Travel Papers?!

April 29, 2013

So sorry this email is coming a day late! We had our ward BBQ yesterday and it took up the whole day and we didn't have time to email after. So you can enjoy this email while you watch a little Monday Night Football (?not football season Evan).

So ya those presents sound pretty good! Maybe even some American candy. People love that here. And you can just put together a few more little presents and I can give them to people I end up seeing. All sounds good to me. And I wasn't kidding about the Barneys, she got cancer and she is already home.

Glad to hear everything is great at home! We had a good week and nothing stood out too much actually....we did get two new investigators. Both where member referrals. One is a 9-year-old boy and the other is an older woman. Our lessons with them went really well. We have plans to meet both of them this week again.

We did district meeting in Takayama which hurt pretty bad. We didn't even have enough money to make it back. We have been struggling with money this past month going in and out of little money and none. But as of this morning we have money and looking good! We actually did DTM in the ashiyu, haha it was way fun!

We had stake conference in Kanazawa. Got to go to both of Dad's areas this week. Pretty good stuff! It was so hot and the mike was so low I couldn't hear or even pay attention to any of the speakers. But I saw a ton of people that are awesome and had a good time anyway. The Bishop drove us and took us to the beach before. I love the members here!

It's all good here. I can't believe I get my travel plans this week. Month from Saturday. Kind of creeped up on me like everything else in life.

Much love, boob

Six Weeks Left

April 21, 2013

I knew Dad was going to be in the bishopric. That means he has to hook me up with a good homecoming talk theme (none at all would be nice, I can whip something out). But I heard about all the Boston and the Texas bombings. People in Japan knew it was terrorist stuff and they seem to cheer on the US. I don't really understand why either why America gets bombed all the time. Makes living in the land of the free and the home of the brave(s) a bit more difficult eh.

I was super sorry to hear about Caroline's week. I don't really know what to say besides stay strong. God didn't let this happen because He wanted her suffer. He has reason. I have come to figure that out on the mission. There is still so much that I don't understand out here that God has let happen. I wish you could just pray and do everything you are supposed to and it would all work out. Just remember: Life is Good, God is Good.

This week was a great one. Easily said. We did a district activity on Monday and went to a castle in Toyama then the district stayed at the apartment that night and we all went to Kanazawa for interviews together. My interview was amazing with President Baird. First, I got my temple recommend renewed and did the interview in Japanese. Pretty cool. Then I just had a fun talk with president. Talked about the mission, home, sports, the good stuff. I shared some stuff from my patriarchal blessing and just asked what I should do to feel satisfaction and do my best before I go home. Way good advice and just had a solid time.

We had yet another Eikaiwa party, I'm a good host now. Everyone wants a party with the Boob. then it just rained and winded all week. (don't judge, it's my new vocabulary). We had an interesting lunch after district meeting with a member from Takayama. She is crazy, a 35-year-old that really needs to get married. Saturuday was rainy and miserable. We had a lesson with our new investigator Yuka. She is that girl from Eikaiwa who was born with PDD and has Asburger's syndrome. We had a way good lesson, then she came to sports night! We also had Anderson and Louise, our other investigators come too. We played basketball and it was way fun. I am way crappy now. A bunch of people from Toyama, including the missionaries came too.

Sunday was a big day, Yuka came to church and were with her for six hours, church and the church potluck after. She was talking with us a ton, had an amazing time, and made way good friends. She gets nervous in new environments. She talked with the bishop's wife for a long time and ended up crying revealing all of her family problems. It was really special. She is only 27 years old, has the syndrome, and wants a solid Christian-based family that is tough to get in Japan. She is one of my favorite people ever. We met my other favorite people and visited Andarise (the big three). Had a way good time and made a solid plan to quit smoking!

I can't believe I only have six weeks left. It still hasn't completely sunk in yet. It hit a little talkin to President. Tell Kari I'm way happy for her. I love my family, we the best.

Love the Boob

Rain and More Rain

April 14, 2013

Hey y'all!

So this week has been quite a good one! Even though I have had no money haha. But no money and a lot of rain didn't put too much of a damper on our week. I wanna give you a day-by-day schedule of what happened for this week:

Monday: Had a party at one of the biggest parks in Japan with our Eikaiwa students and walked around looking at all the sakura (cherry blossoms). Then we did our normal p-day stuff and went to a Brazilians house to watch a church movie and have a FHE.

Tuesday: Way nice day go to way strong windy day go to straight rain. Went to a member's house that was a 45 minute train ride away. Got to the eki to get on the train and there was a line of at least 250 high school students. We still got on and just crammed. Someone threw some food and all the high school students scrammed like the plague. So we stood in that area haha. Had a WAY good lesson with the Takemoto family. I did a little activity about Jesus and the very very less active mom was lovin it and laughing the whole time. I just feel so much love from them!

Wednesday: More rain, all day. Not too much happened besides a really fun Eikaiwa. I never seem to have a dull week with Eikaiwa in this area!

Thursday: Made cookies to take to investigators and less actives. Way good cookies and dough. Down side: no ovens in Japan and no cooking wrap. You know what that means? It took like three hours to get a decent amount of cookies after all the crappy batches. But we got some and took them around and it rained SO HARD! Like buckets of water just pouring. Had good visits with a few investigators and less actives. Then we went and had a dinner and a FHE kind of thing with the three foreign investigators, Andarise. I love them more and more every time I am with them. Then The whole district came to the apartment to stay!

Friday: Had a way fun ZTM with the Zone. I'm the grandpa of the Zone. But it rained and rained again. After a solid ZTM, we went to bishop's house and had a way good time with the family. Had Mexican food and just tried to have a good time. It was so fun! Hernandez drew with he daughter and I messed around with the bishop and his two boys.

Saturday-Sunday: CONFERENCE! It was really good, nothing stood out too much to me. I loved Holland's and the guy who spoke about acceptance talk. Way solid. We watched it in Toyama and it was kind of hard. The parents let the primary kids sit with us and was a huge distraction. Still good overall though.

Played some catch this morning, going to get my wallet all the way downtown in Toyama. I LOVE IT!

Da Boob

Anderrise

April 7, 2013

Nothin' like some ball games eh? Well first off, Elder Hollister is engaged and is transferring to BYU haha. He gets married on August 24, in the Denver Temple. I am going for sure!

Things went pretty well this week. Not too many stand-out moments, except I lost my wallet in the other area and went back and looked for it all day and had no luck. Which reminds me, Dad, you should probably cancel that credit card. So that was kind of a hurt to the week. I guess I can just laugh about it now.  It's awesome that I have come to the point on my mission with all the crazy unexpected things that happen I can just laugh them off and feel a lot better about the whole situation and myself haha.

So we had a really special lesson this week with a less active. Her name is Terai. No one ever met her before I came, so I wanted to make a special effort and meet her once a week and it has been going really well. She told us about all her troubles in the home. Her two kids have a pretty bad head sickness that's to the point of them trying to hurt themselves all the time. We shared a message of love and just tried to comfort her. Then I gave her a little notebook and asked her to write down her blessings from that day every night before she went to sleep. She started crying and said that was the most special gift she had ever received. She also prayed at the end for the first time. To top things off, she and two other less actives I have worked with came to church! So good.

Brazilians...never a dull week with them. We had a big dinner with a bunch on them last week. But I have a feeling that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of Brazilians here in Takaoka. Two of my favorite families took jobs back in Brazil and will leave in July, then with them gone, I'm sure Arisawa will move to Tokyo and stay there for good. That would pretty much end the reign of the Brazilians. Expect the unexpected.

Other than that stuff, not too much happened. We met my favorite three investigators Anderrise (Its Anderson, Louise, and Sherri all mixed in. It saves me time typing and saying the mixed name we made up haha). I love them so much. They really mean it when you can help people more when you are friends first, then teach.

Life is good, God is good.

shortboob