Watashi wa Geridoru desu. (Week 51)

So it has been yet another week. Very very busy. I never seem to have any time to do nothing. Which is how it should be I guess. But it gets pretty tiring.

Well Y_____ chan is still progressing very well. She is getting excited for her baptism. I am too. Its just in ten days. I can't wait. She is so cool. I love Y_____ chan. When we talk our conversation is mostly about nose picking and poking people's bums. Just so you know. We have a good time. I'll have stories to tell you when I get home. We should be hearing like today ish what she wants to do for her baptism like who prays and stuff and who will bapitze her and stuff.

M_____ chan is still doing really good. She is just so awesome. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with her this week and she said it was an answer to her prayer. She is just so cool. She is so sensitive to the spirit and she really cares about what God wants her to do. She's so cool.

I have opened up four presents now. They have been good. I appreciate them. Things are getting pretty Christmasy in our apartment now. The flash drive did work. So don't worry about that. We listen to it all the time. We love our Christmas.

So for my entire mission it has been a difficult thing to get people to at least just take a Book of Mormon. One or two a week is what I  have thought was a successful week. Usually only one. But this week we found a new way to get Book of Mormons out if we can't do anything else. We wrap it in ribbon and tell everyone its a present. In one hour we gave away 6. This week we did around 20. We are almost out of Book of Mormons in the apartment. The church doesn't have anymore. Hopefully more will come soon. We need to take advantage of Christmas time. And we heard the mission home is running really low too. So I don't know when we will be able to get more. But realistically we only have like a weeks worth of Book of Mormons left. So we'll see. That has been really exciting this week. Elder Morris and I split up and went on either side of the street to see who could pass out the most Book of Mormons before we met up at the other side of the street because even people with no interest start taking the Book of Mormon if it has ribbon and you say its a present. Its been really fun. I can't remember who won. But I won for the most lessons taught on the road. Yeah. I'm just the best I guess.

This coming week we are going to dress up like santa and go singing with a member at some place. I don't understand what it means. It might be an old people place. That should be fun.

And one other highlight this week was when we went out with an old member in our ward to visit less active people we stopped to take pictures by a bamboo forest and we looked like models and stuff. And he just loved it. Kawamura Brother. And we got him to be in a picture or two. And I called him Ikemen Brother. Which means like Brother Really Handsome Guy. He was just loving it. It was so funny. He was a happy man. That's what I get to do as a missionary.

Well I'm out of time. Skype next week. My Christmas day. Your Christmas Eve. My 10:00 in the morning. I think your 6:00 at night. I can't remember how to use skype very well. So if you could email me some information that would help me locate your computer when I try to do it I would appreciate it. I can't remember what is needed and I can't find out before I have to leave. So thank you. I love you. Talk to you next week.

And I appreciated your email mom. Thank you. I love you.

Love Josh.

Sorry I'm late (Week 50)

Its pretty cold here right now. So I'm wearing my ninja jammies under my suit too almost every day. That's for dad.

So. Just a quick update on the knee to get it out of the way. Its not good. I'm still talking to President and trying stuff. Haven't gone to a doctor yet. I might have hurt it this morning and made it worse. I'm not sure if it will be only temporary pain or if this pain will be until its fixed. We'll see. Don't worry though. I'm fine. We are coming up with ways to dendo without standing.

I got the package. as far as I know everything is there but I haven't opened the presents so I don't know if anyting would be missing. I think all of the days are accounted for. We'll see.

We would like to do our Christmas calling on the morning of Tuesday on Christmas day. For you that should be the evening of Christmas Eve. I don't know yet on times. We have to get in contact with our member who is going to be allowing us to use his computer. That wonderful soul.

So It has been a pretty good week I guess. We get to keep teaching these wonderful people. They are so awesome. They keep progressing. And its awesome. They keep coming to church and they are reading the Book of Mormon and they have testimonies and they want to keep learning. And when the members went to meet M_____ chans parents it went really really well. Dad wasn't home so we are still worried about him. But it went well with mom. Momoko, the one who referred all these people, was basically in tears because it went so well when I talked to her after. The Shimizu elders have an investigator with a baptismal date who is also named M_____ and they just set another baptismal date with their investigator named M_____. All are high school girls. And Y_____ has her baptismal date for just after Christmas. And M2_____ might have one soon. So we'll see. We also found out that M2_____ wants to go to the temple and do baptisms for her ancestors and Y_____ wants to go too. We would really love if they could all get baptized soon and then all go to the temple together. And us missionaries would probably go too. I think that would be the best thing ever. I would love that. And I think it can really happen. Just pray that all will go well with parents. Y_____ is nervous about her parents I think and M2_____ was told she can't get baptized. so pray for these people. I love them so much.

So I got to see the First Presidency Christmas thing. It was in Japanese though. So I really didn't understand anything. It was difficult Japanese. But the music was great. I felt very Christmasy. but I had a lot of time to just think during the Christmas thing. I really miss my family. And I kept thinking about that. I really wish I could be with you for Christmas. Especially mom. I keep having these flashes of intense homesickness out of nowhere. It is difficult for me. This is the most homesickness I have ever felt. I just miss my mom.

Well I'm out of time. Tell Erika Happy Birthday. Tanjobi omedeto! Junana sai ni nata! sorry I can't send you an email specifically.

Love Josh.

I love this place! (Week 49)

So before I forget. Mom. I sent you a letter last week. And it has stuff in it. But one thing is missing. I forgot to put it in. So you will get that someday. And maybe you won't even get your letter. I sent Julie a letter at the same time and I might have mixed up the envelopes but I didn't want to open it to find out. So. Yoroshiku ne.

I love being here. I am having so many cool experiences. Yesterday we had both of our investigators come to church and two new people came to church. It was really cool. A girl named I_____ chan and a friend of our lovely member Kancho kun named T_____ I think. By the way don't edit out Kancho kun's name. Its already a code name. And I know he reads these and I wanted to tell him I love him. I love you Kancho kun. You know who you are.

Also yesterday we got to teach Y_____ chan. And that was really cool. We asked her to share her testimony with us. We have been focusing on getting everyone to realize that they have their own testimony and we are getting them to share them. And she shared a scripture with us and everything that she really liked from the Book of Mormon. It was so cool. And then I shared a scripture with her that I found yesterday morning and then asked her about baptism. I asked her to get baptized and she said yes. Then I told her that God is happy right now and that God loves her. And when I said that I almost started bawling. I could feel the spirit so strongly. And I know she could too. It was so good. And then she chose December 27 to be baptized. So that was the highlight of my week. And another highlight of my mission. Pray for her. I really want this to work out for her.

Yesterday was fast sunday so we all fasted. And we got together with the Shimizu elders and with Kancho kun and Momoko shimai to have a big fast for our investigators and friends. And one thing I wanted to fast for was a testimony that fasting and prayer really make a difference. And I now have that testimony. We fasted that Kancho kun's friend would have interest in the church and then she came. And then Y_____ said she wanted to be baptized. And it has just been really good. This week we got together with M_____ chan and Y_____ chan and the Shimizu elders and Momoko shimai and Kancho kun to decorate a tiny Christmas tree. And we made our ornaments and wrote a small testimony on them. And then asked everyone to share their testimonies. And it was so good. The spirit was very strong. And I think it was really good for our investigators. We also made an ornament that said what testimony we want to get. And mine was about fasting. So I fasted and got my testimony. I hope everyone else gets their testimonies too.

For Christmas we are planning on going out with the Eikaiwa students and some members to sing Christmas carols at a really busy road. On Christmas night. I am really excited. I hope it goes well. I'm excited. I think that would make me ok about not being with my family on Christmas.

Also I we can skype our families for Christmas and that it can be as long as we want. So probably like an hour would be appropriate. And I heard a rumor of member here who will let us use his computer for skype. So I am pretty sure I can skype you now. But I need to make sure.

And just so you know we have plans in motion to get in to M_____ chan's parents that I think will work out really well. So I am hoping all is going to go well there. Just to keep you all in the loop.

Yes I know Fontanet 長老. I have met him a few times and I met him and his parents the other day. They were very nice people.

I am really happy about all the things that are happening here. I love this place and never want to leave and I am really glad I get the opportunity to spend Christmas in such a wonderful place with so many wonderful people. I am so happy. I love you all. I love you Kancho kun. I'll see you later.

Love Elder Liddle

Just another day in the life in Kumamoto (Week 48)

So I'm back again. It has been a good week. Our investigators are progressing so well. I really don't doubt that they will be baptized. I think its just a matter of when. And there are some things we have to do like get to the parents so they can trust us and stuff. That will be the hard part especially for M_____ chan. Her dad may be difficult. If she doesn't get baptized it will be because of the parental permission. In Japan you have to be 20 to make that decision on your own. And she's only 17. So pray for her family that all will go well. Also things look like they could get kind of complicated with her living in the Shimizu area and having us Tsuboi missionaries teach her. We really have to be the ones to teach her so we can't pass her off to the other elders. And the Shimizu ward might be a little difficult when it comes to teaching her sometimes. I can sense tension. This poor girl needs what we have and I don't want anything to get in the way of that. So pray for her. She is way amazing though. I love her so much. I can't believe how amazing she is. She asked if in her next lesson she could hear everyone's testimony because she likes learning from testimonies and she wants her own testimony to be strengthened by them. She is just so awesome.

Y_____ chan is doing very well too. She is very easy to teach and very interested. She tries what we ask her to do and I think she will progress to baptism quite well too. Not much to really report with her.

The shimizu elders have another investigator from Eikaiwa that is progressing really well. We keep hearing rumors that she said she wants to get baptized but we haven't heard it directly from her and we know that right now she has no idea what baptism is. So we don't know where that is coming from. But she is awesome too and I think she will get baptized. All of these friends will probably get baptized together.

So my knees. I appreciate the prayers. I really do. I don't want to go through too much with them. President said that if I need surgery they will not do it in Japan. That is an absolute you're going home thing. So we'll see. The mission only has two cars and they are in the mission office. And I really can't be transferred there because quite honestly my Japanese isn't good enough. I have to be able to call people on the phone and stuff and communicate and understand clearly. I still can't do that. So realistically I think I am stuck out here in Tsuboi. And I may go to the doctor soon. I am still talking to President about it. But don't worry. I will be fine. I will do whatever God's will is.

I had a pretty good thanksgiving. We just worked like normal but then went out to eat at a sushi place that has the sushi on the moving thing next to your table so you choose what you want. It was really good. I have had ok sushi a few times but that was the first time I had really good sushi. I'll take dad there when we come to Japan together. It was good.

And just an update on how much I love this place. I love it so much. I love Tsuboi. I am so happy here. If I could I would finish my mission here. I love it. And I love the people. I get to work with so many wonderful people here. I love it. And there are always people to talk to on the streets when we have time to do that. You don't have to look hard. And the awesome thing is that we don't even have time to do that. We are too busy doing things for our other investigators and our other more effective ways of finding investigators. I love it. I am so happy. This place is amazing. I can't speak Japanese worth beans but that doesn't even matter anymore. I can get a point across and feel the spirit. That's all I care about now. So life is good. Stressful. But good.

Yes I do use my rain coat a lot. all the time. It snowed a tiny bit today. The members say it snows every now and again but never sticks. It mostly rains. And gets cold. Its more of a fall season here right now. All the leaves are falling and changing color right now. And it still isn't that cold. I hope it gets colder. I need something to cool me down after that summer in Ishigaki.

I love you all. Don't worry about me. This last week has been the best of my mission. Have a good day.

Love Elder Liddle

Crazy week (Week 47)

So it was a crazy week. It was so so good. I'm excited to tell you all about it.

First I called President about my knee. He first told me before I could tell him anything about how much he needs me in the mission because like half of the missionaries go home in February and I will become the old one. And then I dropped my knee on him and asked him if surgery was necessary if I would have to go home. He said I definitely would. I felt bad for talking about going home right after he told me how much he needs me. Well he knows a thing or two about the human body and is having me do some exercises that might help me. So far there has been no change. But we'll see. I will probably end up going to some crazy Japanese doctor and then see what he thinks. And if it is surgery then it will probably be placed in my hands to decide if I endure the pain until the end keeping in mind that it will probably get worse or get surgery. So we'll see. Maybe the Japanese doctors have something else to do for me. So that is that.

So K______ san. We haven't found him. Last night we felt like we should go to where we found him at the same time we found him to see if we could find him again. It didn't work. But we felt good about how we spent our time. And we saw some lady when we were out and about again who we saw earlier that morning. And she seemed quite happy to see us but didn't speak to us. She was just walking by. That was kind of cool. Other than that I don't know what we accomplished.

So we had the two referrals from our member. And we taught both of them. Y_____ chan and M_____ chan. Both of them are in high school. And Y_____ chan's lesson went awesome. The spirit was really strong and it was so good and we will meet her again tomorrow and maybe more often than that and she has real interest so it will be good. It was so awesome. I have high hopes for this girl. The Shimizu elders have a baptism date set up for their high school girl investigator for December 22. And I think we can push to get Y_____ chan baptized on the same day.

And then we had M_____ chan. I was just hoping with all my heart that her lesson would go as well as Y_____ chan's did. And it was. It was better. It was so intense. That was the highlight of my misson so far. It was so amazing. And the spirit was so strong. We didn't even teach a whole lesson. We just talked about God and her relationship with him. And she started crying. She could feel it. And she started crying. She could feel our love for her and God's love for her and our member, M_____ shimai's love for her. It was just amazing. And then at the end we taught her about prayer. She had never heard any of us pray yet. But she agreed to say the prayer. And she said a wonderful prayer from her heart. It was so good. This was all on Saturday. And we asked her to come to church on the next day and she said she would. And she did. She lives in the Shimizu area but was sent to us for some reason and we have agreed we should teach her even though we are Tsuboi. But that means she has to go to church to the Shimizu ward and so we have to go to sacrament there with her as well as the Tsuboi ward. So we did. And it was good. We had three investigators at that sacrament meeting. The Shimizu elders got a new investigator from M_____ Shimai too. All from Eikaiwa just so you know. And it was awesome. And then after church before Tsuboi ward started we had a big group lesson with them that was pretty good. And then we ran to sacrament meeting. And after our sacrament meeting we discovered that M_____ chan stayed for our ward too because she thought she would understand more the second time around. This girl is crazy. And I love her. I would do anything for her. I can see how she needs what we have. And I want more than anything for her to recieve these blessings. I love her and Y_____ chan so much. But things with M_____ chan especially may be difficult. She is a 17 year old girl and we are a couple of young white guys. So it could look bad. We need to get into her parents as soon as possible. Its absolutely important. So pray that we can.

We also had a bowling party on friday that both M_____ chan and Y_____ chan came to. It was for Eikaiwa and we had a great time. And we are seeing lots of new investigators come out of Eikaiwa all of a sudden and its just amazing. I don't feel like I deserve to see these miracles but I am so glad I am finally seeing the things I'm doing help people. It is so awesome. I love it.

I am almost out of time now. Mom I need your cheescake recipe. Please email it to me. I want to see if I can make it here. For the parents of our investigators.

And whoever is in charge of my facebook will you please make my name on there Joshua Liddle and maybe a good picture on it. I am having people try to find me but they can't. I'm not sure what is the problem. And accept the people who add me if they are Japanese or Chinese or something. It would be good if I could use my facebook for dendo without even touching it. If they can look at it and get to know me a little better it will be easier to get in and teach them. Onegai shimasu.

Well. I love you all. Pray for our investigators. I am so happy right now. We have real investigators who actually need what we have and who have faith in this and who will try. We are going to try to get the Shimizu elder's investigator and our two investigators baptized on the same day. So pray that we can. Pray for these people. They mean so much to God. And Satan is going to try so hard to stop them. He already has. That's another story. But so far its been ok. Just pray that it keeps being ok. And that I will know what to do about the parents. Have a good day. I love you. I love these people.

Love Josh

A good news bad news week (Week 46)

So. Thanksgiving. I don't think we really do anything for it unless a member feels sorry for us and does something. Japanese people don't celebrate it.So its just a normal day here. Besides I'm busy celebrating Christmas already. So I'm ok.

So first the bad news. We had a lesson scheduled with K_____ san last Wednesday. And he didn't show up. He doesn't have a phone and we don't know where he lives or where he works or anything. He is way too awesome to just decide he's done with this gospel thing so I think he just had something come up and had no way to tell us. But I haven't seen him since last week. And I'm worried about him. I don't know how to find him. Its up to him to find us right now. So pray for him. He's a wonderful man that I really love and I don't want to see his progression stop.

In other news. We never receive referrals from the ward. Ever. Its sad. We need them. Referrals are way more likely to progress and to trust the missionaries. But last week we the Tsuboi elders and the Shimizu elders whom I live with received referrals from an 18 year old girl in my ward. She gave us two and the shimizu elders 1. All in one week! She is so awesome. And we have plans to teach them this week. They are all teenage girls who have expressed interest in the church after they came to Eikaiwa. And one of them has parents who may also be interested. So that is way awesome. New investigators are coming out of nowhere. I love it.

And this week in Eikaiwa we had 10 new students come. That is amazing! That is like half of a normal class. And they came to both the Wednesday one and the Saturday one. Its so awesome. Things really are moving forward here. Its weird to me because for all of my mission missionary work has been contacting people on the street and housing with an occasional lesson at someones house or the church. That was missionary work. But its changing all of a sudden. We are spending more time planning lessons now and we don't have as much time to go contact people. Its totally awesome. This is how it should be. We are also spending less time doing normal missionary work and doing more for the Eikaiwa students. Japanese people really don't let you teach them unless they know you and trust you. So Eikaiwa is so important to keep up and to keep fun and to really get to know the people there. We are doing a lot of Eikaiwa parties and activities outside of Eikaiwa so we can get to know them and get investigators from it who are interested and who trust us. And its working. this is how you have to dendo in Japan. Its different than I imagined before my mission. And I'm glad I am learning it now rather than at the end of my mission. I've learned a lot. And I am experiencing so many cool things just coming out of nowhere. I love it.

Well I have not much time left. I just want to say to Kate that I support the decision to serve a mission with all my heart because I know it is such a wonderful opportunity but I also want to say you should be really sure before you make the decision. This is no small thing. And its very hard. But so worth it.

And to Erika I want to say that I don't know what food you are talking about that isn't the Daikon one. I've never heard of it. And I am impressed with your ability to use the word yori. I am still struggling using it. it wraps my brain in knots and I have a hard time keeping things straight. So keep up the good work. And keep using the new bunpo all the time. That is how you truly learn Japanese. keep using it. All the time. Even though it hurts and is hard. And you will be the best in the class.

Well I love you all. Have a good week. I know I will.

Love Josh.

We got a date! (Week 45)

So. First things first. I heard a wonderful rumor that Star Wars Episode 7 is going to be coming out in 2015. And I asked a member here to confirm it for me on his iphone. He said its true. Is it? What!? Star Wars!

In other news. Did I tell you about K_____ san last week? I can't remember. Well he is an investigator here. And I have taught him a couple times now. He is so cool. I have to tell you about him. So when we teach people and then ask them to pray at the end of the lesson they always hesitate and say they don't want to and often will say no. And so I asked K_____ san to pray after the first lesson I taught to him. And I expected him to be all hesitant because he is so quiet already. And he said Hai yarimasho. Which being interpreted means Yes let's do it. What? That never happens. And then his prayer was perfect. And he prayed for me and Elder Morris by name. No one can remember my name in this country. But he made sure to do it. And he said don't just bless us but bless our families too. What? Who is this guy? We just ran into him on the street one night on a street crawling with thousands of people. And then in the next lesson we had with him this week at the end I felt like I should ask him to be baptized. And I hesitated because we really haven't explained baptism. He has seen the baptismal font and he knows God commands us to get baptized and he has seen a picture of Jesus Christ being baptized. Other than that he doesn't know anything. So I really hesitated. And I just kept feeling like I should ask him. So I did. And I expected a hesitant answer. But he said Yes lets do it. And then for clarification I asked him if he actually wanted to get baptized. I was a little confused and thought he said yes because I wanted him to. And he said yes I want to get baptized. So we set a date for December 1, 2012! He's getting baptized! There is only one problem. He can't choose his work schedule and might not be able to make it to church three times before that day. Investigators have to go three times before they can be baptized. And it would be really nice if he could go to church the day after his baptism so we can confirm him quickly without delay. But he can't choose his schedule. I'm not sure what to do. All of my prayers and my fast was centered  on that man getting to church enough. He needs a miracle. And lucky for us our God can do that. So I'm hoping all goes well with that. I would hate to push his baptismal date back. Well. I love that man. He is so cool. And is just taking in the gospel so well. I even asked him to keep all of the commandments we will teach him about in order to prepare for baptism. And he said he will do it. Such a wonderful man.

Also we have another lesson with him on Wednesday at the same time as Eikaiwa. And we are going to have a couple potential investigators at that Eikaiwa so one of us needs to be there. And Elder Morris is the only one who has spoken with this potential investigator we have in mind and so he has to go to Eikaiwa. That means I will teach K_____ san alone with a member in our ward. This is my first full lesson alone. I will have the help of a member but I am in charge this time. I am so scared. Pray for me.

Lately I have been feeling like Japanese is just destroying me. It is so hard and I just can't understand what these people are saying to me. It is so hard. And I am getting really frustrated. I can say a lot. I can almost say anything I want in some way or another. But I can't understand people. So its really difficult. The language is the hardest part for me. Going up and talking to people is no problem. Sharing what I know with strangers is no problem. Leaving my family for two years is not a problem for me. The only truly difficult part of this is Japanese. And stressing about people coming to church. well. Just pray for me I guess.  I don't really know what to do about the language. I keep studying. That's all I really can do.

Well. I should start wrapping it up. I love you all. I hope you are all doing well. It sounds like things are going good for the most part with little challenges here and there. But don't worry. Everything is ok. Peace out. Mata ne.

Love Josh