Hey! I'm glad my letters and everything are well received there. :) I:m so grateful to have a family that supports me so much and has so much faith.
You were talking about clothes and I actually used some of the money you sent to me to get a new medium coat. The coat that you sent with me is really warm and I wanted to get something for when it's still not that cold yet. It's pretty cool and conservative too. Your Sunday school lesson sounds awesome! I taught Elders quorum/relief society on the talk by Elder Ballard about trusting the Lord that was about missionary work. Mara's play looks like it went well! I like the light blue colors in the costume. I don't recognize anyone in the pictures/know anything about West Side Story except that there are sharks and jets. It did look like Dr. Pearce in the picture though.
I have seen the (talk on the) character of Christ! They played it in the MTC every week. Thanks for your fasting! Here's my story this week.
So in Kushiro we stayed the night for ZTM the next day. I wanted to go with the Kushiro Elders to this really good Indian curry place (because there is none in Nemuro) but they had to clean the apartment a ton so we borrowed their bikes and I can pretty much navigate Kushiro because I've been there so many times on splits, etc. We ended up getting to the restaurant exactly when it was closed so we didn't get to eat :( I got to go on splits that night with a cool missionary named Brown E (not the one from New Zealand) and we had a way fun time. I taught him a lot and kinda felt like a old guy missionary... hahaha
Tuesday was pretty awesome. We had ZTM and the APs gave a great workshop on Faith, Diligence, and Obedience and how they are all together necessary to succeed as a missionary. I also had my interview w/ Pres Evans and we talked a little bit about what kind of missionary will be good to come to Nemuro next. IF I leave that is... I do love it here.... But I do kinda want to transfer. It's been a while haaha. We missed our train back to Kushiro so we stayed in Obihiro for a few more hours and tried dendoing a little bit. We got back to Nemuro late at night with Harper E and Yoshikawa E and Okuchi S gave us a ride back to the apartment. Wednesday I went on splits with Yoshikawa E and we met this guy that Inumaki E and I found who is from Osaka and really interested in religion. He is just really doubtful. We wouldn't have met with him, but he called and asked if we could meet again so we did. He talked so much. I'm glad Yoshikawa E was there because my gift of tongues wasn't quite as strong that time hahaha. I still pretty much understood, it was just a lot. We ended up teaching him practically everything because of all his questions, but he is mostly looking for proof. Hopefully he will eventually get humble enough to pray and read. He is searching a lot for sure. After that we met this Chinese guy named Kou who Inumaki E and I found as well. We hadn't visited for a while so his Japanese has gotten a bit better. We were able to share a bit more than before so that was good. He gave us lots of peanuts. We also did some finding and met a lady who said she was just reading this biography about someone and in part of their life they became Christian. She said just as she started reading the part about how they joined we came to the door. Pretty cool. Talked to her for a bit. We also went to the CHurch and taught the Satous the plan of salvation with Okuchi S and it went great! They understand really well, but just need to act more so that they can get real faith.
Thursday we took my bike to the shop and then visited Hayasaka. Lo and behold even though she finally has free time she still hasn't read the BofM. We helped her clean her hair salon a bit to end things on a good note. We might not go by for a while, but she is definitely an awesome person who was really interested in us for some reason that we couldn't find. Anyway before DKK and picking up the ZLs we just had a tiny bit of time to find and actually only got 3 doors. However, those three doors ALL lead to sweet short lessons and appointments! How bout that! We picked up my bike (yay!) and then got the ZLs at the train station. We took them to sushi. Cool thing. During sushi I got a text from this way kinjin J-tai (japanese army) guy who me and Inumaki E met saying he was sorry he never replied to us before because he moved to a different base, but he's back now and wants to meet! Nice. Friday I went on splits with Stout E. He dies this transfer. Anyways he's way good at sign language so we practiced in the morning and went to see Igarashi S and she was so so so happy to see us and gave us a million things/took us out to ramen. I was actually able to say a lot more in sign language than I thought I could. It's really fun! We tried to visit some other people and then had a lesson with the Satous again before Eikaiwa. It was the doctrine of Christ and like the plan of salvation they understand pretty well but are still having a hard time praying sincerely. However, Hayato seems to be getting a hang of it. He is 15 years old and way awesome.
Saturday we went to Betsukai for the first time in a really long time! We helped with home teaching and helped on the farm as well. We found out that Emille (the Filipino guy we taught before) had something happen w/ his family back home so he has to go back. Maria S was kinda upset about it and had us try to talk to him to see if there was anything to do. Oh! Okuchi S and Yuka came with us to the farm as well and had a pretty fun time. Hayato came to church the next day! At church my lesson went pretty decent and the members thought of lots of ideas they can use to do missionary work on their own. Maybe as a family you can think of all the things you can do to do missionary work! There are so many activities there that I feel like it'd be a lot easier ;) We went to primary with Hayato and Karebu because there was no young mens prepared, but it was fun. Van S came late and actually it was her birthday! She made Vietnamese food for the entire branch!!! She also brought four friends. Wow. It was really good. After that I had a meeting with all the branch presidencies in Kushiro district over skype. Crazy. We talked about member missionary work. Also Igarashi S showed up at the church to give us more treats which is way awesome! There might just be a little bit more to do to help her get back to church. After church we saw a few investigators and came back to do some phone dendo.
Anyways that's how things are going! Today is kind of a relaxing p-day with letter writing and guitar playing time. I've come up with a new study strategy to just write how I feel about what I studied rather than just kinda repeat the material. It really helped and was a lot more spiritual! I hope your study is going great! I hope everything is going great! I love you!!!!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
Showing posts with label Betsukai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Betsukai. Show all posts
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
9/15/13 Too Many Splits
Hey! So I did get the package! We went to Kushiro on Monday morning for a district activity. And it actually came right after I left! I had to call the post office to get it redelivered, but it was all fine. It was pretty great! I still haven't used any of the deodorant or toothpaste from the last packages you gave me though. I will be fine on that for a pretty long time I think. Maybe even till the end of my mission! Yikes! Also the card is fine. I got the SS# and called the place again. After I put the number in, they asked for my pin and I was like HUH? I don't know it so that's why I'm calling! But before giving up I guessed one more time and it ended up being the right pin... hahaha. Guess it didn't get reset. I'm glad I remembered it though. I used the money to buy bike stuff and the best suit pants ever from uniclo ($20) Other than that we did bowling, ate some all you can eat naan at this sweet Indian curry place, and window shopped. Meh p-day I think, but we made the best of it.
That night I got to go on splits with Yoshikawa E who is on his first transfer... He should be on his 8th or something, holy cow he is such a good missionary!!! I had a WAY good time and learned a ton from him. It also made me really excited to maybe get a bean next transfer. Don't know for sure if I will still, but transfer calls are tonight! I sure would like to stay in Nemuro too... I feel like it's my home a lot of times. Especially since I practically put the house together hahaha. Also that morning in Kushiro the branch pres of Kushiro, Andrus Kaicho, picked us up from the bus stop and gave us breakfast and a tour of his new house!!! He's way cool. Make sure to keep checking my facebook every now and then if it's not too much trouble. I apparently get a bit of friend requests lately. The next day we had district meeting in person!!!! That is something I haven't done for a long time. It was pretty good. I then went on splits with Ishiga E. It was pretty interesting. We went to this far away area in Kushiro called Akan to visit an active member family and find a bit. It was a lot of time on a bus, but I learned a bit about working with members. When we did find though, I was able to be myself so much more than when I actually was with Ishiga E which was cool. He was really surprised at how much I've grown, I think.
The next morning, we had a normal schedule and went to Andrus Kaicho's house again to make breakfast (fajitas... first Mexican food in a long time!) and then ride to the bus. We got back to Nemuro really tired, but were still able to teach 2 way good lessons! One to the guy Nakagawa who we met last week. We made a baptismal date with him and he is looking forward to learning a ton! After that we had to go pick up the zone leaders for splits again and walk home with them from the Eki (train station). I went with Jones E who is from Arizona and a pretty good guy. I am really grateful to be working with Andersen E though. We match up pretty good I think. We did get some really good stuff done though. Our investigator Tatsuya actually listened really seriously to our lesson this time around! We taught L3 and he even asked some really good questions. He has changed and grown so much over time, it's awesome! Still a 22 year old kinda punk guy, but he's the best. He prayed for us out loud at the end of the lesson and also gave us a lot of tips on Japanese etiquette! He said that he wants us to be successful and give people a good image because we're his good friends. That was cool. Also Andersen E and the other ZL Stout E went to Igarashi Shimai who is the non-attending non-speaking/hearing member we went to eat ramen with one time. Stout E got really good at sign language in one of his other areas so it was perfect! According to Andersen E they had a great time and she came to church on Sunday for the first time in almost 10 years! Cool stuff.
Friday and Saturday we were very tired. I think I got a fever, but I worked through it until Sunday night where I fell asleep right when we got home. I feel great now! Friday we got our DKK cranked out somehow and then had Eikaiwa. Nakagawa came to that as well. Some of our students taught me some Hokkaido-only slang which was pretty funny. Saturday we went to Betsukai for the first time in a long time. We couldn't go to the farm, so we did lots of finding, but it was good. We met Kawashima again and she was glad to see us. She said she wants to pray and read the BoM etc again, but her husband is so against it he won't let her. Otherwise she is doing well and hoping for a day that she can hear the gospel again. We are too. On Sunday Van came to church again and it was really good. Instead of teaching gospel principles to a small class like usual, the branch pres wasn't there so Ozawa Kaicho had me teach everyone from the gospel principles book. I didn't prepare for that at all, but it went really good! After church Igarashi Shimai showed up and I tried really hard to remember/learn sign language. At the same time on the second floor the members threw a welcome party for the Okuchi's which was pretty awesome too! Van had to leave right when church got out, but we met her again at 3 and she brought 3 of her friends to talk with us! It was fun and nice to meet them, but kinda hard to keep the conversation focused on the gospel/our purpose etc. I guess that's what you deal with when you meet a group of girls in their 20's, but we:ll prepare more in advance next time... If only we had Vietnamese materials... Their Japanese isn't good enough for the Japanese stuff we have. We were able to teach Van the word of wisdom while walking which was really good though!
After that we met these two WAY awesome guys in their 20s that we found last week. Even though my head really hurt and it was way hot we taught some great lessons on prayer to both of them. I'm really excited to see them more because strong priesthood leaders are the most important thing to get Nemuro branch going!
Anyways, we don't have any big plans for today other than cleaning the apt. and maybe doing something little as an early birthday present to Okuchi Shimai.
Thanks for the snickerdoodle recipe!!! I'd definitely like to send it to Haramai Shimai too :) From what I hear she is doing way awesome! Haven't gotten a reply to the last letter I sent yet, but yeah! PS the candy you gave was well liked! The zone leaders nabbed a bunch while they were here.... but what I was able to save got passed out to a lot of Japanese people that are surprised about how strong the taste is in our candy! hahaha Thanks so much for the CD too! I love it! I'm really excited for the other music if you have a way to send it :) Maybe the best way would be to get the CD's/download online and then put it on an SD card and send that! Just an idea to save you money on postage. It'd also be convenient to me because our dvd players read SD cards, and CDs are tough to move around when transfers come. Whatever you can do will make me happy though!
Love you tons! Even though we've been tired lately with all the moving around, God puts us where we need to be to see the miracles that he is preparing. Remember and apply that in your lives too! Oooh also I was reading the Liahona this morning (probably last month or 2 month ago... We get the magazines way late coz we're missionaries....) a really good article about asking good questions in class that I thought you might like as a Sunday school teacher! I'm grateful to hear about the family and all the awesome stuff that's going on. Cool to see Adam's letters too! Love you and excited to hear from ya next week too!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
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Tatsuya and his kid
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Okuchi's party
That night I got to go on splits with Yoshikawa E who is on his first transfer... He should be on his 8th or something, holy cow he is such a good missionary!!! I had a WAY good time and learned a ton from him. It also made me really excited to maybe get a bean next transfer. Don't know for sure if I will still, but transfer calls are tonight! I sure would like to stay in Nemuro too... I feel like it's my home a lot of times. Especially since I practically put the house together hahaha. Also that morning in Kushiro the branch pres of Kushiro, Andrus Kaicho, picked us up from the bus stop and gave us breakfast and a tour of his new house!!! He's way cool. Make sure to keep checking my facebook every now and then if it's not too much trouble. I apparently get a bit of friend requests lately. The next day we had district meeting in person!!!! That is something I haven't done for a long time. It was pretty good. I then went on splits with Ishiga E. It was pretty interesting. We went to this far away area in Kushiro called Akan to visit an active member family and find a bit. It was a lot of time on a bus, but I learned a bit about working with members. When we did find though, I was able to be myself so much more than when I actually was with Ishiga E which was cool. He was really surprised at how much I've grown, I think.
The next morning, we had a normal schedule and went to Andrus Kaicho's house again to make breakfast (fajitas... first Mexican food in a long time!) and then ride to the bus. We got back to Nemuro really tired, but were still able to teach 2 way good lessons! One to the guy Nakagawa who we met last week. We made a baptismal date with him and he is looking forward to learning a ton! After that we had to go pick up the zone leaders for splits again and walk home with them from the Eki (train station). I went with Jones E who is from Arizona and a pretty good guy. I am really grateful to be working with Andersen E though. We match up pretty good I think. We did get some really good stuff done though. Our investigator Tatsuya actually listened really seriously to our lesson this time around! We taught L3 and he even asked some really good questions. He has changed and grown so much over time, it's awesome! Still a 22 year old kinda punk guy, but he's the best. He prayed for us out loud at the end of the lesson and also gave us a lot of tips on Japanese etiquette! He said that he wants us to be successful and give people a good image because we're his good friends. That was cool. Also Andersen E and the other ZL Stout E went to Igarashi Shimai who is the non-attending non-speaking/hearing member we went to eat ramen with one time. Stout E got really good at sign language in one of his other areas so it was perfect! According to Andersen E they had a great time and she came to church on Sunday for the first time in almost 10 years! Cool stuff.
Friday and Saturday we were very tired. I think I got a fever, but I worked through it until Sunday night where I fell asleep right when we got home. I feel great now! Friday we got our DKK cranked out somehow and then had Eikaiwa. Nakagawa came to that as well. Some of our students taught me some Hokkaido-only slang which was pretty funny. Saturday we went to Betsukai for the first time in a long time. We couldn't go to the farm, so we did lots of finding, but it was good. We met Kawashima again and she was glad to see us. She said she wants to pray and read the BoM etc again, but her husband is so against it he won't let her. Otherwise she is doing well and hoping for a day that she can hear the gospel again. We are too. On Sunday Van came to church again and it was really good. Instead of teaching gospel principles to a small class like usual, the branch pres wasn't there so Ozawa Kaicho had me teach everyone from the gospel principles book. I didn't prepare for that at all, but it went really good! After church Igarashi Shimai showed up and I tried really hard to remember/learn sign language. At the same time on the second floor the members threw a welcome party for the Okuchi's which was pretty awesome too! Van had to leave right when church got out, but we met her again at 3 and she brought 3 of her friends to talk with us! It was fun and nice to meet them, but kinda hard to keep the conversation focused on the gospel/our purpose etc. I guess that's what you deal with when you meet a group of girls in their 20's, but we:ll prepare more in advance next time... If only we had Vietnamese materials... Their Japanese isn't good enough for the Japanese stuff we have. We were able to teach Van the word of wisdom while walking which was really good though!
After that we met these two WAY awesome guys in their 20s that we found last week. Even though my head really hurt and it was way hot we taught some great lessons on prayer to both of them. I'm really excited to see them more because strong priesthood leaders are the most important thing to get Nemuro branch going!
Anyways, we don't have any big plans for today other than cleaning the apt. and maybe doing something little as an early birthday present to Okuchi Shimai.
Thanks for the snickerdoodle recipe!!! I'd definitely like to send it to Haramai Shimai too :) From what I hear she is doing way awesome! Haven't gotten a reply to the last letter I sent yet, but yeah! PS the candy you gave was well liked! The zone leaders nabbed a bunch while they were here.... but what I was able to save got passed out to a lot of Japanese people that are surprised about how strong the taste is in our candy! hahaha Thanks so much for the CD too! I love it! I'm really excited for the other music if you have a way to send it :) Maybe the best way would be to get the CD's/download online and then put it on an SD card and send that! Just an idea to save you money on postage. It'd also be convenient to me because our dvd players read SD cards, and CDs are tough to move around when transfers come. Whatever you can do will make me happy though!
Love you tons! Even though we've been tired lately with all the moving around, God puts us where we need to be to see the miracles that he is preparing. Remember and apply that in your lives too! Oooh also I was reading the Liahona this morning (probably last month or 2 month ago... We get the magazines way late coz we're missionaries....) a really good article about asking good questions in class that I thought you might like as a Sunday school teacher! I'm grateful to hear about the family and all the awesome stuff that's going on. Cool to see Adam's letters too! Love you and excited to hear from ya next week too!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
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Tatsuya and his kid
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Sunday, August 4, 2013
8/4/13 Stressed about transfers
Hey! It was another good and crazy week! I feel like we had to run around so much and didn't get a lot of the things we wanted to get done done, but at the same time I feel like we still did so much. On p-day after email we took some dry cleaning to this lady named Endo whose son used to be in the branch, but moved. She is way nice and does it for free. After that we shopped and looked at clothes for a bit, but I had an inner battle and ended up not buying any. It is really easy to find clothes that I like here, but with not being able to wear them, they just become another thing to pack so I will probably wait til closer to when I go back to America. We dendo'd by Okuchis for a bit and then met them to teach them about Joseph Smith more in depth. They are getting more and more into it and involved when we teach.
Tuesday we had DTM and right after I went to get on my bike and the tire was way flat. It also rained really hard all of a sudden. I had to push my bike across town to the only bike shop in Nemuro and it wasn't even open. So I left it there with a guy and we walked in the rain. Kinda tough, but we still got some good dendo in. We tried to shizen dendo in some stores too and that went ok. At night we went out to eat with the Okuchis and it was pretty fun. We followed up with them quite a bit then. Did I tell you before that Yuka had asthma before they met us, but ever since the day we visited it went away? Pretty crazy miracle. They have seen lots of others in their lives as well.
Wednesday was a day of lots of finding. We met some really fun and nice people though. Made some decent appointments and stuff as well. Then we stopped by the Okuchis for a sec to follow up on Joseph Smith and prayer again. We met them everyday this week actually.
Thursday we had DKK which went a little long. Andersen E and I just get along too well and talk too much hahah. Afterwards I called Kawashima and she was happy to hear from me. She has been reading and studying a bunch and has lots of interest. She is starting to have weird concerns about ghosts and the universe and stuff, but I shared Jacob 4:8 and it helped a lot. Hopefully we can just get her to the next step of coming to church somehow... We went to this awesome area called Tomoshiri which is a little ways away, but it was way pretty. It has a huge (freezing cold) beach and islands out in the distance and stuff. There were some nice people there too. Some even gave us frozen shrimp. We headed back to see Okuchi because she made curry for us. We taught about modern day prophets/revelation and then taught the word of wisdom. It went so well I was surprised. They love coffee and tea, but were not hesitant at all to commit to giving it up. It was the part I was most worried about.
Friday was interesting. We went to Nishihama and the ocean was really windy and wavy. We tried to visit some people who weren't home and then we visited the Sekiyas. The son was there and he was just about to leave. He said, "I'm going to make slime, want to come?" and it sounded interesting and we want to keep a good relationship with him so we went to the kids center there and watched a bunch of little kids make slime. It was fun to play with the little kids and leave a good impression on them and the teachers. We then went to pick up our dry cleaning and visit some other people in the area. One of them being Tatsuya who is the 23 year old guy we met the week before. He is way cool for real. We shared the Book of Mormon with him and told how it helped us and he promised to read it. He also came to eikaiwa that night! We had 11 people this time which is still a way good turn out! Him and another new lady came so our numbers just keep on growing ;) Throughout the whole week we have been worried about transfers... Neither of us want to leave because this is the best area ever. There is a high chance I could become a trainer next transfer because 9 new elders are coming to the mission. All the eikaiwa students/investigators were pretty bummed when they heard that we have a chance of leaving and stuff... Especially Okuchi's daughter Yuka.
Saturday we went to Betsukai and did some finding. A lot of the people we met last week were happy to see us again. We also taught the plan of salvation to Kawashima and she told us how she is changing a lot as far as feeling peace, attitude, smoking less etc. She is starting to get a testimony and it's so cool. Afterwards we helped at the farm again and gave some Tagalog copies of the Book of Mormon. We then played with the kids a bit and gave our scripture reading challenge to them too. After getting home we went to the park with the Okuchis for a bit and followed up and they have been keeping the word of wisdom!
Sunday was a great day too. The Okuchis love church especially primary! They went to play with the Ozawa kids last week twice and we didn't have to set anything up at all! Yuka shared a scripture and Ayako gave the opening prayer. It was so boss. Testimony meeting went way great too. I even got Karebu kyoudai to get up and bear his testimony too. Proud of him! We played a bunch after church then went home to eat. We dendo'd a bit nearby Endo (dry cleaning lady) and then went over to her house to eat for the first time in a long time. She made us cook (she likes doing that) and we made WAY too much food (she also likes doing that) including fried venison katsu. It was really good, but after like 15 minutes of eating I thought I was going to pass out (I think she likes that the best). We left to do missionary coordination meeting with Nakazawa kyoudai and called it a day.
I'm glad your week was great too! Lauren sent me an email with tons of pictures of Max. He has swagger I think. That's way cool the kitchen is just about done. Nice you had the missionaries over! I'm glad they were serious with the message and didn't just play the whole time. Cool that they shared advice with Adam too. I wish I could send him the shirts I find here. Not only are they way awesome, but they're only $10. I will probably end up with some too... I'm jealous you get to hear from so many of the other missionaries! A few people email me now and then, but that's about it. I'm glad the ward is doing awesome and let everyone know what I'm up to.
If I end up being a trainer I will probably find out sometime today. If not, regular transfer calls are tomorrow. I have always wanted to be a trainer, but I have gotten pretty close with Andersen E. Whatever happens I know it revelation from the Lord and what is best for the area! I love you a ton and for helping me to grow up and be ready for change and things that need to happen. Especially for helping me be able to handle the responsibilities that I am given whatever they may be.
Love you tons!!!!!!!!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
Tuesday we had DTM and right after I went to get on my bike and the tire was way flat. It also rained really hard all of a sudden. I had to push my bike across town to the only bike shop in Nemuro and it wasn't even open. So I left it there with a guy and we walked in the rain. Kinda tough, but we still got some good dendo in. We tried to shizen dendo in some stores too and that went ok. At night we went out to eat with the Okuchis and it was pretty fun. We followed up with them quite a bit then. Did I tell you before that Yuka had asthma before they met us, but ever since the day we visited it went away? Pretty crazy miracle. They have seen lots of others in their lives as well.
Wednesday was a day of lots of finding. We met some really fun and nice people though. Made some decent appointments and stuff as well. Then we stopped by the Okuchis for a sec to follow up on Joseph Smith and prayer again. We met them everyday this week actually.
Thursday we had DKK which went a little long. Andersen E and I just get along too well and talk too much hahah. Afterwards I called Kawashima and she was happy to hear from me. She has been reading and studying a bunch and has lots of interest. She is starting to have weird concerns about ghosts and the universe and stuff, but I shared Jacob 4:8 and it helped a lot. Hopefully we can just get her to the next step of coming to church somehow... We went to this awesome area called Tomoshiri which is a little ways away, but it was way pretty. It has a huge (freezing cold) beach and islands out in the distance and stuff. There were some nice people there too. Some even gave us frozen shrimp. We headed back to see Okuchi because she made curry for us. We taught about modern day prophets/revelation and then taught the word of wisdom. It went so well I was surprised. They love coffee and tea, but were not hesitant at all to commit to giving it up. It was the part I was most worried about.
Friday was interesting. We went to Nishihama and the ocean was really windy and wavy. We tried to visit some people who weren't home and then we visited the Sekiyas. The son was there and he was just about to leave. He said, "I'm going to make slime, want to come?" and it sounded interesting and we want to keep a good relationship with him so we went to the kids center there and watched a bunch of little kids make slime. It was fun to play with the little kids and leave a good impression on them and the teachers. We then went to pick up our dry cleaning and visit some other people in the area. One of them being Tatsuya who is the 23 year old guy we met the week before. He is way cool for real. We shared the Book of Mormon with him and told how it helped us and he promised to read it. He also came to eikaiwa that night! We had 11 people this time which is still a way good turn out! Him and another new lady came so our numbers just keep on growing ;) Throughout the whole week we have been worried about transfers... Neither of us want to leave because this is the best area ever. There is a high chance I could become a trainer next transfer because 9 new elders are coming to the mission. All the eikaiwa students/investigators were pretty bummed when they heard that we have a chance of leaving and stuff... Especially Okuchi's daughter Yuka.
Saturday we went to Betsukai and did some finding. A lot of the people we met last week were happy to see us again. We also taught the plan of salvation to Kawashima and she told us how she is changing a lot as far as feeling peace, attitude, smoking less etc. She is starting to get a testimony and it's so cool. Afterwards we helped at the farm again and gave some Tagalog copies of the Book of Mormon. We then played with the kids a bit and gave our scripture reading challenge to them too. After getting home we went to the park with the Okuchis for a bit and followed up and they have been keeping the word of wisdom!
Sunday was a great day too. The Okuchis love church especially primary! They went to play with the Ozawa kids last week twice and we didn't have to set anything up at all! Yuka shared a scripture and Ayako gave the opening prayer. It was so boss. Testimony meeting went way great too. I even got Karebu kyoudai to get up and bear his testimony too. Proud of him! We played a bunch after church then went home to eat. We dendo'd a bit nearby Endo (dry cleaning lady) and then went over to her house to eat for the first time in a long time. She made us cook (she likes doing that) and we made WAY too much food (she also likes doing that) including fried venison katsu. It was really good, but after like 15 minutes of eating I thought I was going to pass out (I think she likes that the best). We left to do missionary coordination meeting with Nakazawa kyoudai and called it a day.
I'm glad your week was great too! Lauren sent me an email with tons of pictures of Max. He has swagger I think. That's way cool the kitchen is just about done. Nice you had the missionaries over! I'm glad they were serious with the message and didn't just play the whole time. Cool that they shared advice with Adam too. I wish I could send him the shirts I find here. Not only are they way awesome, but they're only $10. I will probably end up with some too... I'm jealous you get to hear from so many of the other missionaries! A few people email me now and then, but that's about it. I'm glad the ward is doing awesome and let everyone know what I'm up to.
If I end up being a trainer I will probably find out sometime today. If not, regular transfer calls are tomorrow. I have always wanted to be a trainer, but I have gotten pretty close with Andersen E. Whatever happens I know it revelation from the Lord and what is best for the area! I love you a ton and for helping me to grow up and be ready for change and things that need to happen. Especially for helping me be able to handle the responsibilities that I am given whatever they may be.
Love you tons!!!!!!!!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, July 28, 2013
7/28/13 I Love Nemuro!
Nope! Didn't remember pioneer day at all! Wow haha. Glad you had fun! We actually did a bit of sparklers with Okuchi and Yuka as well. We got some pretty sweet shapes! Nice job with my name haha!
I'm really excited for everyone back home though. Max growing up fast, etc. Make sure Adam reads that packet a lot! Sounds like he has a good mission president! Definitely read the bike safety stuff carefully. Yeah I don't know if there's a specific album from Sufjan, but Andersen E(lder... we usually write it like this to save time. It's at the end because that's usually where choro goes. The ne I put at the end is Japanese that is getting into my English. it means like, right? or something like that) had a track called Holy, holy which was cool too. Other than that What Child Is This was way awesome. I did get the letter from dad! I actually have gotten a decent amount of mail lately. That's way tough about Adam (and the windshield), but I'm glad he was okay. Probably surprised ne. I hope nothing else breaks soon. Super exciting for him to go to the temple too. Do you have the preparing to enter the temple pamphlet? I tried to do a bit to prepare for going, but I wish I would've read that.
Yuka and Ayako (the Okuchi's) are doing way awesome! They came to church all 3 hours yesterday and are loving it more and more each time. I'm also enjoying primary myself.
Miracles are too many to count! But I'll summarize some up for you here in a second. DKK is weekly planning session (douryou keikaku kai) and a matsuri is a Japanese festival.
THE KITCHEN IS AWESOME!!!! :D
So is missing apricot season ;)
The Okuchi's have a really strong baptismal date on the 17th of next month! We'd do it the week before, but there's a big matsuri that weekend. Yuka is really good at praying it's crazy. Way better than I was at 8. Ayako is getting better too. They have been reading together every night as well and we are trying to help them out to understand what they read more. A lot of times we end up playing with them for maybe more than half the time then getting into lesson mode, but Ayako has talked to Yuka a lot about paying attention in lessons etc and she has gotten way better! That's made Ayako really happy too. They also came to eikaiwa last Friday! Oh man, 13 people came and it was way cool. I had 8 people in my beginner class. Can't believe that we started this from scratch. So cool.
Kawashima was a little bit sick last time we went to Betsukai, but she still made some time to talk with us about her concerns and also the word of wisdom which she looked up online. We did a lot of encouraging her. After the lesson I prayed and she just started talking about how when she looks at us, she knows that we are pure for following God. We promised her that through Jesus Christ she could be too. I just hope that she can feel it strong enough! We have had some ideas about doing sacrament meeting for the members out there since it is so far. There are a lot of non-attendings plus the Itou family that it'd probably be a big help to! Here are the highlights of the week! Monday Andersen E and I did purikura again (see photo) and taught Okuchi's about baptism. Tuesday we went out to lunch with a deaf non-attending! She was way funny and made us eat a lot. I am getting better at Japanese sign language little by little. Later we had a lesson with the guy who met missionaries 40 years ago we are starting to see that the reason he might not have progressed is praying about the Book of Mormon so hopefully we:ll be able to strengthen him and help him to do so! We also found the coolest guy ever named Tatsuya. He looked really mean, and kinda gangsterish (but in the Japanese sense) at first, but then he started asking us lots of questions and was really friendly! He even let us barbecue with him in front of his house! He isn't super interested in God in particular, but he is very willing to listen and wants to hang out more. It was cool to see him transform in just a few minutes. He is about 23 and has a wife and newborn baby boy. So awesome.
Wednesday was a day of lots of finding and doing fireworks/lesson with Okuchi. Thursday DKK and going to a kinda far-out place called Horomoshiri and met some way nice people there. One lady had an interesting thing in her doorway and I complimented it and she practically forced me to take it! It's decorating our apartment now ;) Friday was a little bit spread out. We met a way cool lady who went to eikaiwa 15 years ago when she was 7 and still remembers us! She was way happy to see us haha we also met with this nice old couple Inumaki E and I found earlier and they talked a bunch. We also had epic-eikaiwa that day! Saturday we went to Betsukai and it turns out the Itou family's phone broke so we couldn't go to the farm. We just did lots of finding and WOW Betsukai people are way nice/really happy to see Americans/impressed. Made lots of good potential investigators/eikaiwa students. I can see a branch there someday not too far away. Sunday was awesome church with the Okuchis and finding in a far-ish area. Way great week. I love this work and I love Nemuro! I want to stay here for 2 more transfers... I hope kaicho lets me!
I love you tons and am excited for all the great stuff that you're going to do!
Work hard!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
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Doing sparklers
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The shell boat decoration I got
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Purikura - a Japanese-style photo booth
I'm really excited for everyone back home though. Max growing up fast, etc. Make sure Adam reads that packet a lot! Sounds like he has a good mission president! Definitely read the bike safety stuff carefully. Yeah I don't know if there's a specific album from Sufjan, but Andersen E(lder... we usually write it like this to save time. It's at the end because that's usually where choro goes. The ne I put at the end is Japanese that is getting into my English. it means like, right? or something like that) had a track called Holy, holy which was cool too. Other than that What Child Is This was way awesome. I did get the letter from dad! I actually have gotten a decent amount of mail lately. That's way tough about Adam (and the windshield), but I'm glad he was okay. Probably surprised ne. I hope nothing else breaks soon. Super exciting for him to go to the temple too. Do you have the preparing to enter the temple pamphlet? I tried to do a bit to prepare for going, but I wish I would've read that.
Yuka and Ayako (the Okuchi's) are doing way awesome! They came to church all 3 hours yesterday and are loving it more and more each time. I'm also enjoying primary myself.
Miracles are too many to count! But I'll summarize some up for you here in a second. DKK is weekly planning session (douryou keikaku kai) and a matsuri is a Japanese festival.
THE KITCHEN IS AWESOME!!!! :D
So is missing apricot season ;)
The Okuchi's have a really strong baptismal date on the 17th of next month! We'd do it the week before, but there's a big matsuri that weekend. Yuka is really good at praying it's crazy. Way better than I was at 8. Ayako is getting better too. They have been reading together every night as well and we are trying to help them out to understand what they read more. A lot of times we end up playing with them for maybe more than half the time then getting into lesson mode, but Ayako has talked to Yuka a lot about paying attention in lessons etc and she has gotten way better! That's made Ayako really happy too. They also came to eikaiwa last Friday! Oh man, 13 people came and it was way cool. I had 8 people in my beginner class. Can't believe that we started this from scratch. So cool.
Kawashima was a little bit sick last time we went to Betsukai, but she still made some time to talk with us about her concerns and also the word of wisdom which she looked up online. We did a lot of encouraging her. After the lesson I prayed and she just started talking about how when she looks at us, she knows that we are pure for following God. We promised her that through Jesus Christ she could be too. I just hope that she can feel it strong enough! We have had some ideas about doing sacrament meeting for the members out there since it is so far. There are a lot of non-attendings plus the Itou family that it'd probably be a big help to! Here are the highlights of the week! Monday Andersen E and I did purikura again (see photo) and taught Okuchi's about baptism. Tuesday we went out to lunch with a deaf non-attending! She was way funny and made us eat a lot. I am getting better at Japanese sign language little by little. Later we had a lesson with the guy who met missionaries 40 years ago we are starting to see that the reason he might not have progressed is praying about the Book of Mormon so hopefully we:ll be able to strengthen him and help him to do so! We also found the coolest guy ever named Tatsuya. He looked really mean, and kinda gangsterish (but in the Japanese sense) at first, but then he started asking us lots of questions and was really friendly! He even let us barbecue with him in front of his house! He isn't super interested in God in particular, but he is very willing to listen and wants to hang out more. It was cool to see him transform in just a few minutes. He is about 23 and has a wife and newborn baby boy. So awesome.
Wednesday was a day of lots of finding and doing fireworks/lesson with Okuchi. Thursday DKK and going to a kinda far-out place called Horomoshiri and met some way nice people there. One lady had an interesting thing in her doorway and I complimented it and she practically forced me to take it! It's decorating our apartment now ;) Friday was a little bit spread out. We met a way cool lady who went to eikaiwa 15 years ago when she was 7 and still remembers us! She was way happy to see us haha we also met with this nice old couple Inumaki E and I found earlier and they talked a bunch. We also had epic-eikaiwa that day! Saturday we went to Betsukai and it turns out the Itou family's phone broke so we couldn't go to the farm. We just did lots of finding and WOW Betsukai people are way nice/really happy to see Americans/impressed. Made lots of good potential investigators/eikaiwa students. I can see a branch there someday not too far away. Sunday was awesome church with the Okuchis and finding in a far-ish area. Way great week. I love this work and I love Nemuro! I want to stay here for 2 more transfers... I hope kaicho lets me!
I love you tons and am excited for all the great stuff that you're going to do!
Work hard!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
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Monday, May 6, 2013
5/5/13 The Rest of the Story
Hey! I found some more time to email. If you call at 3:00pm on the 11th (Saturday) I will receive the call at 8:00 on the 12th Sunday morning. Also it's always going to be exactly the same as it was on Christmas, but with a different number depending on my area. All my clothes are pretty much fine. I had to chuck one of the pairs of pants I bought at Kohls because they didn't hold up and it was too big to fix/didn't have time because it was the end of the transfer. My luggage is great I love it. Also I will try to remember Uncle Merril. Are things not getting better? Also *P.S. Your house is SO cute!* I don't know how I feel about this... haha
So this week was pretty good. P-day we went to a pretty neat park called Meiji Coen and bought stuff. Tuesday was district meeting and my bike's brakes not working so searching all over Nemuro for new brakes because there are no bike shops in Nemuro. We also did lots of finding. Wednesday was some other lessons and finding. We found some Chinese guys and they were some of the nicest people ever. Right upon seeing us they let us into their apartment. They hardly spoke any Japanese or English, but we invited them to church by writing the kanji for it and stuff. They said they really wanted to come. Makes me want to try to learn Chinese too! Thursday was planning session and finding. Friday was lessons and finding as well. In all of these days we decided that most of the old investigators needed to be dropped because they won't keep commitments at all. They just like talking to missionaries. Even though they feel the spirit when we talk to them, they won't change and stuff. It is hard, but the really prepared people are waiting for us. We dropped about 6 or 7 of them. Tough stuff, but I'm excited to find :) Finding really is a blast I love it. It is just like making friends. I want to keep trying it when I get home.
There is a way cool investigator named Yamagishi who is actually pretty promising. He is from Tokyo and is 24-ish years old which is pretty cool because there is no one that age in Nemuro because there are no colleges. He is really awesome though and likes a lot of the same music as me. We went out to eat with him and he asked us a lot of questions about why we are on missions and stuff and after we explained that to him he said that he really wanted to read the book of mormon and come to church if it was really able to help us so much. He even wanted to buy the book of mormon haha. He ended up not being able to come to church, but it seems like he has started on the book of mormon. He said he would pray about it too so hopefully that works out. I know he'll really get an answer if he goes for it.
Saturday was a way awesome day. We went to this area called Betsukai which is pretty much straight farms. A member who is Phillipino lives there and we did service at her farm. She also took us to ice cream and pizza at these 2 really tiny places there. Way good. I never thought that in Japan I would be cleaning out cow stalls and stuff. It was a blast though. Her family is way cool. They are not all members and she has a strong desire to bring them into the gospel as well. She really wants her kids to go on missions too. Anyway that pretty much took all day because Betsukai is so far away by bus. Sunday was good. We had a lot of people planned to come to church, but they didn't end up making it. One old investigator named Takizawa came though. He is methodist, but believes that all of our church's teachings are true. He just won't apply them so his testimony isn't deep enough for him to have a desire to be baptized. It was cool that he came to church and told us about that though. He used to have a lot of doubts, but it seems like in the long time missionaries weren't there he overcame them. Hopefully we can get him to apply the principles in his life.
After church we did some finding and visited the Ozawas. Their kids are so fun (hyper), but it's a blast. I met the baby for a little bit. We found some cool people around them.
Anyways, that was my awesome week! Sorry that I had to send it in two parts! I hope that you are doing great and find lots of opportunities to share the gospel! I know it seems probably really tough, but you just have to try getting out of your comfort zone just like working out or saving money and things like that. God will prepare a way for you to do it if you really want to enough! Loveyouloveyou
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
Oh I forgot! SO this week was golden week which is apparently a big deal in Japan. No one has school and most people don't work. Everyone usually visits their hometown/parents' town. Haramai Shimai's hometown is a WAY small place nearby Nemuro, so she came and visited me on the way home!!!
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The park we visited, Meiji Coen
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Visiting with Haramai's outside our house
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Good pizza at the place called *chiisanaouchi* which means a little house
.jpg)
Enjoying pizza with family from Betsukai
.jpg)
Feeding cows with Ishiga Choro
.jpg)
Us and Richie the Phillipino guy who works at the farm. He was WAY cool and nice.
So this week was pretty good. P-day we went to a pretty neat park called Meiji Coen and bought stuff. Tuesday was district meeting and my bike's brakes not working so searching all over Nemuro for new brakes because there are no bike shops in Nemuro. We also did lots of finding. Wednesday was some other lessons and finding. We found some Chinese guys and they were some of the nicest people ever. Right upon seeing us they let us into their apartment. They hardly spoke any Japanese or English, but we invited them to church by writing the kanji for it and stuff. They said they really wanted to come. Makes me want to try to learn Chinese too! Thursday was planning session and finding. Friday was lessons and finding as well. In all of these days we decided that most of the old investigators needed to be dropped because they won't keep commitments at all. They just like talking to missionaries. Even though they feel the spirit when we talk to them, they won't change and stuff. It is hard, but the really prepared people are waiting for us. We dropped about 6 or 7 of them. Tough stuff, but I'm excited to find :) Finding really is a blast I love it. It is just like making friends. I want to keep trying it when I get home.
There is a way cool investigator named Yamagishi who is actually pretty promising. He is from Tokyo and is 24-ish years old which is pretty cool because there is no one that age in Nemuro because there are no colleges. He is really awesome though and likes a lot of the same music as me. We went out to eat with him and he asked us a lot of questions about why we are on missions and stuff and after we explained that to him he said that he really wanted to read the book of mormon and come to church if it was really able to help us so much. He even wanted to buy the book of mormon haha. He ended up not being able to come to church, but it seems like he has started on the book of mormon. He said he would pray about it too so hopefully that works out. I know he'll really get an answer if he goes for it.
Saturday was a way awesome day. We went to this area called Betsukai which is pretty much straight farms. A member who is Phillipino lives there and we did service at her farm. She also took us to ice cream and pizza at these 2 really tiny places there. Way good. I never thought that in Japan I would be cleaning out cow stalls and stuff. It was a blast though. Her family is way cool. They are not all members and she has a strong desire to bring them into the gospel as well. She really wants her kids to go on missions too. Anyway that pretty much took all day because Betsukai is so far away by bus. Sunday was good. We had a lot of people planned to come to church, but they didn't end up making it. One old investigator named Takizawa came though. He is methodist, but believes that all of our church's teachings are true. He just won't apply them so his testimony isn't deep enough for him to have a desire to be baptized. It was cool that he came to church and told us about that though. He used to have a lot of doubts, but it seems like in the long time missionaries weren't there he overcame them. Hopefully we can get him to apply the principles in his life.
After church we did some finding and visited the Ozawas. Their kids are so fun (hyper), but it's a blast. I met the baby for a little bit. We found some cool people around them.
Anyways, that was my awesome week! Sorry that I had to send it in two parts! I hope that you are doing great and find lots of opportunities to share the gospel! I know it seems probably really tough, but you just have to try getting out of your comfort zone just like working out or saving money and things like that. God will prepare a way for you to do it if you really want to enough! Loveyouloveyou
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
Oh I forgot! SO this week was golden week which is apparently a big deal in Japan. No one has school and most people don't work. Everyone usually visits their hometown/parents' town. Haramai Shimai's hometown is a WAY small place nearby Nemuro, so she came and visited me on the way home!!!
.jpg)
The park we visited, Meiji Coen.jpg)
Visiting with Haramai's outside our house.jpg)
Good pizza at the place called *chiisanaouchi* which means a little house.jpg)
Enjoying pizza with family from Betsukai.jpg)
Feeding cows with Ishiga Choro.jpg)
Us and Richie the Phillipino guy who works at the farm. He was WAY cool and nice.
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