Week 24 [33]: Transfer E-mails, Bowling, and a Baptism

May 18, 2015

Sorry! This email is a little bit late! We were a little bit busy today, because we went bowling! So that was fun!

This week was pretty eventful! So as you all know, we had transfer emails this Saturday, so drumroll please......... I'm going to be staying in Odawara with........ Elder Uemura! I'm excited. I'm no longer training him, so I'm just going to be the senior companion. It's kind of cool. Within the mission, I am the youngest (transfer wise) senior companion in the mission. I am truly grateful for the trust the mission president has given me.

So this week, we were able to see a baptism of a young lady that the Sisters have been teaching for awhile. It was great. I don't know if you all remember, but a few weeks ago, I talked about a guy we found on the beach, who seemed really interested in the Gospel? Well, he was there, and he felt the Spirit so strong. He was so happy. It was so amazing. When she came out of the water, he said, "She is so happy! I want to feel that kind of happiness!" It was amazing to be able to see that. It is moments like that when you are truly reminded that the Lord really does prepare people, and as long as you are ready, you can always find them.

Some other news... From all of the bike crashes I had in Hodogaya, it turns out a part in my bike is broken! So we have to go to a bike shop outside of our area to go and get that fixed... Which will be fun!

This week at game night, we had my 16-year-old investigator friend come to our "Bible study" and "Game Night," and he brought his friend! His friend was so cool! He didn't know much English, but he kept saying, "I love One Direction!" It was a blast. He loves to sing, and when I told I him I did too, he told me to give him my autograph. That was really funny, and he said he would come again, which will be fun. He seems so ready for the Gospel, so we will see how it goes.

That is about it for this week. Spiders the size of my hand are starting to come out. I really really don't like spiders... This will be fun!

I love you guys! The Gospel is true, and the Lord truly does love each and every one of you on a level that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Hope you are all doing well!

Elder Tolen

A Cool Rock Elder Cluff and I Found While on Splits at the Beach

Bowling on P-Day

Bowling on P-Day

Weird Photo Booth in the Bowling Alley Makes Everyone Look like Anime

Weird Photo Booth at Bowling Alley

Photos from the Baptism

Photos from the Baptism

Week 23 [32]: Mother's Day Skype!

May 10, 2015

Weekly email time!

I just finished Skyping with my family... So I don't really feel like writing a huge weekly email, so this will be one of my shorter ones, because I'm kind of tired.... I'm sorry!

This week was fun! This last Saturday, we had a BBQ up at a park in the mountains.  It was a Filipino BBQ, and it was a blast! I got to play some baseball, and we got a lot of beautiful pictures. One of our investigators with a baptismal date was able to come, and he really enjoyed himself!

Some more interesting news for this week.... So! We have a volcano about 6 miles away from our apartment.... That wasn't active until this week. Everyone in the city is preparing for an eruption. That will be fun! But, we also live on the beach.. So if the volcano erupts, there will be an earthquake, and maybe some flooding! Which will be fun. I don't know if I should be scared or not, but I'm not really.... Which is kind of weird. Usually I would be freaking out about this kind of thing.

I forgot another cool story!! So, this week while we were streeting, we started talking to this guy, and it was great--so great in fact, that he took us out to lunch! After that, he asked us what we were doing that night, and told us to call him! So we did, and he took all of us out to dinner! It was the most expensive meal I've eaten since coming to Japan.

By the way, the new Elder is named Elder Hirosei, and he is companions with Elder Cluff.

I hope you guys all have a great week! I love you guys, and I love hearing from you! Keep being amazing!

Elder Tolen

Pictures from the ward BBQ

 

 

Most Expensive Dinner We've Had in Japan!

My Dinner--It Was Delicious!

Week 22 [31]: Branch BBQ and Biking to Hakone

It has been a great week this week! The weather has been amazing! It has been so sunny, but it has also been super humid. I'm really not used to this level of humidity, so it is kind of muggy sometimes. But it is all fun! I can already tell that it will get really hot soon. That will be interesting. All the missionaries say that I just need to get used to sweating. That wasn't very encouraging, but oh well! It is all part of serving! It should be fun!

So first, some bigger news. Tomorrow, we are getting a new missionary in Odawara. But. We know absolutely nothing about him. We know that he is from Japan, and he is supposed to serve in Australia, but he has to wait for his Visa, so he is coming here tomorrow. That's all we know. We don't know whose companion he is going to become or anything like that. So that is kind of exciting.

More interesting news! Remember that 16-year-old I sent pictures home of last time? He now has a baptismal date! I'm way excited! The only problem is right now, he only wants to be baptized because missionaries are cool. So the next step is getting him to want it for himself. If we can't get that to change then we'll have to push back his baptismal date, but right now his date is for the 13th of June! So that is way exciting.

This last Saturday, we had a ward BBQ! It was so much fun! We got a few of the students from our English class to come, and our 16-year-old friend came (I don't use their names because, you know, privacy stuffs). It was a lot of fun! I was able to play some baseball, and some soccer, and it was a ball! Get it? Ball? Moving on. One of the funniest parts was some of the little girls from the ward made us some flower stuff. So I will be sending pictures of that home.

Later that day, we hopped on our bikes and rode up a mountain to a place called "Hakone"! It was beautiful! But, like I said, it was up a mountain. That was hard. It was like 7 miles of just winding hills. It was great. I got some great pictures from that. While we were there, we were trying to visit these less actives, but all of them had moved! So we were taking a break, so I went to grab a drink from a vending machine, and these two buff dudes just started talking to me! It was great! They had biked there all the way from the Yokohama area! My first area! It was like 60km [37 miles] away! We had a great chat with them. One of them actually lived in America for a while, so his English was really good. But we just spoke in Japanese because his friend didn't speak any. One of them was a break dancer. He showed us some moves. It was crazy. They seemed really interested in the church, so we were able to show them how to find the church in their area! I really hope they go to church. It really is crazy how the Lord will put prepared people in your path. You just need to trust that He will. But you also need to be willing to look for them, too!

I love you guys! 

 

Elder Tolen

P-Day in Hakone

Hakone

Hakone Landscape

Hakone Landscape

Lovely Flower Fun at Branch BBQ

Flower Fun at Branch BBQ

Elder Tolen and Elder Cluff Goofing Off at Branch BBQ

Elder Uemura at Branch BBQ

Elder Tolen Under Attack by Branch Children

Elder Tolen Attacked by Branch Children

District Photo at P-Day Temple Day

District Photo at Temple P-Day (Elder Tolen, Elder Uemura, Elder Cluff, and Sisters)

Week 21 [30]: A Week of Adventure

This week has been full of fun!

So on Tuesday, we were supposed to have our interviews with the Mission President! Notice the use of the word "supposed"? You'll see why in a minute. So we were teaching a lesson to the member that Elder Nishidome and I baptized, and after we finished, we went back to the tiny train station in the middle of nowhere, only to find that the next train wouldn't be for another hour. We were only two train stations away from the one we needed to be at, and our President's interviews started in 2 hours, so we decided that we could walk two train stations down. 2 hours, and about 23 kilometers [14.3 miles] later, we made it to the train station. We were spent. On the plus side, it was fantastic weather, so we didn't get rained on or anything! And we got to see a lot of cool things! But! We didn't get our interviews with President Wada. We still don't know when or if we will even get those interviews! I really want one!

The next day, there was an Ipad training for the Japanese missionaries.  We went on splits in the Shonan area while Elder Uamura went to that, and it was so much fun! I was going to sing in a quartet on Sunday, but I needed to practice, so Elder Davies, the missionary we were on splits with, knew a member who was a professional musician! So we went over there, and he practiced with us! He was amazing! And he did some amazing card tricks. It was a ball. We told him we might be back on Friday, and he said if we were, to stop by and he would show us his studio upstairs. So on Friday, There was a Conference for all of the Japanese missionaries, and we got to go back to see him! It was amazing watching this huge New Zealander jam on this piano. He was really something else. I don't know if I have ever met someone that good! He said if I  ever get transferred there, I can come on a P-day and he will compose some stuff with me! That was way cool.

After that, we went to the beach, and saw this guy playing basketball. So without even thinking, we just said, "Hey! How's it going?" Turns out this guy is from L.A.. We talked for a while, then played basketball for a while, then talked some more! We showed him the "Because of Him" video, and after it finished he looked at us and was like,"I felt something man. I came out here to Japan to get a fresh start, and you guys might be just what I need." That was amazing! We got his email, and left. He isn't in the Odawara area, so I will just keep praying that he is doing alright!

So the baptism didn't happen on Saturday, so I didn't get to play the piano, but more importantly, that person didn't get baptized. She has a new baptismal date, so hopefully she will be prepared for that.

The choir I sang in on Sunday killed it! It was so fun. It was me, and then the Bishopric. So that was pretty interesting. The Branch President said he wants to do it again! So that will be fun!

I went back to Hodogaya for a music night, and that was really fun! I got to see all of my old friends again. We went with a 16-year-old. I won't tell you his name, but basically we are best friends now. He is way tall, and loves bowling. He told me that we are brothers. He is one of the few people I've met out here that I really felt like I needed to find.

I love you all! Thank you for all that you do!

Elder Tolen

Elder Tolen, the 16-year-old friend, and creeper Elder Cluff!

Elder Tolen and friend

Elder Cluff and froggy friend

Elder Tolen and Hodogaya Friend

Week 20 [29]: Lots of Rain, Lots of Lessons

It's Mail Time!!!! MMMAAAAIIIIIILLLLL TIIIIIIIMMMMMMEE. I miss you guys! How is everyone doing? Did you like the Blue's Clues reference? Cool. Me too.

This week has been good! We taught a lot of lessons this week, which was really good. It is nice to actually be teaching instead of trying to find people to teach. I feel like I'm emailing way early today.  I guess I kind of am.

For some cool news, for a baptism the Sisters have this week, I've been asked to play the piano for a piano solo. Guess what I'm going to be playing? Homeward Bound! It's great. I have to finish learning the last part but I've almost finished it, which is nice.

It has rained a  ton this week. Like a TON. And I need to buy a new rain suit, because the other one was kind of cheap so it ripped long ago. But that isn't really important. Rain here is so different compared to Utah. In Utah it rains for like 5 minutes. Here it rains for like 5 days. So I'm still adjusting to that, but it's fun!

A cool miracle from this week is while we were walking around the beach talking to people, this guy just walked up and didn't say anything, so Elder Cluff was just like, "What's up!", and the man was just like, "Oh nothing much." I was blown away. Turns out the man is from China, and he also spoke English, and no Japanese. That was fun. I don't think I have ever had to teach the Gospel so simply, but he was pretty interested! He said he was going to look more into it back in China. He was a really cool guy, and right after that we started talking to a French guy, but I don't know French, and his wife didn't want anything do to with us, so we didn't really get to talk to them. But their little baby loved us! He was adorable. It is weird how such small little parts of your day can bring you so much joy in your life as a missionary.

I love missionary work, and if you aren't enjoying yourself while you do it, you are doing it wrong. But don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about being a bad missionary and doing things you aren't supposed to, but missionary work literally is the best, and just by walking around you can have so much fun with your companions, and you can also be there to help bless people's lives when the Spirit needs you to. You always need to be worthy of the Spirit, because you never know when the Lord will need you, and when He needs you, He needs you immediately. So I challenge you all to be worthy of the Spirit at all times! It will make you so much happier!

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much!

Elder Tolen

Elder Tolen and Elder Uamura

Interesting Japanese Ad

Interesting Tokyo Ad and Skyline

Week 19 [28]: Food and Fake Facial Hair

I just want you to know that while I write this, I'm currently standing on a train, and it is very difficult to write, and try and balance on a moving train. So bear with me. I forgot to mention that today was temple P-day, so I apologize! I always forget to mention that.... And I'm also emailing really late because we got kind lost around Tokyo while looking for a place to eat. That was an adventure.

So I became a trio this week! And it has been a blast! We are all so different, that we just all have so much fun with each other! It is a blast.

This week we had General Conference! I love General Conference! I mean, don't get me wrong. It was way good in the MTC, but I feel like I have grown so much spiritually since then, that this Conference just blew me away! Of course my favorite was by Elder Holland. He blew me away in the first few minutes! I'm so glad I was able to learn so much. It really makes me feel bad for all of the times I slept through conference at home.... Thank goodness for repentance!

Really not much has happened this week besides that. It has been raining a ton lately, so people don't really like to talk while it is pouring rain. But we are still doing our best! I feel like my Japanese has improved, but sometimes I feel like I haven't improved at all since the MTC, but it is just really hard to see your own improvements sometimes. Maybe one day I'll be able to master this language. My new companion, Elder Cluff, knows the most Kanji out of any other person in the mission (except of course the Japanese people), so that is really amazing. It has been really helpful. He is also a really fun guy.

On our first day together we went out to lunch at a place called Sukiya, and you can get giant bowls of food for really cheap! So we got the biggest sizes! It was so much food! I thought I was going to die.

Elder Cluff, Elder Uamura, and Elder Tolen with their giant bowls of food at Sukiya

Another fun thing we did was at our district meeting, we all wore fake mustaches. That was a ball. I'll be sure to include pictures. Other than that, this week has been kind of slow.

I hope you all have a great week! I love you guys, and miss you!

Elder Tolen

Digging in!

Finished! (and full!)

Fake Mustaches at District Meeting

Fake Mustache (and Fake Glasses)...

Week 18 [27]: Baptism, Blossoms, and Building Faith

This week was pretty slow at first, I'm not going to lie. BUT! It did  pick up!

So the day before the baptism, we get a call from the traveling AP's and they told us that they prayed about it, and they wanted to go on splits. They called us back later and told us that they didn't even know that we were having a baptism! It's funny how the Spirit works sometimes. It was awesome. So the traveling AP's came, and they slept in our house, and that morning we left for the baptism!!!!!  It was so great. Elder Nishidome baptized our investigator, and it was so funny because when he baptized him, he forgot to tell him to bend his knees, so there was a huge splash, and some of the kids on the front row got a little wet. It was so funny. Our investigator was so ready. He bore his testimony, and it was so great. I felt the spirit so strong. It was amazing. Baptisms are the best. I'm so glad I was able to play a part in his conversion. And by "play a part," I mean being a warm body that the Spirit could work through.

Investigator, Members, and Missionaries before Baptism

Investigator, Members,and Missionaries before Baptism

In other news, today we got our transfer emails! So, first, a little bit of a back story. So Elder Nishidome has to go back home to get a little operation for his nose, nothing too serious, just like a kind of growth. I think something like that. Anyway, while he is gone, we are becoming a trio, so I'm going to become a trio, and help finish training Elder Uamura with a missionary named Elder Cluff. I've met him before, and he is a ball of fun. I'm so excited.

This time of year, you can see the Cherry blossoms here in Japan for about 2 weeks!! They are so pretty. I took some pictures, so I'll be sure to send some pictures.

Cherry Blossoms in Odawara

Another interesting story: This week, we were handing out flyers for English class, and this American guy walks up and starts asking some weird questions, and wasn't really giving us any information, but I didn't really feel weird about it. We eventually found out he used to be a member, and he actually used to be a missionary! It was way cool. He took us up to his office, and we just started talking and told us his life story. It was way fun. But it turns out he really hates the church. He loved us, and he loves the members, but he hates the church. He had been doing some research, and I think he stumbled upon some anti-Mormon literature, and he began to feel betrayed by the church. After his story, I didn't know what to say. But all of the sudden I was talking, and I just told him, "I don't care if you don't join the church again. My purpose as a missionary is not to force you to come to church. My purpose is to help you come unto Christ. So my challenge for you is whatever you have to do, don't lose your faith in God, and in Jesus Christ. I know that they live and love you." And he got really quiet, and just said, "Thank you so much. I really needed to hear that." That was an amazing experience. His feelings towards the church haven't changed, but I believe that his faith in God increased. The Spirit really is an amazing thing.

I hope you all had a great week, and I hope you have another one. I love you guys!

 Elder Tolen

Elder Nishidome in the Yellow "Service" Vest Before a Service Project

Some Members of the Odawara Branch