ZOORASIA

皆さんこんにちは!

I'm extremely low on time today because our zone went to a zoo called "Zoorasia". It was way cool! There was this animal called an "Okapi". It had the legs of a zebra but looked liked a short giraffe. Pretty interesting. We didn't get to see all of the exhibits because of time but we'll be going back in a couple weeks with an investigator. 

The Hodogaya area is just crazy! We have about 10 investigators and they are all progressing! One has a baptismal date in October! I wish I could explain more, but I'm really out of time. But they are all amazing people and they really want to learn more about the gospel! We have at least an appointment per day, sometimes 2-3. We barely have time to study! 

Next week will be our last temple P-day, so I'll catch you all on Tuesday! また来週ね!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 

愛しています(^-^)

We went to a festival with Sasakiさん! Unfortunately we got there right as it was ending so we didn't get to do the dance. Still way cool!

Hodogaya goes to the zoo!

Fujisawa East zone!

Our zone leaders! (We have 3 right now)

Polar bear!

Okapi!

MERRY CHRISTMAS IN JULY! TRANSFER 7

Feliz navidad mis amigos!

It's the 24/25th of the month again soooo it's Christmas time! We celebrated it as a zone today! We went to the Fujisawa stake center, exchanged gifts, opened transfer calls, watched "Mr.Kreuger's Christmas", and played dodgeball. I got some nice shades, too bad I can't use them on the mission. But it's all good because I love Christmas!

We met with our new 英会話 students, Hokutoさん and Shimizuさん, on Friday. They went to eat ramen with us for dinner, which was way good. After that, Shimizuさん had to leave but we went with Hokutoさん back to the church for a lesson. He is studying English so he can take a test and go to Australia for college. So we helped him with his speaking ability, he is pretty good! He isn't super interested in the gospel right now so we taught simply about God and prayer. He said the closing prayer at the end too! He said he can probably meet again in August. He's not super prepared to receive the gospel but that's okay. I think with him, we will have to be patient, especially because he is focused so much on learning English. 

We got to do some service on Saturday! We helped Abe姉妹 weed the church garden and plant new flowers. 石井兄弟 came to help too! It was super hot, but way fun! It reminded me of when I did yard work with my dad! 

Ever since I got to Atsugi, we've done a few 食べ放題(tabehoudai-buffet). Shabushabu and cake. After gardening,  石井兄弟 told us about a 食べ放題 at Mister Donuts. Us being 外人s, we gladly accepted the challenge. You would think we learned our lesson after doing it twice but nope! We could eat as many donuts as we wanted for one hour. We had to eat about 10 donuts to get our money's worth...I stopped at 6😁 I don't eat too much sugary things and that was no exception! But it was worth the experience! I then went on a 突然交換(totsuzen koukan- sudden splits)with Gilbert長老 and taught the TOEIC class again. 

So 横山さん has been feeling a lot of pain recently due to his medical condition. He wasn't able to make it to church this week. But we did stop by his house after church, with 種岡兄弟, the ward mission leader. He said he was feeling a lot of stress recently. Him and 種岡兄弟 talked things through; we couldn't understand too much but we were able to testify! We reviewed repentance and then we gave him a priesthood blessing. We didn't get to go over what we planned, but I think he needed what 種岡兄弟 had to say. 

I'm being transferred! My new area is Hodogaya and I will be with Elder Bateman. He was the tech staff a couple transfers ago, so that'll be fun! Kinda odd because I just got to Atsugi last transfer; this is the third time I've done a "one and done" transfer. I guess that means that I am needed somewhere else! I will go and do whatever the Lord requires! I am now on my 7th transfer, 7th companion, and 5th area! Not normal for most missionaries but hey, I knew a mission wasn't going to be a "normal" experience. I love it! また来週!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 

愛しています(^-^)

Our 英会話 board this week! I tried to draw the guy from the McDonald's manga! 

Temple picture from last week! 

食べ放題 at Mister Donut!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

Merry Christmas in July!

Gilbert長老 and I are on splits for the rest of the night..We got a small dinner and Monsters! Yay!

STEAK AND CAKE

皆さんこんにちは!

Wow it's been a crazy week! I went to the temple today as well! As we were about to get home, my companion realized he forgot his iPad at the temple so we are currently on a train back to the temple! Another hour and a half :) 

We had interviews with President Warnick this week. I've honestly been having a rough time recently due the lack of success and sorting things out with my companion. He gave me some advice and assured me that everything will be okay. A mission is definitely not easy but I love it. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything else!

So we had a lot of crazy meals this week. After interviews, we celebrated Black姉妹's birthday at "Sweet's Paradise". It's a dessert buffet! You can eat as much cake, Hägen-daaz(I have no idea how to spell it) ice cream, and curry as you'd like for an hour! Now me being not much of a sweets eater, this was quite the stretch. I ate more cake than I've ever eaten at birthday parties within the last 3 years! We didn't even eat for the whole hour; we stopped around 40 minutes or so. 

On Thursday, I went on splits with Gilbert長老. We met with Salem, a potential investigator. We met at this place called "Hungry Tiger". We had no idea that he invited friends, one who was really buff! Like almost as buff as Dwayne Johnson! It was crazy! They all speak English almost perfectly. They recommended we try the steak set...it wasn't cheap but hey, it's been a while since we had a nice steak so we got it. It was definitely worth it! But would I do again? Most likely not! We talked a lot about what we do as missionaries; they said they really like what we do. That's about as far as we got for now, especially cause our original plans got wrecked; we didn't anticipate 4 other people being there. Woops :p 

Our investigator, 横山さん, came to church on Sunday!!! It hasn't come since I arrived in Atsugi so it's been a while. We were able to teach him after church about the commandments! 

Also, we were at church for about 6 hours on Sunday! We had the usual DCS meeting in the morning, regular church, a lesson with Yokoyamaさん, and then we had the Spanish sacrament meeting after! It's been about two years since I took Spanish but I still understood about 60%! It was great! Perhaps I can perfect my Spanish while learning Japanese!

So that was pretty much my week. Transfer calls will now be the Monday of transfer week instead of the Saturday before. That means next Monday, the 24th, we get transfer calls already!

It's been a year since I opened my mission call. Never would I have imagined what would happen in the next year. The mission life is just wonderful. また来週!

-Elder Chab

チャブ長老 

愛しています(^-^)

SWEETS PARADISE!!

I made a Facebook post earlier his week. Gaining a testimony doesn't happen overnight, so don't give up!

Our new student at 英会話! He's a stuntman!

The glorious steak and hambagu!

The conveyor belt sushi restaurant! Forgot this picture from a couple weeks back:p