Elder Dunn Called to Serve : Work, there is no better substitute.

こんにちは皆さん！

Monday

After studies we headed over to the church to email home about a few things then went to Sizzlers with a few members for lunch. They reserved a ton of seats for us, it was really kind of him. He also invited a ton of members too, but the way he situated everyone made it kind of hard and awkward to talk to the members there. It was good though, the food was pretty good. After that we went back to the church and I bought a box and my companion printed out pictures to send home. Then we went back to the church to email. After that we called Michael to see if he was coming to Family Home Evening at the Wada's, but he was sick so he had to decline. Elder Choi needed a haircut so we went over to the QB house. After grocery shopping we dropped them off at home, ate a small dinner, and tried to visit the Zhangs. They weren't home sadly, but we plan to get in contact with them soon. We instead went to Kubari in the rain. That was...wet. Elder Choi was able to talk to a few people which was really good for him, but I was just able to pass out a few.

Tuesday

After getting ready we headed over to the church for zone conference. The zone leaders were over an hour late which made president a little unsettled. It was a really good zone conference, president taught us about listening to the spirit, and how the spirit works in conversion. I loved it. After his training I was asked to train on mentioning baptism in the first meeting. It was nice to redeem myself from the last zone conference where I stumbled really badly on it. Yay improvement! We then had more trainings about baptism and listening. Sister Wada made cranberry cinnamon rolls for lunch they were so delicious. After zone conference I had the feeling we needed to change up our plans, so we went to the apartment and I mixed some bread so it could rise, then we went out to Kubari. While passing out flyers Shin from the Fuchu ward came up to me! He is working on his GMAT so he can get into the BYU MBA Program. We talked about that for a little bit, and he was able to share a few experiences from his mission with me which was pretty cool. After kubaring we went home and baked the bread, I got a killer headache though, I think the weather might be changing. Then we went on delivery mode for the rest of the night. We dropped some off for the Honbu Elders, then the sisters, then we went to the Naka family's apartment. We had to stuff it into their mailbox, thank goodness the bread has some spring to it. We had one more loaf and the person we planned to give it to lived to far away for us to give it to him. So we started home, but just as we were about turn onto one of the main roads I had the feeling to give it to a member who lived nearby so we skidded on our bikes and took it to their house and biked quickly home.

Wednesday

After studies we went to Michaels house and sat with him for a little while. He is doing alright, it was really cold out and his apartment is pretty drafty so it was really cold. He is improving a lot which is great! After that we went to the church to collect information for PEC later and to check a few messages from investigators. Then we tried to find through housing near less actives behind the park, however we got kind of lost. I have noticed on days where it is colder, compared to the day previous people are less apt to stop and talk. After that we went home and ate dinner and I packed my bag for splits. We then went to the Honbu and I typed up a document for PEC, then we helped the assistants set up for their Eikaiwa class and then went to Eikaiwa. The subject was families which was entertaining to hear how people react to American social customs. After Eikaiwa Elder Shimizu and I (I take him just in case I need a native speaker) went to PEC. It was probably one of the best meetings I've attended. Everyone that was supposed to be there was there, and they all were collectively helping with our investigators! It was awesome! After that Elder Yamada and I began splits.

Thursday

After studies in the mission office, which to be honest is really strange because of the former time I had spent there. We went to sushi with Josey! It was a great time we focused on keeping our relationship with him up. It was a good lunch appointment. Afterwards we went back to the office and I worked on the Recent Convert and Less Active Tracking form, it is so close to being finished! I am just having an issue with a pop up being cut off and then it will be ready to implement! It'll help out a lot...I hope. After that we ate dinner and went to sports night. It was a lot of fun, there were a lot of youth there so we were able to build good relationships with them. They were excited to see Elder Richardson dunk. Sadly his companion, Elder Livingston sprained his ankle really badly so they had to leave. Elder Yamada and I had the Spiritual thought at the end so we talked about being peacemakers. I think that was good because the youth were getting a little heated at ping pong.

Friday

After studies we rushed over to the mission office so I could message Elder Berube about the project I've been given. I ran into a really confusing bug that I needed some help digging out of. However he messaged me back right as district meeting was about to start! So I got really busy really fast. Messaging Elder Berube and running district meeting. I would have waited till later but he doesn't have a whole lot of time. Thankfully he was able to fix it and we were able to move on. District Meeting was really good, I love our district. After song practice for Sunday we went into weekly planning. We finished in one day this time yay! Discussing investigators and needs can take so long sometimes. We then went to the eki and met Bryan for a dinner appointment. We went to a Hawaiin place to eat, it was pretty good. He basically dropped himself which was really interesting. He basically just wanted to meet with missionaries for the social aspect. After that we bought doughnuts (it's always a good pick me up after getting dropped), then ran to the apartment grabbed our splits bags and booked it to Kunitachi. On the train I saw a man I wanted to talk to (I usually will look for English speakers, then young people, then the grumpy drunk businessmen). I went up to him and started speaking in English to me, I was so confused he didn't respond. I then asked, "Do you speak English?" He spoke his head. I began in Japanese, his eyes widened and conversation began. Come to find out he is half Japanese and half Nigerian (see why I thought he spoke English?) he was super kind! We were able to talk about some fundamental truths and I was able to bear testimony about Joseph Smith! Then on the next train we met a member who was in Elder Choi's previous ward! He is a doctor, so I was like a kid in a candy store asking him questions. He served his mission in Canada, Chinese speaking and returned home only a few months ago. He was a lot older for missionary age and in Japan medical school is a total of 6 years. It was a pretty neat night. We then met the zone leaders and went to their house to spend the night.

Saturday

I woke up to one of the coldest mornings of my mission! I was freezing! Their apartment isn't heated very well at all. After studies and lunch, Elder Christensen and I headed over to the Kunitachi church to meet a member and a man they found on Monday. The man was very interesting to say the least, not who you would expect to have a ton of interest in religion, but then again you can't judge a book by its cover. We had a great church tour then taught a great lesson about the restoration. After that we had some finding time and talked so some more interesting people. Then had splits review and Elder Choi and I ran off to our next appointment. As we were waiting for the train I called a referral and was able to set up an appointment for before Eikaiwa. He is fluent in English and lived in the Netherlands for sometime. Sister Neff found her, in fact she has been finding a lot of younger men recently, it's great because she is just giving us tons of referrals. As we got on the train we were standing in the aisle way and two stalky American men look at us and walk toward us. I thought, "either they are members, they or lost, or they want Elder Choi's wallet." However the larger one said, "Hi elders, I served my mission here, are you the elders for this area?" Come to find out he was a teacher at the MTC while I was there! He looked familiar, he was also one of the first assistants to the mission. His traveling companion was his brother who lives on a small island in Hawaii. Now this guy was neat, he is one of two nurse practitioners for the whole island (which has about 3500 people on it), the doctor comes in 3-4 times a week by boat, but most the time it is just them. He was a lot of fun to talk to. You have to love the neat people you meet on your mission. We then helped them get yakuniku place and headed to the Honbu. We said hello to the office elders, then biked to Maeda's house for a lesson. It was really good, we used a lot of listening which was really really powerful. We were able to get to his core and understand him more. Then we came back and ate at an indo curry place for dinner, they have such a great business model, and fantastic service. Then we finished up our day buy printing fliers and writing our ward mission leader.

Sunday

We headed over to church and had an awesome DCS meeting, then practiced for Sacrament meeting. Both of the people we had coming to church came a little late which was kind of a bummer, but they came! We sang Come thou Font in sacrament, it was really powerful. A man who was visiting from America, who went to Juliard for violin said Elder Choi sounds really good! That was a neat compliment. The rest of the classes were good in Gospel principles I was able to read a whole paragraph in Japanese all by myself (you probably have no idea how are that is). Priesthood was good we studied the talk by Elder Renlund from this past conference. After we sang with the Choir and talked to Josey. Elder Richardson and I went on splits into the office and we helped send out emails to the mission while Elder Choi and Elder Livingston prat iced for the music night. After that we came home and ate lunch then went to the church to write lesson reports and contact another referral, he is pretty cool, he is half American and is in Japan filming a new action movie, it sounds pretty intense by the sounds of it. Then we tried to visit a less active but he would answer the door which was was kind of dumb, we knew he was just hiding from us. We left and went to Ueki Kyoudais house. He is so kind. Our plan is to read with him every week a chapter of the Book of Mormon. It should be really helpful for him. He gave us a really neat gift, a kutsubera (the kanji is 靴べら, which means shoe spatula) it is really nice! Then we went to Joseys house for a Nabe party. It was a lot of fun. We had a great conversation with him about all kinds of stuff from Pokemon to our missions. Recently I have been teasing him that he should give me a tie from the fashion store he works at in downtown Tokyo, but after dinner I jokingly looked into his room and said, "oh, is that the tie you are going to trade me?" He replied, "oh, hey I have some free ties" confused because he isn't someone to wear a cheaply made tie we watched him pull out a few ties, he said they had a big fashion event and we're giving away ties so he grabbed us a couple. He then matched us each up to the appropriate tie, the one he gave me is so nice, it has platinum leaf stitched into it! After he presented us with so,e highly fashionable ties we sat down and discussed tithing and fasting. It was another really powerful lesson, he is really moving forward in his life! It is so much more exciting then any metallic stitched neck tie!

Monday

We awoke and went to the church to play sports as a district but no one wanted to play :(. So Elder Choi and I were alone, it was fine though. My hops have improved! I am able to jump much higher than earlier in my mission, must be all the biking. We had normal studies then went to the Honbu and Elder Shimizu and I began splits! He is really funny! I was in the same district in him when he came to the mission, that was when I was in my second area! So fast! We went and bought a train ticket for a sister missionary. We then went to zone meeting, it was okay. It made me realize the effectiveness of planning for a meeting. I then helped out in the office while Elder Shimizu worked on some things that had to get finished. We then went out with Bob Kyoudai and one of the youth in our ward for dinner. We went to abura soba (oil noodles) it is basically ramen without the soup. It was really good, Yuta, the youth said, "oh wow I'm so full." And Bob Kyoudai responds, "you better have room for desert"...oh shoot more food. We went to a takuyaki place it was really good, they are basically like fish shaped pies. I enjoyed them a lot. I got a strawberry one. Then as we were walking back to the church, he stopped us by the donut shop and bought us donuts too! I was so full O.o. At the church we shared a small message about family history which was awesome! Then we went back to the Honbu grabbed our bikes and went to Matsuoka Kyoudais house to give him a note, as we hiked there we encountered freezing rain , and then hail...that was a new experience. We didn't have much time since he lives so far away so we had to bike right back home. The assistants I formed me that I'll be invited to MLC or the mission leadership council this week. It makes me nervous because they are hinting that I'm transferring. Ugh. I love Kichijoji too much. We finished the night by getting my haircut by Elder Richardson.

Well that was my week, looking on to this next week it'll be jam packed!

Big Hearts!

Elder Dunn