Happy Valentines!

In my email Elder O said that they do celebrate Valentines in Japan.  It is a little different because the ladies give the men chocolate.  He recieved chocolate at church yesterday.  He sent an amazing picture of the ice sculptures from the snow festival. I hope I can get it on the blog.

Ohayou Gozaimasu!! (Good Morning) :) Well another one down in the journal and it has definitely been one to remember. I swear the weeks are just getting faster and faster. It has been an awesome week full of fun, sports:), and miracles. Last week after email we went to a huge sports place. I don`t even know what to compare it to in America, but they have everything! We played basketball, hit in the batting cages, played catch and even pitched a little, shot a bow and arrow, and did a little bit of everything! Ha it was a blast. Now that I`m 20 though I`m startin to get a little old for that kinda stuff. I woke up the next morning and couldn`t move! Haha ;) We also had a little sports get-together with some of our branch which was pretty fun.



It snowed like crazy a couple days here this week! It has been extremely cold too. Everybody says it`s crazy cold and not normal. Of course I would happen to be in the coldest place in the mission during an abnormal year, right? Ha. On Saturday we went to a snow festival!! It was awesome. I just about lost a pinkie toe in the process due to frostbite, haha, but seeing a bunch of different snow/ice sculptures was awesome!! There were people all over the place and it was a pretty good party. I think I prefer the summer festivals though ;)



It`s been an awesome week of missionary work. Elder Narita and I have been doing some work in the area book, and have come up with a few new investigators from it too!! Our teaching pool is getting better and will soon become a teaching ocean :) My favorite investigator is Fred, from Madagascar. We found him a few weeks ago. He came to church again this week and we taught him a lesson afterwards. His Japanese struggles, but his English gets by. It is kind of a challenge but he actually does really well. We reviewed the Restoration, and watched the Joseph Smith movie. I love that movie!! Fred is starting to understand and will now pray to know the truth. One thing he had questions about was God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. He believed in the Trinity and didn`t know they were 3 different beings. It was the first time I have come across that problem! Haha usually the Japanese don`t really have the most knowledge about Jesus Christ, God, or the Holy Ghost so we don`t need to focus on that too much. We did answer his questions though and it did make me want to study more about that in the scriptures later. He is awesome and we will try and make a baptismal date with him next week.



As far as becoming a better teacher and missionary, I learned more than ever before this week from two ladies who are actually part of another religion. You might wonder what I am talking about, but it was quite the experience. They are from a Buddhist sect called `Ken Shokai'. We met them at a McDonalds and boy was it an adventure! Haha. Elder Narita warned me about them beforehand, but I was still kind of caught off-guard. They started preaching at us, trying to convert us right from the start! Haha they weren`t only bold, but over-bearing. They weren`t only crazy, but scary as well! They started throwing books in front of me, tried to get me to go to their place of worship, and wouldn`t even let me think twice about it! They tried to tell us that Japan was gonna be destroyed in 3 years and lot of other unbelievable things as well. (When they said that I told them I would be ok because I`m goin back to America next year haha). I actually thought it was quite funny how ridiculous they were and how terrible of teachers and missionaries they were! They taught me everything NOT to do, and helped me to realize and understand what I need to do as a missionary to gain investigators trust and let them know I love them. They even strengthened my testimony too! It is so important that we let our fellow brothers and sisters know that we love them, Christ loves them, and most importantly- our Heavenly Father loves them. It was a privlidge to bear my testimony to those 2 ladies of the truthfullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was definitley a difference when we spoke than when they did. This really is God`s work!! I am so blessed to be ordained of God as a missionary and to have this privilidge! I know this is TRUE!! I love you all. Take Care.


Elder Ovard

I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!

Funny thing....A couple of weeks ago my dear frriend Keely Rogers who has a son serving in Ghana said to me, "I worry about Zack getting a toothache"  She said you probably don't worry about those things in Japan because Blake could get help, but Zack wouldn't be able to go to a dentist.  Well I had never thought of that before.   Well look who had a toothache!  I am so grateful he was taken care of.

Well it`s been another busy week but also SO awesome! I really love my mission right now and couldn`t be happier than to be here in Morioka! :) This place is awesome. We got through Zone Conference and everything went really well. I love to listen to President Tateoka speak and teach us. Everytime I`m around him my testimony is strenghtened and I know that He was called of God to be my Mission President. He is so close to the Lord and the hardest working person I`ve ever met. He is the perfect example of a leader and most importantly our Savior!

So this week was kind of interesting. I`ve recently had a tooth bugging me (don`t get worried though), so I finally decided to go see the dentist. Now, something you gotta know about Japan is that they don`t necessarily have the best teeth in the world, and you might be in trouble if you end up in the wrong dentist office haha. So I was a little nervous about going to one in the first place considering we don`t have a clue in the world who might be good! Ha. We called our ward mission leader, a man of about 60 years, to get his opinion. He said he had a friend who is a dentist, which means he too is going to be old. Not gonna happen! Ha. So we decide to look in the phone book yellow pages for a dentist located on the main drag, assuming he would have to be good. We went with it, hopped on our bikes and took off. When we came to the place, Narita Choro and I were both thinking otherwise haha. It was a dump of a place and if I would have went in there I might have come out with no teeth! Haha so we continued to ride around asking different people what they thought and were finally able to find a nice looking place with a good dentist :) It definitely wasn`t Dr. Frei with Lexi on the side but they did the job! ;) Don`t worry mom, my tooth is ok and the doctor said I will probably live.

We met with one of the families in the ward this week and it was awesome! The Obayashi Family. You might not believe this but they have 8 kids!! You`d think they`re livin in Utah. We had an awesome meal with them and I even got a little bit of some Japanese culture! Apparently it was some Holiday, and they have a food you eat called `ehoumaki`. It`s basically like sushi, but while you are eating it you CANNOT talk! I guess it`s for good luck :) Ha. It was way good though. We shared a message about the Atonement with them and it went really well. The Spirit was really strong and my testimony of families was strenghtened even more. The Family is the most important social unit in time and ordained of God. I`m so grateful I can live with my family forever!

We still don`t have the most investigators at the moment, although we did pick up a new one this week. He is from Madagascar! His name is Fred and he is the most humble person I`ve ever met. His Japanese isn`t the best, and His English gets by so that`s what we teach him in. We commited him to baptism but weren`t able to make a date with him. He is going to pray about it though and I really believe he will come through. He was baptized into the Protestant church when he was younger so he already knows a little bit about Christ. We taught him about the Restoration. I didn`t know much about the Restoration before the mish, but as I learn more and more about it, I love how it is just so perfect!! I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, and restored the same church that existed when Christ was on the earth. I know that the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and is living proof of the reality of the First Vision. I love this Gospel!! God lives and loves us. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Take care and have an awesome week!!

Elder Ovard

Time goes fast, Work is slow!

Well I blinked my eyes and another week is down. How is everybody doing??!! Things are pretty chilly over here in Japan right now. There is loads of snow and I think it even gets to be like -10 degrees C!!! Yikes! Ha. It makes the work a little bit harder but what can you do?
As fast as time goes by, the work is a little slow right now here in our area, Morioka. We met the only investigator that was left for us, Endo, last week and it will be a little bit of a challenge with him. He`s been an investigator for a year now and I`m not sure how much he wants to recieve baptism. We committed him to a date for the 13th of Feb., but he says he`s at 55% right now and when he gets to 80% he`ll get baptized. So we`re gonna have to be real bold with him and not mess around. Other than that, we really don`t have a whole lot going on. We spend most of our days finding- streeting and housing, and visiting less-active members. My comp and I are just hoping and praying that God will pour out a few more blessings upon us so that we can start to have some success. Our Zone is doing really well right now, so we just need to catch up ourselves!! Haha. It is a challenge though both being new to the area and not really knowing much about it nor the branch. We have Zone Conference this week so hopefully it will go well!! :
I really enjoy being with a Japanese comp. My language skills still haven`t gone through the roof, but I do feel like it helps to be with a native and speak Japanese all the time. His English isn`t all that bad either! Haha he loves America. Like- he LOVES AMERICA!!! Haha he is really funny about it but all he wants to do is be American haha. Sometimes we hear about missionaries getting yellow fever for the girls in the country in which they are serving, but he has the fever even though he`s still in Japan!! Haha he can`t get over the blonde hair and blue eyes haha. He`s really funny. He wants to go to BYU-H after the mish so I`m gonna try and teach him a little more English. He`s a real good kid and I`ve already learned a lot from him and his hard work.
Yesterday we went with a couple members to visit a member who is in bad physical condition and can`t really make it to church. We gave her the sacrament, and then a Priesthood blessing. It was a real gloomy day, but as we finished the blessing and said `Amen`, we opened our eyes and the sun was shining right down on us. It was so amazing!! God was really there. I`m grateful for the Priesthood in my life and the blessing it is to others. I love you all and hope all is well!!! Take Care.
Elder Ovard

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

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

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.