Sunday, April 19, 2015

Miracles with a broken bike, walking home from Presidents Interviews, and Boy Scouts!

こんにちは!

この週は地震がありません。

月曜日
We woke up and went to the church to play ping pong, it was a great
way to start the day. We then studied, after studies we got a call
from the zone leaders. They asked me if I am an Eagle Scout, then they
asked if I was available on Saturday. Not knowing what was in store I
said sure, they then said that me and Elder Hilton, who is in my
district, are going to help out in the world jamboree in Japan this
year! We will be teaching English as the equivalent of the
communications merit badge to scouts as well as going with them to a
camp later on! We then went to Mashikos apartment for a lesson. He
invented a computer when he was working as an engineer in The US! He
showed us the brochures of it. It was pretty impressive for the 1980s,
it even had a netbook version of the computer. We ate a small lunch
with them and got to know them better. It was a good lesson. We then
went to mcdonalds to meet up with Ida, he is doing great and we were
able to teach him the plan of salvation and set up another return
appointment at the church on Wednesday! We then got on a train and
went to Costco, we bought all kinds of good food that'll last us
forever at this rate. My companion had never been before so it was a
fun experience for him. We then walked to the train station in the
rain. Since my companion couldn't lift the bags I got to carry them,
it was a good workout! Who knew they sold 2.2 kilos of toaster waffles
at Costco! They don't have peanut butter anymore though, that is kind
of sad. We were able to make it home fine, we then went to Giomes and
bought more futsu (normal) groceries, then back home. We were both
soaked by this point. Then we went shopping at treasure factory, where
my companion got a white shirt, I looked at suits but none of them fit
my shoulders. Then to GU where I bought a pair of pants, I wish they
had them in America. Then to the bookstore where my companion bought a
new language book. The store had a ton of books! They had three isles
of books just for Japanese speakers learning English. I found English
to Japanese books as well, but that only covered about 4 selves! We
then went to the church and emailed, but it was cut short by time. So
we came home and finished, planned and went to bed.

火曜日
We woke up studied then went to a lesson with Fujino and Tajima
Kyodai! It was a great lesson! I was not only able to follow along and
teach but also understand. It was a cool moment in time. We then
housed in the rain. There was a beautiful skyline so all the rejection
wasn't so bad. We then walked home in the rain. I found some neat
flowers on the side of the road and took some pictures. We had a small
dinner then my companion slept the rest of dinner and I wrote my
weekly letter to president. We then went to the church and contacted
people. It was a rough day everyone we talked to said they were busy
or to delete us from their phone books. We then went to go visit a
less active, only I got lost. We stopped at a seven eleven to pick up
some wifi for the map. When we walked a outside a man walked toward us
then asked if I was President Kennedy. Uh no? He then insisted that I
was. He was a little drunk which makes everything sense. It was pretty
funny being confused as a president though. It took us an hour to get
there. We knocked on his door, but he told us he was busy ironing his
shirts so we couldn't talk. I felt like we needed to go all the way
out there for something so we housed around and planted some seeds.
Good thing it was raining seeds like rain. We then got a call from the
zone leaders asking if I'd bear my testimony at the end of zone
meeting on Thursday. On our way home in the rain my companion crashed
his bike into a bike that was leaning against a wall. I'm not entirely
sure how he managed to do it but he is okay and that is what matters.
We got home late, but we are safe. We then planned and I ironed all
the shirts and ate some chips and salsa, Thank you Costco! A great
ending to a rough day.

水曜日
We woke up and had studies, during companionship study we looked up
where we went last night on the map in the apartment and found out
that we left the area last night on accident, the person doesn't live
in our area, so we will be moving him to the Fuchu Ward. We then had
Nabe for lunch, we made so much that we couldn't eat it all! We then
biked to Minamiosawa...or so we planned. On the last hill right next
to the Eki my companions bike burst! The transmission or gear selector
snapped. It is most likely a result of last nights crash. Since it
jammed the tire and my companion was unable to lift the bike for long
periods I put it on my shoulder and carried it to the bike shop a
kilometer away. It wasn't too bad, he has a light road bike. He payed
to fix his and I got new brake pads put on as well. We then received a
call from someone neither of us had ever heard of! He wanted to meet
us! We already had a lesson planned but he was sick and the bike was
broken so it worked out perfectly, imagine that. We met him at the
same McDonald's I have gone to more times in one week than I have my
entire life. We had an English lesson, then set up a return
appointment to meet at the church on Tuesday. We then picked up the
bike and ride home and ate dinner, or more nabe. We then got a call
from the district leader asking us to send our area name and names to
the assistants. They were testing the response time in case of an
emergency. We were told President Wada woke up this morning and felt
the need that it needed to be checked. We then had Eaikiwa, it was
fun! I taught beginners for the first time. It is hard but great
language practice! We then played a game and came home! Awesome ending
to the day.

木曜日
We arose and went to zone meeting in Machida! It was a great meeting,
we had trainings on all kinds of things. It is funny to think this
mission is turning into an almost American mission in the methods of
dendo. President Wada believes it will bring much success, and it is!
I was invited to bear the closing testimony of the meeting, that was a
neat opportunity! We then came home on the train, ate a snack and went
into weekly planning. My companion found out that he needs to go to
Hachioji next week so he spent most of our time figuring out a
missionary he wanted to go on splits with. I called the zone leaders
and let them figure it out. We then were told I will be going on
splits to Takao twice next week with Elder Young! We then ate dinner,
and I had the feeling the night before that we needed to do something
related to golf. I had no idea, but as we were looking through former
investigators I found one that lived near a golf course! We biked
there, and they told us no. Kind of disappointing, but we continued to
knock doors. Then the thought came, visit a less active, we had
planned to do that with our time however the one we wanted to visit
was on the other side of the area. We pulled out the list and wouldn't
you know there was one right there. We had to use the phone to get
there, but it didn't work...in fact it took us to the wrong Chome, or
subdivision. Since we were low on time we had to go back, but it was
nice to feel led even if it didn't work out as planned.

金曜日
We woke up early and Elder Clark and I went for a run! It was a great
way to begin our day. We did radio taiso which I haven't done since my
first day in Japan! After that ended a woman came up to us and asked
if we spoke Japanese. We then responded in Japanese, and she was so
surprised that she gave us candy because she felt embarrassed. It was
pretty funny. We then came home and got ready and Elder Aoki and I
went to Machida for Presidents Interviews. When we got there sister
Wada had a million questions about baking, so we talked about baking
for quite a while. Then I had my interview with president. It was
awesome! By far my favorite interview. I learned a lot about how I can
help our investigators more. After interviews, I decided we should
walk from Machida to Tama. It was a journey! It took two and a half
hours to walk home. My poor companion was pretty tired after so he
went to sleep during lunch. I made some banana bread for district
meeting in the meantime. After that was done we went to district
meeting and had a good time discussing all the investigators. After we
came back to our apartment and saw that at the complex there was a
giant cabinet outside that was ready to be picked up as trash! We
wanted it of course so we carried it into our apartment, poor Elder
Aoki was smashed in the elevator so I could squeeze in, but we made
it. We have a ton of room in our apartment now. After dinner we went
on a district blitz to a members house. It was awesome! We wearing
able to find anyone but it was still a good experience. After coming
home elder Hikton and I went on splits for the next day. We ended up
staying late talking. It was nice to be able to talk in English at
night.

土曜日
Elder Hilton and I awoke to Elder Aoki coming in the apartment at 6
grabbing clothes. Elder Clark was with him and asked if I wanted to go
for a walk. So we went on a walk for a half an hour. It was a great
way to wake up. We then got ready and elder Hilton and I went to the
church to prepare for the baptism of their investigator. Only when we
were filling up the font the gas had shut off from someone hitting it
with their car, so our dendo shunnin called around and was able to fix
it! Then during the baptism there was trouble performing the ordinance
so our dendo shunnin got in and performed it, he said he had the
impression to bring an extra set of clothes! After the baptism we came
home, ate, and went to Machida! We had scouts! It was awesome, we
taught English. One neat difference is instead of saluting the flag or
doing the pledge of allegiance we bow in the direction of the flag,
and sing a song. The students I was with were pretty fluent, or could
get by so we just helped them along. We asked them what ages they
thought we were. I got 30 and elder Hilton got 27, we are both 18!
After Elder Hilton and I did a training from Salt Lake City. We the
went to an amazing ramen shop in Machida! It was huge, and delicious!
I enjoyed it a lot! We then came home and split back.

日曜日
We awoke and got ready, we then went to Fujinos to pick him up for
church. Church was great. I was amazed at how much more I was able to
pick up. I feel I am at the point where I can listen and not know
everything but follow along pretty closely, I am getting better at
ready Japanese too! After church we had a Shokogi or dinner party! It
was delicious, I enjoyed socializing with the members. We then came
home and planned for the week and finished planning. After we ate a
quick dinner and I took a small nap. We then went to the church to
look up a less active. We made a plan to visit a bunch however someone
called us, which caused us to cancel that and dendo in the area
instead. We went housing nearby and found a few prepared people. One
man even asked us to come back! It was a good ending to our day!

がんばってください‼️

愛しています!

ダン長老
Elder Dunn


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