Niihama week 18 (I'm going to have to get a new system for this)

So as i eluded to last week, we got our very important phone calls this morning. If one were to ask why they were important, Id tell you that since i got my date to go home at the end of april, that puts me with just two transfers left. and since it doesnt make a lot of sense for me to transfer to a different area for my last transfer, this mornings transfer call determined where my last area would be. Since I have been in Niihama for 3 transfers and my companion had been here for 4 transfers, it was kind of up in the air as to who was going to go, but as it would happen, Cloward長老　is out of Niihama and off to Kakogawa. So I'll probably be in Niihama till the end and probably with the same companion by the name of Sobrino長老 he's from Brazil. from what I've heard he's kind of struggled with Japanese and English on the mission so we'll see how it goes. Either way, I'm pretty stoked for these next two transfers. I think there's a lot of stuff that we can make happen in Niihama. Its looking like i'll be here for 5 transfers so I'm going to make this area my own.
This week was pretty good. highlights include a good lesson with Kana-san at the church on saturday; she seems excited to read the Book of Mormon. Also on saturday we were housing around in the middle of nowhere when we smelled a delicious smell of some sort of baked deserts. we followed the smell into a small shop that seemed to be run by this nice lady. we asked her what kind of goods she sells, seeking to find the source of that smell. She sold a whole variety of goods from chicken nuggets to chocolate chip cookies. So Cloward長老　got some chicken nuggets and i got the cookies. Anyways. as we were leaving, she asked us if we were Christian, seeing our nametags. we told her that we were and then she proceeded to tell us about how she's studying about how to talk to your soul to talk to God and then she pulled out a weird pendant thing and said she used that thing to talk to her soul. She asked us if we could read Japanese and offered us some book but some other customers were coming in and so she told us to come back another time. She we got Dendo'd by some weird religion which there are a lot of in Japan. She wasn't very good at it though. but hey, we might go check it out if we're feeling adventurous. Then we got a call from some random guy from Pakistan. He told us to come to his shop so we did. He bought us some Indo-curry which was really good, but we had to have awkward conversation in his unintelligible English.
We also had Mizuki-chan and Hikari-chan at church again. They're buddy buddy with all the members now. so yeah! Anyway that's all I can think of for now.

Love,
Elder Horton

Release Date i s April 27th!

So earlier this week, we had interviews with President Zinke. I had been waiting for interviews to discuss when I would be returning home. And I talked with president with it but even by the end of the interview, he couldn't give me a sure answer. I was pretty annoyed by the whole thing mostly just because of the whole not knowing thing. But I just got an email from president and he confirmed my date for April 27th. So now I know. Its a weird feeling. I think i liked not knowing better. But anyways, I just thought I'd let everyone know. I haven't thought about it enough to know what day ill be landing in America. the whole time difference thing makes my head hurt.
I think i mentioned in my last email that this week was going to be a busy one and it was pretty busy. companion exchanges with Nicholes長老　and Gardner長老　who now that i think about it, sat on either side of me at the MTC way back in the day. Its always way fun to get to work with the elders you knew from all the way back then. Crazy to see how much we've grown up and yet at the same time are exactly the same.
In terms of Niihama, things are pretty chill. unfortunately, we weren't able to make contact with Megumi-san this week so we have no idea how she's doing other than that she's busy. But we were able to have a really good lesson with Kana-san about prayer. She prayed at the end of the lesson and has really good, strong beliefs. it was refreshing. Also Shinohara Mizuki-chan and her younger sister, Hikari-chan both showed up to church. even though they were really late, they went to seminary and had a really good time i think.
So things are finally starting to roll a bit and as luck would have it, transfer calls are next week. No idea whats going to happen, not even a guess. But its going to be a pretty important call and if you don't know why, maybe i'll fill you in next week. I feel like I'm leaving stuff out, but lets just say it was a fun week hope everyone else is doing well.

love,
Elder Horton

Niihama week 16

This week we had no exchanges or interviews or zone conferences or mission gatherings or anything. So we had a healthy amount of time to get out and work. For whatever reason, ever since i became companions with Elder Cloward, we havent found a single new investigator. i havent had anything like this happen on my mission since i was in Ako about a year ago. Its been pretty difficult, but we did make some good progress with some of the other people we had been working with. Unfortunately, we weren't able to meet with Kimura-san because she got busy on wednesday, which is the only day she can meet. and next wednesday, we have interviews with president zinke so that won't work either. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with her someday. But we were able to meet Megumi-san with Igari-kyoudai as a joint. it was a good lesson and she seems excited to read the book of mormon and find out for herself if its true. Also shes the same age as igari-kyoudai's wife and they're both newly married so they became friends. but unfortunately, Igari-kyoudai's wife is pregnant and has morning sickness really bad and so shes been jumping in and out of the hospital the last month or so. doesnt seem like too much fun.

then we had two people come to church! kana-san who had said she was going to come two times in the past but hadnt showed up and also Shinohara Mizuki-chan (not mitsuki) who manabe-kyoudai had talked to at game night last week. Kana-san brought her 2 year old daughter who was, of course, way adorable and everyone in the branch was all over her. so that was good and Mizuki-chan is good at making friends and made good friends with the few young women we have. over all, it was really good. So we should be seeing more of all of them. Yeah a pretty good week. next week we have 2 exchanges and interviews with president so i think cloward長老 and i only have 2 days to work together. we'll see what happens.

We're in Imabari right now and we just ate really fancy food at the top of a hotel for nicholes長老's birthday.

thats all!

love,

Elder Horton

 

 

peace

Live from Niihama weeks 13 and 14

cloward and mio-chan dressed up as santa to deliver presents to neighborhood kids.

Add Christmas eve and the Aoba's

makin mochi

hammer of justice

chainsaw of epic

Well it was nice to talk to the family last week for Christmas and it sounds like everyone is doing well and all. I don't remember at all what we did 2 weeks ago and this week, we didn't really have much time to do anything. With the time we did have, we knocked on some doors and also visited some investigators which resulted in the dropping of several people. But it was alright because I feel like we have a big list of 'investigators' but not many of them are investigating at this point so we need to get the list cleaned up and find the people who are going to progress. Then after that, we had our Christmas conference in Okayama which takes a solid two days out of our week. But a big chunk of the mission gathered together and played sports and got some training and it was good times. I mostly just played capture the flag and dodge ball. I swear, Im in pretty dang good shape right now but every time i play sports, my body hurts all over the next day. And the next day after that Christmas conference, we had a Mochi tsuki. which is where you hit rice with hammers until it turns into mochi, which is rice that has been pounded a whole lot with a hammer. then we played more games with the members who showed up to that and did some service at the Aoba's cutting wood. The Aoba's son and daughter and their spouses are visiting for new years and theyre way cool. But after all of that my body was about ready to give out.

We then celebrated new years by drinking some cheap 1$ sparkling cider, which i ended up dumping down the drain because it was gross, at 10:30. I set an alarm at 11:59 so i could celebrate new years but i slept through it.

In Japan, new years eve isnt that big of deal at all, but rather new years day and the following two days. its pretty much impossible to proselyte during these 3 days so yesterday the Aoba's had us over again and we ate some delicious sukiyaki. and i still dont know what we're going to do today and tomorrow. Guess we'll see.

This time of year isnt exactly ideal for missionary work, but its almost over. woo

 

love,

Elder Horton

 

niihama 12- ready for another 6?

So the mission was going on about how these transfers were supposed to be really small and nothing was going to happen. and Singleton and I were doing really well and were pretty excited to do a third transfer together, but the mission lies! For some reason they're doing transfers early this week so we got our calls yesterday. they're making the 4-man in Niihama into a 2-man. So Singleton and Stanford are off to a different area and Cloward長老　are I going to be sticking around and being companions. It makes sense for them to do it. because 2 missionaries can easily do all the work the 4 of us were doing since there isnt really much in Niihama at all. I'm cool with working with Cloward長老　since ive already been in the same apartment with him for 12 weeks, i know him well enough and hes cool. but Singleton長老　has probably been my favorite companion so far and im pretty bummed he's leaving. So the work gets a little jumbled putting the two area's together, but in the end we'll work more effectively this way. But being in a 2人 again is going to be lonely ;-; and what makes it worse is that because of this silly early transfer thing, Singleton and Stanford have to leave off to Okayama tonight.
Besides all that, our week was pretty cool. We got a chance to meet with Sho-kun this week and talk about some good stuff. He is awesome but apparently not very good at taking tests in school so his parents stuck him in cram school on tuesday, friday, and sunday. So church is a little hard for him at the moment. So his baptism is going to get pushed back a ways for sure.
On Saturday, we had our Christmas party! It went way better than I thought it would, except for the part where Manabe兄弟　turned it into a karaoke party for a bunch of high school girls who showed up. But I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the people we went around inviting actually showed up. we had the Shinohara family, mami-san, watanabe-san, some eikaiwa students, some less actives, and a bunch of people i didnt know. We made christmas cakes but they weren't as tasty as the ones i had last year in Ako. overall, it was a way good time, i think some good stuff happened. The members talked a lot with our investigator, Watanabe-san who got married recently so her name probably isnt Watanabe-san anymore. then she said she was coming to church, but once again, it seems to be a lot more difficult to get people to come to church than a Christmas party. Guess we'll go see whats up with her some time.
Then I guess one more thing, but after church we were having branch council and we talked about a girl who is living in a city far off from Niihama but still in our area. She's half Japanese and fluent in both and is teaching english for a year or two here. Aoba会長　was pretty worried because she hasnt been coming to church or returning calls and things werent looking particularly good. but then later in the meeting, a member knocked on the door and told us that this girl, Sister Oman had showed up. So everyone ran out to greet her and there were lots of tears and stuff and i wasnt exactly sure why but i was happy that everyone else was happy. then we had a little sacrament meeting just for her. it was a really special moment...
So that was this week. next week will be the same Niihama with a new companion.

Love,
Elder Horton

PS MERRY CHRISTMAS! cloward長老　will just be chillin the two of us this year it looks like.

...and pictures!
1. we had to forge a river...
2. and climb a mountain...
3. and jump on a trampoline ...
4. but we found a big slide and rode it.
5. and here's me at the christmas party with our cake and Mio-chan. isnt she adorable?

Still hangin out in Niiiiihammers part 11!

Transfer calls next week but the mission is trying to make this a small transfer due to christmas and whatnot so apparently only 5 companionships are going to change or something. So Elder Singleton and I will probably be hanging out for a 3rd transfer together. Then after that, I'll only have 2 left so who knows what will happen. I could just for for 5 transfers here and end it all. But looking forwards to calling everyone in 2 weeks.
This week was pretty aight. We met with some investigators and taught some pretty simple principles and confirmed that people could come to church. We got another 2 people to commit pretty solid to come, but neither of them showed up. Just the gaijin from Utah who I had to translate for again.
We did have the assistants to the president come around and hang out with us for an afternoon. We went out with Elder Lystrup and walked around Niihama for a bit talking to everyone. But since there arent many people on the streets, we mostly just got to hear about the mission and whats going on. Apparently someone I found way back in Tsuyama got baptized last weekend. Pretty cool stuff.
We weren't able to meet with Sho-kun this week because he apparently hit his head. We have an appointment with him tonight so we'll get everything figured out then.
But best of all, we had our first weekly game night this last saturday. Manabe-kyodai said he would come with 2 other people so we were waiting for him and just playing ping pong just the 4 missionaries for like 45 minutes until Kato-kyodai showed up. He's a less active and really good at ping pong. he showed us all up! so basically we got to spent like an hour and a half playing ping pong and since we shared a message with him, it was effective. next time, we're going to play some shogi. Hopefully we can get more people to come...
So things are good. I'll put some pictures up from stuff.

Love Elder Horton!

PS oh yeah, we also started a band that was going to play for the christmas party but broke up later in the week.



pictures
1. the band
2. Elder Singleton. the maple leaf, himself
3. I got stuck on drums
4. Nightly phone calls in my 'jammies

新居浜 10週間目

This week was pretty legitimate. I had a comp exchange with Cloward長老 in my area and we were able to get out and find two new investigators and had our lesson with Sho-kun, which went well. We taught him lesson 1 and he understood most the important parts he needed to for now. And we set him up with a baptismal date on Christmas. Before that, we still have stuff that needs to happen, like to talk with his parents since he's under 20 and he needs to get to church, but we have another appointment tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. But Elder Cloward and I had some good times.
Wednesday we had some time to bike out to Saijo and visit some people before eikaiwa, but then Thursday and Friday were almost completely consumed by studying, bus rides, train rides, district leader council, and district meeting. spent a lot of time sitting those two days... but on the bright side, we ate lunch at the Senior couple's place after district meeting and sister okada is way good at cooking. that was a jolly ol' time.
Then Saturday, we visited one of the people we found who said she would come to church, Kana-san, and she said she was still good to go.
Then walking around after that, we got a phone call from some random lady who must have gotten one of our fliers in her post. She asked if we were related at all to the Jehova's Witnesses. apparently she used to be a member there or something but some stuff went down and she wasn't going back but wanted a church so was going to come to ours. Her name was Takahashi-san.
Sho-kun as well said he was good to go to church so we thought we had 3 pretty solid people who should have showed up but nobody did. But some weird gaijin from Utah showed up. He didn't speak japanese so i translated for him during sacrament meeting. translating is still pretty hard for my but i got by. mostly just because the verb of the sentence comes at the end in Japanese so I usually cant even start translating until they finished the sentence so i have to wait and then by the time i finished the first sentence in english, they're already into the next sentence. anyways, my head hurt after church.
So that was last week. We've got hopes for Sho-kun. Though this morning, I called Delmege長老　who is in my old area, Ibaraki to see if that Jehova's witness lady showed up there. she didnt, but he did inform me that Yonezawa兄弟　is still doing really well. he's hometeaching and being home taught and meeting with the missionaries every week. That made me pretty happy. So I guess thats about it.
Till next week,

Love,
Elder Horton
oh and happy birthday grandma Horton!