Beginning my 11th Transfer...

Hello people of the planet! 

This week has been a long one, I said goodbye to a great mission friend Elder Gerard, but I have had the opportunity to welcome a new one right along with it, Elder Choi who is Korean but from Texas. Yeeha! 

Monday

We cleaned for a little bit after studies then went to the church to go to a meal appointment with a member of our ward! She has a tradition of taking the missionaries out to lunch before transfers every other transfer or so, and since my companion was leaving we went. It was a traditional Japanese food all you can eat place. It was pretty good, you can't knock all you can eat noodles and waffles. After that we went to the church and emailed, then walked around Kichijoji for a little bit, bought groceries and went home and I took a solid nap. We then went to the church and split with the tech staff elders because we had two appointments to go to, Elder Belnap and I Skyped one of our investigators and Elder Gerard and Elder Yamada went with Takikawa San to the Wada's house for family home evening. It was a busy night! Our skype call was good, we found out that he had little interest himself however his children do! Bingo! It worked great so we hope to be getting ahold of them soon. 

Tuesday

After studies we hurried to the church to meet with our new friend Danny from China. We went out to ramen with him and learned more about China while we were with him. Sadly he will be returning on Thursday, but thanks to the Internet we will be able to keep in touch! We then went and bought chemicals for cleaning at Seiyu and then returned home so my companion could pack and the rest of us could clean. Since we forgot a few things, Elder Belnap and I went back to Seiyu to buy the rest. As it would so have it, a lady was standing in the doorway with a sign about a Seiyu rewards card. Elder Belnap having the bubbly personality that he does said sure at the offer which landed us signing up for Walmart Cards in Japan...I just hope it works in America...as we were signing up we asked here if it would work in America and her response was priceless, "They have Walmart in America? Ohio too?" Uhhhh...that's where it came from. "Really? I had no idea!" That was a little baffling for us. After we went back to the apartment to finish cleaning. To be honest all we found was more trash but it's cleaner nonetheless. Then went to the church to finish weekly planning! We are so busy it is hard to finish weekly planning here! 

Wednesday

After studies we went to the church to finish our new missionary training which just ended up in watching the Rest of the District videos. Pretty easy, but kind of long training. We then went to go and visit Michael but he wasn't home so we housed around the area, I love the contrast in people. Some will just tell you, " I'm so sorry, but I don't have interest, but thank you so much for your hard work." Then there are others, "Go back to your home country where you belong" or they see two tall white men in black coats holding a book and they slam the door with wide eyes. Interesting that's for sure. After that experience we went back to the church ate at a ramen shop, and then handed out fliers in front of Kichijoji Eki (which is huge). It was there I stopped a Chinese couple and talked to them about Eikaiwa, he said " wow, it's free! Okay, I'll see you in an hour!" After kubaring we went to the church to get ready for class and sure enough he was there with his girlfriend! And wouldn't you know it, the Assistants and Sisters were teaching them right there! They both have follow up appointments for later in the week! Talk about meeting prepared people! Our goal is to create a Chinese branch here in Tokyo. Eikaiwa was good, we talked about travel which was cool. Then said goodbye to Michael and went to PEC which I completely forgot about/didn't know was even happening this week. We went and man it was so cool! From the first time I went to today it is night and day! The ward just wants to help all they can! It is so cool! A great way to end the day. 

Thursday 

After studies Elder Gerard and I biked over to the church and went to shakeys. It was crazy because the last time we went together was right after we became companions! We then went back, packed up his bike and then he departed. It was kind of sad to see him go. After I went upstairs to the Mission Home because I was companion-less so I was companions with Tech Staff which had me set up more iPads. Then Elder Livingston and I went to the train station to pick up Elder Choi but he was late which was a bummer, then we walked back and got a call saying he was at the north exit. Which is half a kilometer long...so we scoured there looking for him and finally found him! Yay! We went to weekly planning which took a while getting him caught up to speed on everything, then we left and went home for dinner, then back to the church for sports night! A quick night all in all. 

Friday

We woke up early and played dodgeball with the returning missionaries which was a ball. Then studied and went back to the church for District Meeting! It was the first one of the transfer which was exciting because we have many new people in our district. After that we rode out near Michaels house to visit a Chinese Referral however he wasn't home so we left a note a tracted around the area. Then went to visit Michael who also wasnt home! What a bummer. So we biked home, in the rain, which was freezing!! Warmed up at home and ate dinner, Elder Choi made some Korean food which was superb. Then we went to the church to message a few people, and kubaried near the eki. Since it was raining pretty hard we had a lot of issues with wet fliers. It was just a hard day. After getting soaked and cold we went to visit the last family we had planned for the day, the Chang family. They are so wonderful! We talked to them outside in broken English and Japanese and whatever Chinese we were able to speak to communicate with him. It is amazing how much you can communicate even with a language barrier, mankind truly is amazing! He invited us inside and we sat down and drank some hot water (why we don't drink tea or coffee was pretty hard to explain with hand gestures and broken languages). When we sat down he pulled out his phone to an app similar to google translate and spoke Chinese into it and English came out. Bingo. We are in. We had one of the most amazing experiences of my mission taking turns speaking and truly finding out this mans heart. He has such a great desire to learn about God. It was a great miracle to end our day. 

Saturday

After studies we finished cleaning the apartment, then biked over to Michaels! He was doing alright he has made great strides in quitting smoking. We helped him clean a little bit then shared a simple message he is having surgery soon, so we are helping him prepare for that. After we left our feet were so wet and cold that we biked to the Honbu and helped the other Elders on a few issues they were having and warmed our toes up. We then went to the apartment for dinner and then went to Kubari in front of the eki. I have noticed if you play off of Japanese people's awkwardness it becomes a lot of fun. Mostly because their view of tall white men is somewhat negative. It was enjoyable a family from Indonesia stopped and talked to me as well as two drunk men who used all the English they knew with me (it is actually really easy to spot drunk people in Japan because they are all so red!), and a man who is dating an Italian so he spoke perfect English we actually talked for a while, but sadly he didn't have a whole lot of interest. We then traded out with the assistants and went back to the church to do some contacting! We got ahold of a man named Brian from America, and plan to eat with him this upcoming week! 

Sunday

I was in a hurry so I forgot to eat breakfast, which I have noticed has a direct correlation with my Japanese. So DCS was interesting...I kept forgetting the right word so I was making up all these words that made sense but we're really just funny Japanese. Sacrament meeting was good, then in Sunday school the Yamashitas asked me to translate again...talking about building a boat in Japanese then relating it to a metaphor in our own lives is hard enough in English or listening to it in Japanese, but when it does to interpreting it is near impossible! I tried me best though. Priesthood was combined for fifth Sunday, the Asia North Area Presidency has created a plan for the whole area this year so they shokaied that to everyone. It was pretty funny when they use the culture of anime to inspire the ward members. I lost it a little, but thankfully most the Japanese people also thought it was pretty funny. After church there was a luncheon as a ward. The Yamashitas sat by us so we got to know them better. They are so great, it was fun to learn about their awesome family. After that we ran to the Chinese families house and taught the son English, but he kept asking if their was more we wanted to teach...uh well we are missionaries, so we taught the restoration to him. It was so cool to see how simple the lesson really is that so,some his age could understand it. After that lesson we went straight to Joseys which was awesome! I can't believe I have known him for over 6 months now! He has come such a long way since then and is even considering a mission now! We then ran to the apartment then to Ueki Kyodais for a lesson about light and sharing our light with others. It was good we then ran to the church to sum it statistics and write all the lesson reports for the day. Busy busy busy. 

Well this week flew by again. 

Big Hearts!

Elder Dunn

Elder Belnap, trying to find the swagiest outfit at the recycle shop. We think it is a keeper.

Elder Choi and I! 

So the Tech Elders got bored and photoshopped Elder Mukai's head on one of the Assistants bodies. 

Finding my Chinese Brothers and Sisters

Hello Everyone!

This week has been so busy I can't believe it's over already! 

Tuesday

On our way to the temple we rode our bike to get to the church faster however on our way, I high school girl ran I front of me and pushed me off my bike..that wasn't a great way to begin the day. In Japan they don't salt he roads so most of the way there was black ice. The temple was great, nice and relaxing. After that we went to the book store and bought Michael a triple combination and then went out to eat at a Hawaiian burger place back at home. It was delicious, but it was so much food it made me sick! Then we emailed and walked around to do some shopping. After that we went to the a

Argument and I grabbed my things for splits, and then dropped it off at the Honbu, following that we went to the Naka's house! He is a big name fashion designer and a solid member! They talked to us in mostly English which was kind of strange because I wasn't fully aware of how fluent he is. He told us all about his journey to fashion school and beyond. It is neat to see how through righteous living his dreams have been made a reality. He also told us about a special assignment he received from Salt Lake. Pretty cool stuff. After our time with him and his family, we ran to the Honbu and split with Elder Mukai and Elder Ford.

Wednesday

Elder Mukai and I woke up early and Played kickball in the gym with the other Elders. Then we had normal studies then staff meeting! It was fun to attend that meeting again. It had been a while since I had been able to go. It was funny seeing the same things that had happened a while back when I was serving in the office. After that I helped the Tech Staff with a few projects then we went out to dinner, and taught Mitsuru-San who we just worked hard with to man up an accept the commitments we were extending him. Sadly he wasn't which was kind of a shame, but we will continue to pray for him. Eikaiwa was fantastic! We had a lot of fun with our students explaining what snow is like where we are from! Afterwards we went to ward council and almost everyone was there! It was so exciting! 

Thursday

We planned to go on splits with the Assistants but sadly that fell through. Besides we had Zone Meeting early in the morning so we booked it over to Fuchu to make it there on time. It was an exciting time. I really liked the zone meeting, I learned a lot from the spirit, that has been something I have wanted to improve on. After zone meeting we ate pizza as a district. Then went to visit Michael! However he wasn't home so that was kind of sad. I felt the impression that we needed to go and visit a Chinese Family who came to church the week previous so we biked over there to find that the husband wasn't home, which was kind of a bummer so we housed around the area and found an old man who would listen to our message! It was a miracle! We were so excited! We set up an appointment for the next day and left. We had sports night later which was great we had a new record of people coming, and played some great basketball. After sports night Elder Belnap and I began our splits!

Friday

We found out that we needed to watch a special missionary broadcast early! So we headed over to the church to watch it! It was fantastic! I learned a lot from the leaders of the church. I loved how much the Apostles said, my fellow servants in the Lord. What a great expression. After that we ate lunch then went to District Meeting! It was great, I loved working with our district to help them be the best they can be! We are seeing so much success as a district! After that I trained Elder Belnap on how to be Tech Staff and then we came home and ate dinner. After we tried visiting the man who we had an appointment sent up with however he never came to the door, even though we heard him, which was kind of sad. So we went to the Chinese families house! And the husband was home! He really wants to learn about the church but we didn't have anyone in our ward who speaks Chinese until last week! When a Chinese member moved in! Yay! How exciting! We housed around the area and found a family from Thailand who said we could visit tomorrow! Neat miracles! We then went back to the office and gathered things together for a conference call president has the following day. 

Saturday

After companionship study we went to a family from Thailand's house to share a message with them however the husband came to the door and told us to leave. It was kind of a let down but we went with it. We then went home finished studies then went to the church and got our transfer emails! I am staying in Kichijoji! This will make 6 transfers or about 9 months! Elder Gerard will be going to a military base and I will be receiving Elder Choi an Elder from Texas but whose ancestors are from Korea. We then went to lunch at a taco rice shop and then biked to a referrals house. Sadly the person had absolutely no interest which was kind of a bummer. So we biked to our friend Maeda's house for a lesson. He is great, he really wants to know, but he is just scared of believing it's all true. It's amazing. After the lesson we went to the church and grabbed dinner at Seiyu and filled the font for the baptism. The baptism was great, Tan Lu was about 30 minutes late from school, but it was a great trial of faith for the ward members who attended. The service was wonderful as well! Last week in Hiro-o there was a baptism of another Chinese man, who is actually moving into our ward! So I played with his two sons afterwards. It was really fun being able to communicate with just hand jesters and Google translate! 

Sunday

It was one of the busiest Sunday's I have had on my mission! We had DCS in the morning then after that as we were talking to members, Masui Kyodai showed up! He is a less active that the assistants have been working with for a few months now! It was awesome! The ward was so excited to see them! During sacrament Michael and TanLu were confirmed, I got to pass the sacrament and I translated for the office couple! Talk about a busy hour! After that we sat Michael down and filled out his membership papers and went to gospel principles! It was about Charity which was great! Then we had priesthood and came home for lunch. Then off to the church again to fill out all of the lesson reports and message investigators! Then back to the apartment to eat dinner. Afterwards we went to Ueki Kyodais house and taught about true greatness and challenged him to find something he wants to be truly great at. 

Well that was my busy week! 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn

1. A huge hamburger from a Hawaiian burger joint on sun road, it comes with a kilo of fries!
2. Inside the burger joint.
3. One of the Chinese boys and I at the baptism, it was impossible for us to get a normal picture together
4. Us again
5. Michael and I after Church
6. Us again

We had a Baptism!

Hello Everyone! 

This week has been fast and blessed! It is hard to believe it went by so fast and smoothly! 

Monday

After personal study we headed over to the mission office so I could watch a video about some website changes the church wants to make worldwide, they asked for my input on it, so that was kind of fun being able to give direct feedback to Headquarters. They want to allow every mission to have their own "portal". It looks pretty and will be very user friendly as well. After that presentation we went to the mochitsuki! It was a lot of fun! We were able to fellowship with the ward a lot! There were a ton of non members and less actives that came and the ward just ate them up! At one point it was the High Priest Group (yes all of them) with me and a nonmember. My head was spinning they were speaking so fast, but it was awesome getting the ward involved on a deeper level. We made mochi (smashed rice into a play dough like mixture then eaten) it is a lot of fun, you use a big hammer and slam it into this pot to make it. It felt like swinging an axe, a neat cultural celebration. After that I found my companion sitting at another table talking to some Chinese people, I introduced myself to them and we began talking, they are awesome! One of them was baptized a month ago in Hiroo and the other wants to be baptized soon. It was a neat experience talking to them and comparing what we knew about Chinese with them, what I found really humorous was when we were comparing borrowed words like Google and names. Google has its own character for pronunciation however what I found hilarious was that Facebook is the character for face and book hahaha! I like the creativity in that. After the mochitsuki we went to the Honbu to email, mostly so we would look bad emailing in some room of the church. While we were emailing we got a call from Adachi San who had fallen off the map, turns out his phone was broken and he called us from a pay Phone! The office Elders had staff meeting so after they were finished we went out to dinner and did some shopping. GAP was having a giant sale so we all bought some clothes there. When I was checking out at the register the woman checking me out said in English, "your a missionary for that church over there right?" Uhhh....yes? It was a great question because we were able to have a conversation, turns out she used to come to Eikaiwa and not only that but she home stayed in America with a family that are members of the church! Imagine that! Talk about inspired shopping! We shopped around, bought groceries and called it a night. 

Tuesday

Elder Gerard and I split around 1:30 with Elder Ford and Elder Mukai. Elder Ford and I were together in my area. After we split we went to the Yamashitas apartment to try and fix their modem however we realized it was a problem with their telephone company and not their box, so we left and went to Michaels. There we worked on helping him clean up his apartment. There is a noticeable difference from round 1 up until now! Sadly no treasures to take home but we found his butterfly knife for hi so that was pretty cool. We also found out he lived in Russia during its Soviet years! Pretty cool stuff! We taught him tithing and fast offerings and he ate it up, he loves earning about the gospel and is completely ready for baptism! After the service and lesson we went home ate dinner and finished planning out Michaels baptismal program and sent that to the ward. Then visited a young man in our ward and a neighbor before returning home! 

Wednesday

After studies Elder Ford and I had our splits review, after which Elder Gerard and I split back, planned a little for the day, then took off to Michaels (we are working on teaching him everything else he needs to know before baptism). At Michaels we helped him clean up more of his apartment, we found more pictures of his European excursions, and maps. It was pretty impressive with everything that was there. Most of the box we re-boxed were in Russian. After our cleaning we taught him about Priesthood keys, Temples and Family History, and a few other gospel topics. Then speeded back to the house for dinner, which turned into 10min because we had a lesson with Kajiura Kyodai, so we split with the other elders, they went to the lesson and Elder Yamada and I went to the office to get some forms ready for PEC. After we had Eikaiwa! It was a blast! We taught about fashion, we also had a lot of new students, so that was a lot of fun, it's hard to believe I have been teaching the same class since July! After Eikaiwa  Elder Mukai and I went to PEC and discussed about our investigators and baptismal dates, it went well. They are a lot friendlier than the first week I was there. Nice to see some progress being made in that area. 

Thursday

After Companionship study Michael called us complaining of some deep pain in his leg, so we offered a blessing. On the way over all the traffic lights were green! Talk about a tender mercy, when we arrived we found he had changed into a shirt and tie! He looked great. We gave him a priesthood blessing and left so he could rest. We then went back to our apartment finished getting ready then left to the church to meet Josey and get some lunch. Josey is doing great! He is slowly but surely improving and gaining greater trust with us as missionaries. After lunch we held our weekly planning session, which turned into us calling some old investigators. I talked to a man from Tanzania, who referred to me as his brother! It was pretty great. We called a few Nepalese people as well, being able to teach many of them over the phone. Then the zone leaders came and Elder Christensen and I went back to Michaels Baptismal interview! He passed! Yay! We then went home and I called the ward mission leader who gave us a lukewarm "great" and assigned us to make the program we asked him to make, he must be having a hard time, so we will just have to bless his life next. We then went to sports night and played some basketball. It was fun, I have developed a lot of friends from going to sports night over the past few months. 

Friday

After studies we went to the church and had District Meeting, it was great, I really enjoyed it. The District is doing really well, everyone is working hard and seeing success. After District meeting I created the Baptismal Program for Michael, that took a lot longer than I would have preferred but I was able to finish it and send it to the ward mission leader. After that the Tech a Staff had some issues with the portal so I helped them debug and fix a few things before meeting up with Kichihara Kyodai and going to get something to eat! We went to an American Burger shop, it was delicious! And about the same price as an American a burger shop too! After going there we went back to the church to teach a lesson, but on the way back we met our investigator walking toward the church! So we walked with him to the church! We met with Takikawa-San he is a business man in the Tokyo area. We met him at the Indiana Jones movie event the previous week and invited him to take lessons he accepted and we met with him the following Friday. The lesson was great! A little long,however we thing that we were able to get to his core and really have a good lesson. We will have to see what turns up of it. 

Saturday

After studies we went to the church to drop our clothes off before visiting Michaels house. We helped him with some more boxes. He was feeling a lot better which was grand! We also were able to help him find everything he needs for his baptism! After a short lesson about how baptism works we left and returned to the church to do weekly planning. We received a call earlier from another Elders companionship in the mission to see if I knew anyone that spoke Arabic. It didn't hit me til we were riding home that I did! One of the old members of my ward moved to the Middle East right before I left! I Facebook Messaged him and explained our situation, then set up a group chat with him and this other Elder and imagine that, they were able to figure out a way to communicate with this investigator. It is so cool to see first hand how the Lord uses technology to hasten his work. After that we weekly planned, and figured out our week, then cleaned the font! That was fun, I enjoyed cleaning the font. We then ate some abura soba with Ishikawa Kyodai, who just received his mission call to Fukuoka! He is a genius, literally, he goes to the number one college in school (like Japan's Harvard). It was awesome talking to him about our missions, and getting him excited about his. 

Sunday

We called Michael before church to confirm that he was coming and he was all good which was great! After that we went to DCS and discussed today's baptism as well as the one this next week! It was a good meeting. As we were greeting people we noticed Houta Kyodai was wearing matching pants so we knew something was up. At 8:57 Michael showed up in his suit! He looked like a normal member! It was great! Church was really good, a Chinese family showed up in the middle of church! The husband hardly speaks Japanese or English, but he got along alright. I have noticed Chinese people traditionally will wear either really bright flashy clothing or black. Usually men wear the bright colors and woman wear black, just an interesting observation. After church we changed and held the Baptismal Service. It was a great spiritual experience. I was able to perform the ordinance which was pretty special. After the baptism we shook ward members hands, there were a ton of people there! It was amazing! It is the most amount of people I had seen at a baptism in a while. Michael kept saying, "I feel so clean! I know my mother is proud of me." It was really cool. It was the first Baptism in the ward since May! After we went back to the apartment to eat some supper (guacamole and fried bread (not our greatest combination)). Then Elder Gerard and I went to a man by the name of Maeda's house to visit him. We sat down with him and the first thing we discussed was where he is right now, planning to teach the plan of salvation we scratched that and went to who is God because well, if you don't believe in Him, it is hard to believe in the rest. Sometimes I forget that I am training, but when we walked out Elder Gerard said, "we just taught people, not lessons!" YES! If you learn anything from this transfer that is it!  Because we taught to his needs we were able to help him grow a relationship with God. We then went to the church to check up on the assistants who were in a buzz over the word that snow might be falling by morning. Then wrote our lesson reports for the week, and taught Ueki Kyodai about baptism before calling it a day. 

Monday

Snow! We woke up to a white powdery blanket of 4 inches of snow! We also learned that the Tokyo area does not own snowplows, so walking to the office was a long slippery walk! Elder Yamada and I were on splits for the day, and it was also Sister Obayashi's birthday! We went out to Yakuniku as a district which was fun. Then Elder Yamada and I were in the office, it was a blast being able to help again. We changed a lot, we set splits up so I could train him on the work they do as tech staff. We also basically began and finished a new app for the mission! Talk about getting stuff done! After that we walked home for dinner but we were both stuffed still, so we just slept. Then we walked back in the cold to the church to meet up with the sisters. Their Chinese investigator had a baptismal interview scheduled, so we went to that. I was to perform the interview which filled me with anxiety, I think I was mostly worried about interviewing a woman. The interview went well, I'll tell you what google translate in inspired. I needed to ask certain questions that she didn't understand in Japanese or English! Talk about a little nerve racking. It went well, she passed, and will be getting baptized this Saturday! It was a great way to end a split! 

Well my week has been busy and blessed! I love being a missionary and seeing the visual change in people's lives as they come unto Christ. 

 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn

Michaels Baptism! 

Our Chinese friends that came to the mochitsuki!

More non-understandable Japanese-English

This is from the window on the second floor! Talk about a lot of snow, it was raining on top of this! 

Snow in Tokyo! 

This is the church parking lot this morning, it is all ice! 

Learning how to work with the ward

この世のいる人々,ヘーロ

This week has been busy, just a follow up from last week I am healthy and kicking strong! 

Monday

After studies we headed over to the church and loaded up emails and went to our favorite gioza (Chinese pot stickers) shop for lunch. After we walked around the to a couple stores, we found a 6 floor sporting goods store that is in the middle of the town I had never seen before. Also a Berkenstock outlet with some of the ugliest sandals I have ever seen and a couple of other shoe places, I'm researching into a new pair of shoes. Afterwards we went to the church and emailed home and relaxed, then bought groceries, came home, and headed to Koenji. Imagine a dark gritty teenage drug awareness video from the early 90s and you will have koenji in a nutshell. It just has this gritty vibe to it. We talked to these men at the park about coming to church but they had no interest, in fact they only wanted to reenact the crucifixion, probably because they were drunk. Either way it tops with one of the most interesting conversations I have had. After trying to visit a few other people we called it a night and headed home. 

Tuesday

After studies we went to the church and had 12 week training, then headed over to Michaels to help him clean up some boxes. We checked to see how he is doing with the Word of Wisdom and he is doing great! He has such a strong desire to change. As we went through some boxes we found the user manual on how to beat Pac Man! He said I could have it! So I happily am now the owner of how the to beat Pac Man user manual! After helping him clean up we had a short lesson about commandments and committed him to read and pray more about the Book of Mormon. I love seeing the change that happens within people as they begin to have the light of Christ within them. After that we went to check on a Potential Investigator by Zenpukugi park however he wasn't home, but his grumpy wife was, so we talked with her, sadly we didn't get anywhere though. We saw this humongous house! However I am sure that it really isn't that big compared to American homes. It is interesting how your perspective changes after living somewhere for so long. In fact sometimes we forget to look up! It is such a mind boggling thing to think I have to climb to a roof of a 3 or more story building to see the sunrise, but that's Tokyo for you. After dinner we planned to go to the Matsumoto Families house to share a message but we got lost on our way over so we kind of took a while to get there, but on the bright side we know more about the area! After we got to the Matsumotos we knocked on the door but only found the mother to be home so we prayed with her and knocked on doors around their house. We got some interesting reactions from people. Like, "I'm buddist, why are you knocking on my door?" Or "oh I'm busy cooking rice" (you put rice in the rice cooker and turn a button on to cook rice....). After that we went back to our bikes which were parked at the Matsumotos to find that they had put a bag on Elder Gerards bike! It was filled with GRANOLA! Japanese granola is the best...flat out. I wish they had it in America. 

Wednesday

After studies and new missionary training at the church we went to visit the first and second counsellors of the bishopric whose names only differ by one letter in English. Sato and Saito Kyoudai and if that wasn't hard enough they live in the same neighborhood, so that was a fun adventure trying to figure out where they lived. At Sato Kyodais house we wrote him a note and invited him to a Questions of the soul seminar we are having on Saturday. We housed around Sato Kyodais houseto find no one with any real interest, then had to jet before we could visit Saito Kyodai. We waited at the church for Michael for a good half hour but he was a no show, sometimes he is in a lot of pain and has to take medicine and sleep. We decided with our extra time to go to the park and walk around, we talked to two old men I the park about religion, however they just told us to leave the country...that was a new one. We continued walking around and saw a few street performers before going home and eating dinner. At Eikaiwa we talked about New Years with the students and learned the story of the Chinese New Year, in regards to the animals. It is a neat Fable, we also learned about the shishimai which is the mystical lion in Japan. Around New Years it is very traditional to see two men wearing and dancing with this beast like looking thing on themselves. It was neat to hear and learn about. 

Thursday

After studies we went to the church to have New Missionary training like usual then headed over to a sushi place to meet up with Josey! He was a little late so we started without him but he showed up later which was great! He told us about the new Star Wars movie so that was pretty neat, but then we were able to really get down to his core. He brought up serving a mission which is fantastic! He is slowly but surely improving his life, he just need to hurry up and go, but if missionaries work hard with him this year I have a feeling he will go on his mission. After that we went to Michaels house, as soon as we knocked on the door we heard some stumbling around then he opens the door and says, "guess what!?" Uhhh..."what?" "Uchiyama Kyodai sent me a New Years Card!" He was so excited! We helped him clean some more. While we were cleaning I found an old watched and asked him about it, and he said I could have it, so that was exciting! We then taught him the law of chastity! It was a great lesson, I had never taught it before so it was kind of a new one for us. We then went back to the church and decided since it was late to go eat dinner,we went to loft on the way to see if they could fix the watch. Then ate at McDonald's, then back to loft t find out that my new watch was pretty broken and would cost a hundred dollars to fix :/. So with that I pocketed the new keepsake and went to the church to finish weekly planning. Then ran home. 

Friday

After studies we had new missionary training. Where we found out Our next mission president will be J. Paul Warnick, who is a professor of Japanese at BYU currently! Everyone is pretty excited about the news! After that we had a family blitz with our ward. Elder Gerard and I visited 5 members all around our area dropping them off notes and thanking them for their hard work! It was exciting and a lot of fun. We talked to one woman who was really prepared the plan of salvation. We were about to only visit 4 members houses but we got to know where they live a little more and invite the to a Questions of the Soul event on Saturday. During dinner we ate and helped the Tech Staff move into our house, it'll be nice to have some company. Don't get me wrong I love my companion but it can get kind of lonely sometimes. So we are going to have a ball with Tech Staff, President Wada is making me the consultant to Tech a Staff. We then went to the church and had a great district meeting! Everyone is really excited about all the baptisms we are going to see here in Kichijoji in the next few weeks! 

Saturday 

After studies we went to pass out flyers! We saw a few ward members and even a family from the Philippians who are members! My companion had an interesting conversation with a Buddhist man and then we went and visited one last man. We stopped at the 7-eleven to check the map and an old man came up to us and asked us where we were from, it was the perfect segway into the gospel. Come to find out he had a copy of the Book of Mormon but lost it 10 years ago! So we cheerfully gave him a copy and we headed out. He had no interest in meeting with us though. With that we visited the last member then headed to the house to eat dinner, then to the church to set up for the Questions of the Soul event. We were all a little nervous because we had only decided that we were having the event the previous Friday. However a ton of people came! Including some of the members we invited! It was fantastic! President Wada was blown away with how many people came which was great! He showed the end of the Third Indiana Jones movie with the holy grail and related it to taking a leap of faith. It was really good, I sat by a man named takikawa San who came to Eikaiwa for the first time this last week! I invited him to take a half and half English/Gospel lesson with us but he declined and asked if we could just talk about the gospel! Uhhh....yes! So we set up an appointment with him! What a great ending to a day! 

Sunday

Well it turns out the ward mission leader hasn't read a single one of the emails I have sent him this past week, which is really frustrating because he had us move our baptismal service to Sunday instead of Saturday. But hey, baptism is baptism so it doesn't really matter when as long as it is done. Church was good we went in with the goal of setting up appointments with 3 members so we did our best and nailed it! We got an appointment with the Naka family (the fashion designer), Ishikawa Kyodai (who just got his mission call), and kishihara Kyodai (who is hilarious and a complete boss), and Kajira Kyodai (our punk rocking member who is stuck in the 80s). So we will work with them this next week. We are excited for that, after lunch we went over to the church and worked on gathering statistics and preparing for Michaels baptism! It is kind of stressful...mostly because I have no idea what we are doing, but hey it's inspired so we are going with it. We then met up with Uchiyama Kyodai for a lesson with Ueki Kyodai, on our ride over we got to know Uchiyama Kyodai better, he worked for IBM for his professional career helping numerous people and bringing the world into a new age of computing. It was some neat stuff. It turns out now he is a sealer in the Tokyo Temple, what a wonderful opportunity that must be for him. The lesson was good, We talked about family history work (which is low key one of my favorite parts of the church). I wonder how hard it is to be a consultant, I might want to look into that later. After the lesson we left and went on our way. When we arrived at the church/Honbu the mission office elders asked if I could help them out for a minute. They wanted to know how many kids the new mission president has, so they had me hop online and so some research. He has a nice family by the looks of things. We then streeted around the park and housed some too, sadly no one was in the religious mood even when enticed. 

Another great week of service in the Lord!

Write y'all next week! 

Big Hearts, 

Elder Dunn

It promises a more "forceful" shave.

Look at all the fish! 

I finally can get all of the badges! 

This reminded us of an 80s style music video.

This is for Elder Gerard's next album cover, "lice on my pants"

Sometimes the only way to get through to Elder Ford is through interpretive dance or sticky notes. We chose sticky notes.

Elder Dunn, hand, foot, and Sun

こんにちは皆さん！ 

Well my week has been really busy and really slow, but I am hanging in there alright. As you can guess my the title this week I was sick! 

Monday

We decided to take a day trip to Yokohama! After studies we took a train for an hour and a half down to Yokohama, the funny thing is that Yokohama is only 18 miles away from us. After arriving we met up with the Elders who are assigned there and went to La Salsa, the only true Mexican restaurant in our mission. It was delicious, as we were about to leave I saw an Indian man who was about to leave about the same time so I went over and talked to him, his accent was pretty thick, but we were able to communicate pretty well. I told him we were missionaries, and that's about all I got out before the other Elders were calling for me. So I ran off payed and we left, however I still wanted to talk to him. Well it turns out he had the same impression because he payed and chased after me out of the mall! Out of breath and a little sweaty he asked, "I am Christian, where is your church?" This sparked a great conversation between the two of us which led us to giving him a flyer for the Yamate building and exchanged Phone numbers! After that we wandered on down to Landmark Tower, the largest building in our mission! It is huge! We took the fastest Elevator in Japan up to the 69th floor to a giant observation deck! It was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. You could see forever! From Fuji to Tokyo, and everything in between. There is a surreal feeling being that high in the air. After we went down and Elder Gerard and I took a train to Tokyo to switch to a faster train home. I thought Tokyo eki would be bigger but it really isn't compared to Shibuya. After getting back we finished a few emails then rode over to the Hotas for dinner! They are both completely fluent in English which is kind of scary because we wearing entirely aware. He lived in Utah for 15 years and she lived there for 10 years! It was pretty impressive. He is the CEO to Naka Kyodais fashion line, it is pretty cool. The dinner was great, I had Elder Gerard lead the lesson, I think it is great experience for him to get used to it while he is a younger missionary. It was great! 

Tuesday

We woke up early and ran to the church for zone meeting! I was feeling a little under the weather so I was a little slow, but I'll probably be okay. The meeting was good, I learned some neat stuff. After the meeting Elder Driscoll, one of our zone leaders, and I went on splits! We planned for our eventful day, then went to Bario ramen (男らめん)the kanji mean man ramen, fittingly we ate. Then ran to Michaels for a lesson. We helped him cleanup part of his apartment, it will be very slow work, but it will progress over time. I found a pair of retro 3D glasses which were of the chain, and Michael was about to throw them out so I got them! I felt like we were throwing away the 1980s and 90s. Everything was so old. Our lesson with him was great though! We taught the word of Wisdom which we had some concerns with how he would accept it but he was willing to accept and follow it, it'll just take time to see how things pan out. After the lesson we ran to the A Potential Investigator that Elder Driscoll knew of, so we biked there but sadly he wasn't home. So we ran to the Talmage's home. They have 3 daughters which is pretty intense over there, I thought brothers were all rambunctious, but girls have vocals. They are all half Japanese half American so they speak about half and half in their home it seemed that if they wanted to clarify anything it was in English but mostly a switch off. They really like mine craft so that was fun to talk about, dinner was delicious, pork and beans! Elder Yamada had a great lesson too, it was overall a great day. 

Wednesday

Elder Driscoll and I split back with our normal companions after studies then Elder Gerard and I went to Indo Curry for lunch! They have this really good all you can eat place here in Kichijoji which missionaries love, but we hadn't gone for a while because we thought they hated us. However upon arriving they welcomed us with open arms (they had new management), and man did that make all the difference! It was great, made me think a little bit more about how I approach talking to people. After we went to the church and waited for a lesson with Michael, however he didn't show up, which must have been a miracle in and of itself because Elder Yamada accidentally deleted part of one of the apps! So I spent some time recoding the app, interesting how when one thing doesn't work out everything else does. After that we streeted for some time and talked to a few various people, it was fun, sadly with New Years happening soon, people begin to shut you out pretty quick. After dinner we had a lesson with Kajira Kyodai where we role played and taught him the plan of salvation and talked a little bit about the temple afterwards. It was a good lesson overall. Since no one really came to Eikaiwa we watched clips of Meet the Mormons and talked about it as a class. It was a fun activity for everyone, and I think they enjoyed it a lot. 

Thursday

I woke up and felt awful, but we had our giant mission conference so I rolled outta bed and got ready. The conference was great, but I felt like I was on fire the whole time. I learned a lot, but at the same time I didn't. The testimony meeting was great it was hard to imagine I was in the same place a year ago, hard to believe it has been that long. After the conference I took my temperature in the Honbu, 101, dang...I always knew I was hot but this was just too much...sister Wada wasn't too pleased to hear that, so she ordered that I get some rest. Just then the bishop called and invited us all over for dinner so we put Elder Yamada and Elder Gerard together to go to the shokugi and then Elder Kerr and I were together and I slept in the Honbu. That helped but after the shokugi we went home and I passed out again. 

Friday

We woke up early and rode over to the church to watch the sunrise! It was gorgeous. We went to the roof of the church, and could see all of Tokyo right there. It was amazing! Just a fantastic view. After sleeping for some time we went to district meeting, I don't really remember how it went since I was hyped up on a bunch of medicine. I think we got some work done though. After I went into the Office to split with Elder Kerr and President Wada caught me and told me to take a few days off and get completely better. So Elder Kerr and I would be companions for a few days in the house and be isolated. Yay....I get cabin fever way to easily so I wasn't thrilled to hear that...so we were dropped off at the house and I crawled into bed for a few hours. After I got to know Elder Kerr a little bit, he is from Hawaii, he is a great Elder, but has gotten really sick with a lung infection so he is kind of waiting it out for some time. To see if he gets better or ends up going home. Sadly he was really pessimistic about the whole situation. Later Elder Yamada called and asked if we needed anything. I asked for Meet the Mormons as a joke but president gave it the okay so I was in business! 

Saturday

After sleeping, Elder Yamada and a Elder Gerard stopped by with some drinks and the movie. It was nice to take something off of my achy body. Slept more, took a bath, slept. Watched the movie, started feeling better so I cleaned and organized, slept, sister Wada a dropped by with some soup and to check up on us, ate, watched old 90s church videos, and slept. 

Sunday

Sister Wada called early and we talked about my illness, since I was feeling better she said that tomorrow I should be fine. Elder Kerr however would be going home to get the proper care and rest he needs. He seemed pretty excited about the news. I was glad to be getting out of the house soon. I showered, then studied, and got so,e planning done. Around noon Michael called and we talked for a while, it was nice to talk to someone. After church Elder Gerard and Elder Yamada came over. Then Elder Gerard and I had Weekly Planning! Yay, some missionary work again! It felt good to get back into the swing of things body willing or not. We went to the church where we crept around the building until I was caught by sister Wada but I begged her to be outside so she said yes! We went to Ueki Kyodais house and had a boss lesson about repentance, then stopped by Joseys sadly he wasn't home so we left him a note! Just letting him know we care! Then some housing and back home! 

Don't worry, I'll be fine this next week, just got a little sick, that's all! 

Have a great week! 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn