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

We got ourselves a stalker...

Hi Family,

Guess what I get to do today?  That's right, we had to schedule 3 lessons today, right in the middle of our P-Day.  So, that is what I get to do all day today.  The only P-Day normal thing that I guess that I am allowed to do today is email you.

Last P-Day, me and Elder Steers went to some recycle shops to find some kimono belts so that we can make scripture cover cases for our scriptures.  It was good and I actually spent a good chunk of my P-Day sewing my scripture cover case by hand.  I think that it actually looks pretty good!

Last week, we also had Zone Training Meetings and Interviews with the Mission President.  To be honest, I wasn`t really paying attention on what was being said during Zone Training because my mind was too focused on what I was going to be talking to Zinke kaicho about.  So, I went in and we basically talked about where my stance is about staying or going, if I am still talking to Aunt Pat, and how he can help.  We talked for a little bit, I guess about 15-20 minutes, and it was good.  I guess that Zinke kaicho told Zinke shimai about what I am going through because she seemed to give me extra special love and attention when they were there.

Last week, we couldn`t really meet with anyone except for M. Shimai, who is our furthest progressing investigator.  We finished teaching her about the plan of salvation and then we watched the movie finding faith in Christ.  It was good, but her baby and the baby of the member present were screaming all throughout the movie, so I don`t know if she got the most important bits out of it.

We have just basically been sitting on our butts all this week planning lessons.  I hate planning with a passion.  I wouldn`t mind it if we planned a lesson here and there, but we are planning one lesson right after another with each lesson taking 1-1 and half hours long to plan and to practice.  The thing that is slowing us down is that it seems that we never have enough paper work to do.  I swear that there is a form to fill out for everything.  It is getting out of control, every zone training meeting we get another form that we have to fill out before we teach someone which just adds to the planning time.  Uhh...

On Friday, we had something very interesting happen.  So, the Zone leaders told us about someone who was stalking them for about 2 days around the church and their apartment.  It was some crazy women who was completely out of her mind.  Harmless, but stalking them none the less.  Guess who showed up on the Hirakata church on Friday?  Yep, the stalker lady.  We first heard her when we were, of course, planning lessons.  We heard a women`s voice outside in the parking lot and Elder Rasmusen asks me if I think someone is outside of our apartment.  I told him yes but that it was only the girls that come to play on our basketball hoop that we have set up outside.  Anyways, we continue our planning until we have to head over to the church to make some photocopies of our lesson paperwork.  We saw her sitting down in front of the church talking quite loudly to herself...with plants (that seemed to have come out of nowhere) circling her with umbrellas barring the church door behind her.  We asked if she was okay and then she said something about the Abeno church, where the zone leaders are.  At that point we thought, "Oh crap, it's her".  We quickly went inside of the church to make photocopies and locked the door right behind us.  We called the Zone leaders to make sure that it was who we thought it was.  The Zone leaders told us "yes, it is her" and at that point the 2 other missionaries showed up and started talking to her with us.  After debating for some time, the 3 other missionaries thought that they needed to cast out evil spirits from her because she is totally out of her mind.  I wanted no part in `casting out evil spirits` so I told them that I would not participate.  They tried to give her the blessing but she kept refusing and after a while we left her alone.  The other 2 missionaries went in to the church to teach a lesson and we went back to planning.  So, we all locked our doors while she wandered around outside for 5 hours.  She finally left, though, when we were heading down to the train station and she followed us down there.  I think that she is gone now, probably to another area`s church, but you never know...  So, I got to deal with a stalker this week.

 I am sending you some pictures of the Halloween party last week.  Sorry I forgot to attach them.

I have no idea what they are playing.  Notice the phantom mask in the background (elder broder) and the top of the chicken head (elder steers) - I assume elder rasmusen took the picture.  Those are some cute little kids.  Kolton is so good with little kids - it comes from teaching the Little Ninja's in karate.

All right, well, I don`t have much time until I have to go teach another lesson, so I hope that you all take care.  If you have any questions on how the depression is going, please talk to Aunt Pat.

Love,

Kolton

Halloween Party

Hey Family,

 It has been another tough week.

 About a week ago, we received a new way to plan for our lessons from the Zone leaders.  We have been trying to plan all of our lessons this way, but it is taking up so much time.  It now takes roughly 2 1/2 hours to plan for one lesson and we had 5 lessons last week.  I, also, haven`t been able to exercise for the last couple of days, due to the Sabbath and a couple of typhoons ripping through.  It just seems like I am stuck inside, because I am unable to exercise outside, then we study for 3 hours, have lunch, then plan for a lesson for 2 and 1/2 hours.  By the time we are done with all of that, then it is like 3:00 and we still haven`t done anything for the day. Frustrating.

We mostly have just been having lessons with K. Kyodai.  He is a really interesting guy.  I won`t tell you everything, but in our last lesson, we had a church member with us, A. Kyodai, and we were explaining about 3 Nephi 17.  All of sudden he, K. Kyodai, got really agitated.  He was rocking back and forth looking really angry.  I genuinely thought that he was going to punch the church member right in the face during the middle of the lesson.  When we asked him what was wrong, he told us that he thought that the translation for a certain word was wrong and the wrong word for 'mercy' was used in a passage.  He continued to become more and more agitated until we had to share with him a scripture about contention being of the devil before he calmed down a little bit.  It was silly that he got so worked up, but I am grateful that he didn`t punch the church member in the face.

Well, I hope that everyone had a great time at Disneyland it sounds like it was really fun and I hope that you had a great birthday, Elizabeth!  I really miss the nice California weather.  It has been getting really cold here in Japan lately and I have had to bust out my winter gear a little bit.  I am sure that it is going to get freezing soon, though.  I want Elizabeth to know that it was getting so cold last week that I had to break down and buy a scarf and I have worn it a couple of times since then.

Madisen, are you really liking Hello Kitty stuff?  Hello Kitty is kinda like the 'Wheres Waldo"  of Japan.  No matter where you look while walking around, if you look hard enough there is probably something Hello Kitty related close by.  You have to look hard though or else you won`t be able to see it.  I hope that work for you and Vic will ease up in a little bit, but until then take care.  By the way, I don`t care if you are boring, I just love to hear from my Big Sis.

The best part of this week, though, was probably when we went to a Halloween Party put on by the ward.  It was really fun and I wore a great costume.  I just picked up a 100 Yen costume mask at a Daiso and the costume was a mask of a Duck.  I will let you see the pictures, but I was a Duck, Elder Steers was a Chicken, Elder Rasmusen was a Monkey, and Elder Brader was a Phantom.  It was pretty fun and they had a couple of games too.  They even had a Pokemon game that I played.  We played a hide and seek game with all the little kids too.  We had to find a hiding spot and if the little kids found us, we had to play Jon Kenpo with them for them to win candy.  To conclude the night, the little kids got to smash some pinatas with candy in them.  If even one little piece of candy fell out of the pinata, then every single little kid, all 30 of them, would dive to the middle of the circle where the person hitting the pinata was at.  I just felt a little bad for Elder Steers because he had to coordinate with a bunch of hyped up kids on sugar swinging a big stick around!

Thank you for sending package, by the way.  It was really nice to get some American candy and some more stuff.  I think that for P-Day today, myself and Elder Steers are going to go and do some more shopping while Elder Brader and Elder Rasmusen are going to Costco and poking around in there.  I hope that we can find something really cool in a Recycle Shop.  I don`t know if I have told you or not, but Recycle Shops are one of the best things in Japan.  It is like a Pawn Shop almost, but way cheaper, more fun, crazier, and Asian like.  You would have to step inside of one to understand.  They are really fun, but sometimes you have to be careful.

Everyone has been asking me how I am doing and the answer is the same -still not so good.  The vivid dreams have almost passed away - I think that I am really close for them being over.  I am just trying to do my best to keep going through this day.  Aunt Pat sent me a poem that I keep reading over and over again, though.  The poem is Milton`s Blindness.  The final line always strikes me, `They also serve who only stand and wait.`  That is only what I can try and do, stand and wait.  I can`t really handle doing too much else, so I am pushing myself to try and stand and wait.  Standing and waiting goes against how I have lived my life thus far, but I am trying.

I love you all and everything that you have been sending me.  Please continue to write the great emails.  I will talk to you all again next week.

Love,

Elder Klein

Little kids, Final Fantasy, and Being Tall

Happy Face. I know that he is still struggling but he does look better.

Hi Family,

So, it has been another week and it has passed by really slow.  From the sounds of your letters, you know from Aunt Pat that I haven`t been sleeping very well.  It is just lately that I have very vivid nightmares at night that have been sticking to me like a plague for the last week.  I haven`t been able to get a decent amount of sleep for the last week, so I am always tired.  I think that I will ask for a priesthood blessing tonight to help me sleep better.  But, the talks with Aunt Pat have helped.  She really is nice and kind and it is great to hear a voice of help and reason.  You are just surrounded by missionaries all the time, so it is hard to keep being you.  It is a weird thing, but the longer you have been a missionary, the more people try to stuff into your head that THIS is what you need to be thinking like, what kind of person you need to be, and anything else is not ok.  

But, as for interesting things that have happened this week, we had the chance to sing to a bunch of little kids.  So, one of the church members around here, named A. Shimai, who is from America, teaches at a Preschool where the children learn in a pure English environment.  Halloween is around the corner and they were planning a party for the little kids.  So, as part of their party, they invited us to do a little performance for the little kids, namely, singing.  So, we practiced like 10 minutes beforehand, then, with only our voices and a little ukulele in tow, we went into the school to sing.  I don`t know how A. Shimai can put up with it all day, the kids were so excited to see huge Gaijin in their little school.  They all sat around us with the four of us missionaries in the front of the play room.  We sang Keep the Commandments, Popcorn Popping, Walk in the Light, and I am a Child of God.  All the workers and little kids were clapping and giggling while we were singing, though. Then, they asked for us to get a picture with the little kids - which was a crazy idea since about 40 little kids just ran to get a picture with us!  I really want to get that picture from A. Shimai as soon as possible so I can send it to you.

Well, I also had the opportunity to find a really cool guy this week to teach.  His name is H. Kyodai.  He looks, as Steers choro puts it, straight out of Final Fantasy.  He really is cool though, he is a programming major at a local tech school.  We gave him a church tour in which he told us that he felt something really special when we prayed right in front of the baptismal font.  Right after, he said that we wanted to be baptized.  It was really fun and I can`t wait to meet him again on Tuesday for our 3rd lesson with him.

We also had Zone Training this week.  It was ok, but I think that I like my last Zone better.  I don`t know if I have told you but up in Hirakata, we are our own District.  Yes, just the four of us.  I have yet to experience a District meeting but what would we do in ways of announcements?  We tell each other everything anyway.  But, it seems like we are in a very weird situation.  We are in our own District with the four of us and we are part of the Osaka zone, even though we are smack dab in the middle of the Osaka North zone.  It makes no sense, but that is missionary work for you.  Anyways, we had Zone Training this week and I had the opportunity to meet some of the other missionaries in our zone.  I have to tell you of a story of an elder.  So, I was talking to the zone leaders and they told me that I was a really big guy and asked how tall I am.  I responded that I was 6`4`` and this one Elder, who was standing a little bit away, got really annoyed that I said that.  He was really tall and lanky kind of guy and he said that there was no way that I was 6'4 because he was TOTALLY taller than I was and he was only 6'3.  At this point, I am leaning on a wall and kind of slouching.  He needed to prove that he was taller than me so he asked me to stand back to back.  I stood up back to back and stood up straight.  Everyone said that I was at least an inch taller than him and then he got really annoyed and wouldn`t talk to me for the rest of the zone training.  I don`t know why I felt I needed to share that but I thought it was pretty Omoshiroii.

  Halloween is also coming up.  Halloween isn`t a big deal here in Japan, only the stores use Halloween stuff so that they can increase their sales, but that is about it.  Our ward, though, is having a Halloween party this week and it should be really fun.  We having been inviting everyone we have been meeting to come to it and it will be really cool.

As for stuff that needs to be sent over to me in Japan.  I think that I am pretty good, maybe put a little bit of money in my bank account, instead, so I can buy cool things over here.  There is a lot of cool and wacky stuff that you can buy here in Japan.

As for the pictures of me, I will try and work on that.  I have been going through my pictures and have realized that I don`t have a lot of pictures with me in them.  I will send you a picture today of me last P-Day and the last time I taught Eikaiwa (English class) in Otsu.  

Well, I think that is about it.  We wanted to go to a place called Nara today for P-Day, but we didn`t get permission to go.  We will try again next week, but I think that instead we will go shopping for some stuff.  I need to buy a nice scarf and sock-tie today and well as a G-Shock.  I don`t know if you know this, but every Kobe missionary needs to have a G-Shock and a sock-tie.  It is part of the rules.  It is starting to get cold as well.  Starting next week, it is suit season for Elders and we have to wear a suit all the time, dang.  

I want to let you all know that I extremely appreciate your loving words of support.  I am trying to get through each day one step at a time.  Keep sending the encouraging words of support, I really do need them right now.  I am trying to send you positive things instead of negative things in my emails, because I think that you hear enough about it from Aunt Pat.  Keep sending great emails and pictures.

Love,

Elder Klein

English Class in Otsu.
Taken the first part of October.

Because I am an unrepentant blogstalker, I found this  picture of Kolton on a sister missionary's blog,
(she was in Kolton's last district (Otsu))  It was taken the the first week in October, I believe.  So stinkin' cute.
Dang. I love that kid.

My mountain to climb

Hi Family,

So the transfer and quite a bit has happened.

So, after I got my transfer notice, I we went home so that I could pack for the transfer.  I packed all the stuff that I could within 2 days and shipped it off.  I went to some of my favorite places for one last time, including The Dirty, Ishiyamadera Temple, and a beach along Lake Biwa.  After all this, we learned that we still had a lot to do for the new sisters that were coming into the area.  They still needed someone to sign the rental contract, get the keys, and to get all of the furnishings into the apartment.  Guess who would be doing all of that?  So we had to go to the Real Estate Office and hear a long talk in Japanese about what we could and couldn`t do with the apartment.  I didn`t understand any of it because it was in super honorific Japanese.

After that, they stopped by and gave us the keys to the apartment and basically told us "Good Luck".  The Mission Office set up a time for us to be at the apartment so that we could have people stop by and turn on the gas and get necessary furnishings (like a refrigerator) into the apartment.  We stopped by the apartment (which is a lock out apartment that needs you to have a key to get into the apartment complex in the first place) and tried to punch in the code that opens the door to the apartment (it is a number pad lock with a code).  Unfortunately, the Real Estate office told us the wrong code number and we had a bunch of people about to come from Eon (an electronic/furnishings store like Sears).  We had to desperately try every combination that we could think of until we finally guessed the right combination with them arriving just 2 minutes after we figured it out.

We let them furnish the place and set everything up and called the Mission Office like 50 times within a 2 hour period, but we got it done.  We even went by with the Bishop later at night to finish everything up for the sisters.  I can say with all honesty though that it is true that the sisters get special treatment in the mission.  They get a refrigerator that is easily twice as big as ours and they get a system in their shower where a fan goes off so that mold doesn`t grow, while the Elders apartment is overrun by mold.

Another Typhoon happened in Otsu right before I left.  It was pretty bad, heavy rain and everything, but it was really bad because I had already shipped off my clothes to Hirakata and had nothing else to change into for a couple of days.  So, my clothes were completely soaked through and I was just praying that I wouldn`t have a cold on transfer day.  While I did feel really weak in the afternoon of the typhoon, I didn`t get a cold, so that was good.

Transfer Day happened and I went down to Sannomiya in Kobe to meet my new companion.  His name is Elder Rasmusen.  He is really nice and is from Canada.  He is a experienced missionary so that helps with the pressure a lot.  We came to Hirakata and I met Elder Steers again.  It was good to see him even though I am not feeling very well.  We started Weekly Planning session and there was a point where Elder Steers and his companion, Elder Broder, were gone.  I told Elder Rasmusen almost everything that has been going on.  I left out the problems with my last companion, but I did tell him that I have major depression.  He is really understanding and that if I ever need help or to talk to him about it then he is completely open, which helps a bit.

Another thing that happened is that we watched Conference this weekend because it is delayed in Japan.  I liked it, and it was great to hear Elder Hollands talk.

The most interesting thing that has happened this week, though, was when we were going to go visit a referral from one of the members.  The referral is the daughter of one of the members and we were told that we could go and visit her.  So, last night, we decided to go and street along the way.  We met one interesting person after another. I have quickly learned, since I got here, that very unusual people live in Osaka.  Anyways, after contacting people all the way there we finally made our way to the referrals house.  It was in a little tiny alleyway that was barely lit up.  We checked that the address was okay and it was, but the name was wrong.  Confused about whether or not this was the right house, we decided to ring the doorbell anyway.  We rang and this woman picks us and speaks to us over the intercom.  We explain that we are missionaries and friends of her mother and want to meet her.  She keeps asking who we are and we keep explaining our names and why we are there.  She asks us who we are about 15 times and she becomes more panicked each time.  Finally, she says that she is calling the police and hangs up.  We look at each in disbelief that the police will come.  So, we hang around trying to figure out whether or not it is the right house or not.  Then, we heard sirens.  We looked at each other and then got on our bikes and started biking away from the sirens.  We stopped and rationalized that we had done nothing wrong and that it would be better to talk to the police and clear up the misunderstanding.   So, we bike back.  We meet two police officers right when they arrive near the house in this little alleyway.  We explain who we are and what we were trying to do.  They asked for our Resident Alien Cards (Gaijin Cards) and while we were clearing everything up 10 more police officers arrived.  So, there were 12 policeman hanging around this 30 foot radius around this person`s house.  The 4th guy to arrive pulls up and says, `Ah, Morumonkyo, naru hodo.`  Which means, `Ah the Mormons, I see.`  We admitted it and were about to leave after everything was cleared up.  Seeing that 12 policemen were around us, Elder Rasmusen said in Japanese, `Oh, by the way officers, next Sunday we have church services if you want to attend.`  We all laughed and went on our way.  Pretty interesting huh.  At least I have a story to tell now.

Well, the medication is starting to help my appetite and sleeping so that is good, but the panic attacks and depression are still constantly there.  Aunt Pat has really helped me with the therapy so I know what I need to do to try and get better.   She really is amazing.  I talked with Zinke kaicho today, though.  He told me some stuff that we could do to relieve the pressure.  I said, at the end that I thought about what we talked about in our last phone call.  Last phone call, he asked me if I could try and make it through one more transfer and I told him that I needed to go home as soon as possible.  I told him, today, that, after thinking about it, I am willing to try and get through one more transfer, 6 more weeks and see how it goes.  I told him that that might change, but that is what I am willing to do.  I cannot promise that I will stay after the 6 weeks but I think I might try and stay for 6 more weeks.  I might change my mind later on in the transfer, but I am going to try my hardest.  This is my Mountain to Climb.

I love you all and I love the mail that you send to me.  I am struggling every day, hour, and minute, but I feel your prayers and the grace of God keeping everything from falling apart inside of me.

Love you all,

Elder Klein