Saturday, March 27, 2010

Some Pictures

These were all taken before Kade left.  Hopefully we will get some new ones soon!

Kade wtih Grandma and Grandpa Fortie the night he was set apart

I love these boys!

Packing

More packing, love the PJs Kade!

Weston greeting Kade at the MTC

March 24, 2010 Letter

This is a letter we got from Kade on Thursday. The e-mail was down so he wrote a letter and later e-mailed too.

Well, email is down. I don't think I've heard one good thing about the email here. Even if it gets back up I won't have much time to use it. So Wednesday is my p-day. I don't have too much time though. I did get a card from Gubler's, tell them thanks a lot and I really appreciate it. The charge on my debit card definitely is not okay. I never touched that game. Tell dad that I do have access to a microwave but no fridge. And no I'm not getting made fun of for my awesome blanket! Mom, driving around in the middle of the night isn't too bad. Just stay away from the ghetto. That's where I would get scared. Some things I would like you to send are....a bathrobe, some more ties to go with my suit with brown, so maybe like a light blue one etc.., some tic tacs, some refills for my marking pen, Jeffrey R. Hollands talk from last conference then maybe my physical therapy exercises if you can find them. Just send whatever you can. Thanks so much for the package. I loved it. Make sure sis knows I loved her treats too. I really appreciate it all. I see Weston 2 or 3 times a day so that's nice. I see a bunch more people from school too. Sunday was our day to walk up to the temple and I got to spend time with Jared, Weston, and Brody. Then Sunday night we all sat by each other at a fireside and at the Joseph Smith movie. So it's really cool. Brody left yesterday so I had to say goodbye to him on Sunday. They all have learned so much it's amazing. The food is going really well. As of last Monday I was up about 6 or 7 pounds from when I left. Don't worry though, I won't get fat. Weston leaves in a week or two I think and I don't think Jared leaves until like April 13th or something. I love my district. They're all amazing. We have three sisters in it. They're cool and not a pain. One is from Hawaii, the other from Delaware, and the last from Lindon, Ut. They're all like my sisters. Then it's me and my companion then our roomates. My companion is cool. He was the football and track star. So the exact opposite of me, he is from St. George. Then our roomates, one from Gilbert AZ, and the other from Hurricane. The one from Gilbert is really cool, his best friend just got his call to my same mission and leaves the first of June. My teachers in class are awesome. I learn a lot from the guy, bro Airmet from Layton. The sister teacher, I don't learn as much from. The sister from Hawaii is the nicest person I have ever met. She is Polynesian/Japanese/ Hawaiian. Her knees are bad and popped out the other day. The next day she asked the district leader for a blessing. None of us really knew what to do, but he gave her one and did awesome. So later that day I asked our teacher for a quick lesson on blessings. Well, it turned into an hour's worth of class. He asked who wanted to receive blessings so I was given the opportunity to give one. Sister Riggs from Lindon asked me to give her one for comfort. I was really scared and nervous. It was my first one. I started to shake cause I was so nervous, then I started and was way calm but shill shaking cause of the spirit. I don't really remember what I said but after she told me the things I said were exactly what she needed to hear at the time. It was a crazy experience. There is an Elder here, Elder Larsen, he knows Brock Emerson. I think he said he was one of Hailee's coaches. He is pretty cool. I've met a few other people too that I know through different connections. Like a kid from Mississippi that knows Anna Ray. Then another Elder from Clearfield that knows people from work. Right now, I'm just in the laundry room doing laundry. Sorry if my handwriting sucks. I'm kind of in a hurry so I probably won't have time to respond to a lot of letters I get. So I apologize, but I am very grateful for all the letters I do receive. I actually haven't even got homesick, but the days are going by pretty slow. You'll be proud, I sang in the choir!!! It went pretty good. I found caffeine free Mr. Dew but haven't bought any yet. That charge for $8.00 was just misc. stuff I needed. I might buy a mini quad, they're only like $40.00 here. And I will want it in the field when I have to carry my Spanish scriptures. Well I'll try to write an e-mail later but might not get to. But don't worry about me! I'm fine. I'll try to put my testimony from memory in Spanish.
Me gustaria comparnis me testimonio. Dios es nuestro padre celestial. Jesucristo es el hijo de dios, nuestro salvador. El libro de mormon es la palabra di dios. Joseph Smith fue un profera de dios. Thomas S. Monson es el profeta viviente. Comparto mi testimonio en el nombre di Jesucristo, Amen
I love you all so much and am so grateful for the things you have done for me. Keep sending the letters, I love them. I love how you're already being blessed ha ha. Let me know what happens with that. That's way cool that Seth finally sold his business. Take care of my baby, and try to get it sold so it doesn't get abused. At gym I play 4 square. I'm gonna be pro before I leave. The Chinese elders and the black elder are amazing at it. My hand is killing so I better go. I love you all so much!! Our branch Pres asked what our moms would say if they could explain us with one attribute, so mom, what's one attribute?


Love,
Elder Schvaneveldt


P.S. Make sure grandma and grandpa have my right mailbox number. It's 240 not 204.


This is Denise now. I'm not sure how I did on the Spanish part. I had a hard time reading some of his writing so for those of you that speak Spanish sorry if I messed it up.

March 24, 2010 E-mails

I was supposed to be able to email you this morning but the email was down so we just barely got it set up. We just got back from doing inititories at the temple. It was way cool. I sent a letter to our house this morning so I won't say to much right now. You can type the letter up and email it out to everyone cause I didn't have time to write everyone. I also sent a letter to our house for Kevin. He didn't put the city or zip code in the address book. So if you could get that to him that would be awesome. This part is to dad. One of my roommates was saying how he hasn't even talked to his dad hardly at all since like August. So I just want to say thank you for always having a good relationship with me. That is a blessing in my life. But I'm doing way good. I'm loving it here! Some things I kind of want you to send are... A bathrobe, a longsleeve shirt, there is a black one in my closet that says willys garage on it, I need more ties that match with my black and brown suit that I can wear with brown, tic tacs cause I can't chew gum, and I can't think of what else but I think I wrote it all down in the letter. The debit card charge about that warcraft game was not from me that's for sure. And I might buy a mini quad here to have when I have to carry my spanish scriptures. For the spanish quad it's like $40, so not to expensive. I only have like two ties that match it. So yeah, this is the address you email me at I guess. So everything else I have to say is in the mail! You'll probably get it on friday or so. But keeping sending the letters, I love getting them! Tell everyone hi and that I love them all, especially Grandma and Grandpa. I love you all so much and am so grateful for the positive influences you have been on me. I wouldn't be who I am or where I am today if it wasn't for you. So have a good week and you'll be hearing from me soon.

Love
Elder Schvaneveldt
 
I just got your letters and the package along with my drivers license and pin number. So do I keep using the same debit card? Thanks for the package. I really appreciate it. I can't really remember all the things you asked me, but yes dad, the brown shoes are just fine. They are actually more comfortable than the black ones. But both are comfy. I just talked to Weston about three minutes ago at dinner, he leaves next Tuesday night. He is pretty excited. As far as my departure date goes I'm not sure. If I get a second in the next few days I will ask them for sure. I kind of hope it is the 17th so I can see Nick for a minute. That would be way good. As soon as I sign on the email starts counting down from 30 minutes. It takes five minutes off for each time you sign on even if you only use one or two minutes. And the latest I can check it is six, but my class starts at 5:15. You'll have to tell me about that job that Tyler is interviewing for and if he gets it. Today we fasted for breakfast because one of the elders has been sick, then another sister has heart problems that she is trying to find out if she can get to the doctor for. So for lunch I ate way to much, and same for dinner. The food schedules are hard for me to get used to. Breakfast is from 7-7 30. Lunch is from 11 30-12 15. Dinner is from 4 30-5 15. That's the earliest I have ever eaten dinner! But I'm getting used to it. I also still have a hard time getting in bed at 10 30. I'm for sure not used to that one. Getting up hasn't been to bad yet. The first morning here I woke up extra early to try to beat the rush and get a hot shower. Well it turned out the water heater was messed up so I got up for a cold shower. I was ticked. But ever since then it has been fine. New missionaries came in today so hopefully I will know some more. But as of right now I see Elder Vincent, Elder Jacobs, Elder Petersen, Elder Tidwell, Elder Andersen, Elder Bauer, Elder Johnson, and Elder Stoker. They are all just kids from school. The one I see the most is Weston so that makes things really nice. Seems like I'm still asking him questions all the time. The way time goes by here is just to hard to explain. So slow but so fast at the same time. But I better head to class, they're pretty strict on being late. You will be getting a letter soon! Love you all!

Elder Schvaneveldt

Sunday, March 21, 2010

First Letter!!

March 18, 2010

Dear home,

I'm here and alive! So far things are going awesome. Having Weston be my host helped a lot and made it so the goodbye wasn't too hard. Then as soon as I got in Jared and Brody were waiting for me so that was way cool. I've seen a few more people I know also. This place is unbelievable!! It's nuts how strong the spirit is in all of the classes. My companion is really cool. Elder Nelson is his name and he is from St. George. We are in a room with four of us. My companion is going to Spokane too. Another kid is from Hurricane and he is going to Seattle. The other is from Gilbert and I think he is going to San Fernando.  They're all really nice. Weston came and ate lunch with me too so that was way cool. My P day is on Wed. so I can't e-mail until then. And I'm not supposed to write letters on any other day than Wed. either. I think that's kind of weird so I'll ask about it tomorrow. But don't worry about me!! I'm gonna be fine. Go ahead and just type this letter up and forward it to everyone. It was really cool tonight to read the letters that everyone put in my suitcase. I had yours mom, then Kaylee's then Weston gave me one too. My address is:
Elder Kaden Jon Schvaneveldt
MTC Mailbox #240
WA-SPO 0511
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793
I know this church is true and that this is where I'm supposed to be right now. The gospel has brought so much happiness to my life so I want to share that with everyone! I love you all so much and can't wait to get letters!
P.S. It's all good, the tree of life showers aren't here! And the only negative thing so far is that I haven't found any Mountain Dew at all! I had to drink Fanta! So start sending the Dew! Love you all!
Elder Schvaneveldt
So it looks like the first address we got wasn't right. I have updated it on the blog, but if you wrote it down or anything before this you should update it.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Kade's Address... Finally!

My mom got an e-mail last night from the MTC at about 10:00 with Kade's address. We were all getting a little anxious that we wouldn't have it in time to send him letters and packages today. Heaven forbid he should go through his 2nd day at the MTC without any love from the fam! Here it is:
Elder Kaden Schvaneveldt
MTC Mailbox 240
Wa-Spo 0511
2005 North 900 East
Provo, UT 84604-1793
I'm sure he would be happy to hear from everyone!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Mile High

Pikes Peak

Justin and I were lucky enough to have Kade come visit us in Denver one more weekend before he left. We had a lot of fun and Kade even learned how to iron a shirt from Justin. Hopefully he will remember what the expert taught him, Justin is pretty serious about his shirts. Kade reports to the MTC today. It has been a rough couple of days telling everyone goodbye for two years but we are all excited about Kade's upcoming experiences and adventures. I will post Kade's address as soon as I have it.



Kade and Justin at the Olympic Training Center



Kade and his favorite nephew, Remi








Kade spoke in sacrament meeting on Feb. 28 and he did a great job. Thanks to all of his family and friends who came to support him!