(picture is of downtown sapporo)
alright well a week of miracles has been completed!!! before i do any of the follow up stuff i just want to share with you what has happend this week... so i think i told you about what we were doing with the member work out here in atsubetsu. the no name referral program. (members can give missionaries anonymous referrals, they challenged the women of the ward to give names. lately dano has been doing a lot of work with members, promising baptisms to the bishop, visiting families in the ward and doing family home evenings). well sunday was the big day to see if it was a hit or if it bombed. i will be honest i was about 70 30 odds. we started the day with our ward missionary council meeting and one of the sisters gave us a sheet with 4 referrals on it! (for our mission if you had a good week you would maybe get 4 member referrals, we average as a mission per week around 50 new referrals from the 80 missionaries that are serving here) we were very pleased with the paper. then as we waited for members to come in and greeted them at the door. i held the paper in my hand keeping a prayer in my heart that maybe someone else too might have done what we asked them. i greeted a fairly happy sister at the door, today she seemed particularly happy, i asked her why and she said nothing but just reached down in her bag and pulled out the paper with her three friends' names on it who she would like to hear the gospel. i was almost shocked... i didnt think out of all the sisters that she would do it. i stood by the door with a big smile on my face and my hand clutching the precious referrals that we had just recieved. my other hand soon filled up with papers, sister after sister with a smile and glow in their countenance handed me hope, a prospect, the thought that just maybe that friend might let us in and partake of the joy the gospel brings. at the end of sunday we received 71 REFERRALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the shock still hits me.. i have never heard of anything like it, and neither did anyone else we told. there have been many prophecies about japan being one of the best missions in the world, and that in order for there to be success there must come a change, through the members, when their desire for their friends to hear the gospel increases and they start to reach out- then will the mighty change take place. well that all started on sunday. missionaries have gone from door to door knocking and havest here thus far has been weak. but now behold the field is white already to harvest and lo he that 'worketh through the members' shall have sheaves upon his back. its so exciting to see it all happening now!!
we had president daniels over to our apartment (we invited him over for his b-day dinner) on monday and he congratulated us on our marvelous success and has us tell him all about it. then yesterday at zone conference he has us tell all the other zones about it. the way he introduced it was very interesting. previous to doing the no name referrals, we had gotten the idea from something that someone recommended at the zone leader council two weeks ago, elder nelson and i decided to go for it and then a week later got the referrals. so president daniels said "something amazing has been going on in atsubetsu, they tried the no name referrals and they saw some success, i will let them introduce it but before that how many of you were in the zl council meeting??" several elders raised their hands. "did you all hear about the no name refferal thing, they all said yes. okay now what did you do about it?? think about that because after they tell you what they did i want to hear what you did." we shared our experiences and everyone was fairly shocked. then he got up and called on a couple elders, asked them, and the response was nothing. no one did anything. he then went a little off on the fact that, our problem is that we hear ideas but no one acts!! he then very animatedly said "come on, everyone needs to step up! act! follow the example of these great zone leaders and act!"

we then had our workshop and taught everyone what to do, told them it was a multi step process that needed to take place before it was infiltrated in the ward, then we told them all to act. in fact we challenged everyone to call the bishop that night and set up an appointment!!! we told them we would call to see if you did it. so we did and everyone did it!! i think that if we can spread this to other areas the work will really really take off here!!!!!!!

we are way way excited! and i can see the change taking place. we in fact got a call from a member who said i have a question about the no name referral thing, i know i wrote down some names and gave them to you but is it okay if i give you a family i want to hear the gospel?? YES!!! ITS OKAY! she then told us their information what they might have interset in and gave the address and told us we could even mention that she told us to visit them! AMAZING!! i think the miracles are going to continue to out poor, becasue we have only introduced this to the sister!! we havent even given it to the whole ward!!!

other than that things are great, the henmi kids are looking forward to getting baptized the 23rd and i am looking forward to baptizing them!!

well, hope you all have a wonderful christmas and i challange you all to give at least two names to the missionaries to visit, you can the them its a no name referral and not to use your name but if it comes up they can use it. but send them somewhere someone is likely to except the gospel, that is all of your responsibilities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! fulfill them!!! and watch the change take place!!!

Dec 2

from nov 25th letter:

so the only thing that did happen with transfers is that elder williams got transfered out, he is now in downtown sapporo. and the new zone leader here is elder nelson!!!! my old trainer!! now we are going to serve together as zone leaders!!!!(but we have seperate prosolyting companions) im really excited!! its going to be a lot of fun and we are going to work really well together with the members!!!!!!!!!!! we hope to be seeing a lot of white this next transfer!!(and thats not just snow!)

from dec 2 letter:

well having elder nelson back around is very nice!! we are very focused and really plan on some big things this month. i have noticed some big changes recently and they came from the best source, god! i had a good talk with elder kashima i expressed i wanted to work harder, i wanted to do what i did with elder miller, i told him we needed to make a covenant with the lord so that we can see a baptism this month! he was not all the way there with me which was the slight disapointment but i think the reason he was a little off was because he had never done it before. but we did it and after that we got together as 4 (with the other 2 elders in the apartment) and decided what we all needed to do to turn this place around (atsubetsu averages 10 baptisms a year, this year they have 2). we got together, planned some great stuff, and then acted!!! we went and visited the bishop and then elder nelson and i last night met with him. as we were planning we decided we wanted to be bold with him, and tell him to lead by example, after we did. we then decided we would promise him a baptism (even though we dont have anyone who is really close) giving ourselves only 4 weeks to get someone baptized was an action of faith but we commited. we met with the bishop and told him in december there would be a baptism and after that we expect him to see we can work hard and give us referrals. he said "sounds good. i did the same thing on my mission." then the unthinkable happened, he asked me if i remembered the little girl named sawaguchi, i said yes(she is a 9 yr. part member) well her mom said she wants her to get baptized, and she does too. i think she can get baptized very soon, in fact probably in two weeks on the 12th of december. i will call her and see if we can start the lessons this saturday! we were blown away!!! we came out of our meeting with tons of ideas, the bishops full support and best of all a baptismal date!!!!!! we were needless to say extremly grateful and as soon as we left gave a prayer of gratitude to the lord. how powerful we are when we covenant with the lord. we have a lot of things that we promised the lord we would sacrifice and i think the lord knew right away from the intentions of our hearts that we fully planned on keeping up our part and immediately (the next day) we were blessed beyond measure!

the lord is ever so willing to bless our lives, he is just waiting for us to give up ours and put him to the test.
with much love,
elder daniel henry lawler

nov 18th

I apologize that I am so behind in posting these. Daniel has been transferred to the city, is a zone leader, and is now training a Japanese companion. He is doing great and would still LOVE to hear from you. Especially with the holidays coming up. I will forward all comments left here as letters to him and his address is on the left. Here's the latest letter:
one pic is of me in a sick helicopter and the other one is me doing some extreme science stuff!
so the heading is its snowing!!! its been a very cold cold week!!!
but lots of fun!!!
well after emailing last week i had a very sereal experience! i went to costco!!!! the members took us over to the costco and it was like i was back working in the food kitchen! we got lots of goods! like root beer real chocolate, muffins, cookies all the good stuff!!
this week unfortunitly did have some lows. my companion has been getting down a lot lately. i took time sat down with him a resolved his concerns but he was still a little out of it. thats when i prayed for a miracle, i put god to the test. i prayed through out the day very hard that we could find someone who had been prepared by the lord and could get baptized quickly. the lord passed the test. we had a lesson with a guy on saturday named sugiyama, we set a date for the fist week of december and he is looking very very good!!!!! it was a big big relief!! after things got much better!
on monday we had interviews and president daniels was very helpful and appreciative of my work. he said elder williams and i are the two best leaders in the mission and told me personally that i would have many leadership positions in the future no matter what i do..
i do feel very confident with my ablity to keep cool and normal while under pressure.
today was really fun!!! we went to a science museum it was actually way fun!!!! im was upset this was the first time in 2 transfers! speaking of which they are next week, but the chances that anything changes with me or my companion are about 98% stay the same so not really worried. things are going really good over here, our investigators are good, our 2 young part member kids are looking like they need a little more time but i am very confident that they will be able to get baptized before i leave here! im really excited for them.
so we decided we want to save money for splits today so elder williams and i are going to be riding our bikes for 2 hours in the snow!!!!! we get to ride through the heart of sapporo though so we are really excited!

august 12

this is a picture of elder danielsan enjoying his birthday package.

here is the latest picture (new companion on the left) and the latest letter:
ok this time i am making sure to copy my email as i type because i will not fall victim to the blasted computer again!!!

so first i will make responses to your email.
sounds like the lawler family is doing very well!! i am glad to hear everything is good, sounds like we are all making progress in our own individual ways. i think writing hard copy letters is a great idea, as well as emails(lots of mail never hurt anyone) i too did think about the hump day just a little, it was pretty scary. the return day is august 6th if i remember correctly. and yes every returning missionary i have talked to says the last year goes by really fast. i can see how it can be true, finally get the language down, start getting more responsibilities, time is more consumed always busy, and then it just runs out. but i am glad to say i dont think about going home in an overly anxious way. i am completely alive in the moment with eyes wide open! im loving everything. sounds like the red sox are being the red sox.
okay so now i will catch you up on me!
so things with me and my companion are going great!! we are getting along very well, we know a couple of the same people from before. our personalities are very similar and we definitely enjoy working together!! its amazing what having a talkative companion you like can make such an astronomical difference, i have someone i love trust and enjoy by my side and that makes everything fun! i have really felt like my skill sets are improving as i learn to seek the lord more, and rely on the spirit. in particular i have been getting very good at making friends with people and setting up appointments to meet with them again. right now the mission average for new appointments is 9, im making about 20 a week! the other stuff is slowly coming along as well, we are starting to have more lessons as well, and there are several very solid investigators. noumu(the women i talked about last week) called me last friday asking me a question about the house of israel(she has lots of hard questions) when i asked her where it was she said first nephi chapter 10, i was a little thrown of because two days before she was in 3rd nephi, she than replied oh yea i finished the book of mormon and thought i would start over again so i could understand a little better this time!! she is going to be a very strong member!! right now her baptismal date is for the 30th of august but the problem is she works at a hospital and it looks like she has to work a lot of sundays so she could get baptized but than to get confirmed would be difficult. so the date might get pushed back to september but i know for sure she will get baptized!!
I have really been feeling the guidance of the spirit lately. it starts in the mourning when i have mourning prayer and unless i do something stupid it stays with me for the rest of the day. just monday we felt that guidance. it was about 7 at night and we hadnt eaten dinner so we decided last minute to go to the store, but when we went i felt like we should look for some former investigator houses. we went on our search and after about 20 minutes couldnt find anything but as i saw this one apartment i felt like something, like someone was in there that we needed to find. i kind of put it off but as we circled around again i stopped. then a front light came on with no one outside. i thought it was a little odd, then i saw a couple come out, but they looked a little rough, women had multiple ear earrings, man was wearing a tank top so i kind of pulled a little further away. just as i did i heard my companion say with a loud voice "do you know where fumizono is?" then i turned around and went joined with him, they were nice and pointed us in the right direction, we were just about to leave when i thought to my self `did you invite them unto christ? well no.` so i did, i showed them a little flyer and asked if they had interest in any questions, they looked at it for a while, looked at each other and then replied well yes, why are there so many religions, and teachings. from there i gave them a brief message about the restoration and asked them if they would like to hear more, they replied yes. i gave them my phone number and asked for theirs but then they looked hesitant and said we dont have our phone on us right now(people do that all the time as a way to blow us off) then she said hold on and ran back to the apartment up the stairs grabbed her phone came down and said okay now i do.
its experiences like these that provide the evidence to our faith. is there a chance they could turn out to not really have interest, yes. but the fact is that the lord gave us the evidence of our collective faith that there are people here in kushiro will accept us!! this week i had about 5 or 6 experiences just like that. as it continues i feel as though my faith is now just turning into hope, because i know and see the lord putting those who are prepared in our path, its just a matter of if they are ready to act or not.
I am really just consumed in love right now!!! i feel love from everywhere!!!!! thank you all so much for your prayers, letters, and love! its what keeps me going!
Love you all so much,
Elder daniel henry lawler

July 22, 2009

Here is the latest EXCITING letter from Elder Lawler. It's amazing the changes that take place when we focus on the Savior and the Atonement at the center of our lives. I'm so grateful for the insight we get from Dan-o's letters each week. They are inspiring me to be a better person and I hope they have the same effect for you. There are two letters this week:

yo yo yo big news on transfers and kushiro!!!!! this week was one of the best weeks of my life!! so real quick here is what happened with transfers, i got a call from president on monday(which is unusual) he said do you want to hear the good news or the best news, i said well first the good news, he said okay you are staying in kushiro.. i said awesome, than he said the best news is your going to be training, and you're the new district leader!! i was so so shocked! and excited, and just floored. at first i was kind of scared but i have never been so excited for anything in my whole life!! kushiro right now is taking off!! we made two more baptismal dates this week (grand total 3) had 4 investigators to church! and had 6 new investigator!! i feel like im on fire! the work is alive, people are listening and making commitments. there is a spirit that has filled me that i cant explain. it would be what pmg page 94 or so about praying to be filled with the spirit and a new light will come into you.. it has happened, i also have had another thing that has started more desire, i study the atonement 30 minutes everyday.. it fills me up with love for everyone!! i dont have anytime to talk because the training meeting starts in like ten minutes but you can forward this to everyone.. tell elder patterson i love him, and he should write me back!! sent him to letters for ever ago!! well i love you all and am so grateful to be in this work and serve the lord, and see the lord bless us all!!!
talk to you next week!!
love elder lawler

okay i had a little more time to email so here is a second one coming your way... so i just found out my companion, elder robinson! i am super excited, he seems really good! perfect match, as soon as i saw him i knew he was going to be my companion. i dont know a lot about him but i know he is from riverside utah...i think. he went to byu for 2 years.. i will be able to fill you in on more next week. but this week there were some major highlights i had so i want to share them with you
nomu- the one who reads the book of mormon a lot. this week was a big step for her... we finally got her to come to church.. she has been talking with a member on texts and she said she wanted to come to church and she came for all three hours and loved it! then after we were able to set a date with her to be baptized on the 30th of august.
Hirata yukinari- our other baptismal date. three years ago he got all the discusions and was going to get baptized but never did. yesterday we met with him for the second time. he had a lot of questions why all churches were similar, why there were so many churches that were formed from the bible. and then it happened. i received the gift of teaching. all of these ideas came to mind, i thought of multiple examples, i used the white board and drew out many simple things, such as why the book of mormon is necessary, the apostasy, the restoration, EVERYTHING. not only was he amazed, but the team up, and my companion said they had never understood it all that well. i really get it, i finally get it, all the times i met before it never made sense like it did today, is what he said.the spirit was felt in abundance, i took time to recognize what he was feeling, wrote it down, read from the scriptures what the fruit of the spirit was.. it was amazing, i knew i was speaking through the power of the holy ghost because i myself was learning from what i said. then through feeling the spirit, him recognizing its feelings, i gave him a commitment, looked him straight in the eyes and did some sugar coating, then asking him will you follow the saviors example and be baptized. for the next 30 minutes we heard all his worries about baptism why he didn't receive it before, it was a 2 hour lesson, one of the best of my life. The promise was truly fulfilled "for it shall be given you in the very hour, yea in the very moment, what ye shall say."
this last week the spirit and the lords hand has been in abundance. and i cant wait to take my new greenie and reap the harvest that awaits.
Love you so very much,

elder lawler

june 16th

It's pretty amazing to see Dan-o turning into an adult week by week in his letters. Last week he was made a senior companion in Kushiro. He is WISHING he had a little more MAIL so... I was thinking that if everyone who reads this could please post a comment for him (click on where it says comment at the bottom of this entry for those that are new to this). I'll print them off and send them to him. Easy for you and fun for him. Here's the latest letter:

I will get you some pics of the comp next week, I forgot my USB port.. i love the idea of you writing me letters! I have not got a shred of mail in over 2 weeks!!

So week one of the big bad senior week and I am surviving. When the other elder left on Thursday morning the week was looking terrible!!!! had some of the worst numbers i have ever turned out. on top of that i was very nervous about being senior, and on top of that to a elder who has only been out for 1 transfer plus he is japanese, and one of the most shy japanese people i have ever met, he still has not stopped someone on the street. needless to say i felt extremely overwhelmed. as i sat and pondered i thought, what kind of senior am i to be, what kind of leader am i to be.. i felt that i was in a big hole and to get out would be impossible. thats when i decided right then that as senior there are some things that are within my control. however, there are some things that are not. i decided right then that i was going to be spotless, in that i mean everything that falls under my responsibility was going to be done, i would give everything to the lord, and in return i would have the assurance that the lord would keep his promise. 100% obedience, out the door not a minute late, back home not a minute early. this week i have spent a lot of time on my knees(as one should) that is it.. i pray a lot, and i trust 100% in the lord. I had the confidence that i would have the spirit with me, that i would yeild to any prompting, no fear. the lord has been working with us. it has not been easy, but one day after another we gave it our all, it has been amazing. we finished the week with one of my better weeks, and elder hattori`s best. found 4 new investigators, taught 9 lessons, and made 8 new appointments. and we finally have a progressing investigator (we gave her a book of mormon 2 weeks ago and she has read up till jacob! has a couple issues, but i think she is going to be very good) by sunday i was overwhelmed by the tender mercies of the lord and how he provided for the youngest couple in the mission. but my surprise and gratefulness was not over yet. on monday night at 10 oclock i got a phone call from president daniels, i still dont really know why or for what purpose he called other than to congratulate me. he said "elder lawler, congrats on going senior, i see that you have taken over and really done an outstanding job! (listed a couple numbers) asked if we had a progressing investigator, I told him about the women, than he said "keep it up you are doing a great job and i am very grateful to have a great elder like you in the mission" needless to say i was very touched by the phone call. as i thought about why he called one thing came to mind, he has a lot of confidence in me, and so does the lord. these past couple of days have been great we have been trying many new things and its pretty fun being senior. i have become more consintrated and focoused now more than ever, just like pmg says, work, work, work, that is the key. i feel as though i could do this forever, its different from anything i have ever done. with all my might mind heart and soul its a joy that cant be won or bought its beyond description, but it fills my soul. everything is just starting to make sense, for the first time in my life i am living in the now, and i dont want it to go anywhere, i want to stay right here forever, its no wonder the 3 nephites had the same desire.
Thank you so much for you constant support and prayers, everytime i pray at night and think of my parents i can almost hear and see the prayers you say for me as you kneel by the bed side.

with so much love from your missionary son,
elder lawler

pics from kushiro

dano is back in kushiro after hanging out in sapporo for a week or so while his companion received medical attention. here are some pictures.

kushiro

"it rains a lot"

mission companion

april 14

buon giorno tutti!! dont know if that is right my italian is a little rusty... so here is an update till today of what happened since we last talked. wednesday me and elder weloth went to go play tennis with the daniels but couldnt find a court and ended up driving around for an hour and a half, it was really fun though. they said they really like us because we actually have a personality and are fun and funny.(i think most people get so nervous around them that they are scared to say anything) the next couple of days there were three of us in a companionship- it was a lot of fun! we were in the heart of sapporo talked to a lot of people (some wierd and nice) i think we might have been on the japanese version of PUNKED or something, this really wierd kid kept saying he had interest and wanted to talk to us, but wouldnt give us a reason, then we finally just left and then this camera crew started to talk to him, really strange. we had conference this weekend!! it was amazing!! which reminds me we get all the ensigns but if you could send me the conference issue as soon as it comes out, and do what you did last time, bind it and lameanate it that would be awesome. in between sessions we had dinner and stuff, but i think everyone forgot easter, there was no special event or anything. than on sunday night i got a call from pres. said i would be going back to kushiro on monday mourning, except with a different companion. so now im in kushiro with a different elder from utah while my comp elder ogura will be in sapporo till friday and then come up to kushiro. lots of fun! ha its been crazy neither of us really know the area but we had a really good day yesterday and hope that we will continue to find people. so that brings us up to today.
i did get the easter package and the tape will eli and all the crazy irish people, i do have to say dads accent has improved, and for a large part everyone elses is getting better with the exception of cristina, im not really sure what accent she was using... sounds like you all might be up to my level by the time i get back..
good to hear that dads work is going great!! and that you are all having fun! my bias on moving is that the ward in hillside, the people and everything around alpine is my home to me. it would just be sad if i were to come back and not be there. but what every happens happens. so next week elder bednar is coming to sapporo and having a big mission conference everyone all over the island is coming in for it. and very rapidly approaching is my b-day!! yata i was thinking that i really want to get a new camera, the old sony is big and ugly, and out here in japan they have some really cool nice cameras!! i will  work on getting a tape out to you guys soon! other than that on my end life is pretty good. these last couple of weeks have been a really good time to mature as a missionary and learn to adapt to any situation.
oh by the way did you see in conference the one talk they were playing a video of a preist quorm visiting people and then in a circle praying. anyways tyler haws was one of the kids in the video, thought that was pretty funny.
well love you all very much keep the emails, and everything coming they are very appreciated!!! i have seemed to hear from everyone except for matty!! whats up with that!? hit me up!
love you all
elder lawler!!

march 24th

what it is what it is!! so kushiro is pretty cool! it's almost like i am on a different mission.. ahhaha. the landscape and all that stuff is way different, its really flat. there is not any snow really on the ground but the wind we get is from siberia (aka freeeeezeen cold) so it's fun when we ride bikes. the transition from an american companion to a japanese companion has been quite the journey so far. let's just say it didn't start out so good.. i thought my japanese was pretty good, but it just got opened up into a whole new world!!!!! up until about sunday, things were grim. i was frustrated, lonely, scared, and not very happy. i got rocked. i lost confidence completely. sunday they asked me to give a 5 minute talk. (my first in japan so far) it didn't go so well, i thought it was okay but everyone had blank stares.(felt like the other side of heaven) after that i hit even more of a rock bottom. then i decided that's not the way i wanted things to go, with much reading, and finally a wrestle with mighty prayer i told the lord "i dont know what to do, and i need your help" with no immediate promptings, i went back to my desk and sat for a second, and then went to work. i decided i need the gift of tounges. and if that's what i wanted i needed to exert myself. for the last week i have cracked down on my language study, i now memorize 20 new words a day, read 3 pages of the japanese book of mormon and study the basic japanese grammar book for aboud 30-60 minutes. i'm still struggling but i have felt the difference. the words don't always come to mind when i need them but by the end of this transfer i am determined to be independent and fluent. The last couple days i have really felt me and elder ogura getting closer, we laugh more, have more fun, and recently have been having success. (yesterday we picked up three new investigators) elder ogura is very knowledgable. he has great ability to explain simply gospel principals, i am learning alot. the ward members here are great!! they love the missionaries, and are one of the top wards that give referrals to the missionaries. im really excited for what is yet to come this transfer.
my biggest insight i have got, and time and time again i have seen it recently in my studies. be pacient in our trials and afflictions!! we have not been forgotten or forsaken by the lord. he loves us but we must be tried in all things to be worthy of the glory that awaits us if we endure with faith and an eye single to the glory of god. things don't work according to our time, they work in the lords time. life won't get easier, the trials don't really ever stop, but we can control what we do when the storms come our way.
may we all be humble/pacient enough to oblige with the Lord's will.
with all my love and prayers
Your missionary, elder lawler

This is Dano's last district- the one on the right was his last companion... the bottom picture is of another woman who decided to get baptized right as he was leaving Otaru.

March 17th

yo family, i don't have much time, transfers are going on, and i'm leaving otaru!! i'm going to kushiro!! and getting a japanese companion!! i'm way excited! real quick he is a recent convert, he investigated churches for 4 years, and decided ours was true. president daniels said he is the best teacher in the whole mission!! i'm really excited! great to hear about dad with the weight loss, and miles looks very cute!! hope you all are having fun!
i love you all and pray for you everyday...
love elder lawler

March 3 & 10

March 3rd letter:

well on my end life is still good! the work is moving forward, our investigator pool is strong right now but there are just a few worries we have with them. one lady is having a baby and is leaving in 2 months, meeting with her is hard, and we want to somewhat fast but not over due it. another kid leaves feb19 and we are trying to get a baptismal date he is super solid and talks about joining the church but time is not on our side.  pretty much all of our investigators have time issues, it's been hard deciding where the line is, it's hard not to be selfish and want to see them get baptized while i am still in the area (transfers are in 2 weeks and i will probably move) but i have to allow them to take their time at their pace.
Overall everything is really good, im really happy, im having fun, and progressing eternally everyday.
hope all is well cant wait to hear about the baby!

March 10th letter:

i am particularly excited for our upcoming mission conference with elder bednar! don't know the date of it, but it should be coming soon. transfers still no word, but when i email next week i will know what is happening.. i hope to  go somewhere in sapporo, maybe even have a  japanese companion, but we will see. may is coming up somewhat soon! i will make sure to  make a list of stuff you can get me for my birthday! but some real quick things that i need/want: the  preitsthood book teachings of joseph smith, in english! with easter coming around all i want really is those peanut butter bunnies!! you know the kind.. also if you  could send emails to everyone informing them on the new rule we have, they cracked down, we can only directly email immidiate family. i can still email  friends through you but, aunts uncles, and grandparents i can't directly email anymore. also i never heard back about the ward spotlight they  did  on  me... did  they  do it? if so will you send me a copy..?
 
well other than that this week's been pretty good, we are finding  new people  to  teach which is good. i am learning a lot from just watching  people, i have tried to think and envision more when i talk to people. I am getting a lot out of my personal study, things have taken off when i started getting really writing down what i think of when i study, feelings, all of that, i have found many many insights, and really feel as though i am directly learning through the spirit.
 
today is going to be  fun, we spent  the night  at  the honbu(mission home) in the elders apartment, played basketball with pres. daniels, lots of fun, we  have a big  zone activity, than after going on splits, with a  japanese elder who is a lot  of  fun. so  im excited!
 
love you so much!! i think of our family all the time, i read the scripture in alma 27:17-18 the joy ammon is filled with after his long mission and meets alma. i look at that scripture and have that as a goal  that when i meet my family after my mission i can have worked like ammon and be filled with that joy.
 
love you all so much, give the kearls my love, especially miles!!

Feb 24th

LETTER TO MOM:

well i guess carrie is getting married tommorow... well make sure you take a big picture of me to the wedding and put me in the welcoming line, and make everyone there write a letter to me!
sounds like you are very busy!! are you having fun? hope so! well life out here in the field is good! can't complain, i feel like the japanese is coming along little by little, last week we taught the most lessons in the zone so that was good, the people we taught were all very good except they all want to take things very slow, meet like once a month, stuff like that so it is a little frusturating. but other than that life is great, i spend all my extra time now studying!! i do a combination of japanese, jesus the christ, preach my gospel, new testament, doctrine and convenants, drawing from the powers of heaven, and writing in my study journal, and daily journal. it never seems like there is enough time to do anything, i cant put down anything anymore! i truly am learning alot, but what amazes me is how intertwined they all are, i will read one thing and the next day see the same thing in another book. It's very exciting. well about to go to the wing bay mall!!
Love always your son/missionary,
Elder Lawler 愛しているよ　

feb 18th

here's the next installment from our favorite elder:

Update on my end, the new comp is great we get along well, his style is a little different from my past comp but its not a bad thing. we are weekly having companionship inventory. but we have only really been together for a week. we have interviews tommorow so i am always excited/nervous for those.. had an interesting dream last night about my interview, but that's a different story.
The ankle is better, i am walking but somewhat painfully but i'm not going to let that stop me! missionary work is fun! i am really trying to work as hard as i can, my new comp is a hard worker, i can remember earlier on when i first got here, i was just waiting for time to go by hoping we could go back to the appartment, now i find myself working hard in everything, the key is only focusing on one thing at a time. when i used to return to the apartment i wanted to just take a nap or relax, now i am anxiously studying either japanese, pmg (preach my gospel), or jesus the christ, and i truly am happy. sure i think about home every now and again, but when that happens i just get to work, as president hinkley's father wrote, forget yourself and go to work. as president hunter said "work work work, and you will be happy." it seems as though i have finally understood their statements. earlier this week we had a mission conference by elder choi of korea an area of the 70 one of the things he suggested of us to do was with all of the commotion of the economy, and tragedies that are happening back home was to find a way to tie it into the gospel. an example used was by pres. packer- he called elder choi one night and asked how the economy was effecting korea. elder choi told him, and elder packer replied, dosen't it make you so grateful that in a time where the world is in so much distress we have a promise from the lord that all we have to do is obey his commandments and we will receive protection and blessings?
we truly have been given the blessing of commandments and a living prophet, that literally all we need do is to listen and obey, and we are promised protection, and happiness.
the snow festival this past week was a great time, i will send you all the pictures, pretty amazing all of the stuff there, tons of people too!!
well i love you alll!! you're in my prayers, and my heart
Love elder lawler

Feb 10 Letter

From his latest letter:

"well transfers are official. i am staying in otaru for another transfer.. my new companion is elder christian. elder nelson went zone leader to a place called hakodate. I'm really excited for this next transfer, hope things go good, my comp is hawaiian, he seems really cool, he is known as a way hard worker so that will be fun. my ankle is much better, i just wrap it now, if you could send some ace bandage wraps for me that would be nice, they only have temporary daily ones, so they aren't the best, but i can walk fine and all of that.
Have not heard from mom in a couple weeks.. whats up? Sounds great about the work out and weight loss dad, i do like the sports updates, please keep them coming, i have tons to say about them probably too much so thats why i don't comment back on them.
The last week has been pretty good, taught a really good lesson one with a lady that use to live in tonga i have some pretty high hopes for her. other than that it was a lot of helping elder nelson pack and doing last minute stuff. I love you all continue to update me on life, in a bit of a hurry, we are going to the big annual snow festival in sapporo!!"

He also had some desperate plea for decent hair gel and LETTERS. He even had me break into his facebook account to beg for more mail. Sooo.... let's get into the Valentine's loving spirit and send Elder Rora (Lawler) some mail. His address is located on the left of this blog for your writing convenience ;)

Here are some pictures I found online of the snow festival he's talking about just because it feels like all posts should have at least one picture.

Feb 3

This is a long one, but it's a good one...

yo yo! its been a crazy week!!! all starting off with thursday, day one of ankle injury, pretty sucky, we were confined to the appartment, so we went through the area book, we called everyone in there!! that took the whole day up. then we made carmels with some people in the ward it was pretty awesome, they were a lot of fun. fugita passed her baptismal interview with flying colors!
Friday was another day in the appartment or solitary confinment as i like to call it, i was way sick of being there! earlier in the morning i was thinking about what we could do, i had the random idea to just go through the phonebook and try approaches and see if we could pick anyone up, when it came time to go to work, elder nelson had the same thought and mentioned it so we gave it a try. i thought we should start and do all the names that ended in fugita (would be the equivelent of calling all the smiths in the phonebook) after 2 hours we had nothing, just a couple contacts but no pick ups. finnally elder nelson talked to a guy who likes english picked him up and took a come to church commitment, pretty wild! we were excited.
saturday was the day of fugita's baptism. the first one i would get to watch, i liked it. The baptism was great, as soon as fugita came out of the water she was crying. she was very touched and graetful. just how grateful i did not know but would soon find out. when she went up to bear her testimony she was very emotional. she could not really speak much, but whatever she said it was expressing her gratitude, it was very sincere. then to my astonishment she closed her eyes bowed her head and started saying a prayer, at first i was stunned, i didnt know what to do, i thought it was very weird but than as i listened to the prayer it hit me, she was so grateful, so overcome with emotion and gratitude that she knew of no other way than to thank her Heavenly Father than to offer a prayer to Him. i was very touched by her prayer, in which she said she was older and commited sinns and how greatful she now was that they were washed away, she thanked the missionaries, and everyone that helped teach her. I have never seen someone so humbled and greatful. This is what a mission is all about!! fugitas conversion and experience will forever be engraved in my mind.
Sunday we confirmed fugita as a member and gave her the spirit, and the other fugita from the phone book came to church, he is about 30 or so very tall for a japanese person, after church he said he enjoyed, but was not really interested in religion, but agreed to meet with us again to talk in enlgish and get to know us.
Monday started off with teaching tatsuya (phone book guy) at first we talked, he is very smart and very good at english, he started to explain japanes culture, history, background. i learned a lot, very fasinating!! he talked about the way japanese people think, act, it was amazing, i learned a lot, and it made a lot of sense. he than told us how he was different why he was not like the rest. he said about ten years ago he was very unhappy. all he did was work. he got up at 6:30 took a train to work, went to work, worked, took a train back got home at 12:30 at night, slept and then did it all over again, every day, no vacation, no weekend. he repeated that life stlye for 5 years. one day he said it was too much, he fainted, woke up in a hospital. when he woke up people thought he was mental, but he explains he had awoken, and broke free of the life he was trapped in, he stoped working, and lived, his girlfriend thought he was crazy and left him, to this day it is a sensitive subject. i was very taken back by his story. as i just listend i found so many thing he said that highlighted messages of our gospel, i just listend, never said anything unless he asked me a question. and he talked, a lot. he told us when he came to church he felt a peace, a sense of love, and unity. he agreed to come to church next week, again. I am very excited for him! the lord guided us to find him, in a very perculiar way, but i am so greatful to have found him, it can be said it was a coincidence or fate, but it is nothing short of the tender mercies of the lord, and his gathering of his elect. even if tatsuya turns into nothing i have learned a great deal from this experience. after that we had another lesson with a 25 year old kid named hashimoto. we went over his reading and discovered he had, had quite the experience. he said at first he did underdstand mosiah 3 the spot where we gave him to read, so he than went and read mosiah 1-4 and he gave a perfect explanation to us of all the chapters. it was amazing, just as we were about to move on i asked him how he felt and he could not describe it, he said it was more than just learning, he felt something, he said he felt like he should pray but didnt. we told him that was the spirit, from there the lesson went great! he offered one of the best prayers i have heard from an inverstigator ever!!
Tuesday was a day full of member visits and meals, it was a lot of fun.
This last week tried my faith with my ankle injury, but it proved when we are given afflictions and trials, the lord is testing us to see if he can bless us, he wants to shower us with blessings but wants us to prove that we want them, that we will submite to his will, i was patcient in my small affliction, and the blessings from heaven we received without end!!! How great is my calling
With all my love
Elder Daniel Henry Lawler

Now for some pictures... too bad there is no cane in view.

Fujita's baptism 

Can you believe  it looks like dano is actually enjoying the food in Japan? I keep holding out for his first encounter with squid and fish soup...

jan 20 & 27 update

So I figure it's been long enough since someone posted something on this blog... "Uncle Dano Missionary" as Eli calls him is doing pretty well on the other side of the world. Here are some excerpts from his Jan 20 and Jan 27 emails.
Here he is with his district in Otaru:

Jan 20 email to Becca:
This week was way good! had a baptism!! Honma, she is amazing really solid, well prepared, Pres Daniels interviewed her and was very impressed with her knowledge and complimented us on our teaching. we also had our interviews with him, we are top three in the mission in every key indicator!! and leading in most! pretty sure my companion is going zone leader next transfer that is what everyone said. went on splits this week with a japanese elder, watanabe he is way cool it was a lot of fun, the whole apartment is japanese, its was a pretty wild time! i will get you those pictures next week !! (this is the last picture at the bottom) oh real quick one picture is of the baptism obviously, the other one is way funny we went to an old investigators house we had never met with before, and they were way crazy!! the doll in the picture is like their kid.. they are old and don't have any kids so they went a little crazy i guess, bought a doll and act like its their kid, the grandpa carries it everywhere, they have pictures with it, at like all these different places, they have a room for her, have over 50 pairs of shoes for her, they have fake food for her, it was way weird, i was laughing the whole time at them! me and elder nelson were dying. the food was way good, and they want to feed us again so probably will go back...

I would like everyone to closely examine "the doll family" because Grandpa is wearing a truly spectacular wardrobe combination. I'm also not sure whether he has 2 doll children or if the child (who would be the bigger doll) has a doll who is a toy.

Jan 27 update to the family:
okay real quick update, had a bad incident yesterday playing basketball with some potential investigators. I went for a lay up and got under cut.. went to the doctor today and i tore two ligaments in my ankle, but im not too bad. They gave me a cane. As of now i can walk, slowly, with my cane, i am not sure what will happen for transfers, if they will keep me in the field of if they will put me in the mission home. hopefully my ankle will heal fast and i can stay in the field but i am not sure. Other than that everything has gone really well this week. went on two more splits, and found out some things i don't want to do as a missionary, the elders i went on splits with were what we call wanpaku, lazy. Our baptism got moved from last saturday to this saturday on the 31st. she is looking really really solid. we did the prep interview and went over baptismal questions and she was amazing!! i am really excited for her and she said she was really excited to be baptized!! that made our week! other than that nothing too exciting has happened this week. we had a couple of interesting lessons this week. one with a women about 29. we shared the joseph smith experience, and asked her what she imagined it looked like, then showed her a picture. she said i saw it a little different. she went up to the board and drew a ufo with a beam coming down, and jesus and god in the beam, very interesting, i tried not to laugh but was unsuccessful. i recovered and told her she was off. I will never forget that one. this week i have really noticed i am understanding a lot more when people speak now, i still struggle speaking but i can understand much better now. i would encourage anyone reading this email, to turn to your heavenly father and talk with him, being on a mission has shown me how much god loves everyone of us he knows who we are! he loves us! he wants us to be happy! and he wants to hear from use, he has given us a way to talk with him, and feel his love, through prayer and reading the book of mormon we can know and feel the love of our creator and father. The lord will continue to pour out his blessings as we make and effort to follow his beloved son jesus christ. I love you all!!!! and am so proud to be a missionary!!

As you can see, Dano is doing well and we're all very proud of him. I'll try to be more responsible about posting on this so all of Dano's fans can follow him. In case you were concerned he was getting too grown up or serious I have included the following pictures: