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, March 31, 2014

DD 6.45 ... trying to be more aware of what God is doing in my area ...

Why the sudden urgency to buy emergency supplies?
The end of the world is coming ... maybe?? It is just your basic emergency preparedness kit ... the typhoon hitting the Philippines could be the reason ... direction from the Missionary Department ... frankly ... we know not, save the Mission Kaichou asked us to.

How did your mission president take the news that you mistakenly bought whiskey instead of water for your supplies?
At zone conference the next day, Budge Kaichou and Shimai just laughed and said that we are typical 19 year olds ... then they shared some stories of their past, and we bonded quite nicely.

Have you eaten at any members homes' yet?
Not yet, well, we had a party for one of our investigators that is new this week. But starting next week we have one appointment though!

Do you need a new watch? You have extra money in your account from Grandma that you could purchase one with. Or we could buy you one and send it to you?
The one I'm using is really ok, quite nice actually; there is a reason I didn't just buy a new one ... thanks for asking, but I’m fine.

When you play baseball do you play with members, investigators, or with other missionaries?
Investigators and members who are fellowshipping said investigators.

How many floors are in your building? 14?
Yep

Do you walk up stairs to get to your apt? Or ride an elevator?
Elevator ... with our bikes ...

When you race up the stairs with your companion, who wins?
With our bikes ... we take the elevator, every time. But, if we should race; it would totally be me.

Why haven't you mentioned McDonalds before? Why haven't you gone there before?
We've gone before ... like every Wednesday before eikaiwa, but never for breakfast.

When do you use the suffix ‘-san’ in Japanese?
When you are talking to someone with a higher superior rank than you ... but only outside the church; with members or missionaries we always use church titles.

We are so impressed that you are a champion soccer goalie. How often do you play? With who?
We play every Tuesday with ten or so investigators ... it's pretty sweet, three of them are getting baptized in Chosei this week!

Are your legs adjusting to all the biking?
Yeah, they still hurt all the time; I do a workout in the morning for legs, so they never really have a chance to get unsore ... stopping might help, buuuuuut, then I would feel weak.

So impressed with your study time, are you ok with the sleep you are getting?
Yeah, whenever I feel tired I just remember Asato Choro from last transfer, after a hard core day of dendo sitting down for dinner at 9:45, yawning, and then saying 疲れてないよ!!指導者として he then proceeded to get up and make phone calls and work some more.

When are you watching General Conference?
The twelfth and thirteenth (Wed & Thur) ... I don't know where though, maybe here, maybe in Chiba ... maybe on our iPads! Who knows!?

Parentals- That's so cool to hear about dad being elected to be a representative who elects people to be representatives! I hope that you choose well, and listen to the voice of the pope and not the voice of the advertisers!! Congrats though!!

It sounds as though you had a rough week to start, but it seems to be getting better right? It sounds like it! I hope you two are doing alright. Thank you for all the faith that you have and show to all of us! You are truly amazing parents!! I hope and pray that things are going to start picking up soon!

Things in Togane are good, the Toke neighborhood doesn’t need to worry as much about money, Togane is a poorer college town, and we never work in Oami so I don't really know much about them, we live here though, so I imagine it's pretty humble.

PS, I'm glad that you find satisfaction on other missionaries blogs ... it makes me wonder who is checking out my blog and what not? Very interesting ...but seriously, thanks for all you do, in word and deed. You are always awesome parents ... even when we were less than stellar kids.

Tejay! You’re having a boy!!! Dibs on Tending!! Wahoo!!?, That's very exciting!

naan bread
Smasher ... let's start with my emails ... ... on the bright side, it's a multiple of five right? Some, but little comfort in that ... Not comfort actually; none at all ... THAT’S OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!! GAHH, I’M LITERALLY HYPERBENTALATING RIGHT NOW!! Remember when I used to log onto Abi’s to mark her emails as read? This is worse than that!!! On another note, I'm glad that roller blading was the bees knees ... PS: ‘roller blading’ gets changed to ‘dollar billing’ with auto correct ... That's how old school it is. Sounds nice though, but bonus, you found bottomless naan ... best food ever ... I literally love the Indo curry here more than anything else in this whole country ... especially naan!! Needless to say, I'm going all the time when I get home. How much is it?

Storm trooper ... How could you let Sam let my emails go unread for so long!?! Don't you remember how OCD I am about emails? Seriously ... I just ... I don’t know how to feel about life right now ... I need to read ... all of them ... every single one of them ... to see if they are important?

Well, I'm glad that you are so proactive in applying for jobs! It sounds like you are really gung-ho about it. My advice is to take the leap! Sky June ... I just typed, ‘do one’ … and then watch the easiness of it make you do all of them!!!! Whooooo job applications!! You could do a party at the Indo restaurant with Sam. And just eat naan all day long as you apply ... sounds way sweet right!! Sorry about the henna tattoo incident ... can't be fun trying to explain to Waylon why it's not bad ... rough life, well, lesson learned right?

So this week our recent convert brought one of his friends to church with him. He's named Brother C; he's way great, he's curious, and he likes to learn. About God, buuuuuuuuuut, he doesn't speak a word of English, and has very limited (like hello) Japanese ... yeah, it's rough. Brother T and Brother K have just been translating everything we say, and then we don't really get his reply ... it's more of like ... well, I don't really know, but he seems pretty good! I just need to start learning Chinese ... it's rough.
Photo Courtesy of Japan Tokyo Mission Blog
So his week we had zone conference, learned a lot about revelation and what not. Apparently I've been a terrible missionary thus far and have not been seeking the guidance of God as much as I could have been. I've thus repented, and am trying to be more aware of what God is doing in my area rather than what we are doing here ... it's very interesting.

This is a sad, way cool scab
Pretty much the only big thing that happened this week was I fell off of my bike ... it was pouring rain ... and well, I made it back to the apartment, but turning into our apartments entrance, the ground changes from asphalt to like this way slippery plastic garbage ... and yeah, down for the count Griffiths was born ... I'm totally fine, but I have a little bit of road burn on my arm ... It didn't even go through my coat, so this is just a pure friction burn, right on my elbow ... but, on the bright side, I have a way cool scab right now! Downside; got it from gravity pulling me off of my bike ... Lame story right?

So this week was okay, our investigator Brother A. He's been out of a job for a long time, but on Saturday, his birthday, he got a call saying that if he doesn't pay rent; he and his little family are getting evicted. He has nowhere to go, and no one to turn to ... except us, two nineteen year old kids, who have no idea how to do anything that has anything to do with what he's going through. We got him to talk to one of the members that he's friends with, and he seemed okay as we left, but it's still a huge bummer. He'd been praying, and when he first started, he got a job as a substitute truck driver, which is only every once in a while, but it was still something … but nope, still doesn't believe in God or anything like that ... Hurts my heart, but makes me realize how glad I am to have a family who knows what's up, who knows that there is a God out there, and that he does love us a whole lot more than we can comprehend. And even though it may be really incredibly heart breakingly hard to admit sometimes, if we try our best, and to what he asks us to do, he will never let us down. He will always be there for us, through thick and thin, through good and bad, for better or for worse. I honestly don’t know what I would do if I didn't know that. I'm so glad that my family can stand as Job and say "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him ... he also shall be my salvation." I'm so grateful for the wonderful example of faith and diligence that you have all been in my life. I've come to realize how much I've learned from each and every one of you over the years.

Thank you for all that you do, until next week.

Not so criss cross awesome sauce!!!
This week I'm gonna take a picture of the Togane church with some
cherry blossoms in front ... it's gonna be gorgeous
And you thought Trax was bad ...
This is the train map for the JR Line here in Tokyo
we live in
 Ōami ... Who can find it?
6384 5494

Monday, March 24, 2014

DD 6.35 ... lots and lots of rice patties ... but it's still the most expensive thing we buy here ...

What is your new apartment like? Do you live on the top floor? Middle floor?
We live on the twelfth floor ... If you thought I was in the middle you may be at the wrong apartment ...

Do you eat curry a lot? What are your thoughts on it? Do you like it? Hate it?
I love curry ... And rice ... Which we haven't eaten since I've been here.

Did your watch break? We noticed you are wearing your running watch in pics now.
It didn't break, but it didn't smell very good from the summer months, and the face on the inside is rattling when I would move my wrist ... it was driving me crazy..... Yeah, I'm crazy.

What did you decide to do about Facebook? Making a new account or using your old one?
I'm going to use my old one. I want my mission to change me right? And if I just go back to my old one when I get back, I feel like it might be easy to slip back into my old self ...

Do you eat at members’ homes a lot more in Togane then you did in Chiba? Has the nut thing been a concern? (If you haven't mentioned the epipen to your comp, use this chance to tell him!)
I told him already. We go all the time … supposedly … but I've yet to go. That'll probably change this week.

Do you ever wish you had gum to chew? Would you like us to send you some?
We are actually not allowed of chew gum as missionaries ... it's "unprofessional"

Do you need more floss yet? deodorant? toothpaste? toothbrush?
Toothpaste might be nice ... whenever is good ... maybe for my bridal!! I mean birthday but it's too much work to delete on my i-pad. Fail. 

How do you like the zone leaders you live with?
They are pretty chill, Young Choro is from Australia ... and Cannon Choro is from Blackfoot, Idaho. Cannon is transfer four, but is a total champion, and Young Choro will be going home in eight weeks.

Do you guys still tract (dendo.. whatever it's called) at the train station?
Well the trains here come every hour ... and like five people get off, so mostly we ...

How are your English investigators coming along?
They’re doing okay, we're going to try and get them all a lot more focused this week when we meet with them.

Do you tract at the International school (or whatever school it is)?
Yeah, mostly we just house around the dorms and apartments at Josai.

Do you cook all your meals together? Cook separately? Take turns cooking?
Normally we just cook together ... Unless they aren't here, then we cook, and by that I mean someone usually sleeps while I eat a lot of food.

Parentals-- Dad, last week I specifically searched said letter for how to get said Apple ID ... I guess I just wasn't meant to find it ... I'll look again this week and report back soon!

Also ... I just barely got moms email ... what does she mean when she says that dad got nominated at the caucus? Is he going to be a politician now? What exactly is going in with that? 

TeJay and Crystal! The cake sounds amazing ... I dig the frosting in the middle ... good choice. I can't believe that you find out tomorrow what kind of child you are going to have!! Lemme know when you find out! A niece would be nice, but another nephew would be really fun too!!! Congratulations btw!! When is said child due again?  Cool!!

JanDee!! I hope that all is going well for you and Jaden! I heard that his knee was pretty bad, but hopefully it will heal up nicely! I heard that Waylon tears it up in wrestling!! That's so cool! I look forward to seeing him do some way sick stuff sometime!! Hope all goes well, we pray for you!!

Also tell Jaden happy birthday for me!! You two are really amazing! Thank you Jaden for all that you do, Your family rocks!!! Love you!

Sam - Rock climbing at two in the morning? That sounds pretty legit, but do you respect me a little more for going climbing with C for four hours … straight … everyday? I would really hope that you would ... downside, now I have no forearm muscle and using the cinder blocks in our apartment every morning as weights is really, really, really, hard ... my hands always give out first ... it's rough. Good to hear that you get some extra time at Artec for now, sorry to hear that you might end up having to speak so soon at it though.

Stormmageddon dark lord of all ... remember when you saw that shirt and found out that it was a baby? Good day in my life ... a really, really, good day. I'm glad to hear that you are officially graduated and looking for real people Careers! Is it as scary as it seems? I would guess that it is a little scarier right? Lemme know how it goes! Good to hear about the surgery on yourself, but even better to hear about the zombie game ... first game when I get back … PLAY ALL THE ZOMBIE GAMES AT USU AND DOMINATE EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! Maybe you can be on my team. You always kill the potential zombies ... or at least lock them up as they try out the cure ... That's like lesson one.

PS …ultimate zombie weapon is what???? False … light-saber.

So this week was pretty low key,  taught some people, played a lot of baseball. Remember how good I was? Yeah, I don't either, I'm assuming that I was terrible, because I appear to have no skill at all right now. It's good though. We play soccer every Tuesday, which is a little better, I just play goalie with my freakishly long arms and nothing gets past me ... like a champion ... or it could be the small made up goals that we have ...

Challenge Extended ...
Oh, so this morning we literally had no food here, so for exercise we went running ... to McDonalds ... best breakfast in the last ten months ... Sausage McGriddles GAAAAAALOOOORRREE!!!! It was so beautiful ... tears were shed ... as little bits of America were devoured by three Americans and an Australian at 7:20 in the morning on the side of the street ... it was a good day.

Things are doing well here ... I'll send a picture of the balcony ... we’re on the twelfth floor, and it's windy up here all the time. It's ridiculous ... ... and way loud, study in the morning is really, really, hard cuz it sounds like a hurricane is coming through all the time ... let alone sleeping ...

PS … I'm doing this thing were I wake up at six and read the Book of Mormon in Japanese for half an hour and then at night, I write down all the revelation that I get for all my investigators, others, and myself ... It's way great, I feel so enlightened all the time ... down side is that I'm getting like six and a half hours of sleep ... I'm exhausted ... all the time ... we bike everywhere ... all the time ... up mountains ... normally we are in Togane. Try to find our church, we ride through the rice fields to get there, and there is always a head wind, going there … and back … it's rough, it's crazy, but my legs are incredibly strong when I can actually move them ... which is never, I'm so sore ... but all in all, I love being a missionary. It's the most fun, most rewarding thing that I have ever done ... It's way sweet!!!

Also today we just spent two hundred dollars on emergency food today ... I hope that the earthquake doesn't come, but I really don't wanna waste that food!?!?!?,?,?,!

Gotta run, pictures to come!!!

Story for the Day: We went to the store to buy emergency water ... it ended up being like ¥8,000 for twenty liters ... so something was wrong ... we were joking on the way back that it would be way funny if we had accidently bought vodka or something, but they didn't Id us so we were sure that it was just really expensive water ... later ... upon further inspection ... discovered that we had purchased ... Whiskey ... 25% alcohol!! The worst part is that we realized this after we had sent a picture of the receipt to the mission home to do a reimbursement ... we are taking it back to the store now to buy some actual water ... sorry about that God, it won't happen again.
One last thing ... not a great pic, but I had a little bit of time left so I figured
I'd send a pic of me sittin down
... Criss ... Cross ... AWESOME ... SAUCE!!!!!
I can finally do it, all it took was God's power for almost 10 months.
6255 5423

Monday, March 17, 2014

DD 6.25 ... so next transfer we are getting Facebook ...

How is your new ward? do you have to speak in sacrament meeting?
The ward is way good. All of our lessons have members present and the ward loves the missionaries ... so much that they haven't had me speak yet ... it's way nice.

Are you wearing your thermals in your new area? Sweater? Coat?
Short sleeves and shorts right now, just got back from zone P-Day; when its windy its very cold, but recently it's been like 15 or 16 so it's way nice.

Are your investigators Chinese or Japanese?
Most are Chinese … but there are some Nihongo we just found.

Are you riding your bike more now than in Chiba?
Way more here … our apartment is half an hour from the church by bike.  My legs are in great shape now though.  We go to Toke sometimes … up a mountain ... Literally.

How are the futons in your new home? More than one?
I use three like everyone else.

Do they use Technology to limit the app installations, or is it on the honor system?
The honor system ... and it is confirmed during splits and stuff.

Did you really read all of Dad's letter ... or did you skip the tech talk stuff? (I definitely did when I proof read it)
I did read all of it.

Did you ever get your pants fixed ... should we talk to Missionary Mall?
I'll let you know in a bit.

Can you see the Pacific Ocean from your apartment or church?
Not quite. I live in Oami.

How goes your quest for the adapter cable Dad talked about last week?
I have yet been able to search

Report on your District: Investigators, Dates? Don't forget the ZL's and yourselves ...
The district is doing good, the Zone Leaders (Young Choro & Cannon Choro) are tearing it up like crazy, the sister training leaders (Nakamura Shimai & Tan Shimai) are too. We also have Snow Shimai, Richards Shimai, my companion and I … that’s my District. Everyone is doing really well; the Shimai’s have a Chinese lady who is being picked up slowly; it helps that our recent Chinese convert dosekis for all her lessons and both came to capture the flag today ... it's cool. Everyone else is doing good. We all have a baptismal date, but could use some more, we are all doing a little too much finding, but we're working on it.

Are you still teaching the eikaiwa in your new area?
They teach it everywhere in Japan ... there are like four people that come though ... our last area had like 40 ... we plan on changing that soon though.

So next transfer we are getting Facebook ... Should be fun. The zone leaders are  checking it out this transfer to see how effective we can get it, and then the rest of the mission gets it next transfer ... Thoughts?? Should I get a new account, or use my old one? I've already made up my mind, but I wanna see what you guys think!

Dad and Mom. It hurts my heart that you think that I would skim your letters ... thank you for planning on backing up the cloud weekly, and telling me exactly were to go in my settings to turn on streaming to the cloud ... I can only imagine how much fun you had searching for the solution before sending it to me. I hope that you don’t think that I am as terrible a person that I wouldn’t read my parents emails first ... mostly the rest of the family, but mom is first ... Then Dad ... Then who ever emailed me nearest to those two ... Sorry if you thought I had any sort of order ... I hope that all is well ... it's unnerving to hear that other parents are reading my blog ... especially because who knows what you guys translate my letters into! Thank you for the update though. I will make sure to do more ministering from now on.

Mom, thank you for the quote, and the thought. It's interesting ... I actually just started a revelation book. Now when I pray at night, I just use a flash light and write down the thoughts/revelations that I get ... it’s really convenient actually. The Bible Dictionary actually says that prayer should be a lot of work ... so that's cool right? (“Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.”)

TeJay and Crystal...... YOU’RE SO OLD!!!!!!!! Well TeJay is, I would guess Crystal isn’t a day over 24, but TeJay, you are old ... That's just crazy ... I remember when you were younger and you tried to bench me with the yard stick! Do you remember that? And it just broke into you face? I'm so glad that you have a child on the way, a house, a wife, and a son ... Good for you, all grown up. I hope that all so going well this week.

Sam ... Your email, as always, are interesting ... it makes me worry about the world, sometimes though, like the missing plane in Asia, maybe I'll take a boat back to the US of A ... or I'll just swim ... I always have wanted to  swim in the ocean ... might be fun. That's no good about the Ukraine though I hope that things start going better for all the countries involved with that.

Abi? When do you plan on going to Vegas?  We stopped there on the way to a Foot Locker race my senior year and it was way sketch, we just went to Subway and it was way bad ... how was the rest of your trip? Just Kidding, I heard all about it, I'm glad that it was good. Your story about spending $10,000 dollars for a single meal ... wow; is not worth it, almost unbelieveable! But now I really wanna try it sometime. I bet it would taste amazing!!! I wonder how they cook it?

This week was interestingWe just got back from zone P-Day, we played capture the flag against Chiba North ... we crushed em; it was way sweet!

This week our baptismal date for Brother K is being moved, he found out from his parents that he can't get baptized until he learns more ... He's kinda bummed, but He's going ten hours by bus to see this girl that he was crushing on for all of high school this weekend. Hopefully he clears his head, and get his desire back to be baptized. He started taking pictures with the missionaries at the church and put them on Facebook for all of his friends to see and stuff, it's way sweet!

Well, I gotta bounce, but love you all!!!
6140 5361

Monday, March 10, 2014

DD 6.15 ... living in Oami, companion is Stevens Choro ...

My new apartment is in Oami ... I'm right outside the eki ... (See map below …)

How is your new companion? Tell us about him.
His name is Stevens Choro, he's one transfer behind me ... He's from Ohio. He's pretty cool ...  he's a pretty good missionary.

How is your new area? Closer to the shoreline? More rural?
It's the second most rural area in the Tokyo mission ... And it's cold all the time, the wind chill makes it like -5 ... all the time ... Inside our apartment, the church, on our bikes is way bad, but it's nice actually ... the summer will be nice and cool ... Mwahahahahahahahaha!!!

Did you ride the train to your new area? Alone? From Chiba? or from the Mission Home?
Pretty much alone, but I met a ward member of the Togane Ward at Chiba Eki ... along with one of our investigators ... that was cool. So I rode with the member all the way to Oami, and then we both got off together. He's way chill, the SA Coordinator.

Do you still have a laptop in your apartment?
No one has a laptop anymore.

What kind of adapter do you have for your I-pad? Is it lightning or a 30 pin adapter?
Lightning.

Did you take your bike with you? How?
I took it apart and put it in a bike bag ... I'll take a picture the next time I get transferred.

Were you able to turn off the Auto Correct on your iPad ... were Dad's instructions good enough?
They were good enough ... but I like the auto-correct feature though, it fixes almost everything that I do wrong. (it’s not apparent to me …)

Did you find the All Drafts mail box in your eMail App? Did you find our lost letter ... we still have hope?
It's not there ... I know, major bummer.

Are you going to buy your own camera adapter, or would it be easier for dad to buy one for you from Amazon.co.jp?
I don't know yet ... I'll think/look for one and let ya know.

Did you figure out how to change your bike gears yet or are they still stuck in super workout mode?
The guy at the bike shop in Chiba fixed it for me ... And yeah, he taught me how to fix it myself next time ... I don't really change now through ...

Is your former companion Williams Choro, still in Togane? In your District?
No, he's long gone, he's only been in any area for one transfer.

Is it warming up there? or does it still feel like winter?
Like winter without the snow ... Imagine a hardcore canyon wind from Logan canyon ... all the time.

Do you have swype on your iPad? It's a way of typing where you slide your finger across all of the letters without lifting it up. (pretty cool! I use it on my kindle)
I don’t know ... I'll have to look.

This the day that Asato Choro left. He was one of my follow up trainers and then my Zone Leader ... He's a champion from Okinawa ... which I want to go to one day.
Tuttle Choro, Asato Choro, Nielson Choro, and me.inside the Inage Eki
Parentals ...  I hope that all is going well back home, sorry that I'm not here to cheer everyone up/be awesome with y'all. I liked the Harry potter quotes at the end, it was inspiring (quote from Mom’s letter ‘we all must face the choice of what is right and what is easy’). Is something going on with Harry Potter this week, it's like the second reference I've seen so far? Mom is right, it'll all work out for the better. I'll pray, and y'all will pray and it'll all be good ... and yeah auto-correct has y'all. In it.


TeJay ... Whenever I get a letter form you it makes me rethink a lot of my life ... it's always deep and profound ... I also have a question. How was your mission-ing in China?
Was it just awesome? Every Chinese person that I meet here is ridiculous! They are always humble and way accepting of the gospel ... It's crazy! Or is it just because they are living in a different country? Any-who, I'm glad that Porter is not lactose intolerant ... that would have been way bad, but now we can for sure go and eat ice cream and ice cream and even more ice cream! I'm way pumped to tend your child ... I hope that all goes well with Billings! Interesting life you've got there. Film of table and exile ... I mean full of travel and adventure ... sorry about that. Side note: My eMails have gotten a lot more interesting since I got this whole auto-correct thing ... Not just spelling mistakes, now … all sorts of mistakes ...

Januari and Jaden ... How did you blow out your knee? That's no good man, that's no good! Take care and rest up ... well you have three young children ... So maybe rest as much as you can ... Which probably isn't that much ... Sorry about that. JanDee! How was your relay? Did you wreck everyone? I heard that you did! Congrats on finishing! That's way sweet!

Sam ... Thanks for that talk ... Couldn't find it though ... Congrats on finding the Holland Choro one ... I didn't think that you would be able to ... I'm impressed ... Talks for the MTC are way hard core ... All my teachers here searched for it for years without finding it ... good job! Thanks for the update on world events and the Russian occupation of Crimea in the Ukraine ... So why are you going to Italy? For fun? For service? Or for ... What exactly? I hope that it goes well! Also I'm glad that you started destructing things too ... Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! My reign of breakage lives on through others!!!

Abi of gale storm! Caught in an ale storm! Was drunk in the night!! How is being a real adult? I hope that is goes well for you! I just realized that I've said that like four times in this email ... Sorry that you were in the top ten in your competition .... Did you ever think about going into Business? Cuz you seem to be pretty good at it! Well I hope that all is well with the peeps down in Riverton as well as in Logan ... I was talking to someone and they brought up Logan... I forgot who though. If I remember I'll let you know ...

So transfers were interesting ... My companions old companion (Cannon Choro) is now one of the zone leaders here in the apartment. The Zone Leaders are: Cannon Choro and Young Choro. Young Choro is Australian and is about to go home, but he’s way chill. Except apparently in Australia they don't have kangaroos as pets ... he compared it to having a moose as a pet in America ... crushed my dreams there ... and Stevens Choro, my companion, is way cool and is a hard worker. There was a baptism that they had last week. Brother T, a Chinese guy, and there is another one coming up in two weeks named Brother K; also Chinese ... they are both fluent in English and they're Japanese is spotty, so that's nice ... actually I really like teaching in Japanese, so it's kind of a bummer, but it's whatever's, these are Gods children! They were both found last transfer too, so Togane is really an amazing place! I think that I'm going to like it here; the church is a thirty minute bike ride away from our apartment ... I’ll try to cut that down though ... I think we can do it in 20, one day we did it in 24, so I have hope ... but safety first, I know, you go through all these rice patties and stuff; with like sharp 90 degree turns every so often ... So yeah, at night, in the pitch black, it might be a little shady, but I think we can do it ... I led us home from the church on our second day, yeah, I'm a champion ... I know. We haven't really had any time to find people yet, today is the first day where we have some time to do it. We've just been teaching Brother K and Brother T all the time lately, which is way nice.

Leaving my last area was hard ... We got a lot of lessons the last three days though. We had to teach everyone one last time before I left, so that went well, I think.

Well, I have to go, not much else happened this week, transferring was easy, I was by myself for like ten minutes and I'm still in the same stake and I’m in the South Version of the Chiba zone, which used to be the same zone, so I know where all the major stuff is anyway ... It was an easy transfer. I still miss my old area, but I'm starting to like this one more and more everyday ... Still have not found a bottomless Nan Indo Curry Restaurant ... But I will succeed ...

This brings met my spiritual thought for the week. It's actually comes from Young Choro, and some from Yoda. Do or do not, there is no try. This life has a time for everything (TeJay) so we Need to take advantage of that. Do everything you can to the best of your ability. But there really is no try. I've decided that giving something your all is the only way to succeed at it. Like being a missionary. I can try to do missionary work all day long. Or I can actually do missionary work. It's all in the mind set. Do it or don't, but don't lie to yourself and say that you are trying to.

That's all that I have for this week! Sorry if it’s kinda lame,

Thank you all for everything. And know that I love all of you so much! Good luck for the next week!
This is Stevens Choro and I in the Togane Church ...
... Looking way classy right? I look really really fat though ... we haven't eaten rice in like three days though, so I’m trimming down. I don't really know the rules for pictures on the iPads, but we have to give them back at the end of our missions so I would like to still have all the pictures. So I want I take most of them on my camera instead. I'll look for the adapter cord, but if I can't find one I'll let you guys know!

Thanks for all that you do, gotta run!
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Monday, March 3, 2014

DD 5.65 ... I'm heading to Togane ...

iPad was broken, wouldn't send eMails, keeping these answers short, just in case it doesn't work again ... #ChallengesOfTechnology

Have you ever dreamed in Japanese? How about in Korean?
In Japanese, and it turns out I talk in my sleep too.

Did you get the package, with candy and your running watch, we sent to you?
Yep, last week.

Did you get the bike tool from dad and amazon.co.jp?
Yep, least week.

Did you get more snow?
Nope.

How was the Temple? Did you go get a picture from the pond across the park?
It was good. No pictures this week

Can you still take pictures with your iPad?
Kinda … well, No.

Did you find anybody to teach this week?
Not quite

How is your cooking going? Do you get to cook?
Good. I like to cook.

Do you still hear from Rachel and Lizzy (Dad found Lizzy's blog and has been following it ...)?
Occasionally

How often do you get flat tires in the Streets of Chiba?
Never.

Have you ever got to go to Shubya Station and did you ever find the statue of Hachiko the faithful dog?
I went genre, but I never saw it.

How was the temple?
It was good.

Tell us about last week. Just not enough time to e-mail us?
No, my iPad freaked out and I'm struggling to send any emails right now.

I'm being transferred, my assignment is to serve in Togane as the District Leader there. (See the interactive map at the bottom of the Blog for the location of Togane, Japan ...)

End of Message number 1 …

Sorry about last week. My iPad did the freak out and I was unable to send any emails ... sorry about that, but I hope that you are all doing well. I was incredibly witty last week, so sorry that you all missed out on it, but things were pretty good this week. I'm glad to hear about TeJay and Crystal!  That is so exciting to hear that they're are having another child!! I think that by the time I get back Porter will just be old enough that I can "tend" him for you guys! So long as he is not lactose intolerant, we should be good. I'm glad to hear that Waylon won his wrestling tournament ... Good to know that he has been practicing on Axton for a while now. It's hard to believe that he is already five years old! He seems so big, but it feels like just yesterday that Jaden and JanDee came over with the books to tell us that they were having Waylon! Good to hear that everyone is doing well.


Sam your new glasses are hipster beyond belief ... I'm crying a little bit right now ... Sketch about Russia and Ukraine, one of my friends was there, don't know if she is anymore, but I would doubt it since if they pulled everyone out. Good to know that you beat Abi in the number of texts sent in a month and that you moved all the bricks with dad ... If it makes you feel better I started this leg work out where I don't take my bike out of gear three and eight ever, and then do squats and lunges every morning ... My legs have never been more sore, but it's kinda funny, my bike got stuck in those gears last week (something that I wrote about) and now I can't get back to any other gear.

Abi ... you’re so old ... you’re done with your undergrad! That's insane! I still have a couple years left ... But it's cool that you’re done; what are you going to do with your life, now that you are done with school. SORRY TO (I just figured out how to turn on caps lock) hear that being lead teacher is crazy hard, but is anything in life easy? Good luck and keep on trekking ... and doing some other awesome stuff!

Parentals ... Oh how I love you all so much! Sorry that I was not able to eMail you last week, I honestly was really great last week and wrote many sweet things ... including a greatly awesome birthday card for mom ... but it appears that my words were so great and marvelous that they cannot be written and were promptly deleted from my iPad ... Bummer, but it's all good. I'm glad that you are both doing well. It hurts my heart that dad is up to his old projects again and I'm not there to help him out ... I really do miss doing all that stuff ... especially the ‘watching him work’ assignment; ah, those summer mornings ... I do hope that all is well in Riverton!!! Love you all so much and hope that things are going well for all there!

This week was interesting ... we got a referral from the Choros serving in Mito ... he is way awesome and started following up with us ... downside, we are meeting with him on Friday ... the day after I leave ... bummer, but other than that things are really good here! We didn't really find anyone else to teach this week. But we are enjoying the finding time. It’s cool to see how little people know about Christ or of his gospel ... Well actually it's not cool at all, it's quite sad, but it's quite motivating too.

Well not much has happened this week; on Thursday I’m transferring to Togane and will start working with Stevens Choro. I'm still district leader ... I will be living with the zone leaders again, and have a district of eight, so four sisters again too. Should be a crazy transfer!
Sister Y, Brother Y, and their daughters;
at Sister Y's Baptism in Dec

Love you all so much and feel terrible for not getting an email out last week. Hope that all is well and that you all get this email.

So last week I was able to interview Brother Y ... and on Sunday I got to baptize him! It was way sweet! I also got to baptize his wife a couple weeks ago, and now they are right on track to be a happy little eternal family ... It's  really cool to see the joy that can come from a simple covenant with God ... I love it! … and it only took me one try to get it right!

Wahoo God’s work rocks!!!
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