April 13, 2014

Well hey everybody! So transfers are this week and a sister in our district is going home so we have yet another district activity so my email time is sadly cut short. I also can't even send a voice recording cause we're at the other place to save time again... I guess life never really does slow down does it... But like we heard in Conference, the burden is what gives us traction! I really loved conference and we got one investigator to watch it in his house, one to come to two sessions, and one of them actually showed up unexpectedly! Man this work is awesome!

We've been riding bikes a lot lately and my legs are getting ripped again so Dad you better be ready to go on some good long bike rides when I get back! ;) It's warming up a bit, and though there is still snow, there isn't any on the roads so it's become safe again. 

Sadly since transfers are coming, and 10 new missionaries are coming, Y Choro and I will probably be split up which is super sad, but I guess it's the Lord working and this one transfer was meant to be short and sweet. 

It turns out that most of the members up here who actually remember Dad are in the Asahikawa 1st ward so I don't actually see them unless there's some special stake event(general conference) so it's always fun to hear about them and see how happy they are to see me. 

Well time's short so sadly I have to leave it at that again, but hopefully next week I'll have more time to send a good email home. I love you all and I'll talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Bickel

April 7, 2014

Hey everybody!

My week went well this week!

Investigators: This week we got a few new investigators who are super
strong! One of them is Catholic, and went to a super smart college,
but he is listening to us and each time we come he says he feels the
spirit come in with us! It's so nice to not have to explain the
spirit, as well as he is super receptive to all that we've been
teaching. He is definitely prepared! We also found another
investigator who loves America, English, and Christ as it turns out.
She too has been very receptive and we can't wait to get strong
baptisimal dates set for each of them!

Fun things: Well this week we got our bikes back (Sat.) and so we
tried to ride them yesterday. Yes there was still snow... Yes it was
very dangerous, but I ended up being fine and just got some huge
adrenaline rushes! Super fun, but a little nerveracking. And yes,
we're riding them again today as well! But we're just having such a
fun time lately, and are sad that the transfer's going to end soon...

Food: We've had the usual missionary meals, as well as once in a while
we go to this grocery store nearby, and at night, so like around 8:20
the sushi and other bentos go down to half price so we've done that as
well! I had some inarizushi as well as a katsudon bento that I got for
3 bucks! Pretty good when it's usually about 7 or 8... ;)

Love you all lots, and hopefully next week, we'll be able to send
recordings as well as pictures! Talk to you soon!

Elder Bickel

March 31, 2014

So this week we had a few disappointments with investigators. One is deciding between staying Buddhist or becoming a member and apparently it's about half and half right now... Also his wife won't give him permission to be baptized which is a problem... But he's still progressing and does want to become a member so I'm excited to see that full change take place in him and his family.

 

On the good side, we found this lady yesterday who loves english and america and Christ! She told us that quite a few times and ended up saying that she's coming to Church on Sunday when she had been planning to be baptized in another church that day... The Lord is absolutely amazing! We talked to her for a while and she said that she would love to hear our message and learn more english. She's definitely one of those prepared people for us to teach!

 

We've been eating a lot of meat lately... Probably not good, but we had a All you can eat Yakiniku, so like beef and meat just cooked in front of you, as well as we had those nasty hamburgers with 5 patties and 5 pieces of cheese on them. I thought it'd be better the second time... Ya it wasn't. But I guess it is a good object lesson I can use about sin. It is terrible the first time, but you didn't know so you can just stop doing it. The second time though you just feel stupid for trying it again...

 

Ok maybe the Object lesson needs some work, but I'm making this stuff up on the spot... ;)

 

So funny thing of the week... So it started last week but happened again this week so I figured I had to tell Dad! So we were walking in this part of our area and these high school kids walked by and said I looked like Tom Cruise. At the time I thought, oh ya right. That's just once. But then it happened again this week, so I figured if Dad's Johnny Depp, I'd gladly take Tom Cruise and I might as well let him know what a stylish, cool looking son he's got serving a mission in Japan... ;) haha sorry Dad, tough luck... ;)

 

Love you all lots! Hope the week's going well, and I'll send the two week's recordings next week!

 

Love

Elder Bickel