Dec. 2 Con't

Well another week has gone by, the are going by a lot faster now! i cant believe it! this week was amazing!! Saturday night was a big one! We have been teaching a guy named Hayashi for about a week or so, taught him lesson one and two, and things have been going really well! we set some goals for him and it has been a miracle to see
how through our faith our goals are turning into a reality. so we gave him the commitement and he willingly excepted to be baptized by me on the 12 of december!!!! we know he has problems with a almost everything in the word of wisdom, and who knows what else, but he has a really srong desire and testimony at this point so i am confident that we can overcome those obstacles, and prepare him for baptizm. we found some really awesome other people this week, our teaching pool is really picking up. our numbers this last week crushed everyone elses in the district, we have been working really hard, we taught 9 lessons last week and contacted over sixty five people. a huge improvement on what we had done previous.

I went to my first zone conference this week, absoulutly amazing!! wow it was powerful stuff, i dont think i realized how amazing my mission president is! he took us on what he calls `deep dives` where we pick a gospel topic and go way deep into it. i learned a lot, we did the atonement and the book of mormon. powerful stuff. i dont think i realized how big of a bussiness person he was either.. when he said invited to be the main speaker at the annual CEO`s meeting, in Hong Kong, for over two thousand CEO'S, i realized he is a pretty big gunner. but he is way down to earth, loves sports, after zone we played in door softball with a nerf ball, in the church, and we said we had to go he said stay and play another game. he is really cool. he was mad at me i played tennis and did not invite him to play. won't make the mistake twice.

That is great to hear juan and cristina and leo are doing so good!! really happy for them as a side note, i finished the book of mormon this week that i started reading at the mtc, and i came across chapter 8 of moroni, at the appropriate time i would highly recommend that they read that you share that chapter with them.. i would like to know if my website has been updated?? if so could you print of the page and send it to me?? i would love to see what it looks like.

.. tonight we are teaching 3 lessons so Im really excited about that! things are continuing to progress.. the language is still extremely difficult, but i am slowly picking things up. i am starting to be able to teach more, and make better contacts. love you very much, excited to hear everything is going good!! miracles are real! i see them everyday! we only hold our selfs back from see the powers of heaven with our lack of knowledge and unbelief. i have been feasting on the gospel, there is so much i want to study. i would strongly encourage to learn more about the gospel, make sure as President Eyring said to refreshen our testimonies. there is so much to learn. recently i have been particularly interested in the church history, when we did our book of mormon deep dive, i learned a lot about the 3 witnesses, there is still a lot there to learn. have you heard of the chiasmus? the book of mormon is full of them! very interesting stuff. always read, pray, and study with a purpose, and you will be amazed at what you will learn! The Lord cannot hold back the mysteries of the world, we have the power to learn all things! when reading about the brother of jared, in either, i really got motivated!! i would really suggest to read that. the last conference in which Pres. Bruce McConkie spoke, he bore one of the most powerful testimonies, i would suggest reading it if you have not.
Love, Elder Lawler

Dec 2

Oh ,the kid in the 3rd picture is one of the kids in the ward. japanese kids are way way cute! old people are pretty scary though. me and my companion are pretty tall out here, but surprisingly, maybe its just cause we are further up north but the average height, is pretty tall! like most people are just a little shorter than me.. oh and one more favor, it says pretty specifically that we are to email family only, and i have really been trying to obey with exactness, so i will send separate emails, in response to emails from my friends, if you could just forward them to their email address for me that would be awesome!! thanks, love you all very much!
elder lawler!!

Nov. 25th

wow i thought i had a busy week!!! i cant believe all that happened with Cristina!! wow... looks like once again uncle dano missed out on more Lawler family fun! that is absolutely crazy.. im glad everything worked out! give my love to juan cristina and leo!!!! well to start off i will answer some of your questions and then list some little things i have need of..

...if you could send me my nike/jordan stickers, they were in a manila envelop i left them out, if you could send those to me that would be really nice so i could put them on my NEW BIKE!! its way sweet solid bike.

so here is what has been going on!!
this week has turned out to be amazing!!! last week was kind of crappy for finding and what not but the start of this week we have already done better than we did all of last week.. its only wend. and we have already taught 4 lessons, we have another 6 planned for the week, we have picked up 2 referrals, 4 new investigators, and taught two lessons with members!! yesterday was really good, we found more people yesterday than we usually do in 3 days. we have truly been blessed.

Sunday was way fun, we had an guy we contacted the Saturday night before come to church, which is almost un heard of, the ward was really excited to see a new investigator come. but than after sacrament meeting one of the sister members came up to me and started going off with really fast Japanese and i couldn't catch every thing she was saying, but i caught the work do you like to sing, and i said kind of, and then she said did you sing at church in utah, and i was like ya, but to her that meant i sang in front of the church, she asked another question i was not really sure what it meant, and i said yes, and she got really excited which made me nervous, then she walked off and my companion turned to me and said do you know what you just told her, and i said i have no idea.. he said she asked you if we would sing in two weeks and do a musical number for the ward and you said yes.. so i guess me and elder nelson are going to be doing a duet for the ward in two weeks!! what a nightmare!! i laughed for a while after that, i learned my lesson to not always fake like you know what someone is talking about..

.. right now we have six investigators we are teaching which is really really good out here! so i am really excited. things are slowly picking up and we are starting to see people progress and do well.. the food out here is way way good!! the noodles are really tasty and the rice is good, they have a lot of different types i like, but i have not been asked to eat fish yet so thats good...

guess what!!! on friday night guess what i did? played tennis!! it was really fun, one of the women who just got baptized her parents are somewhat interested and they play tennis like every day so when she found out i played tennis she set up a time for us to play. and the mission president was cool with it, so they picked us up and we went to this really nice resort place and played, the girls parents are way rich i guess. i surprisingly did really well, at first i kind of sucked, and the dad was pretty good, so we started playing and i smoked him!! my serves were on fire! just hit them as hard as i could and they would go in.. i drew quite the crowd, it was funny everyone was way amazed i guess there are not to many good tennis players in japan.. after every shot they would clap, it was kind of ridiculous.. but i had fun, I'm going to try and send you those pictures..

..well there is still a ton of snow on the ground but the roads are dry so we have been riding our bikes, its really fun/scary, one we are on the wrong side of the road and every time i go to turn i almost get hit because i forget, and two the cars pull right up next to you if i put my hand out i could touch them.. it didn't take long for me to biff it on the ice either, we were pulling of to the side of the road and i hit my brakes right as we went over this huge patch of ice and i wiped out.. no harm to the bike or me though, everyone around us was laughing.. im really starting to love Japanese people and all the weird things they do here, its really funny, people are either terrified of us or want to be our friends cause we are American.. people start running away when they see us walk towards them its really funny.

We do mostly housing all day and when we knock peoples doors the old lady's answer and look up at us and start backing away almost shaking and then shut the door, its really really funny. but most people just say they are budhdist and slam the door.. well thats pretty much was has been going on. well for the christmas list all that really comes to mind is lots of candy and food!! they are not real big on treats out here, so like Receses and jerky, and more milano cookies, stuff like that would be way sweet!! and pictures would be nice! and some more spending money in my account is always a good thing!! oh and who am i getting presents for?　are we doing the name thing?? let me know!!

love elder lawler!!
(dont forget to forward this to everyone!!)

Dano's Testimony from the Airport

Danielsan called us from the airport on his way to Tokyo, and gave us his Japanese testimony. All Japanese-speakers listen up.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Nov. 19th - First Letter from Japan!!!!

k well i just wrote a huge letter to you but it got deleted, really un happy about it but oh well... to some it up, i love it here everything is amazing its really hard with the language, but i am trying my best, improving a little at a time is my goal.. otaru is a really pretty area. the ward is amazing. today we went to the aquarium with some of them and presindent dainels his wife and daughter came too. way fun. my companion is amazing and is super helpful, i love serving with him, he is a fun guy too.. it snowed for the first time today, pretty cold but i am fine. i do need a better backpack though, we track a lot, and the mtc bag sucks. the one my companion has that he recomended was north face black bag. its called the heckler or something like that.. if you cant find it a black one with good straps, with cushion will do. all my mail just send to me with the mission home address and they forward stuff to me, so on transfers you dont miss mail.. i would love to get some mail one of these days.. will you email my friends, and tell them the same message? that would be really nice.. the mission president is putting together a presentation of all the missionaries and wants to use my tennis dvd i had. so if you could send him a copy a soon as possible that would be great!! i also need you to send me some pictures of the family all together, and the more recent the better. and i need some of my playing tennis i know there are a lot on the computer. but people are always asking my to see pictures and i dont have any. the mission work is hard, people look at us and say no because we are christian, and say the are buhhdist right away, it can be very furrustrating. but we try hard. we have one guy named ishiura who is really into our lessons, we have a bunch of other potentials too so i hope all turns out well.. the language is really hard. but im doing my best. food is good, so far no throw ups so that is nice.. well im running out of time, sorry i wrote you a huge letter, and tryed to send it and it deleted! really mad about that. send me some love in the mail, i am excited for cristina give my love to everyone, i would love to hear how everyone is doing. Japan is great, really different but i love it. love you!! elder lawler

First City: Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan!!!

Elder Lawler finally made it to Japan. Gave out a Book of Mormon on the long airplane ride from L.A. to Tokyo, and got to play hoops with his Mission Pres. and Assistants on Day #1!

Here's a copy from Wikipedia about Otaru:

Otaru, Hokkaidō
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Otaru
小樽市
Otaru's location in Hokkaidō, Japan.


Otaru's location in Japan.
Location
Country Japan
Region Hokkaidō
Prefecture Hokkaidō
Physical characteristics
Area 243.13 km2 (93.87 sq mi)
Population (as of 2008)
Total 137,693
Density 580.11 /km² (1,502 /sq mi)
Location 43°11′N 140°60′E / 43.183, 141Coordinates: 43°11′N 140°60′E / 43.183, 141
Symbols
Tree Shirakaba (Siberian Silver Birch)
Flower Azalea
Bird Aobato (Japanese Green Pigeon)

Flag
Otaru Government Office
Address 2-12-1 Hanazono, Otaru-shi, Hokkaidō
047-8660
Phone number 0134-32-4111
Official website: City of Otaru

A section of the Otaru skyline.
A canal in OtaruOtaru (小樽市, Otaru-shi?) is a city and port located in Shiribeshi, Hokkaidō, Japan, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces the Ishikari Bay, and it has long served as the main port of the bay. With its many historical buildings, Otaru is one of Japan's leading tourist destinations. Also, because it is located within a 25 minute-drive from Sapporo, the city recently has seen growth as a bedroom community.

As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 137,693 and the density of 580.11 persons per km². The total area is 243.13 km². Although it is the largest city in Shiribeshi, it is not the capital of the subprefecture (that title goes to the more centrally-located Kutchan).

Contents [hide]
1 Geography
1.1 Neighboring Cities and Towns
2 History
3 Notable attractions
4 Climate
5 Mount Tengu
6 See also
7 Sister cities
8 External links



[edit] Geography
Otaru is a port town on the coast of the Sea of Japan in northern Shiribeshi subprefecture. At one time, a canal ran through the middle of the town, but now only a portion of it has been preserved. The southern portion of the city is characterized by the steep slopes of various mountains--notably Mount Tenguyama, a popular winter skiing location--and the altitude of the land sharply drops from the mountains to the seaside. The land available between the coast and mountains has been almost completely developed, and the developed part of the city on the mountain slopes is called Saka-no-machi, or "Hill town", including hills affectionately named Funamizaka (Boat-view Hill) and Jigokuzaka (Hell Hill).

MTC LIFE

DEPARTURE DATE

We just heard Daniel will be leaving for Japan on Nov 11 !!! So go to dearelder.com and send him a quick letter before he leaves...just click on the left hand side under free MTC mail...fill in his information (located on the left side of this blog )and write him..he will receive it the same day! Thanks for everyone's support for Daniel!!!

Letters from 9/23 and 9/24 and 10/7

Daniel letter: 9/23/08

Last Sunday we heard a talk on the Savior by Elder Jensen and it was the best one that I’ve ever heard. Here are a few of the excerpts:

-God chose Jesus to come to the earth. Satan was not chosen and became angry. Satan leaves and takes many with him.
-Jesus tells of His purpose
-Man will reject Jesus even after all that He would do for us.
-Jesus suffered for us so that man might come unto Him.
-We are not condemned for our sins if we will but repent
-If we have faith in Christ, we can do all things!

This list has helped me to understand and strengthen my relationship with Christ!

9/24/08

Sorry about your injuries Daddio, thanks for the toll house pie and other goodies.
I could use another sports update…

(He included some kanji symbols that I can’t duplicate…one was for strength)

Our lives that we live as members of the church must be a symbol to the world.

We must stand as a witness of Christ in all things and in all places.

10/7/08

Thanks for the camera! I’m sending you a memory card with a bunch of pictures on it (they will also be here on the blog). There’s also a video on it (he told us to ask Becca and Jamey how to put it on the blog site….we’ll ask and see…

No, I did not sing in the MTC choir at the Priesthood session of conference….I know that it wasn’t like me to miss out on such an opportunity…

General conference was AWESOME. Every talk you could tell was inspired and the Spirit was great…it was so so good and I got so much out of it! (I took 19 pages of notes!)





My two favorite were the talk on Christian Courage by Elder Hales, and on Hope by Pres. Uchtdorf. It seemed like every talk was centered on missionary work. Loved the talk by Sis . Allred where she told everyone to write to missionaries.

We had heard the Pres. Monson story about the missionary who kept complaining about
Spanish being too hard to learn until he was forced to go to a Japanese class instead…then he thought that Spanish wasn’t so hard after all.

We do get a certain amount of respect here in the MTC for learning Japanese, which is kind of nice.

Last week my companion and I gave our first discussion in ‘ni hongo’ (Japanese). I won’t say that it was a bomb, but it wasn’t great either…somewhere in between. The hardest part was trying to answer their questions. We could understand them for the most part, but it was hard to answer them because our language was so limited.

The new Japanese missionaries are coming tomorrow…Our teachers told us that we couldn’t speak English to them for the next couple of days. I feel kind of bad for them because they are going to be pretty intimidated by the language. But hopefully it will challenge them and help them to work harder.

It’s awesome to hang out some with the Hansens. And it’s nice to be able to joke around and laugh (some of my other newer friends here don’t laugh very much).

Please get my Ryan Wong and Jarom Patterson’s addresses. I want to write to them because I’ve been thinking about them and wondering how they’re doing.

Thanks for the support and the letters.

(weird characters meaning something)

Elder Lawler