28 august 2012::

 

Thanks so much for your email. It helped out. I had to laugh though because even though i am thousand of miles away, i can still get the quilt trip. haha. I thought it was funny.

 

My week was good. You were right, transfers were this week. My new compnaion is Elder Petersen. He is on transfer 15. He is half japanese and american. He has lived most of his life here in Japan though. He speaks fluent japanese and englsih. He ahs been ZL for over 5 transfers now. He really knows how to make a Zone work.  He is really good at uniting the zone and working with church leaders and what not. I am excited to work with him. It is funny how the adversary works. Yesterday when i met him, he just starting calling all these leaders and what not. I felt that he was here to fix me. To fix the Tokyo Zone. Well that is what the adversary wants me to think right. Well, today while i was running, i had a thought tell me that I was meant to be here with him. He cant do what he has in the past in Tokyo without MY help. I might not be as skilled as he is in working with leaders and stuff like that but i have something that he needs. That was a comforting thought and i know where it comes from :). I dont like gettign new companions either. The reason is i have to start over. I almost cried when i had to say good bye to Elder Hansen. It was way hard. I love my comps but i hate the begining becasue i dont konw anything about them. He is older than me too. The last time i got a comp way older than me was my 4th transfer. YOu remember what happened? I almost killed that kid. It was way hard. But my most appreciative transfer. I am excited. I could use your prayers. Elder Hansen was made AP. That is my 2nd companion that i have sent to be AP. He is my 3rd companion that has been AP. I am sure he will do great. I love him and support him alot.

 

So our week was way good. I want to tell you about my gators for a bit. We have 6 gators that are progressing. Matsunaga is a part-member but lacks a testimony. He jsut goes through the motions when he comes with his family. He needs a testimony way hard-core. He said that he wanted to be baptized so he can go through the tmeple but it sounded like that was a burden. Yoshy (black sheep) He is doing way good. He is just accepting everything that we are teaching him. He is kinda lazy though. He smokes like a train. If you could pray that his prayers will be answerd and that he can meet i would be happy. Ryutaro, he is a 20 yr old that we are teachign. Yoshy referred him. He is super cool. He really wants happiness and is wondering if religion or a belief in God will give him that. He is praying but not really reading. If you can pray that he will feel Gods love and the spirit, that would be great. Nara, he is a 64 yr old man that has a background in buddhims. He is accepting everything way well though. He is way chill and is keeping his commitments. I am wondering though if he will go all the way then just back out. Pray that he will continue to want to be baptized and understand everything. Soko, He is awesome. He is having a hard life at work though. He seems super happy when we meet with. He has a hard time believign in God and Jesus though. In china they are taught that theya re just myths. way sad right? He is keeping his commitments though and wants to learn an dunderstand. Pray that he will continue to have good expireneces an come to know the truth. Sugaya, He is just a golden investigator. He answers our questions perfectly and is flying through the book of mormon. He is in mosia and he ahs been reading for only 2 weeks. He is just golden.Pray that he will be able get teh conviction that it is true. Thanks so much. THese ppeople are the best and i love them all so much.

 

Lately i ahve been doing really good. I have really enjoied the past week. We have bee super busy and continue to get even busier. I have eaten out so much. My money is going down the drain. Being ZL is sure expensive but i love it. I cant believe that i only have 3 transfers left. I cant tel you too much about travel plans and stuff like that because i havent gotten my stuff to fill out yet. I get that info this transfer. But i do believe that the church will pay for my plane ticket back with you guys. You just have to let me know how long you intend on staying and what day we plan on returning. I would like to fly out of Narita. I have served there and i want to take you there. If i were you i would call church travel becasue i dont know anything as of now. Like said, I fill out my return papers this transfer sometime. I just need to know when you will come and when you will plan to leave.

 

It has been hard to focus a bit lately. I really am excited to see you all again. I cant beileve that i have only 3 transfers left. I catch myself thinking aobut home or what i will do. It is hard to focus. Sometimes i just wish i could be done and go home or that time would go by faster, but i have told you before. I am going to burn out rather than fade away. I am commited.

 

I love you mom. I am so grateful for everything that you do. I cant wait to see you or talk to you on christmas. You are the abest ever. I did get those pics but havent looked at them. Thank you so much. I hope you have a great week. I know i will. I am going to make it that way. You can follow up too. I love ya. Keep moving forward.

22 august 2012::

Thank you so much for Nicks email. I just sent him an email. I dont think he will read it until next week thought. I think it might be his first one. Can you call him for me and tell him that i love him very much and that i love him. Thanks.

 

So i enjoied your email. It kinda made me think of home thinking about all the boys being together doing work up at the cabin. I miss being around all my brothers. I am excited to see them again. I want to hang with them again. I hope they are excited. Thanks for your email. Oh, and that is cool about your car. Youll have to set up a date for me so i can use it on the first week when i am hoem. THe work is urgent mother. THere si no wasting time when i get home. Hahah. JOKING. I want to be married when i am 24, so no rush there. But thanks for the email. I really did enjoi it. Do you think you can send me some pictures of how the cabin is coming along? I really want to see what it looks like and such. It sounds like you have done so much to it. I really want to see. Oh and i just htought today that i have 5 months left. I cant beilieve that. I can count on 1 hand how many months i have left. That is so weird. It really feels like i have been here only 1 month or so. It is going by so fast.

 

So my week went by fast, way fast. THat is how it seems to be all the time. WHenever i have to ride on trains, i know that my week is going to go by super fast. On tuesday, i went on splits wiht a missionary. It was fun. We did some streeting and visited a member. It was good to get away form my comp. Lately i have felt that it has to be his way or it is no way. Everytime i give a suggestion, he agress then says and gives reasons why his way is better. I am doing what dad told me to do, that is just to be patient and become smooth. I realy love my comp. but i think that 2 transfers together is good enough. I am ready for a change. Anyway, i have really felt that my prayers have become really sincere. I dont feel that my prayers are me just saying thanks and then asking for things anymore. I feel that they have beceom a conversation wiht God. I really feel taht i have started to pour out my soul to him. It really makes me feel good. Like during the day, if i have something that bothers me, i try to write it down so i can talk with God about it later in the night. I feel that i have realy leaned uppon him. I really look forward to my prayers at night. I love that time. It really helps going into another room and actuall vocally speaking too. It makes it feel more real. I love it.

 

Like i said earlier. We were on trains alot this week. One day we had to leave at 8;10 in the morning and didnt get back until 9;30. Our days are bcoming more and more hectic. This next week is transfers so it is going to beceom really busy. I am excited for that. But my wallet is really hurting. I run out of money so fast. We go out to eat so much as ZLs because we are never home. I wonder if that can be reimbursetable. It would be nice.

 

I wnat to tell you of another cool revelation i had this week. So we got done with a chinese gator, Soko. He donest believe in God. We watched finding faith in Christ and he looked at me with a really dumbfounded face when christ ressurected a guy, Lazarus. Well he said that it was hard and that it was an anciet myth. After the lesson, we were talking about it and my comp said that the lesson went ok. I thought the lesson was fantastic. Then it hit me. Every sunday i fast to knwo the needs of my gators, to find people to teach, and to help specific poeple. Well the past couple of weeks i have been fasting for him. Well it hit me that night. I know his concern, he needs to believe in God. Wait, then i thought aobut my other investigators. I know all of their concerns. Matsunaga needs a testimony. Murakami needs start praying. It was awesome because i realized that God has been answering my prayers and fasting by showing me these things. Maybe my comp doesnt know it but i do. It was really cool to think that we have gators who want to learn but are having struggles. That is where the best testimonies come from right. Please pray for them. I told you their concerns. They cna really use them. They are great people.

 

I love you so much Mother. I am excited to see you in a couple of months. I really appreciate all that you do for me. You are the greatest. i am doing great. I am still trying my hardest. I cant wait for you guys to come here and do a session in the temple with me. That is one of my planned things to do, go to the tmeple. I just went today that is how come this is late. I love yoyu and cant wait to hear from ya next week. Have a great week ok. Tell al my friedns hi.

14 August 2012::

It is always such a blessing to hear from the both of you. I love you guys so much. You have no idea. You guys are the best ever. Thanks. I loved both of your emails. They were both great. It sounds like the both of you are both very busy around the house and cabin. I cant wait to see what the cabin turns out to look like. I have heard so much about it. How much longer do you have this year to work on it? Can you send me some pictures of how it is looking? Thanks.

 

So this week was good i quess. It was the normal week for me. I quess the new thing was that i only ate in my apartment 2 or 3 times in the week. I am definately lacking the funds now. Being a ZL is so expensive. I cant believe how much we ate out. I had to stop eating when they would go to restraunts because i need money for other things. I was also on splits with missionaries for 3 days in a row. Starting from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday night i wasnt with my companion. I was with people in my Zone. It called for a good time. Sometimes getting away from your compaions is a good thing. I was able to go to Shibuya again. We ran to Tokyo Tower on Thursday morning which made for a good 1 hour run. I like doing that run. It is pretty. I took pictures this time. Youll have to wait til i get home to see it. Thursday night i was able to reunite with Elder Chen and Elder Crowther and go to the temple with Panda and do baptisms for the dead. It was great to go to the temple again with a recent convert and do baptisms. I love seeing the happiness taht they get when they do the baptism. It is incredible. It wasnt so incredible when he came out of the shower naked though. haha.

 

So ya that was pretty much my week. Nothing to exciting happened. Oh, i did my first Baptism Interview in japanese. It was pretty good. I was super nervous but i did alright i quess. Yesterday i stopped a guy and he was completly decked out with all this weird stuff. YOu couldnt see one peice of skin on him. We asked where he was from and he just pointed up. He then started telling us he was from heaven. It was pretty funny. He was an interesting guy. We got a good picture with him.

 

Today we had a Zone P-day. I was super disappointed with it. We did something that i didnt really want to do at all. We had 2 choices: Either go to the Aquarium which cost about 1400 yen or go to Shibuya and do a picture scavenger hunt and then eat all you can eat pizza which would cost about 800 yen. I came up with the scavenger hunt idea and i really wanted to do it. But everyone voted to go to the Aquarium. I was not happy. The Aquarium sucked too. It was super small and very very crowded and it didnt come with Lunch. I quess poepel will now konw the difference between a good idea and a crappy one. But i felt like it was a waste of 1400 yen plus the 1000 yen to get there.

 

So i did have a miracle happen this week. When i saw Elder Chen i asked about all the converts in Yamate. Specially Lili the girl who dissapeared. Well he said that they got ahold of her once. Well i went home on Thursday night and called her. Well she picked up and we were able to talk for about 15 minutes. It was great. Then Elder CHen called me on Sunday night and told me that Lili showed up to church. This has been the first time since she got baptized to do so. I was thrilled. Not only that but she got an interview from the Bishop and will be confirmed next week. How great is that? THe Lord is amazing. I love him so much.

 

I had a pretty cool revelation too yesterday at church. My comp was talking to a englsih speaker about his life and stuff. It then hit me that he asked alot of questions that were a littel private if you know what i mean. I thought about taht. I know that my comp talks a ton in lessons. THere are some lessons that i dont talk at all. I thought taht me not talking was a really bad thing. But i realized that I say what i need to say. SOme people just love to talk. I dont need to say alot of things like my comp does because then the gator gets confused and worried. If we keep it simple, they will understand alot easier. We dont need to use big words or smart sentences to teach the gospel. Just simple ones. Like a child. DOnt get me wrong, it is a very good strength that he can ask so many questions to understand and stuff but sometimes i think he does it too much. It made me feel better that what i do is enough and that it is ok. I thought aobut when i was in Yamate. I talked when i needed too and talked when i needed too but if i didnt need to talk, i didnt. It is kinda confusing but i think you know what i mean.

 

We had a All mission conference on firday. It was very long. from 9 to 6. I realized that President Budge is very different from President Albrecht. The mission feels more like a business now than when president a. was here. I dont like it. I am praying to do what is right and support what pres. budge does. It isnt easy. There are times where i have had the thought of just becoming a wamp missoinary and doing things i want to do. Still work but not has hard. Just taking it easy. Maybe not follow all the rules and stuff like that. But i have a fixed mind set of "It is better to burn out than to fade away.". I am going hard to then end. That is what Enduring to the End is right. So no worries. Transfers is in 2 weeks and i am getting excited about it. I love my comp but i think it is time for somebody new. Ill let you know how it goes.

 

Well there isnt much more from my end. I love you guys a ton. YOu are my heros. I would love to have some more pictures of the fam and stuff and waht is going on. That would be great. I hit my 1 year and 5 month mark last thursday. SO i now have like a little less than 6 months left. It is going to go by so fast. SO you better prepare. haha. I love you guys. Ill talk to you next week.

08 August 2012::

Sorry for this late email. I was out and about today and went to a place called Ueno. Look it up on Google. It is like a huge shopping mart and you can find super cheap stuff. We went and just looked around. I like going to places like that but not as a missoinary. I cant use any of the stuff that i buy. It is useless as a missionary. I also dont like seeing the pretty girls. it doesnt help. But it was cool seeing some way fun stuff. We went to a all you can eat sushi restraunt. I ate 56 peices of sushi and i am still full. It was fun.

 

I am doing pretty good. I am always tired for some reason. It has been super hard to get our of bed. But i do. It is interesting. Me and my comp are getting along but you can really tell that we are old missionaries. Today we were going to buy groceries and i had enough money but i told him that we might need to go get money from 7/11. Well i was leading and went ot 7/11 but my comp went to the grocery store. When we met up again he was a bit mad becasue i didnt go to the store. I told him that i went to 7/11 to get money but then he told me that i sadi i had enough money. I was leading. He should of followed me. I also thought it would of been better safe than sorry. But oh well. It just goes to show taht we think really differently. I think this is the companionship taht i have learned the least in. I learn alot in every companionship but in this one, not the most. We are both old and konw what we are diong. Sometimes it is a bit frustrating but it will be ovver in 3 weeks. TIme is going by fast.

 

Speaking of time. I think the best day for you to come is 12 of February for me. You would have to arrive in Japan on February 12.  Which would mean you might have to leave america on Febraury 11. You can fiqure it out. I would normally leave on 12 Febraury if you werent coming and arrive in america on 11 febraury. Does that make sense?

 

SO this weekend was suepr cool. We went to a firework show. It was amazing but to me that wasnt the coolest part. There was thousands of people there. THOUSANDS> It looked really cool. WEll i looked at the poeple iwas with. Members of teh Chruch. Maybe 40. Then i looked at the THOUSANDS that were around. My heart really started to hurt. Out of all the THOUSANDS of people there, only the 40 i was with were members of the church and know about Gods miraculous plan for us. That hurt me that all those thousnads had no clue. It really made me sad. I have really come to love the people over here. I really want them to come to accept this gospel. In tokyo there is 42 million poeple. Not that many here have the gospel. It hurt thinking about how about 42 million people could live without God and not want to learn aobut him. It hurt me to think aobut that. I think God gave me a little ltaste of how He fills. It sucked.

 

On sunday our recent convert Tsutomu gave me a g-shock watch. They are nice watches and really popular. He just gave it to me. At the firework show a guy had fallen down and couldnt get to our spot, so i carried. him to it. Everyone thought it was really cool. Tsutomu really liked it because he said he gave me the watch because i did that. It was realy nice of him. I really love Tsutomu alot. He is one of my great friends here in Japan. I love it.

 

I love you so much mom and dad. I am so grateful for all that you do for me. I know sometimes i can be a pain in the butt but i love you guys so much. I cant wait to see you all again. About 6 months. Time is going by so fast. Do you think you could some girls to start writing me? I really want to hear from some of my old friends or from some girls? I think i have only gotten like 4 or 5 letters form them and i want more. If you could do that it would be great. Some of my old freinds names are Carly Webb, Reagan Weight, Aly Weech, Brennan Hocking. Maybe you can look them on facebook and tellthem to write me. Maybe there are some girls in the ward that wnat to write too. That would be great. I love you guys alot. It is super hott here now. All i do is sweat. I like i though. Not much else to say. I hope you are all doing well. Oh mom, i do get pics through the email. So you can keep sending them. You guys have a great week.

a little mission letter fun

because my brother kurt is so awesome, i decided to write him a letter while he is on his mission. but this is no ordinary letter!






i wrote his letter on pieces of origami paper. in order to read the letter and have it make sense, the papers need to be in this form!  it needs to look like this~







then i folded every paper up into origami hearts. :) he has to unfold every single one haha.

my little brother is going to have a fun time opening each heart and trying to figure out the order in which to read the letter. i tried it myself and i had a difficult time! but i thought the idea was cute and fun so i wanted to entertain him :)

I love you Elder Kurt Van De Graaff! you are an amazing person as well as a fantastic Missionary!