DD 2.56 ... "Yes, you will do just fine." ... then yeah ... this happened ...

T-Day this week. The week before Transfers, our P-Day moves to Tuesday, then all who are close enough, go to the Temple ... so ... sorry there was no letter on Monday; here it is on Tuesday:  T-Day.

What do Japanese toothbrushes look like? Why are they not as good as American ones?

They are all right, they are just small and expensive ... and they wear out really easily, also I got the package today, thank you so much!!! I haven’t really looked through it yet!

It sounds like you are stopping more people on the street to talk to them, are you feeling more comfortable w/ the language? Do you understand what they are saying more?

YES, I do all my phone calls in Japanese, and I talked to some people on the train today.

Is your neck still hurting? Shoulders? Stomach?

Nope, I feel completely fine!

What kind of book bag/back pack did you buy? Was it the blue plaid bag in your picture last week?

Yes ... right! Its way sweet.

Does the new bag make your shoulders/neck hurt?

Nope, again, I must be cured!!

How was the typhoon on Tues/Wed? Did you go out while it was storming?

We slept through most of it that night, but like five minutes after it ended we went housing, and met a Jehovah’s Witness.

Did your power go out during/before mentioned typhoon?

Nope, the biggest typhoon in fifty years and Japan kept on running smooth. They are pretty prepared.

How bad was the wind? Rain?

Not too bad, just like a rainstorm in Utah, but without the lightning and we had to pull our laundry inside.

Did the package get there? If so, what was in it? (It might have been delayed due to the storm).

It arrived here on Tuesday! Along with Abi’s letter!

Does your ward do a primary program for sacrament meeting?

Yes, it was a couple weeks ago, it was adorable!!

Are you currently in transfer 2 or 3? What week will the next transfer occur in?

I am currently in Transfer number 2; and this will be week six; transfers will be next week.

Do they celebrate Halloween in Japan? Are you guys having a Halloween party?

Our ward had a Halloween party. See pictures and details below.

Did the Sister Missionary, who taught English with you (Christensen Shimai) get transferred or does she still teach with you guys?

Both of the sisters which are here now are from America, Willden Shimai has some Japanese family background, they are both still here, for now, and both help teach.

Did Dad find your apartment building?

      

Yes ... kinda creepy, but really cool, I definitely want to catch the replay of that in heaven, he even got the right room too, Go Dad!!

Dad said last weeks subject read, "This one's for father. You must really like Japanese. Please Enjoy." How close did he get?  He says he could not find a the translation for "tmasu."
Dad, the last part of the Japanese was to shittemasu it means that “I know” what ever comes before it tatoeba “my dad loves Japanese shittemasu,” or with English grammar, “I know my dad loves Japanese.”

Do you still write people regularly? If so, who? (Ben? Rachel? Lizzie? Paige? Jon?) I'm nosy and am wondering. =)

I write to Ben, Lizzy, and Rachel every week or so, and some random people every once in a while.

So yeah, this week was a typhoon, a Halloween party, and temple day!!! The typhoon was pretty intense, but afterwards we went housing and found a Jehovah’s Witness, having never met one before I wasn't sure what they believed, but now I know a little more, namely they are not allowed to study other religions! Right? But yea freedom to choose, we pretty much left with a box full of pamphlets about how Halloween is Satan’s holiday and how bad we are for teaching people about other religions ... Oh, the things that we see.

Skyline view of Chiba; from the deck of our Jehovah's Witness investigator

... this happened ...

Next up, the Halloween party, I walk in and Brother K. just looked at me and said, “Yes, you will do just fine;” and then yeah, this happened:

Brother O. has a better picture of me doing seiza and looking all dignified, but I don’t have it, it may be on the Chiba Ward Website / Facebook page, maybe dad can find it; it might be on Brother O’s page. This is the game that we made for the Halloween party, we throw cotton balls at the web and they stick to it ... it’s made of tape.

Halloween Party Game

Temple today was very great!!! I love it so much!!! Transfers are coming up and so last Friday I went on splits with Williams Choro, my bean, but it was just the two of us, and we actually found two new people, one of them fell through, but the other said that he loves soccer and after that he loves to read ... so yeah me being the outgoing American that I am said; well then brother, have we got a book for you; and yeah, we’re meeting with him next Friday, introduce him to the gospel more fully, and then set a baptismal date. Should be good, right?

Who knew … the same rule for meeting girls applies to getting investigators, you always wait three days to call ... except in Japan, you call them that night to say that it was nice to meet them and make sure they got home safely; and then you wait three days, call them back, and then make an appointment with them ... who knew? Right?

Thank you for all the eMail and the letter, more eMail, I love them all, today I don’t have very much time and I want to send some emails to Sam’s eMail really fast so that she can send them to y’all!!!!!

Melonpan

Love you all, don’t worry about you letters distracting me too much … Ahhhh … Should I get a flu shot? So really fast, they have this bread called Melonpan, and it is so good!!!!! It’s pretty cheap to. Try and find it in America, if you can’t find it, I’ll probably never come home ... it is so good!!! I highly recommend it. JK; I will still come home.  I really do love doing missionary work!!!! WHOO!!!!

Today I started doing train dendo, we sit next to random people and talk to them, extra points if you can get to the gospel in six sentences or less ... it took me like twelve, but I was playing with some other zone leaders ...　so you could say that they are pretty good, they only have like two and four transfers left...

Yeah, that’s almost all I have this week, love you all and thank you for the stories, sorry about Jayli’s throat/mouth, and when i get back I want/would like to take Porter rock climbing ... think about it and let me know if that would be okay ... I promise we will be safe.

PS … Abi … only four ... bummer, challenge extended To ... fourTEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!!!!!!! bum bum bum ...
1876 2578

DD 2.64 ... Dad ... Happy Birth-got-a-letter-Day ...

Dearest Father of Mine,

I thought that since it is your Birthday, I would write you a hand written letter to express my gratitude to you … and also say … HAPPY BIRTH-got-a-letter-DAY!!!

I hope that you are having a marvelous week and that you are getting to accomplish all the things that you set out to do this week. So I’m not going to lie. I’m not very good at writing letters of grandeur or of great inspirational thoughts. So I thought that maybe I would just say some things that I have learned from you over the years.

#1. The importance of showing my work, and no I don't mean just in math, but keeping some sort of record of what I've been doing is so important. It allows me to evaluate myself and even help others in their time of need.

#2. The importance of being proactive. All those years of “watching you work,” which actually meant helping, has taught me to get involved with the work that is going on around me. Since I have been here I have learned to always do something, even if it’s wrong, it’s better than doing nothing. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I know that if you had not prepared me, it would probably have been impossible.

#3. How to ride a bike. (That’s just more of a title for “Teaching me how to function.”) I have always wondered how you taught us to ride a bike, and also why at the same time. I mean, other than exercise and for fun. Who uses a bike? Answer, missionaries do. Real people do, for all sorts of things! I said that this one was about being able being able to function as a person so I’ll get to how it ties in, don't worry, but if I had to learn how to ride a bike, and I don’t mean how to balance and stuff, I mean how to shift and turn and avoid sliding off the narrow bike path. If I had to learn those things here, I probably would have died. So my point is that when you ride a bike, you have about 24 different options for gears, some are easy and less efficient, while others are powerful, but take a lot of strength. Thank you for teaching me how to maneuver and adjust the gears of life. It has been hard living in a different country, but having some basic skills, such as cooking, learning, and bike riding have made my time a lot easier. By showing and teaching me how to do all of these things, you taught me something else to, and honestly it’s so simple -> you can adjust your attitude to whatever you’re doing to make it doable. Anything! Whether it is the long easy downhill, or the seemingly insurmountable mountain ahead, just switch gears, so you can keep your cadence and still continue onward. (Side note: Seriously, thank you for teaching me how to really ride a bike though; I would have died if I didn't know how to shift).

#4. Thank you for teaching me how to work. Whether its digging up the back yard or spending hours trying to figure out what happened to our computers. You taught me how to preserver and to just get down and go to work. You could say that Japanese is pretty hard, throw that on top of missionary work and it gets even harder; but here I am enduring to the end, striving to accomplish what I, you, and the Lord knows I should be doing. And I know it’s going to take work, a whole lot. So, thank you once again.

#5. Thanks for teaching me respect, both to people and rules. I learned from you that if someone, who is a good person, asks me to do something, I don’t need to know exactly why they asked me, and I simply have enough respect to do it without complaint. Also, to follow the rules, I learned that they must have a purpose or they would not be there at all, so I should respect them.

#6. Thank you for teaching me about the sacredness of this Beautiful Gospel. It has blessed my life so much, and it hurts my heart when people treat it lightly. Thank you for living the gospel for all it is; even when it is hard to do; thank you for having faith to follow, so that we could in turn, follow you. For example, I know that without a job, paying tithing must be hard sometimes; or even when you have a job, being dedicated to church callings can be difficult or even nigh unto impossible, but you always had faith. I cannot think of a time where you wavered where you strayed from the path. THANK YOU FOR THAT!!! Thank you for making sure we had enough faith before we left home. At school there were several weekends where I went to church, alone, and it was hard, but I always knew I would go. There was never a question, and it is because of the way you and mom raised me and all of your children. Thanks so much for your example in the gospel!! Really truly from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU FOR THAT!!

I don’t know where I would be if it were not for the church and the dedication that I grew up seeing to it! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family, but even more blessed to have such a wonderful Father!

You have truly stood at the crossroad there, To direct and point when I could only stare. You led the way, and then said, “Hey,” Maybe you could walk alone At first I was frightened, But your countenance Brightened I sure that you doubted a bit, But I’m so glad you hid it. Your faith let me carry on.

When times are dark and dreary, It’s easy to feel weary, To say, I shouldn't try, to pray that time will fly, But that is not what I was taught. When your teachings I apply, To grow I really try! And then the miracle comes, And I see what we have done. Your faith gave me my own.

Sorry for the really bad poetry, but I figured what the heck.

There is not enough room or time for me to tell you how much I appreciate you and all you do. You truly are amazing! I’m so glad that I got to come to earth in your family.

I hope that someday I can become as good a father as you have been to me. It’s a tall order, but I think I just might be able to come close … Plus I’m sure my kids will love going to grandpa’s house all the time!! YOU ROCK DAD! LOVE YOU TONS!

Next Challenge:

Love you Dad, Hope You Have a Great Birthday -> Elder Griffiths

PS. Thank you for all the stuff you have told me and for taking care of me while I've been here. It really helped a lot. Also, suits have been dry cleaned … but I didn't do any ties this time, next time!! Thanks again for all you do, hope this is letter is enough to fill my absence. Maybe eating some carrot cake will help to.

PSS. There really is so much I feel, but can’t express in words. Thank you so much Dad. Love you tons!!

Typhoon Wipha Hits Tokyo Area

By Yoko Wakatsuki, Junko Ogura and Katie Hunt, CNN

6:30 AM (JT), Wednesday 16 October 2013

Tokyo (CNN) -- At least 17 people have died and hundreds of flights have been canceled as Typhoon Wipha pummeled the Tokyo area on Wednesday.

Rocks from a landslide

down an electric pole outside

a house in suburban Tokyo

A local government official in Oshima, a small island 120 km (75 miles) south of Tokyo, said that a majority of the people died after heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides that blocked roads and crushed houses.

Tokyo commuters struggle to get to work.

More than 500 domestic and international flights were canceled at Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports and the national rail operator halted bullet train services in central and northern Japan.

People in Tokyo

rush to avoid heavy rainfall and strong winds

The typhoon is moving north along the Pacific coast of Japan and is expected to reach the northernmost island of Hokkaido by late Wednesday.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the main electricity supplier in Tokyo and central Japan, said blackouts affected more than 56,000 households.

TEPCO, which has been struggling to deal with a series of leaks at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said workers at the plant were "on vigil" and accumulated rainwater had been released from storage tanks.

Typhoon Wipha, the 'strongest in 10 years', 

passed close to Tokyo on Wednesday

CNN PRODUCER NOTE: British photojournalist ElBranden said the storm has since left Kiyose, north of Tokyo; although military helicopters are still flying overhead checking for storm damage. "While the storm was said to be the worst in 10 years to hit Tokyo, it did not feel like it," he said. "My wife, who is Japanese, stubbornly and in character, stormed the storm to go to work, even though I suggested she should leave after it passed."

The storm passed near Chiba between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM (JT).

Christmas in Tokyo

Dear Parents,

As we approach the holiday season we wanted to reach out to the families of our wonderful missionaries to thank you for your support, and to invite you to unite your prayers with ours as we exercise our faith for a Christmas miracle during this holiday season. The desire of our hearts is to have a "White Christmas", i.e., a baptism in every ward or branch in our mission between now and Christmas. We can think of no better gift to give our Savior than to bring many souls unto Him and to strengthen the wards and branches in this special part of his vineyard. The Lord said, "whatsoever ye shall ask in faith, being united in prayer according to my command, ye shall receive." (D&C 29:6) We firmly believe that as we unite our faith and prayers with yours that we can see this miracle.

We have forty wards and branches in the mission, so we have decided to have the missionaries in each area fast on 40 different days during this period. We believe that the combination of our united faith and prayers and this special 40 day fast will help us draw upon the powers of heaven.

We have also put up a special Christmas Miracle Tree in the mission home. As each area has a baptism we will put a wrapped present under the tree to symbolize our gift to Christ. We plan to fill each gift box with miracles and conversion stories that are shared during this period in each area; we look forward to sharing many of these with you. We also plan to make special ornaments with the pictures of those who have come unto Christ during this season, and will display them on the tree. We will update the mission blog with pictures of the tree as the number of presents and ornaments grows.

We hope that by uniting our faith and prayers that we will not only have a "White Christmas", but that you and your loved ones will feel a special bond with your missionary while they labor here in this great cause. As you may know, our mission motto is: United in So Great a Cause. It is our sincere desire that as you pray every day as families for every ward and branch in our mission to see a baptism during this holiday season, that you will feel united with your missionary, with our mission, and with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I testify that this is God's work, that he desires to bless us and the Japanese people, and that Jesus is the Christ. It is our honor and privilege to be in His service. Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

Merry Christmas, and thank you for faith and prayers!

Love,
President and Sister Budge

DD 2.45 ... Kore wa chichi no tame ni. Kare ga nihongo ga hontōni sukida to shi tmasu. Tanoshimu kudasai ...

How often do you write in your journal?

     Every Night

Did you get any mail this week? Did you get the letter w/ the call and the birthday list?

     Yes!!! Thank you so much!!

Did you get Sam's letter yet? (the one w/the bear tweets)

     Yes ... I’m with mom, I didn't think that they were that funny ... but it might be because I’m on a mission, not reading them at two in the morning ... keep following them and I'll review them when I return.

How was conference? Where did you watch it at? How many sessions did you get to watch?

     We got to watch all the sessions at the church!

Do you get the Ensign? Would you like us to send you the conference issue when it comes out so you have the talks? (if so, Japanese or English?)

     We get the Liahona in English, so I’m all good!

Is it still just the 3 of you in your apartment?

     Yep

Any word on the internet in your apartment yet?

     Nope

If you don’t have the internet, how do you turn in your numbers to ... honbu?

     We call our District Leader or the Zone Leaders and they do it for us.

Part A: How was the weather last week? We heard it was supposed to be rainy, maybe storm a lot? The remnants of typhoon Denas passed over Tokyo - did it have any impact on you? Lots of rain we bet.

     There was no rain last week, there was a lot of wind ... but it was actually way gorgeous!

Part B: Typhoon Wipha (Yes these questions are being dictated to me by dad, that's why they are so specific) is on its way .It'll roll through Tokyo on the 15th (Wednesday) Do you hear about the typhoons ahead of time? Do you refer to them by their name? Does the Kaichou warn you????

     No, we usually just check the weather, or our Ward warns us ... we'll be alright though! Thanks for the concern!

Did you buy a thumb drive?

     Yes, I found one that was 8GB for ¥600 ... so yeah, bought that!

Do you feel like you have gained or lost weight since you've been there?

     I am still 75 kgs ... whatever that means. (it means he is 165 Lbs)

Dad is seriously not satisfied w/ the information we have about your companion – Williams Choro. I feel ok, but dad only remembers that he went to BYU Idaho. Do you know what city he is from? What is his first name? Do you know what his major is? Pretty much any info would please mom and dad. (Definitely his Name and City).

     His name is Williams Choro (Full Name edited to maintain his privacy), he is from Lapeer, Michigan (about 60 Miles, or 1 hour, north of Detroit), and he was studying mechanical engineering ... his favorite food is pizza and he really likes monkeys ...

How are your rain pants?

     MARVELOUS!!!

Dad wants to know a bit about your missionary work - how many discussions did you teach last week?

     Last week was really rough ... we didn't teach many, we taught like three maybe four; on the bright side, I found a new investigator this week, here is Sister S's story ... she said that she can’t meet with us until the first Wednesday of November, which is kinda sketchy, but she took a Book of Mormon anyway because she really wanted to read it ... she then went and bought us a drink ... I wasn't sure what it was until I went back over to my companion ... I was about to drink it but he was all like, "where did you get that?" of course, I was all like, "My home girl, Sister S., done bought it for me cuz I done changed her life!" (yes it was a girl, it seems like all the people that talk to me are women, right? its way sketchy, but more referrals for the Shimais) then he said that it was iced coffee and I should probably teach the word of wisdom next time first ... yeah, a little bit of a downer.

Do you guys split the discussions evenly or does Elder Japan do the most and Elder Idaho the least?

     We try to split it up so that we all teach evenly, but Elder Japan usually answers the questions.

How is Elder Idaho coming w/ his language skills? Do the two of you drop into English when you are talking to each other?

     We really try not to, but sometimes we do, he’s really good! Better than me probably!

Is it cooling off there? If so, how are you staying warm? Are you wearing your sweater yet?

     I busted out my sweater from the suitcases today!!! But, I haven't worn it yet, it is way cool here now, I love it!!!!

Did you dry clean your suit? Was it expensive? Did you do both suits? How did it go?

     The first one was only ¥700 because we are now new members, but I don't know how much the next one will be, probably around ¥2000.

What was your favorite talk/quote from general conference?

     The doubt one by President Uchtdorf (First doubt your doubts, before you doubt your faith.) or the challenge by Elder M. Russell Ballard for Ward Member to find a new investigator by Christmas ... challenge extended ... I’ll try to find a couple more, but I would love it if you all did too!

This week was pretty good, I got Sam and Dad’s letters, they were really good!! Thank you for the list of stuff and the Japanese words from dad, I would try to add more in my letters, but they are really hard to spell out in romaji and then when you try to add them in hiragana they switch to kanji... and since there are like three or four kanji for every pronunciation, I don't know which one is right ... yet.

So last week I bought a new bag for ¥1000 and a new tie for ¥100 ... it pretty sweet too. Dad’s letter got here on the tenth, and Sam’s got here on the eleventh ... I don't know why they got here so fast, but I'm not complaining.

This week I had to go to a second transfer training … I think I understood all of it pretty much and took like two pages of notes ... the whole thing was in Japanese ... All right, go me!

Sorry I’m a week late, but I really liked President Monson’s talk in priesthood, it was all about the good shepherd and how we need to lead from the front and be good examples, not the bad shepherd whole tells us where to go and then lazily follows us ... I took this pretty hard, as a missionary we are to be examples in the church leading people to Christ and to his gospel ... now the hard part, as a family we need to help the missionaries more often! By inviting non-members over when they come to dinner and being willing to be joints for their lessons. But most of all, we need to be a good example of a Mormon to all those around us. I know that when the members help us out, it makes all the difference in the world! Referrals are the greatest people and they already have a friend in the church. So like Elder M. Russell Ballard said, I would invite all of you to try to reach out and extend an invitation, that’s all just an invitation, to someone who you know that is not a member; maybe even a less active member to remember the truth that they once knew; whether they knew the truth before we met them or the truth they knew before they came to this earth ... mainly I’m talking to Sam and Abi here, specifically your roommates, what a great missionary opportunity!

Anyways, enough about that, I am excited to get the package that you all sent! The tooth brushes ... oh the glory! I’m way pumped! So yeah, this week and conference was pretty good, I really did miss going to priesthood with dad, I remember last year when we were not able to get into the conference center, we went over to the tabernacle, that was way great! Hearing all the stories about when dad was young and went to conference with his dad ... also this week my companions and I started talking to each other a lot more, we tried to get to know each other and I realized I have no idea how our wonderful parents met ... I mean I know the lasagna story where dad complained and mom stopped him from eating it ... but like how did you guys meet and stuff ... I'm really curious! 

So yeah, this week was pretty good, we had to move our baptismal dates back and drop an investigator, he is part of the Setsurio Church ... he just refuses to let go of the attention that they are giving him and he can't come to our church because they are at the same time ... even though, and here’s the kicker, he swears that the Book of Mormon is the true word of god! Right? How can you fjdsklaghjdsghjk I just don't know any more about him ... we are meeting him for ramen on Tuesday and then likely won’t see him again … probably … I hope he comes to know the truth sooner rather than later.

Well, I am going to try to send some pictures now, so until next week. Oh wait, there is an Elder in my zone who knows Greg, this is for Abi ... Also there has been no news of a tsunami or anything this week. Sorry to hear that mom got lost on way to the Relief Society outing, … Sam had to use the free hair straightener ... #FirstWorldProblem if I ever did hear one.

Abi, what is an ethnic book club, I still do not understand ... and how is the Portuguese club going? I hope that it is fun; I plan to join the rocket team, concrete canoe club, and the Japan club … assuming they have them when I get back; I’ll also join all the engineering teams that compete against BYU so I can crush them, or rather, put them in a box and the box in a bigger box, and then mail it to myself, and when it arrives I’ll SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA (name the movie!)

Next up, pictures! Hopefully! (Some pictures were placed in earlier Blog Entries when appropriate)

The View from our apartment balcony

Teaching Aid

Teaching Aid

This is some of the stuff that
we make to put on rice.

and pasta for food sometimes

1415 2400