Week One In Tsukuba--It Has Begun!!

Crazy stuff happened this week.  First of all my bike broke the day

before transfers.  So the first thing I had to do this week was spend

$100 to get it fixed.  It's crazy how expensive bikes are in Japan.  So

I had to take some money out of my personal fund.  I didn't like doing

it.  But I should get my bike on Wednesday so it'll be all worth it.

We met a cool Japanese guy who came to church with us on Sunday.  His

name is T..., the same name as the investigator that I baptized in

Niigata.  I personally think it's a sign or something.  Anyways, we met

with him after church, showed him the baptismal font and he asked us

when he could get baptized.  We set a date with him on the 20th of

September next month so I'm looking forward to that. We are seriously

the best friends already.  He sent me an email the other day saying

how thankful he was that I transferred to Tsukuba so that we could

meet.  Such an awesome guy.  We are actually going with him to one of

the big festivals that is coming up.

So about the zone, I'm really excited to work with everyone.  My

companion is named Elder Jacox and he is the man.  He is from Utah, of

course, speaks Portuguese, is pretty sarcastic like me, and we get a

long really well. Also everyone in the district is pretty cool.  The

Sisters are so funny,  I'm telling yah, it's too bad that they leave so

early.  They are way better missionaries than us Elders are.  Well

Elder Jacox has been a zone leader for 2 transfers now so he knows a

lot and he is trying to teach me everything about it.  It's way

different than I thought it would be.  We still spend a lot of time at

night doing calls with the district leaders.  Also we spend a lot of

time on conference calls with President Budge, the assistants, and our

sister training leaders.  Actually every Monday, so tonight, we call

the sister training leaders for our zone and have a meeting over the

phone about the zone.  Idk what we are really going to talk about cuz it's

my first one but it sounds pretty fancy.  Seriously, we have to plan so

much everyday on setting zone goals, how to improve, and what we can do to

help everyone do better.  But I like it so far.  Our zone is doing

pretty good but we can improve in a few areas, including us.  Because of

this, we are going to focus as a zone on getting baptismal dates,

retaining new converts, and having zone unity.  We had a big

conference call with the zone today and it went really well.  Everyone

is getting a long well after these latest transfers, and the work is progressing.

We have our first district meeting in Mito this Wednesday.  As zone

leaders we have to go to most of the district meetings in the zone to

make sure that they are running smoothly and to offer suggestions to

the district leaders afterwards.  The only downside of this is that

the train station is a 40 min. bike ride from our apartment and Mito is a 40

min. train ride from Tsukuba.  Being a zone leader takes a lot of time

out of your missionary work.

Guess what I found out today, there is a legit Cosco only 20 min. by

bike from our house.  We went there and I bought 12 big breakfast

muffins for only $9.  It's ganna be great having such a great modern

convenience right close to our house.  I think my next purchase is

going to be a big bag of chips and salsa dip.  I haven't had that in 6

months.  Just thought you should know about the joyful discovery that

I had today!  I'm so happy!

Well sorry to keep this email so short but I'm going to write my

college essay now.  I seriously need to get that done before we start

planning for our big zone meeting next week.  I hear it just gets

crazier from here.  Well I love you all!  Talk to you next week!

Love,

Eric Stevens

Ps the people in the photos were investigators and recent converts

from my last area.  Their names were, L..., T..., M..., Y..., and

wild man D....  They are the sweetest!



Mount Tsukuba, Japan

I Will Miss Elder Allred And These Dear Friends 

 Elder Stevens is enjoying his new area in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

Tsukuba is a beautiful city close to the mountains.  It is well known for

its prodigious scientific research facilities.  75% of all research money in Japan

goes to Tsukuba.  There are also two major universities in Tsukuba.

Learn more at:  http://www.tsukubainfo.jp/