Elder Stevenson's Letter

supp all!!!!

this week was way good. it started off with a companion exchange with the zone leaders. i went to fukuoka to be with elder obayashi for a day and the other zone leader came to maebaru to be with elder harvard. it was really fun to work in fukuoka. it is really different from the counrty town that maebaru is. fukuoka is a huge, rockin city so it was really fun to experience dendo in fukuoka. we stopped by the mission office while we were there so that was pretty cool cuz i had not been there since i came to the mission. it was a little nastalgic just being in the mission home and seeing the temple again just thinking that the last time i was there was when i had just left the mtc. it was cool to look back and see how much things have changed since then. being with obayashi was really fun to. he goes home in april and he is from sendai. he is a really godo misisonary, i learned a ton from him. i always love working with the japanese elders cuz since they are fluent in the language and know the culture it seems like they just run a totally different offense compared to us americans. it kinda felt like practicing with a college team and then trying to play in the nfl. the japanese missionaries are so good. but its all good, cuz its the lord who called all the missionaries to be here so its comforting to know that everyone is here for a reason.

i also got a taste of city life when we rode to the main train station to hand out english class flyers in the morning to all the people going to and from work. well aparently obayashi and i were late so he cruzed down the streets of fukuoka. and when i say cruzed, i mean he booked it. not to mention that it was 8 in the morning with the streets flooded with people and bikers all in a hurry going to work. it was ridiculous. i felt like i was in a video game flying down the streets trying not to hit people or bikers. it was crazy. i was shooting through gaps and cutting off people like dad walks through new york city but the only differnece is that i was on a bike, going really fast so ur reaction time trims down to about two seconds in trying to negotiate not trying to hit people. the whole time i was like well maybe if i dont make eye contact with that guy i just nearly hit he wont really see me but then i remember that i am the only white american on the streets so....i quickly gave that thought process up. but we made it to the train station and it was the funnest most adrenaline pumping roller coaster ride through the streets of fukuoka ever.

later in the week we met with this 17 year old girl named sena. she is really nice and comes to our english class every week and is really good friends with this other girl in our ward. the elders before us told us that she may have some interest in the church so we had been teaching her the lessons after english class. this past week was the second time we had met with her and we went in with the game plan of talking about baptism. and we were going to ask her to get her parents permission to see if its ok to be taking the lessons from us. so it was a big night cuz in japan a lot the parents put the kuboot on the party when it comes to their kids meeting with the missionaries. so we wanted to talk about that. when we brought up the permission thing, she quickly told us that her mom already knows and is totally ok with her taking the lessons. so that was really good. we contiued to talk about baptism and then we asked her how she felt about baptism and she said she wants to be baptized! we were stoked. our mission leader wants us to talk with her parents before we set a baptismal date so pray that her parents will be ok with it and pray that sena will continue to want to be baptized and that she will recieve strength in her path to baptism. she is so good. she has such a pure heart, probably the nicest girl that you will ever meet. so pure and so ready for baptism. she understood baptism really well and has such a strong pure desire to follow christ, so pray for sena. she is awesome. and the feeling when someone says that want to be baptized is priceless. it really is. it is literally the best feeling i have ever felt, the happiest i have ever felt. its crazy i thought i knew what true joy felt like but i guess not. cuz that night talking with sena i was so happy for her cuz i know how baptism and joining the church will change and bless her life forever, into the eternities. it is so awesome. i love being a missionary everyday. but its crazy when you feel the joy that comes with someone really wanting to be baptized it makes the work that much more worth it. like i would experience all the down moments and more anytime just so sena or someone like that to be baptized. the work is so awesome. there is so much real joy in the work. its the best.

this week has been full of hard work and success in terms of people listening to us. i believe missionaries are successful everyday if they are obedient, worthy of the spirit and try their best but its really awesome when people listen to you. elder harvard and i taught the most lessons this week then i have any other week of my mission, so that was pretty cool. but once again i know that that kind of success is a gift from god and it comes on his time.　elder harvard and i didnt do anything different then we have been doing all transfer. we still were just as obedient and worked just as hard as we have all transfer but this week the lord just blessed us with placing people in our paths to listen to us. it was really fun.

besides that, nothing too eventful this week except for the fact that our only heater in our apartment broke. our apartment is all wooden floors everywhere so even with a wokring heater our apartment is probably one of the coldest missionary apartments you could find in the mission but now with no heaters it is absolutely frigid. you can see your breath in our apartment. its crazy. so getting up and working out in the morning is pretty painful. after we take showers and with the 20 minutes we usually have before personal study we just lay back bundled up in our futons cuz its too cold. and then for personal study we put on the layers and make it work, its prety fun. we will get the heater fixed eventually.

this thursday we have elder ringwood of the seventy coming to speak to us. so we will head to fukuoka again and have a multi zone conference with elder ringwood, so i am really excited for that. and i will see elder peterson and elder cottle there so i am way stoked to talk to those guys again. and in febuary elder oaks is coming to speak to us so that should be really cool too. times are good in the fukuoka mission.

love you all. thanks for the mail and the support. you guys really do help a ton. love you

peace out from j-pan

ps. if i have failed to mention it i named my bike jenny. cuz elder harvard and i were talking the other day and i was like man, i either want to date or marry a girl named jenny so i can just be like i love you jenny when ever i want in my forrrest gump voice. then i realized that i could just name my bike jenny so i did. so now i can just be like i love you jennnyyy whenever we are riding around its so awesome

PICTURES!

The apidomy of our dendo work! We have so much fun everyday!

The Matsudo Church. This is my church building!

September 21, 2011

Natalie's Letter

There is nothing more rewarding than sitting in a home, being overwhelmed with God's love and knowing that what these people are hearing from you is the absolute best thing that they will ever hear in their lives. There si nothing better than watching a person have the words of the Book of Mormon sink into their souls. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a mother watch as her children pour over the words of God and knowing that her prayers are being answered. Ther eis nothing more rewarding than hearing that you have a special light about you and that they can feel love from you. There is nothing more rewarding than being moved to tears because you know that these people are tasting of the goodness of God. And there is nothign more rewarding than a person saying that they will be baptized on such and such a day.

 

It's amazing to see the power of God work. You said the ward had a special fast this past week. Well your fast was answered. And it was amazing to read Riley's email and hear that he had a successful week too. I am so overwhemled with gratitude that God answers prayers On wednesday we too fasted. We fasted that we would find someone to teach and get a baptism date. That night we had a girl come to Eikiwa (English Class). We kubati a lot. Sister Laird and I find lots of miracles when we hand our flyers for eikiwa. (For example, a guy we found kubatin is getting baptized in two week!) This is Chinrei san story. She told us that she usually doesn't take the flyers from the people but for somereason she took ours. That night she had a dream about a huge church with lots of people in it. She then came to eikiwa the next night that was at the church. She said that when she came into the building she said, I want to hear these people's message immediately. (Side note: when people come to eikiwa, they have to have a shokai lesson where we show them a video about the purpose of life. everyone is required to do this and then from there we ask if they want to met again to hear more.) So Chinrei, scheduled her lesson for the next day. When we met with her one of her first questions was "I've just been really wondering about which church is the true church." We were like "wow, great question" So did this guy named joseph smith. We showed her the restoration movie and all through  it she was totally invovled. Afterwards, I bore my testimony and surprise surprised was crying. I just have such a testimony of Joseph Smith and love what he did with all my heart. We continued to asnwer her questions. It was a great lesson. We gave her a book of mormon adn she siad she would read it. The next day we got a text from her asking if she could met with us the next day. We said yes. And long story short we committed her to baptism on the 16th of Oct. Our prayers were answered! She is so cute! She's catholic and when we asked her to come to church she said yes and then said "Should I go and tell my catholic priest that I'm quitting going to his church?" We said no, no, you don't have to tell him anything :) She is continuing to just take in everything.

Second miracle: On thursady we went down to Kubati again and we had 20 more flyers left so we divided them up and had a race to give them away the fastest. So we were laughing and having fun. There was a mother and daughter sitting on the bench who were watching us. After we were done the mother called over to us and asked us where we were from. We started talking to her and she said, you both have this glow about you. You both seem so happy and are just beautiful." that made us really happy to hear. We told her why we were here in Japan. Turns out the daughter was having a bad day so they were just sitting there talking about hte purpose of life and didn't really know. THey were wondering where they would go when they died. The daughter told us that she had just boughten a bible but didn't really understand it. Long story short, they invited us over for dinner the next day. We showed up to their house and it was the mother, daughter and her son. For the next 2 1/2 hours we just talked all about the gosepl and how it has blessed our lives. I wish words could describe how it felt to be there. One it felt like I had found my Japanese family. I really felt like I fit in with them. They were so comfortable and were just eating up everythign we were telling them. We would read a scripture with them and they would just read it again and again. They told us how they thought God truly lead us to them to answer their questions. I have never seen a more prepared family in my life. The special thing is Laird Shimai's whole mission, she has felt as if there was a family she needed to find. And it wasn't until tonight that she felt like she had found that family. How rewarding. She foudn the family she had been looking for. They all have a book of mormon and as we were leaving the mother was pouring over the purpose of life phamphet. I'm pretty sure we could have stayed their all night and answered their questions. But sitting there I was just overwhelmed with God's love. god loves his children. That I know for sure. He is aware of everyone.

 

I love this work adn I'm happy that I get to continue to do it.

 

loves love

shimai

UPDATE FROM JAPAN

Natalie's Letter

September 11, 2011

This week was the week of reality...yep, the realities of what my life is like is finally setting in...oh boy. The first one I had when I was trying to get off my bike...yes, you can all laugh trying to picture it cause it made me laugh. Imagine this white girl, really sweaty from riding three hours trying to find this less activity's house, in a long skirt, on a mountain bike, with a helmet on...now picture that girl trying to get off that bike and almost falling off cause it's quite difficult to get off in a skirt, let me tell you. I looked around me and saw people staring at me and then it hit me...oh I'm really different aren't I. Before this I thought that I looked like everybody else too and I always thought they were staring becuase of the name tag...nope, they don't even get to the name tag. They stop at my face. So that one sunk in. The next reality that sunk in is that no one is going to every really stop speaking Japanese. I keep thinking that i'll wake up one day and everyone will be speaking English. Nope. Maybe one day I'll wake up and I'll be able to speak and understnad Japanese. Haha. Yes, That's the way it's gonna go. Another realization. This one hurt. I realized how old I am...I'm not who I thought I was. THis one occured on the door step of a PI talking to the 12 year old daughter and all of a sudden my mind flashed to her perspective and I saw these huge two old looking American girls standing in the door way and I thought, oh that's me. I'm old. It was an odd thing to realize. I still feel like I'm 18.Nope wrong-o. That was strange.

I'm also way amazed at how much I can learn everyday. Not in Japanese...I'm still can't understand anything yet, nor speak it very well adn told someone yesterday that my parents just called and I wanted to share that with them...opps. Companion had a laugh on that one. But spritiual stuff I am amazed at how much I can discover! It's so great! I love it! Just a few things I learned. This one came today and I love it. Sometimes we are going to get a boat sunk or be tossed in the ocean. Heavenly Father is going to throw up of life jacket and then He is going to say swim. We won't sink, but we will have to learn how to swin and make it back to the shore. I thought that was a cool thought. Making us work adn learn the lesson.

I don't have much time today..sorry it's short so unlike me :) But all I've got to say is that life and espcially life on a mission is so up and down. It's so good one moment and the next youre struggling to maintain that desire or maintain that light. It's hard but it's rewarding. Still havin fun! But it's strange sometimes cause my comp is going home in two weeks and sometimes I feel like I'm going with her...wrong. I've got a lot of time ahead of me. She is leaving HUGE shoes to fill! Everyone loves her! I hope I can do a good job when she leaves and that the ward doesn't turn on us and that we don't lose any investigators. It's gonna be a real adventure! Pray for me! I love you all! Till next week, which I agree with Stevenson Choro, comes way too fast!

Shimai

September 4, 2011

I'm pretty sure the whole island of Japan was feeling the effects of the typhoon becuase I too was out tractin in the rain! And boy was I thinking about Elder Stevenson and how he was probably in heaven right about now. And as I started to think about him and his attitude, the better mine became. Because yeah, let's be honest, when does someone get to spend three hours riding in the pouring down rain, trying to find a part member family, which you never actually find, in the pouring down rain...yeah, doesn't happen very often...except for Japanese missionaries. The sooner I learned that that's just how it was going to be, the happier I came. Granted I still have to pump myself up everytime I get on my bike and espcially in the rain :) I love the rain!

We had some pretty sweet miracles happen this week! We see miracles everyday! Okay, first great miracle: So we were handing out English class flyers and I handed one to this guy and then five minutes later he came back and said to my comp "Do you speak Japanese?" "Yes" and then he said "I'm coming tomorrow." and my comp said "Oh but english class isn't until wed." And the guy goes "no to church. I went with my friend once and I loved it! And now that I don't have work on Sunday's I'm gonna come. What time does it start?" We were both like, "eh....10." and then had that, oh my gosh, did that just happen attitude. Well he did come to church and loved it! I laughed when I read Riley's email about his branch because my ward has 200 or something members with SO many kids! We had stake conference on Sunday and I have never seen sooo many families before! The church is really strong. So i thought it was funny how here is riley in this small branch and I'm in one of the biggest japanese wards! I love it! Here's another sweet miracle! So we love to go housing! We love it! and we have so much fun! I even like it because they have these genious things that america really should install but it really stinks for missionary work. But they are these call boxes or intercoms at the front of their house where the people can just talk to us without answering there door. Stinks cause you really never see people but are great because you can just talk and try adn it doesn't really matter cause you can't see them. Anyways, we were walking and i was like lets go down this street so we started ping ponging. We ping ponged this one house, after almost being eatten by their huge dog! This guy answered the intercome we did our little speal and then he said choto matte, which means one second, he then came out to the balcony, we said our stuff over again. Then he said hold on a again and then came outside. We were thinking what? and oh great, another referral for the elders (we've been getting a lot of referrals for the elders lately...) So he came out and we started to talk to him some more, yah, yah, asked him if he like english adn how we taught english class. He then said "Oh, my mom goes to that english class" We said oh whose your mom? He then said "Sugita Junko" We were both then shocked and frozen! (Note to the reader Sugita Junko is the woman we baptized last Sunday!) Here we were talking to her son, at her house, that we randomly found! Miracle! (another note: Junko isn't really close with her family, in fact we are pretty sure they don't know she got baptized. We told her that she had to tell her husband but she said that they don't have that kind of relationship adn that he knows that she is reading the Book of mOrmon and meeting with the missionaries and going to church, so it was obvious that her son didn't know what we knew adn were so shocked about) So we then told him we knew his mom and decided against telling him about her baptism. We then asked him if he had any interest which he said he did and said it would be cool if we met again. We were so blow away after that! They Lord really is aware of His missionaries! And really does know where we need to be! We seriously have a miracle like that everyday! Where we are just like wow, did that really just happen. It's great! I love it!

I was humbled again this week. It really hurts and stinks and I've got to stop it. Although they say that we constantly need to be humbled because that is the time when we are able to be brought up by the Savior and into Him. We really learn the most when we are brought low. It was a good learning moment. Mom, to add on to your remodeling analogy. This week I learned that there were some items in my house that I was trying to hold on to that the Lord thinks I need to get rid of. It's really hard trying to let go of those things that you have always known but I learned that the Lord has promised that he will replace it with something much better, we just have to let go. So i have been doing so of that. This was the other sweet thing I learned! It is proven that it takes 21 days to form a habit. 21 days! Therefore, I have no right to give up on anything or any one for at least 21 days! Therefore, i learnded once agian that it takes TIME! It's all about TIME! I am not going to learn this language in one tranfer adn I will not become perfect and the person I want to be by the end of my mission. I will be closer than I was when I started but I won't be done learning and growing. You never stop doing that. But I am grateful that a mission has taught me that. I love where I am at. It's sometimes hard though having a companion whose leaving in three weeks :( becuase I sometimes feel like I am going home then too but then reality sets in and I see that I have 15 more months! And that I have that long to learn Japanese and become better than I was today. But sometimes I forget that and get down on myself cause I think that I shoud be at her level. Wrong!

Anyways, I love Japan! Rain adn humity! It's all great and all part of the plan! Love you all! Thanks for your prayers and help! I really need them! Live life to the fullest!

Love from a little island across an ocean!

Shimai

August 31, 2011

I know you said it a thousand times dad and i know you'll be laughing and trying so hard how to better explain this to the twins now but oh my gosh, a mission is HARD! Holy CAL! Why didn't anyone tell me! Hahah! You all did but I just guessed I would be better at it. I was always some one that had to learn these lessons on my own. Well, here I am adding my testimony with everyone else...a mission is hard. It is not easy. This week was not easy and was probably one of the hardest weeks I've had in my entire life. Gosh, Satan can hit hard. And it hurts. So lets just start at the beginning. Tuesday...First lets just say that my companion and I are really similar so she can read me like a book so I can't hide anything from her. I was having a very "emotional" day and we were at the church making copies for a lesson we had that night she stopped and said what's wrong. And so for the next time I sat on the floor and just cried. Figures right. And I was feeling so worthless and dumb. She made me make a list of what I was feeling. And it was things like dumb, insuffiencent, not progressing, and not me (that was really bugging me. I'm such a word person that it bugged me that I could express to people how I really felt) Then she made me make a list with factual, truthful and get us places statements. and this is what we came up with: I'm learnign and growing everyday. Sometimes you don't see the progress and I can rely on the Lord more. I'm doing everything that I can and I know that my trainer will be here for me. And finally I'm learnign how to be an even better and stronger me. Those got to me. I realized how selfish I was being and how human I was being. I have felt like I'm a little kid trying to run and do everything all at once and expecting to be able to do it all at once and I feel like my trainer sometimes grabs me by the pants and pulls me back. And that day I felt like God did that. He really pulled me back. It's amazing how much a language can humble you. And man being humbled hurts. It was definately a "hey, sister stevenson, you really think you can do this without me. Hold on, let me teach you everything! Calm down. You will learn it all, I promise you but please take it one day at a time!" It was really humbling. The Lord pulls you down so that you learn to rely on Him so He can bring you higher. And mom, it's amazing how your remodeling analogy has played so true already. It dawned on me that I started this remodeling process and I didn't realize that when you start that process you tear down a lot and your house or you become really unfamiliar. Youre so bare and stripped of everything (your language, your comforts, your schedule) but days go by and you start to see progress. But not all at once first. I remember watching houses being built and I always feel like it takes so long to start looking like anythign. But one day somethign appears and it starts to take shape. Thats what is happening to me right now. I'm so unfamiliar to me but soon I will start to take shape and becmoe this new beautiful creation. But it takes time. I have to be able to take one day at a time.

I wish I could say that Satan left me alone after that but he knows exactly where to hit us. They rest of the week was really hard. I would go through moments where I was seriously going to call president and tell him that I was done and that i had no purpose in being here and that I was going home. I had a lot of those moments. Riding my bike and just thinking, I don't enjoy being here. Oh ps. had my first bike wreck. Slipped while it was raining. Got brusied pretty badly but it's all good. I wish I could tell you everything in this email but maybe I'll write you more. TO make a long story short, it was a hard week but I know that I am suppose to be here and I am going to be here. Sometimes I feel like I'm living off of other people's testimony of how a mission is the best thing ever  and that they are anchored off their mission. I will gain that testimony.

To make a long sad story happy...we had a baptism on Sunday! I got to see someone enter the water of baptism and it was one of the most special moments ever! Seeing her come out of the water and asking her how she felt and her saying light! I feel so light and then watching her recieve the holy ghost and her telling me how she just felt warmth fill her whole being. It was magical! I was filled with so much joy! It made me just wanna cry! I can't wait to help more people come unto Christ and change their lives! It's such a cool experience!

I lvoe you all! Thanks for the support and the emails you send me! Kepp them coming! QUin I love yoU! You said exactly what I needed to hear! I love yoU! Keep the prayers coming!

Man so many funny moments I could have told you too! Lets just say  that housing is really funny with me! I have my like three sayings that I say and they are pretty funny. "Hi how are you! Ive come all the way from California to share a special message with yoU!" My comp has a hard time not laughing! It's great! We love housing, rain or shine!

From a girl in a foreign land, not knowing the language, being beat upon but always rising above it,

Shimai

Riley's Letters

September 18, 2011 "Kinjins are real!!!!"

Sup all!!!

guess where we are at right now? we are in a sheraton in hiroshima emailing before all the elders in our zone take off for the hiroshima carps game! i am way excited. president said that it was okay cuz today is p day so yeah we are hitting up some japanese baseball today. it should be way fun. but this week has been way crazy. i feel bad becasue recently all emails have been way long and i know that long emails from missionaries are not always the funnest to read so i was going to try and start shortening them up and then start writing small individual emails to people but that may have to start next week cuz this one was pretty eventful. it was way good. you know what i was saying about success last week? well, we were abundantly blessed with it this week. on monday we just saet aside time to go housing so we did that and the first house we knocked on we had a really good lesson with this guy who is 29 years old. his mom is a jw and he was really interested in our message. he said he would read the book of mormon and that he really wants to learn more so we were really happy and excited to have found that guy right off the bat. and then about ten minutes later we found another guy and we taught him another lesson and he was interested too. the first guy is a pretty promising potential investigator and then the second guy would be a p.i. he said he didnt remember his phone number so we have no way to contact him. but then on tuesday night we ran into another potential investigator housing. it was my door so i knocked and said just a few intorductry sentences which he responded by saying `dozo` which means come on in. so we were both kinda suprised becasue that like never happens. so we went in and we taught him the first lesson just in his gengkon. he was really interested and wanted to learn more so he is another promising potential investigator. but there is a catch with this guy, he was drunk when we met with him so the question i pose to all of you is this, can someone still feel the spirit even though they are drunk? i dont really know, i guess we will just have to wait and see. we tried to visit him last night and his wife answered the door and said he was gone and wouyldnt be home until tuesday so stay tuned about our drunk potential investigator. but on wednesday was the best day ever! we taught this really good lesson to this investigator who really wants to believe the gospel but after we got out we got a call from the misison home in fukuoka saying that someone from our area called them and saifd he wanted a book of mormon to read. so we called and and he was like, hey, can i meet you at the church and hear your message? those are like the best words that we missioanries could hear so we met the guy art the church fifteen minutes later. and he was toally a kinjin, which means golden person in english. he said that five years ago some missionaries came to his door and gave him a pamphlet but he dint listen to them and didnt accept the message. but then then like last week his uncle committed suicide and he said like was just way tough for him. he said that some how he remembered the missionaries that talked to him five years earlier and he said he just had this feeling that for some reason he thought that the book of moromon and the church could help his life so thats when he could the mission home, after finding the number on line. so we taught him the first lesson and he accpeted everything all in stride. we invited him to be baptized and he said.....YES!!!!! when he said yes elder peterson and i just stopped and smiled at each other, i felt like it was like the scene in the best two years when they both couldnt believe their ears. i was so stoked and so suprised and so happy,i couldnt stop grinning. his baptismal date is october 22. i get goose bumps just writing about the moment because it was so classic, one that i will never forget. the joy that came from that is really not like anything i have ever felt before. i was by far the happiest and best feeling in my life. it was amazing and it wasnt like i was happy for peterson and i cuz we got a baptismal date, my joy was for fuwashima because i know how much his life will be blessed for time and all eternity. i just wanted to give the guy a big hugg and be like u just made the best diecison in your life. i was so happy, it was like nothing l have ever felt before. i thne realized the quote iw rote down in the mtc, the joy of bringing someone into the gospel will far outweigh anything you left behind at home. it is so true. twins, gregor and whoever else is trhinking about a misison, it is so worth it. get out here and find out for urself. bringing that one soul into the gosple is the best thing ever. it is so worth it. get out and expereince it, you will never regret it. it is the best feeling in the world, all the hard days are so insignifcant and they are so worth it. its just like that one scripture about just bringing one soul into the gospel, its worth all the harsd times and then some. but the rtoad to the font will not be paved with rose pedals and dandelions, satan does not want people to get baptised so hopefully we can get him to the font. pray for fuwashima to stay strong. so yeah we were hit with a load of success in the first three days of the week. it was really good. by thursday we had taught 6 lessons and given out four copies of the book of mormon which is really good. by the way, for those following the housing baseball series peterson had a mad come back in the eigthth and ninth to win it 8-3. he scored seven in those two innings, so he deserved it cuz he rallied haha but now in game two its tied up 2-2 in the fourth, i have hit two solo dingers. so its all good. although we both want to win we just want the game to be as high scoring as possible haha, its all good. so yeah success is a gift and its funny how it can leave faster then it comes cuz the next two three days of the week were a bit of a struggle in terms of productivity and it was things that we couldnt really control. like one morning while pimping up my tire it just totally blew out so we had to fuix it before we could leave so that tanked about an hour of our schedule and then we went on some crazy rides in te pouring rain. our branch president wanted us to visit this member who is in a mental hospital and it was pretty far away and he said it was on a mountain but we just do what we are told. so we saddled up jane and daisy and we were on our way. it was a crazy ride. i am convinced that if there was a tour de japan we definitely rode the hills portion of the race cuz there were some crazy hills just on this mountain. it was way fun, it was pouring rain so we were soaked to the bone so the poeple working at the hospital were pretty suprised to see us, two white kids dressed in white shirt and ties just soaked. but our branch president gave us the wrong name and we couldnt get a hold of him so we just had to turn back so th enext day we did the same thing in the pouring rain, it was way fun though. so thats pretty much my week. it was really good, i love being a missionary it is the best. i have to give a talk in church next week so that should be pretty intense. our little branch is doing well. its so classic. like when the meeting started the other day the only people in the congregation was this family of six, but then it filled up and we got the usual twelve. life is good. i love being a misisonary and being out here. its the best. i love it. i cant wait for gregas call. sorry this is a long email but this week was very eventful. i love you all, thnaks for the support and the mail. take care, peace out til next week.

love elder stevenson

September 11, 2011 "Jane and Me"

sup all!!!

its crazy that we are here emailing again. time really does fly by. unlike sister stevenson in tokyo we do not have a computer in our apartment. it sonds like our missions are way different, its good. we go to this interent cafe which we pay for an hour, the lady knows us way well cuz we are here the samwe time every monday. but we get free soft serve ice cream while we email so thats pretty legit. this week was really good. we had zone conference on tuesday. my old mtc comp is in my zone so its fun to see him once in a while. we see presidnet margetts probbly once every two transfers. we had interviews with him on tusday. i love presidnet margetts. he is the best. he is so nice and loving and caring and just the man. liek we were all walking back from lunch after zone condference when president , without saying anything to anyone just walks into this convienient store and buys like 35 ice cream novelities for all the missionaries there. he is the best, i love him. this week we did a lot of housing which was pretty eventful. thursday was probably by far the most successsful day that i have had in the mission field. me and peterson started housing this complex of probably like 30 homes, ehich isnt very big but we got two lessons out of it! we were so suprised and stoked. a lesson is defined as doctrine taught, commitment extended and a prayer. sso we taught two lessons housing. just to put that in to prespective, i think before that day i might of had a total of two lessons form housing so for us to get two in less then an hour was way good for us. those two people are just potential investiagotrrs tight now but we are going to follow up with them this week to see what happens. and then later that night we went out with a member from our branch and visited and taught more good lessons. it was a way god day. it was signifiacnt for me becasue i finally realized what they were talking about when they said that success was a gift. at the mtc there were a lot of talks about success being a gift and i didnt get it becasue i thought well if u are working hard u are going to have successs and that u can control it. well having a very successful day on thrusday made me realize what they were talking about. becasue that day, me and elder peterson did not do anything different from any other day. we did not change up or approach from the days earlier when nobpdy listened to us and its not like we did anytinhg special that day. we were just blessed with success on that day. success really si a gift from god. yes u can control whether or not u are in position to recieve that success but its not really up to u whether or not u have success in the field. i would be putting quotes around the word success each time i use but japanese keyboards are funky and it would take too long but the point is is that sucess is a weird word out int he field. because although people listende to us on thursady i believe that we are sucessful on days where we work hard and dont get any lessons. so thats what i learned about sucess in the field. work to put urself in position to recieve successs but dont get discouraged when u dont teach anyone becasue if ur doing ur best u cant control whether or not peole listen to u. and whether we know it or not we are bringing others closing to christ in more small simple ways than we know it. so its all good. i mentioned we did a lot of housing this week so the other day while we were housing i came up with a game that would make it more entertaining. i call it housing baseball. the game is simple yet fun, has its similairiteis to baseball where it is long and low scoring just as a day of housing can be. but the game is this: peterson and i switch off taking turns knocking doors. each door is an at bat. if they do not come to the door at all that is an out. if u u talk to them at all that is a single. a long conversation is a double and a lesson at the door is a home run. its way fun. right now peterson and i are in the eighth inning with the score 3 to 1. i have two runners on but with two outs and peterson has bases juiced with only one out. we are goingt o finsih the game later tiongiht when we go and house. it should be way intense. a close game. so thats housing baseball for ya. its pretty fun. we both want to win but we hope for a high scoring game becsaue that means that a lto f people talked to us. so yeah, illkeep u psoted on the stadnings and on who wins. life is so fun. we get to go out and talk to peole, play housing baseball and have crazy thnigs happen to us. im not going to be doing this for very long so i really am trying to take advantage of every monment. life is full fo good memonets when u try to amke them. on sunday me and peterson talked to our primary whcih consists of four boys. it was way fun we talked to them about the msision and they jjsut asked us a bunch of questions. it was a moment for em that was surreal in the sense that i otlally rmember beingf where they were in primary looking up to the missionaries. now i am on a mission. its crazy i am actually on a mission. it is the best. just seeing those little boys look and smile at us was a moment that keeps my motor runnnign and i realize how coola nd rare it is to be a missionary. so that was a way cool monent.

and yesterady, we made the ride of death again. but tell grandma not to worry becasue i put a light on my bike this time. before we left i kept getting the forrst gump quote to pop into my head, stupid is as stupid does. adnd for some reason just the fact that i was going to make that ride agin without a light, i felt liek heavenly father was saying that he protected us last ime but if im stupid to make that sane mistake again, well stupid is as stupid does. so i got batteries to put in my lgiht. the ride wasnt as intense as last time but sitll pretty crazy. there are so many moments where is am like i wish mom could see me now cuz there are so many crazy monmebnts fun moments out here that i will only get as a misionary. its so awesome. and u are probably thinking who the heck is jane. no i am not seeing anyone out here, jane is my bike. i thought u would want to know that i have named my bike jane. and that when this is all sdaid and done they will make a mivie about me and it will be called jane and me. my girl jane. i love my bike. last night when we were bsuting up hills i jsut appreciated my bike so much and how many miles i have puti into her and how amny miles i will put inher. so yeah, its me and jane crusing the streets of japan. and peterson named his bike daisy so together we are jane and daisy. we have so mauch fun. last ngiht when i was tryign tio fall asleep it popped into my head how much i love all u guys. u guys aer the best. mom and dad are the best parents ever and i look up to him so mucha and cherish his advice and then natalie and i have so much fun together and then i love the twins. i realized that they are like my best friends. i love those guys, they are the best we have so much fun together and cobb si liek my little confidant. anywasy i love u all. the churh is true being on a mission is the best. i am haveing the time of my life. love you all thanks for the emails they help so much.

love elder stevesnon

 
September 4, 2011 "Tracking in a Typhoon"

sup all!!!!!

this week was way good. we are having a great time in kure. elder peterson and i get a long way good, so just like living life with him is super fun. i learn a lot from him and we just laugh a ton. we decided to ditch most of our investigators becasue they are just not progressing and we are kinda wasting our time with them so that meant we did a ton of tracting and housing this week, which was good. but last monday my testimony that god protects his missionaries was defintiely strengthened. p day ends at 6 so we decided to go visit this woman who was pretty inactive. she lived way far away but we decided to go after it anyways. well it was a lot farther then we expected and petersonhad never really been to that part of our area so he didnt really know what to expect from riding over there. it was crazy. we were riding on this major highway which had no sidewalk, it was dark and the ligght on my bike did not work so it was pretty intense to say the least. we also rode over this bridge that was like the size of the bay bridge, so that was intense cuz it was way high in the air and there was no sidewalk but we made it to the persons house and taught her a way good lesson. the spirit was so strong there and while we were talkign to her i couldnt help but think of the song come bring them　 from the fields. as we were teaching her there was this undeniable feeling that heavenly father was pleased with us and that this was what we were supposed to be doing that night. it was so cool, i felt that if the savior was on earth he would have made the trip to visit this inactive woman and then i realized that that is what its all about, we represent christ and we strive to be as christ liike as possible, we as missionaries just run little errands for him. it was the coolest feeling, only on a mission could u feel that, so that was way special. and the cool thing was that after the lesson peterson told me the same thing i was thinking, he just felt like we needed to be there that night,  and yes cobb, he did get dear johned that day but he has taken like a champ and it hasnt affected us at all so that is way good, we needed a visit and an experience like that after the day of getting dear johned, so that was way cool that we both felt the same thing after the lesson. . and then we braced for the ride of death home. but really i could see heavenly father protect us on the way home. like when we were riding over the bridge or on way skinny roads (the road reminded me kam highway in hawaii, so yeah it was a narrow road) there were never any cars on our side of the road during the sketchy parts so we were able to ride with ease and then when it was pitch dark and i couldnt see a thing there would just all of a suddne be a line of cars coming form the opposite direction lighting up the road for me to see, so it was really amazing to see his hand in our lives, he watches out for us. it was really cool. then on friday we had a typhoon come through so that was way cool. the wind was blowing like crazy and the rain was pouring down on us but since it wasnt dangerous we were still out housing. it was pretty cool, how many people can say that they hgave housed through a typhoon? it was oneof those moments when i just stopped for a sec and smiled and just soaked it all in and literally got soaked but it was way fun. sunday was my comps 20 birthdayso we had cake and i sang him happy birthday. it was just a classic moment that anyone who is not a missionary would was way depressing but we as misionaries just find the fun and the joy　 in everything so that was way fun. and i love our branch. i have only been to churhc twice but becasue there is only like 12 people in the entire branch i have gotten to know them really well. they are all such strong members its really inspriign to see all of these single ladies get up and make it to churhc every week and just see their testimonies and their purity shine in their faces. so yeah i love my branch of 12, we have a special bond. its funny though, with a branch that size, we as misionaries are way involved every sunday in the program so it is good. housing is crazy, if you dont have fun or if u are nto constanly laughing in between doors, then you are totally done for mentally, becasue it takes work sometimes to have fun and to see the positive when people are jsut slamming doors in ur face. everyone always talks about that but i never really believed but let me tell u people actually just close doors on ur faces, not to mention not understanding one thing they say back, so it coukld majke for a rough situauton but thats why elder peterson and i are jsut always smiling and laughing becasue u gotta keep it light. and its funny us being to big white people walking around. teenage girls just stare and check us out constanly, old men cross the street when they see us and old ladies are just terrified.its pretty funny. and its cool becasue i feel way big hear, like i have hit my ghead on so amny door ways its ridiculous i am still trying to get sued to duckignt hrough door ways, so tis cool becasue for once i feel big. but yeah, ti sfunny becasue when we knock on our doors we have so many old laduies freak out on us, slam the door and then lock all four locks that they have on their door. there ahve been so amny tinmes when after so one would slamm the door me and peterson would jsut stand there for a sec and jsut laugh cuz its way funny. its all good, peole dont know what they are missin out on, they are jsut not prepared, but we will keep looking and finding people who are ready and we ghave the faith that they are out there and that everything will work out. i also realized that baptisms are good on missions but evertythingt hat apped on a missin christ has been through and it all makes u more christ like. like when we get rejected it benfits us cuz christ got rejected and then when peole laugh at my japanese its all good cuz christ was ocked, it all just makes me more chtrist like. we did find a 15 year old boy who was way itnerested and we are going to meet him later this week hopefulyl it goes well, he was way interested, ti was fubny tho, he invited us to sit down and have a beer with hiom and talk haha but he was reakky interested and want s know mroe, so well; see what happebns. a  missipn is the best i love it.

for sure forward all my emails to gregor, i loved his email, it was way sprirtaul for mwe to read. i love gregor, he is the man. i wrote him last week, i sent it to our house cuz i dont knwo the peirces address, but i think ill write him again, but fiorward these ti hima dn tell him i love him. he si the best.

anyways, thnaks for the emails, they really really help me out, it s so good to hear from all of you, i love you all.

have a good week adn have fun at the beach

love you guys

elder stevenson

PICTURES FROM THE MISSION!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Natalie's Letter

Konnichiwa!!!

Ah! I can't believe I am actually here! It was so sweet walking off the plane knowing that the next time I get back on that plane I will be a crying Japanese talking gijin! We were met at the airport by the President and the assisstants. President is a small guy but is really poweful. I like him. Saying goodbye to Riley was sad and I did a pretty good job holding in my tears but I felt like Ammon saying goodbye knowing that we were both going off to do the Lord's work and that when we meet again we can rejoice in the Lord. I totally adjusted to the time change. Had no problem. I just read Riley's email and you are going to be so happy that the Lord hears your prayers because I too have the BEST TRAINER!!! Seriously could not have asked for a better person! Her name is Sister Laird and she is from Idaho Falls. She is the BEST! ah! I am sooo lucky! When she first came to the mission home she walked in and was super talkative and just really happy and all of the elders in my group were like of Shimai lets hope you get her because you two would be the best of friends. Your like twins! Which was true cause when they announced that we would be companions we were both jumping up and down! We headed out to an area called Matsudo which is a little north of Tokyo Tokyo. It's a famous area in the church because it has a five story church. Look it up! The church is huge! It's got three bishops offices in it. Tells you how much work there is to be done in this area and how strong the church will be here. It's also one of the biggest wards in Tokyo with 200something members. But pretty much it feels like an American ward becuase there are sooo many babies here! It's crazy and I love it because Japanese kids are the cutest!

The first night we got to our area we went straight to Eikwa, which is English class. It's fun. We teach these Japanese people random English. But in order for someone to come to Eikwa they have to take a lesson with us. So before Eikwa we taught a lesson, or rather Sister Laird taught a lesson. I can't understand ANYTHING! It's not even funny how much I can't understand! It makes me laugh and cry all at the same time! It's really funny cause when we go out and street Sister Laird will start talking and I try and follow the best I can and then all of a sudden she'll turn to me and go "wanna talk about the purpose of life? or wanna testify about families?" And I just laugh thinking oh okay yeah sure cause we were totally talking about that." It's such a fun game trying to figure out what she's gonna ask me to talk about. It's so hard to understand anything! I feel like my Japanese has really gone done. I cried the first few days cause I just felt so insufficient. But I have the best trainer and she has been in my shoes so she knew exactly what to tell me. I just feel like I can't do anything a lot of the time. But I know that it will come. It comes for everyone and I know that it will come for me. The next day we went over to a members house, Ishijima Shimai who was gonna drive us to get my Gijin card but before that we did a mogii lesson with her and I taught the first part. Afterwards she told me that I had good Japanese and that my pronounciation was really good. (Japanese people are really nice) But she told me that it would come and that she was here to help me in whatever way she could and that it would be okay. It made me cry. So i'm being taken care of mom. Friday we woke up and it was pouring. Really pouring. I stood at the window and just wondered if I really wanted to be here. In that moment I had no desire to be in Japan. I really just wanted to go home. Seeing how that wasn't an option, I sucked it up. And since we're missionaries and we go out rain or shine. We live somewhat close to the train station like 10 minutes so we started walking. No joke 3 minutes in and I was soaked. And i just wanted to cry. My comp was laughing so I decided after we got sprayed but a truck driving by that there was nothing I could do about it so I started laughing too. We were going to see this lady at work and met her husband because she is getting baptized of SUNDAY! YEAH! She wasn't there when we got there so we went back to the busy part of town and started talking to people. It was fun trying to figure out what they were saying. Pretty much it works like this, I start the conversation saying like three sentences. and then sister laird takes over and then stops occasionally for me to bear testimony on something. It's so fun! And is such a game becuase with everyperson you wonder, hmm...is this going to be a prepared person or what's her story. It's fun. But frustrating cuase I really have no idea what they say. After doing that for a while we went to met her husband. nice guy. Then went to lunch at a member's house and did another Mogii with her. She said afterwards that she's been kinda sad lately adn that this lesson helped her becuase she really felt the Spirit when we testified. It makes you feel good. Felt another earthquake. They're weird.

On Saturday, it was the same, taught a lesson to an investigator. She has Parkinson's disease so it's hard for her to remember what she's learned. Poor lady. But the best part of that day was we went streeting and then stopped at a corner and started handind out Eikwa flyers. THis little 12 year old girl came around the corner and I handed her one and said Hey how are you? And she stopped and just looked at me like "what this american is talking to me in Japanese. And then I asked her a few more simple questions. Didn't understand what she said back and then my comp came and took over. It was halirous cuase she was so shocked that these two big american girls were talking to her. We then asked if she like English and she told us yes and that she knew some. This next part was halrious. We then said Hello! How are you? (in English) and she said back in like perfect english. Hi. I am good. How are you? We were as shocked as she was when we were speaking Japanese. So we were both just shocked. Turned out she lived in Georgia and New York. Long story short, my companion told her that God loved her and that she had a purpose here on earth and that it wasn't over after this. (Apparently in Japan, lots of young kids think about God and wonder if they have a purpose and that since there parents don't talk about it, they make something up and go on with life, whcih is why young people ar golden investigators)  I gave her a Book of Mormon (my first one!) and told her what it meant to me. Then invited her to church and she said she would come!

Sunday...Oh boy are Sunday's busy here! Holy cal! Totally not a day of rest! I was way scared about Sunday cause I don't speak Japanese and everyone here does! But it turned out good. Bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting. It was really simple and I hope that I gave a good impression. Afterwards, an old lady came up adn told me that she was very thankful for my testimony adn then said a lot more to me, which I didn't understand and then I think she sang me a song too but who knows? The little girl didn't show up but Junko san (the woman getting baptized on Sunday) did. She is so cute. She is like an American inside of a Japanese person body. She's probably mom's age and wants to learn English so badly so she always has her dictionary out. It's funny. But she told us that she felt good inside her heart and that she feels something everytime she's at church. She is so ready to be baptized.

We are going to see Miracles here in Matsudo. I felt that the first day I met Sister Laird. I knew we were going to be great together and that we would work hard and get things done....or she would get things done. :)  I'm excited to be here!

Love you all!

Shimai

Riley's Letter

Hi everyone!!!

Japan is way awesome.i love it. my new area is　kure. it is in the hiroshima zone,its like the one of the most northern areas.it is way pretty, it totally reminds me of is way pretty, it totally reminds me of hawaii. there are green mountains everywhere just like hawaii and it is near the water so that is way cool. i really do love the area it is way nice. i took the bullet train here so that was way cool to see the country by train. it was like an hour train ride, some elders put me on the train and i was on my own from there. it was kinda intense but really fun. it was intense because i didnt understand anything but it turned out ok. my trainer is elder peterson, he is from salt lake and he is the man. i super like him, he is way legit. he has been out 11 months, he played football and rugby in high school and left straight on his mission after high school. he looks almost exactly like tim tebow and his personality reminds me a ton of ben rudolph and quin so thats a pretty good combo to have.i am super thankful to be his companion, he is way cool, we get a long way good, we laugh like all the time, he is way funny.our apartment is good too,its super convenient, really close to the store and to the train station. its weird though, we sleep on futons, which is pretty much just like sleeping with a blanket on like two or three camping pads, not the comfiest, but it gets the job done. we also make way good food. i am learning to cook all of it so thats way good. but i have pretty given up the idea of trying to stay in shape on my mission, its definitely impossible. we eat a lot, we dont have too much time for exercise and this week we got a lot of food from members. and aparently, there is this thing called rice cheeks which is just where becasue we eat so much rice that cheeks just begin to puff, so yeah....dont know if im going to be staying in the best of shape so we will see. however, we do bike everywhere and its way hot and humid. when we got off the plane in tokyo it was so hot and humid right away, like a suana. it actually reminded me a ton of hawaii.　i am way thankful to have been in hawaii becasue it really is like a different culture over there and japan seems a lot like hawaii so it was way good for me to go to hawaii and experience a different culture cuz it really helped me adjust to this culture. so twins, you should go to hawaii becasue if i had gone to provo, never going to hawaii i would have been way more culture shocked but i wasnt becasue hawaii has its own culture so i was just used to places doing things differently. anyways, japan looks abnd reminds me a ton of hawaii, so that is way good because i feel comfortable here. me and elder peterson had a good week. we visited a lot of members and less actives. we tried to meet with three of our investigators multiple times this week but they all fell through, so that was a curveball that we had to just adjust to. on sunday we had stake conference, our branch president and his wife picked us up and we drove into hiroshima. it was good, i probably onyl understood about 4% of the whole thing but thats ok, it will come eventually. but after stake conference we ate with our branch presidnet and a lot of other japanese people and we walked into the room elder peterson and i knew we were in trouble due to the smell. i had a plate of this funky rice with objects in it whose smell and sight were new to me except for i did know one thing one my plate and that was little nemo, lots of nemos. there were like twenty little fishies on my plate, like whole fish with their eyeballs and spines and everything.so yeah, i ate nemo, lots of little fishies, it was pretty gnarly, i just had too not look at my plate while i was eating it or else i probably would have yacked. but it was a way funny experience. i got the giggles and elder peterson and i just made each other laugh the whole time by just muttering funny one liners to each other. so it turned out all good, the people there were impressed that i ate my plate, it was funny.

but being out in the field is awesome, i definitely wasnt prepared for how awesome the field is. it makes everything so real, like the gospel and teaching and the investigators are so real, it awesome. it feels like i am living a dream. i love it. i love going out and streeting and housing becasue it is such a classic scene, just these two white boy missionaries out in a forgein land just teaching in their white shirts and ties. and other thing is that i am big in japan, so thats pretty cool. i am just starting to get used to ducking my head in our apartment when i walk through the door ways, i have already hit my head on the door ways like four times. and the roads here are super small and narrow to go along with their super small cars. japan is awesome, so beautiful, the japanese people are way nice, its a different culture but its good, like i said i really creadit hawaii to exposing me to differnt cultures so i have adjusted quite well, so going to hawaii prepared me for my mission in a way that i didnt expect.

the work is good. elder peterson works hard and his japanese is really good so i can feel that the people are ready and that miracles are going to hit kure. we just have to be the best missionaries we can be, work are hardest and then its up to the peoples agency and heavenly father whether or not they accept the message. we are meeting with this man on wednesday for the first time, the elders last transfer when they were on splits found him and when they prayed with him the man said he felt way good, so this lesson on wednesday has a lot of potential, i am way excited. prettty much all of the japanese people are buddisht becasue that makes it way tough becasue their whole families are buddusht and have been for cenuturuies so nobody wants to cahnge, like when i went to contact someone on the street before i said more then five words he said i hate religion and walked away (i had no idea thats what he said to me but peterson told me after). and last night we were streeting and we were talking to this guy and he had never even seen a picture of jesus christ let  alone heard of him so they need the gospel way bad.  the lord will prepare those people who are ready, we just have to find them. the language is intimadting sometimes, like i pretty much have no idea what people are saying to me and some guys on the street couldnt even understand what i was saying but its all good, if i work hard, the lord will bless me and it will be ok, i figure getting down on myslef and stressing out wont do me any good so i will just take everything jsut one day at a time. i cant wait to really learn the language and really teach these people but i know that its through the spirit not through my words that they will be converted, it will all be good. i am so excited to be here. the gospel is so true, the japanese need it so badly, i am honored and thrilled to help bring them to christ, it really is the best. love you all so much, thank you for being the best family. love you, ill  send another email pretty mcuh same time next week. i love it here, missions are the best. i am happy and doing wonderful. love you.

elder stevenson

ps dont know natalies email so if u could send it to me that would be good. she is probably doing awesome, she is the best. and look up kure on google earth, it s way sweet, and hiro is also in our area.

love you all

pps tongiht we are going to try and set a baptismal date with this woman, hope it goes well

:)

 

Friday, August 12, 2011

Natalie's Letter

So this is the last email i will be sending from the MTC. Next time you hear from me it will be from TOKYO, JAPAN! HOLY FREAK! am i sooo excited! YES! am i nervous...choto but not too much. I know that I am going to struggle and not know what I am doing or saying for the first few transfers but I'm thinkin since i know that, it won't be that hard. I'm just so nervous about being able to actually form a sentence! But you know, I will learn in time and the Lord will provide a way. And sooner or later I will be able to understand and will be able to talk to everyone. I'm just so excited to actaully get there. In all honestly, I still feel like I'm coming home after this adn that I'm really not going to Japan...yet i am! Thank goodness! I'm so excited! I already love these people! They are so cute and small adn i just LOVE them!

These next few days are going to be really really emotional adn knowing me, I will be crying for the next few days. We said goodbye to our teachers which was really really sad and yes I really cried because they just become your saving grace and you just become so attached to them. I can only imagine what it will be like to say goodbye to everyone else. An emotional wreck. I love the elders that I have been with these past 12 weeks. They have become some of my best friends and I have drawn so close with them in everything. It will be so sad to say goodbye. ANd even more sad to say goodbye to Stevenson Choro. But I am like Ammon and say good bye to him with love in my heart knowing that he is going to help the people in southern japan. that we are in this work together. and how joyous will that day be when we are reunited once again and wrapped in the love of missionary work adn a love for the japanese people. I can't wait!

The MTC has been life changing. If only everyone could just come to the MTC and experience what I have. Those twelve weeks alone will equipe a person with the skills adn testimony needed to survive the rest of life. How much knowldge and a testimony I have gained of trusting in the Lord. That when ruff and rocky times come, how important it is to tie a knot in the end of your rope and hold on. And how important is prayer. The list goes on and on about the things i have gained here and how amazing the gospel is and how it really just blesses you in everything! It's so amazing! I wish the whole world knew what it could do for someone. And before this I don't think I really knew exacatly how special of a gift it was. And how blessed I have been to not have to go without it. I can't wait to see how much I will learn from the mission adn what that will teach me. Becuase if I have learned this much in 12 weeks in the MTC, i can't think about how much i will learn in 16 months in the real mission field! The joy, pain, sorrow and happiness is about to really come and I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for me. It will be such an adventure that I know i couldn't get anywhere else. Our teachers were showing us pictures and telling us all about there missions adn it just got me so pumped! I can't wait to get out there adn meet the people that I am suppose to help and bring the gospel to. Do i feel prepared in the language...heck no. But am i ready to go heck yes!

I love you all! send letters to Japan now!

Can't wait to meet the mission president and my trainer! Pray for me!

Loves loves!

shimai

 

Riley's Letter

sup all,

so this week has been pretty crazy. we leave for japan in like two three days which is so crazy. i cant wait. it will be so fun. its really weird winding eveything down here. i love this place so much it feels like home. like it was one of those smc vball, byu hawaii experience where i realized how good i had and cherished every moment. so yeah the mtc has been the best. i love it so much and i will really miss it. i know that the field will be different but i know overtime i will come to feel the same way about the field and i know it will be better. change is good, change is essential and nessecary. its just the adjustment period that can be a little rough but i know that if nothing else i can look back on it and it will all be a funny story. but the good thing is is that i know that it will be more then just a funny story, the lord will be with us every step of the way and it will be an experience of a lifetime. its way cool becasue you know that no matter what happens i will remember monday and tuesday, the first days in japan for probably the rest of my life. so its cool looking ahead to those days becasue its almost like you know you are writing history in your life. its pretty sweet. but leaving is rough beacsue we had to say good bye to our precious gym time, and say good bye to our teachers who were the best people ever. i dont know if dad and cobb is still into the facebook stalking phase but just in case you guys wanted to know my teachers were kevin thurber and erika mcintyre and yeah, knock urselves out and look them up. i loved thurber sensei. he is the man. i want to be just like him as a person but more importantly as a missionary. you can just tell by the way he acts and talks that he worked so hard on his mission and was like the best missionary ever. he was and is a huge example to me so it was way cool to have class with him everyday, he is the man. and mcintyre sensei is just as bomb just in her own way, so i think i definitely got the best teachers i could ask for, they made the mtc experience way awesome. and thurber was hilarious. i totally want to hang out with him again. he is the best. so yeah, i definitely love my teachers. they are the best so its hard to leave them. but i know that the role that they leave open will be filled by my mission president and by the older missionaries in the mission, so its all good. i am also confident for the fututre because i know for a fact that god loves me. i have seen his hand in my life here at the mtc so many times. i have gone through struggles here but time after time i see the lords hand in everything. so it is way comforting to know that the lord will be with in japan, he is the same, yes i will still have struggles, probably even more but i kknow that i will continue to see his love and his hand in my life. so its all good. i am so excited. it should be the best thing ever. i really dont want to pack though, so eventually i should probably do that, probably monday morning, i am leaving the phone call thing to you guys and natalie, so if we talk i am way pumped to talk to you guys, it should be sweet. today we have an all day in field orientation which is okay, so thats why this email is so late in the day. i am a little sick but its all good, i think being sick and stuff is all mental. if you tell yourself ur not sick and if u try and act like it then u wont be, so todays meetings have not been the most pleasant to sit thorugh becasue i am not feeling to well. but nothing serious its all good. tell cobb thanks for the letter and email from grandma's house. its way fun to here from her, she is the best. tell her i love her and thats way sweet that she saw colbie. we had elder cecil o samuelson speak to us on tuesday so that was way good. anyways, i dont really know what else to say, sorry when i sit down at the computer my brain just seems to go dead.

but its super weird that my next email to u guys will be from japan. i cant believe it. so crazy, im so excited.

so since its my last email from the mtc i guess i'll talk about my expereince here before i go. everyone needs to get here. it is the best. i kinda think that its like winning a championship (but i wouldnt know how that felt but the twins would NCS Champs 2011 hollllaaaaaaa!!!!!). like you assume winning a championship is awesome and its something desireable. just like you desire to enter the mtc and serve a mission. but like winning a championship you dont know how good it actually is or feels until u actually do it. its the same thing with the mtc. you dont know how good it really is. you dont know how strong the spirit is until you are inside. someone could tell you how good it is but it really doesnt matter unless you experience it for yourself. people dont know how cool it is to put on that name tag everyday. so tell the twins and your teachers that they need to do everything they can to experience it for themselves becasue it is the absolute best. if i could choose between re living hawaii again (which by the way still in my books as one of my best life experiences ever) or re live the mtc expereince, i would pick the mtc. i loved my time here and i am confident that the field will be just as good in its own way, so i am really excited. life is good when you know of heavenly fathers love for you. its the best. you can get pumped on monday to here some mad japanese, i'll take advantage of the last time to speak to people that dont know what i am saying so it doesnt matter. but i look at learning a language as a game.its pretty fun. well i gotta go do more missionary stufff. i hope to talk to u guys on monday. i will live it up these next few days, i  know how good i have had it here. thannk you so muhcfor all the support. i couldnt have odone it without u.

love elder steevenson