One quick note:
Once Tyler leaves on March 29th he will no longer be able to recieve dearelders. Please see the address below. I will post any new address we get.
Hey everyone,
First thanks G&G Hooton for the great DearElder letters. I really appreciate it. I love to read them. They are so wonderful. This was a rough week but not bad. My district had some contention. Our new teacher angered some people. He talks to us like we are five and doesn't plan out his lessons and so there was some contention with him. People were also angry about so many things.
Jacob, in order to prepare for your mission I have some advice. 1). be in awkward situations. 2). try dealing with stress. Don't live a life without stress. You will fall apart like some people here. 3). Learn how to just DO something. Don't wait and around and procrastinate it. Do it right now. (Suggestion: Before you go to sleep tonight, write you're older brother a DearElder. I'm not saying I feel neglected but it would be a good exercise). Also, read your scriptures every night. Just count to three and then go and do it!) 4). Learn how to deal with annoying people. The world is laced with them. Nothing you can do about it but try to understand how they feel and who they are and try to love them as Christ loves them. This advice can go for everyone. I'm not saying I've mastered these things. In fact, that’s why I've written them. I've seem myself and others struggle with these.
I heard elder Oaks talked at Stanford or something. How did that go? It's great by BYU won. Stupid Kansas State though. I feel like I've been betrayed by them. Mom I don't have my passport. They will give to me the morning that I leave (bad idea?...I think so). If you could send me a calling card I feel like that would take away from stress. This is also a weird request but it's for a good cause. Can you send some more of those TimTam things too? I can't think of anything else I need, but if you think of anything, send it. I will be fine on weight I think.
The Japanese is coming well. I can communicate on my own with some of the Japanese. It will be incredibly tough when I get there but it's okay. Sorry to everyone that isn't family. This letter is really lame. I am going to try to write Grandpa Miller a letter in Japanese and send it home since he might be there over the break. Katie I love you and will try to write you a letter. Bye Everyone have a great week.
Love Tyler
Tyler’s Travel Itinerary:
Leave SLC on Delta airlines flight 990 at 8:25 am on March 29th. Arrive in San Francisco at 9:46 am.
Leave San Francisco on Japan Airlines flight 1 at 1:20PM. Arrive in Tokyo Narita, Japan at 4:35 pm on March 30th.
Leave Tokyo on flight 53 at 6:25pm on the 30th and arrive in Nagoya, Japan at 7:45pm.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
March 16, 2010
Dear Family,
This week went well. I'm sad to hear that Jacob isn't doing too great. I hope you feel better. I loved grandma and grandpa's DearElders this week. Thank you. It was incredibly sweet of you. Katie I can't thank you enough for the letter that you sent me. I don't know if I will be able to respond to it this week because I’m so busy today but it was my favorite letter in the world. It truly is the cutest thing I've ever seen (yeah you heard me WALL-E that's right).
I'm sleeping well. I am pretty tired all the time though just because of the huge workload that we have. The language is going well. I had a full conversation with a native missionary yesterday. I completed my task well and my sensei asked the missionary questions to see if I did everything right and he said yes. I then talked to him for a while and his best friend went to Montana for fly fishing. I told him that my chichi and I did that all the time. Luckily you sent that picture of me with the tiny fish because I said my fish were always so small. It was in Utah but we'll just keep that one to ourselves.
I am still trying to stay in shape so I can missionary longer and harder than anyway in my zone. Elder Larkin (the auzzie that I’ve mentioned) pushes me pretty hard. It’s a nice release of tension and gives me more endurance. I'm still at 185 lbs though which is 15 pounds more than when I arrived. I think it's a lot of muscle though. My legs and arms are much bigger. Everyday I don't want to run Elder Larkin in his deep auzzie voice says, "Come on Futon Choro, we need to become better than any mortal women deserves but fit for an eternal companion." Let me tell you....inspiring words. lol.
I see how it is Jason. I'm going to start to learn Portuguese and you decided to drop it for Spanish? Quincy and I will just talk. That's sick about your research (sick as in awesome). Will you be doing it by yourself? Your competitions stories were really funny. I laughed pretty hard. I thought the only people over the age of 18 that played four square were missionaries in the MTC. I guess I was wrong.
Monica and Quincy your emails are great. Monica your primary ideas were what we can on Japanese Kampeki (perfect). I hope law school decisions are going well. Quincy's internship sounds perfect for him. I'd love to do it too. Thanks everyway for the descriptions of things that I won't be able to experience for two years (just kidding it's totally fine). I'm learning well on how to not be distracted by things. I am focusing a lot better. I had to give a lesson this last Sunday on diligence so I tried to apply it to my life a lot more. I gave a certain food that had been sent to me by a beloved family member away as a prize to the most diligent person during the lesson. It may or may not be spreadable and it had lost its use after I had all my brownies. I think I'm good on clothes by the way.
The work is going well. I'm learning a lot. I feel like my language ability is greatly increasing with the Lord's help. I'm so stoked to go to Japan. I will probably find out my flight plans on Friday. I will only be able to email back on next Tuesday. I will have to try and organize when I can call you. I hope I have a long layover somewhere so I can't have some time. I don't want to make it too big of a deal though. I don't want it to become stressful for anyone (me included).
I found out some incredible news this week. Shelby Lubbers my good friend has been secretly going to church in her college ward and has taken all of the discussions. The only thing that is holding her back isn't that her parents don't fully support her. It's sad but I think (know) that it will also be a big problem I run into in Japan. I'm so incredibly happy though. I’m even more happy that my family is doing so well. I love that everyone is trying to become closer to the Lord. I pray for it every night. It motivates me so much and gives me more to work for when I get to Japan. Things are going well for me. I have down points during the week but I'm so stoked to leave soon. Love you all. Bye.
Elder Hooton
This week went well. I'm sad to hear that Jacob isn't doing too great. I hope you feel better. I loved grandma and grandpa's DearElders this week. Thank you. It was incredibly sweet of you. Katie I can't thank you enough for the letter that you sent me. I don't know if I will be able to respond to it this week because I’m so busy today but it was my favorite letter in the world. It truly is the cutest thing I've ever seen (yeah you heard me WALL-E that's right).
I'm sleeping well. I am pretty tired all the time though just because of the huge workload that we have. The language is going well. I had a full conversation with a native missionary yesterday. I completed my task well and my sensei asked the missionary questions to see if I did everything right and he said yes. I then talked to him for a while and his best friend went to Montana for fly fishing. I told him that my chichi and I did that all the time. Luckily you sent that picture of me with the tiny fish because I said my fish were always so small. It was in Utah but we'll just keep that one to ourselves.
I am still trying to stay in shape so I can missionary longer and harder than anyway in my zone. Elder Larkin (the auzzie that I’ve mentioned) pushes me pretty hard. It’s a nice release of tension and gives me more endurance. I'm still at 185 lbs though which is 15 pounds more than when I arrived. I think it's a lot of muscle though. My legs and arms are much bigger. Everyday I don't want to run Elder Larkin in his deep auzzie voice says, "Come on Futon Choro, we need to become better than any mortal women deserves but fit for an eternal companion." Let me tell you....inspiring words. lol.
I see how it is Jason. I'm going to start to learn Portuguese and you decided to drop it for Spanish? Quincy and I will just talk. That's sick about your research (sick as in awesome). Will you be doing it by yourself? Your competitions stories were really funny. I laughed pretty hard. I thought the only people over the age of 18 that played four square were missionaries in the MTC. I guess I was wrong.
Monica and Quincy your emails are great. Monica your primary ideas were what we can on Japanese Kampeki (perfect). I hope law school decisions are going well. Quincy's internship sounds perfect for him. I'd love to do it too. Thanks everyway for the descriptions of things that I won't be able to experience for two years (just kidding it's totally fine). I'm learning well on how to not be distracted by things. I am focusing a lot better. I had to give a lesson this last Sunday on diligence so I tried to apply it to my life a lot more. I gave a certain food that had been sent to me by a beloved family member away as a prize to the most diligent person during the lesson. It may or may not be spreadable and it had lost its use after I had all my brownies. I think I'm good on clothes by the way.
The work is going well. I'm learning a lot. I feel like my language ability is greatly increasing with the Lord's help. I'm so stoked to go to Japan. I will probably find out my flight plans on Friday. I will only be able to email back on next Tuesday. I will have to try and organize when I can call you. I hope I have a long layover somewhere so I can't have some time. I don't want to make it too big of a deal though. I don't want it to become stressful for anyone (me included).
I found out some incredible news this week. Shelby Lubbers my good friend has been secretly going to church in her college ward and has taken all of the discussions. The only thing that is holding her back isn't that her parents don't fully support her. It's sad but I think (know) that it will also be a big problem I run into in Japan. I'm so incredibly happy though. I’m even more happy that my family is doing so well. I love that everyone is trying to become closer to the Lord. I pray for it every night. It motivates me so much and gives me more to work for when I get to Japan. Things are going well for me. I have down points during the week but I'm so stoked to leave soon. Love you all. Bye.
Elder Hooton
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
March 9, 2010
Dear Family,
Well I'm using a gmail interface now which means I can fit in more email addresses so I hope I got everyone's right. There is a rumor that they are trying out laptops for missionaries in Japan. We were told by a teacher that just got back. That'd be so cool. They say you can communicate with investigators easier through email in Japan. It sounds like they are trying to be more efficient. It makes sense but I'm sure it will be abused in someway by missionaries. Sad.
I am going to change my emails so they aren't so boring. To answer most questions I think I'm just going to write letters so and try to make these emails more exciting by telling more stories or something.
First, thank you Grandma and Grandpa Hooton for the DearElders they are great. Thanks always to the family for being so great with answering all my requests for pictures and stuff like that. Dad I love the things that you've sent me to ponder from stake conference and the stuff that Lyle sent you. I appreciate it along with your DearElder letter everyday. It helps a lot. Jason thanks for your letters. I can never pass up on a good fiberone story. Dad that's super exciting about New York and debate. I'm glad the whole debate thing is going well.
So things are going well with my companion except for the fact that he has freaked out a couple of times over stupid things like one of our teachers teaching us the Japanese phrase for dang. Like when you drop something. He says as missionaries we shouldn't be saying it. Even though my native teacher who is super up on missionary appearance said it was fine. My companion like threw a fit. We get along really well though.
My favorite meal here is probably the Sloppy Joes. I don't know though. It's hit and miss here. I did have seven pieces of cake for dinner last night by the way. Yeah I'm fat. I'm on 13 pounds gained right now and that was after I fasted.
So here is the coolest fact of anything that I've heard since I got here and this might appeal to Jason and Quincy. Because Nagoya has so many car factories there was a huge Brazilian immigration to Japan. They say that most missionaries that go to Nagoya pick up a lot of Portuguese and that some are set apart to learn the language. I would love learning it so much. I may be a little behind with Japanese but I'm not afraid of doing more. I figure with the Lord's help I can do anything so why not accept more responsibility.
The new transfer of missionaries scare me. One left the second day. One has three Tattoos and finally shaved his huge chops yesterday. He seems nice though. Also, all of them look like they can bench 300 pounds and snap me in half. They aren't very friendly either. We keep offering to help them and they are like borderline mean when they turn us down. We are a little weirded out by it. It's kind of funny how tightly wound we all are here. We all speak Japanese in our sleep because it's all we think about all day. I feel like a part of a Jason Bourne movie. We are all trained so hard that we have dreams about it. I feel like if someone tried to rigorously wake me from my sleep I would suddenly wake up and grab the Book of Mormon next to my bed and try to give it to them (just like they grab their guns in movies when they wake up....oh my jokes are getting worse...it hurts me a little).
Hey! We can shake hands now in the MTC. I don't know how I feel about it though. I know how Dad feels about it. So I had an interesting experience last night. There is this Elder in my district that always has to go to the bathroom. So we went to start a teaching activity and he had to go. So my sensei tells us to just follow him and his companion and act like we are contacting them in their house. So we knocked on the bathroom door and did the whole exercise. So I shared a spiritual though in a men’s bathroom for the first time in my life. Maybe it will come in handy in Japan.
Real quick, I want to share a thought with all of you. Alma 43:24-25. I would encourage you to read it. It shows to me that God gives us blessings but we have to make our own extra preparations just like Moroni had to. He did things that the Lord didn't mention. It means to me that we have to try as hard as we can even when we receive advice from prophets and the Lord. Quincy may have read this in his Middle East class but there is a quote from Mohammad where a man says to him, "If I tie up my mule, am I not trusting in Allah?" Mohammad replies, "First tie up your mule and then trust in Allah". I think that we need to show the Lord how much things mean to us by continually trying to fix our own problems and ask for his help while we do it. It was just a thought. I'm not trying to condemn anyone. I just thought I could apply it to my life.
So I love you all. I hope you have a good week. Send suggestions on how my emails and letters could be better. Yours are all great. I love you all.
Love, Elder Hooton
Well I'm using a gmail interface now which means I can fit in more email addresses so I hope I got everyone's right. There is a rumor that they are trying out laptops for missionaries in Japan. We were told by a teacher that just got back. That'd be so cool. They say you can communicate with investigators easier through email in Japan. It sounds like they are trying to be more efficient. It makes sense but I'm sure it will be abused in someway by missionaries. Sad.
I am going to change my emails so they aren't so boring. To answer most questions I think I'm just going to write letters so and try to make these emails more exciting by telling more stories or something.
First, thank you Grandma and Grandpa Hooton for the DearElders they are great. Thanks always to the family for being so great with answering all my requests for pictures and stuff like that. Dad I love the things that you've sent me to ponder from stake conference and the stuff that Lyle sent you. I appreciate it along with your DearElder letter everyday. It helps a lot. Jason thanks for your letters. I can never pass up on a good fiberone story. Dad that's super exciting about New York and debate. I'm glad the whole debate thing is going well.
So things are going well with my companion except for the fact that he has freaked out a couple of times over stupid things like one of our teachers teaching us the Japanese phrase for dang. Like when you drop something. He says as missionaries we shouldn't be saying it. Even though my native teacher who is super up on missionary appearance said it was fine. My companion like threw a fit. We get along really well though.
My favorite meal here is probably the Sloppy Joes. I don't know though. It's hit and miss here. I did have seven pieces of cake for dinner last night by the way. Yeah I'm fat. I'm on 13 pounds gained right now and that was after I fasted.
So here is the coolest fact of anything that I've heard since I got here and this might appeal to Jason and Quincy. Because Nagoya has so many car factories there was a huge Brazilian immigration to Japan. They say that most missionaries that go to Nagoya pick up a lot of Portuguese and that some are set apart to learn the language. I would love learning it so much. I may be a little behind with Japanese but I'm not afraid of doing more. I figure with the Lord's help I can do anything so why not accept more responsibility.
The new transfer of missionaries scare me. One left the second day. One has three Tattoos and finally shaved his huge chops yesterday. He seems nice though. Also, all of them look like they can bench 300 pounds and snap me in half. They aren't very friendly either. We keep offering to help them and they are like borderline mean when they turn us down. We are a little weirded out by it. It's kind of funny how tightly wound we all are here. We all speak Japanese in our sleep because it's all we think about all day. I feel like a part of a Jason Bourne movie. We are all trained so hard that we have dreams about it. I feel like if someone tried to rigorously wake me from my sleep I would suddenly wake up and grab the Book of Mormon next to my bed and try to give it to them (just like they grab their guns in movies when they wake up....oh my jokes are getting worse...it hurts me a little).
Hey! We can shake hands now in the MTC. I don't know how I feel about it though. I know how Dad feels about it. So I had an interesting experience last night. There is this Elder in my district that always has to go to the bathroom. So we went to start a teaching activity and he had to go. So my sensei tells us to just follow him and his companion and act like we are contacting them in their house. So we knocked on the bathroom door and did the whole exercise. So I shared a spiritual though in a men’s bathroom for the first time in my life. Maybe it will come in handy in Japan.
Real quick, I want to share a thought with all of you. Alma 43:24-25. I would encourage you to read it. It shows to me that God gives us blessings but we have to make our own extra preparations just like Moroni had to. He did things that the Lord didn't mention. It means to me that we have to try as hard as we can even when we receive advice from prophets and the Lord. Quincy may have read this in his Middle East class but there is a quote from Mohammad where a man says to him, "If I tie up my mule, am I not trusting in Allah?" Mohammad replies, "First tie up your mule and then trust in Allah". I think that we need to show the Lord how much things mean to us by continually trying to fix our own problems and ask for his help while we do it. It was just a thought. I'm not trying to condemn anyone. I just thought I could apply it to my life.
So I love you all. I hope you have a good week. Send suggestions on how my emails and letters could be better. Yours are all great. I love you all.
Love, Elder Hooton
March 2, 2010
Dear Family,
Things are going well. The language is still coming at a steady pace. My lesson went well this week. There were some awkward silences during the lesson and my companion kept forgetting words that I knew but I couldn't figure out what words he was looking for. It was sort of frustrating because the volunteer we've had the last two weeks is really mean and asks really mean questions that she knows are difficult to explain even in English. We've only been here 6 weeks. Oh well, it's all good.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hooton. I appreciate your letters. They are fun to read. I'm glad things are going well. To answer Katie's questions I can only take pictures on P-days and Sundays. There has been some contention in our district over it. The mission presidency has asked us to delete all videos that we had on our cameras and some Elders didn't want to and some Elders tried to be forceful about it which sort of blew my mind. I think people need to make decisions for themselves but still be obedient. I've taken care of mine. I just wish Elders would stop making contention in our district.
I got to play knockout (basketball) in gym the other day with a one armed Elder. It was quite weird (somehow that's the best story I have this week). I am back down to 180 lbs. now. I am running 3 miles a day too. To put Katie's worries to rest, I will still be stronger than Jacob when I get back. I lift everyday too. My tall auzzie friend here is pushing me pretty hard. My arms are quite a bit stronger. I decided to finally stop eating so much when I found I had gained 17 lbs. Someone threw a chocolate kiss at me and it hit my stomach and I didn't feel it. I had a huge gut. My district thought it was hilarious how fast I could gain weight.
Congrats to Monica and Quincy on more law schools and the awesome Duke Scholarship. Thanks for the letters Quincy and Monica. I appreciate them a lot. I loved the comments on the architecture. Thomas Jefferson had it going on architecturally. Way to go Jason and Carey on scoring some free housing. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks for the “you know what's” in your letters Jason. Also thanks Mom for the other “you know what’s.” Jason, I left your DearElder letter that you sent me back in my room. I found it quite hilarious though. I loved the Fiberone stories. It brought me back to the good old days. Real quick on the devotional thing, it's not a big deal but if Abby or Stephanie have notes on all of them then it's just the one where a wife talks first and I don't remember what the husband talked about. Sorry. It just might not exist.
I think its cool the Monica and Quincy are living with Grandpa Miller. I have a lot more respect for him because he learned this language. It's incredible how complex it is. If I put an "e" after the verb but before the coupla or politifer, then it makes it poetential. If I put an "ese" then it makes it "made or allow" which is dependent upon the particle that were used previously, but sometimes you just have to guess. I had to give a praying in our zone conference when the new elders came. I'm not going to lie...it's the best pray I've ever heard. (I'm just kidding. I didn't practice it a lot though and it went well).
Jacob thanks for the letter. I'm sorry about debate, that's tough. I hope things are going well for you. I'm excited to be home for the end of your senior year. I'll try to respond more to your letter. Please send photos of all my friends, not just my really close ones. Don’t take my truck in. I just wanted that one speaker disconnected. It needed to be. It’s not broken as long as the one speaker was disconnected. I am doing really well this week. I’m excited to go. I’m staying focused and everything. I’m being obedient with everything as well. I pray for everyone a lot. I’ll talk to you next week. Everyone have a great week. I love you all.
Elder Hooton
Things are going well. The language is still coming at a steady pace. My lesson went well this week. There were some awkward silences during the lesson and my companion kept forgetting words that I knew but I couldn't figure out what words he was looking for. It was sort of frustrating because the volunteer we've had the last two weeks is really mean and asks really mean questions that she knows are difficult to explain even in English. We've only been here 6 weeks. Oh well, it's all good.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hooton. I appreciate your letters. They are fun to read. I'm glad things are going well. To answer Katie's questions I can only take pictures on P-days and Sundays. There has been some contention in our district over it. The mission presidency has asked us to delete all videos that we had on our cameras and some Elders didn't want to and some Elders tried to be forceful about it which sort of blew my mind. I think people need to make decisions for themselves but still be obedient. I've taken care of mine. I just wish Elders would stop making contention in our district.
I got to play knockout (basketball) in gym the other day with a one armed Elder. It was quite weird (somehow that's the best story I have this week). I am back down to 180 lbs. now. I am running 3 miles a day too. To put Katie's worries to rest, I will still be stronger than Jacob when I get back. I lift everyday too. My tall auzzie friend here is pushing me pretty hard. My arms are quite a bit stronger. I decided to finally stop eating so much when I found I had gained 17 lbs. Someone threw a chocolate kiss at me and it hit my stomach and I didn't feel it. I had a huge gut. My district thought it was hilarious how fast I could gain weight.
Congrats to Monica and Quincy on more law schools and the awesome Duke Scholarship. Thanks for the letters Quincy and Monica. I appreciate them a lot. I loved the comments on the architecture. Thomas Jefferson had it going on architecturally. Way to go Jason and Carey on scoring some free housing. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks for the “you know what's” in your letters Jason. Also thanks Mom for the other “you know what’s.” Jason, I left your DearElder letter that you sent me back in my room. I found it quite hilarious though. I loved the Fiberone stories. It brought me back to the good old days. Real quick on the devotional thing, it's not a big deal but if Abby or Stephanie have notes on all of them then it's just the one where a wife talks first and I don't remember what the husband talked about. Sorry. It just might not exist.
I think its cool the Monica and Quincy are living with Grandpa Miller. I have a lot more respect for him because he learned this language. It's incredible how complex it is. If I put an "e" after the verb but before the coupla or politifer, then it makes it poetential. If I put an "ese" then it makes it "made or allow" which is dependent upon the particle that were used previously, but sometimes you just have to guess. I had to give a praying in our zone conference when the new elders came. I'm not going to lie...it's the best pray I've ever heard. (I'm just kidding. I didn't practice it a lot though and it went well).
Jacob thanks for the letter. I'm sorry about debate, that's tough. I hope things are going well for you. I'm excited to be home for the end of your senior year. I'll try to respond more to your letter. Please send photos of all my friends, not just my really close ones. Don’t take my truck in. I just wanted that one speaker disconnected. It needed to be. It’s not broken as long as the one speaker was disconnected. I am doing really well this week. I’m excited to go. I’m staying focused and everything. I’m being obedient with everything as well. I pray for everyone a lot. I’ll talk to you next week. Everyone have a great week. I love you all.
Elder Hooton
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