Work, there is no better substitute.

こんにちは皆さん！

Monday

After studies we headed over to the church to email home about a few things then went to Sizzlers with a few members for lunch. They reserved a ton of seats for us, it was really kind of him. He also invited a ton of members too, but the way he situated everyone made it kind of hard and awkward to talk to the members there. It was good though, the food was pretty good. After that we went back to the church and I bought a box and my companion printed out pictures to send home. Then we went back to the church to email. After that we called Michael to see if he was coming to Family Home Evening at the Wada's, but he was sick so he had to decline. Elder Choi needed a haircut so we went over to the QB house. After grocery shopping we dropped them off at home, ate a small dinner, and tried to visit the Zhangs. They weren't home sadly, but we plan to get in contact with them soon. We instead went to Kubari in the rain. That was...wet. Elder Choi was able to talk to a few people which was really good for him, but I was just able to pass out a few. 

Tuesday

After getting ready we headed over to the church for zone conference. The zone leaders were over an hour late which made president a little unsettled. It was a really good zone conference, president taught us about listening to the spirit, and how the spirit works in conversion. I loved it. After his training I was asked to train on mentioning baptism in the first meeting. It was nice to redeem myself from the last zone conference where I stumbled really badly on it. Yay improvement! We then had more trainings about baptism and listening. Sister Wada made cranberry cinnamon rolls for lunch they were so delicious. After zone conference I had the feeling we needed to change up our plans, so we went to the apartment and I mixed some bread so it could rise, then we went out to Kubari. While passing out flyers Shin from the Fuchu ward came up to me! He is working on his GMAT so he can get into the BYU MBA Program. We talked about that for a little bit, and he was able to share a few experiences from his mission with me which was pretty cool. After kubaring we went home and baked the bread, I got a killer headache though, I think the weather might be changing. Then we went on delivery mode for the rest of the night. We dropped some off for the Honbu Elders, then the sisters, then we went to the Naka family's apartment. We had to stuff it into their mailbox, thank goodness the bread has some spring to it. We had one more loaf and the person we planned to give it to lived to far away for us to give it to him. So we started home, but just as we were about turn onto one of the main roads I had the feeling to give it to a member who lived nearby so we skidded on our bikes and took it to their house and biked quickly home. 

Wednesday

After studies we went to Michaels house and sat with him for a little while. He is doing alright, it was really cold out and his apartment is pretty drafty so it was really cold. He is improving a lot which is great! After that we went to the church to collect information for PEC later and to check a few messages from investigators. Then we tried to find through housing near less actives behind the park, however we got kind of lost. I have noticed on days where it is colder, compared to the day previous people are less apt to stop and talk. After that we went home and ate dinner and I packed my bag for splits. We then went to the Honbu and I typed up a document for PEC, then we helped the assistants set up for their Eikaiwa class and then went to Eikaiwa. The subject was families which was entertaining to hear how people react to American social customs. After Eikaiwa Elder Shimizu and I (I take him just in case I need a native speaker) went to PEC. It was probably one of the best meetings I've attended. Everyone that was supposed to be there was there, and they all were collectively helping with our investigators! It was awesome! After that Elder Yamada and I began splits. 

Thursday

After studies in the mission office, which to be honest is really strange because of the former time I had spent there. We went to sushi with Josey! It was a great time we focused on keeping our relationship with him up. It was a good lunch appointment. Afterwards we went back to the office and I worked on the Recent Convert and Less Active Tracking form, it is so close to being finished! I am just having an issue with a pop up being cut off and then it will be ready to implement! It'll help out a lot...I hope. After that we ate dinner and went to sports night. It was a lot of fun, there were a lot of youth there so we were able to build good relationships with them. They were excited to see Elder Richardson dunk. Sadly his companion, Elder Livingston sprained his ankle really badly so they had to leave. Elder Yamada and I had the Spiritual thought at the end so we talked about being peacemakers. I think that was good because the youth were getting a little heated at ping pong. 

Friday

After studies we rushed over to the mission office so I could message Elder Berube about the project I've been given. I ran into a really confusing bug that I needed some help digging out of. However he messaged me back right as district meeting was about to start! So I got really busy really fast. Messaging Elder Berube and running district meeting. I would have waited till later but he doesn't have a whole lot of time. Thankfully he was able to fix it and we were able to move on. District Meeting was really good, I love our district. After song practice for Sunday we went into weekly planning. We finished in one day this time yay! Discussing investigators and needs can take so long sometimes. We then went to the eki and met Bryan for a dinner appointment. We went to a Hawaiin place to eat, it was pretty good. He basically dropped himself which was really interesting. He basically just wanted to meet with missionaries for the social aspect. After that we bought doughnuts (it's always a good pick me up after getting dropped), then ran to the apartment grabbed our splits bags and booked it to Kunitachi. On the train I saw a man I wanted to talk to (I usually will look for English speakers, then young people, then the grumpy drunk businessmen). I went up to him and started speaking in English to me, I was so confused he didn't respond. I then asked, "Do you speak English?" He spoke his head. I began in Japanese, his eyes widened and conversation began. Come to find out he is half Japanese and half Nigerian (see why I thought he spoke English?) he was super kind! We were able to talk about some fundamental truths and I was able to bear testimony about Joseph Smith! Then on the next train we met a member who was in Elder Choi's previous ward! He is a doctor, so I was like a kid in a candy store asking him questions. He served his mission in Canada, Chinese speaking and returned home only a few months ago. He was a lot older for missionary age and in Japan medical school is a total of 6 years. It was a pretty neat night. We then met the zone leaders and went to their house to spend the night. 

Saturday

I woke up to one of the coldest mornings of my mission! I was freezing! Their apartment isn't heated very well at all. After studies and lunch, Elder Christensen and I headed over to the Kunitachi church to meet a member and a man they found on Monday. The man was very interesting to say the least, not who you would expect to have a ton of interest in religion, but then again you can't judge a book by its cover. We had a great church tour then taught a great lesson about the restoration. After that we had some finding time and talked so some more interesting people. Then had splits review and Elder Choi and I ran off to our next appointment. As we were waiting for the train I called a referral and was able to set up an appointment for before Eikaiwa. He is fluent in English and lived in the Netherlands for sometime. Sister Neff found her, in fact she has been finding a lot of younger men recently, it's great because she is just giving us tons of referrals. As we got on the train we were standing in the aisle way and two stalky American men look at us and walk toward us. I thought, "either they are members, they or lost, or they want Elder Choi's wallet." However the larger one said, "Hi elders, I served my mission here, are you the elders for this area?" Come to find out he was a teacher at the MTC while I was there! He looked familiar, he was also one of the first assistants to the mission. His traveling companion was his brother who lives on a small island in Hawaii. Now this guy was neat, he is one of two nurse practitioners for the whole island (which has about 3500 people on it), the doctor comes in 3-4 times a week by boat, but most the time it is just them. He was a lot of fun to talk to. You have to love the neat people you meet on your mission. We then helped them get yakuniku place and headed to the Honbu. We said hello to the office elders, then biked to Maeda's house for a lesson. It was really good, we used a lot of listening which was really really powerful. We were able to get to his core and understand him more. Then we came back and ate at an indo curry place for dinner, they have such a great business model, and fantastic service. Then we finished up our day buy printing fliers and writing our ward mission leader.

Sunday

We headed over to church and had an awesome DCS meeting, then practiced for Sacrament meeting. Both of the people we had coming to church came a little late which was kind of a bummer, but they came! We sang Come thou Font in sacrament, it was really powerful. A man who was visiting from America, who went to Juliard for violin said Elder Choi sounds really good! That was a neat compliment. The rest of the classes were good in Gospel principles I was able to read a whole paragraph in Japanese all by myself (you probably have no idea how are that is). Priesthood was good we studied the talk by Elder Renlund from this past conference. After we sang with the Choir and talked to Josey. Elder Richardson and I went on splits into the office and we helped send out emails to the mission while Elder Choi and Elder Livingston prat iced for the music night. After that we came home and ate lunch then went to the church to write lesson reports and contact another referral, he is pretty cool, he is half American and is in Japan filming a new action movie, it sounds pretty intense by the sounds of it. Then we tried to visit a less active but he would answer the door which was was kind of dumb, we knew he was just hiding from us. We left and went to Ueki Kyoudais house. He is so kind. Our plan is to read with him every week a chapter of the Book of Mormon. It should be really helpful for him. He gave us a really neat gift, a kutsubera (the kanji is 靴べら, which means shoe spatula) it is really nice! Then we went to Joseys house for a Nabe party. It was a lot of fun. We had a great conversation with him about all kinds of stuff from Pokemon to our missions. Recently I have been teasing him that he should give me a tie from the fashion store he works at in downtown Tokyo, but after dinner I jokingly looked into his room and said, "oh, is that the tie you are going to trade me?" He replied, "oh, hey I have some free ties" confused because he isn't someone to wear a cheaply made tie we watched him pull out a few ties, he said they had a big fashion event and we're giving away ties so he grabbed us a couple. He then matched us each up to the appropriate tie, the one he gave me is so nice, it has platinum leaf stitched into it! After he presented us with so,e highly fashionable ties we sat down and discussed tithing and fasting. It was another really powerful lesson, he is really moving forward in his life! It is so much more exciting then any metallic stitched neck tie! 

Monday

We awoke and went to the church to play sports as a district but no one wanted to play :(. So Elder Choi and I were alone, it was fine though. My hops have improved! I am able to jump much higher than earlier in my mission, must be all the biking. We had normal studies then went to the Honbu and Elder Shimizu and I began splits! He is really funny! I was in the same district in him when he came to the mission, that was when I was in my second area! So fast! We went and bought a train ticket for a sister missionary. We then went to zone meeting, it was okay. It made me realize the effectiveness of planning for a meeting. I then helped out in the office while Elder Shimizu worked on some things that had to get finished. We then went out with Bob Kyoudai and one of the youth in our ward for dinner. We went to abura soba (oil noodles) it is basically ramen without the soup. It was really good, Yuta, the youth said, "oh wow I'm so full." And Bob Kyoudai responds, "you better have room for desert"...oh shoot more food. We went to a takuyaki place it was really good, they are basically like fish shaped pies. I enjoyed them a lot. I got a strawberry one. Then as we were walking back to the church, he stopped us by the donut shop and bought us donuts too! I was so full O.o. At the church we shared a small message about family history which was awesome! Then we went back to the Honbu grabbed our bikes and went to Matsuoka Kyoudais house to give him a note, as we hiked there we encountered freezing rain , and then hail...that was a new experience. We didn't have much time since he lives so far away so we had to bike right back home. The assistants I formed me that I'll be invited to MLC or the mission leadership council this week. It makes me nervous because they are hinting that I'm transferring. Ugh. I love Kichijoji too much. We finished the night by getting my haircut by Elder Richardson. 

Well that was my week, looking on to this next week it'll be jam packed! 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn

1. A notebook I found at daiso I love the English on it. 

1. Elder Christensen and I on Splits

1. This one was really interesting....and kind of disturbing. 

1. The shoe horn I recovered from Ueki Kyoudai 

1. The super nice tie from Josey, it has platinum stitched into it. 

1. Matsumoto Yuta kun in front of the takiyaki.

Getting Better. It's the Climb.

Hello Everyone!

Ready for one of the shortest emails yet? 

Monday

I woke up pretty awful but I was able to get a shower and change so we could go to the church. My plan was that it would just pass so all I needed to do was push through it. I worked on the project from president and wrote home. But then my health shot down and we were back at home before i knew it and that was my day. 

Tuesday

Elder Choi, poor guy, I don't think he has been around a whole lot of sick people before. He asked me a million times if we were going to go out, I hated to break it to him but when it's 1 in the afternoon and I'm still in bed with a cough and shivering, I don't think we are leaving. I had him call the assistants so they split with us for the day. Elder Livingston stayed with me during the afternoon. It was good for Elder Choi he needed to get out. Then at dinner they switched and Elder Richardson and I were together. 

Wednesday

I was feeling a little bit better but during the afternoon Elder Richardson and I split so Elder Choi could get out. I found out the reason why he was so persistent about leaving was because he wanted to get something to eat. I don't think he knows how to cook. After splitting back I took a nap then we went to the mission office so I could be with Elder Kubera who is also sick and our companions could go teach Eikaiwa. Around 8:30 I went to Ward council, they sure seemed surprised to see me! I gave a pretty lousy report mostly because my fever started to spike again. After that Elder Kubera and I were dropped off at the house to spend Thursday together. 

Thursday

Elder Kubera and I stayed at the house most the day. At night we were feeling better so we went to the office to see if we could work. Then we split back to our normal companions before returning home. 

Friday

I couldn't fall asleep until really late and was feeling groggy so I got up around noon. But after I was up I was "better". We went to the church and had about half of our weekly planning session. We are going to be full swing next week that is for sure. Followed by our weekly district meeting, which was good a lot of exciting things planned soon. Sadly all of the investigators in the district have left or have little to no interest anymore. It is kind of unreal. After district meeting we went out for dinner at a spaghetti place, it was pretty good, kind of hard to finish though. After that we went back to the Honbu and Elder Choi talked to the Wada's for a little bit and I helped Tech Staff out a little bit. After that we opened the package my parents sent to test a new card I relieved however it didn't work. That was kind of a bummer, but when we were walking back we talked to these funny 20 year olds. It was a pretty clever way to strike up a conversation. "Oh look we both have blonde hair. Is it natural?" Speaking to the man with bleached hair. It worked out pretty well. 

Saturday

After studies we got on the train to go to Kawasaki for their music night. It was really well done with a lot of good performers. It was really weird not knowing anyone though, that hasn't happened for a while. On our way back home we were on the train and they had just announced the next stop, Kugayama, the station Michael lives at. I had the impression we needed to go, so I grabbed Elder Choi and hopped off the train. He looked really confused as to why we got off the train early. I told him we are following a prompting and we shouldn't delay. He gave me a strange look and we hurried to Michaels in the pouring rain. He was home and boy did he look excited to see us! He told us that his plans had just fallen through and he was going to be at home all night. We sat with him and talked, he is doing a lot better. He talked about how much he wants to meet President Monson someday, that was really cool. We watched the most recent conference address given by him and left. When we arrived back to Kichijoji we went to dinner at a curry house, wrote a report for the ward mission leader, then went home and contacted people out of the old area book. 

Sunday

At church the ward mission leader didn't show up, his brother was sick so he had to take him to the hospital. Michael came to church. I noticed how important the Sacrament really can be in our daily lives. During the administration of the sacrament I was pondering and looking around. Then I caught glimpse of one of my favorite ward members, Brother Naka. He was sitting a little far off and hunched over praying. It was a neat example of him remembering those sacred covenants at baptism. It was also cool to see him after a long week of travel (I'm pretty sure he was in Paris), focus on what matters most, his family and his relationship with God. I want to make sure I am able to emulate that in my own life. Then right after the sacrament ended Josey came too! It was good to have them both there. The ward was in a buzz helping Michael which was really good. I've noticed Michael is almost a project the ward needed to help them, it was an interesting paradigm shifter for me. After church we were talking to ward members, and getting to know them better. Everyone kept commenting on how thin my face looked and how pale I was, I'm feeling better I am just trying to get better now haha. We set up a lot of good appointments with members for this upcoming week. My favorite Canadian member, Brother Ishikawa, invited the whole district out to lunch on Monday! There is also a new member of our ward who just moved in from New York City, she is a professional ballerina! After church we went to the house and we made okonomiyaki which was delicious! Then went back to the church to collect stats and big bag and emergency kit numbers. After that we walked around the park discussing out lessons as well as trying to talk to people, sadly no one had much interest. It was pretty cold. After we went to Joseys and had one of the best lessons I have been apart of on my mission. It was superb, he has changed a lot recently and is realizing how much potential he has to serve a mission. It was a great way to begin the week. 

Well I'm alive this week! 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn

1. This is Shibuya Crossing! My companion wanted a good picture of it, it is kind of cool in the rain. 

1. Us with Michael on Saturday night!

1. Us with Josey on Sunday night!

Getting Sick is not fun.

Hello, 

Monday

Our day was really messed up. After studies we went to the church to contact a few investigators, then rode out to a lesson with a man by the name of Sakamoto San. He is a referral we received from Michael. He is an interesting man. We was a particle physicist, so talking to him was interesting. It doesn't seem like he does a whole lot day to day though. After that we began our Preparation day. We went to the church and emailed then went to dinner at a curry house. It was alright nothing super fancy though. Then we walked around a few shops and looked around. Since I had ripped a hole in my pajamas (they just got worn out...who knew after 6 years they would die), we went to GU and I bought a new pair of Sweats. They are so comfortable. We then bought groceries. On our way back we met a man named Stewart who was kind enough to talk to us. It was fun talking to him for a little bit. We then rushed home then back to the office to split with the tech elders. President Wada gave me a massive project to get finished. 

Tuesday

After studies I worked like the dickens building and creating a new form, PDF a Generator, and Ajax for keeping track of our Recent Converts and Less Actives throughout the mission since its beginning. We took a break around lunch and went to Sukiya and King sized it was so much meat but thankfully I didn't have time for dinner as it was so it made up for any lack of time I had. I worked the rest of the day on the project, thankfully there are only a few bugs left that need to be ironed out. 

Wednesday 

After personal study we ran over to the church for a district leader training meeting. It was really good. I was able to sit by Elder Leach which was great. I learned a lot about how I can help the district more, and fulfill my role as such also. After the meeting a Elder Choi and I were in the office and a set of Elders walked by with someone they found. They passed him on over to us and Elder Choi and I gave our new friend from India a tour! He was really interested so we hope to help him progress soon! After our in counter we waited to meet with a friend from Taiwan. We introduced ourselves and talked a little bit. It turns out I met him really early on in one of my areas and forgot. Come to find out he is good friends with Elder Stevens who is currently serving in Taiwan! It was pretty amazing! We went out to Dinner and then I got ready for PEC. Eikaiwa was good, we talked about emotions which was exciting, nothing extravagant. However after I went to PEC and reported on our investigators. I think they were amazed with how many people we are teaching, which is great! They told us that the ward wants to help fellowship our investigators more! Yay! They want to help! It is so exciting to see them lit up. They were even offering words of encouragement about our baptismal dates, something that earlier would have relieved a lot of doubt! We just need to keep baptizing! 

Thursday

After studies we went to the church and I worked more on the project I was given. I am really close. I just have some issues syncing the server and front side of things. After working on that for a little bit we went to Matsuoka Kyodais house for lunch! It was a great opportunity to meet with him! We enjoyed it a lot. He went to BYU and studied linguistics so his English is amazing, but we switched a lot back and forth. We then went to the church, then home for dinner. After dinner we met up with Zhao who has been helping us with the Zhangs. We went over their house but they weren't home! It was kind of sad. We went back to the church with him and went to sports night. It was a good way to build relationships with members. He was baptized only 4 months ago. 

Friday

After studies we went to the church and did some weekly planning! Yay for planning. It took us forever, mostly because we have a lot of investigators, and ideas. We got a lot finished but still need to completely finish. We called it quits after a few hours and went to Michaels house! He is doing so much better! He is seeing straight! His surgery worked! It was so exciting! When we got there he was just reading his Book of Mormon! It is so cool to see the conversion process first hand. We taught the restoration to him again, and asked for referrals. He might as well had given us a phone book haha! It was a great visit overall. He always brightens my day. After that we went home for dinner and then headed to the church for district meeting. Leading a  13 person discussion is exhausting! About halfway through everyone seemed either grumpy, tired, or finished with the meeting. So I got up and shared a farm story about having a vision. It worked really well and turned the meeting around a lot. I feel things are moving pretty well. 

Saturday

After studies we went to the Honbu so I could work on the project he needed me to finish. I am somewhat close to being done. I am just have two issues left, one pop up box and a checklist that is outta whack. After that we went to the park to try and talk to people however there were so many people it was really difficult to talk to others. We then went to Maeda's house for a lesson we taught him the plan of Salvation which went really well. He just has a few issues with taking that leap of faith. After that we went out to eat at Sukiya and then tried to visit the Zhangs but they were busy with New Years so we weren't able to meet. After that we went back to the church and worked on getting reports ready for church tomorrow. 

Sunday

I think I have finally learned what it means to be in a daze. I work up being probably the sickest I have ever been. Cold sweats, fever, vomiting, the whole 9 yards. It was so bad I didn't get out of bed until 3. I took a bath, but felt so week I was unable to really do much so I laced down again. I was finally feeling somewhat better so we went to the church to try and plan. It was pretty bad still. Not only that but most of our investigators have either blocked our number, don't have time to meet, or have no desire to progress. My health shot down again so we went back to the house and I went straight to bed. Talk about a crummy day. 

I'm a little better today, just on a lot of medication. 

Big Sick Hearts, 

Elder Dunn

Fwd: Finding and Teaching Families

Hello. 

Monday

After our studies we packed our backpacks and headed to Costco! The closest one was an hour and a half away by train which was a bummer. When we arrived we had the intention of going to the food court first but they closed it off so you had to shop first. We bought our groceries and got the weirdest looks from various people. After we hauled all the food home, which was alright because I was able to nap on the train. Then we dropped off our stuff at the church, wrote/sent off the last of our emails, and finished with our various shopping in Kichijoji. My companion, Elder Choi really wanted a notebook so we spent 30 minutes attempting to find one. Thankfully he found one but we were unable to get any of the other things we wanted to which was a bummer. On the way back to the church we met a man who wanted to know about Eikaiwa! We were able to help him find the correct area to go to, and it turns out i knew him from Eikaiwa in Machida over a year ago! Pretty amazing! We then split with the Tech Staff Elders and Elder Belnap and I taught a lesson to Takikawa-San. He doesn't really have a strong desire to know right now which is kind of frustrating. We got a little heated mostly because he was trying to distract us with ambiguous questions that without having faith in Christ are kind of hard to understand. I learned a lot about how we can bring the Spirit unto people's hearts but we can't bring it into people's hearts. They have to make that decision for themselves. Afterwards we split back and Elder Choi and Sister Neff had to practice for a big musical number for Wednesday, so I ended my day in the chapel listening to hymns. It was a peaceful ending to a busy day. 

Tuesday

After studies we went into a mad frenzy cleaning the apart,met in case Elder Whiting came to visit it. It wasn't bad, it just needed a little perking up. Then Elder Choi and I went to the office so I could fix an app, then we tried to visit Michael but he wasn't home so we went around to a few less actives in the area however no one was home. We then returned to the church to Kubari which was fun. I talked to a man from Belgium which was pretty cool, he was nice but had no interest. We passed a few more out then went back to the church to help set up a little for the conference tomorrow and went home for dinner. After dinner we biked over to the Zhang Family's house! (I still have no earthly idea about how to spell his name.) they welcomed us right in and we had one of the most amazing lessons I have been apart of. On Sunday we taught the son the restoration because the parents weren't home, except this time the son taught the father in Chinese and translated for us! It was so amazing! It is really hard not being able to speak Chinese they have so much potential! We hope to set a date with the father and son soon! His biggest concern is not understanding church since he doesn't understand English or Japanese very well. It was another great ending to a day. 

Wednesday

We woke up early got ready and headed over to the church for a big Conference with half the mission! We were instructed by Elder Whiting for the morning session. It was good, he took questions from missionaries as well as talked a little about how the leadership of the church are doing and the future of the church as well. It was all very good. After lunch Sister Wada, President Wada and Sister Whiting all spoke. It was really good, it turns out that Sister Whiting was one of the missionaries president Wada knew when he was investigating the church as a 15 year old boy! Wow! Small world! After the conference, I had a neat opportunity to be interviewed by Elder Whiting. He is a nice man, I was able to learn a lot from the interview. We then went home had dinner and came back for Eikaiwa. As we were setting up we noticed that the Sisters seemed really nervous. Then we realized why, the assistants had left for the next conference tomorrow which meant their Bible class needed to be taught by someone else. So they got stuck teaching it, but the problem is there is only one native speaker and the other two are Japanese. We switched classes with the, which was great because I was able to convince a few of the advanced students to come to the class as well! We talked about Daniel from the old testament which was a lot of fun. It was by first time ever teaching bible class so that was neat. 

Thursday

After studies we went to the church and had our weekly planning session. It was good, we were able to plan effectively for a lot of our investigators, we even were able to set up an appointment with a family who is half Japanese half philapeno (I forgot how to spell what I am trying to write. It's the group of islands north of Australia). That was exciting! We made a lot of really good plans for the up and coming week. We are working really hard with our investigators. After that we helped Tech Staff with a few bugs then went and kubaried recently I have been mistaken as being from England I have no idea how but it's becoming more common. I enjoy kubaring because it really forces you to run off of your own Japanese skill because your companion is a few yards away passing out fliers. After that we walked over to the train station and found a man from Kansas named Abule (I can't spell his name right either). He was really friendly, but told us he wasn't interested and we wasted our time because he is apart of another church. To which I replied, "well sir, we believe we are all brothers, it doesn't matter what church we belong to." He replied, "amen to that, here's my phone number." We then met with a man by the name of Brian from America, we went out to eat with him and talked. He expressed a lot of interest. We focused on building from truth it worked great. We committed him to learn more and prepared him for more latter down the road, he even accepted a Book of Mormon. It was great! It is kind of weird teaching people in your native tongue from your home country. But it worked out wonderfully. I did realize I'm having a hard time expressing myself as easily in English now. 

Friday

Early in the morning Elder Livingston and I split! We went back home studied, then went to district meeting where the Wada's came! It was Presidents birthday so after district meeting we ate cake and brownies. It was delicious! Then we split back because the assistants had a meeting with President so Elder Choi and I went to Michaels. He is looking so much better! He got a haircut and is just turning everything around. Elder Choi did one of the most selfless things I have seen. Michael broke his glasses a while back so it is difficult to see for him. So Elder Choi gave him his glasses, they worked better for Michael which was great. Sadly Elder Choi is a little bit more blind, so it'll be slow truckin' for a little bit until his bags arrive. We went slowly back to the Honbu to resume splits and went out to dinner as a 4 man. We went to a tsukemen place that was really good! Then went to the church to meet up with our Chinese member for our lesson Zhou! He is awesome!! He was baptized in November and wants to serve a mission! So incredible, we went to the Zhangs and had an amazing experience. It felt like the MTC all over again, I had no idea what they were saying, but we could feel the spirit. Elder Livingston broke off and taught the son and I stayed in Chinatown trying to understand. I now understand "of course" "yes" "no" "church" "book of Mormon" "goodbye" "thank you" "hello" and "my name is elder Dunn". He is so prepared though. He was so excited for Chinese New Year, I love learning about their culture. It is so amazing. We were able to teach a good amount. Our member, Zhou, basically did everything we were just there to smile and nod our heads. What was cool was when he prayed, I knew exactly what he was saying, almost as if it were speaking to my heart. 

Saturday

We went to the church in the morning to split back and play so,e sports in the gym. We had extra balloons from president Wada's surprise in district meeting the day before so we used them in a form of Mario cart that we kind of made up. It was a creative way to exercise. We then came home and Elder Choi and I studied, after studies we went to the church to send a few emails to the district about follow up then. Went to various members houses. Sadly no one was really home so we left them notes and tried talking to people along the way. No one we talked to had a whole lot of interest, but we tried hard anyways. We walked through the park which had tons of people at it because on Saturdays a lot of people come to the park to see the street performers and flea market. We found a neat man who sells postcards, and another man who will read to you these giant comic books! It is pretty funny because you can hear him yell from the other side of the lake. After streeting we went to Seiyu so Elder Choi could buy a toothbrush and shampoo, and went to the house for dinner. After dinner we went to station and handed out fliers for an hour and a half, it was nice and busy.

Sunday

We arrived at the church early for DCS however our ward mission leader never showed up so we were kind of stuck. Church was great though we set up a lot of appointments for this upcoming week. After church we collected stats, wrote lesson reports and we figured out what we were going to teach the Chibas. We picked up the Chiba a Family at the Eki and walked with them to the church. The wife is from the philipeans (still can't spell it) and they have two young kids! Satoshi the husband is the one we contacted and he brought his whole family! It was great! We taught them an English lesson then taught them about the gospel! It was great! The whole family is so prepared. We will hopefully extend a baptismal commitment to them this week. After that we went home for dinner then went to Ueki Kyodais house for a short lesson about President Monson. It was really good, we also invited him to institute this next week. 

Well there went another week. 

Big Hearts! 

Elder Dunn

1. Some curry we found in an import store...yummy?
2. A view of Tokyo from an apartment, the clouds look so pretty.
3. Cho at his 60th Birthday party. I love this picture of him.
4. Pizza coupons for Dominos pizza....$38 for an American medium pizza? 
5. The last pictures are from around the eki and in the park. This is where we walk around talking to people.