They Don’t Think it be as it is, But it Do

I don't know what happened this week, but I'm exhausted. And a whole lot darker haha.

We had a long day on Thursday. We went to MLC, where we learned a bit more about the upcoming changes to 英会話 and had a really good training on "Joy". We had a lessons with 礼一郎さん, who we met about two weeks ago on the street. He was excited to learn and even said he would be baptized when he knows it's true. Then we had a lesson on LINE video chat with Fei, our investigator from China. He's been reading the Book of Mormon and he connected a lot of the things we taught, as well as some things that we did not teach. Both are doing great and it's been fulfilling to see God work through them. 

We had a nice day in Yokohama, walking around and checking some shops. Pretty hot though. Next week is my companion's last P-day so we did some prep. Gonna be a great week! 

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

The Brashear's fed us some American dinner!

Good ol' Yokohama

A temple in Chinatown

Will it Matter in a Thousand Years?

Blazin' hot this week. I thought Southern California summers were bad.
Nevertheless, we hit the pavement hard!

We got to do a video lesson on LINE with our friend Fei. He mainly
speaks Chinese but knows quite a bit of English and Japanese. He had
some trouble understanding some things due to the language barrier but
after the lesson, I had my Japanese father, 高村兄弟 help him out in
Chinese. He really has a desire to learn more and wants to be baptized
in the near future!

We had a zone blitz at 戸塚駅 on Friday night. Pretty cool cause I was
there back in January when I was stationed in 保土ヶ谷. We talked to a lot
of people and it was a lot of fun!

So I watched an episode of "Hope Works" recently. It's kinda like
TEDtalks or some other motivational speech show. Stephen Jones talked
about his life for a bit and what helped him with decisions. He asks
himself "Will it matter in a thousand years?" I really liked that
idea. It works with a lot of things..for example:
Maybe you have an argument with a family member or friend. Maybe you
are deciding whether or not you should quit your job. Go to school or
go serve a mission?
He said, "If it doesn't matter in a thousand years, it doesn't matter to me."

With that said, I think all of our choices matter. Sometimes we may
have a lot of decisions and miss out on what's really important. Right
now, I have the opportunity to invite others to come unto Christ.
Whether or not they accept right away doesn't matter. Rejections do
not mean I have failed. But the fact that they were offered a chance
will matter in a thousand years.
Please take some time and ask yourself "Will it matter it matter in a
thousand years?" and "What will I do?"

Have a splendid summer!

-Elder Chab
チャブ長老
#RaiseTheBah

Pahhhh to Shite

For all those who have never been to Japan, you're probably confused with the title of this letter. You might even be wondering how to pronounce it. I'll explain in a bit. 

So a lot of this week consisted of meetings..like a ton. District meetings, a stake presidency meeting, MLC, and a conference with Elder Yamashita from the 70. Some weren't close either.  We had a lot of train rides too. I've probably used about 50 bucks on just trains. Crazy. 

On our calendar, SPM was supposed to happen at 1PM. We get there and wait a while but no one shows up. After calling the other zone leaders, we found out it was changed to 8PM. So we got wrecked. We went to Kamakura for district meeting and returned later that night. It was pretty cool to participate in the stake presidency meeting; we talked about some upcoming stake events and 英会話. 

MLC with Elder Yamashita was a blast. At some point, I was asked to read something and after I finished reading, Elder Yamashita stared at me for a bit and said "Wow, what a great voice you have! You should do radio!" So I guess my career is decided haha. He's a man of wisdom as well as jokes. I'm honored to have him in the area presidency. 

Most of our finding time was on the train, but we had some stellar street contacts as well. There were some times where I felt a bit scared to approach someone, but it was totally worth it. We found 6 potential investigators within the last few days! I also did some housing with one of the deacons in the ward. We didn't find anyone but his courage and desire to do the Lord's work was inspiring! He even shared his testimony about the work!

So in Japanese, they have a lot of onomatopoeias. If someone is fluent in Japanese, they are pera-pera. If you are a new missionary, your trainer might tell you not to "Pahhh to shite" as you teach someone on the street, which basically means, don't go ham. Another common one is "gaaahhh to shite" or "guuuu to shite" which is more or less the same thing. Pretty interesting language. 

This week is gonna be scorching hot. Woohoo. Time to pahhh to suru! Have a great week!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

Had some Hawaiian burgers after Kamakura district meeting!

Ice cream after park cleaning!

Conference with Elder Yamashita!

Miracles out the Wazoo!

This week was full of miracles! It's gonna be in a list format, but I hope you get the sense of it.

1. We met with a guy named 智彦 after P-day. He received a flyer a year ago but decided to meet that day. We had a member randomly join in to 同席 and we had a great lesson on prayer. We also met the next day at that member's house, had dinner together, and taught most of the Restoration. 智彦さん is progressing little by little! 

2. While we were at MLC, we got a text from Kokiさん, saying he wanted to meet and start the lessons over. He hadn't had contact with missionaries for a while, so it was pretty cool for him to do it on his own. We met and went over the Restoration again; he has a pretty solid understanding. I actually taught him last year when I had splits with the zone leaders at the time, so we had a connection already. We were able to set a baptismal date for next March. It's far away, but that's what he is comfortable with right now. 

3. I went on splits with 川崎長老 this week. We have served together for almost 2 years but I've never had a chance to actually work with him. Although it was raining, we had some great contacts on the street and a pretty fun time sharing messages about family history as we housed. 

4. We had our second lesson with 佐藤さん. We previously had him read the Restoration pamphlet and he read it all and came to the lesson with some questions! One of them being "Why does God have requirements for us?" I hadn't thought about that a lot either so we had a good conversation about it. We told him the time for church and he said that he'd be glad to come(And he is coming)! A very humble guy who really seems to want to know God. 

Those were just the major ones! Aside from that, I traveled to Kamakura and Hodogaya for district meetings. Pretty 懐かしい being back there. We've got a full schedule this week, especially meetings. I'm flat out exhausted. But it's all good! Anyway, have fun everyone!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

Last week as Costco!

We had dinner with the 貝森家!

Good O’l Yamato

Well, due to Costco, rain, and haircuts, I got gimped on time this week. Elder Jaeckel and I have been going hard in the paint these last days and it's been super satisfying. 

We have a few people we are meeting with and they have some potential. I think we can have a baptism at the end of the transfer!

To all the fathers, Happy Father's day! 

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

Like a Good Neighbor! Transfer 14!

We've been taking advantage of our new apartment by doing some neighborhood cleanup and making friends with our neighbors. One of our neighbors gave us some loquats from his tree and we gave some cookies to some others. Just spreading some love! I got a taste of what member missionary work is. I'm excited for it!

Speaking of member missionary work, we had カレーの夕べ at bishop's house again. We invited 中川さん, the guy we met on the street about 3 weeks ago that took us a restaurant. He's super funny and the members loved him. He was able to learn and experience what members are like in this church. It was a great opportunity and it looks like this is just the beginning! 

Yesterday during elder's quorum, a brother got some heat from another brother. We felt bad for him so we decided to bring him some brownies that night. When we went, he was asleep, but his wife was very thankful. We later got a message of thanks from him. 

Something I realized is that it's about the small things that we do in our everyday life to help other's feel God's love. Not only do we become more like Christ, but we help others as well. There's nothing better than showing love to others!

Well, we got transfer announcements today...I'm going to Yamato and my companion will be Elder Jaeckel! I'm super sad to leave Machida; I love everyone in the ward so much! Gonna be a bit weird cause I'll be visiting Kamakura and Hodogaya, both of my previous areas, each week.  I'm sure there's adventures waiting for me over there! 

Anyway, remember to show some love this week to everyone! Until next week!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

#RaiseTheBah

One of the biggest sports night in Machida!

Machida 1 district!

My last カレーの夕べ

カレーの夕べ！

I love these people so much!