Mailing Address:

Elder Jarron McKay Molen
Japan Tokyo South Mission
1-7-7 Kichijoji, Higashi-cho
Musashino-shi, Tokyo
180-0002 JAPAN

Monday, October 12, 2015

Week Two - Minato Mirai

October 5 - View of Minato Marai 21 from above.
Photo Credit:  www.flickr.com/photos/agustinrafaelreyes/5639445298
Okay, so second week is past and gone and I'm not sure there is much to say.

Monday: we met with an awesome investigator who is From America and he really has a lot of faith. He also has great points of view about things that I haven't ever really thought about. We had a nice long talk about doctrine and it was a ton of fun.

I can't really remember most of the week but my companion got sick, so for most of the week we were just chilling at the apartment. I read a lot of the scriptures and stuff and my testimony has grown so much of the gospel.

We went to a cool historical park in the city so that was fun and stuff. We also went to another park that is believed was where Heber J. Grant could have dedicated Japan for missionary work. That was super awesome seeing all the random spots in the city with a bunch of trees and stuff. 
Elder Gammon who is a mere 6'4"tall



We don't watch conference until next week in Japan so I just read it on gospel library instead.

On Thursday we had "ekaiwa" which is always tons of fun because all those people who are trying to learn English are super happy and fun all the time.

Again most of the week we just sat in the apartment and stuff so that was boring cause I just wanted to go out and work.

Anyway, on Sunday I had another great day trying to understand what was being said. It was still awesome though.




We go to lots of restaurants cause we didn't buy enough food 
for the week lol.
Then today was awesome 'cause we had studies then went to Minato Mirai which is near the coast. There are a ton of huge buildings, and it's so cool to be in the middle of all of them.


Landmark Tower

Me and a bunch of other missionaries went to celebrate one elder's birthday so we went to an all-you-can-eat Mexican place. It was actually really good, and now I see why missionaries go there so often. 
















Then we went to the Pokemon center in Landmark Tower, which is a very tall building. 

After that we looked around the city some more which was fun.

Then we rode a train back and got some groceries for the week,  pretty exciting I know.

Tonight we have another lesson with that investigator I talked about so that should be way fun. Sorry for not having much to say this week but rest assured next week will be more exciting. Here are some pictures as well.
*On weeks the missionaries attend the temple, their p-day changes to the same day as their temple day, which means we will hear from him on that day instead.  There is no update for today, Oct. 12, so I assume this might be  the reason -- or he's just very busy which is also good.

Arrival and Mission Assignment

Sept 28

So everyone, I am here now and it's kind of insane. I enjoyed the 10-hour flight over and unintentionally watched, like, four different movies. We left the MTC at, like, 4am so that was fun, and we went to SLC and flew over to Seattle and had a layover there. Then the Japan flight commenced and now I am here!

I got to Japan and was just blown away by how awesome it is that I get to serve here! We had a nice American dinner the first night with the mission president and it was awesome. Then we got up on Wednesday and went for a morning run which was totally cool. We got to see the city, but then there was an awesome park like 5 mins walk from the city and I couldn't even see the buildings anymore.

We did morning Taiso with all the old people which was awesome. Taiso is basically just some stretches and I'm pretty sure it's why the Japanese live so long.


Then we did lots of training and then some street contacting which was way fun. After that we had dinner and I had some wonderful udon, would recommend.(btw this is a really fast overview). Then we got up on Thursday and went through more training and then we met our trainers so that was cool.  We also got assigned our areas.  Mine is called Kohoku, and it's awesome. My trainer is Elder Gammon and he goes home in like three months so that's kinda crazy.



I stopped at Shibuya crossing which is the largest crosswalk in the world so that was pretty sick. The train system here is awesome and very efficient. But then we got to our home which is in the middle of a million houses so that's cool. I am just chilling like a villain amongst  more than 16 million people. 



Friday we didn't really do very much but I got more established and we talked to some people on the street. Saturday was awesome we took multiple trains over to the beach in Kamiooka area which was way fun to see all the sights from the monorail. We got to the beach and did beach cleanup which was way fun cause I never thought I'd get to go to the beach on my mission lol. 


After that we went into the city again and got some good ole sushi which was quite fun. Then we went to go buy a bike for me, and I heard real music on the radio in the bike shop so I may be a sinner idk, but I miss "T Swift" I know that ;).

Jk, um after that I went talking to some other people on the street but they didn't really wanna talk. One guy had his mouth full somehow. He wasn't even eating anything... Idk.

Anyway, on Sunday I understood about 4 and a half words so that was awesome, loved it. Then we stayed at the church until like forever and finally went back to do more study and stuff.

Now it is Monday and we bought groceries and cleaned the house so that's cool.

P.s we are at war with the bugs, they do not show themselves when you look but that's just what they want. I'm losing my mind but that's ok, cause I'm in Japan.

We are set up to teach an investigator tonight so that should be fun and spiritual. Everyone you are all awesome!! Anyway I gotta go so until next week.

Elder Molen