Friday, July 31, 2015

This is about 15 American dollars....yeah...





Inside of the ramen shop.





Welcome to Shibuya...love the view?





A neat little car we found.





Ducks!





I don't understand the strange poses with the troopers...





Crazy amount of cars at the church parking lot.





Old friends at FHE, Lunch with President Wada, and a lot of fixing.

Hello everyone!

So I will apologize for how short it is this week. I didn't have
enough time most nights to write so I had to make up for them really
quickly.

土曜日
Oh yeah... Preparation day! We studied, bought groceries, then wrote
personal emails. Then I was able to do my favorite thing...nap! It
felt great! Then we got dressed and went to Loft! I love the layout of
loft it is like an ikea only up. The interior designers did a great
job. They had a massive Star Wars exhibit too! Then we came back and
worked on uhh various problems.

日曜日
We began our day by going to church for DCS, it was good. Then we had
Sacrament meeting, the young women had a report to u ka...I am not
sure of the word in English anymore. The rest of church was great.
Then elder Moua and I left after lunch to go to Shomas to dendo around
the area. We found a giant park and were able to talk to some great
people. I enjoyed it a lot. It felt good to be out of the office. Then
after dinner we spent the rest of the night planning. Planning with 4
people is exhausting.

月曜日
We awoke and went for our normal run. But then we played a prank on
Elder Naganuma, whose birthday it was. We jumped him in the office and
threw him up in the air and sang. Then we worked had our various
activities to work on after studies. I didn't have a whole lot of work
so I just found ways to help everyone else. Around dinner time I
wasn't feeling very good so I payed down for an hour then went
upstairs for FHE! Sister Yamauchi found me and gave me bread! I love
Sister Yamauchi, it was so great to see her again! We had a great
lesson about the importance of families. The lesson great. I enjoyed
helping in the kitchen setting things up. Then we went finished our
day by planning.

火曜日
Seller Moua and I woke up got ready and went to Shinjuku. At Shinjuku
we ran into Sister Devey and Sister Hapipour who are the sisters in
Tama. They were on their way to the temple, that was fun to talk about
one of my old areas. We then went to the dentist, and I crashed and
took a nap. Afterwards we went back and ate ramen at a shop, the
noodles were a little fishy, but overall it was good. We then went
back to the office, we didn't have a whole lot to work on so we were
just sitting around. Then Elder Adamson asked if I could help him, not
really having much I said sure. So for the next few hours I worked on
the budget for the mission for the next fiscal year. Since Elder
Adamson wouldn't be there I was asked to report on it with President.
We then had to leave quickly for a lesson with a less active. At
Shomas house our plan was to just hang out and let him direct the
conversation. He is a male model which is pretty cool, and knows a lot
of famous people, or has worked with them. The conversation went into
marriage, and was really good, then we invited him to pray at the end,
and he did! It was great! When we got him I spent most of my time with
President going over the budget and learning from him. For someone
that isn't really ever done it before it was interesting to work with.
At the end president and I were talking about grilling, which made him
pretty hungry! It was good spending time with him.

水曜日
Elder Bates and I went on a great run in the morning, then for
breakfast I broke out the Nato, that was delicious. I had it my first
week in Japan and it was awful then, but this time it was different. I
actually enjoyed it, that was weird. Then we had staff meeting, and
President Wada invited us all out to lunch! In fact he said for all
the hard work that we have done this past month he wanted to grill. We
had a great meeting, and we're able to cover much of the material
needed. After we that we worked on a few projects as resident went to
Seiyu and bought the supplies. Then we went upstairs and began
cooking. We made a great stir fry then Elder Blanchard and Elder
Naganuma grilled the steaks and brats! It was a blast. Eating with
President was a lot of fun. After that we had our interviews, I was
first. It was a great interview, we had a great interview. It was
weird having an interview when you see him so often. I enjoyed the
wisdom I was able to observe. Then we went back to work, I spent a
whole working on the budget again and then worked on updating the Mac
new the new OSx which was a trip. But we got it finished. After that
we went to Seiyu to buy washing machine soap, then came back, ate a
small dinner. We then went to Ekaiwa, which is a blast. This week we
decided to have our class debate, making a people who are so
harmonious in their thinking debate, is hilarious! I took some videos
which were hilarious. We then played a game and my friend from India
named Green, and I had a great time at the game.

木曜日
As an apartment we made it a rule that we would only set one alarm per
group waking up so we wouldn't have a million alarms going off. So we
let Elder Bates set the alarm. Well as you can imagine the alarm
didn't go off for whatever reason. So we woke up late...and I mean
late. So that was pretty upsetting. Not only were we up late but it
affected the rest of the day. Elder Berube created a program that uses
AJAX for a baptismal date PDF that we have, (it allows for live
editing in the website). So I worked on formatting it to work with
other parts of the website. We then planned to go out with Shoma but
he was busy so we asked if we could go tomorrow. So we went out to
ramen, it was pretty good. Then we went back to work on our projects.
By dinner time we weren't really hungry so we just ate something
small, then got ready for sports night. This week was the last week
because they will be doing a lot of work on the gym in the coming
weeks.

金曜日
We awoke and went on an exhaustive run, it killed pretty badly. Hip
hip hooray for humidity....not really. After we had studies, then
district meeting, it was really good, the assistants gave a great
training. We then went to shakeys as a district, which was a great
time. Afterwards we came back in and worked on different projects
ranging from iPad fixing procedures to coding more of the website.
Around 7 we got a call from Shoma asking us where we were going to
eat. So we met him at the church and walked around. Right now our
focus is figuring out his needs. He is a tough cookie. We then came
home and returned all the calls we received.

Well. Have a wonderful week!

Love you all!

Elder Dunn

Friday, July 24, 2015

Here is the zone after our zone blitz, so if we look all sweaty it is because we are.





Way to much Facebook usage, zone blitz, and problems with the portal.

My beloved family and friends,
愛する兄弟姉妹の皆さんへ

Well this week has flown by way to fast! Yeah, that is good enough for
a introduction...

土曜日
We awoke and played basketball as a district that was a fun break from
all the running that I have been doing! After that we got ready and
began studies. Our personal study was interrupted by President Wada
asking about Facebook. So we had to end studies there and begin
working so we could accomplish the task he assigned which turned into
us working until noon, cleaning our Facebook profiles. We then went
grocery shopping for the week. Then we came home and ate dinner. After
we emailed them took a nice long nap. That was refreshing. After Elder
Moua and I went to go find a sports store in the area, and we got
lost. I guess that is what happens when you don't go outside enough.
It was a good adventure though. We then worked on Facebook, and fixing
iPad issues around the mission. Then we planned, and cut hair.

日曜日
We awoke and lounged around for the first little bit then got ready,
and studied a little bit before church. At church a newly wed couple
came from Utah, only the husband had served his mission in Sapporo.
His wife didn't speak any Japanese so my companion translates for her.
During sacrament I spoke, I was asked to speak a while back, but I was
able to finally. It was good, each time is a little better than the
last time. With so many areas it is pretty easy to keep track of. The
rest of church was really good. Then we came home and ate lunch, then
worked on cleaning up Facebooks from 1-10:20pm. I kid you not, it was
awful. We have to look through every missionaries Facebook, and make
sure there is nothing bad on them. Around 3 we got a neat surprise.
Elder McCarty, well now Kinjo surprised everyone by coming back to
japan. He bought a plane ticket and spontaneously flew out! It was a
lot of fun talking to him. He spent most the day with us in the
office. Come to find out when he was younger he lived in the Piqua
Ward back at home and knew a lot of the members there! Small World!
After our exhaustive day we were talking before going to bed and Elder
Blanchard and I found out we have a mutual friend, Elder Birch, who
served back in my home ward a couple of years ago. Come to find out
they harvested potatoes together! Way crazy day!

月曜日
Someday a prepare you for others, yesterday was amazing but today was
exhausting! We woke up for a run, then studied. For lunch we had
biscuits and gravy, I didn't know I could make gravy until I tried, it
was amazing and delicious. Then we showed President Wada the big
project we have been working on. He gave us some advice on how he
wants to see the data. He also told us how he wants it. So we spent
the next few hours fixing things. We took a break and took a sister
missionaries bike to the bike shop to get her lock cut off and to get
a new one put on. It was so hot outside! Then we came back and worked
more on the project and my companion checked some Facebooks. It is
another exhaustive project. For dinner we were going to go to sushi
however it was really busy, so we went to spaghetti. It was a good
break. Then when we went to the bank on the way home we ran into a man
from Texas. He was really friendly then introduced himself as a former
missionary from our mission! Whoa! That was cool! We talked to him a
lot and took him back to the office, then we realized the phone was
left at the spaghetti place so we went there and grabbed it, came back
and continued. We finished, however we had problems with the printer
so we just showed President Wada on the Laptop. He was impressed! It
feels so good to hear a job well done, even though it isn't entirely
finished yet.

火曜日
We woke up and got ready really quick then got on the train to go to
the dentist. It was an exhaustive trip. I still hate getting smashed
into a train, some people just get way to close. After the dentist
experience the way home was much better. Then we studied for a little
bit, and went to Shakey's for lunch with the Assistants, that was fun.
We then came home did a little work then went to the church so we
could have a zone blitz. The first spilt was with Elder Otsuka, it was
a really good split, I enjoyed being around him. He was in my first
area when I couldn't speak Japanese at all, not saying anything has
changed, but I was able to communicate for sure! After I was with
Elder Fenton, I am usually a calm person but when someone starts
talking really bad about one of my old areas, and some investigators.
That just fires me up. You bet your last dollar I let him know. I
don't care where you are from, just because you didn't like an area
doesn't mean you need to talk bad about it. I felt a strong need to
perform service to get my mind off of things. One of the sisters in
our districts bike was tire was completely shot, and the way I saw it,
if my sister serves a mission and her bike is broken I hope there
would be another missionary or someone willing to fix it for her. So
we grabbed the bike and downy Debbie and went to the shop. It is hard
to dendo when you can't feel the spirit. So service was the next
option. After the bike was fixed we went to the church to split again,
this time I was with Elder Murata, who loves to dendo. It was a great
split, we got a lot done. Then we split back, took pictures and drank
tons of water! We were all soaked in sweat! After that we went to the
office and worked til the end of the night, on projects and Facebook.
It was exhausting. Talk about a long day...looking back I don't hate
the missionary I was with, I just don't like the things he said, and
the negative attitude toward life and everyone in general.

水曜日
Elder Bates and I went for a good run in the morning. Then we had
personal study, after that we had staff meeting. It was really good,
they are one of my favorite meetings of the week, president is the
most relaxed during that meeting. Then Sister Wada was having trouble
with her iPhone so we worked on fixing that for her. Afterwards we
went out to lunch with the assistants again, to the same place...for
some reason we have all been craving pizza recently. After that we
came back to the office and worked, which consisted of various things
such as fixing the portal, calling missionaries, and working on
president Wadas big assignment. After that we went to Seiyu to get
lunch, I wasn't hungry so I didn't buy anything. Then we ran to
Eakaiwa. We played boggle with the students which was a lot of fun! I
think they enjoyed the new game! After we played a game as a big
group. It was a lot of fun. I'll tell you what, looking back on what I
wrote, it looks like I did nothing...sadly I can't say anything more
that has really happened...

木曜日
We awoke didn't go running, we were losers. Then we had studies. For
lunch we ate fried chicken and potato chips too, that we made! It was
fun. We then worked, and worked. We had to help people get on
Facebook. Then we found out that President Wada tried posting these
huge files to Facebook that are unable to be posted, in fact our
mission website can't even upload them..well the normal way at least.
So I FTPed into the website and posted it into a link and then linked
that to Facebook. It took forever. But we finished it. Then we had
district meeting, it has been really hard to get something out of
district meeting recently, but the spiritual thought was great, it was
given by Elder Adamson one of the senior missionaries. We then had
sushi as a district, that was a fun time. Then came back fixed a few
more bugs, and then went to sports night. It is nice to be out of the
office. Sometimes it feels like the office is a never ending trap,
especially as tech staff. Since we are a brand new assignment, as of
about a year or so. We are asked to do a lot. Thanks to one of the
missionaries we have in the mission our portal looks amazing, so we
are "maintaining it" as well as making improvements. Basketball and
volleyball were great. I gave the spiritual thought, and my brain was
retry shot from staring at a computer screen for more than I wanted
to. So it wasn't as clear as I would have liked. Afterwards we helped
set up for a wedding, that was fun. Then back to the office, President
and Sister Wada came home and locked themselves out! Thank goodness we
had a spare! We helped them carry in groceries, then we showed
president everything we did. He was surprised with all we were able to
do, then assigned us more...imagine that. It's okay he gave us a lot
of compliments, which made everything worth it.

金曜日
We woke up and went for a great run, our usual park outing. Then had
studies, halfway through language study I konked out, and it was hard.
Like I woke up with 15 minutes left of lunch. But I was refreshed.
Then I began the battle. We are created a file that has all of the
recent converts and less actives on it, but we needed to make it into
a PDF, so that turned into a big ol project. It took me 4 hours to
make one button, which was exhausting. So then we went out to dinner,
to McDonald's, just to hang out and relax. Then we came home and I
skyped Elder Berube and we figured out one of the PHP problems with
the portal, then I had to fix all of buttons, but I figured it out so
it wasn't too bad. Wow...I with I could have written more.

Well that was my fascinating week. Have a wonderful day! Make someone
smile, or just smile at someone. Sorry this was a little more
technical than usual.

Big hearts everyone!

Elder Dunn

Friday, July 17, 2015

Let's go down to the subway. This is after 4 other escalators.





This is the Closest thing to nature you can get here.





In this weeks Episode: Lots of Running, Splits to the Park, and President Wada and Batman in Shibuya.

Howdy my Family and Friends,
ホゥリ私との家族と友達へ

This week has been off the spinner busy, so if most days are super
short its because I had no time to write a more fuller entry. But on
the bright side it saves you all some time.


土曜日
After fixing a few bugs in the morning and getting the sisters ad
fixed, we studied, then cleaned. Then had the wonderful time of not
having to do office work. While cleaning I broke our paper shredder,
turns out that a stack of 30 papers don't shred very well. It could
have been because of false advertising, I don't know. We then went to
Seiyu and bought groceries. That was pretty normal. Seiyu is so close
that we drive the shopping carts home! I am sure that must be a
peculiar sight. We ate then wrote emails and lounged around for a
little bit. Then Elder Moua and I went out to explore Kichijoji. Here
is what we found, KFC, Clothes Shops, don quiote, a giant Uniclo
(seriously an amazing store), Oshimans, ramen shops, McDonalds, French
Bakeries, and a few other shops. Kichijoji has the highest residence
than in any other part of Tokyo, there are people everywhere. We then
came home and had to work on more problems (if you have noticed we fix
a lot), it shot our dendo time though which was a little upsetting.

日曜日
My companions asked if I would make breakfast in the morning so I made
cinnamon rolls! They were super delicious. The assistants delivered a
few to the Wadas and said it sure surprised him! We then went to the
church had DCS then ran back to email the mission about an acitvity,
then back to church for sacrament meeting, and the rest of church.
After we made lunch and the other two were in a meeting about dendo
with the bishop. So we just hung around and fixed more problems. After
that we had weekly planning, it was effective for the most part. Then
Elder Naganuma and I went out to Dendo! It was so much fun to go out
with him again. We found 2 families to teach, as well as were able to
invite a ton of people to church. In order to meet our nightly curfew
we were hauling it home, and I mean moving. We have the same road bike
so there was no waiting on the other. As this back and forth race was
happening a car began to creep up on us it speed up then cut me off
which caused me to slam on the brakes turning my bike almost
completely sideways! Talk about a guardian angel! With my heart
pounding we made it home in time.

月曜日
We awoke and Elder Bates and I went on a run! It was awfully humid
outside! We came back soaked in sweat. It was a great run. We then had
our wonderful studies and then for lunch Elder Bates and I got talking
and we wanted Pizza and the other Elders wanted ramen. So we spilt.
Elder Bates, Blanchard and I went to all you can eat Pizza and the
others had Raman. It was delicious. After we went back and worked. We
also were able to get Facebook back, so we hope to use that amazing
tool again. But to be honest, I am not sure if I want to use it again.
We then worked on a bunch of different projects. We grabbed diner then
we went out to de don't for a little bit before coming home to make
curfew.

火曜日
We woke up and Elder Moua and I went for a run, it was wonderful. We
then studied then the office exploded with work. After putting the
fires out we went to zone meeting and gave the same Facebook training
we gave at MLC. It was a a good training, then we got called out to go
fix more iPads, talk about being pulled apart. After we finished the
meeting we went on splits. Elder Blanchard and I went to go meet with
a Nepalese man in the park. The park is so beautiful (it is where we
go running in the morning)! We met a man named Mark from England. He
was such a solid man, he was just playing his guitar in the park.
After we gave him a Book of Mormon a man came up to us crying drunk.
Uh hello. He then asked if he could talk to us, sure came the reply
and we had a conversation. He invited himself to improve his life! It
was pretty exciting! We set a return appointment with him and went
back to the Honbu to split back. We then ran to Seiyu to buy some
supplies to make cinnamon rolls, then back to the apartment where I
taught my companion how to make them. We then delivered them to our
less active friend Shoma Kyodai. He is way cool, and a famous model,
he is in one of Taylor Swifts Music Videos, that was pretty neat. We
then biked home to make it on time.

水曜日
Elder Bates and I went Running again, it was pretty humid so we were
soaked by the time we got home. It was great, we had personal study,
and then Staff Meeting! It was hilarious! President Wada had a lot of
really funny comments. We discussed the broken iPads that we have to
which he pulled out his phone and called Tokyo and asked for the man
in charge and asked him what he wanted him to do. Then he told us that
we were going with him to Shibuya to the Apple Store to fix them that
day. After an eventful staff meeting Elder Bates and I were motioning
back and forth and decided we wanted pizza for lunch, so we convinced
Elder Moua and Elder Blanchard to come too. It was delicious, we then
went back to the Office and worked for a few hours on various
projects. Then we went with President Wada to Shibuya. On our way we
talked to a few people, it was a little strange dendoing with
President Wada, but he had a lot of words of encouragement and how we
can do better. At Shibuya we crossed the giant cross walk, it was so
legit! At the Apple Store President was fascinated with the new Apple
watch, and also had us look at cases. After the store president asked
us if we wanted to go to Taco Bell. It is the only one in Japan
besides the one on base. On our way we saw a man dressed up like
Batman in an American super car, I was looking at how tall all the
buildings were and thinking about structural integrity when president
Wada shouted, "hey batman" followed by some luaghter. To where I
turned and saw him! It was pretty cool in downtown Tokyo! It was so
weird going into an American taco place, it was really delicious too.
Then we split and president went to a lesson with some sisters and we
went back to prepare for Eakaiwa. Well it turns out that they needed
us to fix a bunch of things so we were busy running around the office
and fixing things then came late to Eakaiwa, but it was fun! We talked
about Holidays, you will like this mom. There is a holiday on your
birthday, November 15 called 3-5-7 day which is where they celebrate
when children turn those ages. We also found out that Japan is
creating a holiday for next year called yama no hi "山の日" which is
mountain day. They created it because there is no holiday August. It
was a very informative night!

木曜日
We awoke and went running in a typhoon! Talk about an adventure! We
were soaked! We then hurried and got dressed and went to an area near
Roppongi, which is out of our mission. Hate traveling in the morning!
So much! We were crammed in a train. It is so cramped, after that we
made it to the Dentist so my companion could have his root canal
looked at. During that time I drafted a email for missionaries in the
mission regarding their personal emails, as well as working with
another missionary fixing his app. Then we left and walked through a
giant Eki in Shinjuku, it is one of the biggest I have ever been in!
After getting home we worked more on different projects and helping
out different missions. Then went to district meeting, then more
projects. Then Elder Murakami and I went to teach a lesson. It was a
great lesson. The man spoke really difficult Japanese. We then had
sports night which was a fun time playing with the youth and people in
the area. After we called President Wada and had a talk about
Facebook. It was an exhaustive night.

金曜日
We went running again in the morning, this time it was just the
assistants and I. It was a "quick run" or exhaustive. Then president
called us asking for us to work on a draft email for the Facebook
rollout. Which took a while to write. The Assistants took the computer
I use to district meetings because it runs the fastest. So I was stuck
with these uber lame slow computers that someone thought it'd be a
great idea to put Linux on. Well now the computer is as fast as two
fat snails racing. So I spent time trying to figure out how to factory
reset the computer. It is a giant project so we will save that one til
we have a little more time. We then went to sushi for lunch. It was
yummy in my tummy. I'll tell you what even with all this running and
eating I am still losing weight, I guess I just had to wake up my
metabolism. We then came home and Elder Leach and I were on splits. We
were in the office answering a million calls about Facebook. I'll tell
you what, the more calls I get about it the less I want to use it.
Then Elder Murakami and I went to go dendo. We tried to visit a few
potential investigators however they weren't very receptive. We then
came home and had to buy some soap and a sponge because cleanliness is
a virtue. At Seiyu (Walmart) we were singing Christmas songs in this
duet pattern and getting our soap when Sister Wada turned the corner.
We kind of froze, then she laughed. She had been at interviews all day
and was buying some cleaning chemicals to take pictures of them for
other missionaries apartment. The Wadas are visiting everyone's
apartments this transfer for interviews. Today's was Tama, my old
area. Sister Wada said she had a present for me, not remembering what
was in my old area I asked what it was. It was my snowboard! I forgot
about that. She said, I have to dispose of it now. She didn't find it
as funny as president did. We then came home and ate lunch, wrote an
email. Then I cut Elder Leaches hair...zzzzzz.... Then we went to bed!

Well that is what we would call a week!

Big Hearts Everyone!

Elder Dunn



Friday, July 10, 2015

The Disney Store in Shibuya!






4th of July, a lot of Office Work, and Cooking!

Hello All, 

Well now you all get a little taste of what the Mission office is like! 

土曜日
We woke up, and had normal studies! Talk about a first! I found out that my companion is not only Elder Moua, but also Elder Naganuma, and Elder Murakami as well. So we had companionship Studies together, then began a busy P-day. We cleaned, then went to Seiyu (literally west people, or Walmart) it has all your wonderful Great Value products there. Since it was the fourth, we decided to splurge and buy steaks. We then took the shopping carts home, the parking lot for the store, is right next to the Honbu. We then grilled our steaks and had a mini party on president Wadas Deck. After that we emailed and took naps. We were all exhausted. Then we woke up and tried to buy me some new pants, we ran out of time, and had a million calls in the office to get back to so that ended up taking us to the end of the night. 

日曜日
We woke up got ready, fixed a few things on the computer, then went to DCS, it was good. I had some of those feelings like I am not doing anything that is helping missionary work, those feelings are never fun. Church was good, one of the sisters who went home was at church with her family. It was really funny listening to the translator for sacrament. It is neat to see after each transfer how much your Japanese improves little by little. The rest of church was really good, it was a great recharge. Then we weekly planned after church, because that is all we had time for, it is kind of sad but true. We ate dinner, then worked on fixing all of the many problems that had arisen along with many other assignments given. Then Elder Naganuma and I went out and housed a nearby area. It was fun to have a conversation with him that I could understand. It is night and day with him from our last day together until now. We then raced home grabbed sister Reeves bags, got in the van and began a journey to Nagano. It was a fun car trip. It was weird riding in the car with Elder Naganuma, we are so used to walking and riding bikes together. We ended up having to wait in the car for an hour to drop off the bags. We then got home and planned. 

月曜日
We woke up had personal study, then got ready and went to the eki to go to shibuya. If you have ever seen the giant crosswalks in Japan that is where they are. And yes, they are massive. We got lost looking for the Apple Store. We eventually made it then spent the following hour and a half talking to the tech guys about how we can get the broken iPads fixed, they wanted to charge a ton of money, figures. So we said we will think about it and left. We went to KFC for lunch, it was delicious...well to be honest it was pretty normal. Then we went to the office. There we split off, I worked on the Mac book, which, to be honest, hasn't been touched in about 8 months to a year, so I have kind of called it as my computer. It is a little weird to get used to but, it will probably be nicer in the long run. It actually fixed a big problem with power point, president Wada gave us a problem with video playback and asked if we would fix it. We did so many things it is hard to report on all of them. I wrote a proposal for the broken screen savers and lost chargers. We then finished after helping others, then went out and ate sushi. That was fun to unwind from the stress of the office. 

火曜日
We awoke and played volleyball in the gym as a big group. Then after personal study the office exploded with work and calls. Areabook in the mission is effectively down right now, so we are in correspondence with Salt lake trying to figure out what is wrong. Then president called us and gave us a giant project. We are going to make a projection from all the way back to the start of the mission. Then seeing if the graphs correlate, it is a lot of work. At night Elder Murakami and I went out to dendo and find a referral. The referral wasn't there, but we were able to talk to a man who had met the prime minister and has gone hiking with him! So that was cool! Then we came home and worked more in the office until it was time for bed. Some work just never ends. 

水曜日
We began our day then had personal study, then we had office meeting. It was a lot of fun to see the mission from a birds eye view. After the meeting president Wada was hungry so we went fish him and Sister Wada to a udon shop. We had to make a presentation for the mission leadership conference the next day about Facebook, as well as work on fixing other missionaries problems. We found out that one area has lost their area book so we have to call salt lake about that, we worked more on the project...I really would like to say we more, but to be honest my brain is so fried under all this work I can't remember what we did. At dinner time Elder Murakami and I taught a lesson to on of our investigators, Tetsura-San. We had a great lesson about the restoration, he is really moving forward at a great rate. After was eakaiwa, Elder Moua and I taught about poems! It was a fun class, we are really trying to push our students. When we got back to the office after, the assistants looked like they were in shock. A brand new missionary needed his passport, however he didn't have one so his dad picked him up and they went to a city office near where they are from to go get one. Well he got it, and the assistants tried to tell him to get on a certain train afterwards to get back to his area. Well what happened was he ran onto the wrong train. So the assistants lost him. We found him using iCloud, then called the elders in his area to go and get him. It was pretty intense for a little bit. There is an unwritten rule in the office that we don't bring office work into the apartment. Laughter really is the best medicine. 

木曜日
We awoke and set up for the mission leadership conference that day, then got ready. After breakfast elder Moua and I went back upstairs to find Sister Wada, and Sister Adamson (the office secretary) in shambles, sister Wada had a miscommunication with the helpers and now they weren't coming. Dum da da dum, Tech Staff to the rescue! We grabbed aprons and began chopping. It was awesome working in a full sized kitchen for once! We helped make Mexican food. Elder Moua and I were like kids in a candy store running around the kitchen. It felt so good to leave the phone downstairs (we forgot it) and the computer, and just serve. We then had lunch with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders. After that we had our Facebook training. It went really well, we were a little worried (okay more like a lot) about what president Wada would say, but he was pleased! Yoshi! We then went back to the computers and coded a little bit more then back upstairs to help sister Wada clean up and eat dinner with her and president! The we had sports night. We played basketball, the. Volleyball. Well Kaitlin knows I am awful at volleyball. So I told my companion, look this is my sisters sport. I just watch, to which he replied, not today, oh no. So he helped me figure things out a little more, now I have sore thumbs! 

金曜日
We awoke and played volleyball as a district. Then we had personal study, after that I went out to the office and talked with the Adamsons for a little bit. They are awesome. We sat and talked for a while. Then we fixed some problems. We were pretty hungry so we went to Seiyu for lunch and bought steaks, then made mashed potatoes. It was delicious. Then Elder Takahashi (the district leader) and I went on splits! It was great to get out of the office. We were able to talk to so,e really neat people. I had a really strong prompting to go and talk to a homeless man. It was probably my favorite contact I have ever had. I just sat with him and talked about love, and hope. I love how much you just get little whispering of what and when to share certain things with people. We then tried to find a less active, they wearing home so we kubaried. It was pretty fun. I met a woman who came right up to with her boyfriend and said, hey how's your mission going? "Uh great?" She then said she was from Salt Lake and wasn't a member but had a lot of support for us. So that was cool. She tried talking to Elder Takahashi however he doesn't speak much English. We then went back to the honbu and Elder Moua and I worked more on the big project the President has given us, as well as try to fix other problems throughout the mission. After we ate dinner and went to volleyball night! It was a blast, I am getting a lot better thanks to my companion! Afterwards the Assistants asked me to set up and iPad for a sister that recently got back to the mission. I called her and tried to get her info, but she forgot it, so I spent until 10 finding information, and when that didn't work I emailed Salt Lake. 

Love you all, the workload is slowly lessening...or I am just adjusting now.

Elder Dunn

We never can truly get away from office work.





KFC in Japan





Happy 4th Everyone!





Our wonderful view.





Grilling on Presidents Grill.





Friday, July 3, 2015

Inside the giant tank.

The aquarium, transfers, and a busy day at the office.

Hello everyone!

This week has been crazy busy, but I have been having fun!

月曜日
Elder Coggins and I, after getting dressed went to the church to
finish up his college application. He was really excited, we were able
to finish before I transfer. We then found Misu Kyodai outside of the
church right after and we walked with him to the train station, we
then charged our cards and waited for the other elders. Then took
trains to sagamiono to get lunch! We had gioza or Chinese pot
stickers! They were delicious. We then continued our journey and went
to Endoshima, to the aquarium! It was so cool! It has the largest
single pane of glass in the world, it is huge! They had a giant fish
tank filled with sharks, eels, manta rays, and all kinds of other
fish. We then went to a dolphin show! It was absolutely terrific! I
have never seen Dolphins move like that! After we finished the
aquarium by looking at the jellyfish, they are such simple and
peaceful animals. While in the aquarium I got a million calls from
tech staff, they were prepping me for the calling. After the aquarium
we went to the island to the fish doctor. Where you can pay to get
your feet eaten by fish! It was such an interesting experience! We
then emailed on the trains home. Bought groceries, and then went to
FHE with a less active family. It was a lot of fun, you could tell
they miss having the gospel in their lives, hopefully as I transfer
out they will continue progressing closer to following Christ again.

火曜日
We began our day, ate lunch, then elder Gailey and I packed for the
following 3 hours! We got a lot of it finished. Thank goodness for
vacuum bags! We sent those off then Elder Gailey and I went out to
dendo. We found a place where a bunch of Nepalese people live, so we
call it the Nepalese village. There we found 3 new potential
investigators! They were all really friendly and genuine, a few even
invited themselves to church. After housing we split back with our
normal companions and Elder Coggins and I went with Sugimoto Kyodai to
a burger restaurant to help him film a new segment to a web show he is
making. It was a lot of fun helping him. Then we went to the church
and had a lesson with Tomo, we tried to get him set up to do family
history work, however in Japan family history research has to be done
through the government which makes it practically impossible to do. It
was a little sad, but we were able to share scriptures from the New
Testament with him and talk about baptisms for the dead. We then had a
lesson with Ishikawa Kyodai, the recent convert, he is really kind. We
had a great lesson and talked about Chirst coming to the Americas. My
companion led most of the conversation with questions. We are learning
how to ask better questions. It was a long, eventful, and enjoyable
day.

水曜日
I woke up with my shoulder in sharp pain, so I stretched instead of
working out. For lunch we made some personal pan pizzas! They were
super delicious! Then we went out to dendo, but before my companion
needed to take a pit stop. He put something on his pizza that cleared
him out. After that, my companion went to go get a haircut, why he
didn't wait till p-day I don't know, but he insisted on it. We then
went housing in the rain, we talked to a few great people, and were
able to set up a follow up appointment with another person. We then
went to the church for Kodomo Eakaiwa! It was a blast! We sang songs,
and drew pictures. Then we went to Go! Go! Curry, for one last time
with Misu Kyodai, I am really going to miss him. He is like the
missionaries uncle. We the. Had Eakaiwa! It was a lot of fun. Sister
Reeves and I taught. Sister Reeves ends her mission tomorrow so it was
her last day. Since it was my last day too, I helped teach. It was a
lot of fun. I am amazed at how close you can get to so many great
people in only a short amount of time. It was sad to go. After Eakaiwa
we took pictures and talked to people before we headed out. Goodbye
Hachioji, you have been a wonderful place!

木曜日
I woke up to Elder Coggins getting ready, then at 6:30 we went to the
train station. After dropping him off, we went back to the apartment
and got ready, and I finished up my packing. Then after finishing we
took my bags to the church and headed to the train station. Then I got
on the train and was off. When I arrived at the Honbu it was bustling
around with excitement. Elder Moua my new companion, was with Elder
Lobacarro busily working on the computers and getting things figured
out for when he leaves. Then they briefed me for a training that we
were giving in only a short little bit! After that we went and got
lunch upstairs. Sister Wada made lunch for the office elders and all
the new missionaries that had come in. When Sister Wada saw me she
told me that she was going to buy me and oven, but then she found out
I was coming here, so she didn't buy one! After lunch we helped take
pictures, then took all the new missionaries upstairs and gave
presentation on our iPads, and the goal of the use of them and how we
can use them more effectively. After we dropped off Elder Lobacarro,
and went back to the office, where I had to work on pulling pictures
off iPads, to put them on flash drives for all the returning
missionaries that had just shown up, then I worked on figuring out all
my other new responsibilities. After I finished that, I forwarded all
the mail. Since one of the other office elders, elder Murakami was
busy translating we had to wait for him because they had a lesson.
After waiting we went to dinner at sushi, then back home where we
changed for sports night. I have missed basketball a lot! It was a
blast playing again. We then came home, planned then waited to see if
sister Wada needed help upstairs, so we didn't get to bed until late.
It really is a whole new lifestyle.

金曜日
If this next day is incoherent, sorry, my brain is a little fried.
Today we woke up at 5:45 to play dodgeball with all the missionaries
going home. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to wake up. After we
got ready and studied. Just kidding. I read my scriptures for 30
minutes, then we went upstairs to help all the missionaries leaving
and cleaned up breakfast. We helped clean, then make rice balls, then
collected iPads. It was really bitter sweet to see all the
missionaries leave. Afterwards I began wiping iPads..okay my brain
hurts so here is how this next little bit is going to go. From the
hours of 1-7:30, I was alone working on tech staff as my companion
went to the dentist with one of the assistants. While he was gone I,
broke into iPads that were locked to wipe the, wiped other iPads and
cleaned them, fixed the mission portal, skyped another Elder who wrote
some code for the portal to fix it, went to district meeting, worked
with missionaries who area books were broken, fixed Sister Adamsons
email account, fixed a folder Brother Adamson deleted by accident, and
worked on posting something to the portal. It was exhausting! But I
finished it all! Then Elder Bates and I went to go out to eat to relax
our brains, I almost fell asleep in my food. Then we walked to Seiyu
and and bought ice cream. Then back to the church to get home on time.
Where we worked on setting up Skype for President Wada in the morning
for a conference call. Work just seems to pile up around hear,
extinguish one fire and two more build, however it is a lot of fun
helping others. (I will tell you what, I understand now why the honbu
elders have the best beds in the mission.)

I love you all!

Elder Dunn
ダン長老

We are buddies.

Ishikawa Kyodai and I

Misu Kyodai and I

Yamauchi shimai and I

The fish Doctor!

A Lamborghini bike!

Tomo and I

The fish doctor. They eat all the dead skin off of your feet.

Reef!

Simplistically beautiful

Talk about impressive!

Securitized swimming.

Jellyfish!

Catching some air!

Catching some air!

Hopping up on land.

Can you see it?

Whales!

Crabs!

More crabs!

Through your da you can hear about the different tanks!

The largest pane of glass in the world!

Manta rays abound!

Top view of the tank.

One of the great fish tanks.

A view from the boardwalk at the aquarium.

The entrance to the aquarium.

This is how they make gioza.

The gioza restaurant we went to!