He is Samurai

Dear Blog Readers,

 I have put off writing this post for a couple of weeks.  I thought that I needed to get past the frustration, anxiety, bewilderment, anger, sadness...still not past it, but on we go...

It has been a journey - the last four months.  It has been the hardest thing to watch my optimistic, healthy 19 year old son be reduced to broken hearted, damaged and sick missionary, holding on to his mission like his life depended on it.  Then, like a phoenix out of the ashes, we watched this beautiful, damaged boy rebuild and reconstruct everything that he thought he was.  It really was beautiful to watch, really, and one of the most amazing things that I have seen in my life.  What emerged was an empathetic, kindhearted man that defended the schizophrenic woman on the street and cried with the struggling investigator.  And, through learning to deal with his depression, he learned that life doesn't always turn out the way you'd expect.

He was recovering, slowly, but he was recovering, rebuilding his self identity and strength brick by brick.  He was given the necessary tools by my sister, but he did the work.  And he worked at it constantly.  He made small goals at first, just trying to kick the rock down the road until he felt healthy enough to make bigger decisions.   At the end of his last transfer, he felt like he wanted and needed to make the decision of whether he felt that he could make it through the next 16 months.  He prayerfully considered what his next move would be.  After many days of prayer, he realized that he could do it - he felt that he was strong enough to pull this off.  He knew that it would be hard, he knew that he was still sick, but he felt that he had the support of his mission president and his parents and the help of his Aunt Pat.  His mission president gave him permission to have us call and talk over the decision and make sure that it was the right one.

Honestly, the growth in him was astounding and we could tell a significant and marked difference in our son. He was excited, but nervous, about making this re-commitment to his mission and to himself.  It was the start of something great.

That's usually when something unexpected happens.

We woke up on Christmas morning to an email from his mission president.  It was great timing...Christmas morning.  If we knew what was in the email, we would have waited until the rush of Christmas morning because it was like a bomb was dropped in the middle of an already emotionally challenging day.  His mission president stated in his email that he felt that Kolton was too sick to stay in Japan and needed to come home to receive the treatment.  That he wasn't getting any better.   My reaction then...and still now...is 'HUH?'   We had seen the remarkable change in him and essentially, we were being asked, by his mission president, to talk to him about something that we didn't believe.    But, we chucked what should have been a happy, joyous phone call between  Kolton with his sisters and, instead, spent half of our hour phone conversation with him talking about the one subject that he wanted no part of talking about on Christmas day - his depression. He was as bewildered as we were.  He didn't understand where his mission presidents change of heart about his condition came from.  But, Kolton said that he would go back and reconsider and pray about it again.

For the next four days, we waited with heavy hearts to hear what Kolton had decided to do.  When Pat talked with him on Sunday night (December 29) he, again, restated that he wanted to stay and still felt that he could do it.   He felt secure in his decision and we were proud that he was sticking to his guns.

Kolton, then, called his mission president and told him, again, that he wanted to remain in Japan.  His mission president still felt that it would be best if Kolton returned home.  Kolton said, at that point, something in him snapped and he came to the realization that if he stayed, he would be doing so without his mission presidents blessing and support, - the two things that he desperately needed.  I imagine that he felt very defeated at this point, he had lost trust and belief in his one and only ally in Japan.  He told his mission president that if he wanted him to go home...he would comply with his mission presidents direction.

This post isn't intended to make his mission president out as a villain.  He has been very supportive and encouraging to Kolton throughout this whole unfortunate experience.  That is why Kolton is so devastated in his sudden change of heart.  He just has a different opinion of Kolton's health than his family, his therapist, and Kolton, himself, has.  There are just so many questions that we have that cannot be answered and there is so much more that went on that would just make this post horribly cumbersome. Honestly, at the end of it, we still wouldn't have the answers that we are looking for.

 I told Kolton in every letter that he was a Samurai. Samurai means essentially 'to serve' in Japanese.  In his last letter, I told him "The ultimate act of a warrior is to lay down his sword" So...that is what he will do and will return home in the next couple of weeks.  We feel that he stayed and fought as hard as he could to serve a mission until the choice to fight was taken away from him. He gave everything that he had and still chose to stay-that is the telling part of this story. He didn't ever give up on his mission but, rather, his mission gave up on him.

 It is the death of a dream for him but he knows that he has learned a lot about himself and has grown in ways that he didn't expect.  Missions, they say, are for the missionary-that it is the process of learning and discovering yourself  is what makes the mission a success.  Kolton laughed that his mission was "a mission on turbo" that he jammed so much disappointment, pain, insecurity but so much self discovery and growth into the 8 months he served, that he must have learned what the Lord needed him to learn. He served honorably and faithfully with nothing wanting.  His mission is complete.  Well done, Elder Klein - we can't wait to see you!

Love,
Jillyn

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yeah, I guess that it is that time of the year again.  This year`s Christmas will be a little bit different, I don`t know why I would think that at all though...oh yeah, because I will be talking about Christ all day long in a Japanese Train Station, that`s why!

Well, I am really grateful that I had the chance to talk with you twice last week even though the circumstances weren't the best.  I always love hearing your voices and I am really excited to be able to hear them again in a couple of days.  I am really excited to hear my dear sister`s voices because I haven`t heard them in such a long time.  Anyways, I hope that everyone has a great Christmas and we can talk more about your Christmas during our phone call.  By the way, Madisen, I have not yet received your package but I`m sure I will be getting it in a couple of days.  Also, about the telephone call, can everyone have some questions already lined up?  The phone call can only be 1 hour long max anyways.  

Well, to be honest nothing really out of the ordinary happened this week.  I did get to go on a companion exchange with Elder Fuchigami though.  It went well for the most part but he probably thinks I am really dull especially compared to his current companion, Elder Broeder.  We had the chance to talk with a group of 10 College students though.  The Japanese people always get a laugh of off me when I tell them that my name means small in German.  They just can`t believe it.  

The most interesting thing that happened within the last few days was the Ward Christmas Party that we had on Saturday Night.  It was really fun and you could really get into the Christmas Spirit there.  I will attach a few pictures of the Christmas party in this email.  We basically got there and realized that there was a ton of good food, a perfect situation for starving missionaries in a very expensive country.  Needless to say, we ate as much cheesecake as we could without being rude.  They also put on a Talent Show after we ate the food.  We got to hear renditions of `Poorwayfaring Man of Grief` on the violin (which reminded me a lot of Elizabeth because it was played by a young women around Elizabeths age), `You`ll be in My Heart` on the guitar, among others.  Elder Fuchigami got to participate in the talent show too.  By participate, I mean forced into it by the over excited Bishop upon the Bishop hearing his talent of playing the ukulele.  They, Elder Fuchigami and the Bishop, played `Crazy-G` on the ukulele together and it was pretty funny.  After the talent show, we got a visit from Santa himself who looks a lot like Brother Nishida wearing a Santa suit, white sneakers, and a fake white beard covering his real white beard.  I have a picture.

Well, I don`t much what else to say other than I look forward to talking with you on Christmas (My Boxing Day)!  I love you all!

With Love,

Elder Klein

Petting the Magical Deer...finally!

Dear Family,

How has everyone been?  By the sound of it, Utah is quite the winter wonderland right now.  I can`t imagine being that cold, with that much ice and snow.  It sure is cold over here but at least it isn't that cold and the roads aren't icy and there isn`t a ounce of snow on the ground.  I don`t think that I could say the same for the Sapporo Mission, though.

Last Preparation Day we, FINALLY, got to go to magical Nara!   We finally got to Nara after about an hour and a half.  The cool thing about it was that everything that we wanted to see was within walking distance of the train station.  It was quite べんり(convenient).   We got to see some really old Shinto and Buddhist temples, pet some magical deer, and fight our way through the crowds and crowds of High School students.  No kidding, though, that the streets were pack full of High School kids from different High Schools on a school field trip.  It was good and I am glad that I got to go.  I will definitely send some pictures in this email.

Petting the magical deer

A little kid running from the deer

A baby deer in an unusual spot

 Shrine

This was Kolton's favorite picture of a little kid in traditional robes

Well, this week has been really tough.  I didn`t want to mention this... but Aunt Pat said that it would be a good thing to tell you about.  So, last week on Monday, I got into a bad bike accident.  Where we live is on the top of a giant hill that we call the Hill of Faith.  We were going to go visit an investigator at his work so we climbed on our bikes and started to head down the hill.  Then, for some whatever reason, I lost control of my bike a bit, my brakes didn`t work quite right, and I flipped over my handlebars.  I, luckily, broke most of my fall with my right hand.  I am really lucky that I didn`t break my hand, though, and after my hand, my head was the next thing to hit the paved road.  I was wearing my helmet and everything so it wasn`t too bad, but I got a nasty cut on my forehead where my helmet wasn`t covering my head.  After that, I tumbled down the hill until I came to a stop.  I got two big cuts on both my knee caps and bruises along all my body.  It took a second for Elder Rasmusen to realize that I wasn`t following behind him and when he came up the hill he saw me lying on the road.  After 15 minutes, I walked back to the apartment, bandaged my self up and wiped the blood off of my hands, feet, and forehead.  I told Elder Rasmusen to tell Sister Zinke what just happened and then I proceeded to rest for the rest of the night.

Needless to say that my body is still aching from the crash but most of the cuts and bruises have gone away.  My right hand hurt for 2 days and I was worried that I had dislocated a bone or broken one, but my hand was really bruised though.  But, I have been working every single day even though it nearly killed me to do so for several days.

Last week, we had 3 lessons with M. Shimai (the one with the small baby).  We have been trying to teach her everything so that she can be baptized whenever she can.  She really wants to be baptized but she hasn`t talked with her husband about it; she hasn`t even told her husband that she is meeting with us.  We really hope that everything turns out alright, but I am not worried.

Last Friday, we had to go to Nara again for a Zone Training Meeting.  We had to wake up especially early so that Elder Rasmusen could make it to a District Leader Meeting before the actually Zone Training Meeting took place.  We went through the meeting and it was okay and after we decided to proselyte for an hour as an entire zone in Nara.  We exited out the church and each companionship went their seperate ways.  Elder Rasmusen and I ended up herding 10 High School Girls to the church, for a church tour, that stopped and talked with us.  I know for a fact that they weren`t really interested in the church but more in that they thought that I was good looking (the benefits of knowing a language even though those talking don`t know that you know the language).  We ended up handing them off to another companionship because we had to be back early so we could have a lesson with M. Shimai.  Friday was certainly one busy day though.

Well, it was great to hear about what is happening in Utah.  I hope that everything goes smooth with Vic and Madisen helping Vic`s sister this week for her wedding.  Mom and Dad, I hope that work is going okay.  Speaking of which, about the lady that walked into your work Mom, I have seen a stereotype like that in Japan like noneother.  Except for 20 and younger kids, it seems is that everyone in Japan thinks that all that Americans do is carry around guns and shoot people whenever they feel like it.  I have heard them make up excuses and statistics like 何回も(more times than I can count, Nankaimo) about America being the murder capital in the world.  All I can do is shake my head and say, `No, I am an American, I know what America is like, people just don`t wave guns around and have nothing better to do than to shoot people.`  I have to be honest though I have, on occassion, wanted to say, "Yeah, America is soooo dangerous.  I can`t show it right now but I have this HUGE scar on my back when I got into a firefight in Downtown New York.  It was crazy." and just completely freak them out.  Probably shouldn`t though....

Also, Elizabeth, I hope that everything is going okay.  I read about your eye exam.  Don`t worry, glasses aren`t bad at all.  First, I wanted to scream Hallaluah when I first put on my glasses and, when I realized that I could see, I wanted to sing `It`s a whole new world.....`.  Glasses are great, I never knew how much they could help until I had a pair of my own.  Second, Glasses are really cool.  I get compliments about how my glasses make me look like Clark Kent (Superman) all the time and that they really like them on me.  If I get compliments like that if I am a normal looking guy then I can only imagine the compliments you will get because you are an extremely cute girl.

I hope you have fun at your work Christmas party Madisen.  Maybe you`ll be able to see the lost 117 pages of the Book of Lehi this time around when Dr. Dork shows you all of his books.

 I love you all.  Talk with you again.

Love,

Elder Klein

Where's Waldo...in Kobe, apparently!

(Sorry!  I didn't have the chance to post Kolton's letter last week, so it is a week late.  Whoops.)

Hey Family,

Sorry, I actually don`t have a lot of time right now.  I guess that today (with fingers crossed) we will actually be able to go to Nara.  Needless to say, with this much waiting and anticipation, my expectations of the place are pretty high.  I just hope that we don`t get lost along the way because Elder Rasmusen has never been to Nara either.  I just hope that we don`t get stuck riding on trains all day trying to find our way to and from Nara.  Again, fingers crossed.

Yeah, so last Preparation Day, we went to Kobe because there was something wacky going on with Elder Rasmusen`s Japanese National Health Care Card, so we had to go and figure that out on Monday.  It was pretty miserable because it was absolutely pouring by the time we stepped off at our stop.  We ended up, like my prediction said, spending the entire time running around inside of City Halls and traveling inside of trains.  I did manage to find a copy of Where`s Waldo for kids inside of the Kobe City Hall, I couldn`t resist picking it up while Elder Rasmusen was doing his things.

This week, we have been having a lot of trouble with all of our appointments falling through.  We didn`t have a lesson with the Teenage Girls because they canceled and we didn`t have a lesson with M. Shimai because none of the members that we called showed up (we need at least 1 male member or 2 more female members to do a lesson with a girl).  So, we just ended up talking in the Genkan (Entrance way) of the church while we waited for the members to arrive (which they didn`t).  We talked a lot and we got to all smile at M. Shimais little boy T. Kun while he was crawling to and from people.  He started playing with my G-Shock half way through talking with M. Shimai and he ended up slobbering all over it.  I love kids though, so it is okay.

We actually had Zone Conference last Friday and we heard from Zinke kaicho.  He really is a great man.  We talked a lot about different things and it was all pretty good, there was some comments from the peanut gallery (the other missionaries) that I really didn`t agree with, but other than that...

I also had the chance to talk with Zinke kaicho after the zone conference about where I am now that I finished my goal of staying for one more transfer.  We talked a lot and I won`t mention everything that we talked about because, like I have said before, I want to try and make these emails as uplifting as possible.  If you want to know anything about what we talked about you can ask Aunt Pat or you can tell me what you want to know in your next letter to me.

On Sunday, after church we got to go help S. Kyodai (a mentally disabled member) move out of his apartment into another house.  It was really hard since he didn`t pack up anything for us and we were all exhausted because we haven`t eaten anything because of fast Sunday.  We eventually got everything moved out, though.  I think the Bishop was really happy that I was there because we needed to move his fridge and I was the only one there who was really, umm... able to move the fridge.

Well, I am really grateful for all your letters that you sent me this week.  I loved hearing about how Dad`s talk went, Elizabeth chilling on Thanksgiving weekend, the Black Friday madness that you all had to go through, and about Thanksgiving.  It is always nice to hear about what is going on at home.  I hope that everything went ok with the mail lady mom.  Customs can certainly be a pain to deal with.

Well, I think I need to start finishing everything up.  So, I love all of you and I will write again next week!

Love,

Elder Klein

I am neither Japanese nor a girl...

Hi Family,

Last P-Day was spent all inside our church`s Family History computers.  Elder Rasmusen had to write all of his papers for his BYU application, so I just got to sit around in the computer lab for my entire P-Day. Really boring.  This P-Day isn`t going to be any better.  We have to now go settle something with Elder Rasmusen`s Alien Card in Kobe.  I don`t want to get into all the hows and whys, but I get to spend my P-Day riding trains and visiting City Halls.  I really hope that this will be the end of this streak of running around and doing nothing fun on P-Day.

You wanted to know what part of Canada Elder Rasmusen is from.  He is from British Columbia and lives in a small town near Vancouver.

It is starting to get really cold here in Japan.  As soon as the sun goes down, it starts to get freezing.  The actual temperature isn`t that cold, but because of the humidity everything just seems really cold.  No rain, no snow, just really cold.

 I can`t remember anything special that happened last Tuesday.  But last Wednesday, we got to teach the two young-women.  It was pretty good and I think Yuna enjoyed it a lot because we taught an overview of the Plan of Salvation, and she has thought about some of the questions that tie into the plan of salvation.  All and all, it was a good lesson.  After the lesson, I gave Yuna your email address, Elizabeth, so I would expect that she will write to you soon. If not I will give you her email address so that you can write to her first.  I also took a picture with them so that you can see who you are writing to.  Yuna is the one in the middle and her friend is the one on the right.  Apparently what Japanese teenage girls love to do when taking pictures now is to hide their faces and hold up two peace signs.  I don`t get it at all, but then again I am neither Japanese nor a girl so...  Wednesday was also the last day of Elder Steers being in Hirakata.  I am sad to see him go, he was a really good guy and I will miss his sense of humor.

So, on Thursday we got another Elder in the Hirakata District.  His name is Elder Fuchiguchi (I think, I keep on messing up his name).  He is from Hawaii and is half Japanese and half American.  I really don`t know to much about him to be honest.

We also got to go 'House Hunting' on Thursday.  We have this potential investigator who is a realtor who works in a model home for Panasonic (Yeah, Panasonic the electronic company, I did not know that they made houses now...).  We got to go through the house tour with her and see all the ins and outs of a modern Japanese home.  It was pretty cool and really big, I thought, for a Japanese home.  It has all the features one expects from a Panasonic home: two kitchens, run entirely off of solar energy in case a nuclear disaster happens (I had to use my electronic dictionary a lot when she was describing it. I don`t usually use words like 'Nuclear Radiation' when dealing with investigators), and has a bathroom in which the toilet flips open as soon as you open the bathroom door.

The rest of the week passed by normally.

I am really happy that you all are enjoying yourselves.  It sounds like Vic is having fun with his new RC car and Elizabeth is enjoying the Hunger Games Movie.  I think that dad is really rocking his new suit, you look way nice.  Mom, I hope that moving all the Christmas stuff goes well; I think that you will make it all look very nice in the store.  Madisen, I hope that everything is going to get better at work, especially with training a new employee.

Well, about the Christmas presents.  I really don`t know when I will be able to buy them here in Japan, most likely in a couple of weeks.  So I am really sorry, I won`t be able to get them there in time for Christmas, but I will try my very best to get them there as soon as possible.

About the sushi bar, it was actually one of the conveyor belt ones.  What happens is that you have a conveyor belt pass by every booth with random sushi that you may want.  You can pick the plates up whenever and start eating and your total cost will be however plates of sushi you ate at the end of your meal.  You also have an electronic menu where you can order specific sushi that you want and they send it straight to you on a second conveyor belt that is exactly over the first.  If you eat 5 plates, you get to slide them into a bin and play a little game on the electronic menu.  It plays a little video and you watch and see if you win or not, if you win - you receive a little prize.  I won one last time and I got a spinning top.

Well I don`t what else to talk about, so I think that I will just leave it here.  I love you all,

Love,

Elder Klein

The Feel Good

Kolton with his Pokemon calendar

Hi Family,

So, last Preparation Day, I did not get to go and pet the magical deer in Nara.  We had to stick around the apartment all day because the zone leaders had to swing by and get Elder Rasmusen`s signature on a baptismal record and Elder Steers and Elder Broeder took forever to email.  So, by the time we finished doing everything and had some free time it was about 3:30.  We couldn`t go to Nara because it takes 1 and a half hours just to ride the train there.  So, we got to do my favorite thing on Preparation Day- sit around the apartment doing nothing.  Guess what I get to do again today?  You guessed it!  I get to sit in the church family history computer room while my companion types out all of his essays for a BYU application until the end of Preparation Day.  Can you imagine the kind of enthusiasm I am feeling right now...Haha!

 Tuesday was a pretty normal day.  We just ran through the motions and there is really nothing special to talk about.

 Wednesday, we had another companion exchange, this time Elder Steers came over to Hirakata 2 (My area).  Everything was pretty good, we planned a lesson for 3 hours, though, because the paperwork in this mission is absolutely ridiculous and because we have never planned together before.  So, after 3 hours of planning and two bowls of popcorn while doing so, we finally finished our lesson plan to teach M. Shimai about the rest of the Restoration.  The problem is that we didn`t have time to practice giving her lesson until it started.  So, throwing caution to the wind, we waited for M. Shimai to arrive at the church which took her a little bit; she was 45 minutes late to the lesson (she is normally only 10 minutes late).  After we sit down, with us and all of our members present, we say a prayer and, then, ask her how her Book of Mormon reading is going.  She had no idea what she needed to read so she just opened up to the last book, Moroni, and started reading.  She said that she had a question about what fasting is.  I look at Elder Steers and we again threw caution to the wind and taught her about fasting instead of our 3 hour planned lesson because we had another lesson downstairs with our teenage women investigators in 15 minutes.  After we finished the lesson, we booked it downstairs to teach another lesson, which went really well.

After that, we got to go visit a less active member down at the Hirakata shi eki.  She is from the Philippians and, while I can`t write about everything that is happening in her life, she is going through absolute hell right now.  It took all the strength that I had not to break down crying for her while she was telling me about her life.  I told her in my sincerest of hearts that I could feel what she is going through and told her if there was anything that I could do to help her, than she needs to tell me.

After, we did that then Elder Steers wanted to help me feel a little better because I have been sick all week.  He said that one of the things that he loves to do when he gets sick is to make a special drink to get him through the day.  He said that the drink consists of Red Bull and Orange Juice.  I was game for it, but I felt that there was something a little bit more that we could add to it.  Then, it came to my mind - Match!  Match is my favorite drink of all time (Yes my absolute favorite drink), plus it is a vitamin drink, so it has enough vitamins to kill a horse, and I felt like that would make all the difference.  So, after buying all of our ingredients at a conveni, we headed up to our apartment to make the drink.  However, after making the mixture of Red Bull, Orange Juice, and Match, I refused to drink it until we came up with a proper name.  After talking for a little bit, I found the name for the drink, `The Feel Good`.  After a couple of drinks of Feel Good, I was feeling a little better.

The next day, Thursday, we went on another companion exchange, this time with the Zone leaders.  To be honest, we didn`t get much done in the exchange, but it was fun when we went to visit less active members with the one and only - Aoki kyodai!  It was fun because we got lost 10 times because Aoki kyodai has no idea how to follow his GPS, even though I could tell what it was trying to tell us - even though I can`t speak super honorific Japanese like the GPS can.  So, I had to give Aoki Kyodai directions all throughout the night when he wasn`t following the GPS`s instructions.

Friday, we got to go to my first Sushi Bar ever in Japan.  It was Really Good... I want to go back there sometime, especially since it wasn`t very expensive and it is 5 minutes from our apartment.  I can taste a HUGE difference between Japanese Sushi and American Sushi, though.

Saturday was normal and so was Sunday.

So, 3 days ago now I officially hit my 6 month mark.  I have been on my mission for 6 months!  I wish I could say, like the other missionaries, that it has gone by really fast. But, to be honest, it has been the slowest time in my entire life.  I just thought that it is interesting that it has been 6 months.

So, to talk about Elizabeth having the PenPal with my investigator, her name is Yuna.  The best way for you two to communicate is probably by emailing her directly.  If it is okay, I am going to give her your email address, Elizabeth, and tell her that she can email you.  As for what to talk about - talk about what you like.  Tell her about what you don`t like.  Tell her about what it is like to live in America.  Tell her what you think living in Japan might be like.  Tell her about Volleyball.  Tell her about anything that 14 year old girls normally talk about.  The only request that I have is that she is still learning English, so try and make it not to very hard for her by using slang (though I don`t think that you have a problem with that).  Try typing some Japanese for her to read too, you can use Google Translator and the internet to help you do that!

Madisen, I hope that work calms down for you a little bit,  you are way おつかれ(Otsukare, hard working).  To answer your question, they do kind of celebrate Christmas here.  They put up a lot of Christmas decorations on stores and such, but it is more like a shopping holiday than anything else.  The major holiday in Japan is New Years Day, if you want to know.

If you are wondering what you can send me for Christmas, the only thing that I would ask is that you send me a nice CD with good songs on it.  I will leave it up to your judgement but they need to `draw my attention towards the Savior and cannot be used for mere entertainment (as the missionary white handbook and our residential black mission binder states)`.  I thought about a few songs that I might want you to send me in the CD:

1. Amazing Grace
2. Good Remixes of the songs; Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, I am a child of God, God Be with You Till We Meet Again (Try YouTube for good remixes or covers of these songs)
3. The Song from Ken Burns; the Civil War (I am really embarrassed that I forgot the name of it)
4. Battle Hymn of the Republic
5. Silent Night or some other really cool Christmas Song like that
7. You Raise Me Up
8. Some tracks from Les Miserables that you think would be good (Sorry, no Master of the House :(
9.  You Found Me (If you think that it could be appropriate)

Again, if you think of anything you have listened to that you think I would like and would meet the criteria, then please send it.  I don`t care if you use 1 or 10 CDs to send me all the songs, just please send them.

Also,can you send me some more pictures please.  Can you also send me a `quote book` with quotes that you think that I might really like, from example like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or the like.  Thank You!

Thanks so much for telling me that Arlynn is alright.  I have spent my entire week worrying over whether or not she is ok.

By the way, we got our new transfer information today.  All of us in Hirakata are staying except for Elder Steers.  Get this, Elder Steers, a fourth transfer missionary, is going to be training a 2nd transfer Japanese companion while being...zone leader!  Crazy huh.  I am just glad that it is him instead of me...

Speaking of Christmas presents, I think I know what I might want to get for everyone, the only thing is that I am not sure whether or not it will be there in time for Christmas.  Another thing is that I will need you to replace the money that I do use for the presents in my bank account after I buy them.  I will let you know when I do buy them so that you can do that!

Love all of you so much and we will talk again next week!

With Much Love,

Elder Klein

Fall in Hirakata

A 'Jesus Love You' church
"Jesus Loves You,  Elder Klein!"

The Love House

こんにちは (Konnichi wa)!

Hey family, how is it going?  I hope that you all are well and happy.

So, this past week sure has been an interesting one.  I have to tell you that we saw the woman with the mental condition last P-day and we haven`t seen her since.  I think she is gone now for good, I think, but I feel so sorry for her.  She is clearly out of her mind, but she gave us all a fright last P-Day when she tried to get into our apartment by pulling on the door (luckily, we had it locked). After that, she decided to barricade us into our apartment by using umbrellas and splashing water underneath our door.  I feel so bad for her...

Other than that, my last P-Day was all filled with lessons with investigators, uh...  We tried to go to Nara (a place I really want to go to where you can touch magical deer, I am not kidding, Google it) but since the Zone leaders needed to come by for our signature on a baptismal interview record and because they were late and because the two other missionaries in Hirakata spent three hours emailing, we aren't able to go again this week.  I really hope that if no one gets transferred next week, then we can finally go.  But, I have no idea what we are going to be doing today, so we will see what happens.

So, last week, again, was very interesting.  On Tuesday, we got to go with an investigator of the other two missionaries to lunch.  We got to eat terrible tasting sushi along with Mugichan (tea), so suffice it to say that it wasn't the best lunch ever.  We did, however, get to meet the investigator`s Catholic friend who was super nice.  We got to go to a place called 愛の家 (Ai no ie) which means `The House of Love` with them.  When we saw the sign, Elder Rasmusen started to get a little freaked out.  I think that he thought that it was a Love Hotel (which for some reason are very abundant here in Hirakata).  After a little bit of work, we convinced Elder Rasmusen to go up with us with the investigator and his friend to check it out.  Much to Elder Rasmusen`s relief `The House of Love` isn't a Love Hotel, but rather a Old Folks gathering hot spot.  It was kinda like a cafe with only old people in it.  We kept hearing `かこいね！(Kakoi ne)` which means handsome/cool a lot from the old people when 4 big Gaijins walk in wearing suits with 2 little old Japanese people.  The cafe was pretty cool, it even had a miniature golf course on the roof and a smoked filled room in the back with old Japanese men playing Majong.  After we told them that we couldn't stay very long, we were escorted out by the investigator`s friend.  Then, before I even knew it, she stuffed 2000￥into my hand before we were about to leave.  After a bit of effort, we managed to explain to her that, as missionaries, we cannot accept money.

After that we headed to Abeno, in Osaka, for a baptismal interview for the Zone Leaders investigator. When we got there, we found out that she wasn`t even home and that her and her husband were out of town and wouldn't be back until the next day.  So, we had to return to Abeno the next day, as well, for an interview with her, which she passed - which is great.  By the way, Abeno is 1 hour away from Hirakata by Train and costs 1500￥ round trip each time.

On Friday, Elder Rasmusen interviewed the investigator from before (The House of Love one) for a baptism which he passed with flying colors!  To celebrate, we went to grab some food at a restaurant and then an ice cream cone at McDonalds.  I don`t like McDonalds food, but something caught my eye at the McDonalds stand.  I saw a Pokemon 2014 Calender being sold at the McDonalds and it was only 350￥!  How could I pass by this opportunity?  So, yes, I bought a Pokemon 2014 calender which I am very proud of.  Heck, they gave me so many free item slips along with it that it basically pays for itself.

I also got to go on companion exchanges with Elder Broeder last Saturday.  It was interesting, to say the least and I think that we really didn't get anything accomplished.  This week, I get to go on two companion exchanges, one with Steers choro and another one with one of the zone leaders.  The joys of being a district leaders companion.

We held the baptismal service for the investigator yesterday and it was good.  We scheduled his baptism for 1 hour before sacrament meeting, but he was 20 minutes late for his own baptism and, because he is such an old man, he couldn't change fast enough for us to finish the program before sacrament meeting started.  At least, he got all the important parts down though - the baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the confirmation.  Yesterday, was also the primary program which was interesting, to say the least.  Children screaming, kids punching each other while on the stand, and out of tune singing were all part of the fun.

I also need to talk to Elizabeth about something.  So, we are teaching these two teenage girls, one is 17 and the other is 14.  I talked to our investigator, the 14 year old, a little bit about you.  I told her that you are also 14 and that you, like her, love volleyball.  I talked with her about it and she thinks that it would be really cool if you got to be pen pals.  I said that I would ask you what you think about it and see if you would like to do it.  The investigator loves English and really wants to go to America some day, so don`t worry about writing or typing a letter in Japanese, although you could learn a little bit of Japanese from her for me.  She also is having a little bit of a rough time in her life.  I can`t tell you everything, but suffice it to say that she needs some really good friends with good standards that she can talk to.    Please tell me if you are interested in having a pen pal from Japan ok?

Well I think that is about it.  I love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder.... ok...


With Much Love,

Elder Klein