Well I have successfully been relocated to Komatsu. Unfortunately it is way cold. Like I will not lie to you...I have been here for 6 days. It has hailed for 3 of them and snowed one of them. The snow isn't sticking yet but it will start soon I think. My companion and I always Joke that we have been sent here to be punished because we are not made for the cold. Everynight we plan and sit around our heater because it is too cold to do it anywhere else. We Just got this new gas heater. It is sweet but it only heats up one room. The rest of the apartment takes a while to heat up. Don't worry our room was just hardcore inspected by a senior missionary and we passed so we should be safe for the winter. The apartment is pretty big, but the appliances inside the apartment are way old. I will not complain though because it is definately enough to survive.
So on Tuesday I left Fuji shi. It was way warm too, but I left Fuji at around 830. I took one train all the way to Homamatsu. That was about a 2 hour and 30 minute ride. Then we hopped on a train that took us to Toyahashi. That was about 1 hour. Than we got on one last train that got us to Nagoya, which took another hour. So I get there talk to some missionarry friends they leave then we leave then we hop on a Shinkansen for a few stops then another train and 3 hours after Nagoya I am in Komatsu. It was a way long day. I went from one end of the mission to the other. Crazy. That blasted a whole in my budget though so hopefully I can get reimbursed or else I'll be eating ramen for every meal...lol but seriously.
So here in Komatsu we have some pretty exciting things happening. We actually have very few investigators and the investigators we do have are having issues getting permission from their parents so we are doing some interesting finding ideas. As you know I speak English. Most Japanese people want to speak English so we have started teaching them English using the Book of Mormon. We hope this will spark people's interest and feel the spirit as they read this. We have one normal English class at the church. President Baird gave us some ideas to offer to teach free English and businesses. So we now teach two English classes to business members using the Book of Mormon. We also went to a hospital and offered to teach doctors and nurses. We also got a publication in a weekly letter with our number letting people know that we teach english for free. Hopefully through all these things we can find some investigators. When we start teaching we tell them that we learned Japanese way quickly and used the Book of Mormon, so then they are like if we read the English Book of Mormon we can learn English so that is good. It is way funny to go into business and proselitize but hopefully it works.
I'll let you know more about it next week other than that it looks like this next week will be way fun...have a great one.
Love,
Elder Nelson
ビックリしたよ (I was surprised) December 5, 2010
I feel like all too often I bag on Japanese food. Although there is some very interesting Japanese food for the most part it is really good. I really do love Japanese food. I mean they do have the best sushi. They also have the best Ramen. They really do have great food. I could go on and on about it so it is good.
It has been a great week in Fuji! It was also my last week in Fuji. I am very sad to go and I am suprised. I Love this area and the peaple here. I was able to build trust and friendship with the members. It is too bad that I have to go. My last week in Fuji waas pretty good. Our Bishop gave us a list of 300 part member families to go visit. These part member families are all less active. We started visiting them but really had no success. We talked to a few nice people but it is sad to see what has happened to some of these people. They are all very nice but it is way sad when they have no desire to come back to church.
We also talked with Suzuki this week. She has been really sick...she has been in and out of the hospital. She is not doing well at all. We are trying to help her but she just wants to rest and get better. We also found a new investigator. My companion and I were both looking at this house with tons of Christmas lights. That is pretty rare in Japan and some one else was looking at it. So we started talking to her. She is a little crazy but really wants to learn the meaning of Christmas. We are really excited to start teaching her even though I won't be here. She also wants us to teach her daughter eventhough her daughter is in her 30s. It will be great I hope that all goes well eventhough I won't be able to fully follow-up with her. I am way sad to leave here. It is a pretty place. There are wonderful people here that love to help us.
Another thing is that the place I am transfering is cold. Fuji is warm considering it is December. There is not snow in Komatsu yet but there will be soon. I am excited to move on. It will be a great experience I think. My companion is also from Vegas so we will do some missionary work Las Vegas style. It will be sweet.
Have a great week,
Love
Elder Nelson
adds from another email
We asked Riley if he felt the earthquake that we heard about on Tuesday that the news reported and here is his reply - I didn't feel it. I have felt a couple but they have all been way small. Our new phones that we got have an earthquake warning system on it. Pretty cool, but it didn't go off recently so I dont know.
Another question - we told him we heard that he doesn't get cheese over there and asked if that was true? his reply - Ya no cheese. Sad. It is ok we can get cheese it is just like 400 yen for like 200 grams which is way ridiculous. I bet you miss it? Ya i do but they don't have things in America that Japan has...for example I can't buy a whole squid in an American grocery store.
It has been a great week in Fuji! It was also my last week in Fuji. I am very sad to go and I am suprised. I Love this area and the peaple here. I was able to build trust and friendship with the members. It is too bad that I have to go. My last week in Fuji waas pretty good. Our Bishop gave us a list of 300 part member families to go visit. These part member families are all less active. We started visiting them but really had no success. We talked to a few nice people but it is sad to see what has happened to some of these people. They are all very nice but it is way sad when they have no desire to come back to church.
We also talked with Suzuki this week. She has been really sick...she has been in and out of the hospital. She is not doing well at all. We are trying to help her but she just wants to rest and get better. We also found a new investigator. My companion and I were both looking at this house with tons of Christmas lights. That is pretty rare in Japan and some one else was looking at it. So we started talking to her. She is a little crazy but really wants to learn the meaning of Christmas. We are really excited to start teaching her even though I won't be here. She also wants us to teach her daughter eventhough her daughter is in her 30s. It will be great I hope that all goes well eventhough I won't be able to fully follow-up with her. I am way sad to leave here. It is a pretty place. There are wonderful people here that love to help us.
Another thing is that the place I am transfering is cold. Fuji is warm considering it is December. There is not snow in Komatsu yet but there will be soon. I am excited to move on. It will be a great experience I think. My companion is also from Vegas so we will do some missionary work Las Vegas style. It will be sweet.
Have a great week,
Love
Elder Nelson
adds from another email
We asked Riley if he felt the earthquake that we heard about on Tuesday that the news reported and here is his reply - I didn't feel it. I have felt a couple but they have all been way small. Our new phones that we got have an earthquake warning system on it. Pretty cool, but it didn't go off recently so I dont know.
Another question - we told him we heard that he doesn't get cheese over there and asked if that was true? his reply - Ya no cheese. Sad. It is ok we can get cheese it is just like 400 yen for like 200 grams which is way ridiculous. I bet you miss it? Ya i do but they don't have things in America that Japan has...for example I can't buy a whole squid in an American grocery store.
Happy Christmas season (November 28, 2010)
It was a pretty good week.
Thanksgiving was great. First off for our big meal....you guessed it we had sushi. Definitely a Thanksgiving never to be forgotten. We had raw fish instead of turkey. I can't complain because it was good sushi. We were in the apartment deciding what to do for Thanksgiving lunch and obviously we didn't want to cook anything. so we we're like lets go out to eat. So naturally we went out and got sushi. It way way good. It was great I didn't have any nasty ones. I only had salmon tuna and shrimp...I think. It was a great week though as far as getting fed. There were three ward activities...kind of. Every fourth Sunday after church we eat so that is good. The only problem is that the meal yesterday was squid soup. It wasn't too bad. Saturday was good. We had a big lunch and tried to get less actives and investigators to come. The turn out was pretty good. The only problem is that a member made me eat the tacoyaki. That is like a ball of octupus. Not the greatest. But that was the only interesting thing. Everything else there was way good. We also went to a member's house for dinner on Thanksgiving. We had pork so that was pretty good. Then we had a ton of desserts. They new it was Thanksgiving so they pumped us full of sugar. It was a great Thanksgiving.
Ya so Tuesday was the Japanese version of Thanksgiving. I did not know this until Tuesday. So as a ward we went up to this lake. It is pretty close to Mount Fuji but we couldn't see the mountain. It was covered in clouds. It is funny how that happens. It is covered in the clouds like half the time. But this park was way pretty with all the trees. We had a little picnic thing and then went and visited a part member family. It was good. There were like 15 people there. So not too bad. We had bento which is like lunch in a box. It was good except for the dead fish that was just in the middle. It wasn't too bad after I got the bones out. I am also pretty sure there was squid in there but I didn't ask I just ate it. It was pretty good though. We also visited some investigators and got a new one kind of. We went and visited a former investigator and she said she had started praying and would like to start studying again. So that was good.
Everything else was kind of the same. We housed and streeted a lot talked to some interesting people but they all say they are Buddhists. For example I was on the train and I was talking to this 50 year old guy. I started talking about Christ and he is like no I am Buddhist. So I just keep talking to him and found that he likes Christmas. I am like Christ is Christmas. Like it is when we celebrate Jesus Christ's Birth, but he wouldn't have any of it. He was Buddhist. Thats ok. Someone is going to want to learn about Christmas...the best time of the year.
Have a great holliday season as we celebrate Christ's Birth.
Love
Elder Nelson
Thanksgiving was great. First off for our big meal....you guessed it we had sushi. Definitely a Thanksgiving never to be forgotten. We had raw fish instead of turkey. I can't complain because it was good sushi. We were in the apartment deciding what to do for Thanksgiving lunch and obviously we didn't want to cook anything. so we we're like lets go out to eat. So naturally we went out and got sushi. It way way good. It was great I didn't have any nasty ones. I only had salmon tuna and shrimp...I think. It was a great week though as far as getting fed. There were three ward activities...kind of. Every fourth Sunday after church we eat so that is good. The only problem is that the meal yesterday was squid soup. It wasn't too bad. Saturday was good. We had a big lunch and tried to get less actives and investigators to come. The turn out was pretty good. The only problem is that a member made me eat the tacoyaki. That is like a ball of octupus. Not the greatest. But that was the only interesting thing. Everything else there was way good. We also went to a member's house for dinner on Thanksgiving. We had pork so that was pretty good. Then we had a ton of desserts. They new it was Thanksgiving so they pumped us full of sugar. It was a great Thanksgiving.
Ya so Tuesday was the Japanese version of Thanksgiving. I did not know this until Tuesday. So as a ward we went up to this lake. It is pretty close to Mount Fuji but we couldn't see the mountain. It was covered in clouds. It is funny how that happens. It is covered in the clouds like half the time. But this park was way pretty with all the trees. We had a little picnic thing and then went and visited a part member family. It was good. There were like 15 people there. So not too bad. We had bento which is like lunch in a box. It was good except for the dead fish that was just in the middle. It wasn't too bad after I got the bones out. I am also pretty sure there was squid in there but I didn't ask I just ate it. It was pretty good though. We also visited some investigators and got a new one kind of. We went and visited a former investigator and she said she had started praying and would like to start studying again. So that was good.
Everything else was kind of the same. We housed and streeted a lot talked to some interesting people but they all say they are Buddhists. For example I was on the train and I was talking to this 50 year old guy. I started talking about Christ and he is like no I am Buddhist. So I just keep talking to him and found that he likes Christmas. I am like Christ is Christmas. Like it is when we celebrate Jesus Christ's Birth, but he wouldn't have any of it. He was Buddhist. Thats ok. Someone is going to want to learn about Christmas...the best time of the year.
Have a great holliday season as we celebrate Christ's Birth.
Love
Elder Nelson
Happy Thanksvgiving (November 21, 2010)
Well first off let me wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. It is too bad they don't celebrate one of the best holidays here but my companion and I will figure out something that we can do.
First off this week was great. I had these things called cabbage rolls. They were way good. A member made them for us along with teriyaki sausage pizza. So that was one of the better dinners. I think it is actually called rolled cabbage but you take cabbage and put meatloaf stuff in it and roll it up. Then you put ketchup on top of it. It was way good. For some reason I love cabbage now I don't know why...I think my tastebuds are changing. After not eating like a bunch of cheese and red meat something happens. Wierd. It did have meatloaf stuff in it so maybe that is why it was good. I am not exactly sure what it was because I thought it tasted good and did not want to ruin it.
We went and visited the new investigator that we found with a tachiai. That was good. He had a lot of lessons with the Jehovah's Witnesses but he said the things that they taught him weren't true. So now he is interested in hearing our message. He is a really nice guy with a lot of potential. We are going to keep working with him it should be good.
Suzuki...........She gets sick more than any other person alive. I think she needs to like get some shots or something...I don't know. We talked to her on the phone so we know she is sick but this week we will meet with her again.
The big question that everyone might want to know is what am I doing for Thanksgiving in Japan. We don't have plans yet. All I know is that today I found 1 kg of chili potato wedges and I bought them...so I will definately be eating them. That is all we got so far. President Baird wants us to do a service project that day too. So far it is not looking good. We have been asking people for ideas and we have found none. It is hard here. Japan's culture just makes it difficult to find service...not a bad thing unless you are looking for a service project. We also have a dinner appointment at someone's house. That will be good. One of their sons is serving his mission in Japan...I knew him in the mtc so that is cool. Also one of their sons just got back from byu so it should be a pretty good dinner.
It is starting to get a little chilli here so that is kind of good. We also got snow on the top of Mount Fuji which is way cool. You can't see it right now because it is raining way hard but tomorrow it should look way sweet.
Have a great Thanksgiving. Remember all the things that God has blessed us with. Good luck because I know all of us have like a billion things to be thankful for but remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving, yes the turkey, but seriously, Happy Thanksgiving.
Love
Elder Nelson
First off this week was great. I had these things called cabbage rolls. They were way good. A member made them for us along with teriyaki sausage pizza. So that was one of the better dinners. I think it is actually called rolled cabbage but you take cabbage and put meatloaf stuff in it and roll it up. Then you put ketchup on top of it. It was way good. For some reason I love cabbage now I don't know why...I think my tastebuds are changing. After not eating like a bunch of cheese and red meat something happens. Wierd. It did have meatloaf stuff in it so maybe that is why it was good. I am not exactly sure what it was because I thought it tasted good and did not want to ruin it.
We went and visited the new investigator that we found with a tachiai. That was good. He had a lot of lessons with the Jehovah's Witnesses but he said the things that they taught him weren't true. So now he is interested in hearing our message. He is a really nice guy with a lot of potential. We are going to keep working with him it should be good.
Suzuki...........She gets sick more than any other person alive. I think she needs to like get some shots or something...I don't know. We talked to her on the phone so we know she is sick but this week we will meet with her again.
The big question that everyone might want to know is what am I doing for Thanksgiving in Japan. We don't have plans yet. All I know is that today I found 1 kg of chili potato wedges and I bought them...so I will definately be eating them. That is all we got so far. President Baird wants us to do a service project that day too. So far it is not looking good. We have been asking people for ideas and we have found none. It is hard here. Japan's culture just makes it difficult to find service...not a bad thing unless you are looking for a service project. We also have a dinner appointment at someone's house. That will be good. One of their sons is serving his mission in Japan...I knew him in the mtc so that is cool. Also one of their sons just got back from byu so it should be a pretty good dinner.
It is starting to get a little chilli here so that is kind of good. We also got snow on the top of Mount Fuji which is way cool. You can't see it right now because it is raining way hard but tomorrow it should look way sweet.
Have a great Thanksgiving. Remember all the things that God has blessed us with. Good luck because I know all of us have like a billion things to be thankful for but remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving, yes the turkey, but seriously, Happy Thanksgiving.
Love
Elder Nelson
新幹線 (shinkansen, bullet train) (November 14, 2010)
Sweet. Ya so basically it was a way good week. So last Monday we were riding Home from email and we stopped at the railroad crossing. There was this Huge explosion. We still have no idea what it was but it was definately a train exploding. (No mom it wasn't really). So we get to the train station and we are going to Shizuoka and there are no trains. That is just terrible. But wait the Shinkansen line is still open. Which is sweet. We got to ride the bullet train. It was 9 dollars more but so worth it. (We also couldn't take normal trains so). We got to Shizuoka in 10 minutes instead of 45. Way sweet. We were going like 110 milies per hour on average. Way cool. It was like riding an airplane for only 10 minutes.
So from Monday night I was with a second transfer missionary. I saw how much better my language has gotten. He is really good at Japanese, but people were like relying on me to speak..it was weird. If he messed up they would look at me and be like what is he trying to say. It was cool but difficult. He is way better at Japanese than I was on transfer two for sure. We had fun. We talked to a bunch of people and visited investigators and stuff.
One way fun thing is we did the gyoza challenge. I don't really know how to describe gyoza. It is Chinese food and they are like 3 inches long with stuff in the middle. That is all I got. So basically what it is you have to eat 30 gyoza in 7 minutes. So pretty much they bring them straight out of what ever they cook them in and clap 30 on your plate. They are blazing hot. Like she set the plate down and started the timer. I was like shoot. Then I started stuffing my face. Like I think I got 3 down in the first 10 seconds. But my mouth was on fire. So I started putting them in my mounth and taking a drink of water at about the same time. That cooled it off a little bit. But I eventually got down to the last 3 and I look over at the clock and I had 2 minutes left. So I finished easily. My mouth was pretty hot after words. Good thing I finished...if I failed I had to pay 12 dollars which I did not have so it was a good thing.
Now our picture is hanging up in the resturaunt. Sweet. I will try to send a picture of that picture to you.
So cool experience that happened yesterday. We had been housing for along time. Let me tell you. We started at the top of this 14 story apartment building and worked our way down. There were about 12 rooms on each floor maybe I don't know. Finally we got to the last door on the second floor and someone comes out and talks to us. He was the first one in that whole building. We talked to a bunch of people through the little box. There were 2 others that might have interest another time but this man came out of his room. We started talking about how we are representitives of Christ and told him some basic beliefs. He got way happy and told us that he loves God and Jesus Christ but doesn't have a religion. We happily gave him a Book of Mormon. He also has a broken leg and can't go to work so pretty much he has nothing better to do than to read the Book of Mormon. Hopefully he does and he gains a testimony of it. That would be way awesome.
That is all...have a great week.
Love Elder Nelson
So from Monday night I was with a second transfer missionary. I saw how much better my language has gotten. He is really good at Japanese, but people were like relying on me to speak..it was weird. If he messed up they would look at me and be like what is he trying to say. It was cool but difficult. He is way better at Japanese than I was on transfer two for sure. We had fun. We talked to a bunch of people and visited investigators and stuff.
One way fun thing is we did the gyoza challenge. I don't really know how to describe gyoza. It is Chinese food and they are like 3 inches long with stuff in the middle. That is all I got. So basically what it is you have to eat 30 gyoza in 7 minutes. So pretty much they bring them straight out of what ever they cook them in and clap 30 on your plate. They are blazing hot. Like she set the plate down and started the timer. I was like shoot. Then I started stuffing my face. Like I think I got 3 down in the first 10 seconds. But my mouth was on fire. So I started putting them in my mounth and taking a drink of water at about the same time. That cooled it off a little bit. But I eventually got down to the last 3 and I look over at the clock and I had 2 minutes left. So I finished easily. My mouth was pretty hot after words. Good thing I finished...if I failed I had to pay 12 dollars which I did not have so it was a good thing.
Now our picture is hanging up in the resturaunt. Sweet. I will try to send a picture of that picture to you.
So cool experience that happened yesterday. We had been housing for along time. Let me tell you. We started at the top of this 14 story apartment building and worked our way down. There were about 12 rooms on each floor maybe I don't know. Finally we got to the last door on the second floor and someone comes out and talks to us. He was the first one in that whole building. We talked to a bunch of people through the little box. There were 2 others that might have interest another time but this man came out of his room. We started talking about how we are representitives of Christ and told him some basic beliefs. He got way happy and told us that he loves God and Jesus Christ but doesn't have a religion. We happily gave him a Book of Mormon. He also has a broken leg and can't go to work so pretty much he has nothing better to do than to read the Book of Mormon. Hopefully he does and he gains a testimony of it. That would be way awesome.
That is all...have a great week.
Love Elder Nelson
What a week (November 7, 2010)
It was a pretty good week. Let me tell you. First off I had the opportunity to go to Nagoya this week. It was pretty far. We left a little before 5 Wednesday night and got into Toyota at about 930. It was pretty sweet. Toyota is a pretty nice place. It is pretty big too. The coolest thing is they have a subway. That subway has the same deal as America I think...11 dollars for a footlong. It was too expensive for me but maybe oneday. The cool thing about Toyota is that there is a missionary house there. It is way sweet. It is way old but it is a house so I can't complain. It fit 6 elders in there so it was good. I don't think it was big enough for us to stay for like a week but one night was good.
The next day we went to Zone Conference. Usually it is held closer to us but because Elder Choi came they held it in Nagoya. Elder Choi is pretty cool. I got to say he is funny too. He got up and started speaking to us. He said that eventhough some of us might have a hard time understanding his English he was always right. He was never wrong when he spoke English. He said it was because he speaks Korean English. Kind of like how Australian english is different from American english...Korean english is different from American english...I thought that was funny. He has a black belt in tai kwan do. He said he could kill us with one finger which I find pretty impressive...we all tried to stay on his good side. Another cool fact he was the body guard for the President of Korea for a while. He talked to us about how important it is for us to be good learners. He said if we are to become master teachers we must first be master learners. I thought it was a really good talk. His wife spoke to us too. She was a very nice lady. She talked about how Elder Choi is a nobody but because he worked hard...and worked for the Spirit, the Lord turned him into a somebody. So just like Elder Choi became a somebody, we can become a somebody too.
I was also able to talk to Sister Baird. It seems as if she is finally adjusting. I think it took her a little while to adjust but she is doing good. It is a whole new experience for her.
We were also able to meet with our investigator Suzuki San this week. It went way good. We taught her a lesson about reading and praying everyday. She said she would. We tried to set a baptismal date for her but she doesn't want to yet. We asked her why but she said she did not know enough yet. We said that is ok. We think it would be best for her to set a goal to work towards so that she can feel ready by this time...but that didn't work either...so we are going to keep trying and hope that she soon accepts the invitation to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be Baptized.
The work will continue. I know this Church is true. I am grateful to be a part of its work in the last days.
Love
Elder Nelson
The next day we went to Zone Conference. Usually it is held closer to us but because Elder Choi came they held it in Nagoya. Elder Choi is pretty cool. I got to say he is funny too. He got up and started speaking to us. He said that eventhough some of us might have a hard time understanding his English he was always right. He was never wrong when he spoke English. He said it was because he speaks Korean English. Kind of like how Australian english is different from American english...Korean english is different from American english...I thought that was funny. He has a black belt in tai kwan do. He said he could kill us with one finger which I find pretty impressive...we all tried to stay on his good side. Another cool fact he was the body guard for the President of Korea for a while. He talked to us about how important it is for us to be good learners. He said if we are to become master teachers we must first be master learners. I thought it was a really good talk. His wife spoke to us too. She was a very nice lady. She talked about how Elder Choi is a nobody but because he worked hard...and worked for the Spirit, the Lord turned him into a somebody. So just like Elder Choi became a somebody, we can become a somebody too.
I was also able to talk to Sister Baird. It seems as if she is finally adjusting. I think it took her a little while to adjust but she is doing good. It is a whole new experience for her.
We were also able to meet with our investigator Suzuki San this week. It went way good. We taught her a lesson about reading and praying everyday. She said she would. We tried to set a baptismal date for her but she doesn't want to yet. We asked her why but she said she did not know enough yet. We said that is ok. We think it would be best for her to set a goal to work towards so that she can feel ready by this time...but that didn't work either...so we are going to keep trying and hope that she soon accepts the invitation to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be Baptized.
The work will continue. I know this Church is true. I am grateful to be a part of its work in the last days.
Love
Elder Nelson
Happy Halloween (October 31, 2010)
Well let me be the first say happy halloween to everybody. It was a great week.
Well today is my companions birthday. So obviously to celebrate we went and got sushi. It was way good. It was fresh probably caught like 2 hours ago. Like I can see the ocean from the place, so it is pretty legit.
So last night we celebrated halloween like any american would. We went over to our friend's house. We ate a lot and had a ton of dessert. It was way sweet and ate candy. Like some of you we had japanese pancakes. They were pretty good. Let me tell you. It was like egg and flour with cabbage. Then you mix some shrimp, squid and some other fish in there. Then after that you put some meat. And when I say meat I mean like one piece of Japanese bacon. Then you fry it. It was way good. Of course I did not ask what was in it until after and then I forgot some of the stuff that was in it but I think I will definately make it when I get home. It was pretty good. Then we had some really good dessert. It was pumpkin cake and chocolate cake and mango pudding. All really good.
Ya so my friends are members. We call them the sugiyama crew. They are way nice. 5 adults who are like best friends and always hanging out. They are way funny and like us. So like once or twice a month and for holidays and stuff they invite us over to eat. It is way fun. We share a lesson and they feed us. I don't think it gets better. It is way funny. We have fun with them.
So I am not sure if I mentioned it but we teach a kid english class. Pretty sweet. They are good kids. Probably better with numbers in english than you are. They can count up to a quitillion. Ya and the oldest one is 10. Pretty cool. They are all smart. So for halloween they all brought us candy it was fun. Teaching kids english is way easier than adults. Children are chill. Adults always want to be learning something new that everyone in america knows. Kids just...well I dont know what they want but it is more fun.
This week we had a typhoon. It was pretty cool. It was just really windy and rainy all day Saturday. We got all these text messages friday night from the assisstants. Telling us to prepare for the worst. It wasn't even bad though. Like the winds were only like 40 or 50 miles per hour. And it has definitely rained harded so not too bad.
That is about it. We are going to meet with suzuki san tonight and challenge her to baptism. So that will be good. Hopefully she will set a date. She is ready but she is nervous for change.
I have a busy week this week. Tomorrow is sports night, that will be fun. We get a lot of people to come. Then Wednesday night we get to go to Nagoya. We stay the night there and then at the honbu we will have zone conference. Elder Choi is coming to do the training. He spoke in the October 2009 conference. So we are excited to go there. It will be a great experience. I can tell President Baird is a little nervous but I think we will be fine. I am excited to here from him.
That is pretty much it but that is a busy week I think. Usually we chill in Fuji all week but it will be good.
I know this church is true...Have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
Well today is my companions birthday. So obviously to celebrate we went and got sushi. It was way good. It was fresh probably caught like 2 hours ago. Like I can see the ocean from the place, so it is pretty legit.
So last night we celebrated halloween like any american would. We went over to our friend's house. We ate a lot and had a ton of dessert. It was way sweet and ate candy. Like some of you we had japanese pancakes. They were pretty good. Let me tell you. It was like egg and flour with cabbage. Then you mix some shrimp, squid and some other fish in there. Then after that you put some meat. And when I say meat I mean like one piece of Japanese bacon. Then you fry it. It was way good. Of course I did not ask what was in it until after and then I forgot some of the stuff that was in it but I think I will definately make it when I get home. It was pretty good. Then we had some really good dessert. It was pumpkin cake and chocolate cake and mango pudding. All really good.
Ya so my friends are members. We call them the sugiyama crew. They are way nice. 5 adults who are like best friends and always hanging out. They are way funny and like us. So like once or twice a month and for holidays and stuff they invite us over to eat. It is way fun. We share a lesson and they feed us. I don't think it gets better. It is way funny. We have fun with them.
So I am not sure if I mentioned it but we teach a kid english class. Pretty sweet. They are good kids. Probably better with numbers in english than you are. They can count up to a quitillion. Ya and the oldest one is 10. Pretty cool. They are all smart. So for halloween they all brought us candy it was fun. Teaching kids english is way easier than adults. Children are chill. Adults always want to be learning something new that everyone in america knows. Kids just...well I dont know what they want but it is more fun.
This week we had a typhoon. It was pretty cool. It was just really windy and rainy all day Saturday. We got all these text messages friday night from the assisstants. Telling us to prepare for the worst. It wasn't even bad though. Like the winds were only like 40 or 50 miles per hour. And it has definitely rained harded so not too bad.
That is about it. We are going to meet with suzuki san tonight and challenge her to baptism. So that will be good. Hopefully she will set a date. She is ready but she is nervous for change.
I have a busy week this week. Tomorrow is sports night, that will be fun. We get a lot of people to come. Then Wednesday night we get to go to Nagoya. We stay the night there and then at the honbu we will have zone conference. Elder Choi is coming to do the training. He spoke in the October 2009 conference. So we are excited to go there. It will be a great experience. I can tell President Baird is a little nervous but I think we will be fine. I am excited to here from him.
That is pretty much it but that is a busy week I think. Usually we chill in Fuji all week but it will be good.
I know this church is true...Have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
Fuji (October 24, 2010)
Well the big news of the day is that it is transfer day. So they start at around eight and we waited until 10:45 for a call. All the call was that we were both staying together in Fuji. I am way excited. Fuji is sweet. I would be fine staying here for a long while. It is great. It is like one of the mildest areas. It doesn't snow that much in the winter and it doesn't get too hot in the summer. It is perfect. It also has a giant mountain here. So all and all Fuji is great. Also the members are way good and enjoy feeding us occasionally so it is all good.
It has been a decent week. A lot of our appointments got cancelled which is too bad but there is nothing you can do except keep working hard.
This past week was interviews. They went pretty well. I go in with President and it is just like a Psychiatrist. I lay down and close my eyes and then we start discussing what has been going on. No I am kidding but it is almost like that. It is good though. So that was good. I also had an interview with Sister Baird. That was good. She is very nice. She also was making sure I have been eating my fruits and vegetables. She also wanted to make sure I was washing my sheets. So that was good. The best thing was she gave me a piece of pumpkin cake. So pretty much it was a good interview day. After we went to a hindu curry buffet. That was good. I wonder if they have Hindu curry in America because it is good. The curry is alright but the bread you get with it is the best.
We also had family home evening with one of our investigators. That was way good. She gave us Jam. It was really good. It was mango flavored. She also gave us tokyo disney crackers. They are the happiest crackers on earth so like all in all like it was good. She is really close to baptism so that is good. We watched President Eyring's talk so that was pretty cool. She liked it a lot.
I don't think anything else happend this week... I think we went out to eat like 5 times. That was not good. I have like no money. Of course some of it was paid for by members but still not enough. I had sushi...curry...Chinese food (way good)...alright maybe only three times but still.
So have a good week. The Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true.
Love
Elder Nelson
It has been a decent week. A lot of our appointments got cancelled which is too bad but there is nothing you can do except keep working hard.
This past week was interviews. They went pretty well. I go in with President and it is just like a Psychiatrist. I lay down and close my eyes and then we start discussing what has been going on. No I am kidding but it is almost like that. It is good though. So that was good. I also had an interview with Sister Baird. That was good. She is very nice. She also was making sure I have been eating my fruits and vegetables. She also wanted to make sure I was washing my sheets. So that was good. The best thing was she gave me a piece of pumpkin cake. So pretty much it was a good interview day. After we went to a hindu curry buffet. That was good. I wonder if they have Hindu curry in America because it is good. The curry is alright but the bread you get with it is the best.
We also had family home evening with one of our investigators. That was way good. She gave us Jam. It was really good. It was mango flavored. She also gave us tokyo disney crackers. They are the happiest crackers on earth so like all in all like it was good. She is really close to baptism so that is good. We watched President Eyring's talk so that was pretty cool. She liked it a lot.
I don't think anything else happend this week... I think we went out to eat like 5 times. That was not good. I have like no money. Of course some of it was paid for by members but still not enough. I had sushi...curry...Chinese food (way good)...alright maybe only three times but still.
So have a good week. The Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true.
Love
Elder Nelson
Japan (October 17, 2010)
I hope everybody had a great week.
Ya so today we went up to the water fall...it was pretty sweet. It is from water from mount fuji so naturally it is holy water. So we were able to drink from the streams of Fuji. It was pretty sweet. I don't know if it was the smartest thing because ducks were swimming in it but the member said it was ok. It was way cool. We also had some delicious mount fuji ice cream. It was way good.
Recently I have been eating rice and milk. It is like my favorite meal. I have it like every morning. It is way good. There is also another thing that is way good. It is called nashi. It is so delicious. The only thing that I can compare it to that you would understand is the tree of life's fruit. It is white and way sweet. It also makes you realize the love God has for us by putting this fruit on the earth. It is way delicious. It is way expensive but members and investigators find it important that we have plenty to eat so that is good.
So yesterday was general conference. You are correct it was actually steak conference not general conference. We had to go to homamatsu. Everyone out there who doesn't know where that is (I am sure there are very few) It is a 2 hour drive from fuji. It is like half way in between here and nagoya. (Just for reference I think the drive to tokyo is about 1 hour) So it was pretty far. Yes and that is in our same zone and stake. So it is far. It strated at 930 so we woke at 5;30 and left the church a little before 7. It was a very great meeting. President and Sister Baird spoke. Sister Baird spoke about the challenge it was to move to Japan but the blessings and comfort she has recieved because of it. Also Presdint Baird spoke about missionaries and how awesome we are. No he didn't but he talked about how important it is to strengthen your family and do the basic things as a family. I still have a hard time understanding Native Japanese speakers talks. They were good but they speak in super polite form. They are really hard to undertstand. If they spoke to me like I am 7 then I can understand...alright maybe 5 would be better but you get the point.
We have been doing a lot of finding this transfer and lately it has started paying off. At first it was hard and there was practically nothing to show for it. Now people are starting to listen and want to learn more. One lady we found in this Giant apartment building that we atempted to house. She is way cool. She has a daughter that is 8 and is excited to read the Book of Mormon. She read a little bit of the introduction but is going to read it. That is cool. There have just been more people like that recently so hopefully it stays like that.
Ya so Our main progressing investigator is coming along very well...we are going to challenge her to baptism tomorrow. It will be good. She has previously told us she wanted to receive baptism but she wants to study more. So tomorrow we are going to watch some of general conference and have a family home evening or deal with her and her son. It will be sweet.
Hope all goes well this week
as always
Love
Elder Nelson
Ya so today we went up to the water fall...it was pretty sweet. It is from water from mount fuji so naturally it is holy water. So we were able to drink from the streams of Fuji. It was pretty sweet. I don't know if it was the smartest thing because ducks were swimming in it but the member said it was ok. It was way cool. We also had some delicious mount fuji ice cream. It was way good.
Recently I have been eating rice and milk. It is like my favorite meal. I have it like every morning. It is way good. There is also another thing that is way good. It is called nashi. It is so delicious. The only thing that I can compare it to that you would understand is the tree of life's fruit. It is white and way sweet. It also makes you realize the love God has for us by putting this fruit on the earth. It is way delicious. It is way expensive but members and investigators find it important that we have plenty to eat so that is good.
So yesterday was general conference. You are correct it was actually steak conference not general conference. We had to go to homamatsu. Everyone out there who doesn't know where that is (I am sure there are very few) It is a 2 hour drive from fuji. It is like half way in between here and nagoya. (Just for reference I think the drive to tokyo is about 1 hour) So it was pretty far. Yes and that is in our same zone and stake. So it is far. It strated at 930 so we woke at 5;30 and left the church a little before 7. It was a very great meeting. President and Sister Baird spoke. Sister Baird spoke about the challenge it was to move to Japan but the blessings and comfort she has recieved because of it. Also Presdint Baird spoke about missionaries and how awesome we are. No he didn't but he talked about how important it is to strengthen your family and do the basic things as a family. I still have a hard time understanding Native Japanese speakers talks. They were good but they speak in super polite form. They are really hard to undertstand. If they spoke to me like I am 7 then I can understand...alright maybe 5 would be better but you get the point.
We have been doing a lot of finding this transfer and lately it has started paying off. At first it was hard and there was practically nothing to show for it. Now people are starting to listen and want to learn more. One lady we found in this Giant apartment building that we atempted to house. She is way cool. She has a daughter that is 8 and is excited to read the Book of Mormon. She read a little bit of the introduction but is going to read it. That is cool. There have just been more people like that recently so hopefully it stays like that.
Ya so Our main progressing investigator is coming along very well...we are going to challenge her to baptism tomorrow. It will be good. She has previously told us she wanted to receive baptism but she wants to study more. So tomorrow we are going to watch some of general conference and have a family home evening or deal with her and her son. It will be sweet.
Hope all goes well this week
as always
Love
Elder Nelson
General Conference (October 11, 2010)
What A great week it has been. I was able to listen to conference...and it was my birthday, so pretty much my weekend couldn't get any better. I hope everybody was able to enjoy all sessions of conference.
First of all thanks to everyone that said happy birthday. I really appreciated the email. It really made me realize how many people truly are helping me. Thanks for everything. Even if you just thought about me once this week, every little bit helps. President Baird called me that night (October 9th). We were out biking in the rain because it rained all day. We took some cover and I was able to talk to him. It was very nice. He is an emotional man even when saying happy birthday. I really appreciated that. I also was sent a lot of sugar. Anyone that has been to Japan before knows that Japan does not have the sweetest things. Yes they have candy but it is a little different. I think I have had more sugar this week than my whole stay in Japan...Maybe. The members here also celebrated my birthday. It was really nice of them. It is good to know that whereever you are there are kind Church members there to help you. They fed me a cheeseburger, which was really good. Of coarse we had a side of rice. Then a chocolate cake for dessert. It was really kind of them.
Earlier this week we kind of had a party with other missionaries. The zone leaders came and stayed with us and we made chiken katsu. (next week I will send a picture.) They weren't there for my birthday but still. Then we slammed tim tams. This is probably one of the most chocolate things you can do. There is really an explosion of chocolate in your mouth. You buy these things called tim tams. Hard to explain but they are chocolatey. They have like a chocolate filling and a chocolate coat around a chocolate cookie. Chocolatey right. You then make hot cocoa. You bite off the ends of the tim tam and suck up the chocolate. Once the tim tam starts to melt you suck the whole cookie up and there is an explosion of hot chocolate and tim tam in your mouth. I slammed six and then had a stomach ache. Good thing I did that at night so that I could sleep it off. So basically what I am trying to say is I had a great birthday week.
I am now 20 so I can do whatever I want in Japan. It is cool. It won't change what i do but still. It is a big deal in Japan I think. They have theie own speacial word for twenty. Like I'm not twenty I am a man. Then after twenty you go back to 21. It is interesting.
I Just want to tell you what a great opportunity we had to listen to a prophet from the Lord. One of the things stated in the conference over and over again is to listen to the Prophet. With so many men of God testifying and warning people to listen to the Prophet it seems like a good idea to do. I loved President Eyrings talk about trusting in the Lord. He stated over and over the blessings that come from trusting in the Lord. Sometimes at first it is hard but every single time in the long run it turn out of the best. Either it is easier or strengthens us. It is so important to trust in the Lord which means to listen and act according to the words of the prophet. One of the first things president Monson said was For ALL worthy young men to serve a mission. He said “it was a responsibility.” It is not only a responsibility but a privilege. We as missionaries are literal servants of the Lord. He heads our work. We are blessed daily according to our obedience. It is a great blessing for us and our families. He also asked us to review the talks in the Ensign. I personally can't wait to read the talks. I know this Church is true and that it is lead by a Prophet, Thomas S. Monson.
Love
Elder Nelson
First of all thanks to everyone that said happy birthday. I really appreciated the email. It really made me realize how many people truly are helping me. Thanks for everything. Even if you just thought about me once this week, every little bit helps. President Baird called me that night (October 9th). We were out biking in the rain because it rained all day. We took some cover and I was able to talk to him. It was very nice. He is an emotional man even when saying happy birthday. I really appreciated that. I also was sent a lot of sugar. Anyone that has been to Japan before knows that Japan does not have the sweetest things. Yes they have candy but it is a little different. I think I have had more sugar this week than my whole stay in Japan...Maybe. The members here also celebrated my birthday. It was really nice of them. It is good to know that whereever you are there are kind Church members there to help you. They fed me a cheeseburger, which was really good. Of coarse we had a side of rice. Then a chocolate cake for dessert. It was really kind of them.
Earlier this week we kind of had a party with other missionaries. The zone leaders came and stayed with us and we made chiken katsu. (next week I will send a picture.) They weren't there for my birthday but still. Then we slammed tim tams. This is probably one of the most chocolate things you can do. There is really an explosion of chocolate in your mouth. You buy these things called tim tams. Hard to explain but they are chocolatey. They have like a chocolate filling and a chocolate coat around a chocolate cookie. Chocolatey right. You then make hot cocoa. You bite off the ends of the tim tam and suck up the chocolate. Once the tim tam starts to melt you suck the whole cookie up and there is an explosion of hot chocolate and tim tam in your mouth. I slammed six and then had a stomach ache. Good thing I did that at night so that I could sleep it off. So basically what I am trying to say is I had a great birthday week.
I am now 20 so I can do whatever I want in Japan. It is cool. It won't change what i do but still. It is a big deal in Japan I think. They have theie own speacial word for twenty. Like I'm not twenty I am a man. Then after twenty you go back to 21. It is interesting.
I Just want to tell you what a great opportunity we had to listen to a prophet from the Lord. One of the things stated in the conference over and over again is to listen to the Prophet. With so many men of God testifying and warning people to listen to the Prophet it seems like a good idea to do. I loved President Eyrings talk about trusting in the Lord. He stated over and over the blessings that come from trusting in the Lord. Sometimes at first it is hard but every single time in the long run it turn out of the best. Either it is easier or strengthens us. It is so important to trust in the Lord which means to listen and act according to the words of the prophet. One of the first things president Monson said was For ALL worthy young men to serve a mission. He said “it was a responsibility.” It is not only a responsibility but a privilege. We as missionaries are literal servants of the Lord. He heads our work. We are blessed daily according to our obedience. It is a great blessing for us and our families. He also asked us to review the talks in the Ensign. I personally can't wait to read the talks. I know this Church is true and that it is lead by a Prophet, Thomas S. Monson.
Love
Elder Nelson
General Conference (October 4, 2010)
I hope everyone had a great conference weekend. I know I sure did. The sad thing is I didn't get to see conference. I am not exactly sure what time it would have been brodacast live here but ya we didn't see it. We get to watch it next weekend. Saturday from 10-12, 1-3, 4-6. And on Sunday from 10-12 and 1-3. It should be great. We are excited and trying to get our investigators excited for it. Hopefully they will be as excited as I am for it. I am pretty excited so that's good. Unfortunately we did not see one investigator last week. Just kidding but seriously if we saw them they were sick. If they weren't sick they weren't home and weren't able to meet us so it was a tough week with that but we met a lot of less actives and potential investigators. We talked to some kids at the park throwing a baseball around so it was good.
So recently it dawned on me...why all japanese people have squinty eyes. I have figured it out. I figured it out a while ago but keep forgeting to write it. So I think that the sun is closer to Japan than the US. I don't know why or how but the sun is super bright here (when it is out). When I am outside I have to squint. If I don't squint my eyes hurt. Therefore I am always squinting. Pretty soon my eyes will be like that permanently. I am going to come home half Japanese. I haven't figured out the black hair thing but you don't have to worry about that. The blonde hair is what gets people to talk to me. I do not want the attention it is just always there. I can't move without being stared at. It is good. I talk to a lot of people that way.
Our number one progressing investigator has been sick all week. Also her husband has been home which I am not sure how much he likes us. I have never even talked to or even seen him. My companion has seen him a couple times but the guy isn't too nice to him. He isn't mean he just ignores us. If he gives us the slightest chance he'll like us so we will keep being nice.
We are going to a mall today. It is going to be fun. It is like a 30 minute train ride. My companion wants to buy a new suit. Then tomorow is sports night. We get to play volleyball and basketball with some members and investigators. It will be good. I am excited. It should be a great week.
Alright have a great week
Love
Elder Nelson
So recently it dawned on me...why all japanese people have squinty eyes. I have figured it out. I figured it out a while ago but keep forgeting to write it. So I think that the sun is closer to Japan than the US. I don't know why or how but the sun is super bright here (when it is out). When I am outside I have to squint. If I don't squint my eyes hurt. Therefore I am always squinting. Pretty soon my eyes will be like that permanently. I am going to come home half Japanese. I haven't figured out the black hair thing but you don't have to worry about that. The blonde hair is what gets people to talk to me. I do not want the attention it is just always there. I can't move without being stared at. It is good. I talk to a lot of people that way.
Our number one progressing investigator has been sick all week. Also her husband has been home which I am not sure how much he likes us. I have never even talked to or even seen him. My companion has seen him a couple times but the guy isn't too nice to him. He isn't mean he just ignores us. If he gives us the slightest chance he'll like us so we will keep being nice.
We are going to a mall today. It is going to be fun. It is like a 30 minute train ride. My companion wants to buy a new suit. Then tomorow is sports night. We get to play volleyball and basketball with some members and investigators. It will be good. I am excited. It should be a great week.
Alright have a great week
Love
Elder Nelson
秋 (Fall) September 26, 2010
Good Afternoon,
What's up? It has been another great week here on the island nation of Japan. It was an interesting week. I was in Numazu all week. I am sure all of you know exactly where that is. It is actually pretty close to Tokyo. I got on a train to Tokyo while I was there but I got off before I made it to Tokyo. While I was in Numazu it rained on us. The smart misssionary that I am and the eagle scout that I am thought that I would not need a rain jacket or rain suit of anykind. On Thursday I am pretty sure a typhoon hit us. I am not sure because I haven't watched the weather for a while but it was. It like dumped buckets of rain on me. I did have an unbrella but it is hard to use when the rain is coming side ways. It was fun. We made the safe walk to english class and taught . Our shoes were all wet so we all took are shoes off and were wearing socks. Some of the students thought they weren't supposed to wear shoes in the church. In Japan some buildings you have to take your shoes off first before you enter. It was fun.
Another funny thing about Japan is that sometimes when you go into to people's houses they make you put on slippers. They never have my size in fact the largest they ever have is like a size 9. It is pretty funny. So I wear these slippers but my heal is sticking out of the end. Then if you use the bathroom in their home you have to put on the bathroom slippers. It is very interesting. I don't know why but that is just the way it is.
It is starting to get pretty cool outside. I can ride my bike for like a whole 5 minutes before I start to sweat, just kidding but seriously the weather is getting way nicer.
So on Saturday we went to chill at the mall. Why one might ask, well it is a great opportunity to find people. It is easier to talk to people and become friends if we know what they like. But yesterday we went to the food court where a lot of people are, and we played jenga. Yes it is a pretty good attention getter. We talked to a few people. We tried to get a girl to play but her boyfriend wouldn't let her. I can't inmagine why, but we become friends with people and then share the gospel and then baptize them. It sounds like a good plan ot me.
We do a lot of finding here because we have very few investigators. This area was opened up pretty recently so there aren't too many investigators. We do a lot of finding, and knoking on doors all day can get boring so we have fun and it works pretty well. We have one really good investigator who said she wanted to be baptized. Of corse, my companion and I were thrilled but she wants to learn more so that is good. She loves the plan of salvation and thinks it is the coolest thing ever. Probably because it is like the coolest thing ever. Like we can live forever with are families. If that isn't cool enough we also get to live with God and Jesus Christ. So it is the coolest thing ever.
Keep having fun.
Love
Elder Nelson
What's up? It has been another great week here on the island nation of Japan. It was an interesting week. I was in Numazu all week. I am sure all of you know exactly where that is. It is actually pretty close to Tokyo. I got on a train to Tokyo while I was there but I got off before I made it to Tokyo. While I was in Numazu it rained on us. The smart misssionary that I am and the eagle scout that I am thought that I would not need a rain jacket or rain suit of anykind. On Thursday I am pretty sure a typhoon hit us. I am not sure because I haven't watched the weather for a while but it was. It like dumped buckets of rain on me. I did have an unbrella but it is hard to use when the rain is coming side ways. It was fun. We made the safe walk to english class and taught . Our shoes were all wet so we all took are shoes off and were wearing socks. Some of the students thought they weren't supposed to wear shoes in the church. In Japan some buildings you have to take your shoes off first before you enter. It was fun.
Another funny thing about Japan is that sometimes when you go into to people's houses they make you put on slippers. They never have my size in fact the largest they ever have is like a size 9. It is pretty funny. So I wear these slippers but my heal is sticking out of the end. Then if you use the bathroom in their home you have to put on the bathroom slippers. It is very interesting. I don't know why but that is just the way it is.
It is starting to get pretty cool outside. I can ride my bike for like a whole 5 minutes before I start to sweat, just kidding but seriously the weather is getting way nicer.
So on Saturday we went to chill at the mall. Why one might ask, well it is a great opportunity to find people. It is easier to talk to people and become friends if we know what they like. But yesterday we went to the food court where a lot of people are, and we played jenga. Yes it is a pretty good attention getter. We talked to a few people. We tried to get a girl to play but her boyfriend wouldn't let her. I can't inmagine why, but we become friends with people and then share the gospel and then baptize them. It sounds like a good plan ot me.
We do a lot of finding here because we have very few investigators. This area was opened up pretty recently so there aren't too many investigators. We do a lot of finding, and knoking on doors all day can get boring so we have fun and it works pretty well. We have one really good investigator who said she wanted to be baptized. Of corse, my companion and I were thrilled but she wants to learn more so that is good. She loves the plan of salvation and thinks it is the coolest thing ever. Probably because it is like the coolest thing ever. Like we can live forever with are families. If that isn't cool enough we also get to live with God and Jesus Christ. So it is the coolest thing ever.
Keep having fun.
Love
Elder Nelson
富士山 (Mt. Fuji) September 20, 2010
Good Evening everybody,
How is life going, probably pretty good. Japan is still great.
Fuji is awesome. First of all I am 10 minutes away from the beach by bike. It is pretty nice. You can do so much at the beach like, bbq, watch people swim, watch people surf and fun stuff like that lol, but seriously the beach is awesome. I have only been once and I just looked at it and kept riding my bike. Fuji is way nice though. It is much cooler than Inuyama. Inuyama was incredibly hot but Fuji is much nicer. It is also September so it has started cooling down anyway, but still. Mount Fuji is huge. I have never seen anything like it. The problem is I can't see it most of the time. It is always covered by clouds. It is kind of wierd. It is this massive thing and I can't see it most of the time. I think the clouds are attracted to it. I have seen the whole thing once and it is truly massive. I think we are going to go hike it one pday. That will be fun.
The apartment is way nice. It is a yonnin which means it can fit 4 missionaries. At the moment there are only 2 missionaries: my companion, Elder Wilson, and me. So it is huge. Inuyama's was pretty small but this apartment is huge. That is also another bonus about Fuji. So pretty much I love Fuji, not just because of the mountains, the beach, and the apartment, but there are also great people here too.
My new Companion is Elder Wilson. He is from Oregon. He is 20 years old and he is on his 13th transfer. This is his 4th transfer in Fuji. When he returns from his mission he wants to be a navy seal so that's pretty cool. He has slowly started to train for it. We have gone running a few times in the morning. I am not the biggest fan but it is good for me and I could use a little exercise.
So today is Tuesday which is not pday so this makes it a little awkward. lol. Ya yesterday Elder Wilson and I had to travel to Shizuoka to meet the other elders. They were actually having a ward activity there and they played softball. Yesterday was a holiday called honor the old people. Im not sure the real name but that is what they do. Softball was fun. So there are 10 missionaries there and we played against the ward. So we are young, fit, in our 20s, playing softball against these members who are in there 30s and 40s and have kids and everything. I pitch the first inning and I am throwing nice underhand pitches. I thought that's what we were supposed to do. They get like 4 runs but whatever. Then it is our turn to bat and they made us submit a line up. Which is weird but thats how serious this was. Then this member gets up and is throwing like the world softball champion. I am pretty sure his pitches were going 60 miles per hour. We had trouble hitting him. He didn't go easy on the elders who had never played baseball before (or softball). Some of us were pretty good but we couldn't get enough runs to beat them. I started pitching harder but I can't throw that hard under hand. It was like the most seroius game of softball I have ever played. We had umps and everything. It was rough. They were so happy to beat us.The final score was 7 to 6, but man was it tough.
So there are 12 missionaries in our zone and none of them are sisters. It is the second smallest zone next to the Nagano Zone. My last zone was the biggest but now it's smaller. They are both cool. One of my zone leaders is Elder Larson. He went to Cimarron high school and graduated in 08. He is pretty cool.
Ya back to my story. After playing hardcore softball, Elder Wilson had to go to Nagoya. There is a week long training there for all the leaders. He is a district leader therefore he has to go. So I dropped him off there and then I returned to a new area. It is Numazu. I will be here until Friday and Saturday with Elder Carr and Elder Otahara. They have been out 6 and 5 transfers respectivly. It tool a while to get back because it is further away then Fuji. Numazu is way close to Tokyo. Numazu is cool but we don't have three bikes so we are going to do South America missionary work (lol) and walk everywhere. It shouold work out well.
So last Tuesday I came to Fuji. It took quite a while. It was about an hour ride to Nagoya from Inuyama where I met Elder Wilson. We got on a train and four hours later and 50 dollars later we were in Fuji. It was a long day. Everything went well.Both Fuji and Numazu are closer to Tokyo than Nagoya. I think it is about 20 dollars and an hour and a half train ride to Tokyo.
We have one really good investigator here. She is so nice. I have only met here once though. She was supposed to come to church but cancelled because her son got sick. Hopefully she will be able to come this next week even though we won't have too much time to visit her.
Well everything is going well. Have a great week back in the USA.
Love
Elder Nelson
How is life going, probably pretty good. Japan is still great.
Fuji is awesome. First of all I am 10 minutes away from the beach by bike. It is pretty nice. You can do so much at the beach like, bbq, watch people swim, watch people surf and fun stuff like that lol, but seriously the beach is awesome. I have only been once and I just looked at it and kept riding my bike. Fuji is way nice though. It is much cooler than Inuyama. Inuyama was incredibly hot but Fuji is much nicer. It is also September so it has started cooling down anyway, but still. Mount Fuji is huge. I have never seen anything like it. The problem is I can't see it most of the time. It is always covered by clouds. It is kind of wierd. It is this massive thing and I can't see it most of the time. I think the clouds are attracted to it. I have seen the whole thing once and it is truly massive. I think we are going to go hike it one pday. That will be fun.
The apartment is way nice. It is a yonnin which means it can fit 4 missionaries. At the moment there are only 2 missionaries: my companion, Elder Wilson, and me. So it is huge. Inuyama's was pretty small but this apartment is huge. That is also another bonus about Fuji. So pretty much I love Fuji, not just because of the mountains, the beach, and the apartment, but there are also great people here too.
My new Companion is Elder Wilson. He is from Oregon. He is 20 years old and he is on his 13th transfer. This is his 4th transfer in Fuji. When he returns from his mission he wants to be a navy seal so that's pretty cool. He has slowly started to train for it. We have gone running a few times in the morning. I am not the biggest fan but it is good for me and I could use a little exercise.
So today is Tuesday which is not pday so this makes it a little awkward. lol. Ya yesterday Elder Wilson and I had to travel to Shizuoka to meet the other elders. They were actually having a ward activity there and they played softball. Yesterday was a holiday called honor the old people. Im not sure the real name but that is what they do. Softball was fun. So there are 10 missionaries there and we played against the ward. So we are young, fit, in our 20s, playing softball against these members who are in there 30s and 40s and have kids and everything. I pitch the first inning and I am throwing nice underhand pitches. I thought that's what we were supposed to do. They get like 4 runs but whatever. Then it is our turn to bat and they made us submit a line up. Which is weird but thats how serious this was. Then this member gets up and is throwing like the world softball champion. I am pretty sure his pitches were going 60 miles per hour. We had trouble hitting him. He didn't go easy on the elders who had never played baseball before (or softball). Some of us were pretty good but we couldn't get enough runs to beat them. I started pitching harder but I can't throw that hard under hand. It was like the most seroius game of softball I have ever played. We had umps and everything. It was rough. They were so happy to beat us.The final score was 7 to 6, but man was it tough.
So there are 12 missionaries in our zone and none of them are sisters. It is the second smallest zone next to the Nagano Zone. My last zone was the biggest but now it's smaller. They are both cool. One of my zone leaders is Elder Larson. He went to Cimarron high school and graduated in 08. He is pretty cool.
Ya back to my story. After playing hardcore softball, Elder Wilson had to go to Nagoya. There is a week long training there for all the leaders. He is a district leader therefore he has to go. So I dropped him off there and then I returned to a new area. It is Numazu. I will be here until Friday and Saturday with Elder Carr and Elder Otahara. They have been out 6 and 5 transfers respectivly. It tool a while to get back because it is further away then Fuji. Numazu is way close to Tokyo. Numazu is cool but we don't have three bikes so we are going to do South America missionary work (lol) and walk everywhere. It shouold work out well.
So last Tuesday I came to Fuji. It took quite a while. It was about an hour ride to Nagoya from Inuyama where I met Elder Wilson. We got on a train and four hours later and 50 dollars later we were in Fuji. It was a long day. Everything went well.Both Fuji and Numazu are closer to Tokyo than Nagoya. I think it is about 20 dollars and an hour and a half train ride to Tokyo.
We have one really good investigator here. She is so nice. I have only met here once though. She was supposed to come to church but cancelled because her son got sick. Hopefully she will be able to come this next week even though we won't have too much time to visit her.
Well everything is going well. Have a great week back in the USA.
Love
Elder Nelson
転勤します (The transfer) September 12, 2010
What is up everybody?
It was a great last week in Inuyama. I was able to go see Inuyama castle. It was incredible. It is up on the mountain that overlooks the river. If anyone is ever in the Nagoya, Japan area I would highly suggest checking it out. It was so cool. We got to go into the castle and climb to the highest watch tower. It was way cool and a way good place for a castle. I think it is a pretty good defense place. The Inuyama castle is the oldest castle in Japan so that's really cool too. As we were climbing up the stairs there were creeks everywhere. It was kind of scary. It was really cool though.
So this last Saturday I made pancakes for the ward. They had an activity so I made pancakes for them. It was awesome because everyone loves pancakes. The hard thing was that all I had was a frying pan so I only could cook one at a time. It took a while but it was fun. We actually got 3 investigators to come. That was really cool. The sad thing is that investigators will go to that thing with no problem but then not come to church. Why can they come to a 4 hour activity on Saturday but not 3 hours of church on Sunday, I will never know. Yesterday was good. We went to the bishop's house. It was really good. We had this wierd egg thing with like mushrooms and raddish and eggplant. It was pretty good. He also gave us kimchi because he knows I like it. It was way fun. We also visited a less active member. They were Brazillian. It was fun talking with them in Simple Japanese with some Portuguese thrown around. Ya but they gave us these chips and man they tasted like seaweed. I can see why they gave them to us. Of course I ate the whole bag but man they were weird. I might as well have been eating seaweed.
So transfer calls were this morning and let me tell you they just make you nervous. Then they called at like 9:50. They are like Elder Fedrickson you are...not transferring. He is actually becoming a trainer. He is way nervous. Its pretty funny. I am transferring. I am going to a place that I think everyone wants to go. I am excited to be going there. When the assisstant called me he told me I was going to the mountains. So yes I am going to Fuji!!!!! Yes that is the biggest mountain in Japan, so I am very excited to go there. I packed this morning and all my stuff is headed there including my bike so I have no bike today or tomorrow. So we all meet at the Nagoya train station tomorrow and I will be on my way to Fuji. I Hear it rains alot there too so that will be fun.
It is going to be sad leaving this area. I have made a lot of friends. the ward is very nice but I am excited to move on. Everyone has been nice to me as I have struggled with the language. It is still pretty rough. I can understand decent but sometimes I can't say anything that I want to. It is very frustrating but also it is very humbling.
Have a great week. Keep up the hard work
Love Elder Nelson
It was a great last week in Inuyama. I was able to go see Inuyama castle. It was incredible. It is up on the mountain that overlooks the river. If anyone is ever in the Nagoya, Japan area I would highly suggest checking it out. It was so cool. We got to go into the castle and climb to the highest watch tower. It was way cool and a way good place for a castle. I think it is a pretty good defense place. The Inuyama castle is the oldest castle in Japan so that's really cool too. As we were climbing up the stairs there were creeks everywhere. It was kind of scary. It was really cool though.
So this last Saturday I made pancakes for the ward. They had an activity so I made pancakes for them. It was awesome because everyone loves pancakes. The hard thing was that all I had was a frying pan so I only could cook one at a time. It took a while but it was fun. We actually got 3 investigators to come. That was really cool. The sad thing is that investigators will go to that thing with no problem but then not come to church. Why can they come to a 4 hour activity on Saturday but not 3 hours of church on Sunday, I will never know. Yesterday was good. We went to the bishop's house. It was really good. We had this wierd egg thing with like mushrooms and raddish and eggplant. It was pretty good. He also gave us kimchi because he knows I like it. It was way fun. We also visited a less active member. They were Brazillian. It was fun talking with them in Simple Japanese with some Portuguese thrown around. Ya but they gave us these chips and man they tasted like seaweed. I can see why they gave them to us. Of course I ate the whole bag but man they were weird. I might as well have been eating seaweed.
So transfer calls were this morning and let me tell you they just make you nervous. Then they called at like 9:50. They are like Elder Fedrickson you are...not transferring. He is actually becoming a trainer. He is way nervous. Its pretty funny. I am transferring. I am going to a place that I think everyone wants to go. I am excited to be going there. When the assisstant called me he told me I was going to the mountains. So yes I am going to Fuji!!!!! Yes that is the biggest mountain in Japan, so I am very excited to go there. I packed this morning and all my stuff is headed there including my bike so I have no bike today or tomorrow. So we all meet at the Nagoya train station tomorrow and I will be on my way to Fuji. I Hear it rains alot there too so that will be fun.
It is going to be sad leaving this area. I have made a lot of friends. the ward is very nice but I am excited to move on. Everyone has been nice to me as I have struggled with the language. It is still pretty rough. I can understand decent but sometimes I can't say anything that I want to. It is very frustrating but also it is very humbling.
Have a great week. Keep up the hard work
Love Elder Nelson
意志あるところに道は開ける "Where there is will open the way" (September 5, 2010)
Whats up
It has been another wonderful week here in Japan. I think it was one of the hottest. but thats ok. I was hoping it would start to cool down soon but whatever.
So we went on companion exchanges this week. It was pretty fun. I went to Gifu. The elder I was with is a great example for me. He is from Utah but he went trainer on transfer 3. He is now on transfer 4 and doing well. He is also pretty good at Japanese and that is why he went tranier...probably. It was fun. Gifu is like a major city compared to Inuyama. Inuyama is kind of a city but kind of not. Its difficult to explain.
We found this cool Brazilian guy the other day. He was wearing a back brace so we asked him why and he said he got hit by a car. Then he's like I have like nothing to do. So my companion and I gave him something to do. He is going to read the Book of Mormon. He was actualy very excited. He tried to pay us for it but we insisted that he could have it for free. Finally I told him we can't read pourtuguese so please take. He told us he would read it all. That was really cool. We are excited to meet with him.
So we have an english sunday school class that we attend everyweek. It is very fun. Lately a lot of spanish people come so we have a english/spanish sunday school class. It is very fun. I am always learning alot. it is very interesting. There are more people in that class than the japanese class.
Ya so whenever we ride the train we try to talk to people as we ride. we have met alot of different people, sometimes they are not in our area but we can give them as referals to other missionaries. I recently talked with a guy who had previously met with other missionaries. I thought that was funny. He was from Brazil, but now living in Japan. He didn't live in our area but we still got his information and gave it to other missionaries. That was pretty cool.
Trains are actually crazy here in Japan. Like whenever we come home from Nagoya the trains are packed. Everyone tries to get on and you are all up against each other. It is very uncomfortable. One might ask why don't you wait for the next train. The problem is the next train is just as full. It is very sad. It is a very unique experience. It is very hard to talk to people when you are on very packed trains but we try.
We are going to try to go to Inuyama castle today. I have lived here for four months but I haven't gone yet. It looks way cool from far away.
So have a great week. It seems like everyone had fun starting school.
Love
Elder Nelson
It has been another wonderful week here in Japan. I think it was one of the hottest. but thats ok. I was hoping it would start to cool down soon but whatever.
So we went on companion exchanges this week. It was pretty fun. I went to Gifu. The elder I was with is a great example for me. He is from Utah but he went trainer on transfer 3. He is now on transfer 4 and doing well. He is also pretty good at Japanese and that is why he went tranier...probably. It was fun. Gifu is like a major city compared to Inuyama. Inuyama is kind of a city but kind of not. Its difficult to explain.
We found this cool Brazilian guy the other day. He was wearing a back brace so we asked him why and he said he got hit by a car. Then he's like I have like nothing to do. So my companion and I gave him something to do. He is going to read the Book of Mormon. He was actualy very excited. He tried to pay us for it but we insisted that he could have it for free. Finally I told him we can't read pourtuguese so please take. He told us he would read it all. That was really cool. We are excited to meet with him.
So we have an english sunday school class that we attend everyweek. It is very fun. Lately a lot of spanish people come so we have a english/spanish sunday school class. It is very fun. I am always learning alot. it is very interesting. There are more people in that class than the japanese class.
Ya so whenever we ride the train we try to talk to people as we ride. we have met alot of different people, sometimes they are not in our area but we can give them as referals to other missionaries. I recently talked with a guy who had previously met with other missionaries. I thought that was funny. He was from Brazil, but now living in Japan. He didn't live in our area but we still got his information and gave it to other missionaries. That was pretty cool.
Trains are actually crazy here in Japan. Like whenever we come home from Nagoya the trains are packed. Everyone tries to get on and you are all up against each other. It is very uncomfortable. One might ask why don't you wait for the next train. The problem is the next train is just as full. It is very sad. It is a very unique experience. It is very hard to talk to people when you are on very packed trains but we try.
We are going to try to go to Inuyama castle today. I have lived here for four months but I haven't gone yet. It looks way cool from far away.
So have a great week. It seems like everyone had fun starting school.
Love
Elder Nelson
学校 (School) August 30, 2010
Good afternoon.
Wow I can't believe summer is over. I have been asking all the kids here when school starts and I didn't realize how soon it actually was. Time is flying. I can't believe it is almost September. It is insane. Wow I bet everyone is excited to start school. Especially seminary what a great opportunity to learn. Everyone is lucky in America to have the opportunity to go to seminary. At least in my ward there is only seminary once a week and it is on Sundays after church. Occasionally they have it on Fridays but not too often. It is a very good opportunity to learn and prepare for later in life...for example to serve a mission. It really helped me so have fun and try to learn because it will help, I promise.
This week was way good. We have started teaching new investigators. It is always fun to teach people. It is actually one of the funnest things I do. Its wierd how that works but its true. We teach a lot in English but also Japanese. My Japanese is improving but I still have trouble. I made some mistakes this past week but I have learned from them. It is better to make some mistakes and try then make no mistakes but never try. I am getting better each day so it is good. It is hard though when we are tracting and we run in to Portuguese speakers. Then we struggle in Porteuguese but they are really receptive if we could just talk with them a little better.
Today was pretty cool. We went to Nagoya and saw our zone leader. Our poor zone leader was in the hospital so we went and visited them. He is doing way good and is going to be released shortly. I know that God takes care of his servants. We also had Pizza Hut...It was soooo good. I haven't had good pizza for a long time. There was like a speacial and a Medium was only 8 dollars. It is usually 24 so it was a steal. They put corn on their pizza which seems wierd but it's not bad. It's actually pretty good. So that was way fun. I also had the opportunity to play ping pong which is way fun. They really do have ping pong tables in every church over here. There is no basketball court so thats tai hen but whatever.
Lately we have started doing tracting a different way. So like we are in Inuyama but our area is like in 8 cities like its huge. Its like way big so it is easy to get lost. We just ride for a long ways and then get lost. Then we ask people how to get places. Because we are sincerely lost and looking for something they help us. We have actually found many people by doing this. We find the good people because the mean people just don't help us. The nice people do though and we invite them to English class or tell them what we do. Like we are vollunteers and we help people become more happy and that works too. It is way fun.
We had zone conference this past week. it was way good. We only have it once every three months now so it is more rare but it was way good. Everyone at first was way afraid of our new mission president. Now everyone loves him. He likes to yell but he is just very emotional. He teaches us with such power. It is way awesome. He is way good. He challenged us to read the Book of Mormon by Christmas so I have started it over again. It will be way good. We are doing the challenge that at the end of chapter 5 of pmg if you want to look. He also promised us that our investigators would get an answer to their prayer about the Book of Mormon in 3 days or less. He said it shouldn't take weeks to get an answer. If they have faith and are truely praying they can get an answer in three days. That's not just true for them that is true for everyone. He also taught us about trials. He told us a story and then taught us how important it is to stay in control of your temper. If you lose it bad things can happen. So when you are having a bad day just think of the Savior. It was way good. He is a really powerful teacher and a way good mission president.
How is your area and your companion doing? My area is fine. There are a lot of interesting people but you know its all good. My companion is awesome. He is way cool. He is also way smart. He got his bachelors degree at the age of 18 so ya he is pretty smart. We have fun.
Have you learned much about Buddhism? I have learned that no one really knows what Buddhism is. They all say they are Buddhists but that have no idea what they are talking about. It is their excuse for not listening to us but its lame. No one knows what it is.
Do you have sister missionaries in your district? Ya actually I think that sister you are talking about is in my district. Funny. Her name is Sister Severson. She is way cool.
Are there any native missionaries in your area? Like are there missionaries gone from my home ward. Yes two. The Bishop's daughter and a Brazilian member's son. Those two families I think have fed us more than the entire ward combined so we like them alot.
Dad and I had the TV on this morning and we learned in Japan the end of summer they celebrate with fireworks. Has that occurred in your area? I have seen fire works but they have celebrations all summer so I am not sure.
Have fun as you start school and have a great week,
Love
Elder Nelson
Wow I can't believe summer is over. I have been asking all the kids here when school starts and I didn't realize how soon it actually was. Time is flying. I can't believe it is almost September. It is insane. Wow I bet everyone is excited to start school. Especially seminary what a great opportunity to learn. Everyone is lucky in America to have the opportunity to go to seminary. At least in my ward there is only seminary once a week and it is on Sundays after church. Occasionally they have it on Fridays but not too often. It is a very good opportunity to learn and prepare for later in life...for example to serve a mission. It really helped me so have fun and try to learn because it will help, I promise.
This week was way good. We have started teaching new investigators. It is always fun to teach people. It is actually one of the funnest things I do. Its wierd how that works but its true. We teach a lot in English but also Japanese. My Japanese is improving but I still have trouble. I made some mistakes this past week but I have learned from them. It is better to make some mistakes and try then make no mistakes but never try. I am getting better each day so it is good. It is hard though when we are tracting and we run in to Portuguese speakers. Then we struggle in Porteuguese but they are really receptive if we could just talk with them a little better.
Today was pretty cool. We went to Nagoya and saw our zone leader. Our poor zone leader was in the hospital so we went and visited them. He is doing way good and is going to be released shortly. I know that God takes care of his servants. We also had Pizza Hut...It was soooo good. I haven't had good pizza for a long time. There was like a speacial and a Medium was only 8 dollars. It is usually 24 so it was a steal. They put corn on their pizza which seems wierd but it's not bad. It's actually pretty good. So that was way fun. I also had the opportunity to play ping pong which is way fun. They really do have ping pong tables in every church over here. There is no basketball court so thats tai hen but whatever.
Lately we have started doing tracting a different way. So like we are in Inuyama but our area is like in 8 cities like its huge. Its like way big so it is easy to get lost. We just ride for a long ways and then get lost. Then we ask people how to get places. Because we are sincerely lost and looking for something they help us. We have actually found many people by doing this. We find the good people because the mean people just don't help us. The nice people do though and we invite them to English class or tell them what we do. Like we are vollunteers and we help people become more happy and that works too. It is way fun.
We had zone conference this past week. it was way good. We only have it once every three months now so it is more rare but it was way good. Everyone at first was way afraid of our new mission president. Now everyone loves him. He likes to yell but he is just very emotional. He teaches us with such power. It is way awesome. He is way good. He challenged us to read the Book of Mormon by Christmas so I have started it over again. It will be way good. We are doing the challenge that at the end of chapter 5 of pmg if you want to look. He also promised us that our investigators would get an answer to their prayer about the Book of Mormon in 3 days or less. He said it shouldn't take weeks to get an answer. If they have faith and are truely praying they can get an answer in three days. That's not just true for them that is true for everyone. He also taught us about trials. He told us a story and then taught us how important it is to stay in control of your temper. If you lose it bad things can happen. So when you are having a bad day just think of the Savior. It was way good. He is a really powerful teacher and a way good mission president.
How is your area and your companion doing? My area is fine. There are a lot of interesting people but you know its all good. My companion is awesome. He is way cool. He is also way smart. He got his bachelors degree at the age of 18 so ya he is pretty smart. We have fun.
Have you learned much about Buddhism? I have learned that no one really knows what Buddhism is. They all say they are Buddhists but that have no idea what they are talking about. It is their excuse for not listening to us but its lame. No one knows what it is.
Do you have sister missionaries in your district? Ya actually I think that sister you are talking about is in my district. Funny. Her name is Sister Severson. She is way cool.
Are there any native missionaries in your area? Like are there missionaries gone from my home ward. Yes two. The Bishop's daughter and a Brazilian member's son. Those two families I think have fed us more than the entire ward combined so we like them alot.
Dad and I had the TV on this morning and we learned in Japan the end of summer they celebrate with fireworks. Has that occurred in your area? I have seen fire works but they have celebrations all summer so I am not sure.
Have fun as you start school and have a great week,
Love
Elder Nelson
食べ放題 (August 22, 2010)
Hello,
It has been another great week here. I don't think it has rained once this last week. I take it back it rained once but still, pretty good. I think it is starting to cool down but now that I say that I am sure it will be way hot soon but it's all good I am getting a nice tan...
This week we went to the Bishop's house and we made your own sushi. It was way good. I probably made the best sushi ever. So naturally it had rice , tomato, avacado, egg and crab...I think. I'm not exactly sure what the crab thing was but it tasted good. He also knows how much I like kimchi so he gave us kimchi too. It was all way good. We also ate with a Brazillian member. It was some Brazillian dish with like a lot of chicken and egg so it was way good too. Today we are going to a buffet. We are way excited. It is a thai curry resturant. It is going to be awesome. They have this stuff called nun and it is so good. It's like bread and you dip it in curry and you are filled with happiness. And because its all you can eat it just makes everything better. I am pretty excited.
This week was interesting. I got a few flat tires so that was kind of lame so we were on the trains alot and we were able to meet some people as we talked to them on the trains. It was way cool, and my bike is ok for the moment. I fixed it so we will see how long that last but it will be good.
It sounds like everyone is excited for seminary.
We have been teaching a lot of Philipinos. They seem to be the only ones that are willing to listen sometimes. It is fun teaching them because it is in English. They also always have a religious background but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. One we are teaching is cool but he just won't pray about Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. He is like I prayed but not about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith so we are working on that. He comes to church every week and that usually seems to be the hard part. We are going to try to meet with him tonight. He lives by this huge mall so we will probably go there until 6 and then go to his house.
We also found a new investigator kind of. This member came up to me after church and was like my son is 11 and has not yet received baptism. He has also heard none of the lessons. Will you teach him and baptize him. We were like ahhh we can do that. That was pretty exciting part of our day.
Japanese is getting better. I am still struggling but I am getting better. I am starting to understand some more complex things so its getting there. I think its just repitition. I will have it down soon.
I also was in a Japanese hospital. It is a very interesting place. There is a member there and an investigator so it was a good experience. We were able to bless the investigator so hopefully that helped her. She is doing better now. Hopefully we will be able to go visit them again soon. It is so cool to have the prieshood and be able to use it. I know this church is true.
Have a great week!! All is well
Love Elder Nelson
It has been another great week here. I don't think it has rained once this last week. I take it back it rained once but still, pretty good. I think it is starting to cool down but now that I say that I am sure it will be way hot soon but it's all good I am getting a nice tan...
This week we went to the Bishop's house and we made your own sushi. It was way good. I probably made the best sushi ever. So naturally it had rice , tomato, avacado, egg and crab...I think. I'm not exactly sure what the crab thing was but it tasted good. He also knows how much I like kimchi so he gave us kimchi too. It was all way good. We also ate with a Brazillian member. It was some Brazillian dish with like a lot of chicken and egg so it was way good too. Today we are going to a buffet. We are way excited. It is a thai curry resturant. It is going to be awesome. They have this stuff called nun and it is so good. It's like bread and you dip it in curry and you are filled with happiness. And because its all you can eat it just makes everything better. I am pretty excited.
This week was interesting. I got a few flat tires so that was kind of lame so we were on the trains alot and we were able to meet some people as we talked to them on the trains. It was way cool, and my bike is ok for the moment. I fixed it so we will see how long that last but it will be good.
It sounds like everyone is excited for seminary.
We have been teaching a lot of Philipinos. They seem to be the only ones that are willing to listen sometimes. It is fun teaching them because it is in English. They also always have a religious background but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. One we are teaching is cool but he just won't pray about Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. He is like I prayed but not about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith so we are working on that. He comes to church every week and that usually seems to be the hard part. We are going to try to meet with him tonight. He lives by this huge mall so we will probably go there until 6 and then go to his house.
We also found a new investigator kind of. This member came up to me after church and was like my son is 11 and has not yet received baptism. He has also heard none of the lessons. Will you teach him and baptize him. We were like ahhh we can do that. That was pretty exciting part of our day.
Japanese is getting better. I am still struggling but I am getting better. I am starting to understand some more complex things so its getting there. I think its just repitition. I will have it down soon.
I also was in a Japanese hospital. It is a very interesting place. There is a member there and an investigator so it was a good experience. We were able to bless the investigator so hopefully that helped her. She is doing better now. Hopefully we will be able to go visit them again soon. It is so cool to have the prieshood and be able to use it. I know this church is true.
Have a great week!! All is well
Love Elder Nelson
花火 (August 15, 2010)
It sounds like summer has been great. It sounds like the normal summer, everyone is excited to go back to school. It has also been a great summer back here. Ya so this past week and part of this week is bonyasumi. Yes that does mean that alot of people get work off. Yasumi means holiday so its obviously bonholiday. So there were alot of people with work off. The only problem with that is people seem to go out of town when they have work off. Actually in Japan they go and see their ancestors grave right around this time. So there are alot of people travelling. It's kind of cool but we were able to go with a philippino member. He was way cool, we visited some investigators and less actives and then he took us to a philippino shop. It was awesome they had root beer. Naturally I had to buy some even though it was 120 a can. They also had peanut butter, it was 4 pounds but it cost 1500 yen. So unfortunately i did not purchase it. I might go back. we will see. Also this weekend there were tons of fireworks because of the holiday. They were way awesome. We actually were invited over to a members house then walked to a river and the fireworks were shot over the river. The member wanted us to put on a kimono and go to the fireworks but somehow we got out of it. The fireworks over the river were so cool. The show lasted about 30 minutes. I could not help singing America the Beautiful. It was way cool.
Lately we have started teaching Bryan. He is way cool. His wife is a member and he has met with the missionaries for about two years. He wasn't really progressing but now he is coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon. It is really exciting for him. He still needs to change parts of his life but he is making way good progress.
Do you do much tracting? Yes we do it all the time.
If so, are there apartment buildings you go to or do you tract neighborhoods? We do apartment buildings alot. They don't usually give the excuse that they are Buddhist. For some reason people that own a house usually tell us they are Buddhist. Sometimes we do houses though. You never know. We also like talking to people on the street or train. Like 5 days ago we were in Nagoya because my companion had to go to a training meeting so I went streeting with Elder Eckman. That was fun but after we went to a Chinese all you can eat buffet. It was way good. It was like all you can eat Panda Express for 10 dollars, drinks included. Its hard to beat that. They also had ice cream. On they way home I talked to this guy on the train. He was way cool. He was a Christian and he was Japanese. That is pretty rare. He was also a doctor and had been to America. I thought it was cool. He doesn't live even close to my area but I was able to give him as a referal to other missionaries. Pretty cool right. So we are always talking to people, always. It really helps with the language and finding people.
I liked the green bike but then I decided to trade it in for a mama chattei. Just kidding. A member gave us the girls bike. I rode it every once in a while. It was helpful when carrying 10 kg bags of rice around or a watermelon. It is now broke and unfixable so I don't think I will ride it anymore.
The girl you baptized, what about her family? Her dad is not a member and has no interest. Her mom is a member and so are her parents. And where is she from? They are Japanese, so they are from Japan.
Right now it is typhoon season. It is pretty insane. Not a big one yet I don't think it just rained a lot last week. We got so drenched. It was pretty fun. Like it looks like it will be a great day and then boom. It rains and you can't get under cover quick enough so you get all drenched and then we just keep going.
Have a great week. Make your summer great. Don't worry my summer has flown by too.
Love Elder Nelson
愛してますよ
Lately we have started teaching Bryan. He is way cool. His wife is a member and he has met with the missionaries for about two years. He wasn't really progressing but now he is coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon. It is really exciting for him. He still needs to change parts of his life but he is making way good progress.
Do you do much tracting? Yes we do it all the time.
If so, are there apartment buildings you go to or do you tract neighborhoods? We do apartment buildings alot. They don't usually give the excuse that they are Buddhist. For some reason people that own a house usually tell us they are Buddhist. Sometimes we do houses though. You never know. We also like talking to people on the street or train. Like 5 days ago we were in Nagoya because my companion had to go to a training meeting so I went streeting with Elder Eckman. That was fun but after we went to a Chinese all you can eat buffet. It was way good. It was like all you can eat Panda Express for 10 dollars, drinks included. Its hard to beat that. They also had ice cream. On they way home I talked to this guy on the train. He was way cool. He was a Christian and he was Japanese. That is pretty rare. He was also a doctor and had been to America. I thought it was cool. He doesn't live even close to my area but I was able to give him as a referal to other missionaries. Pretty cool right. So we are always talking to people, always. It really helps with the language and finding people.
I liked the green bike but then I decided to trade it in for a mama chattei. Just kidding. A member gave us the girls bike. I rode it every once in a while. It was helpful when carrying 10 kg bags of rice around or a watermelon. It is now broke and unfixable so I don't think I will ride it anymore.
The girl you baptized, what about her family? Her dad is not a member and has no interest. Her mom is a member and so are her parents. And where is she from? They are Japanese, so they are from Japan.
Right now it is typhoon season. It is pretty insane. Not a big one yet I don't think it just rained a lot last week. We got so drenched. It was pretty fun. Like it looks like it will be a great day and then boom. It rains and you can't get under cover quick enough so you get all drenched and then we just keep going.
Have a great week. Make your summer great. Don't worry my summer has flown by too.
Love Elder Nelson
愛してますよ
The two fairest of them all (August 8, 2010)
Good morning morning everyone.
It has been a geat week in Inuyama.
First, let me tell you a little bit about transfers. So President Baird calls me Monday morning and tells me that I will be receiving a new companion. He told me a little bit about him and then told me that we are both very fair. He said we are probably the two fairest in the mission. I thought that was way funny. So basically Elder Fredrickson and I are the two whitest missionaries in the mission. Ya he has blond hair and blue eyes just like me. Funny, we stand out quite a bit. I think we are the only two here that have natural blond hair. Some have fake blond hair but its like orange. It is way fun, random people are always talking to us.
In America, everyone wants to be tan, correct. Well it is quite the opposite in Japan. Everyone here wants to be pale. It is kind of funny but most of them tan way easy and they do not like it especially the women. I just think it is funny because I am pretty pale without trying, so I fit in pretty well in that aspect. So like lately it has been like 40 degrees with humidity which is way hot that's all I know. But people walk around fully clothed so the sun will no get them. I am talking hats umbrellas gloves and pants in the summers. It is kind of funny.
I ate at a Brazillian's house this past week. I love eating at their houses because like me they love meat. It was way good. We had like meat balls with rice and this stuff called fachon. It was way good. They also gave us this weird dessert. It was like this purple jello jelly stuff with sweeten condensed milk so it was way good. I also had a hot dog which is very rare but they are way good. It is like 5 dollars for 8 of them so I never buy them because there is other meat that is cheaper. Yes, like bacon.
This week I also learned how to do a Japanese dance. It was pretty fun to learn it. It is very easy and I think everyone in Japan knows it including me. It was way fun.
Ya our investigators are doing ok. They have been going out of town for summer break or they are busy. It is hard to teach people when they are way busy but we have a bunch of appaointments scheaduled for tomorrow. That is good that we will be busy. We found a basketball player and he is 6 6 about. The tallest Japanese person ever but he is very busy playing basketball for his college but he is a way cool guy.
My talk went well. I talked for 20 minutes. It was good. Everyone understood it
It is really important to rely on the spirit. I haven't had a companion that knows the area this last week so it is all up to me. I have to depend heavilly on the Lord or else my plans will fail. It is so important to listen to the spirit every day.
I am glad to be serving a mission
Love Elder Nelson
It has been a geat week in Inuyama.
First, let me tell you a little bit about transfers. So President Baird calls me Monday morning and tells me that I will be receiving a new companion. He told me a little bit about him and then told me that we are both very fair. He said we are probably the two fairest in the mission. I thought that was way funny. So basically Elder Fredrickson and I are the two whitest missionaries in the mission. Ya he has blond hair and blue eyes just like me. Funny, we stand out quite a bit. I think we are the only two here that have natural blond hair. Some have fake blond hair but its like orange. It is way fun, random people are always talking to us.
In America, everyone wants to be tan, correct. Well it is quite the opposite in Japan. Everyone here wants to be pale. It is kind of funny but most of them tan way easy and they do not like it especially the women. I just think it is funny because I am pretty pale without trying, so I fit in pretty well in that aspect. So like lately it has been like 40 degrees with humidity which is way hot that's all I know. But people walk around fully clothed so the sun will no get them. I am talking hats umbrellas gloves and pants in the summers. It is kind of funny.
I ate at a Brazillian's house this past week. I love eating at their houses because like me they love meat. It was way good. We had like meat balls with rice and this stuff called fachon. It was way good. They also gave us this weird dessert. It was like this purple jello jelly stuff with sweeten condensed milk so it was way good. I also had a hot dog which is very rare but they are way good. It is like 5 dollars for 8 of them so I never buy them because there is other meat that is cheaper. Yes, like bacon.
This week I also learned how to do a Japanese dance. It was pretty fun to learn it. It is very easy and I think everyone in Japan knows it including me. It was way fun.
Ya our investigators are doing ok. They have been going out of town for summer break or they are busy. It is hard to teach people when they are way busy but we have a bunch of appaointments scheaduled for tomorrow. That is good that we will be busy. We found a basketball player and he is 6 6 about. The tallest Japanese person ever but he is very busy playing basketball for his college but he is a way cool guy.
My talk went well. I talked for 20 minutes. It was good. Everyone understood it
It is really important to rely on the spirit. I haven't had a companion that knows the area this last week so it is all up to me. I have to depend heavilly on the Lord or else my plans will fail. It is so important to listen to the spirit every day.
I am glad to be serving a mission
Love Elder Nelson
Buffet (August 2, 2010)
Hello Everybody
It sounds like it has been another great week back in America. It has been a great one here.
Transfer calls came in and....Let me tell you how nerve racking they are. Not as bad as opening your mission call but still a little nerve racking. Espeacially when the phone rings. So President Baird called me this morning and informed me that I am getting a new companion. Elder Witt is going to Ichinomia, if you are wondering, which was one of his previous areas, and i am now companions with Elder Fredrickson. I think that is how you spell it. I have met him once I think but I am not sure. He sounds really cool. That is all the information I have about him. I am excited to start working with a new elder. It was fun to serve with Elder Witt but things go on. I am very excited.
I show all the members the photos you sent me. They love them. They love looking at photos. They gave me a hard time when I only had two so thank you. They think Joshs broken toe is very funny. Sorry Josh but you will probably never meet them so don't be to embarassed.
Zach guess what, I also have to give a talk in sacrament meeting. It is on th 8th. It is on the subject of trials and its not in english. It is going to be 15 minutes long. When the second counselor called me he said just talk really slowly so that is what I will do. I was nervous about giving one in english for that long so we will see how this goes.
I had the best meal the other day. A member took us out to eat to a buffet. It was awesome. They but this pot filled with spicy liquid in front of you. You have a hot plate in front of you to heat it up. Then you can throw meat and veggies in it. You take it out of the boiling liquid and eat it. It was so good. I just kept throwing meat in it. It was so awesome.
We also had a baptism!!! yay! she was a little girl and she just turned 8. We were very happy for her. We actually taught her all the lessons and told her to pray about the Book of Mormon. Yesterday over the pulpit she told everyone that she prayed and got an answer. I thought that was way cool. She is an awesome example.
I know this church is true.
Love Elder Nelson
It sounds like it has been another great week back in America. It has been a great one here.
Transfer calls came in and....Let me tell you how nerve racking they are. Not as bad as opening your mission call but still a little nerve racking. Espeacially when the phone rings. So President Baird called me this morning and informed me that I am getting a new companion. Elder Witt is going to Ichinomia, if you are wondering, which was one of his previous areas, and i am now companions with Elder Fredrickson. I think that is how you spell it. I have met him once I think but I am not sure. He sounds really cool. That is all the information I have about him. I am excited to start working with a new elder. It was fun to serve with Elder Witt but things go on. I am very excited.
I show all the members the photos you sent me. They love them. They love looking at photos. They gave me a hard time when I only had two so thank you. They think Joshs broken toe is very funny. Sorry Josh but you will probably never meet them so don't be to embarassed.
Zach guess what, I also have to give a talk in sacrament meeting. It is on th 8th. It is on the subject of trials and its not in english. It is going to be 15 minutes long. When the second counselor called me he said just talk really slowly so that is what I will do. I was nervous about giving one in english for that long so we will see how this goes.
I had the best meal the other day. A member took us out to eat to a buffet. It was awesome. They but this pot filled with spicy liquid in front of you. You have a hot plate in front of you to heat it up. Then you can throw meat and veggies in it. You take it out of the boiling liquid and eat it. It was so good. I just kept throwing meat in it. It was so awesome.
We also had a baptism!!! yay! she was a little girl and she just turned 8. We were very happy for her. We actually taught her all the lessons and told her to pray about the Book of Mormon. Yesterday over the pulpit she told everyone that she prayed and got an answer. I thought that was way cool. She is an awesome example.
I know this church is true.
Love Elder Nelson
Hello (July 25, 2010)
Hello
It has been another week to remember in the great city of Inuyama. I hope everyone is having a great summer vacation. The Kids here finally got out of school. They seemed very excited. Too bad the high school kids still go to school. I don't completely understand why but today we saw them walking to school in their uniforms but it is now technically summer break.
I also had a great pioneer day. Let me tell you. there was this huge festival. We were in a different city but it was there. There were fireworks and a parade all for Pioneer day I think. The fireworks were pretty, at least the ones I saw. I was so happy to see such a great holiday celeberated in a country so far from where the pioneers traveled.
It is really hot here in Japan. It is different from Vegas. We are actually in the hottest part of Japan. I sweat a lot but I did in vegas so I am not surprised.
Yesterday was a very interesting day. We show up to the church and the ac is broken. That kind of stunk. But the upstairs one was working so we all went upstairs. They were going to send us home after just taking the sacrament but the ac started to work again. So my companion got to give a talk about the pioneers. It was good. But at 11 am he said good morning over the pulpet. Apparently at 11 you are supposed to say good afternoon because the next speaker over the pulpit told everyone that's what you are supposed to do. I laughed. He didn't think it was as funny as I did. Then we decided to go to Kani. It was an hour bike ride and we hardly got there but we went there. Then we decided to go to this random appartment. We knocked on one door and found a new investigator. He is like 20. I forgot his name but it is like Takano or someting. He took the Book of Mormon no problem which is weird because most people don't like taking stuff for free. He took it though and said he would read it. It was way cool because we really had no idea why we were out there but we found out. Unfortunatly on the way back both of my companion's tires popped. (on his bike). I wasn't too surprised because he had already gotten two flat tires earleir in the week. Those who are counting with me have figured out that he had 4 flat tires in a week. It was tough for him. It was late when this happened and we were a 45 minute bike ride away. We walked to the nearest train station and tried to take our bikes on but they wouldn't let us. Long story short, we are safe and both our bikes are in working order.
Yesterday we also got a hold of Chris, the Nigerian, he fell off our map for a while but we are going to visit him tonight. He went to Nigeria or something i am not entirely sure. Hopefully he doesn't leave on us again because he is a really good person and just needs a little help.
I am thankful for the opportunity to serve. I know that God works miracles in our lives. Have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
It has been another week to remember in the great city of Inuyama. I hope everyone is having a great summer vacation. The Kids here finally got out of school. They seemed very excited. Too bad the high school kids still go to school. I don't completely understand why but today we saw them walking to school in their uniforms but it is now technically summer break.
I also had a great pioneer day. Let me tell you. there was this huge festival. We were in a different city but it was there. There were fireworks and a parade all for Pioneer day I think. The fireworks were pretty, at least the ones I saw. I was so happy to see such a great holiday celeberated in a country so far from where the pioneers traveled.
It is really hot here in Japan. It is different from Vegas. We are actually in the hottest part of Japan. I sweat a lot but I did in vegas so I am not surprised.
Yesterday was a very interesting day. We show up to the church and the ac is broken. That kind of stunk. But the upstairs one was working so we all went upstairs. They were going to send us home after just taking the sacrament but the ac started to work again. So my companion got to give a talk about the pioneers. It was good. But at 11 am he said good morning over the pulpet. Apparently at 11 you are supposed to say good afternoon because the next speaker over the pulpit told everyone that's what you are supposed to do. I laughed. He didn't think it was as funny as I did. Then we decided to go to Kani. It was an hour bike ride and we hardly got there but we went there. Then we decided to go to this random appartment. We knocked on one door and found a new investigator. He is like 20. I forgot his name but it is like Takano or someting. He took the Book of Mormon no problem which is weird because most people don't like taking stuff for free. He took it though and said he would read it. It was way cool because we really had no idea why we were out there but we found out. Unfortunatly on the way back both of my companion's tires popped. (on his bike). I wasn't too surprised because he had already gotten two flat tires earleir in the week. Those who are counting with me have figured out that he had 4 flat tires in a week. It was tough for him. It was late when this happened and we were a 45 minute bike ride away. We walked to the nearest train station and tried to take our bikes on but they wouldn't let us. Long story short, we are safe and both our bikes are in working order.
Yesterday we also got a hold of Chris, the Nigerian, he fell off our map for a while but we are going to visit him tonight. He went to Nigeria or something i am not entirely sure. Hopefully he doesn't leave on us again because he is a really good person and just needs a little help.
I am thankful for the opportunity to serve. I know that God works miracles in our lives. Have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
Happy 海の日(July 18. 2010)
Hello
Wow it has been another great week. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacation. Today is a very special day in Japan. It is the first holiday I have experienced while i have been in Japan. Obviously it is sea day. I don't know what it exactly is or means but the kids get a day off from school. They seemed way excited. O ya they get a day off from school because they haven't had summer break. Their summer break is only for 5 weeks. They get out pretty soon but still they go to school way longer than american kids. So far it has been a great holiday I haven't really noticed anything different.
This last week it has been something that we like to call tsuyu. It is kind of fun. It just starts raining out of nowhere. We got downpoured on twice. Thursday it rained all day, kind of. It started at 2 when we were in minokamo. And we were riding and the raindrops were so big that they hurt when they hit you and we couldn't see because it hurt. We took shelter under a nearby bridge. That was fun until a river started flowing through it. Not a creek or a stream, a river. There were also huge spiders in there and they were on my companion. It was kind of like Indiana Jones. We decided we needed to get out from under the bridge. There was a recycle shop near by. We rode for that but before getting there we got drenched. At that moment I was more wet then when I go swimming. It was insane. We chilled in the recycle shop until the rain had let up. it took like 45 minutes. It was still raining but we went out anyway of course our investgators got stuck in the rain so what can you do. We were not able to see them but it was still intense. That night alot of places were flooded. The street next to the other elders in our district was flooded hard core. they went out and liked try to help people who needed help. Inuyama i don't think was hit as hard. The next day the same thing happened but we hid in a mall the power went out. The worse thing was that we couldn't use the escalators. We were able to talk to people in the mall so it wasn't bad at all.
It was an insane week. After church yesterday there was shokujikai. that was fun. It is like a party after church. It was cool.　I learned how to hold my chopsticks the Japanese way and I also got to eat ice cream. It was fun and we got to talk with members and things. it was way good.
it is getting way hot it was like 34 yesterday. remember that there is humidity. It is hot but it is nice to have the sun out every once in a while. There are also a lot of bugs here. Probably because it rains all the time and we are on an isldand i don't know. It's funny. There are spiders every where. There is this train station that we call shilobs layer because there are literally 1000 spiders. Trust me I counted. There is way too many but they are cool. They eat the moths so what can you do.
We just opened up english class again. We are hoping to find more investigators that way. We will see how it goes. Everyone loves english here, espeacially the kids. We say hello to them and then they say `hero hobayu` translated hello how are you. Then they laugh and talk about how cool it was to say that.
Everything is going well. I am so thankful for your prayers. They help. Have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
Wow it has been another great week. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacation. Today is a very special day in Japan. It is the first holiday I have experienced while i have been in Japan. Obviously it is sea day. I don't know what it exactly is or means but the kids get a day off from school. They seemed way excited. O ya they get a day off from school because they haven't had summer break. Their summer break is only for 5 weeks. They get out pretty soon but still they go to school way longer than american kids. So far it has been a great holiday I haven't really noticed anything different.
This last week it has been something that we like to call tsuyu. It is kind of fun. It just starts raining out of nowhere. We got downpoured on twice. Thursday it rained all day, kind of. It started at 2 when we were in minokamo. And we were riding and the raindrops were so big that they hurt when they hit you and we couldn't see because it hurt. We took shelter under a nearby bridge. That was fun until a river started flowing through it. Not a creek or a stream, a river. There were also huge spiders in there and they were on my companion. It was kind of like Indiana Jones. We decided we needed to get out from under the bridge. There was a recycle shop near by. We rode for that but before getting there we got drenched. At that moment I was more wet then when I go swimming. It was insane. We chilled in the recycle shop until the rain had let up. it took like 45 minutes. It was still raining but we went out anyway of course our investgators got stuck in the rain so what can you do. We were not able to see them but it was still intense. That night alot of places were flooded. The street next to the other elders in our district was flooded hard core. they went out and liked try to help people who needed help. Inuyama i don't think was hit as hard. The next day the same thing happened but we hid in a mall the power went out. The worse thing was that we couldn't use the escalators. We were able to talk to people in the mall so it wasn't bad at all.
It was an insane week. After church yesterday there was shokujikai. that was fun. It is like a party after church. It was cool.　I learned how to hold my chopsticks the Japanese way and I also got to eat ice cream. It was fun and we got to talk with members and things. it was way good.
it is getting way hot it was like 34 yesterday. remember that there is humidity. It is hot but it is nice to have the sun out every once in a while. There are also a lot of bugs here. Probably because it rains all the time and we are on an isldand i don't know. It's funny. There are spiders every where. There is this train station that we call shilobs layer because there are literally 1000 spiders. Trust me I counted. There is way too many but they are cool. They eat the moths so what can you do.
We just opened up english class again. We are hoping to find more investigators that way. We will see how it goes. Everyone loves english here, espeacially the kids. We say hello to them and then they say `hero hobayu` translated hello how are you. Then they laugh and talk about how cool it was to say that.
Everything is going well. I am so thankful for your prayers. They help. Have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
Hello (7/12/2010)
Hello
I hope everyone has had a great week.
One thing I was able to partake of this week was calpis. I am sure you don't know what it is but it is like way good. It is like milk soda. It is so good. It is like drinking milk while you get that awesome soda feeling. It is way good. I also drink wheat tea all the time. It's made from the roots of the plants so its all good. The members drink it all the time. Which means we get the privilege of drinking it. It isn't that bad. It just tastes like cigarette water so it's pretty good. Almost as good as calpis. I also drink something called aquarias. It is pretty good. Its supposed to taste like gatorade but it doesn't. There is like no sugar in it. It is still pretty good but it does not taste like gatorade.
We also had zone conference. It was way good. We met President Baird. I heard from another missionary that he was a motivational speaker and if he wasn't he should be. He had alot to say and he said most of it while yelling. I think it is just how he is. We weren't doing anything wrong. He was just yelling. It was mainly about prayer. He said up in heaven there is a big room and it is full of presents. There are presents with everyone's names on it. There is a present up in heaven with Elder Nelson's name on it. I have to beg for that present. I have to ask everyday for that present which in my case might be the gift of tongues. I also need to ask for him to give investigators presents. The thing is that if the present is not in that room they can't have it. Some things rely on God's will and we have to realize that some things we just can't have. We have to figure out if it is God's will and if it is we have to beg and plead for that gift. I thought that was way cool.
Another thing he said that was way cool was that we are not set apart to fail. I thought that was way cool. Because we are missionaries we are not set apart to fail. Then If you step back and think about it, we are all sons and daughters of God. We are not set apart to fail. I think that is awesome. We have god on our side. He is there to help us so we cannot fail.
Right now I am in a ward. We average 70 people at church a week. It is pretty good but we can do better. My normal Sunday is that I go to church at 9. First is priesthood, then I go to Sunday School in English unless we have an investigator that speaks Japanese but we like them to hang out and get to know the members. Then it's sacrament meeting. Afterwards we have a ward missionary meeting. It has been with the second counselor in the bishopric because our Ward Mission Leader has decided to go less active. We then go and teach seminary because we usually have an investigator that goes. It is after church for an hour and a half once a week. Seminary is way hard over here. lol. Then we go home at like at 3 and eat lunch and then go teach people for the rest of the day.
It is going to be another great week. I hope you enjoy your week also.
Love
Elder Nelson
I hope everyone has had a great week.
One thing I was able to partake of this week was calpis. I am sure you don't know what it is but it is like way good. It is like milk soda. It is so good. It is like drinking milk while you get that awesome soda feeling. It is way good. I also drink wheat tea all the time. It's made from the roots of the plants so its all good. The members drink it all the time. Which means we get the privilege of drinking it. It isn't that bad. It just tastes like cigarette water so it's pretty good. Almost as good as calpis. I also drink something called aquarias. It is pretty good. Its supposed to taste like gatorade but it doesn't. There is like no sugar in it. It is still pretty good but it does not taste like gatorade.
We also had zone conference. It was way good. We met President Baird. I heard from another missionary that he was a motivational speaker and if he wasn't he should be. He had alot to say and he said most of it while yelling. I think it is just how he is. We weren't doing anything wrong. He was just yelling. It was mainly about prayer. He said up in heaven there is a big room and it is full of presents. There are presents with everyone's names on it. There is a present up in heaven with Elder Nelson's name on it. I have to beg for that present. I have to ask everyday for that present which in my case might be the gift of tongues. I also need to ask for him to give investigators presents. The thing is that if the present is not in that room they can't have it. Some things rely on God's will and we have to realize that some things we just can't have. We have to figure out if it is God's will and if it is we have to beg and plead for that gift. I thought that was way cool.
Another thing he said that was way cool was that we are not set apart to fail. I thought that was way cool. Because we are missionaries we are not set apart to fail. Then If you step back and think about it, we are all sons and daughters of God. We are not set apart to fail. I think that is awesome. We have god on our side. He is there to help us so we cannot fail.
Right now I am in a ward. We average 70 people at church a week. It is pretty good but we can do better. My normal Sunday is that I go to church at 9. First is priesthood, then I go to Sunday School in English unless we have an investigator that speaks Japanese but we like them to hang out and get to know the members. Then it's sacrament meeting. Afterwards we have a ward missionary meeting. It has been with the second counselor in the bishopric because our Ward Mission Leader has decided to go less active. We then go and teach seminary because we usually have an investigator that goes. It is after church for an hour and a half once a week. Seminary is way hard over here. lol. Then we go home at like at 3 and eat lunch and then go teach people for the rest of the day.
It is going to be another great week. I hope you enjoy your week also.
Love
Elder Nelson
Happy 4th of July (July 5, 2010)
Whats up!
It sounds like everyone has had a great 4th of July。
Mine was pretty good. Apparently it isnt a big holiday over here. I was fairy suprised. I didnt even see one fire work set off. Who knew that Japan did not celebrate 4th of July. O well I enjoyed it. I was as patriotic as I could be while being on a mission in a different country. I had the opportunity to eat watermelon which brought me great joy. Watermelon over here is like 20 dollars. I think that is pretty expensive but we had one. We also had hot dogs. They are like 6 dollars for 8 of them. They were way good. It was like the best dinner ever. We also went to a brazilian tabehodai which is an all you can eat buffet. It was way good. I had some steak and some chicken and some rice of course. No meal in Japan is complete with out partaking of some rice.
I had the opportunity this week to go welcome our new mission president. That was way cool. It must have looked awesome seeing 40 missionaries dressed up, waiting for someone to come off of the train. He had people taking pictures of us and all sorts of fun things. When he arrived we sang the song `warera wa ten n no... susume iza susume` Which is of course "Called to Serve". He was so happy to see us. It was a cool experience. We also said bye to the Travellers who are probably chilling in Utah right now. That was a great experience.
just an fyi. My pday next week will be on monday and most likely on the p-days following. So thats cool.
I also went on companion exchanges with Elder Fujishima who is our Zone Leader. That was way cool. He doesn't speak much English. It was challenging because I couldn't ask him what just happened. He would say the same thing. It really helped me out and I was able to learn a lot even though it was really challenging doing everything in Japanese.
Another fyi: The nice man we met last week is doing well. We taught him lesson 1 and part of lesson 2. We are excited to be able to talk with him and continue to teach them.
I hope you have another great week all is going well. It keeps raining so thats always fun
Love
Elder Nelson
It sounds like everyone has had a great 4th of July。
Mine was pretty good. Apparently it isnt a big holiday over here. I was fairy suprised. I didnt even see one fire work set off. Who knew that Japan did not celebrate 4th of July. O well I enjoyed it. I was as patriotic as I could be while being on a mission in a different country. I had the opportunity to eat watermelon which brought me great joy. Watermelon over here is like 20 dollars. I think that is pretty expensive but we had one. We also had hot dogs. They are like 6 dollars for 8 of them. They were way good. It was like the best dinner ever. We also went to a brazilian tabehodai which is an all you can eat buffet. It was way good. I had some steak and some chicken and some rice of course. No meal in Japan is complete with out partaking of some rice.
I had the opportunity this week to go welcome our new mission president. That was way cool. It must have looked awesome seeing 40 missionaries dressed up, waiting for someone to come off of the train. He had people taking pictures of us and all sorts of fun things. When he arrived we sang the song `warera wa ten n no... susume iza susume` Which is of course "Called to Serve". He was so happy to see us. It was a cool experience. We also said bye to the Travellers who are probably chilling in Utah right now. That was a great experience.
just an fyi. My pday next week will be on monday and most likely on the p-days following. So thats cool.
I also went on companion exchanges with Elder Fujishima who is our Zone Leader. That was way cool. He doesn't speak much English. It was challenging because I couldn't ask him what just happened. He would say the same thing. It really helped me out and I was able to learn a lot even though it was really challenging doing everything in Japanese.
Another fyi: The nice man we met last week is doing well. We taught him lesson 1 and part of lesson 2. We are excited to be able to talk with him and continue to teach them.
I hope you have another great week all is going well. It keeps raining so thats always fun
Love
Elder Nelson
Inuyama (6/29/2010)
Whats up!!!!
First of all that is like my favorite view. I see it 4 times a week at least. It is awesome. The castle is inuyama . It is awesome. We are going to go 1 pday.
Cool Experience: This happened like 3 minutes ago so I feel as if I should share it. I was reading my emails and this dude came up to me and my companion and said he had read some of the book of mormon before and was interested to learn more. We were like definitely. So we told him tonight at 7 we could meet with him. I was happy we came here so late. God has a plan for all of us and it is way funny how things work out some time but he wants to learn more so it is way awesome. It was way cool because we were housing for like 3 hours yesterday because we couldn't really teach anyone for the rest of the day. We didn't really find people. The closest we got is we were talking to this 20 year old girl for like 5 minutes until her dad yelled at her and came and closed the door. It was sad but everything works out.
Also yesterday we went on companion exchanges it was way fun. The elder that I got to go with has not been in Japan for a week. Like he has been here 5 days. So he knew less Japanese than I did. It was different. I couldn't ask anyone what happened. I had to tell him what happened. I was able to understand the jist of what was going on. It was way fun. It was an experience like no other.
Also if you think Utahans are bad drivers. Come to Japan they have nothing on them.They are so bad. I think they drive with their eyes closed. I was almost hit like 3 times this week. They are terrible. I realize why they take trains all the time.
This week I didn't really have any cool food experiences. I ate pickles and was able to hold them down. I dont think I even gagged. I can't remember. I try to forget that my stomach had to hold such a nasty thing. I also had this thing called gyudon. I might have told you about it. It is way good. All Americans would like it. It is like really really thin cut meat. With onions all over rice. It is way good though and the meat is cooked yes there is not even any pink probably because it is so thin.
Chris is doing well. He is not happy that Nigeria is out of the world cup but he said the rest of Africa is Pretty good I dont know. Some people like it here. Probably more than in America. There are a lot of Brazilians...that is probably why.
So ya basically it has been another awesome week. It is either really hot or raining and hot but its pretty hot in vegas so its not bad. I love it here and I am having so much fun. Have another great week. Thanks for the prayers. There is no doubt in my mind that they do help. I know they help. Thanks so much.
Love Elder Nelson
First of all that is like my favorite view. I see it 4 times a week at least. It is awesome. The castle is inuyama . It is awesome. We are going to go 1 pday.
Cool Experience: This happened like 3 minutes ago so I feel as if I should share it. I was reading my emails and this dude came up to me and my companion and said he had read some of the book of mormon before and was interested to learn more. We were like definitely. So we told him tonight at 7 we could meet with him. I was happy we came here so late. God has a plan for all of us and it is way funny how things work out some time but he wants to learn more so it is way awesome. It was way cool because we were housing for like 3 hours yesterday because we couldn't really teach anyone for the rest of the day. We didn't really find people. The closest we got is we were talking to this 20 year old girl for like 5 minutes until her dad yelled at her and came and closed the door. It was sad but everything works out.
Also yesterday we went on companion exchanges it was way fun. The elder that I got to go with has not been in Japan for a week. Like he has been here 5 days. So he knew less Japanese than I did. It was different. I couldn't ask anyone what happened. I had to tell him what happened. I was able to understand the jist of what was going on. It was way fun. It was an experience like no other.
Also if you think Utahans are bad drivers. Come to Japan they have nothing on them.They are so bad. I think they drive with their eyes closed. I was almost hit like 3 times this week. They are terrible. I realize why they take trains all the time.
This week I didn't really have any cool food experiences. I ate pickles and was able to hold them down. I dont think I even gagged. I can't remember. I try to forget that my stomach had to hold such a nasty thing. I also had this thing called gyudon. I might have told you about it. It is way good. All Americans would like it. It is like really really thin cut meat. With onions all over rice. It is way good though and the meat is cooked yes there is not even any pink probably because it is so thin.
Chris is doing well. He is not happy that Nigeria is out of the world cup but he said the rest of Africa is Pretty good I dont know. Some people like it here. Probably more than in America. There are a lot of Brazilians...that is probably why.
So ya basically it has been another awesome week. It is either really hot or raining and hot but its pretty hot in vegas so its not bad. I love it here and I am having so much fun. Have another great week. Thanks for the prayers. There is no doubt in my mind that they do help. I know they help. Thanks so much.
Love Elder Nelson
eu amar vosso (6/21/2010)
Well Hello...
From what I hear everyone is doing great. That is awesome.
So it has been a pretty average week (for a Missionary) I think I can say. It rained all week. That was awesome. It has stopped right now but it looks like it will start again. We had interviews with President Traveller. That was fun. He is way sad to be going. He and sister Traveller are really going to miss the mission. He told me to just keep working and all will come. He was prob. talking about the language because I still am having a hard time. It isnt abnormal it is actually normal so ill just keep working hard.
I also played ping pong this week. It was way fun. I defeated my zone leader so that was pretty cool. He wanted to play me again but he got transferred. I also played a Japanese elder. I was so close to beating him but in the end I was defeated. It was too bad but I'll beat him next time. He just kept slamming it on me what can you do.
I didn't really try anything new this week. I had this egg omlet I think with rice and mushrooms in the inside. There was this weird red sauce and cheese (I think) on the top. It was actually pretty good. They also like raw egg. They think it is cool to put raw egg in their rice so of course I can now say I have eaten raw egg. It was actually pretty good. I will definately eat it again and suggest you to eat it. All you do is get some rice and put raw egg in it and eat it. Simple and delicious.
Chris is still doing really well. He has changed so much from the first time I have met him. He really wants to be a disciple of Christ so it is way cool. It is so cool to be there and be able to help him. I have seen his testimony grow and mine has grown as well. He still has a long way to go but he is doing really well.
Ya when it is not raining it is very hot. It is like 32 and it is very humid. When it rains it cools off. I like the rain but the heat isn't too bad either.
So I cant believe I have been in Japan for a transfer. When I came I never thought I would be teaching a man named Chris who is from Nigeria. I also never thought I would be teaching a man named Jose. They both speak English. I thought I would be teaching in Japanese. I also never thought I would be teaching lessons in Porteguese while I was on my first transfer. (they are way easier than Japanese Lessons), not really but it is insane. The Lord has blessed me so much and I am thankful for his gospel. I am thankful that he is letting me be a tool in his work.
Thank you for all your love and support. Thanks for all the prayers.
Love
Elder Nelson
From what I hear everyone is doing great. That is awesome.
So it has been a pretty average week (for a Missionary) I think I can say. It rained all week. That was awesome. It has stopped right now but it looks like it will start again. We had interviews with President Traveller. That was fun. He is way sad to be going. He and sister Traveller are really going to miss the mission. He told me to just keep working and all will come. He was prob. talking about the language because I still am having a hard time. It isnt abnormal it is actually normal so ill just keep working hard.
I also played ping pong this week. It was way fun. I defeated my zone leader so that was pretty cool. He wanted to play me again but he got transferred. I also played a Japanese elder. I was so close to beating him but in the end I was defeated. It was too bad but I'll beat him next time. He just kept slamming it on me what can you do.
I didn't really try anything new this week. I had this egg omlet I think with rice and mushrooms in the inside. There was this weird red sauce and cheese (I think) on the top. It was actually pretty good. They also like raw egg. They think it is cool to put raw egg in their rice so of course I can now say I have eaten raw egg. It was actually pretty good. I will definately eat it again and suggest you to eat it. All you do is get some rice and put raw egg in it and eat it. Simple and delicious.
Chris is still doing really well. He has changed so much from the first time I have met him. He really wants to be a disciple of Christ so it is way cool. It is so cool to be there and be able to help him. I have seen his testimony grow and mine has grown as well. He still has a long way to go but he is doing really well.
Ya when it is not raining it is very hot. It is like 32 and it is very humid. When it rains it cools off. I like the rain but the heat isn't too bad either.
So I cant believe I have been in Japan for a transfer. When I came I never thought I would be teaching a man named Chris who is from Nigeria. I also never thought I would be teaching a man named Jose. They both speak English. I thought I would be teaching in Japanese. I also never thought I would be teaching lessons in Porteguese while I was on my first transfer. (they are way easier than Japanese Lessons), not really but it is insane. The Lord has blessed me so much and I am thankful for his gospel. I am thankful that he is letting me be a tool in his work.
Thank you for all your love and support. Thanks for all the prayers.
Love
Elder Nelson
Wow What a week!!!! (June 14, 2010)
Wow What a week!!!!
First off I would like to say that my companion and I set our first baptismal date. It was so exciting. It was for our investigator not us. We have been working really hard. It is for Chris. He is the Nigerian. He is hilarious but he is going to get baptized on July 17th. He has come a long way. At first he was drinking and smoking. He quit really fast. One time he did it the next time he stopped. It was awesome. He also has stopped drinking tea. He has so much faith. He just stopped. He is such an awesome person. We are so excited for him.
Today I got my hair cut. I am still not fluent in Japanese so I had no idea what they were saying to me. It did not turn out too bad but some how I got my face shaved. It was funny but it felt good. They also shaved my ear which was kind of funny. I was not expecting it and then they stuck this thing in my ear. I was waiting for them to stick it up my nose but they did not.
I have had a bunch of different foods this week. We went over to the Philipinos house and they fed us some really good chicken. Last p-day we went to the restaurant, because the buffet was closed and I had eel gyuudon. It was good. It is eel with this beef stuff?? all on top of rice. Then on Sunday we went to the bishop's house. That was fun I am starting to understand a little more but I had kimchi there. It is a Korean dish. We put it on top of our rice and it was way good. I loved it. I just had to forget that it was fermented cabbage. It was also pretty spicy which helped I loved. All those things were way good.
My comp has 3 transfers after this one. We are getting along very nicely. But I try to be very polite when we eat out. You would think I was the most impolite person in the world if I ate like the Japanese people do. It is just the opposite of Americans. I was eating like an American and they told me to eat like a Japanese person so I am working on it.
Ya there is bacon. A couple of weeks ago I had this bacon bread it was way good. It was bread with bacon inside. It is way expensive to buy it though. I have seen it. I can definately make it two years with out bacon...I think no but seriously I can. My companion loves McDonalds so we go there like once or twice a week. He really misses american food. Whenever we go there it is interesting, I am way good at ordering from there now. Practice makes perfect. I haven't seen too many stores. I went to 31 Flavors ice cream place...maybe Baskin Robins I don't know. There are also 7 11s everywhere but there are no slurpees in them which saddens me.
Also this week we went on companion exchanges. The elder I went with has only been out one transfer longer than me and he is not from Japan. It was very fun. we went and visited some investigators and taught lessons in Japanese. Then we taught a member and ate dinner at an English speakers house. It was fun. It was just like a normal day. We got around fine and never got lost. He came here so I was the leader. Honestly it was way fun. I also scheduled our appointment with the bishop in Japanese. I do a lot of things with the phone because my companion hates calling people.
So it has been another great week we are going to continue to work hard. Have a great week. I know this church is true. I have reading in 1 Nephi and it said like 5 times the righteous need not fear. Awesome. Have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
First off I would like to say that my companion and I set our first baptismal date. It was so exciting. It was for our investigator not us. We have been working really hard. It is for Chris. He is the Nigerian. He is hilarious but he is going to get baptized on July 17th. He has come a long way. At first he was drinking and smoking. He quit really fast. One time he did it the next time he stopped. It was awesome. He also has stopped drinking tea. He has so much faith. He just stopped. He is such an awesome person. We are so excited for him.
Today I got my hair cut. I am still not fluent in Japanese so I had no idea what they were saying to me. It did not turn out too bad but some how I got my face shaved. It was funny but it felt good. They also shaved my ear which was kind of funny. I was not expecting it and then they stuck this thing in my ear. I was waiting for them to stick it up my nose but they did not.
I have had a bunch of different foods this week. We went over to the Philipinos house and they fed us some really good chicken. Last p-day we went to the restaurant, because the buffet was closed and I had eel gyuudon. It was good. It is eel with this beef stuff?? all on top of rice. Then on Sunday we went to the bishop's house. That was fun I am starting to understand a little more but I had kimchi there. It is a Korean dish. We put it on top of our rice and it was way good. I loved it. I just had to forget that it was fermented cabbage. It was also pretty spicy which helped I loved. All those things were way good.
My comp has 3 transfers after this one. We are getting along very nicely. But I try to be very polite when we eat out. You would think I was the most impolite person in the world if I ate like the Japanese people do. It is just the opposite of Americans. I was eating like an American and they told me to eat like a Japanese person so I am working on it.
Ya there is bacon. A couple of weeks ago I had this bacon bread it was way good. It was bread with bacon inside. It is way expensive to buy it though. I have seen it. I can definately make it two years with out bacon...I think no but seriously I can. My companion loves McDonalds so we go there like once or twice a week. He really misses american food. Whenever we go there it is interesting, I am way good at ordering from there now. Practice makes perfect. I haven't seen too many stores. I went to 31 Flavors ice cream place...maybe Baskin Robins I don't know. There are also 7 11s everywhere but there are no slurpees in them which saddens me.
Also this week we went on companion exchanges. The elder I went with has only been out one transfer longer than me and he is not from Japan. It was very fun. we went and visited some investigators and taught lessons in Japanese. Then we taught a member and ate dinner at an English speakers house. It was fun. It was just like a normal day. We got around fine and never got lost. He came here so I was the leader. Honestly it was way fun. I also scheduled our appointment with the bishop in Japanese. I do a lot of things with the phone because my companion hates calling people.
So it has been another great week we are going to continue to work hard. Have a great week. I know this church is true. I have reading in 1 Nephi and it said like 5 times the righteous need not fear. Awesome. Have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
Josh's toe (June 7, 2010)
Well hello
How are you doing? I am sure you are great. (except maybe Josh). I am not going to lie when I heard he broke his toe I laughed, but I repented and I am sorry. The boot is the part that gets me. I am sorry. It sounds painful. Look at the bright side, you don't have school for over a year (I don't think senior year counts) JK it counts finish out strong. You get a 3 mounth break. Then you come on your mission and get a 2 year break. it is awesome. Trust me. I do study but it is for a different purpose. It isn't for me, it is for the people of Japan and for God. It is so much better.
Ya it sounds like it is getting Hot in Vegas. It is getting hot here. It is like 30 and very humid it is very fun. (Not sarcastic)
I can't believe Cameron is almost leaving that is so cool. I am sure he will Love it.
Funny story, This week we were riding in the train because we do that about everyday and there was this kid. He took a picture of me and my companion. I thought it was funny. That was the first time. I tried to go talk to him but the train was at the stop and he ran away. I just wanted a picture with him. I did not think I was that scary. I was even wearing deoderant that day lol. seriously I do everyday. I don't know how out of the ordinary that was but you know. Also they love my eyes. They are always telling me how cool blue eyes are. I have also had people ask me if they could touch my hair.
This week it rained once. It was interesting. We were out working and then out of no where the temperature changed and 10 minutes later it was down pouring. We keep plastic bags in our backpack so our stuff doesn't get wet but besides that we had no rain gear. Our apartement was 30 min away so we just went and visited members soaking wet. They were surprised to see that we would come visit them when it was thundering and lightning. We were like we Love you. And so it went really well. One of the families seems really interested. They are 20 and have a very very young kid. We talked to them about families. They seemed really interested. The husband already gave out a book of mormon. We were like that is awesome.
We are way close to getting our first baptisimal date. Karumina said she was going to pray about baptism. Awesome. We asked her to read 2 Nephi 31 and she told us that she already had read it. We were like you are awesome. She is doing really well.
I hope you have another nice week. Josh have fun with your toe...sorry.
Love
Elder Nelson
How are you doing? I am sure you are great. (except maybe Josh). I am not going to lie when I heard he broke his toe I laughed, but I repented and I am sorry. The boot is the part that gets me. I am sorry. It sounds painful. Look at the bright side, you don't have school for over a year (I don't think senior year counts) JK it counts finish out strong. You get a 3 mounth break. Then you come on your mission and get a 2 year break. it is awesome. Trust me. I do study but it is for a different purpose. It isn't for me, it is for the people of Japan and for God. It is so much better.
Ya it sounds like it is getting Hot in Vegas. It is getting hot here. It is like 30 and very humid it is very fun. (Not sarcastic)
I can't believe Cameron is almost leaving that is so cool. I am sure he will Love it.
Funny story, This week we were riding in the train because we do that about everyday and there was this kid. He took a picture of me and my companion. I thought it was funny. That was the first time. I tried to go talk to him but the train was at the stop and he ran away. I just wanted a picture with him. I did not think I was that scary. I was even wearing deoderant that day lol. seriously I do everyday. I don't know how out of the ordinary that was but you know. Also they love my eyes. They are always telling me how cool blue eyes are. I have also had people ask me if they could touch my hair.
This week it rained once. It was interesting. We were out working and then out of no where the temperature changed and 10 minutes later it was down pouring. We keep plastic bags in our backpack so our stuff doesn't get wet but besides that we had no rain gear. Our apartement was 30 min away so we just went and visited members soaking wet. They were surprised to see that we would come visit them when it was thundering and lightning. We were like we Love you. And so it went really well. One of the families seems really interested. They are 20 and have a very very young kid. We talked to them about families. They seemed really interested. The husband already gave out a book of mormon. We were like that is awesome.
We are way close to getting our first baptisimal date. Karumina said she was going to pray about baptism. Awesome. We asked her to read 2 Nephi 31 and she told us that she already had read it. We were like you are awesome. She is doing really well.
I hope you have another nice week. Josh have fun with your toe...sorry.
Love
Elder Nelson
It has been a great week (June 1, 2010)
Dear Everyone,
It has been a great week. We always have something to do.
Karumina, I still dont know how to spell her name, but she is doing great. She has been super busy but she told us that she has a testimony which is so cool. She is reading the Book of Mormon and she is understanding it i think. She is doing great. Hopefully we can set a baptismal date for her but we are not exactly sure how her parents will fill about that. They are Phillipino and Brazillian so it shouldn't be as hard as if they were Japanese.
We were also able to meet with Chris (the Nigerian) this week again. He is doing great. We watched another movie with him and he said he has been praying. That is always good. I dont think he has been reading because I don't think he knows how to. We aren't exactly sure. He really wants us to teach his wife so we have another appointment so we can teach her. That is really exciting.
We had Zone Conference this week actually yesterday. It was great. I learned so much about how I can be a better missionary. President and Sister Traveller were both really sad. They had trouble talking to us without crying. They are really sad to be leaving us. You can tell how much they have enjoyed this calling. He said he felt like King Benjamin making his final speech to us. We also had an assignment to read Alma 26. That is one of my favorite chapters. Even though I have not had a baptism I have felt great Joy because I have helped God bring a soul Closer to Christ. That is How we have the greatest Joy.
I am so happy Elder Lish is going on his mission. I am proud of him and blessed to know him. He has blessed my life greatly. He will be a great missionary.
I am sorry I have not told you in great detail what Japan is like or what my everyday life here is like. Sorry.
what is your apartment like? It is very small but there is a washer. There is a kitchen and then a bedroom where there are desks to study.
are you in a huge city? Inuyama is not a big city. There is a downtown but its like 2 streets then there are houses, apartment buildings and rice fields everywhere along with Inuyama Castle.
is inuyama like a suburb of Nagoya? Ya I think so. There is contant houses from Nagoya to Inuyama.
How far away is it? It is 30 min by train from inuyama
Do you ride your bike all the time? We ride a lot to some places but we also take the train a lot.
Where do you do your emailing? We do it in a library because it is free
Do you do your own cooking? We do do our own cooking. we eat a lot of rice and noodles and they are pretty easy to make.
Do you sleep on a bed? we sleep on a futon which is a mat on the floor so not really a bed.
How is your food? The food is not bad. Cant complain about rice. I also had steak and real tacos this week but that is not normal. We just eat a lot of rice with curry or something else on it.
Do you have to cook a lot? We usually eat lunch at 11 and then get back to the appartment at 9 and have a little snack
What do you fix? I also eat alot of eggs because they are cheap. There bread is also really good and not that expensive
How is your money that you get for your budget from the mission? We get 26000 yen a month and that has been plenty so far but everything is really expensive.
How is your stomach handling the rice? My stomach is fine but my companion is having a lot of trouble and he has been here a while. I hope he gets better
Do the people like to touch your hair do they make any comment on it. Ya it is funny they love my hair and my eyes. the little children always are staring at me.
How are the members is it a ward or a branch you’re in? They are great there are a lot of members that love helping us and love giving us food which is awesome.
Is it still pretty rainy? It hasnt rained for a week but rain season is coming so i might not see the sun in a while...oh well the rain is cool.
What is your place you live in like? It is small but nice. The neighbors all love us.
And we do not eat on the floor. So thats good.
I hope you have had a nice Holliday. Finish up the school week strong.
Love
Elder Nelson
It has been a great week. We always have something to do.
Karumina, I still dont know how to spell her name, but she is doing great. She has been super busy but she told us that she has a testimony which is so cool. She is reading the Book of Mormon and she is understanding it i think. She is doing great. Hopefully we can set a baptismal date for her but we are not exactly sure how her parents will fill about that. They are Phillipino and Brazillian so it shouldn't be as hard as if they were Japanese.
We were also able to meet with Chris (the Nigerian) this week again. He is doing great. We watched another movie with him and he said he has been praying. That is always good. I dont think he has been reading because I don't think he knows how to. We aren't exactly sure. He really wants us to teach his wife so we have another appointment so we can teach her. That is really exciting.
We had Zone Conference this week actually yesterday. It was great. I learned so much about how I can be a better missionary. President and Sister Traveller were both really sad. They had trouble talking to us without crying. They are really sad to be leaving us. You can tell how much they have enjoyed this calling. He said he felt like King Benjamin making his final speech to us. We also had an assignment to read Alma 26. That is one of my favorite chapters. Even though I have not had a baptism I have felt great Joy because I have helped God bring a soul Closer to Christ. That is How we have the greatest Joy.
I am so happy Elder Lish is going on his mission. I am proud of him and blessed to know him. He has blessed my life greatly. He will be a great missionary.
I am sorry I have not told you in great detail what Japan is like or what my everyday life here is like. Sorry.
what is your apartment like? It is very small but there is a washer. There is a kitchen and then a bedroom where there are desks to study.
are you in a huge city? Inuyama is not a big city. There is a downtown but its like 2 streets then there are houses, apartment buildings and rice fields everywhere along with Inuyama Castle.
is inuyama like a suburb of Nagoya? Ya I think so. There is contant houses from Nagoya to Inuyama.
How far away is it? It is 30 min by train from inuyama
Do you ride your bike all the time? We ride a lot to some places but we also take the train a lot.
Where do you do your emailing? We do it in a library because it is free
Do you do your own cooking? We do do our own cooking. we eat a lot of rice and noodles and they are pretty easy to make.
Do you sleep on a bed? we sleep on a futon which is a mat on the floor so not really a bed.
How is your food? The food is not bad. Cant complain about rice. I also had steak and real tacos this week but that is not normal. We just eat a lot of rice with curry or something else on it.
Do you have to cook a lot? We usually eat lunch at 11 and then get back to the appartment at 9 and have a little snack
What do you fix? I also eat alot of eggs because they are cheap. There bread is also really good and not that expensive
How is your money that you get for your budget from the mission? We get 26000 yen a month and that has been plenty so far but everything is really expensive.
How is your stomach handling the rice? My stomach is fine but my companion is having a lot of trouble and he has been here a while. I hope he gets better
Do the people like to touch your hair do they make any comment on it. Ya it is funny they love my hair and my eyes. the little children always are staring at me.
How are the members is it a ward or a branch you’re in? They are great there are a lot of members that love helping us and love giving us food which is awesome.
Is it still pretty rainy? It hasnt rained for a week but rain season is coming so i might not see the sun in a while...oh well the rain is cool.
What is your place you live in like? It is small but nice. The neighbors all love us.
And we do not eat on the floor. So thats good.
I hope you have had a nice Holliday. Finish up the school week strong.
Love
Elder Nelson
What is up (May 24, 2010)
What is up
It has been has been another great week. Japan is awesome. It has been raining for the past few days. It is way fun to ride your bikes in the pouring rain. We came home soaking wet, even with rain gear. It is fun.
On sunday i gave a talk in sacrament meeting...in Japanese. It was very interesting. It actually went well. I talked about alma 37:6. I talked about what small and simple things we can be doing everyday to bring to pass great things. My main point was how important praying everyday is. It only takes a few minutes and you can receive so many blessings from it. it was going really well until i started bearing my testimony and i said something like "if you do what the prophets say, blessings" I probably could have said something better but thats all that came out of my mouth. There was a translator behind me and he just paused and then i continued on. I think the rest made sense though.
Later that day we taught this Girl her name is kaurimine, she is 17 and has been coming to church for the past 3 weeks. Her friends brought her. It is always great when investigators start out with friends. But in the lesson there were 4 languages being used. She is way smart and could understand all of them. She actually knows 7 different languages. I asked her how she does and she just said that they were easy. I dont know how she learned it but i want to do it the same way she did. That lesson went really well. I know only because the spirit was so strong i didnt understand a word of the tagolag or when they were talking in portuguese, maybe a little Japanese, but it went really well and she seemed excited to learn more. We were going to visit her yesterday but something came up so we are meeting her later today with her member friends and a recent convert fabio.
Fabio is the best. He helps us teach every once in a while but he is busy with work. He got baptized a few weeks ago and is a really strong member. He can speak english, portugese and japanese so it is great to have him around. It is awesome to see the product of what good hard missionary work can accomplish.
Chris (the nigerian) was busy all week so no update on him sorry. We are going to meet him tonight though right after kaurimine.
It has been another great week. We see miracles everyday. It is so fun to be out here working hard. I love the Japanese people, also the food is pretty good. The brazilion family cancelled on us but we are going there on saturday. Also we have rice like everyday. It is pretty good. We always mix something in it. So everything is great. I know that God knows each one of us. I know he loves us and blesses us.
Have a Great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
It has been has been another great week. Japan is awesome. It has been raining for the past few days. It is way fun to ride your bikes in the pouring rain. We came home soaking wet, even with rain gear. It is fun.
On sunday i gave a talk in sacrament meeting...in Japanese. It was very interesting. It actually went well. I talked about alma 37:6. I talked about what small and simple things we can be doing everyday to bring to pass great things. My main point was how important praying everyday is. It only takes a few minutes and you can receive so many blessings from it. it was going really well until i started bearing my testimony and i said something like "if you do what the prophets say, blessings" I probably could have said something better but thats all that came out of my mouth. There was a translator behind me and he just paused and then i continued on. I think the rest made sense though.
Later that day we taught this Girl her name is kaurimine, she is 17 and has been coming to church for the past 3 weeks. Her friends brought her. It is always great when investigators start out with friends. But in the lesson there were 4 languages being used. She is way smart and could understand all of them. She actually knows 7 different languages. I asked her how she does and she just said that they were easy. I dont know how she learned it but i want to do it the same way she did. That lesson went really well. I know only because the spirit was so strong i didnt understand a word of the tagolag or when they were talking in portuguese, maybe a little Japanese, but it went really well and she seemed excited to learn more. We were going to visit her yesterday but something came up so we are meeting her later today with her member friends and a recent convert fabio.
Fabio is the best. He helps us teach every once in a while but he is busy with work. He got baptized a few weeks ago and is a really strong member. He can speak english, portugese and japanese so it is great to have him around. It is awesome to see the product of what good hard missionary work can accomplish.
Chris (the nigerian) was busy all week so no update on him sorry. We are going to meet him tonight though right after kaurimine.
It has been another great week. We see miracles everyday. It is so fun to be out here working hard. I love the Japanese people, also the food is pretty good. The brazilion family cancelled on us but we are going there on saturday. Also we have rice like everyday. It is pretty good. We always mix something in it. So everything is great. I know that God knows each one of us. I know he loves us and blesses us.
Have a Great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
Konnichi wa (May 17, 2010)
Konnichi wa
Wow i am in Japan... Amazing right. first things first. The toilets are awesome here we found one that washes, massages and dries your bottom while you are using the toilet. awesome right.
so i am serving in the area Inuyama...which translates into dog mountain. there is a cool temple here. Japanese is still very hard for me to understand, but on top of that about half the members speak Portuguese. i really can't speak Portuguese. My companion can speak very little. it is challenging for us because we want to speak to them but we can't. There are also Phillipinos in our ward. it is easier to communicate with them because they can speak English. they are form Bagio so that's cool.
My companion is Elder Witt. he is from Minnesota and does not like the Vikings so we are good friends. he is on transfer number 12. he has been out a while.
We have a few progressing investigators, but none with a baptismal date. We are working on it. The other day we went to one of the investigators houses and she wasn't home. i think her brother was home but he only speaks tagalog. we really couldn't communicate with him. It was a really awkward situation. We just stared at each other for a while. At first he thought we were from the fbi or something because he ran and got his green card...here it is called a geijin card. It was funny. It was sad we could not talk to him.
Also right now we are teaching this guy that only speaks English...I enjoy teaching him because i can understand what is happening. His wife only speaks Japanese which is a little weird but he told us love is blind. He is from Nigeria and he is way awesome. Last night we taught him about the plan of salvation. After he said that he believes it all which is a good thing. He said he believes anything that comes from God which is really awesome. He drinks a lot of tea but so does everyone in Japan. He has already stopped drinking beer and smoking. He stopped before we started teaching him. He told us that he didn't think God wanted him to do that. He is way awesome.
It is pretty hot and humid here. I love it so far. I wish i knew how to speak Portuguese so that we could talk with some of our investigators and our members. It is tough. I will start working on that language once I get Japanese down.
The members are great here. A Brazilian invited us over for tacos on Saturday I think. My companion and I are not sure but we are hoping so. Tacos sound delicious.
The food here is so expensive. Way more than in America. It is ridiculous. Everything is more expensive. I will be living on rice for the next two years. They also love mushrooms. I don't know why but they do. I have been eating them and I still do not like them.
Have a great week. I love Japan and i love this work. Keep working hard. As we say in Japan otsukaresama desu...which means you are the king of the tired people.
Elder Nelson
Wow i am in Japan... Amazing right. first things first. The toilets are awesome here we found one that washes, massages and dries your bottom while you are using the toilet. awesome right.
so i am serving in the area Inuyama...which translates into dog mountain. there is a cool temple here. Japanese is still very hard for me to understand, but on top of that about half the members speak Portuguese. i really can't speak Portuguese. My companion can speak very little. it is challenging for us because we want to speak to them but we can't. There are also Phillipinos in our ward. it is easier to communicate with them because they can speak English. they are form Bagio so that's cool.
My companion is Elder Witt. he is from Minnesota and does not like the Vikings so we are good friends. he is on transfer number 12. he has been out a while.
We have a few progressing investigators, but none with a baptismal date. We are working on it. The other day we went to one of the investigators houses and she wasn't home. i think her brother was home but he only speaks tagalog. we really couldn't communicate with him. It was a really awkward situation. We just stared at each other for a while. At first he thought we were from the fbi or something because he ran and got his green card...here it is called a geijin card. It was funny. It was sad we could not talk to him.
Also right now we are teaching this guy that only speaks English...I enjoy teaching him because i can understand what is happening. His wife only speaks Japanese which is a little weird but he told us love is blind. He is from Nigeria and he is way awesome. Last night we taught him about the plan of salvation. After he said that he believes it all which is a good thing. He said he believes anything that comes from God which is really awesome. He drinks a lot of tea but so does everyone in Japan. He has already stopped drinking beer and smoking. He stopped before we started teaching him. He told us that he didn't think God wanted him to do that. He is way awesome.
It is pretty hot and humid here. I love it so far. I wish i knew how to speak Portuguese so that we could talk with some of our investigators and our members. It is tough. I will start working on that language once I get Japanese down.
The members are great here. A Brazilian invited us over for tacos on Saturday I think. My companion and I are not sure but we are hoping so. Tacos sound delicious.
The food here is so expensive. Way more than in America. It is ridiculous. Everything is more expensive. I will be living on rice for the next two years. They also love mushrooms. I don't know why but they do. I have been eating them and I still do not like them.
Have a great week. I love Japan and i love this work. Keep working hard. As we say in Japan otsukaresama desu...which means you are the king of the tired people.
Elder Nelson
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