26 june 2012::

I dont even know where to start this email. THat seems to be the norm. nowadays right. I never know where to start. So about Rindlisbacher. I do know him acutally. I have never served with him but his name in Japanese is Rindi and mine is Bandi. So it is almost the same. But that is interestin. The lady DeAnn knows is acutally the mom to my current companion. It is sister Hansen. haah. Me and her son are companions. Small world right? It Is good to hear that Hawaii was amazing. Ill keep my comments short becuse there is just to much to say. I want to go there some day. There are lots of Japanese people there. It sounds like a fun place. Maybe aftr my mission. It is super good to hear that you gave out a book of mormon. I am glad that you got to expirence that. Congrats.

 

So i have been super busy this week. I was telling dad, yesterday was the first time in like 3 days that i got to sleep in my own futon. It felt awesome. Tuesday i went on splits with a missionary that was training. It was suepr good. A huge typhoon blew in while we were out doin work. I love riding my bike in the rain. We have these rainsuits to help keep us dry but they dont really work. THey are called Kappas. YOu can either wear it and get drenched in sweat or you can not wear it and get wet. Either way you are going to be wet. Anyways, on the way back to the apartment, the bike i was on broke. That seems to happen alot for some reason. Bikes just cant handle me. Well we were about 20 minutes away, in a typhoon. I decided that i would ride the working bike and pull the other missionary on the broken biek. I felt like a horse. I love making good memories like that. It is awesome. I will remember that slpit for the rest of my life.

 

 On friday, i went on splits to the same area but with this time with the District Leader.( Before we went though, i did my run. It was crazy. There was another typhoon all friday morning. Well i go running in rain, snow, or sunshine. Well maybe running wasnt a great idea. I wasnt expecting to run through a river. It was raining so hard that water levels on all the ground was just above mid-shin level. It was like running for 30 minutes in irrigation level water. I was soaked. And i got lost. I ended up running about 5 miles. It was nuts but yet another great memory. I am grateful for my companion i might add.)  I really like him too. I have known him his whole mission. We were in the same district when he was a bean. Well, we got to teh area, and we had a white day. Something i havent had in a long time. Thursday was the first itme i have done more than 20 minutes of streeting in over 3 weeks. I have been so busy in my new area that we dont go find people. SO i was a bit overwhelmed with having over 7 hours of finding time. Another reason i love being ZL is because i have to set a good example for these missionaries. So i have to be happy and work my hardest all the time. It has been really good. I cant really express what i mean in words. Well, we went streeting for 3 hours and then passed out flyers. When we did that, a really nice lady came to me and started talking. She had a butload of kids with her too. Well they were all her kids. THe oldest  9 adn the youngest 2. THe lady was Japanese and had 6 kids in 7 years. THe dad was japanese too. THat is unheard of here. She was super nice too. SHe took the missionary lessons 10 years ago but got pregnant so stopped. But they looked like a super happy family and you could tell they had studied before. I invited her constinently to come back to church but she just said maybe. We will see she was super cool. Kinda reminded me of Janalyn. When we were heading home, we stopped a guy from Detroit. WHAT A MISTAKE!!! He ended up talking for about 1 hour about non-sense stuff like denying God and a bunch of stuff like that. I tried to testify to him and share my beliefs. For example, i said that God had helped me in sports so much. Well Chad, the guys name, told me that i was fooling myself and that i did all by myself. THere was no way. I realized at that moment, that i am different as a missionary and other people. It was super easy to see how much of a grasp that Satan had on that mans heart. I am glad that i have this Gospel in my life and all that it does for me. I never want to be like thaat gyuy taht i met. NEVER! He ws a sad story for sure.

 

Ok, thursday was our all mission conference. It was super sad because this was President Albrechts last one. He leaves this saturday. Anyway, at lunch the Kawamitsu did ther performance. I got to introduce them to all the missionaries. It was awesoem. I also got to talk to them for a little bit before. I tried my hardest to get a picture afterwards but i got pushed into the Sacrament room and they left. I was a bit dissappointed but i am sure i will meet them again. Everyone loved it so much. President kept telling me thank you for organizing it and all the missionaries had a blast. It makes me happy, when i can make others happy. It was awesome. I was super happy. They left me 2 CD's, and 2 hand drawn pictures of the Savior. I really like the posters. I cant listen to the CD's thought. At least not yet. I really like there stuff though. It was a great day.

Saturday we had Stake conferce so we stayed at the Mission Home apartemnt with the APs and the office elders. It was a party. We had tons of Ice cream, rotten beans called NATO, hotdogs, mochi (pounded rice). Just so much food. It was so much fun. THere was 9 missionaries there. That is dangerous. I loved it so much. THen on Sunday we had a special stake conference where elder Uchtdorf spoke. It was awesome. He gave great advice on how to have the spirt and what we need to do. THe main point to the conference though was missionary work. Members havent gotten the hang of the phrase "every member a missionary" yet. They dont do missionary work here. It is a huge struggle for missionaries to get the members to share teh gospel with there friends. One day, they will get the hang of it and the missionaries will NEVER have finding time. Only Teaching. That is the way it should be.

 

Out gator, Tsutomu had his Baptisnal Interview too. He PASSED!!! He will be baptized this upcoming Saturday. I am so happy for him. I have cna honestly see that his countance has changed. It is awesome to see. How could anybody ever deny this gospel after serving a mission when you cna expirence first hand seeing people without the gospel, seeing poeple accept and be changed by the gospel, and seeing the differnce between people who live the gospel and those who dont? You cant. If you do, you are straight up dening the holy ghost. I am so grateful for this expirecne that i have and waht i have been able to expirence. It is changing my life forever. I am so grateful for it. kokoro kansha shiteimasu! Anyway, I am so excited for tsutomu. I have seen him change. THe only thing i am not excited about is that he asked me to confirm him. I am way scared. I have never done anything like that before. let alone in Japanese. It will be interesting. Please pray for me.

 

SO like said before, President Albrecht leaves this upcoming Saturday. I am not happy about that. I love him so much. He has had such an impact on my mission. He has changed me so much. I look up to him so much for alot of things. It isnt goin to be the same without him here. I konw President Budge will be good, but i dont knw him yet like i do President Albrecht. I hope our relationship can be as good if not better. I know my relationship with President ALbrecht will be a everlasting one. I love him so much. I am going to miss him alot. You need to go to his Homecoming. It is on the 15th July 2012 at: 909 S. 725 W., Orem, Utah 84058. I really want you guys to meet him. Please go if you can.  

 

SO as you can see, i am just constantly busy. I am just going from place to place to place. I am loving it so much. I have really come to love Japan and the people. I feel like alot of these popel are my family. Tsutomu reminds me so much of Kamas. I feel like i have my family right here with me nad that i am not alone. I lvoe it. I lvoe you and everyone in the famly so much. Japan is AWESOME!!! You will be blown away when you come. I am excited to see what you guys will be like when you come. haha.

 

I have a favor for you mom. I want you to be honest too. Cna you tell me what kind of person i was before the mission? What my strenghts were, what my weakness's were, how i was different from others, stuff like that? I really want to hear. I also want to examine myself to see if i have changed while on my misison. Can you do that for me? I would really appreciate it. I was also wondering if you could send me some pictures of me before my mission? Like right before my i started losing weight. I really want to show people what i looked like before mmy diet. Cna you send me some pictures liek that? TO show how fat i was? Also any other pictures.

 

I love you mom. I feel like there is so much i want to tell you but i just cant remember everything that has happened. It has been so busy with me and everything. I do want to tell you though that i am loving my mission. I am having the best time ever. I love it here in Japan. I am so grateful that almost 1 year ago when i was having a hard time that i stuck it out and stayed. I am so grateful for this Gospel and everything that it has to offer.It is awesome. I love it. I love you and my family. I am excited to see all of you again and be with you again. I love my life and mission, my family, and my Savior Jesus Christ. Thanks for everything that you have ever done for me. You are the best.

 

日本語で自分の証をしたいと思います。伝道出る前にこの福音を好きだけどあまり生活しなかったんです。だから伝道の間無坂しかった時間がありました。この福音の証を持ちませんでした。けど福音の原則を生活することによって、私は証を得ました。モルモン書、ジョセフスミス、回復のことが大好きですよ！自分の伝道が大好きですよ！この伝道から私の人生が変わられました。心から感謝しています！イエスキリストは私の救い主であり、購い主です。彼の教えによって、私は自分の家族と共に永遠になることができって本当の幸せを感じます！この福音のことは私の全全部のことです。人々がこの福音を試したらもたらす幸せと平和を感じることができます。私の証です。もう一度私はこの福音に心から感謝しています！これらのことすべて、愛するイエスキリストのみ名によって、この証申し上げます。アーメン。

 

I love you mom. Google translate will probably say this super wierd so have fun translating it. I lvoe you and cant wait to hear from you agian. If you want to send me anything else, fun things, cool things, other pictures, etc. . .i am not opposed to it. I would love it. I havent gotten mail in ove r5 weks. I love you guys. Take it easy!

24 june 2012::

I think you said it perfectly. Short but sweet. I dont have much time either. Or actually not much has happend. Well alot happens but i cant really remember and i dont want to take the time to tell. This week went by really fast though. The past 2 weeks have been the fastest 2 weeks of my mission. I cant believe how fast everything is going. Its amazing.

 

I am happy to hear that everyone is doing good. It is good to get an update about everyone. I love my family so much. I miss you guys alot but am loving it here. The other day i was thinking about Japan and stuff the other night and i realized how much i love it here. I was thining that in less than 8 months i wont be in Japan anymore. I was really sad. I really love it here and i kinda dont want to go. I have tried so hard to love it and i am finally here. It is home.

 

SO this week we had a couple of lessons but not as many as last week. Our investigator Tsutomu is way BOMB. He asked at the end of one of his lessons if he would cry when he got baptized. He is excited and it will happen in 2 weeks. Can you still pray for him? He is great and i really like him. A really stylin guy. As ZL in the most populated zone in the world, i had to go to 3 district meetings. Takes alot of time. I am getting good and doing work on trains though. But we went all over tokyo today. It is a good thing i was thinking that i am a ZL in tokyo so when you guys come, i will know all of the subways and trains we need to go to to get places. Pretty neat uh? This week we are starting splits with everybody we have to go on. It is going to be really really busy on top of all our lessons. I love being busy. it is the best.

 

SO this week had some trails. Monday i lost my bank card. I dont know where it went but i felt really bad. I didnt feel like i could be trusted because i lost it. Well it is all solved now. Tuesday i crashed on my bike and put some holes in my pants. It was fun and my comp got a video of it. It is pretty funny. Wednesday i got up and my camera card was lost. I am still mad about this one. I dont know where it went. I lost over 1.5 months worth of pictures. Sorry. It had bapitsmal pictures, family pictures. funny pictures, etc. I look for it all the time. I think it is in my apt somewhere. Please pray that i will find it. Then on Thursday i looked at my watch that Kamas gave me and it had stopped clicking. The lense was all fogged up. So my quess it got a little water in it. I dont know how though the watch is water proof. SO my next quess is the batteries are dead. But today i am going on a watch hunt. And last but not least, my japanese. I made so many mistakes and just couldnt speak all week. I felt like an idiot. My companino has much better japanese than i do and we are on the same transfer. That put me down a bit. SOme of the other elders started laughing at me for making a mistake and i got super mad at them. I hate it when people just make fun of you for not being as smart. Iwish they would just tell me what i did wrong. Oh well that was a while ago. If you guys could pray, i am sure you do, that i will be better at speaking and opening my mouth. I really want to be the best i can be. I really do. I want to impress you guys when you come. But that is it.

 

Like said this week was good but rough. In those rough times, i really sought for service. I was able to do so much service in this apt. There are 4 elders. THere is alot that i can do. I am sure of it. I was happy escpesially when the other elders were asking who did stuff for them. It was good and i was happy. I have gotten a testimony of serice while here in Japan and i am so grateful for it.

 

I love you so much mom. I am so grateful for you and all that you do. THe fireside with the Kawamitsu is this Thursday. President Albrecht leaves next Saturday. It is crazy. You should go to his homecoming in Utah. It would be fun. I cant think of too much other stuff that happened to me this week. Zone Leader is crazy. I am trying so hard to be humble and just learn and set a good example for everybody. Please pray that i will be able to do a good job and be the best leader that i can be. I love yo so much. I hope you have a great week. I am excited to hear from ya. Stay Classy

12 June 2012::

It seems like i just emailed you like you a day ago. Time has been really going by super fast. i want to answer some questions before i dive into my email. First off, Grandma E. I do know the Elder taht knows Jay. He is actually in my Zone. I am his district leader. That is super funny. I will mention to him about Jay when i see him again. My President hasnt changed yet. President Budge comes on the 29th june and President Albrecht leaves on the 30th June. It is going to be very sad having that change. I am in a daze of what it is going to be like with a new president. Things will change and stuff will be different but i am sure the work of the Lord will be the same. Mom, Lili is doin good i think. This week on the 12th she has her big test that has been keeping her from coming and being confirmed. So this upcoming sunday she should be confirmed. That is what she told me before i left. Please pray for her. Just a side note, I have been in contact with the Kawamitsu's for awhile now. I actually arranged with them a good bye concert for President Albrecht just like you asked me too. So no worries there.

 

OK. I will tell you know about my new calling. only two words can describe it. ALWAYS TIRED!!!! I have never been so tired my entire mission. It is constantly work, work, work. I dont get a break. haha. The area i am in is on FIRE right now too so that doesnt help at all. THis past week we had tons of planning to do for our zone vision and stuff like that. Our vision is "fear departs when faith endures" from hymn #128. We really want to focus on not being afraid and just doing it. So we planned about that alot but some how we managed to get 7 other lessons, 3 member lessons, and 6 new investigators. I dont think i went out streeting once but that is what we got. Pretty amazing uh? The four man apt. doenst help at night either because we all talk until about 11:30 at night and then fall asleep. It is super hard, but i am sure loving it. I am really intimidated by this calling. I dont want to screw up at all. I fasted on Tuesday or wednesday (i cant remember) so that the Lord will help me in this new calling and give me strenght, guidance, and just help on what to do. I really hope i can be the best ZL i can be. I really want to hlep this Tokyo Zone alot. I have decided in order to do that, i just need to be myself and do what i have done in the past. If i worry to much about being good or bad, i get stressed. And if that happens, i do dumb things. So i have decided just to work hard, smile, and laugh everyday. It seems to be helping a bit besides being tired. I dont know how i will ever overcome that one. I think that will have to wait until after my mission. I am sure that as i get used to being a ZL, i will be more accustomed to things and thus in turn be less tired. We shall see.  Please pray for me. I really need the prayers. I am constantly doing something. It is nuts. But the time is sure going by fast. I cant believe how fast this past week has gone. It really has gone by so fast. It will only go by faster too. 

So we do have a couple of investigators like i was telling you about. I wnat to talk about 2 in general. The first is Tsutomu. He is really cool and reminds me of Kamas. He loves motorcycles and having nice things. He has been a gator for aobut 6 years and in the past month has had a complete changed heart. He wants to be baptized now more than never but has a habit of drinking coffee. So please pray for him ahtat he iwll be able to stop doing that. He si way solid and will be baptized on the 30th of June. The next is acutally a miracle. His name is Michael. He is from Canada. He lives right next to our church building and hte missionaries have met him before and asked him to come to church and he never did. So we never thought to much aobut him. We saw him on tuesday or wed. and asked him to come to game night on sat. He showed up and sadi he would come to church. We were wondering if that was the truth. Well he came and turned out he is total golden investigator now. I taught him on splits and it was awesome. He was so open and willing to learn. I never thought that people from the American Continent, living in Japan, could become a golden investigator but i am wrong. He has a christian background so when i started teaching he understood everything righ away. He asked about the one thing he didnt understnad wich was the gift of the Holy Ghost. I testified to him that with this gift, GOd can tell us anything and everything that we need to know in this life. I told him that theHoly Ghost will guide, direct and comfort us. He told me that he wanted that because he needs direction right now. He really is humble. I am butchering this story but bear with me. He committed to be baptized on the 14th of July. Please pray that he will feel the Holy Ghost in his Life and that he will be able to make the right descions and be baptized on that day. He is awesome and i am excited to work with him.

 

SO sunday was super hard on me. I decided to start fasting on every sunday that more people can come unto christ. Well this sunday after church we had a linger longer. I really wanted to eat the food. But i was determined that throught my fast, we would find people to teach, commit and baptize. It was really haard and like torture. Well sunday night within 2 hours we found 4 new gators, 4 other lessons, and 4 new baptismal dates. Isnt that CRAZY????? I am so glad that i stuck to my fast. I know the Lord is blessing us so much right now. I love it when my faith increases like that. It is amazing!!!!

 

So my week was way good as you can tell. Super busy, super tired, but lovin life. It is really good and i hope it stays that way. I am sure it will. I love you guys so much. I am grateful for your support and everything that you do for me. 2 days ago i hit my 1 year and 3 months in the mission mark. Pretty crazy uh? Going to fast!!! Oh, i get up and workout then run every morning at 5:50. Well my comp has something on his bike that tells him how far he goes and how fast he is going too. SO one morning we used it. I thinkyou will be supiresed. I ran 3.2 miles in just under 24 minutes. Isnt that awesome. He said i was going about 9 mph the entire way. I was way proud of myself.

 

I hope you have a great week mom. I love you so much. I am excited to get a letter from ya soon. I am going to be sending my current camera card home. You know what to do when you get it. I am looking forward to this transfer so much. It is going to be suepr fun. I just hope that i can be the best i can be and do what the Lord knows what i can do. My prayers are always with you. Stay Classy!!!

04 June 2012:

Man i am so sorry that this weeks email is later than usual. Today has you know has been transfers. Before i tell you want has happened to me and my new companion i want to tell you about this week but more in particular of a huge MIRACLE!!!!

 

So i loved your emails like usual. It sounds like everyone had a blast at the cabin. I was praying that everyone would do good. Glad it went well. I did get the Newsletter but like Kelly i cant see the pictures.

 

 Well Last week i told you that our grandma investigator didnt want to be baptized. I fasted for her all day on sunday. After she told us that, i knew she was WRONG. I still had a feeling that she was going to be baptized. I still had lots of hope. Monday was a normal day. We went to Jennys house for dinner and was way fun like usual. Tuesday we went to the temple. Of course all day Monday and all day Tuesday me and Elder Chne were just thinking about Suzuki shimai. Or the grandma. It was a great temple session adn i focused and prayed just about her. I had a great feeling throughout the entire session. Well after eating all you can eat pizza me and elder chen both had a feeling that we should fast for her again. So Elder Chen started his fast right then. He fasted until lunch time on Wednesday. I started my fast Wednesday morning and finished by dinner on Wed. On Wednesday though we had a lesson with her just about baptism and its purpose. It was so great. We both studyed for her in the mornign. After study we both felt like the problem that was holding her back was being forgiven of her sins. Well WE had a 2 hour lesson. To be short, a miraculous miracle happened. Her heart was softened and she said taht she wanted to be baptizedd on the 3rd of June. Yesterday for me, by her son. ANd she wanted me ot confirm her. WHAT A SUPRISE!!!!!! It was great. WEll, sunday came around and i was nervous as any one in the world. Do you wanna konw why? Quess who showed up? Elder Yamashita of the 70 came to our ward. His son is in my ward and they were visiting. I was so nervous. WEll, Suzuki shimais son didnt want to baptize her, so i did. It was a great last sunday for me in Yamate. I was able to baptize someone before i left. SHe asked me not to forget her. I dont think i w=ever will. She is one of the biggest miracles i have seen on my mission. It was great. She is an amazing woman with a strong testimony. I will definatly bring you to Yamate when you come to Japan.

 

Saturday we got transfer calls. I am going back to the TOKYO Zone as a. . . . . . . .ZONE LEADER!!!!! Yup, i am in the biggest zone in our mission, the busiest zone in our mission, and i have to take care of over 30 missionaries. I am way excited but way nervous. THis is a HUGE calling. I am in the heart of Tokyo as a Zone Leader. I have never been so nervous on my mission. I got up at 5 this morning because i was so nervous. Elder Chen wanted to take me to a all you can eat for our last time, and he ate for food than me. I was nervous. I am definatley going to need your prayers. on this one. My new area is called Urayasu. It has a baptism in it almost every 3 weeks. I am also in a 4 man apartment. My new companion is Elder Ren Hansen. He is acutally on the same transfer as me. We were inthe MTC together. Its funny because when we were in the Mtc We told eachother we were going to be ZL comps on Transfer 10 in TOkyo. Well that came true. I am way scared. To make things worse i had to give a goodbye at Yamate. THat was way nerve racking too. It was testimony meeting and quess who was on the stand? Yup thats right, Elder Yamashita of the 70. I was nervous as anyone. It was so hard to say good bye. I love that ward so much. It is my home here in Japan i think. Panda gave me a really cool plaque that has kanjis on it. THey mean: Healer of the Heart or Soul. It has two meanings. One is i want to be a heart doctor and the other because i changed is heart and soul. It is way cool. I love it so much. Elder CHen also gave me a pair of new running shoes. I love them. I will be honest though they arent comfortable and they are cheap so they wont last very long. But it was still way super nice of him and will wear them until i cant anymore.

 

I love you all so much. Sorry this eamil is so short. My new area is busier than my last area and i am zone leader so i wont have as much time as usual. I really need your prayers. I am super nervous about htis calling and yeah please pray for me. I want to do my very best. I love you guys so much. Hope you have a great week and i cant wait to hear from ya next week. Love you!!! stay classy!!!

01 june 2012

It is good to hear from ya, both through email and skype. First off i just want to say how excitd i am for Bug. That sounds like it will be a really fun mission. I think one of my friends is in that exact mission. I think. I have heard that name before. I am also excited for the news that dad told me. You guys coming to JAPAN!!!! I am so excited. YOu will love it here. Last night i had a dream about having a homecoming and all that. In my dream i could feel how badly i wanted to be back here in Japan. I really love it here so much.

 

My week was pretty good. THere isnt to much to say becuase i talked to you on Friday. We were yelled at again by people. Being yelled at here in Japan is really rare. THe culture doesnt approve of it. But i have been yelled at at least 5 or 6 times in this one area. Its babylon. But alot of really cool things did happen this week. We made some food with our investigator at the church and then played Ping Pong. THat was super fun. He brought alot of food too. I was full. I have tried a new streeting approach this week and it turned out really well. I ask people if they know Jesus Christ. of Course they say they have heard is name. I thne ask how long ago he lived. They say 2000 years ago. I say thats a long time right? and then ask why is he still famous? Its perfect because it leads me into testifing about almost any gospel principle because Jesus Christ set them all up and thats why he is still famous. We used that and a guy wanted to go to the church taht minute and have a lesson. It was way good.

 

So we had a miracle day. After talking to you guys on Friday we left the Apartment about 2 in the afternoon. in 1.5 hours we found 4 new investigators. Another one shortly followed. Thats not the miracle though. THis is. We were on our way back to our apartment for dinner. Well after dinner we had planned to visit a member, but we had also planned a kubarikai or passing out fliers. Well i had a mini battle on which one to do and we decided to visit the member. On the way over to the members house i had a thought to get some chocolate for that member. WEll we stopped by and talked for like a good hour adn laughed and just talked. Her husband isnt a member so it was suepr good. Here is the miracle part though i want to share with you why it was a miracle. this is what we got from the member after we got home. Thank you very much for visiting us tonight. Did you plan it in the morning or just decided to stop by right before?Anyway, we had a bad thing happened today and were depressed during thedinner.And there you came, it was very fun and we laughed a lot. Shingo(non member husband) said he saw a little miracle and you must be led by something. Then I said, yeah I think God was watching us. plus, you brought chocolates! We have just decided last night not to buy sweets to save a little money ! :) You brought us a lot of happiness and spirit with your big smile tonight.
Thank you very much.
May the Lord bless you.

How great is that! THat is why i am so happy on my mission. I think it is at those moments i am the happiest. When i know that i have helped somebody feel the spirit and bring happiness to others. And follow the quit whisperings of the spirit. I love it so much. That was our miracle day. It truly was amazing.

 

The past couple of days i have been really concentraiting on our grandma gator, Suzuki. She told us on Saturday night she doesnt want to be baptized this upcoming saturday because she doesnt feel ready. Well i fasted for her on Sunday, and i am planning on fasting for her tomorrow. I really feel she is ready to be baptized and i know if she keeps saying no, she will become eternal. I also want to see her get baptized while i am still here. I only have 5 days left in this area. SO please pray that she will have a change of heart and want to be baptized either this Saturday or Sunday. She really needs it.

 

The other girl we baptized like a month ago told us she cant be confirmed until 17th of june. SHe is way busy in skool and stuff. We told her we could do it on another day and she said no because she wants to be confirmed in Sacrament meeting like it is supposed to be. So please pray for her too. She really needs to feel the spirit in her life and have a change of heart too.

 

I got your letter today. I will answer the question you asked/ I did not ask to be AP. I would never do that. But just like you said in my letter. Satan is tempting me with that thought. SO i wanted to discuss it with President. That was all.

 

I am doing really well. I am going to be transfered next week so my pday is on tuesday. 来週庭訓して行きますので来週の火曜日はPdayです。I love you all so very much. I appreciate everything you do for me. Please pray that i will continue to be a good missionary. I am feeling lots of pressure from who knows what. Please conitnue to pray for my japanese too. I can see myself improvin but i could get better. Most of all, please pray that i will stay HUMBLE!!! I really dont want to become prideful in anyway. Today at the temple i told my self that i just wnated to be the missionary who doesnt care what anyone elses think except for the Lord. Please help me achieve this. I hope you guys have a great week. I hope the cabin was good and everbody enjoied themselves. I cant believe i am going on Transfer 10. Only 5 more to go. Time is going by so fast. Youll be in Japan in no time. Stay classy!!!!

22 May 2012::

I love you so very much. I am glad that i was able to read your email today. I cant believe all that is happening at home. I cant beleive that Bug is in his final year of High School. THat is so weird. No more kids in High Skool for you. I was telling everyone how you are an AMAZING Mom!!! Everyone thinks the same thing.

 

I am very happy for Nick and him going through the Temple. I love the temple so much. I actually get to go on the 29th as a mission. Its not the same though as going with the family because there are so many people but it is still fun.

 

So my week was good. Tuesday was a really good day. We went to Tokyo for a All mission Conference with a member of the 70. Elder Clarke. He was super enthusiastic and sarcastic. It was way funny. Definalty different than what i thought General Authorities were like. He gave great advice that i want to pass onto Bug and Nick when i get home. I then went on splits with my Zone Leader Elder Miura. Ya he is japanese but i lived with him when i first came to Japan. SO it ws super fun talking with him and seeing how his mission has gone and stuff like that. I also got to sleep on a bed. 1st time in over 5 months. I was suepr happy.

 

Wednesday after splitting back we had a lesson with Sister Suzuki. We taught her aobut the Restoration. It was such a spiritual lesson. She told us she just didnt understand and went on like that for like 5 minutes. Then another 5 minute pause with nobody saying anything. THen i was able to testify to her just about how that is all how it begins. In order to grow, we dont and cant konw. If we already knew, then we wouldnt grow. It was amazing. Really good Lesson. After our English class we had about 15 minutes. I usually go in but i felt like we needed to keep going. Good thing i did that. WE found a referral for another area. He was suepr nice and wanted to learn.

 

Thursday was probably the hardest day in the week. I was super sick. My throat hurt, my nose was clogged, and i had the biggest headache ever. Despite all that we still did work. I have a thing, if i am healthy enough to exercise and do stuff i want to do, then i am healthy to do the Lords work. It was still hard though. We made flowers for the Bishop and our Mission Leader adn then took it to them. I think they liked that because on Saturday night, our Bishop brought us donuts, Krispy Kreme too. We streeted pretty much all day on Thursday and didnt find anyone. THat is what made it hard. Elder Chen really likes talking about Kess and really wants me to talk about it with poeple alot. Well after he tried to get me to talk about it with somebody who had no interest, i told him i didnt appreciate him sharing my life expirences. I said that if i feel i need to share it, i will. It isnt his expirence to share. Well i think i could of handled it alot better than i did, with more love you know. Well i really didnt feel the Spirit anymore and thats when the day started getting hard. I apologized like 2 hours later because i felt way bad and i knew i needed to.

 

ON friday we had planned going to the temple with Panda to do baptisms for the dead but the temple only does it at night and Panda has work at night. So instead we went to a all you can eat meat place. It was super good. I didnt eat that much though. I got full fast. I aint complaining. It as fun though. We then streeted for like 3 hours and visited a member who just had a baby. It was fun. We didnt find anybody to teach though. I went on splits with a young missionary too. I think he really enjoied. it. I hope he had fun but worked hard too. I really believe in having fun but working hard. He told me his thoughts aobut me were way different. He thought becasue how successful i have been in Yamate that i was a missionary who was just work, work, work. Like 15 minute lunch and dinner, no breaks, strict, etc. WAY WRONG!!!!! I like having fun. We have to be ourselves right? I do what works for me and apparently he liked it too.

 

Saturday was way busy. We had a lesson with a gator who i havent seen in 2.5 months. He saw us on friday and told us he wanted to meet today at 1. We jsut pretty muched talked and asked how he had been. (reading the BOM, praying, etc). He is way good. He wants to meet us once a week and we are going to start reteaching him everything. Then we had to go and meet a Korean who we called. He took us to get Udong, super fat noodles. It was pretty good. We split back and me and elder chen had dinner, then went to chinatown because there was something going on. Chinese holiday. It was a pretty fun day and i enjoied it.

 

SUnday was a miracle. My testimony for sure grew. THis is why it grew.  

I fasted because we dont really have anyother investigators expect for Suzuki shimai. I really dont want to be transfered and leave Elder Chen with nothing either.  SO I fasted so we could find some new ones. The testimony builder is I know fasting works. Today we were doing a kubarikai at Yamate eki and a chinese girl came up to me and we just started casually talking about where english class is and why its free. That got into me talking about me being a missionary. I told her that I am a missioanry for our church and we believe everyone is sons and daughters of God. She was fasinated. She just kept saying how cool that was and so on. Then she asked if I am a missionary where do I get money. SO I told her about tithing and of course how I saved. She was once again facsinated with tithing. She kept saying how sweet and how awesome that is that the money we give to God helps the poor and needy. She then really wanted to come to church and see. She knew there was lots of churches where our church is and asked why. SO I told her we have a great message that can answer that exact question. She wants to hear. Elder Chen heard she was chinese and came over and just started bearing his testimony and how his life has gotten better from coming to church. She soaked up everything better than a sponge. She asked Elder Chen if she became a member, would she have to come to church everyweek. Well of course Elder Chen said ya and she told him that she will start coming. I then started talking to her about Eternal Families. She was just agreeing with everything i was testifiing about. She is awesome. I really feel that she is so prepared by God. OF course I have a lot more things I wish I could tell you aobut her but that would take so long. At the end of the conversation her friend came up and long story short is now planning on going to go to Kamiooka's eikaiwa and meet the missioanries. That was my testimony builder. How great is that? I really feel like one of the missionaries out of the Book of Mormon. Prayed and Fasted much. Her name is Lee shimai. She is a very AWESOME person and our newest friend. God really does see our faith and will bless us. It was an amazing expirence for sure. THe only bad thing about Sunday was Lili didnt get confirmed. I am trying so hard to get her to be confirmed but she doesnt come. Please pray for her.

That was pretty much my week in a nutshell. Alot better than the week before. This week i hit my 1 year mark in Japan. I cant believe that i have been away from America for 1 year. CRAZY!!!! I love you so much mom. I am so excited to get to call and find our where bug is going for his mish. My quess is here in Japan. I can totally see him here. I hop that you hve a great week. SOunds like you are goign to have a busy one. We are going to dinner wit Jenny on friday and i think they are goin to do something special for me. THey were tlaking in chinese about it. Elder CHen has something up his sleeve. I have something up my sleeve for him too. We have a base couple here and i am going to get Elder Chen 2 12 packs of AW Rootbeer before i leave. I think it will make him happy. I only have 2 weeks left here. Time goes by so fast. It really does. I will be calling for Christmas in no time at all. I love my family so much. I cant wait to see and hang out with them all again. I love you mom and dad. THanks for all you do. I gotta go but you have my prayers and my love.

Love ya. . .

07 May 2012::

I am so jealous. I really want to go to the cabin so bad. I hope that there is still some stuff for me to do when i go there. I really want to help restore it. I hope there are now fires either up at Graham this summer. Ill be praying for the rain here to go to AZ.

 

So what part of CA is Nick Keels going? YOu didnt tell me. I am so going to visit him upon my return to the USA. GO AMERICA!! I am so excited for him. He is going to get fat. Missionaries who go state side get fat becasue they get fed all the time haha. He better run and stay in shape haha. I am so happy for him. I couldnt be mad today because of this news.

 

I am so excited for dad about his weight. He was telling me that he was feeling really good about it. I am tryign to loose weight as well. Or at least my love handles. I really want them gone. But i dont htink as a missionary i will be able to do that. I will tell you why. Because i go out to eat with people to much. All you can eat's are cheaper than most restraunts so that is where people take us and i eat my moneys worth. IT is horrible. THis week was my worst week by far. I will tell you later why. But i need to get away from this city and go to the countryside where there is no all you cna eat. I am managing to maintain somehow though?

 

Bug is going to GRADUATE!!!! That is so cool and he is going to get his mission papers. I am so excited for him. He is so going to come to Tokyo Japan. I am going to train him. It is done. There has to be someone in the family i can communicate with in Japanese. I am praying for

 

Talking about calling home. 6 or 7 is really early in the morning here. Last itme i called it was like 10. Ya if i call at 10 A.M. it will be 6 P.M. Sunday night for you guys. You have my skype name so you should skype me first. But i really belive that i need to skype you on my monday morning at 10 AM. We shall see. But i am looking forward to it too. I really want to talk to Kelly and her kids too. So please help me out with taht.

 

Ok my week was pretty crazy. Ill start off with the details. It was raining all the way up until friday non stop. I HATE THE RAIN. It is so hard to do anything in the rain. NO one wants to listen to you. NO ONE!!!! It makes it so hard. Well, Tuesday we had interviews with President Albrecht. I love that man. I am going to miss him os much. I really love him so much. It was my last interview with him until the new president comes. He told me that i was going to be transfering. (no duh, i have been here for 6 months) BUt he gave me a papaer to read when i go home. It is jsut a bunch of stuf he tells returning missionaries. That was that day. Kinda bitter sweet day. Oh, I had to translate for a couple missionary. It was really hard. But it was my first time and i did it. I translated from Japanese to English. It is super hard because Japanese is backwards than englsih. FOr example, we say the dog went to the store. In japanese you would say, the dog the store to went. Its kinda like Yoda from Star Wars. I will be able to understand him way better when i get home. But i thought that was cool. I alos got a new Japanese Grammar book. I thought i would neveer be happy to say that but i am. It has so many helpful grammars in it. I am way excited. But it cost 60 bucks to buy. That is the only downfall. It should help alot wehn i come home though.

 

Wednesday we were planning and Lili called us. Remember, she got baptized but not confirmed. Well she wanted to go to lunhc. So we went to a All you cna eat Pizza place.  THis is why i dont think i will be able to loose my love handles as a missionary. All you can eats are way cheap here and people go to them alot. Well we wnet and 4 other members showed up too. IT was like a party. It was way cool. WE found out her problem. She is super busy with skool here. Skool here is 7 days a week. THey kill themselves. WEll she has to go to skool 7 days a week adn cant come to church for about 2 months. She said it is really hard for her. We ahd a member share a expierence about how he had to choose between God or his work/skool. He said that when we put our trust in him,He will help. I hope she accepts this. She didnt come to church this week either. REally sad. THe Ward is really trying to get poeple to fellowship her. IT is way cool to see.

 

Thursday we met with our other chinese investigator, Wang. He doesnt speak englsih or japanese. So elder chen translated for me. We met at 5 and Wang to us to a all you can eat chinese restraunt in Chinatown. Once again, this is the reason i will never be able to loose my love handles. THankfully, reall chinese food is not like American Chinese food. THey are completely different. Real chinese food is packed with vegietables. But they have one American like dish. It was all so good. I didnt eat to much becasue i didnt want to dissappoint myself when i weighed. It was fun. I really wanted to eat at a all you can eat in chinatown before i left too. So now it is done and i am happy. After that we went to the chuch adn played Ping Pong. I am happy to say that i beat a chinese person in Ping Pong. I am happy. I have gotten really good at ping pong. We are meetin him again this week. He ahs interest in church alot.

 

Friday we got caught in the rain so we housed. Upon our return, i bought a new bag to carry my stuff in. It was needed. It is really nice. But it was 40 bucks. I am feeling so quilty right now for buying it. But i know when the money gets restored i will be happy i bought it. It is really nice. We were coming home and i was saying hi and stopping people. Well i saw a guy, drinking a Jack Daniels bottle of Whiskey. I simply said hello and he called me Bakayarou!!! You can probably quess wehre  this was at. Yup. You quessed it, it was in HELL!!!! That area is just way sad. It was a good laugh for me and elder chen though. Friday night we spent calling peopel up for 2 hours. From 7:30 to 9:30. It was tiring but way good. Saturday morning we had a BBQ so that is why we were calling. We called Former Investigators, Potential Investigators, anyone. It was way good. On our BBQ on Saturday, 3 Formers showed up, 6 Englshi class students, 1 investigator. We also contacted 2 referalls. Oh, a family came too. It was great. ALl the people we got to go said they are going to come back to our eikaiwa and start learning agian. Slowly but surely we can get them to come to church. It was super good. The BBQ was good too. WE actaully had Hot Dogs. My first time in Japan. It was great. REally good day.

 

Sunday we had a normal day. I made the Mothers Day gifts but i jsut need to send them now. I hope that you like them. They shoudl get to you sometiem next week. There are eight. 1 for you, kendi, kelly, janalyn, brie, both grandmas, vicki. So please pass tehm out. We then went ot an americans for dinner. It was good. TOday was great too. We went out in the moring time to do work. AT 11:30 we met with our whole zone to go to a all you can eat Taco place. I really dont like all you cna eat anymore. Everytime i go threre it turns into a competion and i have to be the winner so i always over eat. I had 12 really big tacos. I out numbered everybody by 6 tacos. GO ARIZONIANS!!!! It was worth it. I really wanted to go tehre before i transfered too. It was suepr good. THey were homemade tortillas. So good. AFTER eating we went to the top of Landmark tower. It was fun to talk with everyone. We went running this afternoon too. I felt really fat. So i went running. BAD CHOICE. It was the most painful run i have ever been on. It was just cramps the entire time. I was determined to burn some of those taco calories though. But ya. I am trying my hardest to maintain 175lbs.

 

I have decided i need new running shoes. THe ones i have now are from 1 and 1/2 years ago. THey are trashed. My right running shoe has a whole hole in the side of it where my pinkie toe hangs out. I also need some new workout clothes. ALl the ones i am currnetly using are getting really bad and are no good anymore. Running shoes here are about 120 bucks for a good pair. I really need some.

 

Mom, can you send me some pictures of me in my senior year and even after i graduated. I really want to sow poeple what i looked like before i started the diet and lost all my weight. If you could send me my ones from Facebook. It has my before picture. That is the best. But i want some from before my diet and after my diet. That would help alot. I would love it.

 

I am doing really good. Just trying my best to be the best i can be. I hope that i am making someone happy! I could really use some prayers on the langauge. I really feel like i am not good enough at it. Or at least speaking. Please pray that Lili will come to church to get confirmed. We are trying so hard for her. I really dont want her jsut to move on without the confirmation. Please pray for her. We are going to the tmeple with Panda and Suzuki in 2 weeks. It should be fun. I am way excited to go with them. I am in pretty good shape and still working my best. I love you so much. I am so excited to talk with you on Mothers Day. I should be calling at around 10 Am my time and 6 PM your sunday night. I am so excited. Have a great week. Always remember you are in my thoughts and prayers. Stay Classy!!!!!