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

Accident Counter - 2

So, I got in another accident, usual amount of 'that shouldn't have gone so well' We had just finished with a lesson and it hadn't gone fantastic. I wasn't really paying much attention where I was going because I was deep in thought. I'm going along and I look up to see that I am about to hit a post head on. I have just enough time to move out of the way but I hit the basket on my bike and it launched me off my bike. I hit the ground and rolled got up, checked all my stuff, everything was perfectly fine so, logically, I start laughing because everything is fine.

I love that he jumped up and started laughing!! Hopefully we will get some pictures of future accidents.

Jan 2 2017

Hello みなさん (Mina San - everyone)
This is going to be a shorter email because I don't have my journal, darn. So, I'll just have to share what I remember.

Miracles
So throughout the week and the week before we had made 3 return appointments on Wednesday, that is a lot for us. Normally, we come by and the person is never home and we went by the house and everyone was home and we shared a short message with them, it was super cool.

Other Stuff
Since New Years is a HUGE holiday over here, we decided we probably shouldn't でんどう (Dendo - Proselyting). To put in perspective how upset people would be if we were to でんどう (Dendo - Proselyting), imagine 2 Jehovah Witness knocking on your door in the middle of Elder Hollands talk or Christmas or Thanksgiving. So what we did is a ton of card games, for hours. It took a little bit but we all got super bored so Aoki 長老 (Choro - Elder) decide to do a fashion show, it was pretty entertaining.

I am going to end this email with a challenge, what have you guys been doing with family history work? Have you been using it to spread the Gospel?
愛しています (Ai shite imasu - I love you)

Christmas 2016 part TWO!

Here's a little video of our Chat with Spencer.

Christmas 2016

Hello Mina San,

This is just going to be a short email because I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It defiantly hasn't felt like Christmas, all the trees still have their leaves, not even cold and people here are going to get KFC. It has been nice to tell people about the true meaning of Christmas even if they don't want to know more. It is lots of work and none is easy but I love it out here the people are great and the Branch is a ton of fun. 

Remember, one only needs to drop the last syllable in Spirit of Christmas to make it the Spirit of Christ. I believe President Monson said something close to that but the Idea is the same.

Lots of love to everyone and remember to open your mouth about the gospel and God has promised it "Shall be filled"

Dec 18, 2016

Hello Everyone,

I have successfully survived my first transfer and have made it to being out a little under a year. To answer some unasked questions, yes I do hit my head on lot of things though probably not as much has a would on Kyuushuu(the island that has Fukuoka) or Hondo(the main island, has Hiroshima), kaicho has asked that we either say 'a little over a year' or 'a little under a year' when asked how long we have been out. And now to my Week...

Tuesday: Me, Aoki and Mizukawa and staying in Nago while Osborne i leaving to Yamaguchi to be a breaker(first companion after trainer), District Leader and Zone Leader, he is going to be busy. We went down to the beach and just hung out for a good amount of time, it was Kirei(beautiful) and there was a fantastic breeze, okay it was really strong but it felt great. 

(sign says "Dangerous beyond this point", but it looks really cool)

Wednesday: I got a package today, a little underwhelming

(the forced perspective is supposed to make the box from us look like the size of the Altoids can. It did not look like it to me, but I sent the box so I already knew how big it was)

 Okay joking, I was really excited and it is actually much bigger. It arrived around lunch and then we went straight to work. Since Osborne was leaving tomorrow, him and Mizukawa stayed at the apartment so he could pack. We made some RA (return appointments) for today but none of them happened, it was a little sad. When we came back for dinner, we waited a little longer to leave to でんどう(dendoing - tracting) so we could see Osborne off and so we could take Mizukawa with us on our でんどうing.

Yep, we have wands, I have Voldemort, Aoki has Harry, Mizukawa has Belatrix and Osborne has Ron

Thursday: the companionship was a threesome because Mizukawa doesn't have a companion so he came with us. We mostly でんどう in the inakas(countryside) and there weren't many people who talked to use. I did teach eikaiwa mostly by myself, which was pretty fun. Elder Houseknecht(the new elder) came near the end of it, so I had him come up and finish it off.

Friday:today we taught an AB(After Baptism) Lesson to Kouichi Shimai and I did teach a small part of the Lesson, it was mostly scripted but it went okay. Then we did weekly planning and でんどう, which nothing interesting happened. 

Saturday: I went on splits today with Houseknecht ad we started it of with a drive to Ginoza, a small town. We took part in a "Forgetting the Year" celebration, it was super cool and a ton of fun. Then we had our Basketball でんどう, still a ton of fun, but since Houseknecht's bike isn't here yet because he had to ship it from his last area so, we walked everywhere. It was a lot of fun, we stayed by the Basketballcourt to でんどう s that we didn't waste time walking back and forth. 

Sunday: church as usual, can't understand anything. We did do a song practice afterwards for the upcoming Christmas thing we are doing. Then we got back for lunch, and after lunch we tried in vain to contact some LA(less-active) but one where home. But, while we でんどう we did hand-out 2 BoM, which was really cool.

Things our great here, still super hard but it is fun. There is a lot to do and not much at the same time, is weird. 

The top and bottom are the guy who was in charge of the event and the middle is the group I sung with and I am next to Houseknecht

This video is of a 6 year old playing the piano.

This video is from the Forgetting the Year event.

Opening Christmas Advent 2016

Here are the things that we sent Spencer for Christmas. We sent them wrapped and he was supposed to open them one day at a time.

He knew to expect a package from us and received this altoids box (on left). Not sure who that was from, because the box on the right is the one from us. It cost us $95 for shipping!!  Yikes! We will have to learn more about how they charge for shipping so we can be more frugal next year.

Day1: Christmas decorations. This tree was cut from a plastic table cloth. The star is from craft foam and glittered up by Talley. We also sent tinsel garland and battery powered Christmas lights. Hopefully he used those to decorate and just didn't send pictures of it. We also made red circle ornaments that we put notes from family and friends on. Again, hopefully he used those and just didn't send a picture.

We sent a Harry Potter wand and house tie for each of the missionaries in the apartment. Spencer got all of the house ties, because we just like him more! We sent each of them wrapped and labeled with the missionary's name. They were not supposed to open them until Christmas day, but I guess it worked out for the best since one of the elders was transferred shortly after Spencer received the box.

Here is Spencer and his companion playing with the wands and lightsticks

Day 2 - A Nativity set. We wanted him to have some things to make it feel like Christmas. 

Day 3 - Stockings. Again we wanted him to have some decorations. Also, later gifts are things Santa usually leaves in the stockings.

Days 4 - muffin mix. Just a little taste of home

Day 5 - Snowman Soup (a.k.a. hot chocolate with candy canes and marshmallows)

So far Spencer has not sent us any more pictures of what we sent. I guess next year I will need to take pictures as we wrap them up!