September 8, 2014

Hey everybody! So I didn't have time to record a message this morning so it's going to be an email one today! But I hope all of your weeks were great and since mine was pretty interesting this week, it'll hopefully be a good email! ;)

So Monday: Today we went to Seminary at 6 at the church! There's only one young man who goes, so we try to go on P-days to help out and support that whole thing. Then we ran to the beach again which was way fun! After we showered and got ready for the day, we went to email which was good, and then shopping. We didn't really have a ton of super cool stuff happen, but it wasn't too bad! ;)

Tuesday: Today was the First DTM (District Training Meeting) of the transfer and we had a ton of fun! Here in Hakodate a bunch of the members come to DTM to help out so that is way cool! Then we went to a place called Lucky Pierro(clown) for lunch which is very well known among missionaries so that was fun! We then met with a few investigators so that was good as well! They are pretty cool people so it's fun to teach them and get to know them better.

Wednesday: Today was a day where we focused on some NA's. We started with this NA who hasn't been to church for a long time, but she can't hear very well, and does sign language which is interesting. But we talked with her for a while and invited her to some church activities. Then we had a Mogi lesson(practice) with another NA who is usually super busy with work, but Wednesday is his day off so we were able to meet with him. He's 22 and is way cool so we're hoping he can start coming back to church! Then we went to a member's house to teach a recent convert his AB(after baptism) lessons which went well! He's pretty old, but he understood it all and showed that he really is learning a lot from the church. He also studies Hebrew so that's pretty interesting!

Thursday: Today we had DKK (companion planning meeting) which went well and we got a ton figured out. Then we went to play basketball with some investigators and the other missionaries, and wouldn't you know, I fractured my pinky before we even started it. But, I thought it was just a jammed finger so we played anyway. But it turned out really fun, and it was nice to get to play basketball again. Then we went to the church for the YSA Family Home Evening at the church which was fun! 

Friday: So today we had some good lessons with Investigators so that was great! We started off with going with a member to an investigator who we think is interested, but not super focused... ;) but that was interesting, and then we ran to another investigator who is a really funny guy! He loves English and is super nice to us by buying us a bunch of food, and giving us drinks and stuff to take home as well. Then we went to Eikaiwa which went well! Eikaiwa is always fun, so we had that, and then talked to people, and since I still thought it was just a jammed finger, I asked a few members who came whether I should go to the hospital or not, and they said I should just in case, so I decided to go tomorrow!

Saturday: Today I went to the hospital to get my finger and back checked out. They said my back was just tired, but no major problems so that was good. They also took x-rays of my finger and found that a small piece of bone had fractured off of my little finger on my right hand. So they gave me some medicine and a splint to get it healed up. Then we went and housed for a little while, and then we had a lesson with JJ san who has a smoking problem, but we were able to make a ton of progress with him so that was great! Then we had Ping-Pong for about 30 minutes, but I couldn't play cause of my finger, and then we had to run to go to a member's friend's house to try to get permission to continue the lessons, which we got, which was good.

Sunday: Today was church and I had to answer about my pinky a ton of times, but I appreciated the care everyone showed me. But church was good and I learned a bunch. Fast Sundays always just seem so great! Then We went to go say sorry to a member cause of a little misunderstanding that happened about us visiting and she forgave us and everything worked out just fine. Then we went to visit a few different investigators and an NA who is fluent in English and it all just turned out to be a good Sunday!

So that was the week.  It had a few great things.  The pinky wasn't the most fun thing, but they said that it was in a good position and should heal quick and so I'm praying for that. But I love you all, hope you have a great week, and I'll talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Bickel

Cherry Blossoms May 2014

Cherry Blossoms - May 2014

August 25, 2014

Hey everybody! I hope your week went well! Mine was a little crazy!

So this week we had transfers and I didn't really think I'd transfer cause I was only in Shibetsu for one, but then I got my call to go to Hakodate with K Choro. K Choro is a highly muscled Australian Elder who is 18 and came out about 6 months ago! He has a super good Tenor voice and could win American Idol. But we're having a lot of fun and are excited to work this transfer.

But a little rundown of the week, since I didn't have time to make a recording this morning since we're on so early.

Monday: Today we went to Hillside Box for dinner to meet with an investigator(the owner) and an NA who is her friend. So that was really fun to talk to them and we had some good food for dinner!

Tuesday: Today's when we got Transfer calls and it was surprising but I'm super excited to be working here in Hakodate. Tonight we also got to visit a member and I got to say goodbye which was nice! They are such a cute family and the Dad is a recent convert, and they have two cute boys!

Wednesday: Well today I did some packing and we traveled to Asahikawa to go to the Suehiro apartment so we could travel to the Transfer spot tomorrow. We had a fun night talking since it is going to be the last time the 4 of us were together.

Thursday: Well we took the 3 hour bus ride to Sapporo and met everyone at the transfer spot which was fun! I saw a bunch of friends and it turns out that W Choro is Recorder! I was surprised, but I'm sure he'll do amazing! Then we went to lunch with this member who wanted to introduce us to her friend, and it was fun, but it took a long time so then we had to take a later train. When we did that, we ended up getting home at about 9 since it's about a 3 hour train ride to get to Hakodate which is a beach town/city and is a super touristy place so that's kinda fun! 

Friday: Today we had DKK where I heard all about the investigators we have and we figured out how we wanted to work this transfer! Then we had Eikaiwa which went well, and there are a ton of fun students here! 

Saturday: Today we went and visited a potential investigator who said he'd met missionaries like 20 years ago and he enjoyed talking with us for quite a while! We also had Ping Pong! It's been forever since I've played Ping pong, but they do it every week on Saturdays so I got to come to that which was fun! We also got to teach our investigator a lesson afterwards! He loves Star Wars so that's kinda funny. :)

Sunday: Today was church, and the members here are super nice! They also are super helpful with Dendo so I'm excited to work together with them to see some miracles! Then we had a Team up lesson with a member and investigator which went well. After that we went home teaching with a member, but sadly the people we were visiting weren't home. We also got to go to a Fireworks show with an investigator and we met another NA there who is super cool! So that was fun! 

But Ya! Crazy busy week right? But it's been super fun! I love you all, you're in my prayers!

Love you!

Elder Bickel

August 4, 2014

Stephen has just been sending us recordings every week so it's been awhile since he has written a letter.  He was in Eniwa for 2 transfers with two different companions (both Americans) and then in July he was transferred up to Shibetsu to be with another Japanese companion.  He has really enjoyed all of his areas and all of his companions.

Here is his letter for the week….

So this week I didn't have time to do a recording, but I'm going to just type it! This week went well!

Monday: The highlight of today was probably that I had rootbeer floats! We had a Zone P-day activity in Asahikawa where we played games and had rootbeer floats for refreshments which is crazy cause rootbeer is rare here in Japan!

Tuesday: We had our Zone Conference today and had interviews with Nakatsuka Kaicho which was super cool! Nakatsuka kaicho is a super smart, super loving, awesome guy and he gave me a bunch of advice for working here in Shibetsu which he said would also help me throughout my life!  So that was great!

Wednesday: Well today we were supposed to have Eikaiwa, but there weren't enough people so we had to cancel it, but we were able to introduce an investigator to the Free Family English Program and she said she was interested in our church and wants to do it. So that was a major miracle. Also we were able to plan for our Dendo Fireside which we'll be doing on Sunday!

Thursday: So sadly my back's been hurting pretty bad lately, so I decided to use our couch like a bed and sleep on that instead which is actually helping! You really learn to appreciate it when you can bend over and not feel pain in your back! ;) haha

Friday: We went to a ward member's house today, and he likes rubik's cubes and actually has a mirror cube which is not very common, and I was able to do it which was fun! We've been working to get to know all the members and help them all unify so it's been interesting to get to know so many new people so well!

Saturday: We were able to finally meet with the Stake President who is super cool, and super smart! He gave us some tips for working in Shibetsu in particular as well as some things he wants done so we've got some great direction!

Sunday: We had the Dendo fireside which went well! Sadly not all the members came, but we'll be visiting them and sharing the same message. The main theme was PMG and using it as members. If you read PMG and think of what your role in missionary work is, including strengthening the ward, you'll be blessed a ton! It's kinda hard to study, but if you pray and ask for help, miracles will occur!

Well that was the highlights from the week! I hope you enjoyed it, and I love you all so much!  Also thanks Mom and everybody for the package! It was fun to get it! Love you all! have a great week, and know you're in my prayers!

May 12, 2014

So last week on P-day, we got a Baptisimal Date! He is in the Japanese Military so he's super busy and can't actually give us his number, but he's way cool! He thinks really deeply about stuff so it's cool!

Tuesday we had another great DTM by K 長老 so that was good! He talked about How to Begin Teaching from PMG and it was really good! We also had Eikaiwa, and the other two elders were in Muroan so they couldn't come, but C 長老 and I had a lot of fun with it so it turned out well!

Other than that we've been having a ton of fun talking, finding amazing people to teach (sadly one is female so we'll have to pass her to the Sisters, but she has a ton of interest so it's cool to teach her! We had a good dinner with a member where we heard about her conversion story and we've been doing some good service for members as well, so it's been a good fun week!

I loved talking to everybody yesterday and I love you all so much! I am going to be finishing my 300th day on my mission this week, and I can't believe how fast it's all going! Life is fast, but a mission is a small fraction of a life so it's even faster. It's crazy to me that a year ago I was worried about school and graduation and just wanting to get out. And now not even a year after starting, I'm out talking to people in another language telling them that I want to share a message that will change their lives forever. Crazy how fast time flies...

But I love you all, And I hope your weeks go well! You're all in my thoughts and prayers! I'm kinda out of time, so I'll add some more details with a recording next week!

Love,

Elder Bickel

From his phone call…

They hardly had any investigators when he first got there, but they have been doing a lot of "housing" (going door to door) and have found lots of great people to teach.  His investigator from his last area is being baptized on June 8th so he's really happy about that. 

May 5, 2014

Hey everybody! 

Things have been going well here and we've been having a ton of fun and seeing some cool things happen! I did a voice recording this week with all of it in detail, but the computer is being weird today so I wasn't able to send it. I'm going to see if it'll go one more time, but I will probably have to send it next week. Suffice to say, things are going great, and I'm loving the work and the people! Language is coming well too so that's always nice! ;) 

Love you all lots, and I hope you all have a great week, and I'll try to get the two weeks to you next week! Talk to you soon! (like really soon. Mother's day in fact...) ;)

 

Love,

Elder Bickel

April 28 ,2014

Stephen has been sending a recording to us the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd give a little update on him...

Last week,  he was thinking that his area in Asahikawa was going to go from a two man apartment to a four man apartment, but unfortunately he was transferred  to Eniwa, which is about 20 minutes south of Sapporo.  He was made senior companion and his companion was made a senior as well so he is co-seniors with an elder who came into the mission at the same time that he did.  He says his companion is awesome and they are really having a great time.  He was sad to leave the members and investigators from Asahikawa.  They had some investigators that were really progressing well, but he says they have some great investigators they are working with in his new area.