GIFT FOR MOM

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Its that time of the week again! :D

So, first off, as you probably saw from Izak's blog post, I'm allowed to email friends now, so that's cool! Or at least it would be if I had all their emails... :P

This week has pretty much been full of miracles. Its crazy. The first thing I want to say is for you Mom. I'm not sure if you've seen anything about it on the mission blog, but we as a mission are planning something big for mothers day this year! Its on May 12th, so that'll be when I can call home, but it also is when some other big stuff is going to happen. You know that I love you so much Mom, and I really feel your love and am so grateful for all that you've done for me to get me to where I am. We have decided as a mission to set a goal. Every area in our mission is going to baptize someone on Mother's Day, as a sort of special gift for our moms! For these investigators, it'll be the day that they really start on their path to return to Heavenly Father. Hopefully for you, it'll be a way for me to show you how hard I'm working, and how much I love you. Now, they told us about this goal two weeks ago, and not very many areas have an investigator who is planning on getting baptized on the 12th yet, but I want you to know that as of yesterday, we have one for mother's day! :D But we're not going to stop with one! I'll let you know what comes of that though.

Actually, funny story. The man that became a yakusokusha (Investigator with a baptismal date) yesterday has an interesting story. He was a former investigator that we found in our area book and visited once. He set up an appointment with us, but never showed up. We tried visiting a few times, but he never was there. He randomly visited yesterday, and he was there, and came with us to the church so that we could teach him a little bit. Now, the funny thing is that he has already been baptized once. But he never showed up to his confirmation... So that's a pretty interesting circumstance I guess. But from what we've gathered, its been long enough that he needs to be baptized again. We taught him about the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that he needs that, and he realized how important it is. Now, we think that he's going to need more time to get there, because I think there are a few things that he didn't really understand.

Hmmm, I'm not really sure what to say. Tomorrow I'm going to Kobe for a trainer trainee meeting, so I'm sure that you'll see some pictures on the blog from that. It'll be nice, because I'll see my friends and kohai from the MTC. Today we planned on going to Himeji and seeing the castle there, but I actually don't think its going to happen because a few things ended up taking too much time today. That said, I'm going to have send a shorter email today. :P sorry! I'm glad that everyone is enjoying their lacrosse and track and such. Lauren, cheer up a bit! No one is going to forget you, hahaha.

One more story from this week. our ward had a party this week in order to raise money to send some of the youth (namely the one young woman) to EFY. It was a dinner at the church, with some members singing and stuff. We didn't really plan on going because none of our investigators were going to go. We were actually at some former investigator's house visiting (he became a new investigator, by the way) when we got a call from a member saying that two of our friends were at the dinner party! It turns out that this kid that we had an appointment with last week that he didn't come to ended up coming the week after to the dinner party! It was an accident, because he didn't know that there was a party that night. ( I think he wrote the week down wrong or something on when our appointment was.) Well, the kid actually brought his friend, and then another one of their friends showed up, making three new people at the ward party. They had a good time and it was a good way for them to get introduced to the church. It was pretty exciting, so we rode our bikes as fast as we could to the church and ended up staying with them through the whole thing.

Welllll, that's about it. Well, actually that's not it, but I'll save the rest for some other day. :) I hope that everyone is doing good back at home, and I'm glad to be able to write you each week. Thanks so much for all that you've done for me. お父さん、日本語を勉強していますか？(Are you studying your Japanese, father?) You better, haha. Maybe I'll only write you in Japanese, mwahahaha. Well, I'm not that good. Yet. But I'm going to keep working. Anyway, 愛しています(I love you) SEEE YOOOUUUU!

Just so you know, I was able to invite the man to "be baptized again by someone holding the priesthood authority of God". I dont know if I'll get that chance again, haha

\(・－・）/ \(^－^）/

Hello Hello! Well, its been another great week here in Japan! I know Dad thinks that I don't have enough time to write a long email because of the stuff that you send me, but its just because I don't have very much time in general. That being said, I'm going to write you a good letter this week, but it might be cut short because of time. So this next coming week, I'm going to Kobe for a trainer/trainee meeting. It'll be cool to see all of my friends again, and also see my kohai who came to Japan just this past week or so. That reminds me! Because of the age change, the time spent in the MTC was shortened, right? Well, in order to align themselves with the MTCs around the world, every mission around the world had a 4 week transfer, instead of the regular six. So pretty much, everyone whose time wasn't shortened in the MTC has their mission shortened by 2 weeks. So I'm already on my second transfer! and I'll end up coming home two weeks early, probably. Its like I left for my mission on the 14th of November, instead of the 28th. So yeah, last week I was able to purchase my electronic dictionary. It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, and it is really useful! I took pictures, so maybe I'll send those to you. Also after that, we went and ate at KFC in the shotengai by our apartment. It wasn't very good, but they gave us water bottles with our meal because of some Dragon Ball Z promotion that they have. So now I have a Dragon Ball Z water bottle. :P

Oh, ok. There is a story that I have to share. Last week, we went to go visit a family in the evening. It was all dark outside, and we were riding our bikes there. While we went, we also tried stopping everyone that we could. I saw one person in front of me, so I decided to stop him. I started to say Konnichiwa, and I stopped my bike. As I did, the man let out the loudest, most realistic yell I have ever heard (Seriously, this was like, epic war charge shout level) and just started running towards us!!! It was pretty frightening to say the least, but he ended up running right past us. At that point, we were more confused than scared. Then he stopped and started calmly walking. He started crossing the street, and then did it again! At that point we just thought it was hilarious! Hahaha it was way weird, and way funny.

Also this past week, we saw a few miracles! We were going with one of our investigators to his house to visit with him and teach him a short message. When we got there, his mom and mom's friend were there too! We visited for a bit, and then started sharing a message that we had prepared. Instead of just our investigator, they all listened in. We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon, and asked if he had any questions. He was like Yeah, what is God's plan for us? So we started talking a little about the plan of salvation. When we were done, we asked if we could come back, and they all said yes! Going back on Wednesday! Also we found a family that we are going to visit on Thursday and teach about family home evening! Pretty fun stuff!

AHHHHH rush time now. WOOHOO Savanna got her mission call! That's exciting! Same mission as Joseph Talbert, right? WOOT WOOT Michael finally put his papers in! I would pick Kobe Japan for my guess, but anywhere in Japan is alright with me! ;) Carly is engaged!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH thats pretty crazy! Congrats to her! Arynn seems like she is really enjoying Lacrosse! Tear it up Arynn! Running out of time! Love you all! Going to cut it off now! SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

\(・－・）/ \(・－・）/ \(・－・）/ \(・－・）/ \(・－・）/ \(・－・）/ :D :D :D

Best McDonald's Hamburger Ever

So yeah, its a party here in Japan! more specifically, in Kakogawa! Dad, I don't have my physical address, but try googling the Kakogawa Eki. I live right by it. An apartment building down the street from it, to be more specific. We're in a ward here. Its not that big, but its alright. On Pday, we've got our normal studies in the morning, an hour of cleaning, and then usually its like 12:30 at that point. We have to come to the church and email, go to the local Gyomu Supa and buy food, and then usually we go to Daiso, a 100 yen shop. Pretty much a dollar store, except you can get like anything there, and its actually now that bad. We haven't had a whole bunch of time to go sight seeing, but now that its warming up, we plan on going to Himeji and seeing the castle there, and also going to Kyoto and seeing a lot of the cool sites that are there. Pday ends at 6 pm, and then the rest of the night is just normal. So I don't have a lot of time to email, but that's because we've got so much other stuff to do. like for instance, as soon as I finish this email, I'm going to go buy food, take it home, go to daiso, then go buy my electric dictionary, then maybe go to another store, and we need to eat dinner, and then we've got some stuff planned for tonight. Busy stuff, huh?

Well, that's cool that Bean and Michael visited. Man, I miss them all. But whatever, I'm having a ton of fun here in Japan. Plus, I can always hang out with them in two years. :P

This week, I went on an exchange to Akashi with one of our zone leaders. I was kinda nervous because I really didn't know what to expect, but it was a blast! For lunch, we went to Mcdonalds! Its way popular here in Japan, and they have a special hamburger every month. This month it was the Idaho burger, and I have to say, it was like the best McDonald's hamburger I have ever had. And it wasn't even in America. We were able to teach some lessons this week, and its all looking really good. Our investigators that we've taught all really enjoying meeting with us, and they really seem to be able to understand. One of them agreed to be baptized, but we've got some extra work we need to do for him.

Japanese is still pretty hard, but sometimes I can actually talk with people. Like yesterday, after sacrament meeting, some of the people in the ward came and asked me stuff like where I was from and if I had been to college, stuff like that, and I could understand them and respond! Woohoo! :D But I'm still going to have to work hard because it really is difficult

Sounds like everyone at home is having fun! keep it up! I'll try and take more pictures and then maybe send my sd card home. I suppose I could send pictures over email, but its pretty annoying. Especially with the computer being all in Japanese. :P well, I hate to do this, but I'm just going to send this email. Sorry for it being short. Next week, I'll have a list of things that I want to write you so that I can be more organized and write faster. anyway, love you!!! :D:D:d:d :p:p:p:p c: c: c: c: O________o ^____~

IT WAS A GOOD WEEK :)

 You are all probably asleep, but its like 4:30 pm here. So, time differences are killer. Today, Waterbury長老 and I have been working hard. We cleaned our apartment, and then we went to an awesome place for lunch. We had katsumeshi. It was like, breaded meat over rice with sauce on it. I couldn't decide which sauce to use, so I got all three. haha it was really good. These students that were eating there were talking about us in Japanese. Well, they were mostly talking about how big Waterbury長老 is. (I'll be honest, he's big. He's way tall. he hits his head on the door frames all the time. haha) It was funny, because he understood all of it. One day I'll be that good at Japanese. Gotta keep working on it. We've actually been waking up at 5 am so that we have extra study time in the morning. Its hard focusing that early, but I'm working on that.

So, we've seen some miracles this past week. We went and visited a family's house. The dad is from Nigeria, and he speaks English very well. Also french, Japanese, and whatever they speak in Nigeria. He said the name but I cant remember. His daughters only speak Japanese. The dad is the only member, so we want to teach his wife and his daughters. We went and visited him, and he said that he was coming to church and that he was bringing 2 of his friends! And they did come. It was way cool. They said that "God willing, we'll come back next week." It was way cool. We also taught an 82 year old man. He came to church last week and we taught him, and then he came back this week. Our lesson went way too long, and I understood maybe 3 words, but in the end it turned out really good. Our member we had with us really saved us because he was really able to connect with the man.

On Wednesday, we were able to teach two of our investigators. One of them, we taught in a park. We were really worried that it would be noisy or something. We normally only teach in the investigators home or the church, but he insisted on the park. We were surprised. there was no one there and it was really quiet. I was able to tell him about Joseph Smith, and ask him to be baptized. He said that he would be baptized, but we weren't able to set up a specific date. The other one we taught in the evening after a guitar class that one of the members puts on at the church that some less active members and our investigator sometimes go to. It was nice because the less active member that was there joined us for our lesson, and I think it really helped him. he ended up coming to church yesterday!

On Saturday, we had a mission-wide taikai (大会) where Elder Tad R Callister (A seventy) and Elder Aoyogi (I think that's right) came and spoke, along with their wives and also President Zinke and his wife. It was way crazy. All the missionaries were there. It was only like an hour and a half trip for us, but some people were traveling for 5-6 hours by train and bus. But it was way awesome! Definitely learned a lot!

Ah! Bean goes into the MTC on the 6th?!?! That's crazy! I'm excited for him. Have fun man! I'll try and write you or something! I don't have a whole ton of time to write people though. Lots of stuff to do on Preparation day in the field. Mandarin will be fun! Don't get discouraged. Its not worth it. It doesn't do anything for you. Just work hard, and pray hard. I know that you can do it. Don't let the pressure get to you. There will be pressure, by the way. And when you think that you cant do it, you're right. But you will have God on your side, and with His help, you can do anything. So, don't give up. :D

But if Bean is leaving, that means that Michael is going to be lonely now. So hey, Michael! Cheer up! I wrote you a letter (among other people) but I haven't sent it yet. But let me share a little thing that's in there, because its kind of time sensitive. I'm sure that sometime soon, you'll put your mission papers in and be awaiting a call. This is what you need to do. Have all your family and friends there. Open the call. Start reading it. Read "you have been called to serve in the..." and then stop. Calmly set the letter aside, pull out your iPod or laptop, and type the mission into an email that is addressed to me, along with the date of entry and all that fun stuff. When the email is sent, pick up your letter and say "sorry, about that.", "excuse me", "My best friend. I'm sure you understand", Or some like really witty line. And then continue reading your letter. Trust me, theres some major reward for doing this. Its all in my letter that I'll (hopefully) send tomorrow.

Well, Japan is awesome. My Japanese is coming.

Well, I love you all! But I've got to go shopping for some food! I don't know what you can send me. But one thing you can is more pictures that are actually printed out, especially of our family throughout the years. We use that for when we are meeting with members, or sometimes even investigators, to kind of introduce ourselves and such. But other than that, feel free to send whatever. I'll try and get a letter off to you soon, but I've got a lot of other stuff to do right now. Well. love you all!!!! :):):):):):):D:D:D:D:D:D:D　\(・－・）/ (YAY I got six cakes from Lauren!)