Tuesday, May 3, 2011
May 2, 2011
Dear Family,
This week was a good week. We have a whopping total of 0 investigators (as of last night our only one dropped). That’s a little rough but I still have a really good feeling about this area and I think a lot will start to happen. It’s kind of difficult being with 4 people and the ward has had some bad experiences with missionaries that didn’t know how to create good relationships. So that’s our main objective for now. If we can get the members onboard with our ideas then it will be really easy to get Yokkaichi to be a thriving area.
We spent most of the week visiting members and less active members. One funny woman was Naito Shimai. We rode an hour to her house in the mountains and it was up and down, up and down the whole way. We hit 46 km/hr at one point. It was fun going up the hills though. You feel an accomplishment when you can glide down and you get to see all of the work you put into go up the hill. Also, it is making my legs a lot bigger which I’m happy about. So we get to her house and we were fasting but she was like “Oh you can just have some of this food.” “I won’t tell anyone.” “How about some skittles?” I want to know where the heck she found skittles. It was way funny and then she told us that she drinks tea and coffee because she realized that they are healthy for her. She was a little crazy but her and her non-member husband were really nice and they gave us a bunch of food to take home. They were really fun to meet with.
While she was making food for us to take home she left us in her living room with these giant windows that overlooked their nice garden. The husband came in and turned on a baseball game and told us to watch it and then left to work in the garden. So since I hate baseball and didn’t consider it too much of a sin to watch I decided it was okay. Elder Flint being from Australia has never played it and wanted me to explain it to him. I saw it as a good opportunity to build our relationship so I explained baseball and all of the facts that I’ve overheard from the years and years of endlessly watching and listening to Jacob ramble. It was a pretty fun experience and it helped put both of us in a better mood because it had been a hard day.
I hear if you get a full set of the original Pokémon starter sets which I think we have at home and they are in good condition you can sell them for $400 dollars on ebay. Jacob and Jason should look into that. It would be a sweet way to save for your mission or to buy Tyler a PS3 when he gets home.
I’m doing pretty well this week. The weather is helping me sleep a lot more. I’ve slept incredibly well this past week. I didn’t know I could sleep that well. The only thing is that when it starts to get hotter I’ll always feel drained during the day. Heat + Curry = Slow. It’s nice though.
I have one last favor for mom and dad and the bank account that is supporting me on my mission. I need short sleeve shirts now. I am dying. I thought I had 4 or 5 good ones but for some reason they got ruined when I stored them. I even took care of them but I don’t know if I’ll be able to find any here. It’s expensive and I don’t know if I can find some that fit me. Also, I need maybe 4 or 5 things of deodorant and 4 or 5 things of toothpaste and one more toothbrush and I swear I’ll be set for the rest of my mission. I’d be really happy if this was my last package. I think that’s all I will need.
So I think I’m the new Zone Leader here in Nagoya 2. There is training for District Leaders and Zone Leaders starting tomorrow and my name got added to the list at the last second. Everyone thinks it’s because they sent back a bunch of Tokyo missionaries today so right now we only have 1 Zone Leader and I think I’ll be getting a call sometime today or tomorrow. So that’s cool I guess. I like not having any responsibilities though.
Love, Tyler
This week was a good week. We have a whopping total of 0 investigators (as of last night our only one dropped). That’s a little rough but I still have a really good feeling about this area and I think a lot will start to happen. It’s kind of difficult being with 4 people and the ward has had some bad experiences with missionaries that didn’t know how to create good relationships. So that’s our main objective for now. If we can get the members onboard with our ideas then it will be really easy to get Yokkaichi to be a thriving area.
We spent most of the week visiting members and less active members. One funny woman was Naito Shimai. We rode an hour to her house in the mountains and it was up and down, up and down the whole way. We hit 46 km/hr at one point. It was fun going up the hills though. You feel an accomplishment when you can glide down and you get to see all of the work you put into go up the hill. Also, it is making my legs a lot bigger which I’m happy about. So we get to her house and we were fasting but she was like “Oh you can just have some of this food.” “I won’t tell anyone.” “How about some skittles?” I want to know where the heck she found skittles. It was way funny and then she told us that she drinks tea and coffee because she realized that they are healthy for her. She was a little crazy but her and her non-member husband were really nice and they gave us a bunch of food to take home. They were really fun to meet with.
While she was making food for us to take home she left us in her living room with these giant windows that overlooked their nice garden. The husband came in and turned on a baseball game and told us to watch it and then left to work in the garden. So since I hate baseball and didn’t consider it too much of a sin to watch I decided it was okay. Elder Flint being from Australia has never played it and wanted me to explain it to him. I saw it as a good opportunity to build our relationship so I explained baseball and all of the facts that I’ve overheard from the years and years of endlessly watching and listening to Jacob ramble. It was a pretty fun experience and it helped put both of us in a better mood because it had been a hard day.
I hear if you get a full set of the original Pokémon starter sets which I think we have at home and they are in good condition you can sell them for $400 dollars on ebay. Jacob and Jason should look into that. It would be a sweet way to save for your mission or to buy Tyler a PS3 when he gets home.
I’m doing pretty well this week. The weather is helping me sleep a lot more. I’ve slept incredibly well this past week. I didn’t know I could sleep that well. The only thing is that when it starts to get hotter I’ll always feel drained during the day. Heat + Curry = Slow. It’s nice though.
I have one last favor for mom and dad and the bank account that is supporting me on my mission. I need short sleeve shirts now. I am dying. I thought I had 4 or 5 good ones but for some reason they got ruined when I stored them. I even took care of them but I don’t know if I’ll be able to find any here. It’s expensive and I don’t know if I can find some that fit me. Also, I need maybe 4 or 5 things of deodorant and 4 or 5 things of toothpaste and one more toothbrush and I swear I’ll be set for the rest of my mission. I’d be really happy if this was my last package. I think that’s all I will need.
So I think I’m the new Zone Leader here in Nagoya 2. There is training for District Leaders and Zone Leaders starting tomorrow and my name got added to the list at the last second. Everyone thinks it’s because they sent back a bunch of Tokyo missionaries today so right now we only have 1 Zone Leader and I think I’ll be getting a call sometime today or tomorrow. So that’s cool I guess. I like not having any responsibilities though.
Love, Tyler
April 24, 2011
Dear Family,
So far Yokkaichi is pretty good. The ward is really good here and it’s a nice set up for the plans that President Baird and I have for here. The Bishopric will be a huge help and I can see it being a very successful place. When we asked the Bishop if we could do anything for him he just asked us to please baptize someone. It looks like their priorities are right and there aren’t many problems in the ward so missionary work can take a front row seat. It’s tough being in a really small apartment with four people but we’ve made the best of it so far and there haven’t been too many problems.
I don’t know if I told you last week about the French toast incident but Elder Bednar accidently put salt into the French toast batter instead of sugar. He made a bunch and once they tasted them they decided it would be funny to leave them there and wait for Elder Soliai and me to come home and then offer them to us. I grabbed two and put them on a plate and poured syrup on them. I took the first bite and noticed they tasted a little weird but I didn’t want to be rude. I kept eating them whiling I was making some other food. It started to get worse. I didn’t: notice that Elder Soliai had already spit his out and Elder Furugen was rolling on the floor laughing. I got to the last bite of my second one and looked up and saw Elder Bednar wide eyed. I realized that they had put something in the French toast. They were all amazed that I had eaten two pieces. No one else had gotten a single bite down. They were all pretty impressed. No one thought deep enough into it though to ask why I kept eating them even though they tasted terrible. So everyone was making fun of me but I told Elder Soliai the next day that the reason I kept eating them was because I just thought Elder Bednar was just a really bad cook. He had cooked stuff for me earlier in the week and it wasn’t very good so I just thought his regular French toast tasted that bad. So really the joke is on him. Funny story thought and we had a pretty good laugh about it. It doesn’t rival Monica’s bread story though.
So I got to Yokkaichi and looked at my new pillow and it was more yellow than white. It didn’t have a pillow case on it so I put like for cases on it and it’s not too bad but I think that I’d rather just have a new pillow that I can make yellow myself.
We contacted a guy from the Ivory Coast the other day in the outdoor mall. It started to rain while we were talking to him and so he said, “oh let’s get under something.” We walked to the closest store front which just so happened to be a lingerie store. It had a giant picture of a half naked woman in front of it. The way we were standing was unfortunate for me because I was facing the picture. I’m sure the guy was freaked out that for like 10 minutes I didn’t break eye contact with him even once. It was a pretty awkward experience.
It’s has pretty much rained the whole time I’ve been here. Spring lasted for like 3 days and then the rainy season started. It’s been pretty difficult so far. My backpack always smells terrible from the rain but its okay.
Thanks for your comments on my questions. If Jason could just give me a little bit more detail on his comments and signpost as well as Quincy did then that would be great. Jason seemed the most passionate so if he could explain and little bit more. I’m interested in his reasoning. It’s really difficult deciding whether to come home in December or February because I’ve seen my life change in a matter of days let alone 6 weeks.
Congrats to Jacob and happy birthday to Jason. I love you all have a good week. Thanks for your letters.
Love, Tyler
So far Yokkaichi is pretty good. The ward is really good here and it’s a nice set up for the plans that President Baird and I have for here. The Bishopric will be a huge help and I can see it being a very successful place. When we asked the Bishop if we could do anything for him he just asked us to please baptize someone. It looks like their priorities are right and there aren’t many problems in the ward so missionary work can take a front row seat. It’s tough being in a really small apartment with four people but we’ve made the best of it so far and there haven’t been too many problems.
I don’t know if I told you last week about the French toast incident but Elder Bednar accidently put salt into the French toast batter instead of sugar. He made a bunch and once they tasted them they decided it would be funny to leave them there and wait for Elder Soliai and me to come home and then offer them to us. I grabbed two and put them on a plate and poured syrup on them. I took the first bite and noticed they tasted a little weird but I didn’t want to be rude. I kept eating them whiling I was making some other food. It started to get worse. I didn’t: notice that Elder Soliai had already spit his out and Elder Furugen was rolling on the floor laughing. I got to the last bite of my second one and looked up and saw Elder Bednar wide eyed. I realized that they had put something in the French toast. They were all amazed that I had eaten two pieces. No one else had gotten a single bite down. They were all pretty impressed. No one thought deep enough into it though to ask why I kept eating them even though they tasted terrible. So everyone was making fun of me but I told Elder Soliai the next day that the reason I kept eating them was because I just thought Elder Bednar was just a really bad cook. He had cooked stuff for me earlier in the week and it wasn’t very good so I just thought his regular French toast tasted that bad. So really the joke is on him. Funny story thought and we had a pretty good laugh about it. It doesn’t rival Monica’s bread story though.
So I got to Yokkaichi and looked at my new pillow and it was more yellow than white. It didn’t have a pillow case on it so I put like for cases on it and it’s not too bad but I think that I’d rather just have a new pillow that I can make yellow myself.
We contacted a guy from the Ivory Coast the other day in the outdoor mall. It started to rain while we were talking to him and so he said, “oh let’s get under something.” We walked to the closest store front which just so happened to be a lingerie store. It had a giant picture of a half naked woman in front of it. The way we were standing was unfortunate for me because I was facing the picture. I’m sure the guy was freaked out that for like 10 minutes I didn’t break eye contact with him even once. It was a pretty awkward experience.
It’s has pretty much rained the whole time I’ve been here. Spring lasted for like 3 days and then the rainy season started. It’s been pretty difficult so far. My backpack always smells terrible from the rain but its okay.
Thanks for your comments on my questions. If Jason could just give me a little bit more detail on his comments and signpost as well as Quincy did then that would be great. Jason seemed the most passionate so if he could explain and little bit more. I’m interested in his reasoning. It’s really difficult deciding whether to come home in December or February because I’ve seen my life change in a matter of days let alone 6 weeks.
Congrats to Jacob and happy birthday to Jason. I love you all have a good week. Thanks for your letters.
Love, Tyler
April 18, 2011
Dear Family,
I beat Elder Berrett in an arm wrestle this week. It was sweet. It was at our ping pong activity in front of everyone. He’s a huge guy and played baseball in college. I kicked his butt...twice actually. I got beat in the ping pong bracket by my companion which was a huge upset so I had to show my manliness somehow. It worked pretty well.
We played basketball last week. I now understand how fat and slow I am (but I can ride a bike like you wouldn’t believe). I think I’ll have to go through at least six months of rehab when I come back. My posture is getting terrible due to everything here being below head level. I need to stop hitting my head on the places where you put luggage on the trains. They could really make those things a little higher.
I housed a Brazilian complex this week. I talked to 5 people. Two had interest but we couldn’t communicate very well so I told them I’d come back with someone that could speak Portuguese. The third guy said he didn’t have any interest but invited us in to hang out. The 4th and 5th guys didn’t have interest but it was the weirdest experience of my life. They said they couldn’t: believe because they were “rocky mountain men” (that was weird). Also one of the guys didn’t have a shirt on and he was kind of fat but had unusually defined abs. It was weird to say the least. I think the first guy was hitting on me though. We promptly left and starting talking to Japanese people who all said they couldn’t listen to me because their ancestors are of a religion that didn’t even start in Japan...but they have to follow it...
Well I found out that I’m transferring to Yokkaichi. 四日市. I got the call earlier today. I’m having a hard time with it. I really don’t: want to leave Fukui but I’m handing it over to Elder Brown. It’s kind of frustrating. I’m going to be companions with another Australian. Also, I will be in another apartment with 4 people. The other two I was with in the MTC. All three of them are already there and have been for a transfer so I will definitely be the new guy in the area. I’m the Australian Elders senior companion but I won’t be the District Leader. I know it’s the call of the Lord and I know it will turn out well. I’m just a little stubborn and lack some faith.
Last week Elder Bednar wrote about me in his email home and that email gets sent to THE Elder Bednar. So a prophet is going to read about me. Also, in the story I used his talk from conference with an investigator so I feel like the apostles and I are pretty tight now.
Love, Tyler
I beat Elder Berrett in an arm wrestle this week. It was sweet. It was at our ping pong activity in front of everyone. He’s a huge guy and played baseball in college. I kicked his butt...twice actually. I got beat in the ping pong bracket by my companion which was a huge upset so I had to show my manliness somehow. It worked pretty well.
We played basketball last week. I now understand how fat and slow I am (but I can ride a bike like you wouldn’t believe). I think I’ll have to go through at least six months of rehab when I come back. My posture is getting terrible due to everything here being below head level. I need to stop hitting my head on the places where you put luggage on the trains. They could really make those things a little higher.
I housed a Brazilian complex this week. I talked to 5 people. Two had interest but we couldn’t communicate very well so I told them I’d come back with someone that could speak Portuguese. The third guy said he didn’t have any interest but invited us in to hang out. The 4th and 5th guys didn’t have interest but it was the weirdest experience of my life. They said they couldn’t: believe because they were “rocky mountain men” (that was weird). Also one of the guys didn’t have a shirt on and he was kind of fat but had unusually defined abs. It was weird to say the least. I think the first guy was hitting on me though. We promptly left and starting talking to Japanese people who all said they couldn’t listen to me because their ancestors are of a religion that didn’t even start in Japan...but they have to follow it...
Well I found out that I’m transferring to Yokkaichi. 四日市. I got the call earlier today. I’m having a hard time with it. I really don’t: want to leave Fukui but I’m handing it over to Elder Brown. It’s kind of frustrating. I’m going to be companions with another Australian. Also, I will be in another apartment with 4 people. The other two I was with in the MTC. All three of them are already there and have been for a transfer so I will definitely be the new guy in the area. I’m the Australian Elders senior companion but I won’t be the District Leader. I know it’s the call of the Lord and I know it will turn out well. I’m just a little stubborn and lack some faith.
Last week Elder Bednar wrote about me in his email home and that email gets sent to THE Elder Bednar. So a prophet is going to read about me. Also, in the story I used his talk from conference with an investigator so I feel like the apostles and I are pretty tight now.
Love, Tyler
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
April 3, 2011
Dear Family,
I do email in a library in a hospital. Now that there are four of us there is some time to kill while I wait for the computer. I didn’t get on the computer first so I went to sit down to wait. I’m pretty tired and I noticed a couch and then remembered that I haven’t sat on a couch in like 6 months. I was really excited as I walked over to the couch with my arms spread in joy. As I got closer I realized that right next to the couch in the same direction that I was walking was a big poster about breast cancer which wasn’t afraid to depict with real pictures. As I figured out what was on the poster I quickly dropped my arms and sadly returned to a table where Elder Soliai and Elder Furugen were sitting. Elder Soliai couldn’t stop laughing and all the old people wouldn’t stop giving me weird looks.
Last week after emailing we went to a, all you can eat meat place (I mainly eat pineapple though). We went with the Komatsu Elders so there were 8 of us. When we got there, we stuffed ourselves and then we got ready to leave. As we were leaving there was a huge group of teenagers that came in to eat. Seeing a large group of Americans (7) and a Japanese person from Okinawa (they don’t look Japanese at all) they started to freak out. I was pretty embarrassed because they all started to yell the little English they knew. I’m just not an outgoing type of person but I decided to just go with the situation. So we all ran through the group with our hands up and they gave us high fives. Elder Furugen is a good sport about it. Poor guy. He gets a lot of crap for betraying his country’s religion. Americans are adored and loved. To say the least, it will be tough going back to being a no one in America.
Our Brazilian investigator and I watched the same TV shows when we were young. We talked about Mighty Max for a while the other day. He still won’t accept a baptism date but he is doing well. I’m just stalling until we have to talk about marriage. Unfortunately, there is nothing left to talk about now.
This week was alright. We are doing a lot of finding but planning is going a lot easier. We are trying to do fun activities to get people to come out. President Baird wants us to act a lot like advertisers. He says we should act like we are selling something, but it’s free. I feel like I’m Vince (the Sham Wow guy) but with more morals. Our streeting approaches sound kind of weird but he promises us it will be more effective. I’ve sensed a difference but it still just feels weird to be so abrupt when telling people that the Book or Mormon help us get rid of our unsightly sins.
Things are going really well. I’m glad I have so much work to do and I love being here in Fukui. President Baird just keeps telling me that I will leave a legacy here but I don’t see that happening any time soon. The members in Japan look at missionaries to solve all of their problems. It gets really stressful. I like stress though so I guess it’s okay. Thanks for all the emails and letters. I’m excited beyond belief for my new shoes and taco seasoning. I am getting a tortilla maker from my trainer on Wednesday. It will make life so much greater. I love you all. Have a great week. Bye
Tyler
I do email in a library in a hospital. Now that there are four of us there is some time to kill while I wait for the computer. I didn’t get on the computer first so I went to sit down to wait. I’m pretty tired and I noticed a couch and then remembered that I haven’t sat on a couch in like 6 months. I was really excited as I walked over to the couch with my arms spread in joy. As I got closer I realized that right next to the couch in the same direction that I was walking was a big poster about breast cancer which wasn’t afraid to depict with real pictures. As I figured out what was on the poster I quickly dropped my arms and sadly returned to a table where Elder Soliai and Elder Furugen were sitting. Elder Soliai couldn’t stop laughing and all the old people wouldn’t stop giving me weird looks.
Last week after emailing we went to a, all you can eat meat place (I mainly eat pineapple though). We went with the Komatsu Elders so there were 8 of us. When we got there, we stuffed ourselves and then we got ready to leave. As we were leaving there was a huge group of teenagers that came in to eat. Seeing a large group of Americans (7) and a Japanese person from Okinawa (they don’t look Japanese at all) they started to freak out. I was pretty embarrassed because they all started to yell the little English they knew. I’m just not an outgoing type of person but I decided to just go with the situation. So we all ran through the group with our hands up and they gave us high fives. Elder Furugen is a good sport about it. Poor guy. He gets a lot of crap for betraying his country’s religion. Americans are adored and loved. To say the least, it will be tough going back to being a no one in America.
Our Brazilian investigator and I watched the same TV shows when we were young. We talked about Mighty Max for a while the other day. He still won’t accept a baptism date but he is doing well. I’m just stalling until we have to talk about marriage. Unfortunately, there is nothing left to talk about now.
This week was alright. We are doing a lot of finding but planning is going a lot easier. We are trying to do fun activities to get people to come out. President Baird wants us to act a lot like advertisers. He says we should act like we are selling something, but it’s free. I feel like I’m Vince (the Sham Wow guy) but with more morals. Our streeting approaches sound kind of weird but he promises us it will be more effective. I’ve sensed a difference but it still just feels weird to be so abrupt when telling people that the Book or Mormon help us get rid of our unsightly sins.
Things are going really well. I’m glad I have so much work to do and I love being here in Fukui. President Baird just keeps telling me that I will leave a legacy here but I don’t see that happening any time soon. The members in Japan look at missionaries to solve all of their problems. It gets really stressful. I like stress though so I guess it’s okay. Thanks for all the emails and letters. I’m excited beyond belief for my new shoes and taco seasoning. I am getting a tortilla maker from my trainer on Wednesday. It will make life so much greater. I love you all. Have a great week. Bye
Tyler
March 28, 2011
Dear Family,
This week went by really fast but I didn’t think I was going to make it past Saturday. I had a really bad experience with English class and some parents getting angry that their teenage daughters came to our church. It just made me really angry because it’s not like that in the United States. I went to Harvest all the time for lunch but it wasn’t a big deal. It seems like religion in America is much more civil believe it or not. There are people here that won’t even talk with me when I asked them questions. I asked an old woman for help and she said, “No I’m good.” I was just trying to figure out where we were on a map. Another time it was really late and rainy and I was trying to ask a man what the address was so that I could find where we were on a map. He wouldn’t even speak to me. He just waved his hand back and forth. It’s really frustrating and makes me angry but at least in the end I decided not to throw the eggs at their house. I just happened to eat a lot of French toast every week.
I’m glad that everyone is doing well, besides Monica being sick and BYU losing. I found out Monday last week right before I was suppose to go to Nagoya that I actually wasn’t suppose to go. It was a mix up on the Assistant’s part. So maybe I should have bought food on p-day last week. It was good though because I just used it as an opportunity to clean out all the cans of soup and older food that we were just kind of ignoring.
I feel like I deserve to be called an adult after this week. I’ve never had so much need for mental discipline. I was stressed out of my mind this week as I was having to worry about people at church and teaching people lessons during church and taking care of their children’s problems because they don’t: speak any Japanese or English. I can ignore huge problems and not be super stressed about them anymore.
I like our two new missionaries a lot. I don’t know if I told you their names last week. Elder Bednar who is Elder Bednar:s grand-nephew, and Elder Furugen. Elder Furugen is like the Japanese companion I’ve always wanted. He is way cool and willing to put up with crappy Japanese (at least for the time being). He also is a hard worker and a good teacher.
They were in the parts of Tokyo that weren’t too affected by the earthquake but they still saw some devastation. I know the news in America is saying that people are being really patient about it and stuff, which they are. They aren’t rioting or looting. It seems like the rest of the country isn’t too upset about it though. People here don’t: really care. They are donating stuff (especially church members) but I feel like people in America pay closer attention to it.
Oh tell Grandpa Miller I visited Azechi Shimai this week. I will try to write him a letter about it but tell him that I visited her and she was genki. She was very happy to see me and we talked a lot about him. I felt really bad though because her door frame was really low so I had to bend down a little bit. At one point it hurt too bad so I leaned in the apartment a little to stretched my neck out and my hair caught hold of some loose paint on the ceiling and tore it off. I felt bad but I guess that’s what I get for being tall. She sure loves grandpa a lot and everyone here remembers him and says he was a very handsome and suteki guy. Also his Japanese was better than his companions’. I have to go now. I’ll write you next week. I love you all. Bye.
Tyler
This week went by really fast but I didn’t think I was going to make it past Saturday. I had a really bad experience with English class and some parents getting angry that their teenage daughters came to our church. It just made me really angry because it’s not like that in the United States. I went to Harvest all the time for lunch but it wasn’t a big deal. It seems like religion in America is much more civil believe it or not. There are people here that won’t even talk with me when I asked them questions. I asked an old woman for help and she said, “No I’m good.” I was just trying to figure out where we were on a map. Another time it was really late and rainy and I was trying to ask a man what the address was so that I could find where we were on a map. He wouldn’t even speak to me. He just waved his hand back and forth. It’s really frustrating and makes me angry but at least in the end I decided not to throw the eggs at their house. I just happened to eat a lot of French toast every week.
I’m glad that everyone is doing well, besides Monica being sick and BYU losing. I found out Monday last week right before I was suppose to go to Nagoya that I actually wasn’t suppose to go. It was a mix up on the Assistant’s part. So maybe I should have bought food on p-day last week. It was good though because I just used it as an opportunity to clean out all the cans of soup and older food that we were just kind of ignoring.
I feel like I deserve to be called an adult after this week. I’ve never had so much need for mental discipline. I was stressed out of my mind this week as I was having to worry about people at church and teaching people lessons during church and taking care of their children’s problems because they don’t: speak any Japanese or English. I can ignore huge problems and not be super stressed about them anymore.
I like our two new missionaries a lot. I don’t know if I told you their names last week. Elder Bednar who is Elder Bednar:s grand-nephew, and Elder Furugen. Elder Furugen is like the Japanese companion I’ve always wanted. He is way cool and willing to put up with crappy Japanese (at least for the time being). He also is a hard worker and a good teacher.
They were in the parts of Tokyo that weren’t too affected by the earthquake but they still saw some devastation. I know the news in America is saying that people are being really patient about it and stuff, which they are. They aren’t rioting or looting. It seems like the rest of the country isn’t too upset about it though. People here don’t: really care. They are donating stuff (especially church members) but I feel like people in America pay closer attention to it.
Oh tell Grandpa Miller I visited Azechi Shimai this week. I will try to write him a letter about it but tell him that I visited her and she was genki. She was very happy to see me and we talked a lot about him. I felt really bad though because her door frame was really low so I had to bend down a little bit. At one point it hurt too bad so I leaned in the apartment a little to stretched my neck out and my hair caught hold of some loose paint on the ceiling and tore it off. I felt bad but I guess that’s what I get for being tall. She sure loves grandpa a lot and everyone here remembers him and says he was a very handsome and suteki guy. Also his Japanese was better than his companions’. I have to go now. I’ll write you next week. I love you all. Bye.
Tyler
March 14, 2011
Dear Family,
Well now I feel bad because I’m hearing so much about the earthquake from you. I didn’t know it was that big of a deal. We were in Nagoya in the middle of our training meeting and President Baird was having us write down our impressions on the topic we had just finished. I of course being the sensitive guy that I am felt the earthquake first. We all kind of stopped and stood still. We waited. President Baird was writing on the board and turned around. After about 30 seconds (not an exaggeration) he said, “This is a long one.” The Elder Dasilva yelled. “it’s revelation!” Then it went for about another 30 seconds and we started to get worried.
The dividers that are used to separate the parts of the room that we were in were all up against the walls so that the room was as big as possible. They started to rock back and forth and hit the walls. I thought for sure it would start to settle down but it got a little stronger and just kept going. People were getting sick and had to lean up against the wall. Also President Baird had to lean on the stage because he couldn’t keep his balance standing. It lasted probably 2 minutes. I was shocked at how long it was. President Baird then said, “we don’t have a lot of time so let’s get back to writing and we’ll move on.” We just kept going with the meeting.
About 30 minutes later we had an aftershock while Elder Otahara was reading. He just kept reading and no one said anything for the 15 seconds that it was shaking. We didn’t stop the meeting at all. Oh I forgot to mention that during the first one after about a minute or so elder Dasilva got really scared so he yelled, “under the tables!” He jumped under a table we all kind of laughed and I said, “That’s how you get killed.” It really is. You are supposed to make triangles of safety. Never go under something. Look up triangles of safety online. Elder Valentine got on his knees and started praying. We can probably thank him for the building not coming down. I wasn’t scared at all. If the building started to come down I felt like President Baird would just rebuke the ceiling as it was falling and it would stop. Also, if the ceiling did start to come down I think I’m fast enough to not get hit. I’d be out the window pretty fast.
We finished the meeting and sister Baird walked in and said in her cheerful voice, “that earthquake was a 8.9. I made cookies for everyone, you can take 2.” The sisters started to cry (but they still took the cookies, darn it). I don’t think sister Baird understood how big an 8.9 earthquake was. I turned to Elder Howells my old companion who I knew would know what that meant and I said that an 8.9 is incredible and it must have happened way out in the ocean for us to feel it that weak here in Nagoya.
No one in Fukui felt it. Fukui was too far away. We couldn’t call my cell phone though so we couldn’t contact my companion. We started to worry about that. We took the subway to the big train station and found out that the mission was evacuating all areas touching the ocean and one tsunami had already hit and another one was maybe coming. Luckily my whole zone was on the other side of the island so once we got the okay from the mission home, we started to head home. We had to take a really slow train thought because they weren’t running the express trains and they were too scared to run the shinkansen. On the train we were trying to look over people’s shoulders and see the news because they were all watching it on their cell phones. We didn’t realize the destruction was so bad. We then asked someone where the epicenter was and found it was actually just off the coast of Sendai. I didn’t think people were freaking out as much as they should be but I guess it was because we were on the safe side of the island.
I called a member who was visiting in Tokyo for her break from college. She said that they felt an after shock a couple times each hour. It’s pretty crazy. I think the mail system is still going. I had to send an email address to the mission home so that they could email you. I’m obviously fine and safe. I don’t think anywhere in our mission was too damaged so I don’t think we will be doing a lot of that type of service, especially in my zone. No one even felt it.
That was pretty much the only thing that happened to me this week. I went to the training all week. It was from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm for three days. Then my assigned companion and I would do some streeting until 9:30 pm. We only had one break for lunch (I lost six pounds). It was pretty intense. I learned a ton though. I’m okay so don’t worry about me. Life is pretty much the same but people keep asking why God would let so many people die. Other than that I’m just doing the same old same old. But missionary work will change forever after this meeting that we had. The President of the Quorum of the Seventy is watching our mission very closely now. We have over 1000 referrals in the Nagoya zone alone. I have about 20 right now which I bet Quincy, Jason, or Dad never saw on their missions and I have a lot more that I need to get. I love you all. Have a great week. Remember triangles of safety and keep praying for the people here please.
Love,
Tyler
Well now I feel bad because I’m hearing so much about the earthquake from you. I didn’t know it was that big of a deal. We were in Nagoya in the middle of our training meeting and President Baird was having us write down our impressions on the topic we had just finished. I of course being the sensitive guy that I am felt the earthquake first. We all kind of stopped and stood still. We waited. President Baird was writing on the board and turned around. After about 30 seconds (not an exaggeration) he said, “This is a long one.” The Elder Dasilva yelled. “it’s revelation!” Then it went for about another 30 seconds and we started to get worried.
The dividers that are used to separate the parts of the room that we were in were all up against the walls so that the room was as big as possible. They started to rock back and forth and hit the walls. I thought for sure it would start to settle down but it got a little stronger and just kept going. People were getting sick and had to lean up against the wall. Also President Baird had to lean on the stage because he couldn’t keep his balance standing. It lasted probably 2 minutes. I was shocked at how long it was. President Baird then said, “we don’t have a lot of time so let’s get back to writing and we’ll move on.” We just kept going with the meeting.
About 30 minutes later we had an aftershock while Elder Otahara was reading. He just kept reading and no one said anything for the 15 seconds that it was shaking. We didn’t stop the meeting at all. Oh I forgot to mention that during the first one after about a minute or so elder Dasilva got really scared so he yelled, “under the tables!” He jumped under a table we all kind of laughed and I said, “That’s how you get killed.” It really is. You are supposed to make triangles of safety. Never go under something. Look up triangles of safety online. Elder Valentine got on his knees and started praying. We can probably thank him for the building not coming down. I wasn’t scared at all. If the building started to come down I felt like President Baird would just rebuke the ceiling as it was falling and it would stop. Also, if the ceiling did start to come down I think I’m fast enough to not get hit. I’d be out the window pretty fast.
We finished the meeting and sister Baird walked in and said in her cheerful voice, “that earthquake was a 8.9. I made cookies for everyone, you can take 2.” The sisters started to cry (but they still took the cookies, darn it). I don’t think sister Baird understood how big an 8.9 earthquake was. I turned to Elder Howells my old companion who I knew would know what that meant and I said that an 8.9 is incredible and it must have happened way out in the ocean for us to feel it that weak here in Nagoya.
No one in Fukui felt it. Fukui was too far away. We couldn’t call my cell phone though so we couldn’t contact my companion. We started to worry about that. We took the subway to the big train station and found out that the mission was evacuating all areas touching the ocean and one tsunami had already hit and another one was maybe coming. Luckily my whole zone was on the other side of the island so once we got the okay from the mission home, we started to head home. We had to take a really slow train thought because they weren’t running the express trains and they were too scared to run the shinkansen. On the train we were trying to look over people’s shoulders and see the news because they were all watching it on their cell phones. We didn’t realize the destruction was so bad. We then asked someone where the epicenter was and found it was actually just off the coast of Sendai. I didn’t think people were freaking out as much as they should be but I guess it was because we were on the safe side of the island.
I called a member who was visiting in Tokyo for her break from college. She said that they felt an after shock a couple times each hour. It’s pretty crazy. I think the mail system is still going. I had to send an email address to the mission home so that they could email you. I’m obviously fine and safe. I don’t think anywhere in our mission was too damaged so I don’t think we will be doing a lot of that type of service, especially in my zone. No one even felt it.
That was pretty much the only thing that happened to me this week. I went to the training all week. It was from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm for three days. Then my assigned companion and I would do some streeting until 9:30 pm. We only had one break for lunch (I lost six pounds). It was pretty intense. I learned a ton though. I’m okay so don’t worry about me. Life is pretty much the same but people keep asking why God would let so many people die. Other than that I’m just doing the same old same old. But missionary work will change forever after this meeting that we had. The President of the Quorum of the Seventy is watching our mission very closely now. We have over 1000 referrals in the Nagoya zone alone. I have about 20 right now which I bet Quincy, Jason, or Dad never saw on their missions and I have a lot more that I need to get. I love you all. Have a great week. Remember triangles of safety and keep praying for the people here please.
Love,
Tyler
March 7, 2011
Dear Family,
First, I need to know if it’s bad to begin writing with my right hand. I’m left handed but I write Chinese characters with my right hand. I had an English student tell me that it’s terrible for my brain and I need to stop because it will make it so I can’t log new things in my brain. Can you just check on that? I’m going to preliminarily call it bogus but I’d like something to back that up.
I really don’t have a whole lot to talk about this week. I like being in Fukui for another transfer but it’s hard to be with someone for this long. I’m sure I’m getting annoying to Elder Soliai but we are doing pretty well. I also found out that I will have to go to Nagoya for two weeks this transfer for training.
I mainly visited inactives this whole week until Friday when I had to teach my first District Meeting. It’s weird because I have two missionaries that are about to go home that I teach so I feel inadequate about that. There is also a brand new missionary that just came in so I felt like he was watching me closely the whole time. Since Elder Soliai was no longer the youngest missionary he got a boost of confidence and became a kind of mentor for the new missionary. I felt like I had to keep my jokes to a minimum and keep everyone focused. It went okay I guess.
Right after that I had to do an exchange where I stayed in Komatsu with the new missionary. I wasn’t too happy about it. I don’t know the area, I hate leaving my own area because I feel like it will be on fire when I come back. So we just visited the Kitano couple again and got a picture with them and tried to do some housing. It was pretty bad so I just cut bait and had the new missionary get to sleep a little early since he was still recovering from jet lag. This week was pretty slow and we didn’t have a lot of success but I’m working on it. I’m leaving for Nagoya tomorrow night and I get back on Friday night so it’s another week I won’t be in my area. I’m sure I will learn lots of good stuff though.
I’m sorry that I had such a boring week. I went and visited two inactives that live next to the ocean. I felt like I was with 30 year old children. The member showed me his airsoft gun and then Elder Soliai wanted to take pictures wearing his army stuff. Of course you know me so it’s a picture of them wearing helmets and holding bb guns and I’m wearing my regular clothes. He asked us if we wanted to watch a movie with him. We had to explain that we can’t. He asked if music videos were okay. I said that was probably worse. It’s pretty stressful having to crush people’s hopes of being able to hang out with Americans but it’s okay.
Sorry this is so lame. I’m doing well. I’m pretty healthy this week. I have a lot more energy today than usual. I love you all. Have a good week.
Tyler
First, I need to know if it’s bad to begin writing with my right hand. I’m left handed but I write Chinese characters with my right hand. I had an English student tell me that it’s terrible for my brain and I need to stop because it will make it so I can’t log new things in my brain. Can you just check on that? I’m going to preliminarily call it bogus but I’d like something to back that up.
I really don’t have a whole lot to talk about this week. I like being in Fukui for another transfer but it’s hard to be with someone for this long. I’m sure I’m getting annoying to Elder Soliai but we are doing pretty well. I also found out that I will have to go to Nagoya for two weeks this transfer for training.
I mainly visited inactives this whole week until Friday when I had to teach my first District Meeting. It’s weird because I have two missionaries that are about to go home that I teach so I feel inadequate about that. There is also a brand new missionary that just came in so I felt like he was watching me closely the whole time. Since Elder Soliai was no longer the youngest missionary he got a boost of confidence and became a kind of mentor for the new missionary. I felt like I had to keep my jokes to a minimum and keep everyone focused. It went okay I guess.
Right after that I had to do an exchange where I stayed in Komatsu with the new missionary. I wasn’t too happy about it. I don’t know the area, I hate leaving my own area because I feel like it will be on fire when I come back. So we just visited the Kitano couple again and got a picture with them and tried to do some housing. It was pretty bad so I just cut bait and had the new missionary get to sleep a little early since he was still recovering from jet lag. This week was pretty slow and we didn’t have a lot of success but I’m working on it. I’m leaving for Nagoya tomorrow night and I get back on Friday night so it’s another week I won’t be in my area. I’m sure I will learn lots of good stuff though.
I’m sorry that I had such a boring week. I went and visited two inactives that live next to the ocean. I felt like I was with 30 year old children. The member showed me his airsoft gun and then Elder Soliai wanted to take pictures wearing his army stuff. Of course you know me so it’s a picture of them wearing helmets and holding bb guns and I’m wearing my regular clothes. He asked us if we wanted to watch a movie with him. We had to explain that we can’t. He asked if music videos were okay. I said that was probably worse. It’s pretty stressful having to crush people’s hopes of being able to hang out with Americans but it’s okay.
Sorry this is so lame. I’m doing well. I’m pretty healthy this week. I have a lot more energy today than usual. I love you all. Have a good week.
Tyler
Monday, February 21, 2011
February 21, 2011
Dear Family,
I don’t know if I’ve been this relaxed in a long time. Our awesome member Fujimoto Shimai works at a hospital in a children’s wing and it has two computers. So first, it solved our problem of emailing at a good place and second, it’s dead quiet which is so nice I can’t describe it (except my keyboard is super loud). Third, I love being around a member like this. She is the nicest woman in the world. And fourth, who doesn’t love emailing somewhere free?
Happy Birthday on Tuesday, Mom. I love you so much. This last week my love for the whole family has grown so much. I can’t wait to sit and talk with mom and maybe fix something or just talk. I can’t want to go fishing with dad and just stand their in the river looking stupid. I hope you have a great birthday.
So the Elder Holland thing was really good. I wish I took better notes. I was super, super good at taking notes in the MTC because I wasn’t too far removed from debate so I could flow it all. But this week I had some troubles balancing focusing, feeling the spirit, and taking notes. I feel like I mainly just listened and tried to just feel the spirit. It was pretty life changing. Elder Holland always talks about Preach My Gospel and how much his mission changed his life. He explained both of those in depth. He explained how he had nothing in life and didn’t even know what a mission was. He said it made him who he is today. He was also very sympathetic and said he knows that we feel like we have the weight of world on our shoulders. But then he said it’s because we do have the weight of the world on our shoulders. He said we would be stunned to know how much responsibility we actually have. It wasn’t scary though it was actually motivating to hear that. I actually forgot my notes today but I think I’ll just mail them home. I have to fax a copy to the mission home today. That’s a little weird but oh well. Elder Rasband, President Stevenson (area president), and Elder Ishii (his son lives in my ward and I’ve met him several times) all came. It was pretty incredible. I got to shake President Rasband’s hand twice because he forgot he did already after he leaned over to say something to his wife.
I will never forget when Elder Holland stepped off the stage and as he was attaching a portable mic to his suit he said, “I’ll get down here so that I can get RIGHT IN YOUR FACE,” (as he grabbed elder Brown’s face and shook it). Everyone laughed really hard and then sat up a little straighter. Then he said he was just trying to be funny and like lightly slapped Elder Valentine on the cheek. I was laughing pretty hard at this point. He is a powerful man. We all took a picture together and right after the flashes went off he got up from his chair and turned around and started giving us instructions. He made things completely comfortable and he gave the meeting very quick direction.
The story about Preach My Gospel changed the way I look at missionary work. Preach My Gospel was thought up because President Hinckley saw the incredible number of returned missionaries that were inactive. So he made an announcement in front of all the general authorities that we had to improve the way we do missionary work. The primary purpose of Preach My Gospel is to actually convert the missionary. To that point, the discussions were memorized and uniform and so they were ineffective at teaching to people’s needs. It didn’t actually require a missionary to do it. Anyone could do it. The missionaries’ testimonies weren’t used at all so it was completely leaving out the advantages of the missionaries. I found this all very interesting. I’ll write more about that when I get my notes.
Two weeks ago right as sacrament meeting was starting I was asked to translate for Kato Shimai, a Philippine woman. I wasn’t translating for her because she could speak Japanese. I was translating the talk that sister Wixon gave at the last General Conference. I want to hunt her down and tell her what I think about her huge vocabulary. Kato Shimai read the first sentence of the paragraph that she had chosen to read and I just looked wide eyed at the audience. There was no way I could translate that type of English. It ended up being really messy and a pretty bad experience for me, but at least it’s over.
Dad is like Jack Bauer. In the first season he saved Skyview debate. Then the next day he saved all of Billings’s high school debate. This season he is saving Montana high school debate. Next he’ll be saving debate from an invasion from china.
I went out to meet with inactives with Kondo Kyoudai. He always randomly tells people about us (people he doesn’t even know) and tells them to listen to us. I always thought it was weird but this time I wanted to embrace it because at least he is trying to help. So he says he has two people that he kind of knows from back in the day. He said he wants us to give them Book of Mormons. He didn’t go to the door with us though. He stayed around the corner and once they said no to my super energetic offer he would slip out of the shadows and say “good evening....” It was really creepy. We had a hard time not laughing. In the end neither of them took a Book of Mormon but that’s okay. It would be much easier if we did that with all of our members (in a less creepy way).
Well that’s it for now. I’m just trying hard and trying to get stuff done. Thiago is still doing well but he’s slowing down. Next week is transfer calls. I hope I don’t leave but its okay if I do. Love you all. Have a great week. Thanks for working hard and reading your scriptures.
Love you.
Tyler
I don’t know if I’ve been this relaxed in a long time. Our awesome member Fujimoto Shimai works at a hospital in a children’s wing and it has two computers. So first, it solved our problem of emailing at a good place and second, it’s dead quiet which is so nice I can’t describe it (except my keyboard is super loud). Third, I love being around a member like this. She is the nicest woman in the world. And fourth, who doesn’t love emailing somewhere free?
Happy Birthday on Tuesday, Mom. I love you so much. This last week my love for the whole family has grown so much. I can’t wait to sit and talk with mom and maybe fix something or just talk. I can’t want to go fishing with dad and just stand their in the river looking stupid. I hope you have a great birthday.
So the Elder Holland thing was really good. I wish I took better notes. I was super, super good at taking notes in the MTC because I wasn’t too far removed from debate so I could flow it all. But this week I had some troubles balancing focusing, feeling the spirit, and taking notes. I feel like I mainly just listened and tried to just feel the spirit. It was pretty life changing. Elder Holland always talks about Preach My Gospel and how much his mission changed his life. He explained both of those in depth. He explained how he had nothing in life and didn’t even know what a mission was. He said it made him who he is today. He was also very sympathetic and said he knows that we feel like we have the weight of world on our shoulders. But then he said it’s because we do have the weight of the world on our shoulders. He said we would be stunned to know how much responsibility we actually have. It wasn’t scary though it was actually motivating to hear that. I actually forgot my notes today but I think I’ll just mail them home. I have to fax a copy to the mission home today. That’s a little weird but oh well. Elder Rasband, President Stevenson (area president), and Elder Ishii (his son lives in my ward and I’ve met him several times) all came. It was pretty incredible. I got to shake President Rasband’s hand twice because he forgot he did already after he leaned over to say something to his wife.
I will never forget when Elder Holland stepped off the stage and as he was attaching a portable mic to his suit he said, “I’ll get down here so that I can get RIGHT IN YOUR FACE,” (as he grabbed elder Brown’s face and shook it). Everyone laughed really hard and then sat up a little straighter. Then he said he was just trying to be funny and like lightly slapped Elder Valentine on the cheek. I was laughing pretty hard at this point. He is a powerful man. We all took a picture together and right after the flashes went off he got up from his chair and turned around and started giving us instructions. He made things completely comfortable and he gave the meeting very quick direction.
The story about Preach My Gospel changed the way I look at missionary work. Preach My Gospel was thought up because President Hinckley saw the incredible number of returned missionaries that were inactive. So he made an announcement in front of all the general authorities that we had to improve the way we do missionary work. The primary purpose of Preach My Gospel is to actually convert the missionary. To that point, the discussions were memorized and uniform and so they were ineffective at teaching to people’s needs. It didn’t actually require a missionary to do it. Anyone could do it. The missionaries’ testimonies weren’t used at all so it was completely leaving out the advantages of the missionaries. I found this all very interesting. I’ll write more about that when I get my notes.
Two weeks ago right as sacrament meeting was starting I was asked to translate for Kato Shimai, a Philippine woman. I wasn’t translating for her because she could speak Japanese. I was translating the talk that sister Wixon gave at the last General Conference. I want to hunt her down and tell her what I think about her huge vocabulary. Kato Shimai read the first sentence of the paragraph that she had chosen to read and I just looked wide eyed at the audience. There was no way I could translate that type of English. It ended up being really messy and a pretty bad experience for me, but at least it’s over.
Dad is like Jack Bauer. In the first season he saved Skyview debate. Then the next day he saved all of Billings’s high school debate. This season he is saving Montana high school debate. Next he’ll be saving debate from an invasion from china.
I went out to meet with inactives with Kondo Kyoudai. He always randomly tells people about us (people he doesn’t even know) and tells them to listen to us. I always thought it was weird but this time I wanted to embrace it because at least he is trying to help. So he says he has two people that he kind of knows from back in the day. He said he wants us to give them Book of Mormons. He didn’t go to the door with us though. He stayed around the corner and once they said no to my super energetic offer he would slip out of the shadows and say “good evening....” It was really creepy. We had a hard time not laughing. In the end neither of them took a Book of Mormon but that’s okay. It would be much easier if we did that with all of our members (in a less creepy way).
Well that’s it for now. I’m just trying hard and trying to get stuff done. Thiago is still doing well but he’s slowing down. Next week is transfer calls. I hope I don’t leave but its okay if I do. Love you all. Have a great week. Thanks for working hard and reading your scriptures.
Love you.
Tyler
February 13, 2011
Dear Family,
There is no use for Valentines Day. I’m just bitter about it because I’m a blonde haired blued eyed American in Japan but have to ignore every girl that talks to me. Elder Nelson who also shares the same attributes as me was proposed to by a girl on the train the other day. Another girl later that day asked him on a date. Why won’t these people just listen to the gospel instead! I’m really okay with it though. Luckily Japan is really bad about stealing stuff from America so Valentines Day here is mainly between friends of any gender. It’s not even a girlfriend boyfriend thing. It’s just like anyone. In fact, at work here on Valentines Day you are suppose to give everyone chocolates, or so I hear from my English class students.
I’m convinced that it’s spring already even though it’s not. I told my body it’s spring so I’m just going to keep going with it. I already started sweating a lot. I don’t wear a coat anymore. I started suggesting that we have ward barbeques. I think they think I’m delusional. It’s still hovering around freezing and it snowed this morning. I refuse to change my mind though. I’m going to endure until it actually does become spring. You know me. I’d rather wait for it to get warm than go inside and put on a coat.
I had a pretty classic Jason experience today. I have been told that if at all possible we should go to free places (not internet cafes) to do email. I’ve been working hard and asking everyone if they know of such a place. Finally I got the idea of going to another city in my area and seeing if we could email at their library. I got even smarter and decided that I would call ahead to just to make sure. I called and the woman was very nice but made it sound like I was stupid for even asking if we could email. She said of course we can. I decided it was the best plan. It would be a 35 min train ride each way and about $4 each way but I decided it would be the best.
We got there and walked to the library. The people were really nice and they even let me switch computers so that we could see each other’s monitors. Then we tried to sign in to our emails. We were both really excited. Then we found out that the email was blocked. I went to the front desk and asked if the email was bad. The guy said it was. I was so angry I had all of the angry from every customer service representative that I’ve ever talked with on the phone rush back into my body. I started to think. “What would Jason do?” I decided most of those gestures were inappropriate. I then tried pushing that vocabulary out of my head and repented and finally explained that I had called earlier and they said it was fine. By this point my face was probably showing signs of hurting someone so the woman at the next desk over looked down like she was doing some busy work. The guy said that was incorrect. I walked away and grabbed my stuff and started to walk out. I said so that they could hear, “I guess we’ll go all the way back to Fukui. The guy said sorry. I was nice and said its okay. I wasn’t mean to them. I just showed that it was very frustrating for us. First, I just can’t believe that they won’t let you email. Second, I was told on the phone it was okay. It’s quite annoying. So now I’ve spent well over $10 on TRYING to do email. I didn’t want to go there in the first place because it would mean that it would take us 3 hours to email, including travel time. But now it’s almost 2:30 and I still have to do shopping. I wanted to end P-day early and go visit people but we don’t have enough time. So it’s been a super frustrating day.
Anyway, I’m fine. This week was pretty good. Thiago, our Brazilian champ said he’d get baptized. We didn’t want to set a date because he freaks out about dates so we just got the commitment for now. He is working on getting an answer. We are going to slowly go through the commandments. He needs a testimony before we tell him he has to get married.
Not a ton actually happened this week. We just visited a bunch of inactive members and we are trying to find some that we can meet with on a regular basis and work with them to get them back to church. So far we are doing all right. We have found a couple. Some people tell us that they are Buddhist and have never seen the missionaries but we know that not true.
Elder Nelson in Komatsu met some guys from Siberia the other day. He asked them how the Fukui/Komatsu weather was compared to Siberia (expecting Siberia to be worse). They said they hated the weather here. They said, “at least you see the sun every once in a while in Siberia. This place is terrible.” I thought that was funny and pretty good proof that I’m not making up how terrible the winters are here. I have verbal hearsay from a man from Siberia.
Well sorry this is so short. I’ll be going to Nagoya on Friday to see Elder Holland. Hopefully next week’s email will be more action packed and full of interesting things. I love you all. Thanks for the emails, they are great. That’s the main reason I do email now days because my life is so boring right now that I don’t have a lot to talk about. Have a great week
Love, Tyler
There is no use for Valentines Day. I’m just bitter about it because I’m a blonde haired blued eyed American in Japan but have to ignore every girl that talks to me. Elder Nelson who also shares the same attributes as me was proposed to by a girl on the train the other day. Another girl later that day asked him on a date. Why won’t these people just listen to the gospel instead! I’m really okay with it though. Luckily Japan is really bad about stealing stuff from America so Valentines Day here is mainly between friends of any gender. It’s not even a girlfriend boyfriend thing. It’s just like anyone. In fact, at work here on Valentines Day you are suppose to give everyone chocolates, or so I hear from my English class students.
I’m convinced that it’s spring already even though it’s not. I told my body it’s spring so I’m just going to keep going with it. I already started sweating a lot. I don’t wear a coat anymore. I started suggesting that we have ward barbeques. I think they think I’m delusional. It’s still hovering around freezing and it snowed this morning. I refuse to change my mind though. I’m going to endure until it actually does become spring. You know me. I’d rather wait for it to get warm than go inside and put on a coat.
I had a pretty classic Jason experience today. I have been told that if at all possible we should go to free places (not internet cafes) to do email. I’ve been working hard and asking everyone if they know of such a place. Finally I got the idea of going to another city in my area and seeing if we could email at their library. I got even smarter and decided that I would call ahead to just to make sure. I called and the woman was very nice but made it sound like I was stupid for even asking if we could email. She said of course we can. I decided it was the best plan. It would be a 35 min train ride each way and about $4 each way but I decided it would be the best.
We got there and walked to the library. The people were really nice and they even let me switch computers so that we could see each other’s monitors. Then we tried to sign in to our emails. We were both really excited. Then we found out that the email was blocked. I went to the front desk and asked if the email was bad. The guy said it was. I was so angry I had all of the angry from every customer service representative that I’ve ever talked with on the phone rush back into my body. I started to think. “What would Jason do?” I decided most of those gestures were inappropriate. I then tried pushing that vocabulary out of my head and repented and finally explained that I had called earlier and they said it was fine. By this point my face was probably showing signs of hurting someone so the woman at the next desk over looked down like she was doing some busy work. The guy said that was incorrect. I walked away and grabbed my stuff and started to walk out. I said so that they could hear, “I guess we’ll go all the way back to Fukui. The guy said sorry. I was nice and said its okay. I wasn’t mean to them. I just showed that it was very frustrating for us. First, I just can’t believe that they won’t let you email. Second, I was told on the phone it was okay. It’s quite annoying. So now I’ve spent well over $10 on TRYING to do email. I didn’t want to go there in the first place because it would mean that it would take us 3 hours to email, including travel time. But now it’s almost 2:30 and I still have to do shopping. I wanted to end P-day early and go visit people but we don’t have enough time. So it’s been a super frustrating day.
Anyway, I’m fine. This week was pretty good. Thiago, our Brazilian champ said he’d get baptized. We didn’t want to set a date because he freaks out about dates so we just got the commitment for now. He is working on getting an answer. We are going to slowly go through the commandments. He needs a testimony before we tell him he has to get married.
Not a ton actually happened this week. We just visited a bunch of inactive members and we are trying to find some that we can meet with on a regular basis and work with them to get them back to church. So far we are doing all right. We have found a couple. Some people tell us that they are Buddhist and have never seen the missionaries but we know that not true.
Elder Nelson in Komatsu met some guys from Siberia the other day. He asked them how the Fukui/Komatsu weather was compared to Siberia (expecting Siberia to be worse). They said they hated the weather here. They said, “at least you see the sun every once in a while in Siberia. This place is terrible.” I thought that was funny and pretty good proof that I’m not making up how terrible the winters are here. I have verbal hearsay from a man from Siberia.
Well sorry this is so short. I’ll be going to Nagoya on Friday to see Elder Holland. Hopefully next week’s email will be more action packed and full of interesting things. I love you all. Thanks for the emails, they are great. That’s the main reason I do email now days because my life is so boring right now that I don’t have a lot to talk about. Have a great week
Love, Tyler
February 6, 2011
Dear Family,
This week was good. I’m sorry that I spent most of my emailing time reading emails. That’s kind of how I wanted to do it today because I don’t: have a ton to say. It was just a regular week. The snow was absolutely incredible for the first two days of the week. We went to Katsuyama Shi again to shovel for my investigator. It took us 6 hours and there were four of us again. I’m working on getting pictures from this last week but Elder Nelson has the pictures. He is trying to email them to me but it doesn’t seem to be working. To say the least it was about 12 feet of snow that we were shoveling. I will explain the pictures if I ever send them. It was probably the most ridiculous thing of my mission. It was fun though.
Thiago came to church this week with his girlfriend and daughter. It was really fun. We took them back to the train station and their little girl was adorable. It was a nice sunny day and they were taking pictures of their daughter the whole way. They are just such a nice happy family. Aida san’s son got pink eye (imagine that Jason) so we can’t meet with her this week. It was tough trying to figure out what pink eye was over the phone in Japanese. We have an appointment tomorrow with an former investigator who is getting married soon so now his interest in the church is rekindled. We are also teaching his parents...kind of. His sister is a member in Osaka so I’ve now decided it’s my purpose to bring their family together through the gospel so that’s what my goal is right now. I’m hoping it goes well with him tomorrow.
My talk went well. I told everyone that I was really busy that week and didn’t have time to prepare so on Friday I just started to pray for snow and on Saturday morning I got a call from brother Jotoku saying that church was cancelled so I felt pretty good about my faith. Then later that night he called and said that we were having church after all. So then I started to prepare my talk. They were laughing pretty hard at that point (my timing was pretty good). Then I apologized for all of the snow being my fault. Brother Nozaki fell out of his chair he was laughing so hard. He doesn’t even like me. His reaction reminded me of when I tell a joke to brother Fike. That man just loves my jokes. I miss that. Anyway, I then talked about how I emailed my dad the week before about the talk so that they knew that I actually did prepare. I told the story of Pat Tucker’s conversion and then talked about the ward’s example and thanked them for being such great examples. It went well I think.
Hey can Grandpa Miller send me the names of the people in Komatsu again and tell me which members he baptized and which he knew when he served? I might go there next week so I want to see if we can meet any of them.
I decided to contact an old investigator from about a year and a half ago the other night. He was a very talkative college kid. We taught him lessons 1-3 in an hour and a half at his door. He seems pretty promising. He was way cool to talk to. He was a little loud but it just made it funny.
Sorry I don’t: have a lot to talk about this week. Hopefully next week will be better. Thanks for all of the great emails. I love reading about everyone. I hope Jason can get over the plague.
If you need me I’ll be cleansing my soul for Elder Holland’s visit. We had a 45 minute conference call this morning with President Baird about how we need to prepare. I’m quite scared.
Love, Tyler
This week was good. I’m sorry that I spent most of my emailing time reading emails. That’s kind of how I wanted to do it today because I don’t: have a ton to say. It was just a regular week. The snow was absolutely incredible for the first two days of the week. We went to Katsuyama Shi again to shovel for my investigator. It took us 6 hours and there were four of us again. I’m working on getting pictures from this last week but Elder Nelson has the pictures. He is trying to email them to me but it doesn’t seem to be working. To say the least it was about 12 feet of snow that we were shoveling. I will explain the pictures if I ever send them. It was probably the most ridiculous thing of my mission. It was fun though.
Thiago came to church this week with his girlfriend and daughter. It was really fun. We took them back to the train station and their little girl was adorable. It was a nice sunny day and they were taking pictures of their daughter the whole way. They are just such a nice happy family. Aida san’s son got pink eye (imagine that Jason) so we can’t meet with her this week. It was tough trying to figure out what pink eye was over the phone in Japanese. We have an appointment tomorrow with an former investigator who is getting married soon so now his interest in the church is rekindled. We are also teaching his parents...kind of. His sister is a member in Osaka so I’ve now decided it’s my purpose to bring their family together through the gospel so that’s what my goal is right now. I’m hoping it goes well with him tomorrow.
My talk went well. I told everyone that I was really busy that week and didn’t have time to prepare so on Friday I just started to pray for snow and on Saturday morning I got a call from brother Jotoku saying that church was cancelled so I felt pretty good about my faith. Then later that night he called and said that we were having church after all. So then I started to prepare my talk. They were laughing pretty hard at that point (my timing was pretty good). Then I apologized for all of the snow being my fault. Brother Nozaki fell out of his chair he was laughing so hard. He doesn’t even like me. His reaction reminded me of when I tell a joke to brother Fike. That man just loves my jokes. I miss that. Anyway, I then talked about how I emailed my dad the week before about the talk so that they knew that I actually did prepare. I told the story of Pat Tucker’s conversion and then talked about the ward’s example and thanked them for being such great examples. It went well I think.
Hey can Grandpa Miller send me the names of the people in Komatsu again and tell me which members he baptized and which he knew when he served? I might go there next week so I want to see if we can meet any of them.
I decided to contact an old investigator from about a year and a half ago the other night. He was a very talkative college kid. We taught him lessons 1-3 in an hour and a half at his door. He seems pretty promising. He was way cool to talk to. He was a little loud but it just made it funny.
Sorry I don’t: have a lot to talk about this week. Hopefully next week will be better. Thanks for all of the great emails. I love reading about everyone. I hope Jason can get over the plague.
If you need me I’ll be cleansing my soul for Elder Holland’s visit. We had a 45 minute conference call this morning with President Baird about how we need to prepare. I’m quite scared.
Love, Tyler
January 2, 2011
Dear Family,
I got off the phone with you and realized how much of a bum I was (does bum have two *m*s or one?) I wish I could have been more upbeat. It takes so much to be upbeat and happy, especially with a new missionary because I have to always been teaching and trying to tactfully explain things in a funny non-direct way. I’m going to go forward though with a renewed effort to be happier. I learned from Elder Soliai reading a part of his journal to me that I actually do have quite a few funny/interesting experiences each week that are worthy sharing. Also, because I was essentially alone for the holidays, I now know how much more I should appreciate my family now that I sort of don’t have one close by (just like I totally appreciate the cold weather here after being in Fuji for the summer). Also, living in Montana for a big chunk of my life, I know that this place has nothing on Big Sky country.
First, I would like to share what I call the “devil pot” experience. I share this first just incase you never get a letter from me again and I’m found dead in my apartment with pot burns all over me. When Elder Soliai and I came home from district meeting in Komatsu last week we decided to make romen. So he took the pot off the stove and turned on the cold water to fill it. When the water touch the pot it started to steam and make a hissing noise. The stove wasn’t on. The water wasn’t hot. We have no idea why the water started to boil. My only conclusion is that super hot water came out of the spout but I immediately touched the metal part of the facet to see if it was hot and it was cold. So I was fairly freaked out. Anyway, so that’s that story. I still can’t figure it out. I think it was Satan trying to burn Elder Soliai but really the jokes on him because it just cooked the roman faster.
Next is that I’ve never seen lighting in a snow storm but I guess it happens (in Fukui). It’s actually pretty cold. It was like a blizzard outside (is that how you spell blizzard because it just reminds me a DQ) and then the sky would light up with lightning. It was pretty sweet.
President Baird called me this week just to tell me that everything in my mission is aligning for me and it doesn’t happen often so he told me to take advantage of it. It kind of scared me and now that I’m not seeing a much success after the call, I feel like I’m failing. I also feel like it was Mrs. Pomeroy my 8th grade English teacher when she called mom at home and dad at work to tell them how great of a student I was (jokes on her I read the cliff notes of The Hobbit).
I’m worried that my shoes are going to die. I had a pair die this week (they actually exploded). I walked about 5 miles one night and my feet started to bleed (the heels). I looked in the shoe and the sole was ruined and the heel part had exploded. Don’t worry it was my cheap pair and my Eccos are still doing well. They are like walking on air. It’s just now that they will become my primary pair. I hope they don’t get worn through very fast. Don’t get too worried though. I’ll keep you posted and right now I’m wearing boots most of the time anyway.
I forgot to mention how much I loved that fact that I opened up my box of graham crackers and saw the chocolate bars jammed in there and I was reminded how brilliant, cheap, and good at Tetris my whole family is.
I used a plunder for the first time this week...
Thanks to Katie for teaching me that phrase over the phone. I’m still trying to find a time to use it.
Before it got too cold I tried turning up the temperature on our heated toilet seat and then came back later to sit on it and I swear it gave me 2nd degree burns on my bum. But I tried it again the other day and I swear it produces more heat that our regular heater. I want to sleep on the toilet. It’s like magic (not the same type of magic that warms the pot...or is it?). I want to bring one back to Montana (Dad would never leave the bathroom though).
The acid contact solution sucks by the way. My zone leader convinced me to stop using it for a while and I stopped it this week and realized I get fewer headaches from my eyes and my contacts go in a lot easier now. They just feel better when I don’t: use it. So I’m going to use it every so often just to clean my contacts and then go back to regular solution (his dad is an eye doctor).
Finally I got the complement of my life this week. Elder Soliai and I were late for a really important train (due to a long game a jenga with an investigator...I won). I told him we’d have to run for about 3, 2 minute segments to make it (it was suppose to be a 45 minute walk). Half way through Elder Soliai said, “when I was in my interview with president Baird right before I met you, he was telling me about you. The last thing he said to me was that Elder Hooton is a very physically powerful missionary....now I understand.” Frankly I was flattered. Physically powerful is exactly how I would want to be described. I almost started crying on the spot (but the tears would have frozen to my face and I didn’t want to risk it). My question is why does he think that? I’m worried that Elder Momose’s letters to the president were just him complaining about me pushing him too hard. In conclusion I’m flattered and it beats the heck out of, “your giant nose makes you look kingly.” We made it to the eki in 23 minutes. Heck yes!
I love you all. I’d just like to say that I finished the Book or Mormon last week while marking all of the references to Christ. It’s the activity Elder Holland did with Elder Anderson or Cook (I forgot). It changed my life it was a great experience. I’ll explain it more next week. Sorry I’m kind of out of time and I just got another email. I love you all. Keep working hard and getting along. Nothing makes me happier that that.
Love Tyler
I got off the phone with you and realized how much of a bum I was (does bum have two *m*s or one?) I wish I could have been more upbeat. It takes so much to be upbeat and happy, especially with a new missionary because I have to always been teaching and trying to tactfully explain things in a funny non-direct way. I’m going to go forward though with a renewed effort to be happier. I learned from Elder Soliai reading a part of his journal to me that I actually do have quite a few funny/interesting experiences each week that are worthy sharing. Also, because I was essentially alone for the holidays, I now know how much more I should appreciate my family now that I sort of don’t have one close by (just like I totally appreciate the cold weather here after being in Fuji for the summer). Also, living in Montana for a big chunk of my life, I know that this place has nothing on Big Sky country.
First, I would like to share what I call the “devil pot” experience. I share this first just incase you never get a letter from me again and I’m found dead in my apartment with pot burns all over me. When Elder Soliai and I came home from district meeting in Komatsu last week we decided to make romen. So he took the pot off the stove and turned on the cold water to fill it. When the water touch the pot it started to steam and make a hissing noise. The stove wasn’t on. The water wasn’t hot. We have no idea why the water started to boil. My only conclusion is that super hot water came out of the spout but I immediately touched the metal part of the facet to see if it was hot and it was cold. So I was fairly freaked out. Anyway, so that’s that story. I still can’t figure it out. I think it was Satan trying to burn Elder Soliai but really the jokes on him because it just cooked the roman faster.
Next is that I’ve never seen lighting in a snow storm but I guess it happens (in Fukui). It’s actually pretty cold. It was like a blizzard outside (is that how you spell blizzard because it just reminds me a DQ) and then the sky would light up with lightning. It was pretty sweet.
President Baird called me this week just to tell me that everything in my mission is aligning for me and it doesn’t happen often so he told me to take advantage of it. It kind of scared me and now that I’m not seeing a much success after the call, I feel like I’m failing. I also feel like it was Mrs. Pomeroy my 8th grade English teacher when she called mom at home and dad at work to tell them how great of a student I was (jokes on her I read the cliff notes of The Hobbit).
I’m worried that my shoes are going to die. I had a pair die this week (they actually exploded). I walked about 5 miles one night and my feet started to bleed (the heels). I looked in the shoe and the sole was ruined and the heel part had exploded. Don’t worry it was my cheap pair and my Eccos are still doing well. They are like walking on air. It’s just now that they will become my primary pair. I hope they don’t get worn through very fast. Don’t get too worried though. I’ll keep you posted and right now I’m wearing boots most of the time anyway.
I forgot to mention how much I loved that fact that I opened up my box of graham crackers and saw the chocolate bars jammed in there and I was reminded how brilliant, cheap, and good at Tetris my whole family is.
I used a plunder for the first time this week...
Thanks to Katie for teaching me that phrase over the phone. I’m still trying to find a time to use it.
Before it got too cold I tried turning up the temperature on our heated toilet seat and then came back later to sit on it and I swear it gave me 2nd degree burns on my bum. But I tried it again the other day and I swear it produces more heat that our regular heater. I want to sleep on the toilet. It’s like magic (not the same type of magic that warms the pot...or is it?). I want to bring one back to Montana (Dad would never leave the bathroom though).
The acid contact solution sucks by the way. My zone leader convinced me to stop using it for a while and I stopped it this week and realized I get fewer headaches from my eyes and my contacts go in a lot easier now. They just feel better when I don’t: use it. So I’m going to use it every so often just to clean my contacts and then go back to regular solution (his dad is an eye doctor).
Finally I got the complement of my life this week. Elder Soliai and I were late for a really important train (due to a long game a jenga with an investigator...I won). I told him we’d have to run for about 3, 2 minute segments to make it (it was suppose to be a 45 minute walk). Half way through Elder Soliai said, “when I was in my interview with president Baird right before I met you, he was telling me about you. The last thing he said to me was that Elder Hooton is a very physically powerful missionary....now I understand.” Frankly I was flattered. Physically powerful is exactly how I would want to be described. I almost started crying on the spot (but the tears would have frozen to my face and I didn’t want to risk it). My question is why does he think that? I’m worried that Elder Momose’s letters to the president were just him complaining about me pushing him too hard. In conclusion I’m flattered and it beats the heck out of, “your giant nose makes you look kingly.” We made it to the eki in 23 minutes. Heck yes!
I love you all. I’d just like to say that I finished the Book or Mormon last week while marking all of the references to Christ. It’s the activity Elder Holland did with Elder Anderson or Cook (I forgot). It changed my life it was a great experience. I’ll explain it more next week. Sorry I’m kind of out of time and I just got another email. I love you all. Keep working hard and getting along. Nothing makes me happier that that.
Love Tyler
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