A MONTH AND A WEEK'S WORTH

I'm so sorry about the delay in the blogposts. A lot of exciting things happened to Jordan while I was recovering from surgery. Enjoy!!!

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013

HELLO FROM THE CITY OF PAPER PEOPLE...OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

Still not sure exactly what hirakata means. 枚方. The first kanji is the counter of paper and flat objects, and the kata part is like, a respectful way to say person, or it can be like, a way too. like direction or something. Cant figure that out yet.

So yeah, this week was pretty exciting! while I was still in the city of tall wisdom (kochi 高知), I was having a party with Marquez Choro! We were preparing our investigator, Keiko san, to be baptized. It was sad that I had to leave, but she will be baptized next week, which is really exciting! We also helped a lady in the branch move. She had a like, awning thing in her backyard that she didnt want, so she pulled out all these tools and asked us missionaries to destroy it. so that was fun, but also a little terrifying cause we werent sure if it was going to fall on her house or the neighbors house. but we knocked it down successfully! 

So yeah, Hirakata is pretty good. Its not like, downtown Osaka, but its still pretty big. I found out that my district is actually just the four missionaries that live here in Hirakata, because we changed zones this transfer, so its a little weird. But yeah, Steers Choro is my new companion, and he is the man. He is on his second transfer, so I'm still training this transfer, but thats alright, I can hardly tell! While he doesnt have a perfect grasp on Japanese, there is absolutely no fear of speaking any where in his personality. He tries so hard to talk to people, and its awesome. Everyone loves him, and we have like a million friends down at the train station. Its weird that in such a big city, we see the same people all the time.

So, one cool experience was taking one of our investigators to a baptismal service in the area next to ours. Even though it was raining, (it was like a typhoon I think. We almost got hit by lightning, it was awesome. Like, only 1-2 seconds away.) but we headed to the other area and saw it. It was great because our investigator kept telling people that he was going to be baptized on the 28th, which is his goal.

well yeah, I love it here in Hirakata already! Its going to be a really fun transfer! Osaka is cool. But osaka ben is mecha hard to understand. I barely could understand kansai ben, but this? dekihen. :P

Well yeah, so its really great! I'm excited! I hope that you are all doing really well this week! love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love you!

Elder Casper

( ^_^)人(^_^ )

High five!

 

this is my farewell party as I got on the bus to leave Kochi!

 

 

 

This is harimaya bashi, a famous place in Kochi

 

 

 

This is Keiko san, me, toyora kyodai, and marquez choro. She will be baptized next week

 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

聖徒よ。我々を保護して下さい。

Hey hey! Whats up my favorite family members ever? this week has been pretty interesting. We taught a lot of people here in hirakata, which was pretty fun! And guess what? I finally got brakes on my bike two days ago. It was pretty abunai before that. It was like a lightning bolt. really fast but couldnt stop at all. And it doesnt help that the Hirakata apartment/church are like a city set upon a hill. Literally, they are at the top of a giant hill. We call it "shinko no yama" or the mountain of faith. Its hard going up, but it was scary going down with no brakes. But my companion Steers Choro is super Otsukaresama, so he helped me fix my bike.

Speaking of being Otsukaresama, we also worked on building a gate for one of the members in our ward. That was way fun. 

This week, we had some interesting lessons. We had a lesson with an investigator named Maeda. She has had problems with tithing for like, a year so she wont get baptized. We testified of that for ever and all her other problems, and invited her to be baptized 8 times, but she hasnt committed yet. But we wont give up! :D

 

Oh yeah! Let me introduce to you the District! 

First up is Elder Steers, my companion! He is 22, from California / Denver, and he is awesome. Hobbies include surfing, rugby, and crying repentance until the people. Also naps. He makes food for us because he is super nice, and he isnt afraid to try his best and speak 日本語 to all the people we meet. He is a 2nd transfer missionary. He says the funniest things sometimes, like "saints preserve us!" (see subject line of this email. We translated it.)

Then we've got Elder Rasmussen, who is from Canada. He just turned 21, and he is way cool. He is pretty solid, and likes to have fun. We speak to each other in funny Japanese sometimes, like being super polite or whatever. Its great. Sometimes we joke around about him being from Canada, but its great. I guess they have curling on tv there, not just on the olympics.

OH! Speaking of the Olympics, if you didnt hear, they just decided yesterday that the 2020 Summer olympics will be held in Tokyo. so yeah, thats a thing. Lets all go. 

Ok, and then Elder Rasmussen's companion is Elder McCarty. He is from Michigan, kana? I guess he moved around a lot, so no like set hometown. He's from a family of 10 children, and he was MTC companions with Steers Choro, so they have seen each other everyday since they entered the MTC. He is a man of a million hobbies (Thats a direct quote from him) and is really good at the piano. He's 19. 

So yeah, together, we are the District. We all live together in the old Osaka Honbu. I'll have to take a picture of it sometime. Yeah, its really cool. Osaka is way cool. Its way different from Kakogawa or Kochi, because those were like orem or provo. But here in Osaka, people are out all the time, and there are so many of them. Its pretty crazy here. We are in a ward. 

 

well, I'm glad that you are all doing good! Love you all! I'll try and get a letter sent out soon, even if its short! Love you

Elder Casper 

(^_^)v    o（>w<）o

also, we realized that together, Steers choro and I are Elder Cow and Elder Friendly Ghost. also someone couldnt pronounce our names, so they called us Steve (steers) and Gatsby (casper), so that was funny.

 

random kid we met at the eki!

 

 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

 

To my KAZOKU, not my KAIZOKU

Just in case you didnt know, Kazoku means family in Japanese, and Kaizoku means pirate. So thats a thing! 

 

Before I proceed, I just want you to know that the investigator that Marquez Choro and I taught a lot back in Kochi got BAPTIZED yesterday, so thats GREAT! :D :D :D I'm so pumped. Marquez Choro baptized her, because he is a super stud. 

 

So right now there is like, a typhoon going on here in the mission, which was interesting because it was raining a ton last night, but now its super nice outside. We cant decide if its over or if its just the eye of the storm. 

 

Um, this past week, we had some adventures! We did some surfboard fin dendo, where Steers choro asked people how to say surfboard fin in Japanese (he had one in his bag. He is a huge surfer.) and we talked to a group of kids (actually the only time we did surfboard fin dendo) and we ended up sharing about the Restoration. They all go to a christian church, and they were like "We have devotionals every once in a while. You guys should come and speak to our school!" so they're going to ask their school if we can go. HAHA. That would be hilariously awesome, just saying. 

Also, we taught our investigators, one of which will be baptized next week. He's such a stud, so I'm excited for that. They are all doing pretty good. Some of them were hard to meet with this week, but we are going to do a better job of that. 

I also gave my first district meeting as District leader on Friday. I was actually pretty sick this week, just with a bad cold, but no stupid cold is going to hold me back! Although I was coughing a lot, I gave a good district meeting, and I think we all came away from it with a new desire to go out and work. 

 

Don't worry about me though! I'm mostly better. Just got a nice old man wheeze going on. But whatever, thats alright!

Well, that was this week! Also I got to go to Kobe for a district leader council thing. That was good. 

 

Here, I'll slap on some pictures here!

Steers Choro and a bike that he rescued from the gutter. Its a long story. 

 

 

Some space food that we ate for dinner one night that we were working too hard to come back for dinner. (Dont worry mom! Usually we eat more dinner than this. :P )

This is an old picture of me, Onizuka choro, and Hayashi choro. The week before I went to Kochi, we were a tri-panionship in Kakogawa.

 

Well, thats all! Love you guys!

 

Elder Casper

 

( ^_^)／□☆□＼(^_^ )

hey also I hope you all wish Dad a happy birthday.

お父さん! たんじょうび   おめでとう   ございます！

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

HEY, HEY!!

Whats good, family? things are way fun here in Hirakata! This past week was pretty exciting. We worked pretty hard, and guess what? One of our investigators is going to be baptized next week! So thats cool. Today we are headed to Abeno, and also Nanba, the biggest shopping center in Japan (from what I hear) but I dont really have anything I want to buy so mostly its just for fun. this upcoming week will be pretty interesting because I'll be going on 2 exchanges, and going to kobe, and just having fun here in good old 日本.

So lets see, what were some of the cool things that happened this week? We found a member from utah while we were on the street. Theres a huge foreign language school here and he is studying Japanese. He asked where the church was and came this week, so that was cool. 

Also when we were teaching the guy whos getting baptized this week, we invited him to stop smoking and he was like "ok! sure!" and then Elder Steers was like " do you have any tobacco right now? Can I see it?" and the guy took it out and handed to Elder Steers, who promptly crumpled up. haha it surprised him, but then he was like "YEAH! no more smoking!" and he hasnt smoked since. 

Yeah, I got your package! I've been eating / sharing all the stuff thats in it because there was so much. it was pretty great though! Thanks! :D Going to have some sloppy joes and tacos this week for dinner, haha. 

Yeah, so I turned 20, but I honestly didnt remember about my birthday that day. I remembered before I went to bed the day before, but then when I woke up, I forgot and started getting ready and stuff. And then someone wished me happy birthday and I was like, oh yeah! so yeah, that was funny. 

I hope you are all doing alright! Keep partying and stuff. I hope you all enjoy hunting this week. Whos all hunting?

Also, tell Ty that I'm super excited for him to be baptized! its such a great choice. :D Hope he's having fun too, and enjoying minecraft. :P 

 

Well, hope everyone is good. Love you all! Thanks for everything!

Elder Casper 

（＾－＾）ノ

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

HELLO ONCE AGAIN!

 

well this past week was pretty crazy, but I dont remember what happened! Let me try and remember.... Ok, so last week we had some mexican food at a restaurant. It was alright. Mostly just cool that we found it.

We also had a barbecue on saturday, so that was pretty fun.  we had some investigators come, and we all had to fan the BBQ and stuff, japanese style. Pretty tasty too. way different from American BBQs though.

I went on an exchange with Elder Rasmusen, our resident Canadian. We had a great day where we found a ton of good people, had like an hour long discussion with a Christian lady who became christian the year dad was born. We tried to give here a book of mormon but she said she only read the bible. So we both testified a ton and I promised her that if she read it, it would change her life. And she was like "Alright, I'll take it" so that was interesting.

My district has made symbols to represent ourselves on calenders and stuff. This is our district. (mine is a ghost, duh)

 

 

Also Japanese English is my favorite thing in the whole entire world. It makes my day every time I see it. (side note, when we took pictures in front of this, a random russian guy took pictures of us. we talked to him afterwards, haha.)

 

 

Ok but the biggest news this week is my man Tanishige! We've been teaching him since I got here, and he has been progressing really well. Its super great, and he is way cool. His desire is to go to the Celestial Kingdom, and because of that, check out what happened this week

 

 

Yeah thats right, he got baptized! it was way cool! and he's going to get the gift of the Holy Ghost next week! It was great. and Elder Steers was pro and baptized him like a champ. It was a great day! 

 

hmm lets see... what else? I'm going to buy some new Japanese scriptures that will be more benri I think, but I can do that with my missionary money, so dont worry about that. I've been working hard to learn Japanese, and I feel pretty good about it. I think I'll start studying some kanji soon because its a pain to not be able to read anything, so thats one thing. 

 

So yeah, that was my week! Sounds like everyone is doing really good! :D Thanks for the family update!

Yeah, its definitely true how important less active work is too. it might seem a little hard, but remember that when you do that, you'll be doing the same kind of the work that I'm doing, helping the Lord's sheep come back to the fold. Its as important as bringing new people there, and you can always be comforted by the promise the Savior gives Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."  So dont worry. Of course there is a burden, but the Lord will be there to help you, and His angel will bear you up, I promise!  And so, once again quoting D&C, "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."  Theres some scriptures for you!

 

Well, I'll end this letter here, but yeah, keep up the work family! you're the best. Its probably getting cooler in Utah, but its still warm here. Not blazing hot, but still hot. It will be getting cold soon though. Love you all! can you believe I've already been gone for 10 months? CRAZY. Well, see you next week! 平安と愛

 

Elder Casper

 

OCTOBER 6, 2013

 

HELLO! TRANSFERS DAY...

 

Yeah thats right, he got baptized! it was way cool! and he's going to get the gift of the Holy Ghost next week! It was great. and Elder Steers was pro and baptized him like a champ. It was a great day! 

 

hmm lets see... what else? I'm going to buy some new Japanese scriptures that will be more benri I think, but I can do that with my missionary money, so dont worry about that. I've been working hard to learn Japanese, and I feel pretty good about it. I think I'll start studying some kanji soon because its a pain to not be able to read anything, so thats one thing. 

 

So yeah, that was my week! Sounds like everyone is doing really good! :D Thanks for the family update!

Thats too bad that Trixy is moving, but you can still hang out with her all the time. Yeah, its definitely true how important less active work is too. it might seem a little hard, but remember that when you do that, you'll be doing the same kind of the work that I'm doing, helping the Lord's sheep come back to the fold. Its as important as bringing new people there, and you can always be comforted by the promise the Savior gives Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."  So dont worry. Of course there is a burden, but the Lord will be there to help you, and His angel will bear you up, I promise!  And so, once again quoting D&C, "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."  Theres some scriptures for you!

 

Well, I'll end this letter here, but yeah, keep up the work family! you're the best. Its probably getting cooler in Utah, but its still warm here. Not blazing hot, but still hot. It will be getting cold soon though. Love you all! can you believe I've already been gone for 10 months? CRAZY. Well, see you next week! 平安と愛

 

Elder Casper

 

OSAKA, HERE I COME

MAN! these past 6 weeks have just flown by! I'm so surprised that it is already over. well, its transfer week again, and so that means that we got our transfer call (really an email) today. And guess what? After just 6 weeks being here in cool Kochi, I am transferring to the booming metropolis of Osaka. I'm headed to Hirakata, the area that was the old Osaka mission home. There, my companion will be a 2nd transfer missionary (who apparently speaks german and spanish) and I will be the district leader! I'm sad about leaving Kochi, because I have enjoyed it so much these past 6 weeks, and I'll be sad to leave my Marquez Choro, because it was always a fiesta with him! But, the Lord has called me another way, so next week, I'll be in the heart of the big city. Osaka is the 2nd biggest city in Japan, and so it should be pretty crazy I think. Not sure though.

So yeah, this week was really interesting! We worked a lot harder than we did in the previous week, so we found some really good potential investigators, which was good. Its too bad that I'll be leaving because one of our super awesome investigators will be getting baptized in two weeks. She is so nice and kind, and I'm sure it will be an awesome experience for Elder Marquez.

Its interesting that I'm going to the old Osaka mission home, because that was the mission that Mr Park (my Japanese sensei) went to. Pretty crazy! Plus its a huge house for the missionaries. Its a 4人 so it should be a party. Its also the area that Hayward Choro was in before he came to Kakogawa with me, so that should be cool!

I hope that Grandpa gets better soon. I'll be praying for him!

So is Arynn going to start working at a hospital or something soon? Or do like, the Medical explorers? that would be cool. what classes is Lauren taking in Jr high school? and I'm sure Meghan is just a super popular kid, she just has that personality. Is she still planning on going to orem high?

Well, today I've got to pack my bags again, but that is helped by the fact that since the kochi apartment is so tiny, i never unpacked in the first place! Next stop, Osaka! Going to Hirakata. Well, love you all! I'll try and send something home from Kochi! There are like 4 really famous things here in Kochi, and the festival was one of them. Well anyone, next week I'll be emailing you from Osaka! Love you all! Goodbye!

Elder Casper

キャスパー長老

IT'S ALREADY MONDAY AGAIN????



Well, it is already Monday again, so it’s time to send you an email again. Want to know what else is crazy? It’s the last week of the transfer, so next week, once again, I'll have news on whether or not I'm going to a new area or getting a new companion or not. How crazy is that? The time is going way fast!Well, so this week was pretty interesting. Last Monday we went to that festival, so I can send home some pictures about that. And then we also went to our investigators home (which was forever away) and she made us tamales! Pretty nice change from the Japanese food that we always eat. We also kept teaching one of our investigators who is progressing really nicely. She wants to be baptized, but she's been afraid of the water. No matter how much we explained or described it, nothing worked! We had members talk to her, which kind of made it worse. So we were really lost on what we should do. As we were planning, a crazy idea came into my head. We could show her a video from some dvds that we use as missionaries to study about being a missionary. So we did that, because it was a perfect video of someone being baptized. She watched it, and was like "oh, that’s not what I thought baptism was at all!" and hasn’t been afraid since, so that was a cool experience.

This week we kind of had a hard time finding new investigators, but we are still working hard. I really like kochi, and I love the members here. It will be interesting to see what happens at transfers next week. Lately, new missionaries have been having two different trainers, so I'm not sure if I will still be with Marquez Choro next transfer or not. We'll see.
So, it was great seeing pictures! I'm glad that you are all having fun. Sorry that most of my pictures don’t have me in them. Usually I'm the one holding the camera.
Anyway, love you all! Hang in there and keep having fun. Enjoy school! It seems like just last month that you were starting it, but now its almost been a whole year. How weird is that? Well anyway, love you! Good bye! 

Elder Casper
ι(´Д｀υ)ｱﾂｨｰ
its very hot lately.

AUGUST 11, 2013 – ZONE CONFERENCE AND YOSAKOI
So hello again! This week was pretty interesting. we had zone conference in Okayama on Wednesday, so Tuesday was spent travelling there by bus. When we got there, we stayed in the old Okayama mission home with a bunch of missionaries, and then we went to zone conference the next day. It was pretty nice, but man, bus travel takes ALLL day. It was also the last time that I'll see Hayward choro for a while, because he's going home this transfer. You could say hi to him maybe when he goes home.
Another crazy thing that is going on as we speak is this huge matsuri (festival) that is going on here in Kochi. It’s called Yosakoi, and it started on Friday. I guess that it is one of things that kochi is known for and it’s pretty well known throughout the country. It is soooo loud. They have things like floats from parades in America, but like, the size of a semi-truck or small bus or something, and they just load it up with HUGE speakers and drums and decorations, and play crazy loud music (like, traditional Japanese music styled rock or something. I don’t know how to explain it.) and a ton of people in costumes dance behind it. They are taking up the shotengai (like, malls that are also streets.)  that we usually work at. It is sooo crazy. And then a ton of stands that sell food, shaved ice, candy, beer, and what looks like pirated video games or something. Interesting stuff.  We are going to go to it and take some pictures as soon as we are done here emailing. That’s funny that you thought the magnet was an eraser at first... I thought the same exact thing! :D Well anyway, let me send some pictures today. Love you! Elder Casper

NEW AREA

So, my new area is pretty great. Kochi city is pretty decent sized. Its not huge, but I think it might be bigger than Kakogawa. Hayward Choro called me the other day, and he said he liked Kouchi (he was here for some exchanges) and that it reminded him of like, San Francisco. But, smaller than that. If we leave the city of kouchi, however, it gets reallllllllllly rural and like no one is there. Unfortunately, in Japan, going door to door is not very effective, so those really small places are kind of hard to work in.

The Branch is really good, and the people are amazing. They work so hard, and they are so strong in their religion. We had a ward activity the other day where we went to a members house, had dinner, and they did fireworks. as missionaries, we just watched. It was pretty entertaining.

So, Elder Marquez and I haven't had any investigators or any lessons this whole transfer. That is, we hadn't until yesterday! We were planning on teaching a lesson at church to this nonmember that comes to church every week, but he left during sacrament and we didn't have anyone to teach again.... but then, out of the blue, this lady walks into the church and asks if she can learn about God here. We were like "YEAH!" and she shared a ton of things with us, which just proved to us that she was super prepared to meet us. When we asked when she would be able to meet with us, she was like "whenever. any day. Every day. Tomorrow? Tuesday? I'll meet whenever." She was so excited to hear that God has a plan for her. We are going to meet with her tonight! Wish me luck!

Um, other than that, nothing huge has been going on. Lots of training, lots of travel, lots of finding, lots of heat. I learned how to play Japanese chess the other day. I lost, and then I beat Ogasawara choro, the nihonjin in our apartment at it. Then he was like "no. I need to win. Lets play again." We played again today during breakfast and I lost, so he's pretty happy again, but it was funny when I won.

I got a ton of pictures from Michael now that he's a missionary! I'm glad that he finally got out here.

Hmm... how was I prepared to be a missionary? Well, I was always taught from a young age about this church and about Gods plan for me. I've really come to appreciate that fact as I see so many people that have no idea who God even is. I always just had that expectation of becoming a missionary. It was never like "IF I become a missionary...." it was always "When I become a missionary..." Even just Dad bringing us to eat Japanese food helped me prepare for the culture here. Also being taught how to clean, how to wash my laundry, how to cook some things really helped. Watching parents who were active, who lived worthily, went to the temple, prayed with us, went to church with us.... it all just adds up.

Sorry, I'm having a hard time thinking. Is that alright? Well anyway, thanks for all the love and support, as always! I still have those letters that I haven't sent yet. :P Oh well, as soon as I can find my stamps, I'll send them. I pretty much haven't unpacked anything here because our apartment is super small. Well anyway, love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Casper

:D :D :D :P :P :P O______o ^___^ （ノ＾o＾）ノ

HELLO, HELLO!! START OF TRANSFER 5

JULY 14, 2013

WOOOOOOOH today is the start of my fifth transfer, and guess what? Headed to Kouchi, the largest area in the Mission. its is the south part of shikoku, the fourth island of Japan. Because its the largest area in the mission, its going to have 4 missionaries there. And my new companion and I will be opening up Kouchi 2. My new companion is.... I DON'T KNOW! Why? Because I'm training a new brand missionary there! Who is this mystery missionary? I don't know. He's still in the MTC right now. But I'll meet him on Thursday! woooohooo. Excited!

Sorry, I don't have a whole bunch of time to write a letter today, because we are going to go to a ward BBQ today, and also because I now have to pack for my transfer. Its been a nice 5 months here in Kakogawa, but I'm excited to leave. Unfortunately, I'm a little nervous to be leading and training, and my Japanese still isn't as good as I want it to be. Its good enough though that I can handle myself being with two Japanese companions. That's right, until Thursday, I have two companions, and they are both Nihonjin.

Um.... This past week was pretty interesting. I contacted a person that I thought was Japanese, but he was from Canada, had lived in Japan for 5 years, and speaks absolutely no Japanese. but he's meeting with us on Wednesday.

Um.... Sorry, I gotta write my mission president. If I have time I'll write you back. But if not, next time I write you will be from Kouchi. Its a branch, and its very inaka. So... housing? bleh. OK, well, see you! Love you!

Elder Casper

 

JULY 21, 2013

 

Greetings from Kouchi! Where is Kouchi, you ask? Just what does my area entail? Well, that, my dear family, is a very good question.

Kouchi is on Shikoku, one of the four main islands of Japan. It is located on the south coast, kind of in the middle of the coast. You may be curious to know just how big the area is. Well.... If you look at a map of Japan, look at Shikoku. Now imagine there is a line dividing it half and half, top and bottom. The bottom half is my area! its HUGE!!!!! I'm still not sure what is even in this area at all. Haha. But here in Kouchi city, there is a castle that we are going to today. There is also a tabehodai shabushabu place that we are going to today. :D

It is a very nice branch here, and church was great yesterday! the members are way cool, and I want to do the best I can to help them out.

So, now you are probably wondering just who my companion is. Well, his name is..... Elder Marquez! He's from Mexico! I'll be honest, I didn't expect to be companions with anyone from Mexico! His English is way good though, so there are no language problems. Except for when I speak Japanese. He is very excited to work, and isn't afraid to get out there and talk to people about God and ask for their phone numbers. :P

Its a little weird being here in Kouchi, because we don't have any investigators. There is another companionship here, and they have their investigators, but we "opened" it up as a two companionship area, so we are starting from the ground up. Which is pretty interesting. Don't worry about us though! We have faith that the Lord will guide us to those that will hear us. After all, there are 11 people here in Kouchi that are ready right now to accept the Gospel.

And I also bought a bike! So that's good! Finally riding a bike again is a good feeling.

I'm still pretty nervous to train and stuff, but I'm trying my best. We'll work hard so that we can see some miracles here in Kouchi.

I love you guys! I wrote you all letters last week (very small letters) but I haven't had a chance to send them out. So I'll try to do that this week.

Well, there are only 3 computers here in the place we are emailing, and four of us, so that is a problem. I'll probably end this here. Not much to report on, but I love you guys! I'm surprised by how quickly time is going. Next week is my 8 month mark. That makes it my 1/3rd mark. sanbun no ichi. crazy stuff. Anyway, Love you guys so much! Goodbye!

Elder Casper

3 WEEKS OF UPDATES

June 16, 2013

Hey everyone! Guess what? Its Father's Day! Happy Fathers Day dad! Maa, it’s the day after father’s day here, but still, whatever! It counts alright. :P

This past week was pretty interesting. It rained pretty hard one day, and I crashed my bike because it slipped on some of the wet ground. No bad injuries, just scraped up my hand. And also destroyed my bike light... Oh well, not too bad I guess. :P A lot of our investigator have been hard to reach this past week, so we had lots of finding time. unfortunately, a lot of people didn’t want to listen. We were getting a little discouraged until yesterday, when we started talking to a guy. He had already met missionaries before, but didn’t listen to their message. We invited him to a church tour, and he came with us and it was way good! So we found a new investigator this past week!

Oh yeah, that Facebook guy is such a stud. He’s one of our investigators, and he's way cool. He’s 18, and as of last lesson, he wants to become a missionary. He also wants to be baptized, and the only problem in the way is that he works on Sundays a lot of the time. He wanted to be mine and Hayward長老's friend on facebook, so he added me. He's so cool. :D

Dad! Have fun in Alaska! Take a picture of a bear and send it to Arynn or something. Sounds way exciting.

Um... yeah. Japan is fun. Its way hot now. I'm probably going to take out some money and buy some rain clothes and a new bike light. So if that happens, you know where the money went.

Well anyway, I love you all so much! Have fun this next week! Goodbye!

June 23, 2013

Well, today, We are going to go to Himeji again, so I don't have a ton of time to write you! Sorry!

This next week, we should be having another baptism! Woohoo! Should be a good one.

Um... let’s see... things went pretty good this week. We are working pretty hard here in Kakogawa.

We got a new fridge this week! It was a big surprise. Now we've got like 33% more room, which is good. The other refrigerator was like, as tall as Lauren. :P Pretty tough to fit things in.

Yeah, this past week, it was raining a bit. It is the rainy season, after all.

Guess what? this week, I hit my 7 month mark! How crazy is that? It definitely doesn’t seem like it’s been more than a half a year since I left. crazy stuff. At this rate, I'll be home before I know it. That’s a little scary...

So, this transfer is already half over. Next transfer, I might be becoming a trainer or something! Whoa, kowai!

Are you all studying some japanese? you better. Let’s have secret conversations when I come home, or call home, or something.

お父さん！元気ですか？アラスカはどうですか？

Onizuka Choro is a ninja. He's a stud. My Japanese is getting alright. We don't really have any problems communicating. Sometimes we just don’t know how to say a word or something, so we use the cell phone dictionary or my denshi jisho (which I accidentally dropped yesterday and cracked the screen! It still works, but the touchscreen doesn’t now. I feel like Lauren!) to look up a word and show it to each other.

also, we had this experience!

We went to the Eki the other day to dendo, but there was no one there. We found out that there was a matsuri in Himeji, and that everyone was there. We were a little shocked, cause usually its fairly busy around that time, so we didn’t really know what to do. We sat down, said a quick, simple prayer asking the Lord to show us where he wanted us to go. We ended the prayer, looked at each other, and Onizuka長老 asked me how I felt. I never got a chance to reply, because right at that instant, two guys called out to us. We went to talk to them, found out that they had met missionaries before on the street, and we ended up talking with them for like 15 minutes. And then, as we walked back, we kept meeting more and more people who were great contacts. this is all about trusting the Lord. Faith is what leads to miracles. I know that as we trust the Lord, we'll be able to astonish the world!

well, sorry, today was a little scattered. I love you all so much! Why dont you all write me a personal email this week, and then I can reply to those? Alright, see you!

 キャスパー長老

June 30, 2013

So it’s the fourth of July this week? Cool! That really doesn’t mean anything over here though. :P

We had a baptism yesterday! It was way good! kind of funny, because he had to be baptized 5 times before he went all the way under. Other than that, it all went pretty good.

This past week, we were just working hard, teaching people and finding. Usually when we are finding, we go out to the train station right by our apartment and start talking to people there. A lot of people aren’t interested, but there are some people that are really ready to hear our message.

We watched that worldwide training thing yesterday, and it was way good. We are going to get Facebook and stuff, but we haven’t heard anything about when yet. so, still waiting.

I bought a thing so that I can send pictures home, but it won’t work on this computer that I'm typing on. Lucky for me, there are four computers here in the church library. Unlucky for me, the one that the pictures work on is really slow. Oh well, not a problem. Here, hold on just a sec, I'll send some pictures.

Sounds like you are all having a fun time in Utah, although some of that news wasn’t very good news. :( I'm sorry to hear some of that, and I'll keep Camille and Grandpa in my prayers. um... I'm really boring this week and don’t have any cool news or anything.

I got your package! Woohoo! I guess it wasn’t sent by just normal mail or something, so they couldn’t just forward it to me. They gave it to my district leader when he was in Kobe, and then he gave it to me when I saw him next.

Last week, we went to Himeji Castle, and took a tour of it and stuff. Way cool, and they also had a matsuri going on outside too. I ate a really tasty snow cone, and because we were a group of foreigners there, all the kids and yankees were going crazy and wanted pictures with us and stuff. pretty funny.

well, yeah. Sorry. I'm not sure what I should say today. Well, I love you all! When do you plan on moving? :P

Um......... yeah. Also thanks for the Captain Crunch! And the Oreos! and all of it really! :D

well, hope you all have a great week! love you!

Elder Casper

July 7, 2013

Well, it’s been another week! It’s been pretty hot here. They aren’t huge on air conditioning here in Japan. Most rooms just have a tiny cooler in the corner that is decent, I guess. There is only one in our apartment, and its not in the room that we study in. So study gets pretty hot. And also it’s just really hot outside too. Like, 30 degrees. Whatever that means. I have no idea about celcius. :P

So, I suppose the biggest news this week happened yesterday. We got up, got ready for church, and headed out the door. Then as Onizuka 長老 got on his bike, I went to get on mine.... but it wasn’t there. And I haven’t seen it since. Sooooooo...... I don’t know what to do. My bike got stolen, and I don’t really want to buy a new one and then leave, and I don’t really want to walk for the rest of the transfer.... So I don’t know what to do. It had a warranty on it, so I can get a discount on buying a new one, but... I don’t know. So yeah, that stinks... Oh well, I'm sure it'll work out in the end. If we find the person who stole it, we're going to baptize him.

Sounds like everyone is having fun together as a family. Guess what we did for the fourth of July? Nothing. :P but I think things are picking up, because every summer they have crazy matsuris and stuff here in Japan, and I think that season is just starting.

This past week, we were just working like normal. It was a little hard, because lots of our investigators were just not able to meet this week, so it was a lot of finding time, which I'm not very good at still. That’s ok, just practice I guess.

Transfer calls come next week, so this is probably my last full week in Kakogawa. I've been here for almost 1/4 of my mission, which is a little unusual. If I stay, it'll be even more unusual. We'll see what happens though.

Well, I love you all! Have a great week! Stay cool! Hope you all have fun! Love you!

Elder Casper

TRANSFER WEEK

JUNE 2, 2013

So yep, this week is transfer week. We got a call last night from President Zinke, telling Hayward長老 that he was to become the new Assistant to the President, which means he needs to go to Kobe tonight, rather than transfering on the normal day (friday). And then I learned that my new companion that comes on friday is Onizuka長老, a Japanese Elder that was with me in the MTC, and came with me to Japan, so he's my doki. We're both on transfer 4, so not a whole lot of experience between us. He's actually a convert, with a pretty cool conversion story. From what I hear, he was also raised by the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) so I'll have to see how much of that is true. :P But it looks like my next transfer is going to be all in Japanese. Until we get together on Friday though, my temporary companion is one of my Kohai from the MTC, Hutchings長老. So that means that until Friday, I'm the senior companion. I don't really feel like I'm ready for that, but I guess I dont really have a choice. :P It'll be hard, but Kakogawa is a great place, and I'm excited to stay here for one more transfer.

SO. This week, we had the COOLEST MIRACLE EVER!!!! On friday, we had a Zone training meeting in Akashi, so in the morning, we started walking from our apartment to the eki. As we got to the Eki, a man called out to us in English. We started talking to him, and as we tried to introduce ourselves as missionaries, he was like "I know who you are." He had just moved back to Kakogawa a week ago, and before that, he had lived in New Jersey for 20 years. He asked us "If its alright, can I like, ask you some questions real fast?" but because we had a train to catch, we had to set up another time to meet. So we made an appointment for saturday at 3:30. Then we went to Akashi for ZTM. and then after it was over, we went to Himeji for a baptismal interview. While we were gone, this guy, Hiro, sent us a Cmail (like a text message) and said that he was "excited to meet tomorrow. Have a good day and God Bless You". At ZTM, we told everyone our cool experience. While in Himeji, as we were trying to leave, we accidentally got on the wrong train, which ended up delaying us about 25 minutes. We finally got back to Kakogawa, and as we were walking back to our apartment, we started contacting some random guy by an intersection. While we were talking to him, guess who showed up on the other side of the intersection? Just this Hiro guy, and 3 of his kids! We were way shocked! I continued the contact while Hayward長老 talked to this family. The kids were all born and raised in America, and are fluent in English, but they have been raised by Japanese parents, so their Japanese is pretty good to. They are 10, 9, and 6, and Hiro was like, why dont I bring my kids tomorrow too? I guess that they are part of a Christian Church (the unification church? I dont know like anything about it except that its from Korea...) and they believe in God, Jesus Christ, and go to sunday school every week. We were way surprised that we met them randomly twice in one day, and Hiro and his son even recognized that it wasnt just a coincidence. We were way pumped, and couldnt believe it.

Isnt that cool? Well, its not the end. The next day, our schedule was packed. from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm, we had lesson after lesson that day. We ended up going all over the place, and it was crazy. Unfortunately, some of our lessons fell through, but we still taught 5 lessons that day. After one of our lessons fell through, we started going back to our apartment to grab something for lunch (which we didnt schedule any time for...) and as we left the church, guess who we saw AGAIN? Hiro and his 3 children! we just said hi to them, confirmed our appointment for 3:30, and then at the last second, asked if we could just meet at the church, instead of the eki like we had previously arranged. He was fine with that, and knew where the church was, because, get this, he met with the missionaries there 20 years ago before he moved to America!! We were so surprised that we had met them a third time randomly on the street. Every time we thought it was a cool miracle, it just got better. When we finally met with him and his children that day, it was crazy. They have a ton of knowledge about the Bible and Jesus Christ, so we started talking about the restoration and Joseph Smith. Hiro told us that he had been praying while he was in New Jersey, and he felt like he needed to move back to Japan, and then since he's been here, he has been praying to find out how to best help his children. The day that he prayed, he met us at the eki. and then again. and then again the next day. He was like "thats just way interesting." His children really understood about Joseph Smith, and the restoration. They were like "This church has a prophet?? and it has Gods power and permission? Thats so cool! Dad, does our church have power and authority?" We also asked Hiro to pray, like Joseph Smith did, to find out which church is true. He said he would, and then we asked "If you get an answer that this church is right, will you be baptized?" and he was like "if I get an answer from God, how can I deny it?" We told them that we have a baptismal service on the 21st of July, and his kids were like "I wanna go! I wanna go!" It was way great. Hiro also told us these crazy things that just show how much of a miracle he is. When he met with the missionaries 20 years ago in the same church, they talked about the word of wisdom. At that point, Hiro was drinking 5-6 cups of coffee a day. But for some reason, he accepted to stop drinking coffee and keep the word of wisdom. After that, he slipped a little and tried to drink coffee. When he tried to drink it though, his body had a really weird reaction to it, and he couldnt drink it. He thought it was the caffeine, so he tried decaf, but same thing happened. he cant even eat coffee flavored candy. Since that day he committed to keep the WoW, he physically hasnt been able to drink coffee. His wife drinks it, but he still doesnt. Also, he is living in the same house he lived in 20 years ago. He opened the closet there, and guess what he found? The Book of Mormon, in the same place that he had left it 20 years earlier. How cool is that? After this lesson with him, we were just ecstatic, and couldnt believe what was happening. It was raining, so we gave them 2 umbrellas that were at the church, and they said that they would return them the next day.

And the miracle continues! Yesterday, we were going to meet with them, but after church, he cmailed and said that his son had eaten too much ramen and got a stomach ache, so they couldnt meet again. We were a little sad, but we had some other stuff to do. We had 30 minutes before our next lesson, so we went to go visit a former investigator who lives a little far away. As we were going, Hayward長老 just felt like it wasnt right, and even though we still had 20 minutes, we turned around and went to the church. And as we got there, guess who else was there? Yeah, I couldnt believe it either. Hiro and his children had come to the church to return the umbrellas, and had just send us a cmail to say that he had. We got that cmail right when we got to the church. As he pointed out, God is faster than text messages. :P

We met with them and talked about Gods plan for them. He really is perplexed by the fact that we've met randomly like 4 or 5 times on the street, and he was like "I want to find out what God has in store for us.". He also wanted just a friend for his children to keep their english up, because they're going to live here for like 7-10 years, and he knows how much of a benefit it is to know two languages. Guess what else happened by chance this week, a family that lives in Orem Utah came to kakogawa, because the wife is from here. The husband is from Hawaii, went to the fukuoka mission, and they met at BYU hawaii. They and their kids are staying here for like a month and a half for summer vacation. The guy asked us if there was anything he could do to help, and so we explained about this miracle family. Guess how old this guys kids are? his sons are almost 10 and 9, and his daughter is 6. They are the exact same!!! This miracle is still developing, but I think the plan is for us all to meet tomorrow. This is the crazy awesome thing that happened this week, but so much happened. I dont have time to write it though.

The sad thing is that Hayward長老 is transferring TODAY, so he wont be able to see them tomorrow. Hopefully we randomly meet them on the street again though! So thats pretty sad. This crazy miracle happens, and Hayward長老 is leaving... its way too bad. But I'm sure he'll come back and see them again! Well, this letter is way long, so I'll send it now. We've got some stuff to do to get ready for this transfer, so I'll cut this letter off here. Well, anyway, I love you guys so much! :D :D :D :D :D See you next week! 

JUNE 9, 2013

So yeah, this past week, I had 3 companions! Hayward長老, Hutchings長老. and now Onizuka長老. Pretty crazy stuff. This past week was interesting, to say the least.

Its a little hard being the area senpai, or just being with companions that are just as inexperienced as I am, but ma, I guess thats how I'll learn.

This past week, nothing super crazy happened. We were just working and trying to meet with all our investigators this past week. Its pretty interesting to have a Japanese companion, but usually we dont have a problem talking with each other or anything. Except for when he and our investigators start talking about crazy random stuff, I have no idea of whats going on sometimes! oh well! Gotta work hard!

Onizuka長老 is such a stud. He is a convert, got baptized two years ago. Hes got a cool story too. He's got a lot of blessings from the Gospel, so he's got a powerful testimony.

Today we arent taking a lot of time emailing, but I think I'll write another letter home or something today. Well, I hope you are all doing good at home! I love you all and think about you all everyday. Hope this next week you all have fun! Love you all!