Final Call from Japan!

May 26, 2013

My Beloved Family,

Well, this will be the final time I send you an email as a full-time missionary from the Land of the Rising Sun. How great has it been? How fast has it gone? I have a few things I'm supposed to coordinate with you before I go home: 1.  Do you have an appointment set up with the Stake President so I can get released?  2.  My wisdom teeth came in the top, I think they need to come out...  3.  What will the first 48 look like when I get home? and  4.  I am pretty overweight on luggage, so my plan is to send a bag of books and stuff that put me overweight to Nancy and we will just pick it up when we come back to Japan. I don't want to pay the overweight fee and I have too many books from the mission and just stuff that I don't need right when I come back.

 

We had a pretty fun and busy week out here. I told you how last Monday we went to that arcade place and had a ton of fun. Well, we are going again today with the whole district! Super stoked. On Tuesday, after we helped that old crazy lady weed her yard again, we went to the beach with one of our investigators and had dinner and just discussed over a few things. We had invited her to baptism a few days earlier and it went really really bad. Like, it turned out to be a huge mistake. So we had to make sure everything was ok and just had a good time.

On Wednesday, we headed down to Nagoya for the big conference we had on Thursday. We stayed in Inuyama with four other elders. It was so much fun! It is a really nice area. Shinoda lives in that area, we couldn't make it down because there was Eikaiwa and some members took us all out to dinner.

The conference was so awesome! One of the best ones since I have been in Japan. Elder Ringwood of the Area Presidency came and spoke to us. He was way down to earth and just a classy man. The first half, he talked about identifying ourselves with scriptures. I chose 1 Nephi 11:17 where Nephi tells the angel that he doesn't understand the meaning of all things, but he does understand that God loves him. The second half was just question and answer. Someone asked him how he handled going home and the down feelings you have when you get home. He gave some awesome advice. Just saying to have fun, keep praying always, study, and date. He said that we should be thankful for the mission we have, our mission president, all the people you meet, other missionaries, companions, and just everything, because nothing is a coincidence. Wise words from a great man.

The district headed up to Takayama together after the conference and we all stayed there for the night and had DTM there the next day. It was a really fun day. DTM was awesome, got sushi together, and visited the Mahikari temple together. Like some crazy devil worship religion. Really cool and gold building.

I ate a lot of food too, a member took us to an all-you-can-eat meat place and the next day a family made us so much tacoyaki. I love the people here so much! Church was awesome too, which is weird to say because I feel like it was because our investigator didn't come.

I love you all so much! As much as I am so excited to see y'all, I am also torn apart. So sad to say bye to the land and the people I have come to love so much. There is a time and a season for everything. I will see you as I walk down those escalators next Tuesday. As I always say, Life is good, God is great.

Final shout-out from shortBOOB
the Barbarian in the Land of the Rising Sun!

Nearing the End

May 19, 2013

Hey!

Ok sorry it took so long to get an email to y'all. I know you are all asleep, but a member took us and the Toyama missionaries to a gaming center that had a fishing pond, batting cages, arcade, and some darts. It was so much fun! I will send a few pictures. I was rockin' it up in the batting cages, good thing it was only on like 70 mph haha.

This week was crazy. We had a lot happen in such a short time. I guess that's the story of missions. We did an exchange on Tuesday and I was with Elder MacDonald. My man who knows baseball. We talked ball all day it was so awesome. We had a busy day, visiting a member and housing around her, doing manual labor at an elderly lady's house for a few hours, and then had dinner with an investigator. Gotta love it.

The rest of the week kind of blended together (or I just don't have a whole lot of motivation to write a long email) but on Friday we had a member from Takayama take us and the district out to lunch and she gave me a kimono to go home with! PS about coming home, there was a missionary who didn't have money to buy an extra luggage bag or ship stuff home, so I talked to the Honbu and gave them one of mine and I bought a huge duffle bag (which is a life saver because it is so light and huge!)  I was happy to give it to him. Crazy what two years can do to you.

We got dropped by an investigator, yay, not haha. But we had the FUNNEST sports night ever! We had five  investigators come and we had such a blast! The Big Three were on my team and I did fairly well! Even made a behind-the-back ally-oop! Call me LeBron James for now on haha.

Church was crazy...put it short, we tried inviting Yuka to baptism and she ended up crying because she felt stressed and super pressured and her handicap was just getting to her. This lead to another emotional phone call later for almost two hours. Now you understand why I am balding. Then we biked in the pouring rain to visit our depressed member. Nice guy, didn't really give us much....I love this!

Two weeks, not a lot of time. I'm excited to see you. You don't know how many people have told me they wish they could meet you all here. Especially after my Mother's Day talk. I tell them I get my good looks from my mom and my smarts from dad divided in half hahaha. Dum-diddly-dum-dum.

Call of the Boob

Mother's Day

May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day!

Sorry we aren't talking today. I figure I will see you in just a few weeks anyway. Things are going pretty well here too. This week overall is leaving the area better overall than how it has been lately.

We did a lot of yard work this week. Since Tuesdays are tough to plan for, we decided to clean up around the park that's in front of our apartment. So we have been doing that and someone picked it up and cleaned up the rest of it! Then a random lady came to Eikaiwa and asked us to come clean up her yard. It was the biggest yard I have seen in Japan. It was pretty fun though. I guess it's just a little glimpse of working for Paane when I get home haha.

It was a good week overall. A member took us to a yaki niku tabehodai and I pigged out. Then we stopped by a members house and had a very special experience. She had recently had a stroke. So I decided we should try to see her weekly. We went over and she told us she had been really tempted by the devil and she prayed for a ton of help. Then we came and gave her a blessing almost five minutes later. Way awesome.

Had my last Zone training meeting last week. Now I'm having all these lasts. I realize more and more every time something happens. I got my death papers this week with my flight plans and checklist to go home. Just so you know, all my garments, socks, suits, white shirts, pants, and shoes are gettin trashed. I might burn it all haha.

So on Saturday, the bishop took us river fishing. So much fun. It poured rain on us and I didn't catch a fish again haha but still way fun and in a way pretty place nonetheless. Then yesterday we had Mother's Day. They asked me to speak and I was a bit confused why just three weeks before I head home. And I forgot it was Mother's Day too haha so I made it up on the spot. It ended up being a really good talk. Best part about it, it so happened that the Katsuragawas (a sister missionary who served with Craig) from Gifu came up to see me right when I was speaking. Pretty cool eh? We then went to a Brazilian birthday party and had dinner at the bishop's with an investigator. It went so well. I think there is a chance she could get baptized before I go home. She also already made plans to meet us in Tokyo. I love it out here!

Love,Boob

Fishing for P-day

May 5, 2013

Hey y'all!

Is the truck gonna be ready when I get back? I gotta roll around town in my Voltron again! Things are going fine here. We have good people to teach, but in all honesty, this past week I realized that they might still have the potential, but it will be harder for everyone. I thought Anderson Louise and Shari were doing well, but it's at the point they just want to hang out and have a good time with us and Yuka is having a hard time understanding our lessons because of her stubborness and handicap, it makes the lessons pretty difficult. It's hard to see people not give the same effort you do or just stop in their progression even after all you have done. It's even harder because I come home in such a short time. I guess it's just the way God wants me to end and I have to figure out how to work with it.

Not a whole lot happened this week....We went on two exchanges and did some service. We did go fishing this morning with the Toyama missionaries and got only one fish haha. Not a whole lot of luck.

It's kind of weird, coming home pretty soon and the weeks are moving by so fast. As my man Tupac says, Life goes on.

To my beloved trunky family, The Elder Parry

p.s. Steve wants an all-paid vacation to Japan this summer with us

PS from Becky.  We told Evan not to bring the yellow shirt in this picture home.  Truly ugly. 

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