SURPRISE TRANSFER PART 2

So I accidentally sent that last email without finishing it, please read that one first!!

I had a blast in Kamakura! I learned so much from my companions and the ward members. I got to spend my first Christmas and New Year in Japan there; that will definitely be something to remember. 

I made it to my new area safely by the way! It is way more urban than Kamakura. My back kinda hurts from carrying my suitcase (I strapped my suitcase to my back) and my bike. But it's all good! Since today was supposed to be temple P-day for the Fujisawa zone and I transferred instead, I didn't have a P-day yesterday. So I am taking some time today :) 

For those back in school from winter break, I wish you good luck! 頑張りましょう! (Let's do our best! Thank you everyone for your prayers, love and support. Remember Christmas with everything you do! See you next week!

Dinner with the Tsuchiya family and Suzuki 兄弟 last week!

Another shokuji! The Urata family!

We found this "car" while housing. It's wayyyyy small!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

SURPRISE TRANSFER!!

皆さんこんにちは!

This week was pretty normal...until I received a call from one of President Warnick's assistants, Battaglia 長老. It was after district meeting on Saturday. We had just finished practicing a song to sing as a district for sacrament meeting. This transfer is scheduled to be 8 weeks long; it's been about 4 weeks since I got to Kamakura. Due to emergency circumstances, I am being transferred to the Yokohama North zone, Kawasaki area on Tuesday! It's about an hour away by train. My new companion is Elder Gutierrez; he is on his 7th transfer. The Kamakura elders will no longer be a trio; Coleman長老 and Lind 長老 will still be companions. Even though it was short notice and I haven't been in Kamakura too long, I am excited to transfer. I'll miss everyone a lot and I will have to learn the area all over again but that comes with being a missionary. I will go where the Lord wants me to go :) 

Other than that, nothing too crazy happened this week. Although we biked up this crazy hill to visit a potential investigator with the 姉妹たち. I couldn't bike all the way up; I had to walk some of it. It was super hard! And when we got there, he was busy taking a shower so we couldn't even meet him! But I got a good leg workout!

I had a blast in Kamakura! 

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

HAPPY NEW YEAR

明けましておめでとうございます！！⛩🌅
I can't believe it's 2017!! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and
fresh start for the new year!  New Year's day is called 正月(Shōgatsu). After
sacrament, we studied, did some self-reflection, and set goals in order to
prepare ourselves for this new year. We also finished up cleaning the
apartment(It is Japanese culture to do a deep clean of the house around New
Year).  とにかく、I am so glad I get to spend all of 2017 serving a mission,
especially in Japan!

Last Monday, we went to Enoshima island! There was a place that had those
fishes(they call them doctor fishes here) that eat the dead skin off your
feet...so we tried it! It tickled a lot but all of our feet are super soft
now! Totally worth it! Then we walked around the shrine grounds. We saw an
amazing sunset and the shrines themselves, which were beautiful! Enoshima
island is very popular for tourists; I can understand why now :p

After touring the island, we had dinner and the sisters went back to
Kamakura. We decided we would visit a potential investigator that was in
our area book. He lived near Shichirigahama, about two train stops away.
But considering the amount of money we already spent during the day, we
decided to walk to the house; it also gave us a chance to talk to people on
the way. When we got there, no one was home; it actually look abandoned. We
left a note and started walking to the nearest train station, which was in
Gokurakuji, about 20 minutes away. In order to get there from where we were
at, the quickest way was to take a mountain pass trail, next to a shrine.

When we got to where it started, the entrance was blocked off by a fence.
At this point, it was about 7:45PM. I had a weird feeling, but I didn't say
anything. Little did I know that my companions felt the same. Anyway, there
was a sign that showed where the detour was. As we walked to the detour,
our surroundings became more forest-like. It got darker and darker. We
reached the beginning of the detour and Coleman 長老 suggested we use our
iPads for light. There was a super narrow, temporary staircase(the kind you
see at construction sites) leading to the path. To sum up the situation, it
was nearly pitch black, we were in a forest, and it was pretty much silent.
I was beyond scared and had doubts. Just a side note; as we were looking
for the detour, all of us felt terrified. For some reason, we began to go
up the super sketchy stairs. When Elder Coleman got to the top, we stopped.
Something did not feel right. All 3 of us then received a prompting from
the Holy Ghost : "Go back. Do not proceed any further." No need to tell us
twice! We went back down and went to the main road. There was a much safer
path that had lights further down; we made it to the train station safely
and took the next train home.

I don't know what kind of danger was waiting for us at the trail. But the
best way to describe how we felt standing at the top of those stairs, is
that it seemed like the devil's front door. I had never been so terrified
in my life. To be honest, I might not have been here to tell you about it
if we kept going. Or all of us might not have made it back safely. I have
never felt the Spirit so strongly before. For nonmembers reading this, the
Spirit or Holy Ghost put simply, guides us through our lives and protects
us from danger. Moral of the story, always listen to the Spirit's
promptings. You may not understand it, just like how we didn't know what
awaited us, but the promptings are given to us for a reason. Your situation
may not be as crazy as ours, but I promise as you listen to the Spirit and
his promptings, you will be blessed. I would like to end this story by
letting you know that I am so thankful for that experience; it is proof
that God and Jesus Christ lives. They are always watching over us and will
guide us. My testimony was definitely strengthened through that experience.

Sorry for writing so much. But I think that experience is worth sharing. We
didn't get to dendō much this week. Coleman 長老 got sick the day after and
we stayed home. We also did a lot of cleaning. It was a very interesting
week; I will always remember it. Also, feel free to email me or send me a
letter/package! I wanna hear about what you've all been up to this holiday
season! Be safe, stay 元気(Genki=good or well), and lets start 2017 with a
bang!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 or 茶武長老

愛しています^_^

Sorry for the double post, the pictures I sent previously were blurry.

BETTER QUALITY PICTURES 4

BETTER QUALITY PICTURES 3

BETTER QUALITY PICTURES 2

BETTER QUALITY PICTURES