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

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

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

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

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