It has been a way great and fast week. We had a lot of stuff happen.
First at the beginning of the week we went to Fukui and helped a lady shovel snow. It took us six hours and it seemed like we hardly did anything. There was so much snow. The funny thing was we got there and then after thirty minutes she said that she had to go to work so we stayed and shoveled until it got dark. The next day she called and was so happy. She was like today I don't have to shovel snow because you did such a good job. She also gave us nesquick which I will take for payment any day especially in Japan because it is super expensive. She was supposed to go to church yesterday but her son got sick.
Also this week I had a chance to teach a person who got baptized yesterday. That was really cool. I was on exchange and we taught her the commandments. The next day she was interviewed and then she received baptism yesterday...it was way cool. I was not able to attend but still I know it was a beautiful experience. The funny thing about her conversion story is that she has met with the missionries like two years before and she wasn't interested and then 2 weeks ago they started teaching her again and she accepted the gospel and was baptized. Way neat.
We also found this new investigator. He is a refferal and we have been trying to contact him all week. We finally got a hold of him and we scheduled an appointment to meet with him. He is way good. We haven't even met him and he is reading the Book of Mormon. We are looking forward to teach him this week.
Have a great week and continue beimg Strong.
Love
Elder Nelson
雪 (Snow) (January 31, 2011)
What a week!!!!
So this week I had the opportunity to go to another area. I was in Fukui prefecture all week. It was fun. The sad thing about Fukui is that there are only 2 missionaries there and they are in charge of the whole prefecture. It is also a pretty big prefecture so they have there work cut out for them. There are 6 missionaries in the prefecture I am in. But we are all in different cities so we don't see them too often. But anyway when I has in Fukui we went to one of their investigators house and shoveled snow. I could walk on to her one story roof because the snow was so high it was actually way fun. We shoveled her house for 5 hours and didn't even get half way done.
We have been trying to meet with some new Brazilian investigators but they keep cancelling their appointments because their work schedule keeps getting changed. That is always way sad. We are going to keep trying to meet with them but it is tough. I also ate escargo last week. That was weird. A member took us out to this resturaunt and they ordered escargo and I had some...it was kind of wierd but not bad.
I love serving in Komatsu!! I am having so much fun even though it snows everyday. I Love the members here and the opportunity I have to work with the people that live here. I am excited that we can teach practically everyone that lives here and excited to keep working. Have a great week.
Love ELder Nelson
So this week I had the opportunity to go to another area. I was in Fukui prefecture all week. It was fun. The sad thing about Fukui is that there are only 2 missionaries there and they are in charge of the whole prefecture. It is also a pretty big prefecture so they have there work cut out for them. There are 6 missionaries in the prefecture I am in. But we are all in different cities so we don't see them too often. But anyway when I has in Fukui we went to one of their investigators house and shoveled snow. I could walk on to her one story roof because the snow was so high it was actually way fun. We shoveled her house for 5 hours and didn't even get half way done.
We have been trying to meet with some new Brazilian investigators but they keep cancelling their appointments because their work schedule keeps getting changed. That is always way sad. We are going to keep trying to meet with them but it is tough. I also ate escargo last week. That was weird. A member took us out to this resturaunt and they ordered escargo and I had some...it was kind of wierd but not bad.
I love serving in Komatsu!! I am having so much fun even though it snows everyday. I Love the members here and the opportunity I have to work with the people that live here. I am excited that we can teach practically everyone that lives here and excited to keep working. Have a great week.
Love ELder Nelson
Snow (January 29, 2011)
I have shovelled more snow then you would believe. Man it was been a great week. I'll tell you more about it on Monday but I've been in Fukui all week. I wanted to go email there but they already did and it would have cost us all 6 bucks so I just waited until today. Sorry it is late but im here now. It sounds like everyone has had a great week. Especially the Packers. Man, uruyamashii. Not really just because they didn't win last year. I expect the game to still be on the dvr when I get home. Like I'm serious. This is important to missionary work. Go Packers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So Elder Da silva is cool. He lived in America for one year where he attended his senior year of high school. It was actually an exchange student program. He wants to go to byu provo when he gets back but he hasn't gone to college yet.We picked up this new investigator who is really good I think. He use to have a baptismal date but no one here could speak Portuguese so he kind of got forgotten a little but now we are back teaching him. I think it will be real good. The members were really excited to get a Brazilian missionary. There aren't too many strong Brazilian ward members they are all less active or recent converts so Elder Da silva will be really good for them. I'm excited to start working with them more. Brazilians also make good food so that is good also...lol but seriously.
So this morning we woke up and we went to the church to shovel the church parking lot. We shoveled for like 2 hours and then a bulldozer guy came and was like I think I'm supposed to do it. We finished half but we decided to let him to the other half. It was way nice. It was actully a member's job but we decided to help them. So because we helped them for 2 hours we got lunch...it was way good. Ill work 2 hours for lunch anyday....maybe. LOL it was good.
Chris is going good...I guess. Actually we keep trying to do things with him but they keep falling through. You think he would want to hang out with us because we are two cool people his age that speak his language. Whatever...we will keep trying.
I haven't really started studying portuguese yet. I'm way nervous because if I start studying portuguese my whole mission will change. I will be sent to different areas and have different companions so I am a little nervous. My thinking right now is that my call says Japanese and my mission president hasn't said anything else so I'm thinking of sticking to Japanese but I don't know. When I have free time I study Portuguese but nothing serious. Have a great few days I'll write again on Monday.
Love
Elder Nelson
So Elder Da silva is cool. He lived in America for one year where he attended his senior year of high school. It was actually an exchange student program. He wants to go to byu provo when he gets back but he hasn't gone to college yet.We picked up this new investigator who is really good I think. He use to have a baptismal date but no one here could speak Portuguese so he kind of got forgotten a little but now we are back teaching him. I think it will be real good. The members were really excited to get a Brazilian missionary. There aren't too many strong Brazilian ward members they are all less active or recent converts so Elder Da silva will be really good for them. I'm excited to start working with them more. Brazilians also make good food so that is good also...lol but seriously.
So this morning we woke up and we went to the church to shovel the church parking lot. We shoveled for like 2 hours and then a bulldozer guy came and was like I think I'm supposed to do it. We finished half but we decided to let him to the other half. It was way nice. It was actully a member's job but we decided to help them. So because we helped them for 2 hours we got lunch...it was way good. Ill work 2 hours for lunch anyday....maybe. LOL it was good.
Chris is going good...I guess. Actually we keep trying to do things with him but they keep falling through. You think he would want to hang out with us because we are two cool people his age that speak his language. Whatever...we will keep trying.
I haven't really started studying portuguese yet. I'm way nervous because if I start studying portuguese my whole mission will change. I will be sent to different areas and have different companions so I am a little nervous. My thinking right now is that my call says Japanese and my mission president hasn't said anything else so I'm thinking of sticking to Japanese but I don't know. When I have free time I study Portuguese but nothing serious. Have a great few days I'll write again on Monday.
Love
Elder Nelson
Transfers!!! (January 17, 2011)
Well it has been a great and way fast transfer. I have pretty big news for everyone. I just will spit it out right at the front so I don't kill anyone with anticipation if that makes sense. Well Elder Holland is coming!!!!! I am so very excited that he is coming. So next month we are going to have a huge mission conference and Elder Holland will be there to speak. It is going to be so sweet. I am so excited.
Well today I received a phone call from the assistants and the result is that I will get a new companion here in Komatsu. He is a Brazillian so that is going to be interesting. The assistants mentioned a little bit about learing Portuguese so I think I might start studying Portuguese. My Japanese still isn't very good but I might start spending a little time studying Portuguese. We will see what happens. Our investigator pool doubled which is good. We had like 4 good investigators that we couldn't visit because they speak only portuguese. So I am excited to start working with them. I don't know too much about my companion but he comes tomorrow and Elder Larsen will be returning back to the fabulous Las Vegas. He is pretty excited but very sad at the same time.
This past week we had a big zone conference. It went way well I think. I wish I could tell you all the great things we learned but it would take 8 hours because that's how long the conference was. President wanted to keep going but he had to leave. One of the cool things we learned was a new way to ask for referrals. Before this conference I had received one referral in the area of Komatsu after the conference I have received 14 and am excited to keep using this method to get referrals. Referrals are the key to success. We also learned a lot of what President Baird did to get clients. We then changed it so that instead of getting clients we can get investigators. It is really good and I am excited to be doing it.
So it is going to be fun to contact those referrals this week and start teaching the Brazilians. I am way excited to start teaching them. Have a great week. Continue to work hard.
Love Elder Nelson
Well today I received a phone call from the assistants and the result is that I will get a new companion here in Komatsu. He is a Brazillian so that is going to be interesting. The assistants mentioned a little bit about learing Portuguese so I think I might start studying Portuguese. My Japanese still isn't very good but I might start spending a little time studying Portuguese. We will see what happens. Our investigator pool doubled which is good. We had like 4 good investigators that we couldn't visit because they speak only portuguese. So I am excited to start working with them. I don't know too much about my companion but he comes tomorrow and Elder Larsen will be returning back to the fabulous Las Vegas. He is pretty excited but very sad at the same time.
This past week we had a big zone conference. It went way well I think. I wish I could tell you all the great things we learned but it would take 8 hours because that's how long the conference was. President wanted to keep going but he had to leave. One of the cool things we learned was a new way to ask for referrals. Before this conference I had received one referral in the area of Komatsu after the conference I have received 14 and am excited to keep using this method to get referrals. Referrals are the key to success. We also learned a lot of what President Baird did to get clients. We then changed it so that instead of getting clients we can get investigators. It is really good and I am excited to be doing it.
So it is going to be fun to contact those referrals this week and start teaching the Brazilians. I am way excited to start teaching them. Have a great week. Continue to work hard.
Love Elder Nelson
面接 (Interview) January 10, 2011
Well I hope everyone had a safe week getting back to school and everything. We had a pretty good week here. It has been snowing pretty good. It actually rained all day yesterday and then at night it turned to snow and snowed all night so we have a lot of snow on the ground right now. Dad, you went to a Japanese steak house? I dont know how Japanese that is because I have never seen one in Japan. Actually that is not true. They have steak houses here but they are completely different from that of American style. I don't think they really know what steak is here because if I go to a steak house here they are going to give me this meatloaf stuff. It isn't bad but it definately isn't steak but they call it steak. The sad thing is it is probably about the same price as an American steak.
This week was pretty good. We met with Chris (the guy from Denver). He was way cool. We gave him a bag of our gummy worms so we are practically best friends. He is way cool but he seems so much older then us. I don't know why he is only 22, but anyway we invited him to this ward activity but he wasn't able to come. Hopefully we can meet with him again this week and get him to come to church.
This week though we had a ward activity. It was called a mochitsuki party. It was actually pretty fun. So Mochi is rice smashed together. It is very very sticky and apparently a lot of people die from it because they swallow too much and it gets stuck in their throats. I just chew it for like 30 minutes and eventually it goes swallow it down. But anyway at a mochitsuki party you make the mochi. So you cook rice and mix it with hot water and then hit it with a giant hammer. So I got to use the giant hammer and beat the rice. It was pretty fun but a little tiring. Then we got to eat it. It isn't too bad but they put some interesting stuff with it that I probably wouldn't make my worst enemies eat. They also put it with peanut butter powder which is pretty good. So that was a fun experience for us.
This week we also challenged a 13 year old boy to baptism. He comes to church every week with us which is really good. he has a lot of friends at church which helps a lot. He told us that he didn't want to get baptized yet but I think if he keeps coming to church he will eventually have a desire to get baptized. He is Peruvian but speaks perfect Japanese. Unfortunately his dad doesn't so we think his dad is a little against the church. I need one of my Spanish speaking brothers to come over here and convince him that we are good. I think president will think that a cross country companion exchange will be a good idea. We will see.
We also had interviews this past week. That was a good experience. We talked a little bit about my area but we talked a lot about learning the language and how I can keep improving on that. Hopefully as I apply his advice it will help. We also have a Zone conference this week so I am excited to go to that. It is from 9 am to 5 pm. Really it will be like the longest meeting ever. We were supposed to invite members and when we told the members they were so shocked it was that long but I am excited. Have a good week. The Gospel is true.
Love Elder Nelson
This week was pretty good. We met with Chris (the guy from Denver). He was way cool. We gave him a bag of our gummy worms so we are practically best friends. He is way cool but he seems so much older then us. I don't know why he is only 22, but anyway we invited him to this ward activity but he wasn't able to come. Hopefully we can meet with him again this week and get him to come to church.
This week though we had a ward activity. It was called a mochitsuki party. It was actually pretty fun. So Mochi is rice smashed together. It is very very sticky and apparently a lot of people die from it because they swallow too much and it gets stuck in their throats. I just chew it for like 30 minutes and eventually it goes swallow it down. But anyway at a mochitsuki party you make the mochi. So you cook rice and mix it with hot water and then hit it with a giant hammer. So I got to use the giant hammer and beat the rice. It was pretty fun but a little tiring. Then we got to eat it. It isn't too bad but they put some interesting stuff with it that I probably wouldn't make my worst enemies eat. They also put it with peanut butter powder which is pretty good. So that was a fun experience for us.
This week we also challenged a 13 year old boy to baptism. He comes to church every week with us which is really good. he has a lot of friends at church which helps a lot. He told us that he didn't want to get baptized yet but I think if he keeps coming to church he will eventually have a desire to get baptized. He is Peruvian but speaks perfect Japanese. Unfortunately his dad doesn't so we think his dad is a little against the church. I need one of my Spanish speaking brothers to come over here and convince him that we are good. I think president will think that a cross country companion exchange will be a good idea. We will see.
We also had interviews this past week. That was a good experience. We talked a little bit about my area but we talked a lot about learning the language and how I can keep improving on that. Hopefully as I apply his advice it will help. We also have a Zone conference this week so I am excited to go to that. It is from 9 am to 5 pm. Really it will be like the longest meeting ever. We were supposed to invite members and when we told the members they were so shocked it was that long but I am excited. Have a good week. The Gospel is true.
Love Elder Nelson
日 (Wednesday) (January 3, 2011)
Happy 2011!!!!!!!!!!
So we have had a pretty good week here. We have tried to keep ourselves busy but it was a little difficult on new years. This week is called shogatsu in Japan. It is like a 4 day holiday to start the new year. It is pretty awesome we did some fun things but alot of people went out of town. We were invited over to 3 people's houses this week so it has been a really good week. At one person's house all we had was raw fish. They said they looked for meat in the market but found none so we got to eat raw fish. It was mainly Salmon which is always good. There was also this white chewy thing that I'm not sure what it was but it tasted all right. The other fish we had was yellow tail and it wasn't bad either. It was a way good dinner. Another interesting fact about Japan is that when they eat fruit they don't eat the skin. I just thought it was weird they eat raw fish no problem but can't eat the skin of apples or grapes. Just a weird side note if anyone wanted to know
On a Good note my companion and I saw the sun for the first time in a month yesterday. We were so happy we didn't know what to do. Obviously I had to put sunscreen on but it was ok because it has rained, snowed or hailed on every day for the last month and usually it does all three. It had been so long since I had seen the sun that I was going to ask Mom to send me a picture of it because I forgot what it looked like but I had the opportunity to see it so we are all good. We were both very blessed for that miracle we saw yesterday. But of course today when I woke up it was hailing but I am still grateful for that one day we got to see it. Seriously though it was the first day I saw the sun since I came to Komatsu.
Yesterday because the sun was out and it was pday we went to this fair carnival type thing. It was way sweet, it was like a ninja training ground. There were ninja plays and everything. The plays were way cool but a little hard to understand. They also had ninja activities like throwing ninja stars and stuff. I excelled at the ninja stars. I easily would have disabled the target. The dude in charge and I didn't quite see eye to eye though. I threw the stars like a baseball so that I could get maximum speed so that in one hit I could render him defenseless. He said I was only supposed to use the wrist as to be silent and not move alot. I thought that if I disable him on the first hit it doesn't matter how silent I am the guy is done. So in the end I guess we will have to see who becomes the better ninja. It was a way fun experience though.
Recently we have been teaching a lot of less active lessons. We are trying to get referrals from them and also we are trying to get them to come to church. It is like a win win situation but we haven't gotten referrals yet but they are slowly coming back to church...well at least a few of them.Something really amazing happened this week. A family that was baptized a little over a year ago was able to get sealed in the temple. That was a really great experience for them. Unfortunately the closest temple is not anywhere close to within my mission boundaries which means I could not attend, but they were able to be sealed together for time and all eternity and that is such a great blessing that we have a church members. I am thankful for the blessings that we can receive through this church.
Have a great new year and have fun setting goals. Our mission president recently has been talking a lot with everyone about goals. He gave us a quote that said "If you do not master goal setting and achieving it will lead to human incompetence." so set goals and accomplish them.
Love
Elder Nelson
So we have had a pretty good week here. We have tried to keep ourselves busy but it was a little difficult on new years. This week is called shogatsu in Japan. It is like a 4 day holiday to start the new year. It is pretty awesome we did some fun things but alot of people went out of town. We were invited over to 3 people's houses this week so it has been a really good week. At one person's house all we had was raw fish. They said they looked for meat in the market but found none so we got to eat raw fish. It was mainly Salmon which is always good. There was also this white chewy thing that I'm not sure what it was but it tasted all right. The other fish we had was yellow tail and it wasn't bad either. It was a way good dinner. Another interesting fact about Japan is that when they eat fruit they don't eat the skin. I just thought it was weird they eat raw fish no problem but can't eat the skin of apples or grapes. Just a weird side note if anyone wanted to know
On a Good note my companion and I saw the sun for the first time in a month yesterday. We were so happy we didn't know what to do. Obviously I had to put sunscreen on but it was ok because it has rained, snowed or hailed on every day for the last month and usually it does all three. It had been so long since I had seen the sun that I was going to ask Mom to send me a picture of it because I forgot what it looked like but I had the opportunity to see it so we are all good. We were both very blessed for that miracle we saw yesterday. But of course today when I woke up it was hailing but I am still grateful for that one day we got to see it. Seriously though it was the first day I saw the sun since I came to Komatsu.
Yesterday because the sun was out and it was pday we went to this fair carnival type thing. It was way sweet, it was like a ninja training ground. There were ninja plays and everything. The plays were way cool but a little hard to understand. They also had ninja activities like throwing ninja stars and stuff. I excelled at the ninja stars. I easily would have disabled the target. The dude in charge and I didn't quite see eye to eye though. I threw the stars like a baseball so that I could get maximum speed so that in one hit I could render him defenseless. He said I was only supposed to use the wrist as to be silent and not move alot. I thought that if I disable him on the first hit it doesn't matter how silent I am the guy is done. So in the end I guess we will have to see who becomes the better ninja. It was a way fun experience though.
Recently we have been teaching a lot of less active lessons. We are trying to get referrals from them and also we are trying to get them to come to church. It is like a win win situation but we haven't gotten referrals yet but they are slowly coming back to church...well at least a few of them.Something really amazing happened this week. A family that was baptized a little over a year ago was able to get sealed in the temple. That was a really great experience for them. Unfortunately the closest temple is not anywhere close to within my mission boundaries which means I could not attend, but they were able to be sealed together for time and all eternity and that is such a great blessing that we have a church members. I am thankful for the blessings that we can receive through this church.
Have a great new year and have fun setting goals. Our mission president recently has been talking a lot with everyone about goals. He gave us a quote that said "If you do not master goal setting and achieving it will lead to human incompetence." so set goals and accomplish them.
Love
Elder Nelson
寒い (cold) (December 12, 2010)
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
