letter sent 10.25.09: konnichiwa

hey everyone,

things are going good for me this week, its been actually a pretty amazing week. so ill explain but firts last week i wrote ch. f instead of alma chapter 5 my self evaluation chapter, its sweet. sorry i prob have tons of typos cause im no good at typing.

anyway so for this week it started with last tuesday we went to our district meeting mtg in Nagasaki and it was good, but after word the fufu (married missionaries) took us to the hypo center which is close to the church. the hypo center is the exact spot where we dropped an atomic bomb, of course atomic bombs dont hit the ground but the statue is where the bomb exploded over head. It was crazy being there, a crazy feeling and a special spirit there, it was amazing. we also visited peace park where tons of countries gave statues to for the bomb including brazil haha and this park was were an old prison used to be everyone died and now its peace park, pretty cool art. theres also paper cranes everywhere with a cool story behind it you should look it up, its too long to write, i felt i got a little closer to the japanese people by visiting the place it was really cool but chotto hen (little weird) at the same time. i want to go back and visit the musem sometime on pday.

also that day Elder healy a fufu, told me something about home, he said home is where you are. and thats the first time i realized my home for two years is japan. im home. its hard to grasp sometimes but this helped a little and the visit to nagasaki was pretty specail.

oh and on monday night we had a dinner apt with a family and an investigator it was really fun. i got to talk about family and prayer 2 things that are pretty important to me right now so that was good, a pretty good experience. the power of prayer really does bring comfort even though we are seperated by a huge ocean. The lord i looking over us and is here to comfort us...always. oh and that night i ate a lot of sushi ( just raw fish haha it was pretty good actually.

so the members continue to treat us well. Fujiwara brought us over spaghetti and soup and stuff at like 945 at night cause she thought we were hungry haha it was funny. um oh we had a another lesson with a different investigator saturday that went well but a little confusing for her. lessons are the best though. it builds my testimony as well. so what else oh the branch president took us around to vist some peopl tha lived far away and that was good to have a few lessons. after word he took us to taco place! not taco though but tako. my first expereience with tacoyaki ..octupus! yummy. it was actually in this good batter stuff but it was pretty good, little starnge feeling the tenacles and suction cups (didnt suction to me) but interesting texture but still good, haha

so yea this week has been really good. lots of onteresting things and this week should be good as well, we have a halloween party on wednesday so im looking forward to that. other than that thats my week so far. umm im reading in alma still and its awesome, ammon was the most amazing missionary. he saw a lot of messed up things , even believers burning in front of him, al kind of persucution and affliction he never once questioned th lord. He just focused on the work, missionary work and was truly concerned for everyones salvation EVERYONE, even people trying to kill him. he was fearless . im trying to be like him here in japan but that will take a while a long whil haha. anyway i learned alot from him this week, the scriptures are filled with things to learn, i encourage you to read them daily, and will continue to gain knowledge and help/guidance for your life and others. the BOM is truly the word of god, we can draw closer to god by it than any other book, im a witness of this as i use it to help me with my trials here in japan. use them often.

anyway thats about it for me. have a good week and ill talk to you all next week, thanks for the love and supprt.

peace
elder martinez

pictures sent 10.25.09

letter sent 10.19.09: atarashii

hey everyone, thanks for the letters and such sounds like everyone is doing well. well transfers came and gone and left me with a new companion, well i wouldnt say left, i was transfered to Isahaya, It was surprising to me as well but its good, my new Comp is Elder reyes, which is funny the only 2 spanish names in the mssion, we are both new to the are but things are going well so far. Elder Reyes seems like a cool guy so far, hes actually hawaiin, lives in oahu near waikiki (15 minutes) pretty sweet eh? anyway hes a hard worker so im pretty excited for this transfer, ill be here for at least 2 transfers so that will put me to january, so ill be spending my holidays here as well, anyway we dont know anything about the area but we are slowly learning. its tough but fun. and the members are so far pretty amazing. Last night we visited a memeber and she took us around her area by on here bike, we followed her and she led us to some cool families she new so we cantacted 3 referals that night, nothing happened from it but it was cool, another member named kita took us around to visit people too on sunday, so it was really cool these members seem to love, missionary work and missionaries so im really excited for this transfer. i think im going to see great things happen here.

so everynight that we have been here weve had shokujikai's or meal apts. we have one tonight and one of there daughters is going to introduce us to her boyfriend and hopefully become an investigator, we havent met our investigators yet but it sounds like we have some good ones.

Elder Reyes is a good missionary, he knows the language really well and is obedient and delligent, i think we will work well together here with the members. so thats good, i was a little worried about tranfering cause i　just got used to oita and beppu and am going to miss our investigators and members but thats alright, so yeaIsahaya has a small church, priesthood and relief society are held in the same room and our apato is way small as well but its a cool place, pretty inaka but we have a huge area and tons of people so im excited for that, so yea i dont know what else to say cause im new here and were just trying to get used to the area. but its going to be a good transfer.

so this week i was reading in alma, and its a sweet book, alma both almas were amazing missionaries, help me here in the feild, the book of mormon is truly an inspired book, everytime you read it you can learn new things. well anyway a cool chapter id like to point out is chapter f of alma. Its a big self evaluation for our lives i tying, we can read that chapter and check ourselves from time to time, its pretty cool, so.. dozo, yonde kudasai. well thats about it for me this week, looking forward to this week and excited to be here, all is well.

peace 愛しているよ。 martinez 長老

pictures sent 10.19.09

letter sent 10.13.09: week 6

愛する家族と友達

today was a pretty crazy week and its hard to believe its over already. Sorry for not writing yesterday but we had a ward trip to the Fululoka temple. It was a lot of fun. they rented a bus and we had a little voyage to fukuoka. So i was not able to email but it was a really good experience. the japanese people have a great love for doing work for there ancestors, children included.

So what happened this week? i cant even remember. we had a little typhoon scare, but as you probably saw it missed us completely but we still felt its power, it was pretty dang windy and rained a ton. so it was coool to see but i kind of wanted to see a typhoon.

So our lesson with Noriko was canceled which stinks but we have one tomorrow. Oh yeah our other investigator, or sort off, isnt feeling to well. her name is Ritsuko. Shes really nice and always feeds us tons of food at her house and vacation apartrment. Anyways shes had heart surgery 5 times and her heart is giving her problems again so thats not very good, hopefully shell be alright though.

Oh and this weekend was general conference weekend. So i got to watch all the sessions in english was pretty good. It was super goood. I like general conference more than i thought i did haha, i just have a new appreciation for it now. the talks were pretty good huh? i loved the talk related to a heart transplant. It made so much sense. it is so important to do the little things everyday. i also liked the talks on love and the other on anger, by president Monson. Everything starts with little arguements, and lead to anger. there is way too much anger in the world. everyone needs to chill out eh? Its pretty hard for me at times but like said we control our emotions. No one makes us angry we decide to be angry. Its so hard sometimes but something i def need to work on. replacing anger with love. something everyone can work on i think. two opposites and when it comes down to it its just selfishness vs selflessness. anyway try to go out of your way to help out those in need of help this week. Ill do the same in here in Japan . there were so many good talks i could go on but i hope you guys watched them all. Theres tons of good stuff.

hmm so what else? im not quite sure but transfers are tomorrow. Im pretty sure ill stay right where i am but its likely ill get a new companion so that should be interesting, ill be sure to tell you about that next week, im kind of nervous for a new companion. you get used to one and they give you a new one, ill be a pro at human relationships in two years haha. this week i also went on junkai (split) with mccarthy chourou , hes only been out 4 transfers so were pretty new between the two of us but it was pretty fun talking to the people all the same. some times older people just say wakaranai (dont understand ) and shut the door, its pretty funny.

Umm eikaiwa is good , its always fun. the people really like us and conversation time is the best. werid stuff comes out everytime and their broken english is way funny, do i sound weird like that when i speak japanese? probably

well i think thats about it for the week actually. pretty good week, alot of cool activities. Excited and nervous for new transfer but things are going well here. Untill next week,

Martinez長老

pictures sent 10.13.09

letter sent 10.05.09

皆さん　こんにちわ、

well another week has gone by. it has been a good week and sounds like everything is going well for you guys. Hope general conference has been good i wont get to watch it until next week. But im looking forward to it.

Well a little about my week, the weather too is starting to change and becoming a little cooler but we had quite a few days of rain and i wore my rain suit around it was pretty fun, it was pretty humid and i guess its suppose to rain pretty hard core cause a typhoon might be coming i dont know for sure though.

Anyway so i got a taste of what summer or rain season will be like but im looking forward to winter and being cold haha. oh also this week i got bacteria in my ear somehow and my ear hurt pretty dang bad so i had the opportunity of going to a japanese ear doctor! it was pretty strange but an interesting experience. anyway im fine now i just got some ear drops its the same exact thing i got last year or something and i got the same med nothing big but the japanese doctor was pretty intense.

well our investigator returned from Israel this week so we got to meet with her. She showed us tons of picks like the streets jesus carried the cross through and the tree which is thought to be where the aganai or atonement took place as well as the place jesus was baptized. it was super cool to see all those pictures. she is way nice lady, and she went to catholic school as a girl but doesnt know if she believes in Christ. But the experience was good i got to testify about Christ after she showed us the picks it was a super cool lesson. She brought us some beads with a cross to pray with haha which was interestring but she had good intentions its pretty cool though. she also brought us a bookmark and some candy . its hard people are way nice here but our investigators are way nice but just interested in religion they like learning and reading but dont really believe in anything. So its hard to help them gain a testimony. But its possible.

It kind of connects with what ive been reading in the Book of mormon lately. Im in mosiah reading about abinadi. What an amazing missionary. he shared his message and was spared until he shared his full message. Then after he said what the lord wanted to, he was burned. he shared that message to king noah and the wicked men, they werent ready to receive the message but alma was, alma tried to save him then fled for his life and wrote down the words of abinadi. I wonder if Abinadi knew Alma listened and alma ended up converting many, Did abinadi know that? i have no clue but im guessing not. he didnt baptize king noah or anyone but was killed. In japan sometimes its hard to see what were doing well sometimes. i dont have a picture of a whole family being baptized and often in life we wont, But it shows through Abinadi that if we try our best and are obedient then good will come in Japan wether or not i can see it. I just have to do my best and who knows how many seeds ill plant. i think the same applies for everyday life, just being a good example to others holding the mantle of christ will help others further down the road whether we know it or not. So just an interesting thought. Well thats about it for me this week. have a good week

愛していますよ。
マルティネズ長老

pictures sent 10.05.09

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