June 17, 2010

Dear Family

The last two days have been a little crazy. I’m actually in a hospital waiting for them to deal with Elder Howells. We’ve been here for about an hour and then said they can take him about in about another hour. I want American Hospitals. They don’t air condition them here. Also the doctors aren’t the best that’s for sure.

We had interviews yesterday. It sounds like I will probably be transferring next Wednesday. President leaves to go home on Thursday. He wants me to be pushed harder with my Japanese. Currently my only practice is with Arisawa Kyoudai. It’s good because he doesn’t talk with me at full speed but other than that I don’t speak it very much.

Jason your phone sounds pretty sweet and there is a huge advertisement push over here for the same phones actually. They are 12.1 mega pixels and you can use them under water (that’s the biggest thing). What carrier are you on? Do you have a sim card? If you do then I might have a pretty cool trick for you.

I actually got the package from home in 7 days. I got it last Wednesday. Thank you so much. It is great. I think the Kit Kats are my favorite. Katie once again thank you for all the wonderful letters and cards. I sent you off a letter yesterday. Hopefully you like what’s in it. I was a little surprised when they told me it would be 3 dollars to send. They pulled out a customs slip of some kind then asked me a question I didn’t fully understand but I think they asked if it was just a letter. I said yes because that’s my default answer when I don’t know what they say. He then put away the customs slip and gave me a weird look. You will realize why it’s funny when you get the letter. It’s obviously not just written letters. They also considered the regular American sized envelope “over sized.”

It was really sad yesterday. The Travllers are leaving. Elder Walter one of my zone leaders who I’ve gotten to know pretty well is going home next Thursday. Also Elder Insch my trainer doesn’t have a ton of time left and if I get transferred I might not see him again. I guess it’s just part of the mission. I don’t know if there are people as funny as them though. Elder Walter was trying to get these two elders to run for their train yesterday and teach them a lesson on seeing miracles. They were not cooperating so Elder Walter decided them we would demonstrate. So our goal was to get to the train station and get to the ticket machines in 4 minutes. We made it in 3:15. I would usually care that I look pretty stupid with a backpack and a short sleeve white shirt running down the busy streets of Kanazawa but I really didn’t mind at all. It’s just part of the job. Speaking of Kanazawa train station, you should totally look it up on the internet (all who read this email). Look up Kanazawa eki. Eki means train station. It’s one of the coolest man made structures I’ve ever seen. I love going there. It’s so stupidly over the top (literally)

Funny story. I asked my companion if he used AOL when he was younger. He said, “You mean AMERICA online” I didn’t see his point until I remembered he was from Canada.

Hey does Abby have a college address? I don’t remember if you sent it to me. If you did I didn’t write it down. I’ll look after I send this. Resend it anyway please.

Quincy your laptop sounds way cool. It sounds like that one that I used for college won’t be used at all. It’s sad but maybe my stuff will still be on it when I get back.

Here is a funny story. President Erying’s grandson used to be my Zone Leader but now he is AP. At the last zone conference the President made a joke about how the new president is bringing his daughters but one of them is only staying for a couple of months. Then he said that President Beard will love us all and especially Elder Erying because he might be his new son in law. I guess it’s the only reason why one of the daughters is coming. I’ve never seen someone handle a situation so well. It was still quick awkward though.

Quincy thanks for the letter in the package. I actually read that same talk the morning I got that letter.

Japanese is going all right. I’m slowly getting better. I’m at a hard point right now where it seems like I’m getting worse. I might be but I think I’m just trying to speak more advanced so I’ll be digressing for a while.

At the wedding last week I had some of the most awkward experiences of my life. It was so great I loved it. First of all I met the wife of the man that put together the p90x program. Maybe I’ll buy it for real someday now. She said Tony is a really nice guy. Also there were tons of cultural differences. In the Japanese culture you like never tell someone that you love them. The bride said “ichiban daiski desu” to her mother. It literally means you are my number 1 favorite. I’ll be sure to tell you that I love you Mom on my wedding day.

Thanks for the music in the package. I enjoy it. It’s relaxing and helps the apartment time go by a little faster some days. Maybe next time you could send that Mormon tabernacle choir CD that I really liked. I just thought of it.

So I weigh 200lbs now. I need to go real quick. Maybe more later.

Love, Tyler

Now we are waiting in a different spot. It’s been forever now. We left the apartment at 2:00 and it’s now 4:30. Anyway, I weigh 200 pounds now. I think it’s because I’m not taking advantage of my lactose intolerance. I don’t ever drink milk and so I think my food stays in my longer. None of my pants fit me. I almost couldn’t get my pants on this morning because they are the smallest pair. It’s embarrassing. I have a feeling that after next week though I won’t have a problem.

This week has been alright. I’ll have news next week of where I will be going (or I guess if I’m staying one more). President said he might put me with a Japanese companion so I can be pushed harder. We will see though. He also wants me to resume Portuguese in a couple transfers. My hope is that I will train a Brazilian when I go senior but that’s a long shot and I’d have to get really good at Japanese first. Sorry I have to go but I love you all. Have a great week.

Love, Tyler

June 1, 2010

Dear Family,

So this week was interesting. Don’t worry I’m a happy person and it would take a lot to break my sense of humor. My companion went into full blown depression and the Mission President asked him if he wanted to stay in the mission. So I spent that whole day just studying again. My companion called him back and said he wanted to become junior companion again and wanted a Japanese companion. So, since Takaoka is a Brazilian area I was the one that would be forced out.

Things started to go better and I got Elder Howells to work more over the weekend and things were going well. Yesterday (Monday) went by without a call from the President. We thought it wouldn’t happen and Elder Howells even said he felt better and it probably wasn’t needed but today while I was memorizing stuff during the time that we were suppose to be having companionship study, Elder Howells walked in on the phone and the President is the only person that is allowed to call during that time so I knew that it was going to happen.

As of Friday I will be going to Nanao. Elder Howells will actually be with an American; however I will be with a Japanese companion. Nanao is super rural and has 9 members. They are very old and impossible to understand. Also, my new companion speaks zero English unlike most Japanese missionaries in the mission. I also have to give talks quite often as you can imagine. I’m not upset about this. In fact, I’ve convinced myself that I’m quite excited. It will be good to learn Japanese better and it will be a good experience.

The previous part of this letter is what I was planning on sending today, but now things might change. We walked out of the apartment today to go write emails and I was checking the mail with my bike as Elder Howells was fooling around on his BMX bike and I heard his bike fall. I thought it was just normal because he tries to do tricks all the time so I grabbed the mail (there actually wasn’t anything there) and turned around and he was lying in the parking lot. So I went over to make sure he was still alive and he couldn’t move his ankle and he got his arm scratched up pretty bad. So we called Arisawa Kyoudai and he took us to the hospital and we spent most of our day there. It looked like he had about 3 ping pong balls (the official system of measuring ankles in Japan) jammed in his ankle.

So now there is a slim chance (since he is out for 3 weeks which is how many weeks are left in the transfer) that the transfer actually won’t happen. It would be nice because I would just do member exchanges with Arisawa Kyoudai who is fluent at Japanese and Portuguese and Tanaka Kyoudai would learn English from Elder Howells in the apartment. Arisawa Kyoudai is so cool. He used to have a awesome skyline but he was drifting it in the mountains and rolled it off a cliff (70 feet, we converted the measurement). He’s okay now. It was about a year ago. But I think that transfer still might happen so next time you get a letter from me I probably won’t know English (or Japanese still) and will weigh 35 pounds less.

In other news I ate spaghetti this week and didn’t have to change my white shirt after. Also, I went on an exchange in Toyama and we went to play basketball with a bunch of college kids (to get them to come to our classes and it worked pretty well). It was so awesome. It was nice to do something that felt American again. Everyone there loved me. They didn’t want me to play at first because I was so tall. I also learned a lot of Japanese from talking with them. I realized I’m super fat and super out of shape but that might change next week. The first two games that I played I was pretty bad and only scored like 4 points but the last two games I scored about 80% of my teams points. It was super fun and there were ouuuus and ahhhhhs coming out of the stands. We got most of the girls to commit to going to the English class in Toyama. It was good.

I might cry the day I go back to America and I can throw away trash into just one can because I’ll be so happy. Here you have to separate EVERYTHING. It’s so annoying and we got yelled at the other day for putting out our trash wrong. (Real quick have Jordan and Kaden received my emails as letters? just a question).

I went to a member’s house this week and he was like a Japanese president Bowman but with 3 gold teeth...and I didn’t understand a word he said. My companion met Jack’s daughter from “24” when he was in Canada. She lives in his city. He has also met a lot of different singers. I told him, “Oh yeah, I trespassed on Mel Gibson’s ranch with my dad.” It sounds like everyone has a lot on their plates. Monica and Quincy are working a lot. Dad has a lot to do with his conference and moving into his new office at work. Mom has incredible amounts of responsibility with work and church. Jason and Carey didn’t even have time to write me (not complaining, I understand life). I’ll be praying for everyone. Thanks for working so hard. Also, it seems like about 10 days ago all of my friends must have been super busy because I didn’t get a letter this week from anyone (not complaining I’m just saying...).

So don’t send the package to my address it Takaoka, send it to the mission home. I’m not sure if you should use the same address or not. You can just look at my call or whatever information we were given. Here is a story that might be offensive to people (maybe don’t send to grandparents). Toyama has an investigator and his name is ほりした in romaji it is horishita. It comes out to be Ho-ri-shi-ta. Hoe-ree (roll the r)-she-ta. He is hard to teach to say the least. I giggle after I say his name.

This week was good. I strove (I don’t think that’s an actual word) for 100 percent obedience and tried to work as hard as I could. I made some good progress in Portuguese. I know that this next week the Lord will put me where I need to be and I’m not too worried about it. I trust that He knows best. It might be tough but it will be good for me.

I love you all and will try to put together a more coherent email next week. I will continue to pray for you. Love you all.

Elder Hooton

May 25, 2010

Dear Family,

New York sounded way fun for Jason and Carey. I loved all of the things that he mentioned that he did. Monica’s email was also great. I’m glad things are going well for Quincy and his job. It was cool that Mr. Wholler mentioned me. I missed those good old days a lot.

Oh did you ever send that letter off to Michael? And could you send contact solution and cases whenever you have a chance? This package or the next is cool. I’m not too short on stuff right now. Oh, send toothpaste too. I don’t know if I said that before.

My talk went all right. No one in the audience had an expression on their face (believe me I was desperately trying to find someone to look at that had a smile on their face or anything reassuring). I’ve decided that I’m going to call it a success though, mainly because the bishop didn’t ask me to sit down. The only big mistake is that I said, “I humbly say this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ amen.” Then I started to sit down turned around and said oops and then said humbly testify amen. Really I should have said give this talk but that’s okay. Those poor translators must have had a heck of a time translating what I was saying.

I’m yet to be convinced by someone that our bishop actually speaks Japanese. It sounds like a dialect of whatever language Chewbacca speaks. Jokes like that ensure that I won’t be able to find a date when I get back to America. It’s going to be quite the change from here. It’s incredible how much they love tall, white, blonde haired, blue eyes people here and I can also speak English and can order in Japanese at McDonalds (I’m just kidding....I do it in English).

Yes I have a normal washer and dryer. My zone is the only zone that gets dryers though. It’s hot enough elsewhere during the whole year that they don’t need them. My rain suit is good. No problems yet. Everyone one else that I’ve ever talked to about it said that they ripped their pants the first day they used them. I haven’t used mine yet but I think they will be fine. I also sleep on a futon.

There are these two kids that are investigators of ours...sorta and we think they have a lot of promise if they come to church but they LOVE Elder Insch and Elder Insch only. So we did splits and I was just expecting that I’d be with him here in Takaoka. Elder Howells expected that some thing. When we met up with Elder Insch and Elder Walter though they said I was staying in Kanazawa with Elder Walter. It was like I was expecting to go on a date with Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean but I go to pick her up at the door and it’s just Will. Sure he’s cute too but really, give me a break (you might want to edit this part for Grandpa and Grandma Hooton). I really wanted to talk with Elder Insch about stuff though. I felt so lost at that point. I now know why they call trainers “fathers.” I feel like I was an abandoned orphan on the streets of Kanazawa. It ended up being okay. I decided it was probably the Lord’s hand and I’d probably end up being depressed after the Kokan if I had spent it with elder Insch. I did get to teach a Swiss dude who was super drunk. I met a bunch of Chinese people, a woman from Taiwan, a guy from Britain that wouldn’t stop dropping the F bomb, oh and I talked to a couple Japanese people.

So sorry I didn’t write a whole lot. I guess Elder Howells is going to go get his haircut right now, or at least that’s why he told me to wear street clothes today. So I love everyone I hope you have a great week. I’ll try to get some better stuff to write about next week. Love you all.

Elder Hooton

May 18, 2010

Dear Family,

Well my life was a lot different this past week. I was quite shocked at first when I had a new companion. Everything I knew and loved in this world was taken away from me in a matter of hours. I now know why they call trainers “Dads.” I did feel like I was being left in the wilderness by myself. Elder Howells is a good guy and I like him a lot but it’s quite different from Elder Insch. It’s been a super hard adjustment and I just about lost my mind when I spent most of Saturday in the apartment because Elder Howells was sick. I could only read the Liahona so many times before I start thinking about home. It’s hard to say the time flies by when we aren’t really working that much. I’m getting through it though and I’d say that my faith is growing. I’m just trying to keep a good relationship with him and at the same time do what I think is right. I’ve definitely grown a lot but I don’t know if I can keep on growing like this for another 14 transfers. I have to decide what we do because Elder Howells doesn’t know the area. It’s good for me but it’s a trade off because I can’t teach most of our investigators yet because none of them speak Japanese or English. Our one investigator Tanaka who was so promising is falling through the cracks a little. Hopefully he can gain a better testimony of THIS church and not all of them.

So did you can the old computer? I remember you saying you got a new one. I’m doing just fine on Singular. I’ve got plenty. Concerning what we talked about on the phone a little: I totally trust Jacob now with the truck (don’t do anything stupid now that I told you that). I’d really like Jacob to be able to be cool and have a rocking awesome stereo. Ask Abby, Shelby, or Stephanie how it can sound. They heard it in its prime. Jacob would be so much cooler if it was working. He’d be happy to know that on my list of priorities right now his cool status is even above me doing my laundry this week; so he should feel pretty special.

Speaking of segues: which weed eater did Jason fix, that gas powered one? I’d be super impressed if he did. I got to play ping pong last week. It was way fun. I played it with a member. He beat me 2-1 but it wasn’t fair because I hadn’t played in forever. Also, I didn’t have a good paddle. Those are all the excuses I could come up with. It’s a bummer that the TV bulb broke again. It was funny when mom was describing what was for dinner at “steak” conference (it’s a pun not an error believe it or not) because it sounds like what I eat almost everyday. I have one of those lava cakes with powdered sugar and ice cream (I ask them to hold the sauce like in the one story that I told you all) at least 4 times a week.

Monica and Quincy’s emails are great by the way. I love the way they write them. Occorina Flow would be a sweet song. It’s weird that I am more strict than my mission president. It’s okay though because I’m sure it will be the opposite when President Beard arrives. The entire mission is holding their breath this transfer. I will be fine but it sounds like some missionaries might be rioting in the streets.

Well it sounds like Jacob did well with tennis. Even though he didn’t win it sounds like he put up some good fights. Since I’m a missionary, I’m all about growing experiences so in my opinion it was probably a good growing experience. Speaking of me being a missionary, (usually I forget when I wake up that I’m a missionary and I wonder why I can’t read any of the labels on the cereal boxes and then remember) did everyone say thank you in a prayer that they speak English? Almost everyone in the country would love to speak English and they try so hard but they can never get it down as well as Americans. It’s so sad and it’s so difficult for them. I’m very thankful that I’m blessed to be a native English speaker. I don’t want to take it for granted.

Well I’m hoping this next week it good. They seem to be getting more difficult. I’ll just do my best. I’m sorry that even if you edited my emails you probably couldn’t put enough together to read to the ward. I should probably write something that you can read them. I’ll be sure to leave spaces for the bishop to add in his unique comments. I’m also going to try to guess what the bishop will say about it from the pulpit. Until then, feel free to tell the ward what you think is best. I love you all and everyone have a good week.

Love,

Elder Tyler Hooton

Recent Photos

May 11, 2010

Dear Family,

It was wonderful talking to you yesterday. It was nice because that previous week was difficult. I’m having a hard time getting a lot of work done because of various mission related things that bug me. I had to go on so many exchanges when Elder Insch was my companion. This brings me to my next point which is that I will no longer be companions with Elder Insch. He is the new Zone Leader. He will be going to Kanazawa so he will still be my Zone Leader because that’s where I’m at. Oh by the way, until today President Erying’s grandson Henry (funny huh) has been one of my zone leaders. I probably should have mentioned that in an earlier email. But I will be staying in the same area. My new companion is a Canadian. His name is Elder Howells. He’s went senior last transfer I believe. From the sound of it his Portuguese isn’t as good as elder Insch (nor Japanese actually). It will be a change but I’m very excited. I know this is what is best for me and that it comes from God so I’m not going to second guess it or complain. There are a couple bummers that come out of it but whatever. Life is sometimes a bummer.

In lighter, more Tyler-like news, last week after I emailed you I saw a man urinating in a gutter. He yelled hazukashi tokoro gomen ne. I translated it as “awkward place, sorry.” But I guess place also can mean moment. Then he said the phrase that means “hey you super hard workers good job” (keep up the good work). It was quite funny. We have a lot of stories like that. Also, Japan has tons and tons of bats. I never noticed until Elder Insch pointed out that there weren’t birds around. Oh also I won’t be companions with Elder Howells until tomorrow.

I will be giving a talk in two weeks on Mosiah 5:7. I can’t think of a whole lot to say. It’s a fairly specific topic which makes it hard. Don’t think about it a ton but any advice would be appreciated. I’m going to have a hard enough time translating anyway, especially since I don’t know how proficient elder Howells will be. Dear Elder is really slow to get to me by the way. I have mail written for Aly but I can’t send it because I don’t have a current address.

I had an interesting experience on an exchange that I went on in Tokoyama. It’s up in the mountains. It was beautiful (I’ll send a couple pictures), but this one investigator was like “your hair it’s......blonde.” Then she also mentioned that my eyebrows and my arm hair were blond too. Then she said “oh I love it so much” (she spoke a little bit of English). Then she put her index finger on her forehead and her thumb under her nose with both of those fingers extended. She was trying to imitate my nose. She said, your nose it’s sooo tall. It’s so handsome. People love me here it’s so fun/funny. It really boasts my self confidence.

Hey for the first time I’m going to call everyone to repentance. I want everyone tonight to be thankful for the fact that they speak English. Our language is incredibly hard. I have to deal with questions about English on a daily basis and I have no idea why our language works they way it does. Also, I implore you to give missionaries referrals and have them over for dinner every so often. It’s tough doing what we do. But kick them out fast. Tell them you only have a small window of time to feed them. They need to be other places. I hate getting stuck at a dinner for forever.

タイラ is my name in Katakana, Katie. By the way, I loved talking to you. I’m sorry if I didn’t talk to you a lot but talking to you made it all worth it. I miss you a lot and you are sounding so grown up. I’m sorry if I seemed like I was talking to you like you were young. You are so mature now.

Finally, I’d like to say that there is a woman in our ward that gives us stuff like mom always wanted us to eat, green stuff and stuff that we have to chew like 200 times before we can swallow. She is going to be like 178 years old next year. So it works. She rides her bike to church every week.

This next week will be interesting and I’m putting all of my trust in the Lord. I’m excited and it will be good for me. I’m still praying for everyone. Have a wonderful week. I love you all.

Elder Tyler Hooton

May 4, 2010

Dear, Family,

I received the pictures of Katie last week and also the picture of dad from Dallas the week before. They were great. I’m going to try to send a lot today. I’m sorry I forgot about Jason’s birthday. I feel really stupid. Happy Birthday Jason. I actually got a present for him last week which is weird because I had forgotten. It’s nothing really cool. I’m actually still on my first transfer. We find out what is happening next Tuesday.

In other news, I ate an entire fish yesterday and I don’t mean like I ate an entire fillet by my self. I ate a whole dang fish; head, brains all of it. It was gross...yes, yes it was. Here is a funny story. We were eating at Coco’s last week which is the closest thing to American food here. I always get a least one plate of French toast. I sometimes get pizza and a Quesadilla and a piece of cake too. Anyway, on the cake part I didn’t want this strawberry sauce, so when I ordered I said sasu janai. Janai means “to not exist.” But sasu is actually the Japanese word “to point” and sosu was what I was trying to say which actually means sauce. So I was saying. “I’m not pointing” as I was pointing to the sauce. The waitress was a little confused. Hopefully by the end of this next week I’ll be able to order food in Japan. I do get a lot of practice. I usually just say, kore, which means “this.”

Katie your letters were once again wonderful. I love hearing from you. I’m trying to collect things to send to you. I miss you so much. This week was actually quite hard. I got pretty down about the language. A guy from Fuji came to visit our ward this week. I felt bad I think he had a pretty severe social disorder. It made for some awkward experiences. They had me bless the sacrament (bread) and I messed up the first time. I said shu instead of sho at one part. I had to re-say it and I think I said the same thing again but they understood that that is how I pronounce Japanese anyway. I was blessing with the Darth Vader man who is like 160 years old. After we pass the bread we remain standing, and the guy didn’t even come up to my shoulders. It looked kind of weird. He also couldn’t stand still. He was swinging his hips forwards and backwards. They asked me to share my testimony. I finished and realized everyone had a look on their face like, “I understood the words but I’d never heard them put in that order before.” Also I have to give a talk in the last Sunday of this month. Maybe I would like to be transferred next week.

A lot of things just seem more difficult in Japan. Things like cleaning the dishes and cleaning out my ears just seemed easier at college. I don’t know why. Anyway, I pushed through Sunday. Dad’s letter really helped because I received it that night along with two other letters. It was very nice and Dad said just that right things as usual. By the way Katie, I love math as well. It’s not weird of you.

So I went fishing today with some members and investigators. I caught ten fish. It was pretty interesting. We didn’t use rods with reels. It was just like a 9 foot rod. I felt like a real Japanese person. I squatted down until my butt hit my feet and then held the pole between my legs and sat there. It could have been right out of an ancient drawing. So if I ever come back to Japan it will be during this week. It’s golden week here. Ask someone about it. No one works for a week. They take the whole week off. Almost everything is closed. They also have festivals. They close the main streets around the train station and they have ancient reenactments and dances with the flowing dragon things. It’s super cool. It’s good dendo activity. Dendo just means everything involving missionary work. There was an organization there that is against smoking and they were picking up trash so we grabbed bags and help. They took our picture and thanked us. It was a great way to talk to people because we could just ask if they had trash and then they would ask us why we were in Japan and it was a smooth transition to Jesus Christ. It was also good rock star (or famous doctor) training. People would stare at us and giggle. I walked by two girls that I could hear talking about how big I was and I said 高いでっしょ which means, “tall huh?” and they giggled even louder.

I’m doing well. Things are moving forward. We have some very solid investigators that are doing well. Please don’t move from Montana by the way. I now weigh over 190 pounds. It’s ridiculous. Not a whole lot is fat though. I’m just going to try to send pictures now. Sorry it’s short once again. Love you all

Elder Tyler Hooton