December 15, 2014

This is the email and pics we got from Jarek yesterday. This must be the Jarek, I don't usually see. He was like this when he was a toddler but as he got older it kinda went away and I guess the mission is bringing this side of him back :)
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Well guess who got to be Santa Claus this week?!? Yup it was me!! It so much fun to be santa! I got to act in a play and I knew what I was suppose to do but unfortunatley the whole play was in Japanese so sometimes my acting was a little bit off but it was a really good play super funny and soo much fun!! We also went and caroled at a old people house/old persons house i dont know how to say it but it was a lot of fun singing in japanese is so much fun I love it, as missionaries we sung the first verse of silent night in English and there are 6 missionaries in our district the three people that know English are Me and my companion and our ZL from tahiti, so not that our voices are terrible or anything, average at best but when you throw in 3 Japanese singing as well lets just say that we did our best!! haha no but really it was pretty good!

 

Last P-day we went to the Asahiyama Zoo!! so much fun I just love the Zoo ehh it was ok there was some cool stuff but i feel like we could have gotten through the zoo so much faster if we didn't watch everything for soo long but I shouldn't complain should just enjoy every moment because transfer 1 is over on wednesday only 15 more to go, probably not gonna change and neither is my companion but still one transfer down time really does fly I can't believe it is P-day already!!

 

Most of our Investigators are moving along pretty slowly we have about three that are really progressing everytime that we meet with them and then we have about 4 more who either progress a little bit or just are really resistant to what we are saying but it is ok I love teaching and throwing my few words in every lesson!! Housing this week was fun every week gets better because I know how to say more and more, we pinged a house and a white dude came to the door and said `hey arent you guys LDS missionaries,.. I am a little busy right now but welcome to Asahikawa.` me and my companion were so baffled we didnt even know what to say haha. Another Split this week as well with Elder Roopina From Tahiti he is a really good missionary and he is almost dead he is on transfer 14 now and 15 on wednesday I wish he had longer cause he is really cool!! Anyways that is the big news for the week love you all hope life is great!!

 

 

 Last P-day we went to the Asahiyama Zoo!

Guess who got to be Santa Claus this week?!? Yup it was me!

 

 

December 7, 2014

 

 Got this short email from Jarek this Sunday. He must really be enjoying his mission. Which is great!! Just miss him. Hard to see him growing up away from home and not being part of it :'(

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It was another great week and a really fast week too!!! Every week just flies by it is soo crazy almost done with transfer 1 already time really does fly! This week was fun because I got to go on a split with Elder Dobashi it was a fun day because talking in Japanese is hard but we were able to communicate with his broken English and my broken Japanese!! That day was super fun because we got to do some sports dendo, we played ping pong with one of there investigators so that was a lot of fun we also had a 2 hour poem session with the sisters investigator team up lesson it was so interesting because I had absolutely no idea what was going on and they wanted me to share a poem too!!! They said English was fine but umm... for those that know me well they know that I have no talent when it comes to poems or anything that is artistic like that. So I just recited a memorized scripture Psalms chp 23 I thought it sounded cool plus they probably didn't have a clue what I said so it was ok.

 

I'm getting better at this housing thing I understand some stuff when people talk and I can respond sometimes now!! but there are still the houses when the person just goes off and I'm just like what but it is ok because it is fun!! We went to a recycle shop this week and there were some many cool things for really good prices there were Nintendo Wii's for 39 dollars I was totally blown away that was so cheap and there were Nintendo DS's for 19 soo cheap!! The temptation is real!!! hahah jk but ya this week was fun a lot of the usual stuff but a lot of fun stuff as well!

 

Love Elder Stevens

November 28, 2014

His Thanksgiving dinner

November 28, 2014

These are pics of  Elder Jarek Stevens and his companion Elder Horne.

November 28, 2014

 

Wow the weeks really do fly by!! This week was awesome as usually it is always great when you having fun and completely immersed in the gospel! Hard work but still so worth it I just absolutely love the feeling of finishing a day and just being like no regrets left nothing on the field, that sort of feeling is my absolute favorite! We had the AP's at our appartment this week they are awesome they are super smart and just great missionaries I love them so much!! This week was a pretty normal week nothing extraordianry happened execpt we did get a new investigator to come to church yesterday his name is Onishi he is the happiest grandpa you would ever meet!!! I always make him laugh when I say Chinpun Kanpun which means gibberish he taught me that word so when ever he looks to me and says wakaru?? I respond, most of the time sukoshi wakaru kedo mada chinpun kanpun(i understood a little bit but still gibberish.) and he always laughs soo hard don't know why but I just love making him laugh it is awesome!!

 

This week was super warm actually a was super happy because of that. Tried this thing called a pizamon it is probably the closest thing to cheap pizza that I'm gonna get in Japan soo ya I was pretty happy when I tried that!! Also we got a goach(a meal) we an investigator this week he is getting us pizza so I was pretty happy when that happened I just love Japanese people!! But My favorite snack that I have had so far in Japan is miny pancake thing with syrup and butter in the middle they are just so delicous and and they are only a dollar!!

 

For Thanksgiving this week Me and Elder Horne when to H's Cafe which is this restaurant with a giant american Flag and we both got the biggest burgur that they had I have pictures of it so I will show them. But ya that was this week they go by so fast it is absolutely crazy!!

 

Anyways love you all hope everything is going great!!

 

Love

Elder Stevens

 

Pic of my bean shower

 

November 17, 2014

Heard from Jarek yesterday. What a funny kid. I just had to laugh with him and then cried cuz we miss him so much. Just can't imagine him hopping around on one leg.

Week 2 in Japan is down we had a lot of fun this week! We had 2 different yoga classes very very interesting the first yoga class we hit our bodies for the first 20 or so minutes then it got a little bit normal with the usual yoga stuff but it still definately wasn't any kind of yoga class that I've ever done in America. The next yoga class was laughter yoga and this class oh jeez I don't even know how to explain it was just so wierd we basically just hopped around and laughed at each other that was super awkward for me but you just have to make the best out of that situation.

 

The weeks fly by in my opinion the days are sometimes super long and sleep I forgot what it feels like to sleep in with out a worry or a care. Hahah but anyways it was a pretty long week we had a lot of time to do housing, not gonna say that it is my fav. but its fun i guess, you get to meet a lot of interesting people so that is pretty fun, a lot of people will listen until you say you are a missionary then they say like oh religion i have no interest, and then you get the few people who tell you to go home or something like that. Then there are the really nice people that listen and after say I'm good. I think my favorite one so far is I'm house sitting i guess people do that in Japan or it is the poorest excuse I have ever heard!! haha

 

Well fun week still wish I could just speak this tough language! But Anyways love you all and I will send some pictures next week!

 

Elder Stevens

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Good to hear AF is doing so well!! I hope I get to be a part of the baptisms but it seems like people accept and then it has to get postponed because they don't come to church enough but ya anyways I do teach english class every week it is pretty scary IDK i hate teaching small groups of people it is hard for me. I the food I have eaten has be good execpt one plate of food that had some kind of paste and raw tuna on top it was awful but I choked it down because I was starving. We really don't do all that much aside from street house and appointments. The weather is pretty accurate. There is about a foot that stuck to the ground but they do a pretty good job clearing the streets and the roads though. I ridden old bikes but we are on foot now until the end of winter so ya. I am doing well the language barrier is really tough though I just wish I were english speaking sometimes it would be so much easier for me i think sometimes.. Anyways I think that you send stuff the the mission home then they send it to the missionaries. I love you guys and sorry mom I will try to remember to put the name on the list I just copied and pasted last week and forget that I missed the name the week before.

Love you sooo much wish I had already been out for 23 months 

 

 Elder Stevens

 

November  9, 2014

First real email from Jarek since he has been in Japan. He is all grown up and I'm not there to see him. This is real tough for me. But I love that he is so excited to be there in Japan and has really enjoyed his first week there.
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Wow it was an amazing first week I have absolutely no idea what is really going on I can pick up a some grammar and some vocab that I have learned but it really is amazing how little you actually know when you get here!!

 

We got to Japan wednesday night then thursday we had orientation until about 4 and after that we went and did some contacting I was super nervous to do the contacting it was hard too, because after you said something when they talked back you like don't understand what they said! Friday we split up and went to our different areas my first area is Asahikawa which is one of the coldest areas in the mission so im super excited for that. we have like 20 investigators right now!! We have had about 6 visits with investigators over the 3 days that I have been in Asahikawa I love visiting with the people the first visit the guy spoke really good english so i was able to speak a bit of english and that was really good. we went from one baptismal date to 3 baptismal dates so I guess I came at the right time haha but really I was able to testify a bit during those lessons where we set up the dates for baptism and it was awesome!! My companion and I taught the advanced English class on friday night, it was fun to speak english. On sunday I got to do a self intro in japanese and also bear my testimony I was super nervous for that but it was fun to do that!! I am so excited to be in Japan even though I don't know what is going on all the time I am so excited to be here right now!!

 

I used Chop sticks for the first time, I am not terrible at eating with them I was able to eat everything with them so that was good! Everything I have eaten so far has been absolutely delicious! My companion is Elder Horne, he is from Arizona and he as been out for 6 transfers he is on his 7th, he is really cool and he is super smart and a hard worker! We live with two other elders, Elder Roopinia and Elder Dobashi they are the zone leaders Elder Roopinia is from Tahiti and Elder Dobashi is from Saitama Japan. Our Apartment is the second biggest one in our mission so that is really nice.

 

I know this church is true and I know that with the Lord's help that I will be able to speak this language and help more people come unto Christ I love you all and hope everything is going great!!

 

-Elder Stevens