Week Five (In Japan) - "The Blitz; The real Rock, Paper, Scissors; Arice"

"Jesus Loves You.  I don't know why I used this subject line. 

Monday:  Well, we had an interesting lesson with our friend who we meet on Mondays and he read a conference talk I think, so I hope we can get him to read more. He really tries so hard to be like Christ and we want to build off of that and show him the restored gospel.

"A big building where we did the Blitz"

Tuesday:  So today we had the zone blitz!! It's where the whole zone goes to one area that is usually a shopping area where there are lots of people and we try to give out Books of Mormon and teach people. So we set up a booth near the exit of the train station on the platform. It was a beautiful booth I must say, and we gave out like 5 books, and 3 people said they would come to church! But after a half hour the police showed up and shut us down. 

They said it was ok at first, but they lied 'cause they came back later and stopped us. (The standard of truth has been erected and we will not be silenced!) So we went off the platform and continued on with bringing salvation. I went with one Elder Gonzalez.  He is like transfer 15 and we talked to a few people and gave out a BoM so that was awesome. We had a wonderful time and it was joyous. 

After that I went with Elder Coleman who is part of my
group who came over to Japan with me! So we had two inexperienced missionaries trying to speak the language and it was great! We talked to a few people and invited them to church, gave out a Book of Mormon and it was way fun. We talked to an eighteen year old and we were like "hey we are eighteen too!" And we had a great conversation. And then we had testimony meeting and it was great. Then I figured out after I fixed the second hole in my bike tube that it was flat once more, hurray!! So that wasn't fun.

Wednesday:  So today I went on splits with one Elder Clark and we had a great time. We had studies and then had Indo curry which is just Indian curry, but it's amazing. They give you these big tortilla things called a "naan" and you dip it in curry and it's just delicious. I had 3. Then we went and started streeting over near where we had a lesson appointment and it was pretty great. We met a randomness American who was traveling Japan so that was cool. Then we met these two high school kids and we taught them about the Book of Mormon and asked them to pray with us so we prayed right there on the sidewalk! It was way cool and we gave them each a BoM so I hope they read it. Then we went to our lesson and we sort of just talked and then we gave a member a priesthood blessing, and I think we made her really happy. The brother who who actually gave the blessing was a really cool and kind older man who I think is going to be the president of the Tokyo temple or something like that, so that was awesome. Then we had dinner and streets until the end of the night where we switched, and I went I splits for another day with my zone leader.

Thursday: I went on splits with Elder Livingston today and it was way awesome. So we went to an investigator's house and taught him a little and he struggles with the word of wisdom and doesn't think he can quit some things but we shared Ether 12:27"  

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
"And we told him that we believe in him. Then we went and streeted around a bit and got a call to teach a recent convert at the church, so we went back there. We taught him about being a light and example with President Monson's recent talk. He was a super happy and nice Nepalese man and it was fun. There are lots of Nepalese people in Japan just to let you know.

Friday:  We had studies and weekly planning like all day. We also had district meeting.Then we got some delicious tonkatsu. We have a Halloween party planned and have been inviting people to it all week long so we are hoping people come. That's about it for Friday.

"LOL"

Saturday:  We had the usual morning routine then went to Hiyoshi. We went there to get a new bike tube for me because I think the old one was just bad cause it had 3 holes, so ya. So we got that and on the way talked to a guy who was learning English. We had a nice little conversation and he took a picture with us and we are friends on Facebook. We are hoping more comes from this. Then we made our pinatas for the Halloween party. My paper mache skills still aren't very good, but ya that was fun. 

Then we got some good old McDonald's 'cause we don't have time to eat sometimes. Then we went and read the Book of Mormon with a member and we had a good time talking with him.

Sunday:  So Sunday was a lot of meetings. Then sacrament which is always wonderful. Then we had a food party. A bunch of people brought random Japanese food and we all just chilled and ate. So that was enjoyable. Then we did a bunch of calling and trying to message people we had contact info for. We did that until the end of the night.

Today:  Well, we had more Indo curry today and I still enjoy it so that's good. I put in the new tube and my bike is rocking and ready to go once more. Well that's about all for this week.  I love you all and be good people.

" The real Rock, Paper Scissors"

 Excerpts from other e-mails:

"I forgot to include on Thursday that we went to a park to wait for a person who said he would meet us but he didn't show. But then another guy who loves English showed up and we taught him and he prayed with us so there is the miracle you were hoping for. I'll try to do my best to teach
people and be happy."

Week Four - "Kekko desu"

October 25

"Greetings people of the world.

Tuesday:  Well, we went to the temple and you guys already heard about that.

Wednesday:  So we went and rode pretty far to go visit a less active, but when we got there he said it was a bad time so I was kinda sad. But the ride through Japan is always a joy. Then we went and visited a little ojii San (grandpa) who was interested. He has studied with the Jehova's Witnesses before and his Bible is marked up like crazy. He was kinda hard to understand because he didn't have a lot of teeth but I usually don't understand anyway so ya lol. We gave him a Book of Mormon and we are hoping he studies it. After that we did some housing and got the good ole "kekko desu" which means "I'm good." So then we rode back to the apartment and I discovered my bike tire was flat. So that wasn't good at all. So I patched it all up and now we are all good. Kinda bad luck that I got a hole in the tube that fast.

Thursday:  So we had studies and planned all day as the Thursday always goes you know? It always seems to rain on Thursday. I don't know why. But at the end of the day we had ekaiwa, and that's awesome cause we are starting to get a lot of people coming. They are always super ready to learn and it's way fun teaching them.

Friday: We went to Shonandai for a conference. Elder yamashita in the first quorum of he seventy came and spoke to us. He talked about how to improve our skills a lot and told us to always open our mouths and say something. He really believes in all of us so much and it is way cool to see. I got to see some of the MTC homes there so that was good seeing them again as always. After the wonderful conference we went and got food at "Steak Gusto" which is great cause you get steak and unlimited drink, and rice. Then we went back to our church and had a broadcast from Elder Yamashita and it was in Japanese this time so I didn't really get much but he told us to always smile and be happy."  (Elder Yamashita)

"Saturday:  We had the usual morning routine then went to district meeting which is always wonderful 'cause I have great people in my district. We are having a Halloween party.  I'm happy about that 'cause I love Halloween and parties and people, so ya. So then we went to a members house and he is really cool. He loves nature a whole lot and loves talking about it. Then we had dinner and did some streeting, but most people just pretend you aren't there.

Sunday: So we had a meeting before church about our investigators and planning the Halloween party and we think it will be good and hope people will come. Then We had our nice block of church which I am still attempting to understand but sacrament is always great. Then after that, two eight-year-old girls were getting baptized! That was way fun to watch and it's funny because it's like Christmas with how many gifts they get.

Monday:  So today we talked to a random American at seven eleven ('cause we have wifi there), and he told us about himself and some of his life so we invited him and his son to the Halloween party so we hope he comes. Then we went and had "shabu shabu" which is just all you can eat meat and stuff for an hour and it was way good! I enjoyed it very much. And now I am here. So ya that's the update for the week."

(photo found at:  discover.superco.net/one-hot-pot-multiple-functions)

"P.s. You can write me during the week if you want to, I can read emails but I just can't send any until p-day. Sorry not many pictures this week."

Week Four - Streeting and Housing

October 13

"Hello!  This is what went down this week.

Tuesday:  Okay, so we did some random stuff that I don't really remember.  Mostly I just do the same stuff every day. We go "streeting" to find people a lot but usually they see our name tags and run for it. Oh, I remember what happened. We went on splits and I went with Elder Matsumoto, who is native. We are always super happy and we went around saying that all day. We did some "housing" as well so that was fun. We went and visited an investigator and shared some thoughts about a scripture that we hope helped him. Then we biked around to a spot where we passed out flyers. Most people ignore us but some of them take one every once in a while.

Tonkatsu (photo from iheartjapan.ca)

After that we had some delicious Tonkatsu dinner. It's strips of pork or chicken that are deep fried and way good. 

Then we went to teach a lesson to a recent convert which was interesting cause it was an older guy who I couldn't really understand, and Elder Matsumoto even says it's hard sometimes. But that went well and we ended the split and got back with our real companions.

Wednesday:  I got my bike so that was a wonderful thing cause now I can actually go places. I heard real music again at the bike shop and I almost died. We met 2 really cool guys on the way back to our apartment and one was only in that town for work for 1 day and got off early so he took a walk. It was destiny. He was super nice and we taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon so that was cool. Riding a bike
through Japan at night is really quite enjoyable, I would recommend it for everyone.

Thursday:  So basically we just planned all day long then
went to Ekaiwa. There were lots of people at ekaiwa so that was awesome. The students are super funny and interactive.

We had a nice talk about physics and the new discoveries
that were made concerning that even though that wasn't the topic.

Friday:  We did a lot of stuff at the church today for a while so that was kinda boring but necessary. I got to see Elder Battaglia and Elder Palomino (my MTC companion) for the training we had. Then we had some awesome lunch together so that was fun as well. Yeah, so was kinda average but that's okay.


Saturday: We had general conference all day. You guys were all watching too I presume? Let's just agree that it was amazing. We can receive so many spiritual answers to questions at general conference and it's awesome because any question you have will be answered by one of the speakers. Can't believe we have three new apostles! Also, my pen broke.

Sunday:  Mostly the same as Saturday, but we went to the Bishop's house for dinner. They are the most funny and awesome people ever! We had like 8 people there and it was way fun.  They had us all put on different wigs and take a picture with them and it was totally hilarious. Then we had our Halloween themed dinner except I got to eat a hamburger. I love glorious American food because it's basically awesome. Japanese food is good too though I don't judge. All had an awesome time sharing the reasons we came on a mission and just eating together like a big family.

Monday:  So there was an autumn festival at the church that we went to and it was way fun. There was food and games and I got to know a lot of the members names better so that was really helpful. We also rode to visit a less active who we hadn't met before and he was pretty nice and is reading the BoM so that's great. After that we had dinner and then went to another investigators house. We talked about a lot of interesting stuff and we gave him a conference talk to read so I hope that he will read it and feel the spirit. So I'm writing this because today is our p-day because we went to the Tokyo temple today!!

So ya it was totally awesome and I got to see an elder from my MTC group, and that's how things are going, sorry it's kinda a lot of the same thing sometimes. Anyway love everyone and sorry for emailing late.

Excerpts from other e-mails to family:

"Tokyo temple celestial room is sick." (meaning awesome, cool, amazing).
"I have felt an earthquake, but it was just small I forgot about it."

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