Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving. They don`t celebrate it here in Japan as it is an American holiday, but Elder Juchau and I were still able to have ourselves a little Thanksgiving Feast :). It wasn`t with out a little excitement though haha. My wonderful mom sent us a couple cans of turkey with potatoes and stuffing, but there was only one problem with the turkey- our can opener wasn`t the best haha. After Juchau Choro basically Hercules-ed the first can open, the can-opener was gonzo. We didn`t have anything else to open the next can with so our next thought was to go ask the neighbors if we could borrow theirs haha. We knocked on the door right next to our apartment, stood there with our broken can-opener and can of turkey and tried to show her what the problem was haha. The lady who came to the door said she didn`t have anything so we tried another door but as we did so the first lady came back out with something in her hand. We took it and as we started heading back to our apartment we noticed it definitley wasn`t your average American can opener haha. It looked like more of a knife or some dangerous kind of weapon haha. We used it for what it was worth though and with a little exertion were finally able to get the turkey out of the can! Haha. Definitely not your usual Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma and Grandpa`s house but it still did the job :) Thanks mom!
Things are moving forth with Kanno Arata-San. We met with him and jointed with one of our Returned Missionaries, Terai Jun, and were able to get his parents situation figured out and underway! I don`t know what the difference was but this time when we asked him about his parents he sounded like it would be no problem getting their permission! It made me so happy. We`re gonna send a package with a letter from us and a few different things to his parents so that they can get a little bit of a better idea about what their son is doing. We`re gonna work toward him being baptized on Christmas day!!
Other than Kanno Arata, the work is still going well and we`re definitely stayin busy as always. We find lots of good people every week, the hard part is just getting them to continue to meet and learn. It`s all good though. Tomorrow is District Meeting and I can hardly wait. Ha jk. It`s kind of stressful to prepare and get things ready, but I always learn so much from doing them. It always seems like the one who prepares something benefits the most from it. Maybe that`s why God called me to this position- cause I need lots of help! Haha. Thank you all for all your love and support. I have the best family and friends in the world! I`m so grateful for all of you. Hope you have an awesome week!!
Elder Ovard

Worth the wait!

Well it`s a couple days late but I think it was worth the wait!! The past couple days we have had leadership training up in Sendai so our P-Day got moved to today (Wednesday). The good thing is- we are able to be emailing in Tagajo today because the library is open!! So we didn`t have to go clear up to Sendai.
It has been such an awesome week with the work. We have made so much progress with Kanno Arata!! In the past we have just been doing lessons at His doorway, but this week we told him we would like to either meet at our church, or in his apartment. He let us in His apartment and I think it made all the difference in the world. It was so much nicer to be able to sit down with him and be able to talk about the gospel. He opened up a lot more and the Spirit was definitley a lot stronger. Earlier in the week we got a little bolder with him about baptism, and yesterday we had such an awesome lesson. He has been taught everything besides the commandments so we were planning on teaching him a couple commandments, but when we got there the lesson took a whole different route. I felt like we needed to review Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Then we read the promise in Moroni 10:4-5 and talked a lot about the Spirit and how God will answer his prayers. The Spirit was definitely there and we could tell Kanno Arata was feeling it. When we asked him to pray to know the truthfullness of these things for himself, there was a long pause. He sat there for about 5 minutes not saying anything. I was tempted to say something and brake the silence but I decided to just sit there and wait for him to answer. He finally did. He said he would do it. He didn`t say anything special or anything, but the Spirit was there and He was feeling it. He knew that God would answer his prayers and it meant a lot to him. He is such an awesome kid!!! His baptism date is for the 27th but it`s not going to be going down. We still have a couple more things to work out but He`s definitley getting closer!!
The work is good, the church is true, God is our Father, and Christ is our Savior. It`s real!! I know these things are true and I`m so grateful for them in my life. I love you all!
Elder Ovard

Good News!

I recieved this facebook message this morning.  I was so excited to get it and I know that Elder Ovard will be so happy to hear the good news too.  We really miss Sister Hiroko.  Iwaki was such a fabulous area for Blake to serve and we have learned so much about member missionary work.

Sister Ovard
Hi!

How have you been?

I have a good news for you.

Ms kowaguchi is going to get baptized in Nov,20.

Do you remember her name?

I'm so excited and can't wait to see her baptism on Saturday.

When Elder Ovard and Elder Mitsuda was serving the Lord in Iwaki, Ms Kowaguchi wanted to be baptized.When Elder Ovard and Elder Mitsuda was in Iwaki, Branch President was going to baptize her. But she hoped that missionary would baptize her.She answered my question two days ago.That's why she refused baptism. She is very happy now and will feel always God's love.
I really wanted to let you know about Baptism for Ms Kowaguchi.

I think that Elder Ovard and Elder Mitsuda will be glad to know about her baptism.
Sincerely,

Hiroko

Package arrived

We recieved the package last Monday from Blake.  It only took 4 days to get here.  I am a liitle worried he still hasn't recieved my Thanksgiving package.  He ususally gets packages really easy.  (Maybe someone wanted his stuffing and potato pearls. haha) His package to us was the best.  He sent a tape with the package and he sounded so happy and was having fun.  I think he sounds the same and the kids think he has an asian accent.  He talked to us while he cooked food (He loves food)  He recorded a talk he gave in church (we didn't understand a word of that)  He loves his new companion and they laughed a lot.  It was great!
He sent home a lot of ties.  He said ties in Japan are only $1.00.  So I guess I don't need to send him any ties.  He sent a candy called hi-chews.  The kids just loved them.  He can send more of those home anytime.  He sent Austin home a Muzuno shirt and then little Japanese trinkets.  I guess we had Christmas early.  It was a lot of fun for us.  I know he doesn't have time to send things home.  He said he had been working on the package when he was in Iwaki. 

Hello, Hello

How`s everybody doin?! Man we rolled into Sendai today and we`ve already got Christmas trees goin up! Haha I guess it`s just about that time of year huh. They also had some Christmas music playin and what not...American of course! They had `Santa Clause is Comin to Town` goin. Japanese English is pretty funny. Of course the music is correct, but sometimes they try and put English phrases up and it gets pretty funny :).
So it`s been kind of a disappointing week with our investigators this week. We`re still meeting with Kanno Arata a lot, and wanted so badly for him to come to church this week but when we went over to his place on Saturday evening, he had caught a cold :( It was a big bummer cause we really wanted to talk about baptism with him and try and get him to church. He should be feeling better this week though so we`ll just go from here!

We also got a call from Mika Kumagai, the mom with a couple kids, saying that she couldn`t meet anymore. I think her husband might have had something to do with it but we won`t be meeting with her anymore. She said that her family is Buddhist, and that she can`t do Christianity. We get that a lot but it was still hard to hear. I just testified to her about our message and I could tell she was feeling something. She is still a sweet lady. Maybe later!

Saturday afternoon we called the dude who came to church last week to see if he was gonna come this week. It didn`t go over to well haha. The old man started yelling at me and tried to tell me we were the same as some other crazy church! Haha I tried to explain things to him but he wouldn`t hardly give me a chance.

We also never met with another one of our high school investigators, Ono Tomoya. We had an appointment with him but he had high school sports come up. He told us he`d call us when he has time. He`s a way good kid and sticks to his word so hopefully he`ll come through! He was golden, but has got way busy and we haven`t been able to meet with him for a few months now. So it`s been kinda discouraging these past couple days.
We did have an awesome Zone Conference this week though! It was huge. The Sendai Zone is by far the biggest in the mission. It was so good to be able to see everyone. I even saw my trainer! Haha I got a pic with him and my comp. 3 generations! Ha. At the Conference we get to see pictures of all the baptisms our mission has had since the previous Zone Conference. Guess what?! Yasushi-San, an investigator Elder Mitsuda and I found in Iwaki, got baptized!!!!! I was so happy!! :) It`s feels so good to know that the work you do isn`t over when you leave. You never know what will happen from the hard work you put forth.
My testimony has grown so much this week. I have particularily come to love Preach My Gospel. It is an awesome book! I have not only learned tons about missionary work, but about the church and how to obtain a strong testimony! There is so much good in PMG and I encourage all of you to study it. I`m so grateful for it and the help it has given me. I love the Gospel! I love my Heavenly Father. I love my Savior. My comp and I talk about what a stud Jesus was. He`s the man! He`s our perfect example and I want to become more like Him. I know He lives and is our Redeemer, our Advocate with the Father. May we all feel of His love everyday of our lives. I love you all!
Elder Ovard

Konnichiwa!!

How is everyone?! Wow what an awesome week it has been!! Things are going so well and Juchau Choro and I have seen so many miracles this week. We have been so blessed and it is such a good feeling!
So on Tuesday, President and Sister Tateoka caught us off guard and stopped by our apartment for morning study haha. I didn`t have my tie on yet, and Juchau Choro just happened to be washing his clothes that day haha. I threw my tie on as quick as I ever have, and Elder Juchau threw on some slacks. Then we opened the door haha. It was quite the surprise.
Training a new missionary is so awesome! They have so much fire to go out and work and it`s so good. I also feel like they carry a special Spirit with them comin out of that MTC cause we`ve just seen so many miracles lately. Saturday we hit up the batting cages with one of our investigators, Kanno Arata. He`s a first year college student. It was a blast! Haha. It`s definitely been a little while though. I haven`t been able to move for the past 2 days ha! That same day we had to go get oil tanks filled up for our apartment heater and walk back with them. I`ve never been so sore in my life!
This week we found 2 new investigators that pretty much just came out of nowhere. We met an old man on the street wearing a New York Mets hat, told him to come to church, and He came! Then we also met a sweet old lady on the street a couple days ago, talked to her for a bit, she gave us loads of good food, and left. She didn`t really have any interest in our message. Then a few days ago we saw here driving in her car pulling up to her house. We went and talked to her, she invited us in, fed us some more awesome food, talked a little bit about our message, and said we could come back later this week!! So cool!
We also had a miracle with one of our baptismal dates, Mika Kumagai. She`s a Mom of 2 little girls. We`ve only met with her at her door but we need to start meeting with her either at the church or in her house. We told her that and it didn`t seem like in the house was going to work. She said her husband will have no interest. We were able to get an appointment for at the church this Thursday!!! It was another blessing.
My faith has been strenghtened so much. If we have faith we can do anything. Something I learned this past week is that faith is not only believing, but also doing. We need to believe in something, act on it, and then we can know of a surety. Miracles have not ceased. I`m so grateful for my Loving Heavenly Father who has blessed me and helped me so much throughout my life. I know that He knows us, loves us, and wants us to be happy. I love this Gospel!!! Have an awesome week!
Elder Ovard

HOLY SMOKES!

Sometimes our emails give a little more information that feels in the blanks of his blog email.  I thought I would share.

my beloved parents,
hello!!! wow sorry about teh email jsut barely. It was pretty lame.  So, things are so good right now!!! REally, I never would have guessed I would be training after 4 transfers, but here we go!1 Haha. Its been so fun. Juchau is a way cool guy.  I really feel like we can start to see some progress around here now.

Blake tried to buy a bike last week.  I thought someone had stolen his debit card because he never spends money and we put a freeze on his debit card.  After sent a few emails to the mission president we found that it was him trying to use his card and get a much needed bike.  The mission home suggested that the bike would cost 600-700 dollars.  Blake is always watching his pennies.  I had to smile when I saw how much he spent.

I got a bike! Haha it was a little bit of a rodeo but it all worked out :) It was only like 300 dollars and seems like a nice bike. Sorry about all the hassel. I felt bad but everything worked out. haha mom i loved it when they told me you loved me.
So we`ve become pretty good friends with some of the members. The Hirata family. Its only the mom and dad right now. Their daughter is serving at Temple Square!!! If you`re ever up there you could say hi. They are the hair cutters. Have a way nice place and are so nice to us missionaries. I love them.
Man I cant believe Lonne and Nancy! Thats so cool. Im so pumped for them! Haha. Tell them congrats for me. If I ever get a minute Id like to write them a letter. Things really have been so busy though. As a trainor and D.L, I dont have much free time. Its prob whats best for me though. Keeps me focused on the work. Dont worry about me! :) Im fine and everything is good.
Sounds like you all have been crazy busy back home huh. Wow.  Heavenly Father knows us and knows whats best for us so as long as we`re doin whats right, he`ll take care of us.
I really want to get this package sent out to yall today. Sorry its been so long. It really isnt a good package either. I`ll get a tape though so hopefully you enjoy that. there wont be a whole lot else. I dont really have time to throw something good together or anything. I feel bad. Oh well.
I hope all is well back home. Sorry I`m not very good at communicating things well. It will be so much nicer in a couple months when its just over the phone!!! I can`t wait. It will be here before we know it. Just always remember that I love you and am so thankful for all you do for me. I will never be able to give back what you have done for me. Love you tons!!!!
Blake