. I just wish that everyone chose to take their challenges the way Henk chose to take his. But even I and most people in the world could can learn from that man's experiences.

I'm excited and scared to talk to you on Mother's day. Even though it doesn't seem to long ago I talked to you at the airport I think I'm gonna cry a little. If you can't get through just call Elder Schroath's ma and see what she did. We can't call you though unless you want to talk for like 5 seconds. Our phone time isn't huge.

Well I think I'll take some time to talk to Tanner today.

I love you all. Thank you for telling me that you're proud and that your testimonies are growing.

Love,
Hayden

I finally got my Easter Package! Thank you for Reese's. They dont't have those here. The mail people opened it though. Tey Elders told me that there's something that you can list what is in that package or something and then they won't look in it.

That's cool that Pres Griffin Talked about us! I wish that man would write me something.

I'm glad you're getting to do all those videos for people Jase! Your gonna have to show me what new tech somes out when I get home.

That's always cool to hear about all the people with mission calls...but weird to hear about people getting married.

This week we had two investigators in church and one even bore her testimony! the problem is she needs to get married and that won't happen for at least 4 months.
SOmething really cool happend earlier in the week. We jsut randomly clopped this house and the lady let us in. Later she told us that earlier that mornign she had been praying for someone to help her stop drinking and she promised God that she would let them in if they came. But since i still can't understand Dutch i didn't know that til Elder Schrath talked about it in the night. We haven't had contact with her since, but i hope we will soon.

Church here is just the regular 3 block schedule.

To find investigators its a mission rule to talk to ten people on the street and get their addresses everyday. We don't clop houses too much unless everything else falls through and we have extra time.

So I'm going to be Elders Scroath's last Companion. I think he seemed disappointed that he has to stay in Munder for his last transfer... or at least hopefully it's not because of me. Also Ralph The Security gaurd said he didn't wnat ot be baptized so that might have frustrated him too. But ELder Schroath is doin better today. Hopefully i can do something to make this transfer a good one for him.

THat's weird that basketball season is almost over. The Jazz are seeded pretty high i guess. I will be quite furious if they go all the way. But that won't happen... will it?

Tell Chad hi for me if you see him before he leaves and good luck.

I haven't got any other packages or letters yet, but at least we can have confidence that the mail system works...eventually.

Some good news is That Henk is getting out of the hospital today! We get to visit him tomorrow. I bet he'll be pretty happy tomorrow so that will lift all our spirits. Here is a pic of him and me

If you Know where my cord for this camera is can you send that? that's the only way i can send pics and when Elder Shcroath leaves i won't be able to use your cord.

Well I want you to know that i love you a lot and it's awesome to have so much family support from you. And from all the extended family.My mind keeps going back home probably too much and that makes it hard sometimes but knowing that you want me to be here is a comfort. ok love you all.

Love,
Hayden

Apr. 5, 2010

This morning there was a frog in my shower. The new apartment is not quite as clean as the others.

I don't think they invented skype in Suriname yet so a phone call will have to do.

I haven't received any packages yet except the one from Grandma. Hopefully it gets here soon.

That's cool that Bryant wants to write. I'll definitely write him back when that letter comes. Should I use the address that is on the letter or do you need to give me the address to the mission home there?

They don't celebrate Easter at all here. Except in the American stores like McDonald's. They're all about good Friday though.

So next week Ralph could be baptized. He just has to come to church one more time in a row. Also we have to help him understand some stuff because it turns out he really doesn't know hoe to pray yet...whoops.

General conference was sweet. As missionaries we basically did nothing those days and priesthood session ended at 11 so we stayed up late cuz we're cool. They talked a lot about keeping families together and strong so that was cool. And them there were a bunch of great talks just bout Christ that were great.

Me and Elder Schroath are getting along well. Especially the last couple of weeks.

Well it seems I've forgotten my camera again...sorry. But thank you for the pics. It was kinda weird to see that much of home with all the little kids and then the very familiar scenery of Jeanie's back yard.

So now I live on a street called Tribolilaan. We're just off the corner of the intersection with concordlaan or maybe its concord straat ..or maybe weg.

I'm sending a letter to Grandma tomorrow with a few pics of mud soccer and other such shenanigans so i can finally get you people some pics. This Internet place that I'm at right now looks too shabby for sending pics anyway.

Well there's not too much to say this week. Just Ralph and oh yeah Henk should be getting out of the hospital soon so he will get baptized when he gets three weeks of church in.

Thank you for everything family. I love you.
Love,
Hayden

March 29, 2010

Hello you good old family of mine,
My e mail worked out. As you could have probably guessed there was no real problem. I'm just a bit slow with the computer stuff. i did have to recover my password from the church website so i think that took some Internet savvynes to do:)

I did get that package from grandma with the book 2 weeks ago as well as four or five of her letters at once. So yeah the mail is weird here. Also i got dad's dear elder letter. It seems that that was a week faster than the normal letters so that might be the way to send the written letters. And how did grandma know i was doin that in the MTC?

We are now in our 3rd apartment in 1 transfer! I was in the last one for just 2 weeks because we were just waiting for the one we're in now to be ready. In our newest one we have a decent washer but still know dryer.

I tried to send you some pics but i accidentally formatted my memory card! yeah I'm not great with technology. but now that I'm on the new website i should get some to you next week. in the meantime Elder Dirkmaat should send one of us at the new apartment. Which is a whole 2 story house!

We have one guy that could possibly be baptized in two weeks. It's Ralph the security guard that i told you about a few weeks ago.So it he comes to church the next couples of weeks he'll be dunked. Else wise nobody else seems to be down for it yet. One lady had a really great lesson with Elder Schroath and a zone leader while i was on exchanges and the spirit was really strong there after they asked in prayer with her if Joseph smith was really a prophet. But she just said she felt weird and said that God always makes things really clear for her like in a dream because she's had dreams that helped her before...oh boy.

I think I'm gonna buy a new seat for my bike because we bike a ridiculous amount of miles a day and its just not working out with my sore behind.

Still no cultural center trips. Probably because we have to move every p day. But theres a pretty cool Hindi temple and a big mosque by where we live.

SO i accidentally heard about standings in the NBA yesterday while biking by a sports bar place;) I heard the lakers were not in the top 2 in the west so I'm happy.


Well that was great to hear from the cuzins too.
Sorry i have no idea what my address is but we didn't move far so you can just look at the streets and think of me biking there.

I don't know if i answered all you q's but hopefully i did.
I love you all! Thanks for that packages( that hopefully get here soon.. or ever)

Love Elder Hayden Van Meeteren

Mar. 15, 2010

This week has been a good one. We had zone conference and the best part wasn't even the buffet of food! You talked about reaping some awesome rewards for my mission but in zone conference we talked about responsibility of the priesthood and dat ik naar de hel zal gaan als is niet hard werken! I never thought i could be so overwhelmed just listening to someone talk. But after I thought about how much Heavenly Father wants us to have and that i accepted this in the pre earth life i realized it's not impossible but it is when I'm by myself. Which as long as I'm not dumb will never happen.

In my interview with Pres. Gamiette he reassured me that the rewards were totally possible as well. I had to give a lesson in my first zone conference too! They picked us right before the meeting started. It didn't go bad but it definitely looked like i was knew. Pres. also told me that almost all the older missionaries are leaving very soon. Then he asked me, So Elder Van Meeteren, who will be left to train the new missionaries? ...uh oh. So i don't know exactly what that means yet but i guess it means i should be figuring out how to use the area book a little more...


We still teach that Henk guy with no legs. He is really a solid person. There's no doubt in his mind that as soon as he can get out of the hospital he's coming to church... too bad everybody else we have taught has legs. However we did have an awesome lesson with a new investigator...awesome means somebody actually invited us back.


You don't need to worry about me missing out on any cool historical sites or cultural activities...because Suriname has no historical sites and the culture.... well i don't think anybody that lives here really knows what surinamese culture is. It's just constantly hearing something new everyday that you had no idea about. Did i say anything about pawgwa yet? I dont know if that's how you spell it but it and Indian holiday were they throw paint on you. Yep. i now have a ruined silk tie.I 'll send you those pics asap. But i really need that info soon.

Ok i love you and miss you all. I hope you all feel what I'm doing has blessed your lives as well.

Love
Haydne...or how ever you spell that.

Mar. 1, 2010

No letters or packages yet. My apartment has a regular washer and dryer. like I said its a pretty nice place. Our place is the second one on the north side of the street I think but some of the buildings are new so I'm not sure.
I'll be able to send pictures on the Internet but you have to give me my account name and password for the account I used for my missionary papers because they made a new emailing website that works well with pics but I need that info before I can make it.

That's cool that Nick is on his way out aling with Cam close behind and Kylee too. If you here anything about Shane or Ryan Petersen let me know because Shane is in Chile where that earthquake hit and Ryan is in Hawaii.

Um this week is nothing too new. I'm still just following Elder Schroath around looking like I have know idea what's going on.

We had a lesson with this guy that has no legs and he's been in the hospital for six months because doctors are on strike so he can't get the help he needs. We taught him twice and the second time he seemed really happy and was able to accept his situation. He had read the book of Mormon before he met missionaries so that's cool. I guess he got one in New York when he lived there for awhile. SO this could end up being pretty cool. ..I wonder how you baptize a guy with no legs..

That's really cool to hear that all of my friends are heading out right behind me. I bet Plain City is becoming quiet unless the rising generation are trouble makers too.

I'm glad to hear that Spring is approaching for you. I won't see spring for two years. I miss seasons a little bit. I kinda miss dry weather too because I don't feel like I've really been clean since I left the mtc. The only variation in weather is rainny or sunny. Both are pretty intense but sometimes ya get just enough rain mixed with sun to be a good day...but its mosty just hot.

That Surinamse(yes I spelled that right) food was pretty good. It was mostly too spicy to taste at first though. And I personally think my diet is just fine.I have money left over from what I took out for my bike so maybe that's the difference. I've been eating a lot of pancakes lately. That seems the best way to keep my belly full and its not that expensive so i feel fine with what I'm eating....at least it doesn't give me gas like MTC food.

So yeah, I'm still just in the getting used to stuff stage. I'm really excited for those packages and letter! That will make me happy I'm sure.

OK now I gotta get my Email to the President.
Love ya all!
Love,

Feb. 22, 2010

Just so you know Jase, I like hearing from you even if you don't really have anything to say. same goes for everyone. I sent Jase a letter last week so we'll see how long it takes for it to get there.

I'm really excited to get those packages! I'm pretty snack deprived and with all the marijuana smoke in the air I always have the munchies. That's probably a good idea for me to send a written letter to jullie(you) once in awhile to get details in. Tell me when you get Jase's letter to see how long it takes to i can gauge when to send Mother's Day letters and stuff.

I'm still just getting used to stuff. ..LIKE COLD SHOWERS!. It rained a lot today which is good because the rain is a lot warmer than the shower. I still can't believe how important the missionaries are to that church here. Its so tiny and young. makes me feel like I have a lot of work to do.

I've met most of the Elders here and they are all awesome.

Our teaching pool is a little shallow right now. The last couple of days pretty much consisted of me following Elder Schroath around looking for people to contact. We did have a less active come to church that we didn't expect so that was cool. I Feel like Elder Schroath is carrying all that weight with contacting (because he is) so I want try to talk to more people. I can pretty much say anything I want in Dutch now, But I still can barely understand what people are saying! I guess just trying to talk to people will eventually cure that.

I haven't really got to experience real Surinamse food yet so I can't really say anything about it but a family invited us for lunch later today so hopefully that will be an unforgettable meal! So far it's just been cereal and ramen. One time I tried to cook chicken nuggets in oil and they turned out pretty good but for clean up I put cold water in the burning oil! Holy cow that freaked me out! I through the pan in the sink and ran away. Elder Schroath didn't laugh at all so I just felt really dumb.

If you here anything from tanner let me know cuz its been awhile.

Ok Fam, til next week!
I love you all.
Love <
Me

Feb. 15, 2010

Is it Valentines day? I don't know. Ik ben op zending!Well this might be short again because the guy that works at the Internet cafe cheated me again so I'll see what I can do.A missionary of ours just got called as a branch president because one of the presidents in Suriname got disfellowshipped. Glad I'm not in that area. For p-day we sometimes play soccer at a field by our apartment(which is actually pretty nice.) or we just laze about doing a little study and sleeping.Surinamers are funny people. They are really angry drivers. When we went to district meeting in the zone leaders van some guy started banging on our window in the car next to us and yelled something but I don't speak dutch so I didn't understand why!My area kinda reminds me of downtown Ogden if it was a little dirtier so its not to bad here. I don't think we have anyone lined up for de doop(baptism) anytime soon so that's too bad. There's this one guy named Ralph that we teach but he seems a little off sometimes. He's a security guard who just sits in a chair outside a building and that's when we teach him, at work. Every time we ask him to pray he asks if he should use the lord's prayer and every time we tell him that we have to prayer from our heart. He's just really funny. We're not sure if he gets what we teach yet but it will come eventually.I thought Suriname would be junglyer but its really just a busy little city. At least here in Munder it is. Maybe outside Paramaribo its less city like.I'm still just bearing my testimony once per lesson when we teach but I'm getting better I think. I gave a talk in church yesterday! It was pretty easy because i just read a lot of scriptures so i didn't have to use too much language. I got called a devil yesterday! I feel like a real missionary:)OK I gotta do my e mail for that president now. I hope I answered a few more questions this time.Love you!Love,Hayden

1st letter from Suriname, short but sweet.

Don't have much time.I'm doing good. Didn't get any sleep till I got to Suriname on Friday. All is well though. I have a good trainer and we're getting along great. My area is mostly city. Most everyone speaks dutch but one guy we teach only spoke Sranan Tongo so I didn't know what was going on. I did about half that teaching in one of our lessons though so that was good. I don't know if that guy understood me much but that's OK. My address is : P.O. Box 2932 Paramaribo, Suriname South America. I lost all my addresses so I need you to send me some of those. I went to work right when we got to Trinidad. I can't understand those people even though they speak English. I definitely like Suriname better than there. It's crazy how young the church is here. Everyone is first generation in that church. It's really tough to keep people in the church too. It's like way inactive here. but the actives are awesome. They do a lot of work because there aren't even enough members to fill all the callings.Well I'm happy to be here oh yeah the Super Bowl thing was legit! I still don't know how that got approved but make sure you make everyone jealous about that:)I'm still adjusting so don't worry that I don't get to say much because I don't really know what to say or what the heck is going on yet ha ha! I love you all. thanks for helping me out with stuff while I was done and for keeping me in your prayers! Love,Hayden

1st Pic from Suriname with Elder Scroath

Elder's White and Van Meeteren, Provo Temple

It really happened this time!

Elder Van Meeteren left Salt lake at 2 PM on Wednesday the 3rd, (11 weeks in the MTC) and traveled to New York via Minneapolis. He was able to call from there and then went on to Tinidad arriving there at 7 AM on Thursday. We were told by the mission secretary that he would spend the day there to be interviewed and oriented and then catch a plane that night to Suriname. He arrived there at midnight (8 our time). Here is an Email from Sister Dirkmaat who is a Senior missionary there:

Hi,

He arrived in last night. His companion says he is fine and speaks Dutch like a pro. We hope to meet him some time today or tomorrow. The Zone Leaders picked him up. His companion is Elder Scroath from Boise ID and they are already out working. You might find it interesting that the US Ambassador invited all the missionaries to his home to watch the Super Bowl. President Gamiette gave his permission. At lest you will know what he is doing at that time.

Sister Dirkmaat


We are happy he is finally there!

Not so fast!

Whoops! somebody dotted the wrong i and crossed the wrong t. Visa did not go through properly. We're hoping for Wednesday now instead of Monday..

FINALLY!

Elder Van Meeteren called mom and Jase last night. (dad wasn't home:( His visa has finally been accepated and he will leave early Moday morning for the Caribbean!

Still hangin' at the MTC

So I haven't heard anything else about my going anywhere yet. I'm still doing pretty good here and i still like the new district I'm with. There's actually a few people who understand my humor so that's good. Sorry about my e-mail not coming til Friday last week. I accidental sent it to the wrong address but a nice man let me forward it. So according to what Elder Perry said I'm going to be out of here by the end of the week? That's cool. It makes me wonder if I accomplished what Heavenly Father wanted me to while I was here. I don't think the only reason I have been delayed is to protect me, but if that's the main reason than He still would have given me an important lesson in the time I was here. One thing I learned is submissiveness and patience go hand in hand. I thing I was a pretty patient person before coming here, but I lacked trust and being submissive enough to serve well. So if nothing else I've learned a lesson on that. My branch president said he thought a reason might be so i could help to new dutch out. I don't know if I've done them a lot of good but i think i was able to help them out with the language. I hope at least I've been a positive example. I don't really know what to say about this week. It's pretty much the same as the last. It looks like I won't be able to do the proselyting thing with the Provo missionaries, but that's alright I'll be out for real in a few days. .. I think right? How much Dutch does grandpa Frank know? will I be able to talk to him in it when i get home? that would be cool. well this will be pretty short but don't worry because I'll be able to talk to you with my face rather than my fingers soon right? So you did mean by the end of this week right? because Mom you left off an important word on the e mail you were telling me about that in. OK thanks for keeping my mail box occupied.
I love you and appreciate you more everyday!
This has been Elder Van Meeteren ( Hayden)

1/20/2010- Still in the MTC but things are good:)

So it's been a crazy week so far. I had to move rooms so i'm not sure what happened to the dear elders letters you sent me, thus i may for get to answer some questions you had.

I have heard nothing new about the visa situation. I got moved into a new room. i'm in a district with the new dutch. Its nice being in a district of more than 2. Also they made me zone leader of the branch to give me something to do in these next couple of weeks. I have time to do pretty much whatever i want now so things are looking up. One of my teachers said he was trying to talk his boss into letting me do splits with the Provo missionaries. that would be a cool way to kill some time here.

Don't worry mom, the letters i got from jeanie and brenda were not mean;) I t was nice to talk to you. It was weird though. I thought i would be freaking out when i talked to you but it felt like it hadn't even been that long since i talked to you.

I finally got that Life Flight calender. It was funny because there was a letter in it that said i would just about be going to Suriname when i got it. WRONG! ha ha

Wow what did president Griffin tell ELder Perry? Hopefully Elder Perry doesn't come to talk to me about how to stop being a baby. So what did you tell president Griffin? I'm not doing too bad right now. I'm still figuring out how to make time useful here but other then that things are good.

I would like you to keep sending Tanner's e mails and mine to him. We are keeping in contact but it's just nice to here about him when he's not able to write me.

For tht devotional yesterday someone from the seventy came and talked to us about how important the Book of Mormon is. He talked about how his family reads in it every once in a while and discussed what thay read. I thought about how we had never really done that. Maybe you should try that now. I bet it would help Jase a lot in these next few years bofore his mission.

Also enough with the depressing Jazz news! I don't need to hear about that anymore. You can tell me about them if they get a high seed in the playoffs or something like winning the ship but unless it's something very significant ... no thanks.

I think i'm going to try and get a "solo" sticker so i can do some things by myself and not have someone yelling "Hey you punk! Where's your comp!?" That way i can go to the phone answering place by myself during the time i have for collega studie istead of just sitting by myslef for another hour of personalijke studie.

I still kinda have classes but it's pretty much been me and my teachers discussing what to do with me for the next weeks.

I like being with this new group. they look to for an example for somethings and they really try to be obedient so they are good examples for me. i think this might be my favorite part of my mtc experience.( i would still like to be in Suriname asap though)

My new favorite thing to say is "heilige koe, ik ben moe" that means holy cow i'm tired. ha ha it rhymes...

Alright family. I love you and all the support that come from the extended family awseome. I get home next year so i'll see you soon

Love Hayden.

Dissapointing news for Elder Van Meeteren

Well i guess I'll be staying here for however long it takes for my visa to be done. I don't think I've ever received any news that has hit me so hard. It just about made me sick the first time the lady at the travel office told me. i think I'm OK now. I was OK with going to New york of something as long as it meant moving on. I didn't expect this to be the case at all. I feel really blindsided. The thing that brought life into me was getting the flight plans. now i guess those were in vain so i don't even know what to do. Nobody has really talked to me yet, but i guess I'll just have to go to class with the new Dutch speakers that came in and follow them around. I hope i can grow from this rather than regress. I wish i knew how i should feel about it. I don't want to stop growing , but i gotta find another way to take this news if i want to become better because the way I'm feeling now is leading nowhere but backwards. Maybe i need to learn that the MTC isn't really the horrible prison I've made it out to be in mind mind. I have to change my few of that if I'm gonna make it another 3 or 4 or how ever many weeks it will take get my visa down. I don't want to be mad or sad about this, but i just don't know what to feel about this. I've hit a hard time that people talk about but usually when people talk about hard times on a mission I never thought it would happen like this. I gotta find something else to be excited about other than leaving. That could only get me about 8 and a half weeks so now i have to find something else to rely on. and i don't know what that is. I've never felt so hopeless before....but i just got back from the temple. its a blessing that i got this news on temple day because that's what has helped me keep going. I read a scripture in there about patience. Alma 33:34... or whatever is the last verse in that chapter... i forget these things sometime. But it just said that we are rewarded for our patience so hopefully if i take this without complaining too much( as if i haven't already) something awesome will happen when i get to Suriname. I'll be really grateful for the Elder that showed me that scripture in the temple today for a very long time. I wish that i could be in Suriname now. I wasn't afraid to go to a foreign speaking place or anything but my biggest fear came to life. I think that is was my mission will be all about. My hope is that something else will happen while i here to make me better. All I know is that is isn't my fault and it's completely out of my hands so i can only try to learn.Don't worry I'll survive this . I love you all very much and i realize it more everyday. Please pray for me. I don't think i can do this without your prayers love,Hayden

Jan. 6, 2010

OK I'll wrote down as many questions as i saw. Here are the answers to them: I haven't anything new about my visa but i guess you have more access to that info now than i do since you found that friend of FB. My flight plans are supposed to come tonight so we'll see what happens. I don't think I'll be able to tell you about that til next week. They let me call home if i get a temporary assignment though. I am indeed warm enough. i only wore that sweater once and things started to warm up a little bit. The thoughts of the hot Suriname sun keep me warm too. I have been able to see Tyler more than i expected to. I'll see him usually on Sundays when we watch the movies at night so that's cool. It's awesome to have so many friends that are just good. I have medicine for another two months so how ever you want to handle that ... I think my Dutch continues to get better. We just taught the second lesson in it and I'm getting to where i can understand and answer questions. Hopefully I'll be good enough to get right into it when i get there. OK there ya go. I hope most questions were answered. I think i have heard about Rob's son before. I bet it's a comforting thing for his family to know where he's going. I bet he's starting his own mission training right now. I think I'll send you my first memory card home with my suit. i don't think i need 3 so you don't need to buy a new one. unless you think that's a bad idea. The photo thing here is just really a piece of garbage and they only have one so the lines are really long all the time. So yeah my retainer broke. I submit that it was not me fault. It was just it's time. I have to get a new one but they give missionaries half off and I'm getting the invisilign kn id or how ever you spell it so i hope that's OK. Donny Osmond's son is actually a pretty cool kid. Tell Jase Elder Osmond was a huge fan of the Misadventures Of Flapjack. Ok everyone. I love you. I realize how much i love you more and more everyday. It's like that one song says "ya don't know what ya got 'til it's gone, they paid paradise to put up a parking lot" that second phrase was unnecessary but you know what i mean. Oh dang, I'm supposed to forget about wordily things that means i have to forget about that song. OK commence memory erasal.....SWEEOOSWEEOSWEEEOOOSWEEOOOOOOOOOOOOSH.....SHOOSHOSH...ok all good.The MTC ruins your brain after 7 weeks i think. Hey guess what i get home next year! Haha good new years joke.Well my clock is counting down now because that memory erasal took so long. I hope you'll keep praying for me. I need it all the time. I can't wait for a week and a half from now when i can actually tell you something interesting!!! The church is true! Missions last a lifetime! Read your Scripture! my brain is broke Love ,Hayden