28th Week in Japan, 36 Weeks

Guess what? Really cool stuff happened this week:p

So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we were in Ebetsu and Sapporo. On Tuesday we had splits and DTM in Ebetsu. I went with Elder Gubler, who is from Las Vegas so we understand eachother pretty well. During that split I was the language Senpai (higher level) which was really scary when I thought about it. So I prayed to Heavenly Father to boost our language skills so we could do his work. That day I understood 90% of the Japanese that everyone spoke! It was really a miracle! (Miracles always happen on splits by the way.) Wednesday we had to go to Sapporo for a leader meeting at Honbu. Because Elder Hirata is a new District leader he had to go. Because I am still a junior comp. I got to go on splits with the other new district leader`s companion. And guess who it was......ELDER HORNE! Ever since the MTC we always wanted to be companions so this was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father:) So we went to Shiroishi, the sketchy side of town, had sushi, talked about old times and dendo, and went to work. Although it was a really short split, I had a blast! That night we had to teach Eikaiwa without prep time, which is not normal, but thankfully one of the members showed up and really helped out a lot. She is a cram school teacher so she knows a little bit of basic English and helped to translate what I couldnt. The rest of the week just did some dendo (Missionary stuff):p 

Spiritual:

In relationship to the Holy Ghost again, we need to have the Holy Ghost with us always. And how we can better do that is through obedience and "prayer of faith"(PMG Chp.4) . If we do not pray with faith, with earnestness, with desire, we cannot have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes it is really hard to pray for things that you specifically want in a different language. I always pray in Japanese to help me learn the language, but sometimes I give up what I want to say because I am not sure how to say it right or I dont know how to say it at all. So my prayers have been lame for a while. This week I am going to really gonbarimasu and make my prayers meaningful. 

Love all of you peoples and please, dont have lame prayers like I do!

Elder Swenson

27th Week in Japan, 35 Weeks

Hello!

How is everyone doing?  This week was a blast! 2 splits, Zone Conference and my  first Takikawa Eikaiwa! Tuesday we went down to Iwamisawa by train and I went on Splits with Elder Rostedt. He is a really fun Elder. He does his best to come closer to the Lord and have fun at the same time. Wednesday night we I taught Eikaiwa that only had 2 people come to it. That was a first and it is a lot of fun! When I teach I usually end with American slang and it makes me laugh so much hearing Japanese people ending all of their sentences with "man." (:  Thursday night we went to Honbu in Sapporo to spend the night because Zone conference was from 8-2.  It was so nice seeing so many missionaries again! That is the only down side about being in the country areas, you do not see other missionaries very often. Elder Whiting of the 70`s came and talked to us about how we can perform miracles and have the spirit more abundantly in our lives. It was a very spiritual Zone Conference. The next day we had splits with the Zone leaders and we had the largest meal I have ever had in Japan. This place called マリン (Marlin) gives these huge sized meals for really cheap. My meal could have fed 2 or 3 people. Elder Miyaki and I got sick afterward for about an hour. Yesterday President Nakatsuka came to the Takikawa Branch meeting and I was teaching a lesson from PMG to the members that day:o That was a little nerve racking. Thankfully the church has DVDs in Japanese which I gratefully used. After church we taught a lesson, reset a baptismal date, and made 4 appointments in a couple of hours. Takikawa is on fire with missionary work! I was definitely blessed when I was transferred here. My teaching abilities have opportunities to grow everyday now instead of once a week.

Spiritual:

During Elder Whiting`s Q/A session, someone asked how we can know when to perform miracles and how to perform miracles. And everything was easily explained from the example of the Apostles in the new testament. During Christ`s ministry he sent out his apostles to spread the word of the gospel and to invite all to be baptized. When they returned they said that they could not cast out devils and do what Christ had done. Christ told them to do a few things, but the point was to be obedient and keep practicing the basic principles of the gospel, fasting, prayer and scripture study to name a few. But these were needed so that when Christ left the apostles could have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. After the day of Pentecost, when the Apostles received the Holy Ghost, the apostles performed many miracles.  We need to obey the rules to have the Spirit so we can be prompted to and perform miracles.

Mom: Yes I got my package! Thanks! The strawberry milk thing is awesome! And I needed an american tooth brush. They are the best!  We ship our bikes thru a shipping company and it is starting to cool down a bit. Takikawa gets a lot of snow fast so I expect to see snow in October. Sone san is 20 and only has 20% interest in being baptized, but he is too cool to not be baptized so it will happen.

Dad: Just wait! Jesus the Christ is awesome! I am almost done with it and I don`t want it to end!

Emily: I swear reading your email was just like reading stuff on FB and Twitter again. I guess I have been reading a lot of formal and confusing stuff since I have been on the mission. Way nostalgic.

I love you all and would love to hear from you!

Love
Elder Swenson

Zone Conference

26th Week in Japan, 34 Weeks

 Hello Everyone!

So we had transfers last week and I am now in Takikawa　滝川!　I am with Elder Hirata who is Japanese! He does not know any English whatsoever! Plus we are in a two man apartment in the middle of nowhere! So planning is a lot of fun:p Last transfer we did a lot of finding and not a whole lot of teaching. Takikawa is the exact opposite. We have 6 strong investigators and 40 other investigators! Yahoo! And the cool part is a lot of them already believe in Jesus Christ which is very rare in Japan. I have a great opportunity while I am here to master all of the vocabulary for teaching. The Branch that I am serving in has about 20 members that come regularly so these investigators could really be the beginning of the Takikawa ward!

When I got here the first night, I called the Branch president to let him know that I had transferred in and he was like oh cool by the way your gonna give a talk tomorrow about missionary work and a self intro. Good luck. Yeah I prepped for that talk for about three hours!

This transfer we set goals for being on time with morning schedule and obeying the rules so we could receive the blessings we need. In James 2:10 it says that if we disobey one of God`s commandments, we disobey them all. I had heard that before but I couldnt really believe it. Then during personal study this morning I was reading Jesus the Christ and on pg. 565 2nd paragraph it says that [ None of them had realized the great principle, that because the object of the entire law is the spirit of obedience.] Through disobedience we show God through our actions that His laws are not important and we are not willing to keep them, therefore we break them all. If we don`t have the spirit of obedience we cannot enter into the kingdom of god. Obedience is the key to growing and learning. And right now I need to learn and grow because that is what this life is for. If I dont do it here, I wont get another chance. Let`s do it now!

Mom Dad: I havent got the package yet. They will probably give it to me at Zone conference on friday. Dad please read pg. 564-565 in Jesus the Christ. I think you will find it interesting. Katie Kara, don`t die at school. If you get overloaded with work, remember your doing it so you can have fun Senior year!

Becca: Whoops! Sorry! I thought you were in my forward list!

Erica: I got the pics! Thank you!

Everyone go out and do good!

And this is Sone san. He is the coolest guy ever! He is gonna get baptized this transfer!

Here is a good face for Weekly Planning Sessions with your comp!

25th Week in Japan, 33 Weeks

Sorry about last week....(:

Ethan - Mission

x

Hey everyone!

So yeah last week we had a zone activity and really didnt have too much time and we scheduled it a little poorly, so gomenasai! The last week was too much fun! The zone activity was a blast! We did a bunch of fun team games, relays and arm wrestling! I obviously won that last event...... Elder Yoshikawa and I got shirts from Don Kihotesu (Quijotes) and dominated the companion outfits! Tuesday I got a flat and that ruined the rest of dendo time, but Eikaiwa was a blast! We played Jeapordy! Wednesday was splits and because of the Obon holiday dendo kinda stunk. Friday we were able to play at the park for 2 hours and that helped to spark my dendo fire! Saturday we hungout with the YSA and learn about relationships, which actually helps with missionary companionship's as well. Sunday we had tacos with the Domon Family! They are the best! With that dinner we all shared our testimonies on why we came on our missions. When I related my story to everyone else the spirit bore witness to me that I made the right decision to come out here. This week ends my 4th transfer and starts my 5th. I have a 85% chance of transferring so I will let you all now next week what happens!

Spiritual stuff:

I was reading a talk by Elder Cook from this last conference that was about family history. I now everyone usually has a drag about that topic but I really learned how important it is. If we dont do family history, temple work cannot be done. Temple work is the most important work in the Latter Days besides missionary work. But if we do not do our family history, missionaries can't baptize either. The leaders in our stake took some surveys and learned that only 3 wards/branches do family history. Those 3 wards are the only ones who see baptisms on a regular basis. Everywhere else it is a rare occasion. Our ancestors salvation is just as important as ours. We need their help to find others to bring them to Christ just as much as they need us to do their ordinance work.

Faith is probably the biggest thing missionaries study. How to gain more faith, how can I have more faith, faith faith faith! While I was reading "Jesus the Christ" I read the story about how the Pharisees could not understand the Mustard Seed parable, and how if they faith the size of a mustard seed, they could move mountains. When people see faith, they see it like a loading bar on a computer. 50%, 40% or less is where we think we are. But faith is not about the quantity, it is about the quality. That load bar is not 50 seeds or 40 seeds of faith, it is the quality. Everyone has faith in Chirst, for the most part. But what is the quality? This really impacted me. I always asked for more faith in my prayers. But I realized I have it. I have a mustard seed, it is planted, and growing. But what kind of ground is it in? Is it quality soil? So from now on I am going to improve the quality of my soil.

I love all you peoples! Oh and if you were wondering, we didnt meet with anyone this week:(

Elder Swenson

 So we have nagashisoumen which is a noodle slide!

 Our Shirts!

 Friday we were able to play at the park for 2 hours and that helped to spark my dendo fire!

24th Week in Japan, 32 Weeks

From the Mission Home

I am sorry to be emailing you so late.

Today, your son Elder Swenson, had lots of different activities and due to slightly unfortunate circumstances , he was not able to email. He called and asked us to send you an email telling you he is ok and he is sorry for the mistake.

He also asked us to tell you that he sent a few letters a little while ago and they should be arriving in a few days.  

Thank you for sending such a wonderful missionary to this mission and for all of your love and support.

Sincerely

Japan Sapporo Mission Home Staff

23rd Week in Japan, 31 Weeks

Hey everybody!

 How is it going? Yay more finding and dropping this week..... I dont like to drop people but I am realizing that Heavenly Father has prepared people to hear the gospel and we need to find them. So if our investigators want their salvation, they need to act and they have our phone number. It sounds harsh but I am realizing my time is short here on the mission. I am starting my 8th month as a missionary. That is scary. I want to baptize and bring people unto Christ!

  This week was flippin nasty! I was so sticky and sweaty this week, when I showered I felt a little bit of heaven:p  We really tried to find young people and teach them. We made a lot of appointments but no one has followed through with their promises yet.  But I have hope:) 

  So today we went to the zoo for our district activity! I saw some crazy monkeys! And this giant cow size thing.  And this crazy orange eyed owl!

Hey everyone, if you are not on a mission and have time, please send me pictures of us when we hung out! Thanks!

 giant cow size thing

crazy orange eyed owl

22nd Week in Japan, 30 Weeks

Yeah !

Today has been a great Pday! We were given the lovely privilege of going to Costco! The Costco here is exactly the same as in America! So it was really natsugashi (nostalgic) and it felt like I was in America! And the best part is, I was able to drink Mountain Dew, eat real American Pizza, a real Hot Dog, and a Costco Churro! Those things are precious. If you have them, thank Heavenly Father for your blessings! 

So this week, we had ZTM! I love ZTM! You get to see all the other missionaries in the zone and usually, pizza from Costco if you can convince the Senior couple missionaries to get it:p  My interview with Nakatsuka Kaicho (president) was a real eye opener. I told him how I really don't like streeting and that it was hard for me because all of the people in the city are pretty mean when missionaries talk to them.  He told me how it is important to talk to people anyways for a few reasons. One of them being upholding our reputation for loving people and being representatives of Jesus Christ, and two is because sometimes people aren't ready to recieve the gospel right now, but will be later in life. If we only talked to people once and called it good, many people would be lost for the rest of their lives and the blame would fall on me. That hit me so hard and I am going to work a lot harder now.  That also lead into our DKK. We are tired of having eternal investigators so we dropped a lot of people and made a new mission goals. If your companions goals and your goals arent the same for that transfer, nothing will work, I am in a baptizing mission and it is possible. It really depends on how much faith you have in the Lord and how obedient you are. 

Cool stuff! We got to do kendo! The picture below describes it all. You have a blown up katana or other weapon of choice and you fight! It is basically the Japanese version of fencing. 

Ok ill write you all next week! Bye Bye

We got to do kendo!