Crowd of people? Carrying your bike? Just lift it over all of their heads #MuricaPerk #ImHuge ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I don't always ask for directions on the train, but when I do, I end that conversation talking about God #Missionaried ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Biking for twenty minutes to buy chicken and beef for dirt cheap? Worth it!! #NoRoomInOurFreezerAnyMore ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... We just made Raspberry Jam from Scratch, put the hot stuff that wouldn't fit in the jar onto ice-cream and ate it all ... Love ... my ... life ... #FatKid ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I don't always lead us around Tokyo but when I do ... we're early #LikeABoss ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Alright iPad, you think you can fix my spelling? #ChalngeAcceptprw #noSuggestions ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... We just ate $100 worth of sushi; you then took us to an Italian Restaurant and made us keep eating till we all want to die ... Of course we'll go to round 3 with you! ... #GoingToPukeAllOverYou ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... #NoImNot28 ... it's alright, you're like the 12th person to make that mistake ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... All we bought was potatoes and meat #GriffithsChoroWentShopping ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Curry for Lunch, Curry for Dinner; #HappyPDay ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Typhoon, worst one in 10 years? Please, my bike has missionary steroids, #DidNotEvenFallOver ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Oh, you sell Melonpan? yeah, I’ll buy them all, right now #TheRecipeTooPlease ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... #YouMightBeAMissionaryIf you don't hear about the giant wall of water which will hit the city where you live until next Monday; because you only get eMail on P-Days ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... New favorite conversation starter "I don’t speak Japanese and if I don’t learn I can’t go back to America, please help me" #ForeignerPower ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Whatever I just ate, exploded with little eggs all over my mouth #WhatDidIJustEat ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Is it wrong that I want to ask the local tattoo artist if he can run the face painting booth at our Halloween party, I think he would be pretty good ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Being a foot taller than everyone else in the whole country #GaijinNoMondai (Foregner problem) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Hitting your head on every door way cuz it’s made for people a foot shorter than you #GaijinNoMondai ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Having a hole in the ground for a toilet? #FirstWorldCountry more like #FirstWorldProblem ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Typhoon season #ComeAtMeMotherNature #Murica ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Cow Piss? Oh you mean Calpis #YesIllTakeAllOfThem

Monday, September 23, 2013

DD 2.15 ... fan the flame of your faith ...

Last week’s typhoon turned out to be pretty mild; lame actually; we stayed inside, no riding in the rain for us. I have considered getting saddle bags for the bike, it's tough to say...can't tell for sure yet.  My neck pain is getting a little worse, I have started to do the neck exercises, we’ll see if this helps ... I will look into the saddle bags, and maybe a different bag, I don’t know ... I’m thinking about it, I’ll let you guys know what's going on!  I am still debating about buying a rain jacket, it is only my sleeves which don’t repel rain so I’m still not sure if I need one or not.

I like the idea of a package coming my way, yes on the toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and the thumb-drives. I don’t really need anything else.  Let’s keep it simple and we'll see if I actually get everything. Can you put a copy of my call letter in the package? Or in the next letter you send?  And in our next communication, can I get a list of everyone's birthdays?

My talk on Sunday was actually pretty great; I told a whole story in Japanese!!! I didn't know I knew that much Japanese--and it was quite moving too! Or at least I like to think it was...

Sister Montana Law serves in the Japan Sapporo Mission. She went into the MTC the same day I went in but I never had the chance to meet her while I was in the MTC; now that we are in Japan, she will always be way north of me, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Circled:  Watanabe Choro, Williams Choro, Griffiths Choro
There are now 161 missionaries in the Japan Tokyo Mission
114 of whom have been here less than six months.
Watanabe Choro and I got a new companion, and we mean brand new from the MTC; he is from the Detroit area, his name is Williams Choro; he’s pretty chill, I hope that I get to know him better this week.  Training a new missionary is pretty cool, I think Williams Choro was expecting to find new people every day and to be fluent when he got here (sounds like me); and we are not finding every day, and he barely understands anything; sounds like normal to me … but he’s a little frustrated ... I try to help him, but its hard.

General Conference April 2013
(after the Priesthood Session, pre-mission)
We do get to watch General Conference, it will be one week later than normal, and I think that it will be in English. Let me know what your favorite talk is, who its by, and when it is so I can make sure to get all the good ones.

We have an app on our phone which tells us which trains to take, when to change, which station to change at, even where to go; kind of like an electronic Holy Ghost. It changes frequently based on which route is the cheapest. Dad’s guess is mostly right about where and how we get to places (The Inage Station on the JR Sobu Line is the closest station to Trent's apartment … the Keiseiinage Station on the Keisei Chiba Line is the closest station to the Stake Center … the Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line is the closest station to the temple ... and ... We can't decide ... which of the following Trent uses ... the Shinekoda Station on the Oedo Line for the Mission Home ... or ... the Higashinagasaki Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line for the Mission Home). We usually get on at Inage, but then we switch lines and stuff ... we follow the phone; since I have only been here for a little bit I don’t really know what the station names are when we get off for the temple or the Mission Home. I’ll try an pay more attention to some of those details and pass them along.

I ate most of the Life-Savers when I was in the MTC, I didn't bring them with me to Japan … I didn't have the weight, so they were left in the goody box for the next set of Elders arriving in the MTC to take our place.  I have not had any other walnut, or other allergy events; which is always great!!!

I did receive the family letter in the mail, it arrived on the 17th of September … oops, I forgot to write when it was sent, I hope you have it somewhere. Dad’s monthly letter has not arrived yet, however, I did get one from the Stake Presidency.  I am currently 75 kilograms or 165 pounds; yeah I did all the math.  The commissarian is Harrison Choro, he does all the finances for the mission; his wife, Harrison Shimai, is the one who has offered to help fix my pants!!

Parents! I loved the traditions!!! I love hearing the news about home, I hope the fence will be way nice!!! I hope that all is going well in school!! I really do treasure all your letters and emails!!! Hey, thanks for the camera settings letter, it helped me out a lot!

Glad to hear about Waylon’s part in the Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting, that’s a hard scripture, I’m jealous I did not get to see him! Hope all is going well and Axton gets to be a doctor and football player when he grows up. They do have a league here in Japan, he could play here if you are concerned he would get hurt playing ... he is probably already bigger than some of the players here; I’m not that tall and I still stand above the crowd, literally.  Sam I love the engineering pictures!!! Sooooo funny!!!! I hope that you made a decision about the apartment! I loved the quote by Holland Choro in the letter. I am sorry that dad bought chunky peanut better, I have actually grown to like it quite a bit ... but that might be because it is my only option right now.  Storm ... sorry you had to go on Timp ... that must have been rough. I hope that school is going well and that things are going better with your roommate!! I hope that Tiff has been reliable!!  Paige knows you are in her ward now ... she asked me if it was you; so she recognized you!!!! It sounds like she might be interested in going to church together if you need a friend.

Sorry about today's short email, we have a lesson at 2:00 that we have to get to; we no longer have internet in our apartment; so now we come to the church to do our email.  The Choros in Oyumino moved out and took the internet equipment with them, hence, the visit to the church.  Watanabe Choro thinks 45 min is enough email time because we have so many other things to do today.

Wasabi - Watch Out!!
This week was way sick!!! We set two baptism dates; one of our investigators, took us out to Sushi! It was way crazy! It cost him like ¥8,000, and he paid for all of us!! He must really like us, right? It was way good too! I actually ate shell fish and octopus, I chickened out on the tentacles, I think i'll try them next time. I did try everything else, and it was all way good! Wasabi is way weird though; it burned my tongue and almost made me cry ... it was way bad!

The first week I was here, we baptized Brother C, he speaks Japanese and Chinese; he is from China. Today we taught a lesson, us speaking in Japanese with him translating it to Chinese; this brother that we just taught is the closest to baptism out of all the investigators we have ... it is a miracle that we have Brother C; we are now teaching three people from China; Brother C joins us for all of the lessons. What are the odds of us finding Brother C when the Lord needed to bring the gospel to three others; a tender mercy of the Lord. If only I could be as good a missionary as Brother C ... if I can, I know that the Lord will have made good use of me ... seriously though he is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love him to death!!!!!  I just thought that I would share this experience with you guys!!! I love being here and I am excited to be helping the church open up in China!!! I love the gospel!!!!

In closing I wanted to say that I found this way sweet quote by Elder Holland! “First and forever, fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe!” This has helped me out so much this last week! I really do love Holland Choro!!!

Sorry this letter is short, the keyboards here are terrible, and they are made for Nihongo so half the buttons switch me to kanji ... its muzukashii!!!

749

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