こんにちは友達と家族へ
私のボロはたくさん写真があります。
I put more pictures on my blog!
月曜日
We woke up early and went to the church so I could fill our forms for
Li. Then we went back to the church so I could Skype my family!! It
was so exciting to see them all! Everyone has grown up so much
already! I learned that my English is getting worse, which I have been
told is a good thing. But now I am just bad at two languages. After my
Skype call we went upstairs and hung out with the other elders waiting
for them to finish up there calls. We then ran to the apartment
changed, which felt really strange since I haven't worn normal clothes
in a long time. Then we went bowling with an investigator. When we
were there at the lane next to us was a kid from our ward with his
friends bowling! He was really excited to see the missionaries!
Bowling was fun, I am still awful. There is a lot more to it then just
power. We then went to Diaso to buy various things, I bought a new
tie. We then went to the mall so my companion could buy new pants.
Uniclo is the best store in the world. They had limited edition Star
Wars T-Shirts. Naturally we needed to get one since they were having a
sale. So all the American missionaries got a Star Wars Shirt. My
district leader bought 6! I bought a neat looking droid shirt and a
Disney toy story shirt as well. Well done Uniclo. We then came home,
changed, then went to giomes to buy groceries. Then we came home and
cleaned. After that my companion Skyped his family home. Sadly his
brother and Dad weren't home so it was just his mom. It was a pretty
funny call though. My companion found out his little brother had
stolen all of his clothes..it didn't make him very happy. They also
were talking about brownies which made me hungry for brownies. So
after the call I told him, we needed to go to 7/11 to go buy Black
Thunders to put in the brownies. I also needed to split a bill, Elder
Aoki said he had enough to exchange but I was convinced that we should
go there. As we were walking there, I had the feeling to talk to an
old man walking toward us, he had a strangely dark countenance about
him. We stopped him and asked him if he had ever heard of our church
before. He then turned and began to yell at us asking why on earth we
would ask him because he is Buddhist. Apparently we were supposed to
know by the way he was dressed or something. However I don't see green
pants and a blue rain jacket with a backpack as signs of being
Buddhist but I could be wrong. He then told us that all Christian
churches are the same, and told us to follow him. My companion was
using the most polite Japanese he knew however this man was very
angry. We followed as we had been asked, all the while he told us of
how Buddhism is the oldest religion. When we asked about Adam and Eve
he acted out the evolution of man. For a minute I was lost and thought
we were playing charades. I turned to my companion and told him in
English that I had a bad feeling about this and we needed to leave.
And I really wanted to make these brownies. I told my companion to
pull out the phone and call the district leader to fake a call so we
could leave. However upon pulling his phone out the man screamed at
him to put it away telling us it was very rude. Up until this point in
the conversation I hadn't said a word to the man. Then I had the
feeling that we needed to go. So I told my companion we were leaving
then informed the drunk that we would not be following him any further
and would be leaving. I grabbed my companion and we walked swiftly
away. However the drunk did not get what we were trying to get at so I
told my companion that I would be talking to him from then on because
my companion was becoming a little scared. I asked him what the word
for leave is in Japanese then I conjugated it into the command form.
All this while we are being followed by the drunk man who is yelling
after us. Trying to get us to come with him. We ran into a stop light
and being forced to obey the law we stopped. I had never felt the urge
to yell at someone my entire mission but I felt a strong peace and
reassurance that this is what I was supposed to do. As the man came up
to us and began to yell, loud enough that the entire block could hear.
I turned to him and roared, LEAVE! I then had the most distinct
feeling I have had in a while. Run. I then turned to my companion and
asked him how fast he could run. The light almost immediately after I
said it turned green and I bolted. Thankfully my companion got the
message and followed. While the drunk screamed and yelled and cursed
and tried to run. We ran for a good 500 meters at a sprint then
decided we were safe and took a million back roads to the apartment so
he couldn't follow us anymore. We ended up getting home a half hour
late. But we were safe, and we listened to the promptings.
火曜日
We studied, then went to the church for weekly planning. On our way
their we saw some people who were not from Japan. They were short
looking Tongans. Instead we found out they were from Guam! They were
the nicest people. One of them said that his brother almost became a
Mormon and was taught by the grandson of the native missionary in the
Disney movie, other side of heaven. There we called the rap guy from a
few nights ago, he said that he wants wants to have a lesson at the
church tomorrow! We set that up, then finished our planning. After we
went housing nearby, no one yelled at us so that is always nice. We
then came home and my companion made hamburgers and we put it on bread
instead of rice. It was great. Then off to Tama center to pick up
Shinji for an Eaikiwa lesson. It was a good lesson but half way
through it we received a call from Li asking if he could bring his
friend. He didn't specify a time so I grabbed the other elders and
went on splits so one set could wait on Li and the other set could
keep teaching Shinji. It was busy! Li's friend came who is also from
China then our member came from sagamihara who is also from China so
they all spoke Chinese and we spoke English. It was very confusing! We
played ping pong with them then had a great lesson, it was really cool
to see how the Chinese language flows. That night it rained super
hard, it was my first Japanese typhoon to experience.
水曜日
During lunch I was attempting to make come thing smaller so it would
fit in the trash. However during the midst of this I tried to use our
keys to pull it apart. It turns out our key is very brittle and broke
off inside. So we had to go get a new key, however the other elders
were in Kichijoji for some paperwork so we were stuck for a little
bit. After lunch we then decided to go visit some less actives in the
area. We were able to visit a few, however none were home. So we came
home for dinner. I wasn't hungry so I showed a pair of pants I
shredded a little while ago, I got pretty good headway before our
lesson. We then went to the church for a lesson with Yoichiro! He is
doing great. We had an awesome lesson with a member from the ward
about faith. After the lesson we had a meeting in Hachioji with him
about self reliance. It was a really cool meeting! We learned a lot.
It got me thinking about how I am going to pay for things after my
mission. We got home super late. On our way the bishop passed by us
and asked about the concert on Monday. We then came home and ate,
planned and slept.
木曜日
Our studies were cut very short by zone meeting in our area. We spent
most of personal study setting up. The meeting was great, we learned a
lot of really good things that will help our investigators more. We
also learned that there is another training from salt lake we have to
do regarding our online area books and data privacy. We all were not
excited or thrilled by that because we need to go through our area
books and clean them up, they are pretty awful anyways. After the
meeting we went out to lunch as a group. My group went to sakiya,
where I bought cheese guyudon (shredded beef on rice). I bought the
king size, which is huge! After filling ourselves to capacity the
elders in the district met at the church so we could start our
training. We had over 2 and a half hours of videos to watch. Which was
exhausting, no one was too thrilled to be losing so much dendo time.
We came back home, ate dinner, and then elder Aoki and I went to have
a lesson with Fujino! He is doing great! We talked about prayer and
the importance of prayer. It was a really good lesson for him. My
companion drew inori or 祈り really fancily on a piece of paper for him
so he will remember him.
金曜日
We woke up super early so we could get to seminary on time. After
seminary I took a little bit of a nap then made apple fritters and
planned a training for district meeting. It was a great district
meeting. One of the sister missionaries is going home next week, so it
was pretty emotional for her. Missions are such a bittersweet
experience. You want to stay in an area, but you want to see other
parts too. After district meeting we went to yakuniku as a district.
It was fun, the place we went to had a million grills so we were able
to cook a lot. Sister Dansie, the missionary going home, and I shared
a grill. However we burned everything...to the point where it was on
fire. I learned I can bake but grilling is a skill I have not yet
acquired. We had one of the local investigators come eat with us too.
He has known missionaries for 20 years! After yakuniku we went to the
church to finish the training. We were determined to finish it. We
finished the videos 2 and a half hours later because of the wifi. We
then spent 4.5 hours cleaning the area book. It was awful. We
basically had to become lawyers on these area books. After we came
home and ate a small dinner.
土曜日
We woke up had our studies, then went to sushi! It was great I wasn't
super hungry, but it was still good. I think my favorite sushi is the
tuna salad. We got a call from the Assistants asking us if we got our
transfer calls yet. My district leader then yelled no, don't tell me,
then he hung up the phone. We then finished eating quickly hopped on
the train and ran to the church. We all got our calls. I read mine, I
am being sent to Hachioji A for this transfer! Hachioji A was the zone
leaders, now the zone leaders split and I am going to be with him. It
will be exciting. To be entirely honest, I was not expecting to
transfer so soon, but the Lord needs me somewhere else. With
transferring comes packing....yay...I am getting used to packing now.
We came home and I used a few of my vacuum bags to put things in my
suit case better. Dollar vacuum bags work wonderfully! During packing
Elder Phillips called, my buddy from the MTC, he is leaving for
Kawasaki. We then went to the church for game night, however no one
came so we went to Diaso to buy more bags. We went to a giant shopping
mall in Tama center to also buy Tim tams, I found the Brazilian drink
I have been craving all transfer! It was wonderful! We then went back
to the apartments and made tacos, while everyone packed, then after
dinner we had a huge tie trade. It was fun, my companion gave me
calligraphy of my name! It is 弾雨 or hail of bullets. He said it was
fitting for me, the reading is Dan'u but it is pronounced da-nu. We
ended up spending the rest of the night packing. It was quite awful.
日曜日
We woke up, got ready, and went to the church for DCS. After DCS we
had sacrament. They asked all the leaving missionaries to speak. I had
a lot of people come up to me and say that they have noticed a big
difference in my Japanese since moving here. That is good to hear, I
still have a lot further to go. A few weeks ago we found a bag of
really old ties in the closet and we went to go ask the young men's
President of we could have them. However the young woman cornered me
and asked if we could take a picture with me, so I grabbed Elder
Clark. Japanese young women love filters on their cameras. Since the
young men's president was in a meeting we were waiting forever the
sister missionaries came around the corner wearing kimonos that a ward
member bought them. Which turned into another photo shoot including
Elder Clark and I, the sisters, and young woman. In the end we had a
million pictures taken, and he left before we could ask about the
ties. We then went home and ate gioza for lunch and planned for our
week. Then went back to the church for a Shokogi with misou shimai. I
tried to make a pun calling the miso soup, misou soup however when I
said it she looked at me totally befuddled. Then one of the other
elders said, Japanese people don't understand puns. My companion tried
to explain it for me. Lesson learned. After conference call, president
Wada called us. It took me totally by surprise. He wanted to ask what
my thoughts were on transferring again, and to talk about my new
companion. Then he asked for Elder Aoki, then all the other elders in
the apartment. He just wanted to let us all know he loves us. It was a
surprising, but nice call.
Well another week has flown by!
Love,
Elder Dunn
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