9/22/13 Somehow I knew that Morgan E's parents were going to find you hahaha!

Yeah! So it wasn't Sizilio E (referring to the bean he was supposed to train last time)! He did get to make it to Sapporo though, which is something that is really cool. I still got to meet him and tell him the whole story. When we went to meet our beans I saw him in the room and got mentally ready to not be surprised when they told me he would be my bean, but then all of the sudden I heard Evans Kaicho say my name (as Elder Morgan's trainer)! I was a little shocked at first, but I felt the spirit really strongly that Morgan E is the missionary who I need to work with for the next 2 transfers here. So not only did I become trainer, but District Leader! Also, they brought Sisters to Kushiro so the district is now 8 people. I'll get to go to Kushiro for splits quite a bit! I'm really excited though.

ANYWAYS I'll start from the beginning of the week. Last week on Monday... HUGE typhoon!!!! It started during email and we just thought it was a bit of rain and so we decided to wait and write letters until it died down so we could go shop, but it didn't! We eventually manned it out and barely made it to the apartment soaking wet. We called the assistants and told them and they said they actually heard about it too. They told us to not go outside for dendo that day. Crazy! There was a little part where it died down a bit and we went to have a birthday/bye bye party for Okuchi S since we knew one of us would transfer. She made us some Okonomiyaki (look it up) and we sang her and Yuka the song we sang at her baptism again. Super cool and she totally cried. We headed back to the apt and magically it wasn't too bad at all until we got back. We tried to do phone dendo and organize the area book. The wind and rain were so crazy, a big tree across the street fell down and the fire dept. came to clean it up!

Well, that night we got our transfer calls! Andersen E went to Hakodate as planned, and I got the trainer/DL news. That night/next day was lots of packing! We were planning on going on a 11:00 train to Kushiro, but got a call from Ozawa kaicho saying the trains weren't running because the tracks were flooded! Buses couldn't go either because the roads were bad too... We were way stumped, but then Ozawa Kaicho (he goes to Sapporo for business trips pretty often) offered to take us! We had a little bit of time, so a few members came to see Andersen E off. Then we got in the car with Ozawa K for a 9 hour ride to Sapporo! Yay!!! He had to take a bunch of mountain/back roads to get around the closed off places which took a little time. We stopped at a few cool places to rest. We also stopped in Kushiro to talk with Andrus Kaicho for a bit too.

When we drove through Chitose it was pretty late at night and I noticed an airplane coming in. First thing I thought was "airplanes! that means my bean area is coming up!" but Andersen E pointed out it was probably the beans' plane! Turns out it was, hahaha. We got to Sapporo and stayed with the Odori Elders. One of the Elders there, Mecham E, really likes a lot of the local Provo music I'm into and I felt like he was my long lost brother. He's also way good at the piano. Maybe I found a band mate for after the mission...? Anyway the next morning had a little bit of study with Andersen E and then we headed to the Honbu! We mingled with a bunch of the missionaries there and then went in to meet the beans! Really nostalgic and cool presentation for Evans Kaicho. We also had some more training and way good food. We also got to have our first 1 1/2 hour of dendo in Sapporo around the Honbu! I remembered being impressed by Hansen E (his trainer) then and not knowing what was going on. We were able to get 2 phone numbers and pass a Book of Mormon to a way awesome guy! Morgan E was doing awesome at calling out to people and introducing himself. We'll have lots of work to do on learning Japanese, but he definitely is ready to work towards it! We slept in the honbu and the next morning had a great breakfast then got ready to go to the transfer spot! My first time in 4 transfers. It was way fun to say hi to so many missionaries and get pics with them etc. They were a little slow in bringing the luggage back, so we missed the bus we were originally supposed to go on. Because of that we had more time to hang out w/everyone and shizen dendo a tiny bit in the Eki (train station). Got to eat lunch with Andersen E and talk about stuff a lot. He's definitely one of my best friends I think. I'm way excited for him to be Sr. comp in Hakodate!

We got to ride a train to Kushiro and we were both pretty tired. Showed Morgan E lots of pics and told him a bit about when I went to my bean area. I'm so excited to be able to teach so many awesome things! We ended up sleeping over in Kushiro apt that night after attending their Eikaiwa. The next morning we caught a train at 8 am and arrived in Nemuro! Morgan E was super excited, but still so tired. We had a good planning session telling him about all the investigators etc. here. Then we went to get his bank card and teach Eikaiwa! I had him teach the advanced class and he did great from what I heard! He introduced himself to the members that came and it went great. I don't know how much you heard about him from his parents, but he is from Beaufort, SC. It's a pretty small town on an island! He was valedictorian and student body pres. He also played tennis and did lots of other awesome stuff. Not to mention there are 10 people in his family! He's great though. For real. Saturday was our first real day of dendo! Other than the fact we had no bikes. Haha. We were still able to get a decent amount of housing in and it was fun to introduce him to that. There was also a decent sized matsuri that day, sanma matsuri(refers to a type of famous fish here)and it was way cool. We got some decent shizen done there and got to get on a coast guard boat! I've been wanting to do that since I got here hahaha.

Sunday went awesome too. Morgan E's bike came the night before so that was a very happy thing! Van came to church and we finished teaching her the plan of salvation (almost). She was pretty blown away by people in the spirit world having another chance to receive the gospel/3 degrees of glory. It was a tiny bit tense and she said "that's not what it says in the bible..." but I was able to answer with a testimony about the restoration plus scripture in the bible that talks about 3 degrees of glory. It ended really strong and spiritual and Morgan E tied it up with his way awesome testimony!!! I was way proud of him jumping in on his own right there. I also gave a medium talk on the Atonement. After church Morgan E met with all the members and then we ate lunch before meeting up with Van again. Funny story. Since her job's only day off is Sunday, that's the only day she can shop. We taught her about keeping the sabbath day holy (which she understood in a sec cause it's in the 10 commandments) but it can't really be helped if there's nothing she can do right? She might actually be trying to have one of her friends go to the store for her though. That's how awesome she is. After that, we stopped at this little tiny park by the church to follow up on the Word of Wisdom we mentioned last week because we saw her drink green tea again. We had kind of a deep conversation about it, but I was able to answer her questions with scriptures (mostly Nephi being asked to get the plates from Laban) and it went really well. She pinky promised to keep the word of wisdom and we worked out a deal of buying her a present of the mugi tea that we are ok to drink. After that we went this other investigator named Hebikawa (snake river) who Andersen E and I found a while ago. We were worried since we didn't meet her last week, but I went with Morgan E and it turns out she read like 20 pages in the Book of Mormon! Way awesome. Afterwards we met Ayako S (Okuchi Shimai) and Morgan E shared a scripture he liked. We were both impressed by his good Japanese. Guess what!?!? She is speaking at District conference next week! It'll be just like when Haramai S spoke when I was in Toyohira. I'm way happy and excited and feel super blessed that I get to see it. She is seriously getting stronger and stronger everyday, it's so cool!

Anywho that's pretty much the week! I felt like not a lot happened because there really was SOOO much traveling time. There are a bunch of new little things to do, like having to hear everyone's numbers/other stuff so I have gotten a bit more busy, but I'm excited for the new responsibilities. I feel more and more how real it is that this is the Lord's work. Morgan E is a huge example to me of all the little things I forgot since I haven't been a bean for so long. Looking forward to lots of miracles and I know they're there!

Glad Mara's party went well and sorry I wasn't able to get any good recipes or messages in time for the missionary mom thing. It will probably be a little bit harder than that to get me to go!!! (Mom told him we think we'll have to drag him home physically when it's time to leave Japan) Hahaha but I know that the Lord knows when my time will be done and there are other important things afterwards as well... I hope they don't come too soon though!!!!!! Also I'm super glad that Lily is feeling better :) Have an awesome week and here are some great pics! Thanks for the Pics you sent. Mara is definitely looking like a high schooler. Crazy!


Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

Coast guard boat with Morgan Choro

Ringing the bell on the boat

First meeting with Morgan Choro, w/Pres. & Sister Evans

Akkeshi on the way to Kushiro

Me and the (still alive) up til now comps (Ishiga E went home!!!)

Russia

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

3/24/13 I went to HAKODATE!

I went to HAKODATE!!!!!!!!!!! Also it was awesome.

I hope things are going way good. Well it seems like they are! I have had an awesome week. I'm so excited for all the new missionaries! Most of all I'm excited for the new missionaries coming to Sapporo next transfer, not gonna lie... Also Adam! Crazy proud of him. I remember about this time last year being crazy giddy and telling everyone how excited I was about having my call. Thanks a TON for telling me about everything back home though! I'm really proud of Mara with her friend Emily as well. That's crazy cool! :) I'll bet she is starting to feel the missionary spirit quite a bit. Good luck on the taxes! Crazy to believe it's almost Easter time already though. Most Japanese people haven't even heard of Easter actually. I hope I'll have lots of time to think of how great the atonement is and how through it we can overcome death and return to our Heavenly Father as well. Sounds like Dave had a good birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! You're the best big brother ever. I'm really excited to see the Gandy's and tell them thanks again if you have a chance!

So my week was pretty big! Last week on P-day after finishing music practice we had a pizza party and I ate way too much. Costco pizza. Good stuff. After that we went home and met this guy named Ono who loves feeding missionaries! We taught him a little bit which was a little tricky because he initially was only interested in feeding us, but we taught him about baptism and he said it is something that he'd want so that was really cool. The next day in the morning we went to teach Arai with a member named Kurami who is way awesome and strong and close to Arai in age. We taught the doctrine of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, etc) and he accepted everything. He also accepted the modern day prophets. He wants to get baptized so bad. We just need him to have time on Sunday to come to church. After that we taught Nakagawa who is a member referral and way awesome. We have taught him a bit and he is pretty strong. Not quite sure on whether God is there or not, but once he gets that confirmation he'll progress WAY fast because he understands the doctrine really well. He just needs the faith. That time we taught him the restoration and Joseph Smith. After that we tried to visit some other invs that weren't home then did lots of phone dendo.

Wednesday was an interesting day. It was kind of a big inv exchange with the sisters that are in the area called Odori which covers all of Sapporo. We spent time with them visiting the people we wanted to "exchange". After that we housed a bunch of apartments and met some cool people that used to be investigators. Then we had Eikaiwa and quite a bit of new people came! Way fun and good lesson. Thursday was the ZTM that Yamashita Choro came to. He is from the quorum of the 70 and is WAY cool. He spoke in English the whole time, but it wasn't for us gaijin missionaries, it was for the nihonjin missionaries to show them an example of working hard to learn English! He taught so much amazing stuff to us and it was way fun. I actually went to the Odori zone's ZTM instead of the Hakodate zone because they needed me to play the guitar for the musical number. Because of that I went on splits with my zone leader Olsen Choro. He is a boss and went to USU as well. He played the clarinet in the number. I felt the spirit so strong in the ZTM. Yamashita Choro spoke with so much power and actually reminded me a lot of Pres. Uchtdorf. It was also really fun to meet the missionaries in the other half of the mission. I've now officially met everyone in the mission at least right now. Yamashita Choro focused a lot on member relations, the younger generation, referrals, and lots of other really important things like how the doctrine of Christ ties into everything we do.

After ZTM I went on splits in Higashi which means "east" because it's the east part of Sapporo. It's the zone leader's area. I went with Hatch Choro who was the AP when I came to Japan. We just dendo'd for two hours, but it was really cool and fun. He is going home next transfer. That night we slept over in the Higashi apt and I got to hang out with Sasaki Choro a lot who is from my MTC group and I get along with him waaay good. Anyways the next morning I had to wake up at 5 to make the train to HAKODATE!!! I went with Olsen Choro and the train ride took a little over 3 hours, but it was WAY pretty! Would've been even better if there wasn't so much snow, but still sooo amazing... I'll put lots of pictures on. Anywho we got to Hakodate and rode on this little tram (kinda like in San Francisco, Hakodate has them everywhere) and while waiting met a really awesome high school girl who goes to a Christian school and ended up being WAY interested in the message. We were pretty suprised how interested actually. We passed her on to the Hakodate sisters to teach when they get back. After that I ate a GIANT hamburger at this store that's only in Hakodate called Lucky Pierrot. It was way big and good. Then we went to dendo and had a blast. There are so many cool people in Hakodate and it was really fun with Olsen Choro, because he used to be in Hakodate for 4 transfers. We visited some of his old investigators and one of them fed us! His name was Mikami and he was so cool. He is married with a way cute little kid. I totally forgot to take a picture. He wants to get baptized so bad. He's only been taught the first two lessons and word of wisdom, but he researched the church online and has such a strong testimony he wants to get baptized sooner with his family! He also liked me a ton because of my good Japanese. He wanted me to come back to Hakodate when he gets baptized hahaa.

After that we taught Hakodate's eikaiwa (which is the reason we came. the Hakodate missionaries had to go to their ZTM that day) and it was super fun. The members there are really strong as well. The next morning we woke up at 5 again with plans to eat this thing called the odori ika before the train left. Odori means dance (different from the Odori area) and ika means squid. Yes. It is eating a squid while it is still alive. I wanted to do it so bad because squid is one of my favorite foods. We got on the tram to go there and I met another cool guy who said he was going back to Sapporo that day too and he wanted to come with us to eat the odori ika. We went to the fish market, but the odori ika part wasn't open until later so he told us he would take us to a close by seafood place and pay for us. He was way cool! He had fluent English and lots of crazy stories about being in America. He wasn't very interested in the message, but knew a ton about it and us and respected us a ton. It was an incredible experience having someone spend around 40 dollars on you even though they just met you on the tram. After that we headed back to Toyohira where there was a wedding party for a member who got married in the temple. So much like an American wedding hahaha. Lots of great Okinawa and Hokkaido food though! Then we had a lesson with this kid who is 19 and a member of a church called toitsu from Korea. He doubts its teachings quite a bit and wants to hear how we think. A member who barely got back from his mission teamed up. After that we went to eat soup curry with the member we helped shovel snow before. Crazy day with lots of food! Sunday was great! Had missionary coordination meeting before church and Nakagawa came to church! He had a really good time and afterwards we taught him the doctrine of Christ and he understood it way well. After that was planning session and phone dendo! What a full week. There is so much of the Lord's work to do here it is overwhelming at times, but I'm glad He's pushing me forward to the places I need to be.

I LOVE YOU! AISHITEIMASU!
Hutchinson Choro

View on the train

Hamburger at lucky Pierrot

waiting for the tram in Hakodate

Squid that Sasaki bought us! He also bought us bowls of seafood donburi which is just seafood on rice. I got crab, shrimp, and sea urchin

Me, Olsen Choro, and Sasaki

Wedding party

Way cute kids at the wedding

3/17/13 "The blessings are literally too many to handle"

Hey! This week was pretty fun as well. A bit hectic though. We are having so much success it's overwhelming haha. We have 7 people with baptismal dates. I want to tell you about 'em all, but it'll be long! I'll try to say a little about each of them.
We have Arai who is an 80+ years old man, but one of the most energetic and happy people ever. Elder Stilson found him housing and he has a huge desire to follow God and go to a good place after he dies. He said that when we meet with him he knows we're from God. He reads the Book of Mormon every day until his eyes hurt and he has to stop (which is usually just 2 or 3 pages, but still!). He is a boss.

Next is Akimoto who is a girl in her 30s that a previous missionary found on Christmas by saying Merry Christmas!! when they found her housing. She wants to get religion to help bless her family and do know how to be a better person. She is way funny and nice and really interested in what we have to say.

Aoyama is a guy around 45 that the last missionary found housing who has read the Book of Mormon 3 times. He has a problem with the word of wisdom, but he wants to do all the things God commands. He is trying hard to overcome alcohol and tobacco and in the past kept it for 2 weeks.

Aida is amazing. He 22 and is a self referral which means that he came to Church on his own because he has a friend at work who is a member he looks up to. He is really interested in God and being a better person and loves playing basketball with us on Friday.

Ueda is awesome and I think he is an old investigator that we revived. He really looks up to Jesus Christ and reads the bible and prays everyday. He is in his 30s as well and is really chill, but way nice. We are working on getting him to read the Book of Mormon on his own and understand the importance of the restoration.

Kunii is a way nice 19 yr old girl that we found housing an apartment. She has a 4 month old baby and loves her like crazy. She is really interested in strengthening her family as it grows and having a relationship with God.

Last is Tsuruya who is an older lady who is really nice and thinks what we are doing as missionaries is really impressive. She has really strong faith that people need to trust in God to become better people and she wants to help her family know it as well.

We have quite a bit of other really strong investigators as well! The only thing that is kinda tough with just about everybody right now is that it's hard to meet consistently with them, but otherwise they are all amazing. If we could just meet and get good lessons with them I am pretty sure they would have baptismal dates too. We want to make Eikaiwa stronger and get better relationships with the members too, but our hands are super full! I'm way sure Toyohira will become a 4 man area next transfer.
It's kinda hard to write everything in just the time we have, but there are TONS of miracles it's not even funny!

Sunday school sounds like you did a great job! Was it fun? I think it seems like a WAY fun calling. Make sure to have fun and that's when it will become easy I think :) You have been doing lots with work and chores and all that great stuff! There is a phrase in Japanese called Otsukaresamadesu and it means "you are a hard worker". I wish there was a phrase like it in English hahaha. Sounds like a fun baby shower and Lauren looks like a mom already :D In a good way of course. I can't believe David's birthday is coming up so soon already! That's awesome. Doing anything fun? Glad that the car is getting fixed. I'm just worried that one of the other parts would break as well because it's just getting old in general. I want to hear about the missionary activity that Mara had!

I did hear about being able to email friends, but I honestly have no time. I don't even have time to write any letters. A couple people emailed me already. The recorder has no possible way to connect to computer. I still don't know if I should send it back. I can deal with not having one I just think it'd make it more efficient to tell you all the things you want to hear about the week plus make it easier for me to keep a journal which I am not very good at.

Mike Connelly and Marquie are out this week??? NICE! I'm way stoked. I'm glad people are thinking about me and I'm really happy for them as well. The missionaries are coming over? Feed them something really healthy. Stuff with grease doesn't give you that much dendo energy. You need like really wheaty stuff and vegetables and lean meat. Yeah.

So this week was Monday; shoveled snow for a non-attending for 2 hours! Made piles and piles higher than my head. He was way cool and we are going out to eat ramen another day. Before that we cleaned the apartment and I tried to organize stuff. Tuesday was a DTM where the AP's came so I got to practice with Hansen Choro a bunch which was pretty nostalgic. It was a great workshop about using the Book of Mormon. After that we got home and had a lesson with Aoyama. Then we did a bit of dendo, actually a lot. Wednesday we met with Arai in the morning and after him we had to run to the church to make it on time to Aida's lesson at the church. After that we went to eat all that you can eat Indian food with an Eikaiwa student who is a boss. After that we had a lesson with Aoyama scheduled, but he ended up not being able to come so we chilled with the soon to be missionary who was going to team up with us. Then we had Eikaiwa which was pretty fun, but not as energetic as usual. A new person came who found the Eikaiwa online. From a member we found out that Toyohira's Eikaiwa used to be 40+ people! I wish we could make it like that again. Thursday we had DKK and lots of calling investigators to try to make appointments. Then we went out to dendo for a bit. Friday we had a lesson with a member referral named Nakagawa who is way cool. About 30. Has really good taste in music and clothes. He really loves how the church is like a big family. He actually has a bit of a social illness where he is not good at making connections with people, but we have done pretty well with him so far. We also met with the Shimai in the area for a bit and exchanged some investigators we thought would be better being taught by them. After that we ate and went to the sports activity where I ripped on of my pairs of pants way bad, but it's all right because no one noticed :) That night I went back to the apartment with Elder Stout on splits. His bean area was Eniwa and his 2nd companion was Hansen Choro so we had a ton to talk about hahaha. We had a blast teaching Tsuruya and doing a bunch of finding. I also found out that next weekend I get to go to Hakodate on extra long splits! It's the southernmost part of Hokkaido and way famous for being fun, pretty, and delicious. I'm crazy stoked. Yesterday was Stake conference and it was AWESOME!! Guess who spoke??? Haramai Shimai!!! She did way good and talked on her conversion and I was way moved. She is crazy powerful. It was also mega fun to see all the people from Eniwa again. After that we visited Ueda in the hospital and then went and had two meals in a row with members. The Tanjis and the Oouchis. So good. So stuffed. Oh man. Great though! Today we have music practice and not tons of time ;( Should still be an awesome day though!

I love you tons and know this gospel and work is God's! Nothing can stop it from progressing quickly and filling the whole Earth. I used to think that prepared people were impossible to find, but as we believe it happens and the blessings are literally too many to handle! :D

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

3/10/13 Teaching people about BAPTISM! :D

So this week was a blast! By the way we made and ate the pizza yesterday and it was crazy good. (Elder Stilson used to work at a pizza place and loves it a ton) It didn't bring me into a craze to want to eat more American food or anything, but it was really fun to make and eat. I wish you could taste the food here. I have been eating this one food called natto for breakfast almost everyday. Raw fish are also some of the most delicious things ever. The other food was great too especially the candy eggs. I'm usually pretty loaded with candy by the people here though so don't go too crazy if you want to send candy again ;)

I didn't even realize that it was time change time. The snow here is just getting taller and taller :D What do you mean you want extra hours? (Mom wished for more hours in the day) If that's the case I'm way happy you're liking your job! Sounds like stuff is way busy over there. I didn't know both plays were going on. Glad everyone did well though! Also I'm probably forgetting English or something, but "He was supposed to be a doofus windbag and the play was a farce" didn't make any sense to me... :s Not really, but that sentence made me laugh! Congrats to Alyssa! I'm looking forward to the photos. What shower invites were you getting ready? Max? I'm glad you were able to make it through all that busy-ness though! That's exciting for Lauren's new car and I don't know what to say about Mr. Miyagi (his old car) still... haha. I wish I could've seen how your first lesson went! I bet it was way good! I'm learning about teaching so much it's crazy. My advice is to get the class involved as much as possible and do discussions and stuff. Your missionary experience sounds so cool too even though it's small! I'm way happy and have been praying for you to be able to find little things like that. I read in True to the Faith this morning under missionary work and it describes our duty as members way simply and good I thought.

Kurashige Shimai who made the calligraphy is a member in Eniwa. I felt like she was my grandma while I was there; she is way awesome and strong. That's insane that the Gandy's are visiting! Whoa!!! I'll be excited for that package if things work out. Thanks for all the cool missionary news too! 8 missionaries? Championship! That's all I have to say haha :D

This weeks dendo was super great. Monday was a lot of busy people that couldn't meet, but we got a referral from a member that's way strong who we are going to teach on Tuesday. We met him at an activity and since we're both kinda new we didn't know whether he was a member or not, but afterwards he told his friend he wanted to learn about the church from us. Tuesday we had district meeting and then taught some awesome lessons. We also visited some way cool members and just had a great time. There is a family in the ward called the Oouchis and they are way fun. 3 little boys with lots of energy. This ward is so cool I can't get over it. Wednesday was Eikaiwa and visiting a bunch of cool appointments and making new investigators. Thursday we got a little sick, but it was ok because we had weekly planning so we stayed in and did that and dendo'd for just a little bit outside, but took it pretty easy. The next day we felt a lot better and dendo'd a bunch. We met some way funny little kids that talked to us a bunch and were way funny. Saturday was back to Kiyota that was pretty fun. We also helped some members shovel snow, ate lots of food with them, and then repeated with some other members. Sunday was a lot of fun too. At church we had some way good lessons and then after church put lunch and dinner into 2 hours right after church in order to have more time to visit some investigators that night. That's also the only way we would've been able to make pizza too.

Anyways in all of that we got 4 investigators to commit to prepare for baptism and I'm pretty excited for all of them! I'm so happy about this work and how full of miracles and amazingness that it is. The coolest thing is that it's all about what we do. We decide to be happy and we decide to be successful. It's really that simple also long as we have the Lord on our side holding us up. You are the best!

Aishitemasu!
Hutchinson Choro
Here we have mordor tower (in Atsubetsu)

SNOW

Pizza

Stilson Choro

Yukio san, the cool kinjin who moved to Kobe

3/3/13 Having fun in blizzards...

Having fun in blizzards, splits again, and kinjins moving to Kobe

So that's my title for this email I guess. Livy looks like she had the most spoiled party ever hahaha. That picture of the table? I thought it was someone's wedding at first! Crazy haha. For some reason I thought she was 2 but that's awesome she is 1! I feel like time goes by faster where you are than here. Thanks for the pictures and speaking of which the package came right as I got to the honbu! The picture chain you made is awesome! It is kinda funky and really big so I don't know if I'll be able to hang it up. Great pictures though! If you have any others you can just send them over email please. Thanks! Also the recorder you got me seems really spiffy, but I don't think it can connect to the computer... :( The food looks really great too especially the pizza and cake stuff that will be a blast! There is tons of hot cocoa here and more handwarmers than 30 missionaries could ever use so if you want to send a package again we're probably good on those. :) You are so awesome and eventually I will figure out how to send packages to you. Kurashige shimai back in Eniwa made you a "eternal families" Japanese calligraphy thing that I need to send eventually. I still haven't even gotten my American money changed to yen haha.

That is way crazy about Lily! I can't imagine that at all, but I'll pray for her to be all right. I'm way glad for Brian Koji. That sounds awesome. Lots of other parties sound fun. Doesn't anybody study around there? hahaha just kidding. Adam's play sounds interesting and not going to lie, but the pictures are a little funny. Glad he's doing great though. Super exciting for Lauren. Every time I think of Max I think of how he's probably going to steal my birthday... Haha.

So this week! Yeah! Monday was just music practice at the honbu. That day dendo was just walking through lots and lots of snow and not being able to meet with anyone. Snow here is crazy, but it is not that cold. Really. Tuesday was Zone Training meeting where we learned about study in the morning and how to make it more effective. It was pretty good actually. I got to see the Eniwa Elders again and it was pretty fun. Afterwards we ate at a Chinese buffet and I talked with the new Eniwa people and heard about some people that I found there that are starting to make progress which is way awesome. That day I went on splits with one of the zone leaders Olsen Choro and we had a pretty good time getting lost because I still don't know the area at all hahaha. We talked lots and shared lots of advice. We also taught this kinda crazy old lady who actually came to church yesterday. Wednesday was visiting some non-attendings, finding, and teaching this awesome family we have named the Matsumotos. The mom is way awesome and way interested and wants to be baptized, but only if she can together with her family. The husband really likes us, but isn't really interested in the gospel at the time, but we know his heart will soften as we keep going and don't push too hard. They have a 7 year old daughter named Haruka who is also really interested and loves hearing about God and praying. Then we had Eikaiwa and it was awesome. Then I met up with the district leader and his companion and went on splits with him. He is Finnish and named Palomaki Choro. It felt like I was dendoing with Andrew hahaha. That was way fun and I got to sleep in Atsubetsu's apartment which is way huge. I also taught their Eikaiwa which was interesting teaching two days in a row haha.

Thursday was an interesting day. Taught some non-attendings and found a new investigator, but Stilson Choro was having a bit of a hard time so we came home a bit early. That night we went to sports night in Atsubetsu and played ping pong with a cool investigator named Aida. Did I not tell you about Stilson Choro? He is a boss convert who is 22 I think. His parents are divorced and he has various step parents who aren't very supportive. He is awesome though. It's hard to just talk about him, but he's insanely funny and dendo has become a lot more fun since becoming his comp :D Saturday was great. Also insane blizzard. We taught a new investigator, did lots of finding, and walked through the crazy blizzard to eat sushi with our kinjin Matsushita. Unfortunately last week his son died and stuff was way crazy so he has to move to Kobe, but he is still super interested and we had a really good talk over sushi. The missionaries in Kobe will continue to teach him. He is the guy who is fluent in English and lived in America. He is great and we miss him a ton. Yesterday was a baptism for the sister missionaries here and it was way awesome. The super old lady also came to church and had a blast. The lady who got baptized was super nice and had a crazy strong testimony. It was a great meeting and the spirit was really strong. 10 missionaries plus Evans Shimai came to visit as well so that was cool. I bore my testimony about why I came on my mission and the power of the priesthood in priesthood meeting and it was awesome. The rest of Sunday was our weekly planning that we usually do earlier in the week, but it ended up getting moved to that day. So that's my week! Way fun.

I love you and there are miracles happening here faster than I can count! It's all because of hard work so I know the same can happen for you at home! Don't forget it! See ya next week!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

2/24/13 It is very awesome here!

Hey! So it is very awesome here. Toyohira is like a borough of Sapporo kind of like in New York. My week has been incredible and lots of fun. We did meet a pretty good amount of awesome people! Toyohira is leaps and bounds busier than Eniwa was and I am realizing more and more just how small Eniwa was. I still really love it tons. By the way I still want recipes and things to send to Haramai Shimai if you have 'em. My apartment is super cool and it is way different to only have two people in the apartment. With all the new missionaries coming soon (next transfer 15) it will probably become a four man so I will enjoy it while I can :) I haven't taken any pictures of it yet so I'll try to remember to. Glad you found pictures on facebook again! Remember to check for friend requests from Japanese friends every once in a while. Today we did lots of music practice at the honbu and I am being used a lot more hahaha. I got that sweater for like 500 yen at a recycle shop :)

Thank you for all the awesome stories! I am glad I was able to leave such an impact on the ward and I am looking forward to seeing how everyone is doing when I get back, but that's a while away ;) I'll keep doing my best to try to leave a good impression on all the wards I end up having the privilege to be a part of. Also I'm excited for the package! Since I'm close to the Honbu I'll probably receive it sooner than I did when in Eniwa, but I don't know for sure. Also the snow in the city is way crazier than Eniwa. The news about 58 new missions is incredible! That's so exciting. I feel like there are going to be a ton of new areas opening up here too. Well, they will for sure actually! I'm so proud of the little things that you are doing to start missionary work in as many ways as you can. The pictures are wonderful (Mya and Livy awesome as usual) and I especially felt nostalgic seeing the picture of Lily at the door.

Dad-Thank you for your love and concern and prayers. That is such a cool thing to see 31 missionaries at the temple in one day! No one here can believe that people in Utah wait so long for the temple. We try a lot to shovel snow for people, but (especially old people) everyone likes to do it for exercise. It is a great way to start conversations and show a good image though. Your testimony is such a strength to me and I was really happy to here from you. I love you dad!

Here is my summary of the week.
Monday- After emailing we went home and I finished letters. We just did a bit of finding the rest of the day. Tuesday was DTM in Atsubetsu with the new district. Everyone is way fun and I'm looking forward to the DTMs etc for this transfer. After that we taught some good lessons. One to an old lady who really wants to come to church. Very funny person. Wednesday was dendo in a place called Nishioka (west hill) and we tried to teach this older guy who is in a country western band who was really stubborn, but he let me play his banjo and was super impressed. That day we also had my first Eikaiwa and it was WAY fun! We had this little rhyme to help the students practice pronunciation and Stilson Choro decided to try rapping it while I beatboxed and everyone loved it! Best part was after than one student (a lady who is about 68) came up and said it was her turn and SHE rapped while I beatboxed! Oh man. Way too funny. There is just tons of funny stuff here I can't write it all. The next day we went on splits with Komori Choro (it became 3 man) and we did some finding and I taught a cool kid on the street and gave him a BoM and then we taught a lesson to a really neat guy named Nakamura (very common name) who is 45ish and works for a video game company. He is afraid of going outside and meeting people, but for some reason meeting us wasn't scary at all and he really wants to change his life. He said meeting with us is healing him and we haven't even taught him that much yet. He might take some time, but I'm looking forward to him. Friday we ate lunch with this guy named Daiki from Eikaiwa who is fluent in English and has been going to Eikaiwa for 6 years. He had interest in the gospel, but a missionary pushed him too hard one time. He is super cool though and we will keep showing love to him etc. We also taught a lot of lessons while housing that day and had a way good time. Saturday was going to a bunch of appointments we made and then making some more. We taught a lesson to a mom who said that she always rejects missionaries, but we felt different. Very cool. We also had this kid randomly call us and say he wanted to meet at the church. We ended up running to the church and had FHE with him and the YSA's in the ward. Sunday was super awesome. The investigators who said they would come to church didn't, but one of the AP's (My trainer Elder Hansen!) investigators came and I got a chance to teach him a bunch during priesthood meeting. After church one of the sister's investigators had been having a kidney problem and wanted a priesthood blessing. Since she isn't a member the responsibility went to the missionaries and I gave her a blessing in Japanese and it went pretty well. Cool experience. After that we met with some members and an old lady I found in the phone who lives in a place kinda like where grandma is living. So that is it! What a blast haha.

Thank you so so much :) Love you tons! Keep doing your best and the Lord's help will be with you!
Aishiteimasu!


New comp Elder Stilson

From the last area - Eniwa choros at the ice festival

Eniwa district - I'm not sure where this was taken - Rodenberg's mom sent it to us

Holiday party at the honbu

2/17/13 I'm in TOYOHIRA now!!! AND IT ROCKS!

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!
I left Eniwa :'( but I'm in TOYOHIRA now!!! AND IT ROCKS!
So it was a pretty intense week. On Monday we went to Lake Shikotsuko because they have a festival there called Hyoutou Matsuri and it was SOOOOOOOO good. It was way better than yuki matsuri not gonna lie. They made these huge caves out of ice that they poured little by little over these frames so everything looked like a frozen waterfall. So amazing. Look up pictures because I forgot my camera so you should look up pictures online until next week. It was awesome and the lake was really cool. We went with Sugiura shimai and then the rest of the p-day we just chilled. Tuesday was transfer calls and they came really early but I found out that I was going to Toyohira with STILSON CHORO who is the coolest guy ever. He is a convert from Seattle Washington and super strong. He is 23 and super buff. Probably the buffest missionary in Hokkaido haha. He played football and tons of sports and is probably also the nicest guy ever as well. The members and investigators in Toyohira are super cool as well and I am just super excited about everything. I will probably say lots of cool stuff about Stilson Choro and the ward as I go.
So on Wednesday we met a few non-attending members named Adachi and Katou shimai and they were super funny. I made a paper with our favorite scriptures on it and we are handing it out to a lot of people to help them read the Book of Mormon more. I also met another non attending that morning at the church (which is 3 stories tall!!!!) and we also taught him a way powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it in your testimony. Way good lesson and he is really into music too, so he was really interested that I studied guitar and stuff.

The time went by really fast actually and I don't have my planner or journal so I don't remember a ton of stuff, but dendo here is crazy different. Probably 4x the amount of people talk back to you than Eniwa plus there are tons tons more people here. We have met some crazy cool people on the streets haha. So we also went to a couple members' houses (the Kurami's and the Yasutani's) who are super awesome and they love me a ton. I helped Yasutani kyoudai with his application to BYU. He is fluent at English and just a way cool guy. There are a ton of people here that speak English by the way!!! Way surprising. On Sunday we went to church and it is such a fun ward! Everybody is way nice. They were excited to meet me too. There are seriously so many awesome people in the ward though I don't know if I could tell you about them all and I have only met them like once! Anyways we had our golden investigator named Yukio come to church (he is also fluent in English) and he liked church a ton. The lessons were all about missionary work and the spirit and so were the talks in sacrament meeting. After church we taught him a lesson (all in English so I was a bit nervous at first, but because of the spirit it ended up being really good and powerful) and he said he was looking forward to praying about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and he wants them to be true. He is pretty much getting baptized no doubt. Elder Stilson found him last transfer on the street because he was wearing a Raiders jacket. He played football at a college in America for a while and that's why he knows English. All around awesome week. I'm at the honbu now because that's where we do email from now on. Fun stuff.

I'm way stoked for you as Gospel Doctrine teacher! Have lots of fun because I think you will be a great teacher. I think as you get better at it it will become more simple. That's tough your uncle passed away. Where was the funeral? I'm excited for Cassie too! Glad Mara's grades were better than they seemed haha.

Valentine's day was transfer day, but I still got some valentines earlier from members and one Eikaiwa student who saw me off at the train station. But anyways I've been distracted this whole time and ran out of email time, but I'll see you around and I love you!!!!!!!!

Aishiteimasu!!
Hutchinson Choro