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 Brown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brown. Show all posts
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
2/10/13 Yuki Matsuri ga arimashita
Today's title: Yuki Matsuri ga arimashita (closest translation Mom can get is "The time I went to the snow festival")
What is up!? Sounds like a pretty awesome week with the wedding shower and stuff! Mine wasn't too bad either. On Monday we went to the Honbu to play for this RM from Australia who served his mission here and was having a little party (with TONS of Tim Tams) so that was pretty fun. We played 3 songs and the guy just talked about how he met his wife so it was just awkward hahaha. It was cool to talk with all the other missionaries there though, that's the best part about gatherings. We also hung around at the eki (Sapporo train station... it is soooo HUGE!) and bought some guitar stuff and did this thing called purikura that is where you take pictures in a photobooth and the effects make your skin really clear and eyes really big hahaha. They are insanely popular in Japan. I'll scan it eventually and send you a copy. That night we dendo'd in Megumino a bit and I had to carry my guitar the entire time! Oh well!
The next day was a tough day not being able to meet people we planned on, but still got some good stuff done. Eikaiwa was way fun too! Since we divided into two classes I taught the beginner class by myself. Wednesday I went on splits with Elder Brown and it was a blast! We went to Shimamatsu which is the most northern part of my area and I haven't been there since my first few weeks so it was nostalgic! The people we planned to meet weren't really around then either, but we met a way nice dad and a guy who fills the gas tanks by people's houses who lived in America as a semi-professional guitar player! haha We also went to an area in Chitose to dendo as well and met a really funny guy that loved English. Maybe he will come to Eikaiwa eventually. That night we had a birthday party for a member who turned 87. She is a boss. Her name is Sugiura shimai and her daughter (Miwa shimai) is awesome too. She is giving us a ride to Lake Shikotsuko today for this ice festival which should be pretty cool. Anyways at the party Miwa shima's friend came, who we want to teach, so that was good. Also the Sugiura's are hilarious because they are way sarcastic and that's rare in Japan! We had some way good spicy food and apple pie. We also played a bunch of hymns on the guitar.
Thursday was zone taikai where we had workshops on mental and physical health. The mental health guy was Japanese, but went on a mission to San Francisco and for school to BYU Idaho and Provo. He was way chill. After that we had great workshops from Kaicho (President) and the APs on companionship goal setting and repentance. It was great to see everyone then too. After that was the SNOW FESTIVAL!!!! But... It was snowing way crazy so the sculptures weren't as recognizable. I got tons of pictures though! If you really want to see the statues well, I'd check online :) It was pretty great though. Friday was another day a lot like Tuesday.
Saturday was in Megumino again and we taught the plan of salvation to this guy I found a long time ago on the phone. He is not at the point where he is ready to act yet, but hopefully he will be soon. We also talked with a non-attending kid named Kanai Ryouta kyoudai who is way cool and likes kingdom hearts a lot so we talked about that a bit hahaha he is also going to college to study English and Chinese so he has come to Eikaiwa before.
Sunday was pretty much "take tons of pictures day." Since I have a really good feeling I will transfer on Thursday, I took pictures with as many of the members as possible (which is pretty much only guys because there is a rule that unless you're with your comp, and he didn't want to cooperate(as usual)). Anyways church was super good and we had a lesson on Adam and Eve in Gospel Principles. Haramai shimai is pretty much a genius and knows the gospel better than a lot of the members already. The stuff she shares in class always impresses me a ton. After church we tried to visit the people from Tuesday again, but they weren't around. Then we had dinner and a chocolate fondue party at Haramai shimai's house with the bishop's wife and kids too. The bishop got the flu so he didn't come. (The flu is a big deal in Japan right now, but I wash my hands so I'm all good ;)) It was way good though. She made a ton of awesome food and we shared a message on the commandments and challenged the dad to read the scriptures with his daughters because we gave them a challenge to read one verse a day.
Anyways, I love being a missionary. I don't want to leave this ward, but I am ready for change. I bet things are changing there a ton too! Livy walking and everything. I think that's awesome Mya talks about me. Thanks for telling everyone how I'm doing too. The worst snow was on Thursday and Friday. Well... Friday was mostly really hard wind with really icy snow. When we got to the church for Dendo meeting my hair was all blasted back and there was ice all over my face and in my hair. I wish I got a picture! It was actually pretty fun, no lie.
You are hilarious for talking to Rodenberg Choro's mom all the time. I get along with him way good. If I'm able to go to BYU it would be sick to room with him I think.
So if you are sending a package I only have one deodorant and toothpaste left. Plus did I tell you about a voice recorder? Other than that I am pretty good on stuff. I love you!!!
Mara's seminary sounds awesome. There is definitely protection and prepared people ready for missionaries. You just have to be righteous and ready yourself. Hearing that makes me think of missionary Mara someday hahaha! Crazy at the zone taikai we watched this video from Elder Nelson talking about the number of missionaries going from 59,000 to 70,000 and half of them being sisters. Also the chances of me becoming a trainer someday are way high. whoo!
Haha I remember making that thing for auto (a video we saw at the high school registration.) I didn't know I was in the Madrigals one though. Make sure Mara doesn't go too crazy with stuff in High School, but I'm excited for her! Also I wanna see a picture of the bookshelf. We have pretty much cleaned the apartment here so much I swear I know it better than my own room back home. Today I found all these really old flyers and For the Strength of Youth pamphlets from the 70's in Japanese.
I wish I could send you a real live hug too! You are the greatest and I know that through striving to find God's hand in your life more you will receive even more blessings :) I love you!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Me with the Fujitas (ward missionaries, they are my heroes)
Eniwa choros at the festival
Ise shrine sculpture - huge
Weird head at the snow festival
Me and Ofuji kyoudai
Haramai dinner and fondue
What is up!? Sounds like a pretty awesome week with the wedding shower and stuff! Mine wasn't too bad either. On Monday we went to the Honbu to play for this RM from Australia who served his mission here and was having a little party (with TONS of Tim Tams) so that was pretty fun. We played 3 songs and the guy just talked about how he met his wife so it was just awkward hahaha. It was cool to talk with all the other missionaries there though, that's the best part about gatherings. We also hung around at the eki (Sapporo train station... it is soooo HUGE!) and bought some guitar stuff and did this thing called purikura that is where you take pictures in a photobooth and the effects make your skin really clear and eyes really big hahaha. They are insanely popular in Japan. I'll scan it eventually and send you a copy. That night we dendo'd in Megumino a bit and I had to carry my guitar the entire time! Oh well!
The next day was a tough day not being able to meet people we planned on, but still got some good stuff done. Eikaiwa was way fun too! Since we divided into two classes I taught the beginner class by myself. Wednesday I went on splits with Elder Brown and it was a blast! We went to Shimamatsu which is the most northern part of my area and I haven't been there since my first few weeks so it was nostalgic! The people we planned to meet weren't really around then either, but we met a way nice dad and a guy who fills the gas tanks by people's houses who lived in America as a semi-professional guitar player! haha We also went to an area in Chitose to dendo as well and met a really funny guy that loved English. Maybe he will come to Eikaiwa eventually. That night we had a birthday party for a member who turned 87. She is a boss. Her name is Sugiura shimai and her daughter (Miwa shimai) is awesome too. She is giving us a ride to Lake Shikotsuko today for this ice festival which should be pretty cool. Anyways at the party Miwa shima's friend came, who we want to teach, so that was good. Also the Sugiura's are hilarious because they are way sarcastic and that's rare in Japan! We had some way good spicy food and apple pie. We also played a bunch of hymns on the guitar.
Thursday was zone taikai where we had workshops on mental and physical health. The mental health guy was Japanese, but went on a mission to San Francisco and for school to BYU Idaho and Provo. He was way chill. After that we had great workshops from Kaicho (President) and the APs on companionship goal setting and repentance. It was great to see everyone then too. After that was the SNOW FESTIVAL!!!! But... It was snowing way crazy so the sculptures weren't as recognizable. I got tons of pictures though! If you really want to see the statues well, I'd check online :) It was pretty great though. Friday was another day a lot like Tuesday.
Saturday was in Megumino again and we taught the plan of salvation to this guy I found a long time ago on the phone. He is not at the point where he is ready to act yet, but hopefully he will be soon. We also talked with a non-attending kid named Kanai Ryouta kyoudai who is way cool and likes kingdom hearts a lot so we talked about that a bit hahaha he is also going to college to study English and Chinese so he has come to Eikaiwa before.
Sunday was pretty much "take tons of pictures day." Since I have a really good feeling I will transfer on Thursday, I took pictures with as many of the members as possible (which is pretty much only guys because there is a rule that unless you're with your comp, and he didn't want to cooperate(as usual)). Anyways church was super good and we had a lesson on Adam and Eve in Gospel Principles. Haramai shimai is pretty much a genius and knows the gospel better than a lot of the members already. The stuff she shares in class always impresses me a ton. After church we tried to visit the people from Tuesday again, but they weren't around. Then we had dinner and a chocolate fondue party at Haramai shimai's house with the bishop's wife and kids too. The bishop got the flu so he didn't come. (The flu is a big deal in Japan right now, but I wash my hands so I'm all good ;)) It was way good though. She made a ton of awesome food and we shared a message on the commandments and challenged the dad to read the scriptures with his daughters because we gave them a challenge to read one verse a day.
Anyways, I love being a missionary. I don't want to leave this ward, but I am ready for change. I bet things are changing there a ton too! Livy walking and everything. I think that's awesome Mya talks about me. Thanks for telling everyone how I'm doing too. The worst snow was on Thursday and Friday. Well... Friday was mostly really hard wind with really icy snow. When we got to the church for Dendo meeting my hair was all blasted back and there was ice all over my face and in my hair. I wish I got a picture! It was actually pretty fun, no lie.
You are hilarious for talking to Rodenberg Choro's mom all the time. I get along with him way good. If I'm able to go to BYU it would be sick to room with him I think.
So if you are sending a package I only have one deodorant and toothpaste left. Plus did I tell you about a voice recorder? Other than that I am pretty good on stuff. I love you!!!
Mara's seminary sounds awesome. There is definitely protection and prepared people ready for missionaries. You just have to be righteous and ready yourself. Hearing that makes me think of missionary Mara someday hahaha! Crazy at the zone taikai we watched this video from Elder Nelson talking about the number of missionaries going from 59,000 to 70,000 and half of them being sisters. Also the chances of me becoming a trainer someday are way high. whoo!
Haha I remember making that thing for auto (a video we saw at the high school registration.) I didn't know I was in the Madrigals one though. Make sure Mara doesn't go too crazy with stuff in High School, but I'm excited for her! Also I wanna see a picture of the bookshelf. We have pretty much cleaned the apartment here so much I swear I know it better than my own room back home. Today I found all these really old flyers and For the Strength of Youth pamphlets from the 70's in Japanese.
I wish I could send you a real live hug too! You are the greatest and I know that through striving to find God's hand in your life more you will receive even more blessings :) I love you!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Dinner at Suguira's
Suguira family
Monday, January 14, 2013
1/13/13 Seven Months Out Today
Hey! This week was good. Sounds like work is complicated, but good! Sounds like there has been a ton going on there!! A You've Got Mail party, huh? That's way funny hahaha. Sounds fun though! How is Mara going on personal progress?? That's pretty cool.
It actually hasn't been snowing very much lately here at all, but it is way frozen and icy. The roads are covered in inches of ice, but I have been doing fine. Just have to be careful when I walk around. I haven't seen any car accidents or anything, but there are some funny drivers now and then. I'm way sad to hear about the car getting damaged, but at least it was the oldest of the cars eh? I hope you can figure out what to do with that whole situation. That's cool about Richie and Xela's reception! You said hi for me right? I heard the Jordan River temple was closed for a long time, but that's good to hear dad is back and working there again. I miss the temple lots. It is really interesting to talk about it here and teach about it to the new converts, etc.
Good luck with whatever your new calling might be! I am having a hard time remembering what it's like to not be a missionary, but I remember that I really loved being in the Elder's quorum presidency at USU and in stake YSC etc. and I wish I did more for those callings then. That is funny about Lauren and her stomach too. (That is, us trying to tell if Max is moving) The pictures of her you sent last time were pretty good!
I am praying for you to find missionary opportunities too, but the main thing you need to do is look for them. Remember that prayer is just the first step. There was a plaque one of my roommates had at USU with a quote from Gordon B Hinckley that said "get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work". It's just like that out here too! I'm glad to hear you are doing better with scripture study! What kind of things are you trying? I also want to hear about how FHE is going. Hatanaka Shimai and Haramai Shimai want to know more about it so if you had any cool ideas that'd be awesome. Also Haramai Shimai made a new years resolution to learn to make candy at home just like you do at Christmas so if you could send me a bunch of recipes she would be really happy. She reminds me of you a lot in a lot of ways actually. She has said before that you sound cool and she wants to meet you haha. If you have any patchwork, stitching, etc. things that you think she might like let me know.
Let me know how the YSA fireside went! I am jealous you get to see it! I am glad Adam is doing great in institute and German sounds way fun too! That trax thing does sound like something I would do. How is he liking riding the train??? I think it sounds fun and I want to try it when I get home.
I hope church was awesome! I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday on the sabbath day and focused on the Lord's rest, because in Japanese the Sabbath is "rest day." It actually went really awesome and I spoke for almost 20 minutes which is double what they asked, but they were okay with that haha. It felt really good to be guided by the spirit and be able to expand on the things I planned to talk about. My Japanese has been getting a lot better I think, but the tough thing is always being led by the spirit to know how and what to say. Really the secret is just opening your mouth. The time that is the most tough is when you don't even know how to say it in English and you somehow pull it out in Japanese.
So the cool things about this week are that on Monday I bought a sweet new backpack in the mall in Chitose and on Tuesday we started Eikaiwa again with Elder Rodenberg and it was way fun and energetic. Then on Wednesday was straight housing and going to Brother Katanuma's house for dinner. He used to be the area Seventy and spoke at the Sapporo Temple groundbreaking. He is also good friends with Elder Holland and a few other general authorities. He recently wrote a book about Christianity in Japan focusing on our church and it has actually gotten a lot of high up people interested and it is way cool. He is an awesome guy who has gone all over the world, served several couple missions in Japan, and speaks English pretty much fluently. He also taught at BYU for 3-4 years. At the end we watched this movie called "home" that was from 1992 (one of those cheesy seminary ones) but it was really good and afterwards we shared scriptures and testified about the hope from the gospel. It is pretty cool to testify to someone who used to be a general authority! haha
Thursday we planned and visited Haramai shimai. Friday was visiting a lot of people in Chitose and one of them was a girl that Elder Hansen got almost all the way to baptism, but went on vacation and got protested by her parents so he had to drop her, but she sent us a new year's postcard and when we visited her she said she talked to her parents and everything is good! Her name is Miyashita and she is pretty much a kinjin. She came to church on her own because she said it seemed like a warm place and she could feel that it was full of love. Literally. She has still been reading the Book of Mormon everyday. We will see how that goes :)
Saturday was amazing too!!! We had the mochitsuki activity which was tons of traditional Japanese new year's games and toys plus making mochi!!! Mochi is rice turned into this doughy stuff. To make it like that you... Smash it with a giant hammer!!! It was so awesome. I didn't get pictures, but lots of other people did. It was way great plus we got a few investigators to come too. It was a great way to make better friends with the ward and feel closer to Japan. Haramai's husband came too! We are trying to help her a lot to share the gospel with him. We also did a song there with me on the guitar, Brown Choro on the keys, and Rodenberg and Ishiga Choro singing. It was kinda loud with the mochitsuki going so the beat got a little funky, but it went great!
Well that is what has been going on in a nutshell. I am getting my haircut today because I need it really bad. Who cuts my hair?? Some Japanese dude. Not my companion. Haircuts here are expensive by the way and there are probably more hair salons than any other building. Literally.
Anyways I love you tons and and am so grateful for you! Jesus Christ is my Savior and He lives and loves us! Keep showing good examples and do your best to become more and more like Him!
Aishitemasu!!!
Hutchinson Choro
Funny things seen at the mall:
It actually hasn't been snowing very much lately here at all, but it is way frozen and icy. The roads are covered in inches of ice, but I have been doing fine. Just have to be careful when I walk around. I haven't seen any car accidents or anything, but there are some funny drivers now and then. I'm way sad to hear about the car getting damaged, but at least it was the oldest of the cars eh? I hope you can figure out what to do with that whole situation. That's cool about Richie and Xela's reception! You said hi for me right? I heard the Jordan River temple was closed for a long time, but that's good to hear dad is back and working there again. I miss the temple lots. It is really interesting to talk about it here and teach about it to the new converts, etc.
Good luck with whatever your new calling might be! I am having a hard time remembering what it's like to not be a missionary, but I remember that I really loved being in the Elder's quorum presidency at USU and in stake YSC etc. and I wish I did more for those callings then. That is funny about Lauren and her stomach too. (That is, us trying to tell if Max is moving) The pictures of her you sent last time were pretty good!
I am praying for you to find missionary opportunities too, but the main thing you need to do is look for them. Remember that prayer is just the first step. There was a plaque one of my roommates had at USU with a quote from Gordon B Hinckley that said "get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work". It's just like that out here too! I'm glad to hear you are doing better with scripture study! What kind of things are you trying? I also want to hear about how FHE is going. Hatanaka Shimai and Haramai Shimai want to know more about it so if you had any cool ideas that'd be awesome. Also Haramai Shimai made a new years resolution to learn to make candy at home just like you do at Christmas so if you could send me a bunch of recipes she would be really happy. She reminds me of you a lot in a lot of ways actually. She has said before that you sound cool and she wants to meet you haha. If you have any patchwork, stitching, etc. things that you think she might like let me know.
Let me know how the YSA fireside went! I am jealous you get to see it! I am glad Adam is doing great in institute and German sounds way fun too! That trax thing does sound like something I would do. How is he liking riding the train??? I think it sounds fun and I want to try it when I get home.
I hope church was awesome! I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday on the sabbath day and focused on the Lord's rest, because in Japanese the Sabbath is "rest day." It actually went really awesome and I spoke for almost 20 minutes which is double what they asked, but they were okay with that haha. It felt really good to be guided by the spirit and be able to expand on the things I planned to talk about. My Japanese has been getting a lot better I think, but the tough thing is always being led by the spirit to know how and what to say. Really the secret is just opening your mouth. The time that is the most tough is when you don't even know how to say it in English and you somehow pull it out in Japanese.
So the cool things about this week are that on Monday I bought a sweet new backpack in the mall in Chitose and on Tuesday we started Eikaiwa again with Elder Rodenberg and it was way fun and energetic. Then on Wednesday was straight housing and going to Brother Katanuma's house for dinner. He used to be the area Seventy and spoke at the Sapporo Temple groundbreaking. He is also good friends with Elder Holland and a few other general authorities. He recently wrote a book about Christianity in Japan focusing on our church and it has actually gotten a lot of high up people interested and it is way cool. He is an awesome guy who has gone all over the world, served several couple missions in Japan, and speaks English pretty much fluently. He also taught at BYU for 3-4 years. At the end we watched this movie called "home" that was from 1992 (one of those cheesy seminary ones) but it was really good and afterwards we shared scriptures and testified about the hope from the gospel. It is pretty cool to testify to someone who used to be a general authority! haha
Thursday we planned and visited Haramai shimai. Friday was visiting a lot of people in Chitose and one of them was a girl that Elder Hansen got almost all the way to baptism, but went on vacation and got protested by her parents so he had to drop her, but she sent us a new year's postcard and when we visited her she said she talked to her parents and everything is good! Her name is Miyashita and she is pretty much a kinjin. She came to church on her own because she said it seemed like a warm place and she could feel that it was full of love. Literally. She has still been reading the Book of Mormon everyday. We will see how that goes :)
Saturday was amazing too!!! We had the mochitsuki activity which was tons of traditional Japanese new year's games and toys plus making mochi!!! Mochi is rice turned into this doughy stuff. To make it like that you... Smash it with a giant hammer!!! It was so awesome. I didn't get pictures, but lots of other people did. It was way great plus we got a few investigators to come too. It was a great way to make better friends with the ward and feel closer to Japan. Haramai's husband came too! We are trying to help her a lot to share the gospel with him. We also did a song there with me on the guitar, Brown Choro on the keys, and Rodenberg and Ishiga Choro singing. It was kinda loud with the mochitsuki going so the beat got a little funky, but it went great!
Well that is what has been going on in a nutshell. I am getting my haircut today because I need it really bad. Who cuts my hair?? Some Japanese dude. Not my companion. Haircuts here are expensive by the way and there are probably more hair salons than any other building. Literally.
Anyways I love you tons and and am so grateful for you! Jesus Christ is my Savior and He lives and loves us! Keep showing good examples and do your best to become more and more like Him!
Aishitemasu!!!
Hutchinson Choro
Funny things seen at the mall:
Monday, December 31, 2012
12/31/12 Akemashite Omedetou Gozimasu (or in other words, Happy New Year!)
Hey! Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!
That's what they say on New Year's in Japan which is a ridiculous affair. No one (almost) in all of Japan does anything for about 4 days. On the way to the church was pretty much a wasteland. Yesterday I spent the entire day fasting (until 6) and reading the Book of Mormon. I could only get to page 330, but I tried my best! Today we are eating lunch and dinner with members and trying to find a place that is open to buy stuff.
Also sorry that the email is a day late. This weeks P-day moved to Tuesday. And I have lots of pictures, but today is crazy and I forgot the camera again... :(
It was so great to talk to you on the phone too! I wish I had prepared better, but I was especially grateful to hear how family things and scripture study are going. I'm also glad I could hear Andrew and David's mission advice and hear about Adam's mission preparation.
Christmas Eve we had a really awesome party in the Kotoni church in Sapporo. There were some fun games and great food and we got to watch the Christmas devotional which was incredible. Did you watch it??? Then a group of missionaries did a presentation of the Christmas story from Luke which was great too. We also practiced for caroling which we did that night in Odori park in Sapporo. The second half of which was in the subway where we got in trouble by the guards and had to leave early... But it was still a good experience! While we sang other missionaries contacted those listening and when we got stopped lots of people got mad at the guards because they wanted to keep listening! hahaha Christmas back home sounds like it was wonderful. I miss pizza. It's 20 bucks for a plain medium size here. Glad everyone liked their presents and stuff! Good luck with your new computer haha be careful with it! I can't believe there is a windows 8!
I am probably fine on sweaters since I don:t know where I'd pack them, but I do use them everyday and only have 2...
Christmas day was supposed to be normal dendo, but ended up being lots of service and visiting with members. We sang carols at a day service place in Sapporo and "heart attacked" (Ishiga Choro is really into stuff like that) a few members' houses and then ate dinner in the igloo we made.
Adam's court of honor sounds like it was awesome. I feel really honored that he is saving the pin for me. I'm glad it went smoothly and I bet he looks great in the uniform. I have been getting a few emails from Dan Hansen lately too.
So I feel really bad too because today is another short email day (the other elders have a bunch of stuff they want to do) and I feel like I have way more than usual to talk about. The Japanese elders don't really email much.
I want to tell you more experiences, but they're really scarce as of late. Last Saturday the area put on the Messiah concert that was really good. We got Nakamura shimai, a guy from Eikaiwa, and Haramai shimai's family to come and it was a blast, plus tons of missionaries were there. We have been getting fed by members a ton lately, yes. The Christmas party was on the 22nd and this random guy I housed one day came and brought a friend. That friend sent me a picture of Mt. Fuji in the mail the other day and it was really funny because I didn't suppose that giving someone my meishi (business card) would lead to that. Remind me next week and I'll tell you more about the stuff this week.
I love you all and I'm grateful for this work and the support you give me!!! Stay safe and warm and share the light of the gospel as much as possible!!!
Oh yeah, we got transfer calls early. I:m staying in Eniwa with Ishiga Choro and Brown Choro's companion is becoming Rodenburg Choro who sang with me in the music thing.
Aishitemasu!!!
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, December 9, 2012
12/9/12 "I didn't even realize that it's been six months!"
Hello! I am staying pretty warm. Thanks a ton as always for the prayers and love. I didn't even realize that it's been six months!!! Yikes. Too fast!!! A lot sure has happened, but I'm looking forward to more and more awesome experiences and miracles. I still have so much to learn and grow. Of course I forgive ya for missing me, especially because you know so strongly why I'm here.
Thanks for the encouragement as well. I actually do really like finding. Meeting people is pretty neat and everything. I do have hope that we will be able to find people that are prepared as long as we are doing everything we can to be obedient and work hard. Still have to work a bit with the new members and they are doing great. We really want to help them get their families into the gospel as well. That's a cool thought about Moroni too. Even though he was the last Nephite his work in compiling and burying the Book of Mormon really did help just about everyone!
Working with Ishiga Choro has been tough to be honest. The first while was just me showing him around everywhere and introducing him and stuff. It was kinda all on me at that point and I was tired, doing lots of work, but it was a happy tired y'know? Now that it is more on him where contacts, lessons, etc go it is extremely different from how things were with Hansen Choro. Everything he focuses on is different. His teaching style is really different and it's not that I can't get anything in or anything like that, but I can't control where it goes. Sometimes I feel like my language is getting better, but someways I feel like it isn't at the same time. I for sure have learned a bunch of new things.
Mya's birthday sounds like it was a blast! Cookies instead of cake is interesting though haha. That's pretty early for a ward Christmas party, but they've always done it like that, huh?
Good for Mara and her choir too! I'm glad she got a good part in the play, but I'm also glad she doesn't have to go so crazy hard like she did last time. I didn't know that David was taking college classes still, but that's awesome! I hope he does great! Same to Sharon Merrill.
I'm really excited for the package, but sounds like you've overdone it again! Hahaha I won't say anything and just be happy that my Mom loves me and sends me goodies. Brown Choro got a package yesterday and I thought it might have been for me so I was excited. It was a ton of New Zealand candy! Some pretty good and interesting stuff. If you ever get a chance, try pineapple lumps out! haha I'm probably not going to wait til Christmas if there are separate boxes. I meant for you to just send candy for Ishiga Choro because the ward already gives me too much junk food, but I'll make sure to split it up right.
Cool you found some pictures online too. Pretty late haha. The zone conference was way amazing. The day before was p-day and we went to the honbu to practice and afterwards I went with Ishiga Choro to Odori park in Sapporo that has a cool tower and lots of lights for Christmas, but it was nothing compared to temple square. I have only seen one house with Christmas lights here so far, but Ishiga Choro says that people usually try hard. There are definitely decorations at stores and in the church. Nakamura Shimai gave us some little decorations for the apartment because Ishiga Choro really wanted some.
Elder Ringwood spoke a lot about faith, having hope in the mission, and tons of way amazing stories about how people have been found through Eikaiwa and someone who met the missionaries 40 years ago and stuff like that. Crazy crazy spiritual experience. We sang I Feel My Savior's Love and I had this little guitar part that I made for it. I don't know what the version is called, but it's originally a harp or something. Afterwards I got to have an interview with him and he just asked me how I was and if I had any questions and we just talked about Utah a bit and he gave me tips for finding and working with a native companion. Super nice and chill. While I was waiting I got to talk to President Evans a lot about the same kind of thing. He is a way awesome guy and I'm glad to be in the mission with him. Elder Ringwood's wife was pretty cool too. She's Russell M. Nelson's daughter and looks a lot like him.
I guess I used the word Gaijin wrong haha it means foreigner. Also don't worry about calling me yet and don't email the Honbu. They'll email me the week before with the stuff to tell you. It will be to my cell phone here. I'm really excited to talk to you and share my testimony with you too. Also you are funny for putting money in my account because other than buying my bike and going to an Onsen one time I haven't used any ;) Thanks though! I am going to look for an electronic dictionary today that I really really want so I might use it on that.
Also on Saturday we had this thing for one of the members who teaches an Eikaiwa from her house. She went to BYU and got a degree in teaching English to Japanese people and is pretty cool. But anyways it was this presentation of the Christmas story called the 3 trees that you probably know. I had to teach her how to use power point and use audacity to edit sounds and stuff so that was pretty cool I got to use computer skills for service. At the presentation she had Elder Brown and me recite some of the parts and afterwards play some Christmas songs. It was pretty fun and everybody liked the songs. Afterwards everybody had refreshments and stuff and Takasugi (Eikaiwa member) shimai's husband (who is way funny and awesome) spontaneously asked me to stand in front of everyone and tell about myself in English and Japanese and answer everybody's questions and stuff. It was alright, but I really wanted to talk to the investigators and eikaiwa students that came. It turned out pretty well all in all I think ;)
Other than that has been snow falling a ton, melting completely, and then falling tons again!!! Good stuff. I'm excited to grow a lot here, but it is tough a lot of times with all the change so please keep praying for us. I love you more than there are snowflakes in Hokkaido and Utah combined!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Thanks for the encouragement as well. I actually do really like finding. Meeting people is pretty neat and everything. I do have hope that we will be able to find people that are prepared as long as we are doing everything we can to be obedient and work hard. Still have to work a bit with the new members and they are doing great. We really want to help them get their families into the gospel as well. That's a cool thought about Moroni too. Even though he was the last Nephite his work in compiling and burying the Book of Mormon really did help just about everyone!
Working with Ishiga Choro has been tough to be honest. The first while was just me showing him around everywhere and introducing him and stuff. It was kinda all on me at that point and I was tired, doing lots of work, but it was a happy tired y'know? Now that it is more on him where contacts, lessons, etc go it is extremely different from how things were with Hansen Choro. Everything he focuses on is different. His teaching style is really different and it's not that I can't get anything in or anything like that, but I can't control where it goes. Sometimes I feel like my language is getting better, but someways I feel like it isn't at the same time. I for sure have learned a bunch of new things.
Mya's birthday sounds like it was a blast! Cookies instead of cake is interesting though haha. That's pretty early for a ward Christmas party, but they've always done it like that, huh?
Good for Mara and her choir too! I'm glad she got a good part in the play, but I'm also glad she doesn't have to go so crazy hard like she did last time. I didn't know that David was taking college classes still, but that's awesome! I hope he does great! Same to Sharon Merrill.
I'm really excited for the package, but sounds like you've overdone it again! Hahaha I won't say anything and just be happy that my Mom loves me and sends me goodies. Brown Choro got a package yesterday and I thought it might have been for me so I was excited. It was a ton of New Zealand candy! Some pretty good and interesting stuff. If you ever get a chance, try pineapple lumps out! haha I'm probably not going to wait til Christmas if there are separate boxes. I meant for you to just send candy for Ishiga Choro because the ward already gives me too much junk food, but I'll make sure to split it up right.
Cool you found some pictures online too. Pretty late haha. The zone conference was way amazing. The day before was p-day and we went to the honbu to practice and afterwards I went with Ishiga Choro to Odori park in Sapporo that has a cool tower and lots of lights for Christmas, but it was nothing compared to temple square. I have only seen one house with Christmas lights here so far, but Ishiga Choro says that people usually try hard. There are definitely decorations at stores and in the church. Nakamura Shimai gave us some little decorations for the apartment because Ishiga Choro really wanted some.
Elder Ringwood spoke a lot about faith, having hope in the mission, and tons of way amazing stories about how people have been found through Eikaiwa and someone who met the missionaries 40 years ago and stuff like that. Crazy crazy spiritual experience. We sang I Feel My Savior's Love and I had this little guitar part that I made for it. I don't know what the version is called, but it's originally a harp or something. Afterwards I got to have an interview with him and he just asked me how I was and if I had any questions and we just talked about Utah a bit and he gave me tips for finding and working with a native companion. Super nice and chill. While I was waiting I got to talk to President Evans a lot about the same kind of thing. He is a way awesome guy and I'm glad to be in the mission with him. Elder Ringwood's wife was pretty cool too. She's Russell M. Nelson's daughter and looks a lot like him.
I guess I used the word Gaijin wrong haha it means foreigner. Also don't worry about calling me yet and don't email the Honbu. They'll email me the week before with the stuff to tell you. It will be to my cell phone here. I'm really excited to talk to you and share my testimony with you too. Also you are funny for putting money in my account because other than buying my bike and going to an Onsen one time I haven't used any ;) Thanks though! I am going to look for an electronic dictionary today that I really really want so I might use it on that.
Also on Saturday we had this thing for one of the members who teaches an Eikaiwa from her house. She went to BYU and got a degree in teaching English to Japanese people and is pretty cool. But anyways it was this presentation of the Christmas story called the 3 trees that you probably know. I had to teach her how to use power point and use audacity to edit sounds and stuff so that was pretty cool I got to use computer skills for service. At the presentation she had Elder Brown and me recite some of the parts and afterwards play some Christmas songs. It was pretty fun and everybody liked the songs. Afterwards everybody had refreshments and stuff and Takasugi (Eikaiwa member) shimai's husband (who is way funny and awesome) spontaneously asked me to stand in front of everyone and tell about myself in English and Japanese and answer everybody's questions and stuff. It was alright, but I really wanted to talk to the investigators and eikaiwa students that came. It turned out pretty well all in all I think ;)
Other than that has been snow falling a ton, melting completely, and then falling tons again!!! Good stuff. I'm excited to grow a lot here, but it is tough a lot of times with all the change so please keep praying for us. I love you more than there are snowflakes in Hokkaido and Utah combined!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, December 2, 2012
12/2/12 Christmas in Japan begins
Hey! Sorry last week's letter was short. I guess not really that much happened plus we had to hurry to the mission home for music practice. Thanks a ton for thinking about Ishiga Choro with the package and stuff. I'm looking forward to it! Everyone here is getting excited about Christmas, Santa, parties, and stuff like that. The snow is piling up really high. I don't think it really snows that much at least here, but they pile all the snow in the same place.
I have no idea what Moliere is, but I wish Adam good luck with that! Congrats to Mara too! That is funny that you touch my picture. They are doing tithing settlement here too. I'm really sorry you had to work when you weren't feeling well. Please get lots of rest when you can! Fat Friday sounds pretty fun haha. I am almost forgetting how Mexican food tastes. They have this dish here called *taco rice* which is kinda like Mexican food, but you just put it over rice. Elder Hansen made some pretty good tacos one time too. This doesn't mean I want Mexican food though. ;)
Grandma's birthday sounds like it was super fun too! That:s funny she forgot you were all coming too. Mya is getting big really fast! What day is Emily's wedding?
That's way cool that David is coaching a Jr High basketball team! I remember when him and dad coached my jr jazz team even though we weren't very good at all he was a really good coach. That's crazy sad news about the previous coach. Wow. What Jr. High is it? He is going to be an awesome coach. How did he get the job??
Christmas is Japan is basically just Santa and presents etc. There are no Christmas lights at all. Once in a while someone will have something on their door. There are a bunch of places in Sapporo city that have lights, but I haven't seen them. We haven't really had chances to talk to people much about Christmas except at church. Since it got cold and icy we can't use our bikes and no one is outside anymore. It is pretty tough to get places and go finding people. I guess people kinda focus on ancestors. It's what Buddhism is all about, but I'd say 90+ percent of Buddhists I've met here are only Buddhist on Obon and Shogatsu. Those are holidays. Anyways a lot of Japanese people have these things called butsudans in their house where they put pictures of their ancestors and burn incense and leave food and stuff. It's also pretty tough for Japanese people to do genealogy because after 100 years they destroy the public records. You have to go to the hometown of where the specific ancestor lived to get their records etc. because they become private property.
I'm doing my best to not freeze though. We have been doing a lot of snow shoveling and walking to far places in the snow. Mostly just my toes, fingers, and ears get cold. Other than that I'm all good and there is a place where I can buy earmuffs so I:ll be good. I'm doing my best with the new companion. It is a lot more tough to just talk and stuff because of the language barrier, but my Japanese and conversation starting skills are getting better I think. It is also tough to jump in when we teach lessons and stuff because I'm the only Gaijin now and I have to double time to keep up with everyone. I:m doing my best though.
So today is another music practice, but we got here early so I have more time. Elder Ringwood from the 70 is coming to visit and do a special zone conference. It's tomorrow and that's what the music practice is for. I actually got specially selected to be interviewed by him and I'm a little bit nervous, but it should be good.
This last week was a few lessons with the recent converts and a lot of trying to find new people. It is way different not having our people that are really progressing anymore because they all got baptized. They are doing pretty well though getting into the ward and stuff like that. It is hard for the ward to get them home teachers and stuff like that right away because there are so few priesthood leaders most of the time.
I feel like not a lot happened this week either, but I hope this feels like a *normal dose* of me. I love you all tons and tons and am so grateful for your prayers and encouragement!!! Please do your best to do missionary work there through your examples and your friends. Make friends with the missionaries if you can. It is so important for the work. Thanks for Moroni 8:2-3
and I will read it right away!!!
Aishitemasu
Hutchinson Choro
Pretty sure this is Brown Choro, Ishiga Choro (new comp) and Hutchinson Choro!
I have no idea what Moliere is, but I wish Adam good luck with that! Congrats to Mara too! That is funny that you touch my picture. They are doing tithing settlement here too. I'm really sorry you had to work when you weren't feeling well. Please get lots of rest when you can! Fat Friday sounds pretty fun haha. I am almost forgetting how Mexican food tastes. They have this dish here called *taco rice* which is kinda like Mexican food, but you just put it over rice. Elder Hansen made some pretty good tacos one time too. This doesn't mean I want Mexican food though. ;)
Grandma's birthday sounds like it was super fun too! That:s funny she forgot you were all coming too. Mya is getting big really fast! What day is Emily's wedding?
That's way cool that David is coaching a Jr High basketball team! I remember when him and dad coached my jr jazz team even though we weren't very good at all he was a really good coach. That's crazy sad news about the previous coach. Wow. What Jr. High is it? He is going to be an awesome coach. How did he get the job??
Christmas is Japan is basically just Santa and presents etc. There are no Christmas lights at all. Once in a while someone will have something on their door. There are a bunch of places in Sapporo city that have lights, but I haven't seen them. We haven't really had chances to talk to people much about Christmas except at church. Since it got cold and icy we can't use our bikes and no one is outside anymore. It is pretty tough to get places and go finding people. I guess people kinda focus on ancestors. It's what Buddhism is all about, but I'd say 90+ percent of Buddhists I've met here are only Buddhist on Obon and Shogatsu. Those are holidays. Anyways a lot of Japanese people have these things called butsudans in their house where they put pictures of their ancestors and burn incense and leave food and stuff. It's also pretty tough for Japanese people to do genealogy because after 100 years they destroy the public records. You have to go to the hometown of where the specific ancestor lived to get their records etc. because they become private property.
I'm doing my best to not freeze though. We have been doing a lot of snow shoveling and walking to far places in the snow. Mostly just my toes, fingers, and ears get cold. Other than that I'm all good and there is a place where I can buy earmuffs so I:ll be good. I'm doing my best with the new companion. It is a lot more tough to just talk and stuff because of the language barrier, but my Japanese and conversation starting skills are getting better I think. It is also tough to jump in when we teach lessons and stuff because I'm the only Gaijin now and I have to double time to keep up with everyone. I:m doing my best though.
So today is another music practice, but we got here early so I have more time. Elder Ringwood from the 70 is coming to visit and do a special zone conference. It's tomorrow and that's what the music practice is for. I actually got specially selected to be interviewed by him and I'm a little bit nervous, but it should be good.
This last week was a few lessons with the recent converts and a lot of trying to find new people. It is way different not having our people that are really progressing anymore because they all got baptized. They are doing pretty well though getting into the ward and stuff like that. It is hard for the ward to get them home teachers and stuff like that right away because there are so few priesthood leaders most of the time.
I feel like not a lot happened this week either, but I hope this feels like a *normal dose* of me. I love you all tons and tons and am so grateful for your prayers and encouragement!!! Please do your best to do missionary work there through your examples and your friends. Make friends with the missionaries if you can. It is so important for the work. Thanks for Moroni 8:2-3
and I will read it right away!!!
Aishitemasu
Hutchinson Choro
Sunday, November 25, 2012
11/25/12 Eniwa again!
Hello!!! I'm super glad that you got the letter! I hope they like it haha. It probably will take that long for mail to come most of the time... I don't know 100% how busy it will always be, but actually getting to the post office to send the letters is usually the long wait thing.
I guess it all depends on how the things go here in... ENIWA again! ;) My new companion is named Ishiga Choro and he is a Nihonjin!!! He is also a boss. He got baptized 3 years ago from this Christmas and is from a place in Japan called Tottori. He is 22 so he was basically as old as I am right now when he got baptized. The other cool thing is that the missionary that taught him lives in this ward! Way neat. He just got done training one of the Nihonjin that left the MTC with me in an area called Kitami. Brown Choro in the apartment from New Zealand stayed too and got another new Nihonjin comp himself named Ogata Choro. It is really cool, but really tough at times because we basically have to speak Japanese all day everyday. I am helping Ishiga Choro learn English too, so that's pretty fun. His favorite thing to learn is English primary songs. He also loves American candy especially reeses and cereal with marshmallows in it ;););)
Holy cow!!! The news about all the mission calls is blowing my mind!!! I'm soo happy! Everyone's call fits them way well and I know they're going to do such amazing stuff!!! I'm excited for Sarah to do her papers too and I feel way bad that letter took forever to get sent... That's cool you got to see her at the musical and have fun. Glad Thanksgiving was fun too! My prediction about Curry was true :) (Mom's note: if you know what he means, tell me ;) ) The pictures of everyone together look really awesome though. Everyone looks different already too! I have definitely had a lot to be thankful for and I hope that I can show it through my service and actions even though I didn't get a chance to show it through eating haha. The new members are doing well too! I actually had a talk in sacrament meeting last week on a conference talk and I chose Pres Monson's talk from the priesthood session.
I'll let you know about Christmas call stuff as soon as I can. I don't know if I'll be able to use the card, but I'll let you know all the details right away when I find out. I miss Christmas lights haha. I heard there are some cool ones in Sapporo city though so that should be cool. The pictures of Mya and Olivia look awesome!
So this week has basically been saying good bye to everyone with Hansen Choro and then meeting my new comp and coming back to show him around. It's tough because I don't know the area as well as Hansen Choro did and I have to explain everything in Japanese, but it's going pretty alright still. Ishiga Choro is super good at talking to people and becoming their friend really fast. He actually worked as a licensed preschool teacher before coming on his mission too so that's pretty sweet! I wanted to attach a picture of him, but I forgot my camera as usual. Sorry! I'll do my best next week! Thanks again for the love and prayers and letters and example!!! Keep trying hard to do missionary work there too!!!!!!!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
I guess it all depends on how the things go here in... ENIWA again! ;) My new companion is named Ishiga Choro and he is a Nihonjin!!! He is also a boss. He got baptized 3 years ago from this Christmas and is from a place in Japan called Tottori. He is 22 so he was basically as old as I am right now when he got baptized. The other cool thing is that the missionary that taught him lives in this ward! Way neat. He just got done training one of the Nihonjin that left the MTC with me in an area called Kitami. Brown Choro in the apartment from New Zealand stayed too and got another new Nihonjin comp himself named Ogata Choro. It is really cool, but really tough at times because we basically have to speak Japanese all day everyday. I am helping Ishiga Choro learn English too, so that's pretty fun. His favorite thing to learn is English primary songs. He also loves American candy especially reeses and cereal with marshmallows in it ;););)
Holy cow!!! The news about all the mission calls is blowing my mind!!! I'm soo happy! Everyone's call fits them way well and I know they're going to do such amazing stuff!!! I'm excited for Sarah to do her papers too and I feel way bad that letter took forever to get sent... That's cool you got to see her at the musical and have fun. Glad Thanksgiving was fun too! My prediction about Curry was true :) (Mom's note: if you know what he means, tell me ;) ) The pictures of everyone together look really awesome though. Everyone looks different already too! I have definitely had a lot to be thankful for and I hope that I can show it through my service and actions even though I didn't get a chance to show it through eating haha. The new members are doing well too! I actually had a talk in sacrament meeting last week on a conference talk and I chose Pres Monson's talk from the priesthood session.
I'll let you know about Christmas call stuff as soon as I can. I don't know if I'll be able to use the card, but I'll let you know all the details right away when I find out. I miss Christmas lights haha. I heard there are some cool ones in Sapporo city though so that should be cool. The pictures of Mya and Olivia look awesome!
So this week has basically been saying good bye to everyone with Hansen Choro and then meeting my new comp and coming back to show him around. It's tough because I don't know the area as well as Hansen Choro did and I have to explain everything in Japanese, but it's going pretty alright still. Ishiga Choro is super good at talking to people and becoming their friend really fast. He actually worked as a licensed preschool teacher before coming on his mission too so that's pretty sweet! I wanted to attach a picture of him, but I forgot my camera as usual. Sorry! I'll do my best next week! Thanks again for the love and prayers and letters and example!!! Keep trying hard to do missionary work there too!!!!!!!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
Monday, September 3, 2012
9/2/12 First week in Eniwa
Hey! Everything is way exciting and awesome! I`m really sorry that I wasn't able to snag more time to talk to everyone else as well :( I still have that phone card you sent and don:t have anything to do with it... Should I send it back sometime? It was great to talk and sorry if I didn't have much to talk about. I`m excited for Christmas, but I hope it doesn't come too fast for me!
Flying was the best, but I`m super glad to be here and not have to sit for a long time. Being out and about is the best! There were no problems at all with my luggage except for I had to use an extra knapsack type bag that elder Bush let me borrow to use as my "personal item" because It wouldn't fit anywhere else. It actually ripped almost completely apart once I got to the mission home, but I was able to make it without losing anything. I`d recommend getting two big suitcases and a carryon rather than 1 suitcase and 1 carryon like I had.
I have had a whole week full of "bean"(like a greenie, but the Japanese version) things, but I`ve also had lots of time to dendo as well! Dendo means missionary work and there are lots of different kinds of dendo. Since I didn't really sleep on the plane getting used to the jet lag wasn't too bad, but I sleep better here than I ever did in my life probably because of all the hard good work. My apartment is pretty cool and nice! We actually share it with 2 other missionaries that are way cool. One is named Elder Oomura who is from Okinawa and a Nihonjin and his companion is Elder Brown from New Zealand. There are two study rooms/rooms to keep our clothes and get dressed, a small bathroom w/ just a toilet and sink thing and then another bathroom with sink, laundry machines, and Japanese style bath/shower. Then our Kitchen has a microwave, stove, toaster oven, and fridge. The microwave is pretty spiffy and can work like an oven too. Yesterday was Sunday and the ward gave us so much food! We also have a bedroom that has a cool sliding door with the straw mats as the floor, but because there are four of us our futons overlap into the living room too. Getting a bike was tricky because the card wasn't working at first and we found out the problem was my daily withdrawal limit, but we fixed it and I have the money so no prob there. We just have to wait for the bike shop to get the one I ordered. No need to send my straw over! haha the 7-11's are mostly for getting money and buying a snack or something once in a while. I wish I could show you the cool Kanji for Eniwa, I'm sure you could look it up though. There are also two other cities that my area covers called Chitose and Megumino. We are definitely going to work hard and plant/raise some beautiful blessings haha! My companion is pretty much a boss. He is crazy good at Japanese and talking to people. He is also way funny and cool. Definitely encouraging to work with. He actually looks a lot like Joseph Gandy haha. I forgot to bring my camera to the church, but you might be able to see his pic with me on the mission blog. As for garbage there are just a bunch of different categories that they only pickup on certain days, so it is a bit tricky.
I'm way glad you are reading the NT together! I want to start reading it eventually too because of how much we can learn about the savior's life from it. I have kind of been focusing on the BoM and PMG lately, but I hope to eventually find time to read all the NT, BoM, and Jesus The Christ. I hope Mara is learning a lot in seminary and taking the time to think about it a lot! I'm glad my testimony was able to help :) It is something that I hope to always be sharing as a missionary. Thanks for reciprocating the importance of the savior and the comfort that we can receive through and from Him. I know He is proud of all of you for all the great things you are doing back home as well. I`m glad that you were able to be help a lot through your tough work experience. Please keep working hard and remember how much I love you!
Thanks for the address and I'll do my best to write her/everyone else soon! There are lots of things we can only do on P-day(cleaning, shopping, sightseeing,etc.) but I want to find time to write as much as I can. Please send everything to the mission home address :)
How is Adam liking college? What classes does he have and how is the commute? I bet it is really fun to hear Mara and I`m proud of her for taking such a big responsibility and working hard. P-days are Monday here which I think is like Sunday night for you or something. I have some cool stories to share now.
So my first dendo was in downtown Sapporo before I left to Eniwa. There are tons of people on the streets there! It's tricky though because we can't talk to girls. We found a few people who actually wanted to talk and actually passed a book of mormon to a high school age kid and passed a lot of little chirashi (flyers) too. We also met an interesting guy who had studied a lot of different religions and stuff and just wanted to talk about how he wants to become an animal. I am pretty good at understanding the gist of conversations here, but I have definitely been humbled a LOT as far as Japanese goes. It's good though because I can learn a lot from what I hear and be motivated to study harder!! We have also tried dendoing in Eniwa a bunch, but there are hardly as many people on the streets. Yesterday we house dendo'd a bunch which is always very interesting and fun. We actually found one guy who was interested in listening and taught him all of lesson one on his porch! We were going to give him a BoM, but he wouldn't take it because it was free! He tried to pay for it, but we couldn't let him. He gave us water and said we could come back any time though! We also actually talked to random people in the park afterwards and it was great! It is such a cool feeling to be able to talk to people even though in the end they don:t always have interest.
So right now we have 3 solid investigators. One is named Nakamura and she has had all the lessons and is keeping all the commandments, but just needs to get a stronger testimony of JS and the BoM. The other is Haramai and she is pretty awesome! She has a daughter who is 8 and when we visited her house her daughter kept asking when she could be baptized! Another investigator named Miyashita could be getting baptized this Saturday except she had to go on a trip for a while. I think there are a few more, but there a lots of people that have interest and are progressing. We had to pass a bunch to the other companionship because of it. We have also visited members quite a bit and been fed A LOT! Of the first 4 days in Eniwa we were fed dinner 3 of them. Such crazy good food! Elder Hansen got sweet pictures. The members are so awesome! Two of them are old widow ladies that are super funny and fun to listen to. We actually ate at the stake president's house last night too. SOO much food, but sooo good. I also ate this thing called natto at the apartment a few nights ago. Some people say it's one of the hardest things to eat ever, but it wasn't too bad. Not delicious by any means, but really healthy so I:ll try to eat it every now and then I think.
Church yesterday was really cool too. The ward is so cool and nice! There are some funny and cool members and they:re all interested in the missionaries and stuff. We all bore are testimonies and introduced ourselves since it was fast and testimony meeting and I was really nervous, but everyone said I did great and is impressed with my Japanese for a bean. The spirit is so strong even though I can't always understand 100%. I'm excited to work hard to make it to the point where I can at least be really close and share and be uplifted just as much!
That's pretty much it! I'm excited to get a bike and be able to get moving a lot more! I:m also going to a Matsuri festival tonight with the other missionaries and then once p-day time is over we are going to shizen dendo which means natural dendo. It is where we basically just talk to people in normal situations, become there friends and try to find a way to share the gospel! I'm super excited. We're also doing lots of shopping.
I'll try to get lots of cool pictures and not forget my camera!
Love you so so so much! Kokoro Kara Aishiteimasu!!!
Hacchinson Chourou
(Note from Mom: I received the following note today from another Sapporo mission mom, Sister Rodenberg:
"Your son (Braden?) was mentioned in our letter home today. Our son, Braedon Rodenberg is in Odori, Sapporo, and told us that they are having another musical fireside. He is in a trio singing A Child's Prayer, and your son is the guitarist!" I'm so excited to hear that he's been given a way to share his music already!)
Flying was the best, but I`m super glad to be here and not have to sit for a long time. Being out and about is the best! There were no problems at all with my luggage except for I had to use an extra knapsack type bag that elder Bush let me borrow to use as my "personal item" because It wouldn't fit anywhere else. It actually ripped almost completely apart once I got to the mission home, but I was able to make it without losing anything. I`d recommend getting two big suitcases and a carryon rather than 1 suitcase and 1 carryon like I had.
I have had a whole week full of "bean"(like a greenie, but the Japanese version) things, but I`ve also had lots of time to dendo as well! Dendo means missionary work and there are lots of different kinds of dendo. Since I didn't really sleep on the plane getting used to the jet lag wasn't too bad, but I sleep better here than I ever did in my life probably because of all the hard good work. My apartment is pretty cool and nice! We actually share it with 2 other missionaries that are way cool. One is named Elder Oomura who is from Okinawa and a Nihonjin and his companion is Elder Brown from New Zealand. There are two study rooms/rooms to keep our clothes and get dressed, a small bathroom w/ just a toilet and sink thing and then another bathroom with sink, laundry machines, and Japanese style bath/shower. Then our Kitchen has a microwave, stove, toaster oven, and fridge. The microwave is pretty spiffy and can work like an oven too. Yesterday was Sunday and the ward gave us so much food! We also have a bedroom that has a cool sliding door with the straw mats as the floor, but because there are four of us our futons overlap into the living room too. Getting a bike was tricky because the card wasn't working at first and we found out the problem was my daily withdrawal limit, but we fixed it and I have the money so no prob there. We just have to wait for the bike shop to get the one I ordered. No need to send my straw over! haha the 7-11's are mostly for getting money and buying a snack or something once in a while. I wish I could show you the cool Kanji for Eniwa, I'm sure you could look it up though. There are also two other cities that my area covers called Chitose and Megumino. We are definitely going to work hard and plant/raise some beautiful blessings haha! My companion is pretty much a boss. He is crazy good at Japanese and talking to people. He is also way funny and cool. Definitely encouraging to work with. He actually looks a lot like Joseph Gandy haha. I forgot to bring my camera to the church, but you might be able to see his pic with me on the mission blog. As for garbage there are just a bunch of different categories that they only pickup on certain days, so it is a bit tricky.
I'm way glad you are reading the NT together! I want to start reading it eventually too because of how much we can learn about the savior's life from it. I have kind of been focusing on the BoM and PMG lately, but I hope to eventually find time to read all the NT, BoM, and Jesus The Christ. I hope Mara is learning a lot in seminary and taking the time to think about it a lot! I'm glad my testimony was able to help :) It is something that I hope to always be sharing as a missionary. Thanks for reciprocating the importance of the savior and the comfort that we can receive through and from Him. I know He is proud of all of you for all the great things you are doing back home as well. I`m glad that you were able to be help a lot through your tough work experience. Please keep working hard and remember how much I love you!
Thanks for the address and I'll do my best to write her/everyone else soon! There are lots of things we can only do on P-day(cleaning, shopping, sightseeing,etc.) but I want to find time to write as much as I can. Please send everything to the mission home address :)
How is Adam liking college? What classes does he have and how is the commute? I bet it is really fun to hear Mara and I`m proud of her for taking such a big responsibility and working hard. P-days are Monday here which I think is like Sunday night for you or something. I have some cool stories to share now.
So my first dendo was in downtown Sapporo before I left to Eniwa. There are tons of people on the streets there! It's tricky though because we can't talk to girls. We found a few people who actually wanted to talk and actually passed a book of mormon to a high school age kid and passed a lot of little chirashi (flyers) too. We also met an interesting guy who had studied a lot of different religions and stuff and just wanted to talk about how he wants to become an animal. I am pretty good at understanding the gist of conversations here, but I have definitely been humbled a LOT as far as Japanese goes. It's good though because I can learn a lot from what I hear and be motivated to study harder!! We have also tried dendoing in Eniwa a bunch, but there are hardly as many people on the streets. Yesterday we house dendo'd a bunch which is always very interesting and fun. We actually found one guy who was interested in listening and taught him all of lesson one on his porch! We were going to give him a BoM, but he wouldn't take it because it was free! He tried to pay for it, but we couldn't let him. He gave us water and said we could come back any time though! We also actually talked to random people in the park afterwards and it was great! It is such a cool feeling to be able to talk to people even though in the end they don:t always have interest.
So right now we have 3 solid investigators. One is named Nakamura and she has had all the lessons and is keeping all the commandments, but just needs to get a stronger testimony of JS and the BoM. The other is Haramai and she is pretty awesome! She has a daughter who is 8 and when we visited her house her daughter kept asking when she could be baptized! Another investigator named Miyashita could be getting baptized this Saturday except she had to go on a trip for a while. I think there are a few more, but there a lots of people that have interest and are progressing. We had to pass a bunch to the other companionship because of it. We have also visited members quite a bit and been fed A LOT! Of the first 4 days in Eniwa we were fed dinner 3 of them. Such crazy good food! Elder Hansen got sweet pictures. The members are so awesome! Two of them are old widow ladies that are super funny and fun to listen to. We actually ate at the stake president's house last night too. SOO much food, but sooo good. I also ate this thing called natto at the apartment a few nights ago. Some people say it's one of the hardest things to eat ever, but it wasn't too bad. Not delicious by any means, but really healthy so I:ll try to eat it every now and then I think.
Church yesterday was really cool too. The ward is so cool and nice! There are some funny and cool members and they:re all interested in the missionaries and stuff. We all bore are testimonies and introduced ourselves since it was fast and testimony meeting and I was really nervous, but everyone said I did great and is impressed with my Japanese for a bean. The spirit is so strong even though I can't always understand 100%. I'm excited to work hard to make it to the point where I can at least be really close and share and be uplifted just as much!
That's pretty much it! I'm excited to get a bike and be able to get moving a lot more! I:m also going to a Matsuri festival tonight with the other missionaries and then once p-day time is over we are going to shizen dendo which means natural dendo. It is where we basically just talk to people in normal situations, become there friends and try to find a way to share the gospel! I'm super excited. We're also doing lots of shopping.
I'll try to get lots of cool pictures and not forget my camera!
Love you so so so much! Kokoro Kara Aishiteimasu!!!
Hacchinson Chourou
(Note from Mom: I received the following note today from another Sapporo mission mom, Sister Rodenberg:
"Your son (Braden?) was mentioned in our letter home today. Our son, Braedon Rodenberg is in Odori, Sapporo, and told us that they are having another musical fireside. He is in a trio singing A Child's Prayer, and your son is the guitarist!" I'm so excited to hear that he's been given a way to share his music already!)
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