WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!!

皆さんこんにちは!

Its the last week of April already! I can't believe it! But that means spring is here! Other than winter, spring is one of my favorite seasons! And it looks so great here! 

We had a lot of kubari time this week. Tuesday night was interesting. We went to 武蔵新城 again(it's pretty effective at that station). Next to the spot I was standing was a sign for a gym advertisement. After a couple minutes, it fell over. I looked at it and debated if I should pick it up; I didn't want people to think that I dropped it. Eventually, I decided to pick it up and put it back. Shortly after, this guy runs up to me, taps me on the back, shakes my hand, says "ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU", and gives me a pack of tissues. He then went to the opposite side of me and began kubari'ing. I realized he worked for the gym who's sign I had just picked up earlier. My companion was by him. Eventually he talked to him while I continued to kubari. When it came to wrap up, I went over to them and hopped in on the conversation. My companion had basically explained all of the Restoration to him and was finishing up the Book of Mormon. We tried to give him the book but he kept saying he couldn't take it. Nevertheless, a great experience. 

We had the weekly service at the care home on Wednesday. This time, they wanted us to sing! They wanted us to sing "The Star Spangled Banner". That was odd because we aren't in America but we did it haha! We also sung "Nearer My God to Thee", "Praise to the Man", "I Am a Child of God", and "Called to Serve" in Japanese. We then got the opportunity to talk with them for a bit. It was awesome! 

On Friday night, we went back to the same station. The whole night, people kept coming up to my companion and talking with him. A 外人(gaijin-foreigner) went up to him, asked for a Japanese Book of Mormon(we gave him one of course), told us he used to have an English one, and then took off. Schow長老 just looked at each other like "What just happened?" We always have interesting experiences at that station and that was no exception :p 

Saturday was a long day. In the morning, we met with a less-active member's son; his name is Masaru. He is starting to come back to church so we were asked to help him with that process. He loves basketball and soccer; and he actually just had his 14 birthday the day before :0 Anyway, we went to the 山手(Yamate) church to play basketball with the missionaries there, our zone leaders, and two other new members. We played Speed and a few rounds of 4v4. It was a lot of fun! After that, Nielson長老 shared a spiritual message. Honestly, before the mission, I wasn't a sports person, especially because I was terrible at it. But I definitely love sports a lot more now, specifically volleyball! After about an hour train ride back, we had lunch at the apartment and then studied. Then we got back on another hour train ride to go to the stake center for the Saturday evening session of stake conference! I understood about 70% of the Japanese! It was amazing!

Sunday was just great! We had stake conference again, but this time we were able to watch it in our own church building via satellite broadcast! We talked to a few members after and then had choir practice. 今野(Konno)兄弟 had me play piano for a bit while he helped fix the choir... I was quite nervous, especially because I am still new at playing piano, let alone sight reading. It wasn't that bad though haha. At 2pm, there was a baptism for 新野(Shinno)兄弟's daughter, Miya. She turned 8 a while back. But it was great! That was the first baptism I had seen in Japan. Pretty much the whole ward(about 100 people) was there! We got to hear the primary sing and two kids gave the opening and closing prayer. Japanese kids are so cute! I also found out that the 新野兄弟 in my first area, Shonan, is the brother of the 新野兄弟 here! He came here for the baptism too! What a small world! 

In the evening, we went housing in 二子新地. When we were there last week, a person had told us that their neighbor would be interested in learning about Jesus Christ. We knocked on the door but they weren't home. So we went back to that same house. We rang the bell but no answer. We then knocked and then a lady came up to the window. We explained who we were and then said we wanted to share a message about Jesus Christ. She then went to the opposite window. This was the conversation, which was in English :o

Her: "Uh..I don't need it. It's almost 8 o'clock" (It was only 7:20 lol)

Us: "Do you want us to come back another time?"

Her: "I uhh.. no.. it's not...it's not....don't come...okay bye...see you next time!" 

She left after that. My companion were super confused! We looked at each other and said "What just happened?" We knocked on the next house(which belonged to a less active). We said that it's the missionaries and we came to check up on him. He responded with "My mom isn't home. Please contact her". We don't know how that was related, especially because the guy sounded like he was at least 30 years old and could handle a conversation without his mom but yeah. Once again, WHAT JUST HAPPENED??

Lots of confusing moments this week. But I enjoyed it! Sorry if this was a bit long; I couldn't bring myself to just leave it out. I hope all of you are making your own adventures everyday! I love you all! またね！٩(^‿^)۶

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

BASKETBALL!!! Masaru is the kid between Schow長老 and I 

Lunch that my companion and I made. I've been making a lot of my grandma's Mint Chicken(thats what's on the rice) ever since I got the recipe 2nd transfer. Who ever thought I would learn how to make Thai food in Japan :p And of course, APPLE SLICES!!

HE'S A HAND MODEL???

皆さんこんにちは! 

What an adventurous week! It rained a bunch this week and it started to get pretty warm...summer is coming! Oh and Happy Easter everyone!

Last Monday night, while heading back to our bikes, we heard someone playing the guitar. Me being a music fanatic, we went up to the house and listened. He was super good! And someone was singing too! It was like a jazz/blues type of song. We talked to them through the window for bit. Unfortunately we couldn't say much because it was actually a lesson haha. Cool experience though!

Last Tuesday was crazy; it rained the whole day. Nevertheless, we stuck to our plans and went to 武蔵小杉(Musashi-kosugi). Streeting didn't go too well due to the rain so we began housing. We did that for a few hours. When we were heading back, we got stopped by some police; they asked for our ministerial certificates and foreigner cards. No problems there; we even talked to them for a bit. Unfortunately, my shoes were falling apart(and they were in bad shape before the rain); I was basically walking in a puddle of water. As much as I love rain(which is a lot because it hardly rains in California), it isn't as enjoyable as a missionary. Anyway, we didn't find anyone that had interest  but it was still a great day for working hard! The rain can't stop us! 

Friday was pretty fun. We helped Liu姉妹's friend move into her new apartment in the morning. We then biked to 二子新地(Futako Shinchi), which is about a 10 minute bike ride. We didn't think there would be much success since it was so close by. After saying a prayer, we began housing. 5 houses later, we run into this bright yellow house. Next to the kekko box(doorbell) were some pretty inappropriate stickers; we already had bad impressions. We rang the bell anyway and a lady answered. I said we would like to share a message about Jesus Christ and she said in English, "Oh wait, I'll be right out". That shocked us; hearing English from non-missionaries is super weird. She came out and talked to us in English; her name is Malou (pronounced Maloo) and she is Filipino. She has walked past our church several times and has always wanted to go in but didn't know if she could because she wasn't a member. We explained to her that everyone is welcome; she thought that was awesome. She recently became a Born-again Christian but felt like she was still missing something. We talked about Jesus Christ and that our church is the only true church. She was happy to hear that and said we were an answer to her prayers! She said she would come to church whenever possible. She's definitely a 金人! The only problem is that her husband is pretty much opposed to the fact that there is a God and doesn't let her go to her current church every week. We couldn't give her a モルモン書 or anything because we only had Japanese copies, but we referred her to the sisters; hopefully they can meet soon. What a miracle!! It definitely strengthened my faith and testimony that God does prepare people for us to find! 

After river cleaning on Saturday, I tried Black Thunder ice cream for the first time!! It's the best!! Sunday was an adventure! My companion and I taught the 9-10 year old primary class; we talked about Easter! It was pretty hard to keep them focused but it was fun! After church, we went to the 鶴丸(Tsurumaru) 家族's house for dinner. We asked 鶴丸兄弟 what he did for work...he said he's a hand model!! He models jewelry! How cool is that! We told him to be careful while cooking so he doesn't injure his amazing hands haha :p We had sandwich rolls and Korean BBQ! The food kept on coming; Schow長老 and I were struggling to finish it! The sisters couldn't keep up haha! And then he brought out some giant cupcakes; I couldn't finish mine. 鶴丸兄弟 shared some stories from his mission. We planned on sharing the message but the sisters did instead. They asked them to share the gospel with their family/friends; they said they would try their best. They are such a great family! I love them so much! There are too many great families in 川崎！Who put them all in one ward!!?? It's going to be hard to leave them! 

We had lunch with the Yamashita's youngest son, Aiki. By the way, the Yamashita family is another great family from the ward. He took us to 焼肉(yakiniku), which is basically like Korean BBQ. BBQ two days in a row haha! It was kind of 懐かしい because I had KBBQ with my friends before I left. Anyway, it was super good! I even tried cow tongue! He wanted to get better at English(even though he is basically fluent) so we only spoke in English with him. He's about our age; he isn't going to college or thinking about serving a mission though. So we are trying to help him develop that desire to serve. We shared a message about the Tree of Life and challenged him to read the モルモン書 every day; he was excited to do it! Another amazing member! 

With Easter this past weekend, I had a lot of time to think about our Savior, Jesus Christ. I even went to the temple today. As you know, we aren't perfect. We have flaws. We don't know everything. We make mistakes. We will eventually die. But that's okay. God knows everything about us and has provided us with a plan. His plan is centered on Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Through Jesus Christ and the Atonement, we can become the person that God wants us to be. We can be forgiven of our mistakes and shortcomings. We can change and improve. Because Jesus Christ was resurrected, we too will be resurrected. A month before I left for the mission, my grandfather passed away. I was sad, yet peace filled my soul. I know that I can be with him again because of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! May all of you have a blessed week! またね!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

This was from a few weeks ago... Abura soba before 英会話!!

After Ricard's birthday lunch!

Last picture of sakura before they died :( Until next year!

River cleaning! The young men came as well! 

The primary class we taught! They don't look too excited haha! 

City view!

AWESOME MEMBERS

鶴丸家族!

焼肉 with Aiki!

We went to Tama Plaza this week to 伝道. The neighborhoods reminded me of America. Specifically, good ol' Lakewood, California!

TEMPLE!!!

Lao/Thai/Cambodian missionaries! 川崎長老, Me, Chao長老

川崎宣教師!

COSTCO MIRACLES AND CONFERENCE!!

皆さんこんにちは!

Sorry I didn't write last week! I had no time to email :( Also this is like two weeks worth of pictures :p

Here's a quick summary of 2 weeks ago. We met with a referral from the ward. He wasn't interested but the friend he brought was. We talked about the Book of Mormon and shared the promise in Moroni 10: 3-5. He said he would read the Book of Mormon...So now we have a new investigator! His name is Toshihiro-san! Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, I got the opportunity to bare my testimony and my broken Japanese! I loved it! I truly felt the spirit as I did so! I know that as you bare your testimony more frequently your testimony will grow! 

When we went to Costco, a lady stopped us. We found out she was a member and her son is serving in the Nagoya Mission! How cool is that! She then gave us money for two pizzas and hotdogs! She was so nice!

I had to apply for a Costco card. While applying, the workers spoke a bit of English to Brimhall長老 and I. After talking about why we are here in Japan, we found out they were interested in learning more English, so we invited them to 英会話! They said they would come! What a miracle! We didn't plan on dendoing in Costco but there they were! It's proof that God does put prepared people in our path! 

We had interviews, zone meeting, and zone conference this week.Plus general conference! So I am spiritually worn out! In zone conference, I got to play piano for a special music number....It didn't go too smoothly but it worked for the small amount of time I had to practice it. Conference was awesome! There were a few moments where I fell asleep but しょうがない！(It can't be helped). I still learned so much though! I'd love to tell you but it would probably take forever to write haha Anyway, we were asked to watch conference with questions in mind. As I watched conference, they were answered! It proved to me that the speakers really do receive revelation on what to talk about! 

This morning, we ran to a small pond nearby...So many sakura trees! It was beautiful! For those not in Japan, I wish all of you could see it in person! Pictures don't do justice for their beauty! Similarly, words can't describe the joy that can be found in the gospel! If you haven't already, please watch "Prince of Peace", the new easter video from the church. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that we can have greater lives by following Jesus Christ's example and his teachings. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn from the prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I know he is called by God. I leave my testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Have a supercalifragilistic expeoulidocious week! See ya next week! 

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

My favorite abura soba place in Kichijoji!!

Streeting in Kawasaki!!

Sho Wada made us dinner before 英会話!

SHOKUJI AND COSTCO!!

Dinner at the Yamashita's with Yo姉妹 and her husband!

COSTCO!!

SAKURA!!!

The pond! It's usually more full and pretty but oh well! 

I love sakura trees!

Schow長老 and I! 

MORE SAKURA!!

Spring is great!

Anyone recognize this pose?