皆さんこんにちは!
Very 面白い (interesting) week. Lots of ups and downs. I hope you were able to read last week's email/post. I had very little time and some email problems so I didn't get to confirm that everything worked. If you didn't get to read last week's post/email, I apologize. I hope it works now.
After we got back from the Tokyo Temple on Tuesday evening, Jödicke 長老 and I borrowed Ayala 長老 and Gilbert 長老 bikes because we didn't have ours yet. They went to the doctor and we went grocery shopping. Mission advice #1: Don't buy too much if you know you'll have to bike home. It is difficult to carry all those bags and bike at the same time with only two people. After dinner, we went to a huge 団地 (danchi or apartment complex). Not too much success. But on the last door we went to,on the 11th floor, we found Suzanne Stahl. She is German! My companion is also German so they had a great conversation. I only know a little German so I couldn't say much. Although at some point, I understood pretty much everything. Basically, she isn't really interested in religion because she grew up without it and was content with her life and didn't think she needed it. She said we could come back at any time, especially since my companion is German. I think it is a miracle that we found her and that I was able to understand some of it. We will see how our next meeting with her goes!
水 11-23-16
We went to church after lunch to do the usual "First 12 Weeks" study....to our surprise, Jödicke 長老の自電車 (Elder Jödicke's bike) was delivered!! After our study, we walked/ran to あさひ (Asahi; a popular bike shop in Japan) to get my bike! The one I chose was a black road bike. It was about ¥49,980 or $499. It has 24 gears and only weighs 11kg! I also had to buy a lock, lights, stand, and the insurance; so the total was just under ¥60,000 or $600. It isn't cheap but it sure beats walking everywhere! Also, they take bikes very seriously here, hence the insurance. I also got to teach 英会話 (English class). Gilbert 長老 and I taught the advanced class. For the game, we played "What are you doing?". 英会話はほんとに楽しかったです。(English class was really fun).
木 11-24-16
It snowed from when we woke up until 12ish. Biking was hard during the snowfall and the wind was icy cold. Most of the snow melted around 2PM though. We went to Nagai 兄弟's (The ward mission leader) house in the afternoon. We had a 模擬 (mogi: pretend, simulation) lesson with them and they fed us dinner. Most of it was food I have never had before; it was so good!
金 11-25-16
I went on splits with Ayala 長老. We went to a near by park to dendō but there wasn't a lot of people to talk to. Then we went to the Yamashita 団地 (Apartment complex) to house. Not so much success; we just got the same response "Not interested" or "Go away". After dinner, we went to SEIYU which is like Walmart. We bought milk and I got this Japanese chocolate called "Black Thunder". It is like a cookies and cream version of Twix. We then went to the Yokouchi 団地. There are a lot of Latinos there! We ran into several Spanish speakers so I got to brush off the dust on my Spanish. It'd be super cool if my Spanish got better as well as learning 日本語。Ayala 長老 and I made flan for one of their investigators when we got back. Splits was a nice experience.
土 11-26-16
I've been 病気（sick) the last few days so it's been tough to dendō. We had district meeting today. The zone leaders, Gonzalez 長老 and Leach 長老, also came. After, we tried to visit Suzanne Stahl but she had company over so we couldn't. Housing didn't go too well either. We then went to the train station to kubari. Not too much success today..but I have hope.
日 11-27-16
Church was kinda hard to enjoy because I got even more sick; I caught a 風邪, better known as the common cold :( Despite that, I pushed through. We had a 模擬 lesson with Shinno 兄弟. He gave us some tips for street contacting and housing; he serve a mission about 10 years ago. We went home to eat lunch. And since my companion was also feeling sick, we took a short nap. It helped a bit. We then had an appointment with the Komine family; they live in Chigasaki, about 30 mins away by bike. In addition to me being sick, it was raining. So traveling there was not easy for me. They fed us SOOOO much food! I don't know what a lot of it was but it was GOOD! Then they had dessert, which was ice cream, cake, and jello( which we made). They are so nice! We shared a message about serving others and asked them to seek opportunities to serve others. Their oldest son, Kazu, wants to serve a mission soon! So we will do our best to help him prepare.
I totally forgot... HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! They don't have that here so it kinda skipped over my mind. Very interesting week. I just wish I wasn't sick for the last half of it. A lot of the mission work in Japan consists of finding. It isn't easy. It can also be discouraging once you've had the door shut in front of you or heard "Not interested" over a hundred times in a day. But I trust the Lord and his timing. I know he will lead us to the people that he has prepared to receive his gospel. とにかく、I hope all of you have a great week! 愛しています！
チャブ長老
I love snow!
My new bike!
Dinner at the Komine's!