こにちは一番人たち！
この週は本当に楽しかったです。
月曜日
Busy day! We woke up had our studies, after studies we cleaned the
apartment then went to the post office to get money and send Kaitlin's
birthday package out. While I was there I met a man from Afghanistan.
I helped translate his English into Japanese for the women. He said
that he had lived in Hollywood in the 60s and had just recently moved
to japan because of all the hectic stuff going on in the Middle East.
After talking to him we went to 7/11 to go load up emails, then on the
train to meet the sisters to go to Costco! Costco was great! We have
most the groceries for the transfer now! My companion was pretty
excited for the American food! He ate a ton! We then came home and
carried the groceries to Diaso so we could get the shopping done
there. Then we lugged all those groceries home (let me tell you 5
kilos of onions weighs a ton after the first 2 miles, not to mention
the other groceries), it took about 30 minutes or so. When we got home
I had a paper informing me that I had received a package but they
weren't able to drop it off because we weren't at the apartment. So we
called but had no answer. We then went to 義湯スパー (Giomes Super) to buy
our normal groceries for the week. Then off to the church to write
emails. After emails we came to the apartment and unpacked everything
then went back to the church to teach a lesson. The lesson lasted 2
hours! It was mostly in English with Japanese here and there. My
companion isn't very fluent so I had to carry I grunt of the lesson.
Most the questions were America based anyways. But through the spirit
we got all of them figured out and extended him a commitment to be
baptized, he accepted! We plan to hold the service on March 28th,
given that all goes well. We then went to the bishops house to deliver
a message and take a picture of them holding a sign they made of why
families are important to them. The visit went way late so we ended up
getting home at 9:45.
火曜日
Our language study is a lot of fun. He works on his English so he will
ask me things and I will correct him and he does the same for me, we
have a pretty good system worked out. I have been told that my
Japanese sounds like his English...if that is the case we are making a
good pair. I made curry for lunch. After lunch we went to the church
to meet up with a member for a lesson we had. He came with us to the
lesson, he served in the Sendai mission, however he was speaking so
fast I only caught bits and pieces. The lesson was great we taught
Fujiro-San, he is an older man, but he understood my Japanese so that
was comforting. We discussed the importance of sacrament, my companion
is a master of a teacher. He understands people's needs and he is the
first companion I have had that doesn't have a language barrier. After
we picked up our bikes at the apartment and visited another
investigator who wasn't home so we housed the nearby area, some of the
people had gorgeous gardens filled with flowers budding. We then came
home for dinner and my companion made omelet rice, it was delicious.
We then went to the church to contact some investigators and clean up
the area book more. It is a pretty big mess, my last area didn't have
one since we were so new. We then had a lesson with Takeshi-San after
playing ping-pong with him for an hour, it was fun, and I enjoyed
getting to know him better. He is a pilot for a company and takes
pictures for buildings and highways, I think it is surveying but I am
not entirely sure. Then we taught him a short lesson about being a
light unto the world. I shared D&C 115:5 "Verily I say unto you all:
Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the
nations;". I am enjoying the challenge at thieves of being with a
japanese companion. I have to think and know for my self the words in
order to communicate with people, it is a good feeling.
水曜日
During companionship study we went to the other elders apartment, two
doors down to role play a lesson we had planned. We then ate lunch and
went to the church to find where a few less active members live. The
first person wasn't there so we were not able to meet with them so we
housed the entire apartment building! No one was answering so we kept
knocking at a quickened rate. Then everyone decided to come out at
once, so I was talking to one family and my companion was talking to
another lady! It was pretty hectic! After that we went to go visit
another family. When we arrived at the apartment complex we met a
sister who lives in our Ward! It was great to meet her! We knocked on
the door of he apartment the person was to have lived, but he said he
had no idea who we were. So we continued housing, then my companion
wanted to visit another less active and a have a lesson with an
investigator. Neither were home somwe met up with the sisters to show
them where a potential investigator lives. We then came home for
dinner. We hurried and ate, then my companion fell asleep before
Eaikiwa. We then had Eaikiwa, it was great! There was a little 6 year
old girl that kept asking me things in Japanese, it was way cute...but
I had no idea what she was saying. The bishop came in later and we
talked, it was good to get to know him. He showed me an interview of
Gordon B. Hinckley with Larry King it was way good! After English
class we talked as a district with the people who came it was a good
time to get to know everyone.
木曜日
After futsu (normal) studies. I made mac and cheese (I found a box of
it in the cupboard, and since the apartment has been open since
December I found it safe to eat) and grilled cheese! It was delicious!
We then went to the church to call around the Ward for a member to go
with us to teach a lesson. Sadly no one was available so we walked to
Fujino-sans apartment. We had a great lesson with him, I understood
what was going on the entire time and was even able to help out to a
pretty good degree in Japanese! It was awesome, at the end of the
lesson we prepared him for our next lesson we want to talk about with
him and extend an invitation to be baptized. The work is really
picking up here. We then went home to get the bikes and drop off a
letter from the bishop to a member of our Ward. We had a good talk
with her. We then had to bike to the other side of the area to deliver
a present to a member. Sadly they weren't home so we hooked it to the
door. We were going to go to another family, but instead we swung by a
less active member, and a sick member, my companion has been him this
area for 7 months, so he knows the area really well. We then went to
get crepes! We ran into a couple of break dancers dancing in the town
square so we talked to them for a little bit, the didn't teach us
anything sadly. We then bought crepes and went to the church to sync
our iPads (our iPads have an app where we put all of our lessons,
investigators, and other important things in it) it is a useful app,
but still has some bugs. We ran into the sisters while we were there,
one of them is brand new and her companion is a sister training leader
(kind of like a zone leader for sisters). Her companion had training
at the Hombu so she was with the other sister training leaders
companion in the zone who happens to be a nehongen (Japanese person).
She looked pretty stressed out about speaking Japanese all day. I gave
her some encouragement then we came home and did our weekly planning
and ate dinner, my companion calls me "king-sized" and I call him
"long swamp" (Naganuma in English). It was great to talk about all the
hard work we are doing. I then spent about an hour sowing holes up in
a few pairs of pants.
金曜日
We had district meeting right after personal study. It was really
good, it is exciting to see the work progressing among other
missionaries as well. After we went to Indo Curry as a district it was
delicious! Then we went to Fugino-San for another lesson! He was
excited to see us. It was a great lesson we asked if he would be
baptized and his response was that he will pray about it! It was an
awesome miracle, he original wouldn't even let the missionaries in,
but now he fully welcomes us in his house. It is great. We then came
home and I made some bread to take to a less active member. We dropped
it off, it was forever away! We biked for 45 minutes straight to get
there! It was intense. All this bike riding is making us pretty fit,
and giving us monstrous legs! After coming home for planning my
companion got a call from president Wada asking us if we wanted him to
sit in on a lesson with us and one of our investigators with a
baptismal date. We said of course, so we spent up until 10:25 calling
people around to get things worked out.
土曜日
Our studies we kind of scrapped and turned into full on lesson
preparation for the day. It was a lot of preparing. It was enjoyable
though. We didn't have time for lunch because we had to be in
Kichijoji by 1:30. We raced on the trains there, we may have taken a
wrong transfer so we had to transfer in a huge train station. It was
cool but way hectic. We then got to the homebu and talked to the
mission president for a little bit before the member came. We had the
lesson in president Wadas house! It was awesome! I don't know how many
missionaries get the opportunity to be invited to the mission
presidents house for a lesson, it was pretty neat. He testified and
taught right along with us. Sadly it didn't really go anywhere, he is
very prideful. President Wada said something that really hit home with
me. He said, "We invite others to follow Christ, not force." How true
is that! Invite is the key verb in that sentence, it is their choice
to come into Him. After the lesson sister Wada made us cobbler! It was
delicious! She helped me with my Japanese so I could explain why we
don't grow blueberries in the farm. That was really helpful. She told
me that I am not allowed to post on Facebook anymore picture of me in
a wheelchair, so I don't give mom a heart attack. After the lesson we
went to the mission office and I got my package from my family! Yay!
It made my day! We then ventured back on the trains home, only we
thought we had to transfer in shibuya when we didn't...shibuya is
huge...it is home of the largest crosswalk in the world. When we got
back home we hurried and ate then went to the church for another
lesson. We originally planned to talk about the Priesthood, but sadly
he wasn't very receptive and instead wanted to talk about gay marriage
again, he has a baptismal date, but needs to figure things in his life
a little more.
日曜日
Another rainy Sunday. We hurried to the church after getting ready for
the day to practice our singing for a hymn we were singing in church.
I think since being on a mission I have realized a talent I don't have
is singing, the notes were really high. We had to leave early anyways
to go pick up Fujino at his apartment! I brought him a tie as a
present! He was thrilled to see us, sadly he forgot, but got ready
really quick anyways. He is 82 years old and walked all the way to the
church with us! What a genki old man! He also goes swimming often! At
church the Ward loved him! Everyone came up to him and talked to him.
We had Ward conference so the bishop and stake president spoke, the
longer I am in Japan the more it begins to seem like home again, the
church really is the same wherever you go. After Sacrament meeting we
had gospel principals and the stake president taught, it was really
good. He taught about the plan of salvation. We then had priesthood,
it was way confusing because similarly to America they use really hard
words in the High priest group. After church we had a big lunch party
with the whole Ward! It was awesome! Our Ward mission leader stopped
me then asked his wife how old she thought I was. She said 28!! My
Ward mission leader agreed that I looked well into my twenties. He was
amazed to find out I am 18, he also said a lot of members of the Ward
have thought the same thing and have asked. Either way it was pretty
funny. It was fun to get to know the Ward better, the deacons remind
me of Andy a lot, they are way cool. After lunch we walked Fujino back
to his apartment. Then back to our apartment to call potential
investigators. Our phone was buzzing or being used for the next 3
hours! Everyone and their dog wanted to talk to my companion, we got a
lot of work done and referred a lot of people over to the sister
missionaries. We then ate dinner and went to the church and submitted
statistics for our area and copied the program for our talent show on
Saturday. Then we rushed to the bishops apartment to drop it off! It
was a busy day!
Well that is about it for the week! Stay warm if it's cold and stay
cold if it's warm!
With love,
Elder Nathan Dunn
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