MOCHI!!

皆さんこんにちは！

This week went by pretty fast! But then again, every week does now!

We spent a lot of time on the train today so I don't have much time left...so this will probably be short! 

We had several lessons planned with our investigators. But they fell through; they either cancelled or weren't home. So that was disappointing. We visited Yamamoto-san after church; but he was getting ready for work so we only had like 10 mins. He has a Book of Mormon already but hasn't read in a while so we went over some scriptures. He is busy but he said will call us for our next visit. Then we visited the Aoike family again. Carlotta wasn't able to read the BoM during the week because she got sick and she can't read Japanese too well(she's Filipino). We gave her a BoM in Tagalog and she said she would read it!

On Saturday, we had もちつき(mochitsuki- mochi pounding/making). It was so much fun and a ton of members came! The missionaries came early to prepare some of the ingredients. Mochi is one of my favorites though! Its basically pounded sticky rice. Making the mochi was the best part though. The rice goes into a bowl and you use large hammers to pound the rice. I wish we had もちつき back at home!

Last night, we had dinner with a family in the ward, the Dils. They are from New Zealand; I learned some cool lingo from them! Like "plaster" is the word they use for "bandage". I never thought I'd be learning anything else but Japanese here. Anyway, they fed us some amazing food! And the food kept coming! Dil 姉妹 made an amazing apricot pie and chocolate custard cupcake like things. It was so delicious! We thought our stomachs were going to explode from all the food we ate! We shared a short message about love, especially at home. It went great! They even gave us rice to take home; we needed it badly lol

So yeah, that was pretty much our week. We have more planned lessons this week, hopefully they all come through! I challenge all of you to show more love; especially to family members! The world needs more love so please spread it! Even a simple thank you goes a long way! With that said, thank you so much for the love and support! Until next week!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

I found my paradise! A MUSIC STORE!

My dream car! TESLA! First one I've seen in Japan!

MOCHITSUKI!

Mochitsuki prep! That long strand held by chop sticks are not noodles...its NATO

Eating mochi with our investigator, Okamoto-san!

IT'S MOCHI POUNDING TIME!

Ignore the weird pose!

Beautiful sunset!

Finally, taiyaki!!!

ZONE CONFERENCE!

皆さんこんにちは！

This week went by super fast! Especially because we had P-day on Tuesday and went to the temple. Nevertheless, it was a great week! To those that don't know Japanese, I hope you find the Japanese translations that I've included in this week's update helpful!

Wednesday was a rough day for 伝道 (dendō- missionary work). We did some street contacting but didn't have any success. Then we went to the 駅(eki-train station) to 配り(kubari-distribute English class flyers). Once again, not to much success. Later in the evening, we went housing. No one wanted to hear our message except for the last person we knocked on. We began explaining the Restoration to him. Meanwhile, I was having a hard time with Japanese; my mind was just blank. Then he told us he didn't want to hear anymore. I felt so disappointed. But I know that's part of life; we learn from our trials.

The next day, I decided to fast. During language study, my Japanese was better than normal. I could understand a lot more while reading the モルモン書 (Morumon Sho-Book of Mormon) in 日本語(Nihongo-Japanese). I ended my fast at dinner. The whole district, Ricard, and Sho went to Katsuya before 英会話. I finally got to eat tonkatsu! It's basically like fried chicken. It was so good! 英会話 was amazing. It was much better than the previous day's events.

On Friday, we had an amazing zone conference at the stake center. President Warnick and Sister Warnick presented some trainings. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ, love, culture, and other 伝道 related topics. It was super spiritual. After the conference, I had a 面接 (mensetsu-interview) with President Warnick. I don't want to get too specific but we just went over some things that I had on my mind. I felt so relieved after talking with him. It just goes to show that mission presidents really do love their missionaries! Later in the evening, we met with Jamar; he hasn't met with missionaries in months because he was busy with work. But he contacted us the day before and said we could meet. We ate at a soba shop and asked what he remembered from last time. We also asked what he wanted out of meeting with us and we talked about some scriptures. Long story short, he wants to learn more so that he can spread it to others! How great is that! Hopefully we meet soon!

Our weekly lesson with Okamoto-san was great! We read from Omni together and then talked about prayer. God will answer our prayers and will bless us. But in order to receive his help, we must show our effort. We must do everything we can. For example, if we ask God to help us do well on a test, we show effort by studying. By showing effort, we prepare ourselves to receive God's help. 

On Sunday, we tried to visit Yamamoto-san. He is super awesome! We can't contact him because he doesn't have a phone; he said he would fax us! That's some dedication! Earlier in the week, he contacted us from a payphone and said he wanted to meet. When we got to his house, he was super sick so we couldn't have a lesson. But next week we will try again! We then went to the Aoike family. The son, Katsuya, wasn't home again. But his mom let us in again! We taught her and her husband about the Restoration. She understood a lot of what we explained and said we could come back again. Soooo that makes her a new investigator now! 

Soooo that was my week. I noticed that I am always learning new things everyday. Being a missionary truly is a blessing. I hope all of you enjoyed reading about my adventures. Now go out and have some of your own! Until next week!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

Zone meeting! Yokohama North Zone!

I made one of my grandma's dishes: Mint Chicken! 

Our meeting with Jamal!

SPREADING THAT DENDŌ FIRE

皆さんこんにちは！
Its been an amazing first week in Kawasaki! We went to the temple today with the Machida Zone so there was a lot of missionaries there! I didn't use the translation while I was there; I actually understood about 60%! For being on my 2nd transfer, that's not bad! I hope my Japanese continues to improve! I also got to see a lot of missionaries that were in the same zone with me in the MTC!

We had zone meeting last week and I got to meet everyone. 3 of my 同期 (douki-means they came to Japan the same time as I did) are in the Yokohama zone with me! Davis長老, Jones 長老, and Miyagawa(宮川)姉妹。Its like a reunion! After the meeting, we did some amazing housing! We talked to a bunch of people! Even though the majority of them declined to hear a message, I haven't talked to that many people in so long! New Year made dendō kind of slow; I'm glad it's starting to pick up again.

On Friday, we had a lesson with one of our progressing investigators, Okamoto-san. Ricard 兄弟, a recent convert, came to 同席(douseki-Used to describe a lesson with a member present). Ricard兄弟 was baptized in August; he has such a strong testimony and loves the missionaries! Okamoto-san has been taught all the lessons. However, she doesn't come to church consistently and doesn't have many church friends yet so the bishop advised us to wait. Other than that, she is great! She loves reading the モルモン書 and has a strong desire to learn more!

Another miracle! We tried to visit a less active member, Katsuya; he is the only member in his family. When we got to the apartment complex, a bunch of kids ranging from 4-14 years old were outside playing. They approached us and began asking us a bunch of questions. They were pretty excited to see two 外人(gaijin-foreigner); we thought it was pretty funny. They asked us if we had time to play soccer with them for a bit...so we did! One of the kids was super good! It was a blast!

After about 10-15 minutes, we said bye and proceeded to visit Katsuya. He wasn't home when we knocked. But his parents answered! They told him to try coming back on Sunday. His mom, Carlotta, said it would be okay if we shared a message with them when we came back and he wasn't there. Sunday came and we went back; he wasn't there but Carlotta kept her promise. They let us in and we got to know them better. Then we shared a short video about Jesus Christ and taught a few principles from the Restoration. It was a great lesson!

So that was pretty much my week. There were many more miracles but I never have enough time to describe them to you :( Oh and on Sunday, Davis 長老 and I gave a talk, in JAPANESE!! It was scary! I talked about Christ, how the gospel has changed my life, and testified. It wasn't the greatest talk and I don't know how much they understood but that doesn't matter. The spirit was still there :) And by the way, the Kawasaki church building is huge! It has 4 floors! Although the first is mainly for parking lol Anyway, thank you again for the support! Just a reminder to always include Christ and the gospel in your life! I know it will bless you! Have a great week!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

Yokohama North zone!

Kawasaki Elders!

Gutierrez 長老 and I! Its super cold outside!

The kids we played soccer with!All of the Kawasaki Elders! Schreiber長老, Me, Davis長老, Konno長老,
Jaeckel長老(Got transferred), Gutierrez 長老, Bradford 長老

Tokyo temple!

City lights :)

An almost perfect score on our apartment checks!

FARFETCH!

We got these from a part-member the other day...It reminds us of
Farfetch(A Pokémon for those that don't know)

SURPRISE TRANSFER PART 2

So I accidentally sent that last email without finishing it, please read that one first!!

I had a blast in Kamakura! I learned so much from my companions and the ward members. I got to spend my first Christmas and New Year in Japan there; that will definitely be something to remember. 

I made it to my new area safely by the way! It is way more urban than Kamakura. My back kinda hurts from carrying my suitcase (I strapped my suitcase to my back) and my bike. But it's all good! Since today was supposed to be temple P-day for the Fujisawa zone and I transferred instead, I didn't have a P-day yesterday. So I am taking some time today :) 

For those back in school from winter break, I wish you good luck! 頑張りましょう! (Let's do our best! Thank you everyone for your prayers, love and support. Remember Christmas with everything you do! See you next week!

Dinner with the Tsuchiya family and Suzuki 兄弟 last week!

Another shokuji! The Urata family!

We found this "car" while housing. It's wayyyyy small!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

SURPRISE TRANSFER!!

皆さんこんにちは!

This week was pretty normal...until I received a call from one of President Warnick's assistants, Battaglia 長老. It was after district meeting on Saturday. We had just finished practicing a song to sing as a district for sacrament meeting. This transfer is scheduled to be 8 weeks long; it's been about 4 weeks since I got to Kamakura. Due to emergency circumstances, I am being transferred to the Yokohama North zone, Kawasaki area on Tuesday! It's about an hour away by train. My new companion is Elder Gutierrez; he is on his 7th transfer. The Kamakura elders will no longer be a trio; Coleman長老 and Lind 長老 will still be companions. Even though it was short notice and I haven't been in Kamakura too long, I am excited to transfer. I'll miss everyone a lot and I will have to learn the area all over again but that comes with being a missionary. I will go where the Lord wants me to go :) 

Other than that, nothing too crazy happened this week. Although we biked up this crazy hill to visit a potential investigator with the 姉妹たち. I couldn't bike all the way up; I had to walk some of it. It was super hard! And when we got there, he was busy taking a shower so we couldn't even meet him! But I got a good leg workout!

I had a blast in Kamakura! 

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

HAPPY NEW YEAR

明けましておめでとうございます！！⛩🌅
I can't believe it's 2017!! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and
fresh start for the new year!  New Year's day is called 正月(Shōgatsu). After
sacrament, we studied, did some self-reflection, and set goals in order to
prepare ourselves for this new year. We also finished up cleaning the
apartment(It is Japanese culture to do a deep clean of the house around New
Year).  とにかく、I am so glad I get to spend all of 2017 serving a mission,
especially in Japan!

Last Monday, we went to Enoshima island! There was a place that had those
fishes(they call them doctor fishes here) that eat the dead skin off your
feet...so we tried it! It tickled a lot but all of our feet are super soft
now! Totally worth it! Then we walked around the shrine grounds. We saw an
amazing sunset and the shrines themselves, which were beautiful! Enoshima
island is very popular for tourists; I can understand why now :p

After touring the island, we had dinner and the sisters went back to
Kamakura. We decided we would visit a potential investigator that was in
our area book. He lived near Shichirigahama, about two train stops away.
But considering the amount of money we already spent during the day, we
decided to walk to the house; it also gave us a chance to talk to people on
the way. When we got there, no one was home; it actually look abandoned. We
left a note and started walking to the nearest train station, which was in
Gokurakuji, about 20 minutes away. In order to get there from where we were
at, the quickest way was to take a mountain pass trail, next to a shrine.

When we got to where it started, the entrance was blocked off by a fence.
At this point, it was about 7:45PM. I had a weird feeling, but I didn't say
anything. Little did I know that my companions felt the same. Anyway, there
was a sign that showed where the detour was. As we walked to the detour,
our surroundings became more forest-like. It got darker and darker. We
reached the beginning of the detour and Coleman 長老 suggested we use our
iPads for light. There was a super narrow, temporary staircase(the kind you
see at construction sites) leading to the path. To sum up the situation, it
was nearly pitch black, we were in a forest, and it was pretty much silent.
I was beyond scared and had doubts. Just a side note; as we were looking
for the detour, all of us felt terrified. For some reason, we began to go
up the super sketchy stairs. When Elder Coleman got to the top, we stopped.
Something did not feel right. All 3 of us then received a prompting from
the Holy Ghost : "Go back. Do not proceed any further." No need to tell us
twice! We went back down and went to the main road. There was a much safer
path that had lights further down; we made it to the train station safely
and took the next train home.

I don't know what kind of danger was waiting for us at the trail. But the
best way to describe how we felt standing at the top of those stairs, is
that it seemed like the devil's front door. I had never been so terrified
in my life. To be honest, I might not have been here to tell you about it
if we kept going. Or all of us might not have made it back safely. I have
never felt the Spirit so strongly before. For nonmembers reading this, the
Spirit or Holy Ghost put simply, guides us through our lives and protects
us from danger. Moral of the story, always listen to the Spirit's
promptings. You may not understand it, just like how we didn't know what
awaited us, but the promptings are given to us for a reason. Your situation
may not be as crazy as ours, but I promise as you listen to the Spirit and
his promptings, you will be blessed. I would like to end this story by
letting you know that I am so thankful for that experience; it is proof
that God and Jesus Christ lives. They are always watching over us and will
guide us. My testimony was definitely strengthened through that experience.

Sorry for writing so much. But I think that experience is worth sharing. We
didn't get to dendō much this week. Coleman 長老 got sick the day after and
we stayed home. We also did a lot of cleaning. It was a very interesting
week; I will always remember it. Also, feel free to email me or send me a
letter/package! I wanna hear about what you've all been up to this holiday
season! Be safe, stay 元気(Genki=good or well), and lets start 2017 with a
bang!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

Sorry for the double post, the pictures I sent previously were blurry.

BETTER QUALITY PICTURES 4

BETTER QUALITY PICTURES 3

BETTER QUALITY PICTURES 2

BETTER QUALITY PICTURES