Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and was able to make somebody
smile. I had a great Christmas, and a bunch of cool experiences this
week. One of our investigators committed to baptism in January which
was awesome! And we found out that Elder Holland is coming to the
mission in February. While housing, my companion and I ran into a
family of six who said we could come back! It was super cool and we
will meet with them tonight so I'm praying that they'll accept our
message. At church on Sunday all of our investigators came to church
which was a miracle. I had been on them all week, and they all filed in
about 10 minutes before the meeting started, which was fun. Probably
the coolest experience this week was visiting a less active guy named
KURATANI. He is about 50 and for one reason or another hasn't been to
church in a while. Well, he reads and prays everyday and told us of a
cool dream/vision thing he had. The short version is: he went to
church and met two ladies with cake. One lady wouldn't give him cake

but the other would. He said we were like the one who gave him cake
and he wants to come back to church. We gave him a Christmas present
and I hope he'll come to church next week. Also, I knocked and rung
this one guys door and he came outside and yelled, "what are you
doing?" So I said we are singing, and he was super confused and said I
was too loud knocking on his door. I asked him how is he doing and he
didn't know what to do so a gave him the 5 second Christmas message
and left. I thought it was pretty funny. Merry Christmas all.
Elder Frisch

A cake from a member

Merry Christmas everybody!
Thanks for all of the pictures and things! Christmas looked like it
was a blast! It was super fun talking with you all yesterday. It made
my day. What time did you guys get up this morning? What was
everyone's favorite surprise? Here's a video of me opening my package.

Merry Japanese Christmas!

Santa Elder Frisch

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Another good ol' week in japan. I got a new companion named Elder Akagi from Utah. He is half Japanese and way awesome. We came to Japan at the same time which is pretty fun. We spent most of the week looking for investigators and spreading Christmas cheer. I dressed up like Santa, and we went around singing to people on the street and trying to explain to everyone what Christmas was all about. It was super fun. My companion and I met a guy while housing, and the first thing he said was " I have no interest in what you have but I like the hymn book" so after he told me I couldn't show him the hymn book, I took it out anyway and my companion and I sang, "Joy to the World". It was cool and he gave us an apple. Our Christmas party had a good turn out and this cool Nigerian guy that I randomly called from our phone showed up. He is going home for a month, but will be back in February. 

Elder Frisch having fun shoveling the parking lot.

Guess what??? It snowed!!! I was so pumped that I went out at 6:30 and shoveled our apartments drive way. Tis' the season to be jolly. 

Merry Christmas

Elder Frisch

Here's a member that just walked into the chapel.

Hey dad!!

Merry Christmas.

How have you been? It'll be fun to skype you guys in the next week or so. When will work best for you guys? I have to confirm it today.  Missionary work has been good. We haven't found any new investigators which is rough but we will find some. New Years is the biggest deal in Japan so even our mission president told us to take 3 or some odd days off to deep clean our apartment and try to read the whole Book of
Mormon and stuff like that. How's work been going? Are all of your Christmas master plans coming together? I got the package from you guys but I haven't opened it yet. Should I wait until Christmas?
Here's me dressed up like Santa at the ward Christmas party. We also visited an old folks home with the whole ward and sang to them and stuff. There were probably over a hundred of them there and I shook all of their hands and they were just all so happy that we had come and it was awesome. Christmas time is just so happy. I asked one guy on the street last week what he thought the meaning of Christmas was and he said in English "lovely" but he meant love. Everyone else just says to eat cake and stuff, so it stuck out to me how Christ is love, and he wants to help everyone whether they want it or not. I'll talk to you soon.
Love you.
Love,
Eli

Hey Mom and Family!
It sounds like everyone is working hard at this time of the year. Keep up the hard work. I got the package you sent!!! Thank you!!! I haven't opened it because I didn't know if I should wait for Christmas. Also, the old missionary couple is taking us to Costco today so any suggestions? Also when is best to skype? They said the 25th or 26th is
best over here but we can do it until the 30th. I'll see when my companion wants to do it. How is everyone? It snowed over here! Here are some pictures! Love you guys.
Love,
Eli

(What healthy choices, proud mother moment.)

Goodnight everyone!
Love you guys and see you in a bit.
Love,
Eli

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!
It's been another fun week in good 'ol Kanazawa. It's starting to cool
off and a little snow fell last week. I went on an exchange to Nanao
with an Elder who came to Japan with me. I got lucky and remembered to
bring my rain jacket but not my pants. It came in handy. We taught two
English classes which were pretty fun and found a potential
investigator on a bridge. Then we headed out to visit a less active
and it started pouring. At one lady's house it started hailing and
she felt bad for us and gave us these potato slices in tin foil and I
put it on my face because it was warm. We ended up finding another guy,
so that was fun. We had a cool experience this week were Elder Adams
and I visited a less active and after talking for a while he said that
the other day he was reading his scriptures and praying and he had
inspiration that we would visit him and we did. It was awesome. He
would come to church but he is worried about too many things. He was
super nice and we shared a Christmas message. He also gave us some
Daikon. (My missionary power is that people always give me and my
companion food, they say it's only with me). Transfer calls came and
I'll be staying and getting a new companion. We will be the same
missionary age which will be fun. Have a jolly olly Christmas. Merry
Christmas everyone.
Elder Frisch

Week 15 and There's Lots To Be Seen

Good morning from the future because it's Monday over here.
Another grand week in Kanazawa. Last Monday we went on an adventure
into the mountains and found the lost statue of Nichi Ren, and we made
it home for dinner. We had our investigator interviewed for baptism
and he passed! He is scheduled for December 21st. Our other
investigator has a goal for the 24th so we are working on it. We had a
big zone meeting which was cool and we got to eat a super tasty
Christmas dinner. It had roast beef and everything! During English
class this week I was trying to talk to these super old Japanese
scientists about physics stuff and it was pretty funny. Then they
wanted to talk about World War Two so I went back to the beginners
side and did some alphabet. We went to visit less actives by the Sea
of Japan so I've been coast to coast. We rode our bikes across the
beach on the sand which was fun until it wasn't wet and got super
deep. That night we visited a family who made us pancakes and we
shared a Christmas message. Christmas is the best time because
everyone has heard of Christmas and they don't think of you as a scary
white guy trying to rob them or something. We found two new
investigators for the week and a super strong potential. I randomly
downloaded a Christmas video in Indonesian in church and that night we
ran into an Indonesian guy and he let me show him the video. The
spirit is super awesome. I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas
season and merry Christmas to all.

Elder Frisch

"The best way of spreading Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear".
-some famous philosopher I heard once

 Lost Statue of  Nichi Ren

“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.” Abraham Lincoln

Week 14 and the Roads are Clean 

Helloooooooooo Everybody,

This week went by super fast, and I hope that thanksgiving was a blast for everyone. It was fun for me. First off, I want to say that my investigator from Okazaki got baptized. Sister Sato was baptized yesterday and I'm so happy for her. It was an awesome experience being able to find and teach her everything. She was an example to me that God prepares people and we just need to find them. Over the space of three months she went from wondering who these two white boys were, who were talking about some kid who saw God, to being a member of our church. 

It's amazing. I'm grateful for her and know that her life will be blessed. 

(The following is a note to Eli from Kaoi Sato.)

(It's from Sato, my investigator, and it made me super happy.)

Hello!
Are you fine? How's your Kanazawa life?
Today, I was able to recieve baptizma. I was nervous but thanks to everyone I was able to finish safely. My son also came to church and I was able to have a wonderful time. All thanks to Elder Frisch and Elder Porter. Thank you very much!
Please take care of yourself and do your best for evangelism.

Kaoi Sato

This week I ran into a Muslim guy from Indonesia on the street. We talked a bit about church stuff and he said it'd be alright if we meet up sometime. It was good because we haven't been able to get that far in a while. We have been sharing messages about Christmas which is fun. People really don't know much about it. 

Oh, my cool story for the week. I ended up in a Japanese Police station which was interesting. It was actually a miracle. I had lost my name tag on the same street, and prayed that I'd find it, but we couldn't. A couple days later we got a call at the church that someone had found it and it was at the police station to be picked up. I thought it was a miracle. They made me fill out a pile of paper work which was pretty funny but I got it back. 

Thanks for everything everybody. Have a joy filled Christmas season and smile everyday.

Elder Frisch

This Is because Abe is cool.

“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to
the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.”

Abraham Lincoln

I went to the legendary Kenrokuen Park and took pictures.

The park attracts a bunch of visitors and sightseers, so it's funny to see white people, especially when they don't speak English. Ha ha ha. I met a Muslim guy from Indonesia and I learned stuff I didn't know about Islam. He also said we could meet again. I went on an exchange to the Japan finger that I always wanted to go to! It was pretty fun.

As missionaries there are two Americans, a Canadian, and a Australian in our apartment, so we went out to eat on Thanksgiving. We got Katsudon, which is a rice bowl thing, which was pretty good, and for the kids in seminary, we woke up and made them pancakes. Good day. 

I had a miracle this week. I lost one of my name tags while visiting the castle so we told the people and they said they'd let us know. Well, in about three days we got a call from the police station and they found my badge and it was awesome. It's cause we prayed that I would find it.

Week 13 and I'm Not Hurting...

(If you haven't noticed the poetry, Eli likes to rhyme, a lot, there have been original rhymes and poetry in all of his letters.)

Transfer day, leaving Okasaki and heading to Kanazawa.

Hey everyone!!!

I crashed again, that's number four. I'm going for the record. This
time I saw this guy praying in the middle of a parking lot, so I turned
to see what he was doing, and nailed a metal box with my handle bars.
It was cool. You should've been there.

Here is a cool family from Okazaki that fed us the most.

Now I'm on the opposite side of Japan in Kanazawa. This city is way bigger than Okazaki and has some big tourist attractions, so I see a lot of foreigners. The ward is pretty big and the people are awesome. I'm in an apartment with the zone leaders again (different zone) which is cool. Our sleeping arrangements are sort of like a sardine can with overlapping futons. My futon is just long enough. I only have two in this apartment, but it's ok. My sleeping bag is super warm.

 

It's fun. We get to go to seminary every morning which is cool. It'll help with learning Japanese also. My companion is a transfer 5 which is fun because I get a chance to practice a lot more.

I met some cool people this week, including an 83 year old guy going for a walk and a 81 year old guy with no teeth. They were super funny and didn't want to talk about church, but they did talk about the purpose of life with us. I was able to teach the plan of salvation to a Thai guy which was cool. It turns out he doesn't believe in God, but it's good to know, so, we have a place to start with him. Missionary work is awesome. God is good. He puts you in different situations to help you grow. Pretty cool. Stay safe everyone.

Elder Frisch

Hey family!!!
I'm doing a big email this week. How was everyone's week? Mine has been
pretty good. I'll have an opportunity to grow my patience and things, but it'll be alright. Kanazawa is a big city with a bunch of tourists and things. The nature is way beautiful and they have Kenrokuen Park, which we live 2 minutes from (you should look it up).

Thanks for all of the pictures and things. The people in the ward are way nice and I've met a bunch of them. Here's a video from my train ride.  I wonder if I'll have my first white Christmas here.

Hey Dad,

Thanks for the email. I've been in Kanazawa for about a week now trying to adjust to the new place and companion. I'm getting a chance to grow up quickly because of my young senior companion. I'll also learn patience. I've already lost him twice because he likes to not talk to people and I stop and don't see where he goes. He tells me that we
have things to do, but we just waste time, so I like to talk with people. I'll have to figure something out. We have seminary, so we get up at 5:30 every morning. It's good but we don't have exercise time which is a bummer. I get up really fast and do push-ups and things.
I'm in another apartment with four guys and they are all 20 which is funny. I thought everyone would come out at 18. I'm glad work is good. Keep working hard. Working makes me feel good. That's why I am out here, if we aren't doing anything, I don't feel good. How are the young men in the ward? Scouts isn't a thing in Japan. Over all I'm doing good. Thanks for your example to me and everything. I love you.
Love,
Eli

Goodnight everyone!!!!
I love you all and miss you.
Have an awesome thanksgiving and eat a lot for me because I don't know if we'll have one. Thanks for the letters and things. I sent you one last week. Keep on keeping on.
Love,
Eli

I made tacos. Chopsticks are fun and I'm pretty good at them.

7.3 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Off the Coast of Japan

On November 21, 2016 a 7.3 magnitude earthquake rattled Japan, I don't think Eli will be effected, even though a tsunami is expected.

Videos from Week 12 in Japan, Last Week in Okasaki

Click on each of the links below to watch a video.

Elder Frisch Week 12

Phone Call in Japanese

Elder Frisch

Week 12 and I'm Clearing My Shelves

Well it's been a great two transfers here in Okazaki, but I'm transferring this week. I'll be headed to Kanazawa (in the middle of the yellow on the map), the opposite side of the island bordering the Sea of Japan, tomorrow on a new adventure. My new companion is a kid from Australia and I'm supposed to be seeing a ton of snow. I'm pumped.

This week was pretty awesome. We found a new investigator who is a funny old guy. Our investigator, Sato, is getting baptized in two weeks! Her husband said yes so everything is clear. I won't be able to see it, but it'll be awesome. We got attacked in our apartment last night by some crazy 20 somethings from our ward. They doorbell ditched us, and when we went out to see who it was, we were met with a face full of whipped cream. It was pretty funny. I was able to give out a Portuguese Book of Mormon this week, which was pretty funny. I carry one everywhere and yesterday stopped a guy on the street who I didn't share any language with, but I had this sweet book in his language. I said "Jesus Christ" and gave it to him. 

I said bye to the ward and investigators yesterday. They are good people. I'll miss them. I hope everyone has a good week.

Here's a poem I really like from a talk.

You are the fellow that has to decide
Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside. …
Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar
Or just be contented to stay where you are.

Out here there's no one telling you what to do or how to do it. Just
me and my companion. It's all up to me and how hard I want to work for
God and the Japanese people. I'm trying to make a difference.
-Elder Frisch

My Myanmar investigator

Crazy Adventuring!

Protecting Super Cool Grass!

"Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more, if only he could."

Good morning from the other side of the world!

This week was pretty cool. My companion and I went on a crazy adventure into the mountains last preparation day and found some crazy traps in the forest, big enough for bears. We then found some cool abandoned rice fields. I went on my first exchange where I got to sleep in a different area this week. I went to Kariya and to help out at an old-folks home. Everyone was super funny and nice and were talking to me about all this funny stuff like "rock, paper, scissors". We then went to a members’ house for dinner which was awesome because we've probably only done that about five times here. Out investigator didn't get baptized this last week, but she did come to stake conference and really liked it. Our Myanmar investigator also came, but it was hard for him to understand. I had the opportunity to give a priesthood blessing to Paing (Myanmar guy) to help him with the word of wisdom. I talked to him on Sunday and he says that whenever he wants to smoke now he thinks of it and doesn't. It was pretty awesome. He told us he felt good after it which made us feel like we've actually accomplished something. We met a lady last night while less active hunting who came out to her front gate to talk to us. We asked us when she was baptized and she said 80 years ago! She was 91! It's so hard to guess their ages and they all think we are 25. Good week and we found a new investigator while streeting (tracting).

Here's a cool quote I found his week.

"Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more, if only he could."

It's always good to remember why you do things in life. It gives you that extra push.
Thanks for reading this whoever does.

Elder Frisch