I have arrived.

> こんにちわ 皆さん！
> I have arrived safely in Nehon! Here is how my week has gone.
>
> Sunday
>
> Lasts day at the MTC! It was so nice to finally get to that point!
> Vocal Point came for the devotional, which was awesome, they are a
> singing group from BYU. We then finished packing everything and
> cleaned our room.
>
> Monday/ Tuesday
>
> We left the MTC at 3:30 in the morning! We took a bus to the train,
> then the train to the airport. I was able to talk with my family in
> Salt Lake for an hour which was amazing! I then flew to Seattle, then
> off to Nehon to arrive at 4 p.m. Tuesday. I was exhausted. Customs was
> so confusing, thank goodness some of them spoke some English. We then
> took a bus to the Hombu (mission home). I met president and sister
> Wada, they are some of the kindest people I have ever met. When I
> first arrived I probably looked crazy, my mouth was gapping wide open,
> I couldn't believe I was here. We learned a lot of customs when we
> first arrived such as how to take our shoes off properly.
>
> Wednesday
>
> Today was filled with training about the various ways we do missionary
> work here in the Tokyo south Mission. After lunch, I got to go talk to
> people on the streets! It was awesome, I was surprised by how much I
> was able to understand! I spoke to a few different people. I amazed at
> how clean everything is here! Yet there are no trash cans
> anywhere...for work out in the morning we did radio tyso which is an
> aroids program in the park that a lot of older nehongen do. For dinner
> we went to a ramen house which was awesome!! The food was so amazing!
> After we taught English class! I loved it, something I felt
> comfortable with!
>
> Thursday
>
> I got my new companion today! Elder Leftwhich, he is from Colorado! My
> area is Machida, I can't really explain very wells where it is, so it
> is better to look at the map I posted a while ago. I got my iPad
> today, we can receive and read emails anytime throughout the week
> however we have to wait to respond til Monday. We went to the
> apartment, which is super nice, my companion said it is one of the
> nicest in the mission, we have bunk beds and a dryer! (Yeah, that does
> sound pretty sad). We forgot my immigration card at the Hombu, so we
> had to go back, which is about an hour train ride. Interesting thing
> about trains it is silent, almost a weird silence. I am consistently
> the tallest on the train, and can look ever everyone when walking down
> the street. Everyone looks super young here, I am convinced they stop
> aging after age 20. Japanese girls are an interesting group as well,
> they always giggle when we walk past, which makes me thing I have
> something in my teeth.
>
> Friday
>
> We woke up and had district meeting, it was good! I got to meet
> everyone in the District. All 8 of us are serving in the same ward! It
> is pretty intense! We went to the gym after that to meet with an
> investigator Shinn (pronounced sheen). I invited someone to English
> class, he spoke good English, and invited us over for dinner. After we
> had sports night which was awesome, i played ping pong with the
> littler kids, whose Japanese is way better than mine.
>
> Saturday
>
> A day of goal setting! We set some intense goals at a companionship
> for the transfer. I made my desk a little home, it is the closest
> thing I will have to home for the next two years. We then went to
> Kichijoji for the Christmas concert! It was amazing, all there songs
> were in Japanese, and I couldn't understand a word, but I was able to
> tell what was being sung. On the say to the concert we were riding the
> train and these girls were staring at me and giggling, I am starting
> to get used to it, and then one of them approaches me and asked me how
> I was doing in Japanese, I understood and responded. We had a good
> conversation then she started asking me about my mission, to make a
> long story short, I found out she was a member! It is a rule here that
> we are not allowed to approach women.
>
> Sunday
>
> The closest I have every felt to crying on my mission was today. I was
> super homesick. Church was rough, I didn't understand anything. I just
> sat there and smiled and wondered why I wasn't serving in America.
> Then the thought came, "you were chosen to come here because you can
> handle it". After church I played with the member kids and talked with
> them. My ward is one of the biggest in Japan, they are all super nice
> and a lot of them speak flawless English. In my mission there are only
> 2 branches the rest are wards. I was presently surprised to here that.
> On the way to church one of the elders in my apartment was hit by a
> car. He is fine, but the bike tire is completely bent. It was an
> elders who just went home, and was going to be mine. But I think that
> was a sign I should get a new one. After church we went caroling, it
> was awesome! It really felt like Japan where we were.
>
> Thank you for all your prayers and love, they have been much needed
> and well received this week.
>
> Love,
>
> Elder Nathan Dunn
>
> P.s. If any of you have recipes you'd love to share, feel free! We do
> not have an oven however, so that is the only down side.