Jan. 29, 2017 - Surprise

Konichiwa! Fun Fact of the week, my email time has changed as has the entire daily schedule, I'll get to that later. But it's been a busy week and I don't think I actually took many pictures, oops. But let's get started...

Monday (月 Getsu - Japanese symbol for the moon or month. The first day of the week is moon day - Getsu Yobi):

Today we got a surprise visit from a member, she brought us all lunch because she heard that Mizukawa長老 (Choro - Elder) was sick, it was way nice of her and really good. After that we just kind of ung out until evening でんどう (Dendo - tracking) then me and Aoki長老 (Choro - Elder) went to go teach a potential investigator. Lucky she was there and we taught the restoration at her げんかん (Genkan - Japanese entry way to remove shoes). We got back to find the the 2 Elder, who didn't go out because Mizukawa was still sick, had a horrible idea, to start a 1,000 piece puzzle.

This is a Genkan.

Tuesday (火 Ka - Japanese symbol for fire. The second day of the week is fire day - Ka Yobi):

I taught a small bit of DTM today, it was supposed to be 10 minutes but.... I took about 20, oh well, they lied my training. After that an unproductive feeling afternoon but, in the Evening we were able to get a ton of RA's which was way exciting.

Wednesday (水 Sui - Japanese symbol for water. The third day of the week is water day - Sui Yobi):

Nice slow day and to top it off a lesson with our えいえんきゅどうしゃ (Eien Kyodoshya - eternal investigator) Shinohara, it actually went pretty good and we now have an idea on what to focus on.

	Mizukawa got a hold of my IPad / us being goofballs!

Thursday (木 Moku - Japanese symbol for wood. The fourth day of the week is wood day - Moku Yobi):

Missionary Broadcast!!! Bednar, Oaks, Anderson and some other on. The missionary committee gave a training to all the missionaries, in which they emphasized teaching the Doctrine of Christ in context and in order, faith in Christ, repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End, and that was way cool. They also announced 2 new changes to daily life, new schedule, it's a lot more free rein and I'm now going to start でんどう (Dendo - tracking) at 10 then come back for lunch whenever we planned and we now only have 4 Key indicators, as opposed to 9, WAY exciting, this is going to be the first week with new schedule.

Friday (金 Kin - Japanese symbol for money. The fifth day of the week is Money day - Kin Yobi):

じゅんかい (Junkai - lesson?) with Mizukawa was way fun. We had a fantastic idea to bike about least 10 minutes with to a random little village and でんどう (Dendo - tracking) there. It felt so nice down there, almost like how it feels up at the Hakes’ “Shabin” up in Payson. After that we helped a former investigator get packed up for his stay at the hospital: I don't really know why but we helped anyways and that took a couple hours longer than expected but when we got back we ate dinner, still felt hungry so we had some white cheddar Mac and cheese and that was way good.

Saturday (土 Do - Japanese symbol for Soil. The sixth day of the week is dirt day - Do Yobi):

The Sakura festival was today but, we can't participate because it not Pday, drat. Pretty regular day of でんどう (Dendo - tracking) and sadly a RA (Return Appointment) appointment didn't happen, that's a real sad one. I also had 5 mugs of root beer at A&W, each mug is about 500mL. Yep, I wasn't feeling good but Houseknecht basically had a hangover from it.

He’s showing the FIVE mugs that I had and I’m just posing like they do in Japan by flashing the “Peace” sign.

Sunday (日 Nichi - Japanese symbol for sun. The sixth day of the week is sun day - Nichi Yobi):

Stakeたいかい (Taikai - conference) was way cool, but I only got the basic ideas of what was happening but it was still way cool. A member took us down and a different member brought us back home, which was way nice of them. After that we mapped out all the LA (Less Actives) and it took forever but we finally finished it which was way nice.

All tired on the way back to Nago

Question for everyone that has us missionaries stumped. How specifically has the gospel blessed your family? I would love to hear full stories but if you could condense to 1 or 2 sentences at the end so I can use it during でんどう that would be really helpful.

we found a seesaw

Jan 22, 2017 - No Cool Subject line

Hello everyone! Hey, another week gone and past, felt like yesterday I was emailing. Gosh it’s weird.

Monday: Recap, bought a cardigan, got a hair cut and taught someone the first lesson in the げんかん (Genkan  Japanese mudroom aka the entryway of every house) but we couldn't set up a return appointment because he works.  

Haircut and new style!

Tuesday: Cleaning and cleaning and more cleaning. We had our yearly deep cleaning and well, we're just out of high school so most of it was at the last second あとまわし (Atomawashi - ? Note from blogger - I don’t think that word is correct) is the word in Japanese. But good news we passed and the apartment looks fantastic, which I took a picture of before and after. Cool miracle of Evening でんどう (Dendo - tracking) was we where in this huge apartment for the last little bit and only one person answered, the whole time and I gave I'm a baptism invite and he accepted and we set up a return appointment yippy.

Wednesday: Motobu trip (about an hour bike north) and stayed up there most of the day and ate up there to, this time I had some Chirashi Zushi, found something I don't like and I was some kind of raw fish. (Dendo - tracking).

	*Note from blog author - Chirashizushi is known as scattered sushi and is served on plates or bowls with colorful toppings.
	*Note from blog author - Chirashizushi is often cooked for celebrating special occasions, such as festivals, birthdays, and so on.
	*Note from blog author - Like many towns in Okinawa, Motobu is composed of what were formerly several smaller and independent villages. In addition to Motobu proper other included districts are Sesoko, Kamimotobu, Sakimotobu and Izumi.

Thursday: Weekly planning and Eikaiwa (English conversation class). I got bored so I drew on some Meishi (Flyers), they looked cool.

ART!

Friday: めんせつ (mensetsu - interviews) we went down to Okinawa and had my first interview with Kaicho (Mission President) and it was a blast. The assistant trained us on the new Eikaiwa (English conversation class) program and the new missionary schedule but it's not going to be announced until this Thursday, so I can't say anything. Most memorable part of でんどう (Dendo - tracking) has to be when we knocked on a door and two little girls answered the door, the older one went to get their mom but the younger, at least two years old, walked right up to me and said くるまはどこですかといいました (said "where is your car") she was adorable.

Saturday: Splits and miracle day. I went on splints with Elder Housekencht and our Zone Leaders had asked us to look for and pray for miracles on that day. Our miricale was the fact that we were able to give out our last Book of Mormon, the very last in the Apartment, because we that we had a lot more but turns out we didn't. We also were able to hear all the others in the zone's miracles and some were cool and some it was way fun to hear how excited they were. Some also had super good presentation of their miracles.

A&W?!?!?!

Sunday: I gave a talk today IN JAPANESE, crap. It actually went really well, but I was probably SO monotone with how I said everything that I’m sure that I put some of the congregation to sleep. Miracles I gave 2 Baptism invites today and they both said they would, well, I think, and they were willing to have us over again やった (YATTA - I did it!) (something you say as a positive exclamation, the Imi wa* definition is hilarious)

*Note from blog author - Imi Wa literally means “What’s that mean?” in Japanese. It’s a Japanese dictionary app loaded onto the iPad. I’m not sure what the Imi Wa definition of やった is, but Google translate says that it’s “Hooray”.

Jan 15, 2017 - (The Weeks) Keep comin' and They Don't stop Comin'

Hello everyone! Fun fact for everyone, Okinawa is not very cold but the wind from the ocean is freezing and that makes it so much worse but its fun. *Note from blog author - the title of this blog is in reference to the song All Star by Smashmouth*

Monday: After the emailing and Pday fun we went to Dendou (Mission Home) but not very long because one of Aoki 長老's  (Choro - Elder) mom's old companions was up in Nago so, we went and got dinner with them, it was fun we had what is called Yakiniku  (Yaku-cook  Niku-meat) which is basically you cook your own meet.

	(Left) The family (the oldest daughter it taking the pictures, she served in Sapporo) (Below) not good photo but everyone
	went out to eat, it was good

Tuesday: びょうきすきじゃない 。(Biyoki skijanai - Sick, don’t like) I got a little sick today so most of でんどう (Dendo - tracking) was in a haze but we did teach an investigator today. I didn't understand much but he really likes the theory of evolution.

Wednesday: Cool miracle, we got about 50 contacts (we talked to about 50 people) and that is WAY crazy because no one usually answers the door to listen to us but, sadly an investigator canceled his lesson today so we had extra time for でんどう (Dendo - tracking).

in felt good and looks a bit scary

Thursday: Same usual day; weekly planning and Eikaiwa (English conversation class). Eikaiwa isn't a ton of fun because it’s not interesting, but I do learn new words. Fun fact from today, Houseknecht knows what Robotech is and we had a good conversation about it, fantastic.

light fixture, on my head, why not?

Friday: じゅんかい (Junkai - lesson?) with Mizukawa 長老 (Choro - Elder) and it was a ton of fun and freezing wind. Fun things that happened, found a lost phone, children wanted to talk to us, and Mizukawa had a bungee net that he put over his basket that ended up in his wheel completely shredded. Sadly he got sick from how cold it was.

Saturday: Leaving for apartment checks, fun. Sadly, Mizukawa was sick to the point he could not get up, yikes! We gave a blessing to a member (Aoki Choro did it because I can't do it that well) then we had to skip dinner because the rice hadn't finished and it was so much colder today than yesterday. I did have 中身汁 (Nakamise Shiru - see note), it wasn't to bad but I really didn't know what it was but it was pretty good.

*Note from blog author - it’s a good thing that he didn’t know what he was eating. Apparently this is a local cuisine of Okinawa. The soup is made of the internal organs of a pig especially the small intestine and stomach.

Sunday: We had two members of the 70 come and speak to us, didn't understand but it was cool. We have started a project of mapping out the less-actives (おやすみかいいん) (Oyasumi Kaiin - inactive member see Note) and there are a lot. Then we went out to でんどう (Dendo - tracking) and I was smart and brought a sweater and was wearing my Kappa as a windbreaker.

*Note from Blog author - It would appear that the Japanese members don’t like to think that of their less-active members in a negative way. So they use the term “Oyasumi Kaiin”. The literal translation of this would be “good night member” or “sleeping member”. That way, they have NOT fallen away from the church, they are merely sleeping.

Lastly, This is a really cool time lapse.

Jan 9, 2017 - I've been out Forever

Hello, Friends Family and who ever happens to be getting these emails. Hope all is going well, I'm always busy here and that is a fantastic blessing because there is nothing to do even if i wasn't a missionary with a ton of rules. And now to the week

Monday was spent a great deal in Okinawa city but we did go to the Motobu Aquarium, apparently it's world famous and I will admit it was pretty cool but we were only there for a couple hours and its more of a whole day trip.

Tuesday we had dTM this morning, most of it was in Japanese but I did understand the main ideas of it and we ended by playing Egyptian rat Screw, I'm still bad at it but it was a ton of fun. I was a bit scared how でんどう was going to go because I hadn't done any for 3 days because of New Years but it went super well. We even meet Patrick, who has been living in Nago for 25 years, seen the Missionaries around, oh he is Black, super buff and probable military but who knows it was a ton of fun to talk to a random 外人。(Foreigner)

Wednesday lots of でんどう and it was fun. The last lady we talked to actual wanted to hear what we had to say but that caught me off guard because I didn't know what to say because I haven't had much chance to practice it.

Thursday weekly planning!!! Mizukawa and Houseknecht got a little bored during our planning, so they put up a bunch of stuff in front of our door so we couldn't get out. Then we played a couple rounds of Idiot, yes I taught the apartment how to play and everyone loves it. Then Mizukawa and Houseknecht got picked up to go down to Okinawa for splits with the Zone Leaders, that meant I taught Eikaiwa by myself, not fun but it went alright.

Friday nothing big, gave a blessing to a member and that was pretty cool. We also attended Bishopric meeting to discuss missionary work. Didn't get all the details but understood the main points.

Saturday my goodness I have sweated more today then I have in my life and it was all because of how humid it was, it was pretty bad. Basketball でんどう still was a ton of fun but still not super good.

Sunday before church, one of the members, the same one who asked for a blessing asked for the sacrament. So, we came down to the church early and we gave her the sacrament. Regularly day but we decided to try and map out where all the less-Actives are and that took forever. Had dinner, first meal because of sat Sunday then Aoki couldn't continue. He had been getting sick throughout the week but today he need to rest. So, we did an emergency split and I went to でんどう with Houseknecht. We talked to about 4 people and as usual the last person we talked with might be interested in the Gospel but regretfully, she would be the other companionship's investigator.

We made the members cookies and cinnamon rolls(thanks grandma for the cookbook)

Houseknecht is taking the picture, I'm standing next to McFarlen, Tachioka is the red head, Suki is next to him(brand new), Roncal is in the back with the Nihonjin Sakamoto

turtle

bad photo because my camera is dead but cool fish

fish with streamers 

Whale Sharks!!

Me and Houseknecht

not everything translates right

lionfish

eel, apparently only just discovered in 2001

scary faint spines lobsters 

cool view

it with Aoki's birthday Thursday so, we had steak