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

4/6/14 Bipolar Hokkaido

So the weather here is ridiculous. It switches between spring and back to winter (with snow and everything) every other day so it's been funny. By the way when it gets warmer, do you think it would be a good idea to send my heavy winter stuff home? I could send it by boat and it wouldn't cost that much. I am also probably going to throw away a lot of my shirts and older clothes so I should have more room. It's not like I'm planning to buy tons of stuff, but I thought it might be easier. We'll see! I might not even transfer!

I'm so jealous you got to see conference already! I'm glad they talked about missionary work. Sounds like there were a lot of amazing talks. Maybe I'll get to hear it in English this time w (it's what Japanese people do instead of lol because the word for laugh is warau). We had Fast Sunday and it went pretty good. The deaf sister in the ward moved away so I don't have to do sign language anymore. It was kinda lonely, but I was glad that my hands were free to actually stand up and bear my testimony for the first time in a while. Sounds like the cousins had a fun time at conference as well!

Once again I'm the worst son and forgot my adapter. You will see the food eventually though. The only really interesting food we had this time around was the famous Bibai yakitori (barbecue chicken shishkebabs) Its famous because of the way they cook it and the fact that they only use the organs not the regular meat. It was pretty good, but regular yakitori is better. Nemuro's is still my favorite :)

Nishime E is from Ginowan in Okinawa. His house is right across from the famous Futenma American base. He doesn't really like running. When we went running, he rode a bike and followed us w. We weren't able to meet the person who new Andrus B or Ogasawara this week, but we'll keep trying! :) Japanese people work way too hard. We did however find a WAY cool guy named Gotou from Shibetsu who lived nearby though. He is about 20 and studying nursing, but has a lot of interest. He let us in his house when it was super cold, we had an awesome lesson, and he gave us potatoes from his family's farm.

Other wise the week goes like this.
Monday was a funny p-day. We spent all of our time making the zone's shepherd (newsletter). It was a lot more work than we thought printing out pics at the store, cutting em out etc. I was glad I had a mom who did scrapbooking even though I didn't really get any of those talents. We also headed to Asahikawa and spent the night. The next day we had a mini zone conference with two of the districts about improving yourself and not settling for average. It was pretty fun. After that I went on splits with one of the beans named Velasquez E. It was way fun and he is really chill. We saw a ton of cool miracles. I miss being a trainer!

Wednesday we came home and tried to visit a few members. We couldn't ride bikes yet and ended up walking a TON. Thursday we had DKK and Eikaiwa plus splits with Schoell E from Ebetsu again. (He is the 2 meter tall guy w) The weather that day was way crazy, but we made really good use of it. Saturday we stopped by Bibai and visited that NA Miura S we visit every other week. I feel like the more we teach her, the more her doctrine gets mixed up. I'm pretty sure she is listening to the Jehovah's witnesses (J dubs) as well and it's kinda tricky. We'll figure something out. We also stopped by Yamashita's house and he was doing good! He was happy to meet again so hopefully we'll be able to get back into teaching him. Still no job, but it's warmer so that's a big help. At night we went and ate that yakitori with Adachi Kaicho. We did some denwa dendo and shopping because we finished dinner early. Sunday was pretty much what I explained up top. And that's it! We are going somewhere with the Eikaiwa student again today so that should be cool!

The gospel is so great. PMG and the Book of Mormon are so great! I feel like there are times where I get tired of studying in general, but with prayer I have been able to learn so many new things despite having read them so many times before. Aoyagi E from the 70 is coming next transfer and committed us to read Alma and it's so great!!! I used to think Alma was just super long, but it is full of so many great missionary stories.

I love you and am grateful for your support and testimonies!
Aishiteimasu!

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

1/13/14 Never ending snow

So it snowed. A lot. I knew Iwamizawa was the snowiest area in Hokkaido... but i didn't think it was THAT much more. It's above my head. Church was canceled except for sacrament, but that was kinda neat because we got to do lots of service and shoveling to help people make it to sacrament.

All the birthdays and mini get togethers sound great. I am probably not even going to recognize half of the ward when I get back ne, hahaha. I hope you have fun practicing for the relief society meeting! Today p-day was nothing but music practice...... I love music, but I would like a p-day sometimes haha. I'm glad you got Hatch E's mail. I felt bad for running out of time. The meetings that Heavenly Father guides us to blow me away all the time. Thanks for telling everyone back home how I'm doing and thanks for receiving and showing a bunch of gratitude for the blessings you receive.

So Zone Conference went WAY good. We rode with the AP's to Asahikawa and got everyone together. I thought I was going to be nervous, but everything went way smooth. We talked about goals and basically just went through PMG about goal setting and having faith in the goals. We encouraged everybody to have faith and bore testimony a ton because we know how much success they can see here because it is an area that God has prepared and opened through church leaders. We had everyone report numbers etc yesterday and almost all the missionaries improved like CRAZY! They all said they were way inspired by the workshop to make high goals and work hard. Anyways after getting back I went on splits with the AP Jones E and we had a lot of fun streeting and stuff. I still don't know the area very well at all because we are always gone, but we made stuff happen.

The next day we went to Ebetsu and had splits and I went w/ Sakamura E. He is so awesome. He has so much dendo fire and is way funny. We went all over the area finding old investigators and giving feedback on each-others' finding skills. The next day we had DKK and headed to Takikawa. In Takikawa I went on splits with Yanada E who also has lots of dendo fire. Next transfer is his last and he wants to make sure he ends strong. Yoshikawa E who was in Kushiro is his comp so it was good to see him again. We taught this way cool guy who has been an investigator since he was little and is like 37 now. However he had a big change of heart and wants to get baptized way bad now. We made a baptismal date with him and that was super exciting for them.

We came back from Takikawa on Saturday and headed to this part of our area called Bibai (it means beautiful song) to see Yamashita. We met another really nice NA there before we went and taught him a lesson. He is way awesome. We taught him mostly the rest of the commandments and he accepted them all right away except for wine... He feels like since it's in the bible that it should be an exception. We explained to him about how it's restored truth and he understands that, but just needs to get the confirmation for himself. Then I pretty much told you what Sunday was like so yeah!

The gospel is so incredibly true and I love being a missionary. I've gotta head back to Iwamizawa though so I'll catch ya later! Love you tons!!! Aishiteimasu! BTW tomorrow we have DTM then go to Wakkanai which basically takes all day. It's the northest! I'm way excited.

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

11/23/13 ZTM, Splits and Splits!

Hey! I'm glad my letters and everything are well received there. :) I:m so grateful to have a family that supports me so much and has so much faith.

You were talking about clothes and I actually used some of the money you sent to me to get a new medium coat. The coat that you sent with me is really warm and I wanted to get something for when it's still not that cold yet. It's pretty cool and conservative too. Your Sunday school lesson sounds awesome! I taught Elders quorum/relief society on the talk by Elder Ballard about trusting the Lord that was about missionary work. Mara's play looks like it went well! I like the light blue colors in the costume. I don't recognize anyone in the pictures/know anything about West Side Story except that there are sharks and jets. It did look like Dr. Pearce in the picture though.

I have seen the (talk on the) character of Christ! They played it in the MTC every week. Thanks for your fasting! Here's my story this week.

So in Kushiro we stayed the night for ZTM the next day. I wanted to go with the Kushiro Elders to this really good Indian curry place (because there is none in Nemuro) but they had to clean the apartment a ton so we borrowed their bikes and I can pretty much navigate Kushiro because I've been there so many times on splits, etc. We ended up getting to the restaurant exactly when it was closed so we didn't get to eat :( I got to go on splits that night with a cool missionary named Brown E (not the one from New Zealand) and we had a way fun time. I taught him a lot and kinda felt like a old guy missionary... hahaha

Tuesday was pretty awesome. We had ZTM and the APs gave a great workshop on Faith, Diligence, and Obedience and how they are all together necessary to succeed as a missionary. I also had my interview w/ Pres Evans and we talked a little bit about what kind of missionary will be good to come to Nemuro next. IF I leave that is... I do love it here.... But I do kinda want to transfer. It's been a while haaha. We missed our train back to Kushiro so we stayed in Obihiro for a few more hours and tried dendoing a little bit. We got back to Nemuro late at night with Harper E and Yoshikawa E and Okuchi S gave us a ride back to the apartment. Wednesday I went on splits with Yoshikawa E and we met this guy that Inumaki E and I found who is from Osaka and really interested in religion. He is just really doubtful. We wouldn't have met with him, but he called and asked if we could meet again so we did. He talked so much. I'm glad Yoshikawa E was there because my gift of tongues wasn't quite as strong that time hahaha. I still pretty much understood, it was just a lot. We ended up teaching him practically everything because of all his questions, but he is mostly looking for proof. Hopefully he will eventually get humble enough to pray and read. He is searching a lot for sure. After that we met this Chinese guy named Kou who Inumaki E and I found as well. We hadn't visited for a while so his Japanese has gotten a bit better. We were able to share a bit more than before so that was good. He gave us lots of peanuts. We also did some finding and met a lady who said she was just reading this biography about someone and in part of their life they became Christian. She said just as she started reading the part about how they joined we came to the door. Pretty cool. Talked to her for a bit. We also went to the CHurch and taught the Satous the plan of salvation with Okuchi S and it went great! They understand really well, but just need to act more so that they can get real faith.

Thursday we took my bike to the shop and then visited Hayasaka. Lo and behold even though she finally has free time she still hasn't read the BofM. We helped her clean her hair salon a bit to end things on a good note. We might not go by for a while, but she is definitely an awesome person who was really interested in us for some reason that we couldn't find. Anyway before DKK and picking up the ZLs we just had a tiny bit of time to find and actually only got 3 doors. However, those three doors ALL lead to sweet short lessons and appointments! How bout that! We picked up my bike (yay!) and then got the ZLs at the train station. We took them to sushi. Cool thing. During sushi I got a text from this way kinjin J-tai (japanese army) guy who me and Inumaki E met saying he was sorry he never replied to us before because he moved to a different base, but he's back now and wants to meet! Nice. Friday I went on splits with Stout E. He dies this transfer. Anyways he's way good at sign language so we practiced in the morning and went to see Igarashi S and she was so so so happy to see us and gave us a million things/took us out to ramen. I was actually able to say a lot more in sign language than I thought I could. It's really fun! We tried to visit some other people and then had a lesson with the Satous again before Eikaiwa. It was the doctrine of Christ and like the plan of salvation they understand pretty well but are still having a hard time praying sincerely. However, Hayato seems to be getting a hang of it. He is 15 years old and way awesome.

Saturday we went to Betsukai for the first time in a really long time! We helped with home teaching and helped on the farm as well. We found out that Emille (the Filipino guy we taught before) had something happen w/ his family back home so he has to go back. Maria S was kinda upset about it and had us try to talk to him to see if there was anything to do. Oh! Okuchi S and Yuka came with us to the farm as well and had a pretty fun time. Hayato came to church the next day! At church my lesson went pretty decent and the members thought of lots of ideas they can use to do missionary work on their own. Maybe as a family you can think of all the things you can do to do missionary work! There are so many activities there that I feel like it'd be a lot easier ;) We went to primary with Hayato and Karebu because there was no young mens prepared, but it was fun. Van S came late and actually it was her birthday! She made Vietnamese food for the entire branch!!! She also brought four friends. Wow. It was really good. After that I had a meeting with all the branch presidencies in Kushiro district over skype. Crazy. We talked about member missionary work. Also Igarashi S showed up at the church to give us more treats which is way awesome! There might just be a little bit more to do to help her get back to church. After church we saw a few investigators and came back to do some phone dendo.

Anyways that's how things are going! Today is kind of a relaxing p-day with letter writing and guitar playing time. I've come up with a new study strategy to just write how I feel about what I studied rather than just kinda repeat the material. It really helped and was a lot more spiritual! I hope your study is going great! I hope everything is going great! I love you!!!!

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

10/20/13 More typhoons and more miracles!

Hey! It has been another pretty great/crazy week again! We spent a lot of time not-in-Nemuro again, but it was good! On Monday we went to Kushiro again. I bought my rain suit/back pack cover that's way sweet. I also walked around a bunch. I went on mini splits w/ Yoshikawa E again that night and met this guy we taught last time I went with him. Tuesday we got up way early and rode the train to Obihiro for zone conference. There were some way good workshops on the spirit, comp relationships, and helping all the young missionaries with Japanese hahaha. It really was awesome though and a lot of it really answered my prayers. I love being in Nemuro, but because of how separated it is, it's so crazy how fun it is to meet other missionaries again. We also had Morgan E's bean shower. Very different from how mine was. No Japanese and no singing as sisters in Zion in Japanese, but whateva. It's probably better that way ;) It is really great that so many new missionaries are coming, but sad when other missionaries die... Especially Japanese ones. I feel like I get along with them the best/like the diversity. We went back to Kushiro and I streeted there a bit w/ Morgan E. Wednesday I went on splits w/ French E and it was the craziest typhoon of my life. Luckily I had my new rain suit and it protected me pretty well. We walked through it pretty much all day and even though we made it to a few of the people we wanted to visit everyone was like "you're crazy! go home! we can talk when the weather is better!" hahahaha Thankfully the member we visited let us come in to dry off, and gave us dinner out of nowhere. He is way awesome btw. He kept showing us stuff on facebook. If you ever get a chance will you put up a new profile pic for me? Maybe even change my current location to Nemuro or something. That'd be fun.

Thursday we went back to Nemuro and then had weekly planning session. Friday was a pretty good/awesome day of dendo! Cool miracle too. This girl randomly runs up to us and asks us why we are in Japan. I explain who we are and she gets really excited and starts speaking to us in fluent English about how she just moved to Nemuro for work and really wants to practice her English. We invited her to Eikaiwa and she came! She even turned down a drinking party haha. But anyways after class she was really curious about what made us decide to be missionaries and it was a great opportunity to bear my testimony to her. Maybe she'll become an investigator soon! :o

Saturday was nice too. Lots of housing and trying to visit non-attendings/investigators to invite them to the baptism which went WAY good! Okuchi Shimai hasn't been feeling well lately and wasn't able to come to church which was sad, but Van came in this traditional Vietnamese dress and enjoyed the lessons really well! The baptism happened after church and there were some great talks and a song from the primary. Then I did the baptism and confirmation and it was really awesome and spiritual. The best was her testimony afterwards. She is such a boss. I can't wait to do lots of missionary work with her! I also want to make sure that I keep working with Okuchi Shimai enough as well to keep her strong! So after church we had a little potluck and Van brought some pretty good Vietnamese food. We headed out to dendo and this investigator that we haven't been able to visit for 3 weeks (Hebikawa) has been reading the BoM the whole time! Little by little, but she's through 1st Nephi! We had a good short lesson with her and then saw Van again because she wanted to give us more Vietnamese food. She also introduced us to her Mom and little sister over skype! It was way cool/funny. I realized that moms are the same no matter where in the world they are. That's it though!

Glad stuff is great at home too. I'm definitely good here on medicine and stuff. You made sure of that before I left ;) It has been cold here though and the typhoons blow all the leaves off the trees. I bet Mya's primary program is gonna be sweet!!! That's also way tough with Lily and all... :( Let me know how she is. I'm still definitely thinking about the future and nothing is decided, but if you could maybe ask Bro. Proctor if he has any advice for possibly going into auto to eventually work with a Japanese company that would be cool. I still really want to study music and all, but I think having options will be a good thing. Thanks for leaving the note on Andrus Kaicho's stuff.

Glad to hear about how well Mara and church lessons are going! I really wanted to mail Adam as well, but I'm out of time ;( Let him know that I think his attitude about the work is way awesome. Also that I'm glad he isn't in a car mission because biking is real work B)

I love you tons and am grateful for all your prayers and love! Tell the young Baird family congrats! crazy.
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

New rain suit just in time for the typhoon

At church with Morgan E and Van on her baptism day

Baptism day for Van!

Morgan E's bean shower!

8/25/13 "There are so many sisters in the mission it's not even funny."

(First, a housekeeping note to mom: Yeah a bunch of people are trying to find me on facebook and I won't show up! Even if I search for them or go to one of your profiles and look in the friends. What's going on? Can you go on and accept the friend requests/turn my privacy settings down/off? Also I can't remember my pin # and am worried that it may have locked because of too many failed attempts... Please look into that because my bike's brake lines are dangerous right now and I have no money to fix them. THANKS! Maybe when you get that fixed you can contact the honbu and let them know to contact me so I can get it done ASAP. Thanks!

So yeah! The Okuchi's are doing way amazing still. Ayako Shimai said the closing prayer in sacrament meeting after I gave a 30 minute plus talk.... Yeah I got asked to give a talk on Saturday (the day before) and little did I know that I was the MAIN speaker. Yeah. A youth speaker and then me and that was all of sacrament meeting. Pretty cool experience. Everyone said it went really well afterwards and all the little kids were like NAGAAAAAAAIIIII!!!!! (long) Church was pretty awesome that day. For primary we went for a walk after a short lesson about hardships of the early church members. Yuka gave the prayer again and is getting way awesome at it! Also Ayako shimai has started practicing piano for her new calling as primary music coordinator. Way cool. They actually surprised us with dinner last night as well. They are pretty dead set on coming to America some day to visit us and also go to Disneyland. They made us promise that we would take them. I think I'll have to be really thrifty with money when I get home so it works out hahaha...

Other than them and their awesomeness I'll start from the beginning of last week. On Monday right after I finished emails, I found out that my bean had to get surgery again...... yeah right after we said goodbye to everybody for the 2nd time. It was a little stressful, but we are over it and really happy to be together for this transfer too! There is still a big chance that he will come and I will train him next transfer so I'll send his picture and info anyways. Whether he comes or not I'd still like to meet him someday, he seems way rad. Tuesday and Wednesday were really good, just lots of finding and little follow up lessons with investigators. Saying "oh hey! by the way Andersen Choro isn't actually transferring!" a few times as well. Thursday we had a kinda long DKK and headed off to Kushiro for Zone Training in Obihiro! Yay. Way tired and way rushed. I used to not be able to sleep on buses/trains at all, but it's all I can do now!

Woke up early on Friday to get to Obihiro. Practiced a song with the sisters in Kitami and played that at ZTM. It was the song we did at the baptism, but Evans shimai asked me to do it with some other missionaries. There are so many sisters in the mission it's not even funny. They are almost all brand new and can hardly speak Japanese at all. It's awesome though. Got to do some practice lessons/stuff with them and they have way strong testimonies and desires to serve. So do the new Elders! Made me excited to become trainer. Had a good interview with Kaicho as well and he pretty much just explained how he was sorry about the mix up and he still wants me to be trainer really bad. Cool! After that we ate some famous Obihiro butadon (pork on rice) and went back to Kushiro where we visited a family from the ward Andersen E was close with. The next morning we ate McDonalds for breakfast with the Kushiro branch Pres, Jay Andrus, who is way awesome and he saw us off to head back to Nemuro. We fixed Andersen E's bike tire and did some finding! What a week. Lots of moving around!

Sounds like your week was a blast! I'm excited for Adam's farewell and the house remodeling stuff being done! Pictures please! I'm really excited for Mara in high school too. Tell her to do her best in Boland's class. It's really easy, just don't let the slightly extremist teacher get to her. The only advice I have for Adam is that airplanes are awesome and I hope he started his Spanish study early. Still can't believe he has a girlfriend ... Crazy kid haha.

As far as candy... I don't know if I can just make a list of all the stuff they have, but I'll try: snickers, kit kats, pringles, m&ms...
Yeah, I'm stuck. Whatever you send will be fine, I'll just tell them it's from America and they'll be happy. Warheads would be awesome!

Every day here IS amazing! Love you tons! Another random experience. Last night we got approached by a group of Vietnamese girls that are living here to work (kinda like the Philipino guys at the farm) and they told us they really want to come to church! Random, but kinda cool.
Hope you see lots of miracles too! They come at the most unexpected times!

Love you!! Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson CHoro

7/21/13 A pretty awesome week here in Nemuro, and Kushiro, and Obihiro!

Hey thanks for sending everything right away! Glad the stuff in the kitchen is going well and it'll be really cool when it's all done and the rubble is cleared out. Nice to have a lot of help there too. Too bad there aren't any like, less actives in our house or something because that'd be a good thing to invite missionaries over to do! Have fun at all the farewells tomorrow and good luck with Gospel Doctrine! I went to primary yesterday. I'll tell you about that later! Glad Adam's stuff (for the mission) is getting found! You found Uniclo!?!? Where? Was it just online? That might be why they don't have short sleeves. The ones here in Japan are amazing. Ohhh randomly while I remember there is some music I want you to try to find and send to me. Sufjan Stevens has a good amount of Christmas music/hymns that he has done in his style that's really cool. Andersen Choro has some and if you couldn't find that/any other music like that I'd be way happy. Also there is a cd called Nearer: a collection of favorite hymns and it is amazing. It has a lot of local people from Utah that I really like including the old bassist from Fictionist I was friends with. Music is something I am kinda always wanting a little more variety in haha.

Glad you liked the photos! Actually Yuka's dad ran away before she was born so it's just her and her mom. Kawashima is the one who we want the husband to support her. They are all amazing though.

That's tough about Uncle Merril, but I know whatever happens I'm grateful for the plan of salvation as well. Grandpa Price is definitely someone who helped me get a strong testimony in it for myself. Sharayah is a crazy name. :) Thanks for the pictures of my nieces and nephew always. I feel like I won't be surprised at all when I get home because I see how they grow every week hahaha.

That's way awesome Zach Nordfelt and Aaron are back! It felt like they left such a long time ago haha. Glad you got to hear from Sis Gandy too! I was thinking about that time meeting them this morning and how much I want to come back here like they got to...

So this week!
We kinda moved p-day and Wednesday around because of travel stuff, so on Monday after email we did some finding and visiting of PIs that I found on splits the week before. We also stopped by *I's* to see how he was and try to schedule an appointment with him, but he was so happy to see us he let us in and made us eat a bunch of candy. We taught a bunch about coming to church and praying etc because we want to get him back into full on lesson teaching mode. In the middle of that we *accidentally* found out that he has a law of chastity problem when we asked him what movies he's been watching lately. We testified to him pretty strongly about the law of chastity and its importance in feeling the spirit etc. He seemed a little bit overwhelmed, but it was kinda spur of the moment. In the end I think he was pretty good though because he called later in the week and asked when we could come again. That night was a pretty big fireworks show out over the pier by our house. We went there to try to shizen dendo people in the big crowd and got approached/approached a lot of pretty fun people. Invited lots of people to eikaiwa. Tuesday we visited the people Andersen Choro found on splits and then did some finding which was cool. Found a guy who met missionaries 30 years ago and still remembers their names and has the old-school BofM they gave him! We also met with the Edo family again and they are so cool. The daughter Rio who is 8 put the temple pass along cards we gave her over her desk. They really love it when we visit. We also gave them a hello kitty prayer card and the mom was way happy and said that she would pray for sure! Then we went to see Ishii shimai to see if there was anything we could do to help out since her husband passed away. Her son and his wife were there(not members) so we talked to them a bunch and got fed a bunch of candy by Ishii shimai (Japanese people really like doing that!) We made pretty good friends with them and referred them to the missionaries in their area! We tried to visit Okuchi again and give her this epic Book of Mormon present that we made for them, but they were at a matsuri so we couldn't see them.

Wednesday we got up early and got on a bus to Kushiro! We met with Andrus Kaicho who is the branch president in Kushiro (He's American) and he made really good friends w/ Andersen E while he was there so we went and hung out with him for a bit. Took some purikura, ate curry, played our song for him, and got our haircut. He has a professional hair cut license! He even cut my eyebrows! Looks pretty good, no lie. After that we went to visit some old investigators of Andersen E. One named Abe who is way awesome, same age as me and plays the guitar. Had a good convo with him and encouraged him a lot about reading and praying even though he has been way busy with work. After that we met Akari and her Grandma Sugimoto (Akari got baptized yesterday! She's 13) and cheered on the grandma about getting baptized as well. She wants to, but she:s way terrified of water. She also has to quit her past religion (soukagakkai, it's pretty scary) and it takes a lot of steps and stuff to do so. They were way happy to see us though and it was way fun! Thursday we had Zone conference in Obihiro! It was WAY good! Good to see other missionaries! Kaicho gave a great workshop on faith and there were other workshops about being bold, working with members, obedience, strengthening testimony, etc. Also Andersen E and I played the song we have been working on for a while at Evans Shimai's request. It was I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go in a super cool folk version with a fun harmony I made. Reminded me of something from O brother where art thou. It went way good and even President Evans complimented us a bunch on it! After that we headed back to Kushiro after shizening some people in the Obihiro eki. I contacted someone in sign language and that was way fun! We got to Kushiro and stopped by the eikaiwa there.

Friday we had study and before we left went out to eat Chinese with Andrus Kaicho again. He gave us a bunch of candy to eat on the bus back to Nemuro. We got back to Nemuro and taught our Eikaiwa which went pretty decent as well. We were pretty tired though. Saturday Andersen E's ear hurt way bad so we went to the hospital and he got some medicine for it. After that we just did DKK and then finally went over to Okuchi's to give her the Book of Mormon! We put it in a stitch (from lilo and stitch) case and marked a bunch of scriptures in there, wrote our testimonies, and put a picture of us all together that we took before. I also made a paper of all the scriptures and Andersen E put an awesome picture he drew of Stitch to help them remember to read! They loved it a ton! The scripture paper had 24 scriptures to read one a day and Yuka read them all in 2 days! After hanging out with them and teaching them about the BofM we went to eat Reimen again with an investigator named Yamagishi from a while back. It was way fun, but kinda loud in the restaurant that day so it was hard to talk gospel, but he really wants to come to eikaiwa now that he knows about it.

The next day Okuchi and Yuka came to church and were there for primary this time! They couldn't come the first hour so I taught young mens again that time. Yuka is still a bit shy in church, but she sat very still and listened the whole lesson! She even tried a bit when we sang songs. She is the cutest. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on Pres Monson's talk about obedience. After church we walked them back to a park by their house and found out how much she loved reading the BofM and how since then her mom has gotten more into it as well. We also found out her story about having Yuka with the guy running away and how it was hard to raise her alone, but since we have come it has helped her a lot. They are way awesome and special. We got home and my back started to hurt way bad so I actually laid down the rest of the day while Andersen E work on cards for the members. I feel a lot better today though! Thanks so so much for everything as always and I'm grateful that I was able to be raised in the gospel environment. I'm super excited to help Yuka have that chance as well!
Aishitemasu!
Hutchinson Choro

6/23/13 Nemuro is still awesome!

Hey! I don't know what to call this week. Nemuro is still awesome.

Thanks for the mail about the broadcast! It sounds pretty interesting! It turns out we will be seeing it eventually. I wonder how those things will all apply here in Japan! Whatever we do here it really is exciting to be a missionary at this time ;) Glad lots of people see the blog too! I'll work on the email now!

I can't believe it's Westfest time already. That's really exciting about the vacuum too! Have fun in a clean house :) Japanese vacuums are pretty weird, but they work alright. You should look up a picture. It's like an egg with wheels and a hose. I can't believe how many farewells there were today though! Crazy cool. So many missionaries I can't remember where everyone is going. Awesome stuff though.

Good luck to Lauren having to go back to work. What will Max do? Glad Adam and Mara have been working a lot. St George youth conference sounds pretty cool too! Way proud of Adam finally having his papers in and Mara starting to drive. Thank you tons and tons as always. It is always glad to hear how things are progressing there. We are doing our best to try to get things moving too!

So I forgot my planner today and don't remember all the details about this week, but on Monday we caught up on letters and Elder Inumaki did some packing. Pretty sure we did some finding that night and met a few cool people that we made appointments to go back. Tuesday I am having a hard time remembering, but it was really kinda hurried. We taught a lesson to the investigator we found before named Kobayashi about the restoration. He believes everything, but part of that is he kinda believes every religion. Hopefully we can get him to receive an answer that because of the restoration this is the one true church. It will maybe take a lot of time, but that's ok. After that we headed on a bus to Kushiro for ZTM the next day which was really good. It was on committing and following up. After that we had our last DKK together as a companionship in the Kushiro apt and headed back to Nemuro. That night we met with Okuchi and taught about the doctrine of Christ. Her daughter is kinda hyper so it was hard to focus 100% and because of that I feel like it was kinda rushed especially on baptism. She seemed pretty good about everything at the end though. Hopefully she didn't feel a lot of pressure and stuff. Friday was a cool day. Went to visit some non-attendings that weren't there, but on the way back met an awesome guy named Kawasaki who is in the army and moved here two weeks ago. He is way prepared. He said he was searching for the purpose of life and we shared the plan of salvation with him real quick. He thought it was really cool and really respects what we're doing as missionaries. We made an appointment to eat with him today, but he got called into work right before. He wants to meet again though so I'm excited for that. After that we did some running around finding and got to Eikaiwa. A decent amount of people came and it was way fun as usual. I played my guitar afterwards and the students were really impressed. I'm way glad that with Eikaiwa so many people are able to come into the church. I just hope they can accept the gospel someday. Saturday we went to the farm and helped again. We also played a bunch with Itou shimai's kids who are not members. Sunday was cool. Okuchi couldn't come to church because of work, but Kobayashi came and I taught the gospel principles lesson. It went pretty well. After church Inumaki Choro said a lot of goodbyes and we taught a short lesson to the Kobayashi Family (members). Finding that day didn't end up having that much time, but Inumaki Choro said goodbye to a lot of the cool people that we have met. It is tough having him go home, but I'm looking forward to the cool stuff that will happen here next!

Ozawa kaicho gave a cool talk in sacrament. For part of it he used an example where it feels like we're walking in circles a lot of the time. However if you look at it from the side, it's like a spiral staircase bringing us closer to the Savior. I'm grateful for all the amazing things i get to see here everyday and I know you're seeing amazing things too! Love you!!!
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

Farm!

Hokkaido is huge! And green!

2/10/13 Yuki Matsuri ga arimashita

Today's title: Yuki Matsuri ga arimashita (closest translation Mom can get is "The time I went to the snow festival")

What is up!? Sounds like a pretty awesome week with the wedding shower and stuff! Mine wasn't too bad either. On Monday we went to the Honbu to play for this RM from Australia who served his mission here and was having a little party (with TONS of Tim Tams) so that was pretty fun. We played 3 songs and the guy just talked about how he met his wife so it was just awkward hahaha. It was cool to talk with all the other missionaries there though, that's the best part about gatherings. We also hung around at the eki (Sapporo train station... it is soooo HUGE!) and bought some guitar stuff and did this thing called purikura that is where you take pictures in a photobooth and the effects make your skin really clear and eyes really big hahaha. They are insanely popular in Japan. I'll scan it eventually and send you a copy. That night we dendo'd in Megumino a bit and I had to carry my guitar the entire time! Oh well!

The next day was a tough day not being able to meet people we planned on, but still got some good stuff done. Eikaiwa was way fun too! Since we divided into two classes I taught the beginner class by myself. Wednesday I went on splits with Elder Brown and it was a blast! We went to Shimamatsu which is the most northern part of my area and I haven't been there since my first few weeks so it was nostalgic! The people we planned to meet weren't really around then either, but we met a way nice dad and a guy who fills the gas tanks by people's houses who lived in America as a semi-professional guitar player! haha We also went to an area in Chitose to dendo as well and met a really funny guy that loved English. Maybe he will come to Eikaiwa eventually. That night we had a birthday party for a member who turned 87. She is a boss. Her name is Sugiura shimai and her daughter (Miwa shimai) is awesome too. She is giving us a ride to Lake Shikotsuko today for this ice festival which should be pretty cool. Anyways at the party Miwa shima's friend came, who we want to teach, so that was good. Also the Sugiura's are hilarious because they are way sarcastic and that's rare in Japan! We had some way good spicy food and apple pie. We also played a bunch of hymns on the guitar.

Thursday was zone taikai where we had workshops on mental and physical health. The mental health guy was Japanese, but went on a mission to San Francisco and for school to BYU Idaho and Provo. He was way chill. After that we had great workshops from Kaicho (President) and the APs on companionship goal setting and repentance. It was great to see everyone then too. After that was the SNOW FESTIVAL!!!! But... It was snowing way crazy so the sculptures weren't as recognizable. I got tons of pictures though! If you really want to see the statues well, I'd check online :) It was pretty great though. Friday was another day a lot like Tuesday.

Saturday was in Megumino again and we taught the plan of salvation to this guy I found a long time ago on the phone. He is not at the point where he is ready to act yet, but hopefully he will be soon. We also talked with a non-attending kid named Kanai Ryouta kyoudai who is way cool and likes kingdom hearts a lot so we talked about that a bit hahaha he is also going to college to study English and Chinese so he has come to Eikaiwa before.

Sunday was pretty much "take tons of pictures day." Since I have a really good feeling I will transfer on Thursday, I took pictures with as many of the members as possible (which is pretty much only guys because there is a rule that unless you're with your comp, and he didn't want to cooperate(as usual)). Anyways church was super good and we had a lesson on Adam and Eve in Gospel Principles. Haramai shimai is pretty much a genius and knows the gospel better than a lot of the members already. The stuff she shares in class always impresses me a ton. After church we tried to visit the people from Tuesday again, but they weren't around. Then we had dinner and a chocolate fondue party at Haramai shimai's house with the bishop's wife and kids too. The bishop got the flu so he didn't come. (The flu is a big deal in Japan right now, but I wash my hands so I'm all good ;)) It was way good though. She made a ton of awesome food and we shared a message on the commandments and challenged the dad to read the scriptures with his daughters because we gave them a challenge to read one verse a day.

Anyways, I love being a missionary. I don't want to leave this ward, but I am ready for change. I bet things are changing there a ton too! Livy walking and everything. I think that's awesome Mya talks about me. Thanks for telling everyone how I'm doing too. The worst snow was on Thursday and Friday. Well... Friday was mostly really hard wind with really icy snow. When we got to the church for Dendo meeting my hair was all blasted back and there was ice all over my face and in my hair. I wish I got a picture! It was actually pretty fun, no lie.

You are hilarious for talking to Rodenberg Choro's mom all the time. I get along with him way good. If I'm able to go to BYU it would be sick to room with him I think.

So if you are sending a package I only have one deodorant and toothpaste left. Plus did I tell you about a voice recorder? Other than that I am pretty good on stuff. I love you!!!

Mara's seminary sounds awesome. There is definitely protection and prepared people ready for missionaries. You just have to be righteous and ready yourself. Hearing that makes me think of missionary Mara someday hahaha! Crazy at the zone taikai we watched this video from Elder Nelson talking about the number of missionaries going from 59,000 to 70,000 and half of them being sisters. Also the chances of me becoming a trainer someday are way high. whoo!

Haha I remember making that thing for auto (a video we saw at the high school registration.) I didn't know I was in the Madrigals one though. Make sure Mara doesn't go too crazy with stuff in High School, but I'm excited for her! Also I wanna see a picture of the bookshelf. We have pretty much cleaned the apartment here so much I swear I know it better than my own room back home. Today I found all these really old flyers and For the Strength of Youth pamphlets from the 70's in Japanese.

I wish I could send you a real live hug too! You are the greatest and I know that through striving to find God's hand in your life more you will receive even more blessings :) I love you!
Aishiteimasu!

Hutchinson Choro

Me with the Fujitas (ward missionaries, they are my heroes)

Eniwa choros at the festival

Ise shrine sculpture - huge

Weird head at the snow festival

Dinner at Suguira's

Suguira family

Me and Ofuji kyoudai

Haramai dinner and fondue

1/27/13 Good news

If you want a heading for this email you can call it "good news, the caps lock button is fixed!!!!"

Thanks for the email as always you fantastic family you. This week has been pretty rad actually. Glad work is normal and I still think it's sweet Adam gets to ride a train because it makes me think of here hahaha.

I'm way stoked for Cassie! She wrote me a few letters and one of them was about how she got the confirmation to go on a mission. That is way sweet! That's cool it's pretty close to where Alyssa served as well. I'm excited for Alyssa's wedding too. Way cool! Congrats to Taylor too! Way sick for Jacob too. He is the man. Does he still have that Camaro? Hahaha

Freezing rain sounds way interesting!!! I wish I could've seen it actually. There is some weird snow here too once in a while. One day was like raining slush and another day the snow was like sand. It's hard to describe, but yeah... i am kind of tired of it.

Cool that Mara is going to theatre conf already and WHOA! That's way crazy that a year ago today is when I opened my call. How awesome is that? I forgot what day it was so thanks for letting me know. Thanks a ton for the letters and pics from Joseph, Josh, Ferrin, and Connor! Way sweet! Josh and his comp look way young and Ferrin looks exactly the same hahaha.

I'm sorry again about not getting lots of pictures, but it makes me want to try harder maybe when it gets warmer. That is a way awesome stake theme (Come Follow Me). I forgot that Grandpa told you that before he passed away. I actually thought about him quite a bit this week. I really love having the picture of him after my patriarchal blessing and reading that in your letter makes me want to read it again.

So this week's events were, last p-day we kinda lounged around the apt. Practiced some guitar and ate at the Toyoshima's again. We had shabu shabu which is the same thing we had last time which is ok because it's delicious! Toyoshima shimai put pictures from it on facebook because I told her I had one and she probably tried to become my friend there too hahaha. We shared a pretty cool message about the Atonement and the sacrament.

Tuesday was a cool zone training meeting (ztm) where we had interviews with Pres Evans and some great workshops on Christlike attributes and reading the Book of Mormon together with investigators. I also shared a little talk in the Christlike attributes part. In my interview, president gave me a lot of encouragement about working with my comp and told me to learn as much as I can for when I become Sr. comp and IF I become a trainer... hahah! Also that my time in Eniwa is probably up, but that is ok even though I love it here! After that we ate out at a teishoku place which means "set meal" which is like rice, cabbage, and a meat thing but it was good. I don't remember what kind I got. We went to talk with Yuuta kun who is a recent convert (Hatanaka shimai)'s son. He is a great kid, but having a tough time with school and getting along with his mom. He plays video games too much haha, but we talked with him and helped him clean his room and talked to him about prayer. He is almost 12 but didn't convert with his mom so we are working together with her to help him get interested and see how the gospel can help him. Then that night we had Eikaiwa as usual and it was awesome. We want to work harder to get more people to come so we are making plans to advertise more!

Wednesday was deep cleaning day and we spent the whole day cleaning the apartment hardcore! It was pretty fun actually and we finished early because there are 4 of us.
Thursday was planning session and trying to visit some non-attendings, that didn't work out too well, but that morning I felt a prompting to visit Haramai shimai. The cool thing is that she was actually having a hard time that day and prayed that we would come visit. Way cool experience for us. She also told us about a dream she had recently where a friend called her and said she was meeting the missionaries. She asked her what she thought about Joseph Smith and in the dream she couldn't answer so when she woke up she took it as a prompting to gain a stronger testimony of Joseph Smith! She is so crazy strong. Her husband wants to come to Eikaiwa now too so I'm excited for that.

Friday was more housing and looking for non-attendings/old investigators. We also taught a short lesson to the kid who is turning 8 pretty soon and it went way good and he is so ready. Hopefully we can get some investigators to his baptism.
Saturday was a lot like that too. Tons of searching and walking around. Pretty tired that day haha. Sunday was another great day at church too. We sang There is a Green Hill Far Away in sacrament meeting and it went super well. After we were done it was just so silent and the spirit was so strong. Even the kids stopped crying and stuff! haha We got tons of compliments on it. That day we went to a pretty far out area that I hadn't been to before and looked for another non-attending that ended up living in the same apt building as a member! I also found a Scottish guy and had to contact him in English which was way awkward for me! hahaha He was way nice though. Kind of an eye opener. Well,

That's it for me this time! Love you tons and am proud of you always :)
Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro

12/9/12 "I didn't even realize that it's been six months!"

Hello! I am staying pretty warm. Thanks a ton as always for the prayers and love. I didn't even realize that it's been six months!!! Yikes. Too fast!!! A lot sure has happened, but I'm looking forward to more and more awesome experiences and miracles. I still have so much to learn and grow. Of course I forgive ya for missing me, especially because you know so strongly why I'm here.

Thanks for the encouragement as well. I actually do really like finding. Meeting people is pretty neat and everything. I do have hope that we will be able to find people that are prepared as long as we are doing everything we can to be obedient and work hard. Still have to work a bit with the new members and they are doing great. We really want to help them get their families into the gospel as well. That's a cool thought about Moroni too. Even though he was the last Nephite his work in compiling and burying the Book of Mormon really did help just about everyone!

Working with Ishiga Choro has been tough to be honest. The first while was just me showing him around everywhere and introducing him and stuff. It was kinda all on me at that point and I was tired, doing lots of work, but it was a happy tired y'know? Now that it is more on him where contacts, lessons, etc go it is extremely different from how things were with Hansen Choro. Everything he focuses on is different. His teaching style is really different and it's not that I can't get anything in or anything like that, but I can't control where it goes. Sometimes I feel like my language is getting better, but someways I feel like it isn't at the same time. I for sure have learned a bunch of new things.

Mya's birthday sounds like it was a blast! Cookies instead of cake is interesting though haha. That's pretty early for a ward Christmas party, but they've always done it like that, huh?

Good for Mara and her choir too! I'm glad she got a good part in the play, but I'm also glad she doesn't have to go so crazy hard like she did last time. I didn't know that David was taking college classes still, but that's awesome! I hope he does great! Same to Sharon Merrill.

I'm really excited for the package, but sounds like you've overdone it again! Hahaha I won't say anything and just be happy that my Mom loves me and sends me goodies. Brown Choro got a package yesterday and I thought it might have been for me so I was excited. It was a ton of New Zealand candy! Some pretty good and interesting stuff. If you ever get a chance, try pineapple lumps out! haha I'm probably not going to wait til Christmas if there are separate boxes. I meant for you to just send candy for Ishiga Choro because the ward already gives me too much junk food, but I'll make sure to split it up right.

Cool you found some pictures online too. Pretty late haha. The zone conference was way amazing. The day before was p-day and we went to the honbu to practice and afterwards I went with Ishiga Choro to Odori park in Sapporo that has a cool tower and lots of lights for Christmas, but it was nothing compared to temple square. I have only seen one house with Christmas lights here so far, but Ishiga Choro says that people usually try hard. There are definitely decorations at stores and in the church. Nakamura Shimai gave us some little decorations for the apartment because Ishiga Choro really wanted some.

Elder Ringwood spoke a lot about faith, having hope in the mission, and tons of way amazing stories about how people have been found through Eikaiwa and someone who met the missionaries 40 years ago and stuff like that. Crazy crazy spiritual experience. We sang I Feel My Savior's Love and I had this little guitar part that I made for it. I don't know what the version is called, but it's originally a harp or something. Afterwards I got to have an interview with him and he just asked me how I was and if I had any questions and we just talked about Utah a bit and he gave me tips for finding and working with a native companion. Super nice and chill. While I was waiting I got to talk to President Evans a lot about the same kind of thing. He is a way awesome guy and I'm glad to be in the mission with him. Elder Ringwood's wife was pretty cool too. She's Russell M. Nelson's daughter and looks a lot like him.

I guess I used the word Gaijin wrong haha it means foreigner. Also don't worry about calling me yet and don't email the Honbu. They'll email me the week before with the stuff to tell you. It will be to my cell phone here. I'm really excited to talk to you and share my testimony with you too. Also you are funny for putting money in my account because other than buying my bike and going to an Onsen one time I haven't used any ;) Thanks though! I am going to look for an electronic dictionary today that I really really want so I might use it on that.

Also on Saturday we had this thing for one of the members who teaches an Eikaiwa from her house. She went to BYU and got a degree in teaching English to Japanese people and is pretty cool. But anyways it was this presentation of the Christmas story called the 3 trees that you probably know. I had to teach her how to use power point and use audacity to edit sounds and stuff so that was pretty cool I got to use computer skills for service. At the presentation she had Elder Brown and me recite some of the parts and afterwards play some Christmas songs. It was pretty fun and everybody liked the songs. Afterwards everybody had refreshments and stuff and Takasugi (Eikaiwa member) shimai's husband (who is way funny and awesome) spontaneously asked me to stand in front of everyone and tell about myself in English and Japanese and answer everybody's questions and stuff. It was alright, but I really wanted to talk to the investigators and eikaiwa students that came. It turned out pretty well all in all I think ;)

Other than that has been snow falling a ton, melting completely, and then falling tons again!!! Good stuff. I'm excited to grow a lot here, but it is tough a lot of times with all the change so please keep praying for us. I love you more than there are snowflakes in Hokkaido and Utah combined!

Aishiteimasu!
Hutchinson Choro