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Update on Elder Roemer

Joshua's first day in Japan with President and Sister Hill. He got a new Mission President a month later, President and Sister Albrecht.


Joshua's first area in Kamakura

Just thought I would give a quick update on Josh. In November he was in Shibuya, which is a ward of Tokyo. It is the most densely populated area of Japan. He and his companion were over two English speaking wards there. Anyway enough from me, I will just type excerpts from his emails and letters.

Middle of November...

We had Theo’s baptism this Sunday! It was a really good experience. It’s cool to see how people can make a complete 180 in how they live because of the gospel. Yoshi got baptized this last Saturday too! I didn’t get to go but president Albrecht said it was really good. I wish I could have been there.....I took some pictures of Theo’s too don’t worry.
I loved the pictures of Abbey! She is getting so much bigger than she used to be! I wish I could hold her......Keep the pictures coming! And that’s really funny that dad fed her whipping cream. I can’t say that I’m surprised; it is dad’s favorite food. By the way thanks for the post cards dad! I’m going to try and get some more letters written today.
The new place I’m in is CRAZY. I’ve never seen so many people in my life it’s unbelievable. We are over two English wards too so people have us over for dinner all the time! It’s a nice change from the Japanese ward and American families are SO much more laid back. Tonight we’re having dinner with Elder Stevenson; He gave a talk at conference about how you’re never lost when you can see the temple so I’m pretty nervous about giving him a message tonight at his house! He’s the area president over all the Asian north missions. My new companion is really good and we get along great. Oh and this last Sunday I got to bear my testimony in English during fast and testimony meeting! It was so nice just being able to say what I wanted to. I am in Shibuya now! It’s the most populated part of Japan and probably the world (it’s seriously insane). But I’m living in the most expensive missionary apartment in the world! Pretty crazy eh? Next week is transfers and I’m hoping I stay here. One reason being I get along with my companion really well and the other being that it’s Christmas and thanksgiving next transfer and I want to be in the English wards for it .......but if I end up transferring that’s ok, I won't mind.
The next week….So I got transferred! To the farthest, biggest, most spread out, least English speaking area in the mission! Not only that but I got a Japanese companion that doesn’t speak English at all. It’s ok though I think it will be good even though it might be rough at times not being able to communicate properly or express myself. My area’s name is Utsunomiya, it’s HUGE and my companion’s name is Koja. He’s way nice and I get along great with him, I can’t understand half of what he’s saying but we get along fine.

I wrote you a short little letter today so it should get to you sometime next week. I’m really excited for the thanksgiving package! Oh and I might have got sick, quarantined for a few days and lost seven pounds. I’m really excited for thanksgiving and Christmas though! I’m not really sure what we’re going to do.......But I’m sure we’ll be able to find something.

Well that’s about all I have. I might have more next week cause I’ve only been in this area for a couple of days and emailing is basically the only chance I get to use English now. I love and miss you all though and I’m really looking forward to your letters!

Love,

Elder Roemer
(Josh)

End of November...

Dear family,

Well I'm on the train right now. I am on my way to my next area, Utsunomiya! It's basically the opposite of my last area in every way possible. It's the biggest area in the mission and also the most northern, so it's freezing! It snows there and it's way out in the middle of nowhere so no one speaks English. Seriously, not only that but my companion is Japanese and doesn't speak any English. So this should be good for my Japanese, I hope....It's gonna be A LOT different from my last two transfers though. I'm looking out the window right now and it's nothing but fields forever. I'm excited though, it will be a good experience. I'm not really sure how I'll be able to function with zero English and freezing ccold but I'm sure it will all be good. I'm really excited to get your package! I cna'te wait. Iv'e been sick for the past few days so this is the first day I've been out of the apartment for qute a while. The doctor quarentinted me...I just had a fever and some ofher stuff but I'm pretty much ok now. The sister called the doctor on me....Well I'm gonna be emailing you later and my new companion (Elder Koja) is talking to somone.

OK, I am in the apartment now. THe apartment hereis actually really nice and a lot bigger than my last one. It really is in the middle of no where thoug. There are houses all over, it's just REALLY spread out. Most members live over an hour away from church by car and we get to visit them by bike. My companion is super nice. I'm trying to teach him some English but it's hard cause I cna't really speak Japanese....We went to a theater thing last night that one of the members wrote the script for and it was really fun. I didn't understand much cause it was all in Japanese and I was the only gaijin (foreinger) in the whole building, but it was still pretty fun though. So right now I'm waiting forr Sagawa to bring my bike from my last area so we can go email. That is my life in a nutshell right now! I hope everything is going good at home and you got all my letters and pictures. Sorry about my horrible writing too.....My English is getting so bad. The other day I couldn't for the life of me think of the word encourage....The sad thing is I'm not making up for it with japanese! So hopefully I'll be able to re-learn English when I come back. Well my bike is here! I am gonna put it together then head out to go email. I love and miss you all very much and I am really excited to get your letters! I will do my best to reply to all of them.

Love, Elder Roemer

Dec. 10th 2009

Dear family,

Thank you for the letters! I'm glad to hear everything is going good and nothing has changed!

Things are going good in my area right now other than I'm in a Japanese prison...I'm still a little bit sick (if you can even call it that) so basically I'm trapped in my apartment cause the Japanese people are crazy when it comes to sickness. I'll go into more detail in the email I send but it has definitely been an interesting transfer so far.

It's starting to get really cold here, thank goodness. I'm in the coldest area in the mission. I might be able to get some cool pictures in the snow.
I gave a talk this last Sunday in church and I guess you could say that it went well...I made it through at least. I'm forgetting my English more and more but my Japanese is staying the same! I can understand it well enough but speaking it is still way hard. It's such a ridiculous language...I don't think they could have made a harder language if they tried. It would be one thing if we were aloud to speak in plain form, then it would be ok. We have to speak in polite form and kego though. The more I study it the harder it becomes. There is basically four different ways to speak in Japanese, plain form (the easiest), nsut desu, and kego (the hardest). I am glad I'm learning it, it will definately come in handy in the future. This is probably my favorite sentence. I used it all the time when I first got here. Uatashi va America kara kita bakari desukara wotash no nihongo wa warui desu. Which means I from America, came just barely therefore, I Japanese bad is.
Jacob if you do the Rosetta Stone you will be able to say that in no time.

Having a Japanese companion is helping a lot though I just had no idea how bad my Japanese was till I actually got one!

SO that is where I am right now. I love my new area though, it's really nice. Thanks for the package too. I'm actually eating the pine nuts right now.

Well I hope everything keeps on going good. I love and miss you all a ton! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Love, Elder Roemer
(Josh)

Dec. 14, 2009

Ok so this email is going to be pretty short! SORRY!!!!

We went to this temple thing today out in the mountains and it took quite a while.......
I got the package and stuff that everyone made, thank you so much! I:m going to try and write at least a small note to everyone and send it to you but it may not get to you till after Christmas. It really does mean so much though, thank you everyone. I:ll get those written as soon as I can.

Now mom I haven’t been that sick........and I finally did ask for help (going against ALL of my better judgment to not...) thinking "maybe they’re right and I really do need to get help". I should have stuck with my pride.......I:m going to give you the really short version of the story but "asking for help" led to the most insane Sunday of my mission. I woke up Sunday morning and told my companion that I was going to ask the doctor in the ward that day to see if he could check me out. keep in mind I have ONLY been coughing and its nothing serious at all just really annoying and i:d had it for about three weeks so I wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with me even though I was 99.999999999% sure there wasn’t. So I hop in the shower and while i:m in there my companion manages to call basically the whole ward and mission president. The next thing I know we can’t go to church. Then the zone leaders call and say we have to go to church. So we go. When we show up the ward members are NOT happy to see me (who knows what my companion told them) and I was instantly quarantined and locked in a room on the third floor. The doctor comes in with the bishop, I have to take off my shirt and have some test done on me and the bishop says we can’t leave the room till sacrament starts and we have to take the sacrament from the kitchen away from everyone THEN leave as soon as we’re done. So we sit in this room for almost two hours and go take the sacrament. I must have told everyone I was fine a thousand times by now but for some reason that only made them even more sure I was dying. After we’d been home for about a half hour the doctor shows up and I get a blessing. Which was really nice. He and my companion start talking a little bit after the blessing and suddenly i:m in his car on the way to the hospital. I get things stuck up my nose that i:m pretty sure touched my brain, get an x-ray, and get my blood drawn. After ALL of this they finally come to the conclusion..........that i:m ok! Imagine that.......But they still gave me a TON of medicine to take in one week and I feel like grandpa Wayne cause I have to think of all kinds of different ways to not take it (mom I can’t take it you seriously have no idea how much they gave me, it’s more than I:ve taken in my whole life combined and i:m not even joking). Pretty crazy huh? I:ve never felt so loved in my life(: I:m ok though and it was actually really funny so no worries! and now you can really know i:m not sick! I don’t know if there’s any other test they could do on me so I think i:m in the clear.

Ok sorry that took up pretty much my whole letter! I thought everyone might enjoy it though. I:m doing a lot better this week though and i:m doing just fine.

I:m really looking forward to calling! i:ll have to get you the number and everything next week........I forgot to bring it with me.......Thank you for the package and everything though! Don’t worry the Christmas tree is up and everything. Ok i:m out of time but i:ll be writing you later today.

I love you!

Love
Elder Roemer
(Josh)

I will keep you updated more often in the future so there aren't so many letters and emails at once. It has been such a blessing to have a missionary out in the field! I have never prayed so hard in my life. We have felt the blessings of him serving and have felt an added measure of the spirit in our family. We love you Josh!

Going to the weigh-in, (no, this is not the biggest loser!)

Steve and Matthew loaded the steers up this morning and hauled them to the weigh-in. It is mandatory to go if you want to show your animal in the fair. Jeremy was on the slopes of Brian Head snowboarding with some friends so Matthew covered for him. There were a few times Josh couldn't go and Jeremy took over for him so he got to reap the rewards of helping out in times past. There are very few days that Jeremy can go snow boarding because of practice and games, so he took this window of opportunity (I don't think the coaches would be happy if they knew). Steve has gotten to be quite a ranch hand over the years. Growing up in Switzerland and having no experience with cattle, it has been an adventure for him. He has done really well except for the one time he actually led the steers out the side door of the horse trailer! I don't think in the history of all time that has ever been done! It is okay Steve, we still love you. :) Jeremy's steer weighed 770lbs. and Matthew's weighed 760lbs. They have a lot of weight to gain before April! How does three to four hundred pounds sound? As I said, this is not the the biggest loser! If only I was on a program to gain weight by April! :)The boys paid extra money this year to get steers that were halter broke and I think it has paid off. The steers are still stubborn at times but are not afraid of people or out to kill you. They lead them around the house everyday and it isn't even a rodeo. I don't think either of the boys have been drug at all, which is a first. They still have to make sure they work with them a lot or they will get wild. It is a lot of work but it is a great way for the boys to be responsible and earn money for their missions.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it melt?

Other happenings today....we woke up to a blanket of snow on the ground. It actually started snowing just after midnight. I was up late getting a package ready to send to Joshua. I finally went outside at one in the morning to unplug the Christmas lights and to my surprise it was snowing! It was beautiful watching the snow fall in the glow of the Christmas lights. It was so quiet and peaceful. I went inside and got the camera and video taped it for Josh. It seemed that as quickly as the snow came, it left. It was the first snow of the year so as soon as the sun came up it quickly disappeared. The sky is still threatening to snow and I think it will soon. I love that we get snow every year and that it doesn't stay too long. It is just enough to enjoy it and still love it.



Last night was our ward Christmas party. We all bundled up and headed for the church. My mom bought Abbey a santa dress with a hat that I couldn't wait to dress her in! She was decked out for the party and Jeremy even took her to sit on Santa's lap (he got to eat the candy she got!) We had fun together as a family and ward singing Christmas songs and eating. We had Trisha's kids with us while she and Jason went on a date. I had planned on having a family picture of us to send to Josh and put in our Christmas cards. Since we were all showered and had our hair combed from the party (which doesn't happen lately for me) I thought it would be a good time for a picture. Our options for a photographer were Logan (eight years old), Alexa, (seven years old), or Madelyn (five years old). We started by asking Logan who did not want to do it. :) We then asked Alexa who was all too excited and willing to help. Steve got a chair for her to stand on and showed her how to use the camera. We then plopped ourselves on the floor without a rhyme or reason and smiled for the camera. Here is the picture....I think she did a pretty good job! :)

Thanksgiving break was not entirely a "break" ...

for Steve and Jeremy. They were busy working on the house, while Matthew, Jacob and I were juicing pomegranates. They have been working on the balconies trying to get them finished and waterproofed before the rain and snow come. Steve found a smoking deal (he has a knack for it) on travertine tiles. It was a company out of California, which worked out great since he goes down there once a month for work. It was in the same area so he just took the truck down and picked them up after he was done with watch stuff. So we saved a lot on shipping too. Slowly but surely we are making progress on the house. One tile and one shingle at a time. :) I am actually amazed at how much Steve gets done for only going up there occasionally for a few hours at a time. One balcony didn't get grouted yet and the rain came. Steve was real worried that the tiles would crack or come up because it also froze but he went up there tonight and looked at it with a flashlight and it still looks ok. Thank goodness we got the water line covered all the way! Last night it dropped down into the teens and it is supposed to get even colder. We need to get the windows and doors in so it isn't so cold when working inside. We will probably get them in just in time for summer so we can swelter in the heat! :)

Pomegranates, pomegranates, and did I mention pomegranates?

Isn't it funny how when something is under your nose, or in your backyard it is taken for granted until you don't have it anymore. All the years we lived in Logandale we had tons of pomegranate bushes and we never did a thing with them. Jacob was the only one that loved them and would pick them all during the Fall and eat them. We all liked them but didn't really know how to get all the seeds out easily and we weren't patient enough to really do it. I made pomegranate jelly a couple of times but got the juice from others. Now that we have been in Alamo for four years we really miss them! It is too cold at night here for pomegranates to grow. Jacob was having serious withdrawals a few weeks ago and wanted to buy one at the store. They were $2.69 a piece! Needless to say, he didn't get one.:) I told him I would find someone in Logandale who would want to give some away. I talked to my cousin Dawn and sure enough she had four boxes that she didn't need so Martine and Nathan picked them up and brought them down with them on Thanksgiving day. Jacob was SO excited! Actually I was too, I have missed them. So we began on our journey of finding out the best way to get the seeds out and to juice them. I talked to a few seasoned experts and watched a few videos on "YouTube" and we began our adventure. Matthew and Jacob are both working on their Family Life merit badge and needed family projects to do, so this was perfect. We had a system going of me washing and cutting the pomegranates, Jacob getting the seeds out and Matthew juicing. I know a lot of people don't take the seeds out before they juice, they just cut them and juice but the skin leaves a real bitter after taste so we seeded them first. It took more work but the juice is delicious! After two and a half hours we had one gallon! Now I know why people sell it! I am sure there are lots of people that have easier ways of doing it but oh well this is how we did it. The kitchen was a disaster after-wards. There was pomegranate juice splattered everywhere! We did two more sessions in the next few days and took it outside the next time. The only draw back was that it was really cold and our hands were freezing. So for the last attempt we draped garbage sacks over everything in the kitchen then the mess was easy to clean up. We put most of the juice in water bottle containers and put them in the freezer. We left some out to make smoothies with....delicious. Someday in the near future (when I get enough energy again) I am going to make pomegranate/jalapeno jelly.....then it will all be worth it - yum!

Thanksgiving

It takes three to carve a turkey!


Thanksgiving was nice this year but it was a small gathering. It was just mom and dad, Vernon, Becky, Rachel, Lance, Natalie, Lyla, Melissa, Dallas and our family. I guess that might sound like a lot of people to some but for our family that is a really small gathering. We had fun together even though so many were missing. The nice thing was that everyone did stop by and spend a day or two the day before Thanksgiving or after. So we did get to see everyone. I guess next year is the year where we will all be together and then we will really have a big gathering! I had some paper ornaments for the kids to decorate for Joshua's paper Christmas tree. They did such a good job. They used glitter (lots of glitter) and glue (lots of glue) to decorate their ornaments. I had all their mom's bring school pictures of them so we glued their pictures in the middle. I also made little pockets on the backs and had them write a letter to Josh and put it in the pocket. They all turned out so cute! Josh is going to love to see all the kids on his tree and read their letters. It was fun to all focus together on a project and nice to focus on Josh being a missionary. I really miss him at family gatherings especially but it almost made it seem like he was there because we talked about him so much. I also had everyone write a simple recipe that he could make in Japan. The recipes turned out to be so much more fun than I could have imagined! Leave it to my family to change things up a bit. Some of the kids like Tara's was: get a bowl, now get some cereal, pour the cereal in the bowl, then get some milk and pour the milk on it, then get a spoon and eat it. :) Some of the adults were really funny too, although I can't share Vernon's! :) We even added a few of dad's favorites!!! Now those were funny! :)Melissa and Dallas trying to draw Josh a Christmas tree

Josh was in Shibuya, which is part of Tokyo. He was in the most densley populated part of Japan. He was with a companion he really liked and was over two English speaking wards. He was hoping to stay in that area for Thanksgiving and Christmas so that he could celebrate them with American families but he was transferred just before Thanksgiving. He was sent to Utsunomiya which is the most northern, non-English speaking part of his mission with a Japanese companion that doesn't speak a word of English! He was also sick and quarantined for a few days and lost seven pounds.He seemed like he was in good spirits though even though he knew it was going to be hard. Wow, what a trial for a missionary mom! It is really hard to just let things happen but it is good because it gets me on my knees and helps me to depend on the Lord more. I know that in the long run this transfer will be a blessing. Sometimes the hardest things in life turn out to be the sweetest. I will put a few excerpts from letters and emails later in the blog.
Abbey and Lyla, best friends and cousins!
Abbey and Lyla really "saw" each other for the first time. They just stared and smiled and then grabbed each others hands. It was SO cute! We got it on video, thank goodness. They are going to get to know each other more and more and want to play together more and more. I am so grateful that Lance and Natalie have Lyla, and we have Abbey together in our old age. Who would have guessed in a million years that Steve and Lance would have daughters together when they were in their forties! I guess these girls had it planned all along! :)

All in all it was a really nice day. I have so many things to be grateful for! I am especially thankful for Steve, our children and the gospel. We are so blessed.


The Hannig's and Matthew and Abbey












It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a nap!!!!