Roller coaster!

It`s almost Christmas and it doesn`t even feel like it!! Haha. As missionaries we just do the same thing everyday so this Christmas season doesn`t feel a whole lot different ha. I will say that I have been able to think more about the meaning of Christmas though and I`m grateful to have it! :) I can`t believe it`s already the middle of December. The temperature has definitely dropped over here the past few days, but we still haven`t seen any snow. I hear there isn`t a whole lot of snow that falls where I`m at, although we`ll probably get at least a little.
Well this missionary roller coaster continues to just keep right on rollin. I feel like I`m in a loopty loop right now and can`t get out haha. It`s definitely been full of ups and downs, and this week was no different. Our college student investigator, Kanno Arata, has unfortunately gone down the drain. No, not the drain in the baptismal font that we were all hoping for. He finally talked with his parents and I guess they weren`t too happy about things. We recieved a big `NO` from the parents and they even seemed to change his mind too. The next thing we know he has our phone number blocked and we are no longer in contact with him. We were able to get a message from him through one of our members, but he said he no longer has any interest. It was so sad to hear and I was really disappointed but what can you do. We worked really hard with him and he was so close but it just didn`t work out. I`m sure there will be a better time and place for him to recieve these things.
We also weren`t able to meet with our other baptismal date, Ayako さん。 She caught a cold and unfortunately we weren`t able to meet. We did though, have an awesome thing happen this week. We now have a family we`re teaching!!!! A few weeks ago we housed into a really nice man, talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon, and he gladly and thankfully recieved it. We followed up with him last week, were able to meet the rest of the family, and made an appointment for yesterday. We met, enjoyed some time with them, and shared a short message. They are such a sweet family. The daughter is going to a Christian college and they all seem to be so golden!!! They have 3 kids, ages 20, 12, and 10. The name is Kishi. They`re pretty busy so we won`t be meeting with them for another couple weeks but we`re gonna invite them to our Christmas party and go from here!!!!! Elder Juchau and I were really excited about them :)
I hope everything is going well for all of you back home in America. Before we know it this Christmas season will come and go and we`ll be into a new year. I hope we can all live every moment like it`s our last and soak in all we can, especially during this time of remembering our Savior. I love you all!!!!! Thank you all for the support and love you render towards me. I really appreciate it. Take Care!!
Elder Ovard

Miracle Week!

Family and Friends!!


Today was transfer day and I`m proud to say that there were no changes in Tagajo!!!! :) I wasn`t really expecting anything to happen anyways but you never know what can happen on the mish haha. There were a few changes that took place within my District though. 2 Sisters are leaving and 2 more will be coming in. One of them is a new missionary, and the other is Sister Beaven, an Australian, who was with me in the MTC! So I now have somebody else to speak English too! Haha.
It`s been an awesome week on the mission here in Japan. So good that it earned the name `Miracle Week`!:) Haha. We were so blessed and we saw so many miracles this past week. I remember working with an older missionary in Iwaki and asking him what his favorite part of the mish was. He said, `All the miracles.` I never really understood what he meant, and for that matter didn`t really think I had seen any miracles up to that point. As time has gone on though, I have definitely come to understand what He meant by `all the miracles`. I have seen the Lord`s hand more time than one and am so grateful for all the miracles He has blessed me with.
This past week we achieved the Standard of Excellence!! We worked really hard and were able to see the fruits of our labors. We found 5 new investigators, 4 of who we will continue to work with!! One of the investigators is Ayako-San. She is a 30 year old woman who came to English Class and we picked her up from there. We met with her the first time, taught about the message of the Restoration, and committed her to baptism right then! She accepted and we made a date for Jan. 15th. She seems golden and we are so excited to be working with her.
Well things with Arata-San are kind of all over the place right now. After about fifteen phone calls and ten minutes of knocking on his door, we were finally able to get him out of bed and we got his butt to church! Haha. He really seemed to enjoy it too :) We have been working really hard to get his parents` permission for the baptism. We sent them a package on Monday including the permission form, a DVD about our message, a `For the Strength of Youth` pamphlet, and letters from Juchau Choro and I. Last night we called him to see if He had talked with his parents about things and He said he had. Then He said it was bad. He pretty much said it is impossible. It was so discouraging. We never asked if they got our package or anything but we will figure out more of the details from here. As of now, all we can really do is pray.
The mish is still amazing though. I`m so grateful for the opportunity I have to be bearing testimony of our Savior, especially during this Christmas time of year. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. I love you all!!
Elder O

Wonderful News from Sister Hiroko

A fun facebook message that I received today!  Sister Hiroko makes my day. :)

Sister Heather,


Hi!

I have a wonderful news for you and Elder Ovard.

Kowaguchi finally got baptized today.!!!I 'm very happy for her.

She have two sons and divorced about three years ago.

We are going to support her with missionaries.
I really wanted to let you know about the baptism for Sister Kowaguchi.I'm looking forward to seeing you with Sister Kowaguchi

one day!!!
Please take a look at Sister Kowaguchi
Have a wonderful sunday.
Hiroko