Sunday, August 29, 2010

Hey everyone,

It was a way crazy week here in japan too. Lots of different things going on back home it sounds like. A little girl got hit by lightning? Thats way crazy. We had a big thunderstorm last night that we got caught in. Not to much fun when you don't have your rain jacket and stuff.

Anyways here was my week.

Tuesday - we had another lesson with the crazy old guy that was committed to baptism. His name is Tatsumi. So he would call me all the time and told me all this weird stuff. We knew he was crazy because he told us he was taking medicine but we figured he could still get baptized so we decided to keep teaching him. We taught him again on Tuesday and he went off on how he can hear voices in his head and stuff. Apparently he normally hears his dads voice but lately he has been able to hear my voice too. Telling him to go to the church at like 3 AM and stuff like that which he obeys. We were pretty floored. Anyways the lesson went alright but I think the member that was there was pretty freaked out because of it all. We laughed about it later. After that we had Eikaiwa which people showed up to this time which was nice.

Wednesday - We had one lesson with a investigator who we committed to baptism and he accepted for the 12th of Sept.

Thursday - We somehow were still able to find investigator but it was pretty crazy. We Also had a lesson with a guy from California that is teaching English. pretty cool guy with a lot of interesting ideas. Its pretty different teaching someone from America.

Friday - We had DM went pretty good and we had lunch afterwords. I don't know if I told you but in my district is a couple missionary and they are way fun. They told us these stories about how they met and got married. After one date the brother proposed to her which is crazy in Utah but in Japan its like unheard of. Anyways it was way funny.

Sat.
We had a lesson with Hashimoto. Kind of getting old with him he is refusing to change which is frustrating but he did agree to show his dad some pamphlets so hopefully that helps his dad calm down. Other than that not much. Tatsumi did give me a call and told me he couldn't be baptized because of his family which was too bad. He was pretty crazy so it didn't come as too much of a surprise but maybe we can figure something out.

Sun
We were suppose to have one investigator at church but he had to cancel on us. The bishop asked us to visit some LA and so we spent most of our day doing that.

Anyways it was a good week we got another person committed to baptism and hopefully we can see him go through. We will see what happens this week.
Thanks for everything.

love you
cam

Monday, August 23, 2010

Hey

Man, it is crazy hot. I think this week has been by far the hottest yet and probably the one where I have been the most tired but we had another good week which was great.

Tuesday - It was a long hot, hard day and we didn't have much luck to start our week off. While we worked hard we didn't have much luck and then no one, not a single person came to english class which is a mission first.

Wednesday - We spent the morning going out and visiting LA and old investigators. We decided to go meet one younger investigator whose parents are members but LA. We met with him and were able to make another appointment. When we told the members they all got pretty excited and think that we will have a good chance of baptizing him so we are excited about that. we are going to meet with him this Wednesday.

Also later that night we were out by a train station doing some streeting and as we were headed home i talked to a guy i was standing by while at a stop light. Turns out he was going to church that night and we talked for a bit and introduced the BOM. We were able to set up another appointment for the next week which was way awesome.

Thursday - We were able to meet with Isham at his restaurant which was cool. We were hoping to do a lesson with him but he had a few people eating at his place and his daughter was really loud and stuff so we just ate and invited him to church. He didn't show up which was a bit of a disappointment. We had a lot of hope for him but not much really going on with him and it seems like his desire is not as strong as we thought it might be.

Friday - we found a guy that is from California. His name is Qamar and he agreed to meet with us next Thursday. He is way smart and we talked in english for about 30 min on the side of the street. I am excited to teach him but I think it will be pretty tough the guy is super smart and has really studied a lot about religion and things like that so we will see how it goes.

Sat. - We had a lesson with the random old guy that came to church the week before named tatsumi. He is really weird and we thought that he might be crazy but after the lesson we figured out he isn't handicapped or anything just really weird. So we tried to teach him but he kept taking things off subject and stuff like that which was hard. We were only able to teach the first 2 principles of the first lesson. He agreed to come to church the next day and read the Bom

Sun. - Tatsumi came to church which was cool but i was a little disappointed that Isham didn't show. While we were waiting for the meeting to start I was talking to tatsumi and showed him some pictures in the front of the BOM. One is of baptism so I decided to comitt him on the spot and was able to get a date out of him. So Sept. 12 is his date for baptism. He has a long ways to go and we have so much to teach him but he seems pretty interested and hopefully we can help him out. We ended up going out to do some home teaching with a member later that night which was pretty fun

So yeah it was a pretty good week, just blazing hot. This next coming week is full of lessons and things like that so we are pretty happy to see what happens. hopefully everything goes well. I do have one question for you. Could you try to find a talk called: The 4th Missionary by Lawrence C. Corbridge done in 2002. if you can find it just send it over email to me please

Thank you for everything

Love
cam

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Hey

Thanks for the email. Its great to hear from you and sounds like you had a pretty busy week with all of the cousins over to visit.

I am glad that you had a good time giving your talk. I wish I was as good of a writer as dad is and could write good talks like him. In this ward the bishop has the missionaries give a talk every week about missionary experiences so we switch on and off. I gave mine yesterday not too big of a deal, we are pretty use to it but its only around 35 people so not too bad.


This was a pretty good week.

Tuesday - We had a decent day. We spent the morning out trying to visit old investigators and LA members. We didn't actually get to meet any of them but left notes and one of the LA's came to church which was pretty cool. While we were out we met an old investigator and made an appointment which was cool. We had english class later that night but it rained super hard and no one came which was a first so far. For some reason the Habikino english class is really weak and something we really need to work on and strengthen. Hopefully its some thing we can do this transfer.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday -
We had the leadership conference in Kobe for 3 full days. I stayed in Kobe with around 12 other missionaries and man it was probably the funnest 3 days of my mission so far. We really learned a lot of great stuff from president McIntyre. My fav. part was learning about the Doctrine of Christ and really getting down to the purpose of missionary work and then working up from there. Its kind of sad sometimes how we forget about it but the doctrine of Christ is really the center of the gospel and we just build on it from there. Its something I really want to learn and understand better then teach it to my investigators and hopefully see them change.
It was a ton of fun to see a bunch of friends and make new ones. 12 missionaries in one apt makes it pretty crazy and a ton of fun. I can't wait for the next one and hope that I am still in a leadership position so I can go again

Sat.
We were able to find one new investigator. He was kind of weird but agreed to meet again on Tuesday so hopefully that works out. Other than that not much luck. We spent most of our time out trying to find people because I had been in Kobe for 3 days and my comp went to a different area so our numbers were pretty bad at that point. At the end of the day we met Ishams wife randomly and found out that he didn't go to Nagoya which was cool. We called him up that night and invited him to church which he said he was going to go to but never showed up.

Sunday -
In the middle of sacrament one guy that is from canada in our ward waved to us to come out and there was some old guy standing outside the church with a Jehovahs Witness bible in his hand talking about religion and stuff. Somehow we managed to get him into the last half of sacrament meeting. He is researching lots of different religions and is interested but doesn't believe that just one is correct. Hopefully we can change that. We didn't get to do a lesson because he had to leave right after sacrament mtg but we should be able to meet with him sometime this week.

After church I headed out to Abeno (Downtown Osaka) to interview the sisters baptismal canidate. She is 7 years old and he grandparents are helping her get baptized. Since both of her parents are not members its considered a convert baptism and I had to do the interview. She was pretty nervous but did a good job and is going to be baptized this coming Sunday. Afterwords we headed back ate some food and went out streeting, we only had an hour and didn't have much finding but for only being in the area for 3 days it was a pretty good week I would say.

Thanks for the package it was really great. I think that this coming week is going to be really good and we should be able to get a few people committed to baptism and hopefully get dates set up.

Thanks for everything
Love you tons
Cam

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Hey, how is everyone?

I got your package thanks a ton everything is way great and should be awesome.

So we had transfer calls this week. Elder Draper got transferred to Shikoku a new part of the mission to a place called Marugame lucky guy. I got a new companion and his name is Elder Suzuki. He is transfer 9 and we are Co senior. I am also back to being a DL so my nights are busy again. In my district its just 2 sisters and the senior couple so its kind of boring but oh well it will work. They pulled the elders out of the area due to some problems with members not working with them hopefully they will learn and can get elders back soon.

Tuesday - We spent most of the day getting ready for transfers and getting elder Draper all packed up and his stuff shipped off. We also had Eikaiwa which was normal nothing really special. The one in Habikino is really weak and I would love for it to get stronger but it really isn't moving along too great.

Wednesday - We spent a lot of time running around meeting people. We had a lesson in the morning with Hashimoto so he could say goodbye to Draper. He gets weirder and weirder every time we meet with him it seems like. I don't know if we will be able to do much with him this next transfer or not but we will see I guess. We also met with another guy named Yuta who is a friend of ours we take to activities but he doesn't really have a lot of interest in the gospel. We also met with Isham and said goodbye to him also. We found out that he is going to Nagoya which is way too bad but may be coming back so we still have hope for him. He said he wants to look up the church out there and was going to give me a call but I haven't gotten one from him yet.

Thursday - We went out and got our new comps in the morning. I brought Suzuki back to the apt and we planned for awhile and waited for his luggage to show up. Both of the companies were late and we didn't get out till later and didn't have much luck finding anyone. Suzuki is pretty cool. Something that is driving me crazy though is that since he has come my Japanese has turned into crap. Something I have noticed on my mission is that there is sometimes people you just can't understand or talk to well no matter how hard you try and my comp ended up being one of those people so we are having some communication problems. I haven't been this stressed out about Japanese since my 5th transfer so its way annoying hopefully I can get over it soon. He hasn't had too much luck on his mission so far so hopefully we can see some good stuff this transfer.

Friday - We visited a LA in the morning whose kids have yet to be baptized. The father wasn't home but one of the sons were and we talked with him for a bit. Hopefully we can get a hold of him later. After that we ate and headed out to dendo near a college. Its summer break right now so its pretty barren but we were able to find one new investigator there. After that we went to Fujidera eki and streeted and found one person there which was nice.

Sat. - We met with Hashimoto in the morning and had a decent lesson. We committed him to have some more specific prayers and try to find a way to get baptized. He accepted but was pretty concerned about it we will see how it goes with him the rest of this transfer.

Sun. Pretty normal chuch. Afterwords we visited some people and talked with one LA. He is pretty busy and says he can't come to church but hopefully he changes soon. We streeted at Fujidera like always and it was pretty bad. Some guy freaked out on Suzuki and got up in his face like he was going to fight him so that was pretty random. Not much happened other than that.

So yeah its been alright so far. Hopefully I can get over this weird Japanese wall thing that just popped up soon too its way frustrating. This next week should be fun. I have a 3 day meeting in Kobe where we stay there overnight for all the DL and ZL and Trainers in the east side of the mission. first time they are doing it so everyone is pretty excited. Should be a lot of fun.

Love you tons
Cam

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Hey

Hey how is everyone? Sounds like some sad stuff happened back home. I am sorry but well I am sure things will turn out for him and he will be able to be with his family forever.

Anyways I got the package kind of... We got the slip at the apt that the post office has it and we just haven't had a time where we have been in the apt long enough to get it we have been super busy so we don't really have time to wait and get it so hopefully tomorrow we should have time. Also tomorrow is Transfer calls so we will see what happens we are both excited for it.

So this was a pretty good week. Numbers wise actually the worst of the transfer but we had a lot of good stuff happen.

Tuesday - We had District Meeting in Abeno. So the other Elders and Sisters in our district are in a place called Abeno which is the heart of Osaka and its pretty much the most city area in our entire mission. There are people everywhere, lots of crazies, homeless people, and pretty iffy people so its always an adventure going out there. We did a split there later in the week that I will talk about. Anyways we had DM and it was our DL's last time. He is from Payson and is a great guy. It will be sad to see him go he is by far the funnest DL i have had on the mission. After DM we had a mtg with Hashimoto to say ``Good Bye`` I tried to be really bold and commit him to baptism and stuff but it just won't get through. We are going to get some members to help us now because as missionaries I don't think we can do much. Afterwords we had Eikaiwa which was alright then headed back out to Abeno for the exchange and spent the night there.

Wednesday - I got to dendo with my son Elder Enta! (If you train someone you become their dad and they your son... yeah i know missionaries are losers but whatever) We went around Abeno and did some dendo but its really hard because its almost too city and no one will listen to you which is frustrating sometimes but you make it work. We went to a bunch of famous places in Osaka and then ate out at an all you can eat Chinese place which was pretty good.

Thursday - We got stood up for a lesson and then just dendoed all day but it was raining so it wasn't too good.

Friday - We had a tour of the church for a friend of ours in the morning that went alright. He doesn't have tons of interest but I think that it was good for him. Right in the middle of the tour I got a call from hashimoto saying he wanted to meet with us so we met him at the church after the tour. He just wanted to get all of our contact information so after we transfer we can still stay in contact. He says he can't meet with us but its not true. He still wants to meet and keeps coming up with excuses i Think. This Wednesday we will have a lesson I think so hopefully things can get better. We went out later that day and did some dendo and only got 1 investigator.

Sat. - We had a lesson with Yuki in the morning and he stood us up for the 3rd time so needless to say I was a little unhappy. We had a lesson with a guy named Isham at his restaurant later that day too. He is from Morocco and is looking for something new. We got an Arabic BOM and went there but of course he wasn't there. We met his wife and ate some food and left a note in the BOM about church. Our 3rd lesson went through with a guy named Hiromichi. We met him the week before. He has interest but is really into hip hop and rap and stuff so he has more interest in the american lifestyle. I don't know if I have told you or not but everyone over here thinks that america is like the most dangerous place in the world. I can't tell you how many times I have been asked on the street if we carry guns with us every where we go and stuff like that. He was asking us questions like that and we found out he does weed and stuff so its going to be a little harder to baptize him but we will work on it. He is a good guy and hopefully things work out with him. He was suppose to come to church but went out late that night and couldn't wake up.

Sun.- So right after sacrament meeting I looked out into the foyer and I couldn't believe who was standing there. It was Isham the guy we visited before he apologized a ton and stuff and we took him upstairs to do a lesson. It went really good. The day before he met us he decided to quit smoking and drinking and to get away from his bad friends. He is looking really good right now and is a great guy. I guess he has met missionaries before and really thinks alot about our church and wants to join a Christan one. He thinks the word of wisdom is great. I committed him to baptism and he said he would get baptized if he feels its right. The spirit was way strong and I am excited to teach him. He is a way cool guy and can speak Arabic,French,Spanish,English, and Japanese so its pretty crazy.

After church we went to the Kato family`s house. It was our 2nd time and they are the coolest family ever. They don't have a ton of interest right now but like talking and feeding us. They gave us Sushi, and a bunch of other good stuff. Afterwords we went to a park near there house and watched some fireworks show that they do ever year. Some religion does it and man it totally owns americas fireworks hands down way cool.

So yeah it was a good week. Thanks for everything your awesome mom I can't wait to get my package tomorrow. I will let you know what happens with transfers next week.
Love you
Cam