Monday, July 31, 2017

ZOORASIA

皆さんこんにちは!

I'm extremely low on time today because our zone went to a zoo called "Zoorasia". It was way cool! There was this animal called an "Okapi". It had the legs of a zebra but looked liked a short giraffe. Pretty interesting. We didn't get to see all of the exhibits because of time but we'll be going back in a couple weeks with an investigator. 

The Hodogaya area is just crazy! We have about 10 investigators and they are all progressing! One has a baptismal date in October! I wish I could explain more, but I'm really out of time. But they are all amazing people and they really want to learn more about the gospel! We have at least an appointment per day, sometimes 2-3. We barely have time to study! 

Next week will be our last temple P-day, so I'll catch you all on Tuesday! また来週ね!

-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 
愛しています(^-^)



We went to a festival with Sasakiさん! Unfortunately we got there right as it was ending so we didn't get to do the dance. Still way cool!



Hodogaya goes to the zoo!



Fujisawa East zone!











Our zone leaders! (We have 3 right now)



Polar bear!



Okapi!

Monday, July 24, 2017

MERRY CHRISTMAS IN JULY! TRANSFER 7

Feliz navidad mis amigos!

It's the 24/25th of the month again soooo it's Christmas time! We celebrated it as a zone today! We went to the Fujisawa stake center, exchanged gifts, opened transfer calls, watched "Mr.Kreuger's Christmas", and played dodgeball. I got some nice shades, too bad I can't use them on the mission. But it's all good because I love Christmas!

We met with our new 英会話 students, Hokutoさん and Shimizuさん, on Friday. They went to eat ramen with us for dinner, which was way good. After that, Shimizuさん had to leave but we went with Hokutoさん back to the church for a lesson. He is studying English so he can take a test and go to Australia for college. So we helped him with his speaking ability, he is pretty good! He isn't super interested in the gospel right now so we taught simply about God and prayer. He said the closing prayer at the end too! He said he can probably meet again in August. He's not super prepared to receive the gospel but that's okay. I think with him, we will have to be patient, especially because he is focused so much on learning English. 

We got to do some service on Saturday! We helped Abe姉妹 weed the church garden and plant new flowers. 石井兄弟 came to help too! It was super hot, but way fun! It reminded me of when I did yard work with my dad! 

Ever since I got to Atsugi, we've done a few 食べ放題(tabehoudai-buffet). Shabushabu and cake. After gardening,  石井兄弟 told us about a 食べ放題 at Mister Donuts. Us being 外人s, we gladly accepted the challenge. You would think we learned our lesson after doing it twice but nope! We could eat as many donuts as we wanted for one hour. We had to eat about 10 donuts to get our money's worth...I stopped at 6😁 I don't eat too much sugary things and that was no exception! But it was worth the experience! I then went on a 突然交換(totsuzen koukan- sudden splits)with Gilbert長老 and taught the TOEIC class again. 

So 横山さん has been feeling a lot of pain recently due to his medical condition. He wasn't able to make it to church this week. But we did stop by his house after church, with 種岡兄弟, the ward mission leader. He said he was feeling a lot of stress recently. Him and 種岡兄弟 talked things through; we couldn't understand too much but we were able to testify! We reviewed repentance and then we gave him a priesthood blessing. We didn't get to go over what we planned, but I think he needed what 種岡兄弟 had to say. 

I'm being transferred! My new area is Hodogaya and I will be with Elder Bateman. He was the tech staff a couple transfers ago, so that'll be fun! Kinda odd because I just got to Atsugi last transfer; this is the third time I've done a "one and done" transfer. I guess that means that I am needed somewhere else! I will go and do whatever the Lord requires! I am now on my 7th transfer, 7th companion, and 5th area! Not normal for most missionaries but hey, I knew a mission wasn't going to be a "normal" experience. I love it! また来週!

-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 
愛しています(^-^)



Our 英会話 board this week! I tried to draw the guy from the McDonald's manga! 



Temple picture from last week! 



食べ放題 at Mister Donut!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!




Merry Christmas in July!





Gilbert長老 and I are on splits for the rest of the night..We got a small dinner and Monsters! Yay!

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

STEAK AND CAKE

皆さんこんにちは!
Wow it's been a crazy week! I went to the temple today as well! As we were about to get home, my companion realized he forgot his iPad at the temple so we are currently on a train back to the temple! Another hour and a half :) 

We had interviews with President Warnick this week. I've honestly been having a rough time recently due the lack of success and sorting things out with my companion. He gave me some advice and assured me that everything will be okay. A mission is definitely not easy but I love it. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything else!

So we had a lot of crazy meals this week. After interviews, we celebrated Black姉妹's birthday at "Sweet's Paradise". It's a dessert buffet! You can eat as much cake, Hägen-daaz(I have no idea how to spell it) ice cream, and curry as you'd like for an hour! Now me being not much of a sweets eater, this was quite the stretch. I ate more cake than I've ever eaten at birthday parties within the last 3 years! We didn't even eat for the whole hour; we stopped around 40 minutes or so. 

On Thursday, I went on splits with Gilbert長老. We met with Salem, a potential investigator. We met at this place called "Hungry Tiger". We had no idea that he invited friends, one who was really buff! Like almost as buff as Dwayne Johnson! It was crazy! They all speak English almost perfectly. They recommended we try the steak set...it wasn't cheap but hey, it's been a while since we had a nice steak so we got it. It was definitely worth it! But would I do again? Most likely not! We talked a lot about what we do as missionaries; they said they really like what we do. That's about as far as we got for now, especially cause our original plans got wrecked; we didn't anticipate 4 other people being there. Woops :p 

Our investigator, 横山さん, came to church on Sunday!!! It hasn't come since I arrived in Atsugi so it's been a while. We were able to teach him after church about the commandments! 
Also, we were at church for about 6 hours on Sunday! We had the usual DCS meeting in the morning, regular church, a lesson with Yokoyamaさん, and then we had the Spanish sacrament meeting after! It's been about two years since I took Spanish but I still understood about 60%! It was great! Perhaps I can perfect my Spanish while learning Japanese!

So that was pretty much my week. Transfer calls will now be the Monday of transfer week instead of the Saturday before. That means next Monday, the 24th, we get transfer calls already!
It's been a year since I opened my mission call. Never would I have imagined what would happen in the next year. The mission life is just wonderful. また来週!

-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 
愛しています(^-^)




SWEETS PARADISE!!



I made a Facebook post earlier his week. Gaining a testimony doesn't happen overnight, so don't give up!



Our new student at 英会話! He's a stuntman!




The glorious steak and hambagu!



The conveyor belt sushi restaurant! Forgot this picture from a couple weeks back:p




Splits with Lind長老! This is our new friend Suzuki! We met him on the street and hopefully we can meet with him soon!



My companion and I bought a big donut-like cake! 

Sunday, July 9, 2017

TYPHOON SUSHI!!

愛する皆さんこんにちは!

The weeks get faster and faster! And it keeps getting hotter! I miss winter already! For those who don't know, I prefer the cold much more! If it's cold, I can just put on a coat/jacket. But there's not much of an option for summer! 

We had district blitz on Tuesday. We rode our bikes halfway up to 愛川町(Aikawamachi), which is the furthest portion of our area. We went to the college there and did some streeting. I was with Gilbert長老 for the first hour and Lind長老 the second hour. While I was with Lind長老, we ran into a guy that had an awesome motorcycle in front of his house; we decided to talk to him. His name is Narita and he was way cool! He gladly accepted a Book of Mormon! He then told us a typhoon was coming! It started to rain a bit by that point so we said bye and then rushed back to the 7/11 to meet the rest of the district. We found quite a bit of potential investigators amongst all 6 of us, yayyy!

We began our 30 minute bike ride home, in the rain! Other than the fact that water kept getting in my eyes, I thought it was pretty fun! We went to くら寿司(kurasushi), which was a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, for dinner! It was the coolest experience I've ever had at a restaurant. There are plates of sushi on conveyor belts that go through out the restaurant; you can grab whatever you want! Each plate had two pieces, and get this, every plate of sushi was only a dollar! If you wanted something specific, you can order it on the touch screen menu and then it will be delivered to your table on a separate "speedy" conveyor belt! You never have to leave the table to get food! I had 9 plates; it was hard to limit myself because the sushi was so good but there's no way I'm spending all my money in one setting haha! If you ever see a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, I highly recommend! When we left, the typhoon had already begun! It was just pouring rain and some streets were flooding! Luckily home was only 5 minutes away! District blitz, conveyor belt sushi, and a typhoon all in the same day... Only in Japan ;) 

We went to a lot of places to house this week, including some HUGE apartment complexes. They were 11 stories high haha. Sadly, no one was interested. Which is too bad because they are missing out on so many blessings. But perhaps they aren't ready yet ;) 

We visited 横山さん again on Saturday. But we were able to teach him about faith and repentance. It was great and he understood everything. We also taught him some English phrases and he played a song that he wrote on piano for us! He's great! Unfortunately, he still doesn't feel too well to come to church, so please pray for him!

 This heat is a killer! Especially when they don't turn on the AC during church and you're wearing a suit. I accidentally fell asleep in church because of it! Whoops! After church, we streeted around 海老名駅. We talked to two teens that had just finished watching a movie at the theater. One of them had a Star Wars shirt so I asked him about that. After doing some BRT, we talked about the Plan of Salvation and showed them the "What Happens After We Die?" video. They really enjoyed it! We gave them some pamphlets and tried to exchange contact info, but they said no :( Hopefully we see them again!

So that was pretty much our week. We walked A LOT; my feet are so sore. But we had many opportunities to talk to people. We are going to the temple next week so P-day will be on Tuesday next week. It'll be the 2nd to last time I get to go on my mission because the Tokyo temple is closing for remodeling in October :( But I am so glad that I've gotten to go every transfer! The mission life really is the greatest! また来週

-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 or 茶武長老
愛しています^_^



Found some nice fields on the way to district blitz!



So Gilbert長老 really likes Spiderman...He gave us masks after district meeting! 




Another rice field!



More rice fields while heading to the big apartments!



The view from the 11th floor!

Monday, July 3, 2017

SHABUSHABU

皆さんこんにちは!!!

We played basketball today with the other elders in the zone and Gilbert長老 and Lind長老's investigator, Takumi-san. It was super hot but way fun! Anyway, I don't have too much time. 

We had zone conference on Tuesday. The focus was the Book of Mormon; it was amazing! We've been using the Book of Mormon a lot more in our 伝道 and we've seen so many miracles! Instead of carrying the Book of Mormon in our bags, we carry them in our hand and it's been so much easier to talk about it and give it out to people. We've set a goal as a district to hand out 100 Book of Mormons for the month of July. 95 more to go! 

I had shabushabu for the first time on Saturday. We went with the other elders and Takumi-san. Basically, there is a boiling pot of sauce, you throw in thin strips of meat and vegetables and let it cook, and eat it with rice. It was super おいしい!  We ate a ton too because the next day was fast Sunday! We then went to my bean area, Shonan, for zone blitz! We gave out 11 Book of Mormons and found 6 new investigators for the Shonan 宣教師! Seriously, if you haven't read the Book of Mormon, please read it! I know that it is true and it will bless your life more than you can imagine!

So our investigator, Yokoyama-san, hasn't been meeting with us because he's had some health problems. We stopped by his house on Sunday and read the Book of Mormon. He's so awesome!    Unfortunately we found out that his condition is serious. Please pray for him!

Well that's about all the time I have for today. Good news is that I didn't crash on my bike this week! Good luck with the summer weather! また来週!

-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 or 茶武長老
愛しています^_^



Found some cool flowers after P-day last week!



And some weird dome things!



The view from the apartment! Mt. Fuji in the back!







Shabushabu! 



Zone blitz!