Here's how the week went :D So on Monday we were getting ready to have a normalish p-day of shopping or planning something fun, when all of a sudden I get a call from Nakatsuka kaicho about how they are worried about driving to Kushiro by themselves because they still have jet lag. This week they met all the missionaries in the mission by doing these little firesides with all the zones. Long story short we ended up riding with them all the way to Kushiro again so p-day died, but it was WAY fun to ride and talk with them! It was also great to go to Kushiro again! Sis Nakatsuka is a great driver ww. In Kushiro at night I slept on the balcony and it was amazing. Their fireside was sooo good! The main theme was obedience/working from the heart, not just because it's a rule. The Nakatsukas' testimonies are so strong and they are so funny. It is different without the Evans, but I'm so grateful I got to have that time with them. We came back on Tuesday and that was Monday and Tuesday www. Wednesday was basically a normal day of dendo!!! We did lots of housing and streeting and I was super hot and I loved it. We weren't able to meet a lot of the people we wanted, but dendoing in Sapporo is always fun because there are tons of people. We did meet an awesome Chinese guy that was super interested though! That night we met Zen kyoudai and had a great lesson w/ him about Scripture mastery. Probably my favorite day this week :D
Thursday was another Nakatsuka fireside with the Sapporo missionaries! It was great as well. We had this Okonomiyaki that you can grill right at the table courtesy of Andersen E's recommendation. Once we got back it was lots of transfer planning. Even though President only met the missionaries for a bit, he knew so much about them! I was so surprised. It went really well, but he hadn't met Asahikawa zone yet so we only went part way. That night we ate with some really fun members called the Ides! (E-days) They are cool. A single mom and an RM daughter. They have a lot of dendo fire and are way happy people. The daughter is trying super hard to get married. I'll try not to be a menace to society as much as possible. wwwwwwww
Friday we had a bunch of dendo as well! Kinda similar to Wednesday, but once the Nakatsukas got back there was lots of planning to do w/ them for next week. We also ate dinner at their house! That was pretty delicious. Sis Nakatsuka makes lasagna with tofu instead of ricotta. It was great!
Saturday talked about transfers even more! We got through everything and almost finished, but then had a lesson w/ the cool Chinese guy. It went pretty good! Kinda tricky because his Japanese isn't perfect, but pretty well! He's about 30, but really humble. He kept saying stuff like "if everyone in your church is like you guys, I want to join". He's going home in August, but I'm planning on emailing him after I get home as well. That night we went to sports night and hung out with some members, less actives, and other investigators. There are two kids who are crazy good at basketball. One of them is at least a few inches taller than Dave, but they were so chill and humble. They're the Odori elders' investigators and it'd be cool to see them get baptized. We also had Indian curry with all you can eat naan as usual and filled up for fast Sunday which was super good. We got to church and had coordination meeting and no one remembered that it was my last Sunday which was pretty funny. Everyone was like what? I would've gotten you something! Kotoni members love the missionaries a lot. Sacrament meeting was great too! They played all hymns that I love. By the way, do you know "Beautiful Zion with Hills Surrounded"? It's a great hymn. I never sang it once in America.
For testimonies I thought that obviously I had to get up, but before the bishopric member finished, like four people got up! I had to get up fast too and after me, like 7 more people came and sat down. Everyone's testimony was awesome, but as usual I couldn't do it in 5 minutes so everybody after me only had like a minute each. I feel like my testimony went great and of course everyone there was surprised it was my last Sunday too. The lessons were great about fasting and family history. After church I took pictures and said goodbye to a bunch of people. There is one member named Sakamoto Naomi Shimai who is my age. She asked us a few weeks ago to help her with her graduate program which was doing surveys to 50 nihonjin and 50 gaijin which would work out pretty well with the missionaries right? Well I sent it to everyone and almost nobody did it, so I told her that I'd help her out by giving the survey to people back home. She was so happy she cried and then brought me fruit that night. It shouldn't be too hard. I'm glad I found ways to help people even after I go home! Once we got home we put the cap on transfer plans. There was just one little thing that took up all of our time, but at the end everyone's timing of saying things helped us to find the perfect solutions. It was super spiritual. To end the day we went to eat at the Ebisawa's with the Harada family as well. It was way good and way genki. Ebisawa S's son is not very active, but since Harada B came back from his mission, he's been coming a lot! That was our week! I'm super excited to tell everyone about transfers! :)
I love you tons and I love it here, but I'm not going to complain about things that have to happen especially when they have great consequences like being able to see my super awesome family again. :)
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Sunday, June 29, 2014
6/29/14 drive drive drive send a mission president home drive meet a new mission president
and coming up next week.......!!!!
Drive!
Turns out we're going to Kushiro again today wwwwwww
I have pictures, but I think you can wait 12 days :)
Kushiro was GREAT. Driving there was tiring. I'll tell you the long story after. I'm sure I can bring copies of the slideshow and stuff back, but it's mostly just missionaries you don't know... w
We sent the Evans off Saturday afternoon. We stopped by the temple site for my first time which was cool! Evans shimai also hugged me at the airport www. I'm pretty much already dead (the tradition before is that missionaries only got to hug Evans s one time at the airport when they died) so yeah.
The Nakatsukas are pretty cool! That's interesting Evans K sent a letter to you! Was it like a personal letter written by hand? I'm glad Dad liked my letter. Sorry I never got you anything too cool for your birthday... :(
I don't want to send my bike home. There are missionaries here that want it and it will be expensive to fix + ship it. That cost alone will buy me a better bike back home.
I remember having cousins with those names, but I don't remember their faces w. I'm excited to go to the temple and stuff again. I participated as a child in sealings for the dead when I was in the MTC. I think they made it dame (not allowed) afterwards, but it was cool I got to experience it once. I wonder if it's ok for me to go to Japanese sessions... I'd like to.
Sounds like you and Mara are having fun this week! She sent me a letter telling me about how horrible her life is with me gone wwwwww.
So last week on Monday we left at about 2 (we wanted to leave earlier to do stuff in Obihiro and stuff, but Evans S made us work more on the slideshow and look for a rug that she brought with her to Sapporo that she couldn't find) and drove for about 2 1/2 hours to Obihiro, ate butadon and then headed to Kushiro for another 3 hours. It was dark, but I was SUPER happy to be in Kushiro again. I talked to Sakamura E and Nguyen E and gave them advice about dendoing in Nemuro. Sounds like everyone's genki still. We went to DTM in Kushiro and one of the sisters gave a good workshop. We then stopped by Andrus S's house because it was Jay's birthday. We sang happy birthday and looked at pictures of him for about 15 minutes (we didn't have a lot of time), but I probably cried for 10 of them. After that we ate lunch at ur-tora shokudou (ultra cafeteria!) where I used to eat all the time with Morgan E and Andersen E when we would come to Kushiro. It was great. Lee E and I dendo'd with Nielson E. We did lots of walking, but met a good amount of cool people!
That night we had a birthday party for Kanno B which was really awesome as well!!! Tomita E got to meet his old convert so he was really genki too. Tuesday we started heading home. We made a pit stop and lo and behold we got called by someone telling us that Evans S's rug was found in the Kushiro sisters' apartment!!! She really needed this rug so as you would guess... we turned around and went back to Kushiro! Upon arrival, we sent a picture of the rug to sister E for confirmation and of course........ It wasn't the rug. So we drove from there straight back to Sapporo. We took a slightly alternate route though and it was super pretty! We lost almost two whole days to driving. Once we got home we had to prepare more of the slideshow and finish the presidents video for the Evans and Nakatsukas. Evans S was pretty happy with the slideshows. They should be flying back to Utah today! On Thursday there were a lot more similar requests and things, but at night we at least go to go out to eat matsuriya with a cool member who moved to the ward nearby. Friday was more preparation and setting up new iphones for the Nakatsukas. They came Friday night right before bedtime. On Saturday they talked w/ the Evans for about 5 hours and then the Evans just left. I wasn't really sad at all coz I'll see 'em soon wwww.
After that we helped Nakatsuka K do some stuff and get meetings organized with all the missionaries. He wants to meet the entire mission this week so that's why we're going to Kushiro today too hahaha. Saturday night we ate dinner together (made by Tomita E) and he told us some super awesome stories and testimonies. Sunday was good too. Church went great and quite a few NAs came! One of them is named Ebisawa Ryouhei and since Harada E from my MTC doki came back, we have been able to make a better relationship with him. After church we ended up having to work out more things w/ Nakatsuka K, so we only got a tiny bit of dendo time this week. To top things off we ate dinner with the Baker fam (husband is American, cutest daughters) and had a pretty awesome time there. Now I am here trying to hurry and get all the things I wanted to get done done so that I'll make it in time to go to Kushiro w/ Nakatsuka K & S. I hope you have a great week! I'm excited to see you and hug you again! :)
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Drive!
Turns out we're going to Kushiro again today wwwwwww
I have pictures, but I think you can wait 12 days :)
Kushiro was GREAT. Driving there was tiring. I'll tell you the long story after. I'm sure I can bring copies of the slideshow and stuff back, but it's mostly just missionaries you don't know... w
We sent the Evans off Saturday afternoon. We stopped by the temple site for my first time which was cool! Evans shimai also hugged me at the airport www. I'm pretty much already dead (the tradition before is that missionaries only got to hug Evans s one time at the airport when they died) so yeah.
The Nakatsukas are pretty cool! That's interesting Evans K sent a letter to you! Was it like a personal letter written by hand? I'm glad Dad liked my letter. Sorry I never got you anything too cool for your birthday... :(
I don't want to send my bike home. There are missionaries here that want it and it will be expensive to fix + ship it. That cost alone will buy me a better bike back home.
I remember having cousins with those names, but I don't remember their faces w. I'm excited to go to the temple and stuff again. I participated as a child in sealings for the dead when I was in the MTC. I think they made it dame (not allowed) afterwards, but it was cool I got to experience it once. I wonder if it's ok for me to go to Japanese sessions... I'd like to.
Sounds like you and Mara are having fun this week! She sent me a letter telling me about how horrible her life is with me gone wwwwww.
So last week on Monday we left at about 2 (we wanted to leave earlier to do stuff in Obihiro and stuff, but Evans S made us work more on the slideshow and look for a rug that she brought with her to Sapporo that she couldn't find) and drove for about 2 1/2 hours to Obihiro, ate butadon and then headed to Kushiro for another 3 hours. It was dark, but I was SUPER happy to be in Kushiro again. I talked to Sakamura E and Nguyen E and gave them advice about dendoing in Nemuro. Sounds like everyone's genki still. We went to DTM in Kushiro and one of the sisters gave a good workshop. We then stopped by Andrus S's house because it was Jay's birthday. We sang happy birthday and looked at pictures of him for about 15 minutes (we didn't have a lot of time), but I probably cried for 10 of them. After that we ate lunch at ur-tora shokudou (ultra cafeteria!) where I used to eat all the time with Morgan E and Andersen E when we would come to Kushiro. It was great. Lee E and I dendo'd with Nielson E. We did lots of walking, but met a good amount of cool people!
That night we had a birthday party for Kanno B which was really awesome as well!!! Tomita E got to meet his old convert so he was really genki too. Tuesday we started heading home. We made a pit stop and lo and behold we got called by someone telling us that Evans S's rug was found in the Kushiro sisters' apartment!!! She really needed this rug so as you would guess... we turned around and went back to Kushiro! Upon arrival, we sent a picture of the rug to sister E for confirmation and of course........ It wasn't the rug. So we drove from there straight back to Sapporo. We took a slightly alternate route though and it was super pretty! We lost almost two whole days to driving. Once we got home we had to prepare more of the slideshow and finish the presidents video for the Evans and Nakatsukas. Evans S was pretty happy with the slideshows. They should be flying back to Utah today! On Thursday there were a lot more similar requests and things, but at night we at least go to go out to eat matsuriya with a cool member who moved to the ward nearby. Friday was more preparation and setting up new iphones for the Nakatsukas. They came Friday night right before bedtime. On Saturday they talked w/ the Evans for about 5 hours and then the Evans just left. I wasn't really sad at all coz I'll see 'em soon wwww.
After that we helped Nakatsuka K do some stuff and get meetings organized with all the missionaries. He wants to meet the entire mission this week so that's why we're going to Kushiro today too hahaha. Saturday night we ate dinner together (made by Tomita E) and he told us some super awesome stories and testimonies. Sunday was good too. Church went great and quite a few NAs came! One of them is named Ebisawa Ryouhei and since Harada E from my MTC doki came back, we have been able to make a better relationship with him. After church we ended up having to work out more things w/ Nakatsuka K, so we only got a tiny bit of dendo time this week. To top things off we ate dinner with the Baker fam (husband is American, cutest daughters) and had a pretty awesome time there. Now I am here trying to hurry and get all the things I wanted to get done done so that I'll make it in time to go to Kushiro w/ Nakatsuka K & S. I hope you have a great week! I'm excited to see you and hug you again! :)
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, June 22, 2014
6/22/14 Shinoro, Eniwa, Stake Conference
I think I finished the Book of Mormon sometime last week or Sunday, but I didn't say anything about it! Keep up the good reading. I've been focusing on the new testament lately, but I feel like it'll be tough to finish before I get back. Well, maybe. I'm in James.
I wonder how Bishop picked that theme! I'm really excited for that. It's been one of my bigger mission goals I guess. That's cool you met a bunch of people at Lydia's thing! Everyone is back from missions and stuff already - it's just weird to think about. As far as my homecoming goes as long as you just put it up on facebook then things should be fine. :D I don't really care who comes! I'm embarrassed enough to have to give a talk in English anyways! I did find a cool Chinese guy yesterday, but he mostly just speaks Japanese too w. Is the ward really that big? If you can't remember everyone's names yet, then I am done for w. I can only remember Japanese names. We had an all Japan Stake conference yesterday and we had to watch it in English... It just felt so weird...
The house sounds like it'll be fun. I feel like everything is going to be different when it get home. I don't think my room needs any improving as far as I know.
I am definitely proud of you being an awesome family though! I think I might have said last week, but I'm really excited to see you all again! I'm just not excited to go back to America... I hope I became good enough of a person to get moving in some way when I get back. I have no idea where I'll work or if I'll have to go back to Utah State or whatever... I don't want to leave all my Japanese friends.
I only have two pairs of shoes right now. (not including running or p-day shoes) The reason it seems like I'm getting so many is because they are all dying. When I was home, I got a bunch because they are cool and I like to match colors.
So this week we had a bunch of people come to the honbu to email as usual. After that I bought some cool stuff with Andersen e at the mall. A jinbei, hokkaido shirt, and some craft tape I thought you'd like. I can't find any washi tape so far. After that we met this guy we found streeting at the matsuri (which was way tiny compared to Nemuro's) and he seems pretty prepared. When we made the apt w/ him he looked up basically everything about the church online. His name's Kobayashi. Hopefully we'll meet him again soon. Tuesday I went on splits in Shinoro with Romney e and Notsu e. It was 3 man splits. We went to DTM that was pretty fun and then headed to Shinoro to do some housing and teach some cool lessons. The guy that Romney e and I found on our last split was a super kinjin. He wants to get baptized way bad! We also taught eikaiwa which was the first in a long time for me. Then we taught one of the students afterwards. It was pretty cool. I learned a ton from them. Wednesday was an interesting day. We prepared a lot for stake DCS and then did some transfer planning on our own because this transfer kaicho doesn't do any. We did it as preparation for Nakatsuka k coming. We also had DCS that night. Wednesday we had to work on this slideshow for Evans s that she wants to do for mission reunions. We also worked on our videos that we are making in secret to give as presents to the Evans and Nakatsukas. We're putting in introductions and testimonies from everyone in the mission. That night we went to Chitose again! I went on splits with Kent e and we had a way good day. We found some way cool people streeting and taught some great lessons with investigators there. We also ate lunch with Kurashige s, visited Fujita s, and Sugiura s came to an activity at the end of the day! I also got to meet a lot of the youth at that activity as well. It was super! I'll send another email afterwards w/ pics! I even got to ride my favorite bike path in all of Hokkaido :D Saturday was another busy day of slideshow and video stuff. After which, we went to the Saturday sessions of stake conference which was just announced by the area presidency that missionaries are supposed to go to from now on. It was pretty good! The Sunday session was broadcast from Tokyo and Walker e from the 70, Oscarson s, Stevenson bishop, and Christofferson e spoke! Walker e and Stevenson b are fluent in Japanese. After church we did a bunch of finding that was way fun and then ate dinner with the Takahashi family. We also saw a cool snake.
And yeah!
I'm going to KUSHIRO tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you tons!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
I wonder how Bishop picked that theme! I'm really excited for that. It's been one of my bigger mission goals I guess. That's cool you met a bunch of people at Lydia's thing! Everyone is back from missions and stuff already - it's just weird to think about. As far as my homecoming goes as long as you just put it up on facebook then things should be fine. :D I don't really care who comes! I'm embarrassed enough to have to give a talk in English anyways! I did find a cool Chinese guy yesterday, but he mostly just speaks Japanese too w. Is the ward really that big? If you can't remember everyone's names yet, then I am done for w. I can only remember Japanese names. We had an all Japan Stake conference yesterday and we had to watch it in English... It just felt so weird...
The house sounds like it'll be fun. I feel like everything is going to be different when it get home. I don't think my room needs any improving as far as I know.
I am definitely proud of you being an awesome family though! I think I might have said last week, but I'm really excited to see you all again! I'm just not excited to go back to America... I hope I became good enough of a person to get moving in some way when I get back. I have no idea where I'll work or if I'll have to go back to Utah State or whatever... I don't want to leave all my Japanese friends.
I only have two pairs of shoes right now. (not including running or p-day shoes) The reason it seems like I'm getting so many is because they are all dying. When I was home, I got a bunch because they are cool and I like to match colors.
So this week we had a bunch of people come to the honbu to email as usual. After that I bought some cool stuff with Andersen e at the mall. A jinbei, hokkaido shirt, and some craft tape I thought you'd like. I can't find any washi tape so far. After that we met this guy we found streeting at the matsuri (which was way tiny compared to Nemuro's) and he seems pretty prepared. When we made the apt w/ him he looked up basically everything about the church online. His name's Kobayashi. Hopefully we'll meet him again soon. Tuesday I went on splits in Shinoro with Romney e and Notsu e. It was 3 man splits. We went to DTM that was pretty fun and then headed to Shinoro to do some housing and teach some cool lessons. The guy that Romney e and I found on our last split was a super kinjin. He wants to get baptized way bad! We also taught eikaiwa which was the first in a long time for me. Then we taught one of the students afterwards. It was pretty cool. I learned a ton from them. Wednesday was an interesting day. We prepared a lot for stake DCS and then did some transfer planning on our own because this transfer kaicho doesn't do any. We did it as preparation for Nakatsuka k coming. We also had DCS that night. Wednesday we had to work on this slideshow for Evans s that she wants to do for mission reunions. We also worked on our videos that we are making in secret to give as presents to the Evans and Nakatsukas. We're putting in introductions and testimonies from everyone in the mission. That night we went to Chitose again! I went on splits with Kent e and we had a way good day. We found some way cool people streeting and taught some great lessons with investigators there. We also ate lunch with Kurashige s, visited Fujita s, and Sugiura s came to an activity at the end of the day! I also got to meet a lot of the youth at that activity as well. It was super! I'll send another email afterwards w/ pics! I even got to ride my favorite bike path in all of Hokkaido :D Saturday was another busy day of slideshow and video stuff. After which, we went to the Saturday sessions of stake conference which was just announced by the area presidency that missionaries are supposed to go to from now on. It was pretty good! The Sunday session was broadcast from Tokyo and Walker e from the 70, Oscarson s, Stevenson bishop, and Christofferson e spoke! Walker e and Stevenson b are fluent in Japanese. After church we did a bunch of finding that was way fun and then ate dinner with the Takahashi family. We also saw a cool snake.
And yeah!
I'm going to KUSHIRO tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you tons!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, June 15, 2014
6/15/14 Happy Father's Day!
Hey! Being in a 3 some is mostly for the mission president transition because I go home like a week and a half after Nakatsuka Kaicho and Shimai get here. I'm really lucky I get to meet them! It would've been fun to extend, but I think that was just me wanting to end my mission in the way I wanted to end it. What's more important is ending it how the Lord wants me to which is obviously the Honbu! I did talk to President Evans about it for like half a minute and he kinda said the same thing. I'm not bummed about it at all. I'm glad you are so trusting in the Lord and would've been okay with it if it were to happen! You are the best family. I'm so excited to spend time with you again. I'm definitely not excited to leave this wonderful place, but it will be wonderful to give everyone big hugs and play with Lily again.
I'm glad they sent the itinerary! Hopefully Haramai Shimai and maybe some other Chitose/Eniwa members can come see me off. :)
I have no idea where I will apply or even try applying at this point so there will probably be some time. I also don't really want to go back to USU unless there is nothing else to do.
The melon flavored melon pan is the best. In Nemuro they had a cantaloupe one that rules.
Sounds like you had an awesome Saturday! It's Father's day now right? I wrote dad a letter and I'll send it today. The house sounds like it will be crazy! Condie pool parties are definitely natsukashii... (nostalgic) I am kind of nervous to go to church in America hahaha. Thankfully Tomita E and Chiba E took the shimai clothes away to a recycle shop! It was great. :D
I'll try as far as pictures go! I feel like anything that happens here, Evans S gets pictures and puts them on facebook anyways w.
Here's the weeeeek
Monday was the Sapporo activity! We had a barbecue (I cooked) and then hiked Maruyama (round mountain) and it was fun. It reminded me of a YSA activity or something so I had to do my best to not get trunky wwww. We did some great streeting after that around Odori Park. Tuesday was an Asahikawa adventure! In the morning, kaicho was getting his visa renewed so we went to Andersen E's DTM that was pretty fun! It's always nice to be able to go to DTM. After that Chiba E needed someone to go with him to Asahikawa to sign off for a new sister's apartment and since we are a 3 man AP and the recorder is busy doing the job that normally 3 people do, I went with him! We mostly just rode the bus, I wrote note cards, and in Asahikawa said hi to Nishime E, Spurling E, and ate ramen that was amazing. Wednesday was ML kaigi. It went pretty good and we had a workshop on teaching people without a Christian background from PMG and it was mostly discussions on how we can teach our missionaries to do it better. Thursday was a long day in the office. I think... I can't really remember what happened on this day. We did do a lot of streeting at night around the honbu and Odori park. Friday was similar, but we did a lot of cleaning and preparation too because Ringwood Kaicho from the Asia North presidency came to give Kaicho his returning interview. He is a cool guy, but didn't remember meeting me when I was a bean w. Other than that, Lee E and I are owning microsoft excel. The spreadsheet I made from hearing reports got way more convenient. It was tiring to be in the office. We would've left, but someone had to stay with Denison E. That night we went to Moiwa because I had splits with Andersen E the next day! (He is a ZL now) I see him a ton lately, but it was really fun to talk and stuff again. We had decent splits the day after. It is so great to have a normal schedule! We did a bunch of streeting in these rich mountain neighborhoods. We found an older lady with great English who heard the Mormon Tabernacle choir before. We also saw a Rolls Royce. We stopped by a Matsuri that was nothing compared to the Nemuro one, before dendoing around Odori park. Matsuhashi E (Andersen E's comp) broke his bike so they had to stay at the honbu that night. Sunday was great! I was really tired, but the talks were super good and we had lessons on the sacrament and the oath and covenant of the priesthood. This cool inactive member who's about 19 came coz we invited him and I didn't think he was going to stay, but he did! He then came to the Pres Evans Fireside that we had after church! I sang with 3 other missionaries at that. Their talks were really awesome. Because of that though we didn't have a lot of time to do anything else! I am still a little sleepy, but am looking forward to doing something fun today! (probably shop or something0 btw! I had to buy new shoes(because I only had soft leather ones) and I found these really good ones that are waterproof that were on sale from 7000yen to 2000yen! wooo). :)
I love you tons and tons! Have a great week!!!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
I'm glad they sent the itinerary! Hopefully Haramai Shimai and maybe some other Chitose/Eniwa members can come see me off. :)
I have no idea where I will apply or even try applying at this point so there will probably be some time. I also don't really want to go back to USU unless there is nothing else to do.
The melon flavored melon pan is the best. In Nemuro they had a cantaloupe one that rules.
Sounds like you had an awesome Saturday! It's Father's day now right? I wrote dad a letter and I'll send it today. The house sounds like it will be crazy! Condie pool parties are definitely natsukashii... (nostalgic) I am kind of nervous to go to church in America hahaha. Thankfully Tomita E and Chiba E took the shimai clothes away to a recycle shop! It was great. :D
I'll try as far as pictures go! I feel like anything that happens here, Evans S gets pictures and puts them on facebook anyways w.
Here's the weeeeek
Monday was the Sapporo activity! We had a barbecue (I cooked) and then hiked Maruyama (round mountain) and it was fun. It reminded me of a YSA activity or something so I had to do my best to not get trunky wwww. We did some great streeting after that around Odori Park. Tuesday was an Asahikawa adventure! In the morning, kaicho was getting his visa renewed so we went to Andersen E's DTM that was pretty fun! It's always nice to be able to go to DTM. After that Chiba E needed someone to go with him to Asahikawa to sign off for a new sister's apartment and since we are a 3 man AP and the recorder is busy doing the job that normally 3 people do, I went with him! We mostly just rode the bus, I wrote note cards, and in Asahikawa said hi to Nishime E, Spurling E, and ate ramen that was amazing. Wednesday was ML kaigi. It went pretty good and we had a workshop on teaching people without a Christian background from PMG and it was mostly discussions on how we can teach our missionaries to do it better. Thursday was a long day in the office. I think... I can't really remember what happened on this day. We did do a lot of streeting at night around the honbu and Odori park. Friday was similar, but we did a lot of cleaning and preparation too because Ringwood Kaicho from the Asia North presidency came to give Kaicho his returning interview. He is a cool guy, but didn't remember meeting me when I was a bean w. Other than that, Lee E and I are owning microsoft excel. The spreadsheet I made from hearing reports got way more convenient. It was tiring to be in the office. We would've left, but someone had to stay with Denison E. That night we went to Moiwa because I had splits with Andersen E the next day! (He is a ZL now) I see him a ton lately, but it was really fun to talk and stuff again. We had decent splits the day after. It is so great to have a normal schedule! We did a bunch of streeting in these rich mountain neighborhoods. We found an older lady with great English who heard the Mormon Tabernacle choir before. We also saw a Rolls Royce. We stopped by a Matsuri that was nothing compared to the Nemuro one, before dendoing around Odori park. Matsuhashi E (Andersen E's comp) broke his bike so they had to stay at the honbu that night. Sunday was great! I was really tired, but the talks were super good and we had lessons on the sacrament and the oath and covenant of the priesthood. This cool inactive member who's about 19 came coz we invited him and I didn't think he was going to stay, but he did! He then came to the Pres Evans Fireside that we had after church! I sang with 3 other missionaries at that. Their talks were really awesome. Because of that though we didn't have a lot of time to do anything else! I am still a little sleepy, but am looking forward to doing something fun today! (probably shop or something0 btw! I had to buy new shoes(because I only had soft leather ones) and I found these really good ones that are waterproof that were on sale from 7000yen to 2000yen! wooo). :)
I love you tons and tons! Have a great week!!!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, June 8, 2014
6/8/14 Transfer Week!
Hey! It's been hot and rainy this week. School isn't out, but it sounds like everyone is running wild over there. Tell Mara to keep up the good work!
The only thing I said to Elder Christofferson was "thanks for coming" and when he asked me what we were doing I said we were taking a picture together and he said he wanted to join in. He didn't talk about "preparing for marriage" I guess. It was more like why it's important and stuff. It's still scary.
Transfer week went great! Elder Lee is my new companion along with Tomita E staying! It's not crowded at all because the Honbu is big. There are six desks and two showers so we have room for one more if necessary. If you can see the list online, what more can I tell you about where everyone went? hahaha
The Evans will actually live in Salt Lake when they go back! Pretty cool. You'll probably be able to meet them for sure! Sister Evans was just asking about when Connor got back and I had no idea so thanks for letting me know! Is your comment about him getting a job just a light version of saying the same thing to me?? W
By the way. I realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly want to extend!!!!!!!!! I've been thinking about it a lot and it was one of the biggest things on my mind lately. There's definitely a lot of praying and stuff to do about it, but I don't have anything to do when I get home besides speak at church and wait til next year to try to go to BYU. I also really wish that I could spend my last transfer as a normal missionary. It's kinda tough having to be in an office almost all the time, but I need to have joy in what the Lord wants me to do. Right now I really hope he wants me to extend. Would you be ok with that? Kaicho kinda said that they would probably be happy to have me extend, but he thought that you wouldn't be too interested in it. Anyways yeah. That's what I have been thinking about lately.
A new porchlight/carpet/paint? I won't even recognize the house when I get back which is 100% daijoubu (OK)
So yeah. Monday was way fun. We went to the Moiwa district activity and hiked Moiwa mtn. We took some pretty sweet pictures. Did I ever tell you how much I love melon pan? I love it. I've gotten recipes from members before, but you should try to find some and maybe make some. They had melon pan ice cream (Melon pan right out of the oven with ice cream in the middle like a sandwich) and it was really good. We shopped and cleaned and then I did Lee E's training from 6 til the end of the day. Tuesday we had a lot of transfer calls, prep, eating lunch with Andersen E's district and then found out that I will never be able to drive in Japan. Lee E too! He had an Idaho license so he would have to renew it in person. Kaicho might not be too happy about that hahaha. After all that, we went to get the beans at night! They are way fun!!! There was only one Elder, Elder Gubler, but he was way chill. The shimai were especially fun this time around. Two nihonjin, one from Okinawa and one from nearby Tokyo, but used to live in Hokkaido working on different kinds of farms! I wish I could be a bean again. I've probably seen the new missionary training more than 5 times now w. Wednesday we had all the bean stuff; breakfast at the Evans, workshops, meeting trainers, more workshops, dinner, testimony meeting, the works. During testimony meeting, Kaicho made me bear my testimony too because he will be gone at the end of this transfer and won't get to hear mine in that kind of a setting. It was completely totsuzen (unexpected), but I think I did pretty well. All the beans went home, so Thursday night we ate the Evans breakfast with the missionaries that stayed the night the day before. The transfer spot went well, but was way short. I didn't take any pictures or anything. After that the sisters had a taikai IN OUR APARTMENT. ah. We cleaned it a lot before, but they had like a clothing exchange.... So now there are like 4 giant bags of old shimai clothes... ew... wwwwwww I don't really remember what we did after that! Friday was a day of a LOT of preparations for this transfer. At night we tried to shizen dendo at the Yosakoi dance festival, but it wasn't too effective... Yeah. On Saturday was the same kinda feel, but we had a talent show at night. I played with Evans S again. It was the same song as before. Sunday was good too and we actually had time to dendo!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today we have a zone activity (for all the missionaries that are close to Sapporo... two zones and a half) so we'll do the scroll signing thing. Yeaaaaah. I had to wake up early to get email time. sleepy.
Here are some pictures.
I love you! Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
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View from the top of Mt. Moiwa
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Odori and and Atsubetsu Zone Activity, climbing Maruyama
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Pres. & Sister Evans at the Zone Activity BBQ
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The only thing I said to Elder Christofferson was "thanks for coming" and when he asked me what we were doing I said we were taking a picture together and he said he wanted to join in. He didn't talk about "preparing for marriage" I guess. It was more like why it's important and stuff. It's still scary.
Transfer week went great! Elder Lee is my new companion along with Tomita E staying! It's not crowded at all because the Honbu is big. There are six desks and two showers so we have room for one more if necessary. If you can see the list online, what more can I tell you about where everyone went? hahaha
The Evans will actually live in Salt Lake when they go back! Pretty cool. You'll probably be able to meet them for sure! Sister Evans was just asking about when Connor got back and I had no idea so thanks for letting me know! Is your comment about him getting a job just a light version of saying the same thing to me?? W
By the way. I realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly want to extend!!!!!!!!! I've been thinking about it a lot and it was one of the biggest things on my mind lately. There's definitely a lot of praying and stuff to do about it, but I don't have anything to do when I get home besides speak at church and wait til next year to try to go to BYU. I also really wish that I could spend my last transfer as a normal missionary. It's kinda tough having to be in an office almost all the time, but I need to have joy in what the Lord wants me to do. Right now I really hope he wants me to extend. Would you be ok with that? Kaicho kinda said that they would probably be happy to have me extend, but he thought that you wouldn't be too interested in it. Anyways yeah. That's what I have been thinking about lately.
A new porchlight/carpet/paint? I won't even recognize the house when I get back which is 100% daijoubu (OK)
So yeah. Monday was way fun. We went to the Moiwa district activity and hiked Moiwa mtn. We took some pretty sweet pictures. Did I ever tell you how much I love melon pan? I love it. I've gotten recipes from members before, but you should try to find some and maybe make some. They had melon pan ice cream (Melon pan right out of the oven with ice cream in the middle like a sandwich) and it was really good. We shopped and cleaned and then I did Lee E's training from 6 til the end of the day. Tuesday we had a lot of transfer calls, prep, eating lunch with Andersen E's district and then found out that I will never be able to drive in Japan. Lee E too! He had an Idaho license so he would have to renew it in person. Kaicho might not be too happy about that hahaha. After all that, we went to get the beans at night! They are way fun!!! There was only one Elder, Elder Gubler, but he was way chill. The shimai were especially fun this time around. Two nihonjin, one from Okinawa and one from nearby Tokyo, but used to live in Hokkaido working on different kinds of farms! I wish I could be a bean again. I've probably seen the new missionary training more than 5 times now w. Wednesday we had all the bean stuff; breakfast at the Evans, workshops, meeting trainers, more workshops, dinner, testimony meeting, the works. During testimony meeting, Kaicho made me bear my testimony too because he will be gone at the end of this transfer and won't get to hear mine in that kind of a setting. It was completely totsuzen (unexpected), but I think I did pretty well. All the beans went home, so Thursday night we ate the Evans breakfast with the missionaries that stayed the night the day before. The transfer spot went well, but was way short. I didn't take any pictures or anything. After that the sisters had a taikai IN OUR APARTMENT. ah. We cleaned it a lot before, but they had like a clothing exchange.... So now there are like 4 giant bags of old shimai clothes... ew... wwwwwww I don't really remember what we did after that! Friday was a day of a LOT of preparations for this transfer. At night we tried to shizen dendo at the Yosakoi dance festival, but it wasn't too effective... Yeah. On Saturday was the same kinda feel, but we had a talent show at night. I played with Evans S again. It was the same song as before. Sunday was good too and we actually had time to dendo!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today we have a zone activity (for all the missionaries that are close to Sapporo... two zones and a half) so we'll do the scroll signing thing. Yeaaaaah. I had to wake up early to get email time. sleepy.
Here are some pictures.
I love you! Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
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Monday, June 2, 2014
6/1/14 Mission Conference!
Hey! So first off, how many other missionaries' moms are you friends with? That's crazy hahaha. The big scroll has been going around to all the zones so that everyone gets to sign before the Evans leave. I don't know when I'll sign it, but I'm sure I will by where my trainer signed. Well, probably. It's probably covered with everyone else's signatures so I might be lucky to get a spot!
I don't know when my flight is. Apparently they can't tell me yet??? You'll find out before me though. Let me know ASAP because I want to let at least some people from Eniwa know because they want to see me off.
Penny is Alysha's mom right? She's close so you'll definitely still be able to talk to her a lot!
There were actually 2 baptisms in Nemuro! They were both referrals that Okuchi S gave. We got 21 baptisms this transfer which is actually a pretty HUGE accomplishment. :) You can write whatever you want back to Tando Shimai. I don't know what she wrote, so yeah. We ate dinner at her house again last week!
I'm glad your busy week went well! My week went great as well!
Monday a lot of letter writing! We also got a bunch of stuff ready to take over to the conference. At night, we drove the Evans to the airport for their conference in Tokyo! Yeah, we did mission conference without them! Tuesday, we took stuff over to the conference! A lot of missionaries (all the missionaries) had to come to Sapporo so we had to get ready for people to come to the honbu and other things. We also had a DKK to make sure that everything was set up straight.
WEDNESDAY was the fireside! It went so perfectly well! Everyone was so obedient I couldn't believe it. First Elder and Sister Aoyagi spoke, then Sister Christofferson. After that Elder Christofferson spoke and started with a question/answer session and then he shared a message about... haha. Marriage. Well, kind of. It was a lot about the importance of preparing for that and the fact that the two most important things we need to do in this life are to be born, and be spiritually reborn. Thanks for helping me do both!!! Afterwards we took a huge group picture and at the last second he decided he wanted to be in it! The next day we drove back and got things cleaned up. We also found a bit and then went to Tando S's house. After that we picked up the Evans. They had met Elders Christofferson and Cook in Tokyo and they had some good things to say about us!
On Friday night, we had a baptismal interview! It was to a family of four that got baptized the next day! They were so amazing and so prepared. I'm always so happy to see people accept the gospel as families! Other than that, it was some transfer planning and driving around delivering things. Saturday was kind of the same! Kaicho is so cool with transfer planning. Sometimes we'll be sitting in his office discussing where people should go, end with a prayer, and then next time BOOM he has all the right answers and they make perfect sense. Sunday was a great fast Sunday. We did a lot of transfer planning with all the honbu people then made some phone calls and other preparations! It's a busy time!
Thanks for all your love and support!! You're the best!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
I don't know when my flight is. Apparently they can't tell me yet??? You'll find out before me though. Let me know ASAP because I want to let at least some people from Eniwa know because they want to see me off.
Penny is Alysha's mom right? She's close so you'll definitely still be able to talk to her a lot!
There were actually 2 baptisms in Nemuro! They were both referrals that Okuchi S gave. We got 21 baptisms this transfer which is actually a pretty HUGE accomplishment. :) You can write whatever you want back to Tando Shimai. I don't know what she wrote, so yeah. We ate dinner at her house again last week!
I'm glad your busy week went well! My week went great as well!
Monday a lot of letter writing! We also got a bunch of stuff ready to take over to the conference. At night, we drove the Evans to the airport for their conference in Tokyo! Yeah, we did mission conference without them! Tuesday, we took stuff over to the conference! A lot of missionaries (all the missionaries) had to come to Sapporo so we had to get ready for people to come to the honbu and other things. We also had a DKK to make sure that everything was set up straight.
WEDNESDAY was the fireside! It went so perfectly well! Everyone was so obedient I couldn't believe it. First Elder and Sister Aoyagi spoke, then Sister Christofferson. After that Elder Christofferson spoke and started with a question/answer session and then he shared a message about... haha. Marriage. Well, kind of. It was a lot about the importance of preparing for that and the fact that the two most important things we need to do in this life are to be born, and be spiritually reborn. Thanks for helping me do both!!! Afterwards we took a huge group picture and at the last second he decided he wanted to be in it! The next day we drove back and got things cleaned up. We also found a bit and then went to Tando S's house. After that we picked up the Evans. They had met Elders Christofferson and Cook in Tokyo and they had some good things to say about us!
On Friday night, we had a baptismal interview! It was to a family of four that got baptized the next day! They were so amazing and so prepared. I'm always so happy to see people accept the gospel as families! Other than that, it was some transfer planning and driving around delivering things. Saturday was kind of the same! Kaicho is so cool with transfer planning. Sometimes we'll be sitting in his office discussing where people should go, end with a prayer, and then next time BOOM he has all the right answers and they make perfect sense. Sunday was a great fast Sunday. We did a lot of transfer planning with all the honbu people then made some phone calls and other preparations! It's a busy time!
Thanks for all your love and support!! You're the best!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, May 25, 2014
5/25/14 Finishing splits and some other stuff
Hey! Real man dendo is great. The important thing is that we don't worry about people thinking we're weird. Also we only do it while housing so no one usually sees us anyways. Japanese people do run, but probably not as much as Americans. By the way, where did you learn the word chorotachi from? I was impressed!
Sounds like you got to get a lot done because of Memorial day! David's house must be pretty sweet. I'm rooting for Kaitlin and her continued education!
Don't worry about my homecoming too much haha. Thanks so much for praying for the Haramais and everyone else! Mikami is a guy we met once and made a baptismal date, but he hasn't been able to meet recently. I'm proud of your visiting teaching goals! And while I'm not really that excited for my farewell (I think he means homecoming?), I'm excited that it can become a missionary opportunity! I think rather than having nice food and stuff, I want it to be a missionary experience for everyone. How is your PMG study? We can study it in the morning before you go to work or something when I get home.
This week will be mostly prep for Elder Christofferson!
So on Monday we had a surprise. Elder Olsen visited with his dad! We reminisced a lot and went out to eat sushi. Then this recent convert named Akiba took me and 8 other missionaries out for ice cream. By Taxi. And the ice cream cost $129. We couldn't finish it all. Also at night the Hansens fed us at their apartment and we had lasagna made in a crock pot. Needless to say I've been working out extra hard in the morning. Tuesday we had some special stuff for a missionary who had to go home early. Went on splits with him and stuff. We also had a little farewell party for the Hansens. Wednesday we were busy with transfer planning, ordering flowers for the fireside, and other preparations. We went to Shinoro that night for splits the next day and I went with Romney E! It was super fun! We saw a ton of miracles! We met this old investigator whose record probably got lost and still wanted to meet. We also met a few families that Romney E has been focusing on but couldn't meet because they were busy. This investigator also took us out to eat at his bar. Despite being a bar, he doesn't drink alcohol and the people who worked there were pretty nice and interested. On Friday and Saturday we found a decent amount of time to find and work in Kotoni. A lot of other jobs came up, but we did our best :D Sunday we had a great lesson from the Hansens on baptism that I translated. We also got a lot of dendo done after wards and met an NA family by accident housing. They were really nice and welcoming! We also got some good appointments. To finish it off we had a PMG study sesh after eating with a member! Awesome!
We finally got the conference Ensign so that has been great too! The gospel is great! Thank you so much for all your love and support. PS expect letters from RS sisters in Kotoni, hahaha.
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
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guy from the bar
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Olsen fam
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giant parfait
Sounds like you got to get a lot done because of Memorial day! David's house must be pretty sweet. I'm rooting for Kaitlin and her continued education!
Don't worry about my homecoming too much haha. Thanks so much for praying for the Haramais and everyone else! Mikami is a guy we met once and made a baptismal date, but he hasn't been able to meet recently. I'm proud of your visiting teaching goals! And while I'm not really that excited for my farewell (I think he means homecoming?), I'm excited that it can become a missionary opportunity! I think rather than having nice food and stuff, I want it to be a missionary experience for everyone. How is your PMG study? We can study it in the morning before you go to work or something when I get home.
This week will be mostly prep for Elder Christofferson!
So on Monday we had a surprise. Elder Olsen visited with his dad! We reminisced a lot and went out to eat sushi. Then this recent convert named Akiba took me and 8 other missionaries out for ice cream. By Taxi. And the ice cream cost $129. We couldn't finish it all. Also at night the Hansens fed us at their apartment and we had lasagna made in a crock pot. Needless to say I've been working out extra hard in the morning. Tuesday we had some special stuff for a missionary who had to go home early. Went on splits with him and stuff. We also had a little farewell party for the Hansens. Wednesday we were busy with transfer planning, ordering flowers for the fireside, and other preparations. We went to Shinoro that night for splits the next day and I went with Romney E! It was super fun! We saw a ton of miracles! We met this old investigator whose record probably got lost and still wanted to meet. We also met a few families that Romney E has been focusing on but couldn't meet because they were busy. This investigator also took us out to eat at his bar. Despite being a bar, he doesn't drink alcohol and the people who worked there were pretty nice and interested. On Friday and Saturday we found a decent amount of time to find and work in Kotoni. A lot of other jobs came up, but we did our best :D Sunday we had a great lesson from the Hansens on baptism that I translated. We also got a lot of dendo done after wards and met an NA family by accident housing. They were really nice and welcoming! We also got some good appointments. To finish it off we had a PMG study sesh after eating with a member! Awesome!
We finally got the conference Ensign so that has been great too! The gospel is great! Thank you so much for all your love and support. PS expect letters from RS sisters in Kotoni, hahaha.
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
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