April 27, 2015

Well this week was super crazy! But it was great!

Monday we had a Zone Activity! We basically told everyone to get a
bunch of pictures like a scavenger hunt, and then they brought them
all to the church, and we chose the winners and then we played Jinroh!
It was way fun!

Tuesday we had Eikaiwa and it was really fun! We played a fun game and
just had fun with everyone!

Wednesday we had interviews with Nakatsuka Kaicho and it was cool!
He told me a lot of ways I could become a better missionary, so I'm
excited to try them out. We also had to meet the Higashi Elders so we
could go on splits the next day!

Thursday we were able to go on Splits and I went with Elder H who
is in my Doki(came at the same time), and we had a way good time. We
were able to teach a lesson to this super nice lady who understood it
all and asked really good questions! Then we had Eikaiwa(again) and that
was fun! Eikaiwa is fun, but exhausting!

Friday we got back from Splits, and then we did our weekly planning.
So then we went to an investigator who is a dentist. When I went he
took an X-ray and said I had a big cavity in two teeth. So he said
he'd take care of them, but I didn't want a shot, so I just had him do
it with no pain killers. There were a few times it hurt, but it wasn't
too bad! So it was kinda a crazy day...

Saturday we had the Atsubetsu Music Night which was fun! We got to
see a bunch of people and have a good time.

Sunday we got a referral who came to church with her member friend!
She is way cool and has interest in the Gospel so it'll be way fun to
teach her! Then we went to the dentist investigator's house and his
whole family was over and we talked with them for a while, and then we
taught them a lesson and headed out! It was a great day!

But that was the week! I love you all tons! Talk to you soon!

Elder Bickel

April 13, 2015

Hey everybody! I hope your week went super well! Mine was awesome! We

had some really fun stuff happen, as well as we got to watch Conference

so that was super good!

But to start off, I just want to say I love you all! You all are so

great for supporting me and for showing me so much love even though

I'm halfway across the world in Japan right now! Love you all tons!

Monday was great! Elder S got a haircut, and we got a little

shopping done. Then we were super tired so we took naps! You might

think we've been taking too many naps and we should go out and do

something fun. The problem is, here in Shinoro, it's so

inaka(countryside) that there's really nothing much to do. So we took

naps again. Then we met with D who's our American investigator. He

was doing well, and is always glad to have us in his home. He's been

meeting with the missionaries for a long time, but has recently been

thinking about baptism. He doesn't quite believe in some of our

teachings though, so we're working hard to help him out. We could use

your prayers.

Tuesday we went out to Tobetsu(this really far part of our area, that

is even more countryside than Shinoro, and met with a few of our

investigators and PI's. We got a few lessons in which we were super

happy about, and then headed back for Eikaiwa. Eikaiwa was fun, and we

enjoyed spending time with everyone. For the game we played Charades

which had been a while, but turned out way fun!

Wednesday we spent a lot of time planning. We did our weekly planning

session, as well as we prepped two workshops for our ZTM on Friday. We

got a lot of things figured out and were super happy with how our

workshops were looking. Then we went to Honbu so we could go on Splits

with the Assistants on Thursday!

So I went on Splits with Elder M in Kotoni, and we had a really good

time. We met a cool college kid who really wanted to meet again

which was fun! And we also spent a bunch of time visiting members,

thanking them for all of their work, so I got to go see a bunch of my

member friends from Kotoni so it was way fun! We also visited a few

Non attending members who were super nice and we think they'll come

back to church soon!

Friday we had Zone Training Meeting... We started it off by getting

the iPads set up for our Zone, and then went into our first workshop:

True Disciples of Jesus Christ where we focused on being more

effective in our work. It went super well so we were glad. Sadly the

iPad stuff took a long time, so we had to cut it a little short, and

then we had our second workshop on "The Doctrine of Christ" which also

went well, but we had to cut this one a lot short so it was kind of a

bummer. Then we went to lunch, and headed back so we could meet with

our investigator N san who I met for the first time that day.

He was way cool and really loves books! But we talked with him about

Easter and stuff and it was good. Then we went to Kid's Eikaiwa

where no one really showed up, so we just canceled it. But it was fun

to talk with the one member family who came.

Saturday was General Conference! I loved Priesthood Session so much!

It was amazing! I really just loved the entire General Conference, but

especially Brother Gibson's talk! I learned a ton over this General

Conference so it was great!

Sunday also was General Conference, and we enjoyed it! The members

were super nice and made a ton of food for us for lunch! So basically

we have like half of this week's meals already prepared for us! Then

we had a good long talk with D before going out to the F

family's house where they fed us a ton of food too! So I think I'm

fattening up! ;)

But it was a really fun week, and we're having fun! Love you tons! Talk

to you soon!

Elder Bickel

April 6, 2015

iPads! Yep, I finally got an iPad on the mission!  I got mine on Saturday so
it's brand new so that's kinda cool, but it won't be mine when I leave
so that's a little sad... :)

But I hope your week went well! I hope everyone's having a great
Easter! Mine was yesterday... :) If you haven't seen the Easter video
that the church made yet, I'd definitely recommend it!

Monday: We went into Sapporo to just mess around which was fun! I
didn't buy anything, but S Choro bought some new pants. Then we
headed back out to Shinoro so we could go to this volleyball activity
in a place called Tobetsu where this member and her husband have
gotten this super big group going to just play volleyball with a blow
up beach ball and it's way fun!

Tuesday we had a good DTM by S Choro and he taught a great
workshop. We also had Eikaiwa as well as we had to travel to Shiroishi
for Splits with the Shiroishi elders for the next day!

Wednesday was splits with the Shiroishi Elders and I went with D
Choro. We'd been on splits once before in Hakodate, and got to be
good friends while we were there so we got to reminisce about all of
the good old days! ;) We visited a bunch of Non-Attending Members as
well as a woman whose grandson lives in Arizona and is preparing to go
on a mission. We actually got to talk with them on Facetime which was
a fun experience.

Thursday we had a lesson with our investigator O san who is
super cool! He's really interested in the Gospel and really wants an
Eternal family but right now is super busy with work. But we read the
Book of Mormon with him, and just had a way good time! Then we met
with an American who lives in Japan, named D. We talked with him
for a super long time, but made a lot of progress. He really
appreciated all we talked about and did for him and is working to
overcome his problems!

Friday we quickly took this iPad prep quiz/test thing because if we
didn't we couldn't get our iPad's on Saturday! So we did that, and
then went into Honbu to be on time for a Zone Leader Training Meeting,
where we learned a little bit more about being Zone Leaders.

Saturday we had ML Kaigi where we talked a bunch about iPads, The
Doctrine of Christ, and Being True Disciples of Jesus Christ. Then we
got our iPads and started on our way back home. On the way, we met
this Sophomore kid who was super fluent at English. He talked with a
perfect American Accent and understood everything we said which was
way cool! He said he was interested in learning more English as well
as about our church so that was way cool!

Sunday was Easter, and it was fantastic! We had some great lessons at
church, and got to go to the Bishops house for dinner which was so
good! We got to talk to him a bunch about what he wants us to do here
as well as people he wanted us to focus on so it was good!

But that was the basics of this week! I love you all tons! Hope you
have a great one! Talk to you soon!

Elder Bickel

PS. With the iPad's we're allowed to check our email when it comes in,
so if you find a talk or something that you think would be good for me
to read, or that might help an investigator, that would be great!
Thanks a ton! Love you lots!