Another Busy week!

Hello Everyone! 

Well it is Sunday and this is the first time I have had time to write in my journal all week so I may miss a few details here and there. 

Monday

We got ready and rushed to the church for conference call. It was good, we need to work on getting the conversion stories from all the recent converts in our zone so there is another assignment to work on. Immediately following that we began our Preparation day by writing emails! I was able to catch some of the family on which was a neat surprise. I worked on a few things for BYU and Elder Shurilla looked up where some recycle shops were in the zone and we got moving. We had lunch at a combini then met the sisters at the station and began our quest. We started at a house-off which is a thrift store that specializes in electronics. My companion, Elder Shurilla was a DJ before his mission. He takes old game boys and NES systems and makes music out of their sound cards so we were looking for old systems. Game systems are so cheap here! Old DSs in buckets for 10 dollars, buckets of old games. It was pretty cool. I found an Old Pokemon game that I really wanted, it'll be good Language study when I return. We then went to another store which had a music store next door so we looked around there, then went to a Watmans which had nothing, so we went to another store which was a little far, but we made it. There we found some super old computers! They were so legit! We also found a Nebula ball which Elder Seibach bought, it is way cool. We then came home bought groceries, ate dinner and then went to visit Marumoto Kyodais house. He is such a great man, we talked about Easter, and challenged him to come to church with us this week since he wasn't able to this past week. 

Tuesday

After studies and lunch we walked to the church to do a few errands for the zone then we began a journey we walked from the top of our area clear down to the bottom. On our way we talked to some neat people. One person we stopped had a ton of interest and agreed to meet us next week really quickly, another man never had met missionaries before but thought we were the bees knees. After our walk we journeyed back home by train, ate dinner, then went to the church to teach our man Shokan! He is half Chinese and has great Japanese and English. We discussed gospel dispensations in a different way and it made perfect sense to him, pictures work great. 

Wednesday

If going on a journey yesterday wasn't enough we went again today. We walked all the way to Costco. We talked to a neat old man who is Buddist but has no problem with all religion that was kind of cool. We worked on getting members to our lesson that night but no one was able to attend. When we arrived at Costco elder Shurilla and I bought our food and waited for the other two. After a while they came over. Elder Siebach and Elder Hall were renewing their cards. The woman who was helping them asked if they were a couple. I guess she had never met missionaries before. The best part was Elder Hall has been in Japan for two weeks and had no idea what was being said so he agreed with the woman. We also saw a girl in a kimono walking around, it seemed like the last place we would see someone wearing one. We then rushed to Eikaiwa to set up but ran into our investigator at the church so we had a lesson with him about gospel dispensations almost the same lesson we had yesterday. We are still resolving some concerns regarding baptism, but we hope to iron that out soon. Eikaiwa was great! We teach the beginner class with the sisters, it is a lot of fun. Our eikaiwa is much smaller than the one in Kichijoji but it is still a lot of fun. 

Thursday

We woke up early and rushed to Yamate for their district meeting which was super early! It was a great meeting, afterwards we helped with the open house there. What is really cool about Yamate is that the church is a historical sight. It has a lot of information about the history of the church in Japan. It is pretty cool. After helping with an Easter Open house that they are having, we and out to lunch at a ramen shop! It was delicious! Probably one of the best I have eaten in Japan. We continued to help for a little bit then trained down to Yokosuka (the bottom of our zone). When we got to the church I realized I had forgot my iPad! We had a great district meeting with Yokosuka then went all the way back to Yamate. We grabbed my iPad and since we were running out of time we went out to eat again...this time at a pizza place, where we were able to teach the man who works there! That was pretty cool. He lived in Canada for a while and spoke fluent English. After a while another American man came in with his daughter. He was really interested that we didn't work for the mafia, we had black suits on. He had never met missionaries before and found our work fascinating, that was pretty cool. It turns out he works as a consultant for jaguar which is pretty cool. Talk about some inspired pizza eating. 

Friday

After studies we had Kamiooka District Meeting, it went a little long, but was really good. Afterwards we began weekly planning. Weekly planning turns into "where do we have time to teach our investigators and find more people" there is so much stuff to do as a zone leader. After half our our weekly planning we went to the apartment for dinner, and then finished weekly planning, this next week will be intense o.O. 

Saturday

After studies we went to probably one of the best indo curry restaurants I have ever been to! It was delicious! With a good old white day, with nothing planned we went on a journey to Kanazawa! Everyone we stopped just wanted to speak English to us! It was weird. We tried speaking Japanese to them but they just wouldn't let us! The walk was beautiful, right next to the ocean. Elder Shurilla called Sister Wada about his back, he has had a lot of pain recently so she referred us to a doctor. Since we didn't have time to go back to the apartment we went to Costco since it was close (I'll tell you what having one in your area is dangerous). At Costco we ran into a few members from the Yokosuka military ward! Then when we were eating a few Eikaiwa students came up to us! It was crazy how busy it was on a Saturday night. The Ogawas came and picked us up and took us to the doctor. My hatred of Japanese hospitals have continued, there is just no personalization there. Then we came home and Elder Shurilla laid in his futon in pain. 

Sunday

We woke up and went to church! It was great! I love this ward so much, they make you feel at home so easily. After church we had ward council! Right before, sister Wada (a different one) stopped us in the hallway and thanked us for how our parents raised us and asked if we would come over for lunch on Saturday and share about our families. That was a cool compliment. Ward council was amazing! It was run exactly how it should be and it was great! After we wrote lesson reports, and followed up with the zone about their statistics. Then grabbed our bikes and went to the josenzu (they are from Okinawa) for dinner. I thought they were an American family until we got there. It was a great time, it was so delicious! I love Japanese potato salad so much! After we shared a message about Easter we ran to the Ogawas. They are hilarious. I have learned a lot of new Japanese from them. 

Well there goes another week in the service of the Lord! 

Big Hearts!

Elder Dunn

Zelda? Ocarina? Yes. 

Does anyone need a new wii? They are $10 each...

Make sure you follow step 1!

This is one of our friends we meet on the street!

A kimono in Costco (it reminds me so much of America)

A fishing boat!

This giant hole in the wall or a building.

Happy Easter! (Elder Siebach, Elder Hall, Sister Bybee, Sister Brady, me, and Elder Shurrilla)

The craziest Member Present lesson of my mission

Hello, 

This week we had a busy week! Sorry there isn't a whole lot of details I was in a rush.

Tuesday

We awoke early and took the subway to the temple! That was so great and an awesome way to start the transfer. After we spent some time trying to recreate a picture that Elder Shurilla's dad took when he was a missionary here in Japan. After we headed back home and spent some time in Yokohama. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan and it is huge! The eki is so hard to navigate. We went to Loft because elder Shurilla had birthday money and wanted to buy something exciting. We got really hung up with these humidifiers and a shower head haha. After that we continued our journey to the church, wrote emails, and bought groceries. When p-day ended we got a call from the assistants saying that we would be working with Brother Mills later in the week and to prepare a busy schedule for him. We ran, I mean booked it to the church to start trying to set up appointments. After that we streeted for the rest of the night, sadly no one exciting talked to us though. 

Wednesday

After a fantastic study, we ate lunch then went to Yamate for district meeting! It was a lot of fun, I love Yamate area a lot, it is really pretty and it covers all of downtown Yokohama. It is also where missionary work was dedicated for all of Asia! Imagine that! After district meeting we were super hungry so we had the idea to grab some donuts at a Hawaiin donut shop. As we were eating outside a man came up to us and said, "Mormons?" Uhh yeah! He introduced himself as a man from Taiwan looking for a church that his son could go to! He really wants his son to go to church, and join the church! It was an amazing miracle! Sadly he lives in Tokyo so we will be transferring him up to the north mission. We then came home and got off a little early to talk to people. We ate dinner, then went to Eikaiwa! It is a lot smaller than Kichijojis but I love it. We teach the beginner class! It is a lot of fun and the first time I have switched from advanced class on my mission. 

Thursday

We woke up pretty anxious, the assistants told us that Brother Mills would be coming at 3:30 so we went through our normal studies then went to the church to weekly plan.  Eventually Brother Mills rolled up with the assistants. He is tall slender and has some pretty normal looking glasses. The first thing he says in some of the clearest Japanese I have heard, "where are you from?". We decided to let the other Elders take the first two hours with him finding. Which was good because our lessons we had planned were falling through left and right. We had some time to find with the assistants which was a lot of fun! I enjoyed working with Elder Livingston for some time. After which we met up the other Elders and went to Ramen with Brother Mills! Brother Mills is the managing director of MTC's in the world, so we got to learn a lot about how that all works. As we were leaving the restaurant the owners were Chinese, so Brother Mills walks up to them and started speaking fluent Chinese to them! That was pretty cool. Then Elder Shurilla and I went with Brother Mills to visit a less active. That was fun...he was observing how we used the pamphlets for teaching non Christians about God. It was pretty nerve wracking because we hardly used the pamphlets but instead taught to our investigators needs. That kind of scared us a little bit but when we left he said we did a good job of doing that instead of just not caring and teaching. We then visited another investigator and taught him using another pamphlet it worked really well. The member who was there drove us all to the church and we split. Brother Mills went to go Skype the MTC in South Africa and we ran home. Interesting day!

Friday

We had our studies cut a lot and went to Kawasaki for a discussion about the pamphlets with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. It was really good, I felt kind of bad because he said to be honest so we all gave him a lot of feedback. Most of my feedback dealt with the way the pamphlets were distributed and made electronically. President Wada gave me a big smile and thumbs up at the end, I think he liked my honesty, haha. It was really good in the end though. After we went to shabu shabu with some other zone leaders and went to Yokosuka for district meeting, it was good. Then we came home ate dinner, and went to a lesson with our Rwandan investigators. They are so kind! It was great being with them, as we were talking another man walks in from the Republic of the Congo! He was surprised to see us! He came in and said, "you called me yesterday." We were confused until he showed us the phone and we found out that it was the other elders who called him. Come to find out that he is a less active from the Congo! So we had a member at our lesson, pretty crazy! I have noticed the way African conversation goes is a lot different than English or Japanese conversation you have to get your foot in the door and keep it there. It was a great lesson though. 

Saturday

After studies we had our district meeting which was great, we talked about how we need to cast our nets and go straightway and follow Christ! After that we made a zone calendar for our zone. We then streeted for a little while and met some interesting people. It was a strange day for streeting. We then ate dinner and went to the church to plan everything for the zone! That was pretty crazy! But I'm glad it is finished! It took a long time. 

Sunday

We awoke and went to church! It was great, we had three people at church. Our bishop was released and a new bishop, Bishop Nagane was called! He used to be the 2nd councilor so everyone new him which is great. He is pretty fired up about dendo which is great. After church we had an awesome meal as a ward and then we worked on stats   for the zone. It was a lot of fun! We then went home ate lunch then held companionship study where we discussed our lesson for that night. As we walked over we talked to a few people then went over to the Ogawas. Sister Ogawa came out when we got there and said that brother Ogawa was called into work and he wouldn't be home till late so they needed to cancel. It was pretty sad :/. So we streeted home ate dinner and worked on a schedule for an open house that one of the districts is having this upcoming week! Ahh! Crazy! 

Well that was my week! It went by super fast! I can't believe that it is Monday already! 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn

We found this at Loft

Our district at the temple!

The African Family we taught!

The icing on the cake for Kichijoji and Kamiooka, they weren't kidding about the hills.

Hello.

Well. I moved. I am now in Kamiooka! I love it here! 

Monday

After studies we hurried to the church to meet up with the district. It is Shitami Shimais last P-Day so we went out to a "cowboy" restaurant to eat. It was okay, but Japanese definitions of a hamburger and an Americans is very very different. After that interesting experience. We went to the church and wrote emails, then we took off to koenji to shop around. There was a lot of neat stuff, but we hit the jackpot when we found super cool ties for a dollar, which is pretty rare, so we each bought a few. We then went home. Elder Choi sent some postcards home, then we did our grocery shopping. After our plan was to find a birthday present for my sister, that is a pretty difficult task because I don't buy girly things very often. So we employed the help of the sisters, the thought was that two Japanese sisters would be able to help more then Elder Choi (who only has one brother), and me. They helped out a lot. When we got back to the church we met up with Ishikawa Kyoudai and ate dinner with him. He leaves on his mission soon so we are helping him out whenever we can. Afterwards Elder Choi taught a woman violin and Kajuira Kyoudai and I looked around the world on Google maps. He was astounded at the places you can see with that all, it was pretty funny. 

Tuesday

After studies I began packing...when you live in a place for 9 months you begin to collect a lot of "stuff". We counted my ties, I have collected 75ish ties since I have begun my mission! Talk about an interesting feat. It took a good 3 hours to pack but I finally was able to finish. After that we went to the office to get a Elder Shimizus help in filling out my forms then I had him call the company while I helped tech staff with a few of the iPads. They replaced a bunch and were wondering what to do next. After that we messaged a few people on Facebook then met up with Shin! He hasn't met with missionaries since October! But he is on break right now so we were able to set up a lesson with him! It was so good! We set a Baptisimal date with him and were able to testify about the Saviors love too. He is way prepared. We then helped the Office set up futons and then went out to McDonalds. We wanted MegaMacs, so we went and asked, she said no so we ordered anyways. After we got our tickets I remembered she hadn't asked if it were take out, and before I could tell Elder Choi we were waiting for our food. Oh well we thought lets go upstairs and eat. We went upstairs and a woman took our normal booth so we back tracked and found a table mostly empty with a man sitting across from us. We sat down and the man saw our tags and said (this conversation seems more normal in Japanese then English), "you are Jesus people?" "Uh yeah, I'm Elder Dunn, nice to meet you." "I love Jesus! I have been wanting to study about Jesus!" "Oh wow, really?" *Elder Choi drops his burger* "well today is your lucky day we are missionaries for a nearby church." The conversation continued and we gave him a Book of Mormon and explained what makes us so different. It was really good. Near the end I had the prompting,"you need to leave right now". I thought, we are in the middle of the lesson we can't. The feeling came again. Knowing that the new missionaries were coming soon and they would need our help. I checked the phone. Sure enough Elder Richardson had messaged us an hour ago telling us that they would be be there at 7:15. It was 7:18! We jumped off our stools and booked it out of McDonald's, then called the office to meet us there. We arrived just in time, and the office came running shortly after. We helped the new missionaries with their stuff and then kubaried for the rest of the night. Nothing exciting happened, just a bunch of super flirty women and a drunk man that kept yelling at my companion as he drank more and more. 

Wednesday

We woke up early to go running with the new missionaries, it was a lot of fun. Since I have lost a pretty good amount of weight I can run much faster than before. We then came home studied and went to Michaels house! He got his glasses, so now he can see, you could tell a noticeable difference between then and Sunday. He was really upset I was leaving but we exchanged info and we will keep in touch for sure. He is getting exactly what he needs right now. We biked home in the freezing rain, that was cold, and set up for Eikaiwa, PEC and worked on helping out Tech Staff. After that the new missionaries came down and we took them out to dendo! I took an Elder from Arizona out. It was a lot of fun, the new missionaries always seem to have amazing faith! It was great! We talked to some really prepared people, placed a Book of Mormon, taught two lessons on the street, and got two peoples phone numbers! Talk about a neat time! After we took the new missionaries to dinner, Elder Richardson and I took two elders to a tsukemen place that we are both partial to. It was delicious! Then we had Eikaiwa. My students were so sad, I felt like I brought a few of them to tears. I will miss them, they are such wonderful people. After Eikaiwa we went to PEC, it is so different from the first time I went! The ward actually is helping now! They want people to be Baptized! So exciting! 

Thursday

We went to the church to play sports with the new missionaries. That was fun. Afterwards, Sister Shitami needed help getting her bike into a box so she could ship it home...that was an interesting time. We have to take off almost everything, and we didn't have all the tools we needed so we had to wait til a bike shop opened. As we were doing that Josey showed up and said, "I have to see you before you leave." We were still in gym clothes at this point, but we set up a plan to go out to eat at 8. We borrowed some cash from the sisters and went to McDonald's. We sat down and began eating and he said, "So I got my answer." Recently we have challenged him to pray and fast about whether or not to go on a mission. He said he didn't know if it was right for him. He continued, "I was at work on Monday thinking of all the reasons why I shouldn't go on a mission, I'd have to quit my job, I'd have to cut my hair...ect. But then it hit me, "just go" so I changed my thought process what happens if I go on a mission. It was then when I realized how much better my life will be after a mission and how many blessings I will receive. Elder Dunn, I am going on a mission." I was in tears, it was such great news! For almost 6 months we have been working with him, we found him on accident and he told us that he couldn't go on a mission and didn't want to go. Now he has had a change of heart and will be serving a mission. We went back to go home and change and get ready and so I could finish packing. We then went back to the church, finished Sister Shitamis bike, then fixed mine. While we had gone home an Eikaiwa student stopped by and gave me a package it was so kind of her, most of my cool stuff from Japan has come from her. I then told everyone my goodbyes and began my journey. That was pretty smooth, I talked to some neat people. It was weird not having a companion, but work is work so I kept trying. However being unable to describe where the church is in your new area is kind of difficult. When I made it to Kamiooka I found Elder Shurilla after some trouble and we went to the apartment! The apartment is on a hill (yeah that isn't fun to walk up) but the apartment itself is really really nice. The balcony overlooks much of our area and is beautiful! It's so pretty. We began our weekly planning session. There is a lot to catch up to speed on, but I have an idea of the ward now. We stopped for dinner, and then started back again afterwards and it went til the end of the night. I really like Elder Shurilla we are going to be really good friends. 

Friday

Maybe I should call today Utah day. You'll understand in a second. We had great studies, then during lunch Elder Shurilla became obsessed with the word Utah, and he kept saying it over and over. We then went to district meeting. It was really good, it was half the size that I'm used to but it was really good! We introduced our zone theme! BAPTALO! Increase our Baptismal invitations, simplify our daily planning so we can talk with everyone, and love our investigators by being bold and kind. We like the acronym a lot. After the meeting we got a few forms ready and got on our way to Yamate for district meeting! Holy Cow are there some stairs! We walked up one flight for probably 5'minutes. District meeting was really funny, one of the new missionaries was really inquisitive about everything which made his companion, the district leader, a little annoyed but ironically enough the new missionary passed out halfway through district meeting. It is a neat perspective to be a zone leader and participate in so many different district meetings. Coming home we stopped by an American pizza place and got some pizza, it was really good. Then we came home on the subway, it was so loud we couldn't talk to each other! After we got home we grabbed our coats and began our plan to go streeting! Our lesson appointment with an African family fell through. Streeting was good we had an enjoyable time and talked to a few prepared people, the trick will be following up with them. 

Saturday

After studies we went to indo curry as a district. It was Elder Halls first time there so we were all throwing our recommendations for him. Elder Shurilla and I then went to a place further down in our area and streeted. We talked to a lot of people on our way. We ended up by the ocean! It is so pretty! We met some men digging for shellfish, that was an interesting time. They thought I was 30 and from Europe, which seemed to be the theme of the day. They talked to us about digging for shellfish for a while. We then went down to Yukosuka for their district meeting. It is next to a large navel base. I'll be honest seeing that many Americans was really weird for me. We were stopped by so,e servicemen who said, "i didn't know they had Mormons here too!" What an interesting man he turned out to me, his Japanese was pretty funny too. District meeting was good, the church is the 4 and 6 floors of an office building, really really interesting. After district meeting where we unveiled the zone theme of BAPTALO, we returned home to meet with our investigator Yamada San who lived in England for a long time. It was really really interesting. He refuses to speak Japanese with us so we just spoke in English but his English is really hard to understand. We went to a tonkatsu place with him and discussed baptism, he isn't quite sure yet but we will continue to work with him more. After the lesson we went to the church to submit a report to the district leader. 

Sunday

Kamiooka ward is great! I got such a warm welcome to the ward. They asked each of the new missionaries to bear their testimonies, I felt so comfortable in this ward. There were probably only 50 people there, the church is pretty small. There is a few Americans in the ward and they have kids. Our ward missions leader is half American and his name is Dan, my name in Japanese is Dan. So the ward learned my name pretty quickly, it was just a great time at church. After church we filled out our stats and then went home to make lunch. After lunch we went to the church then streeted to the Ogawas house for dinner. We saw a man who looked Amish, so I stopped him and asked him if he was, sadly he isn't and doesn't have any Amish friends. Neat guy though. We also met a Filipino man and traded numbers with him. The Ogawas are a recent convert family so the missionaries go over every week and eat dinner with them and share a message. They are so great! They have a son who is 13 and reminds me a lot of my brothers so that was a lot of fun! 

Monday

It's Elder Shurillas Birthday! We woke up and sang to him then he opened his package. We then got ready for the day and started with a big conference call with all the district leaders in our zone to gather stats and to talk about baptismal dates. After that we got onto a big conference call with all the zone leaders, sister training leaders, the assistants, and president and sister Wada. Where we discussed baptismal dates in the mission. President gave our area a lot of praise, that was kind of cool, but we need to keep it up now. After a short study we ate lunch and had companionship study. Since it was Elder Shurillas birthday he wanted to eat at Costco for his birthday dinner, we decided to street along the road all the way down there. It was raining so we grabbed an umbrella and went joyfully into service! We went to the church, then began our walk, it was pretty wet, but we got to walk right next the ocean for a while. It was so pretty even in the rain. The sad thing there wasn't a single person on the road!! Right after we stopped by a park my umbrella broke! So I had to walk in the rain until, a miracle happened and a random shop popped up that happened to sell umbrellas! It was so nice! I bought a new one and we continued on. Thankfully new umbrellas in Japan are pretty cheap. We continued on and went got to Costco soaked! Our feet hurt and were freezing but we made it! We tried contacting in the store since there wasn't anywhere else to go nearby. After a little bit everyone from the district showed up and we ate, then took a picture and got on the train home. There I met a woman from Hong Kong who wanted to talk all about the temple there! That was pretty cool! We then met a member at the train station and went to go teach Marumoto Kyoudai a less active recent convert. We had a great lesson about the atonement, and were able to strengthen his understanding of it. On our way home my umbrella broke...again. It was awful. I have never been that wet and cold in my life. But I made it home, and then put my feet in the tub for a while. A good ending to the day. 

Good luck this new week! 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn

1. Elder Choi and I's Eikaiwa Class!
2. A view from my new apartment! 
3. We found Zion. 
4. A boat graveyard
5. Me by the ocean! 
6. Our apartment this morning! Fuji is in the right top corner, it is kind of hard to see with the camera. 

After 9 months I am leaving Kichijoji. Kamiooka here I come!

ヘーロ皆さん！

Tuesday

When we woke up I had Elder Richardson finish cutting my hair since he didn't have time to finish it. Then we all went to the temple, the trains weren't too bad which was really nice! We then went to the temple it was great! After we took a district picture then all returned to our area for Pizza at Shakeys! It was a lot of fun, enjoy being around the district a lot. After we went to the church and emailed home then went to the office and bummed around, and bought groceries at Seiyu. After that we went kubaring in front of sun road. I met some really interesting people. I met a woman who use to come ten years ago, and said she would be returning this week! I met a guy who spoke fluent English but refused to take a copy of the Book of Mormon because he was in interested in religion, that was an interesting experience. I met a man from Bangladesh who was one of the nicest people I have talked to, he use to be in the army and worked for the UN peacekeepers, so he has traveled the world. He is taking a break right now to peruse some personal dreams. I enjoyed talking to him a lot, he even took a few flyers to give to his Christian friends! We then hurried over to the Zhangs! It turns out that Cho will be leaving back for China in two days and won't be back for 3 months, that is kind of a bummer. However him and his wife spent 15 minutes asking me to go to China after I return home. They sounded pretty convincing but we will see. I am sure someday I will go. We worked on helping him get into contact with the church office over there to help him learn more about the church in China. 

Wednesday

During lunch we got a call from Ryugo the man that we had plans with to meet that night. He said he didn't have any interest in meeting with us anymore, it sounded like he had a crush on Sister Neff and was bummed when it was us that he'd be meeting with. We then went to Michaels to visit him, he is doing a little better, we are helping him slowly but surely along the path. After that meeting we went back to the church and set up for Eikaiwa and contacted a few people on Facebook. After that we passed out flyers at sun road. It was awesome! I talked to a ton of Foreigners. A woman from Russia, a man from Seattle that I was able to help with directions, a French man who I was able to practice a little bit with, and an American woman from Montana who has a lot of interest in coming to church. It was really good overall! We were able to pass out a lot of flyers. For dinner we went to Abura Soba it was good but I think the noodles wrecked Elder Choi. On our way back we went to buy just one donut because they were on sale however one of the Eikaiwa students found us and grabbed them off our trays and told us she was going to pay for them and to go ahead and go to Eikaiwa. When we met her at Eikaiwa she bought us 10 donuts...each! It was a nice gift from her! Class went great, we were able to add some history about the colonists into the class because they wanted to know why Americans speak English. It was a good end to the day. 

Thursday

Elder Choi and I woke up early and went to the church to split with Elder Gerard, and Elder Gonzalas. I split with Elder Harrison and Elder Eaton. We were invited to the Mission Leadership Council meeting. Since we were the only missionaries that wearing zone leaders there we needed to go on exchanges. It felt weird being there because I was surrounded by all of these dendo animals and then there is me who is practically a dendo insect. It was a great morning session all focused on the Atonement and how we can apply it in our lives more fully. During the discussion items the assistants brought up the project that I had spent 3 weeks working on to get it moving by the leadership side. When president went to go to the portal to view it, it didn't work...the portal didn't exist...that is never a good thing to hear. Tech Staff came running over and we talked about it for a little bit, we emailed the man at the area office over our portals domain. The rest of the council was great! I really learned a lot and felt it a special opportunity to attend. Afterwards I spent some time with tech staff discussing the issue. Elder Choi and I split back and we went home for dinner then came back for sports night. It was a lot of fun, we were able to build stronger relationships with the youth who came. At the end Elder Kubera and I began our split. 

Friday

After studies we went to a Karage place for lunch (fried chicken and pork). I had no idea it existed! As we were going down the stairs to it I was taking a picture of the lanterns and a man stopped me. He said something...I literally couldn't understand a word he was saying, neither could Elder Richardson so we were just standing there not knowing what was going on, come to find out he was pretty drunk and thought I looked like a friend from England he knows. Lunch was delicious! Probably some of the coolest interior design I have seen in a restaurant. When we got back we had district meeting, it went well, I enjoyed the time spent with everyone, afterwards we practiced for our music night. Then Elder Kubera and I washed the mission cars. I a pretty sure the last vehicle I washed was the tractor back at home. It was a lot of fun, and a different way of serving. After we changed the tech staff pulled me over and showed me the damage that had been done. The portal was restored from a backup in January...which meant that my huge 3 week long project was deleted. I was crushed...but I buckled down and worked super hard and I was able to redo all of it in only a matter of hours. President really needs that form to keep track of all the recent converts and less actives in the mission. I enjoyed spending time with Elder Kubera and learning from him. It was a good split. 

Saturday

The sisters called us late the other night and asked if we would cover for them at Children's English Class since neither of them are native English speakers. So we went early in the morning with Kajiura Kyoudai to set up and teach. The topic was animals so we ran around the room talking about animals with the kids. It was a lot of fun, we even read Curious George! One of the families that came is Korean and a potential investigator of the sisters. We have been trying to meet them too so it was a miracle that it all worked out that way. Elder Choi and the father were able to speak for a while in Korean so I was no help, I did pick up on that the family lived in Texas for 15 years though! Pretty cool! After the class ended we checked our iPads and found out we got our transfer emails. I will be transferring to Kamiooka to become a zone leader. That kind of shocked me, the assistants had hinted that I'd be transferring but not to be a zone leader. My companions name is Elder Shurilla who is from Wisconsin, it is his last transfer so it looks like I may stay in Kamiooka for a few transfers. Kamiooka in Japanese means "big hill place" and is known for being the hilliest part of our mission. Yay hills! After our calls we went out to lunch with the Tech Staff. Then went back to the church for weekly planning. That took a little while, but we got things figured out. We then picked up some ear medicine for my companion and ate dinner with the office elders, my favorite dumplings from Walmart. We then had our music night as a ward, it was really good, the Korean family came, as well as a few other families, it was fantastic overall. 

Sunday

After 9 months of serving in the same place the ward just feels like home to you. During sacrament meeting, i was asked with the sisters to bear my testimony, they too are leaving, one home to Hokkaido and the other is transferring to Hachijoji. It was really hard to say goodbye to the ward. I talked about how we make eternal friends on our mission, and quoted a famous missionary song. I am thankful for all my eternal friends in Kichijoji. During priesthood we had a meeting about dendo in the ward, then after we only had about ten minutes left for a lesson. Then the Elders Quorum President asked me to go up and fill the time. I have gained a strong testimony of praying with faith recently. I got up having no idea what I was going to say, but ended up talking about charity the pure love of Christ and challenged the Brethren to find ways to show that more in their daily lives. Afterwards we had a lesson with Uchiyama Kyoudai, Maeda Kyoudai, and Michael about getting a job, it was a really good lesson. We then ran over to the Yamashitas for dinner, they are the office couple. They are full Japanese but don't speak any Japanese. They had one of the return missionaries visiting as well over for dinner. It was so crazy eating an American meal...with Forks too! I am not as dexterous with a fork as I used to be haha. It was a really good meal, it reminded me of home. We shared a message of patience and how we can endure through trials with patience. We then collected stats from the district and wrote reports from this past week, then we went to the apartment, and then biked over to Ueki Kyoudais house. He has improved so much since we started visiting him a few months ago. He is now going to institute every week and reading the Book of Mormon everyday! Such big leaps! We then went to Josey's apartment. He is really improving his life and making the steps to change. I am sure by the end of the year he will have his papers in for his mission. He is one of my closest eternal friends. 

Well that sums up my week! I'll email you next time from Kamiooka! 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn

1. Elder Choi and I at Michaels (he wanted a picture of us)
2. Going to a Karage place for lunch. The interior design was amazing! 
3. Walking back we watched a little kid as he was terrified of a man in a costume.
4. The District in front of the temple! 

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

1. A notebook I found at daiso I love the English on it. 

1. Elder Christensen and I on Splits

1. This one was really interesting....and kind of disturbing. 

1. The shoe horn I recovered from Ueki Kyoudai 

1. The super nice tie from Josey, it has platinum stitched into it. 

1. Matsumoto Yuta kun in front of the takiyaki.