Hey how is everyone?
Well, I had the craziest phone call ever this morning. I got a call from the mission office telling me they were buying my tickets and wanted to know where I wanted to fly into. Yeah crazy huh. I told them SLC of course and that our ward had split and some other info but yeah it was pretty weird. Once Christmas is over I only have around 3 months so I guess they have to get that stuff started pretty early but its still just weird to think about.
Anyways this week was a bit better. Last P-day we ended up running around almost all day getting stuff. I actually found a place where I can get that Protein powder. If you already got some don't worry about it but if you haven't don't worry about sending it or anything. Also got some weights too and am trying to work our 30 to 40 min a day. If I keep it up for the next 2 transfers I think I will get into pretty good shape. We also found 2 investigators after p day so that was pretty exciting.
Tuesday - We headed out in the morning for an exchange with the District Leader. I went with him in his area he is from New Zealand and way fun guy. We had a blast and were able to find a new investigator which was pretty sweet.
Wednesday - We had District Mtg. and were suppose to head back home to my area but one of their investigators needed to be interviewed for baptism. We had a lesson back in our area so we just extended our exchange for another day. The guy ended up canceling and moving it to the next day. It worked out and we found another guy that night which was awesome.
Thursday - We were suppose to have his interview at 10:00am but he ended up having some problems coming from Osaka and didn't get there until around 3:00 in the afternoon. It was pretty annoying but I interviewed him and had a great interview. He really just wanted to be clean and free from his sins and mistakes. I felt that he was ready to be baptized and passed him. We were able to get back to my area that night to it snowing. It didn't stick but it was coming down like crazy.
Friday - We had a pretty normal day. We taught a guy named Kawami. My comp found him last transfer and has taught him everything but he can't come to church because he has to take care of his wife everyday. He doesn't really listen to us and just talks about a bunch of random stuff. Its really tough and frustrating teaching him. If we could get him to church we probably could baptize him but right now it looks pretty tough. We will see what happens. We also found another guy later that day who agreed to meet with us.
Sat. - We did another lesson with Kawami with a member that ended up being a waste of an hour. The member was pretty frustrated too. Hopefully things can turn around for him but we will see what happens. Other than that it was a pretty boring day. We went out and were able to get one kid to make an appointment for the next day but he ended up not coming which was a disappointing.
Sun - Church was good. The branch is pretty small and only around 20-25 people but they are all really nice. I gave a talk about Christ and his gospel that turned out alright. We were able to talk to one kid later that day and he made an iffy appointment that hopefully will go through.
So it was an alright week. Hopefully we can get some stuff going soon we don't have anyone that looks like they are going to baptized but hopefully we can find them in the next few days. I got both of your Christmas packages thanks a ton! We have a Christmas tree in the house and I got it out and put all the presents underneath it. I am even going to wait all the way until Saturday you gotta be proud of me.
For Christmas calls just give me a call at 11:00 my time. I will just wait for you if you can't figure it out because I don't think we are allowed to call. They are only allowing one hour this year which is sad but it will have to do.
Well I will talk to you all on Saturday I am way excited. Thanks for all the presents
Love you tons
Cam
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Hey
So I am sending you this email from a new area called Toyooka. Its a pretty interesting place, really different than anywhere I have served before. Its probably the 2nd most countryside area in the mission. We can't street or really do tracting in the city part at all so its different than what I am use to. It is also the coldest area in the entire mission and is right by the Japan Sea. It apparently snows like 1 1/2 feet of snow around the middle of January until the middle of march. Yeah pretty crazy huh. I guess the elders that serve here end up just walking around alot or crashing on the bikes. They have giant snow boots in the apt so I should be ok when the snow comes. My new comp is Elder Hoffman he is from the Layton area. We are zone leaders for our zone which is doing really good. He is only one transfer above me and goes home next transfer. My guess is that I will be his last comp.
Anyways the last few days in Wakayama were good. We were able to get a few lessons with some people that I am sad to let go but I know my past comp. is a great missionary and will take care of them well I am sure. Other than that not a lot really happened there.
I transferred to Toyooka on Thursday and got here in the afternoon. I was way surprised at how countryside it was. Definately not the Japan I am use to. We actually live in a house which is kind of cool. On the down side its way too big. Japanese houses don't have central heating or air and the insulation is really bad so we only stay on the first floor but its a nice change from living in an apt. building for once.
The area is struggling it seems. We only have 2 investigators right now and both have a lot of problems that we need to help them work out. One is a high school kid and his parents don't want him to go to church. We had a lesson with him that went alright. He has a date for 12/26 but its going to be pretty hard for him to meet that goal. Another one of our investigators is named kawami. He was found last transfer and is pretty much ready to get baptized except that he is caring for his wife that has Parkinson and he can't leave his house. He stays inside all day and can't come to church so we can't baptize him. Kind of frustrating but nothing we can really do. We are trying to find a way to help him out but it seems pretty helpless at the moment but we will see how it goes.
We have a lot of work to do. Hopefully we can get things going again here but with winter coming and it getting colder and colder it will be a big job that's for sure. I know that I told you that I didn't need any new clothes which if I went to any area besides Toyooka would have been right but yeah didn't expect it at all. I need some big warm gloves that are water proof. It rains pretty much every other day here so they need to be water proof. Also if I could get some big winter socks that would be awesome too. Other than that I have all the other stuff, coats, long johns, scarf, hat, etc. I went to the mission home and grabbed a bunch of stuff that missionaries left when they went home so no worries other than those things. I think thats all i need. Sorry i wish i would have told you all this before you sent all of those packages.
Oh yeah Christmas calls are coming up aren't they, if you could give me a call around 11:00 my time that would work out with my comps family and their time. If something changes I will let you know next week. I will find more about the whole number thing and how it works but you all seemed to figure out how it works last time. I think the number you need to type in before is 81 and leave the first 0 out of 080 or something like that but I am sure you can figure it out.
Anyways thanks for everything. I am excited to be in my new area, a little worried but I think it will all work out.
Love you tons
Cam
So I am sending you this email from a new area called Toyooka. Its a pretty interesting place, really different than anywhere I have served before. Its probably the 2nd most countryside area in the mission. We can't street or really do tracting in the city part at all so its different than what I am use to. It is also the coldest area in the entire mission and is right by the Japan Sea. It apparently snows like 1 1/2 feet of snow around the middle of January until the middle of march. Yeah pretty crazy huh. I guess the elders that serve here end up just walking around alot or crashing on the bikes. They have giant snow boots in the apt so I should be ok when the snow comes. My new comp is Elder Hoffman he is from the Layton area. We are zone leaders for our zone which is doing really good. He is only one transfer above me and goes home next transfer. My guess is that I will be his last comp.
Anyways the last few days in Wakayama were good. We were able to get a few lessons with some people that I am sad to let go but I know my past comp. is a great missionary and will take care of them well I am sure. Other than that not a lot really happened there.
I transferred to Toyooka on Thursday and got here in the afternoon. I was way surprised at how countryside it was. Definately not the Japan I am use to. We actually live in a house which is kind of cool. On the down side its way too big. Japanese houses don't have central heating or air and the insulation is really bad so we only stay on the first floor but its a nice change from living in an apt. building for once.
The area is struggling it seems. We only have 2 investigators right now and both have a lot of problems that we need to help them work out. One is a high school kid and his parents don't want him to go to church. We had a lesson with him that went alright. He has a date for 12/26 but its going to be pretty hard for him to meet that goal. Another one of our investigators is named kawami. He was found last transfer and is pretty much ready to get baptized except that he is caring for his wife that has Parkinson and he can't leave his house. He stays inside all day and can't come to church so we can't baptize him. Kind of frustrating but nothing we can really do. We are trying to find a way to help him out but it seems pretty helpless at the moment but we will see how it goes.
We have a lot of work to do. Hopefully we can get things going again here but with winter coming and it getting colder and colder it will be a big job that's for sure. I know that I told you that I didn't need any new clothes which if I went to any area besides Toyooka would have been right but yeah didn't expect it at all. I need some big warm gloves that are water proof. It rains pretty much every other day here so they need to be water proof. Also if I could get some big winter socks that would be awesome too. Other than that I have all the other stuff, coats, long johns, scarf, hat, etc. I went to the mission home and grabbed a bunch of stuff that missionaries left when they went home so no worries other than those things. I think thats all i need. Sorry i wish i would have told you all this before you sent all of those packages.
Oh yeah Christmas calls are coming up aren't they, if you could give me a call around 11:00 my time that would work out with my comps family and their time. If something changes I will let you know next week. I will find more about the whole number thing and how it works but you all seemed to figure out how it works last time. I think the number you need to type in before is 81 and leave the first 0 out of 080 or something like that but I am sure you can figure it out.
Anyways thanks for everything. I am excited to be in my new area, a little worried but I think it will all work out.
Love you tons
Cam
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Hey
Man, I can't believe that it is already December. Honestly doesn't feel like Christmas at all around here except for the music they play in the super markets but other than that its a weird feeling.
So we had an amazing baptism on Sunday. Everything went really well with Brother Horimoto and we got him baptized. I had the wonderful chance to baptism him which was great. He gave a really good testimony about how if he didn't meet the missionaries he would never have been able to come back to God. He also bore a great testimony about how Christ is his savior and how he knows he can be saved through his atonement and stuff. It was way cool. I had always wanted to find someone and see them go all the way from meeting them on the street up until the waters of baptism and I was blessed to see it. He just got the Aronic (SP?) priesthood yesterday and is really doing great. I can't wait to see him grow. Great guy.
After his baptism we had an amazing Sunday. We had 4 other investigators there and they all made a lot of good friends there. We were also able to find a guy who agreed to let us teach his family the next Sunday which we were super excited about.
Anyways after Sunday we headed out on the 6:10 train to Kobe and spent the next 4 days out there. Man it was a long 4 days but I learned a ton and my testimony grew a lot. I got to see Elder Bureger my MTC comp which was a ton of fun. He is doing good and is serving in Kyoto a way cool place. Later at Zone Leader Conference I got to meet Elder Mcburney which is fun like always he was pretty excited about the package he got and says thanks. I got to stay overnight for 2 nights in Akashi apt. my 2nd area so it was fun getting to do some streeting and go back and see the apt. there. Brought back a lot of memories.
After being in Kobe for most of the week we headed back home and started up again on Friday and we had a lesson with a guy named Didy. His parents are from the Congo but has grown up in Japan and France most of his life. Way cool guy and has lots of questions about god and why we are here and stuff. He was amazed that we can have a relationship with god through prayer and stuff. We were able to set a date for his baptism on the 25th of December hopefully he does well.
We had a few lessons the next day but they got canceled so we did finding most of the day. In Japan we are not allowed to contact women or try to introduce them to the gospel on the street and stuff so we only contact guys but anyways I went up and contacted this guy and started talking to him. I thought that his voice sounded really girly but the way he spoke didn't sound like a girl so I kept going but my comp. kept acting a little different and then I realized that I had just contacted a girl....yeah she was wearing guy clothes and had a guy haircut and was purposly talking like a guy normally would but was a girl. Yeah pretty embarrassing but it made us laugh.
Later we went out to this park/beach place and met a few fishermen. They were way cool and let us throw a few casts into the ocean. Sorry to disappoint you dad didn't catch anything but it was fun. After that we headed back home and had dinner with one of our english students and his kids which was a blast. He fed us sushi and pizza which was way way good. He is super into buddhism and talked about it straight for like 15 min. using tons of hard japanese that neither of us could understand. Loves the missionaries and his family was great.
Sunday was good too. We had planned for 9 people to come to church and were pretty excited but not a single one showed up. Crazy huh. Then out of the blue some little old lady that we always say hi to on the way from the apt showed up. We had invited her to church 2 weeks ago and she said she would go. To tell you the truth we had forgotten about her but she had a great time and said she would come next week. Afterwords we were able to teach the Manago family. They don't have tons of interest but the lesson went alright The dad is a policeman and they are really discouraged in Japan to join religion which is stupid so we will have to work around that. The wife seems to have alot of interest and wants to hear more so hopefully it goes well. We will be going back this week.
So getting that letter from Austen was crazy. I only have a little over 4 months and today is Brandons last Pday. Man its so crazy. Things have just flown by. This week is transfers sorry if there was any confusion but I will find out if I am transferring tomorrow but my bet is that I am. We will see what happens.
Thanks for everything Love you
Cam
Man, I can't believe that it is already December. Honestly doesn't feel like Christmas at all around here except for the music they play in the super markets but other than that its a weird feeling.
So we had an amazing baptism on Sunday. Everything went really well with Brother Horimoto and we got him baptized. I had the wonderful chance to baptism him which was great. He gave a really good testimony about how if he didn't meet the missionaries he would never have been able to come back to God. He also bore a great testimony about how Christ is his savior and how he knows he can be saved through his atonement and stuff. It was way cool. I had always wanted to find someone and see them go all the way from meeting them on the street up until the waters of baptism and I was blessed to see it. He just got the Aronic (SP?) priesthood yesterday and is really doing great. I can't wait to see him grow. Great guy.
After his baptism we had an amazing Sunday. We had 4 other investigators there and they all made a lot of good friends there. We were also able to find a guy who agreed to let us teach his family the next Sunday which we were super excited about.
Anyways after Sunday we headed out on the 6:10 train to Kobe and spent the next 4 days out there. Man it was a long 4 days but I learned a ton and my testimony grew a lot. I got to see Elder Bureger my MTC comp which was a ton of fun. He is doing good and is serving in Kyoto a way cool place. Later at Zone Leader Conference I got to meet Elder Mcburney which is fun like always he was pretty excited about the package he got and says thanks. I got to stay overnight for 2 nights in Akashi apt. my 2nd area so it was fun getting to do some streeting and go back and see the apt. there. Brought back a lot of memories.
After being in Kobe for most of the week we headed back home and started up again on Friday and we had a lesson with a guy named Didy. His parents are from the Congo but has grown up in Japan and France most of his life. Way cool guy and has lots of questions about god and why we are here and stuff. He was amazed that we can have a relationship with god through prayer and stuff. We were able to set a date for his baptism on the 25th of December hopefully he does well.
We had a few lessons the next day but they got canceled so we did finding most of the day. In Japan we are not allowed to contact women or try to introduce them to the gospel on the street and stuff so we only contact guys but anyways I went up and contacted this guy and started talking to him. I thought that his voice sounded really girly but the way he spoke didn't sound like a girl so I kept going but my comp. kept acting a little different and then I realized that I had just contacted a girl....yeah she was wearing guy clothes and had a guy haircut and was purposly talking like a guy normally would but was a girl. Yeah pretty embarrassing but it made us laugh.
Later we went out to this park/beach place and met a few fishermen. They were way cool and let us throw a few casts into the ocean. Sorry to disappoint you dad didn't catch anything but it was fun. After that we headed back home and had dinner with one of our english students and his kids which was a blast. He fed us sushi and pizza which was way way good. He is super into buddhism and talked about it straight for like 15 min. using tons of hard japanese that neither of us could understand. Loves the missionaries and his family was great.
Sunday was good too. We had planned for 9 people to come to church and were pretty excited but not a single one showed up. Crazy huh. Then out of the blue some little old lady that we always say hi to on the way from the apt showed up. We had invited her to church 2 weeks ago and she said she would go. To tell you the truth we had forgotten about her but she had a great time and said she would come next week. Afterwords we were able to teach the Manago family. They don't have tons of interest but the lesson went alright The dad is a policeman and they are really discouraged in Japan to join religion which is stupid so we will have to work around that. The wife seems to have alot of interest and wants to hear more so hopefully it goes well. We will be going back this week.
So getting that letter from Austen was crazy. I only have a little over 4 months and today is Brandons last Pday. Man its so crazy. Things have just flown by. This week is transfers sorry if there was any confusion but I will find out if I am transferring tomorrow but my bet is that I am. We will see what happens.
Thanks for everything Love you
Cam
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