5/1/11

AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Hey family! Oh my goodness, time flew so quickly this week! All of your summers have already started!

Okay so before I forget:

Mothers days calls are going down. Like President McIntyre said, you guys will be calling me on Sunday night, which will be a Monday morning for me. As for you Mom...you know the drill. Alright...you guys call me Monday morning 8:30am, Japan time. I`m not going to write anymore because I`ll probably just confuse myself.

Yes...so that is that. Anyways, this email is going to be rather short. I just spent 45ish minutes trying to figure out how to do progress records, yakusokusha records and zone visions for the first time. But can I just tell you how awesome it is being a zone leader?! It is dope!!! I`m seriously loving it. The Takamatsu zone maybe on the smaller side but man, it is a great zone! I love every missionary in the zone. Theｙ`re all お疲れ!

Anyways, its so good to hear from you guys! Next Monday I`ll be able to talk to all of you over the phone! Ahha except Selena and Richard, thats what they get for going to California without me. It sounds like summers already started up for you guys! Mom is already in Japan and everybody is starting to get married off. Mmm sounds like summer. Well, its awesome to hear that Selena got hooked up with an internship! I knew she`d get one eventually! Congrats sister, congrats. So working in the field with a construction helmet and boots huh? Might as well throw in a beard to seal the deal huh Selena? ahah I joke. Me love you! Buy me a ganster t-shirt from California! Oh and tell Cindy CCCCOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGRRRRRRRRAAAAAAATTTTTTTSSSSSSSS! (wait, she is getting married this week right?)

Well, now I`m too lazy to type more because I`ll just talk to you guys in a few days anyways. Plus, going out bowling with the zone is calling me right now. So I is a go-go. Things are going so great over here! I swear, the Lord blesses us SO much! This is the Lord`s work! We`re all just tools in His hands! I LUV it! Hope you guys are all safe! Mom, be safe when coming to Japan! Selena and Richard, drive safely to Cali! Dad, take care of the dogs and cat. Okay bye!

Con Mucho Amor,

Sus hijo, Elder Saito

PS Ryan is in Kumamto? Sweet I have some buddies from there!

PPS We`re having a baptism this Sunday!!!

Finally. All caught up.

Dear family,

AHAHAHAHA!

SELENA LOOKS LIKE A TYPICAL JAPANESE GIRL!!! bahaha Thanks so much for the picture dad! It looks like she should be wearing 征服(school girl uniform) and Richard...well, looks like Richard. I had a good three minute laugh after looking at those pictures. YAY she graduated!!! I is so happy! Thats so good though, Selena has finally been freed from finals and endless nights of study for the time being. Hows that internship thing going for her?

Well...how are you guys?! It feels like I haven`t emailed you guys in forever! This was one crazy week I tell ya. But, that sounds great that Selena`s all graduated and you guys are still working hard. Mom, you can 頑張ってand get them finals done! Its the home stretch, then you can be walking the streets of Spain! How`s Richard by the way? Is he still working to be a murse? And as for Dad...well I`m not worried about Dad. He`s probably just happy as ever fulfilling his duty of feeding Rupert or walking the dogs. ahaha

Anyways, yeah...transfers happened this week. I is stay at Takamatsu! But, this time they made me into a zone leader. Ahaha there has to be some mistake there! But its not like it matters, zone leader or not, all of us missionaries have the same purpose. Being a zone leader does change that at all! But yeah, but my new companion is Elder Wiser! He`s gonna be training me to be a zone leader this transfer and I love this guy for real. Everyday is a party! Like a missionary-party...but a party none the less! He`s a stud from Virginia...but he`s not really from Virginia. He`s lived in places like Tokyo, Korea, Indonesia, and all over the states. So..he just claims that Virginia is where he`s really from. But its a party working with him! We`ve already been blessed with so many miracles in the past few days. Really, we baptized our investigators this past transfer and our teaching pool was really low earlier this week. We were...well atleast I was, in kind of panic mode...so we started the transfer off with a good prayer of faith, faith to find or be led to the elect and then next three days were absolutely a miracle! The Spirit really guided us and things just went so smoothly! We were just blessed in finding solid new investigators! Man, three days as a zone leader and I`ve already learned a bunch of amazing lessons! I can`t wait for more! Honestly, I learned that this is indeed the Lords work. There`s nothing more to it. If you just humble yourself and work your hardest, the Lord will provide so many ways for you to succeed. During transfers, a missionary said something to me that I really liked. "The Lord sends you to places so you can succeed. Failure will only come through your own efforts. God will never let you fail" Its so true! I`m so stoked for this upcoming transfer, I`m gonna work so hard to fulfill my responsibility as a zone leader and more importantly, as a messenger of the Lord.

So crazy things are going on in the mission! But my baby Burns 長老 is a daddy now! I`m so happy that he`s training! He is one stud of a missionary! He opened up Tooyoka! Transfers were so much fun though. Burns baby and I partied it up at Okayama for a night and it was AWESOME! Plus, one of my buddies from Tokyo mission was there too so it just added on to the fun. I love that Italian guy...

Anyways, life iz good. Its finally getting warm and the short sleeve 伝道 has begun! Let the summer of fun begin! ahaha yeah, so I hope you guys are happy! Have an awesome week you guys! Love ya! peace.

Mucho amor,
Elder Saito

PS. could you send me some floss and the blue hoop things that help you floss? I hope you know what that means...and if you could send some of those instant juice packet things that you pour into the water...that would be much appreciated as well.


Ok bye

2 weeks late

I'm running a little behind. I'll post up this week's email when my mom remembers to send it to me.







Hey hey hey!

Thanks a bunch for the email! Its sooo gooodddd to hear from you! Sounds like there`s some crazy things going on over in America. Alisha got married?! WHY IS EVERYONE GETTING MARRIED WHEN I`M ON MY MISSION?! I mean, Alisha, Allen, Cindy, Logan and even Jessie? Jessie didn`t even tell me she was getting married...ah I`m so left out. But then again I am on the otherside of the planet...haha

But thats so awesome that Alisha got married! Tell her congradulations and that I love her! And that she owes me dinner for gettin married without me there. I guess everyone else`s weddings are coming up soon aren`t they? Thats so insane! Time is going by so quickly. I mean...I can`t believe Matt and Calvin are already coming back. I probably said that last week too, my emails are probably the same things repeated over and over again. ahahah oh well.

Selena`s graduation is coming up!!! Whoot! Yeah she actually was able to graduate from BYU! I joke, I joke. She is cool. But yeah, please take a bunch of pictures of her graduation for me. Dis is big step for Chelena. Hopefully she can get a ganstah internship down in Springville or wherever. Are there any updates on that by the way? Well, whatever happens, I`m still prayin for her!

Uh yeah....this week was interesting. Pretty insane too. I started the week off great by breaking my bike during P-day! bahaha it broke in the most awesome way too. I was riding through an intersection when I suddenly heard a crack...then I heard this rubbing sound and my bike haulted in the middle of the intersections. I looked back and saw that my tire was bent at an awkward angle and was rubbing on the frame of the bike. So I pretty much sat in the middle of the intersections shouting "eh!" for a few minutes because I had no idea what was going on. I had to carry the bike on my shoulders to the closest bike shop for about 20 min in the rain. It was a fun experience. Then the bike shop person was super surprised that my bike broke that way...he said he`s never seen a tire like that before. That one part in the back of the bike where you put in into that other place broke. (it was all in Japanese and I don`t know how to translate it) So...in the end its going to take a while to fix. As of now, I`m using a mamachari, the heart and soul of Japan, to get around. So yeah...don`t be surprised when my bank account plummets at the end of the week. ahaha

Yeah my bike probably broke cause I`m debu. I mean, I was able to rip another pair of pants again this week. ahaha oh well.

Anyways, this week was intense. There`s some crazy things going on right now! I had my first interview with President in a really, really long time...and from the sounds of the interview, there`s going to be some big changes coming up this next week for transfers. I can`t tell you whats going on yet because its not concrete yet...but yeah, I can`t wait till Tuesday! I`ll be sure to update you on what happens though! There`s things I have to admit that I am concerned about, but there`s no point in letting that get to me you know? What Elder Spohr and I do when things don`t go as planned or go wrong is just sing Bob Marely. "Don`t worry about a thing. Every little thing is gonna be alright." I do consider Marely to be a type of hymn...haha jk. But whatever happens, it is all the will of God. I trust that He knows what He`s doing so I`ll just play my part by working my hardest. There`s an awesome quote hanging in our apartment that I love. I`m pretty sure its President Hinckley but it says "Work like it all depends on you and pray like it all depends on the Lord" (subete ga jibun ni izon shiteiru yooni hatarakinasai, soshite subete ga shu ni izon shiteiru yooni inorinasai) Isn`t that just ganster?! I love it!

Ahaha well dendo is fun, life is good. I`m sure things will work out with dendo and with our investigators! I gotta go now, I hope you guys are doing awesome! Thanks so much for everything you guys! I LOVE YOU! OKBYE.

Mucho Peace-o
Elder Saito

4/10/11

Heeeeyyyyyyy!

FAMILY! How are you guys? Wasn`t this week just awesome? BUT, first I need to tell you something before I forget for the third week in a row. I kinda need new contacts...cause I only have two left. bahaha but its okay if you can`t get them in time, I still got my glasses to cover me. Wow, sounds like you guys had a sweet week! Well, I`m kind of embarrassed to admit this...but while reading your email I realized that Selena and Alisha have the same last name ahahahah...uh, I`m sure I`ve noticed it before though. but...oh well! My mind is all over the place.

Anyways,

RYAN`S GOING TO FUKUOKA!!! Thats so awesome! I hope he`s ready to sweat his brains out during the summer. Actually, I don`t really know too much about the Fukuoka dendobu. I only know like...one sister missionary down there who was in my doki. But, I bet most of the areas are going to be pretty inaka areas yeah? I mean, are there any big cities down in Fukuoka and round about? I`m not too sure...but hey, at least they get a temple in their mission! I`m super J about that! Plus, I can see Ryan being an awesome inaka dendo machine cause he`s a stud. I`ll definitely write him fosho!

AH! Selena might get an internship down in Springville? YYEEEHAAAWWW. I`m excited for her! I`ll definitely pray for her so she`ll get that internship. Thats so awesome, she`s wanting to work in the field huh? Selena shall be the next Bob the Builder.

Yeah! So the mission is pretty much the greatest thing ever! Takamatsu is the land of miracles and life indeed is good. I love our branch president, he probably loves fishing almost as much as he loves his family. haha I joke, I joke. But no, we didn`t eat that carp, fool. Those things are constantly just wading through garbage and mud! And as for the fish in the ocean, we just let them go. We were planning to take them home...but we were too lazy to bring them back on the ferry plus we were fasting anyways.

So General Conference was just AMAZING wasn`t it? You know what, amazing doesn`t justify it. It was...fantabulorious. Yes, a word that doesn`t even exist...yet. I mean, all of the talks were inspired for sure! Elder Holland was so right, every person in the world heard something they needed to hear in one of the speakers talks. I know I did! Elder Spohr and I am sure the one of the main message the brethren wanted to get passed was "all the single ladies (and men), all the single ladies (and men), get married...NOW" Haha eternal families are so good, so good. But, I don`t need to think about that for another year and a half. Anyways, yeah all the talks were awesome. I couldn`t really concentrate on the first session of the Sunday one because I was too busy explaining things to one of our investigators, but I was able to catch a bit on (I think) Elder Bednar`s talk about the testimony tatoe about the light switch and the sun rising. I feel like this is totally applicable to our investigators! Some people are more than prepared for the gospel but just need something or someone to hit the switch to the light or their testimony. Others, probably more common, need time for their testimony to grow. Just like the sun rising, understanding and acceptance of the gospel will come with time. It may be a slower proccess than a light switch, but think how glorious the sun is once it comes up? This principle is MADE FOR DENDO!!! haha its something thats taken me a long time to understand...and I still don`t understand it fully. But I am starting to understand that its all about patience when it comes to dendo.

Anyways, I could probably talk about dendo or GC for a while...but I`m too lazy. Mom, what are you talking about, of course we had a baptism. I thought I told you that like, 4 time already! haha Plus, we just barely had our second baptism during this last Sunday too. Nishimori shimai! Ahaha I`m so happy she got baptized! But her getting baptized is definitely thanks to the efforts of the branch. We couldn`t have done it without the sisters help because Nishimori has danseikyofusho...fear of men or whatever that is called in English. Long story short: she was scared out of her mind about the missionaries and baptism but all her concerns went away when she FINALLY prayed. Yeah, it was a miracle. And we were able to do it between the sessions too! The Lord blesses us so much!

We`re really hoping we`ll have another baptism go through this upcoming sunday. Yamashita Shimai, the blind lady on the island, is more than ready to be baptized. The only probably is that its really hard for her to go to church. For many reasons like...she lives on an island an hour away, its hard to work with the rest home she`s living in to let her go to church, and...well she`s blind. But she is definitely prepared. I mean, she reads the brail Book of Mormon everyday and has the bible pretty much memorized! But, hopefully things will work out with her coming to church and getting baptized. PLEASE pray for her!

DASHLFJKASDKLGd okay I`m going to go now. We`re probably going to re watch a few of the sessions of general conference or go shopping now. Hopefully you guys are genki! I want you guys to know that I love ya! Thanks for everything! Peace.

Mucho love,
Elder Saito

4/3/11

Heeeyyyyy,

Its good to hear from you family! Looks like it snowed a bunch over there in Utah. Has it always snowed that much in April? I can`t even remember anymore; its been so long since the I`ve experienced the weather of Utah! Anyways, how are you guys doing? Wait, are you guys going to go to Europe/Spain this upcoming Summer? If so thats dope! haha I feel like you guys were just barely planning to go yesterday!

SELENA`S GRADUATING ALREADY?! Wow, she`s turning into an obachan already isn`t she? eheheh...old. So she turned down the first job offer though huh? Ah but thats still awesome, that feeling must`ve been the Spirit working miracles! I bet the next job that comes up will be the perfect match for her! I`ll pray for her fosho fosho! I can`t believe the semester is almost over for you guys already! Time seems to be going by quickly over there. You guys are all going to be old by the time I come back from my mission! haha

Man, but I`m so jealous that you guys already got to listen to conference! Dang translation time...delaying General Conference by a week. But I`m so stoked for this up coming Sunday! Three of the main reasons being: General Conference, short sleeves dendo (summer time!) and...a baptism! Whoot! Party! I`ll updated you guys next week about the baptism. I`m so glad that Elder Spohr and I get to see atleast one more baptism before he gets sent home.

So yeah, thats the happy go-go news of the up-coming week. But this week was crazy! There`s a bunch of mission "drama" going on right now...the whole mission might change in the upcoming weeks! Nobody knows whats really going to happen at this point, but I guess the MTC is getting jammed with Japanese missionaries right now. Kobe is the only mission in Japan who hasn`t sent home their May missionaries...which is insane! Go President McIntyre! So that makes my companion, Spohr Choro, unofficially the oldest missionary in Japan right now! So...the problem is...there are about 28 new missionaries who are supposed to be transferred into Kobe this month. But, because there was the emergancy transfer, things got all messed up and now we have too many missionaries and not enough areas at this point. And, if we prolong another transfer without sending in the new missionaries, the next transfer will be about 50ish new missionaries! Thats like...a third of the mission! So, to resolve this problem...the misison may have to send home the May missionaries this month instead...which will be hard because a lot of them are in leadership positions!

Well, I`m sure that last paragraph was really unclear and confusing...but I`m too lazy to edit it. So simply put, my companion may be sent home early and I have no idea whats going to happen to me next transfer. Yay! Well, anyways this week was awesome. I got to dendo with one of the Tokyo missionaries in Kobe which was dope! Kobe is such a beautiful city! Oh, and our blind investigator seems to be progressing pretty well over on the island. We visited her this past week with our branch president and the lesson went great! Then after the lesson...we went fishing again. bahaha I love our branch president! Caught myself three little fishies!

Fishing is fun, dendo is great, life is good. Gotta love it!

Okay, I gotta go now! I need to go fix my bike tire right now. Hopefully you guys are having an awesome time! Have a fantabulous week!

Love you guys,
Elder Saito

3/27/11

Hey family,

Its sooo goooodddd to hear from you guys! How are you guys doing? I can`t believe another week has passed by already. I`m pretty sure I say that everyweek, but hey, thats just the way things are.

Sounds like there`s some mission news going on over there in Provo. I can`t believe Matt and Calvin are already coming back from their missions! I swear it feels like they just barely left...oh well, I guess I`ll see them in another year and a half then. So do you have any more news on Ryan? I bet he`s going to stay in the MTC forever! I can`t believe he`s already lost 20 pounds! Wow, thats exact opposite of what I`m doing in Japan. I`ve finally accepted the fact that I am indeed getting...larger.bahah I`ve jumped up to 85 kg now! Thats like...187 lbs! If only I could`ve done this when I was playing football. haha I guess my face has gotten pretty round too since I came to Japan. Looks like you can`t call me acorn head anymore now Mom! My goal before the end of my mission is to hit 90 kg!

Well anyways, lets forget about the fact that I`m getting bigger for a second.

On a more serious note...sounds like Ojichan is having some problems with the radiation. Thats pretty much been the case for everyone this whole week. Cursed radiation. A lot of people we contact on the street are people who are hinan-ing (run away panic) ((I`m forgetting English words)) from Tokyoish areas. Japan is in a pretty panic state right now isn`t it? Well, I don`t really blame them either. Atleast the dust is starting to settle and I`m sure Japan will start rebuilding quickly! Thats so awesome that UVU had a fundraiser for Japan! UVU gets a golden star this week.

Oh yeah, and tell Obachan sorry I haven`t written her in a while. Things have been pretty busy so I haven`t really written anyone for about three weeks. I`ll try to write her today in sloppy kanji! Oh and Selena too...I shall trieth to writeth her this day!

Sorry this email is a bit barabara...I can`t really concentrate because I`m half helping Elder Spohr write the zone vision. Well, this week has been way good. I learned a lot in a short amount of time! I`ve noticed places that I need to improve on to become a better missionary. One of them being... *drum roll* the Japanese language! I felt pretty comfortable with my speaking ablilties but lately man, I`ve realized that my vocab is pretty limited and I tend to repeat things when I contact or teach lessons. How do I fix this problem? English fast! And I finally can do it because my companion is...well I guess native Japanese. Dang half-ers, being fluent in both English and Japanese. I`m pretty excited, hopefully this will last my whole mission. But knowing me, I`ll probably burn out and have an anyurism in a week. Oh well, nothing happens until you try!

Well, I`m getting too lazy to write more...but yeah, this week was dope. Life is good! Had some awesome lessons with some awesome investigators, had a good bonding experience fishing with our branch president, our blind investigator on a island is still...well...blind, and one of our investigators looks pretty solid for baptism! The work is defintely moving along over here in Takamatsu! I`ll ganbaru this week so no worries about me! Okay I`m going to go now. Hope you guys are doing awesome! Tell everyone that I love them! LOVE YA! Peace.

Mucho amor,
Elder Saito

3/23/11

Hey family!

How are you guys? Its so good to hear from you guys again! I`m glad to hear that you guys are doing well over in Provo. Are you guys in spring break already? Thats insane, wasn`t winter break just a few weeks ago? Oh well, times just been flyin by. Selena`s lookin for a job up in SLC eh? What kind of company is she aiming for? Well, I`m sure if she`s not lazy she`ll be able to get it! I`ll pray for her fosho. Hook me up with the 411 mkay.

Ah, EMMA! How is she doing? I was so sad to hear that she had to be muriyari sent home. Tell her I say herro though. I can`t imagine how that must have felt! I mean, this week was pretty hectic for the whole mission. The Kobe mission has gone through so many changes in the past few days. 42 new Tokyo missionaries just barely came in last thrusday. 42! That means the mission has...180ish missionaries? Crazy! I guess all the Tokyo missionaries are now scattered throughout the mission...and now have transformed to Kobe missionaries. But, I heard from the grapevine that most of them are in the Kobe/Osaka side of the mission...but I`m not sure. I think the Takamatsu zone is the only one that didn`t have any changes from the emergency transfer. So, that means Elder Spohr and I will probably be workin together in Takamatsu until May. I`m kind of bummed though because I was supposed to train this next transfer but I guess Japan won`t be taking in any new missionaries this up coming transfer...so yeah. But its all good because I`ll be able to work longer with a Zone Leader so I can learn mucho mucho! I wonder whats going to happen to Ryan though...I think he may be stuck in the MTC for an eternity! bahaha

This week we had Special Leadership Training...oh my goodness, that training was amazing! President McIntyre is an absolute beast when it comes to leadership and training. We had the training up in Okayama and guess who was up there with me? My boy, Elder Burns! It was waaayyyy good. He`s an amazing missionary! I can`t wait for the day we can be companions on our last transfer in some super inaka place or something. Anyways, training usually goes on for three days but because the Tokyo missionaries were coming in, we had to do emergency procedures and cut it to one day...I want my full training! But its okay.
It was crazy though, on the second day of training, President didn`t show up to the morning session of training...we knew something was going down so Elder Spohr and I talked to the Assistants. They were telling us a bit of the situation right when President came in and told us everything that was happening. Ah, it was insane! He even showed us a bit of the news reports of the tsunami and showed us footage of boats, houses and cars being thrown around like toys in the waves. It was intense! So anyways, because all the new missionaries were coming in, we had to cut SLC short...

But, I think change is good. I think that the Kobe mission can only get better from here with all of the influences of the Tokyo missionaries. Its going to be crazy from here on out, but hey, we live and we learn. The earthquake/tsunami has changed a lot in Japan. Theres a whole different atomosphere here. I think this experience really humbled everyone...and now its time to watch Japan begin rebuilding with the help of the others. Its so great to watch people help one another! Ever since the disaster, there have been countless people helping both locally and internationally. Sometimes, I get a chance to glimpse at the news or watch people doing fundraisers and I find it interesting to watch how people, even nations have strengthened and developed the most basic Christlike Atrribute, love. Just like Senba Choro told me my first transfer "Love is Motion." It really is, love leads to selfless service and its awesome wathcing all of it unfold over here in Japan! I`m so blessed to be in here at this time. I can`t go over to Sendai/Tokyo and help, but I can do my part by telling everyone about Christ`s Atonement and how through the grace and mercy of our Lord, those thousands of people who unfortunately passed away will have a chance through the plan that God has prepared for us aka the plan of happiness. Ah so good!

Well, I gotta go. I hope you guys are doing awesome! Things are going great over here. There`s so much thats going on right now but there`s no possible way I could type all of it...because I`m too lazy. haha but we do have two investigators set for baptism in April! Pray for them won`t ya? OKBYE!

Mucho Amor,
Elder Saito