Japan 5 months 3 weeks-33

BAHAHHA

Ninja town! 

Ninja 1

Ninja 2

#noguso the right way to poop

Cats eating humans

Oh yeah we had a halloween party too.. We were zombies. 

I attempted to be a zombie for the party. I used markers hahahah it failed. 

i dont understand either. 

JENALYN please tell me you know what is in the background. Oh and dad we stole your doughnut idea. Thank you. 

kau ga nashi (no face)

It was otsuka shimai. She is the most recent convert. Baptized in May. She is 22 and sooo funny. 

otsuka shimai winning best costume. 

Masuko san!  She gave us melon bread after! She is the shortest one. 

Ikeda Family
I love them so much. The branch president is James Snow. Laughs just like him.

This is normal. Weekly Planning
This week was a lot of fun. Exactly a week ago (last Monday) after doing emails we went to an ancient Ninja Castle where we watched Ninja's fight and cats eat humans. It was like being at Disney Land but Ninja style. It was a lot of fun. But instead of talking about that you can just look at the pictures. 

In total (including members) we only met with people 3 times this week. (2 out of the 3 were members) We have been doing SO much finding lately. Something I don't exactly love. Obviously I need to be learning more humility. I could talk all about our finding but really it is super boring. We bike to a spot that looks good, park our bikes, ping a door 'kekko desu' 'iranai' (I'm good. Don't need it) and then leave to another spot. We only taught one lesson this week and it was our last contact yesterday. 

The first group of people we met with this week were the Takahashi Family. (The oldies) there are two Takahashi families and one of them are the Grandparents. We went and visited　the grandparents. When we pinged their door the first thing they said when they saw us was 'why? What do you want?' Hahahah needless to say our visit was a little awkward. They felt obligated to feed us, even though we said we just wanted to talk about doing missionary work. That said that doing missionary work is harder than making food for us so they made food for us instead. We tried SO hard to talk about ways they can share the gospel, but Takahashi Grandpa just kept talking about dead people and how he had his finger cut off for being bad. 

The next group of people we met with was actually a lesson. It was a lesson with Masuko san. It was one of the best lessons we have ever done. Masuko san has heard all of the lessons many times and does not know what to do next. She needs more faith and a strong testimony so we spent a whole lesson talking about faith. We had the help of two sisters in the branch team up with us and it was so powerful. They were able to help explain to Masuko san that through faith she can do anything. Masuko san really wants to know which church is right and really wants to be able to come to church (she cant because her husband is way against it) but during the lesson something clicked for her. She asked us why she always cries when she reads a certain story. Immediately one of the sisters said 'because you understand the spirit' Masuko san then began to cry and said, 'really? So I do have a testimony?' It was a huge step for her. She even sent us a text later that night thanking us for one of the greatest days she has had and from now on she is going to do her best to come closer to God. The thing I learned from this lesson is that in order to invite some one to where you are you first need to be where you want them to be. As I was testifying I felt my own testimony getting stronger and by doing that Masuko san had her testimony grow as well. 

The last group of people we met with was the Ikeda family. They are perfect. They need to be exalted right now. It is the branch president and his wife's family. They had us over at their house last night for dinner. It was some of the best tempura I have ever had. After we ate we shared a message on how to do missionary work. It turned into the Branch President talking for 20 minutes but we were totally fine with that! He did a great job and the lesson ended with us singing 'Because I have been Given Much' and the whole family crying. #success 

This week we did a lot of waiting as well. We had another Typhoon so we went to the mall to try and talk to people, but it failed. But that is when I learned if we are working our hardest God is too. Yesterday we met a kid named Tsuburai kun. He is 16 years old and happened to be friends of two of the Ikeda family kids. We taught him about God and prayer and he said that he really wants to learn more. It took us a whole week to find one person to talk to, but all of our hard work paid off. I love you all very much.

Be excellent to each other!

Mecham Choro. 

japan 5 months 2 weeks-32

Wow I am just still sooooo cool.. 

Yummy. This is what happens when it rains. 

I have no idea what this is but my companion wanted a picture with it so I kissed it. 

Incredible. 

the sister we are going on an adventure with today. 

Going to go out as slender man! 

The Elder I went on splits with and the guy I contacted in the background.

Minasan Konichiwa! Genki? I only have like 10 minutes because we are going to a castle with a member soon. At the castle we are going to learn how to be ninja assassins. Needless to say I am freaking out. So I will quickly update on this week. 
So this last wednesday we had a typhoon. It was like a hurricane before puberty. We were on splits that day with the Zone Leaders so it was my first time in a long time being with and American companion. We were trying to plan what to do that day because we couldn't really go out and bike because we would get blown away. I tried to use an umbrella and the send I walked outside it broke. So we called a member and asked us if he could take us to the mall! I mean what else would you do as a teenager on a rainy day? We got to the mall at about 1:00 and decided we were going to find people to talk to until 5:00. I was lucky because I was with another American so we really stood out. There were almost too many girls that kept waving to us like we have been friends our whole life. WHAT?! "You don't even go here!" Well we were trying to talk to people but they almost got scared of us because we are American and taller than they are. That is when we decided to go to Starbucks. We got hot chocolates and sat down next to this College student. We tried so hard to pretend like we weren't sitting next to him JUST to talk to him, but we were really bad at it. I even took a picture of him hahaha. Well we contacted him and talked about taking pictures and of course America. We talked to him for about 30 minutes and when we brought up God he said that it is better not to know if God exists. Well that ended our conversation pretty quickly. We then invited him to English Class and he said he would come! He will change. We then realized we were running out of money so we realized that we couldn't really go into stores with the intentions to buy anything. We went into this one store and started to look for people when a worker came up to talk to us. This is when we had our genius idea. Contact all of the workers! They can't avoid you so why not just talk to them? We would first ask about their store to see if they had anything. We had a one up here because the Elder I was with at the time was extremely tall so we would ask for sizes and they said they don't have them in his size. They would feel bad so we would begin to ask them questions about their lives because they felt bad that they had to turn us down. It was awesome! We were basically selling to salesmen. We were talking to this one guy who worked in a Crocs shop (which by they way are out of control in Japan) and he said he was Christian. He said he really wants to learn more about Christ and would love to meet with us. Then his boss came out and he got awkward so we hurried and gave him a flyer and had to leave because we were getting in trouble. We did this for 3 more hours and talked to so many people! It was amazing. I learned from what happened two weeks ago when we had many opportunities but did not take them. This week we really took every opportunity. We talked to EVERYONE we saw. I mean EVERYONE. Even a man/lady thing that I still don't know if it was even human. It made this week so much more fun too. Although we didn't see much success with finding people, we had so much fun doing it. I realized that when life does suck and you think you aren't seeing the success you are working for, or when you feel like you are working towards nothing, these are the times when you have the most fun. When we beyond tired at night from working so hard during the day, these were the best feelings I could ever ask for. As long as my will is in harmony with God's will, everything will be all right. 
Love you all so much! Look forward to great pictures next week! Be excellent to each other! 
ミカム長老　Elder Jake Snow Mecham.

Japan 5 months 1 week-31 weeks

This week was easily the most unsuccessful week on my mission so far. Yes I said it, I said it and I meant it. There were SO many "things" that fell through.  

On Monday we dendo-ed (did missionary work) like normal for the 3 hours of dendo we had. 

Tuesday is the day we get on a train at 7 in the morning to go to the city about an hour and a half away for our district training meeting. We had the meeting and then it was time for us to come back to Tomakomai. The Muroran Elders were coming back with us as well because we were going on splits with them the next day. Well the first "thing" that happened was that we missed our train. We were stuck in the Eki (train-station, please forgive my engrish. It just happens) for about 45 minutes waiting for the next train. This was a great opportunity to do some Shizen Dendo (naturally talking to people? I think that is what it means) BUT we did not take the opportunity. Instead we complained about how we wasted time and we are stuck waiting for the next train. I felt like I needed to be doing something so I started to stare at people. Americans have a special power in Japan. Japanese people are ALWAYS staring at americans and they are so bad at pretending they are not. But if an American stares at a Japanese person it is probably the craziest and most exciting thing that will ever happen in their life. So I started staring at people. I think I scared them because I was angry but this one guy came and sat next to me. That was already extremely rare and brave of him because Japanese people are very afraid of Americans #segregation Well I was a loser and did not take the opportunity to talk to him. I slept instead. 

Wednesday. It rained the whole day and we had no bikes. We walked 6 miles that day and talked to 12 people. I felt like it was the most pointless day of my mission. We had the opportunity to change our plans and visit nearby members and dendo nearby because we didnt have our bikes. Instead we chose to walk miles and talk to nobody. 

Thursday. Every single appointment we had scheduled fell through. We met with nobody that day. We had the opportunity to try nearby potential investigators or to go housing near their areas, but instead we just traveled to the next spot.

Friday. It was basically a typhoon here. There was so much rain and so much wind. I didn't have a hood for my rain jacket so we went to a nearby sports store to try and buy one. While we were looking for one there were a lot of people staring at me and I could tell there were people I should be talking to. I had the opportunity to talk to this one guy, but I got scared and walked away. I bought the hood that makes me look like I am wearing a cape and part of a freaky cult and we walked outside to no rain. 

Saturday was general conference. This was the most powerful general conference I have ever watched. It had the potential to be the worst General conference ever. First we walked into a room with more empty rows of chairs than people. The TV screen was tiny. The room was empty. There was this one set of headphones on this sad looking chair that was designated just for my english listening ears. A member got up and started the DVD. At that point I realized how much time I wasted this week. I realized how many opportunities I was given, but not taken. I said a quick prayer asking for help to change my attitude and to learn as much as I can by watching conference. The music started and I started to shake. This happened to me once before on the mission. Right before I came to Japan, the Japanese missionaries sang a song and it was so powerful that it even made me shake. ( I thought I was having a seizure. It was scary) I looked sooo weird. I was shaking in my chair like I had some animal attacking my legs and everybody in the room was watching me. I eventually calmed down and then the talks started. Every thing that was said was exactly what I needed to hear. Ironically enough my favorite talk was by Elder Bednar about Tithing. (Something missionaries don't even do while on missions) I will never forget that feeling I had as I realized that because of my change of attitude I am learning so much more. 

The biggest thing I learned this week is that EVERYTHING we have is for a reason. Every opportunity we have whether it may seem good or bad, is for our benefit. There were so many times this week where bad "things" happened, but in reality those were just amazing opportunities to talk to people we don't usually talk to. God really does answer our prayers. They are answered in His way and His timing for our benefit. 

To end on a great note I am going to share what happened yesterday. 

Sunday. We were housing and we ping-ed a door and heard dogs barking. I usually don't get scared because all Japanese dogs are small and ugly. Well.... the lady came to the door and opened it and a tiny dog comes running outside. I scream like a girl and it bit my companion Tokuzawa Choro on the hand. I started laughing and then it bit his leg and tore a piece off from his pants. By now I was dying with laughter. The daughter got the dog inside and the mom came out. "Sorry about my dog. But I have no interest. Leave" She shut the door. HAHAHA we were literally attacked by a rat/dog and then told to leave. I have a great gift given to me by my wonderful mother that whenever something incredibly horrible happens, I laugh. I was laughing the whole night. We didn't see any success that whole night, BUT we had a lot of fun. 

Love you all! Be excellent to each other! 

Jake Snow Mecham Choro. 

#longestemailyet #yolo #followme #artsy #instawin 

japan 5 months week-30

Well I only have like 10 minutes for email today so I am very very very sorry that I don't have time to individually email all of you. BUT you can read this! So this week was a pretty dramatic week for me. It was the first time I cried on the mission field. Yeah.. I cried like a little child.  This happened on Saturday. But earlier in the week we didnt really do much. We just tried to visit a lot of people who were not home so we just kept biking to the next house and knocking on every door. And that was Tuesday through Friday. But Satruday was the day it changed. First we had a lesson with Chiba san. She is the mom of a 35 year old mom who is the only member in her family. We went to a team up lesson with her and Kotani Shimai (the sister that reminds me of Grandma Taylor) and taught Chiba Shimai's mom. It gets a little confussing when they only use their last name for their names... But we had an amazing lesson with her. The spirit was really strong. She first started out saying that she doesnt believe in God and is Buddhist and will never change. Then at the end of the lesson she said that she will read the Book of Mormom and pray to find out if God is real. Then she showed us millions of pictures of a guy that is the equivalent of a Japanese Justin Bieber. You just can't get away from Justin Bieber. Then we went to go teach Mizumasa san. She was not home so we felt like we needed to go visit a nearby Recent Convert nammed Yokoinai Kyodai. Well that was our guidance. When we got there his apartment smelt like alchohol and smoke. He came to the door and asked us why we came today. He asked us how did we know how to visit him today. Well... He was actually angry. Not just because he was drunk, but because he just lost all of his money spending it at a Pachinko (slot machines in Japan) He didnt want us to come it but we somehow made it in. We talked and testified for about 20 minutes. It ended up with him saying "I'm done". He said he felt too much pressure and cant handle all of the commandments. He hasnt been praying or reading the Book of Mormon and he said he his is quiting. He then said dont come back and made us leave. That was when I lost it. I testified the pee out of him. (Litterally though... he has bladder paralysis so he carries his pee in a bag everywhere with him and when I started testifying he started peeing...) I told him about the power of repentance and how amazing the atonment it. I dont think I have ever testified so hard. Then he said, Bye bye. In english. I left and when we started riding our bikes I lost it. First time I cried in mission field. It was a hard day and I was pretty messed up the next day too but yesterday we went to a lake with Kotani Shimai and Sato Kyodai! It was the most dissobedient day of my mission... We wore normal clothes and listened to elvis on the way to the lake. Then Niel Diamond on the way back. Oh funny story in Japanese Dissobidient it Uanpaku, pronounced like "Juan Pacu" would be in spanish. Well I am sorry I dont have any more time. But I love you all. Be excellent to each other!

YES!!! a letter Japan 4 months 2 weeks-29

Wow I think I am super attractive. 

baby face. This will make sense when you get the letter. 

We accidently went into a casino to get direction. Dissobedient picrture. WOW MY SPELLING!

Toys R Us

me and my new companion. 

OH! Hello! I know you must have been so worried about me. I didn't have internet these last 2 weeks so I am sure you were just dying inside. Well I have hardly any time for this email because I am at a church an hour and a half out of my new area in Muroran and we have a train to catch in 30 minutes. Soooo here goes the catch up on these last few weeks. 

I am now in...(you better be drum-rolling your face off right now cause this is huge news)... 苫小牧！Hahahah good luck reading that. Okay I am in Tomakomai! It is an area right next to the ocean. The city is about the size of Good little Orem Utah and is basically Orem with an ocean. Tomakomai is even equipped with its own fancy Toys-R-Us! And a mall that looks just like the University Mall. A street that runs through the middle of town that looks just like State street. So basically I feel right at home. The ocean is pretty gross and smells bad. Just like Utah Lake. Somedays I get confused where I am but then I hear Asian and I realize where I am. My new companion is Elder Tokuzawa! My plan to never have an American Companion is working! He is from... I dont know. But it is cold where he is from too. He is way funny and is actually my brother. (which means he was my trainers son, so he was trained by my father) That should make a lot of sense. Want the brutal honest truth? We get a long fine. We are not the best of friends but we kindly and very impatiently tolerate each other. We both have just similar qualities and different qualities that clash some times. But I LOVE him so much. We have been having so much fun together. The members of the church in this area is about 30 ish. It is a branch and not a ward. They are AMAZING! They are probably what make me feel more at home than anything. First there are a few people in the ward that remind me almost too much of home. There is a Sister named Sister Ikeda. She is the branch presidents wife and reminds me soooo much of my Aunt Jen and my Mother. Yes her laugh is very unique as well, just like my Mothers. She is basically the missionaries mom here. She texts us every night and asks what good things happened to us today and sends us little motivational stuff when she feels like we need it. She also gives us lots of chocolate. Next is Sister Kotani. I think I have met my Grandma Taylor but in an Asian form. Seriously the EXACT same person. Last week we had english class and nobody showed up. It was 15 minutes after class was supposed to start and nobody was there. So she goes to her car and gets a cd player and turns on some music and starts to dance for us. There were 3 people in the room. Me and my companion and a less active member named Brother Haseyama. It was one of the funniest things ever. She then took us out for desert. Next is Sister Yamada. Sarah Hughes, you have an Asian Twin. I have never laughed so hard in my life. We were learning about the tree of life story in sunday school class this last sunday and there is a recent convert in the class. He didnt really understand what was going on and Sister Yamada and Sister Ikeda teamed up and laughed their faces off by the answers he was giving. "what is the most delicious WHITE FRUIT that we all want?" asks the teacher "MOCHI!" screams the recent convert. Mochi is rice. We were dying. Then sister Takahashi comes in. We needed an Aunt Julie. She calmed everybody down and took care of the situation and comforted the recent convert. I was just in the back laughing my head off because the teacher taught like my uncle John Hughes when he is trying to convince people that he is not in the mafia. Basically I have never felt more at home. A lot has happened this last few weeks and I wish I could tell you all of it. I wish I could just write everything but I have no time so I am going to end with an amazing story. 

There is a investigator named Masuko san. She has been visiting with the missionaries for a while. Her husband is EXTREMELY against the church and she has to literally hide in her closet when she prays.  We wanted to visit with her but the only way we can contact her is through text. I felt like we needed to text her to see if she could come to church. Elder Tokuzawa texted her and she said YES! We texted her on friday and the next day on Saturday we got a text from Sister Ikeda saying "I felt like I needed to be at the church early today before the activity that we have at 2:00. Masuko san texted me and said that you asked her to be at the church today for a lesson. I can team up if you need me!" WHAT?! We then checked the text we sent her and we accidentally asked if she could come to church on Saturday and not Sunday. We quickly ran over to the church and went into a lesson completely unprepared. We taught by the spirit and testified with the spirit. Masuko san expressed her concerns to us and told us how her faith has been tested lately and she wanted to meet with us but didn't know how. She said that her husband left to go to work on Saturday and she had 2 hours of free time before he was supposed to return where she could meet. We happened to say Saturday in the text. Sister Ikeda happened to feel like she needed to be at the church early and texted us to tell us. It was all planned by God. It is amazing that God always has a plan for us, we just need to be ready and worthy to follow it. 

I love you all so much! Be excellent to each other!