Week #21

so to fill you in on my incredible week, i haven't seen more then 30 min of the sun for he past five days, my doryo has been really sick, so we were told to stay inside, on the bright side its given me allot of study time and i got through the rest of alma Helamen and half way through 3rd nephi in the book of mormon and a big lump of pages in jesus the christ, and i do intend to read it in japanese when iv finished in ego, but for me it will be a very large kanji learning experience at first cuz, I'v only really just started having a good kanji study and there is allot of them in that book, iv definitely warmed up o eating more veggies on my mission, our average meals consist of eggs toast and miso soup in the morning pilOvegies and rice for lunch with fruit then pilOvegies for dinner with fruit. its really good though, and i definitely feel a lot healthier. this coming week should be a lot more active i think, since my doryo is feeling better, i am rather exited to get going again.

my spiritual message this week is kind of about learning and how every one was right when they say that high school could have been way easier than i made it out to be, not really but thats kind of how i feel sometimes.

we have been taught always in the church of the importance of learning, one of the things that made Christ  the most amazing teacher aside from the fact of being half god, was that he knew lots of stuff, and used all those things that he had learned to teach people, in parables and metaphors wonderful examples that are around us all the time, and one of the best things we can study is the gospel because in the long run its the most important knowledge we can gain and there is so much of it. always study the scriptures and the material there is to study, expand your knowledge on many other things as well with the gospel as the base of it all and it will expand all that you learn as long as it is the truth.

and more than anything involve heavenly father in every part of your life, when you are earnestly seeking knowledge heavenly father will help. in return the best way to repay heavenly father is by serving him by using you new knowledge to bring more souls unto is kingdom.

please never forget Him or Jesus Christ capacity. they love each and everyone of us more than we have the human capacity to understand. and they will help us, hey will bless us, they can save us, we just have to have the faith to open the door.

i love you all and miss you all, but not too much,

stay strong stay faithful until the end,

kemp chourou

Week #20

Thanks for the story, that’s super cool, so I had my first experience baptizing someone this last Saturday, Kojima shimai is finally baptized! It’s so cool then my comp confirmed her on Sunday.

Things have been going pretty well so far the new language study plan has been working well so far at keeping me interested which is like crucial for me with learning things, I'm exited to keep it going, i think I've got another good 3 or transfers before I start feeling comfortable with it, but things are coming along. My comp and i are going o start eating allot healthier once we go shopping today so we shall see where that goes, and a really cool thing real quick, my comp had the phone in his pocket and took it out to do something and realized that he had but dialed someone we had never met but who was in he hospital and now wants us to come by and visit, super cool I’m thinking, the spirit works in mysterious ways.

One thing I’ve been doing allot of lately is reading Jesus the Christ I’m already half way through the thing and am loving every moment, the saviors life is so interesting and a wonderful example, I would strongly suggest the reading of it.

Oh yeah I need recipes, now healthy would be good, but also I want your recipe for short ribs dad that would make my day if I could have some of that wonderful stuff, and i kind of enjoy cooking now so send them all in,

That’s most all for now, ill leave you with this though, study the saviors life, he was and is incredible and your love for him will grow so much when you know that all he did and went through was for us from my own study i can truly testify that i love my savior Jesus Christ, i will never fully understand all he did for all of us or for me as an individual he knows all of our pain and all of our desires all of our need and all of our vices, he wants nothing but the best for us and has and has told us just how to do it "come fallow me" through this we commit to become his servant through it we become his friends and through i we become his children as the 2000 to Helaman, we can only become so much on our own, but through him there is no limit. Please don't fall astray; this is the only way,

I love you all with every particle of my being but greater than my love is heavenly fathers love and Christ's love, remember them.

I know this is where I need to be; I miss you, but not too much

Again, I love you

Elder Connor Kemp

Week #19

Alrighty then where to start i guess ill start by saying hat this transfer feels like some of the hardest I've worked so far in my mission so much so that I've half way broken down twice in the past week, mostly over language and feeling like i cant help people as much as id like but these have been much needed experiences. my current dorio is awesome he's helped me o set up a really good way to study and it looks promising. on the brighter side of things the work has definitely payed off, one of our investigators Kojima is set to be baptized this Saturday. she's been an investigator since july and has allot of struggles but we finally just asked her again and she said she would. we're working hard with her now to get her that much more ready for it. these sort of times are what make allot of the really hard times worth it i think. finally helping someone to open that gate to the correct path, she has a 4 year old son and now he will be able to grow up in the gospel he already loves primary and has made friends with some of the other kids there,

now we just need to help our other investigators get to this wonderful point as well, ill work my hardest to get them there.

if there is one thing i would ask of all of you it would be to help the missionaries in you ward, i cant tell you how helpful it is when we receive help from the members. i don't have allot of pics this time on account of being so busy. but we have found a way to use drawing to serve people and to help them get involved with there friends a we are drawing gospel pictures for people so ill sen what pics i have.

my last note would be to please trust in the lord, he knows our situations better than we do and through him we can find the path that is best.

pray always study the scriptures, and read jesus the christ, its really good.

i love you all and miss you... but not too much,

kemp chourou

p.s. you guys need to send me pics too ya know

Week#18

こんにちわ、私の家族

i like he joke thats a good one,

not a ton to report but ill tell you what i've got, I'm still here in tokuama but elder lawson is back at home now, and my new dorio is a one webber chourou, i shall sendeth thee mine pics, the work really feels like its picking up here in just he last few days, and i'm loving it, our investigators are all doing fairly well and are moving along,

for the new year we woke up at like 5 or so and hike up a mountain with some of the young men and leaders it was a good hike and we got up in time to see the first sunrise of the new, privileges of being in the land of the rising sun, or in scripture format, and we did rise in the early morn of the first day before even the light had shone upon the land, and in our weariness we were swept away by the car of kanatoshi, to the base of an exceedingly high mountain, for it came to passexceedingly that i did behold it to be exceedingly high, to exceed that of many which were in all the land of tokuyama. and we did set forth and did clime this mountain, and we did make good time in that as we beheld the blessed veiw of the land, a new light had only just begun to brighten the land all about the mountain. and it came to pass that we did wait in patiencearrival for the arrival of that which we did anticipate with such excitement in our hearts, and behold, it came to pass that our patience was not in vain for we did behold the first light of the sun of this the new year of our Lord 2014, and behold the sight of which was pleasing unto not only the eye but also the soul, now behold it came to pass we did take many pictures. and thus began the 2014th year since the birth of our Lord and thus ended the second transfer of mine own mission in the land of the riseing sun.

thats all for now i think, i love you all and miss you, but not too much,

stay stong stay faithfull,

kemp chourou

Art work from the Desk of Kemp Chourou

Week #17

love the jokes! they always help to give me a laugh.

any way ill send you some pics that i have right now, but the card with he camera was not big enough, 1 gbt only holds 123 pics about and all of the pictures from our trip to salt lake withe he stake president we on there so i took like 12 pics then it said it was full, thankfully i have 2 gbt card that i got so i switched them I'm probably not sure if that will get me even my whole mission though ill probably get another one, i will probably take allot more pics than you think,but any way i do have to express allot of thanks that camera is sick thank you sooooo much! also the Peanut butter made me sooo happy, iv been truly blessed with yasashii sugiru riyoshin- way too nice parents- i cant express that feeling enough, there are so many people out there who's parents really don't care all hat much, but i have never once felt any thing but care and love from both of you, thank you so much and not just for the peanut butter.

 

so my week has been pretty good most of the normal stuff but we also did a junkai- splits-with the elders from yanai, and area pretty close by and ha was a fun time i got ahold of some copic markers last p-day which makes i so i can color things well, which i could never do before without a computer,

to answer you question about he language, yes it is going well I've finally settled down with an easy effective way to study each day, just five new tongo every day and 2 bunpo on a flash card, and i record it in a note book for every day review, I've been struggling to find i way they feel effective for a while and this seems to be working, you said you got that book about japanese grammar, are you studying it, i hope you are because when i see you at the end of my mission I'm speaking only japanese until my welcome home talk, so be prepared, you have done scouting,so i know you can.

 

its COLD here and like emily i feel like a wimp because its probably way colder in twin, but i spent six weeks in Okinawa and it changed me.... I'm still a wimp aren't i.

 

no snow here yet i think that usually gets here about end of january, and i should be in tokuyama for that,

oh yeah to answer your other question about the language i am able to hold a conversation at leased with gospel stuff it starts to get difficult when it leaves gospel, and i still struggle with understanding people cuz hey talk super fast and when they through in other words or grammar i don't know i can get lost but i can get the gist of things usually and my companion is in his last transfer so here understands everything which makes up for every thing i lack. i wont get to do much with leaning to read the language until i feel good about speaking i, i can read there alphabet but not allot of kanji, i can only read and wright like 30 kanji and there are thousands of them. thankfully the scriptures have furigana which is the hiragana reading next to each kanji so i read scriptures usually every language study.

 

I've definitely noticed the payoff for hard work out here, id like to stress the importance of that in my message this week.

dad you already know that well seeing as where you are as far as career, but every one can apply this for anything

especially when you involve heavenly father through prayer, people out here and me as well are always surprised at how good missionary language skills are for only being in japan for a short time, and the reason for that is because the gift of tongues is readily available to those who seek it, meaning working as hard as you can to learn it, focusing on the purpose and praying to thanks and to ask for help, heavenly father wants to help us with our lives but he wants us to make him out main priority and he requirers us to pray and ask for help. apply this to every thing you do and consecrate all you actions unto the lord through prayer before you drive somewhere pray for safety when you are seeking to learn something new ask that you may be able to remember it for are righteous purpose or future use, we can always use our time and talents to server the lord, even I'm able o draw pictures to help explain lessons and exemplify principles, heavenly father will Bless your ability to do these things,i know it

i love you all so much and cant wait to talk to you on Christmas

kemp choro

p.s. you might just be able to come and pick me up here I'm going to talk to kaichou about it when i see him next

Week #16

ah! no mail, you hurt me deep dad, you hurt me deep.

any way, ill give you a bit of a rundown of my week. we've been pretty busy lately we had to teach two eikaiwa casses-english classes, our own and hofu's the sisters there are both nihonjin so teaching ego is a little tough, we also had zone taikai-zone conference, and we accidentally let one lesson earlier in the week go way too long but other than that we've been out doing work work work, which is good, yesterday we had fast sunday of course and i was really good, we had a lesson with a 19 year old student names fujita san he's really cool, and sat in on a lesson with Kojima shimai, she has a baptismal date for this month,but she is struggling a little right now with testimony but she is progressing i can see it,

its coooolllld here its in the 30s right now, which is really cold cuz i've been in Okinawa which is hot, any way thank you so much for the big coat it is so useful.

my companionship is great when we can draw like on p-day, i'm his art sensei which is kind of fun.

so to share a cool experience from yesterday.

we went out to go see a less active member, like a 30 min bike ride out, but anyway, we get to there neighborhood and my comp has been there before but only remembers what the house looks like, so we were using the g.p.s. to find it but wee having allot of trouble. then i had a prompting and i old my comp that we should prey, then that we should just do housing in the \. the first house we go to we start talking o a guy through a kekko box-an intercom. and he said he was Buddhist which is common and i'm just like, "daijobu desu, watashitachi no messeji wa minasan o taskeru koto dekimasu" so he's like "well ok" and he comes to the door and we share a totsuzen lesson- short lesson, and give him a pamphlet he wouldn't take a book of mormon but he seemed interested and especially interested in eikaiwa so it was really cool. so not much happened at the rest of the houses but right as we were leaving my cop looks at a house thats kind of hiding and recognizes it , yes its the less actives house. so this was a really cool experience it gave me a little phrase to live by "when in doubt, do the work" these things happen to often in missionary work for it o be coincidence, and any way i no longer believe in coincidence every thing happens for a reason, never forget that and always try to make the best of he situations your put it. and always, always thank heavenly father for those things.

i love you all my family and my friends alike.

i miss you allot ,but not too much

i think about you... but not too much

 またね

ケンプ長老

Week #15

So, in all honesty dad i am super sorry and its been killing me not having the camera there has been allot of things iv wanted to take pictures of but couldn't, as far as time goes it would probably be best if i got the camera here rather than having it sent, i am really sorry i wasn't as responsible as i needed to be and for that im sorry,

any way this weeks been good if not a little tiring my new aria tokuyama is up towards the top of the mission just under hiroshima so its kind of cold, not as cold as idaho about now, but definitely colder than Okinawa was.

my new doryo no namae wa lawson choro desu. kare is taller than my last doryo but only weighs 20 lbs more than him so i can still pick him up.

its weird being in only a twosome back in nago there were four of us, dakara, its allot quieter now. but its still fun. elder lawson is dieing this transfer, meaning this his last transfer, he likes drawing, therefore i have allot of chances to draw this transfer and help him to get better as well he really likes anime too, so we have allot to talk about.

the language is definitely getting easier i feel like im starting to be able to share my real thoughts on things and teaching is becoming easier. the new ward so far are all really nice its allot bigger than nogo no wado was, i don't have my bike from nago yet, so its allot of walking right now but it should be here soon.

one of the kyodaitachi in the ward is a super good cook, thomas would like him, he made us dinner a few nights ago and guess what we had. ... SUSHI!!!!! it was chou oishikatta desu, and we had a fe other things it was all so good.

our apartment is about as big as my las one but theres only two of us so it feels a little bigger, here are allot of short doorways lately especially in members homes, but ive become good at missing he top of the door.

well thats mostly whats up right now, ill leave you with a little message as usually noticed about myself when i first got to japan and had a real budget, that i took so many blessings for granted because i grew up in privilege you could say,

we have so many blessings we don't notice even really big ones, just because we've known them all our lives, my suggestion to all of you is to take some time to think of all the things your grateful for make it an activity at dinner especially with lots of people and especially when you feeling a little burdened or sad. we all, so often forget our countless blessings, like for me one of the biggest most non repayable blessing aside from the atonement is having the family and wonderful parents that i was born into, i never felt like i would want different parents your not perfect, no one is but yo do your best and really care and thats whats most important, watashi no subarashi kazoku ni kokkoro kara kanshiashitteimasu yo "i am so grateful for my wonderful family" no only that but i also was blessed with wonderful siblings, we fought and argued but as we grew older and i got bigger than you allot of he arguing stooped and i was easier to be around you, though the years iv  realized now i don't know what id of done without you you helped teach me and loved me all these years, you helpless little brother who annoyed you so much, thank you for you patience and help your the best.

i love you all so much kokoro kara aishitteimasu, kokoro kara literally means from the hear and mind, there is no way i would replace anything about you all.

i miss you i pray for you, gambatane.

kemp choro

Week #14

kooooooniiiiichiii waaaaaa mina san 

hello there my wonderfull family i have some cool news, im transferring toooooooo,tokuyama on mainland, 

ill admit im going to miss my cool district here and the people here in nago even if there are allot of crazy people here, i love them all the same though, the ward has been cool too ill miss being able to speak a little ego to members but im still super excited to go to mainland, ill really miss the elders here they were great and, honestly, my copanions not bad its just that he gets a little iritated when he cant understand what im thinking wich is all ways, but anyway we have had some really good days lately.

any way ive seen so many mericles here in nago its been great here, nago has grown so much and ill be sad not to get to see so many come to this gosple but i trust my comp. he will do it well and help them hoever he can.

i went  to the nago castle today it was cool there and i might get pics from one of the elders here and mabe i can send them.

i miss you all allot but im so in this work that p day and at night is really the only time i can think about that.

my little messege today is realated to the commandment love one another more or less, loving every body can be hard but we can all ways show love, we do this through kindness pacience and charity do this and pray to feel how heavenly fatherfeels about his childern, with faith i know that it can happen. and try to think of everyone every single person you see as your brothers and sisters as they are 

iv have and am doing these things and i can feel my love growing especialy for you all, to mom and dad, im sorry, iv been so difficult i was disobedient and rebelious and lazy. iv allways loved you as my parents but i never showed that love as i should have and for that im sorry.

i know heavenly father loves us all more than we can understand, i know christ and his perfect atonement are allways there for us to lean on and to be streangthend by if we have faith our berdens will be lifted.

i love you 

i miss you 

till next week,

kemp choro