Pikachu Party!

What's good! 

We've been doing a lot of finding recently cause the people we've been teaching are disappearing off the face of the earth. A lot of people just stopped contacting us. One of our investigators, こうき is moving back to his hometown so he came to church one last time. Feiさん is off to Okinawa for a week or so. 

I got to go on splits with Elder Nielson. We were in the MTC together for a little while, so it was quite the opportunity. We met a guy while housing that was way down to talk. He knew missionaries already cause they always say hi to him while he's going to work. Greetings go a long way folks. 

We went to Yokohama today and it was just packed with people. There is a Pikachu parade going on throughout the city. People dressed in pikachu costumes were walking down the street. I'm pretty sure there was at least a half million people out there today. 

Gotta catch 'em all!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

wanchai.chab@myldsmail.net

#RaiseTheBah

Walked down to the beach on splits and talked to a few people there! Pretty nice

Dinner with the Silvas

We got free Pikachu hats!

I’m So Fancy.. You Already Know

I'm officially out of interesting titles... I hope you know where this one is from. 

We finished closing the Zama apartment this week and then had dinner with the 関根家. 

Fei兄弟 is doing great! We began teaching him the Plan of Salvation and he made some amazing connections. He also expressed that he ever since he's been taking lessons, he wants to improve his life more. Its amazing to see the power of God work through others. Now we just have to get him to church!

There was an open base summer festival at Zama camp this weekend. We did some 伝道 around the base, especially passing out fliers. We talked to a good amount of people.  

And on Sunday night, there was a smaller festival near the church. We talked to a few families there and enjoyed some culture. Our mission president's counselor played the taiko drum pretty hard haha. 

Today we went to Enoshima, an island off the coast. We had some nice Hawaiian burgers at Kua' Aina and then toured the island. It's been nearly two years since I've been there so we did some photo recreations. Lot of walking though and I'm ready to crash. 

Something I was able to re-learn this week is that God knows each one of us. He knows our joys, our sadness. Just like a parent cares for each child and wants them to succeed, Heavenly Father loves all of us and desires our happiness. He knows what will bring us true joy in this life and the one to come. All we have to do is pray, choose to follow Him, and act righteously :) Never forget that! Love you all!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

wanchai.chab@myldsmail.net

#RaiseTheBah

The District

After park service ice cream!

Zama camp..looks like America!

Summer Night Festival?

So I've been in the Fujisawa stake more than half of my mission. Sometimes I wonder why. And the best reason that I can think of is the fact that I know Spanish. I ran into a guy on the street one night and he said he was from Peru. Then I asked him in Spanish if he spoke Spanish and BAM! He went ham! I hadn't spoken in a while so I was a bit rusty but that's when the gift of tongues kicked in and we were able to have a decent conversation! 

We had zone conference and helped out clear an apartment this week. Pretty tiring physically and spiritually haha. We did some more Rubik's cube 伝道 and it turned out real well. Also, a typhoon passed by and the whole mission ended up having to stay inside the rest of the day. The rain didn't hit us too hard but the wind was pretty solid. 

Sunday night was an adventure! The advantages of having a Polynesian companion is that they are huge and people recognize them. One guy we talked to loved rugby and told my companion that he's got a great body for it haha. 

Shortly after, I met a young guy who was carrying an instrument. I took a closer look and it had a DCI (Drum Corps International) logo on it. For those that don't know, it's basically like the NBA of marching band. Anyway, I ran over to him and talked to him; we connected instantly after I showed him a picture of when I marched back in 2015. It was way cool experience cause people that even know DCI are rare in Japan. I was just glad that I could use some pre-misison stuff to introduce the gospel to someone! 

On the way home, we biked passed a summer festival. We heard some drumming and went to check it out. Many people were doing "bon odori" which is a traditional Japanese dance. It was quite the experience! I love the culture!

Have a fantastic week!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

wanchai.chab@myldsmail.net

#RaiseTheBah

We had some shaved ice during ward FHE!

Zone conference!

Me, my companion, and the zone leaders!

Surprises!

Sushi run!

My DCI brother! He wants to join SCV!

Some festival drummers!

Like Father, Like Son

頼もう！

I take back what I said last week about being exhausted. I really experienced it this week! 

Before transfers, we cleaned our apartment, had a few district meetings, SPM, 英会話 and a few lessons. A lot of members from one of my previous areas, Hodogaya, were at SPM. I was super glad to see them. In one of the lessons, we met with 英一郎さん. He's a  new investigator with a lot of potential. He agreed to be baptized on August 26 when he knows this is true :) 

Transfer day came and I went to the 本部 to go pick up my new missionary. It was announced that I'd be training Elder Ormond, from New Zealand. We were both pretty excited. He's a big dude with a big heart. Over the last few days, we've been working hard and he's got a lot of enthusiasm for the work. After getting home the first day, we had a lesson with Feiさん, which was in English/Japanese/Chinese. Quite the day. I took him to go buy his bike the other day as well. All of it reminds me of when I first got to the field, pretty 懐かしい!

One night during all of this, I sat down and just thought about all the work I haven't done yet. I had things to organize for the district and ward while training Elder Ormond. I was feeling pretty stressed and didn't know if I could handle all of this. But after taking a step back, I realized that just with all callings and assignments, God knows how much we can handle and what will help us grow. I'm not a perfect missionary nor person, but with God's help, I can do all things. 

With that peace, everything's just been a breeze. I've received a lot of guidance for the district and I'm excited to apply it! We have a lot to do this transfer and many of them will be new to my companion, but that's the fun of it! 

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

wanchai.chab@myldsmail.net

#RaiseTheBah

Last district picture before the transfer!

Elder Ormond and I!

Bike shopping!

La Fiesta! Transfer 15!

Lot of adventures this week! 

I went on splits with Elder Bird on Thursday and Elder Palmer on Friday. Elder Bird and I tried something new. We filmed us teaching about prophets and sent the video to 智彦さん, who has been quite hard to meet recently. Technology has helped our 伝道 so much! Also, as we were walking home from the station, it started to rain cats and dogs! There wasn't a cloud in the sky before that, so we weren't ready. We ran in the rain and made it home, completely drenched. We had district dinner later on at Sukiya, where I got a king size of gyudon. It was a lot of food but I finished it. T'was quite the experience. 

Later that night, we taught Feiさん over LINE video chat. 高村兄弟 from 保土ヶ谷 helped us out with the Chinese. Feiさん is making a lot of connections with what we've taught. We are hoping to set a baptismal date with him for August 25th! 

Elder Palmer and I had a wild time out in the blazing hot sun. We talked to a lot of people and had some Indo curry. Although we've known each other our entire mission, we never served together until now. And unfortunately, he's finishing his mission this week. Lot of dying missionaries, but I'm not trunky one bit haha. 

We had a fiesta on Saturday! About 350 people came! The decorations and costumes were fantastic! Lot of work was put in to make it happen, and it was a great turn out. I got to do a dance from Argentina and speak some spanish to people that came. What a great day to be a missionary in Japan!!

Transfer calls came and I'll be staying in Yamato! My new companion will be a brand new missionary and I will be a district leader! Quite the combination. A lot of missionaries are going home this week and our mission is shrinking. Zones will now consist of entire stakes instead of being split in half. I'm entering my last 12 weeks and my new companion will begin his first 12. Going to be fun! 

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老

wanchai.chab@myldsmail.net

#RaiseTheBah

Technology makes lessons possible wherever people are!

Fiesta with two of our investigators!

Base bowling!

Bowling on Atsugi base!