Japan #2

Japan #2, a set on Flickr.

Second Set of Pictures from Japan

Japan #1

Japan #1, a set on Flickr.

First Set of Pictures from Japan

Moshi Moshi

KITAKYUSHU IS YOKATTA (good) This week we have not dont much. We had cleaning checks this last Thursday, and because the last 3 sets of Elders before us didnt do any cleaning (for like 6 monthes), we spent about 2 1/2 days cleaning haha crazy right? Monday : Cleaning / Mothers Day Call / Cleaning / Nakatsu Elders stayed the night for District meeting (Mitton and Barrus 長老) Tueday : We had district meeting with the 北九州 (kitakyushu) district. Then afterwards I went on junkai (splits) with one of the Yahata elders, Unice 長老. We arrived in Yahata and did some 伝道 (dendo). We taught two lessons and visited one LARC (Less active member). Then we ended the day with 英会話　(eikaiwa!!) We played scattergories and then a fun sentence game. All-in-all it was way fun! Afterwards we headed back to the apato and just swapped some stories and then we headed off to bed. Wednesday : We woke up, worked out, 個人楽手　(personal study), then we headed beack to 北九州。 We had Junkai review and then we all headed back to our homes. Villalobos 　長老 and I then spent the rest of the day cleaning the apato. Thursday : Judgement Day... WE PASSED!! The people who came and checked the apato our called the Christensen fufu (couple). They were in Villalobos` old district so they are way good friends with him. We all went out to dinner afterward and then we headed to the Church for our 英会話. We taught, and then we had a Mexican Night. We made Quesdillas for all of the students (Because they dont have cheddar cheese or tortillas or any kind of mexican food in 日本. They loved it!! We also made some Horchata as well and they couldnt get enough of it. That night we got a call from Mitton 長老 and he asked if we could come have an emergency Junkai so that him and Villalobos 長老 could talk with the bishop in Nakatsu and work out some problems that had come up in ward. SO.... Friday : We went to Nakatsu. And we Bean Dendo`d. And it was とても大変 (totemo taihen) （very rough). Barrus 長老 and I talked to 16 people, and only taught 1 lesson but hey, not bad for beans desho? (right?) We basicallywalked around for 5 hours and tried to talk to people, only those 16 actually stopped, and only one wanted to keep talking after we said who we were haha. But hey, it was great!! After the whole day we headed back to the Nakatsu apato (which is on top of the church) and we went downstairs to a English Book of Mormon reading class. All of the students were very kind and they all complemented me on my 日本語 (Japanese) haha people are very nice when they see me try to make an effort haha. Afterwards we headed to bed. Saturday : We headed back to 北九州 and went straight to 英会話. We taught the students and then afterwards everyone was leaving except for this lady named Maeyumi-san who is about 36 with two young kids and this one Korean girl whos name I cant remember (It was her first time coming to class). They met each other for the first time that day and were already good friends. We were leaving and they asked a little about the church building and if they could have a tour and we said ofcourse! So we walked them around downstairs and Upstair and just as we were about to head downstairs Maeyumi said `I have kinda a weird question for you guys, and I dont know if you gys know, but whats the purpose of life?`　And we were like `やった！！` (score!!) .　We　talked to her for a bit with the korean girla dn they both wanted to meet again!! Maeyumi has been coming for a while but she usually comes and then leaves early so see never talks with us but yeah, saturday she did!! It was great!! Sunday : Study Time / and Church and then we went to a fun Priesthood thing at our dendoshunin`s house. We played games and all just got to know each other better ( a student from eikaiwa even came!) But yeah, it was way fun!! Lots of random stories so I wont share them all haha. Dad = Since Ive been in 北九州 ive probably riden the train at least 30 times haha. Because everything is so spread out. I dont have to take them for district meeting because we meet at the church in our area but the rest of the elders in our district have to. We ride bikes everywhere as well. Just Saturday we rode our bikes an hour to Tashiro Shimai`s house to bring her dinner haha it was pretty fun.　 Im gonna keep sending cards but you guys really need to send em back. I only have 2 left because ive been sended them and I havent got anything back. I gave a little jikoshokai (introduction) my first sunday in church and shared a scriptures and talked about it haha it was way kowai! (scary). They usually always Villalobos and I to pray at the meetings as well. Members are awesome!! They are really starting to open up and ask us if they can come teach wuith us!! Villalobos 長老 said that they were not like this at all last transfer. They are inviting us to parties where they are bringing friends that they want us to teach and everything!!! Its so great!! The language is a little bems (bemiru, slang for missionaries, it means sketchy haha.) but you know it coming. It was a reall eye opener teaching with Barrus 長老 and not having someone to back me up when I dont know what to say in Japanese, it made me really stretch in the language and I realized I can say a lot more than I thought. I got a piece of paper that said I got a package but in Japan if your not home when a packagae comes they wont leave it, you have to call and tell them to redeliver it. So we did and I should get it today around 2. It said it was from Lake Point, so Im guessing that was you guys. Well I hope everyones good!! I love you Dad, Mom, Jamie, Shelby, Meri, Grace and Sophie, and big sweetie dog thing!! Aishiteiruyo!! 愛しているよ！ I love you (in a cool way!) haha Alma 26:26 呼んでください！　（Please read!!)

A Letter from the Future

Dads Questions Me and my comp are awesome. We are struggling to find investigators but were trying our hardest. My area is pretty ghetto, at least where I live. Actually, fun fact for you, right before I got here like a day before there was a shooting where a Yakuza member shot a cop in the leg haha. So theres cops every and theres little kids always walking by our apartment because were right next to an elementary school so there are like 10 cops guarding the streets to the Elementary school. Crazy Stuff. The ward is legit. Villalobos says the its `bean charm`. Crap I just realized that I havent explained what a bean is. So when you plant rice you have to start out with just a tiny bean right? Well in Japan they dont call new missionaries greenies, they call em beans or green beans haha. So in my ward everyone calls me Bean Choro (mostly because people cant pronounce my name haha). But the ward loves bean choros, so everyone is getting really nice. They called us a dendoshunin or ward missionleader finally!! Which is awesome. theres about 40-45 people in our ward, its pretty big. In Nakatsu which is part of our district there is only 7 people. So were pretty lucky. Weve only had two investigators: Nakamuta and Eiko, we havent been able to meet with Eiko because shes been busy, and we finally found Nakamutas baptismal record so he went from a investigator to a LARC less active recent convert. So right now we basically have no investigators haha so we gotta work!! P-days are actually pretty boring. We usually just do shopping. Actually something that really makes me mad. I bought a jisho or dictionary last P-day in Kokura which is the city and about 30min from the Apato. We buy it, get back to the apartment, open it and realize that its a Japanese to Chinese Jisho. I WAS LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! So today we went back and tried to return the Jisho but they said because I had openned it I could not return it. And I was like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? So now we gotta find a pawnshop and sell it to get some cash and then buy another Jisho. Which sucks. I have not gotten a video card. It goes to the honbu and then to the apato so I might not get it for a while. Could you send peanut butter and taco seasoning haha they dont have those things here. The food is CrAzY. Its going to take a while to get used to. Espicially Mugicha. Its this nasty drink that every drinks and if I dont drink it Im being rude so it sucks. It tastes like a liquified ash tray haha. Missionaries get transferred many different ways here. My Trainer was in Okinawa for the first 4 transfers of his mission. So who knows. Ill probably be with Villalobos it Kitakyushu for two transfers but Ive heard tons of different things. I dont have a list of names on me right now but I should have them next week. I have some Missionary buddies and also my MTC senseitachi. I havent gotten my bike yet I ordered it and it wont get here until next week because of Golden week. So I had one of the members bikes, its a fold up, we call it the mama chatei. I got a flat tire though so I have to fix it haha Remember last week when I said the language was alright? ITS KICKING ME IN THE FACE!! haha its rough, I fell like I am able to understand most of what they say, but when it comes to responding im just like `derp....` So I need to study a lot more. NOW FOR THE REAL LETTER Monday Mitton Choro and Barrus Choro came over from Nakatsu to stay the night. We have district meeting on tuesdays and since they live so far away they stay the night before. We stayed up talking with Mitton, hes a hillarious guy. Tuesday I studied a talk called the 4th Missionary.. Check it out He had district meeting where we just studied from PMG and made some district goals. I walked around with some one in our district named Swasey choro whos japanese, but hes peds in eigo. He was just talking to me and was really nice and offered to helop me with anything that I needed. Hes a really soft spoken guy. Kitakyushu District Villalobos DL/T McConnell Bean Mitton T Barrus Bean Unice Senpai Swasey We went to a tabetehodai or all you can eat restaurant. They just had piles of raw meet everywhere and you got tongs and took the meet to your table where there was a grill built into the table lol. It was legit. Afterwards we had a lesson with Nakamuta and we called him and asked if it was still on, and he said he couldnt meet. So we were like dang, and started walking back to the apato when he called again and was like, actually I can meet today so we were like nice!! So we taught him the 救いの計画 Plan of salvation!! After that we walked around did some housing and then headed back for the night. Wednesday We housed for 8 hours and everyone kekko`d us except a girl we began to teach who turned out to be a Chugakusei or middle school student, so we were like crap, give this pamphelt to your parents haha we taught a ramen shop owner where we had lunch. We started eating and he was like, Whats with the tags? and we were like ......nice! So we taught him and got his number so we were going to give him a call later. And then we met THE BEST GIRL EVER! Her name is Ida Maiko, we were housing in the complex and we had been kekko`d by everyone and then we were like its late we need to get back so we decided to do one more door, and we met her. Shes a college student up here in Kokura and she kept telling us that everything we were teaching her was stuff she believed and was really interested so we were like YEAH!! But she would take a　モルモン書　because she said that she would feel bad if she took it and didnt read it so we left but were going to go visit her again. Thursday We were in the Apato all day with study and weekly planning it kind sucked. But then we had eikaiwa and it was pretty fun. Everyone that comes to eikaiwa is a riot. We got a ride home with one of the students named george who is about 21 has a tatoo on his hand and he doesnt have a pinky.. so he probably was yakuza haha. Friday We had a ward picnic up in the mountains of Kitakyushu. We went up to this area they gave us bags, we went and picked random roots and leaves that we found that we were able to eat and then we made tempura with them haha it was crazy!! It was way fun, the ward is very funny, and they are always trying to help me out with 日本語. Nakamuta actually came too which was cool because hes starting to make friends in the ward. Later that night we went into Fukuoka by sonic train for district leader counsel and then I junkai`d or went on splits with our ZL Edwards 長老 from　Austraila. It was way cool. The APs ZLs and honbu elders just barely bought a house between the six of them so we stayed the night there and it was way fun, they had actually been moving in that day. Saturday AP Ahn Clement ZL Edwards Yamada Honbu Oba Usui Sorry Im running out of time but quick story. With Edwards in Fukuoka we taught 17 lessons and got 9 numbers in 3 hours! ISNT THAT NUTS?!?! We seriously just talked with everyone. Edward`s Sensei was actually Christiansen Kyodai as well. Hes an awesome ZL. The most ive taught in Kitakyushu was like 2 lessons a day. It put my work in Kitakyushu to shame. So me and Villalobos are going to crank it up!! Sorry that I ended this so suddenly but Im outta time. I love you all. I sent a letter with a memory card to Shelby so she should bring it over to you guys once shes down with it. LOVE YOU ALL BYE!! Talk to ya Monday!!

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. =)