A Giant Park, a neat letter from my great grandparents, and iPads in Shibuya.

私の愛する兄弟姉妹の皆さん、

おはようございますかこんにちわかこんばんは何方でもいいです！

As many of you are probably wondering, "shouldn't I have written you all on Saturday?"  Ahhh, yes...I should have but conference interfered a little with out schedule. 

Saturday

After comp study we went to a demonstration of the new sound equipment, it was pretty funny because Japanese technology is all about the looks, not if it works or not. They did a good job with it however it took way too long. Like 3 hours too long, and all we learned was that we aren't supposed to touch it and how to use three buttons. It was kind of frustrating start to our p-day. After we went to the base, driven by Elder Bates! It was a fun time eating subway and buying American food. Then we came home and cleaned and write emails. 

Sunday

We woke up at 5 to see the new apostles get called, it was a neat experience watching it live! Church was great, president and sister Wada came with their son, Takuto. Elder Leach and I hung out with him, it was a good time. He is like any other American teenager though..we are working on that though. We had weekly planning after which was hard since it was fast Sunday. Then ate wings, yum. We went out and met a lady who spoke English, we invited her but she declined. It set a good impression for later though.

Monday

We ran around with our various duties for most the day. I worked on a new ordering system for the portal, argh, it took forever. On a brighter note it is starting to become fall, and it feels wonderful outside. It's about time! We went to the furthest part of our area to dendo in, it was a fun little trip. We met a Nepalese man and talked to him for a little bit. He was really kind and helped us withdrew directions. We were Abe to introduce the gospel to him too! We tried visiting a less active but it proved to be worthless. 

Tuesday

We woke up super duper early to go to Yamate. So Yokohama is home of hills! Giant massive hills. Just thought I'd inform you. When we arrived at the park for zone meeting we were interrupted by a ton of kids. Not to mention grass! It has been a year since I have seen some grass! The park was where Japan and all of Asia was dedicated for proselytizing back in 1906! It was a good meeting, afterwards we ran home to get to the Honbu to talk to Elder Kuahara about the Internet at the Honbu. President Wada sent us a video of the new apostles, like a news clip, and asked if we could find him. After we found him we took a screenshot and gave him a mustache and glasses and sent it to him. That night sister Wada fell out of her chair she was laughing so hard haha. 

Wednesday

For staff meeting I had the spiritual thought, and as I was thinking about what to share I got an email! From Grandpa and Grandma Davies! It had a great poem attached which I shared for my spiritual thought! What a neat little tender mercy. The Staff meeting was good, I am now in charge of creating an emergency action plan for the mission. We then went to yakuniku (Korean barbecue) it was pretty good. Then back to the office for work, and work. Then Eakaiwa! We taught about communication. Greens daughter (green in Nepalese and hilarious) came! She is 17 and may start taking lessons! The best part was she understood our American humor, a little startled we asked her where she learned English she responded with American dramas. Sadly a lot of the students didn't understand her because of her accent, but it is great practice for them too. 

Thursday

We woke up to find out that we had interviews that day...shoot....I don't have any questions. I went into the interview a little apprehensive as to what to expect. However, we just talked and he shared some experiences from his mission. It was a good learning opportunity. Then around 6 we went to Shibuya, it was packed with people, most of which weren't smiling. It is so busy at night it is insane. It was my companions first time there so he walked around with a big gaping mouth. The Apple Store was pretty simple. They wouldn't let us walk out with 6 brand new iPads so we walked out with 3 after exchanging the old ones. Afterwards we went to the only Taco Bell in Japan, then off to sports night. There Ishikawa Kyodai was wearing a Dayton,Ohio T-shirt! So we got a picture of course. Since I felt a little adventurousness I left my companion cut my hair...it isn't awful, I mean I'm not bald, but I could be better. 

Friday

Elder Leach and I left for Yokohama pretty early which meant getting shoved into trains and getting lost in Shibuya Eki, which is enormous. I couldn't tell you how far down we were but after platoons of escalators we finally reached our platform. We had a training for new missionaries and Facebook! It was a good simple training, I think everyone enjoyed it. Afterward we went out to shabu shabu or been in boiling water! Sooo good! No pictures Gomen, but it was great. Since one of the new missionaries received the new parts for Sister Wada's blender from a member in a mikitary base, complicated I know, just of with it. We went hope and began trying to fix her blender, thank goodness she wasn't home because if she is anything like my mom, grease does not belong on the counter, as well as gears, and other tools. Well we fixed most of it, however there was this little retaining ring we could not figure out for the life of us! We were bending and prying but no avail. It was pretty frustrating so we put things back together and ordered the tool. I am sure there is a good sacrament talk in that somewhere. Elder Leach had to do a big financial report, and Kuwahara Kyoudai from the area office came to work on the modem, so I worked with him connecting things, then around 5, Elder Richardson, the district leader called asking if we were coming to district meeting. So we ran upstairs. Had district meeting. Afterwards I decided to call people and invite them to general conference. I called Rick, and he said, I'll see you in 20 min...uhhh okay? Turns out he came to the church to talk in person. He was doing good, but we think he may have some honesty issues. 

Saturday

Since the sisters had two English speaking investigators we weren't aloud to be in the English session of conference. A little upset that we had to listened to a dubbed conference we decided, "wait...we are tech...we have all the equipment to do this", after a few quick texts we began carrying a projector, sound equipment, the MacBook and a million cables. Then within a matter of minutes we were watching conference on a screen twice the size and clarity than what was in the other room. You have to love modern technology. The three sessions of conference were superb, I loved the vast amounts of revelation that was meted out during the sessions. Sadly with that much spiritual feasting it left no time for dendo. However around 10 president came in with fresh donuts that sister Wada had just made! Yum! 

Sunday

We had two great sessions of conference, I really enjoyed hearing from the Prophet and other leaders of the church. It is awe inspiring to see how modern revelation leads and guides this church. Something big I really took out of conference was "ponderizing", it is something I want to incorporate more into my life, I can only image how that can bless my life. After conference we worked on weekly planning, which was a fun old time. Then ate lasagna for dinner, then back to weekly planning. I wasn't feeling to great afterwards and ending up having my head in a toilet for an hour puking, so I went ahead and called it a night and went to bed. 

Well I hate to leave on that sad note so on the bright side today I feel a little better! 

Big Hearts!

Elder Dunn

Ishikawa Kyoudai and I after Sports night.

This is the scramble or Shibuya Crossing.

A new watch, a lot of office work (like mind boggling amounts), and an app finished!

People of the planet earth, 

I hit what we call my hump day or my 1 year mark. Yes. I have been gone that long. Way too fast. 

Monday

Since we hadn't had preparation day since the previous Saturday we moved it to Monday. Around 11 Elder Leach and I went out to mode off to look at watches. I've been looking at buying a nice Japanese watch to take home, but is reasonable in price. After much waiting I found one! After the purchase we had it sized, and went out for lunch at an indo curry restaurant, turns out they aren't fans of missionaries because they have an all you can eat menu...which may end soon. Then to the shore store so my companion could buy some new running shoes. Afterwards, we came back, slept, wrote emails, and then got ready for FHE. We waited for our buff Iranian brother, however he must have had a prior engagement with gold gym so he couldn't make it. With that disarray we went out to go and find people. We found a few, however not many people were out so my companion informed me about what real Texas pride is. We returned to the bu and cleaned up FHE. 

Tuesday

Around 10 the office began trainings, well Elder Leach and I did. Him for financial secretary, and I for secretary training. Thankfully with a Tech mindset to it we will be able to automate a lot of it which will make our lives easier. Since the office couple is going home due to health issues, as well as the military couple also for a family emergency, the office staff is bringing out their A-game to cover for an office couple. Never in my life did I think I would be working in a secretary position. After the training I began on my to do list. Ironically white out does not get rid of problems, it just creates unreadable problems. Around dinner time we went out to the Apple Store, however we were rejected for having a lack of an appointment. Yorobashi camera was next to buy some tape. Then we spent our night unboxing tool kits, and taping areas and instructions on them for the meeting on Wednesday. 

Wednesday

We awoke early to finish taping, then had staff meeting. One of my favorite parts of the week with the amount of jokes and work that gets done. President was pretty upset about BYUs lose to Michigan so he spent 5 minutes lamenting about it, to which we all laughed. Sister Wada didn't find it funny though. After we continued working, then Elder Leach and I went out for Sizzlers for lunch. Yum. Then back to the office for work. I wish I could say I did something super awesome, but I don't remember. At Eakaiwa we just had time for jikoshokais and the. We played a game. At the end Elder Pratt and I taught a man simply about coming to church and invited him, he lives in the ward above us so we will see what happens. 

Thursday

From 9 until 1 I worked ferociously to get the apartment App finished in time to present it at Mission Leadership Counsel. I Facebook messaged a former Elder in the mission to help me finish it. He was a big help. On top of that a man from the area office came telling us that they are getting ride of our network drive and were replacing it. That is a nightmare in itself because of the amount of wiring that now needs to be done. So while there are all the missionaries are here, along with NTT docomo, a phone company, a man from the area office, and a sick companion. Secretaries Elder Dunn and Elder Ford, are here scrambling to hold down the fort. At 1 we released the app, and showed it off at the training. It went really well, I think we surprised a few people with our work. Since my companion was ill he slept the rest of the night and I cleaned the kitchen. Something therapeutic for my stressful day. Oh yeah, today was my 1 year mark on my mission. 

Friday

At 8:30 the man from the area office came again. (Do you notice my days are getting earlier?) he came to copy the hard drive so he took the computer apart and plugged it into this giant machine, pretty cool I must say. Then told me he'd be back at 2 to fix everything, but told me in the mean time to put the computer back together after...uhh okay? So around lunch I went for it, the darn thing is like a puzzle! I took apart another computer to get an idea of how to work the pieces just right. Then at 2 the office exploded...again. There were interviews with president going on, the man from the area office and I were communicating in Japanese about the server (I have noticed in one year I am getting better at listening), the commissarian an decided tech staff wasn't doing their job right so he took matters into his own hands, we skyped into district meeting, and we were getting another training by a different man from the area office in Japanese about how to order travel for missionaries going home. I wish I could say this was happening throughout the day, but instead it was all at once. After that wave, President asked if I'd make bread for some jam he received from a sister missionary. Jumping at the opportunity to leave chaos behind for a little bit I made bread, then back to the hustling and bustling sending emails, licking stamps, fixing iPads, updating the portal, and smiling. Then Elder Leach, who is usually a pocket pincher, asked if we could go out to get some fresh air. We went out to eat skemen, delicious. Then bread at the apartment with president who told us some neat stories from before his mission. Then Elder Leach and I hung out with president in his office while we set up a camera for a meeting they are having the next day. 

Well that week flew by. 

Big hearts, 

Elder Dunn

A way cool kit car in the church parking lot we found.

Who needs a brand when you have bland?

How to speak Nepalese from Japanese!