こんにちわ 皆さん！
Hello everyone!
この週は楽しかった！
This week has been exciting!
Without further delay lets get to it!
月曜日 Monday
Today we had P-day! It was good to have a few hours off to just relax.
I took a nap, it was much anticipated and needed! Then we went to
Shinyurigoka to go to the malls! It was way cool. There are two giant
6 story malls in the area and a ton of other stores my companion
bought a 100% cashmere scarf for 20 dollars! If you remember back to
when we went caroling, this is where the malls are. Right before we
left to get groceries we got the call we had been anticipating all
week! Transfer calls! Ever 6 weeks is called a transfer. Missionaries
serving from foreign countries serve for 16 transfers and Japanese
missionaries serve for 17. It is a way to distinguish how old a
missionary is. Also at the end of each transfer a few things can
happen, you can; be assigned to a new area with a new companion, stay
in the area and receive a new companion, or everything stays the same.
As you can see this call decides my next 6 weeks. The call came from
the assistants to the president (these are also missionaries), we got
very excited as we were told our fate. I have been called to stay here
and relieve a new companion, Elder Crandall, this exchange is set to
take place on Thursday. We then went emailing at the church, where we
met up with the sisters and took a group picture so we could heart
attack members houses. To do this we cut out a ton of hearts out of
colored paper and taped them to the doors of members with little
messages on them. It was an awesome time to build kanke
(relationships) with the members.
火曜日 Tuesday
We went to kurasushi (I call it Mary-go-round sushi). This is where
you order sushi on an iPad and it comes out on a conveyor belt to your
table. I ate angel fish, and blowfish among other delicacies, it was
delicious. After we finished up heart attacking members, then went to
the gym to work out and talk to people. I ran for 40 minutes! It was
good to see I can still run! After I lifted weights and talked to a
man who was 73 and had a compressed disk in his back 3 years ago. Now
he is one of the fittest guys k have seen. He put all four of us
American missionaries to shame. He was way ripped, he is buddist so we
talked a little about our and his beliefs, it was a good talk. As we
were leaving the front door of the gym a couple of teenagers came
walking and and were interested in why we were there, it was a great
opportunity to explain why we are here.
We then came home so Elder Leftwich could pack his things.
水曜日 Wednesday
Monthly-deep-cleaning-day! Yippe...not really. Once a month we deep
clean our apartments so they are conducive for the spirit. We washed
and scrubbed everything! Elder Leftwich finished packing and sent his
bags via a company to his new area. Before we started cleaning we met
up with an older man (japan has the highest rate of elderly people in
the world), he worked with international affairs for japan! He knew a
lot of BYU professors and said that he loves the Mormons! We talked a
little about the gospel and invited him to hear our message! After
cleaning for 5 hours we met up with Shin at Machida so my companion
could say goodbye. Then we rushed to McDonalds to grab a quick dinner.
(McDonald's in Japan is actually a desirable job here, and they will
deliver your food! Downside is that their dollar menu isn't as
comprehensive, and they don't have ranch or buffalo sauce, oh well
can't complain, they do have shrimp hamburgers though.) we then had
eaikiwa, and all the missionaries leaving the area said goodbye to the
students.
木曜日 Thursday
Transfer day! After lunch, my companion and another elder in the area
split and I split with his old companion as they went off to their new
areas. It is sad to say goodbye to good friends. Elder Johnson and I
went back to the apartment because it was down pouring, I made bread
and we read from Preach My Gospel. Then at 1:30 we went down to the
train station to go meet Elder Crandall! I actually knew Elder
Crandall from my first day of being a missionary here in Japan, he
took me out and we talked to a bunch of people. It turns out one of
the people we talked to is getting baptized at the end of this month!
We went to the apartment and brought all of his bags in and began
planning for our next week and getting to know each other. We have set
up a lot of stuff. Elder Crandall knows what he is doing and we will
get a lot of work done this transfer!
金曜日 Friday
We woke up way early and ran to the church for exercise! It was a
great run, and absolutely exhausting. After studying we biked down to
a less actives house to drop off a card and visit him. He ended up not
being home so we but the card in his mail box. We then took our
adventure to shinyurigoka to street around, we talked to 7 people in
the time we were there! It was awesome! We worked way hard, we then
biked home for dinner, but we got lost. I don't know the area
extremely well and we used trains to get everywhere so riding my bike
from place to place is a little harder. I know how to get around on
the trains without any problems though. We ended up pulling the iPad's
out to get a general idea of where to go. On our adventure we found
these random ruins that are 5000 years old! It was amazing! We plan to
go back to them later on this transfer. After dinner we went to sports
night and played soccer and basketball, it was a lot of fun.
土曜日 Saturday
After our normal study block we went to an indocurry place for lunch!
(Indocurry is curry from India, it is delicious, and is traditionally
made by Indian or Nepalis people, they serve you curry and this bread
called nan). The men working there were from India and were awesome,
later in the day we dropped off a card and some candy bars to them.
After lunch we had district meeting and my companion (the district
leader) helped us set new goals, our companionship is going to be
working very hard this transfer, I am excited to get a lot of work
done. After the meeting we went back home and decided to go on
adventure dendo (dendo is Japanese for missionary work) so we explored
around, on our way out we walked by the huge house next to ours and
met the man who lives there! He was fluent in English and had a neat
life story. He said his boss was mormon and he really respected how he
lived his life. Thank goodness for those people. He has an Aston
Martian and told us that he will need to give us a ride in it sometime
soon! We then proceeded to talk to a bunch of other people about
various things. By far my favorite conversation was about how our
ancestors relate to Jesus Christ. My companion and I then explained
why we have temples, and how because some of our ancestors could not
receive baptism in this life we can go as proxy to be baptized for
that person in the temple. It was a fantastic conversation, you could
tell the man was thinking very hard. We then had to sprint home
because a repair man was coming to fix our aircon (that is the word
for air conditioner in Japanese). It turns out though that our aircon
is so old that it can be fixed so we are figuring out something for
the downstairs of the apartment. The upstairs has 3 aircons that work
so we should be okay. After dinner we went out to go meet with two
less active bishops in our ward. We trained to shinyurigoka but then
got caught up talking to numerous people on our way to a 7/11 to get
wi/Fi for the map. After we were able to load the map we found that it
was a 35 minute walk, so we started sprinting to get to the house and
back to the train station on time. About halfway there we realized
that we would make it on time and decided it was better to try
tomorrow.
日曜日 Sunday
This transfer my companion and I made a goal to learn everyone in the
wards name. So we brought pen and paper and wrote down the name of
everyone we met. This was a sharp contrast to six weeks ago when I
just arrived and was so overwhelmed that I looked upset. It impressed
the ward a lot because we have 2 dinners for this upcoming week. They
really can see when you work hard. Church in Japanese is just hard,
staying awake is probably the hardest part. Translating is mentally
exhausting. After church we had a lesson with Diasuke, we discussed
the existence of God and spoke about Alma 17 where Ammon teaches king
Lamonhi. It was a really good lesson, we asked the elders quorum
president to sit in and he just added to the great spirit that was
there. After church we went home and ate lunch, I took a nap. Then we
went to go deliver the messages we meant to give out the day before.
As we were walking on the road we walked past a convenience store
where a man walked in and began to scream who knows what to the little
lady working there. So my companion walks toward the door to get a
better look of what is going on. The man (who looks like a Japanese
version of jack sparrow, the best connection I can make) looks at my
companion, drops his drink and begins to follow us. He walked about 10
feet behind us for half a mile, all the while neither of us have any
idea idea what this man wants or is going to do. We kept walking then
on a side street we booked it for a good 1/2 mile til we knew we lost
him, we could hear the man start screaming who knows what again, but
we knew we was gone. We then back tracked to themmain road we wanted
and proceeded to the house we were trying to get to the night before.
2 hours from leaving the apartment later we found the house. We then
went back to the apartment so we could get some medicine for the
sisters and visit another family in the ward, this time we took our
bikes. We dropped off the medicine to the sisters at their apartment
then rode our bikes to the members house. On our way however my
companions bike exploded. We were at a stop light, then right after it
turned green and we started to bike away then I hear my companions
bike make a ripping/running over sound. We stopped to assess the
damage, we found his chain to be ripped in half and the gear selector
ripped off as well. So we parked our bikes and locked them up in an
alley way and continued to go visit the member. They were really kind
and offered to take us home but we needed to drop off the bikes at a
bike shop so we could fix it the next day. We ended up being a half
hour late home because we had to walk to the nearest train station. It
was an exhausting day, we walked 19.6 km alone!
月曜日 Monday
My day began with a trip to the hospital. I have had a giant red bump
on my arm for a few days so I went to go get it checked out. I have
learned how government run health care works. Kind of an eye opening
experience. The way you check in is similar to how you check bags at
an airport. It doesn't have that friendly American hospital feel about
it. The nurses wear the 50s all white nurse outfits, instead of
scrubs. And the waiting rooms have all the people sit in classroom
like seating like you can see the person in from of you. I saw the
doctor and got it drained, it was pretty gross, but they said it was
probably caused by stress or something. They prescribed antibiotics
and set me on my way. It was quick, but didn't have that American love
that we infuse in our medicine. Then I went outside to go get my
medicine and had to make the decision between 5 different pharmacies
right next to each other on the same street. I took a Japanese elder
with me to translate for me, he was really helpful. Then I went to go
switch back companions so we could begin our normal day. We walked to
machida from the other elders apartment which was about an hour walk.
On our way to machida we met a lady who stopped us and asked us about
who we are, we love questions like that, we gave her a Book of Mormon
and she was so excited about it, and kept thanking us for what we
brought. The women of japan are truly a prepared people, it is too bad
we aren't allowed to strike up conversations with them. We continued
our journey and had lunch at an Italian all you can eat place, it was
really cool. They had a traditional Italian pizza oven! The pizza was
fantastic! We then continued our journey some more til we got to the
bike shop where we left our bikes the night before. My companion
talked to the bike repair people about getting things fixed which took
about an hour, they let us both keep our bikes there, which was great
because we were 8ish miles away from home. On our way home we ran into
a man who was so excited that we were missionaries when we introduced
ourselves he said in the best English he could "I love Mormons, only
it sounded like I wauve modumons!" It took us by surprise! He asked if
we could come visit him sometime soon, we plan to this upcoming week!
During dinner I introduced the piano guys to my companion. It was good
to sit down and relax for an hour. Then we hit the streets again and
talked to another man who is in college, we gave him a Book of Mormon
as well and invited him to church. In the end we talked to 18 people
and invited them all to church, we have some big hopes for them. We
also walked 20 km.
Sorry this week is so long! There was just so many awesome things that
happened! This transfer is going to be amazing!
Thank you for your love and support!
Elder Nathan Dunn
ダン長老
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