7/6/14 My last p-day!

Here's how the week went :D So on Monday we were getting ready to have a normalish p-day of shopping or planning something fun, when all of a sudden I get a call from Nakatsuka kaicho about how they are worried about driving to Kushiro by themselves because they still have jet lag. This week they met all the missionaries in the mission by doing these little firesides with all the zones. Long story short we ended up riding with them all the way to Kushiro again so p-day died, but it was WAY fun to ride and talk with them! It was also great to go to Kushiro again! Sis Nakatsuka is a great driver ww. In Kushiro at night I slept on the balcony and it was amazing. Their fireside was sooo good! The main theme was obedience/working from the heart, not just because it's a rule. The Nakatsukas' testimonies are so strong and they are so funny. It is different without the Evans, but I'm so grateful I got to have that time with them. We came back on Tuesday and that was Monday and Tuesday www. Wednesday was basically a normal day of dendo!!! We did lots of housing and streeting and I was super hot and I loved it. We weren't able to meet a lot of the people we wanted, but dendoing in Sapporo is always fun because there are tons of people. We did meet an awesome Chinese guy that was super interested though! That night we met Zen kyoudai and had a great lesson w/ him about Scripture mastery. Probably my favorite day this week :D

Thursday was another Nakatsuka fireside with the Sapporo missionaries! It was great as well. We had this Okonomiyaki that you can grill right at the table courtesy of Andersen E's recommendation. Once we got back it was lots of transfer planning. Even though President only met the missionaries for a bit, he knew so much about them! I was so surprised. It went really well, but he hadn't met Asahikawa zone yet so we only went part way. That night we ate with some really fun members called the Ides! (E-days) They are cool. A single mom and an RM daughter. They have a lot of dendo fire and are way happy people. The daughter is trying super hard to get married. I'll try not to be a menace to society as much as possible. wwwwwwww

Friday we had a bunch of dendo as well! Kinda similar to Wednesday, but once the Nakatsukas got back there was lots of planning to do w/ them for next week. We also ate dinner at their house! That was pretty delicious. Sis Nakatsuka makes lasagna with tofu instead of ricotta. It was great!

Saturday talked about transfers even more! We got through everything and almost finished, but then had a lesson w/ the cool Chinese guy. It went pretty good! Kinda tricky because his Japanese isn't perfect, but pretty well! He's about 30, but really humble. He kept saying stuff like "if everyone in your church is like you guys, I want to join". He's going home in August, but I'm planning on emailing him after I get home as well. That night we went to sports night and hung out with some members, less actives, and other investigators. There are two kids who are crazy good at basketball. One of them is at least a few inches taller than Dave, but they were so chill and humble. They're the Odori elders' investigators and it'd be cool to see them get baptized. We also had Indian curry with all you can eat naan as usual and filled up for fast Sunday which was super good. We got to church and had coordination meeting and no one remembered that it was my last Sunday which was pretty funny. Everyone was like what? I would've gotten you something! Kotoni members love the missionaries a lot. Sacrament meeting was great too! They played all hymns that I love. By the way, do you know "Beautiful Zion with Hills Surrounded"? It's a great hymn. I never sang it once in America.

For testimonies I thought that obviously I had to get up, but before the bishopric member finished, like four people got up! I had to get up fast too and after me, like 7 more people came and sat down. Everyone's testimony was awesome, but as usual I couldn't do it in 5 minutes so everybody after me only had like a minute each. I feel like my testimony went great and of course everyone there was surprised it was my last Sunday too. The lessons were great about fasting and family history. After church I took pictures and said goodbye to a bunch of people. There is one member named Sakamoto Naomi Shimai who is my age. She asked us a few weeks ago to help her with her graduate program which was doing surveys to 50 nihonjin and 50 gaijin which would work out pretty well with the missionaries right? Well I sent it to everyone and almost nobody did it, so I told her that I'd help her out by giving the survey to people back home. She was so happy she cried and then brought me fruit that night. It shouldn't be too hard. I'm glad I found ways to help people even after I go home! Once we got home we put the cap on transfer plans. There was just one little thing that took up all of our time, but at the end everyone's timing of saying things helped us to find the perfect solutions. It was super spiritual. To end the day we went to eat at the Ebisawa's with the Harada family as well. It was way good and way genki. Ebisawa S's son is not very active, but since Harada B came back from his mission, he's been coming a lot! That was our week! I'm super excited to tell everyone about transfers! :)

I love you tons and I love it here, but I'm not going to complain about things that have to happen especially when they have great consequences like being able to see my super awesome family again. :)

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

6/22/14 Shinoro, Eniwa, Stake Conference

I think I finished the Book of Mormon sometime last week or Sunday, but I didn't say anything about it! Keep up the good reading. I've been focusing on the new testament lately, but I feel like it'll be tough to finish before I get back. Well, maybe. I'm in James.

I wonder how Bishop picked that theme! I'm really excited for that. It's been one of my bigger mission goals I guess. That's cool you met a bunch of people at Lydia's thing! Everyone is back from missions and stuff already - it's just weird to think about. As far as my homecoming goes as long as you just put it up on facebook then things should be fine. :D I don't really care who comes! I'm embarrassed enough to have to give a talk in English anyways! I did find a cool Chinese guy yesterday, but he mostly just speaks Japanese too w. Is the ward really that big? If you can't remember everyone's names yet, then I am done for w. I can only remember Japanese names. We had an all Japan Stake conference yesterday and we had to watch it in English... It just felt so weird...

The house sounds like it'll be fun. I feel like everything is going to be different when it get home. I don't think my room needs any improving as far as I know.
I am definitely proud of you being an awesome family though! I think I might have said last week, but I'm really excited to see you all again! I'm just not excited to go back to America... I hope I became good enough of a person to get moving in some way when I get back. I have no idea where I'll work or if I'll have to go back to Utah State or whatever... I don't want to leave all my Japanese friends.

I only have two pairs of shoes right now. (not including running or p-day shoes) The reason it seems like I'm getting so many is because they are all dying. When I was home, I got a bunch because they are cool and I like to match colors.

So this week we had a bunch of people come to the honbu to email as usual. After that I bought some cool stuff with Andersen e at the mall. A jinbei, hokkaido shirt, and some craft tape I thought you'd like. I can't find any washi tape so far. After that we met this guy we found streeting at the matsuri (which was way tiny compared to Nemuro's) and he seems pretty prepared. When we made the apt w/ him he looked up basically everything about the church online. His name's Kobayashi. Hopefully we'll meet him again soon. Tuesday I went on splits in Shinoro with Romney e and Notsu e. It was 3 man splits. We went to DTM that was pretty fun and then headed to Shinoro to do some housing and teach some cool lessons. The guy that Romney e and I found on our last split was a super kinjin. He wants to get baptized way bad! We also taught eikaiwa which was the first in a long time for me. Then we taught one of the students afterwards. It was pretty cool. I learned a ton from them. Wednesday was an interesting day. We prepared a lot for stake DCS and then did some transfer planning on our own because this transfer kaicho doesn't do any. We did it as preparation for Nakatsuka k coming. We also had DCS that night. Wednesday we had to work on this slideshow for Evans s that she wants to do for mission reunions. We also worked on our videos that we are making in secret to give as presents to the Evans and Nakatsukas. We're putting in introductions and testimonies from everyone in the mission. That night we went to Chitose again! I went on splits with Kent e and we had a way good day. We found some way cool people streeting and taught some great lessons with investigators there. We also ate lunch with Kurashige s, visited Fujita s, and Sugiura s came to an activity at the end of the day! I also got to meet a lot of the youth at that activity as well. It was super! I'll send another email afterwards w/ pics! I even got to ride my favorite bike path in all of Hokkaido :D Saturday was another busy day of slideshow and video stuff. After which, we went to the Saturday sessions of stake conference which was just announced by the area presidency that missionaries are supposed to go to from now on. It was pretty good! The Sunday session was broadcast from Tokyo and Walker e from the 70, Oscarson s, Stevenson bishop, and Christofferson e spoke! Walker e and Stevenson b are fluent in Japanese. After church we did a bunch of finding that was way fun and then ate dinner with the Takahashi family. We also saw a cool snake.
And yeah!
I'm going to KUSHIRO tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you tons!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

5/25/14 Finishing splits and some other stuff

Hey! Real man dendo is great. The important thing is that we don't worry about people thinking we're weird. Also we only do it while housing so no one usually sees us anyways. Japanese people do run, but probably not as much as Americans. By the way, where did you learn the word chorotachi from? I was impressed!

Sounds like you got to get a lot done because of Memorial day! David's house must be pretty sweet. I'm rooting for Kaitlin and her continued education!

Don't worry about my homecoming too much haha. Thanks so much for praying for the Haramais and everyone else! Mikami is a guy we met once and made a baptismal date, but he hasn't been able to meet recently. I'm proud of your visiting teaching goals! And while I'm not really that excited for my farewell (I think he means homecoming?), I'm excited that it can become a missionary opportunity! I think rather than having nice food and stuff, I want it to be a missionary experience for everyone. How is your PMG study? We can study it in the morning before you go to work or something when I get home.

This week will be mostly prep for Elder Christofferson!
So on Monday we had a surprise. Elder Olsen visited with his dad! We reminisced a lot and went out to eat sushi. Then this recent convert named Akiba took me and 8 other missionaries out for ice cream. By Taxi. And the ice cream cost $129. We couldn't finish it all. Also at night the Hansens fed us at their apartment and we had lasagna made in a crock pot. Needless to say I've been working out extra hard in the morning. Tuesday we had some special stuff for a missionary who had to go home early. Went on splits with him and stuff. We also had a little farewell party for the Hansens. Wednesday we were busy with transfer planning, ordering flowers for the fireside, and other preparations. We went to Shinoro that night for splits the next day and I went with Romney E! It was super fun! We saw a ton of miracles! We met this old investigator whose record probably got lost and still wanted to meet. We also met a few families that Romney E has been focusing on but couldn't meet because they were busy. This investigator also took us out to eat at his bar. Despite being a bar, he doesn't drink alcohol and the people who worked there were pretty nice and interested. On Friday and Saturday we found a decent amount of time to find and work in Kotoni. A lot of other jobs came up, but we did our best :D Sunday we had a great lesson from the Hansens on baptism that I translated. We also got a lot of dendo done after wards and met an NA family by accident housing. They were really nice and welcoming! We also got some good appointments. To finish it off we had a PMG study sesh after eating with a member! Awesome!

We finally got the conference Ensign so that has been great too! The gospel is great! Thank you so much for all your love and support. PS expect letters from RS sisters in Kotoni, hahaha.

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

guy from the bar

Olsen fam

giant parfait

4/27/14 Cool zone conferences

Yeah it's busy. I got my charger, but I didn't have any chances to take pictures yet. Unless you want pictures of my apartment again. I haven't taken them yet, but yeah. I am running in and out of the apartment on the second floor. We wear shoes in the office, but not in the apartment. I couldn't tell you what a normal day is like anymore because it is different new assignments everyday and based on those we are either in all day or out all day.

Almost everything is different from previous missionary life, but I still feel like I'm working hard and am not bummed about it or anything. I will still have chances to split with the ZLs and stuff so that will be a great chance to have normal dendo days.
Why are you working extra hours? Emily's baby sounds fun. Ariel's husband sounds fun too. I bet he knew a lot of my friends from the MTC.

That's cool that the MP's wife spoke at stake conference! Is there still a Salt Lake West mission with just WVC? Pres. Brumble sounds like he's doing great as a stake pres. Why in the world did they change the ward boundaries? Did a bunch of people stop coming or are they just trying to make super giant crazy wards? I don't get it. I'm not worried about speaking at all, but you might need to find a translator for me.

So this week was...
Monday-Had music practice at the honbu so lots of people came. We had a little bit of time to shop and stuff. A member brought his friend to the honbu and he was chill so we taught him. He seems to have good potential. We also met one of Tomita E's old inv's at night and made a date with him. His name is Yuusuke. The next day was mostly cleaning the honbu to get ready for Aoyagi E to come. Also finishing stuff up on the power points and going to this place to get my license translated so I can get going on upgrading my license. Wednesday was more prep and cleaning. Aoyagi E & S came and had interviews with Tomita E and me. It was such a spiritual awesome experience. He asked me if I had any stories I wanted to share from my mission so I told him about Nemuro and he was really moved. He gave me the assignment to share it in zone conference the next two days. He also gave me a lot of advice on showing love as a leader and the importance of training as a leader. Tomita E and I got the same advice in a lot of ways.

Thursday we had the first zone conference in Atsubetsu and it went pretty good. It was 3 zones in one so there were a ton of people. I'm sure you'll see pics on facebook soon. I had a lot of chances to help the Aoyagi's get stuff ready for their presentation as well. We also found out that on the 28th of next month D. Todd Christofferson E is coming so we might have a mission conference. Almost for sure, hahaha. Aoyagi E/S, Evans K/S gave way good workshops on a lot of different things. Afterwards we had a leader meeting that went great and talked about our impressions/asked him questions. The next day we went to Moiwa and had the other 2 zones meet. It went great as well. Moiwa church is nicer than any church I've seen in America so far.

It was so awesome to hear the workshops twice because they were almost totally different. I learned so much. It gave us lots of ideas to prepare for mission leader meeting this Wednesday. We did get in some good streeting time that night, so that felt really good. Saturday we did lots of planning for ml kaigi (mission leader conf) and taught Tadano Zen B an AB lesson on the plan of salvation w/ a member. We also went to his daughter's baptism! The cool thing is that he performed it. Great experience. Before hand we only had a few minutes, but I wanted to dendo way bad so we just ran up and down the streets inviting people to the baptism. No one we invited came, but it was way fun. Sunday was a great meeting as well. After church we got paired up with members to pass out Eikaiwa fliers. We went home and prepped more for ml kaigi (we're still not done) and then ate at a member's house (Tandou S).

I'm having a great time though! Tomita E is so spiritual it's amazing. Even when things are hectic here we help each other a lot. Sometimes it's tough to get down on yourself here because you think "maybe if I used time better I would've been able to dendo more" but the great thing about the atonement is that we can repent and try to do better next time. Instead of getting down, I try to be thankful that God pointed out how I can improve and gave me a chance to repent.

I love you! I hope you had a great Easter as well!!!
Aishteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

with Nishime choro before transfers

with Elder Aoyagi of the 70 and his wife

Me and Hayashi

4/20/14 Busiest week of my mission so far hahaha

Hey thanks! I'm pretty thrilled as well. I hope I can do all of the things that the Lord needs me to do while I am here. My goal in one part is to do everything to make this mission a better place. I actually just got a mail from Hansen E and read Adam's email. hahaha I told my bean the same thing because I am a third generation AP. Powell, Hansen, me. Morgan E just became a trainer over a cool Australian Elder Named Karaka E so I just became a grandpa!!! hahaha

So far the office has been great. Monday I got the money out and had a uniclo shopping spree. A member brought me a really sweet birthday cake. I bought some fun shirts and some new dress shirts, plus one pair of new slacks and a few other things. I have only used half the money, but might buy some new slip on dress shoes today. In the honbu there is lots of running around and changing shoes, so those would help haha. Anyways Nishime E and I ate sushi and then headed home to finish packing, said bye to some members and investigators by phone, then headed to the station where Hayashi met us to say goodbye. He is pretty great.

Unfortunately that picture killed my camera battery and I think I forgot my charger in Iwamizawa. Until then I can't take pictures so I didn't get any of this crazy week. After we rode back to Sapporo I met Elder Watabe and he gave me a bunch of AP training. Mostly computer stuff and a talk about what we do. After that we did transfer calls for the trainers! I got to tell Morgan E so that was cool. I was a little bit nervous at first, but the next day I got a lot more used to it and they went great. :D The next day was transfer calls and the rest of training. We also picked up the beans from the airport at night. There is a Vietnamese kid and he is going to Nemuro! I hope he can work with Van S a lot. They were super awesome. There are 9 nihonjin and 3 gaijin this time. Polynesian, Australian, and Viet. Pretty cool.

The next day was their training and all that great stuff. Thursday was transfers and all of the returning missionary stuff. Dinner, testimony meeting, etc. I'll actually spend my last time w/ Nakatsuka K so I'm glad I get to experience that once. Also this guy came to the honbu that one of the beans found with his trainer on his first hour of dendo. Pretty cool guy. Friday we sent the missionaries to the airport. We talked a lot in the car. My new comp Tomita E is sooo spiritual. I love the heck out of him. I feel more like a missionary with him than any other comp. He's way funny too. Friday night we got in some dendo time and found 2 WAY cool guys on the street and had pretty strong lessons w/ them. Sunday was great too. Kotoni ward is WAY bigger than anywhere I've been so far, but I've made a good relationship with most of the members so far. A lot of them had heard about me from other missionaries. After church we taught the recent convert Tadano Zen and that went great. Then we drove to some NAs before heading to a member's house for dinner. I will have to get my license renewed to drive here sooner or later!!! Anyway the member we visited used to dendo here and was in the same zone as me when I was a bean! The food was great. We got back and had baptismal reports and it was super busy but so fun!!!

I'm out of time, but I love you! I have been feeling the push and power of the spirit so much here!!!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

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

3/16/14 Surprise ZTM and Asahikawa music night

Hey! Thanks for the great letters as always. Thanks for the fun pictures too. Olivia looks like she had a good birthday. How lucky they are to have gotten to go to Disneyland with their awesome parents! Sounds like a new house is a pretty great (birthday) present for Dave, though it'll take some work. I'm excited to see it become awesome little by little. I'm so grateful for his amazing example as a father and friend. He is Christlike in a lot of different ways and it shows in his daughters' beautiful faces. I hope his birthday is incredible. Ask him if there is anything that he wants from Japan as well :) Washi tape is really easy to find and so are bento boxes. You can get them in just about any character you want. Nishime E is from Okinawa, yeah. You are lucky (to find his picture) because he is the youngest of the missionaries that are on that Christmas card. I counted the other day and only 11 of them are still living. He is way cool and it is great to have a Nihonjin comp again! That's cool you're still talking with Rodenberg E's family. If you meet them, say hi for me and make fun of Rodenberg E's clothes or something haha, jk. That's awesome you got a mail from Okuchi S as well! Her English is getting a lot better! Thanks for the package I am looking forward to it!

Your missionary experience is so dang cool! Wow. That sounds like something from an Liahona article or something. Sounds like it'll be really amazing! That was cool of you to give her a book about non-alcoholic drinks too. I'm rooting for you!

This week was pretty crazy! P-day we had some finding and I had a little music practice w/ the Ebetsu elders for the Asahikawa music night that is all of a sudden happening on Saturday. The next day Nishime E and I planned for a ZTM that is being coupled with the music night so we had to hurry and plan a bit. When we finished we went to this kinda out there part of the area called Kamihoromui where we found a lot and visited the Miyazaki family. She gave us tons of great bread and we shared a spiritual message. Wednesday we had MLkaigi again and it was cool and eye opening. Pretty soon I'll be the oldest in the mission. There are so many missionaries coming in and I'm so jealous! It's great to be in a position to serve them, though! We learned a lot about focusing more on PMG in helping the young missionaries become the next leaders.

Afterwards I had a little practice with Evans S and headed home to call a bunch of old investigators. We found some neat people we can probably pick up! Thursday we were going to meet Hayashi, but he ended up being busy at the last second. I'm glad his prayer got answered and he found work, but I hope we can find more time to meet! Otherwise we did a bunch of finding and found some really nice grandmas. We had Eikaiwa and I'm still getting used to teaching the normal class again haha. Nishime E seems to be really good with the kids. That night we swung over to Asahikawa for splits on Friday. I went with Bickel E and had a fun time finding with him. He came at the same time as Morgan E so he is still young, but growing a lot. We also helped out at the Asahikawa Eikaiwa that night.

Saturday was the busy day. On Friday night we had to lay out 12 futons in the Asahikawa apt so that was crazy. We started out with ZTM and did our workshop on finding with three categories: enjoying it, being united, and being engaged in it. It went great. The sister training leaders did a workshop on comp relations and the AP's did one on baptismal invites. Afterwards we had a testimony meeting then a lot of last minute time for the music night which went pretty well I think. I played my song and played with Evans S on 'Sukiyaki' which you might know. This member from Kitami came and played these really cool songs he wrote about the gospel and stuff. He did a trio with two other Shimai and they sounded a lot like the Mamas and the Papas and it was great. He usually plays in a gospel themed reggae band with his family, but they haven't been able to get together lately. Anyways, we came home on Sunday morning very tired and had a good Sunday with another NA visiting adventure with Adachi Kaicho. As usual I was a horrible son and forgot to take my camera out once. Sorry! I will repent ;)

I had a cool thought about the sacrament last Sunday. It's really simple, but I thought that repentance is like doing our homework, and taking the sacrament is like turning it in. You can get it done, but it's not til you actually turn it in that you can get it off your chest. It's such a great feeling :D

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

2/9/14 Zone Conference

So I'll just start with the week. Monday was music practice at the Honbu again. Then we came back and tried to visit some old investigators. The next day I went on splits with the Japanese AP Asai E who is really cool and fun. We just did lots of finding. Even though we weren't able to teach many real lessons, I learned a lot from his style and example. We had pizza hut for dinner because it was half off day and so that was pretty good. The next day I went on splits in Ebetsu with Shoell E who is 6'7" and way cool. Super obedient good example. We did lots of finding and found some pretty cool college kids. He just barely transferred in and didn't know the area super well + it was crazy cold, but we found some good things to do. Next day was running all over. We went back to Iwamizawa, set up for Eikaiwa (some other missionaries came to teach it for us) ate dinner, and headed back to Sapporo for more music practice. Friday was Zone conference and the mental and physical health representatives came and did workshops that were pretty good. They have this new "adjusting to missionary life" book that is really great. Otherwise I was super tired, but I still got a lot out of it. That night we went to Yuki Matsuri (snow festival) and it was pretty disappointing compared to last year. There were still lots of giant snow sculptures and stuff, but maybe I'm just used to that already, haha. We stayed the night w/ Toyohira elders and that was pretty cool for me. I called up some of my old investigators there to encourage them to meet with the missionaries again, so that was neat.

Saturday we were back in Iwamizawa and we met Hayashi again! He is a boss for sure. He told us how 1 year ago in Taiwan, he met missionaries and gave them his information for his home in Hokkaido, but they never came. We taught him the rest of the restoration and about the BofM and challenged him to be baptized and he accepted! He's gonna be such a cool member. After that we headed to Bibai, but weren't able to meet anyone we wanted + it was basically too cold for us to do anything so we hung out in the eki to try to get the planning for zone training meeting done. Still lots to do. That'll be on the 18th. Sunday was pretty nice. Church went good and the stake president came. I gave a talk on the work of salvation and apparently the members got really pumped up by it so I was really happy about that. Basically what Pres. Evans wants us to focus on is not telling members "hey, we need you to do missionary work already!" or "do missionary work this way!" but to find out what kind of dendo they want to do and help them to do it. Also I'm getting a bit better at JSL (Japanese sign language) so that's been fun translating. After church we rode with Adachi Kaicho to visit some NA's and investigators of ours he has been wondering about. Nothing too special happened with any of them, but he was real happy to be able to work with us even just a little. We were too, especially because of the temperature. It's anywhere from -14c to -30c and there isn't much you can do about it clothes or hand warmer wise. You just have to do things in increments I think. It's completely different from last winter, but I'llbe able to make it through just fine :)

So anyways thanks for the pics! Where did you get the really bad pic of my face? The picture of the temple (construction) is way cool! To let you know, I don't get updated on that AT ALL. All I know is when I leave it still has like a year and a half before it gets finished. I haven't even seen the spot where it's being built. Your mini vacation is going to Sharon's wedding right? I hope that goes well. I want to live in Okinawa some day. The climate is probably similar, but I think there are a lot less dangerous storms.

Anyways. Yeah, Hokkaido needs way more missionaries. It is the smallest mission in Japan population-wise, but what I hear from other missionary friends in Japan is that basically every area in their mission has AT LEAST two elders and two sisters. Next transfer 14 missionaries go home and only 10 come in so we're going down a little bit more again. I:m sure the church has a plan for what they want to happen here, but I feel like it's pretty tough right now at least here... We did go up like 35-ish missionaries since this time last year so maybe they just have to do things more gradually. We'll see where things go by the time I leave. Thanks for your testimony about still being able to get all the important things done. I know that's true!
Mission leader council? I thought told you about it when I went w/ Hatch E, but it's just like a meeting with all the zone leaders, APs, and the 2 sister leaders. We talk about what the mission needs and then have a workshop from the APs.

I'm excited for all the great things happening and that is super cool of dad to lose weight! After new years here I have to work out more... But it's nothing really haha.

Love you tons too!!! Happy valentines day!

aishiteimasu!!!!!!
Hutchinson Choro


Some older photos taken by Elder Hatch:

I have no idea what this big thing is :)

Teaching via train window

A very large icicle!

Cool unidentified family (I hope he tells us next week)

Snow

Lots of Snow

And still higher Snow

2/2/14 Coldhot

Time doesn't feel like it's going fast, but every time I look, it's already gone...!

I'm glad everyone is finding fun stuff to do. I don't know how excited I am for chocolate cake day though... Sing along screening (of Frozen)? That's interesting. I'm glad Mara is making time to go to the temple. Do you know if Adam gets to go to the temple in his mission? I'm way excited to go. I'm also for sure proud of Mara's bargain skills. There's definitely a lot of clothes I want to try to snag here before I head home though. The zone is pretty much fine. I just wish we didn't have to go on splits so much because our poor area hardly gets any dendo time. Even if we find anyone cool it's hard to find time to meet them again :p We don't have DL responsibilities anymore, but there are more other things that make me feel like I'm even more busy than last transfer. Keep encouraging and praying for the missionaries in the ward for me! The translation means: happiness, isn't it? (Mom asked him to translate something) Makes more sense in Japanese. If I knew the context there's probably a better phrase.

I'll see what I can do about two weeks ago. Not anything too special happened before Hatch E left from what I remember. After that Dixon E and I made plans to focus on our area more (since we thought we would have less responsibilities... oh well). But because of that we headed out on Friday to find by the college and found some really cool students and stuff. It was a really fun area to dendo. We also found a guy who is a college professor named Hayashi. He's way cool and he seemed a little different, but he was way nice. On Saturday we went to Bibai and did some finding there and found a WAY cool family called the Hisatsunes. We made a weak appointment through the intercom, but as we were writing down, the dad from down the street walks up to us and asks us if we can speak Japanese. We say we do and have a pretty conversation with him and explain what we're doing. He thinks we're really awesome and is pretty interested so he introduces his son to us who is about 22 and way cool! He used to go to college in another part of Japan there and went to church at the time. Got their numbers and made an appt so that was pretty cool. Sunday was the normal translating into sign language and getting lots of food from members. We also had some ok finding. Monday was a pretty awesome p-day. We went to an onsen and a big mall with the Ebetsu elders. The onsen was WAY nice and cool because they had some out door pools as well with snow falling around.

That night we dendo'd a bit around the church and then got on the train to Asahikawa. I went on splits with Fukushima E who is awesome. He is working way hard as DL there. We did lots of finding and it was fun because he is really motivated. Wednesday morning we had a crazy adventure getting up way early, running through a blizzard, and riding a long train back to Sapporo in order to make it to mission leader council which was really awesome as usual. I felt like everything was said right to me. It basically took all day so we didn't have time to dendo when we got home. Thursday we went back to the college area and met Hayashi again. Turns out that he is from Taiwan! He married and a Nihonjin and graduated with a doctor's degree at Hokkaido university, but he's also fluent in English. We talked to him in his house. He told us his life story and we taught him a short, but really good lesson. We also showed him the Book of Mormon and he committed to read it before we could even ask him to. He is pretty kinjin so we're excited about him.

Friday was having the Takikawa Elders come on splits in Iwamizawa. I went with Kojima E who is a bit younger as a missionary, but a way cool guy. He went to Snow college for a year studying English! We did a lot of finding and had fun, but had to run for shelter in stores sometimes when the blizzards got bad. Saturday was originally planned to do a lot of dendo, but we had a stake coordination meeting that we had to go to and it took a lot of time to prepare for. We went to all of our Bibai appts, but we had to go super early so they were almost all not home. We did meet a really cool guy named Nagae though. We also found out that Yamashita didn't get his job and still can't come to church. Otherwise he's doing good. The stake meeting was actually pretty fun and went well. It helped to know more of what the Stake wants us to do as missionaries. There are a lot of wards and branches that don't have enough priesthood to have ward mission leaders or other callings like that, so it's pretty tough for some missionaries to work with the members, but I guess that's what finding new members is for, kana?

Sunday was good! It was fast Sunday and Adachi showed up randomly again! She went to Hawaii on her business trip and ended up meeting a bunch of RM's at the Polynesian cultural center! One of which (her group's guide) served here in Iwamizawa for a long time. She had been puzzled(?) about how many random meetings she had been having with the church and came with lots of really good questions. We had a great lesson with her at church about the spirit. She won't commit to a baptismal date right now, but she has a ton of promise!

That's about it! Thanks and love you!

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

1/26/14 Transfers and no judging and slightly melting snow

Hey! I have to write kinda fast. The inversion sounds tough. I remember still running in it everyday, haha. I hope Adam is doing fine. Yeah the new mission president is going to be nihonjin. A little jealous, but way glad I get to spend all of my time w/ the amazing Evans'. I don't know for sure, but I think they're moving to Utah? That's crazy Joseph is coming back so soon - I thought he'd have 'til the end of March like the missionaries here. Maybe transfers are offset a bit. Thanks for the testimony of the Book of Mormon and sorry about no pictures! Most of the ones you want are on Hatch E's camera and he didn't give them to me before he transferred. For now, here's one pic of Will Ferrell.

Well, I don't have much time left at all.... But I'll tell you about the lesson I learned. I found out who my new comp was going to be and I was honestly way down at first. I had heard a lot about him being really trunky his whole mission and just being really into anime and stuff (plus it's his last transfer), but then I realized that I had to change my expectations and that even if he was like that, it is up to me to make things happen anyways. Long story short, he was not like any of the things anyone said and we get along REALLY well and he has a lot of dendo fire and works hard! I felt so bad for getting upset and learned a valuable lesson. After that we setup stuff for the zone and found some way awesome kinjins!!! I tell you about 'em next week!

Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

1/19/13 Japanese Will Ferrell

Hey! I'll see if I can get some pictures (of snow) this time. I forgot my camera again though. I am actually pretty sure that today is a normal p-day :) Yeah, everything was pretty good this week. Just tons of train time. We only went to Asahikawa (2nd area called Suehiro) and Wakkanai. (Plus Ebetsu for DTM but we go there every week.)

Silly mom! You know that if you have Japanese you want translated you don't ask google when you have a Japanese missionary right here haha. Akira Tsunoka is the branch president from Nemuro. Keep doing your best on the clean house!

Sounds like there were a lot of cool miracles as far as being helped by relatives and friends. That's so nice :D

SO I guess here's the week! Monday we got home late from the Honbu because of the forever music practice + having to do email there so all we could do here was a little planning. Tuesday we went to Ebetsu and had a good DTM on teaching to people, not just teaching lessons, done by me. It went good and we ended it early so we could make our train to Wakkanai. It was pretty long. We went to Asahikawa and transferred there to a smaller train. For some reason it was crazy packed and we had to stand for like four hours, but we met a really nice high school student. He's from Kagoshima (south Japan) and he came up here for this high school in this WAY middle of nowhere place (1000 people maybe) called Otoineppu. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk at first, but when his stop came up he came back up to us and started to ask us what we were doing here and seemed pretty interested. I hope he meets missionaries again someday. We got to Wakkanai at about 6:45 ish and I worked with Sakihara E for a bit that night. He is super strong and diligent. He is almost on his last transfer and just got finished done being AP before leaving to open Wakkanai. We worked way hard the next day and even though all we had to do was housing, we made a ton of appts and got lots of lessons in the doorway. Way fun because it's been a while since I got to work with another companion like that! We also had Institute there that night. Wakkanai's branch is pretty small (smaller than Nemuro) but they have institute classes every Wednesday. There we got to meet the members and recent convert Shibuya B who looks like Will Ferrell! He is way funny and cool and has a super strong testimony. He also rides his bike everywhere even in the snow. He named his bike Milk Cocoa express (it used to be called Milk Coffee express, but then he learned the WofW!)

Next morning we took a faster train home, got some study and planning + Eikaiwa done and then headed to Asahikawa! Friday was splits with Goddard E who is way cool. He used to be in a pretty rough situation (he lived in LA and was a pretty big stoner/partier) but he came back to the church and completely changed and gave up all the bad things right away! He is super cool and has such an incredible testimony he pretty much shares nonstop. We got along pretty good. Also his Grandfather is the explorer John Goddard. I don't know if you've heard of him. I hadn't. haha We had a pretty fun day! First we taught a Baptist minister from Wisconsin! He is pretty nice and was really open. He's reading the BoM quite a bit as well as other church books. He had lots of questions and we were able to answer them with the scriptures pretty well, but he set on his beliefs (and unfortunately, employment) so even when we showed him proof in the BofM and Bible about the need for baptism he was pretty steadfast. Super nice guy though! I also helped teach Eikaiwa there and that was pretty fun too! Not to mention I finally got to eat Naan and Indian curry again :)

Next morning we came home and went to visit a really nice NA and then head to Bibai to do some finding and meet Yamashita. He is doing way good faith wise, but is in really dire straits money wise. He had his heater on the lowest setting and had to cut off his phone bill. We worked with the branch pres to get him some rice and an electric blanket so hopefully that'll help him out. He is 59 and is having a really hard time searching for a job despite being really smart and fluent in English. Otherwise in his lessons he almost seems like he is already a member sometimes. He says he hasn't been able to read the BofM much, but sometimes in the middle of our talks he'll bring up random BofM stories! (i.e. we were talking about how so many people deny the existence of God and he said "I wonder if they'll end up like Korihor?")

Sunday was pretty all right. Church went good, but none of our investigators were able to make it. After church we also weren't able to meet our other investigators we usually meet on Sunday so we had some decent finding. I feel so bad for our poor area. Because they are only ZLs here most of the time it's not getting dendo'd at all! We had dinner with the Oota couple and Kaneko B and it was pretty fun. They are way cool and down to earth. The couple was recently married last year so that's cool.

That's pretty much the week though. Thanks for all your faith, prayers, love, and support! Love you times a million!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

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

12/01/13 Baptism next week!

I'm glad my last letter was well received! I'll definitely check my patriarchal blessing out again soon!! There weren't as many kept appointments as I would've liked, but we definitely still had some way amazing lessons. I'm excited to hear more about your missionary work there as always! Grandma's b-day sounds like it was great! I meet so many grandmas here and sometimes wonder what it's going to be like to meet American grandmas again hahaha. There really are soo many older people in Japan. I wish I could've seen all the cousins! I feel so bad forgetting most of their faces already. I don't recognize anyone in the pic with Mara besides her. Keep having fun with the little girls and Sharon Merrill!

Mara's letter was so funny... She is such a high schooler haha. I'll prob write her back today. I only have a few minutes left! Yikes! Monday we had another English lesson with Kunii that went great! We gave him a BoM and he seemed really excited about it! He remembered everything we taught him perfectly. Tuesday was DTM and lots of finding and meeting new people and teaching little lessons and making appointments. It's getting colder. We also picked up Uenami E and Dobashi E who came from Obihiro for splits. Wednesday I went with Uenami E and we had some finding adventures and tried to communicate with Chinese people. Glad we had a Chinese pamphlet. The other Elders taught a lesson to Hayato with Okuchi S and Karebu B and we took pics together after. At night we taught Van S an AB lesson about temple marriage and family history and she really wants her family to all be sealed together. Thursday we went to those appts that didn't work out then had DKK and it snowed. Morgan E was so happy. I was not. We called Van S on the phone and Morgan E did a practice lesson to pass off for his training.

Friday we visited some old investigators I found w/ Inumaki E to see them one last time just in case I transfer. Then before Eikaiwa we taught all the rest of the lessons to Hayato. He also brought his friend Yuuta who he basically taught about the BoM and now has interest. What a boss! We taught him about the law of chastity and modesty and Karebu B read out of the strength of youth about how boys aren't supposed to have earrings and he took his earring out without a question. His faith is so awesome. Because of that we moved his baptismal date to next Sunday after church! Eikaiwa also went well and the lady we met on the street, Haruna, came and told us she was transferring to Tokyo the same day as transfers. Hopefully she'll keep going to Eikaiwa there! Saturday we met this lady named Muranishi who we had met a bazillion times before randomly. She came to the church and we finally had a real lesson with her! She may have some good potential. She also gave us these way cool Christmas cards she drew. She is fluent in English, but when she heard how good my Japanese was, she was embarrassed to speak English so we spoke all Japanese. She's going to India on vacation next week. We also had some great lessons while finding.

Sunday was awesome. Hayato and all the new members plus a few non-attendings came! It wasn't even a special event and if the Kobayashi family came there would've been almost 28 people. Nemuro is so awesome. We had Hayato's practice interview and he passed. We also had a quick AB lesson with Van S. I took some time to work on an arrangement that Evans S is having me do for the next musical thing so that took a little time hahaha. Otherwise I'm looking forward to this week! Heavenly Father is sure hastening this work!!!!

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

Yuka and Hayato

Vietnamese girls + phillipino member

group w/ Okuchis and Hayato (gets baptized on Sunday!!!)

Their Christmas tree - bigger than last year :) perhaps sent by Morgan's family?

First pair of shoes to go down! Luckily, I think this was the backup pair

The bike, still going strong

The next few are from the Nemuro house - just a few of the ones he sent:

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