tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20611003108376370652024-02-07T10:57:46.176-07:00Elder Nathan Alan DidericksenUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-58688797423535141162016-10-27T23:31:00.003-06:002016-10-27T23:31:41.421-06:00See you all this week!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">October 24, 2016: Week 104</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, the time is finally here! I can't believe that my mission is actually coming to an end this week! Its weird to describe the feelings you have as it comes to a close. But I just want to say how grateful I am that I had the opportunity to serve in the Japan Sendai mission these past two years. Its been a crazy ride which has pushed and challenged me, but it has helped me learn things that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I love the country of Japan and it makes me so sad that I will have to leave it for a while, but I hope I can come back someday and experience its amazing culture and its awesome people. Thank you for all of those who stuck with me and supported me my entire mission. It sure means a lot to me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'd type more but I will see you all on Friday so I will save it till then. I love you all and thanks so much. Look out because on Friday afternoon there will be an awkward and culture shocked returning missionary coming down the escalator! See you guys soon! Love you guys!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nathan Didericksen 長老</span></div>
Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-10394983012216722842016-10-19T23:31:00.002-06:002016-10-19T23:33:13.522-06:00An Amazing Ride!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">October 17, 2016: Week 103</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Hey everyone!</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Well, this is it! It's my last full week as a missionary! I can't really explain how I feel right now. I'm both super excited and anxious on one hand, but nervous and sad at the fact that I'll be leaving Japan, its people, an</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">d won't be able to use their language anymore. It's definitely a mixed bag of emotions. But it's been an amazing ride that has pushed me to my limits, but in hindsight, it has blessed me and helped me in ways I never imagined. I've grown to love a people that I never really even thought about before my mission, but who turned out to be some of the most amazing and caring people I've ever met. I've even learned how to speak their ridiculously hard, but beautiful language (to an extent!), but most of all, I've come to know a loving God who loves His children, and Jesus Christ, who is always standing by our side. It's been an amazing ride, one I will never forget. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Well this week was pretty good. I'm kind of low on time, so I will make it quick; plus I can tell you about it next week, so this will hopefully suffice! </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I was in Aomori from Monday night to Wednesday morning doing splits with the zone leaders. I got to go on splits with Elder Hawkley who was actually a bean when I was in his district last fall, so it was fun to work with him again. We basically just rode our bikes </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">around trying to talk to people and went housing. It was a good time. We also got caught in a rainstorm at night and had to walk like 2 to 3 miles home so that was fun I guess!</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Then on Thursday, I went back to Aomori for my last zone conference with President and Sister Smith. I'm sad it was my last one; they are always way good and I was able to learn a lot from all of them. And it's fun to listen to Sister Smith's funny comments from the back when her husband is doing a training. This time, we talked about becoming Christ-like teachers. The church has been focusing a lot on that topic, saying if we are to become like Christ, we need to teach like Him too. I also got to give my last testimony at the end (they always have the dying missionaries do that at the end of zone 大会). So it was a good day. Plus, some random elder in the zone gave me a package of some massive tortillas!! So I was stoked about that. They wouldn't fit in my bag, so I got to hold them the whole way home. It probably looked weird to see a white guy standing in a packed train with nothing but tortillas in his hands. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Friday was pretty solid. We met with our investigator and Elder Livermore and I were determined to set a baptismal date with him. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ going through faith, repentance, baptism, etc. After we taught it, he was very accepting and the spirit was definitely present when we were testifying of it. I then asked him when he knew it was true if he would be baptized and he said yes!! So for now, his date is November 26th (I obviously won't see it if it goes through, but i hope it does!) It is still pretty early in the process; we have only taught him 3 times, but he is a really solid guy looking for peace and joy in his life. I'm so blessed to be able to find and teach him my last few weeks.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I also got to speak in Sacrament meeting yesterday because it was my last Sacrament meeting before I go home. (We have district conference next week.) Originally, I wasn't scheduled to speak, but I got a call like an hour before church and was asked to speak for 10 minutes. I was a little stressed with that, but I was able to throw some thoughts together and was actually able to give probably my best talk I've given on my mission. I had to rely on the spirit a lot and just told mission stories and the things that I've learned through these two years. It was also a cool gift of tongues experience too because I was able to just speak and not really think about what I was saying. The Japanese just kind of flowed out smoothly from my mouth. It was really cool. It was fitting to be able to give both my first and last talks in the Hirosaki branch. It was cool to see how far I've come and grown these past two years. Afterwards, a lot of the members came up to me and thanked me for serving these past two years, especially for spending 25 percent of it in Hirosaki. It was a cool moment; the members here mean a lot to me. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Lastly, we had the opportunity to watch a devotional put on my Elder David A. Bednar that was broadcast in Tokyo last night. He talked about finding joy in the gospel and having the right priorities. It's so fun to watch Elder Bednar in a devotional like that because he kind of lets his hair hang down and has a lot of fun. It was really good.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">This week should be pretty busy as we have splits in Odate, district conference in Aomori and Misawa and other stuff. Its going to be crazy. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I will write a short email next week, but for the most part, this will be it! Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me and followed me throughout my mission. I appreciate your love and support so much! See you all next week!</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Love,</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Diderick</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">sen</span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;"> Eating grilled squid (There was still ink in it, it was way weird!)</span></td></tr>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-50649502397237166082016-10-11T21:55:00.002-06:002016-10-11T21:55:21.405-06:00No creative title ごめん!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">October 10, 2016: Week 102</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey Everyone! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The week started out with splits in Odate. It was my first time working there since April of 2015, so it was pretty fun to be able to work there again for the day. I also got to work with Elder Mendoza who is in my district. We both started our missions together, so he goes home with me in a couple weeks. It was actually the first time in my whole my mission that I've gotten to work with someone who was in my group that came to Japan. So with that, we had a fun time reminiscing on memories and experiences we've had on our missions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We had a good day of work in Odate. I had forgotten how tiny and old Odate is. Legit, like everyone there is over 85 or 90 years old! During the split, we had a service activity that the elders do every week. So, we went to an old person home (you know because everyone here is super old) and helped them out for a bit. What they have us do is give them drinks and stuff while they all wait for the workers to take them one by one to bathe them. It's a little </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">awkward standing there while like 15 or so grandmas are staring at us, pointing, and talking about us because they don't think we can speak Japanese. They'll say things like we are some handsome foreigners or that I'm super tall. Anyway, after they are done being bathed, we get the privilege of drying their hair and combing it. I never thought I'd get the opportunity to style a Japanese grandma's hair while on my mission! I didn't really know what I was doing though, I was just moving the comb around in random directions through their hair and hoped it sufficed. So yeah, it was a good time I guess, a little strange though...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We were also able to teach their investigator named Ishikawa San. He is a pretty good guy who has been coming to church and keeping his commitments. He wants to get baptized, but he loves his Sake (Japanese alcohol) way too much. He is a little strange too. We were talking about the gospel and following up on his commitments and stuff when all of a sudden he turns to me and asks if I was circumcised or not...... I don't know, maybe that's his go-to question to break the ice with people he meets. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. So we had an awkward conversation with circumcision and were some how able to transition back to the gospel. So that was an odd lesson. But overall, it was a solid split with Elder Mendoza in Odate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aBn"><span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aQJ">Thursday</span></span> was a good day. We got up way early in the morning to go to a orientation/follow up meeting for the new missionaries and trainers held in Morioka. We rode the 2 hour bus down there and attended the meeting. It was a good time where I was able to see a lot of friends that I haven't seen in a long time. It also was a big goodbye because it was the last time I'll see them before I go home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We also got to teach Kudou San again. We taught him the restoration all the way through and it went pretty well. He listens and accepts everything fairly well, so we are excited. We are meeting with him again <span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aBn"><span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aQJ">this Friday. </span></span>I hope it goes well!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly, I finally got to watch General Conference which was great. We went up to Aomori and watched it with the other American elders who live up there. It was way good and I learned a lot, especially of how I can be of service and help people out when I get home. Since I will be kind of useless 'till school starts in January, it made me want to find those who are lonely or who need help and be there for them and help them out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">It was also way fun to hear Elder Stevenson talk about Japan and hear from Elder Yamashita who has visited our mission several times. Conference as a missionary always has a different feel to it. It's weird to think that was my last one that I will ever experience as a missionary. I'm excited to watch the next one with you guys and to sit next to Dad in the priesthood session though!! But yeah, it was a great weekend to hear from God's chosen leaders and to learn how I can be better. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry for the short email, but those are the highlights of the week. This week should be another busy one. We are going back up to Aomori <span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aBn"><span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aQJ">tonight</span></span> for splits with the Zone leaders until <span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aBn"><span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aQJ">Wednesday</span></span> morning, then my last Zone Conference <span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aBn"><span class="m_5016797406691325840gmail-m_-6455547245434190356gmail-m_-7126090838883840925m_-7758116158133825656gmail-aQJ">on Thursday</span></span> in Aomori; so I'll be in Aomori like all week. It should be fun. I hope you all have a great week. Love you guys and see you in 2-ish weeks!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">Massive thing of ice cream we ate on splits</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">We ran into a member from Kitakami when I was in Morioka!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;"> District selfie using the selfie stick</span></td></tr>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-39061802018081689872016-10-11T21:44:00.001-06:002016-10-11T21:44:44.727-06:00Getting Dendoud (people proselyting to us) and Sketchy Coffee Shops<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">October 3, 2016: Week 101</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey friends and family! I can't believe it's already pday again; this week flew by. My last three weeks are pretty much filled with </span></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">meetings and travel so just like this last week, they are going to fly by. It feels kind of weird.</span></span><div style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I hope you all enjoyed seeing conference. I've yet to see it because we are waiting until its translated into Japanese so we can watch it with the rest of the missionaries and members. And since we don't have a church, I'll be going up to Aomori for the weekend and watch conference there, which is the same place I watched it last April, so that will be fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This week was pretty good I guess. We had a ton of appointments cancel on us and a few weird/silly stuff happen, so I've got some good stories to tell!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, Monday and Tuesday consisted of mostly finding. Not much to tell there, but we had one funny thing happen. We needed to set up an appointment with a less active member named Brother Koizumi. He's one of my favorite people here. He has no top teeth, so when he gives us the famous Koizumi Kyoudai grin, I die laughing. His Japanese is pretty hard to understand and I remember teaching him when I was a new missionary and not being able to pick out a single word. It's pretty fun to teach and talk to him now because I can understand what he's saying and he's a way funny guy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, for some reason, he is always without a doubt hanging out in this mall by the train station, so if we ever need to talk to him, we just go to this mall. So, we went to the mall and sure enough, he was there. We were talking to him when all of a sudden, this lady shows up and sits next to us. I guess she sort of knew Koizumi Kyoudai, so she came up and sat down. Then suddenly, she pulls out this pamphlet and starts talking to us about her Buddhist religion. She was reading from this pamphlet asking if we'd heard about it and saying stuff like "if you join this church, you will be really happy!" She said their leader back hundreds of years ago was set to be executed and the people tried to behead him, but he was so powerful that they couldn't cut off his head. She then proceeded to slam us saying Christ wasn't powerful because people killed him. (Sad misconception.) She gave us these pamphlets and told us to study Buddhism.</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The next day, we saw that lady again where she ran us down and told us to read that pamphlet she gave us. I don't think she realizes that we can't read it because the kanji is too insane. Oh well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The other interesting story happened on Thursday. We met with the guy we found on the street the week before who speaks English. We met him in front of the station and he said there was a shop nearby that he likes to go, so he suggested we do the lesson there. We said that was fine and we went. It turned out to be a super sketchy coffee shop. When we walked in, I had a pretty eerie feeling. It was dark, filled with cigarette smoke, and had some sketchy people in there. It just was an unsettling atmosphere. Well, we were talking and drinking some hot chocolate (which cost me 4.50$!), but then things starting getting a little weird. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Livermore and I noticed that all of the people were looking at us, talking about us and such. They didn't think we understood Japanese; they were saying things like, "Hey those people are those missionaries that wear dumb helmets and try to talk to you on the street" and things like that. It was just an uncomfortable situation. Then one of the guys came in and sat with us and started talking to us in English (his English was surprisingly good) and started asking us about the Church. He had some huge misunderstandings and heard a ton of stuff about the church and specifically missionaries. He said people at his work (he is a teacher) tell their female students to stay away from those white guys in white shirts and ties because they are going to go after you and try to talk to you and hook up with you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> While we were talking to him, the people in the back were still talking about us and mimicking what we said and then one girl covered in tattoos and not wearing modest clothes came and tapped me on the shoulder asking if I would come play some sort of game with her. At that point, I said we had to leave because we couldn't take the weird atmosphere with all of this attention on us. We were worried that it would escalate to something bad so we finally left with our investigator. We tried to see if he wanted to meet again, but he said he's not really interested in the gospel and is never planning on changing, so we lost him. It was just an overall weird, uncomfortable situation. When that was over Livermore Choro and I looked at each other and all we could say was "what the heck just happened?" We were a little down after that because we lost an investigator and it made us sad that is what some people feel about missionaries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">What happened next made us feel way better. We got to meet with a new investigator named Kudou San. It's kind of cool how he was found. About 2 or 3 weeks ago, Elder Livermore and I were housing and I saw Kudou San walking on the street, so I contacted him. He was really nice, but seemed in a hurry and not so interested, so I gave him a pass along card and that was it. But two days later, the sisters were housing and they saw the same Kudou San and contacted him. They asked him if he'd seen missionaries before. He was like "Yeah, like two days ago! I have this card!" and pulled out a temple card from his pocket. They talked to him, gave him a Book of Mormon and set an appointment to meet with us. In the lesson, when I asked him why he decided to meet with us after telling us no the first time, he said something like "I was so surprised to be contacted by missionaries two days after the first time, I thought I should listen this time. Maybe God has something to do with it." We taught him and it was a really good lesson. When we asked if he had any questions, he just said, "I love what I'm hearing. These are some pretty awesome teachings!" and stuff like that. So, we are super excited to teach him. We are meeting him this week on Wednesday. Pray for us so that it goes well!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So yeah, that is what mostly happened this week. It was a bummer losing an investigator, but being able to teach Kudou San makes it so much better. This week (and the rest of the transfer) will be super busy. Tomorrow, I have splits with the Odate elders. I'm going to Odate to be with Elder Mendoza who will go home with me so that should be fun. We also have a meeting for new missionaries and trainers in Morioka on Thursday, then we have conference in Aomori for the weekend. Should be tons of fun. I'm excited to see what the last three weeks have in store! I hope you all have a great week! Love you guys! See you all soon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-80858190475085689882016-09-27T20:27:00.003-06:002016-09-27T20:29:09.898-06:00Transfer 16 week 3<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">September 26, 2016: Week 100</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This week was a pretty solid week! We have been busy running back and forth to appointments and meetings, taking trains and things like that. It's been fun with my second full week back in Hirosaki; I'm thankful to be ending my mission in a way that I was dreaming I would since the day I left this place. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like I said last week, it's been so fun to meet with people that I grew to love when I was a bean here in Hirosaki. I never thought I would see them again, so it's been a wonderful blessing to be able to see them and be able to talk to them. I had another one of those experiences this week when I met my Japanese grandpa. He was the first investigator I ever taught. I remember my first full day in Japan, waiting in the room for my first ever lesson as a missionary to start. I was shaking and in a cold sweat, so nervous at the fact that I would be teaching a real person for the first time. I was scared who this man would be, hoping he would be patient with a brand new missionary who couldn't speak his language one bit. My fears were all calmed when the nicest, goofiest, kindest Japanese grandpa that I've ever met walked in the door. Over those three transfers, I had many opportunities to talk to Akimoto San and was able to build a really solid relationship. He is a rich man, but has lost everything (family, etc.) and he knows that money doesn't bring happiness, so he has made it a goal to help as many people as he can. (He is even financing someone to go to college in Nepal right now.) When he saw me on his doorstep this past Saturday, he got a huge smile on his face and gave me a big hug saying, "You came back!" It was an awesome experience. He has had some health issues and has had a rough year and a half since I last saw him, but we think that it is preparing him more for the gospel and helping him realize what is important in life. We had a good lesson with him about faith. I'm so excited that I get to spend four more weeks with him!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We were able to teach some of the other people we are meeting with. They are all going okay, but we are stuck on what to do to help them progress. They are all in kind of a stand still stage, so I hope that we can help them before it gets apparent that we need to drop them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'll tell one more highlight from the week. We were out on the street trying to talk to people (yo, I forgot how many super old people live in Hirosaki; I swear only 90 year old grandmas live here!) We were about to call it and go do something else after an hour or two of no success when I saw a man sitting under a pavilion so I decided I'd go talk to him. When I started talking to him he looked at me and said "I can speak English" in English! I was way surprised to hear that. His name is Tazawa Hitoshi and he has been living in Tokyo for 30 years writing English textbooks for schools in Japan, but recently moved back to Hirosaki. We talked to him about what we are doing and a bit about the gospel and he said he wanted to meet with us again! We should be meeting him this week! We're way excited and grateful for that miracle!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sorry my emails are getting shorter, but I guess I can just tell you what went on this transfer in more detail in a few weeks cause my energy to write has gone way down! Sorry! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I'll try my best to make these last 4 weeks of this mission experience something to remember! Love you guys! Talk to you next week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Love, Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-91286421262479866932016-09-19T20:35:00.003-06:002016-09-19T20:36:27.004-06:00The Return!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">September 19, 2016: Week 99</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This has been a pretty solid week as I've kind of relived my days as a green bean missionary with coming back to Hirosaki. It was a lot of fun rolling into the city as I reminisced where I had walked in blizzards, tried to talk to people in broken Japanese, etc as a new missionary all those months ago. I never thought I'd be able to come back here, so it's been a cool experience so far. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My new companion's name is Elder Livermore from Oregon. He is a convert of about 4 years and he is a stud. He probably will be the best Japanese speaker in the mission within a matter of a few transfers. He has studied Japanese for like 5 years and also did a home stay in Sapporo before, so he is super fly. It's a lot of fun to be able to work with an American who can speak really well; it makes teaching pretty fun. I feel bad for him though because he just barely killed (sent home) his first trainer and then he will be killing off his second trainer in 5 weeks, so he will have plenty of blood on his hands come October. Haha!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The work in Hirosaki is pretty solid right now; there is a lot more to do here and more people to work with than there was in Izumi for sure. I've probably taught more lessons to investigators this week than I have for the past 5-6 months or so, which makes it pretty good. We only have like one sort of solid-ish one right now, but the others are listening and keeping their commitments, so its really nice. We have mostly been teaching and running around to different appointments since the day that I got here which makes it really fun because I'm gonna be honest, I got pretty tired of housing and streeting all day for 4 months. It really feels like I'm fulfilling my purpose as a missionary as we have been teaching all of these people. I hope we can make some progress with them before I go home! It is a super good situation for me to end my mission on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, it was so cool to see the members and other people I worked with when I was here over a year and a half ago. It was fun to be standing in the chapel and see members walk in, see me, do a double take, and run up to me to say hi and to ask what the heck I was doing there. I was surprised with how many people remembered me! And it's been so fun to be able to talk to them like normal this time, whereas when I was a bean, I couldn't really communicate with them at all! I also got to speak in Sacrament meeting a bit and tell them how happy I am to be back and bear my testimony. It's been a really fun time being able to experience that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The one interesting part with Hirosaki is that the church that I went to when i was here got torn down and they are building a new one. In the meantime, they are renting out a room in this fancy-ish hotel for only two hours for Sacrament meeting. Church is super chaotic because we have to get out immediately as soon as the clock strikes noon and don't really get to talk to members a whole lot at church. Also, the only place we have to use for lessons and things like that is this tiny little shack by the church construction site. It's not too bad of a set-up, but it's hard to have lessons with the sounds of machines and construction going on. But other than that, it's not too bad. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But yeah, its been super great being back here in Hirosaki and I'm very excited to spend the last 5 weeks of my mission here. It's starting to feel really weird, I can feel the finishing line drawing near. I'm super super stoked and excited to see you all again and have it be like normal, but in the meantime, Elder Livermore and I will do our best to find and teach and hopefully baptize before it's all said and done! Sorry, I don't have any crazy stories or anything like that and I'm slowly getting lazier in my emails, but that was the gist of this week! I hope you all have an awesome week!! I love you guys! Talk to and see you soon!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibPkh-g1unZCG5y_tKEC6vEZR1s_eH0AQa69H1KOnvdMmE-SmT4V8vqrurEJf8Nh4hq9vvjWce_ZGVTm2ONcHjQACzgTI7knkV_qONMSNJYFGgC0hSmf-3dBWshAQicFgCkPzSdxwhsHTg/s1600/image1+%252821%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibPkh-g1unZCG5y_tKEC6vEZR1s_eH0AQa69H1KOnvdMmE-SmT4V8vqrurEJf8Nh4hq9vvjWce_ZGVTm2ONcHjQACzgTI7knkV_qONMSNJYFGgC0hSmf-3dBWshAQicFgCkPzSdxwhsHTg/s640/image1+%252821%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;"> Elder Erickson and I. We came into the mission together and are</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;">both ending our missions as trainers in our bean areas. He's an</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;">awesome friend.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJv0M9ocURUw2slqCYvwvT1hpawALL2cNA3JLTI85HDZ3nJdzgTNsJdsHGvRhLe7G3IFWr72cuq4uhNheZ9UaMiYU6nz2iXnIXPQafahHdBQcQgt4zBr6ToqzS-996SiY6Hp-T_05FPBj/s1600/image2+%252810%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJv0M9ocURUw2slqCYvwvT1hpawALL2cNA3JLTI85HDZ3nJdzgTNsJdsHGvRhLe7G3IFWr72cuq4uhNheZ9UaMiYU6nz2iXnIXPQafahHdBQcQgt4zBr6ToqzS-996SiY6Hp-T_05FPBj/s640/image2+%252810%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;">Last week's eikaiwa. They bought Elder Everett (he went home) a bye bye cake.</span></td></tr>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-74629316348505747802016-09-13T21:50:00.002-06:002016-09-13T21:50:18.656-06:00Back to Finish Where It All Started!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">September 12, 2016: Week 98</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I got my last transfer call of my mission and I couldn't be happier with how it went! It went kind of like this, "Elder Didericksen, you only have one more transfer right? I've thought long and hard and I feel you should finish your mission where you started; I want you to go to Hirosaki and finish as a trainer." I'm gonna be honest, I don't know exactly what he told me after that. I was too busy running around and freaking out in excitement that I get to finish my mission where it all began. I get to go back to the place where I fought and struggled with the language, where I first attempted to learn this unique culture, and where I came to love the people of Japan. Words can't describe how excited I am for the last six weeks of this adventure. It should be a way awesome way to end the ride. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">With the excitement that transfer calls brought, it's hard to think about what happened this week. It was a pretty good week I think, I just can't really remember a lot of it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This past Tuesday, I went to Furukawa and did splits with Elder Koide, an elder that I left the MTC with to come to Sendai. Working in Furukawa reminded me how in the middle of nowhere the kind of place it is. He and I went housing way out in the boonies where a bunch of old, rice farming houses are and it was pretty fun. No one was interested, but we got to meet some funny "grandpa" farmers who were pretty nice. It's always fun to work in an old area!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday, Elder Bruce and Robb came back to Furukawa so we could end the split and then Elder Bruce began to head back to Izumi. Unfortunately, I was unaware of the time and our bus back to Izumi rolled away right as we got to the bus stop. I was not too happy to be stuck in Furukawa for another 4 hours, but then a nice grandma directed us to another bus to Sendai. So, we rode to Sendai and then took a subway to Izumi. Thank goodness for nice, old Japanese grandmas. They are the best!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday was pretty crazy. Sendai got hit with a pretty big storm and it rained all day. SO with that, we weren't allowed to ride our bikes and had to walk everywhere. As we were walking back from about an hour walk to a less actives house (they where not too happy to see missionaries on their doorstep), we got caught in perhaps the biggest downpour of my life! It was absolutely insane. It rained 10 times harder than last weeks "typhoon" that kind of missed Sendai. I got straight hammered; everything in my bag and every inch of me was absolutely soaked. We were sprinting to the church to get out of it and I was so glad when we did. It was kind of fun though and reminded me of playing in the huge storm in the parking lot at the St. George condos with the family. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday was the highlight of the week. The other two elders found some dudes playing basketball and they are pretty interested in the gospel. They invited all of us to play basketball in Sendai, so we got permission to play in a park in downtown Sendai. When we got there, there were already two guys playing who were insanely good. I've never seen a Japanese guy that good at basketball. So, we all went up and asked if they would like to play some pick-up ball and they were down with it. I can't even describe how crazy this one guy's handles were. He plays in a street-ball league somewhere in Japan and is ridiculous. If you have ever seen the Pepsi commercials called "Uncle Drew" with Kyrie Irving, this guy had handles as good as that. He also has a scholarship to play at a college in Seattle I think. He about made me fall over on several occasions. They were really nice guys though and it was fun to play with all of them. I haven't played people that good since high school so it was super fun. It got me pumped to play some ball with the guys again! We also gave them all Books of Mormon and a few of them seemed interested so I hope it goes well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">But yeah, that is the basic gist of what happened. It was a fun week full of finding and getting my ankles broken by some Japanese ballers. I can't wait to face these last six weeks of my mission in Hirosaki. Time is starting to wind down pretty fast so I will work hard and try my best to leave my mark in an area that I really love before the final buzzer sounds. It should be tons of fun. I hope you all have a great week! Love you! Talk to you soon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;"> We bought nice Japan soccer jerseys like what they wore in the</span><br style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">Olympics.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">The rice fields of Furukawa</span></td></tr>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-87286641503553145722016-09-07T21:03:00.002-06:002016-09-07T21:03:53.609-06:00Robot Grandpas and Anti-climatic Typhoons<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">September 5, 2016: Week 97</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Companion: Bruce Choro</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My week was pretty solid and busy. It feels like it flew right by. For those of you wondering about last week's typhoon, it completely missed Sendai pretty much. I was so pumped to get to see my first typhoon, but apparently the course of the storm changed and all we got was some heavy rain. It was actually a good thing though that it didn't hit us because I had planned to do splits with the Furukawa elders that day and we just did them regardless of the typhoon. So Elder Robb and I had a good time housing in the pouring rain for like 5 hours. (We had zero appointments because we canceled them all thinking that we'd get slammed by a typhoon.) Nevertheless, it felt good to get out in the pouring rain and work and show God that we were trying to do our best. No one listened to us; they all were like "what the heck are you doing out here?! Don't you know a typhoon is coming?! You'd better go home before it gets here! Be careful and be safe!!". That was the gist of most of our conversations with people that day. But yeah, no one was interested, but we were satisfied with our efforts and people were really nice to us so it was a pretty solid day!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">On Thursday I had my last interview (before the exit interview) with President Smith. It was a pretty good one and I was able to learn a lot from his counsel and advice. Its weird to think that was basically my last interview. I will definitely miss sitting in the waiting room with Sister Smith; she is a riot. She says the funniest stuff. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday was pretty solid too. We had zone training meeting in downtown Sendai and it was a good time. We talked a lot about counting our blessings and things like that. That's one thing I've been studying a lot on recently. Obviously, we always have trials and hard times and things we can complain about, but if we open our eyes to the ways God is blessing us, it can make the world a lot brighter. I've really been trying to apply that recently especially with how hard Izumi has been and it's really helped. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">After the meeting, the Izumi elders and the Tagajo elders went to Dominoes and bought pizza, it was delish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday was probably the highlight day of the week. Elder Uehara and I went on splits and we were able to see more success than usual. It was way nice to work with Elder Uehara, He is so good at talking to people and making people feel comfortable. He is a really good missionary. We went finding most of the day, streeting and housing. We were able to hand out 5 Books of Mormon that day which was super solid. We also went housing and actually got let into a house! That never happens! We knocked and the guy told us to open the door and we told him we were talking about God and stuff and he was like, "sweet! I love talking about God and stuff!" So he let us into his kitchen and we talked for a bit. His wife was way confused, not really happy at the fact there were two random dudes in shirts and ties in her house. She asked her husband, "who are these people?! Why are they here?!" and he answered,"we are talking about God, I like talking about God!". Then she asked, "Since when did you like God?" Then he answered sarcastically, "I hate God!" It was pretty funny. But we talked to him for a bit and gave him a Book of Mormon and stuff. We aren't quite sure if he is super interested or not, he might just be really nice. Elder Uehara thought he might have been drunk, so I don't know, but it was a cool experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Something pretty crazy happened when we were housing as well. We knock on this pretty old looking house and this really old, rough looking man came out. When he was about to talk, he held this weird vibrating hand device to his neck and started to speak. Apparently he was a heavy smoker or something so he used this device because there was a huge hole in the front of his throat. It was a little creepy. He sounded just like a robot. I hope I didn't offend him '</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">cause when I saw the hole and heard his "voice," I kind of jumped and let out an audible "Whoaa". It was pretty nuts. He wasn't interested and we left. Check that one off the list of a weird experiences to be had. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Then later that night, Yoichi San, an investigator/Eikaiwa student took us out for dinner with his Vietnamese girlfriend. I guess he just got a bonus at work and was feeling rich so he took us to some way expensive yaki niku. We had some really good stuff. He also had me try some interesting food. I ate an entire, massive shrimp (eyes, outer shell, everything) in one bite, which was pretty good. Then we had pig feet. That wasn't too good. They eat it cold here, which was way gross. We also has some of the best gyutan or cow tongue I've ever had. It was such a good dinner and I'm pretty sure Yoichi San dropped about 150 bucks or more on it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I want to end with telling you a pretty cool little miracle I experienced last night. So it was around 7:00ish and I was still fasting so I was like dying. I felt light-headed, weak, and tired. I had absolutely no energy. We had already tried visiting a few less actives and no one was home. I was about to just go back to the apartment early to get some food 'cause I felt super no bueno, but we decided to house just one more apartment. So we housed the top floor of an apartment and no one was there. Then we went to the bottom floor to house that. The first door I knocked at a woman came out and I told her we were teaching about God and families and straight up asked her if she was interested in religion and learning about God and she was like, "actually yeah".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I was so surprised! Usually at that point, I'm being told to go away. She said she believed in God, but wasn't quite sure because she said there is so much inequality and unfairness in the world... wars, and the tsunami five years ago. I didn't know what exactly to tell her, but I said that God gives us these hard times to teach us to trust in Him and that they are given to refine us and help us grow and improve as people. She seemed to accept that and I gave her a Book of Mormon. She said she might try to come to church later on and hear about the Book of Mormon and stuff. I was so blown away; that just never happens, like ever! It was a small miracle that helped me realize that God blesses us when we push to the end, even if it is really hard while you are doing it. It helped me realize that He is still aware of the work and has His hand in it. It was awesome. And after experiencing that small miracle, compared to before, I had plenty of renewed energy to climb the hills back to the apartment to do reporting. It was an awesome experience. I'm grateful for this mission experience so I can learn on the job how God is aware of us and is always assisting us. Even when it is hard and may not seem like it at the time, He is always aware. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, this week is the last week of the transfer and then I will be onto transfer 16, my last six weeks in the field. I guess we will see where I will end my mission by next pday. I hope you all have a swell week! I love you guys and will talk to you next week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love, Elder Nathan </span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-54271272731993067712016-09-05T21:30:00.001-06:002016-09-05T21:30:27.326-06:00Typhoons, rain and stuff<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">August 29, 2016: Week 96</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">Area: Izumi</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Companion: Bruce Choro</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello everyone! I can't believe I'm back emailing again; this week seemed super fast for some reason. This email is gonna be fairly short I think; this week wasn't too eventful. This transfer is winding down pretty quickly though; only two more weeks left,</span></span><div style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Like I said, this week wasn't too eventful. We didn't have any appointments and our only investigator won't answer our phone calls or texts. He is the British guy we started teaching a few weeks ago. But he has been talking to ex-Mormons and reading anti-stuff online so he might be avoiding us now. I don't know, but it's kind of a bummer. So, we spent the whole week finding (knocking on doors or streeting,) but we couldn't really find anyone who wanted meet again so that's why I don't have a ton to report. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing is that I experienced my first typhoon! That was pretty nuts. I don't think we got the full brunt of it, but on Monday night, it rained sideways really hard for like 4 hours. It was pretty nuts. Supposedly, another typhoon, a much bigger and slower moving one, is headed to Sendai and should hit tomorrow morning. We just heard that we aren't supposed to go outside for most of the day tomorrow so it should be pretty nuts. I'm kinda stoked. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday was super rainy as well, just not crazy typhoon rainy. But we did get stuck in a pretty big rainstorm and got soaking wet. So for most of the day we walked around in the pouring rain housing and trying to talk to people. Most people weren't too excited about stopping in the rain. I don't blame them too much; I mean it was raining pretty hard. But yeah, that is the basic jist of Tuesday through Friday, so I will just leave it at that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday was pretty cool. Furukawa had another baptism. The guy who got baptized is the husband of a member and he finally did it! So we rode down with our mission leader to Furukawa and saw the baptism. It was awesome to be able to see a baptism again, especially in one of my old areas. Also, because the branch in Furukawa is tiny, all of the members get so excited when there is a baptism. That was cool to see. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">But yeah, by Sunday night, I was feeling pretty bummed and discouraged with the really rough week I had. It seemed like no one was ever going to listen to us so I was getting down again. We had some time before reporting to work so we went out to try to talk to people at a huge park by the apartment. We were trying to talk to people, but no one was really giving us the time of day. So, I was still kind of down and dejected, but I then I saw a man just chilling on a bench next to a pond, so I went to talk to him and he was super nice. He had just sat down to feed ducks. Apparently it's a huge hobby of his, and he is way good at it. He was doing these duck calls and ducks from everywhere were responding to it and coming to him. So yeah, I got to talk to him for like 45 minutes; I got to learn how to feed ducks, learned about his family, etc. Eventually, we got to talking about the gospel. He said he was Buddhist, but really respected Christians. We talked about how following religion and having faith in something helps you be a better a person. I was able to give him a Book of Mormon and he was really happy to get it and said he wanted to read it. He didn't have a cell phone, but he said he is always there feeding ducks so if we see him, he would love to talk to us some more. It wasn't a new investigator, but it was a little tender mercy I got at the end of a trying week, so I was really grateful for that. I hope we can see him again. It felt way good to just have a normal conversation with someone. It felt so natural and flowed really nice so that was cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">But yeah, that is about it! This coming week should be good. We have splits, a typhoon, my last interview with President Smith (except for the exit interview), and zone training meeting. Also, a super rich, groovy grandma member in Izumi is taking us out for steak on Thursday so that should be legit! I hope you have a good week! Love you all! Till next week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love, Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-75377682653423251502016-09-05T21:24:00.004-06:002016-09-05T21:26:49.354-06:00Dedications and concerts<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span class="im" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #454545;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hey everybody! I hope you all had a swell week! This week was a pretty good week. We were able to teach some lessons and attend some cool meetings and stuff. The Sapporo Japan temple was dedicated yesterday so we got to see that, which was way cool. I'll get to more of that later. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We started off the week going to Sendai to work with the Kamisugi zone leaders for splits. I got to work with Elder Okamoto again! We were together in Aomori like 4 months ago, so it was fun to be back with him. We worked really hard and talked to a lot of people. I about killed a lady on her bike though.... We were really focusing on talking to everyone that we could, so when I saw a lady coming towards me while we were walking in a neighborhood, I thought I would stop her. I swear, I gave her plenty of time to notice I was there trying to stop her so I wouldn't surprise her, but it wasn't enough apparently. She saw me and stared at me as she passed me, looking at me as she rode right into a curb and just wrecked on the concrete with all of her groceries going everywhere!.....whoops. We rushed over to help her up and gather her stuff. She didn't get hurt or anything, but it was still awkward. She got up and brushed herself off and politely said, "So what did you want?" I was like, "I'm so sorry, I was just gonna give you this pass along card or something." It was pretty funny, I'm just glad she didn't get hurt. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But it was great to work with Elder Okamoto again and catch up on old times. He's an amazing and talented dude. I would not be surprised if he became a general authority someday. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The rest of the week before the weekend was pretty normal. We just went finding most of the day. We got to talk to some nice people, but no one really wanted to hear the message. We will keep trying though!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But the weekend was super good. Saturday was full of meetings and events and we got to teach the guy again that we taught last Monday. The lesson didn't go so hot and I was pretty wrong on this guy's potential. He is definitely one of those guys who is being "blown around" by every piece of doctrine. He has studied lots of theories and philosophy, so his way of thinking is kind of messed up and confusing. But yeah, we were so excited to teach him, but as we started the lesson, we knew it wasn't going to go well. We asked him about how reading the Book of Mormon went and he started with all of the classic arguments that people come up with when it comes to the Book of Mormon. He said that there is zero archaeological evidence of the Nephites or Lamanites. He also had a beef with how it says that they had horses even though its generally accepted that there weren't horses in the Americas until Columbus. Later, he also brought up polygamy, black people and the priesthood, etc. He's basically looking up anti-Mormon stuff online and then contending with us, asking for explanations for everything. He also said he is talking to some ex-Mormons online who are also feeding him stuff about the church. He says he is on a search for truth, but in reality, he has too many doubts and things to even give it a try. He said that reading and praying and getting a witness from the Holy Ghost isn't good enough for him; he has to know from scientific evidence and stuff that it is true. Some of the theories and stuff he talked about were pretty ridiculous. I won't go into it, but some of the stuff he said, I was just like, "what are you even talking about". It was really sad to see how lost some people are with all of the different stuff about religion going around that they just get so confused and won't try to find truth without using the internet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After that super frustrating lesson, we went to Sendai for a stake priesthood meeting. I don't have a lot to report about the meeting, but it was fun to see other members and missionaries. After the meeting, there was a concert at the church. I don't know if you have heard about them or not, but a group called Bless 4 came for a free concert. They are a group of siblings (two sisters and two brothers) who are Japanese, but grew up mostly in America so they are fluent in English and Japanese and are kind of a J-pop group. They are super famous in Japan. They were actually on a bonus feature for "Meet the Mormons" so you can see their segment at visitors centers around the world. They are incredible performers. One of the sisters is probably one of the best singers I've ever heard. It was so much fun. It was a legit concert too. They didn't just do church songs; they did most of their popular stuff. It was pretty awesome. Even President Smith was getting into it and dancing around. It twas a party. Even though I said I'd never get into J-pop, I will definitely get some of their stuff when I'm home. Plus, they do some of their songs in English too so its kinda cool. You should look them up when you have a chance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then after that, we watched the cultural celebration over satellite. It was cool to see some cultural dances, as well as the history of the church in Japan, especially the Aomori and Hokkaido areas. Seeing it definitely increased my appreciation of the early faithful saints of this special country. Having another temple means so much to the people here. Even though it's really hard to see the growth of the church in Japan, it shows that it slowly but surely is progressing and that the people here are really excited about their new temple. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then for church, we went to Kamisugi again to see the temple dedication. President Nelson gave the dedicatory prayer. Elder Stevenson was also there. It was pretty cool to see. It helped me realize that even though I get rejected a lot and haven't seen any baptisms, I still have this awesome opportunity to be with some of the saints here in Japan, to learn their language and culture, and try to help them in any way I can. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But yeah that's about it from me. It was a great weekend. This coming week we pretty much have straight finding all day everyday so wish us luck and pray for me! Also, there is a typhoon headed our way, so we will see how that goes! It should be fun! I hope you all have a great week! Love you guys! Talk to you next week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Love, Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-37016447151584566482016-09-05T21:10:00.002-06:002016-09-05T21:10:51.329-06:00Barbecue, basketball and a crazy cool lesson!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">August 15, 2016: Week 94</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Companion: Bruce Choro</span></span></span></div>
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Hey everyone! How are y'all doing today? Well my letter is gonna be pretty short today I think. One reason being that my entire family (except you Erin!) is off traveling in Spain and I don't want to waste their time with me rambling and also we just got done teaching a pretty crazy lesson so my brain is pretty tired.<br /><br />Well this week was pretty non-eventful. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal work days. We had one cool thing happen on Wednesday though. We decided to go finish housing the super rich neighborhood with the castle house, half believing we could meet someone else who would let us in. Who knows? Maybe that neighborhood is a gold mine?! So we were housing and getting rejected pretty hard, but when we knocked on another big house (just two houses down from Castle house), a woman came out and asked, "Are you Mormon?" You don't often get that when you first meet people. She invited us in to talk more! So we walked into her massive house, got to meet her husband and cute dogs and talked for a bit. She has been to a missionary Eikaiwa in the past so that's how she knew missionaries. Turns out she just wants to learn English, isn't interested in the message at all, but she was really nice and gave us some peaches and stuff. It was a great visit! I never thought we would get let into two houses when I first saw that super rich neighborhood! Its been a really nice area of town for us.<br /><br />Other than that, we weren't really able to work this week. The ward had a bunch of activities and stuff, so we spent the majority of our time helping and going to those. It was super fun though. We had another basketball activity on Thursday which was pretty fun. We had some "investigators" come, which was fun.<br /><br />Then that night we went to get ramen with the Elders quorum in the ward. It was fun to spend time with them and get to know them. The president is named Taketomi Kyoudai. He is from Okinawa and actually served in Sendai as a missionary. He was in Kitakami for a while so it was cool to talk with him about his mission and hear how it was 12 years ago. It was a good time!<br /><br />On Satuday, we had a BBQ by the river that runs through Izumi. It was so awesome to just chill by the water, eat some food and have fun with the people. I got singed by the sun though. I always tell myself that I don't need sunscreen and that I'll be fine, but I forget that because I'm a missionary, some parts of my body has seen about as much sun these past two years as a brand new baby. I got burned pretty bad and I'm paying the price for it. I hope it turns into a tan! Kind of doubt it though...<br /><br />But the highlight of the week was what just happened. So over a month ago, we got a self-referral from a guy named asking for a Book of Mormon. We've tried many times over this and last transfer to get ahold of him, but have never made contact, so we thought that it was just a fluke and kind of forgot about it. But last night, we decided to give it another try and call him and he actually answered! He said he could meet with us today, so we just finished meeting with him at the station in Izumi. </div>
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He is from England, but has lived in Japan for 10 years. Surprisingly though, he doesn't really know Japanese all that well. And despite not really knowing the language, he married a Japanese women who he says is "good" at English but not "great" at it and has a daughter. He is a super nice guy though. We were able to share the restoration and answer his questions for like an hour and a half. He had some really tough questions though. He studied philosophy in college and a lot about Islam, so he is being influenced by a lot of different views. </div>
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It was an awesome experience to be able to teach and talk to him though. I've never had a chance really to do that since being here in Japan. The majority that I've talked to don't really care about God or religion and if they do, they have so little knowledge about it that you have to take things super slowly. But this guy kept firing off question after question. I'm glad Elder Bruce was there because he kind of grew up in the Bible belt so he is very accustomed to sharing his beliefs to people like that. He did an awesome job answering his questions and teaching. It was fun to have a teaching experience like that, especially because it was in English, although at times it was pretty hard to actually do it in English. There were instances where I knew the Japanese word, but couldn't put it together in English. It was cool though. It just feels like the spirit is so much stronger when it is said in your own native language. </div>
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I hope we can help him disregard all of the philosophies of men and the world that he is so worried about and to just take it to God and find out for himself. He wants to meet again this weekend, so we are really excited to teach him. It was cool to see missionary work from that perspective. I'm so used to finding all day and not really teaching people who know about Christianity, so it was a cool opportunity to do that.<br /><br />Well, those are the highlights of the week. I hope you all have a great week! I'm doing good and trying to give it my best before it's all said and done in 2 months. I love you all! Talk to you next week!</div>
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Love, Elder Nathan Didericksen</div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-81198111721360363562016-09-05T20:18:00.002-06:002016-09-05T20:26:18.017-06:00Getting treated like Celebrities!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">August 8, 2016: Week 93</span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;">Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I I hope you are all doing swell today!</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Festival and Obon season is just starting up in Japan. It'</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">s basically the time of year where Japan explodes with parties and stuff. Basically, Obon is when everyone gathers together and they believe the spirits of their ancestors come down and dwell with them for a period. They party, and then the ancestor goes back. Everyone is just having a good time with their dead ancestors right now! </span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My week was pretty good. We saw some good stuff, some disappointing stuff, and some straight up unexpected weird stuff. It was a full week, so I will just dive into it!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So for like the first 3 days of the week, we had straight finding all day. It's usually a rough realization when you turn to see your plans for the coming day and see that you have no appointments or anything and that you have like 10 straight hours of finding time, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. On Tuesday, we rode our bikes way out into the boonies and went finding and exploring, trying to find places that no missionary has been before. It helps keep me sane because I've been in Izumi forever and it feels like I know the area inside and out, so it's fun to go to new places. We did that for the day and didn't find anyone who was interested or wanted to listen to us, but we had a good time anyway. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wednesday was pretty awesome. Last week I talked about a potential investigator that we had found who lives in perhaps the biggest house I've ever seen in Japan. It looks like a straight up castle. Anyway, we decided to pay the castle another visit. Abe San was stoked to see us and we were able to talk to her a bit. I was also able to see a bit inside her house from the door and man it does look really nice. But she sure does like to talk; she talked our ears off. She is super nice though and seemed pretty willing to listen to us. We were able to talk more about our message and leave a Book of Mormon. She said her son really wants to meet with us as well. After meeting with her, we were super stoked. I thought I had finally found the reason why I was sent back to Izumi. We were pretty excited that we finally found someone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That kind of got shot down on Friday though. During weekly planning, I called her up to set up an appointment with her and her son. She said she had read some of the Book of Mormon, so I was pretty excited about that. She then started telling us how awesome she thought we were and how much she respected us because we were young kids leaving our countries and trying to teach the Japanese people in a difficult language. She even said that she felt different when she talked to us and saw a light. BUT..... she said the Book of Mormon was too hard and that she and her son had absolutely zero intention or interest in joining the church or anything like that so she said we should use our valuable time elsewhere. She said she would call if she decided she wants to hear from us. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was really disappointed and down after that phone call. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It felt like yet another one of those times after you work so hard and finally think you found someone that will be good and who will listen to us, but then that hope gets shot down. It shot down all of my missionary work fire and motivation. It was a pretty tough pill to swallow. But we finished weekly and went out to work, trying to forget about it. We went out housing for like 3 hours. Nothing too crazy happened, but we housed into a girl who took a Book of Mormon and said that missionaries could come follow up. I don't know how that will turn out, but it helped us to forget about what had happened a little bit, so that was cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, I have one more experience to share. On Saturday night, we were out housing again. Nothing too special was happening, just a normal night of housing. We heard some music coming from the distance, so we headed towards the music, wondering if there was a festival going on. As we went, we kept housing apartments along the way. At one point, I knocked on a door and was talking to a young mom when a bunch of other moms and kids came up to the apartment building, having just come back from the festival down the street. It was getting a little awkward because they were all looking at us, so to get out of it, I pulled out some Eikaiwa flyers and said we teach free English. When I said that, we were surrounded by like 5 moms asking us about Eikaiwa. They seemed really interested in it and blown away at the fact that their were 2 white dudes in their small neighborhood. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then one of them said, "Since you guys are working so hard, have some pineapple!" and she gave us two sticks with big slices of fresh pineapple! So that was awesome, got some free pineapple! But it didn't stop there. We headed over to the festival to see what was going on. It was just some small neighborhood get together/festival with food and cultural dances, as well as some dudes playing music. As we were walking away, we heard someone yell out "WAIT" and we turned around to see a guy running towards us. He caught up and told me to come eat and enjoy the matsuri. I was pretty surprised and caught off guard, but i just rolled with it and said sure. So this guy buys us grilled corn on the cob, sausage on a stick, yakisoba, and a soda. Then he told us to come sit down with everyone and eat and get to know everyone in the neighborhood! I was like "is this actually happening?!". It was soo weird; we stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone was just looking at us and saying basically, "Why are there two white guys here? Who are they?" and stuff like that. So, we sit down and all of these people are coming up to talk to us. Half of them were pretty drunk too, but they were all super nice, treating us like celebrities. It was nuts. Even some high up people were there for some reason, like the postmaster of Japan. I have no idea why he was there, but yeah, it was nuts. </span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've never had anything like that happen to me before. Even some old grandma came up and gave us some yakitori that she bought for us. It was crazy. We were able to talk to the guy for like 2 hours though, as well as meet a ton of people. The guy was way cool. His name is Chiba Akihiro. He was telling us that during Obon season, Japanese people suddenly open up their hearts and are just super nice and party. He told me that he saw us and wanted to help us out and show us some of the friendship and happiness that is shared in Japan this time of year and that when I'm back in Utah and if I see some Japanese guy wondering around having a hard time, I would remember this experience and help him out. We talked about a ton of stuff. We were able to share the gospel with several people because they kept offering us alcohol and when we said no, we were able to teach about the church and what we are doing. It was a really funny, strange experience that I thought I would never have. It made me love the Japanese people even more. They all were so nice to us. We felt like guests of honor at this little neighborhood celebration. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well those are just couple of the highlights from this week, kind of crazy. This coming week should be good too. We have another basketball activity as well as a BBQ so it should be fun! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;">The nice dude who bought us a bunch of food and the Postmaster of Japan</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;">(No idea why he was there.)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rice fields and sunset...beautiful!!</span></td></tr>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-3319126386605111242016-09-05T19:08:00.003-06:002016-09-05T19:08:49.249-06:00Transfer 15 (2 more!) Yikes! <div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">August 1, 2016: Week 92</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well another transfer has come and gone and with that we got transfer calls yesterday. I felt like 100% sure that since I basically have spent two summers in Izumi already, I would transfer and finish my mission somewhere else, but I was wrong. I am staying in Izumi for at least another one with Elder Bruce. Actually, no one is transferring in the district really so it will be exactly the same. I was so sure I would be leaving, I have to change my mindset back to figuring out what to do in Izumi to help this area pick up. It should be fun to be with Elder Bruce as well as the other elders in my apartment for at least another round. We all just need to figure out how to help this area progress. It should be a good time. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I might actually just finish my mission here being I only have 2 more transfers, but I guess we will see. It feels weird to be in my last 12 weeks though! It's sneaking up fast!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So I'll just get to the highlights of the week. Again, it feels as I get nearer to the end of my mission, the days just blend together and I don't really remember much of what has happened so I will do my best. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday was a pretty rough day. I did splits with the Furukawa elders and recently they changed things for doing splits. Now both companionships work in the leaders area, so they came here. My companionship for the day got the short end of the stick and we didn't have the bikes, so we basically walked around all day in super humid weather. That was kindof rough, not much to report there, but Elder Bruce and Elder Robb had a big thing to report on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So a couple of weeks ago when Elder Robb and I were on splits, we decided to house this house that looked like a massive castle just for the heck of it. We were pretty sure they'd say no because that's what most super rich people say. The lady said through her answer box that her dogs were going to the bathroom and that she couldn't talk anymore, so I told Robb Choro he should come back in a few weeks when he's with my comp on splits. So that'</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">s what they did. They went back there around 8:30 at night and the lady came to the door and talked to them for a while on the doorstep. She would have let them in, but they said they couldn't go inside without a male present. At that moment, her middle aged son pulled into the driveway. When he did, the lady apparently yelled out "it must be God's will!" So they got to go inside the "castle"!! Elder Robb said that he and Bruce Choro looked exactly like those two missionaries from that Adele song parody video when they are like "Hello from the inside!!! and smiling in wonderment. They said the house was absolutely crazy with like 5 foot tall finely carved wooden elephants and super fancy furniture and everything! They talked for like an hour in this mansion. The lady and her husband seemed pretty interested apparently and the woman kept saying how she hoped me and Elder Robb could come back and that it was a miracle that we did. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We all about died when they came back and told us that story. I guess they seemed interested and said they would call us in the next few days but nothing has happened. I hope they are interested because you usually don't get invited into people's homes in Japan for nothing, especially a straight up castle. So I guess with me staying, I'll have the chance to meet them and hopefully turn them into investigators! That would be so cool if that works out! I'm super bummed that had to happen of all days that I'm on splits. Darn it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, on Saturday, we had the annual softball game in Ishinomaki where the Izumi and Ishinomaki wards play a game of competitive softball. It was super fun to get out there and play. Izumi wins every year and we weren't about to let that streak be broken so we smacked them. It was awesome. I hit 2 or 3 doubles and threw a few outs at shortstop! It reminded me of the good old days playing baseball and pitching with Dad in the backyard. I tried pitching again and it felt pretty good. Part of me regrets quitting baseball so early. Obviously it would have been impossible to play with basketball happening, but it could have been fun. Oh well, basketball is way better anyway!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I also got super sun-burnt, like really bad. Usually I need one bad sunburn before I start tanning and I need a tan real bad. I've gotten so white as a missionary. Haha! It's a big contrast to my senior year during tennis season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly, I'll just share a cool personalish experience from this week. I fasted last Thursday, asking for help to understand why things were happening. I was getting super discouraged and just sick of never having any investigators and feeling like a worthless missionary. I had hit my wall so to speak, having had it with people telling me to go back to America and that I was wasting my time trying to convert a Buddhist nation. I was asking for understanding and for some guidance to know what to do. As I did this, I was reminded of an experience I had back in Kitakami almost a year ago when I was with Elder Trane. We were teaching a less active who wanted to leave the church because she had been offended by someone. She gave all these reasons why she knew she should leave. When she said all these things, my companion (who was a bean) asked her "But do you love the Savior?". When he asked that, the mood in the room changed and we could feel the Spirit and her countenance change. She said she did and that everything else doesn't matter. That was one of the coolest experiences of my mission and when I thought that, I was reminded why we serve missions. Sure we grow and learn skills that will help us. Sure we are called to baptize and bring in converts. But I felt that the main reason we go on missions is to show that we love Christ and that we want to show our appreciation and love to Him through testifying and teaching of Him to anyone. If they say no or if they tell me to go back home and that I'm worthless, it doesn't matter. I realized that all that matters is our love for Christ and what He did for us. When I realized that, I felt at peace. Nothing crazy has happened since then, but I can be at peace that if I do my best, then it will be okay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love you guys! Talk to you next week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love, Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-47412316897625294842016-09-05T18:55:00.002-06:002016-09-05T18:55:10.332-06:00Happy Pioneer Day(or Karl Malone Day!)<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">July 25, 2016: Week 91</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey family and friends! It's great to be able to talk to you all again. First of all, I want to wish my sweet mommy a happy birthday last Wednesday! I hope it was an awesome one! I love you so much and I'm so grateful for all that you have done and sacrificed for me! You are the best mom in the whole world! I can't wait to give you a hug in a couple of months! </span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, another transfer is winding to a close and starting next week, I'll be in my final two transfers, so it's really starting to wind down. Its kind of crazy to think about!</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well I don't have much to write about this week. Every day kind of blended into one and was just full of knocking on doors and trying to talk to people on the streets, but no one really wanted to talk to us. It's kind of funny sometimes how much some people don't like us. I had a few people yell at me through the doorbell speaker telling me to just go home. Others will just open the door and see two white dudes smiling at them and then slam the door without saying anything. It's kind of hard knowing that we have something so awesome to share, but people don't really give us a chance. It was just one of those weeks for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We did have zone conference on Tuesday which was pretty good. We learned about seeking the spirit while studying the life of Alma the Younger from the Book of Mormon. It was really cool being able to study about the life of Alma and what made him such a powerful instrument in God's hands. He was always so diligent and faithful to whatever task was given him and he always put his full trust in God. You could go on and on listing the good qualities that Alma the Younger had. It's no wonder that the biggest book in the Book of Mormon was dedicated to him. It was a really good conference where I was able to feel the spirit and kind of evaluate myself and find ways I can be better. It was a good time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Also on Thursday, literally all of our appointments and stuff fell through meaning we had yet another day of nine hours of housing and finding and such. Luckily, Brother Ito, our former mission leader pulled through and randomly took the four of us to Costco for lunch. It was a super great time. Brother Ito is probably the funniest guy I've met in Japan. He served in Sendai as a missionary like 20 years ago or so and always tells us stories from his mission. He definitely has some funny stories. So we all got pizza and hot dogs and talked to him as well as with another recently returned missionary in the ward. It was hilarious though. I'll miss him a lot when I leave Izumi. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">When we showed up at Costco, we saw Bro. Ito wandering around the parking lot while looking at his phone. We were wondering what he was doing until he came up to us and said he was playing the new Pokemon game for smartphones. So I guess that game came out in Japan earlier than expected. Kelsey was right, literally everyone is playing. The other elders went to dendo at a huge park last night, but when they got there, they said they literally saw over 150 people playing it. That game sounds pretty nuts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Also that day I was on splits with Elder Uehara which was pretty fun. We were out finding when we rode past a park with some kids playing basketball and when we both saw it, we both stopped and looked at each other and were like "yep lets go play". We both really like basketball, so we were super excited. We played these two kids for a little bit and then were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon and give them each one which was cool. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than that, this week has been relatively uneventful. It's interesting that Matthew wrote me about reading stories from our ancestors because I actually did some of that this morning. Obviously, since it was pioneer day, I decided to read about it a bit, but also got a talk assignment for next week and the theme is turning our hearts to our ancestors. I was thinking about what kind of blessings and benefits we can receive through "turning our hearts to our ancestors". I then remembered a few years ago for a a school project where I got to interview Grandma Sagers about her life and the things that she had learned throughout her life. I remembered how cool of an experience it was for me and how I felt much closer to her and how I was strengthened by her life stories. So, I think I am going to talk about that next week. I hope it goes well. So, like Matthew said to me, I hope that we can take some time during this time of year to reflect on and learn more about our ancestors that set the way for us. Their stories can strengthen our faith and give us greater resolve to live in a way to make them proud. I've felt that as I've studied. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, that's all from me. I hope you all have a wonderful week. By this time next week, I will know what will happen with transfers. We will see how it ends up. Love you guys! Talk to you next week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-34550075982611716452016-07-22T22:36:00.002-06:002016-07-22T22:37:57.709-06:00Hot, humid and green in Japan<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">July 18, 2016: Week 90</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;">Hey everyone! How are things in Utah? This week was pretty good, although for some reason, especially this past transfer, days kind of blend together and I can't really remember anything specific that happened. What I do know is that it's super super humid in Japan right now. We are dripping in sweat after riding our bikes or walking for like 2 minutes. And maybe since it's so hot here or something else, I don't really know why, but people in Sendai wear like no clothes here. It's pretty crazy; let's just say some girls aren't dressing as modestly as they could.... Also, I housed into some old dude who wasn't wearing any pants, just a long shirt...... Anyway... </span></div>
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The good side is that it's super green and pretty right now. I'm learning to take some time and to smell the roses every now and again, trying to savor the last couple months I have left here.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tuesday was a fun day. I got an email from one of my old companions from over a year ago saying he was back in Sendai to visit the mission and travel around Japan, so he met us in Izumi and we went to lunch with him. It was way fun to see him again since he went home last October. It was super weird to see him as a normal person with a huge, thick beard, but he was still the same guy. It was a good time. We spent the rest of the day knocking doors and were able to visit a less-active couple for the first time. We've been looking at the member records and have been trying to visit the less actives in whatever area we are in that day. For the most part, most of them want nothing to do with the church and usually aren't too stoked to see us at their door (I've been yelled at a few times), so I was pleasantly surprised when the couple invited us in and talked to us and stuff. They were super nice and we had a great visit with them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wednesday was a little rough. We went out to a way far part of town to go tracting for the afternoon. The clouds didn't look too threatening so we didn't think too much of it, but we were super wrong. Out of nowhere, the clouds rolled in and it started raining really hard. We didn't have an umbrella or rain gear of any kind so we got pretty soaked. Also, since in this mission, we aren't allowed to ride bikes if it's raining (kind of a frustrating rule but we have to obey it) so we had to walk to our next appointment in the pouring rain for about an hour. We got pretty soaked, but it was a good time I guess! But when it rains this time of year, it feels you are literally drowning in humidity. I can't really explain it, but it feels super no bueno. I love the dry Utah weather!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On Thursday, I went on splits with Elder Robb, an elder from Spanish Fork who works in Furukawa. We worked in Izumi for the day and it was pretty fun. Since he is in a leg brace, we weren't able to ride bikes so we had to walk a ways to get to where we wanted to go. We spent most of the day knocking on doors again. Usually, housing for more than like 1 or 2 hours at a time is miserable, but it was super fun with Elder Robb. We didn't take rejection too seriously and we just laughed and joked around the entire time so the 4 hours of housing seemed to go by really fast. We didn't see any success whatsoever until the very last door (it's always the last door for some reason). We found another woman (gosh darn it where are the men?!) who was interested so we gave her a Book of Mormon and got the OK to come back. SO that was pretty cool. We also found this massive house that looked like a castle so we decided to house it and see what would happen. Elder Robb's door approach was something like "we are missionaries who are sharing a message about REAL happiness"(cause having stacks on stacks of money doesn't bring true happiness!) She gave a pretty weird excuse of why she couldn't talk to us. Maybe it was legit, I don't know, but she was like "sorry, I can't talk right now, my dog is pooping." (Now that's a new one!) I guess I totally understand if that's actually what was happening because I wouldn't want my dog pooping in my castle, but, she didn't say she wasn't interested or anything like that and said something to suggest we could come back another time, but we will see. That would be way cool if we could pick up a super rich investigator; do lessons in their castle, drive in their fancy cars, etc! I'm getting ahead of myself, but that'd be legit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, in other news; one of the investigators we found for the sisters last week has been dropped already. She was super interested and I guess she still is, but she told the sisters that her husband got really mad that she was even considering meeting with the missionaries so she said she couldn't meet with them so her family wouldn't break apart. It's kind of frustrating, a lot of the time when you finally find someone who will listen, their parents or the spouse shut it down pretty quickly, so that was kind of sad. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other than that, I don't have much to report on. It was a good week even though nothing too crazy happened. I only have two weeks left of the transfer and then I will enter my last two which seems so weird; like it's already halfway through July! What the Heck?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, that's about it from me! I hope you all have a wonderful week and a sweet pioneer day. I have been reading a bit about the pioneers lately and throughout my mission and it's helped me realize the blessings I have thanks to all of those faithful saints who gave up everything so that they could worship God. Especially being from Utah, it's made me super proud of my heritage and grateful for the blessings that the pioneers gave to us. So I hope you have a great one blowing stuff up and stuff! Haha! Now I'm off to play some of the young men in basketball! It's the first time playing since January so I hope I'm not too bad! I love you guys! Talk to you next week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My old companion, Elder Hill</td></tr>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-20597188181377130412016-07-22T22:28:00.003-06:002016-07-22T22:31:34.056-06:00Finding young moms!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">July 11, 2016: Week 89</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;">Hey everyone! It was great to hear from y'all and all about your 4th of July! I love Japan, but it has also helped me realize how thankful I am to be from America and how awesome of a place it is. It may be going kind of crazy right now, but it's still a pretty awesome place. </span></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;">This past week went by super fast, I feel like pday was two days ago. We are already half way through this transfer and I hit 21 months this week which is crazy! Time is flying!</span></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My week was pretty good. My days still consist of hunting down less-actives and knocking on doors all day. We were actually able to find two new investigators this week by knocking doors! Unfortunately they are both women and we can't teach them so we will pass them to the sisters, but it feels pretty great to finally find someone. </span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So on Tuesday, we got a media referral from a guy named asking for a Book of Mormon. I was so surprised because first, you never get referrals in Japan really, and second, it was an American dude. We tried to find his address, but since he is American, he probably doesn't understand Japanese addresses super well because it made no sense. We ended up in some neighborhood in the middle of nowhere so we just did some tracting around the area. While we were housing an apartment, a lady got out of her car and started talking to us. She asked what church we were and stuff like that. She didn't think Mormons could eat meat or things like that, so we told her a bit about the church and the Book of Mormon and things like that. She was super chill and way easy to talk to. I gave her the Book of Mormon and she actually asked to get our number to meet again! That doesn't ever happen! So we exchanged contact information and plan to go next week. We can't teach women, so like I said, we will pass her to the sisters. It's a bummer we can't teach her, but I'm glad we could finally find someone who would listen!</span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It rained all day on Wednesday and our mission has a rule that you can't ride bikes in the rain, so we basically walked around all day because everything fell through. Eikaiwa was pretty good though. A new student came so me and Elder Murakami basically taught him one on one. We asked him what he wanted to learn and he's says, "tell me about Utah!" So Elder Murakami (who is from Salt Lake) and I gladly taught him about all the beauties of Utah. It was awesome. It made us both way happy to talk about where we come from. Like I said earlier, I love Utah! So that was pretty solid.</span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On Thursday, Elder Bruce and I found this area we really want to house like all over. We went over there on the previous Monday and were able to find a lady who accepted a Book of Mormon so we thought there might be more like her. It's a pretty wealthy area with some probably not so humble people but we went anyway and tracted for a long time. Housing for a couple hours straight is pretty tough, but we are able to make it fun. It's not too bad when you have a comp that likes a lot of the things you like so we are always talking and joking about random stuff. Anyway, we met a pretty young mom with 3 adorable kids. We said we had a message about families and how it can strengthen families. She had heard stuff from missionaries of a different christian church so she knew the Bible and had somewhat of a background. We taught her a bit about the Book of Mormon and how the gospel blesses families, gave her a Book of Mormon and made an appointment for this week! Again, she is a woman so we have to pass her to the sisters, but It felt good to find someone! Why can we find only young moms!? Oh well, hopefully we will find an investigator that is a dude soon!</span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm trying to think of other interesting things that happened this week. Not much really happens besides us knocking doors and such, which isn't a bad thing, just nothing worth sharing! </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all! Talk to you next week!</span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Love,</span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-46923158280199169572016-07-12T22:18:00.002-06:002016-07-12T22:19:56.539-06:00Under the Weather and Turning Twenty!<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Companion: Bruce Choro</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;">Hey everyone!!! Let me start with saying Happy Bday to Matthew yesterday!! That's probably the best birthday I can think of, spending it in Hawaii! I hope you had a great day! You've always been a role model for me and someone I've wanted to be like! Thanks for your great example and for always hanging out with me. I can't wait to continue our shenanigans <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1063518620" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">in 3 months</span></span>! Love you buddy!</span></span></span><br />
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Also Happy 4th of July everyone!! Its kind of hard to be patriotic here, but I'm doing my best. We sang all of the patriotic songs in the hymn book for comp study, and my screen on my iPad is the statue of Liberty so I'm feeling the Patriotic spirit! I hope you all have a good one tomorrow!!</div>
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I'm not gonna lie, my week was just a little rough. First of all, I'm in my twenties now which freaks me out. I'm still in denial about that. I'll get to my bday later, but also, I got some nasty virus on Monday night and it basically knocked me out for like 4 days so there's not a lot of missionary work to report on. </div>
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So on Monday night I rode my bike down to Sendai to do splits with the Zone Leaders again. We got there a little early so we went to the station to talk to people. As we were headed back to the apartment, there were two white people shouting at as and waving. They seemed really nice and like they wanted to talk to us so we went over to see them. They were super super nice people. They were just a young couple on vacation here from Oregon. They actually knew the church; their friend is a Mormon and they have actually taken all of the missionary lessons and have had the missionaries over to their house for dinner several times. It was so refreshing to have a conversation with chill American people. They were super nice and it made my day. You don't get to have conversations like that too often as a missionary here. </div>
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I slept in the Kamisugi apartment that night and woke up the next day feeling awful. Elder Mitabi, the elder I was to go on splits with woke up sick too, but we decided to go out and work anyway. It was raining all day so walking all day in the rain for 8 hours probably didn't help our sickness. We basically housed and streeted all day. It was pretty miserable because we were feeling awful, but we were actually able to see some good things happen. We found a new investigator and were able to hand out a few copies of the Book of Mormon.</div>
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The next day, I woke up feeling even worse. We rode our bikes back to Izumi where I found Elder Murakami sick with the same thing, so we ended up staying in the apartment and resting for the day. In the end, we were stuck in the apartment for like three days. We tried to make the best of it. We made pancakes and had some silly conversations while on our death beds. We definitely grew closer over those three days. It was pretty bad though. It was so hard to sleep it off cause we had no medicine and were so congested. We are finally starting to get over it now though which is good. So yeah, that was rough.</div>
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Also, President Smith called me this week saying he wanted to come to my District Meeting last week, so that caught me way off guard and caused some stress. I think it went pretty well though, despite the fact I was coughing like every sentence I said. But yeah, I have no idea why he came. </div>
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Lastly, I graduated from my teen years and turned twenty on Friday. It was a pretty good B-day. Birthdays are definitely not the same as a missionary, but it was pretty good. I loved the bday package that Mom sent me, I've been going to town on the Oreos! I found out that Oreos are my number one weakness when it comes to food. Also thanks so much for that little book y'all made for me; that was so nice! It's pretty crazy that was my last bday on the mission! </div>
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But yeah, that is honestly about all that I have. I was basically dying inside all week (haha) so I don't have much to report. Ill try to make it more exciting for next week's email! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all so much! Have a great Fourth of July tomorrow!! Love you!</div>
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Love,</div>
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Elder Nathan Didericksen</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfm_PcLEM6cFVnDRlc7STov2nGEcF2hYJszaO_cQDaEkEdhm8AGcbT8pyK7XPLOkamMvUxJyk4VPQfH-KOEyHOzC3eXxXPo0dE0WzT80SNSWCg7APezip_7-BGxya2y-X5nOBrqNqToKZ-/s1600/image3+%252815%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfm_PcLEM6cFVnDRlc7STov2nGEcF2hYJszaO_cQDaEkEdhm8AGcbT8pyK7XPLOkamMvUxJyk4VPQfH-KOEyHOzC3eXxXPo0dE0WzT80SNSWCg7APezip_7-BGxya2y-X5nOBrqNqToKZ-/s640/image3+%252815%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-4362176272288080832016-07-11T22:22:00.001-06:002016-07-11T22:22:08.582-06:00Weddings and Crazy Dudes<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">June 27, 2016: Week 87</span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Companion: Bruce Choro</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey everyone!! It was so great to hear from all of you! It sounds like it's been super hot in Utah! We got straight rain like everyday this week so it was kind of a bummer. When it rains, the humidity in Japan goes to ridiculous levels. Seriously, this country is so humid!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So this week was super fun! It was the first week of the transfer so we were able to welcome two elders into our group here in Izumi. My new companion is named Elder Bruce from Oklahoma. He went to BYU for a year before coming out and is hitting his hump day on my birthday this week. He is striving to be a fighter pilot after the mission so that's pretty cool. We have a fun time together. The other Elder is Elder Murakami. He is from Salt Lake and is a lot of fun too. Both of the guys love basketball, classic rock, and funny stuff. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Like I said, a lot of this week was rainy and when it rains and the ground is wet, we aren't allowed to ride bikes, so we walked a lot and knocked on a lot of doors. We still haven't found anyone who will listen to us but since I have a comp that is easy to talk to and fun to be around, we still have a good time so its all good. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So I don't have a ton to tell you guys about but there were a few funny/cool things that happened this week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So this past Saturday, a choir from BYU Hawaii came to Sendai and did a fireside/concert in Sendai and we got to go to it. When we walked in the building, it was filled with American college students and it totally freaked me out. I've gotten to the point where I almost feel like a Japanese person in a sense because white people kind of scare me. And talking to them is even worse. I feel so uncomfortable and awkward! It's so bad! So don't be surprised when I come home and I'm a way awkward RM! So I had a pretty scary wake-up call to having a social life once again. Fortunately, I still have a little time before I have to worry about that. But the concert was way good. They sang songs about Christ from all around the world. They sounded super good. Also, the president of BYU Hawaii and his wife spoke at the end. I didn't realize until the end that Sister Tanner was once the General Young Women's President of the church. It was cool to hear from them. The spirit was really strong too. They also had a few members in the choir who had served missions in Japan so they got to give talks in Japanese. I was thinking how cool it would be if I could do that kind of thing but then I realized that I can't sing soooo yeah. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">After the concert, we went back to Izumi and went street contacting for a bit. We had a couple of interesting things happen. First, we basically found a new investigator but he unfortunately lives in Tokyo. I stopped him and gave him a pass-along card and he said that he had thought a lot about the purpose of life and life after death. So we pulled out the Book of Mormon and read a few scriptures with him. He said he was interested but he unfortunately was in Sendai just for a day and actually lives in Tokyo. We gave him the book and encouraged him to hear more back home. Its a tad frustrating that most of the way good people I've found don't live in my area. Oh well, hopefully someone gets to see the fruits of it. But he was a super cool dude.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">A few minutes later, we were still walking around and we saw this normal looking guy sitting on a bench smoking, so I said hi to him and he just started talking to us. So, thinking that it was a good opportunity, we walked over to him thinking that he knew the missionaries or something. But turns out he was one of the craziest guys I've ever met. He started just going off on some story (I couldn't understand a thing he said, he was using some crazy accent/dialect thing). After sitting there for 5 minutes listening to this dude blabber, I kind of just said we had to go and ran away. As we ran, he continued on talking as if we were still there. It was super weird. Gotta love crazy people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Church was super good, then afterwards, we had like a wedding reception type thing for Kumagai Kyoudai and Yuri Shimai. Kumagai Kyoudai is the guy who got baptized last year and married a member in the temple last week. They are a way happy couple. It's cool to see how Brother Kumagai found the gospel and has a temple marriage all within a year of each other. It was such a fun party. Sister Yuri's family lives near Costco so all of the food was from Costco. We had tacos, cake, cinnamon rolls, etc. It was pretty awesome!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">But yeah, that is about it. I am really liking this transfer so far; its been a really really nice change. The work is still a little slow but we will keep trying to find people to teach. This week should be good. Elder Bruce and I are going to Sendai to work there with the zone leaders for the next couple of days and then my bday is on Friday! I'm in denial of the fact that I'm turning 20 and how its already been a year since my last bday which I spent in Izumi. It's super weird. But yeah, it should be good! I hope you all have a great week everyone! Love you!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">Chilling at the wedding reception with Elder Bruce</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">he conference with Elder Stevenson </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: start;">and Elder Gong last month. I<br />'m on the right side kind of in the middle.</span></td></tr>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-25184171968307461742016-06-30T23:04:00.001-06:002016-06-30T23:04:19.121-06:00Transfer 14! And happy Fathers Day Dad!!<div style="color: #454545;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">June 20, 2016: Week 86</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey everyone! It was great to hear from you! I'm glad Kelsey's homecoming went well. I'm super bummed; I missed both her farewell and homecoming! I hope you all enjoyed being with friends and family this weekend. I really wish I could be there and celebrate with you!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, I guess it's being played right now, but game 7 of the NBA finals!? Thats so crazy! I wonder if LeBron will finally get a title to Cleveland or will Steph Curry just go off again? You will have to let me know how it goes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to start with wishing Dad a very Happy Fathers Day!! It's kind of easy to forget because they don't take very many holidays seriously here. I don't think I heard anything about Father's Day at all this year, I have no idea why. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">But anyway, I just want to say how much I love you, look up to, and appreciate all the countless things you have done for me throughout my life. Some of the best memories I have in my entire life are shooting hoops with you whether it be at the church or in the backyard teaching me how to shoot, playing baseball in the backyard where you taught me how to throw a change-up, or taking scenic jeep drives while listening to some good old classic rock with you. (I will always appreciate you for raising me on the right music!) I've always cherished the relationship we have had since I was a little boy. I'm proud I can say that my Dad is one of my best friends and that we can talk about anything with each other. It means so much to me that you have sacrificed so much time, effort, etc. to help me achieve my goals and dreams including waking up very early to rebound for me at the church and then going go to work right after. You are the best Dad in the world and I can't wait to be able to shoot hoops with ya, talk to ya, and take drives in the Jeep while listening to some good Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc. with you. I hope someday, I can be a father like you are to me. That's a lofty goal, but it is the thing that I'm aiming for, because If I can do that, I think I will have succeeded. Love you Dad! I hope you have a special day. Sorry, I didn't eat level ten spicy curry for you this year (that about killed me when I tried that last year) but I will make it up to you when I get back! Maybe I'll eat Natto for you. You are my hero Dad! I love you so much!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well another transfer has come and gone and it went very quickly it feels like. I can't believe it's the start of my 14th transfer, meaning I only have 3 more! Kind of weird to think about. So with the end of transfers we received transfer calls. It was kind of different than usual however. We had another Stake Conference in Sendai yesterday because the church had a special broadcast for all of Japan. So we watched the broadcast that originated from the conference center with Elder Maynes of the Seventy, Sister Burton from the Relief Society, Elder Whiting from the Asia North Presidency, and Elder Bednar. It was a pretty good conference. Since a lot of missionaries were there for the conference, President Smith just told us one by one what was going to happen right after the meeting. So I'm staying in Izumi for technically my third transfer. Some changes happened in the district however. I'm going from the only American in the district to it being a one Japanese person district with the rest being American. I'm pretty excited to have some English speakers back in my apartment! It was cool to have straight Japanese for six weeks, but it tires you out, no matter how long you've been out on the mission. </span></span><div style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So my new companion is named Elder Bruce from Oklahoma. He has been out almost a year. I don't know much about him but It will probably be fine. And then Elder Uehara will stay and a half Japanese/American named Elder Murakami from Salt Lake will come in. So it should be pretty fun. I have to come to grips that I have to deal with Izumi's ridiculous hills for another six weeks, but I guess it will help me stay in shape. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This week was pretty normal, and a little busy with splits and a baptism that happened in Furukawa. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday was splits with Elder Otani, one of the guys in my apartment. He was feeling kind of sick though so we didn't really do a whole lot. The times we did work, we just knocked on doors and tried talking to people on the streets, but no one was interested. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday was pretty good. I did the last district meeting of the transfer which went well I think and then I went on splits with Elder Thompson who works in Furukawa. It was the first time working with another experienced American missionary in a really long time so it was lots of fun. And the dude's a spiritual giant who is super sensitive to promptings and follows them. It was raining like all day so we couldn't do a whole lot. One cool thing happened when we were walking to the apartment for lunch after District meeting. We were just talking about stuff when a guy suddenly turned a corner towards us and without thinking I just stopped him and started talking to him. It went really well and we were both able to testify about the gospel, give him a Book of Mormon and commit him to read it. We didn't get his contact info though but it was a really good contact. I hope we can run into him sometime soon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The highlight of the week was definitely Saturday. On Saturday morning, we did "nagashisoumen" which you basically get a few beams of bamboo, cut them in half, sand them and make it all nice and smooth, hook them all together, then run water and noodles down them and you just line up and snatch the noodles right out of the bamboo and eat it. I still don't really understand why its such a big thing here; it seems way too troublesome to just eat noodles, but it was a lot of fun and it was a pretty successful activity. Several families that we have never seen before saw the flyers we put out and decided to come. They got to meet us, the members and see the environment of the church and things like that. One of the families will actually start hearing the lessons from the sisters from the looks of it. So it was a really good summer activity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Then right after the activity, our district rode a bus to Furukawa to attend Brother Katou's baptismal service. It was a great service and lots of people came. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The baptism was really good though. It was cool to see him be baptized. He will be a great member. President and Sister Smith also came and after the baptism, Brother Katou was talking to President Smith, telling him his conversion story. He said about a month before meeting the missionaries, he had a heart attack and was dead for a few minutes. While he was in between life and death, he had like a vision or dream. He saw a big white building bursting with white. He tried to enter in but the man at the door said he couldn't, that he wasn't ready yet and to go the other way. He did so willingly and then he woke up. A month later, he met the missionaries. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">That's so legit right! He was super prepared. I hope I can be led to someone like that before I'm done. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">After the baptism, President and Sister Smith drove me and my comp home. On the way there, President leans over to Sister Smith and says "Why don't we go to Costco and buy these guys a pizza"! So we went to Costco and had pizza and ice cream with the Smiths! It was super great. Costco pizza two weeks in a row! I could get used to this! It was so fun to have a night out with them; they are super great. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, that's about all of the stuff I have to tell you from this past week. I'm curious to see what this transfer holds. I still don't really know what to do to build this area up. It's still pretty dead and its kind of giving me some stress trying to figure out how to build it up from the bottom. I hope and pray that Heavenly Father will bless us with something to keep us going and we can see His hand in the work. I hope you all have a great week! Enjoy the summer for me! Talk to you guys soon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-17898834381750265922016-06-29T23:50:00.001-06:002016-06-29T23:50:04.435-06:00Busy Week<div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">June 13, 2016: Week 85</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey everyone! It was great to hear from all of you! I love to hear all of the updates on how the yard renovations are going and how you guys are spending your summer. It looks like a ton of fun!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a really good week this week. It was super busy with splits, conferences, and doing a baptism interview, but it's been a lot of fun. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, Monday night, my companion and I rode our bikes to downtown Sendai to stay with the Kamisugi elders because we had splits with the Zone Leaders the next day. It was really nice to go over there for a change; it was a nice change of pace. Also, I'm pretty good friends with those guys in that area so it was a really fun night.</span><div style="color: #454545;">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day was super good. I got to work with Elder Mitabi who was in my district when I transferred to Kitakami about 10 months ago so it was a good time. It was also my first time to spend a whole day and work in downtown Sendai. It was the busiest day I've had in a long time. We taught five lessons and were able to visit several people, as well as talk to a lot of people by the Sendai Station. It was a lot of fun. Also, another plus from the split is that the Kamisugi apartment has a legit working scale so I got to see how my weight has been faring. I've been trying to work out really hard in the mornings and eat healthier since I got to Aomori and it's paid off. I've cut down quite a bit and I'm almost back to my basketball playing weight!! And I was comparing my pictures to like last fall and I realized I had some pretty bad rice cheeks then! Yay for no rice cheeks now!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday was another split but it was with the Furukawa elders who are in my district. We had district meeting and then Elder Shumway (a second transfer from St. George) and I went back to Furukawa to work for the rest of the day. It was super weird going back there. In fact, it was exactly a year to the day when I transferred from there to Izumi last year. I had forgotten how much that place reminded me of Grantsville, but it was super fun to be back in the inaka (country-side) again after spending the last 4 transfers in the city. Elder Shumway and I were out housing at night around 8:30 out in the boonies and it was super cool. We were surrounded by rice fields and there were frogs croaking everywhere. It was so peaceful and beautiful. It reminded me why I love Japan. To add to that, one of the last doors we knocked on turned into an investigator. He's a young guy in his early twenties and he listened and I gave him a Book of Mormon and we set an appointment for next week! He won't be my investigator, but hopefully it will turn into something! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, I saw something really sad/funny while I was in Furukawa. We were waiting at an intersection when we saw this super old grandma straight up ride her bike right into a ditch. I thought I had just witnessed a grandma's tragic death to be honest. I wanted to run over and help her but I couldn't cross the street. But like most Japanese grandmas, she stood herself up, pushed her bike out of the ditch, hopped on her bike, and continued on like nothing had happened. It was hilarious! Japanese grandmas kill me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday was a pretty funny day. So I got back to Izumi from Furukawa and our mission leader wanted to take me and my comp out for lunch at the new Costco that was built a couple of months ago. It's super far and it happened to be like a million degrees and 100% humidity (at least it felt that way) that day so riding our bikes there was pretty hard, but to eat American Pizza for the first time in 20 months, I would do anything. We finally got there and went inside with Ito Kyoudai. It was super weird; it looks exactly like an American Costco. It was a little smaller but the same. I was a little disappointed though because It had a larger Japanese to American food ratio than I thought and it was super expensive. Way more expensive than an American Costco. Anyway, Ito Kyoudai bought a pizza for the three of us and it was absolutely awesome. It was the first pizza I've had in Japan that actually tastes like American Pizza. I was in heaven. I had like 5 slices. After we were done, we were headed out of the exit and my comp was kind of being slow, dragging behind us. I looked back to see if he was okay and yeah, he wasn't. I look back and he was spewing everywhere, puking up the pizza right in the middle of the food court. Our mission leader was like "yep he's not okay" and ran over to help him. I feel bad but I couldn't really move, I was laughing way too hard. Oh man, I'm so happy that wasn't me. So a nice Costco man cleaned it up and we hurried out of there. We all had a good laugh but it was pretty embarrassing for my comp. I thought it was hilarious.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday was pretty cool too. I got to do my first baptismal interview! Furukawa has an investigator who was found at the start of this transfer and he's already prepared to be baptized. So, I went back to Izumi on Friday and then went back to Furukawa on Saturday. His interview was super cool. When I asked him the question about living prophets and what meaning that has to him, he said: "In this world that seems to be getting darker and darker, surrounded by evil, the prophet and this gospel is the only light." I was blown away. The way he answered questions, you would think he was baptized like 20 years ago. I was inspired by that guy; it was a super spiritual interview. So with that, he should be getting baptized this Saturday!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">After the interview, we had stake conference in Sendai where Elder Choi from the area presidency came and presided. It was a super good meeting. He talked about raising your children in the gospel and teaching them from when they are young. He said the MTC should start from the home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday was the general session of Stake Conference. I said this when I went to Sendai Stake conference last year, but it is really cool to see that big of a congregation of Japanese saints. Elder Choi spoke again and talked about the things this area needs to do in order to have a temple built in Sendai. Elder Choi is really the man. He came to our mission a few months ago and since his conference, our mission has really started to change for the better. I wouldn't be surprised if the results are the same for Sendai stake. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Then to end off the week, my comp and I went over to the Konno family's house for dinner. They are definitely the strongest family in the ward. They already have 2 returned missionaries, and another daughter who just got married in the temple to a recent convert here. It was a really fun night to be able to get to know them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Well that is about it from me this week. It was a super busy week, but I really like it that way. And this week is the last week of the transfer so I guess by next time we will know what happens. I can't believe I'm about to enter my last three transfers! Kind of crazy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen </span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-3127154037363781462016-06-29T23:41:00.001-06:002016-06-29T23:41:17.595-06:00Another Week in Japan<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">June 6, 2016: Week 84</span><br style="line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">Area: Izumi</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #454545;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey family! Its so weird to think that I'm the only Didericksen out on a mission now. It was so great to see pictures and videos of Kelsey coming home. I was so excited for you guys. I'm sure you are having fun showing Kelsey around and all of the stuff she'</span></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">s missed out on this past year and a half. I remember I really enjoyed doing it with Matthew when he came home. Anyway, I hope you are all having a good time being reunited again. Don't forget about me!!! I hope you are all enjoying summer so far. I was thinking the other day how it's already been two years since I graduated high school.....what the heck! It definitely doesn't feel that long! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My letter is going to be really short because frankly, I have nothing really exciting to tell you. It was one of those weeks where we couldn't meet with anyone and everyone we visited wasn't home so we didn't really teach very many lessons this week at all. And one of the recent converts in the ward, Brother Kumagai Toshikazu married another member in the ward in the Tokyo Temple this weekend so the entire ward went to Tokyo this week and no one was home. But, it is pretty cool to see how this recent convert changed his life. He was obviously a non-member when he met Yuri Chan, a member in the ward. They started dating and she introduced him to the church and the missionaries. Then he got baptized right before I transferred to Izumi last year. And after a year, he has already received his endowments and been married in the temple. They are a cute couple. Kind of a cool story. So with that, we spent all of the week going door to door and trying to talk to people on the streets all day every day, but weren't able to find anyone who was interested unfortunately. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know why, but people were being really cold this week. Kelsey talked about the Spanish finger wag last week and I guess there is a Japanese one as well. A lot of people would just give me the hand, wave me off, even if I just said hello to them. It was a little ridiculous. So this week, we experienced a whole lot of rejection on the streets. I was letting it get to me and I was getting really discouraged. (Sometimes you can only take so much after street contacting for 7 straight hours.) I kept getting voices in my head saying things like "why try, they won't listen to you" and "you're wasting your time." I know those voices and thoughts were definitely not from God but It was really hard to put them off. I was constantly praying inside my heart that God would give us something, just something little to help us keep going, to let us know that we weren't just wasting our time and trying to talk to these people in vain. Like usual, God didn't answer that prayer immediately, but he did in his own timing. After a few more rejections, right when I was about to call it and be done for the day, I decided to stop one last guy and he actually stopped and was willing to talk to me. After talking a bit, we found out he is actually Catholic (you never meet Christians in Japan)! We were each able to share how believing and following Christ has helped us and we were able to give him a Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, he doesn't live in Izumi, so he didn't become an investigator, but it was cool to see God answer that small prayer. It wasn't answered with finding a golden investigator or something, but it was answered through one person who was willing to listen to me for a bit and that was enough for me. It helped me keep going and gave me another reason to believe that God answers prayers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Last pday, we went over to the Sendai outlets where they have a bunch of designer stores from America like Vans, Forever 21, Gap, etc. It was the first time I've seen anything like that in Japan. Unfortunately, none of them were that good and they didn't have anything. Even if they did have anything good, nothing fits me here in Japan anyway so I guess I'll have to wait to buy cool stuff in 4 months. After that we played baseball in a park. It was fun to be able to put on a mitt and throw a ball for the first time in a while. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Honestly, that's the basic jist of the week. Not a whole lot happened so I'll spare you from my rambling. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm pretty excited for this week; it should be a lot of fun. Tonight I'm going to stay in Sendai because I have splits with Elder Mitabi, one of the zone leaders. I'm pretty excited to work in downtown Sendai; I've never been able to do that before, so that should be tons of fun. Then on Thursday, I will be going back to one of my old areas, Furukawa, for splits with a guy in my district. I'm excited for that. Furukawa is a silly place. Some of my craziest experiences on my mission happened in Furukawa like throwing a 6 month old pot of rotten soup in a river and running away or picking up a dead man's bones. It should be a great time! Then on Saturday, I might be going back to Furukawa again to do a baptismal interview! I'm a little nervous for that because its my first time and I heard the guy speaks really difficult Japanese, but I think it will be okay. Pray for me! So it should be a really fun/busy week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope you guys all have a good week and enjoy the start of summer. I love you guys so much! Talk to you next week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-58830689093954605832016-06-29T18:07:00.002-06:002016-06-29T18:25:21.937-06:00Apostles and Walk-up songs<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">May 30, 2016: Week 83</span><br style="line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">Area: Izumi</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hey Everyone! It was so great to hear from you! I'm glad you had a great Bday Erin! Also, I hope you all enjoy Memorial Day. I don't think my Memorial Day this year will be as nuts as last year; nothing can top that. If you don't remember, I spent my last Memorial Day at a Japanese man's cremation where I picked up his burnt rib cage with a long set of chopsticks........ Yeah, I'm still forever scarred from that. Now every time I smell burning wood or incense, those haunting memories appear! </span></span><span class="im" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;"></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;"><span class="im" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well this has been kind of a crazy week! I'll just start out with the highlight of the week which was the much anticipated conference we had with Elder Yamashita of the Area Presidency, Elder Gong of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Elder Gary Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in Sendai on Thursday. I can't believe I had the opportunity to hear from 3 people of that spiritual magnitude and with such a high position in the church in one missionary meeting. It was something I'll remember for the rest of my life. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First of all, everyone in the entire mission came down from all over Tohoku to see this conference. We haven't had that kind of meeting since I was in my third transfer over a year ago, so it's very rare. It was so awesome to be able to see everyone again. One thing I realized on Wednesday is how grateful I am for all of the people that I've met here. I've met some people who have become life-long friends and who I am really excited to chill with after we go home and become normal people. It's weird to think that if I didn't come on a mission, I would have never known these awesome people existed. I was so happy to be able to see all of my mission buddies that I haven't seen for a while. It was pretty awesome.</span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But even better than that was the meeting itself. When the three General Authorities sat on the stand with President and Sister Smith, I could literally feel a power radiating from the stand. It helped me realize even more that those three are chosen servants of the Lord. Also, another super cool moment was when all of the missionaries stood and sang the EFY Medley to those sitting on the stand. The Spirit was so strong. You could see Elder Gong, Elder Yamashita, Elder Stevenson, and President all crying. You could really feel the love they had for us. There were a ton of missionaries crying too. It was a super cool experience. </span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The talks which were given were super good as well. At times, I felt as if they were speaking directly to me. This transfer has been kind of difficult and a bit of a challenge. I've been feeling some disappointment and stress with being transferred to another dead area. I've been wondering why I'm back in Izumi and why some things recently have happened. But one thing Elder Stevenson's wife talked about was that we are all where we are for a reason. It was received through revelation and was inspired by God. That I'm in the Japan Sendai mission for a reason, that I'm with President Smith for a reason. It helped me realize something that Kelsey wrote to me last week. Our missions won't be what we expect they will be, that the unexpected will happen. I may not understand it all but God does. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also felt so much power when Elder Stevenson spoke. It was so cool to see him get up without any notes or anything and to watch him just talk and teach while relying on the Spirit. It was so powerful when he left an Apostolic blessing on our mission. I really felt that they will be fulfilled if we do what is required. He promised that God's elect will be led to us through our obedience. He also said that no matter the burden we are carrying as missionaries, that we will be able to continue pushing on and that the burden will be made lighter. That was a promise that I really have been needing recently. It was such an amazing conference, a type of meeting that I will probably never attend again. I'm so thankful that I had that opportunity.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next day, Thursday, was pretty good. I went on splits with Elder Uehara who lives in my apartment. He is a more experienced missionary as well, so it was really fun to be able to work with him. We were able to hand out quite a few Books of Mormon and knock on a lot of doors and talk to a lot of people. It was good. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Friday was pretty awesome too. A guy in the ward invited us to go to the Rakuten Eagles baseball game in Sendai. The Rakuten Eagles are the professional baseball team in Sendai. It's funny; in English, the team name is the "Optimistic Eagles." I've never really heard a name like that for a sports team, but it's nice to know they always have a positive attitude. The game was really fun though; it felt great to be at a professional sporting event again. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">I have to tell you something really funny about it real quick. So in baseball, each player has their own song that they pick to play over the sound system when they walk up to bat. The song is special for them, one that pumps them up and gets them going. It may even show a bit of their personality. So with that in mind, every single Japanese player, when they steppe</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">T</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">d up to the plate, their songs were some Japanese pop music that makes you want to punch something (I really don't like J-pop). I thought that was pretty normal. But there was this one big black dude from America on the team named Zealous Wheeler</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">. His walk up song was a bit different. It went from J-pop to a rap song called "Big Papa" by Notorious B.I.G (I think that's the guys name)! The only black guy on the team would walk up to the plate with blaring thug rap music. I was laughing pretty hard. He then preceded to hit a double. I felt a bit of American pride right there. It was a way fun game; It got me way excited to hit up a Jazz game or a Bees game in the next little bit. I never thought I'd ever get to the chance to go to something like that on my mission so it was really awesome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The rest of the week was full of finding; knocking on doors and trying to talk to people on the street. We've still not been able to find anyone who will listen to us but we will keep trying. I'm learning recently that its not my job to force them to listen to me, I just have to open my mouth and invite them. I appreciate all of your support and prayers though in my behalf.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And it looks like the Didericksen family has some pretty exciting things happening this week! I can't believe Kelsey is coming home! I'm so excited for you guys! But don't have too much fun without me before I'm back. You'll have to send me plenty of pictures and tell me how it is picking her up! I wish I could be there! Oh well. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I can't wait to see you guys all together! Love you! Talk to you soon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Us with Fukutsu Shimai. She is a member who is like 96 years old and</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMBb0iEO6SqsdggLO_9OHNgCFLO_DvTf6wSUrR2MRBR2t3yziu7v0wOLPYTRmT1X7qGZRF3vivaqwHzIJ9_ZnxU-9tjWx4idbgH-sGhTAnaYnIKwimGswEY59sbQWJ1GR4ijQ4H6yPqFgu/s1600/image1+%25288%2529+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMBb0iEO6SqsdggLO_9OHNgCFLO_DvTf6wSUrR2MRBR2t3yziu7v0wOLPYTRmT1X7qGZRF3vivaqwHzIJ9_ZnxU-9tjWx4idbgH-sGhTAnaYnIKwimGswEY59sbQWJ1GR4ijQ4H6yPqFgu/s640/image1+%25288%2529+%25281%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> T</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">he conference with Elder Stevenson </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">and Elder Gong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> I'm on the right side kind of in the middle.</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-22128416533575205062016-06-28T23:16:00.001-06:002016-06-28T23:16:41.868-06:00Transfer 13 week 2<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">May 23, 2016: Week 82</span><br style="line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">Area: Izumi</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="color: #454545;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hey everyone! It was great to hear from all yall! This week seemed to go by really fast for some reason. I can't believe its already pday again! </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First of all, these hills in Izumi are killing me! If you live here, you are never on flat ground. It feels like I'm constantly climbing a steep hill every second of the day. I guess it's getting me back in shape just in time to go mountain biking with Matthew! If I'm not dunking by the time I'm done with Izumi, I'll be greatly disappointed. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, its super duper hot today! I feel like Imma die with the humidity. I'm not used to this heat after spending the winter in the arctic basically! Summer in Japan Round 2 is here!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lets see, what happened this week?................</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On Wednesday, we had interviews with President Smith. He told me he felt extremely impressed to transfer me back to Izumi even though I've already served here before. He said he tries his best to make sure missionaries don't go back to previous areas or have previous companions but he felt I should be back here. I don't know if there is a specific reason for me being here or not. I think there is and I hope I can find out soon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's weird to think that I only have one more interview with him before my actual exit interview....Yikes! But yeah, Wednesday was a good day because we had interviews and the first district meeting of the transfer, along with talking with Sister Smith. It was really nice to finally get to speak English with someone because I never really get the chance anymore living with 3 Japanese people. Now, I treat everyday I get to talk to an American like it's Christmas. It's made me really appreciate my own language and where I come from; it's given me a sense of pride (not bad pride of course)!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The rest of the week wasn't too exciting. Its hard to come up with exciting things to tell about when you just transferred to an area with no investigators so yeah....It was a week where every appointment we had fell through, all of the people we planned on visiting weren't home, and we spent most of the time on the streets or trying to talk to people about the Gospel and how Jesus Christ can bless and help their lives. We are trying hard to find those God has prepared, but nothing so far. We've gotten close with a few people but they say they are too busy to meet with us again. We will keep searching though. It is interesting though because there is a Christian college in Izumi so we have been able to talk to a lot of people who are starting to study the Bible and Christianity for the first time in their lives. It makes it pretty easy to talk about Jesus Christ and God, a lot easier than talking to people who have been "buddhist" their whole life and have absolutely zero image of God or Jesus. So its been fun to be able to do that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, we have two pretty funny service opportunities we do twice a week. One you might remember me talking about last summer but we call it "Seaman Service" where we go to an old folks home and help out and entertain the residents there. The highlight is definitely talking to the seaman. He's this guy who's probably in his mid 70s or early 80s who has extreme short term memory loss, like super short term, like maybe 2 minutes at most. Back in his working days, he was the chief engineer of a big ship company so he spent his career sailing the ocean and in different countries. He is very proud of it and isn't afraid to tell us over and over and over (and over and over and over........). Its so funny, you'll be in the middle of a conversation with him and then he will suddenly start over with "Watashi wa Seaman Datta" or "I was a seaman! Big Ship Company, Chief Engineer!" He also talks about how dangerous he thinks America is and how everyone has guns and shoots each other, but how Japanese people can't have guns so if they get robbed on the ship they are screwed....... Then you start over with introducing yourself because he can't remember that you had already met 5 minutes ago, as well as every week before that. Like I said last year, you can predict where the conversation is going so you can kind of beat him to what he is going say just to change things up. Its pretty fun. I feel terrible having fun at his expense but he loves talking to us. I also had the awkward opportunity to give a shoulder rub to like a 98 year old Japanese lady there too. That was pretty weird but I guess its all for the sake of service!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The other service that was started here since I transferred to Kitakami from Izumi last year is the handicap place service. We go to the center and hang out with and help this handicap dude name Kikuchi San who is maybe in his late 20s or early 30s, but acts like he is 4 years old. That guy is a riot; he's pretty funny and says the most ridiculous stuff. The workers there are way nice too. Sometimes, Kikuchi San will randomly start staring at you and make really weird faces with his tongue out and everything while looking into your eyes. Its pretty awkward and makes you feel pretty uncomfortable, but you just roll with it and have fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well other than that, I don't really have anything else. I'm pretty excited for this week though. On Wednesday we have a meeting in Sendai with Elder Stevenson from the Quorum of the Twelve as well as Elder Gong and Elder Yamashita from the Seventy. It should be super awesome. I've never met an apostle before so it should be way cool. People of that stature rarely visit the Sendai mission, they usually go to Tokyo or Kobe or something like that so we are way blessed. Well, President Smith and Elder Stevenson lived in the same apartment for six months when they were missionaries in Japan so they are good friends; that might have something to do with him visiting. It will be way awesome though, as well as being able to see all of the other missionaries that I haven't seen for a long time. I'm super looking forward to it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This transfer is already almost halfway over which is nuts. The time is winding down fast! </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I hope you all have a great week! I love you guys! Talk to you next week!</span></div>
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-3713109332165132122016-05-24T23:18:00.001-06:002016-06-28T23:17:10.368-06:00Transfer 13 week 1<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">May 16, 2016: Week 81</span><br style="line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">Area: Izumi</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hey guys!! Let me say one more time how great it was to Skype with you last week. I loved seeing your faces and hearing your voices. It was awesome! </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And in other news, I hit my 19 month mark yesterday! Pretty crazy. Also Happy Birthday Todd!! I hope you had a good birthday man! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This week has been a bit crazy. It felt super duper long due to transfers and me moving to the southern side of the mission from the most northern part of the mission. We got up early on Tuesday and I rode the bus for 5 hours by myself to Sendai. I've done that ride a few times by myself and I really enjoy it. It's nice to be alone and to have some thinking time to myself. That's something you don't really get as a missionary very often. I finally arrived at the Sendai station and then rode the subway with Elder Otani, another missionary going to Izumi, to the Izumi station where we met our companions. Elder Otani was actually attending Hirosaki College when I was a new missionary there and came to the Hirosaki branch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My companion's name is Elder Watanabe from Tokyo. He is a third transfer missionary so he is pretty new.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> He's a good guy. I also found out the other day that he is cousins with my MTC teacher, Sister Watanabe, who lives in Provo, and that Watanabe family is related somehow to the Sheffields if I remember right. I met the dad and the brother at Oakley one year. So that means my Japanese comp might be somewhat related to the Sheffields! Thats pretty crazy, its a small world. Anyway....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's been pretty weird to be back in Izumi after pretty much a year. Looks like I'll be spending both summers on my mission in Sendai, which is cool I guess. As far as the work goes here, it's kind of dead right now. Neither of the elder companionships have any investigators, so it's kind of the same as when I arrived in Aomori in January. It was super dead. It looks like we will have to start from the bottom to build this area up again. It kind of happened in Aomori, but we won't have blizzards everyday in Izumi so it shouldn't be quite so bad. I sometimes wish I could transfer into an area with something to work with, but I guess I'll have to work with what I've got. That's the way it is. It should be fun to spend our days walking around and talking to people or knocking doors (for the most part....). You are bound to find someone, or at least have something funny/weird happen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So with that, Elder Watanabe and I have been doing a lot of finding. We were able to have some good contacts and give out some Books of Mormon this week, but no one would give us their contact info so that we could meet with them. We will keep trying. Its pretty fun to work in a city like this though because there are people everywhere. There were a lot of people in Aomori as well, but most of them were over 80 years old, whereas Izumi has colleges and younger people and families all over the place. There is also a big soccer stadium pretty close to our apartment. It's home to the Vegalta, the pro team in Sendai. They had a game on Saturday and there were people everywhere. Im not gonna lie, it got me pretty trunky to go to soccer and basketball games when I'm home. I really miss professional sporting events. We should hit up a REAL Salt Lake game. The game looked and sounded way fun. There is an eikaiwa student here who is a huge Vegalta fan and is actually a sponsor of the team and there has been talk of getting a bunch of tickets through him and do an activity type thing where we go to a soccer game!! I really hope that works out; that would be legit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, they just put a Costco in our area like 2 months ago. It's kind of far from our apartment, but there are several members who say they'll be glad to take us there when we want to, so I'm way pumped for that. I hear it's pretty much like going to a normal Costco in the states.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Im trying to think of stuff to talk about, but when you have zero investigators, its hard to come up with stuff to report.....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Being back in the Izumi ward at church was pretty fun. Surprisingly, a lot of them remembered me from last year, even though I was only there for six weeks. They said they remember that I was tall and had a really long name that no one could say. I'm way excited to be in this ward again. The members are fun and nice and there's actually young people here too. Our ward mission leader wants to help us do activities and stuff, so I'm way excited to do some summer activities with the Izumi ward members. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One piece of really disappointing news that I got is that the Chapman family, the awesome family from Utah that lives here decided to move back to Utah right as I come back. They actually left on Saturday. I got to see them once before they left, but that was it, so that was super sad. But before they left, their kids' school, Tohoku International, put on a play for the end of the year and all of the Chapman kids were in it. I was here last year for their play and I got to go again this year. This year was "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss. It was a lot of fun. There were Americans and all sorts of nationalities there. It felt good, especially being in an all Japanese apartment, to be with some people who spoke my language and had the same background.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Which brings me to my next point. It's definitely different being the only English speaker in the apartment. It's kind of hard at times because all they talk about is Japan stuff in which I have no clue. And even though I'm kind of a grandpa missionary now, I still have times where it's hard to keep up in a conversation in the apartment and be able to be a part of it. Its definitely been an adjustment so far moving from Aomori where I had so much fun and was seeing some success. I'm hoping it will get better as I start to get used to it and as time passes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lastly, I want to end with something about Mothers Day. Since I didn't have much time last week to give a proper shoutout out to my mother on Mothers Day, I'm gonna do that this week! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The other day at Eikaiwa in Aomori, I did a Mother's Day theme where I had each person talk about their mothers, especially why they love them and what their mom taught them when they were young. It was fun to hear everyone's personal tributes so to speak about their mothers. I too was able to say a little bit about my mom. I said she would even go rebound for me when I went shooting at the church because she really wanted to help me reach my goals pertaining to basketball. They were so surprised to hear that my mom would do that. I don't think many moms would do that for hours at a time for their son. I'll always treasure those times spent shooting the ball with my mom at the church. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's just one of the many things my amazing mother has done for me throughout my life. She is the most selfless person that I have ever known, always sacrificing what she wants or her time in order to help someone else succeed or someone who needed her whether it be playing the organ in the temple early in the morning, or staying up late to help me with the paper or project that I unfortunately procrastinated on..... The mission has helped me learn and realize a lot of things so far, and one of them is how amazing my mother is. I realize I could have been a lot nicer, a lot more helpful (especially when I see you cleaning the house or something and instead of helping, I decided to be a useless bum and watch TV or something), a lot more (add any other favorable trait) towards people but, especially to my Mom. I promise to come home and be a much better son than I was before. Im not saying I was necessarily a bad one, but I could have been better. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">People say through serving a mission, you actually grow closer to your loved ones, even though you are separated for two years. I think I can say that between me and my mom. I love you mom! Thanks for being the best mom ever and for being such a positive influence in my life. I can't wait for the day when I can give you a hug, hang out, talk about life during our car rides, sing around the piano, and have fun together again in 5 months. Until then, we can do that through email I guess. Anyway, you are the best and I love you so much! I hope you had a terrific Mothers Day!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thats it for me this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Talk to you soon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Elder Nathan Didericksen 長老</span></div>
Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07926911423564345473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2061100310837637065.post-68241236663412627332016-05-16T22:03:00.001-06:002016-05-16T22:03:41.960-06:00Transfer 13!<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">May 9, 2016: Week 80</span><br style="line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="line-height: 20.79px;">Area: Aomori</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Hey everyone, This is going to be super short, so I'll just give you an update on what's going on!<br /><br />First of all, it was so good to see you guys over skype and hang out with you for a bit. I cant believe that was the last time I'll see your faces until I see you at the airport in 5 months!<br /><br />So we got transfers this week and I'm actually headed down to one of my old areas called Izumi, which is right outside of Sendai. My companion's name is Elder Watanabe and he's a pretty new missionary, but that is all I know. I'm also in an apartment with only Japanese elders so I won't being using English for a while! Hopefully I'll survive! It'll be a ton of fun. It's weird to go back to my old area, but I was only there for one transfer so it will be cool to have a redo and see what I can do there!<br /></div>
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Well, that is about it! I love you guys! I hope you all have a great week! Talk to you next week!</div>
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<br />Love,<br />Elder Nathan Didericksen<div class="yj6qo">
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