12/8/13 Baptism and Bye Byes

Hey! So I don't know if I transfer yet... But I kinda hope I do hahaha. I do love it here so so sooo much, but I feel like I know it too well. It stresses me out sometimes and I think it will be best for everyone here as well because I don't want them to get too attached to me. I definitely hope that we can come to Japan and meet everyone again as well!!! Nemuro might be a little tough because of how separated it is, but we could figure it out :) The snow picture you have is crazy. I'm grateful for the lack of snow here, but we'll see how it is in my new area. I haven't found out if I'm leaving yet, but I have been getting assignments from Evans S (president's wife) to arrange music for the Sapporo music thing and she did mention (maybe accidentally) that this time around they weren't going to be able to bring missionaries from far away areas because of how much the mission has grown. Not only that but I've been here for 6 transfers which is really rare (at least for Pres. Evans).

I hope everyone back home is feeling better! All the pictures of the nieces are great. I hope we'll be able to have a good Christmas party here too. Tell Mya happy birthday for me! Wow. I'm the worst son/brother etc about birthdays hahaha. Lights? Oh boy... hahaha Thanks! The Christmas call will probably be somethin' like that! I think it would be really hard to talk with Adam on the line too. No one would have any personal phone time. I'll leave it up to you though! They said they'd send the mail next week because of transfers.

Lets see what I can get from this week in the next five minutes!!!!
Monday was a cool P-day of music practice and teaching a lesson to a group of four 15 year olds who have a band. One had an experience of getting an evil spirit cast out so he was really interested in getting closer to God. We gave 'em all BoM's and invited them to baptism. We also had FHE with Hayato and the Okuchis!
Tuesday Was DTM and visiting Van S and a few less actives. She made us so much Vietnamese food again. Oh boy!
Wednesday was visiting some old invs to show Morgan E more of the area. We also had the baptism interview and it went great! Harper E came from Kushiro. We ate ramen together afterwards.
Thursday was LOTS of old investigators. Also DKK.
Friday was finding in an area around a lot of other investigators who mostly weren't home plus a great Eikaiwa. Some students knew it'd prob be my last day so they gave me way cool ties.
Saturday we had lunch with our army friend Kunii again and he brought a friend. It was harder to teach a lesson, but the friend is way cool. We also got the baptismal font ready and had another lesson w/ Hayato where Okuchi S surprised with those cards you saw. Way nice. We also had dinner with another old Inv. She gave us the number of her son who lives in the Sendai mission.
Sunday was, oh you know. Sunday. Hayato's baptism went way awesome! His hand came up the first time so Morgan E did it twice. Gift of the HG went great too! The Ozawas had a funeral, but we started early and they were able to come to the whole thing! Yay. At night we visited a bunch of NA's and met Hayato's family. It is him and four sisters plus his mom. His mom is divorced so he's the only boy. They are way nice though!
Great week!
Time's up! Love you!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

Getting Hayato's font ready

Yuka helping

Eikaiwa student

Eikaiwa students

Eikaiwa students

Some sweet katsu curry that I made

Hayato's baptism day!

Branch members at the baptism!

A great day!

Nemuro's newest member

11/23/13 ZTM, Splits and Splits!

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

11/17/13 Pulling things together!

Hey! Thanks for the money update! (Note: he answers some questions from Mom, esp about last week's photos) Did you get those pictures from facebook? Why are you so interested in the picture of the fridge...? It's about 90% bread. On the bottom there is meat. Thanks for the update roster! Though I was able to get the new newsletter. In our mission you have to have two lessons with a return appointment to count them as a new investigator and in PMG it says only one. I'm glad you are having fun with your new phone! Sounds cool. I'm glad church stuff has been going so great and hope that you can put what you are learning to practice! Sounds like there were a lot of other fun things too! I'll give you the update plus the stuff I wasn't able to talk about last time.

So Van S didn't have an accident, it was one of her friends in Vietnam. She was really worried about it and came to church really early the Sunday before to pray for the friend. Ozawa B even sent his name into the Tokyo temple. Anyways, after a few days the friend had recovered quite a bit and she was way blown away about how fast her prayers had been answered. The picture of the kids is the Satou kids that followed us dendoing.

So I only got to last Friday in my last mail so I'll start from there. That day was just some regular appointment visiting, finishing DKK, and teaching Eikaiwa. The Satou kids came and were a ball of energy as usual. They are really learning a lot about the gospel from Okuchi S though! Saturday was a crazy cool day. We went to Nakashibetsu and met up with this friend/investigator named Keisuke who is Tatsuya's friend. He said he would hang out if we ever went to Nakashibetsu so we told him we were there and he ended up driving us around everywhere the whole day! He first showed us this big mall they have there and we randomly met a bunch of Phillipino girls that work on farms in the area. One of them was a member of the church! They all knew at least a bit about the church. Too bad they live so far away! (that's the picture w/the girls) Then Keisuke took us to Uniclo and bought us sweaters. He said since we went to the trouble of coming to see him he wanted to get us presents. He's 23 and is way cool. A lot of his friends moved all over Japan so he was pretty happy to have someone to hang with.

He also took us to this big lookout place called Kaiyoudai where the world looks round. It felt like Pday almost, but we were able to talk about what we do as missionaries and explain the restoration to him by the end. He also took us to all the non-attending members' houses which saved us a lot of time! We were still able to visit them and get some good finding done. He also took us out to eat noodles with duck meat soup that was really good. The bike with the quote was from a random little kids bike there. Sunday was branch conference so lots of people came from all over. The mission presidency came too and so I was in meetings with them and it felt pretty crazy. Evans shimai gave a cool lesson to the youth (that we attended w/ Van S) about missionary work. Van S talked a lot about how she wants to go on a mission which is way cool! We also had a feast thing after ward which was fun. For dendo time we got two good lessons with Hebikawa and Kantou. Hebikawa has been reading the Book of Mormon quite a lot, but won't commit to anything else. She is searching for something, but won't tell us! Kantou is a science teacher and we talked to him a lot about the purpose of life. Sometimes I am really glad that I know lots of out-there vocabulary in order to have deep Japanese discussions. We were able to tie his way of thinking into the spirit and passed him a Book of Mormon. I think more than anything the most important thing will be to be his friend.

Next P-day was lots of cleaning and going to Kushiro! Tuesday we had DTM all together on being more committed to the work and trying to make sacrifices to be better. I went on splits with Harper Choro and we went to this little area called Shibecha. I actually got to visit the referral that I gave to the Kushiro elders! On the train there we met a Russian guy who was fluent in English and talked to him the whole time. He wasn't interested in the gospel, but was really interested in us. He kept saying "I'm a sinner. I can't do things as great as the things you do" and we really impressed him with our standards. We housed for a bit in Shibecha and maybe the 3rd door... BOOM kinjin family. The dad lets us in right away and we teach him and his daughter Lesson 1, baptism invite, Book of Mormon, prayer, awesome. The daughter even bought us bread at a nearby shop afterwards! On the train ride back a bunch of high school kids gathered around because they were so surprised at my Japanese (plus the fact that I'm from the place where High School Musical was filmed). We were able to teach them about God and why we chose to serve. The next day we went back to Nemuro and did DKK early because of how early it gets dark here. We also met Van S at night and started teaching her L5 about church organization and missionary work etc. The week before this little part on my bike broke so we had to walk everywhere on Thursday. Everyone was also not home for some reason. We ran into the Satou's randomly and played with them. Before we played, Hayato gathered everyone together to say a prayer! We also met his mom (he's the Satou's cousin, 15 years old, kinda gangster, but probably the most interested) and she totally gave permission for him to be baptized! That night we met Van S again to teach a bit more and borrow her bike since she offered til my bike's new part gets here.

Friday we had some great finding and little lessons before Eikaiwa (where you got the picture). The Satou's came again and we had a blast. Satou mom is pretty much committing herself to quit smoking. I gave them a DVD to borrow (finding faith in Christ) since the had a relative die and can:t meet for lessons for a tiny bit. They really wanted to come to church but had to go to the funeral. Saturday we had lots of finding which felt like we hadn't been able to in a long time. Morgan E is getting way good at teaching lessons on the fly even if they're simple. I'm really glad he's getting so boss. We also taught a lesson w/ Karebu B to a different Satou who is having a hard time quitting smoking. He kinda gave up, but hopefully someday we'll be able to help him again. Sunday was really great! Van S brought her friend Cham to church. The Hansens from the Honbu came to do a clean check and they attended as well. Gospel principles was taught in Japanese, English, and Vietnamese... I was tired. I also gave a long talk in Sacrament but it went alright. Then I had a long meeting after church and was very tired. I had to sleep for our lunch and dinner time. Anyways Cham had a good time and we taught her about prayer and passed her a Book of Mormon! (sach mac mon in Vietnamese) Today we came to Kushiro (we got 100% on my house's clean check btw) and Okuchi S has been telling us about the gospel study sessions she has with the Satou family. Tomorrow we have zone training meeting in Obihiro!
Sorry I forgot to get pictures of my house/bike. I will make sure to do so when I get back. I have been riding a regular (not mtn) bike lately and it's fun.

Gospel study is such an important thing and I feel like I really need to do so much better. Even as a missionary there are so many distractions. It's definitely a time to reevaluate and rely on the Lord to be back to 100%, but I know that through the power of the Atonement we can overcome any little things that hold us down.
I love you love you loveyouuu
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

Here is the picture from teaching Eikaiwa that is mentioned above - thank you Okuchi Shimai!!

11/10/13 Amazing miracles thanks to amazing members!

Hey! So I feel way better. No worries there. It isn't much different to be in the branch presidency, but last Sunday was branch conference so I was in a lot of meetings with the district and Hokkaido mission presidency which was cool! I am definitely learning a lot of stuff. I get to learn to use MLS in Japanese! hahaha. I'm glad I get to be here with Morgan E his full 2 transfers and also with the amazing members and investigators here! I have some cool stories for ya! That's funny that Evans S has me as DL still! I still have no idea who is where because we didn't get our "shepherd" yet. It's this magazine type thing that the mission makes each transfer.

Morgan E is doing awesome and growing lots as usual! Sometimes I need to be more patient with him because I like going fast in more ways than 1, but he is doing great. We actually got 8 new investigators this week which is a new record for me! We count investigators a little different than some missions probably so it makes it a bit harder, but more worth it and helps you focus on the people who are most prepared. We can't get to the northern territories as far as I know, BUT they are in our area! So if there was a way, we'd be allowed to go ;) I'll work on pictures of the house. We have a bit of cleaning to do for clean checks this weekend.

Thanks for the pic of Lily and I'm glad she's doing better! Glad the little kids are doing great too! Looks really fun! What made you want to get an iphone?

I'm glad Sunday School and church are going great too! People are probably not as interested in family history as some other people, but I've seen times where it helped. I still haven't used one tube of the lotion so I am fine. The humidity is the best. I'm looking forward to Mara's letter too!
I honestly have no idea what I should do about college. I always thought that the mission would eventually come and tell me to do stuff, but I don't know.

Anyways this Monday was probably the coolest day! We met this guy a while before on the street and it was a pretty weak contact, but he called us on Sunday night and invited us to lunch! We met him and it turns out that he's fluent in English. He had a lot of really good questions about Jesus Christ that we were able to answer ALL in English! Pretty crazy. He is in the Japanese army so he never knows his days off, but he was pretty interested and a really nice guy about 23 yrs old. After that we were wondering what we should do for the rest of P-day because the museum we wanted to visit was closed when all of a sudden Okuchi S calls us and invites us over to her friend's house to teach a lesson! WHAT! Way cool! Every missionary's dream! We meet the family (who has been coming to Eikaiwa stuff) and they are all way interested because of how much Okuchi S has changed since she got baptized and almost all of them are pretty excited about getting baptized themselves! They are the Satou family (one of the most common names ever... we have 3 other Satou investigators) We taught a great lesson and made baptismal dates with all of them! Whoa! After that we met Van S who fed us some Vietnamese chicken she made. Then we went to the Ozawa's for FHE with all three of the recent converts! Way too fun! Way too good.

Tuesday we had DTM with Harper E over the phone which was very different, but good. It is a little weird to not be DL anymore. After that we got our haircut because P-day had so many surprise lessons, we didn't have time. We got it cut by an investigator actually! After that we met Okuchi S and finished up their 3rd AB lesson which we only got halfway done before. It was great to have a lesson like that with her and Yuka again! Wednesday we went to this area that's closer by the apartment and met some investigators that we dropped because they weren't progressing and they were mostly not home, but we tried stopping by this lady who was really nice, but not interested before and she tried to invite us in to have a meal right there! She was the only one home so we couldn't get in, but we were once again surprised at the niceness of nihonjin. We did a bit of finding and then headed over to this investigator (also Satou) who is really nice and came to Eikaiwa before. He has a little bit of a mental disability, but he is really interested. He also has a big smoking problem. We had a good lesson/discussion with him, but because of his mental state aren't 100% sure how to help him out. It's not too bad of a problem, just a little weak. If he can take the steps to change than that's what will be best! We also met a non-attending member nearby for the first time in a while which was great! Thursday we went finding by the Satou family and the kids saw us and followed us the whole time! We actually met a way nice lady from a different religion that thought we were really cool and gave us (in tears) a lot of food and a referral for her old neighbor! She called us after and said she found more food to give to us. We also had DKK and a short meeting with Van S who had an accident a while back so she was worried, but we taught her about how God can provide comfort in those times. I want to tell you more, but time is up! Remind me next week and I'll fit it in! :)

These pics are from going to Nakashibetsu on Saturday!

11/3/13 Russian Islands and Halloween parties plus a surprise calling!

Hey! It was a way crazy, but good week! On Monday we went to Nosappu Misaki and the weather was finally good enough to see the northern territories! I was way happy. I also had my favorite yakitori bento and chocolate covered melon bread from the local convenient store here + at night we got invited to the Ozawa's FHE! I felt like I got to do all the things I wanted to do in Nemuro before transferring... However I am not! I mostly expected it, but I'll be doing 6 transfers here in Nemuro. I feel really lucky, but sometimes am a little tired hahaha. Let's just say I'm excited to see some new parts of Hokkaido. It probably means that by the end of this transfer I'll have at least knocked on every door in the main city area.

Anyways, I also had my last DTM as district leader because I got 'demoted' to just being a normal trainer which is totally ok. Harper E my MTC comp transferred to Kushiro and is the new DL. I probably won't be going to Kushiro very much this transfer, but I guess that's ok. I think part of the reason I am no longer DL is that on Sunday I was surprise called to be 2nd counselor in the branch presidency. I was way shocked. I'm looking forward to working a lot more to help the members though. After church we had branch council meeting and assigned everyone's HT and visiting teaching. It reminded me of when I was in Elders quorum presidency at USU. Otherwise, Tuesday was a lot of finding plus a good lesson with this lady Satou who we passed a Book of Mormon and taught the restoration to. She said that since she is so busy she wouldn't be able to read the BofM, but Morgan E bore his testimony and she decided to accept it. Wednesday was pretty interesting. We were going to go to lunch with this Eikaiwa student, but it didn't work out and we decided to go on our own anyways. Morgan E crashed his bike and we had to go buy new lights, so we got stalled a little bit. Anyways, the timing worked out perfectly that we were able to meet her on the street in the end and share the gospel with her a bit. We also found in that area a ton and taught this really young mom about prayer.

Thursday was DKK and lots of finding plus a bit of Halloween party preparation. We also were introduced to another friend of Van named Thuy and taught her a mini lesson with Van! She is Catholic, but pretty interested in why our church is different! We actually have more than half Nemuro's Catholic congregation as investigators or possible investigators hahaha. Friday we were able to get in 2 really good lessons with this lady Ishiyama who is way nice and prepared, but busy watching after her mom who is really ill. We also taught this really cool older guy that Morgan E found on splits last night. His name is Minakatsu which means 'everybody wins' hahaha I think it's a way awesome name. We did party prep a little bit early and then had the party! We had a bunch of games and a TON of people came! We counted around 50 which is a pretty big deal. We left a bunch of pass along cards and a BofM out on a table and one girl who came just sat in the corner and read the BofM the whole time! It's a member's friend and she committed to passing it to her :) It was cool to finally have an activity here. Okuchi Shimai and Van Shimai brought a lot of friends as well. We have been wanting to meet with Okuchi Shimai more, but she has been a bit busy and it's been hard to meet. Saturday was pretty much straight finding all day... Way tired. We were able to find a few nice people, but no one particularly strong. We were able to make some good appointments over the phone and actually randomly got a call from a weak street contact that we got a while back who wants to go to lunch! We'll meet him today.

Anyways my time is about up, but your Halloween sounds like it was fun! We don't have daylight savings here... kinda tough. ***** would love that present! I'm excited to see the photos of Adam's plaque. I have no idea what to do about college apps. That's really unfortunate to hear about Brother Hardy too... I'm really grateful for the gospel as well! I have been really tired lately, but I hope I'll be able to get back on my feet 100%.

Love you love you!

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

ps
nice phone hahaha

Russia!

View from big tower

Me and a bear

Ozawa S, Meg, Van S, Okuchi S

Vietnamese friends

Okuchi S and Ozawa kids

My costume wasn't anything in particular, hahahaha

4/7/13 "I Live In A House!"

I Live In A House!

HEY!!! Sorry last email was so short. I am way sorry. The sports activity made everything crazy. Also yeah, I did meet Daniel and his mom there!!! They were doing great and it was super good to talk to them. Thank you for the presents!! The CD is the best! The chocolate was delicious as well and I shared it with Stilson Choro. Also how did you know that I got transferred??? I am in Nemuro!!! There have been no missionaries here for 6 years and it is 7 hours away from Sapporo by train. My new companion is Inumaki Choro who was the Assistant to the President ever since I got to Japan. He is awesome!!! Also we live in a house not an apartment and it is pretty cool. A small house, but still cool. There are about 13-16 active members here and the church is very small too. It is a rented out building, but it is great. The members are way cool too. We are way excited to see a lot of miracles and baptisms here to make this area strong.

OK so I'll answer your questions (this was for another missionary going to Sapporo):
My backpack... I just use a regular backpack really haha the brand is dakine and it's made for laptops so it's really skinny. You can use any backpack really. The best is to just get one you like and then get a rain cover. I didn't buy a raincover when I was in the city and wish I did, but I'm doing ok as long as I put the stuff in my backpack in waterproof bags etc. Everyone also just uses completely normal sheets. No worries at all there.

Keisha in Buenos Aires? That sounds perfect for her!!! I'm way happy she is going out to serve and she is going to do so amazing I think! Tell her congrats for me and that she is way rad. Lauren thought she was in labor? Sounds tough! Still wondering when he'll come. Probably going to steal my birthday huh? hahaha You better get some sleep though! The hospital is an interesting place to watch conference! Funny that it is the room by where I was born too haha. I still don't know if I'll even be able to see conference in English because I am the only person this half of Japan that needs it. I might just print it all off from the internet and read it. Sounds like a good challenge from Bishop! I have been reading the issue you sent me quite a bit lately as well :) I'm way happy for Adam getting his papers pretty much done!!! Cedar City Temple?!? Whoa!!!!

Yeah Elder Stilson told me he wrote that letter. I'm glad you got it. He is way cool. (Note: this was a way cool letter Braden's comp wrote to his family thanking us for his great example. Made us cry, okay well mom at least ;) ) His new companion is Elder Harper my comp from the MTC. He'll do great there!

So since last Monday (I'd start from before, but I don't have my journal and can't remember) not a ton has happened. Of course we had the sports activity, that was not too bad plus I got to meet the Gandys. I don't really remember what we did for dendo that day, but it went pretty well. The next day at district meeting we had a way powerful testimony meeting and everyone shared way awesome experiences from their missions etc. After that I got my transfer call and was so surprised! I went home and waited at city hall for a few hours to get my residency card ready for me to transfer (it was very busy) and after that we tried to visit lots of members and investigators to say goodbye, but not too many were home. I got really close to the members in Toyohira even though I only had a short time. That night was lots of packing and getting other things ready, plus telling people that I was transferring. The next day was more of the same things. One of the members was really excited to celebrate my b-day with me - she brought over a cake and a bunch of other stuff. Probably one of the kindest letters I've gotten in Japan as well. That day we also tried to visit lots of investigators and members. Somehow when you tell everyone you are transferring everyone makes time to meet you. That was really nice. I'm really glad we still got to find some neat people on the street that day too. For dinner we went out to eat tonkatsu with an investigator and some members. The investigator gave me a tie and was really sad about me transferring, but excited for me too. He is way cool (Nakagawa). He has come to church twice and reads and prays every day. Way strong already actually. Then they came with us to Eikaiwa as well. The lesson went great and I announced my transfer to everyone at the end and took pictures and gave out my cards to them. They are great. One of them told me *every moment I spent with you is a treasure* in English. Hahaha way funny he is super cool. Next day was transfers. Went to the transfer spot and met Inumaki Choro and got going on my 7 hour train!!! I studied the whole time and talked with the guy sitting next to me. We arrived in Nemuro and the branch president met us and took us to eat and shop (there was hardly anything in the house when we got there, today our plans are mostly buying stuff for it haha). He is way cool and has 6 kids. They are most of the branch, but very strong. Next day was trying to organize the house etc in the morning and dendo like any other day! Nemuro is right next to the ocean. Literally a one minute walk from our house and you are there. It is a port town. Quite pretty. Hilly as well. Not very many people out on the street. When there are though, they are great people! Next day was pretty similar actually. We found some really awesome people already and have decent investigators already. The records the old missionaries left were not in good shape at all, so we have spent a lot of time organizing them! That's actually what most of Sunday was, after church (which was really moving in such a small place with the few people that were there). It was raining and windy WAY bad. (Another reason church was special, everyone got there anyways.) We tried to dendo for about an hour, but it was impossible so we returned to the house and organized and called people from the old records like crazy! Found some awesome people that way as well! It is way great to be here especially with Inumaki Choro. He is such a great and skilled missionary. He's great at English too! We mostly speak Japanese though. I have learned a lot about being humble, yet bold and realistic, yet faithful. There are so many blessings within the hard things that come to us as long as we show faith and search for them. I'm grateful to be here and grateful for my awesome family and this amazing restored Gospel! I know Jesus Christ is our Savior even stronger and know that He loves every single person in this little town. I love you and am excited for the miracles in your lives as well! Not to mention Max! I want to write a real letter soon.

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

Early birthday cake from a member in Toyohira

Eikaiwa group in Toyohira

With new comp, Inumaki Choro - (he says excuse the glasses)

Church building in Nemuro

7/10/12 I love you!!!!!!!!!!

Hey! I am glad that everyone has been getting my letters alright. To any of my friends that read this on the blog that I haven't written yet I am way sorry and will try to soon, but If you let me know through dearelder or a short note then you'll pretty much be guaranteed!

The pictures you emailed me worked perfectly! Thanks so much! Once I am done I am going to test out Andrew's cd maker thingy and send a cd of all the pictures I have so far! Most of them are just at the temple with the other missionaries, but I'll see what I can do about getting more. The ironing board in my hall is too big to matrix on so I am not 100% sure if I will be able to get legit looking pictures with it :( I will send the cd today for sure though!!! I am really happy that people are reading and checking the blog. Like I said if anyone comments are anything please dearelder or email it to me.

The Nihonjin are the coolest. They did really appreciate the cookies and and like most American food, but they miss their Japanese food a lot. (They also really want to see a picture of me with long hair so you should send a copy of the one I took before I cut it before college) I usually sit with them in lunch and try to talk with them about whatever and they are WAY nice and cool and funny. One of them gave me an awesome tie today and another one is going to draw some cool pictures of my missionary handbook cover. I am going to miss them a TON when they leave next Monday with the senpai missionaries. It will be lonely. There will be a whole week and a half where we will be 'alone' on our floor before we get our kohai and we become the new senpai.

As far as things to send me go please just send that picture thing you were talking about (including the long hair and guitar pictures of course!) It sounds really awesome. More granola bars would be cool too. No more cookies though please. I have already gained like 5 or 7 pounds from all the greasy fat that we eat here. You can't tell at all, but I am pretty much eating salads from now on. Just to be safe ;) If you can find them I think I forgot my cool Japanese socks that Gary gave me. Send those too.

I am way excited about Dallin! I wish I could see him and hear his awesome mission stories. I am excited to be bad at English when I get back! ;) The spirit is definitely the most important thing. Without it you are pretty much just talking. As a missionary you are never the real teacher, the spirit is. We have been learning a lot about that and receiving revelation through prayer, the book of mormon, and church. They are really cool lessons and really help me to remember the missionary purpose to invite others to come unto Christ. It's cool to hear the talks and workshops. They have different topics, but they all focus on that. It's cool to realize that when you teach someone what you are really doing is watching someone discover Christ for themselves through what you give and teach them.
Glad to hear that your primary class is still doing well though! Why is there only one kid?? Also please send me a picture of my plaque when you can. I think that will be cool to see. If anyone at Church asks about me and wants to hear from me please let me know!

That's way exciting about the Dunns! Tell Austin and Juli congrats for me!!! It must have been lots of fun to visit with them. I wish I could've been there to hear the cool stories about the Evans and stuff. Plus see that cool view! I am way excited to meet the Evans and have actually run into a few people at the MTC and while visiting the temple that knew the Dunns and Evans because they lived with them in Japan too! One of my senseis said she actually used to get rides to places with Connor sometimes! Coolio.

The pictures of Mya and Livy made my day! I wish I could play with them and I hope that I'll able to play with them lots when I get back! I can just hear her singing hahah.

I am very very proud of Adam for getting his eagle project together. That sounds like an awesome story and I wish I could've helped and walked the trail and stuff. Please give him a high five and hug for me. As far as Discover goes I say just try to continuously have a good attitude and don't get discouraged when there are lots of calls or when people on the other side are stupid and complain because they have bad credit scores and blah blah blah. The main thing is that if you can stay the whole day in that office chair without getting restless than you will probably do very well. Just follow the rules and all that stuff. There is definitely a lot of sitting here at the MTC too and it really wears on me. I can't wait to walk around all day!!!!! Make sure Adam has an awesome birthday too. I wish I could think of something cool to send him... does he want anything church related? I can definitely get that kind of stuff here.... haha. Regarding short sleeve shirts my comp didn't bring any so I just have to wear my long sleeves all the time since you have to have matching sleeves. It's not too hot though.

Sorry that the kanji isn't coming though! I don't remember exactly what I sent, but it's usually just aishiteimasu which means I love you and hacchinson chourou which you can probably guess what that is :)

As for scripture study what I have been doing is reading the Book of Mormon from the very beginning and trying to imagine that I am someone who has never even heard about God or Jesus Christ before other than what a missionary might have told them on the street. I want to be able to relate to the people I teach as much as possible and in turn I am understanding the Book of Mormon and the scriptures even more! It's a cool idea and I really like it.

Sometimes I feel like it has been way more that 4 weeks, but sometimes I still feel like I just barely got here too. I am doing my best to learn as much as possible from the MTC and be ok with having to wait so long even though my Japanese is better than almost all of the senpais already...

Anyways I'm a little bit overtime so I'll talk to you next week! :)
Aishiteimasu!!!
Hacchinson Chourou

7/3/12 Thanks for the package and letters!

Hi everyone! Thanks so much. The cookies were great even though I only ate a few and gave the rest to the Japanese Elders. They are so great! They were really happy to get them too. I hope you weren't expecting me to eat all of them haha I told you what would happen when you did ;) Thanks for the running shoes, socks, and granola bars too! I had just ran out! I also figured out a better method of keeping my soap from disintegrating so I probably won't have to use the new soap for a while. Thanks so much for the letters though. I am so excited about everything that everyone is doing! Congratulations mom!!! I'm so glad that blessings are coming your way because you deserve them so much for helping me to get out here and working so hard. I love you!!! I hope that the washing machine or sprinklers don't have anymore problems! Hopefully the rest of the house holds up too, eh? You will definitely be able to make it through all of the crazy stuff that comes your way! Especially if I can survive the MTC!!! Haha it really isn't bad, but things are starting to get slower and it's feeling like I've been here a lot longer already. I am learning lots and lots more japanese and I speak with the Japanese missionaries during meals and other times almost everyday. I can't say a lot, but listening to what they say and just opening my mouth are pretty much the biggest part of it. I just think about D&C 33 where it says open your mouth and it shall be filled. I also found out that I would probably only be here for five weeks if I had called the MTC in advance... It is probably way way too late to do anything like that now, but I asked the branch president in my weekly letter if he knew anything about it. If I am supposed to stay here all 12 weeks then that is ok with me! It is daunting, but if it's the case then the Lord has obviously intended for it to be! I remember what Nephi said all the time about us not receiving a trial that we wouldn't be able to handle. Plus, my Japanese will hopefully be even better by then too! So we'll see about that.

I'm proud of Adam for going for it with his eagle project! I hope everyone isn't too stressed out about it. I'm glad he found something to do for it! Don't give up and I think he'll be able to pull it off. Don't overwork yourselves though please! I'm glad you figured out the badge situation too... I don't really understand it, but I'm glad it's working out.

Thanks for telling me about the testimonies too. That is definitely something that I have been needing to hear. With Japanese, being a good example to my district, and trying to prepare and work with my companion, every little thing feels like the straw on the camel's back sometimes. I know that that is how I am supposed to learn and grow though. I think about how I used to always say that if my mission isn't hard it won't be worth it. Let's just say that it has definitely been more than worth it so far! (In the good way of course!) It's built me up so much. I'm growing more and more patient and understanding more and more about how Christ loves and knows each and everyone of us more than we can imagine. I know that they are by my side and I am grateful. I think about my mission scripture sometimes to remember that.

I'm excited for Dallin! Make sure to tell him hi! That's neat he got to make it home for the 4th! I will almost definitely be able to see the stadium of fire fireworks from my window because it faces the stadium directly! The other day a bunch of jets flew over. I am pretty sure they are practicing and stuff. I don't know what I'm going to do with those glowsticks hahaha... As far as the fourth goes though I think my district and I are going to wear matching ties or something. We are cool like that I guess! I don't think that I can print anything here so I will eventually send a disk with pictures using Andrew's thingy. Sorry I have only taken like ten pictures since getting here. I don't like taking my camera around and there is hardly any sort of time. At least it seems like that. I hope that you get my plaque figured out though! I want to see a picture of it when you are done. I like the picture Mya sent and it is on my wall.

The devotionals here are like the best thing ever. I cry at almost every single one of them. They are so good and so eye opening! The thing that gets me the most is singing with the whole MTC afterwards. For some reason songs can get to me and help the doctrine that I learn really sink in. It's hard to keep track of them without searching my whole study journal for them, but the one on Sunday was a guy who did a massive monologue type thing as Willard Richards. He was basically Joseph Smith's secretary and knew him really well. Anyways he just spoke about his whole life history, mission, and work with Joseph Smith all the way down to the martyrdom. It was way amazing and inspiring. We sang Praise to the Man afterwards and it was so great. On fast sunday instead of priesthood and relief society everyone meets for mission conference where the MTC presidency and their wives speak. Way amazing. They spoke about a ton of topics, but Pres Brown spoke about the missionary purpose and dissected it a lot. It was so so good and I got some amazing notes.

Last, but not least thank you so much for the incredible scripture you shared with me (note: it was Alma 38:2). I really REALLY needed to read that. I feel like it related to me perfectly and I felt the spirit so powerfully through it. I am definitely going to try to share it when I teach and look back on it whenever I am having a tough time. I love you all so so sooo much. I wish I could write more!!!


PS
Please tell Jeff Johnson thank you so much for his kind letter and thoughts. He also sent me a copy of a sacrament meeting program which was very kind and thoughtful of him. I will try to write him back sometime, but in case I don't get a chance let him know that I'm so grateful for his support and friendship and that I hope that he is doing great!!!

6/26/12 Second p-day

Hi everybody :) I love you all so much and was so grateful to receive all of your letters. I don't get very many compared to everyone in my district, but they are from the best people so that's ok. I should probably try to write my friends if I actually want to hear from them so I'll definitely try to make time for that today.

The MTC really is so cool. It is so great to be surrounded by other Elders who want to obey the rules and become closer to Christ. I don't know if you know the purpose of missionary work, but it is on page 1 of preach my gospel and it goes - "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."
I think it is the coolest thing and definitely an inspired purpose. We have been having so many amazing devotionals and talks in sacrament/priesthood meetings that have really helped me to realize more about who Christ is and it is amazing. I wish you could hear these amazing talks because they inpsire me so much.

There is this big thing going on in the MTC in the last week and for a few more days because the new mission presidents are having training in the main building of the MTC. It is pretty hectic because there is hardly any access to that building and the cafeteria is cut in half so meal time has been chaotic, but it's because pretty much every single general authority is here in the MTC helping to train the mission presidents. I haven't seen any of them except one, (I'll talk about that in a sec) but you can really feel their presence and it brings a great spirit here. The general authority I got to meet was Elder David Evans from the first quorum of the 70. He actually went on his mission to Japan back when it was just the Asia north mission. Since then he has visited Japan many times and was the area authority over all of Japan for quite a while before becoming a general authority. He is also head of the missionary department! Anyways I think my district got lucky because one of our senseis is his daughter-in-law so he came with his wife and visited us during class in our tiny little room! It was such a cool experience. He talked to us a little bit about how important eternal marriage to teach to the people (as well as to ourselves after we return from our mission:]) "Marriage is He also asked us if we had any questions at all and I couldn't think of a single thing :( The other missionaries in my district asked him some good questions about the language and what Japan is going to be like and he gave some really good and really amazing answers. About learning the language he showed us some really cool scriptures in D&C 33 about just opening your mouth and the words will come to us. I really hope that I can try to speak a lot especially because the Japanese elders arrived from Japan yesterday!! They are so neat. I hope everyone didn't scare them because when we got back from class and saw them in the dorm everyone was so excited to meet them. It was kinda crowded, but after everyone dispersed I tried to talk to them and it was neat, but I realize more and more each day that I'm here that I don't really know Japanese THAT well yet. I am learning a lot about how to say things that I want to teach during lessons, but I need to speak more and learn more and more. Talking with the Japanese missionaries will be a great opportunity for that.

My everyday life at the MTC isn't too interesting at least I think. I just wake up, get ready, and go to class. Then I have meals at the normal time you'd have them. We have an hour of language study on our own and another hour with this rosetta stone-like program called TALL that I am still warming up to. Everday we have an hour of personal study of just gospel stuff in our native language which I really love. We have companionship study during the time that the other missionaries are teaching to get prepared to teach our own investigator. Then we have about two hours evening and night that we spend learning specific language or teaching fundamentals. We also have time to plan our day out and additional study time peppered in where they have empty spaces. It really is important to try to work towards something at every moment you have. Everyday we teach an investigator in Japanese either morning or night. We aren't teaching our first investigator anymore. We actually found out that he is actually a sensei for the Japanese elders. It was really cool to meet him after and learn his real name. Our next two investigators will be our two current senseis which will be interesting, but cool. They pretend like they are one of the investigators that they had on their mission.

About the orange juice I have no idea. I see other missionaries drink it all the time, but I don't dare. I'm glad that you have been able to do so many fun things! So did you just go to a bees game for your anniversary? You oughta do something more special than that! Just kidding. I'm sure it was really neat! I'm glad that Adam's play is settling down and that it was fun to see. Hopefully he will have time to do some really great stuff like his eagle project. I really hope that he can get that done. Time is going by so fast and he'll be 18 in less than 20 days! Wow! That's so great that he took the initiative to get the job though. I'm glad he pushed towards that. I just hope that he is able to be more patient with it than I was. It'll seem like the best job ever during training, but once you actually get out on the floor it is just stressful and boring (at least I think so. Missionary work is TOTALLY different, because it's ALWAYS awesome!).

I am pretty sure that you can send me pictures, but I can't send them through email at all while in the MTC. I will have to try sending you a cd with Andrew's thing, but I have hardly taken any pictures anyways.... As far as the blog you can do whatever you'd like. I can't read anything on them no matter what, but you could always copy and paste them into an email that you send to me. Keep working hard and getting chores done. That's cool about Jacob. I think he will be an awesome missionary and that going will be really great for him and a huge blessing to his family. I will try to pray for him too. I am very glad Steve has been doing better as well.

I'm glad that everyone at Church is excited for me and I hope they know how much I love them and appreciate their support and help to get me this far! I am always going to try my best to be a Christ-like example and hopefully I will be able to help everyone in my district. I love being a district leader because it gives me a great opportunity to work hard and show my love for the missionaries in my district.

Love you! Aishite imasu!

-Hutchinson Choro

6/19/12 Hello Family!!!

How is everybody doing??? I'm glad that you all have your spirits up! Stay happy for me :) Today is my first p-day and I have been having a blast! The time is already going by so fast it feels like you just barely dropped me off sometimes. The MTC is really fun and cool. We have a ton of time to study things on our own and go at our own pace and I love it. The environment is fantastic as well.

My companion is a great guy. We get along well even though we are very different. His name is Elder Harper and I actually was friends with his brother Mario at USU. He is half Japanese and is stellar at the language. We make a great team and a lot of the other elders especially the sempai (elders who have been in longer) are really impressed with our skill level. We are really good and figuring out how to say what we want to say. My roommates are not too bad either. They are a lot of fun actually. They are really helpful whenever we have questions about stuff and have taught us a few tricks about getting things done more efficiently.

What I have mostly done so far is teach and prepare to teach in ALL Japanese! Our second day there we had to give our first lesson to an investigator that only spoke Japanese and it actually went pretty well! We taught him that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he has a plan for us. Since then we've taught him three more times and have gotten him to pray with us and read some about Joseph Smith. Tomorrow we are going to introduce him to the Book of Mormon and ask him to read a little bit of it. The best way to get better at Japanese is to learn how to say the things that you want to say in lessons and apply them. My district has a really cool teacher named Andrus Sensei. He is really fun and great at teaching. I think it would be amazing to teach here after I get home. Oh and I got called to be District Leader! It is a really cool responsibility. I have had some training meetings with the branch presidency which were really cool. My responsibilities are to conduct district meetings, uplift, inspire, and encourage. I also am the Elder that is supposed to get the mail. By the way, please let everyone know that if they want to write me that the best method is through Dear Elder.com. If they do that I'll get the letter here at the MTC the day that they send it. It made me really happy to get the physical letter from you guys and if you use dearelder then I'll get a physical copy that way too!

I hope work is going well for you Mom. I am excited about your new position and hope that everything goes well with it! I have been praying in almost all Japanese now, but I remember to pray for you guys every night. That's cool that trek is coming by so fast for everyone! I'm really happy that Mara and Adam get the opportunity to have that awesome experience. Make sure they have fun for me, ok? If you want you can send me pictures of Adam and Mara in their trek gear. Keep encouraging Mara to read her scriptures and getting ready for seminary! You should get Adam to sign up for institute! It was one of the best choices I ever made. Thanks for putting up the photos. I think everyone will be happy that they can see them. I wish I could've got more, but that's ok! Don't worry too much about tagging people and stuff. How did your anniversary go? That sounds exciting! I hope you were able to spend some good time together. Don't forget to love eachother lots and lots! Thanks for letting me know about Steve. I will pray for him to get better too. He is an amazing friend and his reactivation really built up my testimony a lot. Please let him know that.
I bet that the sunset in Tooele was nice! One of my favorite things about being here at the MTC are the mountains behind the temple. They are probably some of my favorite mountains ever. Let's see.... What else can I say about the MTC? I went to the temple with my district this morning and had a great session. The Provo temple is really beautiful inside and out. On Sunday my zone has a tradition of wearing all the same color of tie and we got some cool pictures of that outside the temple. I'm going to try to go to choir today so I'm excited for that. The food is not bad either. They don't always have my favorite kind of things, but I deal with it. They sometimes have things that are really good though so that's nice! They have desserts at pretty much every meal but I resist! I think I will only have a treat once a week ;) A lot of people have told me that my suit looks really sharp. Thanks for helping me pick out clothes that I like! I got a TON of books so I will probably have to send some of the P-day clothes I brought back and maybe some other things. We had a devotional from Sheri Dew that was really neat about not following the crowd and understanding the voice of the spirit. It was really neat and made me think about how I should do more to more fully understand and recognize the words of the spirit. It is pretty much the most important thing about teaching! The best lessons I've had are ones where we read stuff that we wrote in Japanese off a piece of paper less. My branch president is Krueger Kaicho(President). He is really an amazing example and loves us a lot. He shows it often through his advice and counsel to us. There are only three other missionaries going to Sapporo right now. There will probably be a lot more when the Nihon-jin (Japanese Missionaries) come. I am way excited for them to come and to talk to them. There are a lot of other missionaries going to the other missions in Japan though so my zone is pretty big. We have gym time too which is neat. There are so many different things to do, but I love sand volleyball the best so far. It's the only time we can take off our shoes and "dive".

So I only have two minutes left to type, but I love you guys so so much. I can feel your love and support almost all the time. It feels so different, but so good to be a missionary. It's hard to explain, but I just love it. Sometimes I can feel the presence of those that are in Hokkaido waiting for me to find them and teach them. You guys are the best! Try to be missionaries in your daily lives especially with the new Salt Lake West Mission!

6/13/12 - First Day

Dear Family, My first day at the MTC went awesomely! My companion is Elder Harper and I actually was friends with his brother at USU. He is half-Japanese and really nice. I am actually understanding almost all the Japanese I've heard so far. I have met a lot of cool Elders and Sisters from all over the place. Some of them are really similar and some are different, but I know that we all have the same important purpose. The spirit is everywhere here. We sat in on some "mock teaching sessions" where everyone got to participate. My sensei is Brother Andrus and the other choros (elders) say that he is the coolest one. In my room there is one other companionship and they are really nice too. It's not as weird to be with a companion all the time as I thought it would be, especially since we both know why we are here and what we should be doing. The food is not bad at all. I didn't eat a lot today, but we'll see how I feel on other days. They have lots of fruits and veggies that are pretty good so that's awesome. Sorry that this letter is so haphazard, but it seems like a ton has happened already and it's hard to keep it organized. I'm feeling the spirit so strongly and I'm so grateful that my wonderful family and friends helped me get this far. Love, Elder Hutchinson (kanji below)