Packing Up!!! - 8 Weeks

皆さん、子に痴話！

How is everyone doing? Oh my gosh I leave on Monday! wahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot wait to get out of Spirit Prison! Monday morning we leave at 4:30 to go to SLC airport, then at 8:30 we fly to L.A.X. where we will have a layover from 9:50 to 11:50. That is probably when I will call you. The phone card that I bought will only allow me to make a couple of calls so when I call, someone really should pick up:) Please let me know who's phone I should call so I dont waste my call card. Ill only be able to talk for about 10 or 15 min. so if everyone who wants to talk to me wants to be there that would be awesome! After that I will be flying from L.A.X. To Tokyo where I will have another hour layover and I will have to get on Nippon Airways for another 2 1/2 hour flight to Sapporo. We will reach Sapporo at about 8:30 pm our time I believe, not sure about that. Then after we get there we will go through customs, which may take a while, and then they will send my 2 big bags to my first area while i take my cary on with a couple of days worth of stuff and go to the mission home.

Thanks for sending the sweaters and my shoes! I cannot tell you how comfortable they are I am wearing them right now. Plus everyone digs my sweaters:) Today we begin packing and weighing our stuff to see what books and what stuff we need to take. Ill probably send some stuff home saturday or sooner. I may send it to emily by way of Sensei:p  they said they  could drop stuff off to people at BYU, so I may just have them do that for free:) So Emily if I could get your appt. address that would be awesome:) Oh and if the bank hasnt been called yet that I will be making large withdraws and will be using my debit card in Nihon, can you do that? Thanks a bunch:)

Well nothing super cool happened this week. I dont know if I already told you but the apostles I have had the privilege of listening to live here were Elder Bednar and Elder Holland. Two of the coolest apostles ever:) OH and a funny youtube video you need to watch is Apostles reeses peanut butter cup:) It is awesome:)

My Nihongo is improving so much. It is ridiculous how much we have learned in 9 weeks. We actually had one of our investigators say he wants to be baptized! So that means that our Nihongo is getting way better:) Oh on Monday I ran into sister welch! She didnt recognize me at first but then she was like oh my gosh I used to babysit you! She works here at the MTC training the sisters who work at visitor centers. So that was kool:)

I got my Katakana name tag this week which I will wear in Nihon! Ill send you my english one in the package.

This is everyone who is going to sapporo in our branch and 2 others from the other branch!

I gotta go pack Ill try to get on later!

I got my Katakana name tag this week which I will wear in Nihon!

This is everyone who is going to sapporo in our branch and 2 others from the other branch!

And this is Elder Withers who I went to Efy with and he is going to Lyon France! (Jacob)

Yeah my address for my mission should still be on FB. That was the last picture that I posted on my page. But you should still be able to look that up on lds.org. if not, let me know and I will send you an email on Saturday. I found out that my snowpants are gonna be awesome in the winter, but in the summer ill die if i wear them when it rains. So I will probably be buying rain pants when I get there. Besides that I am looking pretty good! So next email is either gonna be saturday night or from Japan! YEAH!

I love you and thanks for all the support!

February 20, 2014 - 7 Weeks

That is so kool! Oh and tina just told me that Sal and Addie are engaged! whahahahhahahahahah! That is so awesome! And I cant imagine Kevin being any different;) And that is crazy! So Bill and Becky are going to be working in Peach Springs every Sunday? And I guess that Sal is getting released cause him and Addie are getting married. You have to tell sal to update me on the how, when and where. But if it is not true forget I said anything..... 

So the sweaters red and black are cool just if it is possible please let them be v necks. The round top sweaters are not kool:p Oh and in that package if you could send my black levi shoes. They look like vans. Katie and Kara will know what I am talking about. And if you send a package make sure it gets here before next Saturday cause after that I will not get it. You will be getting a package from me sometime after I leave on March 4th or 5th. It is all the stuff I wont need in Sapporo. They dont wear slacks in the mission there at all. Always suits. So ill save those other slacks for when I get back. And most missionaries buy one suit there at the thrift stores they have which are super nice. My sensei bought his super nice suit for $7. The alterations were $38 but it was totally worth it.

So I ran into Jenna Jay when I was here! She is going to New Mexico and was super excited. She left on Monday.

And the second picture is of our Temple walk and it was a gorgeous sunday.

The last picture is of our recent Branch President Mack right after he was released. He was a pretty awesome man who hopes to sometime in the near future serve a senior mission with his wife in Japan.

 So I ran into Jenna Jay when I was here! She is going to New Mexico and was super excited. 

She left on Monday.

Our Temple walk and it was a gorgeous Sunday.

 Our recent Branch President Mack right after he was released. 

He was a pretty awesome man who hopes to sometime in the near future 

serve a senior mission with his wife in Japan.

So this is one of our Sensei's who found out he had a tumor and has to leave for a while for surgery and recovery. Villalobous Sensei was one of the coolest guys I have met in a long time. He went to Fukuwoka on his mission.

We saw some snow shovels and knew that we were 

going to become well acquainted with them.

Last week in the MTC! - 6 Weeks

The time is flying i really cant believe today is Thursday. We leave in just a little bit! Ill send a big email later!

Myself and Elder Chambers

 

This Is Elder Moulten, Elder Brown, and Elder Tanner from the last district that just left to Japan.

This is Elder Bills also from the district that just left.

This is Elder Jensen. My first three weeks here he really helped me out and took me under his wing.

 I really appreciated him and he left 3 weeks ago.

 And this is Elder Lammintaus. He is from finland and he was my first zone leader. 

He knows Finnish, English, and is learning Nihongo.

おじゃよお

How is everyone? I just gotta say no one sent me that bagel I ate it and made it a batarang. And I am super jelly that everyone got to go and see the Gilbert Temple. I am sorry I dont remember all of your questions cause I forgot to bring my letters with me but I do remember that I dont need a gray sweater just a black v neck one:) 

So this week went by faster than the rest. The time is passing by so quickly. I hope it is not like this the rest of my mission cause ill be coming home very quickly then. 

Last night we had our first Skype call with real Nihonjin and it was pretty awesome. We attempted to teach an overview of the first lesson in PMG. She was basically correcting us most of the time and it was quite a wake up call to how it really is going to be.

This week we did not get any new missionaries in our branch. So our branch shrunk a lot. That also means that I might be giving a talk on sunday in 日本語. That will be fun...the spirit will have to basically talk for me cause my language skills suck. The only good thing is, is that on Tuesday we will two Japanese missionaries. So after this sunday I hopefully will not have to speak.

Funny thing. So I dont know why but, the Branch presidency's wives really like me and Horne Choro. We dont why, but as far as we know, it is our great thick hair and awesome testimonies. I might have told you before but Horne Choro is from Gilbert and is also going to Saporro. We get along pretty well and...as you can see from the picture will be good friends:p Plus this week I met another friend from EFY and also Jenna Jay. She is going to New Mexico and I have yet to have taken pictures with either of them yet. So next week you should get some of those.

Oh and I found out that I am allowed to call you from the airport right before I go so ill let you know the thursday before I go what my travel arrangements are so when I call hopefully all the fam bam can be there. 

Sorry I feel like I should be saying a lot more, but the same thing happens everyday. We go to class. We eat. We study. We go to Gym. Repeat that for two months and that is the MTC.

The only thing that changes everyday is my growth in spirituality and maybe a little japanese learning. 

I just want to let you all know that I love you and that I am truly changing and becoming a better person and missionary. Write me bunches and maybe send me your testimonies cause their is nothing more uplifting!

あいしてます！

スウェンソン著路

 

Long days short weeks - 5 Weeks

Hey みなさん！

Ok answers from dear elder.

No I dont need the red sidebag. Im not having full coherent conversations in Japanese yet but I am working on it. Special things to send me would be pictures if you can, a black and some other color sweater if you could. I found out that in Sapporo the likeliness of me not wearing a suit is not there. My teacher her went to Sapporo on his mission and said he wore just a white shirt and slacks only twice on his mission. So i might be sending those pants back to you so I can have them when I come back:) Oh and if anyone wants to email me let them forward the email to you so you can send it via dear elder. Nothing is better than getting mail at lunch or dinner.

And yeah this week went by so fast I dont know where to begin. Friday and Saturday are the longest days of the week. Especially Saturday because we have gym after dinner and then personal, comp., and language study at night. But after Sunday rolls around it is already Thursday. This morning we did initiatories but the other weeks we did the endowment sessions. I have seen the new video 3 times. It is pretty awesome. They give you a whole new perspective on what is going on. Idk if you guys will like it or not, but it is still good. Lots of emotion, music, and Satan dresses like a boss. But hearing the initiatories again was awesome. Plus when we go to the temple they have real food there. It is so good. Oh if you send me food dont send too many cans. Like i said earlier I have no time to do anything. I am always either in class, or studying in class. 

This last Tuesday we had a member from the quorum of the seventy, Brother Evans, who is over the missionary work in the church. He helps to select places where missionaries go and gets to work with the apostles all the time. Anyways he gave an amazing talk that fit in really well with Patriarchal Blessing and that clarified a lot of things. The talks at the MTC are so inspired. Heavenly Father knows exactly what I need and gives it to me through other people. I highly suggest Emily working at the MTC just so she can hear some of the amazing talks that they give. At the MTC the apostles are allowed to be more like themselves. I didnt realize how かこいElder Bednar and Elder Holland were until I got here. Back to the talk on Tuesday, there has been a trend that a lot of the missionaries are noticing. Almost all of the leaders or speakers who have spoken to us have been related to Japan somehow. At least half of all the leaders in devotionals have served and been mission presidents in 日本. Plus a lot of the missionaries in our district say that their Patriarchal Blessing has leadership in the church mentioned in it. It is way cool to know that Japan will help me to become a better person and Father. Im meant to go to Japan for that, but I feel like their is more.

We only have three 1/2 weeks left here!:D I hope it goes by faster though. I cant wait to get into the field. I know I am preparing here, but the field will always be better. 

So i ate the bagel and it looked like a batarang and I threw it at a こひ.

And this is who we play basketball with at gym time. The sisters can only guard sisters and we can only play 3 on 3 or 2 on 2.

 So i ate the bagel and it looked like a batarang and I threw it at a こひ.

 And this is who we play basketball with at gym time. The sisters can only guard sisters and we can only play 3 on 3 or 2 on 2.
oh yeah that is Elder Sabat, Elder Barton, Elder Horne (Gilbert), myself, Sister Mclosky, and I cant remember the last ones name to save my life.

I love you all and please read the BoM! The もるもんしょ　is essential in becoming converted to the gospel. Testimony and conversion are different in so many ways I didnt even know.