Welcome to 伝道!

こんにちは！

I did it. I finally got to pull some weeds out of a yard in Japan! The 林家 invited us to help clean their yards and man, it was fun! We don't get a lot of service opportunities like that in Japan, so it was pretty special (The old me would think I'm crazy). We got down on our knees, yanked some weeds for a little over an hour, and then had some tacos for lunch! 

We later had a basketball tournament with some members and friends that day. We invited a ton but not too many showed up. The ones that did were super good though. We had a blast playing with them! 

We talk to a lot of interesting people as missionaries. One guy working for a bar yelled "Chōrō(Elder), I know Chōrō!", came up to us, and tried to invite us in. We told him we don't drink and a little bit about the Word of Wisdom. He doesn't drink either but loves to smoke. We asked him to give it up for a week. He said it was too hard but he would try a day at least. Talk about calling others to repentance haha. We also met a hiphop dancer who gave us some Japanese advice, a professional basketball coach, and a runner that can do 100m in 10 seconds. 

I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting about following King Benjamin's example and doing missionary work. I mentioned that the easiest way to share the gospel is by being an example. Having passed the sacrament with members just before the talk, I felt like a member of the ward. I love this ward!

Had a pretty cool experience while grocery shopping this morning. As we were wrapping up, I asked my companion what we should do for lunch. A couple seconds later, one of my favorite members, 橋本兄弟, comes out of nowhere, puts some food in our baskets, hands us money for it and then says "Here's your lunch". The Lord isn't joking when he says "Ask and ye shall receive". What a blessing!

Something I forgot to mention last week was an invitation from Elder Renlund. When people come to us and say things like "I hear your church has ~~" or "I hear you church isn't fun", rather than explaining ourselves, all we as members have to say is "Come and see". Simple. Effective. Invitational. 

For those that may have questions about the church, I invite you to "Come and see" what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is about. I wouldn't be on a mission if it wasn't true :) I'd love to share more, including about my week, but frankly it just can't be put into words! I love you all!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

New Apartment, A Visit From Elder Renlund!

This week was exhausting. Especially physically. Why you might ask? Well we moved out of our old apartment! So we packed, cleaned, and made several trips back and forth   , loading and unloading a ton of stuff. It was miserable with all the dust going around; I hate allergies. But in total, it only took a day and a half to move :)

The new apartment is brand new! We have two apartments; we eat in one, and sleep in the other. Pretty weird if you ask me. But it's got that fresh, new, smell. We are super far  from the station now, so we'll have to change up our finding now. 

We had the opportunity to go on splits with the APs this week as well. Our plans changed due prepping for the next day. But it was kinda cool to see what the office life is like. 

The next day, Elder Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Choi from the Seventy came to have a conference with us! It was such an honor to personally meet them. We heard some great talks from them and their wives. They are all so spiritual! 

Something I took out of it is that we have to keep perspective, or the bigger picture in mind. When we remember the fruits of the gospel and work with faith, that's when miracles happen. We are called to serve by a prophet of God. There is nothing to lose but ourselves in the work of salvation. And when we do so, the Lord promises that we will find ourselves. I love this work!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

Yay moving! 

Moving crew!

Elder Renlund Conference!

Found a Thai restaurant! #represent

Mission conference with Elder Renlund and Elder Choi! 

The Truth is Marching On!

頼もう！

Happy Mother's day to all the moms and grandmas out there! I'm especially grateful for my mom for supporting me on this wonderful journey. Couldn't have done it without her help! Kinda weird knowing today was my last video call... :p

This week was just fantastic. Lot of meetings, including zone conference. We talked a lot about online proselyting. We got access to LINE a couple months ago and it's helped so much in our efforts. To add to that fire, we got wifi hotspots! So now we can contact people where ever we are, even from the apartment! We never have to worry about missing someone's message now. So cool to witness the Lord hastening His work! My companion and I also shared our testimonies at the end. It was one of the most spiritual zone conferences I've been to.

We were able to meet with a guy I met a couple weeks back on the train. We'll call him S-san. He took us to a nice little cafe close by for brunch. He went to Kentucky for college, so he's fluent in English. He's even been to our church there. We set some expectations and shared a little bit of our message. Bottom line, he is way prepared. We are way excited. Only thing is that he lives back in Atsugi area, so we'll have to transfer him over, but that's the least of our worries.

Later that same day, we talked to a pretty tall guy. His name is 中川さん。He was surprised to see two foreigners speak Japanese and we talked quite a bit. He asked if we had time, we said yes, then he said "Let's go eat together!". At that point, we had already eaten dinner but hey, this guy was interested and we love eating so there was no way we could pass that one up. We went to Saizeriya, talked more about what we share as missionaries and set expectations as we ate. He seemed pretty honest about wanting to learn more. We exchanged LINEs and went on our way. Way awesome miracle. 

We've been packing recently because we are moving to a brand-new apartment on Tuesday. We checked it out after I called my mom and just wow! I love it. I'm pumped. The Lord's work is marching on!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

Zone conference!

Meeting with 中川さん!

２０歳!

Hallo!

I turned 20 today! To celebrate, we cooked a ton of chicken tonkatsu at the church. Then we played a good round of volleyball. Also, thank you for the birthday wishes!

Went to my first MLC this week. Lot of great things are happening in the mission and many changes to come. Pretty excited. 

As I mentioned earlier, Elder Schow and I are companions again. Something amazing happened this weekend. 横田兄弟, a guy that Elder Schow and I taught a year ago in Kawasaki, was baptized. During our time back in Kawasaki, we weren't able to meet him much cause he was busy with work. Neither of us knew what was going to happen after we transferred. But through the Lord's guidance, he was able to take the lessons and be baptized. As members of this church, we can always do missionary work. We may not always see the fruits of our effort, nor will it come when we want, but the Lord will always care for His children. 

前に分かち合ったけど、もう一度スカウ長老はわたしの同僚です。この週末素晴らしいことが起こりました。何があったというと、一年前川崎にいたときに、わたしとスカウ長老が教えた横田兄弟がバプテスマを受けました。あの時に、彼が仕事の関係で忙しかったので会えなかった。わたしたちは転勤してから何が起こるか全然分からなかった。でも主の導きを通して、レッスンを受けて、いずれにバプテスマを受けました。教会員として、いつでも伝道ができます。いつもその努力の実を見て、わたしたちが願うときに来るわけではないんですけど主がいつもご自分の子供を見守っておられます。

I hope all of you have a great week! And Happy Mothers Day! (Just in case I forget)

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

Tama district meeting!

My first MLC!

So much chicken!