If anyone wants to write Tyler a letter I will be sending a package the first week of December and could put it in the package. Just e-mail it to me at Monica.hooton@gmail.com. Just a reminder his address is:
Elder Tyler Andrus Hooton
Japan Nagoya Mission
1-304 Itakadai, Meito-ku, Nagoya-shi
Aichi 465-0028 Japan
Thanks so much for supporting him. I know he appreciates it.
Monica
Monday, November 8, 2010
November 7, 2010 - Two Broken Ribs
Dear Family,
It sounds like some things were lost in translation on my injury so I will try to clear it up. I was having a hard night trying to get my companion get motivated. I wanted to house one last building before we went home. I was across the street from it and waiting to get a green light to cross the side walk. It was raining quite hard so I had on my white shirt, sweater vest, suit coat, and rain coat (which all together made for pretty good padding luckily). I got the green light and was trying to see if straight ahead or to the left side of the building was better for parking. I looked left and saw that the entrance into the parking lot was pretty far away so I looked forward and saw that there were bikes straight ahead (about 40 feet). I thought I was on a side walk that kept on going.
At first there was a little dip but I assumed it was just a little drop onto the side walk. By the way, Japanese roads and side walks are the biggest joke in the world. I then realized that I was falling forward and in my head I had an image of what I thought was happening but it was all happening too fast for me to realize what was actually happening. I thought I was falling into a smaller ditch and my pedals would catch on the walls and I’d catch my self and be fine. Turns out it was about 4 feet wide. Ditches are four feet wide and have horizontal pillars that connect the two walls. The ditches are about 3 and a half feet deep. So my bike went down and I went straight into a horizontal pillar. My arms went over it which resulted in a huge lump on my elbow. My chest went straight into the dang thing (it was cement and it was a rectangle so it didn’t have smooth edges). I bounced off of it and landed on my butt in running water at the bottom of the ditch.
I jumped up and pulled myself out of the ditch by myself (luckily I had enough adrenalin to pull my body weight up). Of course I had the wind knocked out of me so I took a couple of seconds and regained it a little. Then with the help of Elder Momose, I pulled my bike out. During the crash, my bike wacked my knee and thigh pretty hard. They are okay now though. When I pulled my bike out I said, “I’ve got two broken ribs.” I could tell that I jacked them up pretty bad. I also couldn’t breathe at all. Elder Momose asked if we could go home. I was so angry that he asked that, that just to spite him I said no we were going to house the four apartments in the building. I had already broke two ribs to get there, I wasn’t going to let that go to waste.
No one was home at three of the houses and the other one said to go away. I told Elder Momose we could go home. We started to ride home and I realized I was starting to hurt more and more. I was worried that I was bleeding internally. I caught up to him and told him we needed to go to the hospital. He asked why. Being a really stupid question and me not wanting to explain in Japanese I just breathed in really hard and he got the idea. We called a member who met us at the train station and then drove us to the hospital. They took x-rays and blood tests to make sure my liver wasn’t punctured. Finally they gave me a CT scan to make sure my lungs were okay. My lung was a little deflated but they thought it was a concussion of the lung and it would heal by itself. I’m on the mend. Elder Momose gave me a blessing and I’d say I have healed at miracle speed. I can’t do a push up by any means but I can breath deep and it’s just a little sore. I’d say I’m healing incredibly fast. It’s quite the blessing. So don’t worry about me. I feel worse for my suit pants which got a little tear and also for my rain pants which got a tear as well.
This week wasn’t one of the hardest weeks of my mission or life. It was just dealing with some pain. I had to do a ton of tracting though which I’m okay with but it sucks more than anything when you have a companion that complains or that gets angry when people turn us down. People that get angry about small things drive me NUTS. It actually makes me angry, which makes me a hypocrite, which makes me even more angry. It’s a vicious cycle.
Anyway, the missionary side of things this week just kept going down hill and I was about ready to break yesterday. I was praying in my head while we were walking and Elder Momose said that the phone in my pocket was ringing. It was the Ward Mission Leader. He was at the church and someone showed up and said that they wanted to be baptized. It was a Korean woman actually. She feels like she needs to get baptized. We quickly got her a Book of Mormon in Korean and some pamphlets and we are going to meet with her next week. Hopefully it will turn into something good.
So that’s pretty much my story for this week. I’ll try to be a little more organized next week. I love you all. I’m doing just fine. Just pray that things will get better in my area and that I’ll be more tolerant. I’m actually improving by leaps and bounds. It’s just that there is so much being thrown at me right now. It’s driving me nuts. I love you all once again. Have a great week. Good luck with everything and keep working hard.
Love, Tyler
It sounds like some things were lost in translation on my injury so I will try to clear it up. I was having a hard night trying to get my companion get motivated. I wanted to house one last building before we went home. I was across the street from it and waiting to get a green light to cross the side walk. It was raining quite hard so I had on my white shirt, sweater vest, suit coat, and rain coat (which all together made for pretty good padding luckily). I got the green light and was trying to see if straight ahead or to the left side of the building was better for parking. I looked left and saw that the entrance into the parking lot was pretty far away so I looked forward and saw that there were bikes straight ahead (about 40 feet). I thought I was on a side walk that kept on going.
At first there was a little dip but I assumed it was just a little drop onto the side walk. By the way, Japanese roads and side walks are the biggest joke in the world. I then realized that I was falling forward and in my head I had an image of what I thought was happening but it was all happening too fast for me to realize what was actually happening. I thought I was falling into a smaller ditch and my pedals would catch on the walls and I’d catch my self and be fine. Turns out it was about 4 feet wide. Ditches are four feet wide and have horizontal pillars that connect the two walls. The ditches are about 3 and a half feet deep. So my bike went down and I went straight into a horizontal pillar. My arms went over it which resulted in a huge lump on my elbow. My chest went straight into the dang thing (it was cement and it was a rectangle so it didn’t have smooth edges). I bounced off of it and landed on my butt in running water at the bottom of the ditch.
I jumped up and pulled myself out of the ditch by myself (luckily I had enough adrenalin to pull my body weight up). Of course I had the wind knocked out of me so I took a couple of seconds and regained it a little. Then with the help of Elder Momose, I pulled my bike out. During the crash, my bike wacked my knee and thigh pretty hard. They are okay now though. When I pulled my bike out I said, “I’ve got two broken ribs.” I could tell that I jacked them up pretty bad. I also couldn’t breathe at all. Elder Momose asked if we could go home. I was so angry that he asked that, that just to spite him I said no we were going to house the four apartments in the building. I had already broke two ribs to get there, I wasn’t going to let that go to waste.
No one was home at three of the houses and the other one said to go away. I told Elder Momose we could go home. We started to ride home and I realized I was starting to hurt more and more. I was worried that I was bleeding internally. I caught up to him and told him we needed to go to the hospital. He asked why. Being a really stupid question and me not wanting to explain in Japanese I just breathed in really hard and he got the idea. We called a member who met us at the train station and then drove us to the hospital. They took x-rays and blood tests to make sure my liver wasn’t punctured. Finally they gave me a CT scan to make sure my lungs were okay. My lung was a little deflated but they thought it was a concussion of the lung and it would heal by itself. I’m on the mend. Elder Momose gave me a blessing and I’d say I have healed at miracle speed. I can’t do a push up by any means but I can breath deep and it’s just a little sore. I’d say I’m healing incredibly fast. It’s quite the blessing. So don’t worry about me. I feel worse for my suit pants which got a little tear and also for my rain pants which got a tear as well.
This week wasn’t one of the hardest weeks of my mission or life. It was just dealing with some pain. I had to do a ton of tracting though which I’m okay with but it sucks more than anything when you have a companion that complains or that gets angry when people turn us down. People that get angry about small things drive me NUTS. It actually makes me angry, which makes me a hypocrite, which makes me even more angry. It’s a vicious cycle.
Anyway, the missionary side of things this week just kept going down hill and I was about ready to break yesterday. I was praying in my head while we were walking and Elder Momose said that the phone in my pocket was ringing. It was the Ward Mission Leader. He was at the church and someone showed up and said that they wanted to be baptized. It was a Korean woman actually. She feels like she needs to get baptized. We quickly got her a Book of Mormon in Korean and some pamphlets and we are going to meet with her next week. Hopefully it will turn into something good.
So that’s pretty much my story for this week. I’ll try to be a little more organized next week. I love you all. I’m doing just fine. Just pray that things will get better in my area and that I’ll be more tolerant. I’m actually improving by leaps and bounds. It’s just that there is so much being thrown at me right now. It’s driving me nuts. I love you all once again. Have a great week. Good luck with everything and keep working hard.
Love, Tyler
October 31, 2010
It sounds like everyone is doing well. I’m sorry that Jacob didn’t make it to out rounds at his debate tournament. I know all too well how that feels. It’s okay though. He’ll do better next time. It also sounds like Monica and Quincy had life changing experiences over the weekend. I wish I could have been there. I’m afraid I’m probably becoming the person that the event was trying to put down. I’m starting to become way too much one sided (don’t worry it’s too the left, but please edit for grandparents and other Republicans).
This week in Fukui was alright. It was stressful because last Tuesday I had to do training again in Nagoya and we come back to Fukui that night because we had an appointment the next morning (which canceled on me). I was exhausted. Luckily antibiotics are miracles (I mean that in a very serious sense). I was better by Tuesday. My voice was just a little hoarse. So I’ll finish up the last two days tomorrow and then be off of them. They were a quite helpful. Mom is absolutely brilliant for giving me antibiotics to bring.
So you know you are getting old and things are changing at home when you are a Hooton and you get a box of brownies in a package but the package is different from what it had always been that you don’t recognize it. I almost cried when I realized it was a box of brownies. America is changing. Also, Mom told me today that Brother Comin got released. Either I’ve been away so long that I’ve forgotten people or he is new to the ward and I didn’t get to know him because I have no idea who that is. Speaking of ward members, there is a member of the Bishopric here who is exactly like Bishop Schofield. (By the way, what was the name of our ward before the split? I forgot). The only difference is he talks really impolitely during sacrament meeting when he is conducting, makes fun of people’s talks, makes inappropriate comments, is a little bit bigger, and tries embarrassing children....wait that’s exactly the same as Bishop Schofield.
So does anyone remember what McDonalds used to smell like before it became healthier? Back in the days of the Notre Dame toys or the toy story toys? Like the Mr. Potato Head that would throw French Fries out of his backpack? I know Monica knows what I’m talking about. Anyway, I smelled that smell this week and it was great. It reminded me a lot of Korea.
Good segue huh? So Elder Chei is coming to our zone on Friday. It’s the new source of a lot of my stress today. He is Korean and in the Area Presidency. I’m sure dad knows about him. I’m very scared because President Baird seems way too on edge and scared. A man that scares President Baird because he is so strict scares the day lights out of me. We were told exactly what to wear and how to dress and groom for our conference. We were also told that Elder Chei might be doing apartment checks. So the rest of my day will be spent cleaning up crap that previous missionaries left here (funny story but we found a working TV in the futon closest the other night. Missionaries in this apartment got in trouble a while ago for having a PS3. To answer your question Jacob, yes if I find the PS3 I’ll send it home to you).
Will everyone (but me of course...unless I get blamed for this TV thing) be home for Christmas? Jason and Carey as well? That’d be way cool.
So there is the guy in our ward that loves pretzels. He sits in the kitchen during Sunday School because he is allergic to the carpets and just eats pretzels. We walked in and he pulled a GIANT bucket of pretzels out from under the table and asked me if I wanted any. There are so many weird people here.
The work here is still way slow. I’m excited because I got my old Zone Leader from Fuji back in my District. It’s very nice to have him back. I need help getting things going here. I’m running up against a brick wall. Thanks for your prayers. It’s helping. Sometimes I feel like my Japanese is getting a lot better but for the last two days I’ve felt like its almost non existent. My English is getting even worse I think. I now prefer speaking in Japanese to Elder Momose rather than English, mainly for comprehension purposes though.
Please send me a lasagna recipe. Due to a big mistake on my part, I now have 7 dollars worth of noodles on my desk and I would like to use them. So a recipe would be great.
So this week was alright. Things are getting better all the time (“they can’t get no worse…” see the Beatles). After this next week I should be doing a little bit better. It will be kind of stressful but I think things will get much better here soon. Thank grandma and grandpa for me for putting my name on the roll of every temple west of Wyoming. Thanks for your prayers and love. I’m doing well and enjoying life. I just need to be more tolerant. I think the Lord is trying to tell me that my wife will be super annoying and not be able to put up with any undesirable weather conditions (last time I checked 50 degrees didn’t constitute using 3 different heaters in the apartment).
Have a good week. Good luck with everything. Everyone seems really busy and working hard. I’ll continue to think about presents that I want (or more things that I need). Love you all. Have a great week.
Love Tyler
This week in Fukui was alright. It was stressful because last Tuesday I had to do training again in Nagoya and we come back to Fukui that night because we had an appointment the next morning (which canceled on me). I was exhausted. Luckily antibiotics are miracles (I mean that in a very serious sense). I was better by Tuesday. My voice was just a little hoarse. So I’ll finish up the last two days tomorrow and then be off of them. They were a quite helpful. Mom is absolutely brilliant for giving me antibiotics to bring.
So you know you are getting old and things are changing at home when you are a Hooton and you get a box of brownies in a package but the package is different from what it had always been that you don’t recognize it. I almost cried when I realized it was a box of brownies. America is changing. Also, Mom told me today that Brother Comin got released. Either I’ve been away so long that I’ve forgotten people or he is new to the ward and I didn’t get to know him because I have no idea who that is. Speaking of ward members, there is a member of the Bishopric here who is exactly like Bishop Schofield. (By the way, what was the name of our ward before the split? I forgot). The only difference is he talks really impolitely during sacrament meeting when he is conducting, makes fun of people’s talks, makes inappropriate comments, is a little bit bigger, and tries embarrassing children....wait that’s exactly the same as Bishop Schofield.
So does anyone remember what McDonalds used to smell like before it became healthier? Back in the days of the Notre Dame toys or the toy story toys? Like the Mr. Potato Head that would throw French Fries out of his backpack? I know Monica knows what I’m talking about. Anyway, I smelled that smell this week and it was great. It reminded me a lot of Korea.
Good segue huh? So Elder Chei is coming to our zone on Friday. It’s the new source of a lot of my stress today. He is Korean and in the Area Presidency. I’m sure dad knows about him. I’m very scared because President Baird seems way too on edge and scared. A man that scares President Baird because he is so strict scares the day lights out of me. We were told exactly what to wear and how to dress and groom for our conference. We were also told that Elder Chei might be doing apartment checks. So the rest of my day will be spent cleaning up crap that previous missionaries left here (funny story but we found a working TV in the futon closest the other night. Missionaries in this apartment got in trouble a while ago for having a PS3. To answer your question Jacob, yes if I find the PS3 I’ll send it home to you).
Will everyone (but me of course...unless I get blamed for this TV thing) be home for Christmas? Jason and Carey as well? That’d be way cool.
So there is the guy in our ward that loves pretzels. He sits in the kitchen during Sunday School because he is allergic to the carpets and just eats pretzels. We walked in and he pulled a GIANT bucket of pretzels out from under the table and asked me if I wanted any. There are so many weird people here.
The work here is still way slow. I’m excited because I got my old Zone Leader from Fuji back in my District. It’s very nice to have him back. I need help getting things going here. I’m running up against a brick wall. Thanks for your prayers. It’s helping. Sometimes I feel like my Japanese is getting a lot better but for the last two days I’ve felt like its almost non existent. My English is getting even worse I think. I now prefer speaking in Japanese to Elder Momose rather than English, mainly for comprehension purposes though.
Please send me a lasagna recipe. Due to a big mistake on my part, I now have 7 dollars worth of noodles on my desk and I would like to use them. So a recipe would be great.
So this week was alright. Things are getting better all the time (“they can’t get no worse…” see the Beatles). After this next week I should be doing a little bit better. It will be kind of stressful but I think things will get much better here soon. Thank grandma and grandpa for me for putting my name on the roll of every temple west of Wyoming. Thanks for your prayers and love. I’m doing well and enjoying life. I just need to be more tolerant. I think the Lord is trying to tell me that my wife will be super annoying and not be able to put up with any undesirable weather conditions (last time I checked 50 degrees didn’t constitute using 3 different heaters in the apartment).
Have a good week. Good luck with everything. Everyone seems really busy and working hard. I’ll continue to think about presents that I want (or more things that I need). Love you all. Have a great week.
Love Tyler
October 24, 2010
Well this week will go down as the most stressful week of my life. I went to Kanazawa on Monday, that night I had to stay in Komatsu with the other two missionaries before we started our exchange the next day. Since there were four of us I had to sleep on a futon out of a closest that probably hadn:t be used in months if not years. I woke up and felt just a little stuffed up but I could tell I got stuff into my sinuses. I then started that exchange with my zone leader who is actually going home tomorrow (he finished his mission) he is from Brazil but speaks pretty good english. It was stressful because we really had nothing to do. He suggested things during our planning but none of them were going to work out. I would tell him the reason and then just felt like I was making up excuses. In the end the whole day was spent trying to ride our bike to Takefu city to visit some people but after an hour and a half we decided it would be more effective to just do finding in the city that we were in. So it was kinda stressful always trying to figure out what to do next. It:s the probably with having Fukui Ken as your area. (it:s 40 miles by 40 miles. It might not sound too big but in Japan it:s huge. It:s a whole state here).
So Monday night when we were planning for the exchange I got the big news from one of the president’s assistants. He said that on Thursday President Baird wants to go to Fukui and work with your for the day in your area. So after coming up with no plans for my exchange with my Zone Leader, I had to then plan for working with the Mission President for the day. Not only the mission president. President Baird. So Tuesday night towards the end of our exchange I start to lose my voice to a really bad sore throat. By Wednesday morning I had a full on sinus infection. I took the first nap of my mission on Wednesday to try to get better. I thought it was a miracle because I got better.
Wednesday night I pulled plans together for the next day. It was a miracle and the Lord was keeping me above water. He decided he’d try to test me again though and the next morning both Elder Momose and I got really sick. (my sinus infection came back) I also had a fight with Elder Momose during study and was about ready to explode with anger. The anxious feelings started to come for out time with President Baird (luckily he was coming towards the evening (5:00) but as it came closer I started to get really bad diarrhea. So that didn’t make things pleasant. In the end I pulled it together. Elder Momose got a little bit better and we started the night with President Baird. We visited three families. The first one did not want to make the appointment but agreed anyway. It was difficult because they have five kids. We worked through that and then went to a dinner appointment (super, super rare). It was a couple that just had a baby about a month ago. It went all right. The husband is kind of like Bishop Schofield. I think it was really awkward for him because President Baird is so intense. It went well though and we ended the night visiting our Ward Mission Leader who has no motivation to help us at all.
We ended up actually breaking curfew which was really embarrassing and we found out in our second appointment that President Baird was actually planning on staying in our apartment that night. I just about pooped myself when I heard that (edit for grandparents..thanks). So we ended the night and I felt like I was being judged in everything that I did. It was weird sleeping on the floor next to my mission president. While we were getting ready for bed, I decided I’d try to make conversation. Since I have lost all social skills the best thing I could come up with was to ask President Baird if he had gained weight (good one...I know and yes he has by the way). We went to sleep and I woke up at 6:30 the next morning and he was gone. His suitcase was still there but his futon and stuff was gone. It was scary. I felt like he was hiding under a desk or on the ceiling judging me as I worked out and did study. He was actually on a walk.
We left with him in his van to go to Kanazawa again because we had interviews that day. It was fun seeing people but I started to get really, really sick and couldn’t talk. I started to get bad sinus headaches. On the car ride up he gave us rules that he wanted us to follow. We are suppose to go on a walk every morning (kills my working out time); also he wants us to speak English in the apartment from now on. It’s a little more difficult because I learned how to express myself in Japanese a little bit better but now I have to speak a little more simplistically in the apartment. It’s good though because it’s helping with our relationship. It does add to my stress though.
So during my interview I asked him for permission for something and he flat out said no and so that on top of everything else I had a hard night on Friday. I ended up trying to do my best on Saturday and we had a really good day. We worked all day which was a miracle. I was very happy that we stayed out all day. Sunday was stake conference so we had to get a ride to Komatsu. It was good to see people but a lot of people from Takaoka had forgotten me. Oh well. On the way home I thought I was going to die. I got home and started a course of anti-biotics. I’m on the mend now. I had to just sleep last night though. We visited one person but I was losing my sense of balance so I thought riding a bike wasn’t the best idea (it was really windy and stormy so it made for difficult riding). I’m feeling better today. The medicine of course helps fast.
We got transfer calls today. We didn’t receive a call so we are both staying I guess. No one in our district was told that they were district leader though. It might be more. We didn:t get a call but we also didn:t get a text saying that it was over so I might still get a call or they might have just straight up forgotten us. so I might be district leader. I:m happy with transfers. It turned out good. My old zone leader from Fuji is the new zone leader here. He will be in Komatsu. It will be way fun. I like him a ton. also Elder Momose and I have a good relationship right now. The learning english thing helps.
So thanks for your prayers I:ll continue to try to work hard. Oh President Baird also commanded me (used the word nasai) to learn chineese characters. To answer some questions and say some things. Can I get matt graham:s address. It sounds liek you are all working really hard. It sounds like Katie did absolutely wonderful. I*m so proud of here. She got contacts huh? Awesome. I*m fine on contacts. I:ll read that sheet when I get it. My allergies are bad but I:m taking care of it. No medicine needed. I:ve still got another course. I might ask for more if I have to use the other course. Way to go for monica and quincy going out with the missionaries. Way good. I*m glad byu won. I:m glad the bishop didn:t swear when it was coming down to the wire.
I love you all have a wonderful week. Thanks for yoru prayers. I:m doing much better. I*m just trying to make it and work as hard as I can. I*m feeling better so that will help with the stress I think. Keep up the good work and working hard. Good luck with debate jacob. I bet you look great now with your braces off (you looked great before too.)
Love
Tyler
So Monday night when we were planning for the exchange I got the big news from one of the president’s assistants. He said that on Thursday President Baird wants to go to Fukui and work with your for the day in your area. So after coming up with no plans for my exchange with my Zone Leader, I had to then plan for working with the Mission President for the day. Not only the mission president. President Baird. So Tuesday night towards the end of our exchange I start to lose my voice to a really bad sore throat. By Wednesday morning I had a full on sinus infection. I took the first nap of my mission on Wednesday to try to get better. I thought it was a miracle because I got better.
Wednesday night I pulled plans together for the next day. It was a miracle and the Lord was keeping me above water. He decided he’d try to test me again though and the next morning both Elder Momose and I got really sick. (my sinus infection came back) I also had a fight with Elder Momose during study and was about ready to explode with anger. The anxious feelings started to come for out time with President Baird (luckily he was coming towards the evening (5:00) but as it came closer I started to get really bad diarrhea. So that didn’t make things pleasant. In the end I pulled it together. Elder Momose got a little bit better and we started the night with President Baird. We visited three families. The first one did not want to make the appointment but agreed anyway. It was difficult because they have five kids. We worked through that and then went to a dinner appointment (super, super rare). It was a couple that just had a baby about a month ago. It went all right. The husband is kind of like Bishop Schofield. I think it was really awkward for him because President Baird is so intense. It went well though and we ended the night visiting our Ward Mission Leader who has no motivation to help us at all.
We ended up actually breaking curfew which was really embarrassing and we found out in our second appointment that President Baird was actually planning on staying in our apartment that night. I just about pooped myself when I heard that (edit for grandparents..thanks). So we ended the night and I felt like I was being judged in everything that I did. It was weird sleeping on the floor next to my mission president. While we were getting ready for bed, I decided I’d try to make conversation. Since I have lost all social skills the best thing I could come up with was to ask President Baird if he had gained weight (good one...I know and yes he has by the way). We went to sleep and I woke up at 6:30 the next morning and he was gone. His suitcase was still there but his futon and stuff was gone. It was scary. I felt like he was hiding under a desk or on the ceiling judging me as I worked out and did study. He was actually on a walk.
We left with him in his van to go to Kanazawa again because we had interviews that day. It was fun seeing people but I started to get really, really sick and couldn’t talk. I started to get bad sinus headaches. On the car ride up he gave us rules that he wanted us to follow. We are suppose to go on a walk every morning (kills my working out time); also he wants us to speak English in the apartment from now on. It’s a little more difficult because I learned how to express myself in Japanese a little bit better but now I have to speak a little more simplistically in the apartment. It’s good though because it’s helping with our relationship. It does add to my stress though.
So during my interview I asked him for permission for something and he flat out said no and so that on top of everything else I had a hard night on Friday. I ended up trying to do my best on Saturday and we had a really good day. We worked all day which was a miracle. I was very happy that we stayed out all day. Sunday was stake conference so we had to get a ride to Komatsu. It was good to see people but a lot of people from Takaoka had forgotten me. Oh well. On the way home I thought I was going to die. I got home and started a course of anti-biotics. I’m on the mend now. I had to just sleep last night though. We visited one person but I was losing my sense of balance so I thought riding a bike wasn’t the best idea (it was really windy and stormy so it made for difficult riding). I’m feeling better today. The medicine of course helps fast.
We got transfer calls today. We didn’t receive a call so we are both staying I guess. No one in our district was told that they were district leader though. It might be more. We didn:t get a call but we also didn:t get a text saying that it was over so I might still get a call or they might have just straight up forgotten us. so I might be district leader. I:m happy with transfers. It turned out good. My old zone leader from Fuji is the new zone leader here. He will be in Komatsu. It will be way fun. I like him a ton. also Elder Momose and I have a good relationship right now. The learning english thing helps.
So thanks for your prayers I:ll continue to try to work hard. Oh President Baird also commanded me (used the word nasai) to learn chineese characters. To answer some questions and say some things. Can I get matt graham:s address. It sounds liek you are all working really hard. It sounds like Katie did absolutely wonderful. I*m so proud of here. She got contacts huh? Awesome. I*m fine on contacts. I:ll read that sheet when I get it. My allergies are bad but I:m taking care of it. No medicine needed. I:ve still got another course. I might ask for more if I have to use the other course. Way to go for monica and quincy going out with the missionaries. Way good. I*m glad byu won. I:m glad the bishop didn:t swear when it was coming down to the wire.
I love you all have a wonderful week. Thanks for yoru prayers. I:m doing much better. I*m just trying to make it and work as hard as I can. I*m feeling better so that will help with the stress I think. Keep up the good work and working hard. Good luck with debate jacob. I bet you look great now with your braces off (you looked great before too.)
Love
Tyler
October 10, 2010
Dear Family,
Honestly, what person in the right mind would think that you can get to Heaven by building a tower? I want to find the jerk that first suggested it and punch him in the face.
So Japanese this week royally kicked my butt as Jason might put it. It was super tough. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that it was the hardest week of my life. I’m so tired of not being able to vent in my native language. The problems I face with Elder Momose on a daily basis are not being resolved because of the language barrier. It’s building up and it’s not fair to either of us. It might end in someone getting punch in the face (I hope it’s the dude that tried to build the tower). I think the Lord is trying to get me to learn how to overcome anger because I’ve never had to deal with so much anger in my life (this even trumps debate). I’m doing my best though and trying to love people. I’m doing better. I had some good experiences today. It is getting better but I’ve had to wear my retainer every night because I’m getting headaches from my teeth grinding so much. Anyway, I’m learning and trying to become more Christ like.
I did have the highlight of my mission this week. I was praying so hard that I’d find a prepared soul that I could love and help. We have been receiving a lot of training lately and it was so frustrating that I couldn’t put it into affect and help someone. So I was praying that I would find someone and I got in a little argument with my companion but then calmed down and we went to this apartment complex. We found this woman that has had a recent interest in religion and has been going to a Catholic Church. She readily accepted the Book or Mormon and I think she is reading it. It was too bad that she caught a cold and couldn’t come to General Conference this week but I truly can tell you that I was led to her and I have high hopes for her.
I watched General Conference in Japanese. As you might expect my comprehension was a little weak but I can read it later. It was good study and I still enjoyed it. It was sure tough though.
So I’ll give you an overview of how I would characterize some of the members I’ve recently gotten to know. We have a Japanese Kevin from the office. We have a Japanese Bishop Schofield, Ron Weasel’s dad, and scare crow from batman begins (that one is freaky because he looks exactly like him. Let’s just say I don’t get within arm’s reach of him).
Elder Momose is getting antsy that we might have to pay another dollar so I’ll answer your emails real quick. It’s good that BYU won. Could someone contact Carson for me and get me his address and tell him that he’s the man and I miss him? Jason you did get rocked with home teaching. Gomen (ask someone what that means. Oh I’ll just tell you. It means sorry). Sweet the monitor sounds awesome. That’s okay about Monica and Quincy. Thanks for the letter mom and dad. I’ve got a good story to tell you next week. Also, thanks everyone for your prayers. Jason yours was answered quite well this week that I’d find someone. I love you all. Have a good week. Thanks for sending the package I’ll probably get it tomorrow. Love you all have a great week.
Love, Tyler
Please pray for me. I’m still dying with the language. I also have to do an exchange tomorrow and I have nothing to do with my District Leader so it’s going to be really awkward. Prayers please. The Church is true.
Honestly, what person in the right mind would think that you can get to Heaven by building a tower? I want to find the jerk that first suggested it and punch him in the face.
So Japanese this week royally kicked my butt as Jason might put it. It was super tough. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that it was the hardest week of my life. I’m so tired of not being able to vent in my native language. The problems I face with Elder Momose on a daily basis are not being resolved because of the language barrier. It’s building up and it’s not fair to either of us. It might end in someone getting punch in the face (I hope it’s the dude that tried to build the tower). I think the Lord is trying to get me to learn how to overcome anger because I’ve never had to deal with so much anger in my life (this even trumps debate). I’m doing my best though and trying to love people. I’m doing better. I had some good experiences today. It is getting better but I’ve had to wear my retainer every night because I’m getting headaches from my teeth grinding so much. Anyway, I’m learning and trying to become more Christ like.
I did have the highlight of my mission this week. I was praying so hard that I’d find a prepared soul that I could love and help. We have been receiving a lot of training lately and it was so frustrating that I couldn’t put it into affect and help someone. So I was praying that I would find someone and I got in a little argument with my companion but then calmed down and we went to this apartment complex. We found this woman that has had a recent interest in religion and has been going to a Catholic Church. She readily accepted the Book or Mormon and I think she is reading it. It was too bad that she caught a cold and couldn’t come to General Conference this week but I truly can tell you that I was led to her and I have high hopes for her.
I watched General Conference in Japanese. As you might expect my comprehension was a little weak but I can read it later. It was good study and I still enjoyed it. It was sure tough though.
So I’ll give you an overview of how I would characterize some of the members I’ve recently gotten to know. We have a Japanese Kevin from the office. We have a Japanese Bishop Schofield, Ron Weasel’s dad, and scare crow from batman begins (that one is freaky because he looks exactly like him. Let’s just say I don’t get within arm’s reach of him).
Elder Momose is getting antsy that we might have to pay another dollar so I’ll answer your emails real quick. It’s good that BYU won. Could someone contact Carson for me and get me his address and tell him that he’s the man and I miss him? Jason you did get rocked with home teaching. Gomen (ask someone what that means. Oh I’ll just tell you. It means sorry). Sweet the monitor sounds awesome. That’s okay about Monica and Quincy. Thanks for the letter mom and dad. I’ve got a good story to tell you next week. Also, thanks everyone for your prayers. Jason yours was answered quite well this week that I’d find someone. I love you all. Have a good week. Thanks for sending the package I’ll probably get it tomorrow. Love you all have a great week.
Love, Tyler
Please pray for me. I’m still dying with the language. I also have to do an exchange tomorrow and I have nothing to do with my District Leader so it’s going to be really awkward. Prayers please. The Church is true.
October 3, 2010
Dear Family,
Once again, I don’t have a whole lot of time. I tried sending off that package this week and it got sent back to me because there was a battery in the ipod. That was super frustrating. I put the return address as the mission home so I don’t even have it right now. Luckily I sent it pretty cheap so that wasn’t too big of a deal. I took out 70 bucks but since it charges me a little I decided to take out a lot more than I needed. I’m going to try to figure out if I can even send it to the United States. There were some language barriers when it got returned to the mission home. I’m going to go to the post office today and ask. Sorry. I might have to end up just sending it back with a missionary that I trust who is going home and then having them mail it from within the US. Unfortunately, no one is going back to America until after Christmas except Sister Baird. It’s also a bummer because I put my SD card from my camera in the package so I could have you copy off the pictures. But now I’ll have to wait on that as well. I have my other card though and I still have some room. Hey can you send that package off asap? I don’t have any deodorant. Just put in some of the contact solution and case and deodorant and toothpaste. I’m good on tooth brushes. If you could also send me a cookie recipe and a brownie recipe from scratch so I can make them for members. Also, I need Matt Graham’s address. Forget about the recorder thing unless you already bought it.
To answer your questions, I’m trying to be healthy but my body is getting the crap beat out of it. My toes are killing me. My ankles always hurt. Luckily my joints are doing better though. I do have shin splits really bad. It’s just from riding my bike so much. I figure I’m just going to lay on the couch for a full two days when I get back to get better. I’ve already gone 9 months with my toe problems so I can handle another year or so.
I don’t get to watch Conference until next week. They put it on DVD’s and send them to the wards. I’m the only English speaker in my ward (actually all other missionaries in our zone go to Kanazawa to watch it but we are just by ourselves). I sit at the back of the room by myself with my own TV and have to switch DVDs out with everyone so I don’t get to watch it in order. It’s too bad, but I’ll survive. People will just wonder why there is one lone voice in the back of the room singing in English.
I loved the temple issue this last month. It was great. I wish I could go to the temple. I really, really want to be able to go. Oh well.
So if one more person tells me they can’t meet because they are too busy I’m going to punch them. I asked all the members I could on Sunday if they had any time this week. All of them said they were busy. I don’t buy for a second that they can’t find 30 minutes at just one point during the week. It’s not like they have five kids or anything. Most of them only have one if any at all. It’s so frustrating. We have a new rule that we can’t even talk to members at the door if there isn’t a priesthood holder home. If it’s just a woman we can’t meet at the door. It: makes teaching members almost impossible.
This week was better. Things are getting on track a little bit more. We actually didn’t have any investigator lessons this week which is really bad but we got two new investigators that we will meet with soon. I will attest that my prayers have been answered. Things are falling into place. I just need to continue getting better at Japanese. Sometimes it feels like I’m getting worse. Anyway, Elder Momose is wanting to leave so I should probably go. I’m sorry this letter was so short. I don’t have a whole lot to write about. It’s just difficult living with someone that doesn’t speak your own language. It’s rough stuff. So I’ll try to write more next week. Love you all. Have a good week. Thanks for the emails and prayers.
Love Tyler
Once again, I don’t have a whole lot of time. I tried sending off that package this week and it got sent back to me because there was a battery in the ipod. That was super frustrating. I put the return address as the mission home so I don’t even have it right now. Luckily I sent it pretty cheap so that wasn’t too big of a deal. I took out 70 bucks but since it charges me a little I decided to take out a lot more than I needed. I’m going to try to figure out if I can even send it to the United States. There were some language barriers when it got returned to the mission home. I’m going to go to the post office today and ask. Sorry. I might have to end up just sending it back with a missionary that I trust who is going home and then having them mail it from within the US. Unfortunately, no one is going back to America until after Christmas except Sister Baird. It’s also a bummer because I put my SD card from my camera in the package so I could have you copy off the pictures. But now I’ll have to wait on that as well. I have my other card though and I still have some room. Hey can you send that package off asap? I don’t have any deodorant. Just put in some of the contact solution and case and deodorant and toothpaste. I’m good on tooth brushes. If you could also send me a cookie recipe and a brownie recipe from scratch so I can make them for members. Also, I need Matt Graham’s address. Forget about the recorder thing unless you already bought it.
To answer your questions, I’m trying to be healthy but my body is getting the crap beat out of it. My toes are killing me. My ankles always hurt. Luckily my joints are doing better though. I do have shin splits really bad. It’s just from riding my bike so much. I figure I’m just going to lay on the couch for a full two days when I get back to get better. I’ve already gone 9 months with my toe problems so I can handle another year or so.
I don’t get to watch Conference until next week. They put it on DVD’s and send them to the wards. I’m the only English speaker in my ward (actually all other missionaries in our zone go to Kanazawa to watch it but we are just by ourselves). I sit at the back of the room by myself with my own TV and have to switch DVDs out with everyone so I don’t get to watch it in order. It’s too bad, but I’ll survive. People will just wonder why there is one lone voice in the back of the room singing in English.
I loved the temple issue this last month. It was great. I wish I could go to the temple. I really, really want to be able to go. Oh well.
So if one more person tells me they can’t meet because they are too busy I’m going to punch them. I asked all the members I could on Sunday if they had any time this week. All of them said they were busy. I don’t buy for a second that they can’t find 30 minutes at just one point during the week. It’s not like they have five kids or anything. Most of them only have one if any at all. It’s so frustrating. We have a new rule that we can’t even talk to members at the door if there isn’t a priesthood holder home. If it’s just a woman we can’t meet at the door. It: makes teaching members almost impossible.
This week was better. Things are getting on track a little bit more. We actually didn’t have any investigator lessons this week which is really bad but we got two new investigators that we will meet with soon. I will attest that my prayers have been answered. Things are falling into place. I just need to continue getting better at Japanese. Sometimes it feels like I’m getting worse. Anyway, Elder Momose is wanting to leave so I should probably go. I’m sorry this letter was so short. I don’t have a whole lot to write about. It’s just difficult living with someone that doesn’t speak your own language. It’s rough stuff. So I’ll try to write more next week. Love you all. Have a good week. Thanks for the emails and prayers.
Love Tyler
September 26, 2010
Dear Family,
This week was really tough. Luckily it was by far the fastest week of my mission up until this morning. It felt like it went by in a snap. I’m still way stressed though and trying to manage being in a foreign country while living with another human being that doesn’t speak the same language as me. It’s been tough and I’ve just had my just compromises and refrained from just yelling in English (I did it a couple of times though).
Funny story, I had told some people that my grandpa has served in Kanazawa and the senior missionary couple here got wind and the Elder, Elder Oldroid called me and told me that he knew my grandpa. I was shocked and then he told me to look up his name on the North Asia Mission website. It says that Elder Oldroid and Elder Hooton served together and baptized 3 people or something like that. I just played along and didn’t bother to tell him that it was my mother’s father that served in Japan but I guess a Hooton served here as well with Elder Oldroid. I told you Japan missions run in families.
We went into the post office the other morning. We walk in and I went to stand off to the side to wait for Elder Momose to use the ATM. It was just what I usually do. I could tell something was wrong because Elder Momose turned around and gave me a weird look. At first I just thought it was because the man using the ATM was obviously drunk (he was yelling slurred Japanese words). It wasn’t a huge deal. If you are over the age of 70 and live in Japan that’s the cool thing to do is get drunk and roam the streets yelling at high school girls. Anyway, when I looked closer I realized that his pants were around his ankles. Elder Momose tried to help him use the ATM machine. After awhile he told me why the man had his pants down. He was unaware of the matter. We had to help him out and eventually he went home and we got our money. It was quite the experience though.
So this inactive woman called us and wanted to meet. It was a little weird. She was a little crazy from what I could tell from the teaching record. She told missionaries that if they translated some papers for her into English then she’d get baptized. I guess the missionaries started teaching her and she gained legitimate interest and she eventually got baptized. Anyway, half way through the conversation with Elder Momose (on the phone) she started asking tons of questions about me like how tall I was, my eye color, hair color, etc.. It was quite weird. I feel like I have a stalker. Her children are high school age and not members so we wouldn’t mind trying to teach them so we are going to visit her this week. I’ll be careful.
Don’t worry about printing emails and sending them. Short ones are fine. If you want to send other letters by regular mail that’d be great. We don’t get NBC on DirecTV? How are we supposed to watch The Office at home?
I was tired of Elder Momose always leading the way because I think it stressed him a little bit that he always had to be finding the homes of people, so one day I decided I’d look up the addresses in the map book and I’d map out a route. He was a little unsure but I was fairly certain I could do it. After the first three minutes I took a wrong turn. It’s not my fault though. Elder Momose kind of threw me off. Anyway, Japanese maps are stupid. Streets have names but the names aren’t anywhere on the actual street. They are really only on maps. They name intersections. That’s stupid if you ask me. Why would you only name intersections? So on all four poles with traffic lights on them there is a sign and all four of them say the same thing. Anyway, I found the way after a while. It went well for a long time. In the end I misjudged the size of the river (well actually creek) that we needed to cross and I went about a good 30 minutes farther than we needed to. In my defense though, that creek looked huge on the map. Also, yesterday we had to go that way anyway. It was 2 hours by bike there and 1 and a half hour to get back (we took a different way) it was super exhausting.
Well the area hasn’t really picked up that much. We are still kind of just fluttering around trying to figure things out but it’s at least going a little better. I’m doing alright. Just please keep on praying for me. I love you all. Have a good week.
Elder Hooton
This week was really tough. Luckily it was by far the fastest week of my mission up until this morning. It felt like it went by in a snap. I’m still way stressed though and trying to manage being in a foreign country while living with another human being that doesn’t speak the same language as me. It’s been tough and I’ve just had my just compromises and refrained from just yelling in English (I did it a couple of times though).
Funny story, I had told some people that my grandpa has served in Kanazawa and the senior missionary couple here got wind and the Elder, Elder Oldroid called me and told me that he knew my grandpa. I was shocked and then he told me to look up his name on the North Asia Mission website. It says that Elder Oldroid and Elder Hooton served together and baptized 3 people or something like that. I just played along and didn’t bother to tell him that it was my mother’s father that served in Japan but I guess a Hooton served here as well with Elder Oldroid. I told you Japan missions run in families.
We went into the post office the other morning. We walk in and I went to stand off to the side to wait for Elder Momose to use the ATM. It was just what I usually do. I could tell something was wrong because Elder Momose turned around and gave me a weird look. At first I just thought it was because the man using the ATM was obviously drunk (he was yelling slurred Japanese words). It wasn’t a huge deal. If you are over the age of 70 and live in Japan that’s the cool thing to do is get drunk and roam the streets yelling at high school girls. Anyway, when I looked closer I realized that his pants were around his ankles. Elder Momose tried to help him use the ATM machine. After awhile he told me why the man had his pants down. He was unaware of the matter. We had to help him out and eventually he went home and we got our money. It was quite the experience though.
So this inactive woman called us and wanted to meet. It was a little weird. She was a little crazy from what I could tell from the teaching record. She told missionaries that if they translated some papers for her into English then she’d get baptized. I guess the missionaries started teaching her and she gained legitimate interest and she eventually got baptized. Anyway, half way through the conversation with Elder Momose (on the phone) she started asking tons of questions about me like how tall I was, my eye color, hair color, etc.. It was quite weird. I feel like I have a stalker. Her children are high school age and not members so we wouldn’t mind trying to teach them so we are going to visit her this week. I’ll be careful.
Don’t worry about printing emails and sending them. Short ones are fine. If you want to send other letters by regular mail that’d be great. We don’t get NBC on DirecTV? How are we supposed to watch The Office at home?
I was tired of Elder Momose always leading the way because I think it stressed him a little bit that he always had to be finding the homes of people, so one day I decided I’d look up the addresses in the map book and I’d map out a route. He was a little unsure but I was fairly certain I could do it. After the first three minutes I took a wrong turn. It’s not my fault though. Elder Momose kind of threw me off. Anyway, Japanese maps are stupid. Streets have names but the names aren’t anywhere on the actual street. They are really only on maps. They name intersections. That’s stupid if you ask me. Why would you only name intersections? So on all four poles with traffic lights on them there is a sign and all four of them say the same thing. Anyway, I found the way after a while. It went well for a long time. In the end I misjudged the size of the river (well actually creek) that we needed to cross and I went about a good 30 minutes farther than we needed to. In my defense though, that creek looked huge on the map. Also, yesterday we had to go that way anyway. It was 2 hours by bike there and 1 and a half hour to get back (we took a different way) it was super exhausting.
Well the area hasn’t really picked up that much. We are still kind of just fluttering around trying to figure things out but it’s at least going a little better. I’m doing alright. Just please keep on praying for me. I love you all. Have a good week.
Elder Hooton
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)