May 24, 2015

Fun week and a fast week we had zone conference in Kushiro this week
so travel took up a lot of our usual mission work time had a BBQ this
week with one of our investigators his name is Ewao and he is a 70
year old man who is super active and loves doing stuff especially
fishing!! We had a lot of good meat even had some delicious intestines
yum!!! That was the big highlight of the week other than that it was a
lot of the usual and nothing that crazy happened.

At zone conference we got workshops from president nakatsuka and
sister nakatsuka and the assistants they were pretty good we talked
about into and unto when inviting others to come unto Christ and
talked about health and good food and exercise so that was cool. The
main thing that I took from it was president nakatsuka's last workshop
on teaching a second grader the gospel we have really been talking
about teaching but teaching a lot more simply lately, most Japanese
people have no concept of God or church things so we have to teach in
the most simple ways, i love how powerful simple words and doctrinal
statements  sometimes we get caught up in deep "I have to prove you
with everything I know" teaching but the simple truth that God lives
and he loves us so simple and it sums up everything because he loves
us he gave us everything we have and we will receive!! Isn't this
gospel just wonderful!! Anyways I love you all and hope you all have a
great week!!

Elder Stevens

                                                                    Zone conference

                                                              Bbq with Ewao

May 18,  2015

Hey everyone what's up?? Another week full of awesome experiences!
Last Pday we had lunch with one of our investigators and he set up a
bbq for this Friday with him so I am super excited! And on Tuesday we
had a lesson with Kusano he hugged me three times!! The best part for
me was when he asked me what would you say if I said God doesn't
exist? And basically I said I would say yo man he exists and I know
that, obviously more politely but anyways he was like oh dang I just
felt something man it just hit me like a 20 ton train going 100mph
man, obviously more politely but anyways it was a great lesson!! The
next really big highlight was Friday night we had sports night
activity and we had 11 people come 3 English class students and 8
investigators and we had one member come too so that was good!! It was
a lot of fun and it was a great way to make good relations and teach
about the gospel naturally! Next highlight was Sunday gave a talk in
sacrament I always thought when I become a missionary I would stop
shaking and being so nervous when I give talks but I was wrong I was
shaking so bad for this talk I don't even know why but it was all good
I talked about the faith, repentance, and grace and mercy and through
those steps how we can use the Savior's Atonement I think it went
great and tons better than my first talk too, but the even greater
thing is Nohara family came to see my talk they are technically the
other missionaries investigators but during activities and stuff I get
the opportunity to talk with them and during sports night I invited
them to my talk and it was the first time they came to church so we
were all really happy!!

Anyways it was a great week I hope everyone else had a great one as well!!

                                                                             Sports Night

                                      Love my companion and this pic reminds me of home "love you Trist"

   Brother Kato drew this picture of the missionaries during ward
council, he is one of the funniest members I know

May 10, 2015

[Mom's note:  Had the opportunity to skype with Jarek on May 9th for Mother's Day. It was so good to hear his voice and see his face. He is so happy and is just loving the mission. We are extremely blessed to have technology so we can communicate with him weekly not sure I can handle waiting for a letter. AND THIS IS THE LONGEST EMAIL FROM HIM YET :)]

Hey everyone week 36 is already over and it was a blast Monday we had
a zone activity and Tuesday we had our zone training meeting and it
was great my dendo Fire "missionary work fire" yea it doesn't sound as
good in English but yea my dendo Fire is blazing right now I freaking
love missionary work!!! Wednesday through Saturday was full of good
and bad 2 of our progressing investigators canceled meetings so we
that was bad but we went out and found 3 people and made some good
specific return appointments so even though we didn't get to see our
investigators hopefully these new people will be added to our pool of
wonderful people to talk to! Sunday was great got to call home and
Skype with the family and then Otani came to church it was great he
had a great time and since president nakatsuka was visiting he got to
meet the mission prez and his wife so that was great!!! One of the
members kids got his baptism yesterday and I was able to help with the
confirmation so that was fun and afterward we had dinner at that
families house! Also one of our investigators, he is a 70 year old
dude but he is still very healthy went fishing and caught a bunch of
fish and came and gave us 5 fish he caught and I ate one this morning
it was delicious just hate the bones! But anyways it was a good week
with some disappointing things but always the good outweighs the bad!!

This week I read the January 2014 ensign and in the first presidency
message president Uchtdorf talks about setting goals but my favorite
part from it was the proverb "The best time to plant a tree is 20
years ago. The second-best time is now.?h We can always change no
matter who, when or what we are doing now, because as Elder Renlund
said last conference "God indeed cares a lot more about who we are and
about who we are becoming than about who we once were." I find a lot
of comfort in these words and as a missionary you have a great
opportunity to immerse yourself in gods work and change we have a
article that is given to every missionary entitled "the fourth
missionary" it talks about all the blessings your can receive when you
serve with all your heart might mind and strength and how by the end
of your mission you can not only change your behavior but you can
change your nature. I love the opportunity everyday to help people
change and come closer to Christ and I love the opportunity I have
each day to change myself and try to get those Christ-like attributes
and although I am not perfect I know that through Christ, who
strengthens us in all trials, even I can be perfect, I am so grateful
for the atonement and all its many blessings, I love you all and hope
that you all have a great week:)!!!!

Elder Stevens

                                                                  Zone Activity

                                                                      My Girlfriend

                                                     Miyabi the kid who recieved baptism

May 3, 2015
[Mom's note: Sorry, I totally fell behind so here are the last 3 weeks]


 Another week in the field transfers came and I am with elder tsutsumi
for another transfer!!!! Other than that nothing much changed this
week he usual missionary life except for Friday we went to a place
called Rubeshibe it was 30km from our apartment on bike it was so good
we were able to meet with a couple of non-members and do some service
for one of them she was so very grateful!! But what is even greater is
that one of them came to church and she brought her son who hasn't
been to church in 4 years so that was a really good experience but
other than that nothing really out of the ordinary besides seeing
small and little miracles everyday happened:) I am running out of time
but I love you all and hope that you all enjoy great success and
happiness!!:)

                                       Elder  Tsutsumi  and Elder Stevens
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April 26, 2015

 Another great and quick week in the mission field! We had splits
basically all week so for me that meant a lot of finding but during
that finding we were able to make a couple of good appointments and
teach a couple of lessons. Hoping we can pick up some new
investigators from that group. We also went to Kushiro this week for
district conference which was cool I got to see how the church efforts
in Japan are improving and coming along it really is so different from
American church. Anyways that took a good 2 days out of regular
mission work in our area and splits took 2 other days leaving this
week at a pday and 2 days of good area mission work, but in that time
we were able to teach a couple of lessons oh and we had president
interviews this week too that was fun:) anyways other than that there
really isn't that much to report on I love you. All and hope that you
all have a great week!!!

                                          2 bls of rice with some kind of sauce ( hopefully
                                          he didn't eat it all by himself ;)

                                          At Conference

                                            Good looking bunch! They look like a boy band ;)
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April 19, 2015

Shout out to my Little Bro who got his mission call this week, he got called to serve in the Fukuoka Japan Mission he is such a boss and he is going to be the greatest missionary Ever!!!!!

Well after that nothing can match it we got Ipads this week so it was kinda sucky for Missionary work we had to go to Obihiro so that took 2 days of being away from our area so that sucked but we were still able to see 8 of our investigators so it was a pretty good week!! I really cant even focus on this email right now I am too excited for my little Bro so I am going to put some pictures on and call it a week I love you all and hope that you have a great Week!!!!!

Elder Stevens

March 29, 2015

:O wow its week 30 so crazy!! Not anything too crazy happened this past couple of days we did have a meal at the church for all the members that are leaving to go to college or moving because of new jobs it is crazy we are losing so many members here in the branch it is going to be soo small!! But it is okay we will get more people to come dont worry;)

Had a couple of really good lessons this week the one that was the best this week was probably Otani's lesson he prayed for the first time since we have started teaching and it was probably one of the best prayers that I have heard an investigator give he is a really super smart awesome person!!. Anyways I love you all and will talk to ya next week until then I hope that you all see amazing miracles and have a great week!!!

 

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April 5, 2015

 

[Mom's note: This is the Jarek, I don't know ;) SOOOO funny!! ]

 

Another Week Down in the books of the Mission life and still having a blast!!! This week really flew by we were able to pick up 2 new and stronger investigators One is an old dude about 55 or 60 years old loves having fun and dances and he loves foreigners haha he was way fun to talk to, and the other guy is a younger dude he knows a lot about the Bible so I am excited to have some new people to teach and talk too!! Still have our lesson weekly with Otani we just started the Commandments he is slowly coming along we had a sports night and he came so that was a lot of fun!! Other than those people we had a lot of fun housing and walking and trying to meet with some of the NA's, so excited for this week we are going to get bikes this week so Missionary work just got that much more EFFECTIVE!!!

A bit about my new companion he is a convert he converted about 4 years ago, he was a `kinjin` or a golden investigator he accepted the gospel as soon as he met the missionaries he is on transfer 6 or about 9 months in the mission. He loves reading the book and learning, loves soccer and the only english he knows are hilarious jokes!!

Hope every one is having a great week and if not make this week better!!!! I love you all talk to you next week!!

1. Me and my Companion Elder Tsutsumi

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April 12, 2015

 

[Mom's note: We waited all night and didn't get his email until this morning (4/13/15). He sent it late his time. He must've had a long PDay doing stuff. I love seeing him mature spiritually. Though it makes me miss him more :'/ ]

General Conference this week in Japan!!! Looks like it is time to start trying to find a Wife!!! hahah Jk but really Marriage focus right??! I love GC and I have never been so excited to watch it in my whole freaking life and so sad that it was over!! 'Latter Day Saints Keep on trying' by Dale G. Renlund was my favorite talk.

Some years ago a wonderful young man named Curtis was called to serve a mission. He was the kind of missionary every mission president prays for. He was focused and worked hard. At one point he was assigned a missionary companion who was immature, socially awkward, and not particularly enthusiastic about getting the work done.

One day, while they were riding their bicycles, Curtis looked back and saw that his companion had inexplicably gotten off his bike and was walking.Silently, Curtis expressed his frustration to God; what a chore it was to be saddled with a companion he had to drag around in order to accomplish anything. Moments later, Curtis had a profound impression, as if God were saying to him, ?You know, Curtis, compared to me, the two of you aren?t all that different.? Curtis learned that he needed to be patient with an imperfect companion who nonetheless was trying in his own way.

My invitation to all of us is to evaluate our lives, repent,and keep on trying. If we don?t try, we?re just latter-day sinners; if we don?t persevere, we?re latter-day quitters;and if we don?t allow others to try, we?re just latter-day hypocrites.¹⁰ As we try, persevere, and help others to do the same, we are true Latter-day Saints. As we change,we will find that God indeed cares a lot more about who we are and about who we are becoming than about who we once were.¹¹

This was My favorite part of the Talk I am Partial to all talks with the Atonement (and missionaries because I am a Missionary!!!) because I love the Atonement so much but This talk just reminded me of how much we all need to improve at all times and how imperfect we all are, we are all fighting and living the good and the hard moments of life and we all try in our different ways and Because of Christ's Atonement we can all receive the help to be better everyday, and eventually when all is said and done become perfected and live with god again! I know this is true and I am so happy for the privilege to be a missionary and share this with the people of Japan!!!

I love you all and hope that you are having a great week Keep being amazing!

 

 

March 24, 2015

Elder Stevens's had a special conference so we did not hear from him on the Sunday evening like we always do. The mission president's wife posted on FB not to panic if we did not hear from our missionary. That they were instructed to write us Wed in Japan, which is Tuesday here :)
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New Week new Transfer!! Transfer 4 has begun and it is with Elder Tsutsumi he is currently on transfer 6 and I am on transfer 4 I am staying in Kitami and I am excited to be able to work with him! He speaks almost no english he knows a little bit but so far only we have only talked in Japanese, so that is great! His Bday was on Monday as well so bought some cake and celebrated it yesterday!! All the missionaries went to Sapporo this week for Ipad training it was a lot of fun we learned a lot about effective ways to use the Ipads and good ways to resist the Temptations with them as well. I had the Wonderful opportunity to say the opening prayer for the training, I said it in Japanese and it was in front of all the missionaries and 2 members of the quorum of the 70 and there wives probably the most nervous that I have every been but to all those missionaries that do come to Japan that Ipad training was recorded and will be used for Ipad training in Japan so if you come you get the lucky opportunity to see me pray and be super nervous!! Yayy!!! 

Anyways after training me and My companion missed our bus and got lost in Sapporo but it was okay because we are smart and found our way back right before the Gps on the phone died but ya that was a blast love having cool experiences like that!!  But other than that nothing really big happened I was on splits with another missionary that came to japan at the same time as me so I had to take the lead in contacting people and stuff it was hard because there is still a lot of japanese that I need to learn but it did help me build some confidence in being more independent in the language but that was a lot of fun as well we basically just knocked on houses from 12-9 everyday until we went to Sapporo!!

We will be receiving Ipads middle of april and probably be using facebook in may would be my guess but thats about it from the land of Sapporo I love you all and hope that you all have a great week!!!!

Elder Stevens

1. Abashiri Jail

2. Elder Yamada and me

3. ipad training conference

4. a member's son and me

 

 

March 8, 2015


Dont have a lot of time this week for emails but here are some pics of our zone conference in Sapporo. Talk to ya all next week love you all soo much!!

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March 15, 2015

I guess several people (me, included, though, I didn't complain to him specifically) got after Elder Stevens for is super short email last week so this week, he sent this...LOL!:

I  got a lot of complaints last week for the shortness of the email, and I am soo sorry but again this week I dont have a lot of time, next week I will send some pictures of the Jail. We are going to get transfer calls this tuesday this transfer flew!! Everything is going great, I gave a talk in church about the Iron rod it was so hard to talk for 15 minutes in Japanese its still hard for me to do it in English but it was good I think?!! haha any ways went on three splits this week so it was tough meet with a lot of my investigators but we did a lot of finding and we found some really wonderful people in Japan!!

Anyways I love you all and hope that you have a great week!! D&C 6:7 read this scripture I like it!!

Elder Stevens