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