6/16/13 Been out one year already

Hey! I realized that I had been out a year a little while ago! Crazy... That's funny of you to have a celebration for it though. Did you get the Katsu from L&L? I remember going there once. Katsu is just what they call the battered meat. Don means that it's on top of a bowl of rice.

Sounds like things have been busy! Better than just sitting around though right? That's crazy awesome about Ben Bramble's baptism! I wish I could hear the story about that. Crazy he moved into the Shorts as well. Wow. That missionary broadcast sounds way cool. 50 bucks that I probably won't see it, but hopefully I'll get a chance to check it someday. The bishopric message sounds like it was way awesome! Thanks for the scriptures! They are a lot of really good ones. One thing I need to have more lately is the conviction in those promises while I work. Things get kinda discouraging lately, but I'm doing everything I can to be on top of things and find those that are ready. Thank you for the prayers especially for me and the people I teach. I want to pray harder myself. I love you tons and tons and hope that everything is going smoothly! Excited for Adam as well!
Here's the lowdown for this week.

Monday we went to Nosappu misaki! It cost a lot of money to get there... The food there was really expensive too, but the experience and view where awesome! It was a little foggy, but you could still see the northern territories a bit from there. It was pretty awesome. I had some crab-don that was good (about 18 dollars) and we took lots of great pictures. There were some interesting museums there too. We did finding at a nearby apartment building and as we were leaving we met a guy in the parking lot. He had a lot of interesting questions about religion and the church and was kind of a doubtful guy, but in the end we just bore our testimonies and he wasn't able to say anything bad back. We passed him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read. Maybe we'll visit him again soon. Tuesday was DTM and finding. Some nice people and some kind of sad people but we do all that we can to help them out with sharing our message. That day we also put up a bunch of Eikaiwa posters. Wednesday I went on splits with someone I was in the MTC with, just a transfer below me. I was able to learn a lot through leading and everything. I also learned a lot from him. His name is Andersen Choro and he is a few years older, but a way awesome guy. We went to Hanasaki port which is about a 35 min bike ride away. We housed there all day and found some decent people, but since it is so far it's hard to make appointments to go back. We also ate sushi that night. Yum. Thursday was planning session and dendoing a bit by another big apartment. We were about to finish and Inumaki Choro noticed this girl riding a scooter that said hi to him last time he was in the area (on splits) She went into her house and Inumaki Choro felt like we should ping it (ring the door bell) so we did. The girl is about 9 and she lives with her mom who was divorced. They are super humble and live in a pretty small shack-like place. We talked a bit about God and they said that they would really like to learn more and come to church too. They ended up having something come up, but we'll stop by again tonight to check on them. Friday was more Eikaiwa advertising and dendoing by a member's house. Eikaiwa that night went great too. Not everyone who usually comes could come, BUT 3 new students came and it went really great. Saturday we went to Betsukai again to help out on the farm. Since missionaries can't ride in a girl's car unless there is another adult, we had to walk back from the farm to the town which was about an hour and a half, but way pretty. Felt like a pioneer. Sunday was way good. A non-attending member came and said she felt so good that she wants to come from now on. Way cool :). Also the area 70 visited and gave a really good talk! I blessed the sacrament again as well. It is fun in Japanese. That day we met another non-attending who is really nice. She still doesn't feel like returning, but she feels like she will eventually. She is actually going to help us find some other non-attendings that have moved! Cool. We did some more finding that day and met the nearby high school's English teacher. He spoke in English to us for a bit and it was kinda fun. He wants to come to Eikaiwa, but being a teacher in Japan is like the busiest job ever. A member in the branch is the other high school's English teacher and is crazy busy too. Anyways that was pretty much the week! Today we don't have any plans in particular other than eating at a new place and writing letters at home.

Happy Father's day to dad! He gets a letter since I didn't get to call him ;)
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

Phillipino jello made from milk that we helped make on the farm

Crabs chillin in the sushi place

Sushi after splits

Museum at Nosappu

Crabdon

Cool monument

The eastern tip of Japan - Nosappu Cape Lighthouse

(Mom's note: We had a really great time talking to Braden Saturday. Because of the time difference we called at 6:00 am for him and he was still on the train coming back from a mission-wide meeting. We called again later and eventually he was back in Nemuro, just tired. He sounds great! He loves what he's doing and will be at this location for one or two more transfers due to his companion getting ready to go home.)

Hey! I am still a little tired, but doing great. Sorry about all the time misunderstandings and stuff. I'm really grateful that I could talk to you all as well. I'm grateful for the prayers and great example as always. Thank you thank you thank you! I hope Grandma Price is doing great! To answer your question about popcorn popping, yeah they have it. The hymn book doesn't have everything the English one does, but the primary songbook does. I can't believe how much Mya can talk - that was really surprising and neat. I'm glad your mother's day was so happy you deserve it!

I have a question about sweets actually... do you have that recipe for the microwave cake that you make in the bowls? Since we don't have an oven I was thinking about maybe trying that. Lauren is a very cool mom and it sounds like she is working hard and having a great time. I'm glad I had a chance to talk to Adam about preparation. I hope he is doing great. Taking classes and studying the scriptures is good and everything, but the most important thing is being able to apply and share what you learn with confidence. Find the reason that you are grateful for the gospel and tell everyone about it! Anyone who has applied the Savior's teachings and received a spiritual witness can do that. Thanks for saying hi to everyone in the ward again!

So I kinda let you know about what happened this week already, but for the most part it was hanging out in Kushiro for a bit, coming back, having splits that ended early, and going to Sapporo. Splits were way fun. It was my first time doing splits as the Sr. Missionary in the companionship. I went with Fukushima Choro who is way cool and we decided to go to Hanasaki port which is about 30 min away on bikes. Before that we went to visit some potential investigators and found some more Chinese guys that are way cool and nice. Then Fukushima Choro got a call finding out that he had to transfer early because his companion was becoming a trainer. We didn't know what to do so we tried to call the other companionship, but they wouldn't answer so we prayed about whether we should go home early or go to Hanasaki and take the later train. We decided to go to Hanasaki and had a really good time and met 2 really cool people on the way that we exchanged phone numbers with. The day after that Inumaki Choro and I had planning session and had really good finding that day. We made a goal to pass out more copies of the Book of Mormon because of how important it is for investigators to read it. We talked to Mochida that night and read the Book of Mormon with him and it went really well. He has a lot of interest in the Book of Mormon and promised to read and pray about it everyday while he is on his business trip.

The next day was straight traveling to Sapporo... train then bus. It was very tiring, but not too bad. We got to Sapporo and Inumaki Choro had to go to the dentist so I waited for a bit. That night we hung out with the missionaries that came early and it was way fun. The next day was music practice and pretty much everyone in the mission was there. It was way rad to meet all the new missionaries! Music practice went well and right after that we got on the train to Kushiro. Next morning woke up at 4:45 to make the train to Nemuro and got to talk to my awesome family! Church went super well. An old investigator named Takizawa came and we taught him from the gospel principles book. He doesn't disagree with any of the church's teachings. He thinks they're true and everything, he just has a hard time because he has been Methodist for such a long time. He pretty much wants to join the church, but is looking for that confirmation y'know. Kinda tough, but he is way nice. After church we had a sign language lesson from Nariyama Shimai that was pretty sweet. I:m really excited to be able to speak it! It's way fun. After church we rested and went out to find! There was one really cool guy named Fujishima that we taught a great lesson to about the plan of salvation. We got home and Inumaki Choro got to call his family. That's it!

I hope everyone is doing great and has opportunities to show Christ-like love to everyone around. Don't get too warm over there! haha
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro