Japan Eniwa. Chitose.18 months-86 weeks

                              My new companion. Hirata Choro

Goodbye Elder Inoue. See you in America!

Last District Picture

Moisture.

These are flowers. We ate flowers with a member this week. She fed us flowers. Hahahahaha with soy sauce. I love Japan.

Weeeeeeeeeeeee

A sucker. (loli-pop) But it is a Seal. SO cute.

                                                             Primary Program

I am so out of time and there are 3 Elders sitting in the same room as me as I type this email. The room is smaller than a bathroom. I am feeling pressure. Haha so this is probably going to be a short email, but I will do my best. Oh they are also reading this as I write it. Yes my new companion is a "read your email while you type it" companion. I love him hahaha.

First, Transfers. I stayed in Chitose-Eniwa. I am still Zone Leader and my new companion is Elder Hirata. He is from Yamaguchi the same place as my last companion but is nothing like my last companion. His voice sounds just like one of the investigators I taught when first got to Japan, so sometimes I just randomly start laughing when he is talking. He doesn't understand my Japanese very well either so it makes me laugh even more. It will be a way funny transfer. Apartment is still 4. 2 Americans and 2 Japanese. Oh but one is from Okinawa so that doesn't really count as Japanese. It is a way different feeling from last transfer, but it will still be a lot of fun.

Now, The good stuff.

One of the greatest blessing of not transferring was that I was able to stay for the primary program. I think it only happens once a year in Japan (America too?) and I was looking forward to it, more than a fat child craves cake. Haramai san came and we got to sit right next to him the whole time because the rest of his family was performing in the program. His daughters prepared heart wrenching testimonies and sang beautifully. I was so impressed with the kids. They prepared the talks on their own. When I was a kid, I think my mom always wrote my talks for me. But they wrote it on their own and it was incredible. Nodoka chan talked about the qualities of Christ and the example he set when he was baptized. She talked about the words Christ used when he asked John the Baptist to baptize him. The words in Japanese are very beautiful and polite. They show love and respect. Something most adults don't even recognize. But a pure 10 year old girl did. She testified of how she loves it that her dad comes to church with her every week now and how he is getting closer and closer to baptism. I looked over at Haramai san and he pretended to look for something on the ground. Then the kids got up to sing their last song. I was a mess. I did not want Haramai san to see me crying all over the place so I tried to move. As I moved I saw Haramai san crying. He felt the spirit too and I know this will help him become converted.

After the program we ate sandwiches (spellcheck) with the kids and I gave them American candy THANK YOU GRANDMA! They were so happy and it reminded me of when Christ blesses the children. The kids are so pure and full of love. I get emotion just being around them. Experiencing the loving from the children allowed me to feel what Christ's love is like, and I know that Haramai san felt that as well. It was a very powerful and important Sunday.

Other than that this week was great! We are busy, but we are having fun! I love you all so very very much. Be excellent to each other!

MOMMY I LOVE YOU! Thank you so much for the package! The cereal looks like poison but I love it!

 

-Mecham choro.

Japan Eniwa. Chitose. 17 months 3 week-85

Dinner with Narita san. I love her! She is so nice and so much fun.

We prepared for the party with Matsuda san. Lots of Halloween love.

So cute.

Shabu Shabu love.

Matsuda san put us in sleeping bags because it was cold hahaha

We attacked the garage where we always talk.

in the quiet moisty morning.

This picture was taken after we visited koichi san. He came out to us that he is a member of the mafia. HAHAHAHA He is so scary. he also had cocaine on the table when we came over hahahahahaha oh my gosh.....

We have a Sister in our apartment now... Wow I don't know if this is okay to send hahahahahaha

AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so bad. Hand-me-downs from an Elder in Tomakomai.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We heart attacked a member. Then ran away and took pictures from an apartment. Turns out the sisters had just finished heart attacking the same members. hahaha

I got to teach Narita sans English class on monday! It was so much fun! I love Narita san!

Halloween Meat

For Halloween most Americans run around house to house getting over-packed sugary candy and fatty treats. This year in Japan, we ran around house to house getting lots of meat.

The first meat party was with the Maeda family. We had a thing called Shabu Shabu. It is really thin sliced meat that you put into a boiling pot of water and it cooks in a few seconds. You take it out dip it in some delicious sauce and eat! It is magic. And you eat for at least 2 hours. (the meat never seems to end) This was Thursday night, the day before Halloween.

Halloween we had a Shabu Shabu party scheduled with Matsuda san. So we went up to her house for Lunch (did not eat breakfast) and ate meat until our stomachs cried. Then we ate chocolate.

Saturday we went over to Narita sans house for dinner and she made delicious pulled beef. We also had KFC and lots of other delicious food. More Halloween meat. I think I gained 15 pounds of meat fat.

Anyways that is just a funny story. But we had a really great experience this week.

Yesterday was the 6 year mark of Matsuda sans husbands death. It is the hardest day of the year for her and she dreads it every time it comes around. We went over for Halloween and gave her lots of chocolate and candy to help her stay happy, but we knew we needed to call her on Sunday, the day her husband died. I called her at night and we talked for about an hour.

Matsuda san had no desire to believe in God. She feels that her sorrow and her second failed marriage is her fault. She feels that she did something wrong. That being abused as a child and a spouse is her fault and she has to deal with the sorrow and pain for the rest of her life. But yesterday, that changed. She said she wants to believe. She wants to believe in God and wants to understand why she feels the way she does. She shared how she always feels happy when she is around the missionaries. I testified to her that it is the spirit. She is feeling the spirit and wanting to experience it more.

I had the great opportunity to testify to her the healing power of the atonement. It was only over the phone but the spirit was so strong. At the end of the phone call she expressed her gratitude and love. It was a very nice phone call, and a huge step closer towards her Heavenly Father.

Wow. I just ran out of time. That went by to quick. Transfer calls are tomorrow! I hope I stay here! I love you all so much. Be excellent to each other!

-Mecham Choro.

Japan Eniwa. Chitose. 17 months 2 week-84

Dinner with the Ikeda Family.

This heart is from a heart attack Elder Tokuzawa and I did to the Ikeda family more than I year ago. It survived the whole winter and is still strong!

dope #yolo

Our district were elves for Halloween. We just look like homeless people.

This was the greatest. It was stake conference this week and so I got to see the Ikeda family 3 days in a row. After Stake conference ended and I was saying goodbye to the Americans (OH YEAH!!! The Americans came to Stake Conference and brought and Eikaiwa student with them hahaha whoops.. forgot!) Well the Ikeda family and the Kobayashi family come and find me and say "Mecham choro, can we take a picture with you?" I love them.

And then I had to put on a hat...

Yuina chan! (her name sounds horrible in English....) This is the Maeda families oldest daughter. They are an investigator family who is going to get baptized soon!!! and we love playing with them.

More Ikeda family pictures. I love them.

This is Kotani Shimai. She is soooo funny. I love her. She would take us on adventures every P-Day when I was in Tomakomai.

I want to see if this sends. It is a video of Elder Kent Dunking a ball for a bunch of elementary girls while we were playing sports with Yuina Chan this saturday. Too funny. Then we went over and played sports with them.

Back in Tomakomai. Where the air is so horrible.

 Tomakomai

 This week was the first time on my whole mission where my body got "depressed". I will still not admit to the fact that I had a fever or that I semi-got "Sick". My body was just Depressed. It just needed to move a little bit slower than normal and needed peppermint tea. Then I was fine.

My body got depressed on Wednesday and then I got over it and decided to be healthy that night. So I was fine by Wednesday night. It was a very smart choice because we had splits in Tomakomai that I had to be very healthy and ready for.

Tomakomai is the second area I went to and some of my best friends live there. I was SO excited to go back. I was loved so much that we never had to make food because the members provided for us. I love them. I went on splits with an awesome elder and we decided to go visit some of the less active members I focused on while I was in Tomakomai. BUT first we went to see an investigator I used to teach. Her name is Mizumasa san and she was so stubborn whenever we taught her. We tried to commit her to baptism so many times and asked her to come to church over and over.

I was especially excited to visit her because.... SHE IS A MEMBER NOW! At first she didn't recognize me, but then after explaining to her how I couldn't really speak, but I drank all of the tea she gave us and I got really excited whenever she gave us fruit, she remembered who I am. We talked for a bit and she told us about her desires to teach the gospel to her family. So we gave her a Book of Mormon and she is going to give it to her daughter who lives 3 hours away this week!

After we visited with her we went to one of my favorite less active members in Tomakomai. I only met him once but I really wanted to go back and see him.

Almost exactly a year ago when my companion and I went back to see him, he was not home but the friends he was living with were home. They invited us in and went crazy. It was the old man who liked drinking, the lady we called a grandma but she was the youngest one, and a lady who just sat on the floor drinking coffee the whole time. Anyways when we passed his house it looked like the member moved and some guy was working on his house. We were about to leave when I decided to go back and ask the worker if the member had moved.  The worker was actually the member, I just didn't recognize him. He invited us in and we talked for about an hour. He told us how the last missionary to visit him was me. He remembered me. We talked for a bit and then the situation changed. He brought up a problem he has with the church and how he can't come back because of that problem.

From there the whole room just changed as the Elder I was on split with and I began to testify to him that the church needs him and how he can be healed through the church. It was really powerful. I remember it being just as powerful last time. Which is why I think he remembered me. In the end we were able to pray with him and the Elders said they would come back with a member next time. It was great to see him again and help remind him that he is loved.

Then I got to go play with the Ikeda family!!!!!!!! I love them so much. Basically all of my pictures this week are of them.

The other great news of this week is Haramai san is getting closer and closer to baptism! Eternal Families! Right now Haramai san is having his parents come down from Kushiro (A six hour drive) so he can talk to them about joining the church. Because Haramai san is the oldest son there are issues with him joining the church, but Haramai san has seen how this church has blessed his family and has a strong desire to be baptized. We haven't been able to make a date with him yet, but we are working to finish all of the lessons and prepare him completely for baptism.

Other than that life is great. I love everything and everyone. ESPECIALLY YOU! (I don't really like spelling though...) Have a great week. Be excellent to each other!

-Mecham Choro.

Japan Eniwa. Chitose. 17 months 1 week-83

I wish I could send you a video of it, cause I don't have any pictures, BUT I joined a band hahahah they asked me to play piano at the last second and I joined a band. SO fun.

Fall is AMAZING here!

My Image of what I thought Japan was, fulfilled right before my eyes.

We listened to "Let it go" From Frozen probably 4 times... So cute hahah Oh and it was all in Japanese! I still have yet to hear it in English...

 

This is the ward Talent show by the way.

It was our mission presidents birthday hahahaha

Six Americans 

The Lord answers our prayers in the greatest ways. I saw one of those great answers this week.

(To be honest SO much happened this week and there is no way I am going to be able to write it all so I am just going to hurry and summarize the fluff and then get to the good stuff.)

We experienced a "Typhoon" It was just light rain. Haha

We had Zone Training Meeting and I gave my first workshop as a Zone leader. Lots of fun.

Went to Hakodate and went on splits with two Elders. We worked hard and ate Hamburgers.

Visited an investigator who admitted to being in prison, doing crack-coccaine and selling fire-arms. Hahaha he said he doesn't do it anymore. We gave him a Book of Mormon last week and committed him to read it. Instead he got it sealed. It is sealed in plastic and locked away in a case where I think he has a pistol hahaha. Then he freaked out when I told him I play piano and showed me some scream-o piano music. I love him.

Okay now the good stuff.

We were at sushi with a less-active member and I get a call from an Eikaiwa student who says he found a member who wants to talk to us. He puts the member on the phone and it is an American! This member wanted to come to church but speaks no Japanese so he couldn't completely figure it out. BUT the way this member was found is a miracle as well. This member (Brother Barnhart) works in the Military. The Eikaiwa student works in the same section as him and they were at a opening ceremony for the Americans who got here about a week ago (they are only here for a month) So at this ceremony alcohol was given and people were toasting. The member didn't drink and the Eikaiwa student knew right away that this person was member and ran over to talk to him. Within a few seconds of talking the Eikaiwa student is calling us.

So a little background before the big miracle. The ward is having a tough problem right now. The ex-member showing up caused A LOT of drama, leading to two more members wanting to leave the church. Both are mothers of beautiful families. We worked hard and they said they would still think about it and come to church this Sunday. The Mission President gave my companion and I some great advice on how to help the Ward. Show love to EACH of them. We had the idea to write letters to each member of the ward. Even the 1 and 2 year olds who can't read yet. So we wrote all of these letters and went to church.

Sunday showed up and the Six Americans come to church in a huge white van. They are all SO excited to be at church and the members felt their love the second they walked in. One of them (who came to Japan two days ago) is a return missionary from who served in Tokyo so he was fluent in Japanese. The rest of the Americans did their best to talk to everyone else and shook hands with everyone they saw. A lot of the members of the ward speak english and so they were very excited to see Six Americans.

The member who I talked to a lot on the phone is Brother Barnhart. His son just got back from his mission in March from California. It was after Gospel Principles class and we had a great lesson on the Law of Chastity hahahah so good, Brother Barnhart comes up to me and asks me how old I am. I say 20 and he replies "You remind me a lot of my son. He is 20. You guys look the same. You are both very bright." Brother Barnhard begins to get emotional and kind of walks away.

Sacrament meeting is last and we all file in and sit down. The speakers all were inspired to change their topics. They spoke and testified by the spirit. They all spoke of the love God has for each and every one of us and how we are all God's children. Many members were getting emotional, the six Americans included. Sacrament meeting ends and the Six Americans get up to go hug the members who spoke. The missionaries get to work and hand out cards to each member. The room lit up and there was love everywhere! It was so cool. You could feel it.

I got a call from Brother Barnhart who told me that one of the Americans said that that sacrament meeting was one of the top 3 most spiritual experiences of his life. I totally agree. The Lord answered our prayers. The ward was full of love and the members who thought about leaving had their prayers answered as the ex-members walks into the back of the chapel about 5 minutes after sacrament starts. He is now working to come back to church.

I know that God loves each and every one of us and will ALWAYS answer our prayers if we have faith.

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

-Mecham Choro.

Japan Eniwa. Chitose. 17 months 82 weeks

Artsy reflection pictures.

My cranes.

The two cute kids who said they want to come to church.

This is what we do for dinner with members :)

I MADE THAI CURRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can make Thai curry and it is good. THANK YOU NARITA SAN!

Akiko. The one who tried to hug me.

missionaries planning birthday parties.

Lots of pretty pictures. This was outside of the Onsen.

Shopping

Elders watching General Conference..


Contacts.... Zero

This week was so much fun! It was probably the busiest week I have had on my mission. (I also learned this week that I cannot spell at all anymore.) Here in the Japan Sapporo mission we keep track of how many contacts you have each day. This means each person you  talk to that you have not met before and you invite them to do something in relationship to the gospel ex. (Read a flyer, mormon.org card, come to church, meet with us again, etc.) This week was the first week in my whole mission I have had zero contacts for the whole week.

Monday. We did service with a member. Went over and did some weeding. (Except that it is going to snow in a few weeks...) and planted garlic! I felt like a real farmer. We then went to an Onsen and took lots of artsy pictures outside of the building. We had an appointment with the Suzuki family and quickly biked over to them as soon as we got out of the Onsen. The Suzuki family is doing so great! They are excited to read the book of mormon and committed to being baptized! I love them so much. The son also had a really cool experience this week, which will come up later. Finding time=none. Contacts.. zero.

Tuesday.  We had District Training Meeting then went straight to appointments and starting teaching. After that we order Pizza hut! So weird in Japan... One of the slices was Mochi (rice) on Pizza hahaha. Then we had Eikaiwa. One of my favorite students, Akiko, is leaving to go see the world and wanted to give me a goodbye hug. That was the first time on my mission I had the incredible awkward opportunity to run away from a hug hahaha it was so awkward I could taste it. Contacts.. zero.

Wednesday. Mission Leadership Kaigi (meeting) That went a lot longer than it was supposed to so we ended up getting home at 8:00, eating dinner and then going to sleep. My companion and I did have the opportunity to ride in the car with the mission president and talk to him for about an hour about mission stuff. He is an inspired man with great hair. Contacts.. zero.

Thursday. Birthday party with members! It was the Haramai family's youngest daughters birthday. Kazune. We went over and did their birthday party for them. No better way to do member missionary work than to have the missionaries run your childrens birthday parties hahahha. We played Adam, adam, NOAH! (duck duck goose) and pin the nose on Anpan man. Then sang I am a Child of God and played balloon volleyball with children. In the end two kids came up to us and said, "I want to learn more about Jesus! Can I come to church with my mom next Sunday?" YES! These kids are the Sisters investigators so still, Contacts... zero.

Oh! Thursday night we called the Suzuki family to follow up about prayer and we hear this great news. The son prayed. He got an answer to his prayers. He loves praying and has a testimony. So we had to teach him deeper doctrine about prayer. He is the greatest haha.

Friday. We went over and talked to Narita san. She was the greatest and gave us some great sweets and a huge jar of Hokkaido pure honey. It was very sweet of her. (that was a horrible pun...) Then we had finding time! The first time the whole week. So we got all ready and went to the area we picked. Got there and housed for about 45 minutes. People were home and cars were there, BUT not a single person came to the door. We went and talked to people on the streets. They ran away from us... hahahah. Contacts.. zero.

Saturday and Sunday were General Conference. A great opportunity to hear the greatest words in the world. I learned so much and it just got me so excited to go share that with everyone. Then we get a call from the Haramai Family, "Hey! My husband is going to America for the week so we want you to come over and eat dinner with us before he goes. Thanks!" Contacts.. zero.

Although we had no contacts we were out working our hardest, sharing the message that we love SO much to the people we love SO much. I love YOU all so much and know that this church is true. Be excellent to each other!

-Mecham Choro

Japan Eniwa. Chitose. 16 months 4 weeks-81

It was my companions birthday. Hahaha too much fun.

I got my camera fixed and bleached my teeth! YAY!

The food AFTER we finished eating with Narita san.

Narita San!!




Disease Vs. Cure

(First off, I don't know how to spell.)

 

We had a really slow week, but it all picked up on Saturday and Sunday. Seriously this week was just full of biking to investigators houses and seeing that they weren't home then housing nearby. BUT Saturday came around and we had a dinner appointment with Narita san! She invited her son and a couple that lives nearby. It was great. We had the most delicious meal ever. Thai curry, mashed potatoes, pulled pork, hamburgers, corn, casserole and some macaroni thing. So nice! I love Narita san. (We are probably Facebook friends now too!)

Then Sunday. Naritan san has two cats and I am very allergic to them. I thought it would go away over night, but I was still way stuffed up on Sunday as well. I was sneezing like crazy and my nose wouldn't stop crying. We went to church and had a great fast and testimony meeting. Members got up and testified about changes in their life and how they are coming closer to the Savior. It was very powerful. The spirit was strong and we were all happy.

Then sacrament meeting ended and we went outside to see an excommunicated member (an ex-member who basically has a restraining order from coming inside the church) Members saw this ex-member and some ran up SOO happy to see him and began talking to him. Other members saw him and walked away, like he was a disease. Sister Haramai went up and sat right next to him and talked to him outside the church on the steps. She was so happy to see him, and wanted to help him in every way to come back. Another member came up and was even happier to see him. This member was devastated when the ex-member had to leave the church. She prayed that one day he would come back. She took this as an answer to her prayers.

Then a member saw two sisters, sitting next to what she thought was a problem. Something nobody should be around. She went up and kindly told the sisters that she should not be near the ex-member. (there is a lot more background about why this person is now an ex-member and in all reality it is probably safer and MAYBE wiser to stay away from this ex-member) but the two sisters, Haramai Shimai and another sister, saw it as an opportunity to cure.

After being told to get away from the ex-member, they were heart broken and went in a room to cry. During all of this my companion and I were in a lesson. We had no idea what was going on. We come out of the lesson and Haramai shimai was waiting to talk to us.

We talked to her for probably an hour about what we can do to help change the situation. Haramai shimai has been a member for about 2 years and there have been some trials that have been testing her faith. She shared with us some GREAT insights.

She said we look at people like an incomplete circle. It has one little piece missing, but 90 percent of it is there. You can choose to look at the mistakes or the part that is whole. The ex-member has flaws. Some that are noticeable just by looking at him, others that you will notice as you talk to him. BUT rather then seeing him as a disease, think WHY they are acting that way and help to cure them. That is what Christ did. He healed the lepers. Others ran away from them. But Christ saw them as a circle that just needs a little bit of help to be whole.

It was a great lesson for me. I was called to repentance hahaha.

Sorry this week was pretty average, but I am very happy and I love you all SOOOOOOOOOO very much. Be excellent to each other!

-Mecham Choro