6/8/14 Transfer Week!

Hey! It's been hot and rainy this week. School isn't out, but it sounds like everyone is running wild over there. Tell Mara to keep up the good work!

The only thing I said to Elder Christofferson was "thanks for coming" and when he asked me what we were doing I said we were taking a picture together and he said he wanted to join in. He didn't talk about "preparing for marriage" I guess. It was more like why it's important and stuff. It's still scary.

Transfer week went great! Elder Lee is my new companion along with Tomita E staying! It's not crowded at all because the Honbu is big. There are six desks and two showers so we have room for one more if necessary. If you can see the list online, what more can I tell you about where everyone went? hahaha

The Evans will actually live in Salt Lake when they go back! Pretty cool. You'll probably be able to meet them for sure! Sister Evans was just asking about when Connor got back and I had no idea so thanks for letting me know! Is your comment about him getting a job just a light version of saying the same thing to me?? W

By the way. I realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly want to extend!!!!!!!!! I've been thinking about it a lot and it was one of the biggest things on my mind lately. There's definitely a lot of praying and stuff to do about it, but I don't have anything to do when I get home besides speak at church and wait til next year to try to go to BYU. I also really wish that I could spend my last transfer as a normal missionary. It's kinda tough having to be in an office almost all the time, but I need to have joy in what the Lord wants me to do. Right now I really hope he wants me to extend. Would you be ok with that? Kaicho kinda said that they would probably be happy to have me extend, but he thought that you wouldn't be too interested in it. Anyways yeah. That's what I have been thinking about lately.

A new porchlight/carpet/paint? I won't even recognize the house when I get back which is 100% daijoubu (OK)

So yeah. Monday was way fun. We went to the Moiwa district activity and hiked Moiwa mtn. We took some pretty sweet pictures. Did I ever tell you how much I love melon pan? I love it. I've gotten recipes from members before, but you should try to find some and maybe make some. They had melon pan ice cream (Melon pan right out of the oven with ice cream in the middle like a sandwich) and it was really good. We shopped and cleaned and then I did Lee E's training from 6 til the end of the day. Tuesday we had a lot of transfer calls, prep, eating lunch with Andersen E's district and then found out that I will never be able to drive in Japan. Lee E too! He had an Idaho license so he would have to renew it in person. Kaicho might not be too happy about that hahaha. After all that, we went to get the beans at night! They are way fun!!! There was only one Elder, Elder Gubler, but he was way chill. The shimai were especially fun this time around. Two nihonjin, one from Okinawa and one from nearby Tokyo, but used to live in Hokkaido working on different kinds of farms! I wish I could be a bean again. I've probably seen the new missionary training more than 5 times now w. Wednesday we had all the bean stuff; breakfast at the Evans, workshops, meeting trainers, more workshops, dinner, testimony meeting, the works. During testimony meeting, Kaicho made me bear my testimony too because he will be gone at the end of this transfer and won't get to hear mine in that kind of a setting. It was completely totsuzen (unexpected), but I think I did pretty well. All the beans went home, so Thursday night we ate the Evans breakfast with the missionaries that stayed the night the day before. The transfer spot went well, but was way short. I didn't take any pictures or anything. After that the sisters had a taikai IN OUR APARTMENT. ah. We cleaned it a lot before, but they had like a clothing exchange.... So now there are like 4 giant bags of old shimai clothes... ew... wwwwwww I don't really remember what we did after that! Friday was a day of a LOT of preparations for this transfer. At night we tried to shizen dendo at the Yosakoi dance festival, but it wasn't too effective... Yeah. On Saturday was the same kinda feel, but we had a talent show at night. I played with Evans S again. It was the same song as before. Sunday was good too and we actually had time to dendo!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today we have a zone activity (for all the missionaries that are close to Sapporo... two zones and a half) so we'll do the scroll signing thing. Yeaaaaah. I had to wake up early to get email time. sleepy.
Here are some pictures.
I love you! Aishiteimasu!

Hutchinson Choro

View from the top of Mt. Moiwa

Odori and and Atsubetsu Zone Activity, climbing Maruyama

Pres. & Sister Evans at the Zone Activity BBQ

6/1/14 Mission Conference!

Hey! So first off, how many other missionaries' moms are you friends with? That's crazy hahaha. The big scroll has been going around to all the zones so that everyone gets to sign before the Evans leave. I don't know when I'll sign it, but I'm sure I will by where my trainer signed. Well, probably. It's probably covered with everyone else's signatures so I might be lucky to get a spot!

I don't know when my flight is. Apparently they can't tell me yet??? You'll find out before me though. Let me know ASAP because I want to let at least some people from Eniwa know because they want to see me off.

Penny is Alysha's mom right? She's close so you'll definitely still be able to talk to her a lot!
There were actually 2 baptisms in Nemuro! They were both referrals that Okuchi S gave. We got 21 baptisms this transfer which is actually a pretty HUGE accomplishment. :) You can write whatever you want back to Tando Shimai. I don't know what she wrote, so yeah. We ate dinner at her house again last week!

I'm glad your busy week went well! My week went great as well!
Monday a lot of letter writing! We also got a bunch of stuff ready to take over to the conference. At night, we drove the Evans to the airport for their conference in Tokyo! Yeah, we did mission conference without them! Tuesday, we took stuff over to the conference! A lot of missionaries (all the missionaries) had to come to Sapporo so we had to get ready for people to come to the honbu and other things. We also had a DKK to make sure that everything was set up straight.

WEDNESDAY was the fireside! It went so perfectly well! Everyone was so obedient I couldn't believe it. First Elder and Sister Aoyagi spoke, then Sister Christofferson. After that Elder Christofferson spoke and started with a question/answer session and then he shared a message about... haha. Marriage. Well, kind of. It was a lot about the importance of preparing for that and the fact that the two most important things we need to do in this life are to be born, and be spiritually reborn. Thanks for helping me do both!!! Afterwards we took a huge group picture and at the last second he decided he wanted to be in it! The next day we drove back and got things cleaned up. We also found a bit and then went to Tando S's house. After that we picked up the Evans. They had met Elders Christofferson and Cook in Tokyo and they had some good things to say about us!

On Friday night, we had a baptismal interview! It was to a family of four that got baptized the next day! They were so amazing and so prepared. I'm always so happy to see people accept the gospel as families! Other than that, it was some transfer planning and driving around delivering things. Saturday was kind of the same! Kaicho is so cool with transfer planning. Sometimes we'll be sitting in his office discussing where people should go, end with a prayer, and then next time BOOM he has all the right answers and they make perfect sense. Sunday was a great fast Sunday. We did a lot of transfer planning with all the honbu people then made some phone calls and other preparations! It's a busy time!
Thanks for all your love and support!! You're the best!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro