Japan Ebetsu 20 months 2 weeks- 98

Arm wrestling. It warmed up the Less actives hearts and then they prayed. 

The Tofu Cheesecake band.

Band Practice. 

My best friends from Eniwa Chitose!

This is what we played to. My best friends. There were over 50 people in this cafe. 

This was right before we were going to play. 

This guy got super emotional during the concert. He is a writer. I love him. We are hanging out with him this week. He also has a mouth of a horse. 

Ugly pictures with random college kids.

We are sooo hot. 

                                                              Tofu Cheesecake

 It was like living in a tv drama this week. The week started out with going to visit a less active member who ran a business pitch to us so we acted like business men and then went out to eat like fancy business men. Too funny. I wish I could talk more about it, but I have no time and a picture will explain it all. 

The rest of the week was band practice and sickness recovery. I was not sick to the point where I couldn't go outside and work, but I was.....'ill'. My companion had a day where he was so nasty sick. He couldn't speak and just slept the whole day. I practiced, wrote some songs and finished writing all of the lyrics. 

Wednesday came around and we had band practice with Hikaru kun (our bassist) by throat was shot and my companion sounded like a 800 year old turtle. There was this random guy who sat in during our practice and gave us A TON of pressure. We all sucked so hard and Hikaru kun got way scared for the concert. We went home all awkward feeling and insecure about the concert. 

Thursday we practiced more to master our songs and at least semi-memorize them. Friday comes around and I wake up and my voice is not working. I couldn't speak. My companion did not let me try to talk and I drank lemon juice with ginger and honey the whole day. That night we had our band practice with Hikaru and it was too dramatic.
Hikaru comes up to me and says "Hey Mecham Choro.. I wont be able to play tomorrow. I don't feel ready and I don't want people to think I suck because then I get depressed." WHAT THE?! NO! The random guy who sat in on the Wednesday practice was there again, same with our best friend Mimura san (the owner of the cafe) and they went to town. They started attacking Hikaru with love and telling him how great he is and how much we need him in the band. We practiced and had a lot of fun and then went home with Hikaru saying "I will let you know tomorrow if I decide to play" NO! Tomorrow was the day of the performance and he left us hanging. 

Saturday shows up, the day of the concert and Hikaru comes to practice. He plays with us but has still not decided if he will play or not. We had an intense staff meeting with some random college student and a mom and her kid and Mimura san. She ran the schedule by us and we set up for the concert. It was about 20 minutes before doors were going to open and Hikaru says.. "Okay.. I will play!" YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The doors open and they hid the band in a back room. So we sat there and talked to Hikaru for about 30 minutes about his life. He is a really cool kid and let us pray together. He was really nervous but as soon as we prayed he calmed down and we were able to focus and get ready. The concert started out with some dramatic walk out where my companion comes out and starts playing guitar, then Hikaru walks out and plays bass, then I walk out and play piano and sing. It was too good. People started screaming and then we did our concert. The best songs were Hey Jude. Random Japanese people sang along and waved their hands. Faith was also great because everyone stomped their feet for us the whole time because we really needed a beat. Darkness was magical and college students who are writers started to cry. It really hit them. Love one another was great and everyone felt the spirit. The concert was a huge success. We got 8 numbers. A ton of new investigators, awesome friends and best memory of 2015. 

So much more I could talk about and explain, but no time. Pictures will do the talking.

I want to end with a huge miracle. Yesterday we went to the Takamastu family for dinner. Their kids are all inactive and living hard lives. They don't keep the commandments at all and don't want to be apart of the church. They like missionaries and will talk to us, but there has always been a wall with church stuff. Last night we became really really good friends with them and asked the oldest son to pray for us before we leave. He prayed. The spirit was so strong and when he finished he jumped up from his knees, put his fist in the air and screamed, "YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FIRST PRAYER IN 3 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!" it was a great ending to a perfect week.
I love you all so much. Be excellent to each other.

-Mecham Choro.