Mom and Dad,
I'm glad to hear you had a nice birthday, Mom. I
apologize for failing to wish you a happy birthday. So...Happy Birthday! Dad,
It's good to hear that Ragnar went well. I'm envious that you got to go do it,
I really enjoyed running the Ragnar. It's great to hear that you will be going
camping soon. I sure miss all of the fun activities that come in the summer.
Even so, I love being a missionary!
That's very exciting to hear that Marisa will be receiving her Patriarchal
Blessing soon. It's proven to be an invaluable source of strength, guidance,
and comfort for me as a missionary. I've been able to learn more personally of
what the Lord expects of me as a missionary as I've repeatedly read and pondered
it.
It's been rainy a bit cooler these past couple of days, but I don't know
how long it will last. Elder Ogasawara says Hokkaido is definitely not as hot
as Kochi. He says even though the winters get to be pretty nasty, the summers
in Hokkaido are very nice. He's on his seventh transfer right now, so he's been
out for nearly 1 year. It's been different being with a Ni Hon Jin companion.
We're not able to talk and communicate as easily, but we're getting along just
fine and we're working hard.
On Saturday
we attended a the wedding of a member at the church. It was kind of weird being
a missionary at a wedding. Especially at the reception right after, I just kind
of felt different being at a wedding reception with music playing and food and
all of that. It was a good experience though.
Finding this last week has been okay. We were able to meet with an
investigator (I may have mentioned about him before) who recently returned to
Kochi after having to go to a place around Tokyo for work. He was gone for
about 2 months and he said he wasn't able to meet with the missionaries in that
area. I was a little concerned that after so long his desire may have dropped
or he may have forgotten the things that he had been taught before, but that was
not the case. He actually contacted us to meet, and he remembered things well
and still has desires to improve himself. He's still not entirely sure if he
believes in God or if the things we've taught him are true, but he has a desire
to know if they are and he said if he receives a confirmation that they are true
that he will receive baptism.
We had a great lesson yesterday with a lady, and she accepted the invitation to be
baptized. The baptismal goal date we set is in July. She seems to just be
honestly looking for what is true, so we feel quite good about her potential to
receive baptism.
What advice would I give to Matt Stevens? I think it would be good for him to be prepared for the fact that Japanese is backwards from English. I've found beyond speaking and thinking, listening in particular is a different ball game because you don't really know if the whole sentence is in negative or past tense until the end of the sentence. Also, something you'll probably hear a lot is that as a missionary you should be yourself. I wholeheartedly agree with that, but, it's different at first being yourself in another language that you're trying to learn. Something that I've found quite helpful is that when I'm with other missionaries who can speak English, using Japanese words in normal English conversation and listening to them do it too. Japanenglish has helped me to get a better feel for which Japanese words are more "me"...if that makes any sense. Sorry, that's about all I can come up with advice-wise right now.
What advice would I give to Matt Stevens? I think it would be good for him to be prepared for the fact that Japanese is backwards from English. I've found beyond speaking and thinking, listening in particular is a different ball game because you don't really know if the whole sentence is in negative or past tense until the end of the sentence. Also, something you'll probably hear a lot is that as a missionary you should be yourself. I wholeheartedly agree with that, but, it's different at first being yourself in another language that you're trying to learn. Something that I've found quite helpful is that when I'm with other missionaries who can speak English, using Japanese words in normal English conversation and listening to them do it too. Japanenglish has helped me to get a better feel for which Japanese words are more "me"...if that makes any sense. Sorry, that's about all I can come up with advice-wise right now.
Love,
Elder Kyle Hutchings
