Tuesday, May 3, 2011
May 2, 2011
Dear Family,
This week was a good week. We have a whopping total of 0 investigators (as of last night our only one dropped). That’s a little rough but I still have a really good feeling about this area and I think a lot will start to happen. It’s kind of difficult being with 4 people and the ward has had some bad experiences with missionaries that didn’t know how to create good relationships. So that’s our main objective for now. If we can get the members onboard with our ideas then it will be really easy to get Yokkaichi to be a thriving area.
We spent most of the week visiting members and less active members. One funny woman was Naito Shimai. We rode an hour to her house in the mountains and it was up and down, up and down the whole way. We hit 46 km/hr at one point. It was fun going up the hills though. You feel an accomplishment when you can glide down and you get to see all of the work you put into go up the hill. Also, it is making my legs a lot bigger which I’m happy about. So we get to her house and we were fasting but she was like “Oh you can just have some of this food.” “I won’t tell anyone.” “How about some skittles?” I want to know where the heck she found skittles. It was way funny and then she told us that she drinks tea and coffee because she realized that they are healthy for her. She was a little crazy but her and her non-member husband were really nice and they gave us a bunch of food to take home. They were really fun to meet with.
While she was making food for us to take home she left us in her living room with these giant windows that overlooked their nice garden. The husband came in and turned on a baseball game and told us to watch it and then left to work in the garden. So since I hate baseball and didn’t consider it too much of a sin to watch I decided it was okay. Elder Flint being from Australia has never played it and wanted me to explain it to him. I saw it as a good opportunity to build our relationship so I explained baseball and all of the facts that I’ve overheard from the years and years of endlessly watching and listening to Jacob ramble. It was a pretty fun experience and it helped put both of us in a better mood because it had been a hard day.
I hear if you get a full set of the original Pokémon starter sets which I think we have at home and they are in good condition you can sell them for $400 dollars on ebay. Jacob and Jason should look into that. It would be a sweet way to save for your mission or to buy Tyler a PS3 when he gets home.
I’m doing pretty well this week. The weather is helping me sleep a lot more. I’ve slept incredibly well this past week. I didn’t know I could sleep that well. The only thing is that when it starts to get hotter I’ll always feel drained during the day. Heat + Curry = Slow. It’s nice though.
I have one last favor for mom and dad and the bank account that is supporting me on my mission. I need short sleeve shirts now. I am dying. I thought I had 4 or 5 good ones but for some reason they got ruined when I stored them. I even took care of them but I don’t know if I’ll be able to find any here. It’s expensive and I don’t know if I can find some that fit me. Also, I need maybe 4 or 5 things of deodorant and 4 or 5 things of toothpaste and one more toothbrush and I swear I’ll be set for the rest of my mission. I’d be really happy if this was my last package. I think that’s all I will need.
So I think I’m the new Zone Leader here in Nagoya 2. There is training for District Leaders and Zone Leaders starting tomorrow and my name got added to the list at the last second. Everyone thinks it’s because they sent back a bunch of Tokyo missionaries today so right now we only have 1 Zone Leader and I think I’ll be getting a call sometime today or tomorrow. So that’s cool I guess. I like not having any responsibilities though.
Love, Tyler
This week was a good week. We have a whopping total of 0 investigators (as of last night our only one dropped). That’s a little rough but I still have a really good feeling about this area and I think a lot will start to happen. It’s kind of difficult being with 4 people and the ward has had some bad experiences with missionaries that didn’t know how to create good relationships. So that’s our main objective for now. If we can get the members onboard with our ideas then it will be really easy to get Yokkaichi to be a thriving area.
We spent most of the week visiting members and less active members. One funny woman was Naito Shimai. We rode an hour to her house in the mountains and it was up and down, up and down the whole way. We hit 46 km/hr at one point. It was fun going up the hills though. You feel an accomplishment when you can glide down and you get to see all of the work you put into go up the hill. Also, it is making my legs a lot bigger which I’m happy about. So we get to her house and we were fasting but she was like “Oh you can just have some of this food.” “I won’t tell anyone.” “How about some skittles?” I want to know where the heck she found skittles. It was way funny and then she told us that she drinks tea and coffee because she realized that they are healthy for her. She was a little crazy but her and her non-member husband were really nice and they gave us a bunch of food to take home. They were really fun to meet with.
While she was making food for us to take home she left us in her living room with these giant windows that overlooked their nice garden. The husband came in and turned on a baseball game and told us to watch it and then left to work in the garden. So since I hate baseball and didn’t consider it too much of a sin to watch I decided it was okay. Elder Flint being from Australia has never played it and wanted me to explain it to him. I saw it as a good opportunity to build our relationship so I explained baseball and all of the facts that I’ve overheard from the years and years of endlessly watching and listening to Jacob ramble. It was a pretty fun experience and it helped put both of us in a better mood because it had been a hard day.
I hear if you get a full set of the original Pokémon starter sets which I think we have at home and they are in good condition you can sell them for $400 dollars on ebay. Jacob and Jason should look into that. It would be a sweet way to save for your mission or to buy Tyler a PS3 when he gets home.
I’m doing pretty well this week. The weather is helping me sleep a lot more. I’ve slept incredibly well this past week. I didn’t know I could sleep that well. The only thing is that when it starts to get hotter I’ll always feel drained during the day. Heat + Curry = Slow. It’s nice though.
I have one last favor for mom and dad and the bank account that is supporting me on my mission. I need short sleeve shirts now. I am dying. I thought I had 4 or 5 good ones but for some reason they got ruined when I stored them. I even took care of them but I don’t know if I’ll be able to find any here. It’s expensive and I don’t know if I can find some that fit me. Also, I need maybe 4 or 5 things of deodorant and 4 or 5 things of toothpaste and one more toothbrush and I swear I’ll be set for the rest of my mission. I’d be really happy if this was my last package. I think that’s all I will need.
So I think I’m the new Zone Leader here in Nagoya 2. There is training for District Leaders and Zone Leaders starting tomorrow and my name got added to the list at the last second. Everyone thinks it’s because they sent back a bunch of Tokyo missionaries today so right now we only have 1 Zone Leader and I think I’ll be getting a call sometime today or tomorrow. So that’s cool I guess. I like not having any responsibilities though.
Love, Tyler
April 24, 2011
Dear Family,
So far Yokkaichi is pretty good. The ward is really good here and it’s a nice set up for the plans that President Baird and I have for here. The Bishopric will be a huge help and I can see it being a very successful place. When we asked the Bishop if we could do anything for him he just asked us to please baptize someone. It looks like their priorities are right and there aren’t many problems in the ward so missionary work can take a front row seat. It’s tough being in a really small apartment with four people but we’ve made the best of it so far and there haven’t been too many problems.
I don’t know if I told you last week about the French toast incident but Elder Bednar accidently put salt into the French toast batter instead of sugar. He made a bunch and once they tasted them they decided it would be funny to leave them there and wait for Elder Soliai and me to come home and then offer them to us. I grabbed two and put them on a plate and poured syrup on them. I took the first bite and noticed they tasted a little weird but I didn’t want to be rude. I kept eating them whiling I was making some other food. It started to get worse. I didn’t: notice that Elder Soliai had already spit his out and Elder Furugen was rolling on the floor laughing. I got to the last bite of my second one and looked up and saw Elder Bednar wide eyed. I realized that they had put something in the French toast. They were all amazed that I had eaten two pieces. No one else had gotten a single bite down. They were all pretty impressed. No one thought deep enough into it though to ask why I kept eating them even though they tasted terrible. So everyone was making fun of me but I told Elder Soliai the next day that the reason I kept eating them was because I just thought Elder Bednar was just a really bad cook. He had cooked stuff for me earlier in the week and it wasn’t very good so I just thought his regular French toast tasted that bad. So really the joke is on him. Funny story thought and we had a pretty good laugh about it. It doesn’t rival Monica’s bread story though.
So I got to Yokkaichi and looked at my new pillow and it was more yellow than white. It didn’t have a pillow case on it so I put like for cases on it and it’s not too bad but I think that I’d rather just have a new pillow that I can make yellow myself.
We contacted a guy from the Ivory Coast the other day in the outdoor mall. It started to rain while we were talking to him and so he said, “oh let’s get under something.” We walked to the closest store front which just so happened to be a lingerie store. It had a giant picture of a half naked woman in front of it. The way we were standing was unfortunate for me because I was facing the picture. I’m sure the guy was freaked out that for like 10 minutes I didn’t break eye contact with him even once. It was a pretty awkward experience.
It’s has pretty much rained the whole time I’ve been here. Spring lasted for like 3 days and then the rainy season started. It’s been pretty difficult so far. My backpack always smells terrible from the rain but its okay.
Thanks for your comments on my questions. If Jason could just give me a little bit more detail on his comments and signpost as well as Quincy did then that would be great. Jason seemed the most passionate so if he could explain and little bit more. I’m interested in his reasoning. It’s really difficult deciding whether to come home in December or February because I’ve seen my life change in a matter of days let alone 6 weeks.
Congrats to Jacob and happy birthday to Jason. I love you all have a good week. Thanks for your letters.
Love, Tyler
So far Yokkaichi is pretty good. The ward is really good here and it’s a nice set up for the plans that President Baird and I have for here. The Bishopric will be a huge help and I can see it being a very successful place. When we asked the Bishop if we could do anything for him he just asked us to please baptize someone. It looks like their priorities are right and there aren’t many problems in the ward so missionary work can take a front row seat. It’s tough being in a really small apartment with four people but we’ve made the best of it so far and there haven’t been too many problems.
I don’t know if I told you last week about the French toast incident but Elder Bednar accidently put salt into the French toast batter instead of sugar. He made a bunch and once they tasted them they decided it would be funny to leave them there and wait for Elder Soliai and me to come home and then offer them to us. I grabbed two and put them on a plate and poured syrup on them. I took the first bite and noticed they tasted a little weird but I didn’t want to be rude. I kept eating them whiling I was making some other food. It started to get worse. I didn’t: notice that Elder Soliai had already spit his out and Elder Furugen was rolling on the floor laughing. I got to the last bite of my second one and looked up and saw Elder Bednar wide eyed. I realized that they had put something in the French toast. They were all amazed that I had eaten two pieces. No one else had gotten a single bite down. They were all pretty impressed. No one thought deep enough into it though to ask why I kept eating them even though they tasted terrible. So everyone was making fun of me but I told Elder Soliai the next day that the reason I kept eating them was because I just thought Elder Bednar was just a really bad cook. He had cooked stuff for me earlier in the week and it wasn’t very good so I just thought his regular French toast tasted that bad. So really the joke is on him. Funny story thought and we had a pretty good laugh about it. It doesn’t rival Monica’s bread story though.
So I got to Yokkaichi and looked at my new pillow and it was more yellow than white. It didn’t have a pillow case on it so I put like for cases on it and it’s not too bad but I think that I’d rather just have a new pillow that I can make yellow myself.
We contacted a guy from the Ivory Coast the other day in the outdoor mall. It started to rain while we were talking to him and so he said, “oh let’s get under something.” We walked to the closest store front which just so happened to be a lingerie store. It had a giant picture of a half naked woman in front of it. The way we were standing was unfortunate for me because I was facing the picture. I’m sure the guy was freaked out that for like 10 minutes I didn’t break eye contact with him even once. It was a pretty awkward experience.
It’s has pretty much rained the whole time I’ve been here. Spring lasted for like 3 days and then the rainy season started. It’s been pretty difficult so far. My backpack always smells terrible from the rain but its okay.
Thanks for your comments on my questions. If Jason could just give me a little bit more detail on his comments and signpost as well as Quincy did then that would be great. Jason seemed the most passionate so if he could explain and little bit more. I’m interested in his reasoning. It’s really difficult deciding whether to come home in December or February because I’ve seen my life change in a matter of days let alone 6 weeks.
Congrats to Jacob and happy birthday to Jason. I love you all have a good week. Thanks for your letters.
Love, Tyler
April 18, 2011
Dear Family,
I beat Elder Berrett in an arm wrestle this week. It was sweet. It was at our ping pong activity in front of everyone. He’s a huge guy and played baseball in college. I kicked his butt...twice actually. I got beat in the ping pong bracket by my companion which was a huge upset so I had to show my manliness somehow. It worked pretty well.
We played basketball last week. I now understand how fat and slow I am (but I can ride a bike like you wouldn’t believe). I think I’ll have to go through at least six months of rehab when I come back. My posture is getting terrible due to everything here being below head level. I need to stop hitting my head on the places where you put luggage on the trains. They could really make those things a little higher.
I housed a Brazilian complex this week. I talked to 5 people. Two had interest but we couldn’t communicate very well so I told them I’d come back with someone that could speak Portuguese. The third guy said he didn’t have any interest but invited us in to hang out. The 4th and 5th guys didn’t have interest but it was the weirdest experience of my life. They said they couldn’t: believe because they were “rocky mountain men” (that was weird). Also one of the guys didn’t have a shirt on and he was kind of fat but had unusually defined abs. It was weird to say the least. I think the first guy was hitting on me though. We promptly left and starting talking to Japanese people who all said they couldn’t listen to me because their ancestors are of a religion that didn’t even start in Japan...but they have to follow it...
Well I found out that I’m transferring to Yokkaichi. 四日市. I got the call earlier today. I’m having a hard time with it. I really don’t: want to leave Fukui but I’m handing it over to Elder Brown. It’s kind of frustrating. I’m going to be companions with another Australian. Also, I will be in another apartment with 4 people. The other two I was with in the MTC. All three of them are already there and have been for a transfer so I will definitely be the new guy in the area. I’m the Australian Elders senior companion but I won’t be the District Leader. I know it’s the call of the Lord and I know it will turn out well. I’m just a little stubborn and lack some faith.
Last week Elder Bednar wrote about me in his email home and that email gets sent to THE Elder Bednar. So a prophet is going to read about me. Also, in the story I used his talk from conference with an investigator so I feel like the apostles and I are pretty tight now.
Love, Tyler
I beat Elder Berrett in an arm wrestle this week. It was sweet. It was at our ping pong activity in front of everyone. He’s a huge guy and played baseball in college. I kicked his butt...twice actually. I got beat in the ping pong bracket by my companion which was a huge upset so I had to show my manliness somehow. It worked pretty well.
We played basketball last week. I now understand how fat and slow I am (but I can ride a bike like you wouldn’t believe). I think I’ll have to go through at least six months of rehab when I come back. My posture is getting terrible due to everything here being below head level. I need to stop hitting my head on the places where you put luggage on the trains. They could really make those things a little higher.
I housed a Brazilian complex this week. I talked to 5 people. Two had interest but we couldn’t communicate very well so I told them I’d come back with someone that could speak Portuguese. The third guy said he didn’t have any interest but invited us in to hang out. The 4th and 5th guys didn’t have interest but it was the weirdest experience of my life. They said they couldn’t: believe because they were “rocky mountain men” (that was weird). Also one of the guys didn’t have a shirt on and he was kind of fat but had unusually defined abs. It was weird to say the least. I think the first guy was hitting on me though. We promptly left and starting talking to Japanese people who all said they couldn’t listen to me because their ancestors are of a religion that didn’t even start in Japan...but they have to follow it...
Well I found out that I’m transferring to Yokkaichi. 四日市. I got the call earlier today. I’m having a hard time with it. I really don’t: want to leave Fukui but I’m handing it over to Elder Brown. It’s kind of frustrating. I’m going to be companions with another Australian. Also, I will be in another apartment with 4 people. The other two I was with in the MTC. All three of them are already there and have been for a transfer so I will definitely be the new guy in the area. I’m the Australian Elders senior companion but I won’t be the District Leader. I know it’s the call of the Lord and I know it will turn out well. I’m just a little stubborn and lack some faith.
Last week Elder Bednar wrote about me in his email home and that email gets sent to THE Elder Bednar. So a prophet is going to read about me. Also, in the story I used his talk from conference with an investigator so I feel like the apostles and I are pretty tight now.
Love, Tyler
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
April 3, 2011
Dear Family,
I do email in a library in a hospital. Now that there are four of us there is some time to kill while I wait for the computer. I didn’t get on the computer first so I went to sit down to wait. I’m pretty tired and I noticed a couch and then remembered that I haven’t sat on a couch in like 6 months. I was really excited as I walked over to the couch with my arms spread in joy. As I got closer I realized that right next to the couch in the same direction that I was walking was a big poster about breast cancer which wasn’t afraid to depict with real pictures. As I figured out what was on the poster I quickly dropped my arms and sadly returned to a table where Elder Soliai and Elder Furugen were sitting. Elder Soliai couldn’t stop laughing and all the old people wouldn’t stop giving me weird looks.
Last week after emailing we went to a, all you can eat meat place (I mainly eat pineapple though). We went with the Komatsu Elders so there were 8 of us. When we got there, we stuffed ourselves and then we got ready to leave. As we were leaving there was a huge group of teenagers that came in to eat. Seeing a large group of Americans (7) and a Japanese person from Okinawa (they don’t look Japanese at all) they started to freak out. I was pretty embarrassed because they all started to yell the little English they knew. I’m just not an outgoing type of person but I decided to just go with the situation. So we all ran through the group with our hands up and they gave us high fives. Elder Furugen is a good sport about it. Poor guy. He gets a lot of crap for betraying his country’s religion. Americans are adored and loved. To say the least, it will be tough going back to being a no one in America.
Our Brazilian investigator and I watched the same TV shows when we were young. We talked about Mighty Max for a while the other day. He still won’t accept a baptism date but he is doing well. I’m just stalling until we have to talk about marriage. Unfortunately, there is nothing left to talk about now.
This week was alright. We are doing a lot of finding but planning is going a lot easier. We are trying to do fun activities to get people to come out. President Baird wants us to act a lot like advertisers. He says we should act like we are selling something, but it’s free. I feel like I’m Vince (the Sham Wow guy) but with more morals. Our streeting approaches sound kind of weird but he promises us it will be more effective. I’ve sensed a difference but it still just feels weird to be so abrupt when telling people that the Book or Mormon help us get rid of our unsightly sins.
Things are going really well. I’m glad I have so much work to do and I love being here in Fukui. President Baird just keeps telling me that I will leave a legacy here but I don’t see that happening any time soon. The members in Japan look at missionaries to solve all of their problems. It gets really stressful. I like stress though so I guess it’s okay. Thanks for all the emails and letters. I’m excited beyond belief for my new shoes and taco seasoning. I am getting a tortilla maker from my trainer on Wednesday. It will make life so much greater. I love you all. Have a great week. Bye
Tyler
I do email in a library in a hospital. Now that there are four of us there is some time to kill while I wait for the computer. I didn’t get on the computer first so I went to sit down to wait. I’m pretty tired and I noticed a couch and then remembered that I haven’t sat on a couch in like 6 months. I was really excited as I walked over to the couch with my arms spread in joy. As I got closer I realized that right next to the couch in the same direction that I was walking was a big poster about breast cancer which wasn’t afraid to depict with real pictures. As I figured out what was on the poster I quickly dropped my arms and sadly returned to a table where Elder Soliai and Elder Furugen were sitting. Elder Soliai couldn’t stop laughing and all the old people wouldn’t stop giving me weird looks.
Last week after emailing we went to a, all you can eat meat place (I mainly eat pineapple though). We went with the Komatsu Elders so there were 8 of us. When we got there, we stuffed ourselves and then we got ready to leave. As we were leaving there was a huge group of teenagers that came in to eat. Seeing a large group of Americans (7) and a Japanese person from Okinawa (they don’t look Japanese at all) they started to freak out. I was pretty embarrassed because they all started to yell the little English they knew. I’m just not an outgoing type of person but I decided to just go with the situation. So we all ran through the group with our hands up and they gave us high fives. Elder Furugen is a good sport about it. Poor guy. He gets a lot of crap for betraying his country’s religion. Americans are adored and loved. To say the least, it will be tough going back to being a no one in America.
Our Brazilian investigator and I watched the same TV shows when we were young. We talked about Mighty Max for a while the other day. He still won’t accept a baptism date but he is doing well. I’m just stalling until we have to talk about marriage. Unfortunately, there is nothing left to talk about now.
This week was alright. We are doing a lot of finding but planning is going a lot easier. We are trying to do fun activities to get people to come out. President Baird wants us to act a lot like advertisers. He says we should act like we are selling something, but it’s free. I feel like I’m Vince (the Sham Wow guy) but with more morals. Our streeting approaches sound kind of weird but he promises us it will be more effective. I’ve sensed a difference but it still just feels weird to be so abrupt when telling people that the Book or Mormon help us get rid of our unsightly sins.
Things are going really well. I’m glad I have so much work to do and I love being here in Fukui. President Baird just keeps telling me that I will leave a legacy here but I don’t see that happening any time soon. The members in Japan look at missionaries to solve all of their problems. It gets really stressful. I like stress though so I guess it’s okay. Thanks for all the emails and letters. I’m excited beyond belief for my new shoes and taco seasoning. I am getting a tortilla maker from my trainer on Wednesday. It will make life so much greater. I love you all. Have a great week. Bye
Tyler
March 28, 2011
Dear Family,
This week went by really fast but I didn’t think I was going to make it past Saturday. I had a really bad experience with English class and some parents getting angry that their teenage daughters came to our church. It just made me really angry because it’s not like that in the United States. I went to Harvest all the time for lunch but it wasn’t a big deal. It seems like religion in America is much more civil believe it or not. There are people here that won’t even talk with me when I asked them questions. I asked an old woman for help and she said, “No I’m good.” I was just trying to figure out where we were on a map. Another time it was really late and rainy and I was trying to ask a man what the address was so that I could find where we were on a map. He wouldn’t even speak to me. He just waved his hand back and forth. It’s really frustrating and makes me angry but at least in the end I decided not to throw the eggs at their house. I just happened to eat a lot of French toast every week.
I’m glad that everyone is doing well, besides Monica being sick and BYU losing. I found out Monday last week right before I was suppose to go to Nagoya that I actually wasn’t suppose to go. It was a mix up on the Assistant’s part. So maybe I should have bought food on p-day last week. It was good though because I just used it as an opportunity to clean out all the cans of soup and older food that we were just kind of ignoring.
I feel like I deserve to be called an adult after this week. I’ve never had so much need for mental discipline. I was stressed out of my mind this week as I was having to worry about people at church and teaching people lessons during church and taking care of their children’s problems because they don’t: speak any Japanese or English. I can ignore huge problems and not be super stressed about them anymore.
I like our two new missionaries a lot. I don’t know if I told you their names last week. Elder Bednar who is Elder Bednar:s grand-nephew, and Elder Furugen. Elder Furugen is like the Japanese companion I’ve always wanted. He is way cool and willing to put up with crappy Japanese (at least for the time being). He also is a hard worker and a good teacher.
They were in the parts of Tokyo that weren’t too affected by the earthquake but they still saw some devastation. I know the news in America is saying that people are being really patient about it and stuff, which they are. They aren’t rioting or looting. It seems like the rest of the country isn’t too upset about it though. People here don’t: really care. They are donating stuff (especially church members) but I feel like people in America pay closer attention to it.
Oh tell Grandpa Miller I visited Azechi Shimai this week. I will try to write him a letter about it but tell him that I visited her and she was genki. She was very happy to see me and we talked a lot about him. I felt really bad though because her door frame was really low so I had to bend down a little bit. At one point it hurt too bad so I leaned in the apartment a little to stretched my neck out and my hair caught hold of some loose paint on the ceiling and tore it off. I felt bad but I guess that’s what I get for being tall. She sure loves grandpa a lot and everyone here remembers him and says he was a very handsome and suteki guy. Also his Japanese was better than his companions’. I have to go now. I’ll write you next week. I love you all. Bye.
Tyler
This week went by really fast but I didn’t think I was going to make it past Saturday. I had a really bad experience with English class and some parents getting angry that their teenage daughters came to our church. It just made me really angry because it’s not like that in the United States. I went to Harvest all the time for lunch but it wasn’t a big deal. It seems like religion in America is much more civil believe it or not. There are people here that won’t even talk with me when I asked them questions. I asked an old woman for help and she said, “No I’m good.” I was just trying to figure out where we were on a map. Another time it was really late and rainy and I was trying to ask a man what the address was so that I could find where we were on a map. He wouldn’t even speak to me. He just waved his hand back and forth. It’s really frustrating and makes me angry but at least in the end I decided not to throw the eggs at their house. I just happened to eat a lot of French toast every week.
I’m glad that everyone is doing well, besides Monica being sick and BYU losing. I found out Monday last week right before I was suppose to go to Nagoya that I actually wasn’t suppose to go. It was a mix up on the Assistant’s part. So maybe I should have bought food on p-day last week. It was good though because I just used it as an opportunity to clean out all the cans of soup and older food that we were just kind of ignoring.
I feel like I deserve to be called an adult after this week. I’ve never had so much need for mental discipline. I was stressed out of my mind this week as I was having to worry about people at church and teaching people lessons during church and taking care of their children’s problems because they don’t: speak any Japanese or English. I can ignore huge problems and not be super stressed about them anymore.
I like our two new missionaries a lot. I don’t know if I told you their names last week. Elder Bednar who is Elder Bednar:s grand-nephew, and Elder Furugen. Elder Furugen is like the Japanese companion I’ve always wanted. He is way cool and willing to put up with crappy Japanese (at least for the time being). He also is a hard worker and a good teacher.
They were in the parts of Tokyo that weren’t too affected by the earthquake but they still saw some devastation. I know the news in America is saying that people are being really patient about it and stuff, which they are. They aren’t rioting or looting. It seems like the rest of the country isn’t too upset about it though. People here don’t: really care. They are donating stuff (especially church members) but I feel like people in America pay closer attention to it.
Oh tell Grandpa Miller I visited Azechi Shimai this week. I will try to write him a letter about it but tell him that I visited her and she was genki. She was very happy to see me and we talked a lot about him. I felt really bad though because her door frame was really low so I had to bend down a little bit. At one point it hurt too bad so I leaned in the apartment a little to stretched my neck out and my hair caught hold of some loose paint on the ceiling and tore it off. I felt bad but I guess that’s what I get for being tall. She sure loves grandpa a lot and everyone here remembers him and says he was a very handsome and suteki guy. Also his Japanese was better than his companions’. I have to go now. I’ll write you next week. I love you all. Bye.
Tyler
March 14, 2011
Dear Family,
Well now I feel bad because I’m hearing so much about the earthquake from you. I didn’t know it was that big of a deal. We were in Nagoya in the middle of our training meeting and President Baird was having us write down our impressions on the topic we had just finished. I of course being the sensitive guy that I am felt the earthquake first. We all kind of stopped and stood still. We waited. President Baird was writing on the board and turned around. After about 30 seconds (not an exaggeration) he said, “This is a long one.” The Elder Dasilva yelled. “it’s revelation!” Then it went for about another 30 seconds and we started to get worried.
The dividers that are used to separate the parts of the room that we were in were all up against the walls so that the room was as big as possible. They started to rock back and forth and hit the walls. I thought for sure it would start to settle down but it got a little stronger and just kept going. People were getting sick and had to lean up against the wall. Also President Baird had to lean on the stage because he couldn’t keep his balance standing. It lasted probably 2 minutes. I was shocked at how long it was. President Baird then said, “we don’t have a lot of time so let’s get back to writing and we’ll move on.” We just kept going with the meeting.
About 30 minutes later we had an aftershock while Elder Otahara was reading. He just kept reading and no one said anything for the 15 seconds that it was shaking. We didn’t stop the meeting at all. Oh I forgot to mention that during the first one after about a minute or so elder Dasilva got really scared so he yelled, “under the tables!” He jumped under a table we all kind of laughed and I said, “That’s how you get killed.” It really is. You are supposed to make triangles of safety. Never go under something. Look up triangles of safety online. Elder Valentine got on his knees and started praying. We can probably thank him for the building not coming down. I wasn’t scared at all. If the building started to come down I felt like President Baird would just rebuke the ceiling as it was falling and it would stop. Also, if the ceiling did start to come down I think I’m fast enough to not get hit. I’d be out the window pretty fast.
We finished the meeting and sister Baird walked in and said in her cheerful voice, “that earthquake was a 8.9. I made cookies for everyone, you can take 2.” The sisters started to cry (but they still took the cookies, darn it). I don’t think sister Baird understood how big an 8.9 earthquake was. I turned to Elder Howells my old companion who I knew would know what that meant and I said that an 8.9 is incredible and it must have happened way out in the ocean for us to feel it that weak here in Nagoya.
No one in Fukui felt it. Fukui was too far away. We couldn’t call my cell phone though so we couldn’t contact my companion. We started to worry about that. We took the subway to the big train station and found out that the mission was evacuating all areas touching the ocean and one tsunami had already hit and another one was maybe coming. Luckily my whole zone was on the other side of the island so once we got the okay from the mission home, we started to head home. We had to take a really slow train thought because they weren’t running the express trains and they were too scared to run the shinkansen. On the train we were trying to look over people’s shoulders and see the news because they were all watching it on their cell phones. We didn’t realize the destruction was so bad. We then asked someone where the epicenter was and found it was actually just off the coast of Sendai. I didn’t think people were freaking out as much as they should be but I guess it was because we were on the safe side of the island.
I called a member who was visiting in Tokyo for her break from college. She said that they felt an after shock a couple times each hour. It’s pretty crazy. I think the mail system is still going. I had to send an email address to the mission home so that they could email you. I’m obviously fine and safe. I don’t think anywhere in our mission was too damaged so I don’t think we will be doing a lot of that type of service, especially in my zone. No one even felt it.
That was pretty much the only thing that happened to me this week. I went to the training all week. It was from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm for three days. Then my assigned companion and I would do some streeting until 9:30 pm. We only had one break for lunch (I lost six pounds). It was pretty intense. I learned a ton though. I’m okay so don’t worry about me. Life is pretty much the same but people keep asking why God would let so many people die. Other than that I’m just doing the same old same old. But missionary work will change forever after this meeting that we had. The President of the Quorum of the Seventy is watching our mission very closely now. We have over 1000 referrals in the Nagoya zone alone. I have about 20 right now which I bet Quincy, Jason, or Dad never saw on their missions and I have a lot more that I need to get. I love you all. Have a great week. Remember triangles of safety and keep praying for the people here please.
Love,
Tyler
Well now I feel bad because I’m hearing so much about the earthquake from you. I didn’t know it was that big of a deal. We were in Nagoya in the middle of our training meeting and President Baird was having us write down our impressions on the topic we had just finished. I of course being the sensitive guy that I am felt the earthquake first. We all kind of stopped and stood still. We waited. President Baird was writing on the board and turned around. After about 30 seconds (not an exaggeration) he said, “This is a long one.” The Elder Dasilva yelled. “it’s revelation!” Then it went for about another 30 seconds and we started to get worried.
The dividers that are used to separate the parts of the room that we were in were all up against the walls so that the room was as big as possible. They started to rock back and forth and hit the walls. I thought for sure it would start to settle down but it got a little stronger and just kept going. People were getting sick and had to lean up against the wall. Also President Baird had to lean on the stage because he couldn’t keep his balance standing. It lasted probably 2 minutes. I was shocked at how long it was. President Baird then said, “we don’t have a lot of time so let’s get back to writing and we’ll move on.” We just kept going with the meeting.
About 30 minutes later we had an aftershock while Elder Otahara was reading. He just kept reading and no one said anything for the 15 seconds that it was shaking. We didn’t stop the meeting at all. Oh I forgot to mention that during the first one after about a minute or so elder Dasilva got really scared so he yelled, “under the tables!” He jumped under a table we all kind of laughed and I said, “That’s how you get killed.” It really is. You are supposed to make triangles of safety. Never go under something. Look up triangles of safety online. Elder Valentine got on his knees and started praying. We can probably thank him for the building not coming down. I wasn’t scared at all. If the building started to come down I felt like President Baird would just rebuke the ceiling as it was falling and it would stop. Also, if the ceiling did start to come down I think I’m fast enough to not get hit. I’d be out the window pretty fast.
We finished the meeting and sister Baird walked in and said in her cheerful voice, “that earthquake was a 8.9. I made cookies for everyone, you can take 2.” The sisters started to cry (but they still took the cookies, darn it). I don’t think sister Baird understood how big an 8.9 earthquake was. I turned to Elder Howells my old companion who I knew would know what that meant and I said that an 8.9 is incredible and it must have happened way out in the ocean for us to feel it that weak here in Nagoya.
No one in Fukui felt it. Fukui was too far away. We couldn’t call my cell phone though so we couldn’t contact my companion. We started to worry about that. We took the subway to the big train station and found out that the mission was evacuating all areas touching the ocean and one tsunami had already hit and another one was maybe coming. Luckily my whole zone was on the other side of the island so once we got the okay from the mission home, we started to head home. We had to take a really slow train thought because they weren’t running the express trains and they were too scared to run the shinkansen. On the train we were trying to look over people’s shoulders and see the news because they were all watching it on their cell phones. We didn’t realize the destruction was so bad. We then asked someone where the epicenter was and found it was actually just off the coast of Sendai. I didn’t think people were freaking out as much as they should be but I guess it was because we were on the safe side of the island.
I called a member who was visiting in Tokyo for her break from college. She said that they felt an after shock a couple times each hour. It’s pretty crazy. I think the mail system is still going. I had to send an email address to the mission home so that they could email you. I’m obviously fine and safe. I don’t think anywhere in our mission was too damaged so I don’t think we will be doing a lot of that type of service, especially in my zone. No one even felt it.
That was pretty much the only thing that happened to me this week. I went to the training all week. It was from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm for three days. Then my assigned companion and I would do some streeting until 9:30 pm. We only had one break for lunch (I lost six pounds). It was pretty intense. I learned a ton though. I’m okay so don’t worry about me. Life is pretty much the same but people keep asking why God would let so many people die. Other than that I’m just doing the same old same old. But missionary work will change forever after this meeting that we had. The President of the Quorum of the Seventy is watching our mission very closely now. We have over 1000 referrals in the Nagoya zone alone. I have about 20 right now which I bet Quincy, Jason, or Dad never saw on their missions and I have a lot more that I need to get. I love you all. Have a great week. Remember triangles of safety and keep praying for the people here please.
Love,
Tyler
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