Another tidbit

Here is another message from Elder Van Leeuwen! Sorry for the lapse last week!

Hola Familia, Amigos, y otro personas! haha. Sorry, thats probably all the spanish I can speak. haha jk. Where do I start. well.

Tuesday! We had another great and awesome speaker! Whoa we are lucky! We had Elder Russell M. Nelson come and speak to us. That means I am 3/5 on devotionals and apostles. haha. But he spoke about the importance of the Book of Mormon. You''ll see that in the October Ensign coming out soon. We all got copies, and I admonish all of you to read read read it! The Book of MOrmon has such a power in our lives, we cannot even believe if we apply ourselves, study it iout, and do so with a humlbe prayerful spirit desiring to learn more. Elder Nelson hit up on it hard. Through the Book of Mormon us missionaries are gathering Israel. Here's a question I want you to ask yourself, "What role has the BOok of Mormon played in your life?" As I ponder that I am like, wow without the book of mormon a huge chunk of me would be gone! 

I am sooo greatful for the message of Jesus Christ the Book of Mormon bears, and how privileged I am to share that message!

Um, lets see. Other experiences. Well me and another Elder in our district were teaching to other Elder too practice our Spanish, and you know, my espanol isn''t the best, but small and simple are great things brought to pass. I will keep at it.

So were teaching and the lesson gets over. BOth of the Elders we were teaching said, you know, I don''t think I understood a word you said.. haha. But I felt something. It is sooo important for me, when I teach I invite the spirit, that we teach by the spirit. There will be times where investigators will say, I didn''t understand a word you said, but I FELT SOMETHING.  I know those experiences will come! And I am sooo grateful for those opportunities.

Bless the lives of others, Read the Book Of Mormon! Please, it will bless you in so many ways now that I look back on my life! El Libro De Mormon es la palabra de Dios! Yo se que El Libro De Mormon es verdadero y puedo un fortaleza en mi vida! Love you all!

Con Amor

Elder Van Leeuwen

Letter from 9/8/11

Here is another week's tidbit:


Hey mom!! And family friends, whoever reads this. How is everything going 5 minutes from the MTC.. haha. So this week has been awewsome! It always is. Filled with so many good experiences. I will try to remember them all and get the most important ones. So Sunday was our first fast sunday here in the MTC. And to tell ya I wasn't hungry all day. When we fast with a purpose and continually have a prayer in our hearts about what were fasting about, you can get through it. Hey, the savior fasted 40 days, with satan tempting him. So why should it be hard enough if we keep the savior in our mind, and fast for 2 meals. So it comes time to bear testimonies by the elders in our branch. My heart just starts pounding, I can feel the spirit so strong in that meeting. It was like no denying it. Holy cow! haha. I couldn't sit in my chair anymore, so I went and bore my testimony in my broken Spanish that it is. haha. But that was a good experience.Next experience, day of joy and learning! So we have our investigator Pedro were teaching. And we are teaching about, well we kind of got lead by the spirit, and didn't rteach what we had prepared. So its going on, we ask if he would prepare to be baptized on the 24th. He just wasn't sure, he didn't know if God answered our prayers. So my companion asked do you want to know right now if baptism is what your supposed to do. So we go to on our knee's, Pedro offered the prayer. As soon as he finished, we asked how he felt, and bam! Rush of the spirit! It was sooo coool! Like there was no denying that the spirit was there. It was incredible. Love you guys, miss ya. Love receiving dear elders! So thanks! Try to better the lives of those around you!

WIth Love

Elder Van Leeuwen

9/1/11

Here is another little excerpt from Elder V's letter:

Welll time seems to be flying. But it is weird I have been here only 2 weeks. Esta bien. haha.But so the most exciting part of the week was the devotional on Tuesday!! ahhhhhhhhhh! haha. I loved it so much.

We had Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speak. Wow he is so full of the spirit, and talks with power and conviction. We were so privileged to hear from a mna likehim! It was incredible and something I will never forget. Yo se que JesuCristo es el Salvador! He Lives! (Tell people to dear elder. Its a bit easier.)

Mucho Amor

Elder Van Leeuwen

So to make things a little easier for Elder Van Leeuwen, we would like to ask everyone to not contact him through email. Due to the short amount of time they are given for emails, it makes it a lot easier if he can get mail through DearElder or through the MTC address provided at the right. That way he can spend time throughout the day reading letters that are actually printed, instead of using up all his internet time to read emails. Thanks so much for your support!