Learning Nepalese in Japan

Hello family! How are you all today? Its been a so-so week here in Niigata. I know you love it when I have nothing to report but at this point I have nothing to report. We did various things this week. Since Elder K is a new missionary I have been using that to my advantage of having members have us come over and let us role play with them, especially since we have no investigators as of now. I have done these role plays in various other areas but by far here is the most interesting. Apparently the members here have done role plays with missionaries so much that they have grown tired of the normal ones and now just take the weird personalities and we go from there. Yes there are these type of people out there but I'm not sure they are "those that will receive you" Fun stuff. This week was our first taste of the rainy season. We had two days of rain this week which is always rough. You either choose to get soaked from the outside in, or the inside out. You you decide to wear rain gear you sweat a ridiculous amount. Gives me the heebee jeebees just thinking about it. But the last few days have been nice. Also a super random thing this week was the ridiculous amount of Nepalese people we met. Of all places you would think to meet them Japan wasn't one of them but there are a ton of them here and I'm still not sure why. I ask but they say they are here learning the language, why learn the language? To go to school. Now realize these people can basically all speak Nepalese, Hindi, and English fluently, couldn't they go somewhere where they don't need to learn a fourth language. Just seems they cause more stress than they need. But oh well, they are very nice, but busy people. We also started biking out to some of the farther areas in our area which has been fun because Elder Kondo played a lot of soccer before coming out so he can actually keep up pretty well when we bike but when we come home he just collapses on his futon and is out like a light. Apparently hes not quite used to it.

Figuring the Niigata area out

Hello family! So how is everyone today? So here's the thing. Today we would have had time even with the 8 people on the computer but A sister invited us to lunch in 30 minutes and well.....yeah. So I will have to make this short but although you people think you are being cut super short on these letters I really am not cutting them that short. I really don:t have that much to say, I realize I should but yeah. Not really. So as for the area. This week went by way fast and it felt like we got nothing done. Seems like everyday there is not enough time to get things done. A lot of stuff is just getting consistently put on the the back burner and that back burner is getting pretty full at this point. Technically I am not the district leader because our district is 10 people and the district leader is in a different area but yeah. There are 8 missionaries just in this area so yeah it takes a lot of doing to keep everyone working effectively. And there are also almost 600 members in this area with every week 60-70 coming so you can see there is somewhat of a crazy balance there so I have also taken it upon myself to sort out the ones that don:t need to be dealt with right now and try to get some of these people to come back soon. Still no investigators. The guy that came to church we still haven't gotten in contact with. Last week we had two old investigator lessons planned but one out of my stupidity didn't work out and the other was a high school student who never showed. This week as of this moment no lessons are planned. We will try to pull something together though. Also probably the most embarrassing moment of my mission we went to visit an LA member and he wasn't home so we talked to his dad for a bit then left and the next day in missionary coordination meeting there seems to always be new random people that sit in. Then we explained what happened with this LA and the ward mission leader just chuckled. Looked over at one of the brothers sitting in who also had a funny look on his face and said, "So......why weren't you home? And why are you *LA* anyway?" Then he looked at us and said, "I realize I don:t come every week but come on." Yep. Hes active, very active but on our sheet in the apartment he is not marked as active. Super embarrassing. I kinda wanted to die. We had splits which was fine. Also I really wanted to ride the bullet train there but just didn't work out. Maybe I will ride it to district meeting in two weeks down there. It actually takes more time because you end up shooting past the city and then have to take another train back to the city that he lives in but it might be worth it for the experience. Lets see. Not much time left and not much to say. By the way does Sister O email you in English? You will probably be getting soon another email with pictures because we ate with them last night. And yes members bring us food every week. Good stuff. They are way nice. Well I guess we will end with that. Not that short is it! yay for me. Love you, until next week. email you in English? You will probably be getting soon another email with pictures because we ate with them last night. And yes members bring us food every week. Good stuff. They are way nice. Well I guess we will end with that. Not that short is it! yay for me. Love you, until next week.

White washing Niigata

So 8 missionaries on one computer is a disaster so I typed this on my electronic dictionary so at least you have something. Hey family! How have you been this week? So its been kinda a long week this week. Kinda still feels a lot like running around with my head cut off. Still dont know what I'm doing in this area but yeah. We have been working pretty good this last week visiting a number of members and a few LAs. Trying some finding considering we are starting from nothing. We have had some good blessings. This week and next week we already have a number of appointments with members so that should be good. Then also this week while housing we met a guy that we were able to set up an appointment with for yesterday which he ended up having to do something else in place of the lesson so we invited him to church and believe it or not he came! I was a little shocked but glad. The gospel principles teacher definitely was trying to make him feel involved which in the end was a bit stressful because I think she was focussing a little too much on him. Then apparently he has a business trip so doesnt know when he will be able to meet next. So that part was too bad. Other than that I dont know what to report. Never really do. Had some good things this week, had some not so fun things, had a member sing "Love Potion No. 9" to me in English, had an old man at a old folks home we were doing service at call me names so yeah....pretty normal week. So there you go, thats the report for today.

Big Changes! Transfer to Niigata

So yeah, eventful week here. We started it off with doing 4 splits this week! Talk about awesome planning! Holy cow I kinda wanted to kill myself. Spending that much time running around and taking care of these people was kinda super busy. But we ended up doing splits with everyone that we needed to do splits with and even attending every district meeting we had to. So yeah. That's always fun. But, yeah because of that, or maybe even though that happened our results stunk! Lets see. That cool you met W choro. He was pretty good at Japanese himself.....he never worked with me in Yokote. Then of course transfers. Holy cow is this transfer crazy! So many new missionaries there are crazy things going down. "H" choro is going Zone Leader! A lot of people you wouldn't think were going to train are training and even white-washing areas. Then you have me. First I guess I should explain this for the person that doesn't keep their eyes on mission boundaries changes. So last year with the 58 or whatever new missions they created in the world one of them was in Japan. That is the Tokyo South mission. Now they don't just split Tokyo into two. They also take some from either side. Now I didn't know this until recently but apparently Niigata prefecture has been the ball that is passed between Sendai mission and Tokyo mission since Sendai has been made. But anyway. The new borders are taking Niigata prefecture out of the mission. So this means any missionaries in that area at the time of the split will move missions from Sendai to Tokyo. So I didn't think this would touch me and I have known for months. Well in interviews president told me that I would be white-washing Niigata with a new missionary. So the minimum time you are with a new missionary is 2 transfers, 3 month, which brings me to the end of my mission and past the deadline for mission switch. Crazy stuff indeed. So this week I have the new version of Zone leader council (but now has sisters) and then zone training meeting, then the next day training to be a trainer and then pick up my new Japanese bean-chan and head down to Niigata. I would be lying if I didn't say at times it feels like I like a lamb going off to the slaughter. It will make sense in time. I hope. All these things happen for a reason. Its funny to have read all of your letters with the idea I'm leaving Sendai mission. Well love you. Talk to you next week. Bye.

Allegory of the Bonsai tree

So yeah! As always a busy week this week. So I guess I will get the information out first. I don't know if this is how it actually happened but what I heard is that President R has a Mission President seminar in two weeks and that was also transfers so he called the church and said he wouldn't be going and they didn't like him not going so they said they would send his new missionaries a week early and so yeah. This transfer became a 5 week transfer which means, yes if you are counting them, next Monday is transfer calls. I don't know. I kinda feel like I'm out of here because as you said I have been here for awhile and well. I sure don't want to be transfered with only one transfer left. That would stink. So yeah. Then next transfer is 7 weeks so it will all even out with my coming home date. But yeah that was a big news cast. Lets see what else. This week was splits with the assistants which were fun and we visited "W"-kyodai which ended up going well. Gave him a Book of Mormon and the 2011 October Ensign (The one about the Book of Mormon) so he could brush up on the church. Sure hope he will read it. And possibly the proudest commitment of my mission; I committed him to read Jacob 5 about the Bonsai trees. ;-) Who commits a recent convert to read that!? This guy! Ha. Our ward mission leader lost it when I told him that during our coordination meeting. When he composed himself he just said, "Well it might be crazy enough to work" I think it will. He didn't seem so keen on reading the book of mormon but when I explained that it talked about tending trees he just responded with "Ok I'll read it" Score! What else. Went to Furukawa because they were having their first district meeting as the furukawa district after the split of districts. That went well I guess. Nice to be back in that church. After almost a month of not meeting we were able to meet with O-san. Hes been way busy with school and it doesn't look like it will lighten up any more. Way too bad. But he's coming to help us move a couple in our ward this next week so that shall be good. That man is a saint. Today we have a lesson with a new investigator (at least we expect she will become a new investigator) so that shall also be good. If we get this one it will be 1 new investigator for 3 weeks in a row! Yes I'm sure thats probably even embarassing for Mandy and Steven but its kinda a miracle in this mission. Especially lately! Love u bye

A long, quick week

Whoops. Sent that in two emails. Well I know you love getting emails like this but I have no time today. We had zone p-day today which was fun. Went bowling and then had kind of an iron chef type thing where everyone brought food and we ate it to see who's was the best, ended up being basically just a pot luck which was also cool. Then a lesson with a part member family which her husband now is officially an investigator. Then last night one of the sisters in the next area over was checked into the hospital for who knows what but basically I think it was like the flu or something and they were just worried because she couldn't keep food down and would get dizzy so they wanted her on an IV which ends up being at the hospital. But yeah. So we went there (FAR!!!) to give surprise her and give her a blessing. I had to bite my lip because when I asked for her first name she said it and it sounds like "Oolala" like "that girl is cute Oolala" Strange. But I think her companion and her and the member that was staying with them really appreciated it. She was suppose to get out tonight but doesn't look like she will. But yeah. Other things this week. Feels like a long long week. Ha. I feel like I feel the opposite of all of you. We had some good things happen this week but also a lot of appointments fell through so that was a bummer. Oh well. Lets see what else. Visited "W"kyodai with "N"-choro. That ended up being pretty good. It basically is what we had hoped, turned into two old men talking about the past like they do. Helped our ward mission leader move from one building to the house next door. Strange move but good. Then as a new technique we tried going to this Japanese class at the international center which we have tried before but didn't work very well. But this time it worked out way well! We ended up just teaching the teacher about the restoration for an hour and a half. She ended up not really wanting to learn more and was quite set in her ways but she thanked us for the discussion we were able to have which doesn't happen in normal contacts. Other than that not much new. Sorry it is again short. Hope all is well with you peeps.

Service and Seaweed in Ishinomaki

Hey family. Wow was last week a ridiculously busy week. Every day was jam packed with stuff. Started with Monday calling a bunch of people to get all our stuff in order for service. Tuesday visiting Broth Wako and going to the mission home. Wednesday Mission Leadership Council which was interesting. It used to be Zone Leader Council but as you may have heard the church made a new position in the missionary heirarchy. Sister Training Leader. So we now have sisters as leaders too. No one really knows what they actually do. For the time being president has just made up their role. Oh well. Then the next day was zone training meeting which was good. A lot more lively with U choro there. He is a very energetic person. Then Friday we went to Ishinomaki for service. That was a lot of fun because its been awhile since we have done service. It was a little different this time though. Instead of cleaning stuff up and such, we actually just worked their jobs. So I learned a lot more about seaweed then I ever cared to know and I never want to see it again in my life. Ha. Oh the stories to tell about those seaweed and the crazy things that happen to them. Then general conference which we were thankfully able to listen to in English. Then on the bus for service it was scary because we had the MC the whole time which president didn't want everyone to sleep so we planned a bunch of activities and such to do but yeah. Ended up talking to president for about an hour about the zone and he told me a lot of the upcoming transfers and gave me power to split a district when I felt it needed to be done and a lot of other unknown details we talked about. Kinda freaked me out to see how much he trusts us. In just this week its been ridiculous how much I have heard from him which I have known I can't tell people. But yeah. Ok so lastly mothers day calls. So this time we got permission to Skype which looks like it will work out with the church computer. So I need your skype details and we need to plan a time and all that jazz but yay for skype! So thats the details of that. Talk to you later. Love you bye.