Hello,
This week has been really busy!
Saturday
Elder bates and I awoke to an exhausting run! Then we had some of that
good ole study time followed by some cleaning of the apartment. Then
Sister Wada called us asking if we were going to the base, and would
you imagine that we were! She offered to drive us because she needed a
mixer, so it was pretty convenient. We drove to the base which was
great because it gave us time to write emails. After getting to the
commissary we ate lunch at Subway! Real, Subway! Oh man was that good.
Then we shopped around for various goods. We were over looking at the
blenders, and we were getting some funny looks from a couple of
people...which was a little strange. I am sure we were a stance sight
indeed, 4 white young men dressed in white shirts and ties on a base.
We have to take our name tags off when we go in. They then came up to
us and asked if we were missionaries, then they introduced themselves
as members of the Yokota ward! Imagine that! Then Sister Wada saw one
of her old friends from Utah there shopping so they had a mini
reunion. We ended up dot getting the blender because it wasn't big
enough, but that is okay. At the commissary we bought tons of
groceries! We will be good on American snacks and goodies for a while
that is for sure! Afterwards, we got in the car and headed home. When
we got back, we unpacked, and got ready to go out and dendo. But first
we did the mail check (best part of the day). And wouldn't you believe
i, there was a package there for me! It took me by total surprise. A
member of my stake back in Ohio moved to Okinawa and sent me a box
full of cookies! What a neat tender mercy!! Filled with cookies we
went out to visit a less active. Sadly they weren't home so that left
us to housing, we ended up walking in the giant park. There we met two
young men who we were able to talk to for a little bit and place two
Book of Mormon's. Then we came back, so Elder Naganuma could get some
of his district leader responsibilities finished. During that time I
worked on the apartment app. The nice day long break gave me enough
time to relax myself and focus more on my work. I am so close with
that app, all I have left is to code the collapsible table content,
background color for the table, the fancy Flat-ui buttons in (just
kidding, I checked the app and they work), and to translate the entire
app into Japanese.
Sunday
Since it was Sunday we didn't work out which gave me time to write in
my journal. Then we got ready, put the chicken wings in the crockpot
and went over to the church for DCS. The meeting was good, nothing
extraordinary. Then Sacrament meeting, Josey and I had been messaging
back and forth all week, making sure he was going to be able to come.
However at 10:15 he still wasn't there, so I said a quick prayer. Then
the door opened and he walked right in with his brother! Whoa! Talk
about a miracle! After Sacrament meeting he planned to leave however
he ended up staying for the whole second hour too! After that neat
experience at church we came back to the office, did some work, then
went to the back to do weekly planning! I'll tell you what it is so
hard on fast Sunday's to plan. After finishing we ate chicken wings!
Oh man were they delicious! We also made some clam chowder as well!
Talk about a meal! After we got ready to go out and meet with a man,
so since it was raining we took jackets, and hopped on the bikes. I
have learned to become really comfortable riding my bike next to cars
and along heavy traffic.that was something that horrified me at the
beginning of my mission. After arriving at the mans apartment complex
we tried to contact him however his wife came out and said they were
eating dinner, so we said, okay see you in a little bit. Now up until
this point it hadn't been raining very hard at all. So we went to
another house to visit. Then it began to rain, then pour, and I mean
pour. Within seconds we were completely soaked. So we decided to do
some pity dendo and house. So we knocked on some doors just dripping
wet, to the point where when I spoke I was spitting the water running
down my face. Sadly, it didn't work at all, no one answered the door.
We decided to visit a less active nearby, we went to the apartment
complex and found the door, asked them if they were home, then what
followed next got really interesting. The woman who answered said she
didn't know who we were, then in the background we began to hear a
mans voice yelling at the woman to get off the intercom. So the
intercom shut off quickly and abruptly. Confused, Elders Moua and
Mukai looked at me, I looked at them and we all were confused. So what
did we do? Knocked again! They came to the intercom again and this
time we asked if they were members, they said no and hung up the
phone. We then grabbed the list out matched the kanjis, and wouldn't
you know they are members. With eternal salvation hanging in the
balance we rung a third time to have a man answer the intercom asking
us what we wanted, so we told him. To which his response was that he
was Buddhist (which is what we get 99/100). Since he obviously had no
interest we left him a message and went to the next floor. Where Elder
Mukai freaked out as soon as he saw the door. Now, lemme explain a
little about Elder Mukai, he is about 5' 6" Japanese man, speaks
fluent English (to the point they let him serve on a military base),
and has really really bad exama, or the skin disease that makes you
itch all the time, and because of it he is always scratching his neck
and arms, so his clothes always look really mess. He looks pretty sad,
but he is probably my favorite Japanese missionary. Now that we have a
mental picture lets go back. Elder Mukai jumps and says in English
"oh, man! That is the yakuza, yabeeeeeee". Lemme translate this, the
yakuza is the Japanese mafia, who is pretty dang powerful in Tokyo,
and yabeeeeeee is basically the equivalent of shoot, or dang. Since
there are no curse words in Japanese it isn't bad to say at all, it is
just slang. I turned to him and said, well I'm a foreigner so I can
pretend I don't know. So I knocked on the door, sadly a woman answered
and didn't have any interest. Afterwards Elder Mukai asked why I would
do something crazy like that, and my response was simple, "everyone
needs Christ in their life". I have learned that principal a lot
recently. Then we continued walking in the rain being more soaked,
back to our bikes, only before we left we all felt the need to go
knock on the mans house one more time. So we did, and he answered!! He
said he wasn't interested, which was fine, so we talked a little bit
about our message and ended up teaching him the restoration and prayed
with him. Another cool experience! It made the whole night completely
worth it. Then we biked home in the rain, completely soaked. Then
changed, and answered missed phone calls.
Monday
Ran. Studied. Ate Sandwich. Took Nap. Office work; worked hard. Fixed
a lot of css in the apartment app. Looks pretty, wow. During the time
we were working Sister Yamashita (the office secretary) felt really
sick so sister Wada went to the store to buy groceries, only when she
was unloading some cranberry juice she dropped it breaking the bottle,
so we had to hurry and clean in before it rained again. Had dinner,
sand which, I think yes. Delicious. After dinner is where the real
stuff began happening. We had a lesson with a man named Rick. He is
full Japanese however he is really fluent in speaking English from
serving in the military! It was a great visit, we were able to talk a
lot to him, and get to know a lot about his experiences and his life
aspirations! Elder Moua and I had a great time teaching and setting up
a return appointment with him. We hope to see him progress a lot.
Tuesday
Since elder bates had to head to a zone conference early, we just had
a good push-up contest. Then went and got ready. Had a great study.
Then began a long day of office work, we had various different
projects to get done so we were busy getting those all finished. I
have learned a lot about balance recently since being in the office,
if you focus too much on the office work, you put off the other work,
which in many ways is more important, being helping and inviting
others to come unto christ. It turned into a pretty rainy day. At
night we had some dendo time so we went out housing. We didn't find
anyone special, but I know we will be blessed for the effort later in
the week.
Wednesday
We awoke and ran, in the rain, or should I say Typhoon! Talk about a
wet and adventurous run! There was no one out, but it was a wonderful
experience. Then after personal study we had staff meeting. During
staff meeting we got a call from the Odawara Elders, they informed us
that they were being evacuated because of the typhoon. So we had to
look up the location, which turned the office into a swirl of phone
calls, thankfully we were able to get everything worked out. After the
stressful meeting (however enjoyable) we went to shakeys, it is kind
of tradition now. Then we came back to the office and got ready for an
adventure of a lifetime. We needed to go to Tama to look at tool kits
for the mission then to machida to replace a missionaries iPad. It
was a great trip. However it was so wet! We were soaked from walking
in the typhoon, but Elder Moua and I got a lot of worked figured out.
It was a trip down memory lane for me. All my old areas, it was too
bad we didn't have time to visit members! We got home in the knock of
time to go to eaikaiwa! It was a fun time, we did one on one
conversations with our students. I enjoyed it a lot, our students are
all fluent in English so that makes for a great time when we crack
jokes. After eaikaiwa we enjoyed the rest of our evening by helping
missionaries with iPad issues around the mission. I am officially used
to getting ready for bed at 10:25.
Thursday
Elder Moua and I planned to go running since Elder Bates and I
couldn't. Well Elder Moua wasn't feeling well so I went over to shake
him to wake him up and I thought he said, go back to bed I don't feel
well. So I did, and woke up at 6:15. But in actuality he said, go ask
elder ford...I don't know how I confused the two but I did. Thursday
was a rough long day of office work, I usually am running between two
computers back and forth fixing different issues. Then for dinner
Elder Ford and I watched the new twelve step recovery from addiction
videos that the Church has but out recently, they are really good, but
I don't recommend watching them with your kids. It shifted my
paradigms a little, it was moving. Then we went to ping pong night!
One of my highlights to smash ping pong balls and president Wadas too!
We had a few good rallies, he is pretty good though! Afterwards we had
a good night of planning.
Friday
We awoke to be excited for a great run. Following a great personal
study, we went upstairs to talk to the missionaries finishing their
missions soon what needs to happens before they are to leave. It was a
weird and sad meeting. However after our part we were asked to leave.
Then the real fun began. Elder Mukai asked if I would go with him to
the garbage center to drop off some trash. When I asked why they
needed me to go they said they needed a gaijin to act like he didn't
know what was going on so they would take the trash, they are so
funny. So I went on the trip. The trash center is seriously something
straight out of Toy Story 3! It was so cool! Then we came home and
went to sushi, yum! Then we came back and Elder Leach, Elder Ford and
I worked on a new Eakaiwa statistics checker. It was fun but
exhaustive. After a long day in the office. Elder Naganuma, Elder Moua
and I went out to drop off a note for Rick, then went housing in the
area. It was a great time to be a normal missionary! We talked to a
lot of people and invited a lot. We were able to talk to a sweet woman
about having the sisters come back, it turns out she had read some of
the Book of Mormon and had some questions. Then we found 2 other men
who had great interest and we were able to invite them and exchange
contact info with them. Then Rick called asking if we wanted to go to
Denny's (in japan it is a lot different). We sat in there and found a
lot of information about him and some being a few red flags. So that
was an interesting way to end the night.
In case you were wondering, yes we had an earthquake this morning. It
was a 5.4, and it woke us up, but we are all fine :)!
Have a great week!
Love you all!
Elder Dunn
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