7/28/13 I Love Nemuro!

Nope! Didn't remember pioneer day at all! Wow haha. Glad you had fun! We actually did a bit of sparklers with Okuchi and Yuka as well. We got some pretty sweet shapes! Nice job with my name haha!

I'm really excited for everyone back home though. Max growing up fast, etc. Make sure Adam reads that packet a lot! Sounds like he has a good mission president! Definitely read the bike safety stuff carefully. Yeah I don't know if there's a specific album from Sufjan, but Andersen E(lder... we usually write it like this to save time. It's at the end because that's usually where choro goes. The ne I put at the end is Japanese that is getting into my English. it means like, right? or something like that) had a track called Holy, holy which was cool too. Other than that What Child Is This was way awesome. I did get the letter from dad! I actually have gotten a decent amount of mail lately. That's way tough about Adam (and the windshield), but I'm glad he was okay. Probably surprised ne. I hope nothing else breaks soon. Super exciting for him to go to the temple too. Do you have the preparing to enter the temple pamphlet? I tried to do a bit to prepare for going, but I wish I would've read that.
Yuka and Ayako (the Okuchi's) are doing way awesome! They came to church all 3 hours yesterday and are loving it more and more each time. I'm also enjoying primary myself.
Miracles are too many to count! But I'll summarize some up for you here in a second. DKK is weekly planning session (douryou keikaku kai) and a matsuri is a Japanese festival.

THE KITCHEN IS AWESOME!!!! :D
So is missing apricot season ;)

The Okuchi's have a really strong baptismal date on the 17th of next month! We'd do it the week before, but there's a big matsuri that weekend. Yuka is really good at praying it's crazy. Way better than I was at 8. Ayako is getting better too. They have been reading together every night as well and we are trying to help them out to understand what they read more. A lot of times we end up playing with them for maybe more than half the time then getting into lesson mode, but Ayako has talked to Yuka a lot about paying attention in lessons etc and she has gotten way better! That's made Ayako really happy too. They also came to eikaiwa last Friday! Oh man, 13 people came and it was way cool. I had 8 people in my beginner class. Can't believe that we started this from scratch. So cool.

Kawashima was a little bit sick last time we went to Betsukai, but she still made some time to talk with us about her concerns and also the word of wisdom which she looked up online. We did a lot of encouraging her. After the lesson I prayed and she just started talking about how when she looks at us, she knows that we are pure for following God. We promised her that through Jesus Christ she could be too. I just hope that she can feel it strong enough! We have had some ideas about doing sacrament meeting for the members out there since it is so far. There are a lot of non-attendings plus the Itou family that it'd probably be a big help to! Here are the highlights of the week! Monday Andersen E and I did purikura again (see photo) and taught Okuchi's about baptism. Tuesday we went out to lunch with a deaf non-attending! She was way funny and made us eat a lot. I am getting better at Japanese sign language little by little. Later we had a lesson with the guy who met missionaries 40 years ago we are starting to see that the reason he might not have progressed is praying about the Book of Mormon so hopefully we:ll be able to strengthen him and help him to do so! We also found the coolest guy ever named Tatsuya. He looked really mean, and kinda gangsterish (but in the Japanese sense) at first, but then he started asking us lots of questions and was really friendly! He even let us barbecue with him in front of his house! He isn't super interested in God in particular, but he is very willing to listen and wants to hang out more. It was cool to see him transform in just a few minutes. He is about 23 and has a wife and newborn baby boy. So awesome.

Wednesday was a day of lots of finding and doing fireworks/lesson with Okuchi. Thursday DKK and going to a kinda far-out place called Horomoshiri and met some way nice people there. One lady had an interesting thing in her doorway and I complimented it and she practically forced me to take it! It's decorating our apartment now ;) Friday was a little bit spread out. We met a way cool lady who went to eikaiwa 15 years ago when she was 7 and still remembers us! She was way happy to see us haha we also met with this nice old couple Inumaki E and I found earlier and they talked a bunch. We also had epic-eikaiwa that day! Saturday we went to Betsukai and it turns out the Itou family's phone broke so we couldn't go to the farm. We just did lots of finding and WOW Betsukai people are way nice/really happy to see Americans/impressed. Made lots of good potential investigators/eikaiwa students. I can see a branch there someday not too far away. Sunday was awesome church with the Okuchis and finding in a far-ish area. Way great week. I love this work and I love Nemuro! I want to stay here for 2 more transfers... I hope kaicho lets me!
I love you tons and am excited for all the great stuff that you're going to do!

Work hard!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

Doing sparklers

The shell boat decoration I got

Purikura - a Japanese-style photo booth

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

7/14/13 Busy week in Nemuro - lots of photos!

The kitchen looks way sick!!!! I'm really glad you got to get all that stuff done and I bet it was way busy, but putting the effort in pays off, no? That sounds like a full and fun week! This week was insane. So cool though. I'm glad you had some fun eating German food, but I'll have to admit.. I've never liked it much. Sausage and stuff... It's all about the fish B)

I'm grateful for all the great influence I have had from you as a family. We have been doing more and more here to help open up the hearts of the people, but there is still so much we need to improve on to make sure that we can tell the message in the right way so that they understand.

I'm excited for Adam to get out there though. It'll be crazy to see him after 3+ years. There is a store here and I think it's my new favorite (well there isn't one in Nemuro... too small) but it's called uniclo and it's the best store ever. I don't know if it has a website or if there are any in America, but I recommend it. It's way reasonable as well.

So this week flows a bit like this:
Monday was a good p-day, woke up early, ran to the Jinja (shrine) by our house and took pictures, got everything else done and went to Kuruma Ishi again. This time took tons of cool pictures on top of the rock. It was pretty foggy so we couldn't see out that far, but it looked amazing. Afterwards we dendo'd that town and called it a night. Next day was DTM and dendoing an area I hadn't done before. Met some cool people. One really nice lady who owned a bar, but was really interested! I also had a conversation with a non-attending member in sign language and we set up an appointment to go eat lunch together some time. Pretty intense. Japanese sign language is awesome. That night we randomly got a call from Okuchi's daughter asking if we would come by and play for a bit so we went back and talked with them and turns out because of the hello kitty prayer card we made for her she's been praying every day! That was really cool.

Next day was splits with Inoue Choro! He is a few transfers younger than me and way awesome. Lived in Ireland and went to BYUID so is fluent in English, but we still spoke Japanese the whole time. Found some WAY cool people actually. Inoue Choro is really enthusiastic about dendo and I learned a ton from him. Oh yeah, and that morning I got a call from Nakazawa Kyoudai saying that Ishii Kyoudai died. Kinda crazy. I didn't how to react at first. Since we went on splits that day Andersen and Ogata Choro went to visit them. The sunset that night was way incredible. We ate this cold pasta called reimen at a yakiniku place for only 350 yen! Yeah boy. It was way good. Next day we stopped by the Ishii's to see Ishii Kyoudai's... self. Kinda sad, but their family was all there and it was chill. We went home and had planning after that and then I got called to give the prayer at his funeral that night. Because of that we didn't get to do the finding we planned on, but it was a great experience. The whole funeral was like a big testimony of the plan of salvation and great stuff Ishii Kyoudai did as a member. The Ozawa family sang Families Can Be Together Forever. There were a lot of non-members and a few non-attendings came too. It ended up being a great dendo method i think. I would like my funeral to be like that. Far off thought, but yeah!

The next day was Friday and it was way cool. The high school was having its festival so we decided to go because we promised pretty much every high school kid I ever contacted that we would go. It was way cool! It started off with just this parade of high school kids in different costumes. We high fived almost the entire high school as they walked by. They were all very excited to see gaijins and a lot of them even remembered my name! After that we went and watched their little dance/play things that they did and were really funny. We tried to shizen dendo (finding people through starting normal conversations) but it was really hard because no one was getting into it even though it was way hilarious. A big difference between America and Japan, no one cheers; not even for their own kids. But we still had a lot of fun and hopefully through that a lot of the high school kids and their families were able to get a good impression of us. After that we helped out at a part member:s dry cleaner. It was really hot! We folded and dried a bunch of pillow cases! After that we left a note at Okuchi's asking them if they'd come to Eikaiwa. Eikaiwa was pretty fun as usual. One new guy came who is really good! It's always fun to have new students and see class grow.

Saturday was another day in Bekkai. We went and met the mom of a member in another ward who we got as a referral. She was super nice and cool! Hopefully we'll be able to teach her more next time we come back :) We did some finding there and taught Kawashima again! She has been praying everyday AND reading the Book of Mormon! We didn't even ask her to! She even bought a cover for the Book of Mormon because she wants to take good care of it. She also looked up the church website and has been studying a lot! She wants to come to church really bad as well. We taught her lesson 3 and committed her to be baptized. She wants to when she feels ready. She has some concerns about what happens after getting baptized (responsibilities and stuff) but we explained to her the importance of coming to church and hearing all the lessons so she can know all that. Her husband isn't protesting to her meeting with us, but is a little worried about her joining as well so hopefully we'll be able to talk with him too and help those worries clear up so they can all come to church as a family! After that we high fived a bunch and went to Itou farm to MILK COWS! Way awesome. Cool experience. Back in Nemuro we stopped by Okuchi's one more time to invite them to church and they promised they would! Actually when we first came Yuka (the daughter) was crying because she didn't get to go to Eikaiwa the day before and thought that we weren't going to visit. Since we came though, she calmed down and was happy again! Before we left that night I asked her if she'd pray for us and she did, primary style!(Me whispering in her ear what to say, way way cute) Then we went home and high fived a bunch again. Sunday was a little stressful at first. We had coordination meeting and found out that only 5 people could come to the first 2 hours of church. Okuchi promised pretty sure that she'd come that time so we were worried it would just be us, a few members, and her. Priesthood was only me, Andersen Choro, and Nakazawa kyoudai and right as we starting we saw Okuchi and Yuka walking by! Found out that they had to go to a practice for a parade they were doing that night, but said they would come back! We were just antsy the whole time wondering when they would come back, but they eventually did for sacrament! Actually a family from Kitami ward came and so did a few other members which was great and made sure there were more people. After sacrament Yuka wanted to play a lotttt. Got really tired, but she had a blast and so did her mom. Went home, ate lunch, and brought the sacrament to Ozawa shimai because she was busy with the baby. Had some fun there with the kids and her parents plus Ishii kyoudais grandkids that were sleeping over there.

Then we went to an appointment we made before with a way cool lady who used to live by missionaries. To top everything off we went to the parade Okuchi and Yuka were in. It was call the senninodori (1000 people dance) and i thought it was a different meaning so when I got there and there were 1000 people in different colored kimonos I was pretty surprised! We went and tried to shizen the people watching and afterwards high fived with Yuka and took a few pictures. They did way great. We have developed a good relationship with them and hopefully it will make it easier to talk about the gospel and teach in a way that Yuka will understand. Reminds me of Haramai and Nodoka sometimes. Anyways it was an awesome week in a billion different ways!

I love you tons and am grateful for the miracles that we get to see everyday! Good luck at home and love you!!!!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

Cool sunset over a shrine that's on a little island

Pictures at kuruma ishi

Creapy powder

Us with the Okuchis

Reimen

High fiving highschoolers @ parade

More high school kids (Monsters Inc. costumes)

Milking cows

At the parade with Andersen Choro

Us with Yuka

7/7/13 Japan Japan Japan!

Hey that's awesome!!!!!! (Adam's mission call) Get working on your Spanish accent! Hahaha I think you will really like Spanish once you get into it ;) That's interesting that you didn't want to go somewhere hot. I don't mind the cold now and I'm dying of heat now in 20ish degrees celsius. You'll get used to the heat and it'll be way fun though eh! Maybe you:ll find another branch of Strickland Propane and convert the people that work there hahaha. Also you better not get fat or else...! You've got some time to prepare though, so get on that! :D

I hope getting the passport stuff and everything got done right away. Way jealous Adam gets to go to the Mexico MTC. (Although I heard the Provo one got extreme makeovered) Also he will probably become good friends with mesh garments... Just a guess.
Glad the kitchen stuff is getting moving! Sad story, but when I saw the picture of Adam opening his call the first thing I noticed was new shelves in the front room hahaha I don't know why that stuff is so interesting to me. The cabinets here are kinda low and I bump my head into them on a regular basis. It actually has gotten here the last few days. It got to somewhere around 30 degrees and I thought I was going to pass out. I guess I have just gotten too used to the cold haha. I forgot that the 4th of July passed as well! Glad everyone got to get together and have fun! Uncle Merril is a champ still working sometimes! I think that's why old people in Japan are so genki all the time, they never stop working!

So let's see what I did this week... Last p-day was kinda bad weather so we stuck around the apartment then did some finding and visited Okuchi and her daughter. She has been really busy with work and her daughter so hasn't been able to pray or come to church, but we are going to try focusing on the daughter. If the daughter gets a desire to come to church and pray it will help the mom out a lot as well. They are way cool though and totally prepared. Just need to work with them the right way! Tuesday was DTM, watching the broadcast again (the "I'll go where you want me to go" video is the best thing ever)with Andersen Choro, and going to the city hall to get his resident card stuff done. We also did lots of finding that night. Wednesday was a lot of finding in Nishihama. We also started making all these handouts that we could give to young investigators with pictures of hello kitty, stitch, famous Japanese characters etc. to help them remember to pray and stuff. We decided that we want to work harder to use our talents in dendo. We met with the Sekiya family again for the first time in a while and tried the same approach that we wanted to do with Okuchi. The mom was really happy and having fun with/being a good example to her kids I think is helping a lot. Thursday was planning as usual and visiting some families that we want to try a very similar strategy with. I feel like it can be a big way to help investigators open up their hearts!

Friday we went to Inoguchi's house and he has been getting a lot more time lately. His mom had to go into the hospital which is tough, but hopefully we'll be able to meet with him more and help him make the decision to come to church. We taught him a lot about priorities and hopefully that'll help him pray too. Eikaiwa that night was a little sparse because of cold and rain, but still way fun. Saturday was back to Bekkai where we hung out with Emille the Phillipino and helped out on the farm. Then we headed to meet a lady we found last week there and on the way met a lot of way cool people who were way open to the message and stuff. When we got to the lady's house I've never seen an investigator so happy to see us. She told us about how she was thinking she really wants to come to church the next day (3 hour drive) and also how she wanted to learn how to pray so that she could feel more peace in her life. After that she asked us if we would tell her why our church is different from others and so it was pretty much perfect. We like to call these people Kinjin (gold person) anyways it was awesome. She wasn't able to come to church the next day because of family plans taking use of the car, but she prayed and read the Book of Mormon! Her name is Kawashima and she is probably in her 40s. Awesome. Sunday was pretty great. I taught young men's again and fast and testimony meeting was good too. We did LOTS of finding that day and it was very hot. It was great though! The funny thing that I've noticed with finding is that the most prepared people you find RIGHT before you decide to finish (first floor of a big apartments as you descend, etc). Kinda funny, but it always makes the day feel more worth it. This morning we went running to the nearby shrine and took some cool pictures. Japan Japan Japan! I'm having a great time and it's a lot more tiring to be sr. companion, but way fun. Not quite, but almost everything is up to you and it's a big time to learn more and more about relying on the Lord.

Keep being awesome and share some more miracle stories with me next week too! ;D

Love you tons!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

Shrine by my house (3rd biggest in Hokkaido?)

This is Nemuro

6/30/13 New companion - Andersen Choro!

Hey! It's gotten a little cold here again. It was only up to 8 celsius for most of this week so that was a little crazy. I don't know what to compare 100 fahrenheit to... From now on when you tell me measurements and stuff will you make it metric for me? Inumaki Choro made it back to Wakayama and I actually got a call from him this morning about a thing he forgot at the church. He said it's crazy to not be a missionary anymore because there's nothing to do.

My new companion is Elder Andersen who is only one transfer below me. Yes that does mean I finally became Sr. companion which is really exciting and different. He was in Kushiro which is right next to here so I didn't get to go to Sapporo and see all the other missionaries, but that's ok. That's what it kinda is like for the missionaries out here in doutou (eastern Hokkaido). Andersen Choro is 22 and is a really incredible guy. He is from Riverton, Utah. He is really good and doing accents and gymnastics (like flips and stuff) and he's also really buff. He was in the MTC with me as well so I knew him a bit from then too. He is really funny and really kind. It's interesting being with a gaijin again because I wasn't used to speaking so much English. It is going to be an exciting and interesting transfer here in the East of the East.
Glad you got to rest lots after working hard. Being Sr is a whole new ballpark of responsibilities and making sure that we get moving and get things done. The rest feels shorter. That's for sure. No prob though because the work is the best part :)
Sounds like youth conference was great! I've never been to the St. George temple so I am pretty jealous. Hope Mara's driver's ed stuff goes well too. I am pretty sure Adam is going to go to Germany or maybe.... Denmark or somewhere like that haha. I'm super excited for him. I wonder when he'll actually go into the MTC and stuff. It'll probably be a 3 year+ reunion when I see him again, but I'm excited for him to grow a lot. Definitely send me some pictures of those cabinets. Sounds fun! So what did you post about the Book of Mormon on facebook? I am still really foggy on how missionary work stuff is going to get all integrated online. That's cool there's an investigator in the ward! Where are they from? That's a pretty awesome story from Connor as well. Let's see if I have any good stories this week...
Monday was Inumaki Choro finishing packing and me writing letters and studying Japanese. That day in dendo we did a little bit of finding by a member's house and ate dinner with them. The next day we had district meeting and then went to eat sushi with a nice lady who is really nice and her son used to go to Eikaiwa a ton. She isn't really investigating at all, but she wanted to see Inumaki Choro off so we went out to sushi with her and a member. Then we went to see Inoguchi and see how he was doing. He said that his mom might have to stay in the hospital soon because her condition is getting too hard to stay in the apartment. If that happens he'll have a lot more free time and be able to get a job/hear the lessons again. We'll keep praying for him. Then we went to the church to watch the broadcast online. We only got to watch the first hour because of time, but we finished it the next morning. It was so so amazing and I loved it! Andersen Choro hasn't seen it yet so I get to watch it again! :D That night we went to the Ozawa's and they fed us Hanasakigani! The crab that is famous in Nemuro. That was pretty fun. Wednesday we took a bus to Kushiro and I split up with Inumaki Choro and met Andersen Choro. We had to get his resident card registration done there and we had some time before the bus home so we ate ice cream with the Kushiro branch president who is a gaijin and pretty funny. After we got home we did a little bit of planning and i did my best to introduce Andersen Choro to all of the investigators. We only had an hour though so we finished the planning the next day. That day in dendo we met a few really awesome people and made some nice appointments.

Friday we visited the branch president and mission leader and also another member. We also went to some appointments and taught lessons. One of the moms we taught a lesson to had heard about our church and Joseph Smith from someone before and randomly asked about him in the middle of the lesson. That was a surprise, but we were able to follow the spirit and answer her questions. We taught Eikaiwa that night and I switched from advanced class to beginning class and it's really fun actually. You have to use a lot more simple language and pictures/games etc to keep everyone going. Saturday was another day in Bekkai with Itou shimai. This time new Philipino helpers came and she wanted us to teach them! We went to her house and they were waiting on the 2nd floor. We didn't know what to expect at all, but they were way cool. Very strong testimonies of God/Jesus Christ etc. so it wasn't too hard to teach them the restoration. Some language barrier stuff with English (they don't speak Japanese) but for the most part went pretty well. They have a Tagalog BOM so we committed them to read and pray about it. We did some helping in the farm and went back to the most town part of Bekkai to do a little finding. We found a way nice lady there who was pretty strong, but since Bekkai is so far we can't know for sure when we'll be able to go back to visit her. Anyways church was very interesting.

The elementary schools here have a thing called undokai which is like a huge event where the kids just do a bunch of sports and tons of people come and they have fireworks and stuff. It's always on Sunday so quite a few of the members couldn't come. I think there were 5 people besides us. I taught young men's and gave a talk. If an investigator would've been there I would've taught gospel principles too so I had almost 3 hours of material planned. I was pretty tired. Afterward we tried to meet Okuchi at her kids undokai, but there were too many people and we couldn't find her. We visited a bunch of possible investigators and non attendings that day, but weren't able to get a strong teaching opportunity. Still a great day talking to lots of people! It is always wonderful here no matter the temperature because of the work. It's true and I know there will be lots of miracles and baptisms here! I love you all tons and am so grateful always.

Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

purple coconut rice from itou shimai (phillipino food)

Us with the Phillipinos we taught

Saying goodbye to Inumaki Choro, hello to Andersen Choro

Serious crabbage with the Ozawa Fam

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!

6/16/13 Been out one year already

Hey! I realized that I had been out a year a little while ago! Crazy... That's funny of you to have a celebration for it though. Did you get the Katsu from L&L? I remember going there once. Katsu is just what they call the battered meat. Don means that it's on top of a bowl of rice.

Sounds like things have been busy! Better than just sitting around though right? That's crazy awesome about Ben Bramble's baptism! I wish I could hear the story about that. Crazy he moved into the Shorts as well. Wow. That missionary broadcast sounds way cool. 50 bucks that I probably won't see it, but hopefully I'll get a chance to check it someday. The bishopric message sounds like it was way awesome! Thanks for the scriptures! They are a lot of really good ones. One thing I need to have more lately is the conviction in those promises while I work. Things get kinda discouraging lately, but I'm doing everything I can to be on top of things and find those that are ready. Thank you for the prayers especially for me and the people I teach. I want to pray harder myself. I love you tons and tons and hope that everything is going smoothly! Excited for Adam as well!
Here's the lowdown for this week.

Monday we went to Nosappu misaki! It cost a lot of money to get there... The food there was really expensive too, but the experience and view where awesome! It was a little foggy, but you could still see the northern territories a bit from there. It was pretty awesome. I had some crab-don that was good (about 18 dollars) and we took lots of great pictures. There were some interesting museums there too. We did finding at a nearby apartment building and as we were leaving we met a guy in the parking lot. He had a lot of interesting questions about religion and the church and was kind of a doubtful guy, but in the end we just bore our testimonies and he wasn't able to say anything bad back. We passed him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read. Maybe we'll visit him again soon. Tuesday was DTM and finding. Some nice people and some kind of sad people but we do all that we can to help them out with sharing our message. That day we also put up a bunch of Eikaiwa posters. Wednesday I went on splits with someone I was in the MTC with, just a transfer below me. I was able to learn a lot through leading and everything. I also learned a lot from him. His name is Andersen Choro and he is a few years older, but a way awesome guy. We went to Hanasaki port which is about a 35 min bike ride away. We housed there all day and found some decent people, but since it is so far it's hard to make appointments to go back. We also ate sushi that night. Yum. Thursday was planning session and dendoing a bit by another big apartment. We were about to finish and Inumaki Choro noticed this girl riding a scooter that said hi to him last time he was in the area (on splits) She went into her house and Inumaki Choro felt like we should ping it (ring the door bell) so we did. The girl is about 9 and she lives with her mom who was divorced. They are super humble and live in a pretty small shack-like place. We talked a bit about God and they said that they would really like to learn more and come to church too. They ended up having something come up, but we'll stop by again tonight to check on them. Friday was more Eikaiwa advertising and dendoing by a member's house. Eikaiwa that night went great too. Not everyone who usually comes could come, BUT 3 new students came and it went really great. Saturday we went to Betsukai again to help out on the farm. Since missionaries can't ride in a girl's car unless there is another adult, we had to walk back from the farm to the town which was about an hour and a half, but way pretty. Felt like a pioneer. Sunday was way good. A non-attending member came and said she felt so good that she wants to come from now on. Way cool :). Also the area 70 visited and gave a really good talk! I blessed the sacrament again as well. It is fun in Japanese. That day we met another non-attending who is really nice. She still doesn't feel like returning, but she feels like she will eventually. She is actually going to help us find some other non-attendings that have moved! Cool. We did some more finding that day and met the nearby high school's English teacher. He spoke in English to us for a bit and it was kinda fun. He wants to come to Eikaiwa, but being a teacher in Japan is like the busiest job ever. A member in the branch is the other high school's English teacher and is crazy busy too. Anyways that was pretty much the week! Today we don't have any plans in particular other than eating at a new place and writing letters at home.

Happy Father's day to dad! He gets a letter since I didn't get to call him ;)
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro

Phillipino jello made from milk that we helped make on the farm

Crabs chillin in the sushi place

Sushi after splits

Museum at Nosappu

Crabdon

Cool monument

The eastern tip of Japan - Nosappu Cape Lighthouse