Sunday, August 8, 2010
August 1, 2010
Dear Family
Well this week was all right. It’s hard to get a lot of work done. We had to go to
I noticed some significant improvements in my Japanese this week. It has been a real blessing. I’m very thankful for all of your prayers. I’ve been understanding a little bit more and trying to jump into conversations more (failing but still trying). Then last night during our night sacrament meeting I bore my testimony and decided I wouldn’t memorize it in my head before hand and that I’d just talk about a couple things. I was way preachy and probably offended people but I feel like I was thinking in Japanese and putting out the sentences all right. Despite the fact that I had enough courage to read a scripture and read the wrong one and then stumbled through the right one it went pretty well (you don’t become literate in Japanese...ever).
Hopefully we will be able to meet with investigators this week and get people moving. I’ve got high hopes for this next transfer. It will be very difficult but I want to start coming up to the role of senior by calling people and talking to more people by myself and pushing myself into learning more Japanese.
So today while I was at a member’s house where they usually feed us curry and these little cookies that are way good. Instead they fed us gudon that wasn’t that great even though it’s my favorite Japanese dish and also some baby eel. Now I know I love eel but I love the meat. This was hundreds of little tiny ones that were about half an inch long with eyes and everything. I thought they were still alive (they might have been). As we started to eat them Elder Wilson just said, “start pounding it back and you might be able to do it.” He got poked by something and it grossed him out and then I felt something pop in my mouth and I didn’t want to know what it was so we took the couples offer of not eating it if we didn’t like it. They weren’t offended. They just laughed at us.
Dad I have an idea. You say you always want to write down all the stories from you life. I was thinking this week about some of your stories from when you were a kid and couldn’t remember everything so I was thinking that maybe you could write me a letter every week with a couple in it and I’ll just keep the letters (or you can save them on word or something) and that can become your journal. I would love to hear them and I’m sure my companions would find them interesting as well. If anyone else wants to do the same, I’d love to hear.
We found Mac and Cheese (Kraft) at a store this last week. It blew our minds. We bought it and ate it that night. It was so great. Also, we bought an Old El Paso taco set. I’m excited to eat tacos tonight. Hey in the next package that you send me can you send some soundtracks to some Disney movies? Mulan, Lion King, Hercules, etc. (we have the last two already but they are elder
I’m sorry this week was so lame. It seems like all of our time is sucked up by things that don’t even have to do with missionary work. This next week should be fun though because we will be at the World Scout Jamboree. It will be tough though because I have to talk at a meeting there about how great my Eagle Scout award is and how great scouting is. On top of that being difficult and in front of a lot of people, I have to do it in Japanese. It’s going to stink pretty bad.
Love you all. Have a good week.
Elder Hooton
July 26, 2010
Dear Family,
Well I’m with my zone leader in a church in
Preachy time. Every day I continually tell people that their lives will become easier and their loving Heavenly Father will be able to bless them if they keep the commandments. The ones that help us the most (besides the obvious ones of not killing and so forth) are reading and praying. I’ve come to realize that it is really quite simple. If we do those things then we will become better in all aspects of our lives. Heavenly Father wants to bless us and the only way he can do that is if we are obedient. So please, I beg of all of you, even the ones at camp to please pray at least every night. It’s something so easy but I know we are blessed for it. Please read the Book of Mormon as well. I know that it’s something that will please the Lord. I’m not assuming that people aren’t already doing this. I’m just testifying that I know that it is one of the best things we can do to show the Lord our love.
So I made a couple mistakes this last week. First of all I mixed up two people we met at roughly the same time (they live in the same apartment complex). One was an inactive member that we housed into and are trying to get her to come to church. The other is a lady that has interest in coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon (we are kind of excited about her). But you know how I’m a little forgetful sometimes? Well I was with one of the Japanese Elders from
The next mistake I made was that I didn’t take my parents advice. This one is a huge blessing because nothing bad came of it but I view it as a warning shot from Heaven to tell me to listen to my parents. I essentially got a get out of jail free card. Well last Wednesday we went up to that inactive member’s house that told us not to visit him. We wanted to drop off a note. Well we did it and then found a new investigator, taught lesson one and it was all really good. We were riding down the GIANT hill and I wasn’t exactly going slowly. In fact, I was gaining on this group of cars. I was about 20 yards behind Elder Wilson. He was passing a Miata (small little Mazada sports car). Right as he passed him (I was gaining on it), the car signaled to go onto a way small road. I could have gone to the left and cut in front of the car (where it was turning) but I decided if I did I would get t-boned by it and that would be pretty bad. I decided I would go right and swerve around it. But then I decided against that because I would come close to on-coming traffic. So I quickly decided to see how well my brakes work. I pulled really hard and about 10 feet before that car I realized this was one of those oh crap moments in life. I couldn’t believe I was really going to hit the car. Then I continued to sink my front tire into the back bumper of the car (I think I’ll write a descriptive essay on this some day). I saw the fiber glass bend in and then I went up into the air and then slammed my bike back down. I went to the left side of the car and the driver rolled down the window. I was scared because my companion was gone by this point. He had no idea that something had happened. I told him I was really sorry. He asked if I was okay. I said yes and he said are you sure and I said I was. He then drove off. He was a really nice, 20 year old guy. I then continued down the hill and said I’d never complain about Japanese people in my life. They are so nice. In
Yeah, yakisoba is just a type of fried roman. yaki 焼 which is one of the only kanji that I know means to fry something. So we had 焼肉 which is also another kanji that I know. It means fried meat, so yaki means to fry something.
I just had to meet a
Oh man so everyone is at debate camp; Brett, Danyon, Pam, and Tiffany? They all came back? Wow. That’s way hisashiburi (I think in English it means it’s been a long time or it means like oh I really miss that a lot. We say it when we eat American food). It was way good seeing pictures. I miss all of them a lot. Is Brett still the man? Is Danyon still great? I miss them a lot. I wish I was there. Is Jacob not shaving? Tell him to shave. What the crap is on Andy’s face?
Well this week was all right. We tried hard. We just couldn’t get appointments with people. They are so hard to meet with. We went for 15 lessons on Sunday. That’s unheard of. A good day is 3 lessons. We just hadn’t met with anyone during the week and so we went all out. We had it planned perfectly. People just weren’t home when they say they are going to be. We ended up only getting six. It was too bad. We were going to set a record. We figure that we rode over 20 miles the whole day. It was non-stop. It took a ton of planning and stuff but we visited every house and had a good unique message for each person.
Thanks everyone. Have a good week. Please pray and read. I know that it will help you improve. I’m not just saying that. The hardest part is just having the humility after you do it so that you can recognize the blessings you’ve received. Have fun at debate camp, Jacob. Love you all.
Alec, I’m sorry I missed your birthday your birthday a while ago. I’m just trying to find the crowning thing that will make your present great. Right now It’s just okay but if I can find the right thing it will be epic.
Follow up Letter on the following day
July 27, 2010
Dear Family,
Since we had to go do an interview on our P-day yesterday we are emailing now. I already emailed a letter yesterday so I’m mainly just waiting for Elder Wilson. Since I’m paying money to sit next to him, I decided I might as well use the computer a little bit more since I didn’t get much time to email yesterday.
I almost got hit by a car yesterday again. Stupid Miata pulled out of a side road while I was crossing a sidewalk. She was looking the other way and pulling forward at the same time. She probably came within a couple inches of my right pedal. I think she wet herself when she saw me. The Japanese are so scared of hitting people on bikes, especially an American. In
We taught a good lesson today. It was with this old woman that’s been taught forever. That seems to be what the majority of our investigators are, Just old people that don’t really want to progress. We brought a member who is pretty good. We decided we wanted to teach her about the importance of coming to church. She too scared to attend. I don’t blame her. I’ve noticed that she has a lot of misconceptions about church and the obligations she will have if she goes. She thinks she has to get baptized or that she will have to bear her testimony or fast if it’s on a fast Sunday. These seem like simple things that missionaries should tell investigators to reassure them that we are normal people. Last time we gave her the new church DVD that introduces us. In Japanese it’s called “gozonji desu ka?” but I don’t know what it is in English. It is something like, “do you know us?” She didn’t watch it though.
We tried to clear up some stuff today and then she asked if ancestors were important to us. Luckily the member we brought is gung ho about church history and genealogy. The next hour was them talking about that. It was going in a good direction so we just agreed and gave our input (I mainly just said yes and nodded my head). The cool thing was that I followed the whole conversation. Not each sentence perfectly, I can understand when other people are talking but the second someone looks at me and asks me a question I swear they change thing about their speech. I think they try to dumb down their speech for me and try to talk to me like I’m a child or something. I was only taught polite Japanese though so I just don’t know what’s going on.
I had a good conversation with the member on the way home though so I feel alright about my Japanese. Its times like this that I feel like I’m back at square one though. Anyway, we committed her to come to church in two weeks because she is busy this Sunday. We told her our mission president is coming so in two weeks and it will be really good and he is fluent in Japanese. She said yes and was even a little excited. So that was good.
Love,
July 11, 2010
Dear Family,
July 4, 2010
Dear Family,
Well darn, I actually don’t think I have a lot to say this week and I don’t have a lot I can reply to. I assume more letters are being written right now because I came a little early this week and Hooton’s tend to wait until the last minute to do stuff.
After emailing last week we went and did some shopping. I wrote Kaden a letter that he better
appreciate because it took me two hours. I was then excited to go take a nap then I heard Elder
Wilson’s watch beep from the Futon room and I realized it was 6:00. It was okay though because
we then went to ward sports night. It was way fun. The two Japanese Elders from Numazu came
and there ended up being like 16 people there. The biggest down side though was that it was not
air conditioned. It was incredibly hot. My hands and feet started to get wrinkly (like when you are swimming too long) because I couldn’t find anything dry to wipe my hands on. I even carry around a towel with me and that got too wet as well. Another drawback was that this member who married an American (who was also there) brought her little sister and her friend. I played semi-organized volleyball for the first time in my life I think. It wasn’t really fair because it was in Japan. When I jumped my face went above the net. Luckily I only got spiked in the face once. (It went onto the other side though score one Tyler’s nose). I slept well that night (after I rung out my skin like a sham wow). I think my descriptive writing is getting better. Sister Clemens would be proud of me.
Last P-day Elder Wilson got his haircut and a dude was paying for his haircut and I said suteki na..(I realized I didn’t know the word for haircut) so essentially I said, “that’s a good looking” I think he understood what I was trying to say. He spoke a little bit of English to me and then we started talking about sports and he said that he is a kick boxer. I told him that my friend getting his haircut was into MMA. He gave me his card and we met him later that week. He showed us a boxing gym in Fuji. Hopefully we’ll be able to meet some younger people there and talk to them. We have enough old people investigators right now we need young priesthood holders. The dude doesn’t have a lot of potential. He just couldn’t comprehend not drinking alcohol. Literally he couldn’t. He kept saying, “not even a little?” He was fun to talk to though.
We also went into a big cultural center last week to try to find people. They always have concerts
and stuff. We went into an art gallery and we were just walking around and a guy came up to us and started trying to speak English with us. We talked to him about some of the paintings. He said that he studied the Bible in Japanese and English and he loves to study stuff in both languages. We continued to walk around. He asked us how each pictures made us feel (most of them were of Mt. Fuji and the area around it). We then go to a nude painting and we tried to just hurry along but he asked us what we thought. It was quite awkward. We just made statements like. It’s a woman...she’s naked. Anyway, we went back yesterday (Sunday) and found him again (he was the artist of some of the paintings so he was there all the time) and we gave him a Book of Mormon in English and Japanese. He was super excited and asked if we had meetings. We gave him our flier and he even wrote down the day and time of our sacrament meeting (it’s the last hour here). So that was a good experience. It’s fun finding the people that are prepared.
So the biggest event of the last week was “Meet the Baird Family” taikai (conference). It was pretty scary because we heard a lot of stuff before hand because we were the last conference to be held so stuff leaked in from other parts of the mission. Things are totally different but luckily it comes from the Prophet and not from President Baird. Less people are upset that way. So we only have zone conference once a quarter and we have interviews once a quarter. Also, all leadership positions will have 4 day training sessions every other month for the next little while and they implement a new curriculum. It’s way intense. They made new “District videos.” They are videos of real lessons with real investigators. We had seen some from before (I had to watch them before I went into the MTC) but this time they are to show bad examples and stuff. We only watched one at the conference but it was really painful. One investigator thought he couldn’t go on dates for a long time.
President Baird is (as every missionary will describe him) an intense person. He yells....a lot. He
is passionate to say the least. I’m okay with it. I can handle stuff like that. He had me stand up
and read a bunch of stuff. He was yelling and crying at one point. He kept asking me questions. It
was interesting. I started to become good friends with him after the conference. He was a Human Resources Consultant (I think). So I was lucky to have him take interest in my father’s job prior to my mission. I told him that dad was an instructional designer. I shared some of my thoughts on the new training that will be happening in the mission and quoted some statistics that dad said all the time. He put his hand on my shoulder and whispered to me (also like he was crying) “your father is a brilliant man. He can teach you how to be an extraordinary missionary. Listen to every word that he tells you.” I said, “I’ve recently realized that. I only wish that I could have known that through my teenage years.” I like the man a lot. I think we will get along well. I don’t have any problems with his authority. He will be a lot different but I think he will be really good for the mission.
I’ll respond to people’s letters now. They were all great. I miss my mother a lot. I’m glad to hear her personality come through her emails. I’m glad that she can be enduring work and stuff well. Monica and Quincy’s letters are always funny. I think Quincy makes his letters extra formal for me so that maybe my English doesn’t go to crap as fast (it’s pretty badly written but I think I can speak it all right). Dad, your’s was good as well. I’m learning to just take your advice.
Dad’s story about celebrating his release was funny. Seems like same old Dad. President Griffin and the Bishop sound like the same old people, witty in their own ways. I should write one of them a letter or something huh? Tell them sorry about that.
Jacob your tennis camp will be great. You’ll make tons of friends. Trust your older brother and strive for the same goals as him. First talk with everyone. Don’t be scared to open your mouth. Second move your mouth when you talk and enunciate. Third, don’t look at girls and focus on the reason you are where you are (I think that was some pretty solid advice).
I bought brownies last week even though I didn’t get dad’s note. It was like $5 at a shop in Shizuoka. They are Betty Crocker. I couldn’t pass it up. I’m also quite rich here (for the time being) so I might as well use my money for what I have it for...food.
My companion, Elder Wilson is the same transfer as my trainer, Elder Insch. They will go home in February, so he is essentially just a year older than me on the mission. He also went in a little bit after his birthday so we are the same age as well. He did a lot of MMA. He is from Oregon. He wants to be a Navy SEAL when he gets back.
Debate camp sounds fun. It’s really sad that I don’t get to go. It was way fun with Quincy last time. It sounds like some people were probably upset because the president of Japan stepped down not too long ago for the base here in Japan. Thanks for telling me the topic
Love, Tyler
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