Choice by choice we either become more Christlike or less Christlike

Hello Familia! Ope...machigatta. Kazoku! That sounds better :P

 

The temple is open now! Yay! I`ve always wanted to go in the Boise temple :)

The Baseball game was sooooooooooooooooo cooooooooooooooooooooool! I`ve never been to a baseball game first off, plus Japan is so awesome! They have cheers for everything and there is no boo-ing or anything. They just cheer for their team and are quiet when the other team plays. Way fun. It was the Nippon Ham fighters at the Sapporo Dome. Very cool deshita :P

It`s started getting a little cooler this week, but last week was still very hot. I think all my winter gear will be perfect though! I may have to buy a neck cover or something, but that won`t be too expensive or hard to find.

I know! I can`t believe how literal the gift of tongues is. The rate at which I`m able to learn and grasp things and grow is incredible. I`m pretty comfortable with the language now too I`d say, though english has gotten a lot harder haha. I`ve had a little trouble with that lately :P.

I`ve had a couple fun memories about Japan every once and a while. I am actually in an apartment with an Elder Peterson who moved in to Yokota a couple years after we moved out, and we got to talking. It turns out he lived in the exact same building we did haha. We were in B when we lived there and he was in A, but it was the same building on Truemper lane. Crazy!!!!!! But we had a great talk about that.

I`d say the best thing that helped me with all the Japanese stuff is just understanding before I got here that foreign countries aren`t as foreign as we think in our minds. People are all still people. Some different cultural stuff, but the people are the same in general. As for the language...not really much help haha. Just kidding. it was nice to go into the MTC with some background knowledge of the language already knowing Hiragana and Katakana. It gave me a lot more confidence to succeed, but all my knowledge was covered in a bout a week at the MTC, then I learned a lot more haha. Now the language doesn`t even seem like a language anymore sometimes. It`s just a natural thing that I`m getting better at all the time. So I would say that previous things did help, yes :)

 

Strange that not everything has frozen in America while I`m here for two years :P Sometimes it feels that way. You expect everything to stay the same when in reality, life is very much changing for everyone. 

Is the ward looking small? I think the size of the building has something to do with it too. The wards here are all between 20-80 active members. All my wards have been around 40-70 people so far. Well, make sure everyone gets involved with the missionaries and you`ll see a lot of miracles. 

You`re going to Kellie`s! Say hello for me!!!!!!!!! And to Natalie and Matt as well :)

Is it already almost Christmas!?...wow. Time is going much too fast...I can`t believe how fast. It really would be nice if it stopped for a minute and gave us a chance to take a deep breath and then continue on haha. 

I hope grandma morgan keeps doing well! I`ll pray for her!

 

My week has been intersting haha. I will definitely say that I am always changing. You face challenges that you`ve never faced before and they definitely challenge your character and faith. I think these last two transfers have been some of the biggest growing experiences of my life, but there`s so many choices I regret dealing with how I`ve reacted with people I work with and stuff. I was reading a talk called The 4th missionary today and it really made me think about my character and how I want to be known and seen and such, but it`s all determined by what we plan on and choose to be now. Choice by choice we either become more Christlike or less Christlike, so it`s good to think how you will react if the situation occurs, beforehand. 

Anyways, the trials come and go, but the miracles never cease. The Lord has blessed us plentifully here. The people are all wonderful, they just often don`t even realizing the things that they`re missing in their lives and we get to help those people who are wanting to find the blessings that the Lord is waiting and wanting to give. It`s wonderful.

 

Well, I think that`s about it, but I may have a few pictures, so I`ll talk to everyone next week!

 

Bye Bye!

 

Oh! P.S. I will be sending the real power of attorney soon just a heads up. Also, as for sightseeing and stuff, would you rather me not do those things because they cost some money? I`m fine either way, I just feel a little bad when I have to use personal money for anything.

 

Thanks! Love you! Bye!

 

It was like a chain reaction!

Hello Family! I love hearing everything from you! I'm so happy for Tyler he got his  mission call! thanks for all your advice and help!

 

So, I lot is going on today so I"m going to tell one story that made my day.

 

First of all I'm actually at the Honbu in Sapporo right now because we had a music fireside on saturday night and so I'm emailing from the Honbu! Today I actually am doing a zone activity with everywhere! We're going to a baseball game at the Sapporo Dome! It's crazy! I'm so excited!

 

Anyways, story time.

On the train ride from Hakodate to Sapporo a lot of people boarded the train and I felt like I shold give up my seat for a sister standing next to me. So I gave it up and talked to them for a little and then a nice older lady came up behind me and insisted that I take her seat and so I did. Then another man across from me got up and gave his seat to another sister standing in the aisle. It was like a chain reaction! But then more happened. A bunch of people got off at a stop and that same lady who gave me her seat came and sat down next to me because the seat opened. She was so nice! We talked for the rest of the train ride (like 40 minutes) and she was telling me how sweet I was and how she wants to do things like that but nothing happens when obaachans (grandma's) do it but when young people do it the ice is broken and everyone starts to change little by little. She was so nice! andtaught me the word omoiyari! (which means like people showing consideration for other people). We talked a lot about her family and stuff after and what true happiness was and I had ample opportunity to testify about our message. She kept telling me she didn't beleive it but she was so impressed with how I acted and such haha. It was a reallly special experience that made my day :) We connected really well and I felt the spirit and got to explain it to her. It was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well there's a line behind me right now so I better get off. I love you all soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take care! Until next monday!

 

Bye Bye!

The weird thing is that when they cut it up it`s still moving!

Hello family! Everything is wonderful down here in Hakodate! I don`t have a lot of time so this one will be quick!

 

Saturday we had another baptism (the other elders) and one of our investigators and her daughters came! They were really confused, but she`s having us over for dinner tonight and we`re going to explain it more :) Really excited!

 

This morning was a lot of fun. All the elders went to the fish market and I caught a squid from a huge swimming bucket thing they had and then they cut it up in front of us and gave us the edible parts. It was actually pretty good! The weird thing is that when the cut it up it`s still moving! So I would pick up the legs to eat them and when I set them in the soy sauce mix thing, they started wriggling! So weird!!! But it was pretty delicious :P Oh Japan haha. I really do love it here. Very different, but very nice :)

 

The language is coming great! I`m able to say most everything I want to even if it comes out weird :P understanding is still pretty hard sometimes, but that`s just a matter of learning new words and listening really well because people speak really fast and say things differently than they are spelled sometimes, so you have to be on your toes! (which are just called fingers in Japan).

 

Thanks for telling me how to count! haha. I got a kick out of that.

 

We haven`t had anyone come speak to us since I`ve been here, but maybe soon!

 

It`s great to hear that everyone is doing well!

 

A lot of people have been asking about elections lately and they look at me funny when I have no opinion really haha. Japan is an intersting place. The people have a pretty happy lifestyle so sometimes it`s harder to find people who want to change to make their lives better, but the Lord knows who does and He`s helping us to find them.

 

Right now I`m a little unsatisfied with my teaching ability, so that means I`ll just have to focus on that more! Any advice on how to teach better in Japanese? or in general?

 

Other than that...I think I`m good :) I love hearing from you all and I`m so excited for all that great things that lie ahead in the future!

 

Love you all soooooooooooooo much :)

 

Tell Grandma and Granpa thankyou for the mail and I love them and wish them luck in the garden! I want to come work with them when I get back!

 

Alright, talk to you next week! Bye Bye!

The nighttime view on Hakodate Yama was really pretty! and really peaceful. Check it out on my blog

Hello! I`m wonderful down here in...hakodate! I`m still here with Dear Elder Kimball for at least one more transfer and I`m excited for the work we get to do here :)

Provo! natsukashii! Everything is going to be all built and running by the time I come back. Speaking of which, I have an outragious question to ask. The Sapporo Temple is being dedicated a little bit after I come home. I`m guessing we won`t be attending that? :P haha. My guess is no. Expensive desho. So anyways :P

The nighttime view on Hakodate Yama was really pretty! and really peaceful. I loved it. I think it would have been better if there weren`t a ton of people up there because it was the end of summer vacation, but it was gorgeous. Sunsets in Japan are really really pretty! I`ll try and post some pictures.

It`s great to hear everyone is doing well!

This week was amazing. My companion was asked by one of the sisters investigators to baptize her, so he got to do that saturday night and all the missionaries got to sing a song called Miidasou My Friend (I`ll find you my friend). It`s really nice :) She`s 13 and at the end of her program we sang As sisters in Zion and it made me think of you mom and my sisters. I`ve always had a very strong testimony of the Love of God for his daughters and the song really touched me. The next day when she was confirmed in sacrament meeting I was able to stand in and I haven`t felt the spirit so strongly in a while. When the speaker said "seirei o ukenasai" (receive the spirit) It was like a wall that just hit. Amazing.

That was actually just yesterday and yesterday had some more miracles as well. We were housing and I got into a pretty good talk with a man while my companion played with his kid and it came to the point where he asked if he could feel God`s love if he gave us 10 minutes. I promised him yes but he decided against it after that. Then I kept encouraging him to just try and read a little of  Alma 32 with him about desiring to believe and we kept talking, but when it came to the point he decided no. After all that we had talked about he still said no and I had nothing left to do but testify. So I started to testify and I felt the power of the Spirit so strongly. It brought up some emotions as well. The end result was interesting. We had both felt the spirit and he finally said "If I read this book 10 minutes everyday like you said how long will it take?" I told him maybe half a year. He said he would read and give us a call if he has questions. Amazing. I felt very humble the rest of the night.

         Then on the way home it was a fast sunday and I was praying for rain because it looked like it was going to and it sounded really refreshing in the hot weather, but my companion then told me "I hope it doesnt rain" haha. How was God going to grant both of our desires? Well, like this. He sent like a misty sprinkly rain that wasn`t strong enough to get us wet really, but cooled us off while we biked 45 minutes home. GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!

There are other miracles this week too, but I don`t have my journal with me.

We`re going to do a lot of finding this week! One of our investigators had to move for his work and the other turns out to be Schizophrenic...so ya haha.

On the plus side we have two friends possibly coming to church on sunday!

so yes, lots of ups and downs, but things are great and I`m glad to be here :)

Well, I`m going to go do the hatchidai challenge now. It`s where you have like 5 layers of ice cream (really tall) and you have to eat it in 20 seconds...wish me luck! :P hahaha.

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bye Bye!