2017 02 26 It's Cold, Rainy And TONS of Fun!

Konichiwa! Well, i surprised about how much has actually happened this week. It's beginning a ton of fun and its the beginning of rainy season so sweet I love the rain. Also its been way windy and overcast so its also been way cold.

Monday (月 Getsu 曜日yobi):

Pretty normal day up until about 9ish because Faust長老 (Choro - elder) came to pick us up for めんせつ (mensetsu - interview) tomorrow. So, we had a long car ride before we could get to sleep. Funny thing that happened today needs some background. So, i thought that my trainer, Aoki長老 (Choro - elder) had gone to Fukuoka to be a ZL. While looking through the list of missionaries who finished their missions last transfer I see Aoki長老 (Choro - elder). Apparently I was his LAST companion and is now back home, everyone so far has loved my reaction.

my reaction to finding out Aoki was home

Tuesday (火 Moku 曜日yobi):

We had a めんせつ (mensetsu - interview) today and training from the ZL, Lords長老 (Choro - elder) and the Naha Zone's STLs (because my zone doesn't have any). Way fun, I love talking with Kaicho (Mission President) and Shimai (sister (referring to the president’s wife)). Afterwards we came back to Nago and had lunch and did some studies. An interesting thing happened during でんどう (Dendo - tracking), so we go up to this house and there is the huge dog just chilling up by the door and it doesn't react at all when we get up to the door but when Lords長老 (Choro - elder) knocked on the door the dog flipped out! I jumped back and Lords just ran around the dog but, thinking back on it had I been a second slower, the dog probable taken a chuck out of my leg, 奇跡 (kiseki - miracle). Then we had a しょくじ (shokuji - meal) with the Branch President and his family, really good food.

Wednesday (水 Sui 曜日yobi):

Today we had a major misjudgment. So, Sunday we were planning on visiting the Kishimoto family and today we were think "Hey, what could we do for them?" SOOOO, we decided on making them some cookies. We didn't know how many cookies that each batch made so we decided to triple the recipe. Here are the reasons why that was a BAD idea;

1. We didn't have an actual way to scoop out the cookies

2. The pans we had could only cook about 6 cookies at a time

3. We did not have the amount of time we thought we did.

It turned out... interesting. After dinner we went to visit them but no one answered when we got there so we wandered around trying to find them and at that same time it started to POUR rain and we got soaked. We went back to the bikes and while we were there Makiko came down the stairs. We followed her back to her apartment and no one was home but her so, we talked to her for a little bit and gave her the cookies to give to her family.

A basket full of cookies, before we left the church

transporting cookie dough from the church to the apartment

Thursday (木 Moku 曜日yobi):

All day long it was raining but it was more like a fine mist falling from the sky. For some reason the entire apartment is really into diet plans so, that's what we did before our weekly planning. They did figure out what we are going to be eating now, chicken on spaghetti... for EVERY meal, should be interesting... eikaiwa (english conversation class) was ふつう(futsu - normal).

Friday (金 Kin 曜日yobi):

We decided to Blitz an area, that meaning talk to EVERYONE in that area. It’s a slow start. When we finished with morning でんどう (Dendo - tracking) we saw a kid sitting by himself and we went to go talk to him and agreed to come back and play soccer with him. Soccer was a ton of fun, and I got kicked at a toTON because I was goalie for a little bit, yeah I'm not good at it.

Saturday (土 do 曜日yobi):

We met up at the church with most of the brothers in the branch and we all went to go help a less active on his farm. It took all of the afternoon but it was WAY fun. It was way rainy again this evening and that made things interesting.

Sunday (日 nichi 曜日yobi):

しぶたいかい (Shibu Taiki -branch meeting), but their than that church was ふつう (futsu - normal). But afterwards the かいいん (kaiin - church members) did a しょうくじ (shyokuji - lunch) and it was pretty good food. Interesting thing happened tonight was that we took a little break from でんどう (Dendo - tracking) to use the bathroom in the store across the street. While I was waiting around I saw Kishimoto, the one family we contacted from the first week of the transfer. So, I talked with the mom for a little. When we were leaving we saw the whole family so we talked with them for a little bit. WAY fun to talk with them.

2017 02 19 The Weeks aren't short anymore

Konichiwa! Well, things are definitely interesting with a new comp. This week has been interesting and funny.

Monday (月 Getsu 曜日yobi):

For evening でんどう (Dendo - tracking) tonight, we went to go visit some past investigators from Area Book. We decided to visit Andou さん (San - ‘Mister’) who actually lives pretty close by. When we got to his apartment complex, we saw some kids plays baseball. So, Elder Lords walks up and asks if we could join and we spent about an hour planning with them, it was a ton of fun. Then we went to go talk to Andou and see what was up. We talked with him for a little and it sounded like he was going to be joining another church pretty soon, which was way sad to hear. After meeting with him we went over to a RA (Return Appointment) we had set and since Elder Lords doesn't have his bike yet we walked and got lost. We took a wrong turn near the beginning and ended up walking around a water plant so, we quickly turned around and got on the right way, which took us through a road that had no lights, so that was fun. We did eventual arrive but it was WAY later than we thought and they weren't home. But we were able to talk with our next RA (Return Appointment) and were able to give them a BOM, which was way cool.

Here is a picture of me and Elder Lords

Tuesday (火 Moku 曜日yobi):

Had District meeting this morning, way fun. Elder Lords' bike came today and he discovered that he had to replace the brakes so, he did that and it took HOURS. Afterwards we でんどう (Dendo - tracking) near by and found Ikemiya, a college student who just moved in and sounded interested. We also saw these 2 7yrs. old girls who were putting chocolate in their friends mail boxes, we were talking to them and they started ask, 'why isn't your friend speaking? Is he stupid?' Those kinda things while i couldn't say anything back because i didn't know what to say and Elder lords was having tons of fun listening to the whole exchange. We also found Miyagi in evening でんどう (Dendo - tracking), who sounded way interested but way busy and we saw him again at the grocery store, which was cool.

Wednesday (水 Sui 曜日yobi):

We went down to a baseball park and walked around for morningでんどう (Dendo - tracking) to see what was going on and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (the winner of the japan national baseball championship) were there practicing. Afterwards we took a 45 minute bike ride to go find Kouichi Shimai (the investigator who got baptized soon after I arrived) because she had been sick and hadn't been to church so we came to check up on her. She is doing better but still won't be able to make it because she is still sick. Since we were kinda of far we decided to でんどう (Dendo - tracking) around and it wasn't too bad. We found a way cool family while trying to track down more people from the Area Book. I talked to the mother about baptism and we ask if we could return and teach the whole family and she said she would talk to her husband and he had talked with missionaries before and was willing to meet but had no time.

Thursday (木 Moku 曜日yobi):

We did weekly planning by the beach, way different but cool. There was a practice baseball game going on later so, we were seeing if we could get someone to go with us and we were able to find someone who wanted to go. We came back after lunch and we couldn't find the guy so, we sat down and watched the game while we cleaned up the phone's phone book. After we had finished we were walking around a bit and we found the guy!!!! And then it got way awkward because as we were talking with him and he started to call over random girls and ask where they were from and it was way weird. He eventually had to go home and we went back for dinner. We started a new Eikaiwa (English conversation class) program today and it felt a lot more interactive and fun.

Friday (金 Kin 曜日yobi):

We visited Ikemiya today and talked about baptism and he ask us not to return because he felt he couldn't be forgiven. Tried to find more people from Area Book but their address wasn't put in right so we couldn't find them.

Saturday (土 do 曜日yobi):

Basketball. We found some JRHS kids that wanted to play basketball and we started earlier than we normally do and had a way fun and pretty intense game. Afterwards we we resting a bit and these JRHS girls showed up and started shooting hoops. Then they asked my companion to shoot with them, he was just kinda of doing whatever and then after our encouragement, he dunked it and the girls started freaking out and they started taking tons of pictures with him. Overall the entire experience was hilarious!

Sunday (日 nichi 曜日yobi):

So, we met 2 new people today, Kisihimoto and Tamura. So, Kishimoto is a member from the Kobe mission and was in Nago visiting family and while talking to her she invited us to come and teach her nonmember family so, we were like "when and where?" So that's what we are doing this Wednesday. Tamura had lessons from the missionaries about a year ago and had to stop because of illness. Today was actually her first time back at church in a while. We tried finding her after talking with Kishimoto but couldn't find her so, we went through the phone book and find a name that was "AI" which was the name used to introduce her to us and called it and it was her! She was actually on her way home and she came back and we were able to do a quick lesson with her and she came to church today because she had prayed and felt she needed to come today, how freakin’ fantastic is that?!? We did try and find someone else in are book with no luck so we でんどう (Dendo - tracking) near by. While でんどうing (Dendo ing - tracking) we got a text from Tamura saying she didn't want to meet because she didn't feel ready and we responded saying that we still wanted to meet and haven't heard anything yet.

It's been a fun week and this next one is going to be way fun and super busy too. The work goes forward in mysteries way. Sorry, just that one picture this week, but there will be some more next week.

2017 02 12 Hey, its transfers and I'm in Nago

Konichiwa! Well, this has been an unusual week, first off I got a new companion and there’s another new missionary in the Apartment and I'm still in Nago. Now to the week...

Tuesday & Wednesday (火 Ka 曜日yobi & 水 Su 曜日yobi):

Ya, these two days can be smashed into one entree. So basically Aoki長老 (Choro - elder) just packed the rest of the night and Faust長老 (Choro - elder) picked up him and Houseknecht長老 (Choro - elder) at 9 to go down to Okinawa. All of 水曜日(Suyobi - Wednesday) was spent hanging out in the apartment while Mizukawa長老 (Choro - elder) packed. We did make some Mac and cheese and rice crispy treats using corn flakes instead of rice krispies.

Pay day(February 1)

Thursday (木 Moku 曜日yobi):

Mizukawa長老 (Choro - elder) finished packing and then we waited for Faust長老 (Choro - elder) to show up with everyone else. We did get a call from Houseknecht長老 (Choro - elder) saying they were going to be late and then another from him saying they were almost there.....on that last one I decided to have some fun👹👹😈😈 (fun fact I can do emojis) SOOOO, what I did was I answered the phone was "もしもし(Moshi Moshi - “hello” when you answer the phone), this is the Okinawa building, how can. Help you?'" Okay it's not THAT funny but it throw him off so bad. So, I got to meet Baker長老 (Choro - elder) (he’s the missionary Houseknecht is training and Lords 長老 (Choro - elder) (he’s my new companion). Lords長老 (Choro - elder) is probably taller than me, he’s WAY athletic, and loves basketball. Within the first hour of him being here he has rearranged most of our room and made a pile of things to get rid of. It was great to see a cleaner room.

Last day with everyone

Friday (金 Kin 曜日yobi):

We started the day off with a run to the church and back to the apartment. It’s the first time I have ran in forever! Then meals and studying but we weren't able to でんどう (Dendo - tracking) until tonight because we needed to do some more cleaning around the apt, but it was fantastic でんどう (Dendo - tracking). All we did was でんどう (Dendo - tracking) near our apartment but it was way effective. We got 7 RA (return apointments), which is more than I ever got with Aoki長老 (Choro - elder). The coolest contact that we had was with our last one for the day. So we knock on the door, and this grandma tells us to open up the door. So we start talking to her and I ask the question, "What is the most important thing in life?" She responds and says, "Life" So I ask her "Why?" She stood and thinks for a moment, the hobbles over to the stairs and shouts up the stairs. Her daughter (a young mom) comes down and I ask the daughter the same question, "Why is life important?" She stops and thinks, and then she shouts up the stairs and HER daughter come down. She's about 4 yrs. old and is absolutely adorable! Then we talk with them for a little bit more and then set up a return appointment, which was way cool.

Made a cover for my scriptures

Made a cover for my scriptures

Saturday (土 do 曜日yobi):

Fun fact, the wind here is freezing! but we でんどう (Dendo - tracking) anyways! After our morning でんどう (Dendo - tracking) and studies we went exploring and found this fantastic gym that had weights, a basketball court and a volleyball court. At the time we found it though there were a TON of moms doing a volleyball tournament, which was a bit odd but very intense looking. Then we went and did our Basketball でんどう (Dendo - tracking) and Lords is not afraid to talk with anyone, we was able to get the number of a kid we play basketball with and may do some cool stuff with him and we got to see Lords 長老 (Choro - elder) slam dunk many times. Then evening でんどう (Dendo - tracking) we tried contacting people in our area book. We were able to contact an old investigator, Brother Uehara, but he probably won't become an actual investigator because of lack of interest and normal でんどう (Dendo - tracking).

Sunday (日 nichi 曜日yobi):

Sacrament meeting was ふつう (futsu - normal). Then we did someでんどう (Dendo - tracking) around the apartment, then had dinner, and then went to our first RA (Return Apointment), the Kishimoto family. We talked with them about baptism, prayer and Jesus Christ. It went pretty good but we weren't able to set up a RA because they're way busy. Also, the mom was way funny, it almost felt like she was flirting but at the same time it also felt like she was acting like we were her kids (we are about the kids ages) but it was way cool. Now the weird person we meet. He was living in a really びみょう(bimiyo - close english word is like ‘sketchy’) apartments. He had way long hair and a beard, which is WAY unusual in Japan and the entire time we were talking to him, he would giggle and twitch, it was way weird. We left when his mom came and yelled at him to close the door, easily the weirdest person I've meet.

2017 02 12 Hey, its transfers and I'm in Nago

It's been a pretty exciting week. The mission is fun and it's way exciting to be in Japan for my mission. here are some pictures and videos for the week.