DD 11.55 ... I've made so many of these ...

How are your suitcases for transfers? Do they go on the train with ease or are they awkward?

... We're allowed to ship two bags ... so I just carry my bike and a small bag ... I think the wheel actually broke on one of them ... like not bad, but it's like a shell over a smaller wheel, and the shell cracked and broke to pieces ... I feel really bad about it, but I don't know what I can do about it. The pieces are all over Tokyo.

How was your Halloween? Did anyone invite you in and let you share your message?We weren't in our apartment all day ... it was pretty fun day of dendo though.

Did you make the box maze? It looks like something you would engineer. And did, when you were a boy.

A member from Matsudo ward did it.

Are you being transferred? Where to? Oops, forgot, that should be next week's question.

Nope, this week, see below.

How are your futon mats? Still sleeping OK?

I'm fine...

Did you throw away the shoulder bag you took or is it just stored in your luggage?

I use it to go shopping for groceries... It's nice and big!

Do you ever wish you had more ties or do yo have enough?

I have sufficient. They also sell dollar ties here which are pretty nice as well.

Do any of your companions cut their own hair or do you guys all go somewhere to get it cut?

Not yet, we all go to hair cutting places.

Do you ever play rugby with your investigators?

Nope... Too dangerous.

Do you have FHE every week with people from your ward?

We might be starting one with Brother I, but we aren't sure, so far it's been every week for the last two weeks

Do you ever have zone P-Day activities? or is there not enough time? Is you do, what is your favorite activity? or activities?

Once a transfer. My favorite game is quidditch.... I wreck everyone with my snitch game, and I never lose... 

Have you been to any member's houses for dinner (other than the Tongan who plays rugby)??

Miyashita kyoudais house for lunch today. We went and weeded his house, and then had lunch and discussed the ward.

What are your interviews like with President Budge? What kind of questions do you ask him?

Well I go in, and he asked me what I wanna talk about, and then I read some questions that I've thought of before hand and prayed over, for example, why am I with the certain companion? What about this investigator? What is it I should be teaching others?

Do you have an interview with Sister Budge? Or like a training? about food, or hygiene or shopping??

Yeah, she's mainly just asks us about our spiritual progression, deep questions like what does faith mean to you? How have you acted on your faith more as a missionary? She asks a lot about our families too.

How are your investigators? Brother K? Brother Y?

Good. K is hesitant still, but he thinks he will get baptized, just doesn't know when yet. He wants to live life a little more without the viewpoint of  God in his life ... Y is good, we've have to refer him over to the elders in Narita soon.

Father. Thanks for all the updates on everything. I love it when we win! As for the Halloween party, I would say that that's the norm for the whole country of Japan ... year round. As for your Halloween getting busier than you expected, I see it, sorry that it wasn't as decorated as you would have hoped, next year, I'll come join, and help you deck out the house, I've been wanting to since I was way little ... we'll have the scariest house on the whole block ... I mean like the Dean's house! Way scary!

Mom, I too have heard that I'm here to find specific people and to be with this Mission President ... pretty crazy stuff I know right? I think it's really cool though, Budge Kaichou is a legit genius, and every three months we get to spend twenty minutes with him ... it's just so cool!! Thanks for sending me my shoes, I haven't quite had time to use my new card, yet, but I was going to use it to buy some new shoes ... but now I won't! What should I buy?

JanDee! Your kids are so adorable! I love Axton's costume! They're so adorable!! I'm so proud of Axton's choice in costumes ... pure genius (Axton dressed up as a dead Elk), did he really get dragged around in a wagon the whole night? Cuz that would be fantastic!!!

Smash, I couldn't resist sugar cookies either ... they're my weakness ... oh, so good!! Yes, I have heard of tinder ... a surprising amount of people I know use tinder ... like surprisingly all of my friends use tinder ... okay, well not all, but I hear some stories over email each week. To be honest, it sounds like a chat room  ... or a dating service ... or Russian roulette ... I'm all for not signing up for it, but then again I'm on the other side of the planet. I feel good about writing other people's profiles for them in an iambic pentameter verse or maybe even iambic tetrameter to mix things up a bit ... sounds fun!

Storm of darkness ... I'm glad that Halloween went well for you and your kiddies. It was never a productive day for me in school either. Your witch costumes sounds pretty legit, sad I didn't get any pictures from anyone this week ... except JanDee, thanks btw! But it sounds like the rest of your week was good, thanks for not watching said movie, I feel good about standing up for what's right! It's like that mormon message about President Monson in the navy, and how he had to stand alone and be a Mormon!

So this week is transfers. Sabat Choro is leaving. So is Phillips Choro. My old companion, Yoshino Choro is coming to be with Turley Choro. I'm not transferring, I'm staying in Abiko, and I'm training again. I don't know who my new companion is, I'll meet him on Thursday, and let you know next week, but I'm pretty terrified. I think that it should be okay. I don't know, I've learned a lot from the last time I was a trainer, but I'm still scared to train, I hope that he thinks I'm a decent human being and doesn't hate me ... that's my greatest fear.

Other than that, this week was pretty good. Right now our apartment is not so clean, so we gotta go clean it before transfers happen, hence the reason this is so short, but nothing to big happened this week. I went on splits with Chun Choro, and he blew my mind all day long, he's amazing, he's half Korean, and he's way hard core in everything he does. He taught me so much about goals and how to teach and about the gospel in general, it was so amazing. I haven't been with a companion whose as old as me in the mission, he made me stretch so much. It was so nice to be able to go and learn and grow. I really miss those opportunities.

This brings me to my spiritual thought for the week. Learning is a part of life. Ideally we're always learning how to become more Christ like. But we're all in different spots along the way. It's like a sphere around Christ, and although I may be on one side, others might be on the opposite side, but closer to Christ in some ways than I'm not, so although we should look at others and try to be motivated by them, we shouldn't be motivated to become them, we should take that motivation and try to become more like Christ. We should try to motivate those around us, and be motivated by those around us as well. Sometimes it's hard, and we lose sight of our real goal because we think so and so is so great, and we want to be like them, or we want to do the things that they can do, but in reality, the traits that we admire are all traits that Christ possesses, we just have to see Him in them, and then were able to be motivated by them and not to become them!

Well I gotta go, got's to clean ... not gonna be super fun, but it must be done!

Love you all, and thanks for so much that you all do for me!
Griffiths Choro!
10242 8775

DD 11.46 ... Halloween Party ... Family Home Evening ... Urgency ...

How is your hand doing? did the magic bandaids heal it completely? Never got a picture of your hand btw!

It's fine, now it's just a scratch.

What are on each of the seven floors of your church building? Seems awfully big!

First floor is the entry way, the second and the third floor are one, it's the chapel, four and five are classrooms, and six and seven are a gym!

Who created your plan of salvation pictures? or where did they come from? they were awesome!!

Various missionaries!

Why was temple P-Day so early?

Not sure.

Does your knee hurt at all? Are you running?

Not running, and it just feels like I need to pop it sometimes ... not to bad.

Are your clothes holding out? Anything you need?

They should be good, could use some shirts if you're sending a something something in the mail. 

Is it annoying not to have a watch when you dendo? How do you know what time it is?

I have a cell phone!

How cold was it been in Abiko?

Not very cold ... I'm hot in a long sleeve shirt right know, so there's that.

Do you ever dendo outside the gambling place by the church?

It's not in our area, so no, but in Inage my first area, we dendod right outside it all the time.

How is your district doing this week?

Pretty good. We're going to have a training on urgency in district meeting this week.

Any new investigators?

One named Brother Y, he got sick and couldn't come to church this week, but we're meeting him tonight, and he just apologized for forgetting to wear a suit ... he's amazing ... it'll be my second time meeting him, but Sabat Choro said that he was way prepared, he's already progressing!!

It is nearing day light savings time here, do they have day light savings in Japan?

We don't!!

Dad! Happy birthday!! I hope that you have a great day ... whatever's left of it!! I'm glad the the girls and the family were so good to you in your birthday! It sounds like Sam is trying to cut out sugar, so maybe you can ask mom to make carrot cake all the time instead of normal cake ... worth a shot ... I think Sam would even be on board.!! Don't worry about the package! I honesty don't have a whole lot of time to eat of candy these days anyways! Love you so much though!!

Mother thank you so much for the reminder about all the prayers of all the people who want us to succeed!!  It really is amazing that the only people who are more prayed for then the missionaries right now is the prophet and apostles!! I love it!  I'm so glad that doing sealings at temple was so good!!

TeJay! The boys costumes sound adorable!! Scarecrows!! I want pictures! Ones that would be okay to show to people and say they are my nephews, aren't they adorable!?!? And then talk about eternal families with them ... if you don't have time, I understand, but if you do, I'd love it!!

Sam!! I'm quitting sugar during November, and I think that if no one picks up on my intake, the the universe might explode ... I think that you need to take my month of November off of your fast, I'll pick right up again in December, but for the next month ... for the sake of the rest of human life ... please eat some sweets for me!! I'll feel so bad if all the calories and pure joy that I would normally eat doesn't get eaten!!!  They would be so sad, not fulfilling their life's purpose like that, just sitting on the shelf!! Eat them! Sam! Eat them All!!!

Shmabbi I fully support buying a bear ... actually I fully support going hunting with Jaden and getting my self a nine foot grizzly bear, stuffing it, and having it in my living room as a table or a couch ... that would be so cool!!! I'm for it, I love bears!! Don't worry about being a helicopter sister ... I plan on being a helicopter brother when I get home ... I'll need lots of attention from you and Sam all the time, and I'll probably bug you guys constantly!!!

So this week I have an request!! I just sent it to Sam and dad!! Thanks for helping me out with this!!

Box maze for church Halloween Party!!

This week we met with Brother K a lot, he came to the Halloween party and then to church, he said that it was all really good. Then on Monday night we went to a members house for FHE with him. Brother I, he's Tongan and plays professional rugby ... he's pretty big, and we ate a decent amount of food there ... it was so good, and then Brother I threw down spiritually, in only the way that Tongans can do ... It was amazing!!!

Brother K, Sabat Choro, Griffiths Choro, Turley Choro, Phillips Choro, Brother I

This week was really good. I loved it a lot, we got a lot of stuff done, and I'm way excited for everything else to keep coming!!

So this week I'm learning about urgency. I only have sevenish months left as a missionary, and we only have eight weeks until Christmas ... so we need one hundred more baptisms by then too!! Some people look at life and think that they have a lot of time left, they can put off decisions until later, or put off doing things until later ... like getting baptized. What I realized this week is that we definitely can do that, but there's a drawback. It's like getting a membership at Costco. You have to pay a price for it right? Life's not easy, it's complex.  You save so much money from shopping at Costco, but you have to enter into this agreement. Same with membership, we do things now so we can have blessings into eternity. We want the cheaper prices, we want to enjoy the huge muffins and gallons of mango nectar, we want to save money, but there is this membership fee.  We can put off baptism, but if we do, we miss out on so many blessings, that we don't even know!  Since I only have like seven months left, I'm resolving now to work like I only have seven days left! It's such a short time, that I don't have anyto waste time, no time for unfocused actions, no time for things that I can put off till I get home. I only have so much time to do what I have been sent here to do, and I'm way excited to do it!!

Thanks for all the love and support that you have all giving me all the time!!

Love ya!

Griffiths Choro!

DD 11.35 ... Like a bear with chainsaws for arms!!!

How is your dollar watch holding up? 

I sent Sam pictures ... it's blue and yellow, and digital, and I'm not allowed to wear it while I dendo because it's a child's watch ...

Why did you use the boating picture dad sent you instead of the soccer one? Sorry, the soccer one was just so cute!

Because we all swam ... and I love Sam's face!! Took a lot of strength not to tag all of you.

Any typhoons hit recently? How is the weather there? Changing?

A lot actually. Now the rain isn't so warm ... kinda cold, but not bad. Refreshing when I'm riding my bike home at night!

Would you like us to send you some pictures to go with your plan of salvation lesson? Do you have some? 

We do!! There are only five lessons btw. Red is the gospel of Christ ... expect the lesson on baptism to be an in depth lesson. They should have already committed you to a date though!

Did you get the picture from Sister P that showed you in your Star-A class in primary?

I did ... it was adorable!!! I friended Collin on Facebook the other day. Randomly found him ... and he looks way different!

Back: Sister J, Sister P
Front: Elders Bawden, Paxman, Butterfield, Griffiths, Simms

Dad (who is losing his mind) is thinking of painting Clyde. What color would be good? Same as he is now? Black? May not happen but just in case! (I vote black or candy apple red,)

The exact same color he is now!!! Don't change my stallion!!! I'll just have to  paint him right back when I get home!! And I have friends who will help me!!

Any new investigators found this week? Brother K still going strong?

Meeting him everyday, and he's doing well. He loved general conference, he felt the power of the prophets and loved everything they said ...we gave him the gospel library app and he's reading everything he can find in it now.

Where is the building you meet in for church? Dad is going a hunting (by that I mean stalking) again. When will your building be done?

The beginning of December ... we go to church in Mabashi, right by a huge
gambling center ... the church is seven stories high, the biggest one in south Asia.

Where do you meet for you English class? In Abiko? or where your church is?

Abiko, there's just not enough room in our chapel for all the members to come on Sunday now.

In every area you seem to have a new favorite food, what is your favorite food in Abiko? Do you ever eat melonpon in Abiko?

All the time. Whenever we go into a convenience store ... I think I'm going to cut out sugar for November though, and then as a Christmas present to myself eat sugar again ... maybe

Did you know your blog broke ten thousand hits? it did!
Whooooooooooooo!!!

Dad ... I may have told him that you read his blog ... he was going to put Brother and Sister Griffiths, but I talked him out of it ... you are welcome ... he's disappointed you haven't sent the requested response yet though ... no lesson six, just one through five. Gospel library has them all in PMG if you wanna study them ahead of time ... all sorts of pamphlets too!! I'll show you what I use and maybe you can give it to them too! English and Japanese. I love the skeleton and the sending me package ideas!!

Mom ... Nate got married!?!?!? What?!?! That's cool. That cake sounds delicious ... I'll have to practice my  cooking skills when I get back. I really wanna learn how to cook awesome stuff when I get home BTW, not just desserts ... which are delicious, so maybe we'll start with those.

TeJay!!  ... remember when you would babysit me and by that I mean sit with a gallon of ice-cream and watch movies with me ... you're the best brother ever BTW, such a good example!! That's really sincere though, thanks for helping out the parents this week ... if dad dies, be content without putting the lights on the east side ...  Thanks for the letter and for all you do!! Love ya!

Crazy faced smashed potatoes ... it took all my strength not to tag you ... I honestly thought about it too, but you have to approve everything your tagged in before it goes on your time line ... so I decided against it ... I couldn't have all your friends seeing how much tanner you are than me ... that would be lame!! Good luck with the fast from sugar, I'm gonna do it next month to get in crazy good shape ... and then eat endless sugar for Christmas with the money that I'll have saved during November ... should be fun!!

Stormin Norman ... I feel good about the final draft that got sent ... oh gosh a family party sounds kinda rough! I can't believe you are moving out!! I loved living with the Parentals for years by myself, and now you're leaving after a few short months!! Apparently I'm just a tougher child than you ... just kidding, but really, when I'm up at Logan, come up and hang out with me all the time, I guess you can bring Sam if you want, but we'll go get tacos and everything! I'm way excited to go back to Logan btw, thanks for making my first year so great!

Sitting in a chair ... Nihongo Style
the benefits of becoming flexible ...
... does sitting like this make me look old?

Dear family, this week was interesting.
A man accidently assaulted me while I was riding my bike ... it wasn't too bad, but he got off a bus and as he swung his backpack up to his shoulder ... he smashed it into my hand ... ouch! ... not too mention that I was riding pretty fast and my hand got some good chunks taken out of it ... don't worry, life-guard me took over and found a cm store to fix it up real fast. Here's the lame part ... the closest store only had one option for band aids ... eight for five dollars ... way lame right?!? But I will admit, they are the craziest band aids ever! I used one for the rest of the day and when I woke up the next morning, the small crater that had been taken out of my hand has been magically healed to a slight scrape ... Magic Bandaids ... I found magic band aids ... they're pretty sweet!! I'll send a picture, cuz I'm pretty sure that mom is freaking out right now.

We met with our investigator like everyday this week, he is doing good. He already follows most of the commandments,  but he said that he wants to work up to following all of them ... he's going to go to UVU next year! For their pilot (flight training) program, and the girl that introduced him to us going to go to BYU too!! Its just cool that they're both moving to another country but are still going to be so close ... he doesn't want to get baptized yet because he's not ready to give his life to the church yet. We're going to get some members and show him what they seem like and what kind of life they live.

A different investigator, a young one, wants to know what the heck is up with Abraham and God commanding him to kill Isaac. Obviously we look at it and say it was a test of faith, but how do I explain that to someone who believes in a perfectly just God, how could he command someone to do something, without expecting them to follow through. If God wasn't going to let Abraham kill Isaac then was God lying, that is the  kind of thought process he has going on in his head ... he's part japanese, he's from China and he's hilarious ... but I need help with him ...

Spiritual throw down for the week.
This week I learned a whole lot about love. I'm trying to become a more loving leader, companion, and friend to those around me ... it is really hard and I didn't always know what to do, so I turn to the scriptures to study about Christ. It was very interesting. Whenever he met with sinners He showed them mercy, the kind that only the son of God could show and then instead of scolding them. He forgave them, told them to go, and to sin no more. He recognized that the sinner did something wrong, but also knew that they felt bad, He knew how to show the right amount of love and encourage them not to sin again; and now they try to be better out of love for Him instead of a fear of punishment. I decided that Christ must have been really, really good at reading people ... I mean the Son of God, obviously has the gift of discernment so that helps; but still, He must know each of us so perfectly that He can help us overcome everything that we need to. It really is amazing!

So my question to all of you is, who in your life needs more love? Whether it be a spouse, a friend, a neighbor, a brother or sister, who ever it may be, reach out, try to understand them more and then show them more love and in return feel more love from them!!

Love you all, Griffiths Choro
10050 8492

DD 11.25 ... so I saw this Ice Cream vending machine and then I was all like ...

... so I saw this Ice Cream vending machine ...

... and then I was all like ...

Tell us all about the typhoon? Did you go out in it? How was it? Any damage? Did you take any pictures? Hopefully you didn't ride your bike in it??? Did the mission president put you all on lockdown?

We got red emails about it warning us to be safe. When we woke up it was raining pretty hard, and so I took an eVideo.  It got more clear as the day went on ... way lame!!

Did you receive the letter from your loving papa?

Not yet, it might be there when I get home though!!

We have been hearing that missionaries in other countries have seen the new movie, Meet the Mormons. Have you been able to see it yet?

No movie in Japanese yet.

How are your shoes and socks holding up? Do you have holes in your socks from the hole in your shoes?

Nope, my socks are just fine!!

Is your knee back to normal yet, or still healing?

It's fine, one morning I did like two hundred lunges and fifty squats. Like one-legged squats on each leg.

Did you get to see all of conference? Or just Sunday?

All of them were watched!!

Why do you want a picture of you being healthy?

We're doing a Facebook blitz every Monday ... 

We loved hearing about your miracles last week, even shared the entire email with grandma. Any miracles this week? Are all the investigators from last week still hanging in there?

Brother K mostly ... we meet like everyday.

Fudge, peanut butter fingers or PB cookies in your next package? Which do you think will survive the journey the best?

Fudge travels the best. PBFs taste the best and cookies are the things that I'm craving right now ... any way all three would fit?

What was your most exciting moment this week? most spiritual? most stressful?

I'll get to this later.

Dad ... Thanks for all the pictures! They help a lot ... I'm shocked that you still have all the ones that you sent me ... some are from like seven years ago!! I'm impressed!!

Mother sounds like you're one of the people in the ward that the missionaries love to work with!! Thanks for being so great to them!!  Crazy about Sierra getting married!! 

Sam silent movie ... I can't tell if that's way cool or not!! Let me know if it really is or not, sounds like it would be really interesting!!

Stormmageddon sorry that your week was really rough, that's no good, I hope that putting in grades was good, very low key. I learned something this week that might be interesting that I'll write a little shpeal on later, but I love the power ranger team running thing!! Way cool, I wanna do it next year!!

My watch broke, the metal part that you feed through.
Not to worry though, I bought a new one for a dollar.

So this week was interesting ... I was able to go on exchanges and that is always interesting, and then I was also able to have a really good talk with my companion. For those who don't know your little sibling very well, I really hate confrontation ... I try to avoid it at all cost! But sometimes, it's unavoidable if you want to have the spirit with you. With my companion it went really well.  Another has been struggling a lot recently and so I think that I was able to help out a little, that one wasn't so much confrontation, but they both had the same principles involved. When I was trying to understand their viewpoint it was easier to help them. It was easier to make myself understood because I could understand them and teach to their needs ... it was interesting ... I think so at least.

So this week we finally got to watch conference! It was so great, my favorite talk was Cook Choro's about choices in the priesthood session ... it was way cool, he talked about making choices, and not just the big life changing ones, but the small ones that influence our daily lives too! It was really cool!! But yeah, I really did like the rest of conference,  all the shiami in the room were freezing though and all the choros in our suits were so hot!  We felt like we were being cooked alive - hot ... It was really rough, but we pulled through to the spiritual side of things!!

The main thing that I learned is week was actually from a talk that Sam gave to me a long time ago. What it helped me realize this week was that satan always tries to get at us when we're doing well.  The better were doing the more he tries to get to us ... so when we're suddenly doing really great, naturally satan suddenly tries to make you do terrible things! It's no good for sure! And the thing that I learned this week was that if, in those times, we rely on God more, then we're just doing better and better.  Satan comes at us more and more, which only forces us to rely more and more on God ... which is just really, really great!! Anyway, my invitation to you all is when we recognize satan doing evil things in our lives, actively rely on God more and drive him out!! Trust it, try it and let me know how it goes!!!

Thanks for all you do!!

Elder Griffiths
10000 8452

DD 11.15 ... I love apple pies from McDonald's dipped in ice-cream!!! ...

When will you watch general conference?

On Saturday and Sunday...

How far away from the temple are you?

Like one hour exactly.

How early do you have to get up to make it to the temple?

Five.

Did you ever fix the tire on your bike?

Nope ... still going  strong. Forty five pumps every four days and it's fine.

My Rockin Bike

How are you feeling health wise? Do you ever get sick?

Perfectly fine!!

Do you still go to McDonalds?

Of course...

Where do you eat out at when you go?

Ramen shops, Indo curry, Sushi, McDonald's, Wendy's, Seven-Eleven mostly.

Who does most of the cooking at your apartment now?

Phillips Choro, he's allergic to vegetables, so he cooks and we partake.

Do you just eat w/ your companion or the other Elders in your apartment?

Yeah, usually with everyone...

How is your watch?? (5$ walmart for the win?)

Survived the typhoon today.

Have you ever eaten any Gioza? (I dont know how to spell that.... I'm guessing. sound it out) Mom and STorm had them as a sample at Costco.

It's amazing ... and you butchered that spelling ... Gyoza

Do you have fall leaves there? is it fall yet?

Nope, green green green.

Have you had any more issues w/ your knee?

Still hurts a little to kneel on hard wood floors, but that might just be cuz there are lots of hard wood floors.

Do you still dendo at the train station mostly still? or other places?

Housing, the stations, walking about ... In the trains ... we're everywhere!!

Father I didn't get any of the pictures that you sent me ... and I'm sad because of it ... I too am glad that mom quoted Star Wars though, that makes my whole day! I'm so glad that the two of you are so perfect for each other ... I love the transition in your letter from me spending spiritual insights to talking about the loss of your grass.

Mom ... sorry that you have a head cold. I love the story of you and the young women's presidency decorating the door late at night ... made my whole day. It's good to hear that your grandchildren are so intelligent, that's always a comfort ... I too am glad that they're smart ... then I'll be good friends with them and when I'm old they can help my children entertain me when I'm old.

Sam ... I'm a man of many talents ... and I'm awesome ... So yeah! I love the marathon idea!! I'll do one at the same time as you when I get back!! Maybe not with you ... but the same one for sure!! We'll both wake up crazy early and ride out ... and then run for hours!! Whoo!! Glad to hear that salsa dancing doesn't run in the family. I feel really good about long boarding.  It's so awesome!

Storm ... you've gone out of control, I love the craftiness, but still, get it all out of your system before I get home ... actually don't, I really wanna climb up a ladder placed precariously on child sized desks ... so keep up the good work!! Sounds like an adventure!! Whoo!! Good luck with conferences! I'll pray for you!!

So yeah, this week was crazy, we saw so many miracles ... which brings me back to your question, what is my favorite scripture right now ... well I don't have one really, so I did whats called the faith flip, one of the zone leaders, Chun Choro, (the one with the glasses) showed me. You ask God a question and then flip the Book of Mormon. My question right now was what I should write y'all about ...

Alma 50:22-23

Recently we announced our Christmas goal as a mission, we want to have 100 baptisms by Christmas. Hard, but if we're faithful and living the commandments we'll get it, just like God delivered them he will deliver us. But just like the Lamanites there are lots of people and lots of missionaries that aren't obedient and all they feel right now is pressure to make the goal, pressure to not let everyone else down. They're really stressed ... where as people who are doing things right, are really happy and looking for the miracles to make it happen ... which brings us to my week.

We found people on  Monday. Brother K, was an investigator six years ago and his friend that just got back from her mission brought him to ping pong to introduce him to us. He believes this church is true but before he gets baptized he wants to learn more and know if it's God's perfect truth, he believes that God has one truth, like a dice, but people only look at one side and say that one or six are true. Hence other churches.

Then we met Brother S who knows literally nothing about Christ but wants to learn more about him and why he was so great. He's been wondering about it for sometime now ...

Then we met Brother K, from China, where when we asked him if he believed in Christ, he just reaches into his shirt, (we'd been playing basketball for like three hours at this point too, but he has it all the time) and pulls out a cross, and then smiles ... he really wants to come to church, but he has to study Japanese with his uncle on Sunday. We're going to see if they can come to church as listening practice and meet all our Chinese peeps ...

Also, miracles of Christmas time ... I found out how to play basketball ... turns out all you have to do is pretend to know what you're doing and you're really good ...

But anyways. This week was crazy, I'm so tired and I'm so ready to go to bed at night, but it's so much fun!!!

Ps, they switched up the district leader responsibilities and now everyone calls me instead of me calling them. Way nice, but somehow I still feel like I have less time at night now ... but whateves... Wot it!!! Whoo!

Our New Zone

Well, I gotta jet, Winegar Choro and Chun Choro are the two in the picture, Turley Choro is way tan, and the Shimai I think dad got right ... Chun Choro looks Asian. Winegar Choro is from Idaho ...

All the posts before transfer day

Love you all, I'll send some videos and some pics too!!
Griffiths Choro
9883 8364

DD 10.66 ... this week was fun ... because I like bears ...

You sent us a picture of you in a leather jacket. did you buy the jacket? or just borrowing it?

Found it in my apartment.

Why was temple T-Day this week instead of last week?

Today we went to the temple!!

Can you run yet? Leg bothering you at all??

I'm still taking it easy, but it's better!!

Any changes to your district this transfer?

Miyaki Shimai and Savage Shimai ... See picture below.

Back:  Savage Shimai, Warren Shimai, Griffiths Choro, Phillips Choro, Sabat Choro,
Chun Choro, Turley Choro; Front:  Miyaki Shimai, Wharton Shimai, Winegar Choro

Is there any kite flying going on at the parks in your area?

I haven't seen any ...

Do you wash all the produce before you eat it?? like grapes??

I do ... others don't ...

Did you hear about the volcano erupting? Could you hear or see or smell it when it erupted??

Heard about it. Didn't feel it or get affected by it at all though ...

So, how is the language coming for you? Do you still study it? How well does your companion speak?

He's ma ma, really good, transfer six, but he's ma ma. I wouldn't say that I'm good, but a lot of others do. People always ask me how many years I've stayed in Japan and are mind blown when I say only one ... Sooo yeah.

Who do you hear from on a regular basis? Have your heard from Ben?

Ben occasionally, this week yeah. Some other missionaries and some other peeps I've picked up along he way!

Is the new movie "Meet the Mormons" talked about at all in Japan? Here we are all encouraged to go and see it. 

Seen some stuff on FB, but I have heard nothing.

Does the vacuum belong to your apartment? or do you share?

Apartment

Did the sisters get to watch the General Women's Meeting??

I don't think so.

Do you want more Christmas pictures? Did we send you any with you, Sam and Abi at temple square seeing the lights?

I'm good, me with the lights might be good in SLC if there are some.

How are your investigators doing? Any new ones? Old ones still hanging in there?

Meh, we want three baptisms this transfer, and I think that we can do it, it'll just take some work. Which we decided we are going to put in yesterday!

Need anything we should send in the next package?

Mmmmm ... fudge was really good ... like amazing good ... and it travels quite well!!

Hey, stay away from spewing lava and volcanic ash. Let us know if you need anything when we send your package.

Father... Sorry that you had such a rough week. That sounds no good. Sorry. I actually had a random memory come up today in the temple. Do you remember when we went through the temple together my first time. I just want to say thank you for being so amazing and such a good example to me through out all the years. I really do look, up to you and mom so much!!

Mom I'm so glad to hear that we are finally getting cement!! I'll miss parking on the dirt when I get back, but it'll be a nice change. The house has changed so much since I left ... did you do it in purpose cuz you knew I would break all the nice things? Thanks for Grandma's eMail!! It's awesome!! That's such a cool miracle!!

Spencer!! Congrats on being blessed this week!! Someone give him a soft fist bump for me OK?

Axton!! Happy late birthday, sorry that I'm late by two days, I hope that it was great! When I get back we'll go and eat a whole bucket of ice cream in honor of you!! Sounds like a plan right?

Smashed, thanks for the missionary moment! You get her baptized!! Also, I like the way you've trained mom ... just don't undo the training that I did to get her to make me food ... it took a long time .. your life sounds so interesting ... I don't even know what to think ...

Storm ... you failed ... ?!?!? ... Congrats!!! Now you can improve and never do it again! Isn't that so cool! I'm so proud of you for learning so much so fast!! 

I did not feel the volcano, I'm totally fine ... But if I do end up jumping over lava in my mission, that would be way sweet!! Like Robin Hood and little John, jumpin fences, dodging trees, tryin to get away ... sounds kinda fun ... especially if I'm on my bike. Sounds pretty epic to me!!

This week was fun, we ate out a lot, and because our church is so far by train I was a little tight on money ... and by tight I mean I'm uncomfortable ... I have like two hundred left over total ... but still ... a little tight. Yeah, I like having money.

This transfer was fun, this coming transfer should be good, Miyaki Shimai and Savage Shimai are leavin. And a Nihongo and another Shimai are coming in. They seem pretty great, but I don't really know either of them yet, so who knows. I'm sad that my district is breaking up, I feel like we were really unified this transfer and did some amazing things!!

A girl named Sister J got baptized and confirmed this week! She's so great!! Anyways, she's way solid, comes to church and all sorts of activities and what not.

That's pretty much the week. I'm very tired, we woke up really early this morning to go to the temple ... so yeah ...

This week was interesting ... we met with some cool people and found like three new contacts that we're going to meet with this week, it was fun. Sabat Choro and I had a talk and he really wants to improve on a lot of things, and I do to, so we're going to go to work this transfer. We're going to see baptisms. This week I've been trying to think more about others and how I can better serve them. I decided that what it really comes down to always thinking about what Christ would do in any situation. He is our example, not only the way to get to heaven, but in everything. Obviously he wasn't in every situation that we're in, but we should know enough about his characteristics and what he acts like to guess what he would do in any situation, and then do our best to follow it. 

Because I like Bears ...

I love you all and am so grateful for all that you do for me!!

Love, Griffiths Choro

9780 8261

DD 10.55 ... never eat old grapes ... I just did and regretted it like ten minutes later ...

We hope you are well, no more leg stuff going on?

It's fine, still hurts a little to kneel, but it's getting better!!



A train coming into Abiko Station

How is your leg doing this week?? Can you ride your bike, run??

All is well, running is a little stretch, but biking is fine and so is stretching it, so that's good, walking is also fine!!

Is next week your temple p-day? Oops, Is this week your temple P-Day? OK, why isn't it temple P-Day? Don't tell Dad he was wrong!! If its not temple P-Day, does that mean transfers are off by a week?

It's next week! Thanks for emailing me early though!!

Is there a washer and dryer in your apt now?

Just a washer.

Look what I found in our vacuum

Do you remember, did you (and the girls) hike Timp right before you left on your mission?
I think so ... I don't remember.

Did you get your package yet? Was your surprise inside?

Yes, and yes, ... don't know how to hackie sac though ... wish me luck learning ...

Do you have anyone to teach right now?

A couple people, we're working on finding some more.

When do you need the pictures of family Christmas traditions? Now? or before Halloween? How much time do we have? We were thinking of nativity pictures or temple square pictures?

Whenever. I just want to show em to people and say this is what I do for Christmas with my family, what about you? Why do you do that? We do ours to celebrate the birth of the Savior, do you know about him? He's amazing!! Testify and commit!!

Any good food this week?

More chicken and ramen ... nothing to exciting!!

When is your companion's birthday?

June 14th

Are you close to Costco with this transfer??

Not really ...

How is your new ward? Do they have a choir for you to sing in?

I don't think so, it's good though!!

What was your topic in last weeks district meeting?

We didn't have one ... or the week before, zone conference and zone meeting. This week however, were talking about the faith to find and what not; also a little bit about what we talked about at conferences and how we can improve more! Also a little testimony thing might go down.

Did you hear anything about the Ogden Temple dedication from the mission office or anyone else?Nope ... not a word.

Have you thought of going to the temple on Halloween night? Do they celebrate Halloween in Japan?

Yes they do, crazy like!!

Do you have to stay inside with the doors locked and the blinds closed?

We go door to door and get investigators rather than candy ... it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

It's just a spider ... like Godzilla is just a lizard ...

Do you have a limit on the amount of time you can spend on the phone with the missionaries in your district?

No, but I have to call the zone leaders by like ten each night, and I have to talk to three different companionships. So it's a little tight sometimes.

Dad ... thanks for the highlights of the temple dedication. It was really great! made me feel like I was there. As for making me feel homesick ... it's pretty hard to do ... it's not that I don't like you guys, it's just that I know I have to see you all in eight months and that I'll never get this chance again ... so it's not like I'm spending time missing my family when there's work to do ... sorry, I really do like you guys ... but you'll still be there ... time keeps going by faster

and faster!! It's no good!!!!

Mom ... you really need to put things about pie at the end of your letters ... I just kept going back to figure out what it was ... it sounds soooooooo gooooooooddd!!! We must make and devour when I return. This week sounds pretty busy, but I'm glad that you're finally getting cement ... that's a nice random gift this time of year!! I will miss our ghetto hole in the...parking way?  What is that called? I don't even know ... have fun!!

Smasjakfkkkdjdke ... loved the picture ... I still have the picture of me with a gallon of milk and a bowl of cookies that I show people on my camera sometimes ... whenever anyone asks what kind of person I was before my mission I just show them that ... and then laugh with them ... they always look at me and wonder why I'm not fat too!! You also seem to keep running into the most awkward men ever ... write all these things down so that I can learn from all of their mistakes when I get back okay?

Storm ... miracle of miracles is right!! Brittany's accident sounds way sketchy!!  Cool to that she's alive and what not though!! That's amazing!! Tell her I said hi!!  Sounds like timp was fun ... like a level three ... maybe if I come back, we'll get it back up to a level one of awesomeness cuz I'll be there!!! Love it!! I love climbing stuff!! Whoo!!! Ps, loved the picture of sam and mom, ridiculous!! Absolutely!!

So this week was pretty good. We met with our old friend Brother Y and
his son and they both have interest in the church!! Were still meeting them. I feel like they're more sakaguchi kyoudais investigators then they are ours ... which is good right!!

We also met a guy named Brother S this week. He's way chill we blew his mind though. We was all like bro there be a God who loves and cares for you ... he even has a plan for you to be happy!  Then my homeboy S ... he be all like ... what!! Man that's way legit!! I gotta hop on boards with their plan of his ... so were meeting him again and going to try to set a baptismal date ... he's like 37 and single, he said that he's gotta find a wife to help him pay off the house that he just bought ... he's way funny, he has lizards ... AND really likes bugs ... it's not weird or anything, but I'm not sure how much I like lizards ... Other than that, he's way boss. He is a nurse at like three different places and works all the time which is rough.

Other than that, this week we weren't really able to meet with to many people. We found a new guy named Brother K who seems pretty solid. He's having a rough time and wants to find peace and the strength to do what he needs to do for his family and what not ... which is pretty much exactly what we talk about all day, so he should be pretty good.

So spiritual thought for this week. We've been talking a lot about obedience recently ... it's been pretty interesting. I decided that when we are obedient and we truly love God and do what he says out of love, then we usually think that new rules that are kinda weird are fun, and we try to like make a game out of it to help us get used to it ... but on the other hand, if we haven't been obedient, or if we only do what God says out of fear, then when he says something that we aren't quite ready to accept, then we just get really frustrated like our freedom has been attacked rather than an opportunity for us to receive more blessings has been given to us.  Its very interesting when you think about it. The question I've been thinking about recently is do I do what I do out of a love of God and Christ, or out of a fear of what will happen if I don't. Obviously we all want to do things out of love, but sometimes we do them out of fear, it's kinda lame, but I think that we can all improve.

So, invitation to you all is week is find something that you do out of fear and try to change it to do it out of love instead ... might be hard. But if we can find just one thing and actually change it, think of how happy at would end up being?!?!? I think pretty happy!!

Anyways, I gotta jet, love you all!!

Griffiths Choro!!
9651 8081