Japan week #21

Hey everyone!!

  Can you believe it!! I'm an adult finally! ;) (In Japan) Haha! I can't believe I'm twenty. I can officially say I'm NOT a teenager! And that's nice. ;) Haha! Plus people here will take me more seriously now, since I'm legally an adult. Sometimes you tell people you're only nineteen, and then they don't really think you can do anything, kind of frustrating sometimes, but now that won't be aaaaaas big a thing, kanaa?.. :) I've had a marvelous week this week. Sorry this email is getting out a bit late. Our schedule for after Christmas and this New Years Week is different from what we would normally do, and p day got moved to Wednesday!! Hope I didn't scare anyone too much!

   Sounds like everyone had a fantastic Christmas!! Makes me very  happy to hear that! :D Mine was a blast as well! Getting to hear your voices was SO NICE! It felt like I hadn't talked to you in forever, but at the same time it was like yesterday that I called ya in the airport, before I had even reached Japan! Crazy to think that I have been on a mission for six months now, and that this year is OVER! O.O Time is going by way to fast! This being busy on a mission thing is great and all, but boy does it make it go by way too fast! I want to try and cherish every second of it, but it's nuts when you wake up on Wednesday pday morning and realize the transfer... is HALF OVER. O.O My mind. Blown. Made my Christmas a very happy day as well. I was in a happy high. :) And I got shouted at by an old Japanese man, and for some reason that just makes it all the better. On my last day of dendo on my mission I want some really old Japanese man to just let me have it, I feel like that'd be just so great a note to go out on. :) That and seeing lots of people change for the good too.

  I LOVED the Christmas presents. The ring, fits my ring finger.... PERFECTLY. Like, PERFECTLY. It's such a comfortable fit. And I love it!! Do you guys know what the kanji says? It is pronounced 'gee'. And it means righteousness. :) Elder Kozuma is crazy jealous, he thinks it's the greatest thing. I loved all the socks, g's, food, and SHAMPOO! :D I was just about to run out! Saved my life! Thanks so much for everything! The other package got there Christmas night, so I was able to open them both! I haven't had time to watch the dvd yet, with all our crazy schedules and what not, but I'm looking forward to watching it very soon! :D Thank you so much for everything!

   It's basically not possible to work during the time after Christmas, until a bit after New Years. People here get time off from work, which they NEVER have, and it's a huge time full of festivals and what not, and NOBODY will talk to you. And if they do, it's only to yell at you because you're bothering them during the only time they ever have to spend with their families. So, we didn't do much regular work this week because of that, and it's been interesting. So after the phone call home, Christmas was a regular day of work. And my birthday the next day, I went on splits with Elder Sasaki, my Japanese Zone Leader, and that was a blast! I got a phone call from the mission home, and everyone sang happy birthday to me. :) Was way nice. And I got a call from the Obihiro and Kitami sister missionaries, also calling to sing me happy birthday, was very nice! :D Aside from that, my birthday was pretty much a regular day. Didn't do anything special to celebrate it because of splits. We did go home teaching with a member that night though, and I swear we drove to Idaho. Once you drive out of the populated part of Otofuke, it becomes Nampa / Caldwell. Farms everywhere, old broken roads, and cows! Oh man, I was like, THIS IS MY HOME!! The family we home taught owns a dairy farm. Holy cow that felt like home. ;) Hehe! It was great!

  On the 28th we went to Sapporo for Sister Evans messiah concert! And that was a blast. There were so many missionaries there that it felt like a transfer spot reunion. I got to see ELDER LEE! And some Muroran ward members! That was way fun! It feels like it's been forever, but it's only been like, 3 weeks, so it was kind of weird that we were all like! HEY LONG TIME NO SEE! :D :D Attitudes, but it was great none the less. Elder Lee is way bummed that I'm gone. He doesn't really like his new comp very much. And he told me quite a few times to transfer back to Muroran with him. :( I Love that guy, and he has had a crazy roller-coaster mission with companions so far. Every other transfer is a companion that's really hard.

  So, running out of time, so I'll cut to the next biggest thing that happened this week. Two things. We weren't able to meet with our investigator Sato San, who we think will make a baptism date. But we called her, and she told us that she believes it's all true! :D :D CRAZY AWESOME!! So next time we visit, we're definitely going to try and make a date with her. And yesterday was an ALL DAY read the Book of Mormon day. We woke up at 6:30, started a fast, and then read till 9:00 pm, breaking our fast at six. Holy crap. My brain was dead from so much reading. But it was amazing. I wanna do it again. :) I just felt great all day! I've never had so much fun in the Book of Mormon before, it was great to dedicate a whole day to studying it. We also stayed up late for New Years. The Japanese tradition is at midnight to eat Soba. Which is noodles and a soy sauce sugar mix thing. Weird tradition I thought, ;) But the Soba was good, so I can't complain!

     After another day or two the schedule should get normal again. Thanks for everything you do for me everyone! I love you all!

  Love, Mike

 P.S. My biggest challenge so far has definitely been the language. I LOVE to talk, you all know that, and not being able to as easily as I like has been a challenge. But everyone is always impressed with how well my Japanese is for me being here so short a time. So it's not too bad. The start of this transfer was hard, getting used to only speaking Japanese, but I like it. :)

P.P.S. And yes, a ward member wrapped us potatoes. :P
P.P.P.S. Haven't spent any of my birthday money yet, still thinking about what I want to use it on! I'll be sure to let you know! LOVE YOU ALL!

week #20 pictures

Japan week #20

Hey everyone!

  Hope everyone is doing great!! :D I've had a great week! Otofuke is way fun, and the ward here is way cool. My new companion is awesome as well. :) He is a big goof ball, and we've been having a lot of fun. :) It's way different from Muroran, and way different from Elder Lee, but it's been fun! I'm glad I get to spend Christmas with all the people in Obihiro. :) It's a little hard sometimes, sometimes VERY hard, ;) talking in only Japanese. Shows me how much I really have to go before I'm very good at the language, but it's been improving in leaps and bounds even in just this first week, it's crazy. I've been writing down words like mad to learn. As for grammar I'm pretty good, I just need to know words now to understand and speak moaaah betta! ;) He's been teaching me lots. And he wants to go to BYU after his mission, so he wants me to help him learn English, which I'm more than happy to do. :) So we do an English day every other day. One day we speak only Japanese, and then the other day he tries to use as much English as possible, but we still end up using Japanese most. He's been praying in English though to help, and it's been good practice. :) I'm  looking forward to being way good by the end of this transfer. ;) Haha!

   I'm way bummed that we don't have a tree in our apartment! We've visited a few Daiso's, the 100 yen stores here, and we haven't been able to find any trees!! :( So I might be opening them under my plants instead. :P Have I told you about my plants? I have two of them, Sister Myers, and Sister Payne. :P You wouldn't get it unless you watched those District videos we watched. They were standard in the MTC, and we still occasionally watch them now. Usually just to make a lot of jokes though. ;)

   So, I have a bit of a confession to make. I thought I would be just a little homesick, being away for Christmas. But to be honest, I haven't been even just a little homesick. :P Sorry! I'm so busy as a missionary, that I didn't even realize it was so close to Christmas! I would look at the date, and just think another day of dendo, it's weird. AND MY BIRTHDAY IS SO SOON. O.O I'm gonna be 20. THAT, I cannot believe. I'll officially not be a teen, and I'll be an adult, finally, in Japan. ;) The adult age is 20, so I get to turn adult twice! :P Woot! Apparently in Obihiro they love birthdays, and they do things for you, but I have no idea what, and no one will tell me anything, so I'm gonna get surprised on my birthday me thinks. Can't wait. :)

  So this week we had our Christmas Party, which was a blast! Our investigator Sato San came. She had fun, and made tons of friends, so that's way good! :D She's simply amazing. We had a lesson with her this week, and during it she told us all about these feelings she has while she meets with us, and while she reads the Book of Mormon and what not. She said she doesn't understand them, but just that they're good. So we taught her all about the Spirit, and how it's trying to teach her that this is right. :) We asked her to pray specifically to know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true. So we're praying that she gets her answer, and wants to be baptized. :) Pray for her please to get her answer! She is such a nice lady, and she already has found more happiness in the gospel, and I want her to have all of it! So we're way excited to keep working with her. This week, on my birthday actually, we have another lesson with her, and we're going to try and invite her again to be baptized. So wish us luck! :D That'd be nice, make a baptismal date on my birthday. :)

  This week we have had the ward Christmas party, tonight we have a party with one member, all the missionaries were invited, and we have a zone party Christmas eve, and then some dinners and stuff after Christmas, we're pretty busy this week, it's crazy! I get to see Elder Harper again in our zone party!! He's in Kushiro right now, which is south east of Otofuke and Obihiro. So he's in my zone, that'll be fun, getting to see him again! :D

  It's been fun, I think I'm going to really have a lot of fun this transfer. :) OH! And a student at English class was telling me about this way cool phenomenon that happens in January and February here. Apparently it gets so cold, that the water in the air semi freezes, and creates crystals that you walk through, and then those crystals stick on things, especially trees, and turn them white and all crystally. It's supposed to be WAY beautiful. And they have a big ice festival here in the winter, with huge ice sculptures, and a giant...ICE SLIDE!! :D So I'm way stoked. I'll likely be here for most of winter, so it'll be great. :) Thanks so much for everything!

LOVES YOU ALL!

      Elder Dialogue!

        P.S. I haven't gotten the other package yet, but they might be holding it till the zone party to just give to me then, so I should get it soon! And tell Rachael that there is a letter heading her way, and that I'm sorry it took awhile to get out. I didn't get the package with her letter till 5 weeks after I should have, and then transfers and what not. :P Thanks!! LOVES YOU!

  P.P.S. I was showing Kozuma Choro my pictures, he called Megan a bijin. That's like, crazy. It means like, beautiful amazing, gorgeous, jaw dropping woman. ;) Haha! Just thought I'd let ya know!

week #19 pictures

Transfer day pictures!

Japan week #19

Hey everyone!!

    I'm so sorry to hear that you all have been sick. :( That's NO FUN! I know how that is though, I had three weeks of it. :P

     So yes, the news is out, I transferred. I am now in Otofuke, central Hokkaido, and my companion is Elder Kozuma, a Japanese man from Fukuoka, which is the farthest south island of Japan. And he speaks next to no English, so yeah, that's fun. ;) I have a good feeling about this transfer though. I think we're going to see some good things, and have lots of fun. Elder Kozuma is a goofball, and we get along well enough now, so hopefully that continues. The ward here is huge. About 100 active members. They want to split it into two wards, but they just need a few more Melchizedek priesthood holders in order to do that. The bishop is another young guy, and he's way cool, so I'm excited to work with him. :) The ward mission leader is a guy who just got back from his mission to Brazil four months ago, and as a result he speaks Portuguese, Japanese, AND English. Learned English from his comps. And he's WAY COOL.  Such a stud, I love him already. Otofuke is pretty cool, and Obihiro is way cool too. It's much different from Muroran though. As far as the scenery goes, it is VERY lame in comparison. It's flat, and out in the middle of nowhere, but that's ok! I have only heard the best of things about the members here and the area from other missionaries, so I'm very excited to be here. And my Japanese is going to be amazing by the end of this transfer. ;) I've already learned a TON just being with a nihonjin comp for 3 days. It's going to be great.

   So Thursday was transfer day, and we met up in Sapporo. We had a huge music practice there for the music night, and then we went our separate ways. It took us 4 hours by bus to make it to Otofuke. Man was that long. Sitting on a cramped bus for that long, but we made it! The apartment is pretty new, and it's very nice. I'm still working out the routine here. Otofuke is like an extension of Obihiro, and so we're constantly going to Obihiro to do things. The church building is in Obihiro, so we have to travel for that, and we stay overnight a lot too, so I get to see the other elders which is way fun. I'm the only one who isn't fluent in Japanese though! And we have lots of Japanese missionaries here, so what only gets spoken is Japanese, which is good for me. Hard sometimes, :P But good!

   There really isn't a ton to write about this week. We haven't done much yet. We've been getting situated with transfers and what not, and figuring that kind of stuff out. OH! We have tons of snow out here though, it's been coming down pretty good, and we can't bike anymore. The boots are working out great, and I've been staying plenty warm. :) Although it is WAY COLD. This morning Elder Kozuma and I went to a member's house to help him build a shed ish thing, and we were STUPID COLD. Afterwards though he took us out to lunch, so that was nice. :) Tonight we're going with another member to go eat Yaki niku, all of the missionaries. Yaki Niku is basically a buffet of grilled meat. That's it. And I hear it's the greatest thing in the world. So yeah, I'm stupid excited. :D

  And I may not be in the music night because I got sent to the boonies. I may end up getting cut, or I could get transferred back in to the city limits next transfer, who knows, I don't. ;)

 Thanks for everything you guys do!! I love you all! Know that I'm happy, doing well, and loving the work. :)

   Love, Mike

P.S. By the way...as of now I can't dropbox on this computer... : / So yeah, I'll see about next week, but no pictures from me this week, I'm SORRY!! :( 

week #18 pictures and video

Japan week #18

Konnichiwa!

       First off. I love you all. You all light my world. ;) I got the Christmas package yesterday!　I wasn't expecting it till like the end of this week, so I was way surprised to see it so soon! But we were happy. :) We were WAY excited to put presents under our tree. :) Now our apartment looks even more epic! We LOVE the Christmas music!! We LOOOOVE it. That's all we're going to be listening to now. Tell Grandma I'm very thankful for the music she sent us. :) That was very nice of her! And the pictures are wonderful! Thank you all so much. :) So what I meant last time about the Evans leaving, is that their three years of being mission president and wife is over next July. So when I hit my year mark, I'll get a new kaicho. So that'll be crazy!! 

  And today is not transfer day. We get the call tomorrow, which gives us all our information for what's going to happen, and then Thusday we meet in Sapporo and get our new comps and go to our new areas. And I don't know what it's like to only be comps for one. Elder lee has had SEVEN comps in SIX transfers. One every transfer, and two in one transfer. O.O he's had TONS. We think we're staying for one more together too. No sense in having us move quite yet. Especially since we're both kinda close to Sapporo, and we're both in the music night. I'll see what I can do about getting video of it when we do it. The music night isn't until February, so it's a ways off, but I'll see hwat I can do. 

  Last week was way good, and this week was way good as well. We had a TON OF FUN, and saw lots of success again. :) 

Monday was a weird p day. We had a zone conference in Hakodate, two hours away, and so we decided to go as a district to have our pday together in Hakodate before we had zone conference. We went up the famous hakodate yama, which is the third best light view in the world, and we took some great pictures. After that we went to a famous restaurant in hakodate called Lucky Pierrot. It's Christmas decorated YEAR ROUND, and they have huge Santa clauses up everywhere, and lights, and it's way awesome! But Lucky Pierrot is way famous because of the Futocho burger they make. It's like an 8 inch tall burger just swimming in artery clogging goodness. When they bring it up to you they pray for your health and safety, it's way fun. :) They were WAY good, and then three of us went to get another burger, and the look on the cashier lady's face was PRICELESS. She was like, did you eat it?? AND YOU WANT MORE??? Oh man, she underestimated the americans! Haha! :) After we ate our burgers, we were DYING. We were soooo full! So we decided to walk back to the apartments to try and get some of our lives back. But we realized that we were WAY farther away then we thought, and we weren't going to make the nine o clock curfew. :P So for the last mile, we all ran. And the futocho and the snow burger became ROCKS in our guts, and we all hurt SO BADLY. But we made it! ON TIME! :D  It was a WAY fun district activity, and the whole time we were just laughing, and joking, and just having SO MUCH FUN. It was great. :) 

  Tuesday was ztm. We had a great time, learned a lot, and thought a lot about Christ since it's the Christmas season. After ztm we caught a train home, and then went to Kawasaki Shimais's house for dinner. She is a GREAT cook, and she was very happy to feed us. We had a great time with her too, and taught a great lesson to her.

   Wednesday was an interesting day. We had a pretty normal day, except for a few crazy things. So we found an Osanai San, who is a former investigator. He has interest, and wants to talk with us, so he became a new invesitgator. :) But right before we met him we tried to contact an old man. And he was WAY RUDE. He was using the rudest Japanese you can use, and we had only said hello! So Elder lee was like, why are you using that Japanese? Which didn't make the man very happy, and he started yelling more, and we left. After we talked with osonai san, we were walking past his house, and he called to us to come back. So we go back, and he tells us not to talk, just follow him. So we follow him up a hill a ways, to his garden. And he tells us to dig. So we just start overturning his garden, and after a while we walk to a little clearing and sit on some rocks and start talking. He talked about how he had been in a  bad mood, and wanted to talk to us. But didn't think we would, and he was VERY impressed that we went and worked in his muddy garden in our nice clothes. We ended up having an epic man talk about life, and it was way cool. He really taught us how important it is to make good relations with people, and to just talk to them instead of just trying to share our beliefs. It was way cool. We ended up making an appointment with him, and we're going back this week to talk to him again and teach the gospel. :) was NOT what we expected to have happen.

  Friday we had an EPIC lesson with our referral from the bishop. We teamed up with the bishop and taught lesson one. This investigator, Sakai San, is WAY prepared. He reads the bible everyday, and now the book of mormon too, and he wants to be baptized. He believes in Christ, and wants the blessings of the gospel. He's WAY COOL. Unfortunately his dad is WAY opposed, and so he does't want to make a baptismal date until he knows like we know the truth of our message. So keep him in your prayers please! He's an amazing guy. The rest of our week went that way. We were able to meet with more of our investigators and have great lessons. Things are really looking good here in Muroran. We have lots of people progressing, and we're very excited. :) So that was our week. I'm LOVING being here in Japan, and I can't believe I'm already 3 transfers in... Only thirteen more to go. These past 6 weeks have FLOWN by. I can't describe to you how fast they've gone by. It's really quite crazy. I Love you all, and pray for you daily! Thanks for everything you've done! LOVES!

     = Mike

Japan week #17

Hello everyone!!

  Glad to hear everyone is doing so well!! Thanksgiving sounded awesome!! Where's my picture of Svetlana!!?? I wanna see my new cousin! I haven't gotten the sock package yet, but I FINALLY got the young women's package. That was the one where they had to incinerate the beef jerky, tell the young women I thought it was very nice. :) And Elder Lee and I have been IMMENSELY enjoying the popcorn. ;) Oh, Rachel said she'd like to keep writing me, so tell her to send me another letter so I have her address, or just get it to me or something. I'm down for writing anyone and everyone! 

  This week has been the most successful one of my mission. I feel like the past almost 3 weeks have been a trial of our faith, and we've been reaping the blessings this week. We found 3 new investigators, taught like 15 lessons, have so many appointments for next week that we won't have to do much finding, it's a way exciting time. :) We've been working hard, and now we're being blessed. We're way excited to be able to help so many people. 

  This week started off way fun. We went around on pday biking around Muroran and just having fun in the area. Muroran is so dang gorgeous, and I'm going to miss it a LOT when I get transferred out. I feel like I'm going to leave this transfer. We only have one more week till transfer calls, can you believe that? It's gone by so fast. Elder Lee and I have had WAY too much fun. :) It's been probably my most fun transfer. I LOVE Elder Harper, but Lee and I just fit like two peas in a pod. Wednesday we went on splits with the Zone Leaders, and that was a blast. I went out with Elder Hee, who trained Elder Brandolino, so that was WAY fun. I got to hang out with one of my best friends trainer, and that was really cool. :) We had a blast, and we did a lot of good work. Elder Lee and Elder Knighton went to the university here and met a TON of cool college kids with lots of interest, so we're way stoked to work with them. :) And that night, we got a fun phone call from Elder Mecham in Tomakomai telling us that.... We're in the next music night with Sister Evans! Woooohooo! So that'll be way fun. :) She's using us before she goes! That'll be fun! I'm singing bass for a couple hymns. 

    Thursday we had a regular day, nothing too crazy, but we had dinner with a member, the Yamada family. Yamada Kyodai was the bishop a few years ago, and he's way cool. I LOVE HIM. So we were teaching his family that night and he asked us where the promised land was, obviously america right, but he has young kids. But we misunderstood the question, and said Israel. :P He was like, O.O Ummm! That has been my BIGGEST language mistake as of yet. Don't mind us! Teaching false doctrine to the ex bishop! :P Way funny!

   Saturday was the best day of the week. We just had a great day, and saw a ton of miracles. We had a great morning schedule, and then went to go house a bit in a neighborhood nearby. We met a young mom who has a TON of interest in the message, and we set up an appointment with her, and we're way excited for that. After that we went to a bakery to get some victory bread for a fun week, and then we spent a few minutes feeding some ducks. :P That was way fun. We then had a lesson with our ward mission leader, and during our lesson with him we got a phone call from a former investigator saying he wanted to meet with us, and he has a ton of interest! :D We're working on getting our ward mission leader on a mission, and seeing us get a new investigator right there was a great experience for him. Sure built up his dendo fire! After that we had a lesson with our investigator Takaishi San. We met him in a donut shop and had a GREAT lesson with him. He's really come a a long way, and he's SOO close to saying yes to baptism. He wouldn't make a date again last night, but he wants to, just doesn't feel like he can, so we're working with him. During our lesson though, the donut shop was playing ONLY 80's music! I was trying so hard to stay focused! And then, right as we're finishing up the lesson, guess what song comes on. Dad, this is for you. LOVE PLUS ONE! I hear the sax come in and my face goes O.O OH MAN. Made me laugh so hard after we said good bye!

    After that lesson we were heading back to the apartment to have some dinner, and then we got a phone call from the first counselor in the bishopric, asking us if we've eaten. We say no, he says come to the church. So we go as fast as we can to the church, and they had just finished cleaning it, the priesthood of the ward. And they made some Nabe, which is a Japanese stew, and were having a MAN PARTY in the kitchen. It was EPIC! We were just hanging out with all the priesthood, eating tons of food, doing man stuff. Was WAY FUN. And we love that the sister missionaries didn't get invited, because it was a MAN party! :) I LOVE the ward here. 

  We did have one bad experience this week though. We were housing a neighborhood, and this old man comes to the door and he rejects us HARDCORE. He slams the door, and knocks my tag of my coat. So I go to start picking it up and he comes back out screaming at us, asking us what we're doing in his genkan still. And he's using the RUDEST Japanese. Talking to us like you would to a dog. He was tugging on my jacket and trying to push me and what not, so Elder Lee starts talking to me, and I'm telling him to NOT touch me, it was rough. Sometimes old people are the worst, and sometimes they're the best. 

    That was my week! Lots of fun, and lots of good is to come!

        Love, Mike!