Weekly Letter

For starters I am in the Fukuoka Zone Kitakyushu Area Serving with Villalobos 長老!! Its Legit, were super gangster. So　ill start from.. I think Wednesday was my first full day in Nihon. So my 動機 ('group or doki) fromj the MTC woke up and we had breakfast with pres and sis Margetts and then we went out and 伝度`d (Dendo is the word for mission, and the verb dendo suru means to proselyte, so whenever we do anything with mission stuffing its called dendo`ing.) Our doki paired up with the APs and missionaries from the 本部 (honbu or headquarters, in nihongo the word home doesnt translate right so they use the word honbu or headquarters or office) and we met up with the Fukuoka ZLs. APs = Clemmets / Ahn 長老 Zone Leaders = Edwards　and Obayashi 長老 (Actually obayashii`s last day was yesterday, he`s already home) 本部宣教師　(Honbu Missionaris) =Stratford, Oba, Usui, Fuchiwara 長老 So we rode bikes to downtown Fukuoka and we handed out flyers for Eikaiwa or a free english class. It was crazy! We all split into pairs and I went with Edwards 長老 and We went to two corners of an intersection and we handed them out. It was crazy!! Later we went to my first Japanese food restaraunt here. Craziness. Then that night Pres Margetts told us our areas and Trainers. SO I have a note pad with random stuff written down and I`m just going to talk about little stories I have written. When we were in Seattle I met a couple with a little daughter heading to Japan. The husband mark was heading to Tokyo to be stationed there. They were super nice, I took a picture of their daughter Ariel. I sat next to a lady who was actually a member heading to singapore to visit her family who teaches international law and know Mandarin and Pourtagese. I slept for about 8 hours of the 11 hour flight haha. TIme change hasnt hit me yet. I dont even feel any different. Theres a kid`s show here call `Pan man` or something and its very interesting. Its this little dude who has a loaf of bread for a head and he saves people by flying to where they are and giving them bread to eat =P kinda stupid right? I saw a squat toilet, I took a pic as well haha Escalators here are fast, just random fact for ya. Language is not as hard as I thought it was going to be. People can really dumb down Japanese for me and I am able to understand them. ITS SO COOL!! One of the Shimai who was in my doki was sitting by me at the Seattle airport and a song came on and I was kinda bobbing my head and she saw me kinda dancing in my chair. And I was look I feel happy to be out of the MTC (in Nihongo) and she was like (in broken english `Really? If you hoppy and yoo know it Crap your hans!` and I just busted up. She didnt undersatnd why. So you guys should do me a favor. This up coming week Is a holiday called Golden Week and I dont know what it is and no Nihongin knows how to explain it either. You guys should google Golden Week and tell me what it is. Wednesday Night of the first day I was there we went to Eikaiwa and taught. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! Thursday Breakfast at honbu, then they put me on a train to Abeyamakouen to meet my trainer. BY MYSELF. And I had to change trains in Nishikikokura. AND I DONT SPEAK JAPANESE!! I actually got lost and ended up on the wrong train but ten min later I got to where I needed to be and met Villalobos 長老. SO the area were in is pretty rough. Theres a strip club across the street from our eki (trainstation). in Kokura where we go sometimes theres Yakuza and pimps everywhere, like no joke. Last wednesday I forgot something, after our interviews with Pres (which was awesome BTW) we Wooward 長老and I went dendoing with OBA 長老 (Turns out that Villalobos and him were doryo`s two tranfers ago.) And we had such A cool time. It was pouring rain and we knocked on a little ladys house and we taught her a little lesson write on her pourch. SUPER COOL!!! I dont have a lot of time sorry. I`ll talk more about everything in later letters but I`m gonna talk about some poeple Ive met. Mickey - 80 yr old lady who comes to the Kitakyushu ward eikaiwa \. She`s pera pera in eigo. She is the most crazy lady I have ever met. She skis kayaks and shes actually going to go to england to watch the olympics. Thats actually the first thing that she said `HI I Mickey. This Summer, I go to Olympics` hahah It was so great Fred - Another guy from Eikaiwa - pera pera also. He loves talking about war and laughs about everything. Nakamuta - Our investagator!! Taught him a lesson last week and we mentioned baptism and he was like yeah ive been baptized and we were like what?!?! And he was like yeah when I was nine. And we were like at the Mormon church?!?! and he was like yeah. and we were like really?!?!?! haha but we cant find his records and he wants to be baptized so we`ll be working on that. We went dendoing last Friday and we got kekko`d a ton (When you knock on a Japanese Persons door and they dont want to talk they say ` Kekko kekko` `no thank you`. So that sucked. Bought a denki jisho (Electronic Dictionary) but turns out its Japanese to Chinese haha so were going exchange it today. Bought a bike as well but we had to special order it cuz its not in stoc\k so ill get it after golden week. KYOKAI WAS AWESOME!!! The members are so legit!! and they are super nice. Everytime they ask a question and I try my best to answer theyre alｌ like `wwooowww kare no nihongo ga jozu desu (his nihongo is skilled right?) it cracks me up. We met our home teaching family the Sakuragi family. And it was a really weird meeting. it started all happy and then as we were finishing I shared a scripture about faith and Sakuragi Kyodai said `I have no faith, i come to church for my wife, but I have lost the faith that I had.` so we talked with him for a while and were going to be meeting with him a lot more often. A little about Villalobos 長老」 SO hes from Cali. lived in Ut before his miss. Is pera pera in Jap, Eigo,　and spanish. Great guy. He:s been in kitakyushu for two transfers. And hes excited for what were going to do here. Theres been a lot of problems in this Districts area this last transfer. So Margetts moved out the bad senkyoshi and moved in me barrus and a guy named Unice 長老. Villalobos and I were talking and he said `Im not really supposed to talk about this but all of us guys are kinda on a special mission from pres. The last missionaries here messed up the area and got some members angry, so President told me were gonna have to clean up there mess, And we will. SO im excited to be in kitakyushu theres a lot of work to do but Im ready to do it!!]] DAD MOM SHELBY MERI JAMIE GRACE SOHPIE DOG AI SHITE MASU!!! YOROSHIKU O-NEGAISHIMASU!! YO!! BYE BYE!!!

First Letter From Japan!

Whats up everyone. Right now I'm underneath the temple in Fukuoka typing on my AP's Computer. We stayed the night in Fukuoka, and were going to be here for the rest of the day today. Tomorrow I find out my new Companion and Area and I'll head out. It's 1:43 PM. I slept like unto a rock. Sorry this is so short I'm just supposed to give a quick update and I'll write an email next week. I got my Japanese-tags. Got about 2000 Business Card. And a Helmet. I rode with an Elder Stratford this morning about two miles into downtown Fukuoka on bikes and we tracked. WHAT?!?! Alright I need to go. I'm about to have an interview. Everything is awesome. The people, the President, and Temple. Nothing here makes sense, but aw well.... LATES

I sent a package today with my fish blanket, pillow, scale, 5 white shirts, memory card, duffel bag, and children's hymns/hymnbook in Japanese. I didn't have any more room in any of my stuff so I had to send my blanket home =(. I was talking to one of my Senseis though and he said that it is like sleeping in Hawaii so my blanket would probably not be very comfortable.

Friday 金曜日 - So I have a new best friend here at the MTC. He's name is Sanderson 長老お. He's hilarious. He is the most gangster white guy I have ever met. Everyday he walks into my room and is like "Wassup gurl, how you be doing?" HES SO FUNNY. Me and him have a phrase that we always say "Dat is, Strait Up Out da box, CRAY CRAY!!" He's going to the Nagoya Mission so I wont see him for a bit but he lives in American Fork so I can see him when I get home.

Saturday　土曜日　 - We started the day with TRC. We taught "Yuta-san" (Utah) haha there were so many Nihongo 長老たち/ 姉妹たちthat we weren't able to visit with the volunteers so some of our senseis acted as investigators. our Investigator was Nielson Kyodai. He served in Fukuoka and he's been looking out for me as I've been here. It was very interesting to actually teach him rather than have him teach us.

Later we had 信奉求道者(Progressing Investigator), where we taught Christiansen Kyodai. Something that were very bad at is leaving him commitments that will actually make a difference in his life. So that's one thing that we tried harder to do, from the PMG section of commitments, is try to always leave something behind..

Later that night we had a workshop where we learned about Christ's Atonement. I partnered up with one of the Kohai Da Silva 長老from Brazil. He's awesome. He has such an amazing personality.

Sunday　日曜日- We had a meeting with Krueger Kaicho where he answered any and all questions that we might have with Flying to NIHON, or how the airport would be, or how the first couple of days would be and it was a very relieving meeting lol I felt a lot more prepared for what was going to happen after that meeting.

Later we had a Fireside where the MTC President Spoke, President Brown, Elder M. Russel Ballard spoke, and Archuletta Choro sang. And honestly that song was the best song I have ever heard. 序段じゃない(No joke). Now I see why Shelby liked him so much haha.

In that meeting they talked about how much we have sacraficed and how much we can change people's lives.\

Monday　月曜日 - We had a Japan Culture Meeting taught by someone named President Mills, who actually served as the Fukuoka Mission President. He told us that we need to get any premonitions about Japan and trash them. Forget anything anyone has said about Japan and how hard it is to teach there and throw it out, because people want the church, and our teacher's converts are evidence of that.

He then showed a video with pictures from all of our sensei's missions and they people they were able to teach. and they played the spirit of god in Nihongo. It was amazing. There was one picture actually of Reading Kyodai coloring with a little KODOMO (Child). And my heart just throbbed. I cant wait to meet these people!!

Tuesday　火曜日 - So we had class with Christiansen Sensei and we were practicing teaching Kamisama no Imashime (Commandments) And just a little story, Kerr Choro had to teach about the law of chastity to Chirstiansen Kyodai in front of the class and he said "結婚の前に *sexual* 景観するを穂がいい" (He tried to say that you should not have any sexual relationship before marriage but instead he said "You had better have some kind of sexual experience before marriage" and the entire class busted up.

We had our last Tuesday Devotional and afterwards we had a testimony meeting with the 11 of us in our district. we all bore our testimonies, and Then Medeiros 長老spoke. I'm just going to write a bunch of things that he said:

"We are the best district here. None of the other districts are prepared. they don't know what It is to be dedicated, they don't know how to work, and they don't know how to do all of these things. But we do. We know how important this time is and I have seen it. Just barely, everyone got back from choir and without saying a word you all got your stuff and began personal study time silently. After about 5 min I went out into the hall and everyone was running around and joking because it is our last week here. I came back and everyone was studying silently.... You guys KNOW how serious this is and you know what you're here to do."

"I had a friend that came up to me when I got my mission call. And he told me that Japan would not be good, that I would not be able to help anyone there, because he wasn't able to. And I just thought that's a lie. I can do anything with the lord's help. I have not been sent to Japan to do nothing. I'm going to work. And he did not enjoy his mission because he did not work."

"I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to come on a mission. I was 20 and I just started to fill out the papers. And honestly the one place I wanted to go to was Japan. I actually thought to myself that I don't want to go if it's not Japan. And Then when I opened my call and it said Japan, I was so happy. And then I just felt sick. I thought to myself that I need to do all I can to be worthy and to help those people around me by inviting them to come unto Christ."

(I think I might have mixed up some of those stories, but it was so powerful.)

Wednesday　水曜日- Our last class with Christiansen Kyodai. He shared some pictures of his mission and told some stories but the one story he told was of a friend of his that got back off his mission. His friend said that his mission had just been a waste of time and that It did not help him, and that he could have done other things. and Christiansen Kyodai said "Yeah, you could've been serving a real mission". If we serve as much and as hard as we can we will love everything about our missions even the hard parts. He said

"I know you all will serve real missions"

"No greater joy can come from anything other than this experience."

"But its still work, SO WORK!!"

"Don't use the small amount of time to mess around, WORK!"

"It will be the most amazing part of your life if you allow it."

Christiansen Sensei is an amazing teacher and I'm going to miss him.

Thursday　木曜日　- Today we heard from Readin Kyodai and he did the same as Christiansen Kyodai and he spoke to us about his mission. He told us about why he decided to serve a mission. he said at first he felt this obligation because he was a member and many others were not so he needed to teach these people. But he said that when he got home he realized that his mission was for the "watanabe family, shibuta family, yao ling, mae bo, Osaka 5th ward, Jila Hoshigata, Katai Family, and many other people. He said

"I found out why I served a mission after I did, It was for THOSE people."

"Just remember to open your mouths and dont be stupid."

"Be Strictly obedient and want to do good"

"Make Decisions through faith and miracles will happen."

"I just want to say that there will be hard times. but there will also be times that you will wake up smiling and say "Ilove being a missionary.""

I got both of my Senseitachi no emails so I can talk to them once I get home.

Friday - All we had was infeild orientation and it was super long. It was just how to work with people in the ward and how to better plan how to tract and other mission stuff. Nothing worth sharing, even though it was very important to me."

Well I love you guys. I'll see ya soon.

Wish me luck.

ILL SEE YOU ALL IN THE FUTURE

I love you Dad, Mom, Shelby, Jamie, Meri, Grace, Sophie, Dog (DOg stop biting Sophie!!)

家族を愛してます！！

I love you family!!

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I'll write you Monday from Japan. =)

Travel Plans

I got Travel Plans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be flying out April 23rd

SLC -> Seattle -> Narita Tokyo -> Fukuoka Japan

I'll arrive in Fukuoka April 24th at 9:50 PM

 

CRAZINESS!!

Flying for basically two days worth of time!!

 

There are 8 of us in our flight group

Us 4 Eigo Chorotachi (Me, Gandy, Woodwad, and Barrus)

2 Nihon-jin Chorotachi

2 Nihon-jin Shimaitachi

 

None of them speak any english so were going to help them in Seattle and they are going to help us in Japan haha.

 

This week was pretty amazing other than starting it out sick.

 

Saturday - We had TRC again, but I was unable to teach because I was sick. They said that I shouldn't teach that way I wouldn't get the Volunteers sick. The rest of the day was just studying and reading.

 

Sunday - Easter Sunday - We had a big Sunday Sacrament meeting where the Sacrament was served in the auditorium of 19M, so about 3000 peoplegot the Sacrament. There were 6 tables where they blessed and about 50 people passing. The special speaker at the fireside was Elder Boyd K. Packer. It was legit. He's actually a really funny guy he spoke with his oldest son, who is a member of the Seventy. During Elder Packer's talk he he said to his son, "Now Allen I want to share this story and you are not allowed to tell your mother I shared it." The entire place just started laughing. Later we had a Testimony Meeting and it was amazing. The first time I was here for Testimony meeting about 10 people bore their testimonies. This time 38 people bore there testimonies in Japanese. People gave most of their testimonies in Japanese and then they shared personal things in English. I was really amazing to hear from most of the people in my zone. There were quite a bit of Nihon-jin shimaitachi / chorotachi who also bore their testimonies and it was amazing to here how they became a member of the church.

 

Monday - Woke up. Kojin Gakushu (Personal Study), Taikukan (Gym), Hirugohan (Lunch), Kurasu (Class), Nihongo Benkyo (Japanese Study), Bangohan (Dinner), Kurasu (Class), Kojin Gakushu (Personal Study), Hibi Keikaku (Daily Planning), Ryo ni mamoru (Return to Residence Halls), Nemu (Sleep).

 

Tuesday - We had a Fireside where the speaker was the Presiding Bishop who was released this last Sotaikai (General Conference), Bishop McMullen. It was really sweet to hear from both him and his wife, they told us that this was going to be there last assignement in their calling so they were happy to share that time with us.

Sister McMullen - Spoke about her experience in Germany serving a mission and about learning a language on her own and following the promptings of the spirit.

Bishop McMullen - Spoke about how we need to not be worried about Jinsei no Mondai (Lilfe's Problems). If we have the spirit and we never back down from an oppurtunity to sere then we will be blessed.

 

Wednesday - Getsuyobi wa onaji desu (Same as Monday)

 

Thursday - 

We had a class taught be Christiansen Kyodai and we were able to watch a companionship of Nihon-jin chorotachi and Shimaitachi teach. We were in one room on the other side of a two sided mirror while they taught on the other. And it was really interesting to see actual Nihon-jin teach. They didn't know we were watching so it wazs even more interesting. The way that they were able to interact with the Kyudosha (Investigator) was very interesting. And you could definantly see a difference in how they teach.

After that we just talked with Christiansen Kyodai and he told us a couple of Mission stories. So in Japan people are always super polite but they dont always want to hear from you. So when Christiansen Kyodai would go tracking they would knock on doors and Nihon-jin would open the doors laughing politely and shaking their heads saying "kekko" or "no thank you", while they crossed there arms in a X. It's kinda hard to explain ill have to make a video of what it looks like but its really hillarious.

 

Friday - We were able to go to the temple this morning and do initiatory. We went with Sanderson, Jones, and Williams Choro, some guys in our zone. Afterwards we had breakfast in the temple and I sat next to Sanderson Choro And hes hillarious. He's about 6'3'' and he's super white but talks like a gangster. I went and sat by him and he was like "Yeah son, sit ya-self down" haha. Me and him have a funny saying that we use all the time, whenever something weird happens. It's "That is strait up, out da box, cray cray." haha It never gets old.

 

Thank you Shelby Trish and the Newbys for the Box of Subway!!! I was so surprised!! I got it and was like SCORE!! My whole floor was trying to buy it off me and I was like "No way getcha own!!!"

 

Thank you Carla for sending those cookies as well =) my district totally wiped em out.

 

And Mom and Dad thank you for the box from whole foods. IT WEIGHED 49lbs~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was "Strait up, out da box, cray cray!!!"

 

I love you all!! Hope everyones doing good!! I saw Keaton Meyer BTW!! He's doing good, he seemded really excited to be here. Oh and I hosted Wednesday!! I keep remembering stuff I did at the very end. 

 

I'll probably send another card home today. And I havent gotten a letter from Shelby yet, I hate the mail here its always so slow. But I should get one later today.

 

Be Safe Dad Mom Meri Grace Sophie *Dog* Jamie Shelby and Everyone else!!!!

 

Ai shite imasu!!! (I love you!!)  

MTC Video April 4, 2012-Outside Picnic

MTC Video April 4, 2012-When guys have too much time on their hands

MTC-April 4, 2012 #3

MTC-April 4, 2012 #3, a set on Flickr.

Set #3