2017 05 14 Mother's Day

Konichiwa! Well, this has been a pretty cool week, been able to see some cool miracles and its been way fun.

Monday (月 Getsu 曜日yobi):

Fun P-day but, the bikes were shipped today so, we didn't have a way to get around. So, we got a arranged for a ride from a member. When we got to her home she wasn't there so we talked with her son for a little bit and then the member totally went off on him about some random thing. I honestly felt a bit bad for her son. #awkward

Elder Chadwick being Cinderella

Tuesday (火 Moku 曜日yobi):

Another fun day lots of 伝道 (Dendo - tracking).

Me and Elder Osborne (from my “Bean” area) *note from dad - “Green Bean” = fresh NEW missionary

Wednesday (水 Sui 曜日yobi):

New investigator today!!!! We went through my planner from last transfer and decided to visit some people. So, we picked someone named Miki and went to visit. She wasn't home so we went 伝道Ing (Dendo - tracking) around and came back later and she was there! We talked and shared the “Because of Him” video and she said herself said she felt something. So we made a return appointment and it was way cool.

Thursday (木 Moku 曜日yobi):

Thursday, in Kagoshima for ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) and that was way cool. One complaint, it was hot and humid and we had to climb a hill to get to the church but, it was fun.

Friday (金 Kin 曜日yobi):

Another lesson with Mikiさん (san - Mr. / Mrs.) ! And we met her one year old son and it was raining pretty hard so, not our best lesson but it wasn't super bad. Then we had a surprise 食事 (shokuji - meal) with the Aoki's and their friend Madokaさん (san - Mr. / Mrs.) and it was way cool and she became a new investigator, WHOOOPieeeeee!

The Zone

Saturday (土 do 曜日yobi):

Basketball!! We found a group of 4 kids playing basketball and we joined in and it was way fun.

Sunday (日 nichi 曜日yobi):

Sunday, normal day but after church we were waiting for the Branch president because we were going to visit some LA (Less Active members). So, the 3 grandchildren attacked me AGAIN! After that, we visited some LA (Less Active members) and it was way cool to visit with them. We had a RA (Return Appointment) in the afternoon but we were a bit late so we didn't get to meet with him long but he was cool. It's been a fun week. We are working hard to see Baptisms this transfer, pray for us missionaries!! We need all the help we can get!

Note from Dad
Here's a video of our chat with Spencer on Mother's Day!

2017 05 07 Hey, It's a New Transfer!

Konichiwa! I have survived another transfer, one down and another year and a half ぐらい (gurai - approximately) left. It's been a way fun transfer so far and it's going to be HECK-a fun.

Tuesday (火 Moku 曜日yobi):

YEP, I'm staying but Sendai is going be a 4-man town. So 1 elder leaves and 3 new elders are coming in! FUN!

awesome 名刺 (meishi - business card) I drew

Yagame長老, comps for a day

Wednesday (水 Sui 曜日yobi):

Today was all packing but we had a party at the Aoki's house and it was way good.

Thursday (木 Moku 曜日yobi):

I was in Kagoshima most of the day waiting for Yagame 長老 (Choro - elder) to come. He is part of the other companionship and I almost missed my train because we didn't know where he was. I went down to the platform and he was just chillin’ there, so that was a relief. Then the evening was heck-a stressful! So, I got a call from the branch president saying the other 2 Elder didn't show up. It turned out that they were running a bit late, so they decided to stay at the Zone Leader’s apartment. Then I got a call from a pay phone, for Voorhees asking me to get a hold of the Kure elders because NO ONE was there to pick HIM up! I acted as a middle-man between him and the Kure elders. I hate transfers. :S

I think I'd make a good clock model

me, Elder Chadwick and Hedamichi (a LA we taught)

Friday (金 Kin 曜日yobi):

Elder Williams and My new companion Elder Chadwick came.

I'm Batman

Saturday (土 do 曜日yobi):

Saturday, while 伝道した (Dendo shita - tracking (past tense)) we ran into some JWs and we had a cool talk with them and we had way fun game night. We just went around to different parks and “balled up” (basketball contacting), WAY fun!

Sunday (日 nichi 曜日yobi):

Today was a normal fast Sunday, but afterward I got MUGGED! (by three granddaughters of a member) The mugging resulted in the theft of my mintias (Japanese candy mints). Then we talked to Aoki会長 (Choro - elder) about some of the contacts in our area book and had a freaking fantastic 食事 (shokuji - meal) at their house. We also talked to some way cool people during 伝道 (Dendo - tracking).

we got a freak ton of bananas! Weekly planning got a little.......boring

Update from Dad…

I reported to Spencer that we did a dinner experiment the other night and that we tried eating fondue. When I asked if he’d had any interesting dinner experiences lately he responded that he’s been eating pretty normal and that it's been pretty good quality. So far, probably the weirdest is that Spence has eaten is Okonomiyaki. Which is a kind of Japanese pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name comes from the word “okonomi”, meaning "how you like" and yaki meaning "grill".

After learning about this new food trial we asked if Spence had started to make his own meals or if he was still having his companion do the cooking. He reported that he IS learning some new cooking skills, but that it’s mostly his companion doing the cooking.

2017 05 01 Tranfer Calls

Konichiwa! Hey Yo, it's been another fun week here in not real Sendai. It's been a busy week with an extra day to talk about. Here is the week...

Monday (月 Getsu 曜日yobi):

Normal Pday, bought a little model that you have to put it together because I was bored, thanks for the idea Daddy'o. In the evening we had 2 RA, the first person, her son came out and said they were good and the second lady we showed up a bit late and planned to talked with her for about 15 minutes but she was asking us a ton of good questions and we ended up teaching almost all of lesson 1, way cool.

Update from Dad…

Sometimes Spence is able to hang out on email for a bit and respond to our messages. A few weeks ago he sent me a message with the subject, “A quick favor”. He had heard that the Australian cookie Tim Tam were pretty popular in Japan but he couldn’t find any. He asked me to use my internet skills to try and find a store that carried them. I found 2 stores but they were out of his area. I followed up and asked him if he had found some exciting things to do on his Preparation Day. He said that aside from a Monopoly game they didn’t have anything to do. I suggested that he look into a Hobby Shop because he likes models and robots and HELLO!!!! what better place to explore robot toys than Japan. I also told him that getting to know the shop owners in the area was a good way to meet people and simply be a good neighbor. So when he thanks me in his email for encouraging him to go by toys because he’s bored on his mission, there’s more to the story than he’s saying. And now you know the REST of the story.

The model thing I bought		The model thing I bought
The model thing I bought

Tuesday (火 Moku 曜日yobi):

Last district meeting and I went on 巡回 (Junkai - patrol / splits) with Elder Rowley, way cool guy. A cool miracle we say was I made a RA (return appointment) last week and it didn't work out but we visited her again today and we were able to talk with her and taught her a little bit, way cool.

Wednesday (水 Sui 曜日yobi):

It rained freaking ALL DAY, what kind of weather is this? It's supposed to rain hard for like 2 hours at most and it doesn't rain again for a couple months. But it was a cool day, we had 2 RA (return appointment) in the morning that didn't work out and for the fun of it we went to a far area and talked to some cool people.

Thursday (木 Moku 曜日yobi):

普通 (Futsu - normal) day, weekly planning and Eikaiwa (English conversation class).

Weekly planning got a little.......boring

Weekly planning got a little.......boring

Friday (金 Kin 曜日yobi):

Fairly 普通 (Futsu - normal) day except for dinner. We went to our branch president's house and had steaks, WAY good. And I did a 模擬 (Mogi - mock or test) lesson with them that wasn't too bad.

Missionary Apartments, everything brakes

Saturday (土 do 曜日yobi):

We kind of started some basketball 伝道 (Dendo - tracking) here but it hasn't really picked up steam, so Voorhees practiced his dunk, yep he can dunk on a 10ft hoop and he is shorter than me.

Sunday (日 nichi 曜日yobi):

Pretty good day, we got a RA (return appointment) last week from a guy that gave us soda and we came back but either wasn't home or didn't answer, it was kinda sad.

Monday (月 Getsu 曜日yobi):

Since it was transfers we delayed our P-day. We had a RA (return appointment) with a lady that was a new investigator but she didn't answer. In the evening we had a dinner with the Aoki's again and this time they had a friend over, we taught them how to make tortillas and fajitas and then talked about the BOM, way cool. Well, today is that infamous transfer call day and we haven't got them yet but, we're pretty sure that I'm staying and Elder Voorhees is leaving.

Elder Voorhees make tortillas

Update from Dad…

Here’ an email that we received from Spencer’s Mission…

Parents of the Best Missionaries in the World!

As some of you might have seen in the news, Mount Sakurajima in Kagoshima erupted yesterday morning. The volcano erupts periodically with no real danger other than sending volcanic smoke up into the air. All of the missionaries in the surrounding regions have been contacted and are safe. The eruption presented no dangerous living conditions for any of our missionaries, so no evacuations will be made.

-Japan Fukuoka Mission