I LOOVE THE SMELL!!

皆さんこんにちは！

Another month coming to a close..Time passes way too quickly!! We had quite a lot of finding time this week, especially because our investigators are busy and couldn't meet. Lots of ups and downs, but hey, that's life! 

On Tuesday, we went to 弥生台(Yayoidai) and streeted around there. We got to talk to and older man who spoke English pretty much fluently. He mentioned that he was in America when Kennedy was shot and he was in Germany when the Berlin Wall was up. So he's done a lot of traveling. We talked to a high school student after. When we started talking about the モルモン書, his eyes lit up and he got excited. We gave him a モルモン書 and he said he would definitely read it! He's busy with studies but we got his phone number! Hopefully we see him soon!

英会話 was wild this week! The message this week was "I Feel Joy When I am Obedient". My companion wanted to do a little game to demonstrate. There was a circle on the board and the goal was to draw an X in the middle of it while being blindfolded. One of our investigators, Tan-san, volunteered. He is from Vietnam and he has a very heavy accent. He put on the blindfold and then asks, "Who's handkerchief is this?" Then my companion says "It's mine!". He responds, "Oh I love the smell!" Everyone burst into laughter and my companion turned into a tomato :p We later found out that it was a good smell at least! 

So with 與座(Yoza)姉妹's birthday being on Friday, a lot of people wanted to celebrate. After 英会話 on Wednesday, the students got together and had a surprise for her. We had poppers, snacks, and then one of the students, Takeno-san, played "Happy Birthday", Disney's "When You Wish Upon a Star" and an Okinawa folk song on the flute! It was awesome! Everyone is sooo kind here!

Sunday night was amazing as well! We we went out an walked towards the 駅. We talked to a couple people but they weren't too interested. We still hadn't fulfilled our goals for the day and we were running out of time. We kept pushing for it. Then we saw 3 high schoolers. I said hello to them and they stopped; normally groups don't stop but they did! We talked to them a bit; they were way into soccer and one has been playing for 10 years. Then we started talking about what we do as missionaries. One of the guys knew a lot about Jesus Christ and Christianity already, so  it was easy for him to understand and explain to his friends. In the end, we gave all 3 of them a モルモン書 and they said they would like to learn more! Unfortunately all their phones were dead because they were playing PokemonGo (they showed us proof) and couldn't give us their number. Apparently a lot of Japanese people don't have their phone number memorized. Go figure! We gave them ours and they said they will call us soon! 

We reached our goal of handing out 3 Book of Mormons and talking to 5 people that night. That experience strengthened my testimony of setting goals. I know that if we set goals and strive to achieve them, God will help us! 

So that's about all the time I have for today. I spent a lot of time working on a video for the zone's "Peaks and Pits" conference call every Sunday night. I played 4 different characters on 4 different videos. When I put them together, it'll be like they are talking to each other on a Skype call! It was harder than I thought :p I'll be going up to headquarters tonight for Family Home Evening; it'll be about a 1.5 hour train ride! また来週ね

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 

愛しています(^-^)

I found another TESLA!!!!

We went to the YSA class for Sunday school!

Celebrated 與座姉妹's birthday on Friday with the Morimoto家族

Do we look better with glasses?

AMERICANS AND TYPHOONS??

皆さんこんにちは!! (Lots of pictures this week so keep scrolling!)

This week was absolutely insane! It was full of ups and downs! 

We had zone conference in Yamato on Wednesday. We talked about planning, using time wisely, and setting goals. I learned so much from it and I am ready to apply it! My district had the special musical number too! We did a special version of "Nearer My God to Thee".  I played piano and they sung; it went great! 

Thursday was rough. We met with Suzukiさん at the usual park, which I actually managed to get a picture of this time! After the English portion, we tried to set up next lesson's English topic. Then he told us that this lesson would be the last lesson. He said he has tests every month from now on and he has to get into hardcore mode studying. So he won't be able to meet :( He said if he has time, he'd love to take another gospel lesson though. Although he won't be using his phone anymore at some point so he can focus more. Contacting him will be pretty hard; the only contact we would have is through Takemura姉妹 because she knows his mom well. We did teach him the Word of Wisdom. Despite him drinking coffee, he said he will do his best to live the Word of Wisdom. I have faith that the Lord will take care of him!

On Friday afternoon, we stopped by the Naoi家族's house. They aren't members but they've been having missionaries over for the last 6 years. Anyways, Naoi姉妹 took us to a care center. She played the mandolin and we got to sing some Japanese folk songs for the people there. My companion and I also sung a couple hymns. It was a great service opportunity! We then had a YSA barbecue at night. We had 焼肉(yakiniku); it was so good! We got to know the YSA better; some of them I met for the first time! Towards the end, our investigator Uesugiさん, showed up! He immediately became friends with all of them and had a great time! We were super glad he came because that would be the last time we see him; he left to America the next day. Hopefully he runs into some missionaries there!

After district meeting on Saturday, we went to the Atsugi Naval base for a zone blitz. They were having a summer festival there so the base was open to everyone. Right off the train, we were able to talk to a bunch of people! A lot of them were Americans; it was weird 伝道'ing in English! I split off with Harrison長老 and we began walking to the base. I talked to this guy name Ryan. It turns out he is from Anaheim, California; only 15分 away from me! What a small world! His brother is serving in the Japan Sendai mission but he isn't a member. He said he would check out the church though! 

We proceeded to the base, talking to a TON of people. I walked down some streets that reminded me of good ol' Los Angeles. There was a group of African Americans barbecuing some Caribbean chicken and blasting some rap music. It was crazy haha. We walked past them and then we got to the base entrance. We handed out some fliers for a bit then we went in. There was a long line to enter, but luckily for us, there was a separate line for us foreigners :p As soon as I got in, it was like a whole different world! I felt like a walked into a theme park disguised as America haha! We went to Taco Bell for dinner! I got a nice Crunchwrap Supreme...Man I missed it so much!! I even got American coins for change! 

After we finished eating, we left the base grounds and continued to 伝道. At this point, there were some suuuuper black clouds in the distance. The lighting and thunder was picking up. Within 20 minutes, we got a call from another companionship. They said the rain had just him them hard and it was coming for us! I still kept trying to hand out fliers and then BAM! The rain came! It felt like little rocks! We got another call, telling us to go to the barbecue people for shelter; that's exactly what we did. It was pouring like crazy so we just ran as fast as we could to them. At this point, all 5 of us were completely soaked. The rain was incredibly heavy; I've never experienced anything like that before. It was getting late and we thought we might not make it home for the night. We didn't let that stop us! We kept talking to them; they were all GOLDEN!! This guy, Larry, just out of the blue asks me "So what's the church like tomorrow?" and I got to tell him! We talked about God and he said he definitely believes there is a God! I was able to tell him all about the Restoration and gave him the pamphlet (I wish I had another English Book of Mormon). He lives in a different area but he said he would go to church the next morning!! The other elders got to talk to the other guys there and they all were interested!! It was a testimony to me that if we open our mouths to everyone, no matter what our situation, God will lead us to those that are ready to receive us! 

When the rain lightened up, our good ol' brothers gave us some plastic bags for our 伝道 bags and we booked it to the station. Eventually it stopped raining and we made it home safely! I've never experienced so much in one day; I loved it! I look forward to more crazy experiences like this! I love you all!! また来週ね！

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 

愛しています(^-^)

The park we have our lessons with Suzukiさん at!

Singing at the care home!

Naoi姉妹 and her teacher plus us!

YAKINIKU AND TACO BELL

Yakiniku!!

On base!

TACO BELL!!!

(Still more!) 

THE BROS

The crew at Taco Bell!

This girl randomly came up to us and asked for a picture! 

Our good ol' brothers that kept us safe from the rain! 

(Just a couple more!)

Qiu姉妹 and Golf!

QIu姉妹 and her husband Shimizuさん fed us some awesome Chinese food Sunday night!

We went to the golf range today! (I'm not good at golf)

(Phew, you made it to the last picture for this week ^-^) 

DORITO BAG

皆さんこんにちは！

I honestly don't remember too much from this week :p But I'll try my best!

We met with Suzuki-san again. He is way good at English so for the English portion, we just have a conversation with him. We taught him the Restoration; he is progressing so much! At the end of the lesson he asked us "If, like a big if, if I don't get baptized, can we still be friends?" And we said "Of course! But we do know that you'll receive many more blessings if you do." Then he said "I know! It is a very small chance that I won't get baptized because I am starting to believe these things are true" HOW AWESOME IS THAT?? MIRACLE! We love him so much! Unfortunately Sundays are still hard for him because of his study class. We asked if the Takemura family(they referred him to us) can bring him to church when he has some off time and he said that would be great! We'll be meeting him again this week! So excited!

Yesterday night, we walked around our local train station. We stopped a guy and then he took a Book of Mormon out of our hands and asked what it was! That's never happened to me before! We talked about it and he seemed really interested. He had to leave right after we finished explaining it because his stomach was hurting and had to go to the bathroom :p But he knows where the church is so he said he will stop by. We did give him a Restoration pamphlet though! And that's why we always walk around with a Book of Mormon in our hands! 

It's been raining pretty much the whole week! I love it! I wish we got this much rain in California! 

We tried to do some 伝道 in a nearby park. There were a lot of runners and nature lovers. We got to talk to a couple people, some of them knew about Mormons already! Anyway, we were looking at a pond that had a lot of fish. Then we noticed an interesting fish....THE DORITO FISH!!! It was just an empty Dorito bag haha But we thought it was funny because we were just enjoying nature and then BAM we got hit with a Dorito bag! 

So recently, I keep getting asked to play the piano for church and various mission meetings. I'm not sure why, especially because I am not that good and I NEED practice. I rarely get time to practice; I don't want to set time aside other than P-day to practice because I know that's not my purpose right now. But I've been trying my best on P-day to practice so I can serve others when I am asked. Despite not having practiced during the week, I can pick up where I left off and it's easier to learn. The Lord gives us talents for a reason. And if we use them to serve others, he will help us develop them. I know that the Lord is helping me and I am so grateful for another way to serve my fellow brothers and sisters. So please, use your talents!!! If you don't know what yours is, I challenge you to ask God in prayer. I know that he will help! また来週ね！

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 

愛しています(^-^)

I love nature!

Sister Yoza made us sandwiches for district meeting!

LAST TEMPLE TRIP

皆さんこんにちは！

Well, the Tokyo temple will be closing for remodeling in late September. Today was my last temple visit on my mission :( But I'm glad I got to as many times as I did! It's such an amazing experience! 

We had a crazy storm on Tuesday. I've never heard such loud thunder in my life! We took a look outside on our porch and we almost got hit by lightning! It struck about a car's length away from us! Way cool experience though!

We met with one of our investigators, Suzuki-san,  twice this week at a park. We taught some English as well as the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is progressing so much! He also accepted our invitation to be baptized on September 23! He studies a lot for school. Like, A TON. We are talking about 10 hours a day for a test in February! Because of that, it can be a bit difficult to meet, but hey, he's willing to make it happen! Now the bad thing is that there were a bunch of mosquitos in that park...I've never gotten so many bites in my life! I had about 10 on my legs and a couple on my arms! I don't know why they like me so much! I was in pain for a couple days haha!

Yesterday, I went on splits with the zone leaders, Coleman長老, Harrison長老, and Eteru長老. It was a blast! We talked to so many people and gave out 6 Book of Mormons! We talked to people that I normally wouldn't even think about. I really wish I could describe everything but it wouldn't be the same as living it. I love being a missionary! また来週ね！

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 

愛しています(^-^)

I was with Harrison長老 and Coleman長老 on splits and we saw Eteru長老 and Bateman長老 walking the opposite way! It was a super hot day too!

Harrison長老, Eteru長老, and I ending splits with a perk! 

THE TOKYO TEMPLE

Last temple trip!

"Do the Bateman"

The Tokyo Temple!