Winter is here (10/23/16)

Ok maybe not quite here but it is getting really cold! Especially when you are outside not wearing shoes and not wearing a coat or gloves.  Helping people move is really good service but cold! What's even worse though are the yukimushi. Bugs that come out right before winter. There are swarms of thousands of these things. Bike through the sunlight and you come out covered in tiny bugs that die by you hitting them. All the people here avoid sunlight during these dark and dreary days.  Anyway Captains log 243 star date 627

Wednesday : An awesome day. We helped Miyauchi San move for a few hours and then we went to a members house and helped her move a couch.  Then we talked a little bit and she is working on getting some people to meet us! She has such a big dendo Fire, It's a blessing to be in the Moiwa ward.

Thur: This day was interesting. We had Apartment Checks which we got really high praise on. Then we had to work on our bikes for a bit.  Then we went to a Japanese Buffet which are way different. Meat is bought as a meal and then they had 4 buffet options,  soup salad curry and drinks. I got a hamburger steak with egg on top with some fried chicken and French fries. BEST BEEF I HAVE EVER EATEN! It was absolutely delicious. I also ate 4 plates of curry 3 cups of hot chocolate and 2 glasses of melon soda. We were doing weekly planning so we were there for a while. Then we went home teaching and found a new investigator and gave a blessing to a less active. I'm glad we had the opportunity to go with Shinden-Kyoudai (brother temple ). Then once we got back to the church we realized something was a amiss.....We saw white everywhere. IT WAS SNOWING!  I just might see a white Halloween. Right now there isn't snow though :(

Fri: We had to walk for half of this day. It's nice to walk but a waste of time because there are no people out on the streets and it takes forever to get anywhere. We were fed an amazing breakfast by an investigator. The only time I have ever eaten a mushroom and liked it. We had such an amazing lesson, we could feel the spirit so strongly and he is coming to understand the importance of the gospel for him. We were able to bike later though because all the snow melted. So we went and helped Miyauchi San move for the rest of the day.

Sat: This was a trying day. We biked all around town in cold rain and pretty much nobody was home. Only 2 people were home and they both had guests over. It was rough. BUT, during our housing time this day we found 2 new investigators. The first one seemed kinda confused but said we could come back. What made it really funny though was that as we were walking out the pizza man came and delivered a pizza to him. When we first knocked he totally thought we were the pizza man haha. The second person we found was in this really weird looking apartment. It was a single mother with a little girl. We talked a bit about eternal families and she seemed pretty interested. She wants us to come back. :) oh and her daughter was like 2 or 3 she was adorable.

Sun: We had 2 investigators come to church, but both missed the sacrament so we can't mark it towards their progress, which is unfortunate because they both have baptismal dates. It was kind of interesting though because in Gospel Principles we were talking about eternal marriage and 1 of them is 17 and the other is about 55. It was an interesting conversation. Then we went dendoing with our mission leader. It was awesome to have a bunch of team up lessons. He knows his stuff...and Japanese. Also it snowed again it was really cold.

A beautiful day at the temple.

What a difference a day can make!

And so it begins for the new member of the Frozen Chosen!

Enjoying my new district.

Apostle Life Be Crazy (10/19/16)

This has been such an amazing week. We had an investigator coming to Seminary at 6 in the morning because he wanted to. He also has to bike here which makes it even more amazing. Unfortunately Seminary has a break for the next 2 weeks but we hopefully can take this chance to teach him some more useful things than Isaiah X)

I also had splits this week which was SO STRESSFUL! They made me area sempai meaning I had to plan everything and know where to go. Needless to say I pulled out the map a few times. Mostly because we went places I had never been to before. Because I was in front I also was the one who had to stop everyone as we were biking. But that was actually a lot of fun. We found 2 new investigators this way and when we were checking out one of these 2 people’s apartment complex we housed it and found some one who has a cousin in our ward. She invited us to teach her more but we have yet to follow up. I also felt we should stop at another place but the first place we knocked someone who was possessed came to the door. It was so creepy her eyeballs were twitching and she had a delayed slow answer for each question we asked. Then the ZL encouraged me to knock on a another door when we were about halfway out and it was a normal person. We got keko desued (“No thank you”) but that gave me the confidence to knock on the door I wanted to in the first place. He is a new investigator now. He seems like a really solid guy. I am way excited to teach him. Then we finished splits and ate sushi yum. I ate about 8 pieces of way good sushi for 7 dollars not bad.

The next day we had mission conference with Bednar Choro. For those of you who have no idea who this person is he is an apostle of our church. One of 12 people who have been called by God to lead his church. There is also our Prophet and his 2 counselors who lead the church. It was such an amazing experience. He focused on how the Holy Ghost teaches. He basically had a Q and A session with us and really focused on how he really wasn't the one teaching us. In fact he hopes not a single one of us remembers anything he said but that we remember the things we heard from the voice that was not spoken aka the Holy Ghost.

Then it was Sunday and we had stake conference. The coolest part of this day was that we had 2 investigators come to Elder Bednar’s devotional that night. They both felt very touched by the message that many shared which was mostly about joy.

Monday: We had an investigator with a birthday and that was a lot of fun. He smokes a lot and we played some basketball, as in we all had a basketball and shot some hoops on an 8 foot basket. I could dunk :)  It was really good for him to get some exercise though and he really enjoyed it, we also taught a really good lesson after. We helped an investigator move. It was...interesting.

Tue: we helped him move again more.....interesting. Sometimes you just have to not look and put some bags on your feet. However I really love this guy and I am excited to help him more and teach him more about how the gospel can bless his life. We also had English class which was fun.

Wed: We were supposed to go to the Temple today but there was a miscommunication with the time, and we got on the wrong train. Instead we just took some pictures around the building and went home. I went to Boston Bake though which has a ton of good pastries and sandwiches and all kinds of bread goods.

Anyway being on small sidewalks still sucks, but the people are amazing and I love talking with these people. Especially the younger people. Though most high school boys are kinda crazy. Though for the most part they are really fun to be with. It being cold here sucks too but biking up hills really warms you up, going down though.... It is so amazing though being in Japan and being able to just go out and talk to people about something that has brought me so much Joy and be able to share that with these people.

Love you all

ﾊﾋﾞ 長老

Boys Be Ambitious! (10/10/16)

Mon: So on Monday we walked around part of Sapporo with Simon, a half Canadian half Japanese guy who took us to a bunch of different places.  I ate SUBWAY! We also went to an army store which made me miss Kayla :'(. He also took us to a few historical places and explained the history of Hokkaido. This conversation actually came up because a guy named William Clark? pretty much made Hokkaido modern and left with the phrase “Boys be Ambitious.” We walked a ton this day and it reminded me so much of my walks around Boston with my Dad.

Tue: This day we had Zone Training meeting and we biked around to a bunch of Bike Shops to buy me a new Bike. I got a black and blue bike that's waayyyy nice. Then we had Eikawa Class (English class) which was really fun too. We had twizzlers for treats>.< I also got a new hair cut!

Wed: We biked everywhere this day but the coolest thing was when we were housing. We get to the very last house of the block we were housing and the mom (Fukui San) had some interest. We planned to meet her again and tell her about eternal families. This day was also really cold. We spent a good amount of time without coats until we were finally forced home because of the cold. Then we trapped coats and ran back out the door. This day we visited a few members and at one point a less active member’s daughter was playing with some friends right outside her house. They thought it was so cool that we were gaijin (foreigners) and spoke English. That girl is gonna be sooo popular cuz she spoke English with some Americans. 

Thur: This day was weird. We had practically no dendo time. We printed things out at a member’s house. He's pretty young.  He plays League of Legends and his desktop screen was a picture of a new skin for a champion named Jinx. Then we had interviews with our mission president. I learned a lot from him. He relates everything back to his job as a chiropractor somehow though.

Fri: Right when I thought I was done with early morning seminary I'm not. We had an investigator come and we went too. I picked up my bike and the rest of the day was kind of disappointing. But we made the day up by going to a cafe at a hotel called prince Hotel.

Sat Sun: RYO KUN CAME! So the investigator who came to seminary actually came to conference for the Saturday session and 1 and 1/2 of the Sunday sessions. He wants to come to Elder Bednar’s Fireside too! IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS PERSON! Also BOYS BE AMBITIOUS! We went housing this Sunday and found a Potential investigator and a new investigator. I finally handed out my first Book of Mormon myself. I recommended Moroni Chapter 7 because she really wanted to know the truth about Love. Also we are definitely ambitious. By the end of this month our goal is to find 32 new investigators. So far we found 1 and 4 potentials but potentials don't count :( Oh and on the way home we stopped this guy and he has a friend who is Mormon though she lives in Kyuushu. But he has lived in New Zealand for the past 4 years and wants to come to our Eikawa class with his daughter. SO EXCITED!

Mon: I mopped floors Japanese style, with rags. X)

Sorry I am out of time about to go to a Basketball tournament. Also one of our investigators is here with us. We are currently at the Church that is where we do all of our emails.

Love You!

My new haircut

A room with a view!  Downtown Sapporo.

Planning meeting at the Prince Hotel cafe.

First Zone Conference and training.

Miracle Upon Miracle (10/3/16)

Mon: We went to the zoo as a district and when we got there our friend called us and we hung out with him at the zoo. Then a miracle happened.  He brought us to an import store and they had DOCTOR PEPPER! Ok not really a miracle but it was awesome. Then we went to the temple together and had a Family Home Evening activity with our dendo (mission) Kaichou (president). It was a really cool experience. Then on the way home we took the subway back and another area's investigator came with us. She's a JK (Josei Kousei) or a high school girl. I talked with her about why she was interested in the church and kind of expounded on those things sharing my testimony. All in Japanese.

Tue: Coolest thing here was our Eikawa (English class) My class only had 2 people, a nonmember and the coolest person in Japan (Oda-shimai).

Oda shimai is an obaa-chan (pretty much people above 60) but she is amazing in every sense of the word. This Eikawa class we celebrated a sister missionary's birthday and had a bunch of extra food. Oda shimai made most of it (she made cheese cakes, curry sandwiches and more).

Wed: This was a long day where not a whole lot happened. Except for a miracle. We were planning to say hi to a new investigator family the sisters had found when we decided to house the whole building. Well we housed 3 floors with either no one home or people not so kindly rejecting us. But the last door before we talked to this family (aka their neighbor) was this Chinese guy. And he was interested in what we had to say. We talked to him a bit and agreed to come to general conference in 2 weeks. He had work this Sunday. AND he gave us doctor pepper. He was so nice and really funny. The hardest thing for him being in Japan is not having delicious food....and he works in a restaurant. Then we talked to the new family about eternal families it was really cool. Oh and we were fed breakfast by an investigator that was delicious. He is adamantly bukkyo (Buddhist) because he is the oldest in his family and feels a sense of duty to be bukkyo.

Thursday:  This day was weird. We somehow ended up going home teaching for the night. And sometime in the afternoon we taught a referral investigator. More like we got to know him. This was the first time I had to sit seiza (kneeling) since I got to Japan.

Fri: This was an awesome day! We found 2 new people interested in the gospel while streeting. Both are Highschoolers. We also gave an English Book of Mormon, the only one we could have it was from the sister, to the artist from Portland Oregon. We also met 2 high schooler investigators later that night. We ate some sushi they got from us which was delicious and we gave them a bunch of deserts and Books of Mormon. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when we were talking about baptism and asked them a little jokingly if they wanted to be baptized (we thought for sure they were going to say no but wanted to let them know that this was our purpose in order to get people to the celestial Kingdom) one of them very strongly said yes and the other was a little hesitant but said yes. We were so shocked!  We explained a bit more and showed them the baptismal font and asked them again if they really wanted to be baptized and from both we got Yes I really want to be baptized. The boy who had a hesitant answer even said he wanted to go to seminary the next day. Even I didn't want to go to seminary at 6 in the morning. We told him that of course he could come but then realized the next day was Saturday so we told him that and then made an appointment to read the Book of Mormon together instead.

Sat: I'm out of time so briefly we did some dendo made cookies and biked all over the place to drop them off. We also grabbed boxes for an investigator to help him move and did some more home teaching.

Sun: we had 3 out of 7 people come to church. It was really cool. We also had curry rice for dinner at a members house.

Mon: We played ping pong with the two High school boys who wanted to be baptized

I have been learning so much out here it's crazy. I am so excited for Elder Bednar to come talk to us missionaries on the 15th and then again to all of Sapporo later. Still haven't seen General Conference but will get the opportunity to next week.

Miracles! (9/26/16)

Japan is so different than what I expected. The sidewalks are tiny, food is way expensive, and I love it.

Tue: This was a weird day. We just biked around looking for people and no one was home. My IPad also got reset somehow so we had to re install everything which was a pain. But in all it wasn't a bad day.

Wed: We had a zone conference which was really cool. I learned a lot from the different workshops. Also you won't believe what I ate this day for lunch. There is a bakery (actually 2) called Boston Bake which has some really good food. Then we had a lesson with an investigator who pretty much just wanted to fight us with words.

Thursday: This was a really fun day. So all this past week we had been handing out fliers for a church event called kanshasai? Which kind of was like a thanksgiving type event. We cooked some food and we had stalls outside where the "money" was a sticky note where you had to write a message about something you are thankful for. It was really cute. We also had some investigators there and found a new investigator. Sometime during all this chaos the kids were going to do the blindfold watermelon splitting thing. The first like 5 year old kid makes his way to the watermelon with the directions of the audience and with one swing of the wooden sword he cracked the thing clean in half.  Then we had basketball with some less active members and an investigator. It was a really good opportunity to build some trust. We then did a priesthood blessing for one of the sisters’ investigators and right after the blessing she shakes her hands and as she shakes my hand her eyes went huge. She exclaimed "kiseki" which means miracle. She couldn't move her arm very much and couldn't move her hand without intense pain. But she showed us that she had full movement of her arm and her hand didn't hurt any more. She just kept thanking us and saying kiseki. Everyone was tearing up a little. Then we had a lesson with Simon. Simon is a really interesting guy for reasons I won't expound upon but it was a really good lesson.

Fri: This day was raining which sucked. Elder Larson got the impression during our planning that we had to go to an investigator we have named Megumi-san. So we biked through the pouring rain and we met with her for a while. She runs a handmade paper shop. We talked with her for a bit and found out she is going to Tokyo for this next whole week for a handmade paper convention. We were so surprised because she had to leave the next day so we wouldn't have been able to meet with her unless we went right when we did. Then we shared a message about remembering and about the BoM. Then we went to go talk to some other people and did our planning in a Starbucks while eating these awful chocolate chip scones. (Should have gotten a cookie or cocoa X/ ).

Sat: gonna skip over this day because of time but pretty much we housed and talked with some people but no success.

Sun: We thought it was fast Sunday for some reason but right as sacrament started we noticed they had people to give talks and then we realized. So we aren't supposed to fast any other time than fast Sunday so technically we were breaking rules but we ate right after church. The church members gave me a grape and I had no idea what kind of fruit it was until Elder Larson told me it was a grape. Grapes here are HUGE. It was probably 5 times the size of a normal grape. I also now know where grape flavored candy get its flavor from. This grape tasted so similar to a generic grape flavored soda or candy, yet it was sooo juicy. Then we went to go visit people and another miracle occurred. We were at one of the apartments we were at on Saturday to visit an investigator that wasn't home the last day but we walked in the same time the only person we talked to out of this apartment was getting her mail. So we shared another message with her that we felt she really needed to hear at that time.  After some more dendoing we went back to the apartment and grabbed some French pamphlets. Then we had dinner at the bishops house and did a dendo meeting. Once again you will not believe what we ate at there.  So another member came and she brought with her CLAM CHOWDER! It was so good. We had other food but ya. Then we were able to go to the French guy because the Bishop drove us but he wasn't home but we felt we should leave a pamphlet with a message on the back.

Mon: This morning we played basketball with an investigator named Huugo with his friend. Right at the end we shared a message with them and they asked if we could play basketball again tomorrow. We said sure and asked if we could invite some more people (maybe some Less actives or LAs) and they said sure. We also invited them to church and not only agreed but the friend asked if he could also bring a friend to church. It was definitely a miracle because we had planned to go running but at about 1015ish Huugo asked if we could play basket ball.  We debated on whether or not to respond and felt impressed to call him. Without that impression we probably wouldn't have had this miracle happen.

Love you all

Harvey Choro

NIPON! Week 1 (9/19/16)

Thursday-Sat: I had more classes. On my last day of classes we had a sub in our class. We had all of our goodbye pics and such which was really nice. But I don't have time to go into detail.

Sun: This day was awesome. Daniels-Kaichou (President Daniels) taught us a lot of cool things this day, we went to the temple on a walk for the last time, and more. During Sacrament Meeting we had three amazing musical numbers. One was by us leaving, one was a tribute by a few of our Kouhai (junior or less experienced missionaries) to us who were leaving, and then the really cool musical by like 10 guys in our branch which I sent a few weeks ago. Then we had an amazing devotional by Elder Ballard (one of the Twelve Apostles). It was an amazing final devotional. Then we got to watch the three new segments of Meet the Mormons for the video. It was so amazing because the very last one (of course they always save the best for last) was of a Japanese band called Bless4. Their story was truly a roller coaster. A lot of our shimai-tachi (sisters) (and a few of the choro-tachi [elders]) were in tears. It made us all soooo pumped to go to Japan. Then as a district we had a short final testimony meeting together which I feel I will remember my whole life.

Mon/Tue: SO stressful, We had like 5 minutes to get everyone's (roughly 50 people so about 150 bags) luggage off a bus and onto a train and then 2 minutes to get all that luggage off of the train.  That was 1000x worse than the 13 hour plane ride. So then we went through the airport and got on a plane to Portland. As soon as we landed we had to bolt to the next plane because we were late and everyone else was already boarded. Then we flew 13 hours to Japan. Sitting next to me was one elder and a Nihonjin (Japanese). I had the aisle seat but switched with this other elder, Elder Kim. So I got talking with this guy named Kyotaro. Long story short Me some shimai tachi and one other choro talked with him and placed a Book of Mormon and gave him Tokyo Honbu's phone number. Then we got off the plane and went through customs, met the Tokyo mission leader and said bye to everyone and 9 of us (Me, Maloy, Cook, Detemple, Kim, and Smith - choro and Lafayelle, Rigby, and Watabe -Shimai) went checked our bags and waited for the next plane. We actually had to take a bus to the plane, got off on the runway and boarded the plane which was interesting. Eventually I woke up and we were at Sapporo. We met our Mission President who is an awesome guy, his wife, the APS, and the other few elders working at Honbu (headquarters, or mission home). We got our luggage, packed them into cars and then got on the subway. We made our way over to Honbu which was great because when we got there the first thing we saw was the beautiful Sapporo temple all lit up. It was awesome. Then we ate rice, egg and spam sushi. Then went to bed.

Wed: We had an amazing breakfast made by Nakatsuka-shimai (Sister Nakatsuka, the mission president’s wife). It was absolutely delicious. Then we had a bunch of training, had an interview with Nakatsuka-Kaichou (President Nakatsuka, the mission president) ("I wish I could have him by my side my whole mission. He is so great at encouraging people. I feel so excited to be in Japan" Maloy-choro 2016) This statement is so true. Then we got to meet our trainers and found out where we are going. My trainer’s name is Elder Larson, he is from Portland, Oregon, He has been out about a year and a half and he kind of reminds me of Ken. Everyday he talks about getting big. Also he is the only person other than Ken to really push me to push myself. Working out and biking with him is almost as fun as it was with Ken. He has a family of 10. He is the Oldest child out of 8. The area I was called to serve in is the Moiwa Ward inside Sapporo. (I bet dad is surprised about that) Then we went to the area, we picked up our temporary 3rd comp and dropped off my bags. This 3rd elder is named Elder Seki.  He's Nihonjin but I only knew him for 2 days. Then we went housing and the very first house I knocked the person was interested. We set up to meet with him sometime Saturday.

Then I had my first sushi experience at a place called Matsuria with my comps and Maloy choro and Isobe choro his trainer. They missed the bus so they took the one on Thursday with Seki choro.

Thursday: We said bye to Elder Seki and Elder Maloy, did planning and some housing. I also got to see the Church here.

Fri: We rode around everywhere (right now I am using Larson-choro's old bike.) and didn't have much success. The road/sidewalks here are so bumpy. Like REALLY bumpy. I got to have a church tour which was nice. We also had lunch at the Church with an investigator, the sister missionaries and a bunch of Obaa-chan (older people)

Sat: more dendoing, we taught a few lessons and went up some pretty large hills. We had to go to a party (which we didn't know about until 2 hours before) which was nice. We were on the other side of town so it was a 50 min bike ride which was fun. So bumpy. But I can definitely see blessings of physical strength and balance. I tried Calpis for the first time which tastes really interesting. It is yogurt thinned down into a liquid like legit liquid. I made friends with some of the members here too. Especially these three high school kids (Koyama, yudie, and Isato Kyodai). Then we headed to do some more dendo.

Sun: An awesome day where we taught a lesson at the temple and met some people from Indonesia. I'll try to talk more about this next week.

Love you all,

Minasan Ai shitemasu

Harvey Choro

Hanging with some of the locals.

Eating sushi in Japan!!

My new peeps!

Welcome to Japan Elder Harvey!

Safe arrival in Japan and met by the mission leadership.

Traveled by train from the airport to the mission home and this is about the first thing I saw in Japan.

First breakfast/meal in Japan.  They have all the missionaries try natto (look it up)

Lots of good food in Japan (better than natto!!)

Assignment of new companions.  I'll be trained by Elder Larson.

Elder Harvey with President and Sister Nakatsuka and his new companion.

Signing the mission quilt.  All new missionaries do this.

With my new comp!

One final meal before hitting the pavement.

AHHH!! (9/13/16)

So I made it to Japan safely. Placed my first Book of Mormon (as a group). I'm sorry I wasnt able to call.  Only 4 missionaries had time to call at Salt Lake and we werent even in the Portland Airport for more than a minute. Then I couldn't figure out the phones in Narita Airport and it was like 2 AM where you are. Just saying I'm safe and I love you all so much. AND IM IN JAPAN!. Anyway I have to go do some other stuff. I will let you know what happened soon. 

MTC Goodbyes

THE LAST E-MAIL!!! (9/7/16)

Hey this is my last email from the MTC. Kinda weird. I wont be able to email this next week unfortunetly as I will miss Pday. anyway

Wed: We did our first out of 2 skype TRCs. We talked to a member from Fukuoka Japan. Her name is Shinkou-Shimai. It was so awesome to talk with her. I felt so much love for her as we talked with her. In our feedback report she said she could feel that love and that she thought about the needs in her life and that our message helped her. (She also said we didn't have good comp balance because my companion never talks) 

Thur: Had class and studied :)

Fri: same

Sat: We got our Flight Plans! I have to be at the travel office 6:50 Monday morning. I might make it to Sapporo before wed. The flight taking me to sapporo from Narita airport (in Tokyo) takes off around 7:50 PM tue. So I should be there by about 9 or 10 with how long it takes people to board and the plane to take off. 

Sun: This day was awesome. I can't remember most of what happened but it was awesome. In branch council we talked about WIN - whats important now. I feel like that has really helped me stay focused and on track these past few days. We also had a devotional from Chad Lewis. I'm not sure if any of you have heard of him before. I certainly haven't.  (NFL football player.)  He talked a lot about why we are here. He talked about the people he met. For example he went back to his mission some 20 years after he had gotten home. He talked about how much he loved this place in a fireside and one woman stood up and said, “How can you say you love this place so much, I dont remember you.” His reply was, “You are sister Wuu, you were the bishops wife and had a one year old son at the time. I remember you.” (though looking at the pictures of him then verses now she was justified) He talked a lot about loving the people and what an impact it will have on us and on others. He talked about a lot of other things too demo, jikan ga arimasen. 

Mon: Class

Tue: Another Awesome deep dive with President Daniels. We talked mostly about how we were formed and other details about the pre-mortal life. It was really awesome because we only used scriptures. We didn't really talk about hypothetical things but rather what the scriptures mean. It was so cool! We also had a devotional from an apostle. Elder D. Todd Chrisofferson came and talked with us. The main thing I got out of it was about trust. He raised the question "yes he (Christ) loves you, but does he trust you?" Right when he said that it felt like time slowed down and I flew into a flashback. It immediately made me think about when I was talking with Ken on the phone. He told me the importance of working hard and listening to what the  spirit wants me to do and say. He said that without that Christ won't trust me and would send me somewhere I wouldn't be harmful. That had more impact on me than what the apostle said. The spirit knew that and brought it back to my remembrance for a reason. Then the apostle went on to say things like will he trust with this burden or this son of his, or that responsibility. I was able to find a new found goal and resolution for my mission thanks to the Spirit, an apostle, and my loving older brother. 

Love

Aishite imasu

Haabii-Choro  

PS

During choir our choir director told us a story about how his daughter had lost her scriptures and how he was just planning on finding a random Book of Mormon and writing her name on it. Then she said a prayer to find her scriptures. Of course now he was thinking how to explain how Heavenly Father doesn't always answers prayers. Then she asked her dad "Dad do you believe God will answer my prayer". He said he went silent. He said a prayer asking for help to find the sciptures and he had an impression that the scriptures where in their new bookshelf on the left in the basement under the magazines. Lo and behold that was where they were. He relayed to us that he felt such a great love that a being creating planets and moons and stars would go "wait. my daughter needs to find her scriptures." I know that he has this love for all of us.

It's weird to think there is a life other than mission life now.

I Finally Learned How to Scuba Dive (8/31/16)

This week has been the blurriest week yet. The days all feel like a singular day. I think I might be becoming a little crazy being stuck in such a small space doing the same things every day.

Wed: This day was weird. We went to the temple which is still awesome.  Then we were supposed to do TRC (member lessons) but that got cancelled. And this was also the saddest day of the week. Our favorite teacher, Ferralis Shimai (the American teacher) got moved to a different class because BYU classes are starting again so schedule changes.  Our new teacher is Japanese to boot. Her name is Waddell? Shimai. Now we have no teachers that understand our pain of not knowing Japanese before the mission.

Thur: We met the new teacher.  She was pretty cool. We had class and class, and more class. We also taught Kenji San which was awesome.

Fri: We did a whole day of Nihongo dake. (speaking Japanese Only) It was sooo much fun. I was also surprised just how much I actually knew and how fast our district is progressing. I feel like this shouldn't be possible to do. But we have the Lord's help which means everything.  (And the #1 language learning program in the world according to the FBI)

Sat: Our class did really bad for PCL on Fri and Sat so we had a district meeting, which I of course had to lead. We set some goals and have been doing better. Oh and I got to leave the MTC. My companion thought he had strep throat so we went to the BYU Health Clinic to get him tested. He's fine.

Sun: This day happened I think? The only things I remember is that we went to the temple. We had an amazing devotional by the person who was in charge of creating Preach my Gospel (though he was a back up

speaker) And I watched Legacy in Japanese.

Mon: We taught our new investigator named Aoi San. She is really cool.  She likes cooking especially pastries. She's from a family of 5. She has an aunt who is a member and her roommate is a member. Teaching her was really fun.

Tue: We taught Kenji San again and Wakaki San.  Kenji San is really progressing.  Surprise he likes cooking too!  So I made it part of my goal to study some cooking tango so I can talk to them about their hobby of cooking. We also had an awesome devotional by Elder Maynes of the Seventy.  He pretty much ripped apart any arguments (that would say Joseph Smith) was a fraud. He showed a picture of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, a picture of (Joseph’s) diary after it was written and some accounts from his wife. To say the least the average 3rd or 4th grader could write better than Joseph Smith could. You could barely read it, it was worse than my hand writing. And pretty much all of the sentences were grammatically incorrect. He translated the Book of Mormon so fast that his scribes couldn't even put in punctuation in the manuscript. There are also many accounts of scribes writing something that wasn't exactly the same and Joseph, not being able to seem them due to a sheet dividing them, would correct them. He also had to spell out simple words like Sarah because he couldn't pronounce it. His wife also wrote that at one point he went pale as a sheet. He asked her if Jerusalem had walls because he thought it didn't. When Emma told him there was, he said he was scared that he was deceived by some evil spirit.  This kind of thing occurred more than once as well. The coolest thing though was our deep dive with Daniels Kaichou which I will have to write about next week. I'm out of time.

Class, Study & Teach