4/13/14 Crazy birthday!

My birthday has already been pretty crazy so far!
I'll just tell you right away....
I got my transfer call last night...!

I became Assistant to the President!!!!
Whoa!
SO that's probably the biggest news! I spend p-day here getting packed (though I packed everything last night) and then head to the honbu by six to begin training and stuff. I'll probably be giving people transfer calls, preparing for bean training, and heading to the airport to pick the younguns up ;D

Thank you soo much for the money! That's a lot hahaha! I'll try to be thrifty with it. I love you so much! I won't forget to get cool things for you guys too.

It is for sure crazy being 21. I do kinda feel like it though. Mara looks like she's having fun! Is there a Lincoln movie out??? Hahaha I'm glad that joke is still going on. How are the soccer boys? (inside joke from when Mara was 6)

I bet the Luau was fun too! I'm glad everyone is remembering me and stuff hahah! I will not be trunky though!!!! In the honbu I'll probably spend a LOT of time doing 'not dendo' so I will have to work hard to take advantage of every chance I get to work outside ;D.

I actually was able to fit a lot of my stuff in my suitcases so I might wait a bit before sending stuff home. Stuff that I'll throw out is probably the old short sleeve shirts that got really sweaty and the thermals that are all pretty ripped up. Still usable, but a member bought me some nice new ones from Uniqlo. Anyway I'm looking forward to the b-day package! I thought the last package was the b-day package hahahaha. Conference was super great! I watched all of it on Saturday day and Sunday and only had to watch one session in Japanese ;D I'm glad you're enjoying Alma as well!

The sister missionaries and Mara's food must've been fun! I hope you find opportunities to work with them a lot! :D Thanks for the pictures! Also, guess who didn't forget the camera plug? Yeah!
Here's the summary real quick.
Monday was a way fun P-day! We went to Mt. Moiwa in Sapporo with an Eikaiwa student, then to a ski jump w/ museum, then to a buffet, then to Ebetsu where we went to an Onsen! Pretty full day! The next day I went on splits in Ebetsu after doing the workshop we did last week for the Ebetsu missionaries. Nishime E did a way cool example about spending every second in your day like it's money. I'll have to tell it to you someday because it'd take too much time. Splits in Ebetsu were fun! I went with Louis E who is a bean chan! We saw some great miracles and visited a member who is so strong I was blown away.

Wednesday we went to a small area in Iwamizawa to visit a member on her b-day then went to Takikawa to have a baptismal interview! It was a 16 year old girl that went to youth conference and felt the spirit super strong and overcame all her doubts. Way fun! We spent the night there and then headed home to have DKK and Eikaiwa. The next day was splits with the APs!!! I went with Watabe choro and we just worked hard finding all day! It felt great even though it was still cold. Saturday was of course all day conference! It was great though! Sunday was conference and lots of eating with members! Adachi showed up just in time for Pres. Monson's talk but had to leave afterwards. We also did lots of finding after church and then I got my call!!!
I love you so much! Time is running out so... Pictures!!! :D
aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

This morning's surprise from Nishime E (spells out HAPPY BIRTHDAY one letter at a time)

Birthday cake from a member!

After the interview

View from Mt. Moiwa

Museum @ski jump

famous yakitori

Nishime E and his tempura don

My crazy curries one and two

4/6/14 Bipolar Hokkaido

So the weather here is ridiculous. It switches between spring and back to winter (with snow and everything) every other day so it's been funny. By the way when it gets warmer, do you think it would be a good idea to send my heavy winter stuff home? I could send it by boat and it wouldn't cost that much. I am also probably going to throw away a lot of my shirts and older clothes so I should have more room. It's not like I'm planning to buy tons of stuff, but I thought it might be easier. We'll see! I might not even transfer!

I'm so jealous you got to see conference already! I'm glad they talked about missionary work. Sounds like there were a lot of amazing talks. Maybe I'll get to hear it in English this time w (it's what Japanese people do instead of lol because the word for laugh is warau). We had Fast Sunday and it went pretty good. The deaf sister in the ward moved away so I don't have to do sign language anymore. It was kinda lonely, but I was glad that my hands were free to actually stand up and bear my testimony for the first time in a while. Sounds like the cousins had a fun time at conference as well!

Once again I'm the worst son and forgot my adapter. You will see the food eventually though. The only really interesting food we had this time around was the famous Bibai yakitori (barbecue chicken shishkebabs) Its famous because of the way they cook it and the fact that they only use the organs not the regular meat. It was pretty good, but regular yakitori is better. Nemuro's is still my favorite :)

Nishime E is from Ginowan in Okinawa. His house is right across from the famous Futenma American base. He doesn't really like running. When we went running, he rode a bike and followed us w. We weren't able to meet the person who new Andrus B or Ogasawara this week, but we'll keep trying! :) Japanese people work way too hard. We did however find a WAY cool guy named Gotou from Shibetsu who lived nearby though. He is about 20 and studying nursing, but has a lot of interest. He let us in his house when it was super cold, we had an awesome lesson, and he gave us potatoes from his family's farm.

Other wise the week goes like this.
Monday was a funny p-day. We spent all of our time making the zone's shepherd (newsletter). It was a lot more work than we thought printing out pics at the store, cutting em out etc. I was glad I had a mom who did scrapbooking even though I didn't really get any of those talents. We also headed to Asahikawa and spent the night. The next day we had a mini zone conference with two of the districts about improving yourself and not settling for average. It was pretty fun. After that I went on splits with one of the beans named Velasquez E. It was way fun and he is really chill. We saw a ton of cool miracles. I miss being a trainer!

Wednesday we came home and tried to visit a few members. We couldn't ride bikes yet and ended up walking a TON. Thursday we had DKK and Eikaiwa plus splits with Schoell E from Ebetsu again. (He is the 2 meter tall guy w) The weather that day was way crazy, but we made really good use of it. Saturday we stopped by Bibai and visited that NA Miura S we visit every other week. I feel like the more we teach her, the more her doctrine gets mixed up. I'm pretty sure she is listening to the Jehovah's witnesses (J dubs) as well and it's kinda tricky. We'll figure something out. We also stopped by Yamashita's house and he was doing good! He was happy to meet again so hopefully we'll be able to get back into teaching him. Still no job, but it's warmer so that's a big help. At night we went and ate that yakitori with Adachi Kaicho. We did some denwa dendo and shopping because we finished dinner early. Sunday was pretty much what I explained up top. And that's it! We are going somewhere with the Eikaiwa student again today so that should be cool!

The gospel is so great. PMG and the Book of Mormon are so great! I feel like there are times where I get tired of studying in general, but with prayer I have been able to learn so many new things despite having read them so many times before. Aoyagi E from the 70 is coming next transfer and committed us to read Alma and it's so great!!! I used to think Alma was just super long, but it is full of so many great missionary stories.

I love you and am grateful for your support and testimonies!
Aishiteimasu!

3/30/14 Lots of food and splits and stuff

Hey! Thanks for the email as always. That's tough Adam coudn't get his all done. The women's conference sounds like it must've been interesting. That's way fun for Mara too! It might be a good thing they stopped the early morning stuff. It was fun pushing my exploded car around town at four in the morning though hahaha.

I'm jealous you get to see conference next week! However, it just makes my birthday all the better. :D My birthday is also the day of transfer calls so I have been wondering what present Evans Kaicho will give me as well... By the way I got your package! So much sweets... Haha I was trying so hard to give up, but thanks for the little taste of home. I don't know if you noticed, but I took out money last week to buy new pants. They are all pretty destroyed. If you could let me know EXACTLY how much is in my account every time there is a change that would help a LOT because I completely guessed and just hoped I had money.

Have fun with Jamie's family! That's way crazy about Emily's baby too. Everything is crazy. I wish I could've heard her recital as well.
I'm glad the music fireside videos are up! I was pretty happy about Where Can I Turn for Peace as well and I hope it sounds good on the CD too.

Anyways, here's the week.
Monday was Furano which was still covered in snow so not as amazing as any of the pictures you saw, but still nice. An Eikaiwa student took us and we had some famous ice cream and pudding there, then went to Takikawa for all you can eat "jingis kan" which is ram meat. I thought I was going to die haha. After that we came home and prayed with a member before finding in her area. Tuesday we had DTM in Ebetsu about "heart, might, mind, and strength" and it was good, but we had to hurry and head home to eat lunch with a member that took us to #2 ridiculous food store. I had normal katsu curry (it was a smaller item on the menu) and it was pretty difficult to finish, but I did. Afterwards we met a non attending member and found in his area and then one more area before heading home. Wednesday morning we left really early to get to Shibetsu for splits and I went with Satou E. He is way cool and fun! We went to the place Hill Side Box to eat like we always do and because it was Komori E's b-day she gave us a bunch of sushi and chicken and stuff. That was #3. Afterwards Satou E and I did some finding and then taught their strong investigator Yuzuka. She is from a part member family and is about 12 years old. She is a typical 12 year old, but the missionaries and her family helped her to like church more and want to be baptized. I also taught Eikaiwa there that night.

Thursday we came back early in the morning and then helped a member move. We were able to meet a bunch of her friends that she wants to eventually introduce the gospel to so that was great. We used the rest of the time for DKK and English class then at night headed to Takikawa where one of their investigators took us all out to all you can eat yaki-niku. More ridiculous food. Friday I worked with Kojima E in Takikawa and it was pretty fun. We went to a nearby city called Akabira to try to visit some members and find a little bit. There are a LOT of towns in that area that used to be huge because of coal mining, but it's all shut down now, so they've gotten a lot smaller. We came back and visited some people then it started to rain! Yes! Winter is over! I officially overcame an entire winter in the snowiest area (though the piles of snow might take some time). Afterwards the Takikawa elders being so nice took us to the next horrible restaurant. It is called Marin and is actually famous for serving food that is way too big. I got a different type of curry this time. We decided to run in the morning because of all the eating and the weather getting better, but I didn't have my running shoes on me and ran in regular shoes and kinda messed up my foot. It feels a lot better now, but Saturday was mostly resting it, calling people, and organizing stuff in the apartment.

One cool miracle though is that an old investigator from 4 years ago saying that he has time now and wants to go to church! We found his teaching record and it said that he wanted to get baptized, but was busy. This Sunday was a bit busy for him, but he wants to come next week! His name is Ogasawara. It's cool that even though a lot of our investigators can:t meet until next transfer, when we focused on what we need to do, somehow we meet the people we need to meet in the time that we have.
Sunday was good too! One of the member's daughters and grandkids came from an area near Nagoya to visit! There were 7 way cute kids and it was really fun. After church we did more finding near a member and there were a lot of awesome people! One person had just moved from Kushiro and used to be one of Andrus Kaicho's students! I was really moved by that. I feel like he is still dendoing a lot on the other side :) Anyways that was the week!

I hope you have a great week as well! Prepare spiritually for conference! I'm looking forward to it a lot. In the meanwhile, we can ride bikes again!

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

3/23/14 Wakkanai part 3 and other stuff

Hey! Thanks for the mail! First off, Ueda B (who was baptized recently) was this guy I taught like three times in Toyohira before I transferred. He ended up getting baptized and being really strong after I left. He looks like Spock from Star Trek :) That's interesting you got a letter about picking me up! I've known about the date being July 11 for a long time.

I'm doing my best to balance stuff with resting and riding trains, but the hardest trip is already done so it should be chill from here. Adam said in his letter he just finished his first transfer...? What? I've had almost five transfers since he left. Do they count them different there? He's already had multiple companions too right?

Sounds like you're getting stuff done at Dave's way fast! My help might be unnecessary haha. That's cool Brother Woodbury is still doing well! He's great. Sounds like Mara will probably be in Madrigals too then haha. Hope she has fun!

SO this week was a slow p-day where afterwards we found with a member after praying with her. We shared a message with her about praying together for missionary opportunities or just opportunities to help others. We have been trying to do that a lot because up til now I felt like we didn't get to do much with the members here. March is especially busy for Japan for some reason...

Tuesday was crazy. We ran to Ebetsu for DTM and left early to make a train to Wakkanai. We left at 11:56 and got there at 6:10. Not as long as Nemuro was, but still tiring. Your knees get really sore for some reason. Maybe it's the height of Japanese seats. Upon arrival we did some housing and then gave a b-day present to the recent convert Shibuya B. He's so fun. The next day was yet another split with Yoshikawa E. The weather was so nice and I could see Saharin! (Russia) I got a picture completing my Russia collection. We just found a lot and visited PIs (previous investigators?). Then we went to institute which was fun as usual. Shibuya B sang a hymn in his crazy opera voice. It was great.

The next morning we headed home and had a clean check from the Hansens. After that we had DKK and found out that almost all of our investigators are busy until the middle of April. We made lots of plans to find and also plans to show love to our zone! We are going to make a zone shepherd! (the magazine like thing we get every transfer from the mission, but just for our zone!) It's hard to help out when all the other missionaries are so far away and we can only go on splits once... Then we had Eikaiwa and ate yakiniku with some students.

Friday was a finding day! We went all over finding and did some more praying with members. It was really cold, but went well and I slept great. Saturday we went by Bibai to visit an NA and check up on the PIs there. Turns out we might not be going again for a while, but I think it's a nice place. It's small like Nemuro. One of the PIs was really into space, history, and aliens. Kinda fun. At night we came back to Iwamizawa and went out to eat ramen with an old investigator. He is just a guy who was friends with the missionaries. He wasn't super interested in the message at first, but there are 2 missionaries that I know that are serving here now that used to be investigators like that (Ishiga E and Chiba E) I don't know if we'll focus on him, but we can keep that friendship up. We ate ramen not fit for human consumption. I barely got through the bean sprouts. Here is a picture.

Sunday was great! Adachi showed up for sacrament meeting out of nowhere! I had called her and she said she was busy, but Hatch E had been mailing her on facebook so she felt like she should come. She told us about this friend she has been worrying about and wants us to meet! She really wants to change herself and I feel like she is going to be so happy when she's able to learn the gospel more. Tochizaki S (deaf) also told me more about her daughter moving in with her and wanting to come to church! Another member has a niece moving to Iwamizawa as well who used to come to Eikaiwa and hear the lessons! I felt so blessed after working hard on finding. Even though we weren't able to find a particularly strong person on our own, the Lord is bringing great people to us :D After church we visited some PIs and taught some quick lessons then headed out with Adachi B to visit a non-attending ym to invite him to youth conference. He lives far away, otherwise he'd probably come every week. He's excited to go to youth conference even though he can only go one day! I'm jealous he gets to go. Youth conference was the best!

Today I am going to a place called Furano! It is pretty famous in Hokkaido. I bet you'll find cool pictures if you look it up. Because it's winter still, I don't know how many flowers there will be, but it's still supposedly really awesome. An Eikaiwa student is taking us.

Love you so much!
Hutchinson Choro

death ramen

Saharin

chilling at institute

bear meat (it was pretty good)

3/16/14 Surprise ZTM and Asahikawa music night

Hey! Thanks for the great letters as always. Thanks for the fun pictures too. Olivia looks like she had a good birthday. How lucky they are to have gotten to go to Disneyland with their awesome parents! Sounds like a new house is a pretty great (birthday) present for Dave, though it'll take some work. I'm excited to see it become awesome little by little. I'm so grateful for his amazing example as a father and friend. He is Christlike in a lot of different ways and it shows in his daughters' beautiful faces. I hope his birthday is incredible. Ask him if there is anything that he wants from Japan as well :) Washi tape is really easy to find and so are bento boxes. You can get them in just about any character you want. Nishime E is from Okinawa, yeah. You are lucky (to find his picture) because he is the youngest of the missionaries that are on that Christmas card. I counted the other day and only 11 of them are still living. He is way cool and it is great to have a Nihonjin comp again! That's cool you're still talking with Rodenberg E's family. If you meet them, say hi for me and make fun of Rodenberg E's clothes or something haha, jk. That's awesome you got a mail from Okuchi S as well! Her English is getting a lot better! Thanks for the package I am looking forward to it!

Your missionary experience is so dang cool! Wow. That sounds like something from an Liahona article or something. Sounds like it'll be really amazing! That was cool of you to give her a book about non-alcoholic drinks too. I'm rooting for you!

This week was pretty crazy! P-day we had some finding and I had a little music practice w/ the Ebetsu elders for the Asahikawa music night that is all of a sudden happening on Saturday. The next day Nishime E and I planned for a ZTM that is being coupled with the music night so we had to hurry and plan a bit. When we finished we went to this kinda out there part of the area called Kamihoromui where we found a lot and visited the Miyazaki family. She gave us tons of great bread and we shared a spiritual message. Wednesday we had MLkaigi again and it was cool and eye opening. Pretty soon I'll be the oldest in the mission. There are so many missionaries coming in and I'm so jealous! It's great to be in a position to serve them, though! We learned a lot about focusing more on PMG in helping the young missionaries become the next leaders.

Afterwards I had a little practice with Evans S and headed home to call a bunch of old investigators. We found some neat people we can probably pick up! Thursday we were going to meet Hayashi, but he ended up being busy at the last second. I'm glad his prayer got answered and he found work, but I hope we can find more time to meet! Otherwise we did a bunch of finding and found some really nice grandmas. We had Eikaiwa and I'm still getting used to teaching the normal class again haha. Nishime E seems to be really good with the kids. That night we swung over to Asahikawa for splits on Friday. I went with Bickel E and had a fun time finding with him. He came at the same time as Morgan E so he is still young, but growing a lot. We also helped out at the Asahikawa Eikaiwa that night.

Saturday was the busy day. On Friday night we had to lay out 12 futons in the Asahikawa apt so that was crazy. We started out with ZTM and did our workshop on finding with three categories: enjoying it, being united, and being engaged in it. It went great. The sister training leaders did a workshop on comp relations and the AP's did one on baptismal invites. Afterwards we had a testimony meeting then a lot of last minute time for the music night which went pretty well I think. I played my song and played with Evans S on 'Sukiyaki' which you might know. This member from Kitami came and played these really cool songs he wrote about the gospel and stuff. He did a trio with two other Shimai and they sounded a lot like the Mamas and the Papas and it was great. He usually plays in a gospel themed reggae band with his family, but they haven't been able to get together lately. Anyways, we came home on Sunday morning very tired and had a good Sunday with another NA visiting adventure with Adachi Kaicho. As usual I was a horrible son and forgot to take my camera out once. Sorry! I will repent ;)

I had a cool thought about the sacrament last Sunday. It's really simple, but I thought that repentance is like doing our homework, and taking the sacrament is like turning it in. You can get it done, but it's not til you actually turn it in that you can get it off your chest. It's such a great feeling :D

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

3/9/14 My new Okinawa buddy and lots of snow. Still.

Hey! I'm glad my letter was well received. I always feel like I'm in such a hurry sometimes. I can't believe everyone went home too. Crazy. Andersen E and Morgan E are still around as well of course. It's funny that of all my companions I've only had 3 who are younger than me one being my bean, one being Andersen E (one transfer below me) and my new companion Nishime E! (he is two below me). So I feel like I've never really been a normal senior yet haha. So far we have had a lot more dendo time so we'll see how everything goes. I'm pretty sure the music from the fireside should be posted soon... hmmm. I'll ask Evans shimai! Sounds like if you go to Pres. and Sis Evans' page you might be able to see one song. It should be about a week before everything is up.

I can definitely find washi tape for you. That stuff is everywhere. Good luck with your BoM challenge! I'm rooting for you! We have been having crazy Old Testament lessons lately as well. Smiling is going good too. I get along pretty good with Nishime E. He is a great missionary with lots of skills, but he is a tiny bit quiet sometimes. He is a great zone leader. You said you were going to post something from Sis. Evans? You also said you had a picture of Lily. Haha thanks for the girls pics as well. I feel like those girls get their picture taken all the time. I'm jealous of your sunny days. It'll get warm here and melty for a bit, but then freeze and snow all over again. Just when I was making plans to send my winter stuff back... haha.

I got a short letter from Mara and it sounds like she's doing good. I am WAY stoked that the Fullmers are going on a mission! They are just way too cool. So many miracles. I'm so happy. Please keep in touch with them. I am really excited to meet them again. How long will they be serving for? I can't think of anything I want in a package... I've officially given up chocolate for a while at least. It makes me sick. Literally. I haven't gone too long, but I feel better already :) Here's the week.

Monday was doing some finish up shopping with Dixon E and a bunch of finding. Tuesday we had DTM and it went way good. Spurling E had Dixon E and Smith S do two mini workshops and then he did one so it ended up that we had 3 chances to roleplay and it was awesome. We got our transfer calls and I also found out that one of my fav missionaries Sakamura E is going to Nemuro! He was a little nervous at first, but I'm happy he gets to go. We had lunch together and played a fun game that Dixon E and I made up. Then we went home and did a bit of finding and a bit of phone calls. Wednesday was eating lunch with the Okuizumi family then being taken to this big indoor garden for a sec. They dropped us off and we did some finding and Eikaiwa advertising. We also did a ton of phone dendo and found some interested people. Thursday we headed to the transfer spot and I met Nishime E and the new beans. We headed back, had DKK, planned for the zone, then went to Eikaiwa. Thankfully Nishime E is a boss at English (he wants to go to byu) so he taught the kids' class. It was my first time in a long time not teaching kids' class.

Friday was pretty good! All finding! We walked and knocked and had lots of fun. It was way colder than I thought it would be since it was warm the week before. The next day we went to Bibai and it was the same thing though we focused on old investigators. We taught the Takeuchi family again and they were good, they just have some really interesting beliefs right now. They love to hear the message, but not big on acting right now. Plus they live super far away. Last off was Sunday which was fun as well. Tochizaki S (the sign language sister) told me about her daughter (who is not a member and lives in Sapporo). She said she might move in with her soon and maybe try coming to church! That would be way cool. There is also a member (Kaneko B) who is way awesome who is having an open house that anyone can come to and he is making all the food. He invited everyone to come with friends so it'll be a good opportunity for members to introduce friends to missionaries and other members. We also found out that our ZTM is on Saturday so we have to prepare right away! Evans S is doing a mini fireside in Asahikawa as well so it's connected with that. That's where we are though! Thanks so much and love you tons! Find lots of ways to make missionary work happen :D You're already doing a big one helping Adam and me out.

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

3/2/14 Probably the busiest week ever

Hey! The snow keeps melting, but it's falling again. I don't think anyone can escape Hokkaido winter so easily, hahaha. It must be fun to have almost no snow already! I want to bike!!! I want to run in the morning too... I've gone up like five kilos since Nemuro. It doesn't show, but I can feel it (T-T) Too many long train rides... Time to step up morning exercise.

I am really big on getting rid of old stuff to make room/pack lighter. Would you be upset if I didn't keep every letter you sent? I'll definitely keep certain ones, but it's hard to store them all. With college and all I feel way dumb about not talking to him about it earlier, but I'm glad I at least have the picture now. Thanks for always helping so much money wise. I need to be more grateful! If there is anything you want me to get for you guys here in Japan please let me know. I almost never buy souvenirs. Dave and the gang look like they're having fun as always! I'll prepare to work hard on their house. I probably won't have many other things to do haha.

Transfer calls are tomorrow and I think next transfer is going to be pretty crazy. Actually it'll definitely be crazy. Dixon E is leaving and so is Hatch E. I have definitely grown a lot since being a bean, but there are parts of me that realize that I need to get back some of the traits that I had at the time. Especially dendo fire and being excited about the work. I am for sure still excited and wanting to dendo, but having so many things to do makes it tricky sometimes.

That's so cool Nemuro has a facebook page! They are really moving forward. I'm so excited for them! BTW the Satou family that I taught before got baptismal dates again! The facebook responsibility sounds like it fits Okuchi Shimai really well. My camera keeps dying at all the key moments lately. Particularly the music concert... Which went awesome! Here's the week.

Monday was music practice, then riding straight to Asahikawa to go with the first ward elders (Suehiro) which was fun. I went to their DTM and met a shimai who was in the MTC with me! She is Tongan, but raised in Japan and that was kinda cool. I also got to go on splits with Hatch E and dendo with him one more time. We left for Shibetsu that night and I went on splits with Komori E who came with me to Japan. He is a great guy. His comp Satou E is really fun. Thursday we came back to Iwamizawa, ran to Bibai to visit an NA and then came back to have Eikaiwa. After Eikaiwa we went to Ebetsu because I did a baptismal interview! It went great! I also went on splits with Spurling E that day one more time. Saturday morning we worked a bit and then headed to Sapporo to practice and prep for music night. It was a blast! Everyone's numbers were probably the best they've ever been (even though I dropped my pick haha). It was great. Adachi the investigator came with EIGHT friends! Whoa. Sunday was good and we decided to take some time for phone dendo and organizing member records so Dixon E could pack. I also made some way good tomato sauce.

I'm looking forward to a normal p-day today B)
Thanks for everything and love you so much!!!

Hutchinson Choro

2/23/14 ZTM and Wakkanai again (also Yuubari)

Hey! Japan is good yo. It's getting warmer and the snow is melting a lot. Slush. I'm sorry you weren't feeling well, but I'm glad things are better! I am always really tired now because riding on trains all the time makes your schedule all crazy so it's hard for your body to get used to it I think. That's fun Mya and Olivia are going to Disneyland! Everyone is going fun places lately, haha. I got your valentine btw. Thanks! Yes there is another music concert on Saturday. Today's p-day is once again stolen by practice for it. Hayashi is still doing ok. He is just really worried about finding a job to hold him over for the month until his other job starts in April. I think he has a lot of faith though. I'm excited for Michael and know he'll do lots of awesome stuff! He's a great guy. I hope Dave's new house (renovation) isn't too hard to take care of, but if there is still stuff to help out with I'd be happy to help when I get back. Did I tell you about college stuff? I talked to Pres Evans and I already missed the deadline to get into BYU this year because I didn't get on it soon enough... However it might be good because I won't have any money when I get back anyways. I could always go back to USU, but..... We'll see. Sometimes I get Emails from Thomas who was on the guitar program with me at USU and he said it's changed a lot and Mike retired. My scholarship there is still "waiting" technically. Anyways, maybe I should start job searching as early as possible. Don't worry about Okinawa. It'd take a long time to get there even if I had a good enough reason to go besides sightseeing and visiting mission buddies. Plus, going to the Sapporo Temple when it gets finished takes priority.

So this week was pretty tiring. P-day was walking around to shop for a bunch of different things we have needed to buy way bad, but couldn't because we never had time. We also finished preparing for Zone training meeting which was about being a leader (which we did the next day in Asahikawa). There are 14 missionaries going home and 10 coming in. Next transfer there are 6 going home and 12 coming in. It makes me nervous and I also wonder if I'll go trainer again. It might be a good thing, but I'm WAY happy that more missionaries are coming here. I just wish more Nihonjin would come. That's why we gotta go find 'em! ;D

After ZTM we rode a train, then bus (the train had to stop halfway because of snow) for the rest of the day to Wakkanai. It was a little over five hours. I sat next to Yoshikawa E (was in Kushiro the whole time I was in Nemuro, now Wakkanai) and talked the whole time then had splits the next day. It was pretty neat! A lot colder than it was last time, but I had a blast. The next morning was a long train home and a little bit of rest before going to Hayashi then Eikaiwa. The day after was our adventure day. I had really been wanting to go to this part of our area called Yuubari so we did. There isn't a direct train that goes there so we did a bunch of transfers, but got there eventually. It was a lot smaller than I thought, but reminded me of Park City because it's just sitting right in the middle of the mountains. We had some fun exploring and finding a bit. The day after was in Bibai. We first had lunch with Adachi and a few of her friends then went with them to this art museum type place for this guy who is apparently pretty famous for doing abstract sculptures. Turns out that day he himself was doing a little seminar thing (he came all the way from Italy) and the museum was closed.... BUT because we came "all the way from America" they decided to let us in anyway! It was a bit interesting, but the best part was that while we were there Adachi was introducing everyone to us and telling them about what we do and recommending they come to Eikaiwa and stuff! We also got to take a peek in the guy's seminar (his name is Kan Yasuda) right when he was giving a speech so that was kinda neat. We did some finding and put up Eikaiwa fliers in Bibai before coming home. Sunday was pretty normal. Lots of sign language! We did some phone calls and ate a member's house. She's trying to learn sign language (for when I leave) so Dixon E and I taught her a little. I wonder if I'll ever have a chance to use Japanese sign language after I go home haha. Other than that not much is going on! Dixon E is trunky, but he has less than 2 weeks left so it's understandable. He's really fun. I am trying to find more stability in an always changing schedule so if you have any tips on that, please :) I love you!

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

2/16/14 Music Night Number One

Hey! Thanks for all the cool news about your trip. Sounds crazy! Dad looks crazy good. You could've photoshopped Adam's head on that picture and I probably wouldn't have noticed! Sounds like he was being a boss missionary too! That's my dad :)

I hope you didn't eat too much southern comfort food. The members gave us so much valentines candy it's frustrating, haha. They also give us lots of tomatoes and lettuce. They actually give us a lot of really good, useful food as well actually. They are great ;D Also I hope to see all the rest of your pics after I get home. The adjusting to missionary life book doesn't really have any adjustments.... It's just about tips for overcoming bad habits or stress or other little things like that you can work on. I also heard about the crazy weather in New York. Tell Joseph hi if you see him! Here's the ridiculous week.

Monday was pretty much owned by music practice. Whoa. We went to Ebetsu that night for splits the next day. I bought some stuff for the guitar. Tuesday I had splits with Spurling E who is the district leader of Ebetsu now. He is fun and a great missionary. Because we had DTM and Eikaiwa on the same day there, splits were pretty short, but we found a pretty kinjin middle aged couple that let us in and practically fed us dinner. Awesome. Tuesday his comp Brackner E and I headed to Iwamizawa and worked. It was way fun and we taught Hayashi about prayer and faith. He told us more awesome stories about his life and how he was helped by going to church when he was younger. He also prayed for 15 minutes straight. We had some more fun finding and then headed home. After that was Thursday which was some weekly planning and Eikaiwa in Iwamizawa. Friday we went to Bibai and had a really good lesson with an NA about the celestial kingdom. We also contacted this lady we met in Iwamizawa. Kinda cool story. We were pinging a small apartment building when Dixon E accidentally pings a door that has tape over the mailbox (sign that no one lives there) and right as I point out that probably no one lives there, the apartment owner comes out! She actually lives in Bibai, but was super nice and gave us her real address. When we visited her, her and her husband, both way awesome and way interested. We also visited Yamashita afterwards and had a... interesting, but good lesson. He has a lot of concerns, but pretty much decided no matter what we say he doesn't want to change. I know he will someday, but it was kinda sad because there wasn't much we could do. He has problems forgiving people and stuff, but that just takes time and love :)

Saturday was owned by the music concert. Practice in the morning and performance. The music night was way fun and I performed a song that I arranged this time with a small group. My old investigator Nakagawa from Toyohira came and that was way awesome! Hopefully from that he'll meet with the missionaries there again. Sunday was good and I was insanely tired. We had to plan more for ZTM after church and that was pretty much it! Hopefully we can get 100% prepared for it today!

Thanks for everything! I love you tons and I'm grateful for all of your support and love. It is crazy Adam transferred so much already hahaa.

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

Picture that a member drew of me while giving a talk

Me and Nakagawa, investigator from Toyohira

2/9/14 Zone Conference

So I'll just start with the week. Monday was music practice at the Honbu again. Then we came back and tried to visit some old investigators. The next day I went on splits with the Japanese AP Asai E who is really cool and fun. We just did lots of finding. Even though we weren't able to teach many real lessons, I learned a lot from his style and example. We had pizza hut for dinner because it was half off day and so that was pretty good. The next day I went on splits in Ebetsu with Shoell E who is 6'7" and way cool. Super obedient good example. We did lots of finding and found some pretty cool college kids. He just barely transferred in and didn't know the area super well + it was crazy cold, but we found some good things to do. Next day was running all over. We went back to Iwamizawa, set up for Eikaiwa (some other missionaries came to teach it for us) ate dinner, and headed back to Sapporo for more music practice. Friday was Zone conference and the mental and physical health representatives came and did workshops that were pretty good. They have this new "adjusting to missionary life" book that is really great. Otherwise I was super tired, but I still got a lot out of it. That night we went to Yuki Matsuri (snow festival) and it was pretty disappointing compared to last year. There were still lots of giant snow sculptures and stuff, but maybe I'm just used to that already, haha. We stayed the night w/ Toyohira elders and that was pretty cool for me. I called up some of my old investigators there to encourage them to meet with the missionaries again, so that was neat.

Saturday we were back in Iwamizawa and we met Hayashi again! He is a boss for sure. He told us how 1 year ago in Taiwan, he met missionaries and gave them his information for his home in Hokkaido, but they never came. We taught him the rest of the restoration and about the BofM and challenged him to be baptized and he accepted! He's gonna be such a cool member. After that we headed to Bibai, but weren't able to meet anyone we wanted + it was basically too cold for us to do anything so we hung out in the eki to try to get the planning for zone training meeting done. Still lots to do. That'll be on the 18th. Sunday was pretty nice. Church went good and the stake president came. I gave a talk on the work of salvation and apparently the members got really pumped up by it so I was really happy about that. Basically what Pres. Evans wants us to focus on is not telling members "hey, we need you to do missionary work already!" or "do missionary work this way!" but to find out what kind of dendo they want to do and help them to do it. Also I'm getting a bit better at JSL (Japanese sign language) so that's been fun translating. After church we rode with Adachi Kaicho to visit some NA's and investigators of ours he has been wondering about. Nothing too special happened with any of them, but he was real happy to be able to work with us even just a little. We were too, especially because of the temperature. It's anywhere from -14c to -30c and there isn't much you can do about it clothes or hand warmer wise. You just have to do things in increments I think. It's completely different from last winter, but I'llbe able to make it through just fine :)

So anyways thanks for the pics! Where did you get the really bad pic of my face? The picture of the temple (construction) is way cool! To let you know, I don't get updated on that AT ALL. All I know is when I leave it still has like a year and a half before it gets finished. I haven't even seen the spot where it's being built. Your mini vacation is going to Sharon's wedding right? I hope that goes well. I want to live in Okinawa some day. The climate is probably similar, but I think there are a lot less dangerous storms.

Anyways. Yeah, Hokkaido needs way more missionaries. It is the smallest mission in Japan population-wise, but what I hear from other missionary friends in Japan is that basically every area in their mission has AT LEAST two elders and two sisters. Next transfer 14 missionaries go home and only 10 come in so we're going down a little bit more again. I:m sure the church has a plan for what they want to happen here, but I feel like it's pretty tough right now at least here... We did go up like 35-ish missionaries since this time last year so maybe they just have to do things more gradually. We'll see where things go by the time I leave. Thanks for your testimony about still being able to get all the important things done. I know that's true!
Mission leader council? I thought told you about it when I went w/ Hatch E, but it's just like a meeting with all the zone leaders, APs, and the 2 sister leaders. We talk about what the mission needs and then have a workshop from the APs.

I'm excited for all the great things happening and that is super cool of dad to lose weight! After new years here I have to work out more... But it's nothing really haha.

Love you tons too!!! Happy valentines day!

aishiteimasu!!!!!!
Hutchinson Choro


Some older photos taken by Elder Hatch:

I have no idea what this big thing is :)

Teaching via train window

A very large icicle!

Cool unidentified family (I hope he tells us next week)

Snow

Lots of Snow

And still higher Snow

2/2/14 Coldhot

Time doesn't feel like it's going fast, but every time I look, it's already gone...!

I'm glad everyone is finding fun stuff to do. I don't know how excited I am for chocolate cake day though... Sing along screening (of Frozen)? That's interesting. I'm glad Mara is making time to go to the temple. Do you know if Adam gets to go to the temple in his mission? I'm way excited to go. I'm also for sure proud of Mara's bargain skills. There's definitely a lot of clothes I want to try to snag here before I head home though. The zone is pretty much fine. I just wish we didn't have to go on splits so much because our poor area hardly gets any dendo time. Even if we find anyone cool it's hard to find time to meet them again :p We don't have DL responsibilities anymore, but there are more other things that make me feel like I'm even more busy than last transfer. Keep encouraging and praying for the missionaries in the ward for me! The translation means: happiness, isn't it? (Mom asked him to translate something) Makes more sense in Japanese. If I knew the context there's probably a better phrase.

I'll see what I can do about two weeks ago. Not anything too special happened before Hatch E left from what I remember. After that Dixon E and I made plans to focus on our area more (since we thought we would have less responsibilities... oh well). But because of that we headed out on Friday to find by the college and found some really cool students and stuff. It was a really fun area to dendo. We also found a guy who is a college professor named Hayashi. He's way cool and he seemed a little different, but he was way nice. On Saturday we went to Bibai and did some finding there and found a WAY cool family called the Hisatsunes. We made a weak appointment through the intercom, but as we were writing down, the dad from down the street walks up to us and asks us if we can speak Japanese. We say we do and have a pretty conversation with him and explain what we're doing. He thinks we're really awesome and is pretty interested so he introduces his son to us who is about 22 and way cool! He used to go to college in another part of Japan there and went to church at the time. Got their numbers and made an appt so that was pretty cool. Sunday was the normal translating into sign language and getting lots of food from members. We also had some ok finding. Monday was a pretty awesome p-day. We went to an onsen and a big mall with the Ebetsu elders. The onsen was WAY nice and cool because they had some out door pools as well with snow falling around.

That night we dendo'd a bit around the church and then got on the train to Asahikawa. I went on splits with Fukushima E who is awesome. He is working way hard as DL there. We did lots of finding and it was fun because he is really motivated. Wednesday morning we had a crazy adventure getting up way early, running through a blizzard, and riding a long train back to Sapporo in order to make it to mission leader council which was really awesome as usual. I felt like everything was said right to me. It basically took all day so we didn't have time to dendo when we got home. Thursday we went back to the college area and met Hayashi again. Turns out that he is from Taiwan! He married and a Nihonjin and graduated with a doctor's degree at Hokkaido university, but he's also fluent in English. We talked to him in his house. He told us his life story and we taught him a short, but really good lesson. We also showed him the Book of Mormon and he committed to read it before we could even ask him to. He is pretty kinjin so we're excited about him.

Friday was having the Takikawa Elders come on splits in Iwamizawa. I went with Kojima E who is a bit younger as a missionary, but a way cool guy. He went to Snow college for a year studying English! We did a lot of finding and had fun, but had to run for shelter in stores sometimes when the blizzards got bad. Saturday was originally planned to do a lot of dendo, but we had a stake coordination meeting that we had to go to and it took a lot of time to prepare for. We went to all of our Bibai appts, but we had to go super early so they were almost all not home. We did meet a really cool guy named Nagae though. We also found out that Yamashita didn't get his job and still can't come to church. Otherwise he's doing good. The stake meeting was actually pretty fun and went well. It helped to know more of what the Stake wants us to do as missionaries. There are a lot of wards and branches that don't have enough priesthood to have ward mission leaders or other callings like that, so it's pretty tough for some missionaries to work with the members, but I guess that's what finding new members is for, kana?

Sunday was good! It was fast Sunday and Adachi showed up randomly again! She went to Hawaii on her business trip and ended up meeting a bunch of RM's at the Polynesian cultural center! One of which (her group's guide) served here in Iwamizawa for a long time. She had been puzzled(?) about how many random meetings she had been having with the church and came with lots of really good questions. We had a great lesson with her at church about the spirit. She won't commit to a baptismal date right now, but she has a ton of promise!

That's about it! Thanks and love you!

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

1/26/14 Transfers and no judging and slightly melting snow

Hey! I have to write kinda fast. The inversion sounds tough. I remember still running in it everyday, haha. I hope Adam is doing fine. Yeah the new mission president is going to be nihonjin. A little jealous, but way glad I get to spend all of my time w/ the amazing Evans'. I don't know for sure, but I think they're moving to Utah? That's crazy Joseph is coming back so soon - I thought he'd have 'til the end of March like the missionaries here. Maybe transfers are offset a bit. Thanks for the testimony of the Book of Mormon and sorry about no pictures! Most of the ones you want are on Hatch E's camera and he didn't give them to me before he transferred. For now, here's one pic of Will Ferrell.

Well, I don't have much time left at all.... But I'll tell you about the lesson I learned. I found out who my new comp was going to be and I was honestly way down at first. I had heard a lot about him being really trunky his whole mission and just being really into anime and stuff (plus it's his last transfer), but then I realized that I had to change my expectations and that even if he was like that, it is up to me to make things happen anyways. Long story short, he was not like any of the things anyone said and we get along REALLY well and he has a lot of dendo fire and works hard! I felt so bad for getting upset and learned a valuable lesson. After that we setup stuff for the zone and found some way awesome kinjins!!! I tell you about 'em next week!

Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

1/19/13 Japanese Will Ferrell

Hey! I'll see if I can get some pictures (of snow) this time. I forgot my camera again though. I am actually pretty sure that today is a normal p-day :) Yeah, everything was pretty good this week. Just tons of train time. We only went to Asahikawa (2nd area called Suehiro) and Wakkanai. (Plus Ebetsu for DTM but we go there every week.)

Silly mom! You know that if you have Japanese you want translated you don't ask google when you have a Japanese missionary right here haha. Akira Tsunoka is the branch president from Nemuro. Keep doing your best on the clean house!

Sounds like there were a lot of cool miracles as far as being helped by relatives and friends. That's so nice :D

SO I guess here's the week! Monday we got home late from the Honbu because of the forever music practice + having to do email there so all we could do here was a little planning. Tuesday we went to Ebetsu and had a good DTM on teaching to people, not just teaching lessons, done by me. It went good and we ended it early so we could make our train to Wakkanai. It was pretty long. We went to Asahikawa and transferred there to a smaller train. For some reason it was crazy packed and we had to stand for like four hours, but we met a really nice high school student. He's from Kagoshima (south Japan) and he came up here for this high school in this WAY middle of nowhere place (1000 people maybe) called Otoineppu. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk at first, but when his stop came up he came back up to us and started to ask us what we were doing here and seemed pretty interested. I hope he meets missionaries again someday. We got to Wakkanai at about 6:45 ish and I worked with Sakihara E for a bit that night. He is super strong and diligent. He is almost on his last transfer and just got finished done being AP before leaving to open Wakkanai. We worked way hard the next day and even though all we had to do was housing, we made a ton of appts and got lots of lessons in the doorway. Way fun because it's been a while since I got to work with another companion like that! We also had Institute there that night. Wakkanai's branch is pretty small (smaller than Nemuro) but they have institute classes every Wednesday. There we got to meet the members and recent convert Shibuya B who looks like Will Ferrell! He is way funny and cool and has a super strong testimony. He also rides his bike everywhere even in the snow. He named his bike Milk Cocoa express (it used to be called Milk Coffee express, but then he learned the WofW!)

Next morning we took a faster train home, got some study and planning + Eikaiwa done and then headed to Asahikawa! Friday was splits with Goddard E who is way cool. He used to be in a pretty rough situation (he lived in LA and was a pretty big stoner/partier) but he came back to the church and completely changed and gave up all the bad things right away! He is super cool and has such an incredible testimony he pretty much shares nonstop. We got along pretty good. Also his Grandfather is the explorer John Goddard. I don't know if you've heard of him. I hadn't. haha We had a pretty fun day! First we taught a Baptist minister from Wisconsin! He is pretty nice and was really open. He's reading the BoM quite a bit as well as other church books. He had lots of questions and we were able to answer them with the scriptures pretty well, but he set on his beliefs (and unfortunately, employment) so even when we showed him proof in the BofM and Bible about the need for baptism he was pretty steadfast. Super nice guy though! I also helped teach Eikaiwa there and that was pretty fun too! Not to mention I finally got to eat Naan and Indian curry again :)

Next morning we came home and went to visit a really nice NA and then head to Bibai to do some finding and meet Yamashita. He is doing way good faith wise, but is in really dire straits money wise. He had his heater on the lowest setting and had to cut off his phone bill. We worked with the branch pres to get him some rice and an electric blanket so hopefully that'll help him out. He is 59 and is having a really hard time searching for a job despite being really smart and fluent in English. Otherwise in his lessons he almost seems like he is already a member sometimes. He says he hasn't been able to read the BofM much, but sometimes in the middle of our talks he'll bring up random BofM stories! (i.e. we were talking about how so many people deny the existence of God and he said "I wonder if they'll end up like Korihor?")

Sunday was pretty all right. Church went good, but none of our investigators were able to make it. After church we also weren't able to meet our other investigators we usually meet on Sunday so we had some decent finding. I feel so bad for our poor area. Because they are only ZLs here most of the time it's not getting dendo'd at all! We had dinner with the Oota couple and Kaneko B and it was pretty fun. They are way cool and down to earth. The couple was recently married last year so that's cool.

That's pretty much the week though. Thanks for all your faith, prayers, love, and support! Love you times a million!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

1/13/14 Never ending snow

So it snowed. A lot. I knew Iwamizawa was the snowiest area in Hokkaido... but i didn't think it was THAT much more. It's above my head. Church was canceled except for sacrament, but that was kinda neat because we got to do lots of service and shoveling to help people make it to sacrament.

All the birthdays and mini get togethers sound great. I am probably not even going to recognize half of the ward when I get back ne, hahaha. I hope you have fun practicing for the relief society meeting! Today p-day was nothing but music practice...... I love music, but I would like a p-day sometimes haha. I'm glad you got Hatch E's mail. I felt bad for running out of time. The meetings that Heavenly Father guides us to blow me away all the time. Thanks for telling everyone back home how I'm doing and thanks for receiving and showing a bunch of gratitude for the blessings you receive.

So Zone Conference went WAY good. We rode with the AP's to Asahikawa and got everyone together. I thought I was going to be nervous, but everything went way smooth. We talked about goals and basically just went through PMG about goal setting and having faith in the goals. We encouraged everybody to have faith and bore testimony a ton because we know how much success they can see here because it is an area that God has prepared and opened through church leaders. We had everyone report numbers etc yesterday and almost all the missionaries improved like CRAZY! They all said they were way inspired by the workshop to make high goals and work hard. Anyways after getting back I went on splits with the AP Jones E and we had a lot of fun streeting and stuff. I still don't know the area very well at all because we are always gone, but we made stuff happen.

The next day we went to Ebetsu and had splits and I went w/ Sakamura E. He is so awesome. He has so much dendo fire and is way funny. We went all over the area finding old investigators and giving feedback on each-others' finding skills. The next day we had DKK and headed to Takikawa. In Takikawa I went on splits with Yanada E who also has lots of dendo fire. Next transfer is his last and he wants to make sure he ends strong. Yoshikawa E who was in Kushiro is his comp so it was good to see him again. We taught this way cool guy who has been an investigator since he was little and is like 37 now. However he had a big change of heart and wants to get baptized way bad now. We made a baptismal date with him and that was super exciting for them.

We came back from Takikawa on Saturday and headed to this part of our area called Bibai (it means beautiful song) to see Yamashita. We met another really nice NA there before we went and taught him a lesson. He is way awesome. We taught him mostly the rest of the commandments and he accepted them all right away except for wine... He feels like since it's in the bible that it should be an exception. We explained to him about how it's restored truth and he understands that, but just needs to get the confirmation for himself. Then I pretty much told you what Sunday was like so yeah!

The gospel is so incredibly true and I love being a missionary. I've gotta head back to Iwamizawa though so I'll catch ya later! Love you tons!!! Aishiteimasu! BTW tomorrow we have DTM then go to Wakkanai which basically takes all day. It's the northest! I'm way excited.

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

1/5/14 The snow does not stop and neither do the miracles!

Hey! Yeah you said it right. I'm hoping this year will be awesome, too. Actually, I know it will be!!! Thanks for your quote from church and I'm glad your lesson went well! I'm also glad everything with grandma went well. My vision for the basement is probably coming true now that I am gone, hahaha. I'm glad Mara is doing great and that's so exciting about Mara's friend! I wish I had tried to find so many awesome missionary opportunities like her. When is her baptismal date? If the missionaries haven't made one yet they are slacking off... hahaha! Not really, but from what I've heard about her she probably could've got baptized a long time ago. How is Mara's other friend in seminary? We did the santa suits at the Christmas party a few weeks ago and on Christmas morning before we called you. The crab was at our apartment on Christmas. The KFC was from before. Sorry I didn't even think of saying anything about p-day. :(

Zone conference is tomorrow and we, well...we do all of it hahaha. Basically we get everybody to go to Asahikawa and have a big workshop there. I'm a little nervous, but it should go awesomely. Definitely tell Spencer congrats! That's awesome for Lily and Mya as well. Nice!

So I procrastinated writing this email so I'll try to sum stuff up.

Wednesday we ate lunch w/ the Saito family and had new year's food and it was great. Saito B loves talking about how Japanese people are descended from the Jews and stuff it is really interesting though not (yet) doctrine hahaha. After that we went to Sapporo for a little gathering because Wilson E came back to visit Sapporo w/ his family. Lots of red heads. They actually knew the Prices because they're from Palo Alto. We came home and had dinner w/ the branch pres' family. Cutest kids. Oh man. We had a lot of fun and a good FHE w/ them. Thursday was deep clean day, but we also had lunch with the Miyazaki fam. They're super amazing - they have two boys and they're awesome. Their mom is also one of the only people I've met in Japan who bakes bread using whole grain/whole wheat so I was really happy and she was really happy that we liked it hahaha. They had these interesting toys that we played with called LaQ. We also got a "toshidama" whichis a Japanese tradition where all the kids get money at new year's. Since we can't receive money we gave it back as fast offerings, but it was still cool. Ahhhh, there is another cool miracle story I want to tell you about, but I'm out of time!!!! Sorrryyy :( remind me to start from here next time!!! Aishitemasu!!!!

Hutchinson Choro


Then Braden's mom opened this email:
Hello!
This is Elder Hutchinson`s companion, Elder Hatch. Elder Hutchinson didn`t really have time to tell you about our crazy Sunday with the Adachis and so he asked me to send this to you. Your son is awesome and I love working with him! We are having a blast and seeing a lot of miracles!

Arigato gozaimasu!
Elder Hatch
(Below is his letter)
Hello!

Iwamizawa is very famous for the amount of snow it gets during winter. Up until about two weeks ago people were saying there wasn`t very much snow at all and that it usually snows more. You could probably google Iwamizawa and see some crazy pictures and videos about the snow here. Well this week it seemed to be snowing all the time. Yesterday I think it snowed all but one hour. It is steadily building up. Fun, fun! Also, we have seen some REALLY long icicles.
This week was great! We had meals with several members. New Years was the Saito family and Adachi family. The Okuizumi family also brought us dinner on New Years Eve to our apartment when we were reading the Book of Mormon. The second was a deep clean day but we had a nice break and went to the Miyazaki family`s house for lunch. I really, really do love the members here! Not just because they feed us well and are so nice, but just because they are all such great people! I am really grateful and lucky to be here.
Friday was kind of back to normal routine. We went with Pres. Adachi and visisted Yamashita. We ended up being there for 3 and a half hours because he just keep asking questions. It ended up being a really good lesson and he is doing very well. He feels like he needs to learn all of the church doctrine before he gets baptized. He was busy and couldn`t come to church yesterday but he is doing very well and we are excited that he is still progressing.
Saturday we got invited by the Adachis (the older couple that gave us a ride a couple weeks ago when we were out in the middle of nowhere and who invited us to a Christmas party in Sapporo). We were pretty excited to go. We thought it was only got to be the husband and wife, but when we showed up there were about 8 people from the company Christmas party that we attended. Apparently they all wanted to come see us. Some of them even came from Sapporo, maybe an hour and a half hours drive away.
Mainly we just ate with them and had a good time. We were able to share a little bit about what we are doing here as missionaries and why. We also showed them our family pics, which Japanese love seeing (probably mainly because we are foreigners....). The night ended and the husband took us home. We thought maybe we shouldn`t try continuing to meet with them so often because they didn`t seem interested in the gospel. Then Sunday happened.....
So, Sunday as church is about to start (priesthood is first and Sacrament is last here) and we got in priesthood. Bro. Kaneko came in just after the opening prayer and then mentioned that two people who have never been to church before are here in the parking lot. Elder Hutchinson and I decide to go outside, curious who decided to suddenly come to church without us knowing. We got outside and Adachi (the wife) and one of the other woman about the same age who was there on Saturday are walking from their car to the church. As we called out they were a little disappointed that we came out and saw them. They were wanting to surprise us showing up at church.
Long story short, we go to Relief Society with them, then we had a very simple lesson in Gospel Principles, and then they attended Fast and Testimony meeting. Also, upon talking to two members, one of the other LDS guys that works at their company is a relative of the teacher or Gospel Doctrine, one of a member`s best friends is also an employee of the comany, etc. There were so many crazy things, but I think it helped them build friendships with the members. Also, several of the members talked about them in their testimony and we had an AMAZING lesson with a Sister Oikawa in the ward after Sacrament meeting on the Restoration. Sister Oikawa was really strong and really bold. At the end of the lesson we asked Adachi to pray. She said a good prayer and we were about to finish when Sis. Oikawa boldly asked Okuyama (the friend) to pray as well. Okuyama`s prayer was really short, but she was having a hard time getting words out because she was choking up. They definitely felt the Spirit, which was SO cool!
The main reason they came was just to come see us, not to come to church, but it turned into an amazing 4 hours. We gave them each a Book of Mormon and challenged them to baptism. What a miracle! Meeting Adachi two weeks ago on that lonely rode when she gave us a ride seemed like it was all just a coincidence. It was not coincidence. Everything just played out too well! If timing had been off by even a minute, this whole story would not have happened.
Everytime I start to think "Man, nothing special has happened lately. Am I doing something wrong?", is when an amazing miracle happens. I testify that Heavenly Father works by faith. As I read in the Book of Mormon this last week focusing on faith I realized that everytime somebody exercises faith, something good happens. It doesn`t always happen right away, but it does happen. It is amazing to see how much Heavenly Father really does look out and love each one of us. I know He does love you and me.
Happy New Year! Its 2014 but lets make it a good one!
Love you!
Elder Benjamin Hatch

12/31/13 akemashite omedetou gozaimasu (happy new year's)

Hey! Christmas was pretty missionary-y and Japanese-y, but still way awesome. I'm glad the call worked out. I always feel like they end up being all over the place, but I guess that's what happens when everyone is excited. Thats crazy you had to have Christmas dinner at Maverick! Sounds like Lily got some great presents and Adam's phone call was fun too. Definitely send me a pic of Dave's present when you have the chance. I'm glad the Hutchinson family is doing good. It doesn't snowstorm here every day, but there was a way crazy one last Saturday. My new shoes are definitely awesome and you don't have to worry about money. They were a present. I was only gonna get one pair of shoes, but since they were on sale she bought me 2. Way generous and awesome! I hope Mara's talk, etc. went great too!

Here's the week. (since talking to you) So Wednesday DTM went great and we ate sushi with everyone. Then went back to Iwamizawa and planned a bit for zone stuff then went out to do Merry Christmas dendo. Basically like normal housing, but we only went to houses with Christmas decorations and talked about Christmas extra. We did find one pretty cool guy we'll meet again on Friday. On Thursday we had some planning and then rode w/ Adachi B to teach Yamashita at his house. He lives in the city next door called Bibai. It went pretty good. He had a concern at church so we addressed that and then taught him about the plan of salvation which he is really interested in. He definitely has a lot of potential and I can almost say for sure he'll get baptized. We just need to be patient because he likes to talk a lot and has lots of little concerns. After that we rode from the station in Bibai to Shibetsu! We had splits there and they went awesome. It is the second smallest area after Nemuro. There is a lady there who runs a pretty classy shop and is like a Mom to the missionaries. She fed us all for free and we talked with her, a member, and a non-attending. I went on splits w/ Hirata E who is on his 3rd transfer. It was way fun and we taught some awesome people that he had found + I taught him how to street contact because his trainer never taught him. On the way home I found a way interesting shop called "Rodeo" that was just full of retro American stuff, playing oldies rockabilly music. It was way cool and I met the shop owners and they were way happy to meet a real American. It was a pretty unique chance to share the gospel because I tied his desire to show Japanese people what America is like, to us wanting to show everyone they joy we get from the gospel. He was really cool. Kinda looked like a biker with a super long goatee, but we made pretty good friends.

We rode back home and did a bit of finding on Saturday before riding w/ Adachi B and Yamashita to Sapporo to see the Messiah concert. He had a good time + we got to review and talk more about what we had talked about so far in the car. Also, I got to meet a ton of members from Eniwa and Toyohira! That was way happy. Best part is that everyone remembered me! Church went pretty great even though Yamashita had a thing come up and couldn't come. We did a bunch of finding after talking w/members and stuff a lot. I actually translated sacrament meeting into sign language for the deaf member and it was way hard, but I did it somehow. It's pretty fun, but I definitely don't know that much yet hahaha. Monday was DTM in Ebetsu that went great. We ate and came back to visit this NA family (whose daughter came up to visit for new year's-she's active). It was pretty fun and though her parents are in their 80's we had a fun and spiritual time. Yesterday was read the BofM all day day. I got way tired and fell asleep while reading several times and didn't even get half as far as I got last year, but it was still awesome and I got some good revelations for our zone. At night we ate "toshi koshi soba" which is a Japanese tradition that they do every new year's. It was pretty fun. Maybe I'll do it every year from now on :) Did you do anything for new year's?

I'm so grateful for the Christmas season and chance to think of Christ so much more. I'm also really grateful for the awesome responsibility I have to be a leader and serve the missionaries in my zone and district. I miss just focusing on investigators sometimes, but all together it's such an awesome experience. Love you tons! Happy new year's!!!!

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

toshi koshi soba

in front of Rodeo

My district at Odori park after caroling

Me on Book of Mormon day

Icicles

Day after snow storm

Everyone at the shop in Shibetsu

Our Christmas dinner

Christmas cake

Christmas morning in Ebetsu

more icicles

12/22/13 Way Too Amazing Timing, Several Times

Hey! It's been fun being a zone leader, but surreal. It's really cool to work in other areas and with lots of other missionaries. I told you about the Christmas party last week, didn't I? I didn't get any pics so I'll send some from Hatch E's camera. I'm jealous you got the mission CD. We don't get it until Christmas :P That's too bad about Grandma and I hope she gets doing better. Do you think she'll be around when I get back? You work on Christmas eve? hahah That's like Japan. Won't Mara be home then? I'm looking forward to the call too! BTW I have my own phone now as a ZL so we don't have to worry about coordinating time. Therefore, if you want to call earlier than 9 (my time) feel free to do so because I'll have time. After that is district meeting etc, but yeah. I hope your Christmas lesson goes well! Not gonna lie I probably have the hardest time teaching out of manuals... Sometimes they just get too complicated. I'm WAY stoked for Michael!!!!! That's way boss! Nice!!! Also I don't have any addresses on me so I'll tell you next week (Stilson E, etc) Stilson E going home was depressing because he is one of my favorite missionaries ever. He did go a transfer early for school, but yeah.

Also, I got the package!!! The stuff is way awesome!!!! The Sufjan Stevens cd's are way amazing (though there are a bunch of random non-missionary songs on there I have to filter out... same with the singles ward [I think the rm soundtrack was a little less heavy hahaha!], but that's what SD cards are for! :)) Also please give me the track listing for the random blank cd you gave me. I was super super super happy though. Pretty much all my favorite Christmas candy and I am almost done with the last journal I was using so that new one will do great. The sweater is awesome too! I don't know if I was supposed to wait til Christmas, but I'm almost sure I wouldn't be able to wait anyways haha. Thank you tons and love you!

THE WEEK
P-day wasn't anything too special. We kinda chilled here, found, and went to Ebetsu in preparation for splits and DTM. Tuesday DTM went great and I went on splits with Brackner E who is a bean and way awesome. He has a lot of confidence so even though he is younger in Japanese and missionary stuff he does his best to participate and learn fast which is way way cool. We had Eikaiwa there that night as well. There are some pretty nice members there too. Wednesday was Mission Leader Conference which was pretty cool. I felt old. We talked a lot about what we'll do for zone conference and how all the zones are doing. Kaicho is such a boss and always answers our questions using the white handbook, PMG, or the scriptures. Anyway that was practically all day. We got to eat Costco pizza for lunch. Thursday we did some finding and then members took us out to sushi and made us eat a ton. It was good, but Kushiro/Nemuro sushi is of course still the best in the world. After that we had a makeshift DKK and then went to meet Yamashita before Eikaiwa with a member. We went over what we taught before and then made a baptismal date with him! He actually chose the date himself because he really wants to get baptized, but also know more about the church and know it's the right decision first.

English class went great and then we headed to Asahikawa. IT'S HUGE! Of course not as big as Sapporo, but I was surprised. BUT on the way there, super miracle. We were waiting for the train and this guy comes up to us and is like, hey I used to live in St George! And we're like what? Turns out he got baptized 30 years ago, but because of bad relations with other people in the church at the time he quit. However we talked to him the entire train ride and he still remembers everything about the church. He basically still has a testimony and stuff. Anyway we told him about how much the church has grown in Japan and he got pretty excited about it. He said he would consider coming to church again and we gave him a new BoM. He lives in Asahikawa so we gave his info to the elders when we got there. Also he looks almost exactly like dad, but Japanese. Even he thought so! (I showed him pics) Asahikawa splits were fun (I went with 4th transfer Strachan E who is Canadian and way strong testimony). We also did Eikaiwa there as well (3 in one week! It's all we can do with so little time to do splits because of the holidays) Asahikawa is a way awesome area though! Saturday we came home and were way tired, but we finished DKK and then headed out to this kinda far away area to contact a referral. There was no map of that area so we asked people in town and they drew us a map and were way nice and everything, but it was about a 40 minute walk a way (on top of almost pure ice, but we're used to that already hahaha) so we started to walk and it was getting dark but there was nothing else we could do. After maybe 10 mins. this car pulls over and asks "are you Mormons? We'll give you a lift!" Turns out missionaries saved their kid's life or something a long time ago. They took us to the referral (who wasn't home) and then all the way back to Iwamizawa! (a little ways away) It was a couple and the mom actually works with some people who are members in Sapporo! She actually invited us to her work party which we are probably going to tonight. It was pretty crazy timing that we met them and they were really happy to meet us.

Sunday was great too. Yamashita came to church and had a great time. After church a way awesome NA named Kazama B came. He used to be in the branch presidency, but had hard stuff at work. Sounds like he wants to try to come more actively from now on though! We got so much stinkin candy in our fruit basket I think I'm gonna pass out, but it's pretty awesome. We had some good cold dendo that night and a great time getting everyone's reports! This work is overflowing with miracles! Christmas is awesome! I feel like I'm really bad at giving material gifts, but I want to be better at giving spiritual gifts or gifts of service.

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

Santa!

Weird, gross, foam candy

Japanese Christmas (KFC is THE popular thing at Christmas there)

Members want to eat us so they are fattening us up (did he mean, 'the members want us to eat?' I hope so)