Week 10 - Japan Tokyo South Mission

November 30, 2015

Here is the rundown of this Thanksgiving week!

Tuesday:  After the temple we did shopping and emails obviously, then we went to do some housing after dinner. We went to a members house.  His name is Yamanouchi, which means inside the mountain which is pretty cool. But we prayed with him and asked for his faith together with ours that we would find people to hear our message in his area. After a bunch of angry old ladies told us to go away, we found a nice guy who has been to our church before and said it was good. So we invited him to the Christmas party and we are hoping he will come. A lot of people answered their doors that night and it was really cool.

Wednesday:  So we had the usual morning routine then we went to the church. We finally, hopefully fixed my bike for good and so far it hasn't broken so pray for me. Then we went over to a place called Tsunami Shims to try and find some people but that day was kinda cold and not many people were out or wanted to talk. So we eventually went back and had dinner, then had Boys Scout Ekaiwa. It was way fun just like last week and they are still scared to talk to us lol. But we did a Thanksgiving-themed discussion and did pin the feather on the turkey, and I think they liked that so that made me happy.



Thursday:  So we had (just like every Thursday) weekly planning! We studied and planned for all the stuff in the coming week and it was very effective planning. After that we had normal Ekaiwa and we did the same thing as we did with the Boy Scouts and I think they liked it as well, but either way they now know more about American culture than they did before.

Friday: Guess what we did in the morning today? That's right, studies. All of you should love the Book of Mormon cause it's pretty awesome. Anyway, after the morning stuff we had district meeting where we had a
training on teaching the plan of salvation in 15 minutes or less. This is in Japanese btw. I was surprised cause I actually was able to do it fairly well. My zone leaders are really nice and easy to get along with so I always like receiving trainings from them. After that we went back to the apartment for dinner. Then we rode over a ways to
another member's house but sadly he was still at work so we went and prayerfully picked a spot to start housing. We found a place and we started going on the columns of doors, and we found a high school student who seemed interested.  We asked when we could come back and talk more and he said Sunday, so we said great! Then we talked to a few other interesting, but uninterested, people and then rode on home.






Saturday: Had the good ole morning schedule but ended a little early because we had a dendo no hi (missionary work day) with some of the ward members. We went on splits with members to go visit less actives in the area. There are about 200 less active people in our area. I went with Yamazaki Kyodai and we went to a place called Okurayama. He bought me some things from a Japanese bakery and it was actually pretty good. It was great weather that day so that was also really nice. Sadly neither of less actives went to visit were there though. But we talked to some people and invited them to church so that was good. We also had a Buddhist missionary come up to us and give us a flyer lol. We were like "wow he was pretty brave." We still invited him to our church he he. Then after that we did some stuff at the church and then went over to an American member's house for Thanksgiving! He is in he bishopric of Tokyo second ward, so he invited us over and we had a big nice Thanksgiving dinner, so I was really happy. It was fun to talk to their kids and get to know them better. They were super nice and we told them how thankful we were for their feeding us. After that we biked back to the church for game night. We play ping pong and then at the end share a message. I played with one of my friends named Kento and it was pretty fun. We shared a video about Christmas at the end and it was nice.




Sunday:  So we did the usual then went over to dcs and talked about investigators. After that we went through the church meetings where it is still hard for me to understand but I think I'm getting better. Then we went back and had dinner. After that we decided to go back and visit our friend who said we could come back on Sunday. This time his mom answered and said that he probably doesn't have much interest and that they are good. But she let us teach a lesson and talk for a little bit and was really nice. She gave us a bag of oranges after we
ended our discussion and she was real nice towards us and we appreciated that. We did a little more housing after that but didn't really find anyone.










Today: (Monday or America's Sunday): We decided to go over to Kamakura for p-day. It's a pretty big tourist place and my companion elder Phillips was there for a few transfers. We went and visited the Daibutsu (the big Buddha!) and it was pretty interesting. It was a lot bigger than I expected it to be. Then we checked out some shops and ate lunch at this little shop. And now we are at me writing this email. Well I'll talk to you all next week and thanks for all the emails!

Week Nine - Japan, Tokyo South Mission

November 23, 2015 

"Well let's see if I can remember what happened this week.

Tuesday:  We had zone meeting which was nice fun. We received some good trainings and it is always fun to see the other missionaries from Kanagawa and Kawasaki. I can't remember what we did on Tuesday for some reason.

Wednesday: Wednesday we did some stuff and things. I honestly am going brain dead cause I can't remember any things we did this week. We had boys out Ekaiwa for the first time though! We got to teach a bunch of scouts and they were like totally terrified at first. But then we got them more interested and stuff so they sort of warmed up to us foreigners.

Thursday: We did the usual except when we were going to have weekly planning instead we ended up fixing one of the sister's bikes. She ran over glass. That's not good for tires. My bike is still flat cause we haven't had time to fix it but soon! After that we had normal Ekaiwa which is always a joy. We teach a bunch of grandpas that are pretty funny with the random things they ask.

Friday: we had zone conference! President and Sister wada came over and had a bunch of new stuff to tell us. We talked about a lot of ways to improve how we achieve our purpose. It was really cool to see how much they are in tune with the spirit. We had new mission standards for how many people we invite to church and things like that set up. This is going to be hard to meet these new standards but we are going to try our best. We heard some really spiritual testimonies from the missionaries that are leaving after this transfer is over. We are going to lose a
lot of old people this next transfer. We were hoping that a less active from America we invited would come to this
thing called questions of the soul. President wada relates a well known movie to the Book of Mormon and how it answers the questions of the soul. Sadly he didn't show up so we went and visited a less active's house where we found out that less active doesn't live there any more. But that's ok cause we talked to people and did our best.

Saturday:  We had the studs as usual, then we had district meeting. We had cake this time so that was nice. We talked about a bunch of random stuff and how to do housing better. After that we finished our weekly planning which is always a joy. Then we went and visited matsuda kyodai and we talked about nature again. We are really hoping he can get to the temple.

Sunday:  We had a usual Sunday except, at church we sang this week. We sang I'm trying to be like Jesus and search ponder and pray, it was fun and people said we did good so that made me happy. Nobody came to church
yet but soon we will have someone! After church we went and did some housing and almost every person answered. We also found a lady and her family who might be interested in the gospel so we are hoping that they will be willing. Then we had a little Thanksgiving dinner at the Bishop's house. It was way funny and fun just as last time.

Monday: we didn't really do a lot yesterday. We just did some housing and my companion got his umbrella stuck on a power line. Don't ask me how he did that cause I don't know. We had some dinner at my usual ton Katsu place where everyone especially the owner knows me cause I go there too often. Then we had a lesson with philyaw. It was kinda a lot like all the other lessons, not too eventful but he said he'd come to church in three
weeks so that's awesome.

Tuesday: we went to the temple, which is always a joy. That's about all I got for his week so I'll talk to you all later."

Week 8 - Japan, Tokyo South Mission

November 16, 2015

I don't know what to do for my introduction so ya.

Monday: we set some expectations which one of our investigators and told him that we have to teach something
or we can't meet with him anymore. So he said that's ok as long as we don't stray from God, so I said "that is
absolutely great." And that was the end of p-day.

Tuesday:  So after studies we went over to Hiyoshi for the day to do some housing and streeting. It was kinda bad weather but not horrible but there weren't many people to talk to because it was a bit dismal. We were talking to a college student who opened his door and we talked with him for a bit but his grandma came out and was like "do
you need them? Huh?" And he said not really and that was the end of that sadly. We went around some more and didn't have much success but then we went to a ward member's okonomyaki shop. He let us make our own on
this really big long grill. We put down batter and then cabbage, then you put on the meat. After that you put layers
of soba on and instead of just two we accepted his challenge of doing four. It was rough.... That was a lot of food.
But we got our pictures above his grill and stuff. His name is Komuro Kyodai and he is way funny and awesome. 
After that we went back to the apartment.

Wednesday:  We went off to the parks in center again, it's kind of a Wednesday thing. It was cloudy so there
weren't very many people but we did talk to some and it is always fun to go through the parks. Right when we were going to leave (and we hadn't found anyone to teach the whole day) we ran into a college student who we
taught the restoration and prayed with. He said he wanted to learn more but he had so many studies that he didn't
have time until March. So that was sad but we will try to keep in touch and see if we can get someone to teach
him then. Then we went back for dinner and set out for shin Yokohama again. (railway station) We didn't really find anyone to teach or who was interested but we found a lot of interesting people who told us about themselves. I met a grandpa who knew a song about Davy Crockett and he sang it to me so that was nice.

Thursday:  We had studies and weekly planning just as we do every Thursday. Gotta love weekly planning. Sorry
Thursday's aren't very interesting but we did have Ekaiwa! We were on the subject of nature with advanced class
but the first word was smog and then we ended up talking about driving and traffic in America for an hour and a
half. They thought it was amazing how large the roads and parking lots are in America. They will be ready for
driving in America in no time. Then after it ended I talked to my friend Kento San and I invited him to stake conference and he said yes! That made me way happy that he was taking step towards the gospel.

Friday:  We had district meeting just like every Friday and it was fun talking about the progress of our investigators and how we can improve. After that I honestly don't remember at all what happened so if I remember in like five minutes I'll write more.

Saturday: We decided to go over to Hiyoshi again to visit a less active referral from the bishop. We decided to ride bikes and it was raining so that was interesting. I had a poncho but I might have gotten a bit wet. We got there and sadly he wasn't home so we rode back to the church. We were there for stake conference and we welcomed
people and saw a lot of the other missionaries. We heard some great stories about reactivated members and other stuff. We were going to go visit a less active but sadly my bike tire was flat again. I bought a new tube so it has to be the rim and I shall find out what is wrong and conquer it. So we walked back in the rain and loved it.

Sunday: We had stake conference again and Kento San showed up! I was way happy that he came through so
we sat with him. President Wada spoke and so did the temple president of the Tokyo temple. Kento San said
he didn't understand hardly anything and I was right there with him. Given it was for different reasons but that's
ok. I don't know if he wants to come back but I hope so.

Today:  We had some indo curry again and as always it was delicious. Then we went to get groceries and stuff and now I am here. I hope we can start getting some progress with our investigator tonight. Well, sorry if this week was a bit boring but I think things are about to look up.

Heavenly Father loves all of you and wants the best for you. Jesus Christ is our way back to him and he never gives up on us. Until next week.

Elder Molen

Week 7 - Jin - Training Spiders - Cockroaches - Escalator Panic

November 8 - So this was a pretty cool week and I'll tell you a little bit about it.  

Tuesday:  So we basically had transfer cleaning all day long. I beat out my futon and all that fun stuff. Cleaned out our gross air vents which was enjoyable. Basically we did that all day and after dinner we went to help one of the sisters take apart her bike for transferring.

Wednesday:  So like last Wednesday we went over to center Minami and went in more parks. We didn't talk to very many people this time cause they didn't really want to, but it was still very enjoyable because the parks here are very pretty. We meet lots of gai Jin (foreigners) and every time we ask them why they are in Japan they say for work. But then we ask what they do and they sort of just round about tell us what they do and it's always shady sounding lol. But after we went through all the parks we were leaving and we ran into a guy who was interested so we taught him the restoration, and he seemed pretty kin Jin (golden investigator). But he wouldn't give us contact info. and said he might call. Sadly he hasn't yet but that's ok.

Then we went to dinner and sort of accidentally stopped an escalator so we were worried cause there was a sign at the top saying "anyone who messes with this escalator we are gonna call the cops on." But we went and ate food and the escalator resumed its movement so it's all ok now.

Then we returned to Kikuna. Oh I almost forgot, we found a baby cockroach on our wall and we also fine a little jumpy spider on our wall so we tried to get them to fight. But they wouldn't, so we stuck them in a jar and they still did nothing. But then an hour later we looked, and the spider was totally vampire, get the thing. We were very happy and now we hope that since he has had a taste of cockroach blood that he will go hunt more. We are training him.

Thursday:  We had studies and then I got my new companion! His name is Elder Phillips and he is way chill and I think we will get along great. We unpacked a few things of his and put his bike together, then we went to the church for weekly planning. After planning we went and got soba and katsudon for dinner which was tasty. We also got melon pan which is pretty amazing. Then we had ekaiwa which was way fun and one of our students quit his job and I want him to become an investigator because he can probably come to church more easily now. We are good friends. He is really nice and cool so I hope he will maybe take lessons.

Friday:  We had lots of studies (as usual) then went to district meeting. We taught a kid part of the restoration on the way there but he had to go sadly so we gave him the pamphlet and invited him to the Christmas party. District meeting went great and then we went back to the apartment for dinner. After that we went to shin Yokohama and started streeting around. We met a lot of interesting people and invited them to church. Most people there are just focused on work so they don't really wanna listen. We did talk to some driving old guys. One kept shaking our hands and the other was just being all weird. They wanted us to have some sake but we said we don't drink it, and they were very surprised. One of them gave us a sen which is equivalent to 10 dollars and told us to go buy some, but we said we didn't need it and tried to give it back. He wouldn't take it no matter how hard we tried so we ended up having to take his money cause he refused to take it back. So that was fun.

Saturday:  We did some studies then went and started housing near a less active's house hoping he would call because we usually have a lesson with him on Saturday.  We didn't have much success and our less active didn't call but that's ok. We then went back and got on the train for Kichijoji. We were going to get free flu shots and I saw a bunch of the other missionaries there. It was a fun reunion and cool to go back to Kichijoji. Then we ate Mcdonalds and went back to our respective areas.

Sunday:  I didn't understand very much still but I think I'm getting better. Sacrament is the bomb everyone, you should love it. A couple of our less actives came to church so that was pretty cool cause it wasn't expected. After church we had choir practice and then we went home teaching with Suzuki Kyodai which was great. We talked about the importance of reading scriptures as a family. After that we went back and ate dinner and the other elders made me eat this disgusting jelly-like seaweed stuff in vinegar. It was horrible and I almost threw up, but I finished it so that's good. Then went did a little bit of housing before we came back.

Monday:  All I have done is studies today but we are going to go to the Mitsubishi Museum and I think it is going to be pretty sick. We are also gonna teach one of our investigators that this is the true church and we are going to lay down the law a little bit because we haven't been talking at all in the last lessons because he has been trying to
teach us. So ya that's today. Thanks for all the emails and I will see you next week.

Week 6, November 1 - Halloween in Japan

They don't really celebrate Halloween here :(
So ya I don't have my timeline of stuff this week but I'll do my best. 

Monday: Our investigator tried to convince us the trinity is correct lol. That was about all that happened on Monday that y'all didn't hear about.

Tuesday:  So we had zone meeting and it was fun. I got to see all the other fun people in my zone and we had some good trainings. We talked about how to combat opposed parents when they don't wanna let their kid get baptized. Jk it's not really combat it's just how to nice them into it. Then we talked about our purpose and had good testimonies.  Then we had some lunch and all the other missionaries went to their own areas. Then we practiced our song for Saturday and that was enjoyable.

After that we finished details on our pinatas. We made some pretty great pinatas for the Halloween party and we made them look nice and scary. None of the Japanese people know what a piñata is lol.

Elder Gammon's Pinata

My pinata

Then we had a shokuji Kai which is a dinner appointment. We went over to our ward mission leader's house and had awesome food and stuff. We shared some testimonies and it was way fun. Only downside is that we had to ride up so many hills to get there. We call it 'Yokohama thunder thighs' 'cause there are lots of hills in Yokohama. Literally one place is named 'Kamiooka' which means 'up the big hill'

Park 1

Park 2

Wednesday:  This was a super productive day and it was way fun. We had studies and stuff but then we went to center Minami and did park finding. I like parks.  So we went to a less active's apartment but he wasn't there so we went on to the parks and talked to a bunch of people. We got 21 sos's which is where we talk to someone and invite them to church so that was way good. We met some interesting people, and then when we were going to leave we talked to a high school student on the way and we sat down on a nearby retaining wall and taught him the restoration. He wants to learn about the Bible and he was really nice so we also invited him to Ekaiwa. We then went and talked to more people before going home, but we are super happy cause we got a new investigator!

"Ya, there is a Ferris wheel on  that building!"

Park 3

Thursday:  So today we had weekly planning like all day as usual and then we went to Ekaiwa. Our friend who we met last night M---- S---- came! We were way happy and tried to make him feel really welcome. We did a special Halloween themed discussion and it was fun teaching the students about Halloween culture in America. They really seemed to like it and we had a lot of fun. We talked to a lot of people after and it was all in all a great day.

Friday: So we had the usual morning routine and then we went to district meeting. We talked about final plans for the Halloween party and some other stuff. Then we chilled at the church for a while after that 'cause Elder Gammon was finishing some college stuff. So I went through the phone and updated all the stuff and made it all right. After that we went over to the Ito's for dinner. They made us so much freaking food...... It was a struggle to eat it all but it was all very delicious. When we thought they were done, they just kept bringing more food. Anyway we taught them about baptism and stuff. We are trying to get them to the temple cause they haven't really gone
yet and that's our next goal for them. It was a great night and they are totally awesome and nice people.

Halloween:  So we woke up and got ready and went to the church. We got transfer calls at 11! I am staying here in Kohoku area but my new companion will be elder Phillips. Elder Gammon is going to be my district leader now and he's staying here too but just switching to Kohoku A elder instead of B, which does nothing basically.

We set up a bunch of decorations and started getting ready for the party. It was way fun and I dressed up as spider man by just wearing my spider man shirt under my white one and pulling it apart a little and then I would say "shhhhh" and walk away. I won the costume contest for most interesting so that made me happy. I got to do some gymnastics for the talent show so that made me real happy. We had a kid named Francis do some sick dancing but like none of us got a video so that was sad. Then we had trick or treating. They don't get it at all, he he. We sat at the door of rooms in the church and then waited for them to knock and they didn't get the concept of you either get a trick or a treat, so in the end we gave them candy and let them go away confused.



 After that we had the piñata time which was funny cause they were pretty tough and they couldn't break them for a while.  One kid got violent after whacking stuff and started whacking me with his pitchfork. Then we had some food and just chilled the rest of the time. I think everyone had a pretty good time and enjoyed it for the most part. 

Fast Sunday was good and I still didn't understand much but I think I'm getting better! I tried to get what they were saying but they talk in ways I don't see how you can understand.  Sunday was pretty uneventful 'cause after that we went back to the apartment and just chilled after dinner 'cause Elder Gammon is a bit sick again.

Monday:  So today we went to tonkatsu cause it's a sister's birthday, and we are doing the usual p-day stuff, so ya thanks for everything and that is all for this week.  I'll see you next week.