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!
Showing posts with label Adachi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adachi. Show all posts
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
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
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death ramen
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Saharin
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chilling at institute
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bear meat (it was pretty good)
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
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Sunday, March 16, 2014
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
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
Sunday, February 23, 2014
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
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
Sunday, February 9, 2014
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:
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I have no idea what this big thing is :)
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Teaching via train window
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A very large icicle!
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Cool unidentified family (I hope he tells us next week)
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Snow
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Lots of Snow
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And still higher Snow
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:
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Sunday, December 15, 2013
12/15/13 "I am in Iwamizawa. I am a zone leader. I am buried in snow."
(Note: when Braden's mom looked up the name of this city, she was surprised to see that while Nemuro has 14" average precip in December, Iwamizawa has 87")
Hey!!!! That's cool you got to see the transfer list again. I'm in a place called Iwamizawa. It means "boulder overlooking swamp." It's a branch as well, but the church is way nice and huge. My companion is named Elder Hatch and he's a boss. He's a few transfers older than me (he actually went into the MTC with Gandy E) but since we are zone leaders we are both SR companion haha. I'm ZL over Asahikawa zone which goes all the way up to Wakkanai which is the very top of Hokkaido. I really hope I can go because it is a recently opened area with a tiny branch just like Nemuro! I'm also excited to go on lots of splits all over the zone, but it is tough not having a lot of time to focus on your own area. The members here are way legit especially the branch president Adachi B. He is way strong and has tons of dendo fire. We actually haven't done any finding since we got here since he has taken us everywhere (which is nice because the snow was INSANE! Iwamizawa is known for being the snowiest part of Hokkaido). He has taken us to visit a lot of less active members and he also has been doing a lot of planning with us to help out our investigators. Since this area has been a ZL area for a while, there are not very many investigators, but the ones we have seem pretty cool. I'll tell you about how everything went since last week though.
On Monday in Nemuro I honestly spent a pretty good amount of time packing because of how sure I was about transferring. That day of dendo was visiting a few investigators and also doing some finding to give Morgan E more potential investigators to work with. On Tuesday we got our transfer calls. We found out that the next Nemuro missionary is Kina E, the former AP so I'm way stoked about that. We had a good DTM with testimonies and headed to an appt with Kunii. We ate sushi and he promised to read the BoM over his Christmas break! I ate a lot of sushi because it might be the last time I get to eat eastern Hokkaido sushi... T-T After that we tried to do finding, but it RAINED way hard. It wasn't effective/no one was home so we went home and got a call from Ozawa B and Okuchi S and went over to Ozawa family for a final party. It was way awesome. Kinda random, but Okuchi S pulled out her tablet and we skyped with Ishiga E! He is doing pretty great hahaha. Wednesday was eating my favorite food in the world (the chocolate covered cream filled melon bread from this store that's only in Nemuro) and then all day travel to Sapporo. We left at about 12 and got there at about 8:30. There was about an hour in Kushiro (where I said bye to my awesome, grown up bean, Morgan E) but yeah. Crazy. A bunch of members came to see me off. A bunch of other people were going to as well, but the train was too early. At the Honbu I practiced my song with Mecham E (Where can I turn for peace, yeah it should be on Youtube eventually. I don't remember when the performance is). I also found out that Andersen E became a trainer! Way happy for him. He is such a brother to me. I stayed up talking to him for a bit. The next day we had a way long music practice and met all the other missionaries. Stilson E went home which is way depressing. He is also like a brother. It was way awesome to see everyone though. We came back to Iwamizawa that night in time for Eikaiwa which was pretty good. Just like in Nemuro I teach the crazy kids class. Me and Hatch E are also district leaders. We just take turns doing district meeting. Friday we had DKK which is way different as a ZL because it was mostly planning splits and not as much planning for Iwamizawa. We also met a pretty cool non-attending member named N who is pretty nice, but has WoW problems :(
Then we tried to visit a member who sometimes comes to invite him to the Christmas party. It was the craziest blizzard ever :) But we made it there and back w/out any problems. When I first got here there was almost no snow. I send you a picture of outside the church. Saturday was the sweet Christmas party. We did a song with the Eikaiwa students and I played guitar (Silent Night) and a decent amount of people came (I was also Samuel the Lamanite in the play). There is also a deaf member here so I got to use my sign language again! Everyone was way impressed and they want me to translate for her in sacrament meeting... I'll see what I can do! Sorry the space bar on this keyboard isn't very good. This guy named Y came as well. He actually met missionaries 30 years ago and then some stuff happened in his life prompting them that he needed to meet again so he called the Honbu and met up with us. After the party we had a pretty good lesson with him. He really wants to believe and mostly does believe our teachings, he just also wants to believe buddhism at the same time. I think he really has a ton of potential though. We invited him to baptism and he seems like he wants to when he knows everything more fully.
After that we rode w/ Adachi B to another non-attending and it went pretty well. We introduced her to the RS pres so that we will be able to hand her off to the RS soon. Way good thing. Way too many non-attendings for just the missionaries. Sunday went good too! I gave a talk and I wasn't used to only having to give a 10 minute talk, hahaha. The members here are so so awesome. After church we visited another NA w/ Adachi B in a far off area who is 16 years old. He and his brothers got baptized and were way active, but since they moved it became hard to go to church. We talked to him and his mom and she really supports him going to church and worked out a way for him to come up to Iwamizawa more often for church! Pretty stoked for him. His name is Suzuki Kouta B. And that's about it!
I'm excited for all the cool things you are doing for Christmas! I hope everyone gets feeling 100% soon. I haven't written Adam yet, but I'll work on it. I'm glad Mya and them are doing great. That's cool how polite she is! haha Thank you for your testimony and love and support. You are so awesome!!! I love you so much!
Aishitemasu!!
Hutchinson Choro
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Farewells at the train station
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This time, see if you can find Yuka
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FHE with Ozawa and Okuchi families
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With Kanno Yuji
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Hatch Choro, Braden's new comp and fellow ZL
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Snow at the church in Iwamizawa
Hey!!!! That's cool you got to see the transfer list again. I'm in a place called Iwamizawa. It means "boulder overlooking swamp." It's a branch as well, but the church is way nice and huge. My companion is named Elder Hatch and he's a boss. He's a few transfers older than me (he actually went into the MTC with Gandy E) but since we are zone leaders we are both SR companion haha. I'm ZL over Asahikawa zone which goes all the way up to Wakkanai which is the very top of Hokkaido. I really hope I can go because it is a recently opened area with a tiny branch just like Nemuro! I'm also excited to go on lots of splits all over the zone, but it is tough not having a lot of time to focus on your own area. The members here are way legit especially the branch president Adachi B. He is way strong and has tons of dendo fire. We actually haven't done any finding since we got here since he has taken us everywhere (which is nice because the snow was INSANE! Iwamizawa is known for being the snowiest part of Hokkaido). He has taken us to visit a lot of less active members and he also has been doing a lot of planning with us to help out our investigators. Since this area has been a ZL area for a while, there are not very many investigators, but the ones we have seem pretty cool. I'll tell you about how everything went since last week though.
On Monday in Nemuro I honestly spent a pretty good amount of time packing because of how sure I was about transferring. That day of dendo was visiting a few investigators and also doing some finding to give Morgan E more potential investigators to work with. On Tuesday we got our transfer calls. We found out that the next Nemuro missionary is Kina E, the former AP so I'm way stoked about that. We had a good DTM with testimonies and headed to an appt with Kunii. We ate sushi and he promised to read the BoM over his Christmas break! I ate a lot of sushi because it might be the last time I get to eat eastern Hokkaido sushi... T-T After that we tried to do finding, but it RAINED way hard. It wasn't effective/no one was home so we went home and got a call from Ozawa B and Okuchi S and went over to Ozawa family for a final party. It was way awesome. Kinda random, but Okuchi S pulled out her tablet and we skyped with Ishiga E! He is doing pretty great hahaha. Wednesday was eating my favorite food in the world (the chocolate covered cream filled melon bread from this store that's only in Nemuro) and then all day travel to Sapporo. We left at about 12 and got there at about 8:30. There was about an hour in Kushiro (where I said bye to my awesome, grown up bean, Morgan E) but yeah. Crazy. A bunch of members came to see me off. A bunch of other people were going to as well, but the train was too early. At the Honbu I practiced my song with Mecham E (Where can I turn for peace, yeah it should be on Youtube eventually. I don't remember when the performance is). I also found out that Andersen E became a trainer! Way happy for him. He is such a brother to me. I stayed up talking to him for a bit. The next day we had a way long music practice and met all the other missionaries. Stilson E went home which is way depressing. He is also like a brother. It was way awesome to see everyone though. We came back to Iwamizawa that night in time for Eikaiwa which was pretty good. Just like in Nemuro I teach the crazy kids class. Me and Hatch E are also district leaders. We just take turns doing district meeting. Friday we had DKK which is way different as a ZL because it was mostly planning splits and not as much planning for Iwamizawa. We also met a pretty cool non-attending member named N who is pretty nice, but has WoW problems :(
Then we tried to visit a member who sometimes comes to invite him to the Christmas party. It was the craziest blizzard ever :) But we made it there and back w/out any problems. When I first got here there was almost no snow. I send you a picture of outside the church. Saturday was the sweet Christmas party. We did a song with the Eikaiwa students and I played guitar (Silent Night) and a decent amount of people came (I was also Samuel the Lamanite in the play). There is also a deaf member here so I got to use my sign language again! Everyone was way impressed and they want me to translate for her in sacrament meeting... I'll see what I can do! Sorry the space bar on this keyboard isn't very good. This guy named Y came as well. He actually met missionaries 30 years ago and then some stuff happened in his life prompting them that he needed to meet again so he called the Honbu and met up with us. After the party we had a pretty good lesson with him. He really wants to believe and mostly does believe our teachings, he just also wants to believe buddhism at the same time. I think he really has a ton of potential though. We invited him to baptism and he seems like he wants to when he knows everything more fully.
After that we rode w/ Adachi B to another non-attending and it went pretty well. We introduced her to the RS pres so that we will be able to hand her off to the RS soon. Way good thing. Way too many non-attendings for just the missionaries. Sunday went good too! I gave a talk and I wasn't used to only having to give a 10 minute talk, hahaha. The members here are so so awesome. After church we visited another NA w/ Adachi B in a far off area who is 16 years old. He and his brothers got baptized and were way active, but since they moved it became hard to go to church. We talked to him and his mom and she really supports him going to church and worked out a way for him to come up to Iwamizawa more often for church! Pretty stoked for him. His name is Suzuki Kouta B. And that's about it!
I'm excited for all the cool things you are doing for Christmas! I hope everyone gets feeling 100% soon. I haven't written Adam yet, but I'll work on it. I'm glad Mya and them are doing great. That's cool how polite she is! haha Thank you for your testimony and love and support. You are so awesome!!! I love you so much!
Aishitemasu!!
Hutchinson Choro
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