First Assignment

 

 

Hello everybody!

 

It's nice to finally be able to email you from Japan!  First off I'd just like to answer some questions.  I got mom's letter on friday and it was so cool to get a letter!  Thanks a lot!  I am sending a letter out today so hopefully you will receive it in 10ish days.  We can't wait to get your care package because they don't have american candy here at all!  Its terrible. my companions nearly mobbed me when they found out I had some jolly ranchers left over from the flight. lol  Thank you so much for all of your emails.  Its soo good to hear from all of you and I hope that you enjoy reading my emails as much as I enjoy reading yours.  Well now to the good stuff.

 

Well first off, I was assigned to one of the 2 english speaking areas in all of Japan.  I guess the Lord was reading the last email I sent that said I would miss singing hymns in English. lol At first I was sorta dissappointed that I wouldn't be able to teach lessons to people in Japanese because I wanted to learn as much Japanese as quickly as I could.  But now I am so happy to be here.  It still is sorta weird to pass by so many Japanese people and not be allowed to talk to them because we only are supposed to teach foreigners who speak english.  But all of our investigators are super amazing and I love them so much and it still is fun to just walk around and listen to everybody talk to each other in Japanese, even if I can't really understand them...yet!

 

On a spiritual note, we have 2 baptisms coming up on the 13 of October!  Its so amazing because I was able to commit one of them to baptism on my first lesson and on my first day in Japan!  It really is a miracle! I am so excited for him, his name is Bill and he is super amazing!  I guess the Lord really is moving his work forward in Japan.  We have over 20 investigators and we are finding lots more of them everyday.  I'm so glad to be here serving the Lord. 

 

I actually went to my first baptism the other day.  An eight year old boy named Ian got baptized by his dad yesterday and it was pretty cool.  We invited Bill to come and see the baptism and i think that really helped him to realize how important baptism was.

 

You know how everyone thinks that Japan is full of rice?  Well I am here to dispell that rumor.  I have not seen a grain of rice since I have gotten here! lol  We have mostly been surviving off of bread with peanut butter on it.  But we are almost out of peanut butter so I have no idea what we are going to do in a few days.  I did get to try some interesting foods while I was here.  Andrew will be happy to know that I tried some seafood and it ws actually pretty good!  It didn't taste like american seafood at all!  You all should come visit sometime and try it! lol 

 

Ok so now for some cultural stuff.  It is sooo different here from in America.  The first thing that I noticed was all of the bright colorful city lights that we drove through to get to the mission home.  It took like 2 hrs to drive there because the trafic was sooo bad.  I'll never complain about slow drivers ever again! lol  We sleep on the floor on futons and they are actually very comfertable.  It also helps conserve space in the appartment because we have 5 missionaries all crammed into one appartment.  Oh speaking of which I have 2 companions.  Elder Kerr and Elder Norman.  They are super awesome and they are both zone leaders.  The mission president said that they were going to train me to become a zone leader in the near future.  I don't know if he was joking or not but I hope so because that'd be so much pressure! lol  The zone leaders have to watch out for so many missionaries and they get zero free time at all!  They are always so busy!  But I guess the Lord knows what's best.  Now  back to the cool stuff.  The toilets here are very interesting.  They don't use toilet paper here at all but they have the fancy water cleaners in the toilets.  It feels so weird! lol  I think that you should import one from japan to use! lol  They actually work very well.  Hmmm, another cool thing here is that everyone here travels by train.  It costs like 3000 bucks to buy a license here so everyone takes the train, which is always packed!  I actually almost got trapped in the door of a train because there were just so many people and I couldn't get on!  They also don't have garbage disposals here.  They put a bag under the sink to collect all of the food that you wash down.  Its soo disgusting to have to clean that out every night!  Luckily I only have to do it every five days because we have so many people here.  And you don't tip waiters here at all!  it's super crazy!  I actually almost got in trouble the first time because I tried to tip a waiter and there was a cop outside!  Luckily my companions were able to get me out of jail! lol 

 

Well I have to go now.  We have to go buy some food because we are almost out! I love all of you guys!  I'll make sure to write another email next week. I can't wait to see you again in 22 more months!  Ai Shite Imasu!

 

Elder Stevens

 

 

 

September 23, 2013

Dear Brother and Sister Stevens:

Your son arrived in the Japan Tokyo Mission on Sept.17  in good spirits and ready to commence his proselyting assignment. We had a wonderful time with him.

Elder Stevens has been assigned to work with Elder Norman and Elder Kerr, and they will serve in the  Tokyo 2nd area. Your son can receive his mail at the following address:

Elder Stevens
Japan Tokyo Mission
4-25-12 Nishi Ochiai
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo-to 161-0031, Japan
 

Please send letters and packages by regular mail, so that we can forward them to his area.

Enclosed is a picture of your son with Sister Budge and me, along with a picture of him with his companions. We have also included a map showing the locations of the various areas in the mission. You can use it as a personal record of his assignments.

By the time you receive this letter, Elder Stevens should be adjusted to his new proselyting area. The positive sustaining support he gets from you at home will be a great blessing to him. May the Lord bless you and your family as you share in your son's mission experience.

 

Sincerely,

 President L. Todd Budgejapantokyomission@ldsmail.net