i would first like to start off this email ( this is Kendi speaking), my brother Kurt obviously has a hard time spelling some words correctly. I do not pre-edit his emails. They are posted as they were sent :)
( this is Kurt Now)
Thank you so much for remembering to write me an email. I really needed to read yours and dads today. Just the past 2 hours have been rough because i have had a 2 hour train ride and lots of time to think. I really wanted to read your email. Sorry this got to you late. I was at the temple today and didnt get back til like 6.30. so it has been super busy today.
I finally got your letter, but i havent read it yet. i will when i am done emialing though. I think i can get a tie that is yellow gold or something like that. But i will probably send you the pictures as well as my camera card home tomorrow. so you should get it in like 10 to 12 days.
SOunds like you have a fun little deal going on with your aunt. That is fun and gave me a chuckle. Dad said kamas future mother in law was a sailor ahahaha. Kamas will have some fun with that.
I am really sorry for bug. Please dont let him quit though. You didnt let me or boo quit. Please dont let him quit. I know taht the coaches are really frustrating but it is worth it. It really is. I am glad i finished football to the end just to say that i did it. Please dont let him quit.
I hope that kendi had a great birthday and enjoied my card. I am glad that it got down there in time. I thought i was going to be late with it. I hope that she had an awesome day and really enjoied it. I thought about it alot yesterday.
So, this mission is super tough. I just told dad that i dont know if i will ever learn this language. I have the hardest time learning it. I really want to learn it though. I really want to be one of the best foriegn speakers in the mission. That is one of my greatest desires. It really is. Everytime i fast, thats what i fast for. Learning this slow makes me think that i will not make that desire and it really upsets me.
My week was super uneventful. I will tell you what i did:
Tuesday: I went to the Zoo and saw some way cool stuff. You will see some pictures and some videos of it. You guys will absolutely love it. Thats all about i did.
Wednesday: We did a service project for an old dude by picking weeds in his garden. We then went streeting and of course had no success. I had a hard time with the langauge and couldnt remember anything. I got frustrated. We then had English class.
Thursday: Oh i hate weekly planning. Before we did weekly planning, we had a lesson wiht a less active and watched Come what may and love it by Elder Wirthlin. We also made S'mores. I havent had a S'more in so long. It was so good and she really enjoied it. She is in a wheel chair and doesnt get out much. She loves our company.
Friday: We had a lesson with a Peruvian. The lesson was in Japanese and Spanish. 2 languages i cant understand. This is when i got super frustrated bearing my testimony in japanese. After taht lesson we had another lesson with the gator who has a Baptismal Date. He taught us some guitar. It was way fun. I played the ukulele version of Stairwya to Heaven by Led Zepplin and he sung the lyrics. After that he said the best prya dn really lifted my spirits. He just thanked the lord for our freindship and that we were able to hang out. I reall got a testimony of some peopl need time and freinds to get their testimony of the gospel.
Saturday: We did a service project at the church. I had mowed the lawn. SUper fun becasue i havent mowed a lawn in over 6.5 months. I loved mowing the lawn and miss mowing our lawn at home. We went housing and i didnt know any japanese and people were super mean. I got super pissed. After we got home i went straight to bed because i wanted the day to be over.
Sunday: Went to church. Had a birthday party. Went and did a less avtive lesson with a peruvain. then went down to another area for monday.
Monday: Was on splits with a Japanese elder Named Eguchi choro. He is so funny. We walked 2 hours to visit a less avtive who wasnt home. Then we did a Kubarikai. After that he wanted to buy me steak. so he bought steak and i cooked and marinated it (Because im the starter marinater) and we had steak and rice for dinner. So good. 1st time i have had steak in Japan. I then made a paper flower bouqet for Sister Albrechts birthday present which was today.
Tuesday: Went to the temple and now i am emailing you. I put everybodies name on the prayer roll. I gave my present ot Sister Albrecht and she seemed to enjoi it. I hope so cuz it took me 3 hours to make it. I also prayed about my struggles adn am looking or the spirits quidance. I hope that it comes super quick. I love the temple so much. I havent been in 12 weeks. It was super good.
My week wasnt bad but not the best either. Oh well, it is over and transfers are next week. I am for sure i will get a new companion and i might get transfered to another area. Everyone thinks i will open an area that has been closed. It is called Tsukuba. We shall see. I hope that your talk goes well. Definatly tell me how it goes. I dont get conference till 8 and 9 october. We get it a week later than in america because they have to translate it. So dont ruin anything for me.
I love you so much mom. I am so grateful for everything that you do for me. I am so excited to read your letter. THank you so much for your prayers and everything. You are the best mother ever. I love you so much. I hope taht you are doing super wel adn stay safe. I cant wait to be blown up. You guys have to keep me in the living room or the T.V. room. I love you so much. Let everyone konw that i love them.
Called to serve in the Tokyo-Japan Mission
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
12 September 2011
So i am so GLAD to hear that you want a picture of me in my darkest suit so you can blow me up. I really wanted you guys to do that. I really want to be in those wedding pictures and stuff. I am also glad that you hve sent me a letter. It has been over a month and a half since i have gotten one form the home. I really want one.
It sucks that bugs football game didnt go to well. The coaches are pretty messed up. I know bug did great. It sounds like he tore it up. I am so proud. I really wish that i could see his games and stuff like that. Just tell him that playing in some parts is better than not playing at all. I dont see Highland doing very good this year in football. The coaches arent good.
I want beef so bad. I dont eat very much of it. It is super expensive here and you are making me super jealous talking about it. Its good to hear that boo, marilyn and vicki helped. Tell vicki i say hi and i am trying to find time to send her a letter. I feel horrible i havent sent her one yet.
I am glad that brie is mingling more and more with the family. I hope i recieve a pic to see what she looks like. She sounds so cool. I bet you will see brother bellus alot more haha.
I am sorry thta you got a little depressed. What was the reason? I got depressed a couple times this week but said prayers and went to bed and had better days. I hope that your days will become bluebird days too.
I am doing pretty good. THis week was kind of a rough one but it went by rather fast. On tuesday i was on splits and we found a pretty cool kid named Yoshi. He is 20 yrs old and speaks fluent english. He said he doesnt believe in God but wanted to meet up with us again. I soon found out that he just wanted an american friend that spoke english. But i talked him into letting us give him a lesson.
Wednesday, I went to lunch with a member. That same member from my 2nd transfer who took me to sushi. It was nice because on wednesday was my 6 month mark. So it was like a celebration. We had a thing Called Katsu. Its like fried chicken. I had mine with a egg on top of it and it was super good. It was all you can eat rice too. I had 4 bowls. We then went and got ice cream. What made that good was he gave us Reeses. My favorite american candy that i havent had in 6 months. I had vanilla ice cream and resses (my favorite kind of ice cream). SO it was good. He then gave us Ho-Hos. AN american chocolate snack. It was so good. I felt so fat afterwards. I then went and did service for one of our potentials. We pulled weeds in his garden. His wife gave us so much food and cheesecake. I had to eat it not to be rude. I really felt fat afterwards and told myself no more sugar for the rest of the week. it was hard mentally.
Thursday nothing really happend. We had a less active cancel. We then had to turn over an investigator. It took the rest of the day because he lives like 2 hours by trian from us. we went to his bday party to turn him over. thats about all that happend.
Friday we went to Kisarazu again. It was fun. I really enjoied it. I get to go with other missionaries and talk. IT is so healthy to go with other missionaries. I went into this skate shop and it was so fun. They gave me a sticker from one of my favorite brands.
Saturday i was on splits with a Japanese person. It was good. We taught Yoshi. I bore powerful testiomony of God and Jesus. He seemed to be really thinking about it and accepting it. He realy wants to help poeple in the world. I commited him to read the book of mormon. He is 20 yrs old and studies 12 hours a day. I dont know how important he thinks this is. I hope that he comes to realize that this will make him and others happy.
Sunday we had 3 gators at church. We then got home at 5:00. We fasted for a less active who is having probliems with his wife. He wants to go to the temple and is working to get there.
MOnday: We had District Meeting that took all day. We then went to a Less actives birthday party .It was so much fun. I had some way good peruvian food.
Yesterday i did get homesick. I really want to be at Kamas wedding, go to the cabin, go camping and stuff like that. Me and my comp talked about it. The conversation turned into a mission talk. I really get down seeing others success and not mine own. I have been busting my butt off for 3 transfers and what i thought havent seen any success. But i know i have seen success. I think missionaries always forget that the 1st ppinicpli in the gospel is FAITH. If you strengthen someones faith, you successed. Even though i havent seen a baptism yet, i have seen some great success in the Less actives. We are super close to getting one coming back, we have one going to the temple. I have had a ton of success. I really wnat to baptize but if i strengthen someones faith, i am fulfilling my purpose. I just have to rmember the first principle but also expect to see some baptisms. That was the jist of the talk yesterday. I really just needed to pour the waterout of my bucket. M comp said that the bucket is now bigger and will take longer to fill up before i get homesick or depressed again.I hope so.
I love you so much! I cnat wait til christmas comes around so i can talk with you all again. I hope that time keeps going by super fast. I am starting to enjoi my mission, but ireally want to be back at home. I try not to focus on that thought though. I love you guys so much. Your cabin trip sounded really fun. I try not to eat unhealthy either. I eat out alot just because of my schedule. but i try not to eat ice cream or sugar as much as possible. I really wnat to keep that weight off and grow in muscle. but i am also a young man that needs to love the things of life. haha. I really love fruit but it is super expensive here in japan. Everything i like is super expensive Meat, Fruit, peanut butter, etc. It jsut sucks haha. but i am dealing with it. today i am going to the zoo and am really excited. next week i am going to the temple and am even more excited. The next 2 weeks my pday is on tuesday. I love you all so mcuh. Keep doing what is right. Keep safe adn dont do anythign dumb. i want to see you again. I cant wait for next week. I love you
It sucks that bugs football game didnt go to well. The coaches are pretty messed up. I know bug did great. It sounds like he tore it up. I am so proud. I really wish that i could see his games and stuff like that. Just tell him that playing in some parts is better than not playing at all. I dont see Highland doing very good this year in football. The coaches arent good.
I want beef so bad. I dont eat very much of it. It is super expensive here and you are making me super jealous talking about it. Its good to hear that boo, marilyn and vicki helped. Tell vicki i say hi and i am trying to find time to send her a letter. I feel horrible i havent sent her one yet.
I am glad that brie is mingling more and more with the family. I hope i recieve a pic to see what she looks like. She sounds so cool. I bet you will see brother bellus alot more haha.
I am sorry thta you got a little depressed. What was the reason? I got depressed a couple times this week but said prayers and went to bed and had better days. I hope that your days will become bluebird days too.
I am doing pretty good. THis week was kind of a rough one but it went by rather fast. On tuesday i was on splits and we found a pretty cool kid named Yoshi. He is 20 yrs old and speaks fluent english. He said he doesnt believe in God but wanted to meet up with us again. I soon found out that he just wanted an american friend that spoke english. But i talked him into letting us give him a lesson.
Wednesday, I went to lunch with a member. That same member from my 2nd transfer who took me to sushi. It was nice because on wednesday was my 6 month mark. So it was like a celebration. We had a thing Called Katsu. Its like fried chicken. I had mine with a egg on top of it and it was super good. It was all you can eat rice too. I had 4 bowls. We then went and got ice cream. What made that good was he gave us Reeses. My favorite american candy that i havent had in 6 months. I had vanilla ice cream and resses (my favorite kind of ice cream). SO it was good. He then gave us Ho-Hos. AN american chocolate snack. It was so good. I felt so fat afterwards. I then went and did service for one of our potentials. We pulled weeds in his garden. His wife gave us so much food and cheesecake. I had to eat it not to be rude. I really felt fat afterwards and told myself no more sugar for the rest of the week. it was hard mentally.
Thursday nothing really happend. We had a less active cancel. We then had to turn over an investigator. It took the rest of the day because he lives like 2 hours by trian from us. we went to his bday party to turn him over. thats about all that happend.
Friday we went to Kisarazu again. It was fun. I really enjoied it. I get to go with other missionaries and talk. IT is so healthy to go with other missionaries. I went into this skate shop and it was so fun. They gave me a sticker from one of my favorite brands.
Saturday i was on splits with a Japanese person. It was good. We taught Yoshi. I bore powerful testiomony of God and Jesus. He seemed to be really thinking about it and accepting it. He realy wants to help poeple in the world. I commited him to read the book of mormon. He is 20 yrs old and studies 12 hours a day. I dont know how important he thinks this is. I hope that he comes to realize that this will make him and others happy.
Sunday we had 3 gators at church. We then got home at 5:00. We fasted for a less active who is having probliems with his wife. He wants to go to the temple and is working to get there.
MOnday: We had District Meeting that took all day. We then went to a Less actives birthday party .It was so much fun. I had some way good peruvian food.
Yesterday i did get homesick. I really want to be at Kamas wedding, go to the cabin, go camping and stuff like that. Me and my comp talked about it. The conversation turned into a mission talk. I really get down seeing others success and not mine own. I have been busting my butt off for 3 transfers and what i thought havent seen any success. But i know i have seen success. I think missionaries always forget that the 1st ppinicpli in the gospel is FAITH. If you strengthen someones faith, you successed. Even though i havent seen a baptism yet, i have seen some great success in the Less actives. We are super close to getting one coming back, we have one going to the temple. I have had a ton of success. I really wnat to baptize but if i strengthen someones faith, i am fulfilling my purpose. I just have to rmember the first principle but also expect to see some baptisms. That was the jist of the talk yesterday. I really just needed to pour the waterout of my bucket. M comp said that the bucket is now bigger and will take longer to fill up before i get homesick or depressed again.I hope so.
I love you so much! I cnat wait til christmas comes around so i can talk with you all again. I hope that time keeps going by super fast. I am starting to enjoi my mission, but ireally want to be back at home. I try not to focus on that thought though. I love you guys so much. Your cabin trip sounded really fun. I try not to eat unhealthy either. I eat out alot just because of my schedule. but i try not to eat ice cream or sugar as much as possible. I really wnat to keep that weight off and grow in muscle. but i am also a young man that needs to love the things of life. haha. I really love fruit but it is super expensive here in japan. Everything i like is super expensive Meat, Fruit, peanut butter, etc. It jsut sucks haha. but i am dealing with it. today i am going to the zoo and am really excited. next week i am going to the temple and am even more excited. The next 2 weeks my pday is on tuesday. I love you all so mcuh. Keep doing what is right. Keep safe adn dont do anythign dumb. i want to see you again. I cant wait for next week. I love you
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
05 September 2011 ( Fathers Email)
Thank you so much for the email. You told me some very big details that mom did not tell me. I am super glad that everyone is having a swell time up at the cabin. I really wish i could be there and do the Labor day event and all that you guys have been doing. It sounds like so much fun. I feel like i am missing out on so much. I really hope that i will be rewarded and blessed.
Tell Bug happy Birthday for me. I cant believe that he is 18 now! That is so Crazy for me to Grasp. My little younger brother is now 18. So weird to think about. I hope that he is really enjoing himself at the best place on planet earth. I wnat Blueberry pancakes. I really jsut wnat to relax and not have to worry about anything. Just enjoi the good weather of the mountain and have no worries. Looks like i will have to wait for 18 months though.
Yup. In 3 days i hit my 6 month mark. That is pretty dang wierd that i have been on my mission for 6 months. I hope that once i pst that day that time will start flying by like a peice of paper in the wind. I really wnat time to go by fast. I want to participate in these activites
i am glad taht Chewy is doing good. I miss him alot. I wish as a missionary that i could have a dog. That would make life alot easier in some aspects. I love that little pooch so much.
SO Kamas Proposed!!! Mom didnt tell me that detail in her email. That is so CrAZY!!! I am so flipping happy for him. I cant believe that he is now engaged. That is so cool. I told him that before 2011 was over that he would be married. They are shooting for a NOvember Wedding. That is so AMAzING!!!! I really am happy but also really bummed. I want to be there or my best freidns wedding. Looks like i will have to send you guys a big picture of me so i can be there for the pictures. YOu will have to get him to email me and tell me the details. Also, get mom to send me a picture of Brea. I still havent seen her. I am so happy for him. I really hope that things work out in the best way possible. I am still in shock. that is amazing. I am so Happy that my prayers are being answered.
I love you so much dad. I really apprecitated everything that you do for me. I really wish that i could just call you anytime and talk with you. I really miss having our chats either by the fire, in our room, or out on the swing. Those were awesome memories that i look forward to having again. I wish i could think about you often but that will only bring me trouble. I love you and apprecitate all that you do for me. I really do. I hope taht everything at work is doing good. I saw some horses the other day and i thought of you and Boo adn Marilyn. It was cool to see some horses. I hope that you get the oppurtunity to come to Japan. I am sure you would love it here. There is alot of good food that i want to show to you and so on. My companions all think that i should be a chef becasue i marinated the meats that we cook really good. I was taught by the best. You and Mom. Anyways i love and cant wait til next week to read your emails. I hope tha ttime goes by super fast and that we both have really good weeks. I love you and miss you much. I will work my hardest and try my hardest to please you and the Lord. I love you lots!!!
Tell Bug happy Birthday for me. I cant believe that he is 18 now! That is so Crazy for me to Grasp. My little younger brother is now 18. So weird to think about. I hope that he is really enjoing himself at the best place on planet earth. I wnat Blueberry pancakes. I really jsut wnat to relax and not have to worry about anything. Just enjoi the good weather of the mountain and have no worries. Looks like i will have to wait for 18 months though.
Yup. In 3 days i hit my 6 month mark. That is pretty dang wierd that i have been on my mission for 6 months. I hope that once i pst that day that time will start flying by like a peice of paper in the wind. I really wnat time to go by fast. I want to participate in these activites
i am glad taht Chewy is doing good. I miss him alot. I wish as a missionary that i could have a dog. That would make life alot easier in some aspects. I love that little pooch so much.
SO Kamas Proposed!!! Mom didnt tell me that detail in her email. That is so CrAZY!!! I am so flipping happy for him. I cant believe that he is now engaged. That is so cool. I told him that before 2011 was over that he would be married. They are shooting for a NOvember Wedding. That is so AMAzING!!!! I really am happy but also really bummed. I want to be there or my best freidns wedding. Looks like i will have to send you guys a big picture of me so i can be there for the pictures. YOu will have to get him to email me and tell me the details. Also, get mom to send me a picture of Brea. I still havent seen her. I am so happy for him. I really hope that things work out in the best way possible. I am still in shock. that is amazing. I am so Happy that my prayers are being answered.
I love you so much dad. I really apprecitated everything that you do for me. I really wish that i could just call you anytime and talk with you. I really miss having our chats either by the fire, in our room, or out on the swing. Those were awesome memories that i look forward to having again. I wish i could think about you often but that will only bring me trouble. I love you and apprecitate all that you do for me. I really do. I hope taht everything at work is doing good. I saw some horses the other day and i thought of you and Boo adn Marilyn. It was cool to see some horses. I hope that you get the oppurtunity to come to Japan. I am sure you would love it here. There is alot of good food that i want to show to you and so on. My companions all think that i should be a chef becasue i marinated the meats that we cook really good. I was taught by the best. You and Mom. Anyways i love and cant wait til next week to read your emails. I hope tha ttime goes by super fast and that we both have really good weeks. I love you and miss you much. I will work my hardest and try my hardest to please you and the Lord. I love you lots!!!
05 September 2011 ( Mothers Email)
Thanks so much for the email. To bad that it wasnt a very long one. I oh well though. I quess i will just have to wait until next week.
My week was pretty dang good for the most part. We were really busy for most of the week.
Wednesday: We had a lesson thing with a old grandma at her house. it was a 20 min bike ride to get there. There were 4 people that the member invited to hear about the plan of salvation. It was good and they were all asking questions. They are really good Potential Gators. We then had to get back becasue we had another appointemnet at the church with the guy i found on monday. During his lesson, i had no clue what was going on. He spoke really hard Japanese. He told my companion that he didnt wnat to join just to learn becasue he had heard the Churchs name before. He came to sacrament on sunday too. We then went and got some Ice cream at a Ice Cream shop because it was on sell. WE then had to book it to a Less actives house for another lesson. After that lesson we had to scarf down some grub real quick ecasue we had our free english class that night. Super busy day right? it was good though.
Thursday: Like usual, thursdays are our Weekly Planning days. Man i hate those days. They are long and super boring. We had a Lesson with another less active. WE showed her the talk "The Healing Power of Forgiveness" by Elder Faust I love that talk. It was really good for me to see it as well. So besides our lesson with the LA, We were in our apartment all day. I hate days like that.
Friday: I had a Mini Zone Conference with the President. He came down and gave everyone a interview. I love getting interviewed by him. But i never say much. I never know what to talk about. I wish i would talk more. I only get to talk with him one on one once every 9 weeks. I have to make the most of it. He did tell me though that i had a high probability of beeing transfered. I hope i get transfered. This area has been way fun, but it is starting to kill me. I also want to see some more of Japan. I hope that i get transfered to the mountain areas. IT would be so cool becasue next transfer is at the begining of October, right as the leaves start to change color. I hope i can be in the MOuntains for that. On friday night, we had a lesson with a mental dude. Or at least i think he is mental. He commited to baptsim but probably wont make his date. He has some serious issues. But he really loves us. Ok something funny, He told me he played guitar. I told him that i wanted to learn and that i had a deal with him. I told him that if he taught me how to play guitar, i would teach him about Jesus Christ. He got the biggest smile ever and came and gave me ahug and a handshake and said deal. haha. it was super funny. Of course this was all in English. But I think i helped him have a god night. Oh so he was telling me about all the problems he was having including that God wasnt there for him. I started to tell him that God wants us to exercise patience and faith and that this trail that we go through only makes us stronger. I wanted to read him a scripture from alma but i didnt have my english set. So i thought the Scripture was Alma 34:3 so i had him read it. He read it and then siad. You guys are my Gods answer to my prayers. I had no clue what the scripture said and i had no clue what he was talking about. I went home and read it and it tied in perfect with what we were talking about. What an amazing miracle. it really was awesome. it was the perfect scripture at the time.
Saturday: We had a sports day but no one showed up like usual. We then went streeting and housing and found a Horse arena and a ton of Horses. Really rare in Japan. They were huge horses too. way bigger than a quarter horse. i think the majority of them were stock horses. Anyways has we were watching a country song came on. I loved it. I really miss country alot. WE didnt have any success with housing or streeting.
Sunday: i would have to say this was the Hardest day in my week. I dont know why but it was just super hard. I fasted for my language abilities. I bore my testiomony and i just got super down on myself. I hate it when i wanna tell somebody so good and i cant express myself. It SUCKS!!!! I think that is why i got down on myself. I also had a major headache. WE had 2 gators show up to church but both left after 20 min. so that was a big bummer. WE had the guy from wednesday show up for sacrament but he bolted and we couldnt set up another time to meet with him. After church, i had to eat something. i then took a nap. My companion let me sleep for 2 hours. Which was way nice. i needed it. We then took thank you notes to members in our ward. It was a hard day on me but it is over now.
I hope everything at home is going good. Happy Birthday Bug!!! I cant believe that he is 18 now. that is so crazy to think. Ihope that he had a great day. It is good to hear about Kamas and his girl. Sounds like things are really going good for them. I hope that they continue to go good. I love you so much mom. I really miss coming home to an awesome family and home. I cant wait until i am home again. THis week i hit my 6 month mark. 25% percent of my mission will be done. That is pretty dang CRAZY!!! It would be super cool if i got a package or something so that i could celebrate. cough cough. just saying. Time is going by so fast and i want it to go by faster. I hope that everyone at home is doing super good. I am doing well but i need to remember BLUEBIRD!!! So i need my camera card back as soon as possible. Idont know if you have sent it. I am sending them home once a month. so when you get them, download the stuff onto the computer and then send it back to me as soon as possible. That would be amazing. Oh another thing, Can you send me my dogtags. I left them at home and i would really love to have them. If you cant find them, tell kamas and he might be able to get some new ones for me. But i would really appreciate some dog tags. I used to wear them everyday before the mission. If you can, The 4th was Nick Keels birthday too., He turned 19. Can you please send him an email and see how he is doing. That would be awesome. I love you so much mom. I cant wait until Christmas so i can talk with you. I really want to send a package home for christmas with stuff in it for everyone but it is super expensive and the value of the yen is going down which just makes everything more expensive. oh well. Well i hope that this week goes by much faster tahn last week did. I will be super excited to get an email or two from you. Next week my pday will be on Tuesday. I hope that you and the Family are having a super time at the Cabin. I am super jealous. You guys go like everyweek. It really sucks for me. but i think i have gotten over it for the most part. I really wnat to go though. Tell everyone that i love them and would appreciate a letter or email. I love my family so much. Thanks for giving Aly my email address. None of my friends have been keeping in touch. It kinda sucks. It would be super nice to get a letter from one of them. Thank you. YOu are awesome mom! I really appreciate everything that you do for me and the family. If you could please send me some pictures through the mail, of the family, chewy and turbo, and other things that have happend. I need new pictures. And music too. Please send me some CDs with good music on them. That would be great. I cant look at your picture page anymore becasue it is blocked by my computer. So i need tangible pictures. It would be awesome. Thank you so much mom. I really do love you and apprecitated everything you do for me. I would give you a huge kiss and a super long hug if i were at home. YOu will just have to wait for 18 more months. I hope that time starts going by faster and that next week will be here before we know it. Can you pray for Christopher, Arun and Matsumoto. Those are our investigators that we are realy working with. Also, can you see how Chris Callender is doing. I would love to know how he has been. You are the best mom. Keep safe and Have an Awesome week. I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW!!!!
My week was pretty dang good for the most part. We were really busy for most of the week.
Wednesday: We had a lesson thing with a old grandma at her house. it was a 20 min bike ride to get there. There were 4 people that the member invited to hear about the plan of salvation. It was good and they were all asking questions. They are really good Potential Gators. We then had to get back becasue we had another appointemnet at the church with the guy i found on monday. During his lesson, i had no clue what was going on. He spoke really hard Japanese. He told my companion that he didnt wnat to join just to learn becasue he had heard the Churchs name before. He came to sacrament on sunday too. We then went and got some Ice cream at a Ice Cream shop because it was on sell. WE then had to book it to a Less actives house for another lesson. After that lesson we had to scarf down some grub real quick ecasue we had our free english class that night. Super busy day right? it was good though.
Thursday: Like usual, thursdays are our Weekly Planning days. Man i hate those days. They are long and super boring. We had a Lesson with another less active. WE showed her the talk "The Healing Power of Forgiveness" by Elder Faust I love that talk. It was really good for me to see it as well. So besides our lesson with the LA, We were in our apartment all day. I hate days like that.
Friday: I had a Mini Zone Conference with the President. He came down and gave everyone a interview. I love getting interviewed by him. But i never say much. I never know what to talk about. I wish i would talk more. I only get to talk with him one on one once every 9 weeks. I have to make the most of it. He did tell me though that i had a high probability of beeing transfered. I hope i get transfered. This area has been way fun, but it is starting to kill me. I also want to see some more of Japan. I hope that i get transfered to the mountain areas. IT would be so cool becasue next transfer is at the begining of October, right as the leaves start to change color. I hope i can be in the MOuntains for that. On friday night, we had a lesson with a mental dude. Or at least i think he is mental. He commited to baptsim but probably wont make his date. He has some serious issues. But he really loves us. Ok something funny, He told me he played guitar. I told him that i wanted to learn and that i had a deal with him. I told him that if he taught me how to play guitar, i would teach him about Jesus Christ. He got the biggest smile ever and came and gave me ahug and a handshake and said deal. haha. it was super funny. Of course this was all in English. But I think i helped him have a god night. Oh so he was telling me about all the problems he was having including that God wasnt there for him. I started to tell him that God wants us to exercise patience and faith and that this trail that we go through only makes us stronger. I wanted to read him a scripture from alma but i didnt have my english set. So i thought the Scripture was Alma 34:3 so i had him read it. He read it and then siad. You guys are my Gods answer to my prayers. I had no clue what the scripture said and i had no clue what he was talking about. I went home and read it and it tied in perfect with what we were talking about. What an amazing miracle. it really was awesome. it was the perfect scripture at the time.
Saturday: We had a sports day but no one showed up like usual. We then went streeting and housing and found a Horse arena and a ton of Horses. Really rare in Japan. They were huge horses too. way bigger than a quarter horse. i think the majority of them were stock horses. Anyways has we were watching a country song came on. I loved it. I really miss country alot. WE didnt have any success with housing or streeting.
Sunday: i would have to say this was the Hardest day in my week. I dont know why but it was just super hard. I fasted for my language abilities. I bore my testiomony and i just got super down on myself. I hate it when i wanna tell somebody so good and i cant express myself. It SUCKS!!!! I think that is why i got down on myself. I also had a major headache. WE had 2 gators show up to church but both left after 20 min. so that was a big bummer. WE had the guy from wednesday show up for sacrament but he bolted and we couldnt set up another time to meet with him. After church, i had to eat something. i then took a nap. My companion let me sleep for 2 hours. Which was way nice. i needed it. We then took thank you notes to members in our ward. It was a hard day on me but it is over now.
I hope everything at home is going good. Happy Birthday Bug!!! I cant believe that he is 18 now. that is so crazy to think. Ihope that he had a great day. It is good to hear about Kamas and his girl. Sounds like things are really going good for them. I hope that they continue to go good. I love you so much mom. I really miss coming home to an awesome family and home. I cant wait until i am home again. THis week i hit my 6 month mark. 25% percent of my mission will be done. That is pretty dang CRAZY!!! It would be super cool if i got a package or something so that i could celebrate. cough cough. just saying. Time is going by so fast and i want it to go by faster. I hope that everyone at home is doing super good. I am doing well but i need to remember BLUEBIRD!!! So i need my camera card back as soon as possible. Idont know if you have sent it. I am sending them home once a month. so when you get them, download the stuff onto the computer and then send it back to me as soon as possible. That would be amazing. Oh another thing, Can you send me my dogtags. I left them at home and i would really love to have them. If you cant find them, tell kamas and he might be able to get some new ones for me. But i would really appreciate some dog tags. I used to wear them everyday before the mission. If you can, The 4th was Nick Keels birthday too., He turned 19. Can you please send him an email and see how he is doing. That would be awesome. I love you so much mom. I cant wait until Christmas so i can talk with you. I really want to send a package home for christmas with stuff in it for everyone but it is super expensive and the value of the yen is going down which just makes everything more expensive. oh well. Well i hope that this week goes by much faster tahn last week did. I will be super excited to get an email or two from you. Next week my pday will be on Tuesday. I hope that you and the Family are having a super time at the Cabin. I am super jealous. You guys go like everyweek. It really sucks for me. but i think i have gotten over it for the most part. I really wnat to go though. Tell everyone that i love them and would appreciate a letter or email. I love my family so much. Thanks for giving Aly my email address. None of my friends have been keeping in touch. It kinda sucks. It would be super nice to get a letter from one of them. Thank you. YOu are awesome mom! I really appreciate everything that you do for me and the family. If you could please send me some pictures through the mail, of the family, chewy and turbo, and other things that have happend. I need new pictures. And music too. Please send me some CDs with good music on them. That would be great. I cant look at your picture page anymore becasue it is blocked by my computer. So i need tangible pictures. It would be awesome. Thank you so much mom. I really do love you and apprecitated everything you do for me. I would give you a huge kiss and a super long hug if i were at home. YOu will just have to wait for 18 more months. I hope that time starts going by faster and that next week will be here before we know it. Can you pray for Christopher, Arun and Matsumoto. Those are our investigators that we are realy working with. Also, can you see how Chris Callender is doing. I would love to know how he has been. You are the best mom. Keep safe and Have an Awesome week. I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW!!!!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
30 August 2011
Holy Crap!!! This was such a BLUEBIRD week. How did you know that i had a good week? This week was just amazing! I dont know why either! Alot of things that would of made me upset happened. Its good to hear about your week and all that went down. I am glad to hear that you enjoied this past week as much as i did. My fast went really good too.
Thank you so much for putting my name on the Prayer Roll at the temple. It means so much to me. It really does. I appreciate it alot. Like i said last week. I fasted on Monday so that my language skills would just explode and that i would be less homesick. I thought that my fast has been really helping me out alot. I dont feel comfortable with the language but i am no longer going to let that stop me. I have been really shy to talking to people. But now i dont give a crap. I am goign to try and talk with them. Thats how i can show my faith that i want to learn. Thats how i will become better. It was a really good fast i thought. Thanks so much for tellign me about what you taught on Sunday. I love learning about the Atonement and about Jesus Christ. You can never get enough. I love reading anything i can about Jesus. I love him so much and i have really come to trust in him on my mission.
Sounds like you had an awesome Mutual activity goin down. thanks alot for teaching me how to make bbq. they dont have it here in japan and if i can find it, it is super expensive. Knowing how to make bbq sauce will help out so much with what i can make for food. Like now i can make sloppy joes, or have bbq chicken. It will really help. thank you thank you thank you. I really apprecitate you telling me how to make the cake. but we have a problem. they dont sell cake mixes here and fruit is super expensive. the cake sounds so good but unless i get sent some i will never be able to make it. but if i ever come across some i will definatley have to make it.so thank you for that good idea and reciepe.
HOw was Highland? I dont miss that place at all haha. I am glad that you enjoied it though. Are you planning on working there after bug graduates? Roasted chilis sound so good. we buy green chilis but i never have time to roast them. i dont even think i have a place i could roast them. oh well. they will be super good when i come back. it is a good idea to give to the members as well.
It sucks that bug didnt get to play at all in lhis game. I am glad that he was that mad. I really hope that he just has the attitude of "just playing to workout and stay in shape" that is the best attitude ever. Escepicially when your team sucks. I have been finding pennies here alot lately too. they arent american pennies though. they are 1 yen coins. but i have been finding them when i run in the morning. i really appricitate them.
How come you never fed the football team when i played? I always looked forward to the day when you and dad would do that for me! What the heck. this system is rigged. Bug is so spoiled. I wanted you to feed the football team when i played. I always talked about it with eric san diego haha. i am glad that it turned out well. ITs awesome to hear that Kamas went to the Football game. Did he go with you know who? I hope so! I have been praying for him alot. I hope things really work out. Its cool to hear that my Chargers won the game too. I am happy.
Grandma would know more about Breas family than anyone. what do you expect from old people. they get around and know everyone haha.
So like i said. My week was really good. i will tell you what happened.
Monday: I finished my fast and it was raining all day. We went and visited a less active who didnt want us there. We went housing and found a mom who wanted us to come back. when i say wanted i mean she said we could come back.
Tuesday: We had a Zone Conference, so i wasnt in my area at all. The conference was good, but since i am a ZL comp. i already knew almost everything taht was being said. I quess that is a plus aobut being with aZL. So i started to talk with people alot more. ON the train ride home i talked with 2 people. one was in English and the other was in Japanese. IT was way good. It lifted my spirits way high to know i held a convo. in japanese and understood most of it. Later taht night we taught one of our investigators.
Wednesday: The investigator that we taught on tuesday night emailed us and said she didnt want us to teach her anymore. she was way promisisng too. she was super nice and really open. we are plannning on emailing her still though. It rained like no other this day too. It was coming down hard for like 5 hours. Luckly i was in the apt. when this was happening. It was thundering too. It was way awesome. When we did leave the apt. it was stil raining pretty hard though. We went to this apartment to put in flyers in their mail boxes and there were little girls playing in the rain. they came in and started talking with us. It was awesome. Japanese people love talking with americans. So the little girls getting a chance to talk with us was a dream come true. they reminded me of my nephews. they all were different ages and they were playing together. Get this, they asked for our autograph. it was awesome. such a miracle. Later, we had an appointment fall through again and ended up doing more suff in the rain.
Thursday: This is our weekily planning day except we didnt do weekly planning. Instead we talked about our ward and there misionary work. THe members here in the narita ward dont do to much missionary work. They have stopped. so we talked aobut things we needed to talk with the bishop about getting the fire bakc. It was good. We had 2 lessons get canceled. Lessons get canceled all the time. Thats why it is hard.
Friday: We went to the Mission Home for a Confernece. It was good and i got to meet up with people from the MTC. It ws fun. One my friends from the MTC went home though. I hope he will be back out. Afterconference we had Weekly Planning.
Saturday: So do you remeber the guy i told you about taking away his cigarettes? well he called us up. we havent talked with him in 6 weeks. he had been in the hospital and had to stop smoking. He came and played ping pong with us and then took us to lunch. He has really changed alot. It is such an amazing thing to see what sins can do to you. He is super happy and doesnt wnat to start smoking again. WE then went to our stake conference adult session where our mission president jsut told the stake that their missionary fire has stopped. That really helped us when we talked with our bishop. It was way good and just what we needed.
Sunday: So we had Stake Conference and i didnt understand anything. but from what my comp was telling me it was good. When we got back to our area, we went and visited a investigator we havent seen in 3 weeks. The visit was way good. We ended up talking for 2 hours about him. He told me taht he was feeling pressured into the church. He has never learned about Jesus or God let me remind you and doesnt understand why we have so many churchs or which one is true. He said he didnt want to join any unless he knew that it was the right one. I told him about Joseph Smith and the Doctrines of Christ. He really connected with Joseph smith. I promised him that if he would pray everyday that he would recieve and anser on sunday on which church was true. He said he would do it. It was a way good night and i loved taliking with him.
Monday: I was on splits with a Travelling Assistant. They are to teach me about computers and go streeting wiht me. The computers part suck becasue i knew everything. My comp is a Computer Science major and knows everything about this computer. so win i wsa on splits getting taught about stuff i already knew, it was super boring. Streeting was fun though. I thought i would never say that. Right off the bat we found a new investigator. We gave him a church tour. Its funny because i met this guy on my 2nd day in transfer 2. haha. small world. but it was a good day needless to say. i enjoied it.
Today has also been good. THe weather has been amazing. The wind is blowing and it is in the mid 70's. It definatly feels and looks like fall outside. That lifted up my spirits. I cant wait til october to come. That is reall fall and my favorite time of the Year. I am fasting for my investigator to get his answer on sunday today also. I really need to show faith and fulfill my promise. Please pray for him that he will get his anser.
So, quess what. On sunday i had my 1 year anniversary of starting the HCG diet. I started the diet 1 year ago. Crazy Uh? i cant believe that it has been a year. On 28 August 2010 i wieghed 250 LBS, as of 28 August 2011 i weigh 176 LBS. I cant believe how much wieght i have lost. its crazy to think that was a year ago. I will send you a pic of how i look. Please keep it.
I cant beliee that christiaan is in Africa. That is so crazy!!! HE will love it! I am stoked for him and will defindatley have to pray for him. So i hit my 25% mark on 8 September 2011. That is in 1 week from thursday. I cant believe that i have been on the mish for 6 months. It is so crazy to think. I really want time to go by faster though. I want everyweek to be like this one. It was jsut an amazing week and it makes me proud to say that i was a missionary. I hope i get a cool package or something so i can celebrate!!! anyways, i love you with all my heart. Christmas is coming up fast and i cant wait to talk with you and the family. But i cant think to far ahead. I am having wonderful moments as you can tell. I can see those miracles and i write them down. I am happy. I will think BLUEBIRD for the week and stay happy. This next week will go by so fast and Bug will be 18. WEIRD!!! Ill try not to be to hard on myself but i will be focused and diligent. I love you and all the advice you have given me. Thank you. I cant wait to hear from you next week.
Love your Son,
Elder Kurt Van De Graaff
Thank you so much for putting my name on the Prayer Roll at the temple. It means so much to me. It really does. I appreciate it alot. Like i said last week. I fasted on Monday so that my language skills would just explode and that i would be less homesick. I thought that my fast has been really helping me out alot. I dont feel comfortable with the language but i am no longer going to let that stop me. I have been really shy to talking to people. But now i dont give a crap. I am goign to try and talk with them. Thats how i can show my faith that i want to learn. Thats how i will become better. It was a really good fast i thought. Thanks so much for tellign me about what you taught on Sunday. I love learning about the Atonement and about Jesus Christ. You can never get enough. I love reading anything i can about Jesus. I love him so much and i have really come to trust in him on my mission.
Sounds like you had an awesome Mutual activity goin down. thanks alot for teaching me how to make bbq. they dont have it here in japan and if i can find it, it is super expensive. Knowing how to make bbq sauce will help out so much with what i can make for food. Like now i can make sloppy joes, or have bbq chicken. It will really help. thank you thank you thank you. I really apprecitate you telling me how to make the cake. but we have a problem. they dont sell cake mixes here and fruit is super expensive. the cake sounds so good but unless i get sent some i will never be able to make it. but if i ever come across some i will definatley have to make it.so thank you for that good idea and reciepe.
HOw was Highland? I dont miss that place at all haha. I am glad that you enjoied it though. Are you planning on working there after bug graduates? Roasted chilis sound so good. we buy green chilis but i never have time to roast them. i dont even think i have a place i could roast them. oh well. they will be super good when i come back. it is a good idea to give to the members as well.
It sucks that bug didnt get to play at all in lhis game. I am glad that he was that mad. I really hope that he just has the attitude of "just playing to workout and stay in shape" that is the best attitude ever. Escepicially when your team sucks. I have been finding pennies here alot lately too. they arent american pennies though. they are 1 yen coins. but i have been finding them when i run in the morning. i really appricitate them.
How come you never fed the football team when i played? I always looked forward to the day when you and dad would do that for me! What the heck. this system is rigged. Bug is so spoiled. I wanted you to feed the football team when i played. I always talked about it with eric san diego haha. i am glad that it turned out well. ITs awesome to hear that Kamas went to the Football game. Did he go with you know who? I hope so! I have been praying for him alot. I hope things really work out. Its cool to hear that my Chargers won the game too. I am happy.
Grandma would know more about Breas family than anyone. what do you expect from old people. they get around and know everyone haha.
So like i said. My week was really good. i will tell you what happened.
Monday: I finished my fast and it was raining all day. We went and visited a less active who didnt want us there. We went housing and found a mom who wanted us to come back. when i say wanted i mean she said we could come back.
Tuesday: We had a Zone Conference, so i wasnt in my area at all. The conference was good, but since i am a ZL comp. i already knew almost everything taht was being said. I quess that is a plus aobut being with aZL. So i started to talk with people alot more. ON the train ride home i talked with 2 people. one was in English and the other was in Japanese. IT was way good. It lifted my spirits way high to know i held a convo. in japanese and understood most of it. Later taht night we taught one of our investigators.
Wednesday: The investigator that we taught on tuesday night emailed us and said she didnt want us to teach her anymore. she was way promisisng too. she was super nice and really open. we are plannning on emailing her still though. It rained like no other this day too. It was coming down hard for like 5 hours. Luckly i was in the apt. when this was happening. It was thundering too. It was way awesome. When we did leave the apt. it was stil raining pretty hard though. We went to this apartment to put in flyers in their mail boxes and there were little girls playing in the rain. they came in and started talking with us. It was awesome. Japanese people love talking with americans. So the little girls getting a chance to talk with us was a dream come true. they reminded me of my nephews. they all were different ages and they were playing together. Get this, they asked for our autograph. it was awesome. such a miracle. Later, we had an appointment fall through again and ended up doing more suff in the rain.
Thursday: This is our weekily planning day except we didnt do weekly planning. Instead we talked about our ward and there misionary work. THe members here in the narita ward dont do to much missionary work. They have stopped. so we talked aobut things we needed to talk with the bishop about getting the fire bakc. It was good. We had 2 lessons get canceled. Lessons get canceled all the time. Thats why it is hard.
Friday: We went to the Mission Home for a Confernece. It was good and i got to meet up with people from the MTC. It ws fun. One my friends from the MTC went home though. I hope he will be back out. Afterconference we had Weekly Planning.
Saturday: So do you remeber the guy i told you about taking away his cigarettes? well he called us up. we havent talked with him in 6 weeks. he had been in the hospital and had to stop smoking. He came and played ping pong with us and then took us to lunch. He has really changed alot. It is such an amazing thing to see what sins can do to you. He is super happy and doesnt wnat to start smoking again. WE then went to our stake conference adult session where our mission president jsut told the stake that their missionary fire has stopped. That really helped us when we talked with our bishop. It was way good and just what we needed.
Sunday: So we had Stake Conference and i didnt understand anything. but from what my comp was telling me it was good. When we got back to our area, we went and visited a investigator we havent seen in 3 weeks. The visit was way good. We ended up talking for 2 hours about him. He told me taht he was feeling pressured into the church. He has never learned about Jesus or God let me remind you and doesnt understand why we have so many churchs or which one is true. He said he didnt want to join any unless he knew that it was the right one. I told him about Joseph Smith and the Doctrines of Christ. He really connected with Joseph smith. I promised him that if he would pray everyday that he would recieve and anser on sunday on which church was true. He said he would do it. It was a way good night and i loved taliking with him.
Monday: I was on splits with a Travelling Assistant. They are to teach me about computers and go streeting wiht me. The computers part suck becasue i knew everything. My comp is a Computer Science major and knows everything about this computer. so win i wsa on splits getting taught about stuff i already knew, it was super boring. Streeting was fun though. I thought i would never say that. Right off the bat we found a new investigator. We gave him a church tour. Its funny because i met this guy on my 2nd day in transfer 2. haha. small world. but it was a good day needless to say. i enjoied it.
Today has also been good. THe weather has been amazing. The wind is blowing and it is in the mid 70's. It definatly feels and looks like fall outside. That lifted up my spirits. I cant wait til october to come. That is reall fall and my favorite time of the Year. I am fasting for my investigator to get his answer on sunday today also. I really need to show faith and fulfill my promise. Please pray for him that he will get his anser.
So, quess what. On sunday i had my 1 year anniversary of starting the HCG diet. I started the diet 1 year ago. Crazy Uh? i cant believe that it has been a year. On 28 August 2010 i wieghed 250 LBS, as of 28 August 2011 i weigh 176 LBS. I cant believe how much wieght i have lost. its crazy to think that was a year ago. I will send you a pic of how i look. Please keep it.
I cant beliee that christiaan is in Africa. That is so crazy!!! HE will love it! I am stoked for him and will defindatley have to pray for him. So i hit my 25% mark on 8 September 2011. That is in 1 week from thursday. I cant believe that i have been on the mish for 6 months. It is so crazy to think. I really want time to go by faster though. I want everyweek to be like this one. It was jsut an amazing week and it makes me proud to say that i was a missionary. I hope i get a cool package or something so i can celebrate!!! anyways, i love you with all my heart. Christmas is coming up fast and i cant wait to talk with you and the family. But i cant think to far ahead. I am having wonderful moments as you can tell. I can see those miracles and i write them down. I am happy. I will think BLUEBIRD for the week and stay happy. This next week will go by so fast and Bug will be 18. WEIRD!!! Ill try not to be to hard on myself but i will be focused and diligent. I love you and all the advice you have given me. Thank you. I cant wait to hear from you next week.
Love your Son,
Elder Kurt Van De Graaff
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
22 august 2011
It is so good to read your email and get the rundown on how everyone is doing! Sounds like bug is doing pretty well in football if he is being yelled at yby the coach. Its crazy that they scrimmiged Chandler. I never played them my senior year but i know they have a huge football team. their players are massive. way to go bug on sticking it to them and playing against them. I will be sending him a birthday card to him today. I cant believe that he is a senior in high school and that he will be 18 years old. that just blows my mind. I love him so much. I miss him alot too. I hope that he does good in football! Your trip to the cabin sounded way fun. PLaying cards sure seemed familar. i quess it was a good thing that it wasnt raining. i had totally forgot about that detail. haha. good times. I love our family. What a good way to show Brie what the reall VDG family is about. hahahaha. I hoep that it didnt scare her away. I dont think it did. Sounds like Kamas really likes her. I will continue to pray for him and his success with her. I will also pray for Justin and that he will get a better, higher paying job. He really does deserve someting better. But at least he has a job and can support his family. I hope kendi likes her new appt. I got a letter from Grandma E. saying that she had a date in Tuscon. Is this true? How did that go? Kendi has moved apartements like every year since going to UofA. She has got to be having fun down there. Is she a senior in the Music School or just a Juinor? Man, i cant believe that school is already starting back up. that is so crazy. I hope that everyone does good and all in there studies. Its good to hear that boo and marilyn are doing good. Did you get the letters to give to Kelly when she goes up? I hope she does well too! How does she look now? Anyways, thanks for the update on everyones week. It really does sound like you guys had an amazing week. Sounded really super fun. I wish i could of been there for it.
My week was not as good as yours. It was actually pretty dang slow and hard. I think it was so hard because of alot of factors. The weather, white days, being homesick, and stuff like that. It was the 1st week of transfer 3. That means my comp gets with the other ZL alot to discuss Zone goals and stuff. I had white days, or days where i had no lessons or anything, almost everyday this week. So needless to say, i did alot of housing, streeting, and train rides. My tire popped also, so i had to walk which was in noway fun at all. I walked for like 3 hours trying to find this bike shop on wednesday, just to find out taht the bike shop is closed on wednesday. It just capped off my day. It was the hottest day we have had here in japan too. So i was sweating like nonother. I quess Thursday was the fastest day of the week and thats because we had a super spiritual lesson with a less active. She told us her story of goin inactive. We told her that the Power of the Atonement can heal her and that she just needed to apply it. We challenged her to pray for the desire to forgive the person who wronged her and to start applying the atonement in her life. she agreed to try. It was really super spiritual. I really enjoied it. I think that is why thursday went by so fast. Friday it rained all daylong and haas been raining eversince. It was cool on friday though because there was lightning and thunder. It was the first time i had seen lightning in Japan. It was a super crappy day though because i was streeting and housing all day. ALL DAY! and we had no success. Saturday i was in the apartment all day becasue of things my comp needed to finish. I really think that ZLs should be a companionship so they dont waste other missionaries time. I would much rather be outside in the rain or the heat than to be at my desk doing nothing. Doin nothing just makes me feel useless and makes me want to come home. Sunday was not the best. I went to an area that is closed because of the lack of members. I went with the Bishop to go give the Sacrament to the members that are there. I gave a talk on Obedience and it went ok. It was like a 1 hour drive there and back. It gave me alot of time to think about my week and what i can improve on. it also made me very homesick. I love driving and seeing the beauty of the world. Just driving brought up memories of goin to the cabin, or to california with the family. I hadnt been this homesick in 3 weeks. I really wanted to come home yesterday. I did think alot of my week and what i can do to improve it. I am sick and tired of not knowing the language and gettign down on myself. On friday I read in Mosaih 27. Alma the Younger conversion story. Verse 22 really hit me in the heart. It is alma telling his preists to fast with him so that his son would recieve his strength and the ablitiy to talk so that the people could see and know the goodness of God. He had them fast and pray to see a miracle. I really thought about that over the last couple of days. I have been wondering how i can show more faith to God on learning the language. After thinking about that on sunday, i came up with the conclusion that i needed to fast to have his hand in my learning ablity more abundantly. And also that i would focus more on the work than on being homesick. So, right now i am fasting. I would really apprecitate it if you and the family could pray that m fast will go good and that the lord will bless my efforts. I made it a goal to really explode m langauge skills. A fast will cap off that goal and i will progress much faster. Or at least that is what i am hoping. I wish i could tell you this in person. It is so hard over the computer.
I really hope that this week goes much better than last week. I think last week was so hard becasue we had white days(tracting all day/no lessons) everyday. Time really is going by fast but ireally want it to go by faster. in 17 days i will be out on my mission for 6 months. crazy!!! 25% already done in 17 days. I wish it would go faster though. I cant wait to talk to all of you and be able to see everyone too. I love you all so much. I love you alot mom. I appreciate everything you do for me. I am also excited for fall to come. It is by far my favorite season. I cant wait till it comes around. I can start to tell it is coming. The sun here is rising later and setting earlier. It is also gettign cooler. It has been raining since friday and is expected to rain pretty much til the end of the week. I dont have any rain gear. haha. i will manage though. I love the sun more than the rain as a missionary. When i was at home, the rain was always a treat. but now when it rains, i dont want to do anything. just go to my apartment and watch movies and stuff. When it rains, I dont want to be a missionary. Its weird how my perspective has changed on rain since becoming a missionary. Rain just makes me depressed. Well that is my week. Nothing really intresting happend. Sorry to disappoint you. But i am trying to find all the miracles and write them down. It has been super hard. Escpessialy when you have no success and out in the rain for over 9 hours. But i am trying. I love you so much. I wish i could give you a hug and a kiss. I cant wait til the day comes that i will be able to do that. I love reading your emails and hearing about how everyone is doing. I am glad that you had a super good week. I hope that i have a good week this week. I should. Please continue to pray for me and i will do the same for you. I dont have much else to say. It was good to hear that Kamas had alot to say about me. I reeally miss kicking it with him. We did alot of fun things together. I miss him so much. I am glad that i am his brother. He is an amazing example to me. I cant wait til next week. I hope it comes fast.
Love your Son,
Kurtiepie!!!
P.S. THe food here is starting to taste the same. I think i have the 3 same things everyweek. Taco Rice, Mabodofu, and Yakisoba. That is all i eat. I miss eating Steak and Potatoes, Pancakes, Bacon, Chicken, PIZZA, Hamburgers. America has such variety in food. Here it all just starts to taste the same. My comp doesnt like buying to much food because it is expensive. It sucks. I miss meat so much. I want steak so bad. i am going to go crazy hahaa. oh well. I love you! I just needed to let you know that i love your food alot better than here.
My week was not as good as yours. It was actually pretty dang slow and hard. I think it was so hard because of alot of factors. The weather, white days, being homesick, and stuff like that. It was the 1st week of transfer 3. That means my comp gets with the other ZL alot to discuss Zone goals and stuff. I had white days, or days where i had no lessons or anything, almost everyday this week. So needless to say, i did alot of housing, streeting, and train rides. My tire popped also, so i had to walk which was in noway fun at all. I walked for like 3 hours trying to find this bike shop on wednesday, just to find out taht the bike shop is closed on wednesday. It just capped off my day. It was the hottest day we have had here in japan too. So i was sweating like nonother. I quess Thursday was the fastest day of the week and thats because we had a super spiritual lesson with a less active. She told us her story of goin inactive. We told her that the Power of the Atonement can heal her and that she just needed to apply it. We challenged her to pray for the desire to forgive the person who wronged her and to start applying the atonement in her life. she agreed to try. It was really super spiritual. I really enjoied it. I think that is why thursday went by so fast. Friday it rained all daylong and haas been raining eversince. It was cool on friday though because there was lightning and thunder. It was the first time i had seen lightning in Japan. It was a super crappy day though because i was streeting and housing all day. ALL DAY! and we had no success. Saturday i was in the apartment all day becasue of things my comp needed to finish. I really think that ZLs should be a companionship so they dont waste other missionaries time. I would much rather be outside in the rain or the heat than to be at my desk doing nothing. Doin nothing just makes me feel useless and makes me want to come home. Sunday was not the best. I went to an area that is closed because of the lack of members. I went with the Bishop to go give the Sacrament to the members that are there. I gave a talk on Obedience and it went ok. It was like a 1 hour drive there and back. It gave me alot of time to think about my week and what i can improve on. it also made me very homesick. I love driving and seeing the beauty of the world. Just driving brought up memories of goin to the cabin, or to california with the family. I hadnt been this homesick in 3 weeks. I really wanted to come home yesterday. I did think alot of my week and what i can do to improve it. I am sick and tired of not knowing the language and gettign down on myself. On friday I read in Mosaih 27. Alma the Younger conversion story. Verse 22 really hit me in the heart. It is alma telling his preists to fast with him so that his son would recieve his strength and the ablitiy to talk so that the people could see and know the goodness of God. He had them fast and pray to see a miracle. I really thought about that over the last couple of days. I have been wondering how i can show more faith to God on learning the language. After thinking about that on sunday, i came up with the conclusion that i needed to fast to have his hand in my learning ablity more abundantly. And also that i would focus more on the work than on being homesick. So, right now i am fasting. I would really apprecitate it if you and the family could pray that m fast will go good and that the lord will bless my efforts. I made it a goal to really explode m langauge skills. A fast will cap off that goal and i will progress much faster. Or at least that is what i am hoping. I wish i could tell you this in person. It is so hard over the computer.
I really hope that this week goes much better than last week. I think last week was so hard becasue we had white days(tracting all day/no lessons) everyday. Time really is going by fast but ireally want it to go by faster. in 17 days i will be out on my mission for 6 months. crazy!!! 25% already done in 17 days. I wish it would go faster though. I cant wait to talk to all of you and be able to see everyone too. I love you all so much. I love you alot mom. I appreciate everything you do for me. I am also excited for fall to come. It is by far my favorite season. I cant wait till it comes around. I can start to tell it is coming. The sun here is rising later and setting earlier. It is also gettign cooler. It has been raining since friday and is expected to rain pretty much til the end of the week. I dont have any rain gear. haha. i will manage though. I love the sun more than the rain as a missionary. When i was at home, the rain was always a treat. but now when it rains, i dont want to do anything. just go to my apartment and watch movies and stuff. When it rains, I dont want to be a missionary. Its weird how my perspective has changed on rain since becoming a missionary. Rain just makes me depressed. Well that is my week. Nothing really intresting happend. Sorry to disappoint you. But i am trying to find all the miracles and write them down. It has been super hard. Escpessialy when you have no success and out in the rain for over 9 hours. But i am trying. I love you so much. I wish i could give you a hug and a kiss. I cant wait til the day comes that i will be able to do that. I love reading your emails and hearing about how everyone is doing. I am glad that you had a super good week. I hope that i have a good week this week. I should. Please continue to pray for me and i will do the same for you. I dont have much else to say. It was good to hear that Kamas had alot to say about me. I reeally miss kicking it with him. We did alot of fun things together. I miss him so much. I am glad that i am his brother. He is an amazing example to me. I cant wait til next week. I hope it comes fast.
Love your Son,
Kurtiepie!!!
P.S. THe food here is starting to taste the same. I think i have the 3 same things everyweek. Taco Rice, Mabodofu, and Yakisoba. That is all i eat. I miss eating Steak and Potatoes, Pancakes, Bacon, Chicken, PIZZA, Hamburgers. America has such variety in food. Here it all just starts to taste the same. My comp doesnt like buying to much food because it is expensive. It sucks. I miss meat so much. I want steak so bad. i am going to go crazy hahaa. oh well. I love you! I just needed to let you know that i love your food alot better than here.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
15 August 2011
So, i am super excited to read about your week in TN! It sounds like you had just an amazing time up there! I want to go and view all the old Civil War sites and stuff like that! That would be so cool! I am glad that you and Dad both had a good time and that the trip was able to be a good trip for dad.
It sounds like you had a way busy but very fun week. My week was not as fun as yours though. I wish it was though. On tuesday, we went and did some posting. (putting flyers in peoples mailboxes) It sucked. August is by far the hottest month here in Japan. I can just stand outside and within 2 minutes i will be sweating as if i had been running for 10 minutes. Its very hot and super humid. so we went posting at like 2 in the afternoon. the hottest part of the day! i was drenched in sweat and i never got dry agian the whole day. it was pretty hard. We had a party with our members and 2 of our investigators but out investigators dropped out 30 min before our dinner appoitement. so we just had dinner at the members house. we had korean food and it was pretty good. it was a rough day though.
Wednesday, we had splits. I was here with Elder Lacayo. A brazilian. He was also the other zone leader. We had a lesson planned out but our investigator bailed out again and didnt call us. It sucked. We did have another lesson before english class though. Yet again another uneventful day and kinda rough.
Thursday we went down to do another Kisarazu Blitz! we had district meeting and lunch too. I was on streeting from 3-5 with Elder Welch and 5-7 was housing with Elder Wilson (DL). Streeting Sucked. We walked again in the hottest part of the day for 2 hours and didnt talk to one person. No one was on the streets. There is a reason for that. No one wants to be outside and melt. I walked like 4 miles in that time period. Housing was pretty good. We ended up talking and walking and he gave me some really good advice and leadership skills. but again, we walked like another 4 miles. all in all it wasnt a horrible day. I was able to stay positive but it was rough and way tiring. After that, i went on splits with Elder Madsen (my DL) we went to his area called Chousei. I had the best night sleep ever because their apartment has beds. It was amazing.
On friday we did nothing special. They have a very rural area as well and nobody was out. We had lunch with a less active and she just talked the entire time. I didnt understand anything she said. Not one thing. but that was friday. Nothing really exciting happend then.
Saturday was transfer calls. I am still in my same area. I didnt get transfered. I was alittle bummed about it. I really did wanted to get transfered. but oh well. I still have the same companion too. I kinda wanted a new comp. Elder MacCabe is the ZL and he is super uptight. He is on the computer all day long. there are things i have to be patient with him on. He loves to talk. he talks and repeats himself over and over and over again. It drives me nuts. He really beats around the bush too. but all in all we get along pretty well and this transfer should be good.
I hope that this transfer goes by faster than last transfer. Last transfer was definetaly easier than my 1st transfer. It went by really fast and i hope that it goes by faster. I hope that this week is better than last week too. The past 2 weeks have been hard. I have been trying really hard to keep positive though. I have made it a goal to just explode with the language this transfer. I really want to speak it. I have to put in the work to do so. Little by little things are making sense. I just cant speak. it drives me nuts. If i ever get down its because its with the language. I want to speak so bad.
I love you so much Mom! You talking about going to movies and going out to eat is making me super jealous. I want to go to Texas Roadhouse or Vennicias so bad. The food here is starting to taste the same. Maybe that is becasue i only have 3 options to choose from. Taco rice, Mabadofu, or Yakisoba. That is all we eat in our apartment. It drives me nuts but it does save me money. I want variety in my food. My comp cant see that. I have had the strongest desire for Steak and Mexican and Pizza. I want that food so bad.
I love you all so much. I hope that you get my letters that i sent to you. They are for Kelly and Janalyns kids. I also sent Bug a letter with my camera card in it. I am trying to take as many pictures as possible but my comp is against taking pictures. You can ask dad why i say that. I hope that everyone is doing well. When does school start for Bug? I hope that he enjoies football and does well. I do have nick keels email. it is:nicholas.i.keels@us.army.mil. Tell grandma i love her and that i appreciate her. I hope you guys have a good time at the party. i wish i could go. Anyway, I love and pray for everyone at home. I am glad to hear about kamas and all the success he is having. Such a answer to my prayers. I hear that justin has also gotten a job. I am grateful for that too. Thanks for praying for me to get the language. I really hope that my language skills will just explode this transfer. I love you all so much. I cant wait to see you all agian .Pleas stay safe. I hope taht you have a good fast week. I cant wait to read your emails next MONDAY! I LOVE YOU!!!!
Love your Son,
Kurt Van De Graaff
It sounds like you had a way busy but very fun week. My week was not as fun as yours though. I wish it was though. On tuesday, we went and did some posting. (putting flyers in peoples mailboxes) It sucked. August is by far the hottest month here in Japan. I can just stand outside and within 2 minutes i will be sweating as if i had been running for 10 minutes. Its very hot and super humid. so we went posting at like 2 in the afternoon. the hottest part of the day! i was drenched in sweat and i never got dry agian the whole day. it was pretty hard. We had a party with our members and 2 of our investigators but out investigators dropped out 30 min before our dinner appoitement. so we just had dinner at the members house. we had korean food and it was pretty good. it was a rough day though.
Wednesday, we had splits. I was here with Elder Lacayo. A brazilian. He was also the other zone leader. We had a lesson planned out but our investigator bailed out again and didnt call us. It sucked. We did have another lesson before english class though. Yet again another uneventful day and kinda rough.
Thursday we went down to do another Kisarazu Blitz! we had district meeting and lunch too. I was on streeting from 3-5 with Elder Welch and 5-7 was housing with Elder Wilson (DL). Streeting Sucked. We walked again in the hottest part of the day for 2 hours and didnt talk to one person. No one was on the streets. There is a reason for that. No one wants to be outside and melt. I walked like 4 miles in that time period. Housing was pretty good. We ended up talking and walking and he gave me some really good advice and leadership skills. but again, we walked like another 4 miles. all in all it wasnt a horrible day. I was able to stay positive but it was rough and way tiring. After that, i went on splits with Elder Madsen (my DL) we went to his area called Chousei. I had the best night sleep ever because their apartment has beds. It was amazing.
On friday we did nothing special. They have a very rural area as well and nobody was out. We had lunch with a less active and she just talked the entire time. I didnt understand anything she said. Not one thing. but that was friday. Nothing really exciting happend then.
Saturday was transfer calls. I am still in my same area. I didnt get transfered. I was alittle bummed about it. I really did wanted to get transfered. but oh well. I still have the same companion too. I kinda wanted a new comp. Elder MacCabe is the ZL and he is super uptight. He is on the computer all day long. there are things i have to be patient with him on. He loves to talk. he talks and repeats himself over and over and over again. It drives me nuts. He really beats around the bush too. but all in all we get along pretty well and this transfer should be good.
I hope that this transfer goes by faster than last transfer. Last transfer was definetaly easier than my 1st transfer. It went by really fast and i hope that it goes by faster. I hope that this week is better than last week too. The past 2 weeks have been hard. I have been trying really hard to keep positive though. I have made it a goal to just explode with the language this transfer. I really want to speak it. I have to put in the work to do so. Little by little things are making sense. I just cant speak. it drives me nuts. If i ever get down its because its with the language. I want to speak so bad.
I love you so much Mom! You talking about going to movies and going out to eat is making me super jealous. I want to go to Texas Roadhouse or Vennicias so bad. The food here is starting to taste the same. Maybe that is becasue i only have 3 options to choose from. Taco rice, Mabadofu, or Yakisoba. That is all we eat in our apartment. It drives me nuts but it does save me money. I want variety in my food. My comp cant see that. I have had the strongest desire for Steak and Mexican and Pizza. I want that food so bad.
I love you all so much. I hope that you get my letters that i sent to you. They are for Kelly and Janalyns kids. I also sent Bug a letter with my camera card in it. I am trying to take as many pictures as possible but my comp is against taking pictures. You can ask dad why i say that. I hope that everyone is doing well. When does school start for Bug? I hope that he enjoies football and does well. I do have nick keels email. it is:nicholas.i.keels@us.army.mil. Tell grandma i love her and that i appreciate her. I hope you guys have a good time at the party. i wish i could go. Anyway, I love and pray for everyone at home. I am glad to hear about kamas and all the success he is having. Such a answer to my prayers. I hear that justin has also gotten a job. I am grateful for that too. Thanks for praying for me to get the language. I really hope that my language skills will just explode this transfer. I love you all so much. I cant wait to see you all agian .Pleas stay safe. I hope taht you have a good fast week. I cant wait to read your emails next MONDAY! I LOVE YOU!!!!
Love your Son,
Kurt Van De Graaff
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