We haven’t heard much lately; do you still try to sit criss cross crapple sauce style; have you mastered it yet? We want a picture ...
I will try to take a picture ... but I’ve actually gotten better ... it’s still terrible, but not as bad.
Do you often find yourself eating on the floor?
Only at one of our investigator’s homes ... and he’s like 70; so when we sit down, he goes like old school Japanese on us and just laughs when we try to get up ... it hurts my pride more than anything.
What ever happened to Brother Whipple, how is his leg, is he back on his feet and has he got his sea legs back underneath him??
He’s good. Still got both legs and his boat!
So we read on McAllister Shimai's blog that she was transferred last week. Who is the new shimai in the district?
There are two new Shimaies. Reusser Shimai (the sister training leader) and Takita Shimai ... she is from Orem, Utah, but fluent in Japanese.
Is it still warm there? Coat weather? Boot weather? Glove weather? Jacket weather?
I’m wearing a sweater and quite warm right now.
How is the new zone leader that you live with?
Tuttle Choro is way chill. He is from California, he is a surfer and a skateboarder ... nuff said right? He’s awesome.
Will you get one iPad mini per companionship?
I think that we will all get one ... maybe, I’ll let you know next week
What is happening within your district, any new commitments for baptism, how is the Zone Leadership doing, are they leading by example, is the Relief Society putting the priesthood to shame, by that I mean have the Shimai’s teach more lessons than the Choro’s?
There are a couple baptismal dates. the ZL’s have a solid one for the ninth, but if his parents are HANTAI, (fun word for dad,) then that won’t happen, he still hasn’t told them about the church yet so we really don’t know what is going down. The Shimaies also have a date for the ninth that I get to interview next week. Should be fun ... the entire interview will be in Japanese ... yeah ... potential problems. We have a date for the 23rd of February, but we haven’t been able to contact him recently ... but we also have some other people that are doing well. The Shimaies also have a couple people from China who are really humble and getting ready to make dates! Wahoo!!!
When TeJay was in Hong Kong, all his training was done in English instead of Cantonese; your mission's grasp of the language seems to be better, do you use Japanese during District Meetings, Zone Meetings, etc.?
For trainings and stuff the foreigners use English except for like role plays and stuff ... well sometimes. We do them in English first and then in Japanese so the new missionaries can learn the idea first and then the language. But whenever a Japanese missionary does a training they do it in Japanese ... and someone translates for everyone else ... sometimes the person who is translating is me and then it’s rough ... but we pull through.
So I’ve heard about the Olympics from Sam, but what are everyone else’s thoughts on them? Do you think that they will be really exciting this year? Or just kind of boring? I mean they are in Russia? So ... they're gonna be cold, really cold, but they are the Winter Olympics, so maybe that’ll be good? Thoughts?
Mom & Dad! Happy Anniversary!!!!!!!!!! I forgot to tell you last week ... Okay, I remembered this week on Wednesday ... someone in the ward had an anniversary or something and I thought of you guys!!! 35 years! That so impressive right!!!! You have four really great kids and one just amazing child (Me) and I’m sure that you love us all equally ... but congratulations on accomplishing so much in your life!!!
Sam: I’m jealous of your box car racing skills. I hope that I will be able to give it a try when I get back (challenge extended: Keep the box till then) and then we will see who the champion really is!!!! Sorry that you have too many inhalers that are all so cool, I’m a little jealous, I haven’t used one in like 7 months ... and this morning I went sprinting with Asato Choro ... and yeah, he’s short and Japanese, but his legs are so fast, I almost died ... it was terrible, but really great! We did like 2.5ish miles (I think in like 13 minutes).
Abi! Will you rent me a puppy? I cannot think of a practical reason for such a business but it does make sense that it is in a college town ... especially Logan, go us! I get it, business gets really big around finals week or when grades are coming out! I’m not sure how I feel about it ... it’s like borrowing cuteness ... anyways, bummer that USU lost their Basketball game to 7th ranked San Diego State, but awesome that we were so close!!! You gotta love it!!! I’m glad that you went running and that you were able to fix the DVD case with superglue, remember when I fixed my red shoes with superglue from Lees ... that was sweet!
Things here are going well. One of our investigators, Brother M, the 70 year old, is struggling, we taught him about the gospel of Christ, and he got it … all except baptism ... and then when we tried to explain it to him … well, its still a work in progress.
The NW district here is sweet, they are all way great and working way hard, Tuttle Choro is the new zone leader, and it’s his first time so it’s pretty good I think. It’s weird being district leader when I’m one of the younger people in my district, there are two sisters from my doki and then Nielson Shimai and Legge Shimai, and then the zone leaders, and a transfer eight Reusser Shimai. It’s all good though, tomorrow we have the Elder Whiting conference; he’s a Seventy. Should be a fine learning experience; I’m excited!
Hmmm, this week we started focusing on this guy, Brother O again, his first lesson was my first day in Chiba, so I’ve known him a while, but we finally got him to commit to be baptized if he gets an answer from God ... yeah, he may or may not be expecting a Joseph Smith style vision, but hopefully we can work with that. We also set a baptismal date with a guy named Brother Y this week ... and now we can’t get a hold of him ... bummer, but we’re gambaruing.
Something that I’ve learned a lot of recently is that in the Gospel, and in missionary work, I don’t think that I’ll ever feel good enough. I know that God will help me and I’ll be able to do whatever he asks me to do, but I still will never feel completely up to the challenge that He has given me, I know it’s just because I want it done perfectly by myself, and that that is never going to happen ... it’s been very humbling recently ... and a little frustrating ...
On the other hand, I’m doing missionary work, thanks to God and His power. I am well aware of the gift of tongues in my life and I am so grateful for it; everyday! I know that there is no way I should be able to talk to anyone in this country, it's especially apparent when the Holy Ghost doesn’t want me to understand someone and just leaves me on my own ... then it’s really rough ... but it’s nice to have God on my side!
I love you all and hope that y’all had a great week! If you get sad, remember Abi can rent you a puppy to play with for a bit.
PS. Dad, I feel good about your talk, should be a hit ... its new, its kinda like lecture #53 about accountability or lecture #88 on the symbolism of the temple that we all head so much growing up. I think that it will be really great!!! Good Luck! It was interesting to see the insights that you drew out, and yeah, it really made me think a lot about missionary work and how we are like little Eternal Families here on earth ... little mini versions of God's big family ... is it okay if I use some of it in lessons and such? I hope so, I'm more letting you know that I'm going to rather than asking permission ...
you know lecture #23!!
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| I know that I got a little more snow than you guys did ... ... so just feel sorry for me riding my bike through the blizzard that is my life |
you know lecture #23!!
I really like the symbolism of a Father and Mother coming together, anywhere around the world, rich or poor, and they can create a family where mom and dad have God Like Power within their own family … yes there are some who go crazy which results in some children having a really warped perspective on the world, but for most of the world, we create these families and we are all trying to shower our children with love, support, encouragement to live a life that is better than their own … doesn’t that sound a lot like our Heavenly Parents and what they would do for us … the symbolism is rich as we realize what we would do for our children, is exactly what our Heavenly Parents would do for us. For you specifically, your two years away is not altogether different symbolically than when we left our Heavenly Father for a short period of time with the hopes of returning once again to them … now compare that to you leaving us, we communicate through eMail, with one or two visions via Skype, which wasn’t possible even 10 years ago with TeJay, we pray that you return with honor, we long for a glorious reunion where we can once again embrace each other, we even expect to see an older brother or sisters waiting with open arms to welcome your return … sound familiar to another plan that you teach to your investigators?5175 4741
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