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:

Dec. 16 to Mom

Hayashi got baptized!!!!!!!!!!! and to top that off earlier that day we had a lesson with a women named Fugita, and she is getting baptized on the 24th of January!!! and to top that tomorrow we are going to hopefully take a date from a guy named Nishiura!! amazing or what!! All good things happen in pairs of three!! it just goes to show, never stop believing!! do not fear!! never accept defeat! it is amazing the work that is going on here right now, the lord is truly gathering his elect!! big things happen, as soon as you decide they do!! I feel so proud to be a tool used by the Lord, what a great and marvelous work that has been going on among the children of men!
love you!!!

Dec 16th send to Dad

Dec 16th
Real quick to respond to the questions that you asked, my name tag is ロ-ラ- pronounced ro ra. but there are all sorts of variations as to what they say... the Japanese do celebrate Christmas but, like most of the world they take the Christ out of Christmas, its just xmas out here for the most part. Our ward is having a huge Christmas party!! They have been planning forever.. and one of the main events they are having is a kind of rock Christmas song they have here.. called ma ke na i koto maybe Yamada's (friends in Alpine) has heard of it... anyway, they are having a band play and put a big stage up, and guess who are the singers?? ya thats right they nominated the elders to do it.. we had practice the other day, and its going to be a blast!! ha ha i cannot wait, i will be sure to get some pictures of it.. while on the Christmas subject, here is the time and number for you to call me!! but we only get 1 hr. here is our apartment number for you to call, we dont call you, you call me....can't wait to hear from you all!! things are great! love you very very much!!
Your son, Elder Lawler

Dec 9 to Dad

...well this week has been another week of miracles!
we gave Hayashi the word of wisdom commitment, at first it did not go good at all! he panicked, said it would be impossible and started saying we were going to have to move the date back.. by the end of the lesson he gave us his word that tomorrow he would stop, and would still get baptized on the 12th..(that night he went home and drank all the alcohol in his apartment, which i guess is a lot because he said he threw up twice) haha i couldn't help but laugh.. as of today he is still keeping the word of wisdom! everything is looking on track for the baptism still! i'm really excited!!...we found some great new investigators this week! really excited and hope things take off with them.

Last Sunday was our missionary fireside for our ward, they gave an awesome presentation, i don't have the dvd yet, but as soon as i get it i will give it to them so they can put it in. the best part was when they did McKay Jacobsons video.. the old wide receiver for BYU, he is our zone leader, as you could imagine his highlight video was pretty sick! President Daniels was amazing too, he was at one point the 40 highest tax payer in japan, CEO of three major companies at once, including at&t japan. it was a great inspirational fireside.

yesterday was my first presidents interview! cant say i was not a little nervous.. but i took a lot from it. at the beginning he had both of us come in to review our numbers with him.. we looked through, in almost every category our numbers were above mission average! in five categories, we were top 5. and we were leading in appointments made. than after he looked at us and said i don't tell everyone this, but i want you two to be the standard. set the bar. i think you two can lead the mission, do it! he said we were the youngest companionship, but he thinks we have the most potential.. wow that really took me back. to see how much confidence our president had in us was amazing. the truth is we want to be the best! after that it was a great booster to get out there and prove that we can do great things.

...on a more personal night i had a very special experience dad.. i was just about to go to bed. i find right before i go to bed is when i receive a lot of personal revelation, or new ideas. about three nights ago i was thinking about what i would do after my mission. i could definetly see you in my job, i couldn't pick out what it was at first though, at first i thought maybe some kind of presentation, or speaker. than it came to me, and i could feel a very re assuring feeling, my heart began to beat very hard, and i knew with out a doubt what i was to do. I feel very strongly that i am supposed to be a chiropractor. as soon as the thought came in my mind i saw a wonderful and bright future, working together with you, going to school, even though it will be difficult. the more i think about it the more it seems right. i try now to put it off and focus on the work, but i thought i would let you know. and would love to hear some feedback.
hope everything is going great!!! would love to hear from the family! mail would be a nice.. love you all very much!!
ELDER LAWLER

Dec 9 to Mom

i just wrote a letter to dad but i will respond to the questions you asked me in this email..
have not gotten any mail from you yet.. except for the thanksgiving card, Grandma Lawler so far has sent more mail than any one else.. they do celebrate christmas here, its pretty big, we are having a big ward christmas party. did not hear about Grandma Henry being in the hospital,tell her I hope she gets better & love her... have not heard any news really about anything, found out yesterday that Elder Worthlin died, found out today from you about Ace.. i will make sure to send Matty something for Christmas, i think i have something that he will really like! i will work on a letter to the ward, and i will hopefully get some pictures from the baptism or something for you next week to put in there. keep me updated!!!!!! love you thankyou for the pictures give my love to everyone at home especially Ace if you see him!! i will write him a letter today..
love elder lawler