Elder Dunn Called to Serve : After 9 months I am leaving Kichijoji. Kamiooka here I come!

ヘーロ皆さん！

Tuesday

When we woke up I had Elder Richardson finish cutting my hair since he didn't have time to finish it. Then we all went to the temple, the trains weren't too bad which was really nice! We then went to the temple it was great! After we took a district picture then all returned to our area for Pizza at Shakeys! It was a lot of fun, enjoy being around the district a lot. After we went to the church and emailed home then went to the office and bummed around, and bought groceries at Seiyu. After that we went kubaring in front of sun road. I met some really interesting people. I met a woman who use to come ten years ago, and said she would be returning this week! I met a guy who spoke fluent English but refused to take a copy of the Book of Mormon because he was in interested in religion, that was an interesting experience. I met a man from Bangladesh who was one of the nicest people I have talked to, he use to be in the army and worked for the UN peacekeepers, so he has traveled the world. He is taking a break right now to peruse some personal dreams. I enjoyed talking to him a lot, he even took a few flyers to give to his Christian friends! We then hurried over to the Zhangs! It turns out that Cho will be leaving back for China in two days and won't be back for 3 months, that is kind of a bummer. However him and his wife spent 15 minutes asking me to go to China after I return home. They sounded pretty convincing but we will see. I am sure someday I will go. We worked on helping him get into contact with the church office over there to help him learn more about the church in China.

Wednesday

During lunch we got a call from Ryugo the man that we had plans with to meet that night. He said he didn't have any interest in meeting with us anymore, it sounded like he had a crush on Sister Neff and was bummed when it was us that he'd be meeting with. We then went to Michaels to visit him, he is doing a little better, we are helping him slowly but surely along the path. After that meeting we went back to the church and set up for Eikaiwa and contacted a few people on Facebook. After that we passed out flyers at sun road. It was awesome! I talked to a ton of Foreigners. A woman from Russia, a man from Seattle that I was able to help with directions, a French man who I was able to practice a little bit with, and an American woman from Montana who has a lot of interest in coming to church. It was really good overall! We were able to pass out a lot of flyers. For dinner we went to Abura Soba it was good but I think the noodles wrecked Elder Choi. On our way back we went to buy just one donut because they were on sale however one of the Eikaiwa students found us and grabbed them off our trays and told us she was going to pay for them and to go ahead and go to Eikaiwa. When we met her at Eikaiwa she bought us 10 donuts...each! It was a nice gift from her! Class went great, we were able to add some history about the colonists into the class because they wanted to know why Americans speak English. It was a good end to the day.

Thursday

Elder Choi and I woke up early and went to the church to split with Elder Gerard, and Elder Gonzalas. I split with Elder Harrison and Elder Eaton. We were invited to the Mission Leadership Council meeting. Since we were the only missionaries that wearing zone leaders there we needed to go on exchanges. It felt weird being there because I was surrounded by all of these dendo animals and then there is me who is practically a dendo insect. It was a great morning session all focused on the Atonement and how we can apply it in our lives more fully. During the discussion items the assistants brought up the project that I had spent 3 weeks working on to get it moving by the leadership side. When president went to go to the portal to view it, it didn't work...the portal didn't exist...that is never a good thing to hear. Tech Staff came running over and we talked about it for a little bit, we emailed the man at the area office over our portals domain. The rest of the council was great! I really learned a lot and felt it a special opportunity to attend. Afterwards I spent some time with tech staff discussing the issue. Elder Choi and I split back and we went home for dinner then came back for sports night. It was a lot of fun, we were able to build stronger relationships with the youth who came. At the end Elder Kubera and I began our split.

Friday

After studies we went to a Karage place for lunch (fried chicken and pork). I had no idea it existed! As we were going down the stairs to it I was taking a picture of the lanterns and a man stopped me. He said something...I literally couldn't understand a word he was saying, neither could Elder Richardson so we were just standing there not knowing what was going on, come to find out he was pretty drunk and thought I looked like a friend from England he knows. Lunch was delicious! Probably some of the coolest interior design I have seen in a restaurant. When we got back we had district meeting, it went well, I enjoyed the time spent with everyone, afterwards we practiced for our music night. Then Elder Kubera and I washed the mission cars. I a pretty sure the last vehicle I washed was the tractor back at home. It was a lot of fun, and a different way of serving. After we changed the tech staff pulled me over and showed me the damage that had been done. The portal was restored from a backup in January...which meant that my huge 3 week long project was deleted. I was crushed...but I buckled down and worked super hard and I was able to redo all of it in only a matter of hours. President really needs that form to keep track of all the recent converts and less actives in the mission. I enjoyed spending time with Elder Kubera and learning from him. It was a good split.

Saturday

The sisters called us late the other night and asked if we would cover for them at Children's English Class since neither of them are native English speakers. So we went early in the morning with Kajiura Kyoudai to set up and teach. The topic was animals so we ran around the room talking about animals with the kids. It was a lot of fun, we even read Curious George! One of the families that came is Korean and a potential investigator of the sisters. We have been trying to meet them too so it was a miracle that it all worked out that way. Elder Choi and the father were able to speak for a while in Korean so I was no help, I did pick up on that the family lived in Texas for 15 years though! Pretty cool! After the class ended we checked our iPads and found out we got our transfer emails. I will be transferring to Kamiooka to become a zone leader. That kind of shocked me, the assistants had hinted that I'd be transferring but not to be a zone leader. My companions name is Elder Shurilla who is from Wisconsin, it is his last transfer so it looks like I may stay in Kamiooka for a few transfers. Kamiooka in Japanese means "big hill place" and is known for being the hilliest part of our mission. Yay hills! After our calls we went out to lunch with the Tech Staff. Then went back to the church for weekly planning. That took a little while, but we got things figured out. We then picked up some ear medicine for my companion and ate dinner with the office elders, my favorite dumplings from Walmart. We then had our music night as a ward, it was really good, the Korean family came, as well as a few other families, it was fantastic overall.

Sunday

After 9 months of serving in the same place the ward just feels like home to you. During sacrament meeting, i was asked with the sisters to bear my testimony, they too are leaving, one home to Hokkaido and the other is transferring to Hachijoji. It was really hard to say goodbye to the ward. I talked about how we make eternal friends on our mission, and quoted a famous missionary song. I am thankful for all my eternal friends in Kichijoji. During priesthood we had a meeting about dendo in the ward, then after we only had about ten minutes left for a lesson. Then the Elders Quorum President asked me to go up and fill the time. I have gained a strong testimony of praying with faith recently. I got up having no idea what I was going to say, but ended up talking about charity the pure love of Christ and challenged the Brethren to find ways to show that more in their daily lives. Afterwards we had a lesson with Uchiyama Kyoudai, Maeda Kyoudai, and Michael about getting a job, it was a really good lesson. We then ran over to the Yamashitas for dinner, they are the office couple. They are full Japanese but don't speak any Japanese. They had one of the return missionaries visiting as well over for dinner. It was so crazy eating an American meal...with Forks too! I am not as dexterous with a fork as I used to be haha. It was a really good meal, it reminded me of home. We shared a message of patience and how we can endure through trials with patience. We then collected stats from the district and wrote reports from this past week, then we went to the apartment, and then biked over to Ueki Kyoudais house. He has improved so much since we started visiting him a few months ago. He is now going to institute every week and reading the Book of Mormon everyday! Such big leaps! We then went to Josey's apartment. He is really improving his life and making the steps to change. I am sure by the end of the year he will have his papers in for his mission. He is one of my closest eternal friends.

Well that sums up my week! I'll email you next time from Kamiooka!

Big Hearts!

Elder Dunn