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

Friday August 5, 2011

Natalie's Letter

Welll the day has finally arrived....FLIGHT PLANS!!! I'm am actually leaving the MTC! I can't beleive. It's hard to remember life before the MTC and used to be hard to imagine life after the MTC but now that we have those travel plans, it really feels like I am going on a mission! It's the best! I can't wait for this adventure to really start. I was sitting in class yesterday thinkink abotu it when all of a sudden it hit me...wait a second...I don't know this language at all...how am i suppose to talk to people. Really scary thought. But at the same time, I've really taken on Stevenson Choro's way of looking at it. He said that it is such an adventure to try and figure out what they are saying.  Thank goodness I will have a companion who will actually know what they are saying.

 

This is the travel plan: Aug. 15 we depart from SLC at 2pm. Riley and I are on the same flight to Tokyo...yes we have a direct flight. Score huh? Which means, I don't know exactly when we will be calling...either at the SLC airport if we get there with enough time or in Tokyo...So just always have your phone with you and charged mom...let me know what phones I should call. We arrive in Tokyo at 4:45 pm on Aug 16. That's were we'll say goodbye and I will leave and Stevenson Choro will continue on with his adventure. I lost it in the Temple today when I thought about how this would be the last time I was in the Temple with him. I don't think I have ever been there without him...I'm sure gonna miss that kid. I can't express how much of a blessing it has been to have him here. I hope it has been the same for him but I have really really loved sharing this adventure with him. I got to teach with him last week and boy is that kid good at japanese. It was funny though cause neither of us understand very well so when our native investigator talked back to us we both kinda looked at each other. It was fun. He's gonna be a good missionary and he has such a good heart. Mom, you would be so proud to see him, espcially when he speaks Japanese. A mission really is a miracoulous thing. It's amazing how we learn a language so fast.

 

I'll share a quick experience we had at the Teaching Center. We taught this lady and my companion sisters too. We first had to share a message and then ask for any referals. We shared 2 nephi 8 about Lehi wanting to share the fruit and then the lady told us that her sister who lived in San Diego wasn't a member adn she wanted her to hear more of the gospel. The TRC is a mock version of the field so we were like oh okay we'll let the san diego missionaries know. end of story. Then we went out planned for a little bit and then came back in and taught the Plan of Salvation. I walked back in that second timea dn could sense that this woman was here for somethign. There was somethign that needed to be said to her but I didn't know for the life of me so i started to really pray. We taught about life before here, we taught about our purpose and then we started teaching about the Atonement. And no sooner we're we into bearing our testimonies that this woman just strated crying. We were a little like uh...what are we suppose to do. We let her cry for a little bit and were silent as the Spirit took over for a little bit. Boy was I prayin at that point on direction. Shimai started to talk about ressurrection which I found to not be the right thing and i kept feeling like I should just keep bearing my testimpny of how the gospel has blessed my life and how God knows us. With that our time was up. After wards we went out and Shimai's sisters who were in there then told us this: "While you were out preparing they lady was telling us how she was going to a family reunion this weekend in San Diego and most of her family are not members. She told them taht she came to the TRC to feel the Spirit and to gain confidence is sharing the gospel with her family." You think she got what she came for. How grateful we were that we could have the Spirit with us adn that this woman could receive strength from us. God knows each and everyone of His children and know what they need to hear and when they need to hear it. And that brings comfort to my heart because no I can't speak this language but when the Lord needs His child to hear somethign, He will let them hear it and it will be through me. So yes am I freakin out that I don't know the langugae. But do I know that the Lord will not let me fail at bringing His children to the gospel. He will use me as an instrument in His hands. I already love the Japanese people even when they speak really really fast. I cna't wait to get out there and start doing His work. I got a letter from one of the Elders that was here before us and He said that we should just be so pumped because yeah its hard but there is so much work that needs to be done adn we are the ones to do it.

 

I have loved my time at the MTC and have thought of it as such a blessing in my life where I became converted to the gospel again adn I know that this will keep happenign. I love this work. I love this gosepel adn I love being a missionary.

 

love

shimai



Riley's Letter

Sup all!!!!!

This week was away legit. we got travel plans on thursday. so that was way exciting. we leave on monday, we report to the mtc travel office at 1o am and then our flight leaves from slc at 2. so its way good becasue a lot of elders have to be up by like 3 am to make their flight so we lucked out. we also flight straight into tokyo, no lay overs in the us so thats good and bad i think. but we all fly together!!!! my whole district does, so that was way good , everyone was way happy. so natalie and i will be on the plane together and we will split in the tokyo airport, so that will be cool. the fukuoka people have a two hour lay over in tokyo and then we make the two hour flight to fukuoka getting in at 950 at night. it should be way fun and way intense. im pumped that we get to ride on the same plane because i love my district. i totally want to hang out with all of them. my and elder beazer our way tight. he is kinda like my cameron except for he is way cooler and just as funny as cameron. so its all good. speaking of elder bell, i said goodbye to him the night before he took off, it was kinda weird but way cool. i got way tight with elder collinsworth too, so its weird not seeing those guys anymore. but yeah, the big news of the week was travel plans. we went to the temple for the last time this morning so that was trippy becasue i love going to the temple. but it was way good. while i was in the celestial room the lyrics "Be still my soul, the lord is on thy side", "Fear not, i am with thee, o be not afraid", "faith in every footstep" and "soon we'll have this tale to tell, happy day, alll is well" just kept coming into my mind. it was way comforting. i am so excited to go to japan. it will be so fun and so crazy. its going to be the coolest thing ever. i also realized that time just keeps moving regardless, so that is good and bad. its good because i know that soon i will be back in the provo temple celestial room, soon i could be back in the laie visitor center watching the jospeh smith movie on a sunday, so its good and you dont have to get all nastalgic about things because time just moves on and sooner or later i'll be back. its also a bad thing that time just moves because being a missionary is the best, my mtc stay is just about up and i wont be a missionary forever so i have to take advantage of the time i have. that really helps me stay focused because i dont want to waste time or thoughts about other stuff because a, i want to take advantage of the time i have and have no regrets and b, i know that i those things like the provo temple and the laie temple are not going to be going any where so i can go back just not now. anyways, i am pumped for japan, i love the mtc and i love life. the lord loves us all and we just have to surrender our pride and come unto to him becasue his arms are wide open.