Typhoon!!!

Hey everyone!! Well not to much surprise...I`m staying put here in Morioka with Elder Tillemann-Dick!! Haha. We were both pretty confident we would stay but you just never know with transfers so it was still exciting. The other companionship here in Morioka was on the contrary however, so we will be having some change within the apartment. Elder Guevarra, who I was with in the MTC, is coming in!! Haha. I`m definitely excited for that. Yes, he is Mexican which may result in he and T.D. may speak a little Spanish to each other. So that is where we are for the next 6 weeks! We also got a call from President not too long after telling us that this will be mine and T.D.`s last transfer together. We`ll make the most of it while we got it!!



It`s been an awesome week. More fun, miracles, and success!! We started off in Miyako on Tuesday with another volunteer activity. It was pouring rain so we stayed inside the volunteer center and worked. We folded tons of huge flyers that had been made. It was like a big `thank you` to all the volunteers from the people of Miyako. It was a sweet flyer that will be placed throughout the region for people to take. Yes I did come home with a couple :)


The rain continued to pour. We went straight from service in Miyako to Ichinoseki with 2 other elders for splits. The rain poured all night and into the next day. We heard word and recieved messages of a typhoon coming in. We also got a call from the mission home saying that English Class would be cancelled that evening. We were a little late reviewing the split with the District Leader which made our return time to Morioka a little tight. It was a 30 walk from the apartment to the train station and by the time we were out the door we had less than 20 minutes. I told T.D. Choro we were gonna need to run to make it on time. He knew we needed to make it back to Morioka that evening so he agreed. We ran the streets of Ichinoseki with a suitcase, boots, and everything else in hand in the middle of that typhoon!! Haha. It hadn`t actually `arrived` but it was definitley close. It was pouring and there were strong winds. Out of breath we made it to the train station with a couple minutes to spare only to find out that the trains were not moving nor would be for the rest of the night. We had to get back though. Our only option was to take the bullet train costing an extra 15 bucks each (after talking the gal behind the counter down) which would result in absolutely NO MONEY for the entire next week. Not to mention that we didn`t have time to do shopping the previous P-Day haha. We had to get back to Morioka though so we took our chances. Even the bullet train was held up at times due to strong winds but we did make it back to the Morioka apartment in one piece safe and sound. Other than our wallets being completely empty it was quite the experience! Haha. We put the scripture found in 3 Nephi 13:31 to the test and learned that you can go at least a week living on rolled wheat and minestrone soup haha.


Friday was `Mormon Music`. It was a huge success!!! Members, friends, and investigators all participated. It was set up like a recital but quite fun and everybody had a good time. We did have one specific miracle too! A few days earlier while eating at McDonalds we started talking with the kid sitting next to us. His name in Yuki. He was way chill and come to find out he even had some musical talent! We introduced and invited him to the music night. He seemed to have sincere interest, we exchanged contact info, and went our ways. I called him a few days later and he said that he unfortunately wouldn`t be able to make it due to things that had come up. Oh well. He was still a nice kid so I figured I`d give him a call another time for something else. The day of the party we practiced up on the pieces we would be doing. As we left the church and were heading back to the apartment Yuki came running into the street, stopped us, and told us he was going to be performing a couple pieces right on the corner. (There was a little concert-type thing goin on). We were way surprised to see him! We parked our bikes, sat down for a few minutes, and supported him. He did a good job!! I think he was happy to have us there too. The day went on and a few minutes before the party was about to start, Yuki walked in!!!! :) He said his schedule had opened up so he figured he`d stop by. He played the piano and did an awesome job! I know that the Lord placed us in his path to meet him earlier in the day, making it easier for him to come to the party. He had a good time. Another investigator sang `Amazing Grace` and also did a good job. Thanks to the help of everybody it was a huge success!


The gospel is true, Jesus is the Christ. He lives and loves us!! I`m grateful to be a missionary and for the opportunity I have to help these wonderful people here in Morioka. I love you all!! Have an awesome week. Take Care.


Elder Ovard

                    Service in Miyako.  Making Thank you cards for the volunteers.

                                            Running for the Bullet Train in the Typhoon!

                                                     Mormon Music Night in Morioka!

More SERVICE with LOVE!

Hey friends and fam. How`s everybody doin? Coolin down over there yet? We were housing an apartment last night and about died it was so hot. Then we got up this morning to go for a run and mother nature just about called for a jacket!!! Gads I couldn`t believe it. Almost like it went from summer to winter overnight! It`ll probably warm up again sometime this week again but I guess we are headed that way aren`t we.


It`s been an awesome week!! We were blessed with the opportunity of doing service again. The job we did wasn`t anything out of the ordinary (shoveling dirt and cleaning up people`s yards) and everything seemed to be the normal routine. But this time something was different! I tried to go about the day in a spirit of love and thankfulness towards the people we served and it made all the difference in the world. Not to say that I haven`t enjoyed the past projects (they have been experiences of a lifetime!) I just felt like I got more out of the opportunity as I tried to serve in the spirit of love. These people hold a special place in my heart and I will be forever grateful for their examples to me. I have become good friends with some of the people at the volunteer center in Miyako and was even able to take some fun pics with them :) Chiba, my favorite dude with the long hair, tapped me on the bum when we got there and told me they had been waiting for us. It`s so precious to know that these people really do appreciate the efforts of others.


We are now working with a new investigator who we have been able to meet through english class! Her name is Eriko. She is married, in her 30`s, and seems so prepared to hear the gospel. We have talked with her about the Plan of Salvation and she has many questions! She even came to church yesterday and had a wonderful experience, but didn`t feel worthy to be there with such pure people. I was happy that she was able to recognize the light in the faces of the members, but also sad that she felt that way about herself. We have been encouraging her and are exciting to teach her about the blessings the gospel has in store for her :) She is a sweet lady. I`m thankful for the Atonement. The more I study about it, the more I realize I am in need of it each and every day. The church is a hospital for sinners, not a sanctuary for saints!


We`ve got an activity coming up this Friday with the branch called `Mormon Music`. Us elders are gonna try and do a couple songs too :) Thankfully I`ll be on the piano and won`t be hurting anybody`s ears with my voice ha. We`re excited though. I`m thankful to be in Japan, and more specifically here in Morioka. I hope I can do something to strengthen these people during my time. I`m blessed to be a missionary!! I can`t believe how fast the clock is ticking down. Thank you all for your love and support. I love you all!! Have an awesome week. Take Care.


Elder Ovard

Elder Aoyagi

Hola familia y amigos!!! Haha. Maybe just a little bit different. How you all doing?? Starting to cool down over there yet? I think we may be headed that way over here. And I believe it`s 9/11 over there right now. I would like to give a big thanks to all the troops. My comp and I were thinkin about things!! It has been such an awesome week out here on the mission. A lot of good has happened and I feel so blessed to be out here right now.

We had Zone Conference this past week and we were extremely blessed to have Elder Aoyagi of the Seventy attend. He is Japanese, from the Tokyo area. He spoke in General Conference a year or so ago. It was one of the best Zone Conference`s I`ve ever been too. There is something special about the leaders of our church. The Spirit radiates off them like nothing else and it is a confirmation to me that we are lead by a living prophet. I wish I could give you an account of everything I learned and felt at the conference but unfortunately I don`t have the time for it. He did show us one video that was used at the recent EFY held in Kyoto, Japan. It was titled, `Your Jesus, Where Is He?` It was a sweet little video. Some people say Jesus died, was resurrected, and now lives in heaven with Heavenly Father. Another might say he visits us every once in a while. But according to the video, Jesus is right beside us. He is with us every where we go!! We just need to make sure we`re worthy to be in his presence. I love the picture of the Savior knocking at the door. If we look closely, there`s no knob. We`re the ones who need to open the door! I hope to always have my door open to the Savior. As I`ve tried to see my Savior by my side as I pray and go about my different activities, I have felt His love more abundantly. I encourage you to do the same!


We had another exciting week of activities as well. On Friday evening we had a crepe party and Saturday we played sports to work it all off haha. I didn`t do too much of the cooking, but I will tell you that the crepes were good!! :) T.D. Choro worked really hard and thanks to him and a couple of the members we were able to have a good time. It has been good for the members to get together outside of our weekly worship service and for investigators and non-members to spend fun time at the church.


Still not a whole lot of progress with our investigators:(. We are finding lots of good people, just gotta pray a little bit harder that we can get them to the next step! We will get there though. Patience is still a virtue and the Lord is in charge of His work so we`ll just keep doin what we can!! I love you all. Thank you for all the kindness you show to me. I hope to give it back to you someday. The mish is great!!! Take Care.


Elder Ovard

Service, Hot Sauce and fun!

Well fam and friends August has come and gone and now we`re almost a week into September!! Pretty crazy. I`m not sure if you`ve heard anything or not but we were expected to get a typhoon this past weekend. Don`t worry!- there was nothing more than a few strong winds and your average rainfall. I did hear that it was a little more intense down south though?



It`s been another busy and somewhat eventful week. We did have President Rasmussen come up here for a day and spend some time with Elder TD and I. He wanted to hear how the `new missionary program` has been going and we even got on the bikes together and did a little finding! Haha. It was fun to serve with President. He also stayed for our weekly planning session in which I am grateful for the things he taught me about planning. I definitley need to become a better planner!!


On Tuesday we bussed it over to Miyako for another service project. We did yard work for an old couple, consisting mostly of pulling weeds. (I was feelin it for a couple days afterwards!!) We were able to get things looking much better for them though. I did have the opportunity of talking with them about their experience with the tsunami. They live on a little bit of a hill but not far from the ocean at all. You can see it from their house. When the tsunami started coming they escaped outside but noticed that the waters were still coming so they had to run away up the hill. I could picture it perfectly in my head. Almost like a movie. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to watch everything you once had be destroyed. Thankfully their house is still standing but alot of re-modeling has been done. They were such sweet people. They bought us ice cream as well :) I did have one scary moment as I was bit by a bug which resulted in immediate inflammation. Some medicine did the job but after getting ringworm in the past I wasn`t about to take a bug bite lightly! haha.


We had an interesting lesson after English Class last week. It was on the atonement. We used an exciting object lesson, something we have done 2 or 3 other times since TD has arrived. I must first tell you that TD Choro likes his spices and there aren`t many things he is afraid of. I`ve seen him put down a few bottles of tabasco sauce in our time together and this time he decided to step it up and go with a bottle of habenaro hot sauce haha. The lesson is very simple. I will try and explain. All you need is a glass of clean water. This represents us but unfortunatley as we go throughout life we make mistakes and commit sin, resulting in our water becoming unclean (drops of hot sauce begin to enter the water). I think you get the point. Well, TD dumped the whole bottle of habenaro in and then after we explained how Jesus felt the pain of all of our sins and took everything upon Himself by Himself, TD Choro drank the glass of water (now hot sauce). It got people`s eyes open! haha. They couldn`t believe what they had just seen and it was a good object lesson to help them understand what the atonement is :) haha. Don`t worry, TD is fine.


We`ve got a busy week ahead of us including Elder Aoyagi of the Quorum of the Seventy coming to Zone Conference, a crepe party, and sports. We are making progress with the branch and we are confident that our investigators will follow as well. It`s just a process right now.


Thanks for everything! I love you all. Hope you have an awesome week. Take care!!


Elder Ovard