Called to Serve

Called to Serve
Japan Sendai/Sapporo Mission

Sunday, January 23, 2011

I love Morioka!

Hello Hello!! How is everybody doin?? Well I`m now in Morioka, my third area, and other than a couple frozen toes and fingers, things are going great!! Ha. It`s the most north I`ve been so far and it`s definitely a little colder than down south. Haha no I`m really not too bad, but from what we hear, it`s the coldest place in the mission, and even the coldest place in the Tohoku providence! Haha. We`ve got our fair share of snow, and it seems like everywhere we go there is ice! It makes for a little bit of a dangerous ride/walk, but I guess that makes things all the more interesting! Don`t worry- I`ve only slipped and fell once. Ha. Everythings is ok though! ;)



I love Morioka!! It`s a way nice area. Elder Narita and I have definitely got our work cut out for us as we white-washed into the area, but there are lots of good people here so hopefully we can get the area where it needs to be. There are people all over the streets, and even lots of young people too! :) There are a few colleges around which makes things nice. It`s one of the bigger cities in the mission, and seems like it will be a really good area for finding. We don`t have too many investigators we`re working with right now as we came in, although one person does have a baptismal date and we will meet with him later on today. His name is Endo Shotaro. We still haven`t met him but we`re excited to work with him. Luckily there are a couple missionaries in the zone who have already served here in Morioka so if we ever have any questions we can just ring them and figure things out.


I love the Morioka branch!! There were only 33 people at church yesterday but supposively there are usually around 50. There are a lot of really nice families with lots of young kids. It`s almost like Utah! Haha. Everybody is really nice and I`m really excited to get to know them. There is also an American in the ward who is here teaching English. His Japanese isn`t very good so I translate for him during church. It`s a little bit of a challenge, but I do feel like it will help out my Japanese. Living with a Native is lots of fun! Narita Choro is way cool. He is such a humble, patient, and hard working missionary. He`s from Gunma which is down near Tokyo. He loves America, and especially American movies. His English is pretty good too so if I ever have a question about the Japanese we can usually figure it out together. Funny story- we have this little bowl of sweets on one of our tables that was left from the last missionaries. In that jar there is a tube of bubble gum flavored American toothpaste. Narita choro saw the bubble gum as well as the picture, and decided to try it out. The only problem was he wasn`t using it to brush his teeth. He thought it was gum!!! Haha he came runnin to me asking what it was. I told him it was toothpaste haha. He didn`t like that too much :)


I had an awesome birthday last week back in Tagajo. My favorite part of the whole day was when we went to visit the Yamada Family in the evening to say goodbye to them. They have a bunch of cute little girls and a couple of them even came to the English Class we had. Unfortunately they didn`t come that day, but the youngest girl had made birthday cards for Elder Juchau and I. She was going to give them to the sisters to give to us at English Class, but when she heard the sisters weren`t going to English class she got upset, crumpled the cards up, and threw them. When we visited them, the mom told us what happened, and the daughter got the cards, uncrumpled them, and read them to us. It was so cute!!! They are such a sweet family.


I love this work and am so excited to be here in Morioka. There is a little more responsibility being Zone Leader now, but I`m excited to serve and work with the other missionaries. I love my Savior and His Gospel. I was reading in the New Testament this morning and our Savior was talking about how our fruits we can know them. Although we have lots to do as members of the church, I feel like one of the best things we can do is serve others and try and become a more Christlike person. When we do that, we will become more happy and have the Spirit more abundantly in our lives :) I love you all!!! Take Care.


Elder Ovard

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Miracles Happen!

Well it`s been a good run here in Tagajo but unfortunately all good things must come to an end. We got the call from President last night and I will be heading up north just a little bit to a place called `Morioka`. I will become companions with Elder Narita (Japanese) and we will be the Zone Leaders there. We are also going to be white washing the area which makes for a little bit more of a challenge. It was really hard to get the call, and I really don`t want to leave Tagajo right now, but I know that Morioka is the place I need to be.




It has been an awesome week here in Tagajo though!! We have continued to see miracles, and our investigators are getting that much closer to baptism. We taught Shiga-San 4 really big commandments this week: 1) Sabbath Day 2) The 10 Commandments 3) The Law of Chastity, and 4) The Word of Wisdom. We were a little nervous going into it because we knew he smokes cigarettes. Every time we meet with him we can smell it from 15 feet away. We taught it to him though, he understood, and even said he would try hard to stop smoking!! It wasn`t as painful as we thought it might be!! Haha. We still don`t know how he has been doing with it, but He did have a desire to stop smoking and turn to the Lord, and that is what counts!! There is no doubt in my mind that he will be able to overcome that problem and will soon recieve baptism. :)



We also met with another family this week. The Yamada Family!!! They are the cutest family in the whole world. They came in contact with the missionaries about a year ago, but it wasn`t much. Juchau Choro and I have been working really hard to meet with them again, and this week we were finally able to do it!! They remembered about Eternal Families from before, and they still thought that would be awesome! (Except for the Dad. He thought this life was good enough but that`s just a slight problem ;) haha.) The Dad did say the closing prayer though and they still want to learn more :)



So a few weeks ago a random dude came into the church after our services were over. Unfortunately we had an appointment to get to so we weren`t able to talk a whole lot with him, but an older missionary couple in the ward talked with him. He is about 60 years old, his parents passed away, and he doesn`t have a family. Our older couple thought he was golden and we were excited to meet with him at a different time. He was supposed to come to church the next week but never showed up. Unfortunately we didn`t have any of his contact info either, except for the general area in which he lived. After a few weeks, we decided to go to the area and look for him. It was a blistery cold night and I`m not gonna lie I wasn`t the most excited to be out there. We kept on going though and after about 2 hours what do you know- we end up walking right into him on the street!!!! MIRACLE!!!! From there we were able to walk with him to our church and teach a lesson :) He`s a really good man and has lots of potential. There is no doubt in my mind that God lead us to him. This work is amazing!!!!!



As hard as it is to leave an area, I`m grateful for the time I`ve spent here in Tagajo. I feel so blessed to have come in contact with the people I did. I have learned as much from other missionaries, our wonderful ward, and most importantly our dear investigators. I know that a mission is to bless the lives of others, but at times I feel like I`m the one being blessed. Although I might not be able to see the fruits of my labors in the baptismal font during this life, I know that we will be able to meet again on the other side and talk about what an awesome time it was. I love my mission!!!!



Elder Ovard

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Awesome work going on!

こんにちは!! 元気ですか? Hello! How is everyone doin?? Things are going great over here in the Asian neck of the woods. Everybody`s hair is still black, their eyes are pulled back just a little bit further, and I love them just as much!!! :) :) It has been a crazy fast week on the mission. I swear time just goes faster and faster. Next week is transfers and I cannot believe it. I am hoping and praying from the bottom of my heart that things will stay the same here in Tagajo because we have so much awesome work going on right now!!!
We met with the Kishi Family yesterday and had an awesome lesson. When we first got there they had baseball on the T.V. It was like the Japan all-star skills contest of some sort but it looked really fun and exciting! In America, professional athletes have more of a business like manner about them (which I`m sure Japan athletes do too), but then it looked like kids playin in the backyard! Don`t worry I didn`t get too trunky ;) haha. We were able to turn the t.v. off and we began a gospel discussion. The father wanted to know why God allows us to commit sin, and why we have wars and different things. We began to teach them about the Plan of Salvation, and how a key point in Heavenly Father`s plan for us is to use the `free agency` he has given us. They were able to understand it, and accepted the commitment to pray to know whether or not this is true. The dad said the closing prayer last time, so we invited the mom to offer it this time and she gave a sincere, heartfelt prayer. The Spirit was so strong the entire lesson. They have such an awesome family, and want to do what is right. I`m so excited to continue to work with them!!!
Things with Shiga-san are also moving forward!!! We met with him a few times this week and focused lots on his understanding of the lessons. We watched the movie of the Restoration, and once again felt an awesome Spirit. I love the Spirit!!! It works miracles. Although it can be tough at times to recognize, recognizing the Spirit and recieving a witness through the Holy Ghost is a vital point in the conversion process. We have been working really hard with him to recieve that answer. He is still excited to recieve baptism on the 29th!!
This work is amazing. I love sharing the gospel, learning about people, and the world we live in. We recently met with a young lady who doesn`t have the most virtuous job in the world. She needs money so she continues to work, but really doesn`t want to be doing what she`s doing. Inside she is suffering. She wants help but doesn`t necessarily know where to find it. It`s right here!! We are holding it in our arms!! I hope and pray that we will never take this blessing in our lives for granted. I know Christ is our Savior and that through His Atonement we can be made white as snow :) I love you all and thank you for everything. Take Care!!
Elder Ovard

Awesome Holiday Season!

                       Elder Ovard and Elder Juchau in front of a  Beautiful Christmas tree in Tagajo.

What an awesome Holiday Season it has been!! I hope you all had as Merry of a Christmas and as Happy of a New Year as I did here in Japan. It has been a blast!! I thank you all for all the love and support you have given me during this Holiday Season. I have felt much love through the letters I have recieved and I thank you all so much for that! There definitely wasn`t anything better than being a missionary on Christmas. I enjoyed every minute of singing carols, visiting those who are lonely, and celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. I had never felt so blessed before in my life!!
New Years was also quite the treat. In Japan, New Years is probably a little more celebrated than Christmas. It is their time to get with the family and spend lots of time together. There is also a really famous shrine near Tagajo that tons of people from all over the place go to. We happened to be housing nearby and saw everybody going to the shrine. It was nice to be able to get a little more Japanese culture in :) Later that night while housing, we had a dude start yelling at us and telling us to quit doing what we were doing cause it was a `break` time haha. We just kind of let him go off on us without saying anything and then after a while he finally started to give us a little respect haha. Pretty interesting.
Things with the investigators are moving forward. Shiga-San, our most promising investigator came to church yesterday!! He is a 50 year old man living all by himself. We`ve taught him a few times and I love it!! At first, he had the typical Japanese beliefs (lots of different Gods), but we`ve been working real hard with him to understand our Heavenly Father and the plan He has for him. He has a lot of faith, and maybe even a testimony, but the word of wisdom could end up being a problem with him. We still haven`t mentioned anything but we will go from here. He wants to be baptized on the 29th!! :)
We met with the Kishi Family last week and it was alright. They`re not as `golden` as we were hoping for, but they still have an awesome family and we will continue to meet with them. We also visited the Yamada Family and they said they would like to hear more of our message too!! The Yamada Family is so cute and sweet. Hopefully they will become investigators this week!
The work is moving forward and I love my mission. It really is a blessing to be able to testify of my Savior each and everyday. I know this is God`s work and His glory and that we all have a responsibility in helping to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. We are a blessed people and I love you all!!
Elder Ovard



Elder Ovard and Elder Juchau.  This is Elder Juchau's first day in the mission.  Blake says he is a really good missionary and he came in speaking Japanese well.  They have a lot of fun together.



Elder Ovard and Elder Juchau having a lot of fun playing basketball with the boys!


Three generation picture.  Elder Ovard with his trainer on the right (Elder Warren)  and  Elder Juchau on the left who Blake is training. 





                                    Pizza Delivery..........definately not the typical delivery in America!


                                                     Japanese Pizza!  Elder Ovard and Juchau lovin it.




                      Having fun in samuri clothes!  I wish I could get the picture to flip around.


                                                                       Fun Stuff!!!!

                                             This robot is a mascot for a cell phone company.



Elder Swenson and Elder Ovard look like convicts on the church wall.  This is what is posted in the churches to give the members the missionaries information.


                Elder Ovard  and Elder Mitsuda in Iwaki.  This is there name written in Kanji
Elder Ovard and Mitsuda with Cool Japanese swords.
The member who owns the shop sent the sword home to Blake.  It was super fun to see.




Sunday, December 12, 2010

Roller coaster!

It`s almost Christmas and it doesn`t even feel like it!! Haha. As missionaries we just do the same thing everyday so this Christmas season doesn`t feel a whole lot different ha. I will say that I have been able to think more about the meaning of Christmas though and I`m grateful to have it! :) I can`t believe it`s already the middle of December. The temperature has definitely dropped over here the past few days, but we still haven`t seen any snow. I hear there isn`t a whole lot of snow that falls where I`m at, although we`ll probably get at least a little.
Well this missionary roller coaster continues to just keep right on rollin. I feel like I`m in a loopty loop right now and can`t get out haha. It`s definitely been full of ups and downs, and this week was no different. Our college student investigator, Kanno Arata, has unfortunately gone down the drain. No, not the drain in the baptismal font that we were all hoping for. He finally talked with his parents and I guess they weren`t too happy about things. We recieved a big `NO` from the parents and they even seemed to change his mind too. The next thing we know he has our phone number blocked and we are no longer in contact with him. We were able to get a message from him through one of our members, but he said he no longer has any interest. It was so sad to hear and I was really disappointed but what can you do. We worked really hard with him and he was so close but it just didn`t work out. I`m sure there will be a better time and place for him to recieve these things.
We also weren`t able to meet with our other baptismal date, Ayako さん。 She caught a cold and unfortunately we weren`t able to meet. We did though, have an awesome thing happen this week. We now have a family we`re teaching!!!! A few weeks ago we housed into a really nice man, talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon, and he gladly and thankfully recieved it. We followed up with him last week, were able to meet the rest of the family, and made an appointment for yesterday. We met, enjoyed some time with them, and shared a short message. They are such a sweet family. The daughter is going to a Christian college and they all seem to be so golden!!! They have 3 kids, ages 20, 12, and 10. The name is Kishi. They`re pretty busy so we won`t be meeting with them for another couple weeks but we`re gonna invite them to our Christmas party and go from here!!!!! Elder Juchau and I were really excited about them :)
I hope everything is going well for all of you back home in America. Before we know it this Christmas season will come and go and we`ll be into a new year. I hope we can all live every moment like it`s our last and soak in all we can, especially during this time of remembering our Savior. I love you all!!!!! Thank you all for the support and love you render towards me. I really appreciate it. Take Care!!
Elder Ovard

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Miracle Week!

Family and Friends!!


Today was transfer day and I`m proud to say that there were no changes in Tagajo!!!! :) I wasn`t really expecting anything to happen anyways but you never know what can happen on the mish haha. There were a few changes that took place within my District though. 2 Sisters are leaving and 2 more will be coming in. One of them is a new missionary, and the other is Sister Beaven, an Australian, who was with me in the MTC! So I now have somebody else to speak English too! Haha.
It`s been an awesome week on the mission here in Japan. So good that it earned the name `Miracle Week`!:) Haha. We were so blessed and we saw so many miracles this past week. I remember working with an older missionary in Iwaki and asking him what his favorite part of the mish was. He said, `All the miracles.` I never really understood what he meant, and for that matter didn`t really think I had seen any miracles up to that point. As time has gone on though, I have definitely come to understand what He meant by `all the miracles`. I have seen the Lord`s hand more time than one and am so grateful for all the miracles He has blessed me with.
This past week we achieved the Standard of Excellence!! We worked really hard and were able to see the fruits of our labors. We found 5 new investigators, 4 of who we will continue to work with!! One of the investigators is Ayako-San. She is a 30 year old woman who came to English Class and we picked her up from there. We met with her the first time, taught about the message of the Restoration, and committed her to baptism right then! She accepted and we made a date for Jan. 15th. She seems golden and we are so excited to be working with her.
Well things with Arata-San are kind of all over the place right now. After about fifteen phone calls and ten minutes of knocking on his door, we were finally able to get him out of bed and we got his butt to church! Haha. He really seemed to enjoy it too :) We have been working really hard to get his parents` permission for the baptism. We sent them a package on Monday including the permission form, a DVD about our message, a `For the Strength of Youth` pamphlet, and letters from Juchau Choro and I. Last night we called him to see if He had talked with his parents about things and He said he had. Then He said it was bad. He pretty much said it is impossible. It was so discouraging. We never asked if they got our package or anything but we will figure out more of the details from here. As of now, all we can really do is pray.
The mish is still amazing though. I`m so grateful for the opportunity I have to be bearing testimony of our Savior, especially during this Christmas time of year. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. I love you all!!
Elder O

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Wonderful News from Sister Hiroko

A fun facebook message that I received today!  Sister Hiroko makes my day. :)

Sister Heather,


Hi!

I have a wonderful news for you and Elder Ovard.

Kowaguchi finally got baptized today.!!!I 'm very happy for her.

She have two sons and divorced about three years ago.

We are going to support her with missionaries.
I really wanted to let you know about the baptism for Sister Kowaguchi.I'm looking forward to seeing you with Sister Kowaguchi

one day!!!
Please take a look at Sister Kowaguchi
Have a wonderful sunday.
Hiroko