REAL SUSHI

皆さんこんにちは!

How's everyone doing? Summer is coming up!! Are you ready? I know I'm not ready for my first summer in Japan! It's already way hot!

I had 交換(koukan-exchange,splits) with Brimhall長老 on Tuesday. He is on his 2nd transfer. We went to city hall and in my mediocre 日本語, we asked for a list of places we could do community service at but they had no idea what we were talking about. In the evening, we taught Taiseiさん again; it felt different teaching with someone else other than my companion, but it was good. I definitely learned that I am not as prepared as I thought to be senior companion, even if it was only for a day. More room for improvement!

Before 英会話 on Thursday, we went to BALG, a burger restaurant. Hands down, one of the tallest burgers I've ever eaten. Way worth it though! To add to that, the sisters gave us a box of Girl Scout Cookies, more specifically, SAMOAS!! Too much goodies!

On Saturday, we had district blitz in Tama Plaza! We had whiteboards with "English Challenge" written on it. The challenge was simple; people just had to answer two questions in English and then we give them candy and an 英会話 flyer! It was so much fun! President told us to do activities that would make people come to us instead of us going to them and it's definitely working! We also ran into a member, Suzuki姉妹, during the blitz and she helped out! 

After the blitz, we scrambled over to 新丸子駅, about 20 minutes away. We met with Satouさん again. Previously, he had fed us deer that he shot and killed. This time, he took us to a sushi restaurant. I finally had REAL SUSHI! I've been told California rolls aren't "real" sushi; I don't know what that means because they definitely are real haha. I ate things I would never even think of eating before I came to Japan. But I figured it'd be best if I just go for it. I had oyster, crab, shrimp, salmon,tuna, and many more! If you can name it, I probably had it all in one night! Including sea urchin! Which wasn't very good; flavorful yes. But not good. I almost gagged as I put a smile on my face and said "おいしい"(oishii-tasty, good). Satouさん isn't interested in changing because he thinks he's too old. But I feel bad for him because he lives alone, wants to talk and loves missionaries. He ended up paying for us; it definitely wasn't cheap. But he insisted because we are "Gaijins who haven't had real sushi". He's a great guy! I hope he will accept the gospel some day!

Quite the adventure today. We went to Poff長老's home...IKEA. We ate there for lunch and just walked around the store. The Swedish meatballs were pretty good. I also know what kind of style I want my college dorm/ house to be haha! Reminds me of when I went with my family about a month before I left. Anyway, I'm super excited for this coming week! As of today, we have 3 planned lessons coming up! Until next week!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

The tallest burger I've ever eaten!! 

SAMOAS!!

District blitz!!

WE EAT TOO MUCH

Sushi with Satou-san!!

IKEA!!

良かった！

こんにちは！

Pretty interesting week! My companion, Schow長老, got a mild case of the fever starting on Thursday and didn't get better until Sundayish. Other than for 英会話, we stayed in so he could rest. But we did have 3 lessons this week and set up some more appointments! 

We met with 田中(Tanaka)-san on Tuesday night. We originally planned on meeting at 8 but he got out of class early and wanted to meet at 6! So we rushed to the church after dinner. We first talked about his church experience on Sunday; he loved it. Then we watched "Prince of Peace" and talked about Jesus Christ. He was worried because he didn't know enough about the gospel. So we focused on knowing truth through the モルモン書 and reassured him that everything will come in time as long as he is reading and praying daily. He also said he wanted to read from the Bible. 

On Wednesday night, we get a sudden call from him and he said he wants to meet. It's way awesome that he wants to meet so often. We gave him a Bible and then read Ezekiel 37:15-17 together. We explained the stick of Judah(the Bible) and the stick of Joseph(Book of Mormon). We also talked about how the 聖書(Bible) and モルモン書 work together and that by having 2 witnesses and a living prophet, we once again have God's true church on the Earth. He really liked that! We told him he could read from the 聖書 if he wanted to, but to mainly focus on the モルモン書、including Moroni's promise in Moroni 10:3-5. He said he is excited to learn more! 

Before 田中さん's lesson on Wednesday, we had a lesson with 大誠(Taisei), an 英会話 student. He loves fashion and has been to America a couple times. He came up to me last week after 英会話 and said he wants to do the Free Family English Program (FFEP). He's even interested in the gospel! After doing the English portion, he mentioned he had been to church before in America and prayed before when he was a kid! We then showed him the video "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father" from the "Who's God?" Pamphlet. We talked about God and then briefly explained the Restoration, which we will teach in a future lesson. We committed him to read the Restoration pamphlet before our next meeting. We taught him how to pray and he gave the closing prayer! He's awesome! 

We called Taisei last night to invite him to Polynesian night and he said he had a miracle! He usually wakes up at 1pm on Sunday but he woke up at 10am that day. He smelt smoke and saw smoke coming out of his neighbor's apartment. He ran over and helped her put the kitchen fire out. He said from that, he knows God exists! How great is that! We are meeting with him tomorrow too! 

I've never taught so many lessons in one week during my whole mission so far! It was a great experience! We also had zone meeting earlier in the week. I've also been practicing piano a bit for zone conference! So much this past week and a lot coming up this week as well. I love being busy! For those who have never read the Book of Mormon, I challenge you to read it! It's amazing to see our investigators change as they read from the Book of Mormon. I testify that there is power in reading the word of God! I know that it can help you in more ways that you can imagine! Until next week! またね

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

Zone meeting!

We love funny pictures!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

母の日おめでとう！

I hope all of you had a fantastic Mother's day! I am so thankful for the love and support I get from my mom! I remember when I was doing some shopping for missionary gear, my mom went with me and we spent a lot of time together! It was really great! Treasure the time you have with your mom, or rather, your family! 

Earlier this week, we had a phone call lesson with Kenshin. Aiki 同席'd for us. We didn't get to teach the Restoration like we planned, but we had a good discussion about the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, we won't be able to meet with Kenshin until June, but we will keep following up on his Book of Mormon reading.

We got a referral earlier this week from another ward; his name(last name) is Tanaka. We met him at the train station before church on Sunday and then walked to church together. He is our age and speaks English almost perfectly! We introduced him to a couple members; then people just started coming to him! He was surprised how friendly everyone was! He said it was his first time at a church; he also mentioned that he had good feelings and loved everything. We even had a lesson with him during the 3rd hour of church. We talked about the Restoration and he accepted a soft baptismal invitation! When we asked why he wanted to go to church, he said he wants to be cleansed through Christ! Well, I've got good news for you buddy, that's exactly what we do! What a miracle!

We got the chance to talk to a lot of people on the street this week. One included a drunk guy...We were on our way from church on Sunday, heading to a less active's house. We were carrying pots of flowers to give to the member. This guy came up to us, grabbed my companion's and my hand and kept shaking them. I thought we were going to get jumped lol He proceeded to ask us questions like where we from and what we were doing with the flowers. During our 5 minute conversation with him, he kept grabbing our hands and shoulders and mumbling stuff. It was pretty weird. We got to the apartment that the less active supposedly lived in. We found the room that we were told but there was no name. We left the flowers there with a note..Hopefully it was the right place! 

It was a pretty fantastic week. We had an amazing 食事 with the Onda family again. I also got to skype my beloved family today. Anyway, I hope all of you have a 素晴らしい week!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

I got a mini cake from Ricard for my birthday!

I love strawberries!

Aiki and us after the lesson with Kenshin!

Ricard brought in Krispy Kremes for Gerrard長老's birthday! 

 Kawasaki district and beloved zone leaders Hemi長老 and Gerrard長老!

Onda兄弟's son fell asleep...AIR JORDANS!

19 YEARS OLD?? NO WAY!

皆さんこんにちは!

What a blessing it is to be on a mission! To spend 18-24 months of your life serving our Heavenly Father! There is so much to learn in so little time! But there is no other greater experience! I turned 19 on Sunday(May 7)! Around this time last year, I was struggling and here I am now on a mission, serving people I've never met ! I am so thankful for the gospel! 

This past week was kind of weird. We had to prepare for transfers; by that, I mean cleaning the apartment. That was great haha! This was Golden Week in Japan. The reason they call it that is because there are 3 holidays in one week; Constitution Day, Greenery Day, and Children's day. Lots of events happening all over Japan, although it wasn't as crazy as New Years. 

On Wednesday, my companion and I went over to the Yamate open house. The church had lots of "exhibits" set up that had church history and church teachings. For those that don't know, Yamate is the place where Japan was first opened for missionary work! How cool is that!

英会話 was different this week because people were out of town. We had a great discussion about holidays though! After 英会話, we had a tour of the church, 10 people came! 

We got to talk this guy named Ryu on Friday. He used to go to a Christian church with his mom when he was little, so introducing Christ was no problem! He seemed pretty excited about church and we exchanged contact info! He seemed pretty promising. Unfortunately he didn't come this Sunday and didn't contact us. Hopefully we hear from him soon! 

Despite all those amazing experiences, I had a rough Saturday morning. I just wasn't feeling as energized as usual. I had flashbacks of the past and I guess what you'd call minor depression. After a good talk with my companion, I felt better and we got out and went housing. We passed by a father and his two sons in a park and knocked on a couple doors. Then we decided to go back to those guys. The father was playing baseball with the younger son and the older son was practicing his tennis swings. We talked to the older son for a bit and then the dad came over and told him it's time to go and they left. Guess he didn't want to talk :( But at least we tried! 

We walked a bit more into the neighborhood and found a guy sitting in a lawn chair, selling a house. We said hi to him..We had no idea what we just got ourselves into. He had this weird 雰囲気(funiki-atmosphere, feeling). I asked him if he liked English and he said of course. He said he was ペラペラ(perapera-fluent) and then spoke a little bit in broken English. But shortly after he switched back to Japanese, so much for being fluent haha. He told us that Mormons aren't Christians and that he didn't believe in God, at least not one god. He mentioned that there are 8 million gods. He then quoted stuff from the Bible...I don't really understand how that works when you don't believe in God but hey, whatever floats your boat. During our conversation, he kept referring back to his bike. He prayed to the bike god for it and thanked him after. He also mentioned he was a best selling author which doesn't make sense because he was sitting in a lawn chair, in the hot sun, "working". He talked to us for about 40 minutes and we understood about 30% of it. He said he likes to talk to others and learn more about religion but when we tried to give him a Book of Mormon(cause he likes to read) and exchange contact info, he refused. So yea, a very interesting experience. 

Today, we went to Panda Express in 川崎! I love their chow mein and orange chicken! My fortune cookie said "You will soon receive help from an unexpected source". *sarcastically* Hmmm I wonder who that might be ;) If you are LDS or not, if you sincerely ask God for help, he will give it to you. I know that's true. I am so excited for this upcoming year in my life. I am so glad to serve along side my brothers and sisters, doing God's work. We then went to Costco, which I'm not gonna lie, if someone knocked me out there and told me I was in America when I woke up, I'd believe them. I just love it out here! Lastly, I realized I make a lot of typos on these weekly's. I hope you were able to figure out what I meant if there was an error. I love you all! またね!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

Here are some pictures I forgot to send from two weeks ago!

Meeting Kenshin-san with the Machida elders!

Sato-san! He shot and cooked a deer for us to eat!

Deer is way good!

TABERU TIME!

Now for this week's pictures!

Bread and cheese fondue! Last meal with Gutierrez長老!

紺野長老 or 紺野兄弟 now(he finished his mission), came to join us for the monthly 食事 with Takahashi姉妹!

Again, more delicious food! I am getting fat!

BIRTHDAY TIME!

Panda Express!

Yamaoka-san!

A weird warped mirror! 

TRANSFER 5!!!

皆さんこんにちは！

We went to see some nearby nature today; it took a lot longer to travel so we ate up a lot of time. But it was waayyyyy nice! It felt great to get away from the city and appreciate nature. 

On Tuesday, we met with the Machida elders and one of their investigators. He actually lives in our area boundaries so they were reassigning him to us. His name is Kenshin; he's way awesome! After some BRT, we taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has a lot of potential; hopefully we can meet with him weekly and help him progress even more! 

Before opening transfer calls on Saturday, we went to the newly built restaurant called Cabrillo! It's a Mexican restaurant! I was so excited to go because I looooooove Mexican food! Well, any Hispanic food :p We had some amazing beef and fish tacos and for dessert, an ice cream taco! 

After that, we went to church for the transfer emails....I am staying in 川崎(Kawasaki) with Schow長老! Gutierrez長老 is going to Hachioji! He's been here for 5 transfers! Poff長老 is coming in his place and will be the district leader. I can't believe I'm starting my 3.5 transfer here!

Sunday was amazing! It was ward conference so there were a lot of people that I hadn't seen before. Bishop Toma gave a talk and I understood most of it! Then my companion and I sung "Press Forward Saints" with the ward choir. It sounding fantastic! Who ever thought I would grow to love singing on my mission? After church, Ricard received the Melchizedek priesthood! It's so awesome to witness new members progress in the gospel! Then we had 食事会(shokujikai-potluck). There was a ton of food, especially bread, but we sure ate a lot! Later in the evening, we    went to the Matsukura(松倉)'s house for dinner! The Urata's were there as well! Both fantastic member couples! 松倉兄弟 works as a digital designer; he designs hats! They look wayyy cool and I'll probably end up getting one from him! We shared President Monson's talk about the Book of Mormon and then talked to them about the Book of Mormon. We committed both couples to read the Book of Mormon daily! Member missionary work is just as important! 

Today marks the beginning of short sleeve season!! Boy does it feel great to have short sleeve outside and the breeze blowing! Another transfer starts on Thursday. I can't believe it! And I am determined to make it better than this last one! I had a lot of things I wanted to talk about but time became つくない so this will have to do for now. またね！

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

Last 英会話 of transfer 4!

Cabrillo! 

I LOVE TACOS!!

Found some glasses at church...

Urata兄弟姉妹, Matsukura兄弟姉妹, Schow長老 and I, and some pictures that Matsukura兄弟 made!

KFC has gone samurai!

NATURE!

There were a ton of frogs in this field!

NATURE!

A great view from the watchtower!

Year of the Tiger!

Gotta finish it off with a companionship picture!