Niiiiihammers 8 & Niihama 9

Carrying the Arc

they keep the triforce in that bhuddist shrine

at a bhuddist shrine place. they fed us weird bean soup

Last Moday, after P-day, we made a call to the Tan family to see how they were doing and talk about bringing a member to their next visit. When I asked if it would be cool to bring a member to the next appointment, there was a long pause and the mom was talking to the daughters and then they told us they wanted to stop everything. And when i asked why, she gave the normal excuse of being bhuddist and whatnot even though we had already established that she believed in God. When I pointed that out and asked what she believes, she just said she didn't know but didn't really care. And I think that just about sums it up. They don't know. I think it was probably one of the daughters that was stopping the whole thing but who knows. But it was for the best that they got dropped now as opposed to later. But we met a bit with our other investigators like Kimura-san, who we taught about praying and reading the Book of Mormon and she seems like she wants to give it a shot. And after Eikaiwa, we got a chance to teach Sho-kun who is way cool and has interest in God and happiness so we have an appointment to meet him again tomorrow and have a more proper talk. We're stoked about that.
Thursday was thanksgiving and we started a companion exchange with the Imabari Elders that night. So before splitting off, we went and ate some delicious Osho's. and I ate... chinese food? I think it's chinese food. But it was good stuff and I spent too much money and wasn't going to have enough to travel to Imabari and back so I had to sell my nuttella spread to elder singleton. but its alright because the stuff wasnt exactly helping me in my efforts to get a six-pack. So then my exchange with Wright長老 went pretty well. He's a way chill guy and we had lots of good times and worked hard.
Other than that, not a whole lot happened other than me giving an awesome talk in sacrament meeting about fasting. which of course was awesome.
Next week should be a busy one, so until then!

Love,
Elder Horton

I copied the pictures from the other elders here so maybe ill send some out...

more pottery

November 21, 2011
They moved our P-day a day for some Zone Conference thing yesterday so I'm emailing a day late. I guess it was a pretty good conference, though I didn't enjoy having to wake up super early to get on a super-slow train all the way to Takamatsu. Then the super slow train on the way back took up our entire day. But in reality, I do love trains. who doesn't?
I guess not a whole lot happened this week. We had appointments and got to talk to most the investigators in our nice little teaching pool that we've built up since we got here. We gave Kimura-san a Book of Mormon and gave her a good place to read from, met with the Tan family and read and explained good parts out of 2 Nephi 31, met with Tojo-san and she is still praying and started reading the Book of Mormon but doesn't want to come to church, etc etc.
In Eikaiwa this week, we made turkeys and explained to all these Japanese people the awesome American holiday of Thanksgiving! and it turns out they have Thanksgiving in Canada too, but its just in October. Also Canadians pronounce the letter 'z' as 'zed.' I seriously thought Singleton長老 was pulling my leg on that one. But I guess I'm learning a lot about Canada. Then we had one of our members, Igari姉妹 interview all the Eikaiwa students and we got appointments with 3 of them. 2 of the 3 are going to be taught by the other 2 elders in Niihama and Singleton and I will teach one 15 year old kid named Sho-kun who is pretty cool. during eikaiwa, we asked people what super power they would want and he said he wanted to be able to make people happy. and he was all asking me if i was happy and why im happy and stuff. So we're going to teach him about happiness. should be cool.
So thats about all thats going on at the moment, or atleast that i can remember.
Hope everyone has a good thanksgiving!

Love,
Elder Horton

Niiiiiiiiihama 7 and Pottery pictures!

Since there were no transfers last week, we had absolutely nothing going on. No district meeting or Zone conference or companion exchange or nothing. So we actually had some time to work. And I changed my planner at transfers so I dont remember the majority of what we did. But I do remember that we biked deep into the mountains to visit Aoba会長 and to share a message with some of his pottery students. Which went alright i guess. The one girl, Usuki-san, mostly just talked about how she prayed to trees and stuff. So I don't know if anything will come of that. But we did get to see the pots and stuff we made a few P-days back and theyre sick. I made a sweet mug that I'm gonna use forever and a bowl that i'll probably send home and a vase that can only fit one flower but is sure to win the heart of anybody who receives it.
Then after that, we went and visited the Tan family and set up an appointment to meet on friday. It was a pretty good lesson, but they didnt accept the invitation to be baptized on Christmas. But they say they'll keep studying and we're meeting again this week. We visited a former investigator/eikaiwa student by the name of Shinohara-san and made an appointment to teach her and her two daughters for tomorrow. That should be interesting. her daughters are 10 and 13 years old and the mom doesnt act much more mature. Should be good times.
Then one other person we found was originally a referral from Aoba会長． she is the lady that had been praying everyday since she met with the missionaries 10 years ago. We assigned her to read Alma 34 and she read it and had some questions. We saw her book of mormon and she had lots of stuff highlighted with notes and whatnot. So when I asked what she thought of the book, she pretty much bore testimony oh how it has given her guidance and stuff when she has needed it. Then she asked who wrote it. So after explaining about that, we set up a time to meet and talk more. Tojo-san is pretty awesome.
So that was about our week. Things are pretty ballin in Niihama. yeahhh

Love,
Elder Horton

新居浜 ６ & 新居浜 ５

新居浜　６

転勤発表が来た！
This morning, we got transfer calls! Singleton and I are going to be together for another. I'm pretty Okay with it. It looks like we could even be working for 3 transfers and I'd probably be down. He's getting better at Japanese pretty quickly and he's one of my funnier companions. So we have lots of good times. Allen長老， however. is transferring to Sakai to be with my ol' buddy, Elder Burhoe. So we're getting a new roommate, who's name is Elder Stanford.
So last week was nonsense. I was away from Niihama for all but 3 days, of which we still spent of lot of time studying due to the training for new missionaries Singleton長老 has to do. Which by the way, I'll be starting my 5th transfer straight of doing the new program. which is by far the most of any missionary in the mission and probably the world. I think i deserve 10, 20 or even more nobel peace prizes. Basically, we had very little dendo time. I was going to Matsuyama for district leader council and Imabari for district meeting and also Imabari for my exchange with Elder Nicholes which was awesome. We contacted a bum and learned lots of important life lessons after wards. It was way cool to work with my MTC companion in the field though.
In the small amount of time we did have, we visited a former investigator and met her family. The Tan family. Its a mom and two daughters, one of the daughters being a less-active member. We should be teaching them, and I have high hopes. But since we aren't transferring, we should have lots of time this next week. hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about. Till then,
Love,
Elder Horton

新居浜５

This computer is quite so this may be a little shorter. Really not much happened this week that i can remember at the moment anyways. We spent some time preparing for the branch halloween party which went really well... sort of. Pretty much the only people who werent members who showed up were a whole lot of high school girls and two middle schoolers who had come to eikaiwa the last couple weeks. We played this game where you had to get people to guess what you are just by gestures and stuff and one of the things they had to gesture was a pirate. nobody had any idea how to gesture a pirate. i was in shock. it was at that time i realized: im not in america anymore. Overall it was a success. some less-actives came and everyone made some good conversation. Other than that, I did my companion exchange with Burner長老 this week and that was a good time. Hes going to be a french chef when he grows up. This week is going to be a busy one. After P-day today, im going on an exchange with my old MTC companion, Elder Nicholes. its gonna be good times all around.

Not much more to say. Hope everyone is doing well. Send me letters, fools!

 

love,

Elder Horton

 

someday ill send pictures maybe.

 

Marcus asked me what the cost of an airline ticket form japan to the american coast cost?  I replied around 2,000 round trip.. The ward asked for a  Christmas experience to share at the ward party...

Here was his letter to me...

Yeah i got a package from you but i still havent gone to the post office to get it. hopefully it will be the one with the toothbrush? we'll find out. yeah i thought that might sound like i was thinking about leaving. but even if i were, that would be way too much money. My companion was talking about how his family was thinking about coming and getting him and was wondering how much it would cost. that is a lot of money. gonna have to start saving up for my 2013 trip here.

a letter about Christmas? I guess i could write about what I did last year... Last year for Christmas... The 6 elders in my district all met at the church in Himeji and went Christmas caroling to various less-active member houses. A lot of them weren't home or were just really awkward about it, but we sang songs merrily along the way, wearing Santa hats and Elder Akina had a beard... hehe that wampsack. Riding our bikes back to the Himeji apartment, It started snowing which isn't a common thing that part of Japan. I remember thinking it was a Christmas miracle and just being filled with Christmas spirit. I forgot all about the fact that we were in a non-christian country where people worked and had school on the 25th of December and knew nothing about the holiday other than how delicious Christmas cakes are(they are way delicious here). Then the 6 of us had a little Christmas program where we sang hymns and read scriptures and then we Timtam slammed which is always awesome. Then Christmas day was P-day so we relaxed and talked to our families and had a splendid time. Then I was way trunky the rest of that day as we worked. So yeah people here don't really know much about Christmas or do anything special for it, but I guess we managed to make it special.

Niihama 4/ District Leader

So I'm emailing a little late because we just got back from Aoba会長's house where we made stuff out of clay. I got to use all my skills that i didnt aquire in that art class i took in high school so long ago. good times. but yeah I made a bold and a cup and a very lopsided vase thing. Aoba会長 is way way good at it. way better than mrs schwartz. And  we had a meal that Aoba姉妹 made and it was super good. some of the best food ive ever eated probably.

But yeah this week was really legit. last tuesday, we went to this matsuri with the Manabe family and they had us wear happys and go bounce the taiko's up and down. it was pretty fun and ill send pictures someday maybe.

Then we had to head to Okayama for the Conference with Elder Ringwood. and apparently, his wife is aunt laurie's sister. small world, eh? So that was pretty cool and it was a really good conference. I learned much.

Well Okayama takes a very long time to get to from here so it took the majority of tuesday and all of wednesday and thursday was planning. Then Friday, I did my companion exchange with Allen長老　and we had a way good day. Found some new investigators, Did some member and less-active lessons and contacted some chinese referrals who spoke no japanese or english so that didnt go far. Then we visited some random family that there was an arrow pointing to on the map in the apartment, the Noda family. The husband immediately invited us in. They had been meeting with the missionaries for a long time, the mom having first met them like 26 years ago. They have 3 kids, two twins of 5 yrs and one of 8 years of age. We talked for a while and i asked why they didnt get baptized. basically some of the commandments were hard for them and they didnt know if they could endure to the end and didnt want to go inactive. But we talked about how much the gospel helps families and would be good for their kids and after that, the mom said she wanted to go back to church. theyre busy for a while but said theyd come on the 6th of november. we'll visit before then, but that was a pretty cool experience.

Then yesterday at church, I had a talk. it was awesome. And we had a lady Aoba姉妹 has been working with who hadnt come to church in 10 years come yesterday. she was way excited and greeting people at the door and stuff. So the branch is doing pretty well. Just gotta keep things moving.

Love,

Elder Horton
Dear Brother and Sister Horton,


We are pleased to have your son Elder Horton serving in this mission.  He was recently called to serve as a District Leader/Trainer.  We thought you might appreciate receiving a copy of the letter that was sent to him .  We appreciate very much the service your son is giving in this mission.


Sincerely,


Richard G. ZinkePresident, Japan Kobe Mission





24 October 2011


Dear Elder Horton,


Congratulations on being called as a District Leader as well as a Trainer.  This choice assignment indicates that you have performed well as a servant of the Lord, and that you have the leadership ability to not only inspire a new missionary to love this work and to be successful, but to also be the leader in your district.


The Mission President's Handbook talks about the importance of a Trainer.  In part, it says:


New missionaries first companions are an important influence during their entire missions.The mission president should call his most capable missionaries, those who are effective in baptizing converts and who will be able to help the new missionaries develop good skills and attributes, to serve as trainers of new missionaries.  As senior companions, they need to train and motivate new missionaries so they begin their mission successfully. They should use the explain, demonstrate, practice, evaluate model as they train new missionaries.  Trainers should diligently follow the daily schedule and obey mission rules.  When training they should:


          1.  Cheerfully and patiently help new missionaries adapt and develop the basic skills and attributes from the Preach My Gospel.


          2.  Use the weekly companion-planning meeting to help new missionaries set goals and evaluate progress.


          3.  Make sure their new companion participates fully as a contributing member of the missionary team.


          4.  Trainers help new missionaries be successful and productive from the very beginning.  Senior companions account to the district leaders and the mission president for the training of new missionaries.


In addition, to the above, as District Leader, you will also be responsible for setting an example for the missionaries in your district in your study of the scriptures and the gospel as well as in your obedience, hard work, proselyting skills and other aspects of missionary work.  As the District Leader you will:


          *  Carry a full proselyting load in your area and strive to baptize regularly.


          *  Supervise, teach, and inspire the missionaries during district meetings and companion exchanges.


          *  Interview baptismal candidates.


          *  Look after the well-being of missionaries in your district.


          *  Demonstrate effective planning.


          *  Work with your local priesthood leaders and members.


          *  Follow up with the missionaries on referrals.


          *  Submit reports accurately and promptly.


As you embark on this very important new assignment, remember to teach your companion, as well as those in your district, the important principle that obedience is the first law of heaven.  Teach the importance of the Spirit by ensuring, through your words and example, that the Spirit is always a third member of a missionary team.  As a Trainer, help your companion to learn to teach by the Spirit.  Make sure you give Elder Singleton a chance to pray and bear testimony as you proselyte.


Remember that as a District Leader, you can have significant impact on the work in your district, and on the growth and development of the individual missionaries.  As a Trainer, you will have a responsibility to your new companion.  In all you do, seek diligently to know the will of God.  Brigham Young once said: "An individual who holds a share in the Priesthood, and continues faithful to his calling, who delights himself continually in doing the things God requires at his hands, and continues through life in the performance of every duty, will secure to himself not only the privilege of receiving, but the knowledge how to receive the things of God, that he may know the mind of God continually; and he will be enabled to discern between right and wrong, between the things of God and the things that are not of God."


Please know that you have been called under the inspiration of our Heavenly Father.  I am grateful for your faith and diligence, and have every confidence that you will succeed in your vital role as one of the Lords choice servants.  May the Lord bless you with wisdom, understanding and diligence as you embark upon this challenging and rewarding assignment.


Faithfully,


Richard G. ZinkePresident, Japan Kobe Mission

Niihamer 3

Another busy busy week with all the exchanges and interviews and whatnot all going on. Elder Cloward and I worked together on Tuesday and had pretty good day. Found some lady who had been less active for the last 26 years but still remembered Aoba-shimai's delicious bread. She seemed a little tipsy but i think she might come to our halloween party on the 29th. Which reminds me, does anyone have any good ideas for Halloween games? that or a way to make bingo interesting? Any ideas are appreciated. We also got to see Manabe兄弟's band practice. they said it was going to be a folk band but it turns out that japanese folk music is different from that of america. but that was pretty cool. the keyboardist for their band is a referral from the Manabe family and she came to Eikaiwa with 2 friends who are now PIs. So Eikaiwa was pretty good. Then Thursday night to Saturday morning I had a companion exchange with Elder Gardner, who sat to the right of me in the MTC. It was way good times. We got to do some good work Thursday night and Friday morning, but then Friday afternoon, we decided to go deep into the Niihama wilderness and search for some less-actives. Some we found, some we didnt, but we were caught in the rain and went and bought awesome pocket coats for 200yen and we were chased by dogs and had all sorts of adventures. Then on the way back from our adventures in the wilderness, I was only a little lost and we ended up taking some off road paths. one of which, Gardner長老's bike ended up in a ditch. the other, he popped his tire. So its raining and we're in the wilderness and the phone only had enough battery to called Elder Clowerd and tell him he needs to take Inoue兄弟's lesson. Which means we didnt have GPS. But we started the long trek home and had some good conversations about what had been going on since the MTC. It didnt take long before we found a Yakiniku restraunt where we decided to eat. and oh man, it was expensive. 1000yen for 80 grams of meat. But it was one of the greatest things ive ever tasted. So Gardner長老　and i eventually did make it back after getting lost a whole lot more. I still dont know my way around the Niihamers very well. But it was way good times.

Then Saturday we had interviews with President Zinke. He says theyre really focusing on this area of the mission which is why theres 4 missionaries in Niihama and apparently theyre going to send us a senior couple to Imabari. Kind of cool, but im not really looking forward to it next transfer. it will be like having Japanese parents in our district. but then again if they drive us places, that would be nice. After interviews, The APs gave us some very lengthy 'training' and we didnt get home from Matsuyama until late at night. And then we went back to Matsuyama in the morning for District conference, which was a really reall good meeting. one of the best ive sat through in Japan. Lots of really good talks and strong members. That was really good times.

And finally, last night, we still didnt have the bike tire fixed, so we just walked to the Matsuri that was going on and there were a ton of people and it was good times. Singleton長老 got to experience some good Japanese culture. We'll probly go to it again if we have time today.

This was a long email and i dont feel like i said anything important. My bad. next week will probably be shorter.

 

Love,

Elder Horton

 

Niihamer- October 9

So we got a call from the zone leaders today and we have to wear suit coats from this point out. probabally my least favorite phone call. I guess we've thats the end of my last summer. Anywho it was a really busy week this last week. We didnt have much time at all to work. Tuesday, Elder Singleton and I bike all the way out to Aoba会長's house. it was probably a 20kilometer bike ride each way to his house deep in the forest. He wanted us to meet some of his pottery students who were really cool and probly fall under the category of PI. Aoba会長's house is way cool though. he is way intense about making his pots. One of these P-days, we're going to go and see if we can make something. im way excited. That night, we had dinner with the Igari couple and they made me a birthday cake that was way good. Theyre awesome.

Wednesday was planning and Eikaiwa, Thursday took a 2 hour bus ride out to Matsuyama for District Leader council where I got trained on the new mission training plan. Friday we had district meeting where i trained the district on the new mission training plan, ate indo-curry, and had a lesson with an investigator we found on Tuesday by the name of Takahashi-san. He's an interesting guy, but Singleton長老 took the lead in teaching lesson 1 and did a solid job. Then Saturday and Sunday were both in Matsuyama watching conference, which was way good. the story about the fried chicken and the quarter was my favorite. And out of the 8 missionaries staying in the Matsuyama apartment, Elders Nicholes and Gardner, who are two of my favorite elders from my MTC district, were 2 of them and we had a good time catching up. It had been a while.

I cant think of anything else really. It was a busy week where not much happened.

well.... later then.

 

love,

elder horton

 

Transfer to Island of Shikoku (The Rock)

Ballin' in Koyoto

Still Ballin'

shigeta長老

Transfer with Elder Hales

So I'm now on the Island of Shikoku in the beautiful country town of Niihama. Before heading out here, we had a chance to get all of out affairs in order in Ibaraki and do a final lesson with Yonezawa兄弟. He's doing really well and i think he'll be great. Then we had transfers, said goodbye to Elders Shigeta, Delmege, and Barker, and went to the mission home to meet my companion fresh off the plane from America. His name is Elder Singleton and he is from Canadia. He's definitely a new missionary, but he has pretty good Japanese and speaks more than the young companions I've had in the past so I think things should be pretty good. So thursday was pretty much taken up by training and the 4 and a half hour bus ride from Kobe to Niihama. Then friday, we met with the branch president, President Aoba (Aoba会長)。 and man is he a good branch president. Really level headed and realistic but still very progressive and proactive in helping the branch. He has a lot of desire and is really working hard with the missionaries. He is pretty much the reason President Zinke made this small city a 4 missionary area. But even so, since Singleton長老 and I are pretty much whitewashing the area, we have absolutely no investigators. exept for the one guy we found housing on saturday. That and Singleton長老's bike still hasnt come from Kobe and we have had to walk everywhere and it has made things a bit slow. But its all good. We're going to be working with the members a lot and we have a goal of getting church attendance in the branch from <30 to 50.

But yeah yesterday, we went to Aoba会長's house and had dinner with them and a bunch of other members and it was really cool. I got to make donuts with Takita姉妹. We made a bunch of appointments for this next week so we should be pretty busy already. Should be a good week.

Love,

Elder Horton

Baptism! Last week in Thorn Tree(Ibaraki)

BAPTISM!

Ibaraki Eikaiwa ( mostly old ladies)

Cleaning the Baptismal Font

It was a good last week in Ibaraki. By the end I was starting to think maybe id be staying and was kind of getting excited, but transfers are happening it looks like. We were told another Typhoon was supposed to come through on Wednesday so they made us cancel our Eikaiwa and stay in the apartment, but it didnt even come through Osaka a little so we were fine. i took a pretty good nap though. We werent able to meet Yonezawa-kyodai until thursday, when we reviewed the baptismal interview and he was way solid on everything. So we set up an interview the next day. So Elder Draper came up and interviewed him after District meeting and yeah he was still way solid. So we started arranging for the baptism with our ward mission leader, who we've kind of been struggling to get to do stuff. But he was way good and arranged everything for the baptismal service Sunday morning. Saturday night we had sports night. all the missionaries from the district came up and it was way fun. Some where in the middle of it, I got a call from President Zinke. He asked about our baptism the next day and I told him things were good to go, and he said that he would be attending the service.

So Sunday morning we had a lovely baptismal service that went down without a hitch for the most part. Yonezawa-kyodai had a bit of an issue with bending his knees, but i still got him under. we had a good laugh about it after. Then throughout church and also for the lunch we had afterwards, the ward was way good about fellowshipping him. It was really awesome. Which is really good because both me and Elder Barker are transfering out this week. So we're going to have to leave him in the wards hands, though we should be able to meet one more time before we head out. It was a really good way to end my time in Ibaraki though. Our apartment here is going from 4 to 2 people and Elder Delmege and a new missionary are going to be taking care of both the Ibaraki and Takatsuki wards. I'm a little bummed that thats happening to Ibaraki, but I guess there are other places in the mission that need it more. Reversely, I'm going to a place by the name of Niihama, which is on the island of Shikoku. It was just a 2 person area, but theres a small branch there with lots of faith and dendo fire so president zinke wants to explode it by putting 4 missionaries there. So I'll be in a 4-man again. And I'll be training a new missionary again. Which, honestly, I'm not super thrilled about. But I think I'll get a solid bean and it should be good. Elder Barker is headed to good ol' Tsuyama. He's going to have a blast there. So yup, I'm off to Shikoku. or 'the rock' as it is called. I got my wish, but now i have to figure out how I'm supposed to pay for the trip out there.

Have a good week everybody in America! but not basil.

Love,

Elder Horton

Kind of a so-so week this last week. We visited a ton of people but weren't able to meet with many at all. But we should have a lot going on this next week. basically if we can meet with Yonezawa-san twice this next week, he should be good to go for his baptism this coming sunday. if not, then it will have to wait until the next week. but from the way things are sounding with transfers, i probably wouldnt be here for it. So hopefully he'll be able to meet with us this next week a couple times. So next email, ill let you know what happened with that and whats happening with transfers. Not much to say about this week other than there was apparently a typhoon in okinawa which caused us to get wet several times this last week. that was lame.

Hope everyone is doing awesome in America and stuff.

Love,

Elder Horton

PS kyoto was cool but if you wanna see the pictures it will have to wait until the after mission slide show.