Christmas Pictures

12/21/10

Hello!

MERRY CHRISTMAS (kinda)! How are you guys? I cant believe its already the week of Christmas, I seriously cant believe how fast its going! I swear it was just barely the start of December. Why is my mission going by so fast? Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Oh and for the calls, YOU need to call ME on December 24th. (that`s 12/24/10...just making sure) I, over here in Osaka, will receive your phone call on December 25th. You need to call me at 11:30 am Japan time. I don`t know exactly what time that will make it over in Utah, but I`m going to assume that it will probably be sometime in the evening. So...yeah. Yoroshiku.

Thanks so much for sending me that shaver and watch! I still haven`t gotten it but thanks so muchx2. Yeah, everything in Japan costs ridiculously a lot over here. I would`ve bought a watch but the cheapest one I found was 80 bucks! And it wasn`t even a good watch either! Granted that I didn`t look around much though...but still. I`ll try to send you guys some Christmas schtuff this week. It won`t make it by Christmas but...oh well. Last week I didn`t even realize it was Christmas week. I got a few Christmas gifts from other people so I`ll try sending them thank you cards...eventually.

So what are you guys doing for Christmas? I swear I`ve asked Dad this question for the past two weeks but he`s avoided answering it. Is Selena and Richard coming over for Christmas party or something? Oh, but you gotta watch a Christmas Story. I mean come on, thats the Saito family Christmas tradition. This is probably the first year that I`ve gone without watching that movie! But its okay, because we`re having a Mission Christmas zone taikai. I heard we get to watch Kung-fu Panda and I`ve even heard rumors that we might be able to watch Toy Story 3 too!

I`m glad Obachan got my letter! I`m actually surprised she was able to read it though. I`m terrible at Kanji. Next one to write is Gunma no Obachan! Her address is super hard to write in Kanji so hopefully it will get there.

Well, anyways, this week has been pretty slow. Its almost Oshogatsu so its almost impossible to get lessons in for the next few weeks. I heard Oshogatsu is THE party time of the year for Japan. (insert techno beat here) All our investigators are super busy until January so its hard to schedule lessons and follow ups...but hey, this is the time of the year to strengthen our relationships with ward members with all the member visits and less actives we shove into our schedules. Okamachi ward is really amazing. I love everyone in here! They`re so nice, they gave us a bunch of Christmas gifts this Sunday. So yeah, dendo will probably be a bit slow for the next week. But, its okay because we have two caroling dendo activities set up this week so I`m super stoked. Oh and we`re singing in a Christmas concert too, which should be awesome!

Oh man, we had a super emergency this past week in the zone though. One of the Elders got bit in the face by a member`s dog. I feel so bad for him! The dogs tooth cut through his nose and through his lip so his nostril was flapping around. The ward members were old, I guess, so he biked to the ER. When he got to the hospital, the doctor only gave him two stitches to hold his nose together. What the heck was that doctor thinking about! That nose needed at the very least 10 stitches to hold it together! Well...he`s okay I think. I guess he`s going to get plastic surgery soon so hopefully it will heal. He`s such a trooper though, he dendo-ed the day after with a mask on. Man, I love that Elder, I hope he heals up quickly without too much scarring. Pray for him!

Well, twas good writing to thou. I`m loving the mission experience and I still haven`t gotten hit by a car yet so no worries about me! I hope you guys are doing awesome and having fun! Merry Christmas famiry. Tell Selena and Richard I love them and hope they feel guilty for not writing me for a month. Tell Pochi and Monty that I love them too! And I hope Rupert has a terrible Christmas. OKBYE.

Love you guys,
Elder Saito

12/13/10

Hey Hey Hey,

Hola everybody! I`m so happy to hear from you guys! Well, seems like its been quite the week for you guys with finals and such. Especially you Mom, are you still alive? Its so weird how everything is getting all Christmas-y over there in America. Over here it doesn`t even feel like December. There`s a few Christmas lights here and there but thats about it. I did, however, see a huge santa sitting in a Star of David in one of the Shotengai`s over here. Talk about irony. I think whoever put that up missed the whole point of Christmas.

Well, it was really awesome to see you guys take some family pictures. It looks like Rupert has some lasers shooting out of his eyes. Thats really awesome(x2) that Selena and Richard had a talk in sacrament meeting this week because I actually did too! Mine was only ten minutes though...and I rambled about the Book of Mormon for most of the time. I actually didn`t take time to write the talk so I completely winged it. But, the two investigators who came to church seemed to have liked it so I dont feel bad. Things are going great over here! We had transfers last week and my new companion is Elder Rahn. He`s a superb missionary from Cali and has been out for about a year and a half. Our dendo/teaching and normal personalities are really alike so we get arong rearry good. So on Thursday I went to Sanomia to drop off Elder Hinton for transfers and when we got out of the station, I saw a marvelous sight! Richard should know, he`s taken a picture right next to it! It was a statue of a bunch of butts stacked on top of each other. Thats right. Butts. But, I was still super happy to see it because my bro-in-law took a picture by it a few years ago. I`ll try to send a picture of it.

So yeah, dendo is going awesome. I feel like this transfer is going to go fantabulous! Elder Rahn and I started the transfer off right by witnessing an organized crime. We were dendoing by one of the parks when we saw three random guys sitting on benches. They were kind of distant from each other and didn`t really talk to one another...so Elder Rahn and I decided to go dendo them. We were talking to one of the guys and had a good contact but couldn`t get a appt...so we left the area for about an hour to go dendo the college by there. When we came back an hour later, we saw the same guys walking towards a street light with a pricey looking Mamachadi (a bike) that was locked. Two of the guys were carrying the bike and the other guy was somewhat ahead of the other ones. When they stopped at the stop light, a white van screeched up and one of the guys ran to it and opened the back door. The two other guys shoved the bike into the van and slammed the doors closed. The white van then floored it and screeched out of there while the other three scrambled to their scooters. Keep in mind that we were about ten feet away from them, watching the crime unfold right infront of our eyes. I then saw the guy I was talking to earlier trying to make a break for it so I did what I do best (which is getting in peoples way) and walked up towards him and started re-contacting him again. Haha he realized that I was trying to talk to him and he got scared so he gunned it out of there. I was able to get his license plate number so we felt that we should be good citizens/missionaries and report it to the Koban (police). Pretty fun experience, I would have to say. Grand Theft Bicycle, Osaka Style. Thats how we roll in Japan.

Anyways, our investigators are doing well. We were finally able to meet with Hatakeyama! (he`s the one with hantai parents) I was so happy we were able to meet with him! I`ve only been able to keep contact with him over the phone for the past two months. His parents are still super against him being baptized so we`re trying our best. He has one of the strongest testimonies and faith that I`ve ever seen. Even through all of these hardships, he still wants to be baptized because he knows that its the right thing to do. Unfortunately, his parents are still hantai. That doesn`t make them bad parents at all though. They`re just concerned of their sons welfare. I really want the parents to meet with us or the bishop so that we can show them that we`re not some cult but the real church of Christ. Its a really tuff situation, but we were able to fast this Sunday with him so that his parents hearts will be softened. Our next plan is to get him to write a note to his parents with his testimony on baptism. I almost have no doubt that he`ll be baptized though. Just need to have patience on my part. Plus, all this hardship will just make him a stronger member!

Well, life is good. I hope everything is going well for you guys! I`m lovin life over here so no worries. In the mission, you just work work work over here that you end up forgetting all the hard times. And all the miricales you see just make it better. Well, I love you guys! Stay safe over the Christmas season! Ok.Bye

Mucho love,
Elder Saito

12/6/10

Hellooooo parents,

OH MY GOSH! RYAN`S GOING TO JAPAN! Ah, I`m so happy for him! Tell him that we`ll be super Japanese once we both get back. Peace signs forever! So, if he goes in this January, he might have some of my old teachers like Bro. Christensen or Bradley. I can`t believe he`s going to Japan though! He`s going to love his mission, I promise that.

So, how`s the family doing? I see all that Christmas shopping is going good. Thanks for getting me that electric shaver by the way! I`m super excited to get it...which is odd. You know you`re getting old once you start getting excited for electric shavers for Christmas presents...but anyways. I was going to send you pictures that I took when I was over in Osaka Shinai...but unfortunately I forgot the usb cord. El sorryo. I`ll try to remember to bring it next week.

Sweet, I was just going to ask for the Obachans addresses. I`m kinda embarrassed to write them in Japanese though...but I shall try. I probably won`t be able to write them until next week though but I promise I`ll try writing them before Christmas. ......... Can you believe my calculator watch broke on me? Failure.

Anyways, things have gone awesome this week. This was the last week with my trainer and I`ll be getting the transfer calls tomorrow. I`m almost guaranteed to stay in Okamachi so its more of "who`s going to be my new companion?" Can you believe that its my third transfer already? Wow. Well, this week we went to a Bless4 concert in our area. I guess they`re a pretty big band here in Japan and have a lot of songs in commercials and stuff. Don`t worry, we`re not wampsacks, (wampaku) this concert was chanto (this is what happens when you start forgetting English) run by the church. All the band members are lds! A funny thing was that we were supposed to give some tickets to our investigators but none of ours could go because of work and stuff. So we went around the eki, 15 min before the concert, and found three kids smoking by the eki. Some how we got them to come to the concert with us! We couldn`t get them to become investigators but it was still awesome.. Okay this story isn`t as cool when I type it, but I promise it was an amazing experience and we were super blessed.

Lets see...our investigators are still...well, investigating. Its going to be hard once my trainer leaves though because I`ll be the one in charge to stay in contact with all of them but I think I`ll be fine. Hopefully we can see a baptism before the end of the year! President really wants every area to see at least one before it ends. Well, I`ll just work as hard as
I can and trust in the Lord. I`m sure every area can see a baptism!

Well, I gotta go. Hope you guys are doing fantabulous! Can`t wait to hear from you guys again!

Love ya,
Elder Saito

I got lazy...sorry

Hey Hey Hey,

Herro, how are you family? It looks like you guys had a sweet Thanksgiving and Black Friday! Thanks for sending me those pictures Dad! Mom looks like Yoko Ono and it looks like Selena drew on her eyebrows...but other than that, Richard and Dad look exactly the same. Its good to see the family is doing awesome. So, looks like Richard and Selena were lucky when they were Black Friday-ing again I see. It seems that somehow Richard is always lucky when it comes to video games. Wow, I can`t believe its almost December already. This will be the first Christmas away from home...I think. Do you guys have any plans for Christmas break? Oh and for a Christmas present...lets see maybe a tie or something will do. Oh, or you could get me some electric shaver at TJ Maxx or something. That would be greatly appreciated too. What about you guys? Do you have any requests of things you want from Japan?

How is everyone? Oh, has Ilikea gotten any of my last two letters? The one with a drawing of a cat? She mails me things like Gospel supplies and stuff but I haven`t gotten an actual letter, like things that are going on in her life etc, for about a month. I have a feeling that none of my letters that I`ve sent to people have actually made it to their destination. I mean, I sent you guys, Bishop Edgington, and a few other friends a letter too. Well, its probably because I used weird envelopes from 100yen shop. Those probably never make it to America. Or everyone just hates me. Could be both.

Well anyways, it looks like its been snowing quite a lot this past week in Provo. It still hasn`t gotten super cold over here yet, nor have we had any rain or snow. Its really annoying weather. When the sun is shining, its hot, but when the sun goes down or we`re in the shadows, it turns freezing. Dang you Osaka and your weather.

Things are going by so quickly over here. My second transfer is almost already over! My trainer is going home in about a week or two...which seems crazy to him. I`ll already be in my third transfer! fdashklfdsahfkla I can`t believe how fast its going. BUT, awkwardly, I feel as if I`ve been here in Okamachi forever. Its like I`ve been going to church with everybody in this ward and roaming around Toyonaka for a long time...which I haven`t. Its really an interesting feeling. It`ll probably go away once I transfer though. Anyways, you know you do a lot of dendo once you start dreaming about missionary work. I sometimes have dreams where I`m contacting people and trying to set up appointments...or it could`ve not been a dream and my life is just turning into a blur...Well, our investigators are doing pretty good. I mean there`s the up`s and down`s but thats just dendo. You just learn how to deal with it and be optimistic. The good news is that these past few weeks, finding has gotten better. We really need to start refilling our investigator pool because a few of our investigators are at that "spiritual standstill" and are not really progressing. For those investigators, we just need to be patient and help them progress with the help of the members. The statement "patience is a virtue" means so much more when you`re out in the field. Some of our investigators have really legitimate testimonies but unfortunately, have a few commitment problems. Two of our yakusokusha`s have told us that they believe that the Book of Mormon is true and that Jesus is their Savior, but feel that it isn`t their "time" to get baptized. I swear it feels like your insides are exploding when an investigator tells you a few days before their baptism that they don`t feel ready and they want to postpone it. Just being patient at that time is tuff...Its hard to understand the balance between them really not being ready and the adversery working against us. I just want to yell at that point, throw a Book of Mormon at them and say "you`re more than ready!" But of course I would never do that, because I dont really know their situation and I have no right to judge. Maybe all of this is the Lord just trying to teach me a lesson on patience. It will come in time though. All I can do at this point is show love and support the investigators while helping them understand the importance of baptism more clearly.

Well anyways, I`m too lazy to type more.Hope ya`ll are doing good good. I hope that work is fabulos for you guys and that you`re all just enjoying life as much as I am. Okay, talk to you in a week! OKBYE.

Love ya guys,
Elder Saito

PS. I still hate you Rupert.

chubby?

Rex is totally gaining weight!!! haha

Hellos!

Hi Mom and Dad! You guys genki? Hope you guys are doing awesome as usual. Well, I guess Thanksgiving will already pass once I hear back from you guys but I hope your `sushi party` goes well. So it was Richard`s birthday this week too? haha that debu is already 24 now huh? Well, tell him happy birthday for me and that I`ll have to punch him once I come home because he celebrated without me. Speaking of debu...I guess I`ve been getting pretty debu(fat) myself without even noticing. We have this scale in the bathroom that`s in kilograms so I wasn`t sure how much I really weighed. I weigh 85 kilos right now...which for some reason I thought was just 170 pounds. BUT...according to the mass converter on our cell phone, I weigh 187 pounds. So now I`m in denial and have convinced myself that the scale is actually off.

Anyways, how`s Pochi? Is he alright? Did you find out whether or not he has arthritis in his legs? Because I would be so sad sad if he did...my poor puppy. Why couldn`t this happen to Rupert instead? Well, I`m really happy that Dad was able to send a few pictures of the pets. Why don`t ya send some pictures of the family sometime too? I wanna see all of you guys. Its actually not cold at all in Osaka right now. Which I guess is kinda weird because it should be freezing.

Well, this past week has gone by pretty slow. A lot of things have occurred over the past few days though, both good and bad. But, I think I would rather concentrate on the good things more. We really have been blessed this week with an amazing investigator. His name is Ryoma and he`s a son of a member in our ward. His situation is kinda interesting but I don`t feel like I should go much into detail. The main point is that he`s really progressing towards baptism and is recognizing the Spirit. He explained to us that the past few years he felt that he was straying away from "the right path." He told us that things went downhill once his mom left for America for a year and his job became a disaster. He told us at one point he felt an urge to get back on the right path and he thinks that baptism is one of the ways to do that. It really is amazing though, he had already quit smoking before he even met with us and now is trying to give up coffee, beer and tea in order to be baptized. We invited him to begin coming to church about a month ago and he`s been coming almost every time since. He told us that he feels peace when he comes to church and prays. Its the picture perfect explanation of the Spirit! I`m really happy for him and I`m praying for him that things go well!

Also, this past Tuesday we had the opportunity to go and see Brother Aki in the hospital. He and his wife are in their 90`s and I guess Brother Aki was on the verge of dying earlier this month but suddenly became healthier again! What`s amazing is that he was the first Japanese missionary to ever serve a mission in Japan! He`s a stud! Brother and Sister Aki are the most genki people you`ll ever see. It was a miracle that we were able to see them though because when we went to the hospital, he was out taking a walk with his wife (yeah he`s that genki) and we only had a half an hour before our next lesson. When we only had a few min left so we wrote them a letter and decided to leave. Right when we were heading to the elevator down, the elevator we were going to take opened and Brother and Sister Aki were just coming back from their sampo. It was perfect timing! They were so happy to see us and Brother Aki kept on telling us that we were so tall. Meeting them really lifted our spirits. They`re so tiny though! They`re both about 4 feet I swear (yes smaller than `ilikea) I`ll try sending you guys a picture. I hope I get to see them again before I transfer.

Well, there`s so much more I could write...but I`m far too lazy. Plus my P~day is almost over anyways. Where does all my time go? Well, now I`m gonna try to catch up on my letters I have to write. Has Selena got my letter? Either the 100yen envelopes failed me and never made it to America or they just forgot about my existence. Both are ideas are plausible. Anyways, you guys have a great Thanksgiving! Hope you guys are doing fantastic as well as Pochi and Monty. As for Rupert...hopefully dad forgets him outside in the snow for a week. OK bye bye.

Love ya guys,
Elder Saito

11/15/10

Herro Famiry,


How are you guys? Its so good to hear from ya! Is it really almost time for Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping? I can`t believe it. It seems just like yesterday that Richard, Selena and I were sitting in front of Old Navy just so Richard can get some stupid Lego Starwars game for free. When is Thanksgiving anyways? I`ve kinda forgot already. There`s already Christmas things going on over here in Japan so I have no idea of whats happening holiday wise anymore. Oh yeah, thanks so much for the packages! They came in this week.



Well, maybe by the time I come home from my mission Ryan will finally get his mission call. haha give him a good slap on the head for me. Hopefully, he gets it within this week then...maybe. I still can`t tell where he`s going either...I hope its Mexico or something. Thats great that Trent was able to baptize his son! I bet it was an amazing experience for him. Tell him that I is happy happy for him!...or I`ll just write to him sometime.



......I dont know anything about Japanese grammer. I just know that if it sounds right, then it is right. Really, I have this huge Japanese grammer book that I got at the MTC but I haven`t even looked at it yet. Some day I`ll learn proper Japanese grammer...but at this point I`d rather just learn more Kanji.



Well anyways, yet another week has passed by on my dendo...its amazing how fast its going! This week was pretty eventful. There`s still a lot of `mission drama` going on between us and one of our investigators who was supposed to be baptized. We`re still working to get all of that resolved. But other than that our investigators are doing well.



Lately I`ve been thinking a lot on how it would feel to be an investigator. While thinking...I realized on how difficult it would be to accept the Gospel if I were to be born in the Japanese culture. A lot of the stuff that is contained in the gospel is so...different or contrary to the normal beliefs here. When investigators do accept this Gospel they have to change their lives so much. They sacrafice a lot too. A lot of new converts have a really hard time staying active because of the outside pressure from family, friends, environment, etc. I`ve now realized that true conversion takes time. I think a lot of missionaries don`t realize that. We have to help investigators realize that they have to change their lives inorder to be in better harmony with Christs teachings...I just need to learn to be more patient with my investigators. Rushing for a baptismal date might be good, but I`ve realized that there isn`t a reason to force them. I learned from experience that that doesnt work. I would much rather have only one baptism my whole mission and have them stay active then baptizing hundred of people and having them fall away.



While streeting or teaching lessons you hear a lot of interesting ideas and teachings from different beliefs. Buddust, Shinto, Atheist, Christian all sorts of ideas. They`re all really good to hear and i find it amazing how differently people can think. I really do respect their ideas, religions and ways of thinking. I sure that all of the different teachings have truth within them though. But, it is true that only the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has all of God`s true teachings. I think I realize that fact little by little everyday after hearing all these ideas.



Well, I dont have time to write anymore. My P-day is now over. I bet the last two paragraphs didn`t really make sense...I didn`t have time to read through it. I hope you guys are doing great! Stay safe you guys!


Love you guys,
Elder Saito


Hey guys, this is Selena. If you would like to leave a little note for Rex, write something in the comments and we'll add it into our weekly emails to him. Thanks!