3/30/14 Lots of food and splits and stuff

Hey! Thanks for the email as always. That's tough Adam coudn't get his all done. The women's conference sounds like it must've been interesting. That's way fun for Mara too! It might be a good thing they stopped the early morning stuff. It was fun pushing my exploded car around town at four in the morning though hahaha.

I'm jealous you get to see conference next week! However, it just makes my birthday all the better. :D My birthday is also the day of transfer calls so I have been wondering what present Evans Kaicho will give me as well... By the way I got your package! So much sweets... Haha I was trying so hard to give up, but thanks for the little taste of home. I don't know if you noticed, but I took out money last week to buy new pants. They are all pretty destroyed. If you could let me know EXACTLY how much is in my account every time there is a change that would help a LOT because I completely guessed and just hoped I had money.

Have fun with Jamie's family! That's way crazy about Emily's baby too. Everything is crazy. I wish I could've heard her recital as well.
I'm glad the music fireside videos are up! I was pretty happy about Where Can I Turn for Peace as well and I hope it sounds good on the CD too.

Anyways, here's the week.
Monday was Furano which was still covered in snow so not as amazing as any of the pictures you saw, but still nice. An Eikaiwa student took us and we had some famous ice cream and pudding there, then went to Takikawa for all you can eat "jingis kan" which is ram meat. I thought I was going to die haha. After that we came home and prayed with a member before finding in her area. Tuesday we had DTM in Ebetsu about "heart, might, mind, and strength" and it was good, but we had to hurry and head home to eat lunch with a member that took us to #2 ridiculous food store. I had normal katsu curry (it was a smaller item on the menu) and it was pretty difficult to finish, but I did. Afterwards we met a non attending member and found in his area and then one more area before heading home. Wednesday morning we left really early to get to Shibetsu for splits and I went with Satou E. He is way cool and fun! We went to the place Hill Side Box to eat like we always do and because it was Komori E's b-day she gave us a bunch of sushi and chicken and stuff. That was #3. Afterwards Satou E and I did some finding and then taught their strong investigator Yuzuka. She is from a part member family and is about 12 years old. She is a typical 12 year old, but the missionaries and her family helped her to like church more and want to be baptized. I also taught Eikaiwa there that night.

Thursday we came back early in the morning and then helped a member move. We were able to meet a bunch of her friends that she wants to eventually introduce the gospel to so that was great. We used the rest of the time for DKK and English class then at night headed to Takikawa where one of their investigators took us all out to all you can eat yaki-niku. More ridiculous food. Friday I worked with Kojima E in Takikawa and it was pretty fun. We went to a nearby city called Akabira to try to visit some members and find a little bit. There are a LOT of towns in that area that used to be huge because of coal mining, but it's all shut down now, so they've gotten a lot smaller. We came back and visited some people then it started to rain! Yes! Winter is over! I officially overcame an entire winter in the snowiest area (though the piles of snow might take some time). Afterwards the Takikawa elders being so nice took us to the next horrible restaurant. It is called Marin and is actually famous for serving food that is way too big. I got a different type of curry this time. We decided to run in the morning because of all the eating and the weather getting better, but I didn't have my running shoes on me and ran in regular shoes and kinda messed up my foot. It feels a lot better now, but Saturday was mostly resting it, calling people, and organizing stuff in the apartment.

One cool miracle though is that an old investigator from 4 years ago saying that he has time now and wants to go to church! We found his teaching record and it said that he wanted to get baptized, but was busy. This Sunday was a bit busy for him, but he wants to come next week! His name is Ogasawara. It's cool that even though a lot of our investigators can:t meet until next transfer, when we focused on what we need to do, somehow we meet the people we need to meet in the time that we have.
Sunday was good too! One of the member's daughters and grandkids came from an area near Nagoya to visit! There were 7 way cute kids and it was really fun. After church we did more finding near a member and there were a lot of awesome people! One person had just moved from Kushiro and used to be one of Andrus Kaicho's students! I was really moved by that. I feel like he is still dendoing a lot on the other side :) Anyways that was the week!

I hope you have a great week as well! Prepare spiritually for conference! I'm looking forward to it a lot. In the meanwhile, we can ride bikes again!

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

3/2/14 Probably the busiest week ever

Hey! The snow keeps melting, but it's falling again. I don't think anyone can escape Hokkaido winter so easily, hahaha. It must be fun to have almost no snow already! I want to bike!!! I want to run in the morning too... I've gone up like five kilos since Nemuro. It doesn't show, but I can feel it (T-T) Too many long train rides... Time to step up morning exercise.

I am really big on getting rid of old stuff to make room/pack lighter. Would you be upset if I didn't keep every letter you sent? I'll definitely keep certain ones, but it's hard to store them all. With college and all I feel way dumb about not talking to him about it earlier, but I'm glad I at least have the picture now. Thanks for always helping so much money wise. I need to be more grateful! If there is anything you want me to get for you guys here in Japan please let me know. I almost never buy souvenirs. Dave and the gang look like they're having fun as always! I'll prepare to work hard on their house. I probably won't have many other things to do haha.

Transfer calls are tomorrow and I think next transfer is going to be pretty crazy. Actually it'll definitely be crazy. Dixon E is leaving and so is Hatch E. I have definitely grown a lot since being a bean, but there are parts of me that realize that I need to get back some of the traits that I had at the time. Especially dendo fire and being excited about the work. I am for sure still excited and wanting to dendo, but having so many things to do makes it tricky sometimes.

That's so cool Nemuro has a facebook page! They are really moving forward. I'm so excited for them! BTW the Satou family that I taught before got baptismal dates again! The facebook responsibility sounds like it fits Okuchi Shimai really well. My camera keeps dying at all the key moments lately. Particularly the music concert... Which went awesome! Here's the week.

Monday was music practice, then riding straight to Asahikawa to go with the first ward elders (Suehiro) which was fun. I went to their DTM and met a shimai who was in the MTC with me! She is Tongan, but raised in Japan and that was kinda cool. I also got to go on splits with Hatch E and dendo with him one more time. We left for Shibetsu that night and I went on splits with Komori E who came with me to Japan. He is a great guy. His comp Satou E is really fun. Thursday we came back to Iwamizawa, ran to Bibai to visit an NA and then came back to have Eikaiwa. After Eikaiwa we went to Ebetsu because I did a baptismal interview! It went great! I also went on splits with Spurling E that day one more time. Saturday morning we worked a bit and then headed to Sapporo to practice and prep for music night. It was a blast! Everyone's numbers were probably the best they've ever been (even though I dropped my pick haha). It was great. Adachi the investigator came with EIGHT friends! Whoa. Sunday was good and we decided to take some time for phone dendo and organizing member records so Dixon E could pack. I also made some way good tomato sauce.

I'm looking forward to a normal p-day today B)
Thanks for everything and love you so much!!!

Hutchinson Choro