Futenma, Okinawa - 1/2 way there! (Total, week 52)

Well it's officially been a year since I entered the MTC. It has been incredibly fast. The life before the mission all seems like a dream. I feel like I have lived here my whole life. Time just gets faster and faster though. Starting to get a little scary. Loving it out here though. 

This week we have gone to the hospital 4 times for MRI/checkups and stuff. This Friday my companion is going to get surgery. He has to stay in the hospital for 3 days, but luckily we are going to be doing splits so he can have a Japanese companion with him. 

We also did splits with the other companionship in our apartment. Elder Welch and Hansen. It went really well. I got to go with Hansen. He is way good. Japanese isn't amazing, but he is way happy to be out here and a very Christlike kid. 

A guy in out Military ward, Tamale, is from Hawaii. He took us out this week. He is amazing. He served his mission in Ogden, Utah mission. And he loved it. He told us a bunch of tips he did as a missionary, and he saw tons of success. 

Motoki is still doing well. We have been meeting with him 1-2 times every week, and then he comes to church every week with him brother and his brother's family. 

Taiki has been a bit sketch. He hasn't been answering our calls, or anything. Hopefully this week we can get in contact with him.

We had to refer Silvio over to the Okinawa elders. He moved this past Saturday to their area sadly. He was still doing very good. Having a lot of spiritual experiences and such. I wish we could have kept teaching him. 

This week has been crazy busy. I decided to remake the member book, organize the less active book, and contact everyone in our area book, or atleast try. Elder Barker and I have been working hard to get it all done, hopefully we can finish it by the end of this transfer. 

Anyways. Things have been going wonderful here in Futenma. 

Have an awesome week. Love ya!

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 28 (Total, week 47)

Transfer Week! 

This past Tuesday we got out transfer calls, and I am staying with the same companion. Our whole apartment stayed the same, so not too much of a difference. 

Wednesday, Elder Barker and I had to go to the doctor to check his wrist. It looks like he will be getting the surgery sometime this month. He will be staying in Japan, and we will just be walking everywhere for a few weeks. 

Thursday we had a lesson with Moto, but his joint didn't show up for the lesson. Said he forgot. But we still had a good lesson. He still is wanting to get baptized on 1/23/2016, and may even want to move it up, but too scared to ask his dad about getting baptized. We are going to have a lesson with him this week with his sister in law, about talking to his dad about getting baptized. If he gets permission, I think he will get baptized pretty soon. 

We were also supposed to have a lesson with Tai (our other baptismal date) but him and his joint forgot about the lesson. Looks like we are going to be making calls the day of and reminding them. But he is doing good as well. Still seems like he wants to get baptized on Christmas and in the ocean. It will probably be way cold, but I guess it will be a cool experience. 

Friday we met with Sil again. He is Brazilian, 25, married to a Japanese woman, and they have 2 kids. He feels the spirit so strongly but doesn't want to make any commitments to come to church or anything. He feels that when we come to his house, his apartment becomes a church for a little bit, and that's good enough for him. 

We also received a referral a month or so ago, but the Mission Home didn't get her name, phone number, or apartment number. All we had was the apartment address, and there was probably about 25-30 doors. We decided to knock the entire apartment. One of the last doors we knocked on was her! Her name is Naka-san, and she is 84 years old. She was about to go to the hospital, so she said we can come back on Saturday. 

Saturday we went over to the Naka's apartment, and she was way interested in the message. She has known some people the have been Mormon before, and always wondered why they were so different, and so happy. She really likes how the church focuses so much on family. We are going back this next week with a member, and teach her more.

Sunday we were at church pretty much all day. The American ward is from 9-12, and the Japanese ward is from 1-4. Then we talked with people, and practiced a song we will sing with the YSA later this month. Then a baptism at 5, and we got home at 6:30 to eat dinner. 

It has been a really good week. Elder Barker and I worked really hard, and got the most contacts we have ever gotten in this area. 

Hope everyone else has an awesome week!

Love you!

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 27 (Total, week 46)

Well what has happened this week.. 

We have been to the hospital several times for Elder Barker's wrist. He is going to be staying in Japan for it, but we will be walking everywhere we go. 

This week we played basketball with a guy named Shoy, who became a new investigator. We played with a bunch of little Japanese guys. It was way fun, I was about a foot taller than everyone. 

We had a lesson with Moto. He hasn't talked to his dad yet, but said that when he turns 20 he will get baptized. He turns 20 in January, so we made a baptismal date with him then. 

We also had a lesson with Tai. Tai is a 23 year old college student. He is from Tokyo. He comes to church every week, and we have lessons with him all the time. But he won't read the book of mormon. He says it is too boring. So we have been finding ways to make it more fun for him. 

This past week was Halloween! We had a big trunk or treat Halloween party at our church. We just went as missionaries, but it was a blast. It was done by the American ward, but we had a lot of Japanese people come. 

We had a Zone pday this past Monday. That was a blast. Played capture the flag and other games on a playground with all the missionaries on Okinawa. 

Transfer week is this week. The 4 elders here are probably staying, but ya never know. 

Love you guys! 

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 26 (Total, week 45)

We had splits this week with the Zone Leaders. Learned a lot. We found quite a bit of new people to teach. Too bad so far, we haven't been able to meet with too many of them. Mot is probably going to have to be delayed til next year. His dad is very against him getting baptized. He turns 20 in January (in Japan 20 is of age). But he is still doing good, still comes to church every week, still meeting with him, and having lessons with members. 

Life has been good out here on the mission, every week goes by faster and faster. I find myself on here emailing again, not remembering anything that happened. Things have been good though. 

We just found out that Elder Barker broke his arm in the MTC and is going to have to get it fixed. We still aren't sure whether or not he will be staying or if he will have to go and get it fixed in the states. 

UPDATES next week! Love you all!

Elder Davies

PS, if you want to be taken off the list let me know. I won't feel bad. I know what it's like getting these emails. :)

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 25 (Total, week 44)

Futenma is awesome! The ward here is way sweet! This past week has gone by so fast. And doing messages in English is weird. Our English class here is huge. We have about 30-50 people who come every week. Elder Barker and I are really going to start focusing on trying to make some of those people new investigators. 

This past week was Elder Barker's Birthday. We honestly didn't do too much for it, I'm a horrible trainer. But the Sister's in our area are awesome, so they did some things. 

We went out to eat at an all you can eat place with the Hughes. It was a blast. He served in Fukuoka as well, and told us all sorts of stories about when he was on a mission. 

We scheduled a baptismal date with our investigator named Mot. He is a part member family. He has 6 siblings. 3 of them are members, and are also returned missionaries. His mom is less active. He comes with one of his active brothers every week. He is a way sweet kid. He is about 20 years old. He has heard all of the lessons, so we are restarting them, but really teaching to find out his needs, and fill them. He got sick over the weekend, so we haven't been able to meet with him for a little, but we plan on meeting with him again this week. 

Everything is going well here still. Have a sick week.

Love,

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 24 (Total, week 43)

How is everyone? 

This week has been good. It was a very long week, with lots to do, but we are finally getting comfortable with everything. 

We had interviews this last week, and it went way well. We got trained on how to do member work. They taught us different ways to get referrals from the members. It was a pretty cool training, and it will be interesting to see the difference in our mission from it. 

Elder Barker, my new companion straight from the MTC is doing really well. We have been working hard to see some success in this area. We have talked to a lot of people recently, and have some pretty strong potential inv's.

We have 2 pretty strong investigators right now. 

Mot, and Tai. Mot is in his 20's. His brother and sister are returned missionaries, and are way supportive. His parents though are not as supportive. He has a way good heart, and I feel like will make the right choice in the end. We have a lesson with him on Tuesday, our first, so we will see how that goes. 

Tai is also in his 20's. He has been an investigator for quite some time now. He is a college student, and is from Tokyo. He likes going to church, and likes all of the members. The only problem is that he is not a big fan of reading the BoM. We also have a lesson with him on Tuesday.

Everything is going really well here. Things should starting pushing off here soon, will let you know more next week! 

Much love,

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 23 (Total, week 42)

So I am now in Okinawa, in a place called Futenma. It's way awesome down here. We have 2 wards, a Military branch, and a Japanese branch. Our area has 4 elders and 2 sisters. Things have been crazy down here. We got to the apartment, and it was disgusting. We spent the whole first day cleaning, and got permission to clean during studies the second day. We threw out about 12 bags of garbage, and got rid of tons of old futons. 

After that, we opened up the area book, and it turns out that it was just as bad as the apartment. 

Okinawa is still very hot, and probably will be for another couple of months. My new companions name is Elder Barker. He is from California. He plays baseball for BYU. He is legit. His mom is Japanese, but he can't speak very much. It brings back a lot of memories of the times that I used to struggle as a new missionary. 

Things have just been crazy lately. We are finally getting the apartment organized, as well as the area book. This area is awesome though, I'm loving it so far! We don't have really any investigators, so we will be starting from scratch, but things will be way good. 

Have a good week! 

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 22 (Total, week 41)

Well this week was crazy! 

First off, we got to go to Miyajima, which is always a blast! We went as a Zone Pday activity. 

Also, on Friday, I got called and told I am getting a brand new missionary! I got to go to Fukuoka to get trained. Way exciting! I'm going down to Futenma, on Okinawa, and get to work with the people on the base down there! 

Our investigator, Mika is still doing way awesome. We taught her the Word of Wisdom, I think it caught her a little off guard, but she said she is willing to keep it, which is way awesome! She is for sure going to be getting baptized on the 4th of next month. Too bad I won't be here to see it. 

Anyways, not else much to say about this week. I will be getting on a plane, and flying down to Futenma on Thursday. Wish me luck!

Much love,

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 21 (Total, week 40)

We did service for a less active lady, who is in her 80's. We pulled out a ton of weeds, but it only took maybe an hour tops. She wanted to take us out to eat, but we had an appointment about 30 mins later. She was pretty persistent, and ended up making us go.. Haha. We ended up only getting ice cream and then told her we had to go again. She pulled out sanman, which is equal to about 300$, and tried giving it to us! We kindly told her we couldn't take it, and headed out.

A guy from America came, who served in the Tokyo South mission, and took us out to eat. Way fun, but way weird to talk to real Americans again. Haha!

We also got tickets to be able to go to the World Cup volleyball game. It was America against Japan! We went with our recent convert, and it was a blast! America won of course, but Japan actually but up a decent fight.

We had splits with his zone leaders this week. I got to go with an Elder from Thailand. His name is Elder Chotipairat. We played basketball with Jimmy, our investigator from China, and a few other people. It ended up being me, and American, an elder from Thailand, a Chinese guy, and German guy, and 2 Philippines.  It was really weird being the only American, and speaking in English to each other.

We also ate with a family in the ward yesterday, they fed us TONS of meat! It started off with steaks each, and hen just loaded us with meats! It was sooo delicious.

Our investigator, Mika, is still doing really good. She is coming to church every week, and loves it. We are going to finish teaching her the commandments this week. She is way strong and is really looking forward to her baptismal date in October. 

Transfers are next week though. Hopefully I stay!

Hope everyone has an awesome week! 

Much love,

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 20 (Total, week 39)

We had the opportunity to go to Fukuoka this past week for training.
We got to hear from Elder Choi, of the Seventy. My district also got to sleep at the mission home, and we got to eat breakfast with him,his wife, and our mission president. It was really nice to sleep in a bed again, but to be honest, it was too fluffy. I didn't sleep very well.. After the big meeting? conference?, we got to ride back home on a bullet train. They are way fast! It took us four hours to get thereby bus, and about an hour to get back by bullet train. We need those in America!At the conference I got to see my trainer for the last time. He goes home in 3 weeks. It was way good to see him again. Such a happy guy.Things are going really well here, we have some great investigators to work with, the ward is just awesome, the Japanese is coming along, not where I want it, but it's coming. My testimony has grown so much since being out here. It's amazing how many blessings the Lord gives us each and everyday. I love the gospel!Sorry if these emails are getting a bit lame, let me know if there is anything else I should be putting.  
愛しています。
デイビーズ長老。

Hiroshima - Week 19 (Total, week 38)

We got to meet with Sophanna (the Cambodian) again this week. He said
he has been way busy lately, but he thanked us for not giving up on
him.
Jimmy has also been very busy lately and we haven't been able to meet
him this week at all. But we have texted him and stuff, and he has
tried to pray a few times, so he is still doing good!
Our newer investigator, Mika is doing awesome! She came to stake
conference yesterday, and took TONS of notes, this next meeting with
her, we plan on setting a baptismal date. She is doing way awesome,
and is making way good relationships with the ward.
Well. Not too much happened this week. Yes, I'm still in Hiroshima,
and I'm loving it! I never want to leave this place! My companion is
Elder Stennett. He is from Hawaii, but he is really white ha. He is a
way funny kid, and he has a lot of sweet ideas for dendo. He is only a
third transfer, he got here in May. So let's just say I'm trying to
learn his language really fast right now. :)

Anyways.
愛しています。また。
デイビーズ長老。

Hiroshima - Week 18 (Total, week 37)

CHASED BY A BIRD!
This past week we had transfers. My last companion ended up going home, so I got a new companion named Elder Stennett. He is from Hawaii. But he's white. :) he came to Japan 3 months ago, and is way good at the language. He's a way sweet missionary. We are going to have an awesome transfer.

Our investigators are still doing really well. Jimmy came to church yesterday, and we taught more about baptism. We are probably going to move his baptismal date to September, but he is still looking pretty strong.
We met this other lady, whose Japanese is very hard to understand. We misunderstood a lot of what she said, and we ended up thinking she was crazy. Turns out our Japanese is just really bad, and she ended up coming to church. And she really liked it, so that was a good thing.
Also, while Elder Stennett and I were dendouing a bird attacked us! It was tiny, but it was literally attacking us. Out of nowhere, it just popped out, and started chasing us. Elder Stennett literally ran like 20 yards as the bird was chasing him and had to duck to get out of the way! It was hilarious!
Anyways. That's about it that happened. Love you all.
愛しています。
デイビーズ長老。

Hiroshima - Week 17 (Total, week 36)

WHAT!
The transfer is over.
I'm killing my second companion.
Where is the time going?!
This transfer has gone by insanely fast, I can't believe it's already over. I'm probably going to be staying here in Hiroshima. Lost 4 kilos this transfer in case anyone cares as much as me :)
This past week was really good. We had an open house last Saturday which went really well! We had a grandma and her two grandkids come.They are way cute!

We also had a really good lesson with Jimmy this past week, but then he went to Nagoya, so he wasn't able to come to church..

Nothing else has really changed too much. We are still doing good here, still working hard. Japanese still coming.

Have a good week.
愛しています。
デイビーズ長老

As always, he loves receiving letters!

Elder Kyle Davies

810-0029

Fukuoka-Ken Fukuoka-Shi Chuoku

Hirao Josui-Machi 9-16
JAPAN

Hiroshima - Week 16 (Total, week 35)

Well this week was full of a lot of contacting, it was way good to be able to go out and talk to a bunch of people! Not too much happened with investigators this week, they all became very busy. But we did get to meet with the Chinese investigator I talked about last week, Jimmy. He is still doing very good, and we were able to set a baptismal date with him. He has had some way good questions about the gospel, but is still progressing really well.
As for me, I'm still doing wonderful! Things are going really well here, Elder Allred and I are working really hard, and my Japanese is starting to come out! I'm not too sure what else to say about this week. This next coming week is Elder Allred's last, he's not too excited.
Well, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.
ごめんね
愛しています
Davies 長老

Hiroshima - Week 15 (Total, week 34)

Hmm.. What happened this week?
First off, tried working on diligence this week. And I forgot, how
ironic. But this next week for sure!
Now I want to talk to you about one of our investigators. His name is
Jimmy. We found him housing, and we play basketball with him every
week. He is from China, and is way good at ping pong! Recently he went
through a divorce with his wife, and feels like he has to hold on to
some guilt from his divorce. We taught him twice this week, and both
lessons went really well! He has such a great desire to want to get to
know God, and be able receive help from Him.
This past week I have really been able to feel Heavenly Father's help
with not only Japanese, but also with being able to teach our
investigators. We can't do this work without Him. This is His work. I
just want to testify that with God's help we can accomplish anything.
He wants to help us, and He is waiting for us to ask. 3 Nephi 27:29

愛しています。
デイビーズ長老

Hiroshima - Week 14 (Total, week 33)

Hi guys! This week went by so fast and so slow at the same time I
don't even know what's going on anymore!
How is everyone? I hope good!
I'm doing really well out here. I have been in my area for a little
over 3 months, and I love it! The members here are so nice, and it has
been such an awesome experience working with them, and to have the
opportunity to see how strong of faith they have.
Yesterday, they had me speak in sacrament meeting. It was a little
rough, considering the topic was family and marriage! Don't worry
though, I didn't cry, mainly cause it was Japanese..
Our recent convert is doing well so far, we have been teaching him the
lessons over again, to make sure he understands everything. We have
been able to find some really cool investigators lately, and they have
been progressing lately, so that's good!
I still can't speak he language. But it's still fun! I can slightly
communicate now, so now I won't die if I'm stranded.. Haha jokuu.
We had splits this past week, and I went with an elder who is younger
than me. It really tested my Japanese, but it was good to do it. I
could see what I needed to work on more.
Nothing else really happened this week, still healthy, still moving,
still working.
Hope everyone is doing the same,, have a good week!
愛しています。
デイビーズ長老。

Hiroshima - Week 13 (Total, week 32)

Hi guys!

Finally met the new President! He is awesome!! He works for Lagoon,
and helps make roller coasters. We only had a 5 minute interview with
him, but it was still way awesome. And the spirit that surrounds him
is amazing!
We also got our training for area books on the iPads, so we should be
using those soon, which will be way nice!
Kawamura had his confirmation done yesterday, by Elder Gorski. He is
one transfer older than me, and was way nervous! But he did good. It
was way cool.
This past week we have met a lot of cool people! One person we met
yesterday was a guy from Portugal. We communicated through Japanese,
and found out that he was a member of our church when he was 18. He
said he was only in it for 3 years, and later found out that in those
3 years, he served a mission! California! It was crazy! Now he is in a
different Christian church, and is married to someone in that church.

Anyways. Love ya miss ya

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 12 (Total, week 31)

This week I got my new companion! His name is Elder Allred! Last week
Elder Cascardi finished his mission, but is now traveling around
Japan! So I might see him today! This week one of our baptismal dates
might get baptized! His name is Kawamura (川村) He is way sweet. We're
not sure how great his testimony is, but he has a HUGE desire to be a
part of our church. I guess we will find out about his testimony on
Wednesday when we have his baptismal interview. We have been meeting
with him a lot, trying to see where his testimony has been, but he's
so nervous about being right, his answers are based on what he thinks
we want to know. But it's all good, I think we have done a poor job at
making him feel comfortable, so we will be doing better at that.
Elder Allred is a really good missionary, obedient and hard working.
He is from Draper, Utah, and is a way good missionary. He just came
from Okinawa, and said its not nearly as hot up here as down there.

For anyone wondering about the language.. Well, lets just say I still 

can`t speak very well. But I can talk with people now! :)
Anyways! Hope everyone is doing well!
Have a good week! Much love,
Elder Davies
愛しています。

Hiroshima - Week 11 (Total, week 30)

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, transfer week is today, so our P-day got switched to Tuesday! 

Well this week my companion is going home, so I'm for sure getting a new companion. It's really sad that we're not going to be companions anymore, but I'm also way excited for this next transfer! We have 3 solid Baptismal Dates right now, and the other companionship has some too. Our area is doing way good right now. We had 11 investigators at church and only have like 50 people in this ward. It was way cool! 

Other than that, we have had a lot of meals with members and a lot of lessons with investigators. I can't remember if I told or not, but we got a referral from another area right next to ours, and he is doing way good. He has a date to get baptized on July 4th. Hopefully all work work out for him. 

Anyways. This next week will be good, so next week's letter will be better!

Have a good week!

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 10 (Total, week 29)

Hiroshima - Week 9 (Total, Week 28)

Nothing new really has happened. We got to watch Meet the Mormons last P-day, and played mafia as a zone! It was way fun! 

We visited a lady in our ward whose name is O Shimai. She has been struggling coming to church lately and staying for all 3 hours, so we went to her house to see how she was doing. She had 2 bags full of treats that she gave to us, and was way happy that we came and visited her. 

We have a less active member that we have been visiting every week since I got here. Her name is E Shimai. She has a son, who is a little more active than her, but still a less active. She got baptized in February, but didn't know anything about the church. She still doesn't know much, but we are teaching her little by little. She has a smoking problem and her house has cockroaches crawling around, which is a little gross... But she has came for the past 3 Sunday's now, and is starting to learn more! And her son is getting close to receiving the Melchizedek priesthood. 

Love you guys! 愛しています。

Elder Davies

デイビーズ 長老

Hiroshima - Week 8 (Total, week 27)

Well, this week was really busy. 

Last Monday we went to an Okonomiyaki factory, which is the famous food from Hiroshima. It was way cool, it showed the history of how they were made, and we got to see all of the sauces being made.

Tuesday the Hiroshima couple came to our house and checked it off for cleaning, and ended up giving us too more futons (sleeping pads). I've slept wonderfully this past week :). 

Thursday we had a training from our Zone Leaders. It was about beginning with the end in mind. They talked about not just getting our investigators to baptism, but helping them get to the temple afterwards. 

Friday we had our last interviews with our Mission President. He goes home at the end of this month. The interviews were good, we just talked about how he was feeling about going home and stuff. 

Yeah. That was pretty much this week. 

I'm doing really good though! I still can't speak the language.. hahaha. But it's coming it's coming! 

How's everyone doing? I hope everyone is doing good and is healthy! Love  you all! 

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 7 (Total, Week 26)

I stayed in Hiroshima, with my same companion, so it didn't even feel like a transfer went by. This transfer is only 5 weeks long, since our Mission President is going home. My companion is also going home after this transfer, so we will see how he is ;) 

Nothing too crazy happened this week. I'll tell you a little about our Cambodian investigator. He is about 35. He has 6 younger siblings. He came to Japan so he could support them. He works everyday from 6am-6pm, except Sundays, and makes 750 yen an hour. Which is about $7. He is the kindest man I've ever met, and I have never heard him complain about anything. It's definitely eye opening to see people like this in the world, and become part of their lives. Anytime I feel like I want to complain, or if I'm sick, or feel like not working, I think about people like this. I hope this can help you guys this week. 

Love you guys. 

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 6 (Total, Week 25)...1/4 done!

Transfers are this week! But I'm probably staying here with Elder Cascardi so no worries!

Elder Cascardi and I went to Miyajima last Monday. It is an island pretty close by. It was way pretty! We went to an aquarium there and saw a bunch of penguins running around! I also bought a samurai sword there :) 

For my birthday we went and ate out as a district. 4 man district. And the next day a lady in our ward took us out to eat at the same place!

We also had a tokoyaki (octopus) party on Sunday with some less actives and members. We also set a baptismal date with the Cambodian guy, so that was way cool! 

Well. That's this week. Hope everyone has a good week, and thanks for all the birthday wishes!