Halloween in Japan!!!

Who says they don`t celebrate Halloween in Japan?! Haha. Last years Halloween may have passed by like a flash of lightning without seeing a single costume nor eating a piece of candy, but this year the members here in Morioka had something different to say! We had an awesome party Saturday night. The young men and women (3) and their leaders took charge and put together a fun party for many involved. Other than some decorating, us missionaries didn`t even have to do anything! The branch took full control allowing us missionaries to focus on the more important things such as...costumes! Haha we came out with some pretty exciting costumes which I believe in themselves helped `livin` up the party. I am proud to say that I returned home with the `No. 1 Costume` award haha. I knew Mario would come through :) I also put some `Mario sound buttons` I had gathered a while back in my pockets which was kind of fun too.



I really enjoy Morioka. The members are great! We are still trying to do all we can for them and I feel like we are beginning to work better with them. They have been doing lots for us lately! After writing on last weeks progress record `we don`t have rice`, they responded immedietly with nearly 15 kilos of rice haha. Rice can get expensive so it`s nice to recieve a little help at times :) Transfers are next week. Unfortunately T.D. or myself is being transfered. President has already made it clear. I think I`m going to be staying though. Possibly for the rest of my mission! Ha. Sounds kind of crazy but I wouldn`t count it too far out there. I wouldn`t mind. I love these members. They are kind and humble. There are things I need to learn from the people here and I guess I didn`t come out here to pick where I go anyways. We`ll see though!


Eriko is still doing awesome. She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying everyday! Right now she is at the end of Mosiah. Her faith is strong and she feels the Spirit. However, she may be a little worried about her husband. He is Baptist. We told her we would like to meet him and she agreed that would be a good thing! We`ll see what we can do this week. We recently taught her the message of the Restoration, while playing Jenga! It was a fun lesson that I think will stick with her.


The volunteer activities are still awesome. We returned to the same lot as last week and continued removing the silt. It can be strenuous work on the old body now days! Ha I`m way out of shape. At one point we needed to move a pile of weeds and as I went in for a handful I saw a HUGE rat right by my hand! I screamed like a little girl and everybody stopped and looked haha. It wiggled it`s way back into the pile before eventually running away. Thank goodness!


I am coming up on my favorite part in the Book of Mormon, the appearance of Christ unto the Nephites in 3 Nephi. I have thorougly enjoyed reading the prophecies concerning his coming. It is particularly interesting to study the events leading up to his coming; tempests, earthquakes, fires, wars and contentions, tsunami`s, etc. I feel I can relate to these signs more than ever before. The divinity of our Savior is real. He has come and will come again. It will be a glorious and joyful day, if we are prepared! I`m thankful for the Book of Mormon and for the guidance and strength it gives me each and every day. I know it is true with all my heart! I love you all :) Thanks for everything. Take Care!


Elder Ovard

                             A Less-Active. His nickname is `Birdman`. Quite a character!

                                                Naomi drew my stache for me :)

                                          An Angel, Mario, An Arab, and a Nerd!

                                                                   Eikaiwa students!

 Eriko, Minnie Mouse

                                                             Morioka Missionaries
 
 

 Chikara, I love this kid!

Most Fitting and Number 1 costume!

Service, Splits, Investigators & A Rash???

This week has gone by so fast!! I swear it feels just like yesterday I was sitting here in the Morioka church writing an email. It`s been a good one though! A lot has taken place so I`ll do my best to try and capture everything into a simple letter.



We did have the opportunity of going back to Miyako for another day of service. I don`t know what I`m gonna do if I transfer and loose this opportunity every week. It is so special!! I bought a dvd about the disaster and have watched a little bit of it. It puts things into a whole new perspective when you see what really happened. Elder T.D. said that watching about it in the states and seeing the damage in real life is completely different! My love for these sweet people has deepened and the term `service project` has seemed to take on a new meaning. I`m excited for the upcoming volunteer activities! :)


We found a new investigator this week. His name is Yamashita and he has a young family of 4. We found him a couple weeks ago, gave him an introduction dvd, and told him we would stop by another time. About a week later we dropped by and caught the mom home. She told us they didn`t have any interest and to leave! It was sad, but we had made good friends with the husband previously and I at least wanted to meet with him again! When we stopped by this past week, we met the husband and were able to have a good talk. He has interest in religion and thinks we`re good dudes! Ha he even gave me a necklace :) We also met the wife and kids and she seemed happier to see us this time as well. We have an appointment with them this afternoon.


Thursday we had a training with the Zone. President and Sister Rasmussen came up. Btw, they`re awesome! Sister Rasmussen brought tons of apples with a fabulous dip :) The training was on the Book of Mormon and we even finally recieved our October Liahonas!! I`m excited to study it myself and use it within our missionary work. I love the Book of Mormon! Not really a reader, but I can handle the BoM :) We rode in Presidents car down to Ichinoseki for splits following the training. It had been a while since I got on the freeway and was kind of scary at first! Ha. We did have a good ride though and I enjoyed learning many different things from President. He`s a smart man and teaches me lots.


Splits were awesome, and we saw many miracles! I worked with Elder Bigger. We visited a couple High Schools in the area in order to introduce English Class and see if we could do some advertising. We met with the principals. The first school went well, and the second school was even better! The Ichinoseki Elders now have the opportunity of going to that high school at any time to mingle with the kids and help them think English is fun. I couldn`t believe it! The Prinicipal was very nice, and even asked some questions about the church allowing us to testify a little bit :) T.D. Choro and I are excited to do the same here in Morioka and see if we can`t increase our English Class attendance.

We did spend some time in the dermatologist`s office on Saturday. My skin doesn`t seem to like something around here! I`ve had a rash on my arm that has been getting bigger and the doctor said it is infected with bacteria. No worries though! He said it was a common disease (probably just trying to calm the fearful foreigner of any fears haha). He gave me some medications and told me to come back on Thursday. I do think the medications have already helped! :)


Eriko came to church yesterday!!!!!!! I was so happy to see her there. She has been doing great. During one lesson we focused a bit on prayer. She mailed us the next morning saying she tried out Alma 37:37 and felt refreshed. That`s the beauty of the gospel! It doesn`t take much. When we do even the little things, we can recieve all the comfort in the world from our loving Heavenly Father. I love you all! Thank you for all your kindness and support. Hope you have a good week! Take Care.


Elder Ovard

Service and Invstigators!

Hi everyone! Unfortunately I don`t really feel like there is too much to say this week... been one of ups and downs. Monday night I did have a fun experience though! Elder Mizoguchi, who is now serving up north in Hachinohe, came down for service. We were out working together and he told me that his non-member grandparents live in Morioka. I had heard that before but didn`t ever take much thought to it. The other companionship here in Morioka has actually visited them before but didn`t have much time to talk. I wasn`t about to let this opportunity pass by, however, so after calling the other missionaries for directions we made a quick visit! Although I had never met them before I felt like I was at home visiting with my dear grandparents :) They were so sweet and fun. They also found myself to be quite adorable and told me to come back another time haha.



Tuesday was another day of service. It was good work and I was feelin the effects of the wheel-barrow for the next few days haha. Eriko came again. She was doing so good! We also had a good lesson on the bus ride home and made another appointment for the next day before English Class. She has become really good friends with one of the members which is a huge help. Within the last few lessons this past week we were able to talk with her about baptism and she said that because she is a sinner she would like to be baptized sometime. We were so excited!! We were planning on having her come to church on Sunday and everything seemed to be going so well. As we were out working on Saturday we got a mail from her saying she was going to go to the Baptist church the next day (her American husband is Baptist). It was kind of depressing!! We had a pot luck and fireside with the branch and were looking forward to having her there. I need to be more patient!


Not much else for the week. We`ve got a busy one ahead of us and hopefully can get back on track with our investigators. Thanks for your support! I love you all. Take care.


Elder Ovard

Conference and Service!

Dear family and friends. How`s everybody doin?? I can`t wait any longer to tell you all how much I loved conference!! Was it not the best?! Or just me? Anyways, not only is it nice to be able to take a little break from the streets, but there is so much strength and energy obtained during that special time. I love conference and am more thankful than ever before for the guidance of living prophets and apostles! :) Oh ya!- did you watch the short news clip in between the Saturday sessions? If so you would have seen a second or two of press time for Elder Ovard haha. I did enjoy seeing the coverage about the disaster here in Japan.



We did make it back to Miyako once again this past week for another day of service. These days have become so special to me! We cleaned up a couple lots nearby the house of an old couple. Their house as well was tremendously damaged at the time of the tsunami but after a lot of repair work was looking quite nice! They let us eat lunch inside. They prepared tea for us (which we unfortunately had to turn down), but it`s the thought that counts! I found some time to talk with them and was blessed to feel of their sweet spirit. These people are so kind! I love them :) Eriko, one of our investigators, also came to the service activity! She watched a lot of conference and is progressing quite well. We want to talk about baptism with her sometime this week so we`re praying all goes well!


For weeks and weeks we have been looking for opportunities to help and serve the members here in Morioka. This week we were finally given an opportunity, and boy was it worth it!! We helped Brother Takayashiki, a farmer, harvest his rice. Considering this only takes place once a year and most Japanese people haven`t even done it before, T.D. Choro and I considered ourselves quite lucky :) I couldn`t help but to feel like I was back on the farm with Grandpa Gub`s! Ha. We cut a bit out with a tool called a `kama`, but most of the cutting took place with the combine. Elder T.D and I mostly bagged and stacked the gathered rice. It was actually kind of a work out! Although it did take up most of the day, it was one of the faster and more exciting days of the mission.


We have also learned that Japanese hospitals are quite efficient! After several weeks of leg pain, we were finally able to get T.D. Choro into a doctors office. Thank goodness nothing serious was found. He was diagnosed with Myotosis, or leg pain. For coming in off the street, having an x-ray taken, medicine recieved, and being out of there within an hour, we decided that $70 wasn`t all that bad!


I love you all. Thanks for all you do. I don`t express enough my gratitude and appreciation for all of you. It means a lot. The church is true. The Spirit confirmed to me once again as I watched conference that Jesus is the Christ, and that His church has been restored upon the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. I feel blessed to be a missionary and have the opportunity to share that message with the people of Japan who desparately need it so much. Take Care.


Elder Ovard

                               Elder TD and Blake in the Rice fields.  What a fun day!

                                                             Just like Grandpa's farm!
          

                                                     On the combine with Brother Takayashiki

 
 

                                                                      Service!
 
 

                                                                    The service crew!!!

                                        They love our HELP!!!  Wonderful people.

                                                      Conference priesthood session!!!

Bread Visits!

Hopefully I can finish typing this one up... it is so cold over here and my fingers are frozen!! Ha. It`s been a good week though. Having Elder Guevara in the apartment has already brought back a lot of memories. We were in the same room at the MTC. He had a few pics from then that he was showin me and I couldn`t believe things! Haha it was so long ago yet seems like just yesterday. I also tried to bust out some Spanish with him but it didn`t get too far haha. I guess I better focus on Japanese anyways.



We didn`t have much going on Thursday so we decided we (I guess I should say `T.D. Choro`) would bake some bread and we could go visit some members. I must tell you that Elder Tillemann-Dick can do work in the kitchen ;) That will be missed in 5 weeks. Anyways, we hit the bikes with a few loaves of bread in our bags. We had quite a bike ride but after visiting with less-actives and members we were thinking it was all worth it. We had one more loaf of bread to work with so we decided we would stop by one more house before returning home. Then T.D. Choro`s chain popped. Of course haha. We were miles away from home, and still absolutely no money in the wallets stopping by a bike shop seemed like a vain hope. We did, however, figure that if we could borrow a tool or two we could do the job ourselves. We walked down the steet to the closest bike shop and asked the guy working if we could borrow a tool to fix a chain. He took a look at it and told us it needed a part that cost about 3 dollars. But we didn`t even have that!! Haha. We lowered our heads and were just about to walk it back when we remembered we still had one loaf of bread. After explaining our situation, we gave the kind man our last loaf of bread and he fixed our bike for us :) As we were riding through some neighborhood streets and just about home, a black cat crossed our path. T.D. Choro looked at me as if to say, `You`ve got to be kidding me.` It wasn`t more than a minute later that I heard a cry from behind me haha. Without looking I knew exactly what had happened- the chain popped again. The story continues- if it can happen, it will happen haha.


We did have a really good lesson with Eriko this week. A kind member jointed and we had our best lesson thus far, about the Book of Mormon. I was so thankful for the members help! She was able to connect well with Eriko and gave an awesome heart-felt testimony. The power of members participating in missionary work and bearing testimony is amazing!! Eriko is reading the Book of Mormon. We are helping her gain a testimony. She didn`t make it to church this week as she went with her husband to his Baptist Church, but we have no problems with that. Even Joseph, amidst all confusion, attend the different parties. She seems to be searching for the truth, and I`m excited to help her know she`s found it! :)


I love my Savior. I will be forever indebted unto Him. I`m thankful for His perfect example and the love He has for me, even to the giving of His own life. I don`t think I`ll ever be able to fully comprehend it, but I am thankful for it. I know He lives. I love you all. Thank you for everything. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Take Care.


Elder Ovard

                                             Saying  goodbye to Ishida Choro

                                                     Dinner with the Obayashi Family