9th Week In Japan - 17 Weeks

9th Week In Japan

Date: April 28, 2014 
Area: 
Companion: Elder Mecham

Oh my gosh! That is like 3 or 4 visits to the ER now?! Looks like I need to work harder out here so you all stop getting sick! The package got here on Wednesday or Thursday so I am sorry no money back:/ But thanks so much for all the stuff! If I would have known that it costs that much I wouldnt have asked for all that stuff. I am sorry. I can buy new stuff for less than that price here. So as soon as the card comes in I hopefully wont have to have you all spend so much time and money on me. Ok so here is the important news.

We are setting up the phone calls for mothers day and I will be calling from 8-9 a.m. May 11th Japan time. So the call will reach you on Sunday from 4-5 p.m. May 10th Arizona time.  I will send you another email after this with more info. But it is only for family and close friends so I cant have a party on the phone;p

I am glad that you got the letter from Oda Shimai! She is the most Dendo (mission term used for any missionary verb) motivated person ever. If Oda Shimai was on a mission the world would be converted. She has been coming to our English class for a long long time. She is now fluent in English because of it and wrote you that letter. I edited a few things before she sent it but she is super awesome!

This week Elder Aoyagi from the quorum of the 70's came and talked to us about finding and having hope. I now know who I am supposed to find and not to be discouraged when the people dont listen. Heavenly Father knows who he wants in his church. So he will direct those people to us.

Ono san read the intro to the Book of Mormon and is slowly progressing. Tomita san was sick so we couldnt teach her yesterday, but she came to English class on Tuesday and enjoyed it. Besides that we are just finding and riding our bikes everywhere!

So my wish list for this week:p

2. If everyone could send me there conversion stories that would be great. I need to use you all in my lessons!

I love you all and stay Healthy!

Elder Swenson

This is the view from the window I sleep next to at night.

 Thanks for the Package!

Oh and Elder Horne and I reunited at Zone Conference!

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Heyo!

So our investigators didnt do too well this week. A lot of no shows for appointments and just lack of commitment. Young san was too busy, Tomita san didnt want to answer the door, and Ran san didnt come to church again. But we were able to make some better relationships with the members. It is so important for members to help the missionaries when teaching.They bring power, experience, and a feeling of normal to the lesson. And it is way good if they can invite us to teach their friends. 

Next week on the 8th we have transfer calls! I might be transferring out of Moiwa or I might stay.It is a 50/100 for both. President and Sister Evans left back to America on Saturday and President and Sister Nakatsuka are here! They are 100% Japanese and very nice. I dont know how their English is yet, but I will find out on Thursday at the Zone Conference in Atsu betsu. 

I dont know if you all know this or not but Jehovahs Witnesses are all over the place here. They go out and do missionary work as well. Yoshikawa Choro and I were at the park looking at an NA list and they came up and started asking questions. We were able to teach the first lesson really quickly, but they weren't really listening to the doctrine. But I felt like I should have shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon with them but I didnt and felt really bad afterwards. In Moroni 10:6-7 we know that any good thing comes from Christ. And that thought was definitely from the Holy Ghost and I didnt follow it. I dont know what it would have done, but the important thing would have been to follow that prompting. If a thought or feeling you have is something that leads people to Christ, do it.

Here is a picture of the Nagano Family and friends!

                                           

8th Week In Japan - 16 Weeks

8th Week In Japan

Date: April 21, 2014 
Area: 
Companion: Elder Mecham

Ok so, Elder Sunny Bunny is a stuffed animal that a rather "rambuncious?" person who carries those with her everywhere and takes pictures of them with missionaries. She is super fun! And thanks for the package! And for the card send it to Honbu or the mission home.  They deliver all mail from there to the apartments. 

 I am still in Moiwa with Meceham Choro and will probably be here for the next transfer as well. I am also going to be teaching the advanced or fluent English class on Tuesdays from now on. They are super cool people who have more than enough means to do what they want in life so they have a ton of exciting stories and lives. 

Ono san is finally progressing and has decided to read the Book of Mormon! The Tomita Kazoku here, is also progressing. She did not accept the baptismal invitation yet, but we will continue to work with her!  She has a husband who is a traveling bank man. He works all around Hokkaido so he is gone most of the day. 

Tomita Kazoku

The weather is finally staying warm, except for the wind, during the day, and gets cold at night. This is Palomaki Choro and he just went home to Finland. And the other guy is a juggler we met at Odori Koen.

7th Week in Japan - 15 Weeks

7th Week in Japan

Date: April 14, 2014 

Area: 

Companion: Elder Mecham

Hello!

General Conference was flippin awesome! General Conference as a missionary is so different. Everything has relevance and it really is nice to sit for a few hours and listen to spiritual men speak to us for once:p And that video was taken by a member who is a little....special. She is super nice though and loves to do missionary work. The Sapporo Nishi stake is putting up a video on youtube of a video they filmed of us my first week here. It was for youth conference and I look like a dummy:p I dont know what it is called but Im sure ill get the link to you soon. The family is the Tomita family. We did get to speak to her yesterday! She is growing so much! I am pretty sure their is no one I want baptized more than them right now. We gave her the fmaily proclamation to the world and had her pray with us. Plus, I had a little gift of tongues moment during my testimony of it. I spoke so fast in Japanese that both her and Mecham Choro were stunned. We are going to teach her english and the gospel and she is just super cool.

Oh my gosh they are home! That is super weird! I still remember hanging out with them before they left. Tell them if you see them that I love them and Ill be home soon too!:p 

It is super weird to hear that Kara and Katie are going on dates. Super weird...

Transfers are happening and we will find out tonight whether or not mecham choro will be transfered or not. Tomorrow I find out if I am. I dont want to but we will see where the lord wants me.

So the first picture is of last pday and behind me is the biggest buddhist temple/jinja in Hokkaido. Second picture is of me at a recycle/thrift shop trying on a super tight japanese suit. And the last one is from a few hours ago of our district activity. We had a Taco Party. They dont have mexican food here so we made tortillas and other stuff and it was super good!

Well love you all and hope you have fun in Phoenix, Kingman, and wherever you may be!

 the biggest buddhist temple/jinja in Hokkaido

me at a recycle/thrift shop trying on a super tight Japanese suit

Well we wake up, work out, eat, Study for 4 hours if we dont have meetings or other activities, eat lunch, and go housing mostly and try to visit our investigators who we never see anymore, come home, eat dinner, plan, and do it all over agian. Most of the people we meet who actually talk to us are either seishin biyo, like looking at gaijins (foreigners), or are lonely. But Heavenly Father has prepared those elect to hear us like Tomita san. Ok sorry gotta go Ill talk to you next week! 

6th Week in Japan - 14 Weeks

6th Week in Japan

Date: April 07, 2014 
Area: 
Companion: Elder Mecham

Heyo!

I am doing very good! The tracting is not turning out very well but we are gonna go till we find the Lord's Elect! The family you are probably referring to is the Tomita Kazoku. She has 2 kids and we want her to recieve baptism so bad! But she said she couldnt meet with us over spring break so we have had to wait 2 weeks. Thankfully on the 10th we will be able to talk to her again. My week has been getting better and thankyou for your prayers and the work hard stuff. I do need to work harder and be more enthusiastic. It is so easy to get down on yourself especially when you dont know the language and your faith is small and still growing.

We dont watch conference till this weekend but I am so excited to watch it! And about the package it is totally alright. In fact my list may have gotten a bit bigger....(; If you could send me my black rockports and black nice leather shoes that would be great. The shoes I have bought for the mission are too big. When I wear them with my big wool socks they are fine. But when it is summer time and everything is hot humid and nasty,(and it has been getting that way lately), my shoes dont fit. So if you could do that that would be great:)Oh and American toothpaste:)

The people are really hard to talk to here. Like they really dont understand what christianity is and that we only want to talk to other christians. everyone just says they are buddist and closes their doors or hang up there doorbell camera. But we will keep trying. I am sad that Evans Kaichou and Evans Shimai have to go but the new President will be great and I will love him. And yes he is japanese.

I love you and hope your doing well keep up the hard work!

Elder Swenson