Transfer week!!! (5/29/17)

Sorry this email will probably be a short one considering I have little time and little to say. This week was transfer week and a lot of weird stuff went down and yea I'll explain.

Mon: We had dinner at the bishop's house which was really great! I asked the bishop how he met the missionaries and his response was showing me a video called, "To the Temple." It's a super famous video among church members here in Japan. It's about the Sapporo Temple, but more so about Bishop's story. It was quite a dramatic response to my question. Also everyone was shocked that I had yet to see it. (But I have been busy :( ) Anyway It was a great time talking and really fun.

Tue: Last spurt of dendo for my dying (going home) companion. We found an awesome old Investigator who told us we could come back once he finished remodeling his house. We offered to help but he was like "I can't even help there is too many people here so go talk to people."

Then at Eikaiwa (English class) something really funny happened. The sisters held a farewell party for Elder Tomioka. The thing is though they got one of those huge spoons used at weddings? for me to feed him ice cream. They took a video but I haven't received it yet so I might send it next week.

Wednesday: Transfer day, also Elder Oaks (one of the Twelve Apostles) came. So the entire mission met up to hear Elder Oaks, Elder Gong, President Nakatsuka, and their wives speak to us. It was absolutely amazing and I learned a ton from these speakers. Also I got to say hi to a bunch of missionaries and Bye to a bunch of missionaries, including my dad. Elder Larson officially died and came through Shinoro yesterday but I didn't get to see him. Though Bishop made me play a mean joke on him through the phone. >:) I also got my new companion Elder Thurston. He is from Colombia/Utah.  He grew up in Colombia until he was 12 when he moved to Utah. In Utah he met with missionaries and he and his family joined the church. Yes he is fluent in Spanish and English.

Thur-Fri I accidentally gave my companion food poisoning. Well I guess he gave it to himself but, I made ribs on a frying pan which doesn't work well so he ate it raw while I re-cooked mine. He got sick I didn't.

Saturday: He was still kinda sick but that afternoon-night we played basketball. I was the only one who got hurt, of course. I got a bloody nose by being run into by an investigator. Then I got hit in the head with a basketball which made things worse. Yes I decided to keep playing even though my shorts were ruined with blood.

Sun: Church, new dendo shunin (mission leader), sisters were sick, and went to the bishops house for dinner, again. I found out I like umeboshi which is a super sour plum.

Anyway I love you guys and hope your week is awesome!!!

Love,

Elder Harvey

Pictures from a few weeks ago - Boys Be Ambitious.

Japanese soft serve!

A dying missionary gets ready to go home.

Farewell to my "dad" who is going home.

VIKING!! (5/22/17)

Hey everyone this week has been awesome! Though it was a week of mostly finding new investigators that's still an important part of missionary work. Tuesday was mostly just finding and Eikaiwa (English class). Though our Eikaiwa was really interesting as we were teaching hobbies and our roleplay was speed dating to find something weird we have in common. I found that me and my new dendo shunin both don't like horomon (intestines). Wednesday was also a lot of finding but we found some awesome new people which was really nice. Thursday was splits with Higashi. I was with Elder Cox which was really fun. We had some awesome discussions and totally got the perfect b-day present for one of our members, do-it-yourself Super Mario maker gummies. We also got ice cream :) Friday we had more finding but we got fed by the sister's investigator. It was absolutely delicious. I have never liked octopus until I ate that investigator's octopus. It was not only delicious but also really soft. We also had a really long conversation on how one of the sister's teeth need to be straightened and other dental related things. Saturday was AWESOME!!! Once again finding but we found a KINJIN (golden) family! We went to go to a gochi (dinner appointment) at a Viking restaurant. We were a bit early but we told the member that we were going to do some housing near by. So we went and the first house we knocked on was a super young family who just moved and were interested in our message.  MIRACLES! Then we went back and stuffed our faces. Viking is an all you can eat buffet but a bit special. The reason being is because it's also Yakiniku or Korean bbq. So basically we cooked the meat ourselves. I ate so much meat and sushi and practically nothing else except ice cream. You always have room for ice cream. ;)  Sunday was also really nice because of Church. It's always a really nice blessing to be able to talk with members. This day was also a lot of finding but we also did a blessing to the sick so that mixed things up a bit.

Anyway, I know that the Lord really does provide us with blessings as we try our best and work with all we got. As long as we continue on with that hope and move forward in faith the Lord will take care of the rest.

Love you all, Elder Harvey

MOTHERS DAY! (5/15/17)

Hey Everyone. I hope you are all enjoying Mother's Day today! Or Yesterday if you're like me because of Japan things (i.e. 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time). Mother's Day was really awesome here because it was also fast and testimony meeting. We had a bunch of awesome testimonies from members and we also got fed at a members house! (Sorry forgot to receive the pics). It was a really great dinner! I ended up eating so much that the members asked if I was fat before the mission. They were quite surprised to hear that right now is the heaviest I have ever been in my life. "Weighing at about a whole 140 lbs we have the missionary in the white corner, ELDER HARVEY!" But seriously most of that gained weight is from muscle gained in my legs. Biking all day everyday gets you some nice legs. But not as nice legs as running 20klm/12mile run. We have an investigator who wants to became a policeman in the future and his usual run is 20k.

Nothing really too interesting this week. For Eikaiwa (English class) we had the sisters from Higashi there as well which was really fun. We were learning about holidays and I made the role play be that you had to go last minute decoration shopping but you can't say the holiday's name.  It was a big hit! I almost had people falling out of their chairs as I almost fell over carrying a huge imaginary pumpkin and accidentally knocked over an imaginary Christmas tree that I was almost crushed under as I caught it. 

We also had a meal by another member family. If you remember me talking about a person in my Eikaiwa that has a British accent then you have the right family in mind. It was really fun giving our experiences of being younger and when we had testimony building experiences. They also asked a lot about our families and before mission life. They were quite impressed with Ken's muscles.  They also thought it was hilarious that I was the animebu or anime club president. That was pretty much my week. I hope you can all find things to be grateful for in your week!

Love,

Elder Harvey

Golden Week! (5/8/17)

So for those of you who don't know what Golden Week is (yes they decided to try to say it in English but it became an engrish holiday - goruden weeku), it is about 5 consecutive days that are all different holidays, but they decided to merge them into one big name which is Golden week.  So basically, no one has work or school. As you can imagine this can be either really bad or really good for missionary service. Luckily for me it was a pretty good thing.

Mon: We went as a district to the Hitsujigaoka place. Or in a simpler, easier to understand way the BOYS BE AMBITIOUS place. So for those of you who don't know, there was a Christian named William Clark who basically helped Hokkaido go from 15th century to 20th century during the time he was here. He basically modernized Hokkaido and helped educate the people. Anyway it was a ton of fun and we saw sheep. 

Tue: We had Zone Conference this week which was really nice! We had a bunch of great workshops and I learned a lot about giving oneself up to God as really being the way to become truly happy. We also had Eikaiwa (English class) which was really fun! It was on our world and we sang "it's a small world after all"

Wednesday: We went to a pretty far place in our area to teach a bunch of investigators there. It was pretty nice and we actually had a lot of weird things happen. We also had a role play with a member which was awesome. He was a convert when he was young and had a lot of good insight for us.

Thursday: Pretty much a lot of finding and DKK (planning) for the week. But we did visit one Young Single Adult in our ward and it was awesome. He is a pretty big nerd so we connected really fast! He is also really good at English. He picked it up pretty well on his mission.

Fri: We were fed lunch this day by an awesome family in the ward. It started out as us trying to get a Mogi (role playing lesson) but then ended up being us the sisters and the husband's brother's family over for lunch. And somehow the lesson ended up being the sisters' lesson too. So it started out from asking to do a Mogi to us just eating lunch at a party.

Sat: We visited a bunch of members this day. Once again I found a member who is a big nerd. Well actually 1 and 1/2. We went to the bishop's house, first taught a lesson to his wife, then as she was leaving one of their sons came home. So we started talking to him.  Then the other son came home too. So as we were talking we got onto the topic that I was an "otaku" nerd so they decided to test me. I ended up winning that battle. >:) The 2nd son s a nerd too so he wanted my recommendation of what to watch and pretty much as soon as I said the names he ran off to watch them haha. We also visited some other members and taught a lesson to an investigator.

Sun: SUUUPER LONG BUS RIDE! We had a 3 and 1/2 hour bus ride up and back to our area for our stake conference. For some reason only Shinoro and Higashi are not in one of the Sapporo stakes. Nope, for some reason we were in the Asahikawa stake. But on the plus side I got to see Elder Seki and all the people from Iwamizawa which was really nice. Apparently they were really sad to see me go and really want me to come back at some point during my mission. I heard that only primary kids in Iwamizawa eichi and ten am kun kept saying they wanted to meet me but they ended up going home before I had a chance to see them ;(

Today I am going down into Sapporo so that should be a ton of fun!  Hopefully I will have some pictures to send y'all next week of Sapporo!

Love,

Elder Harvey

GOACHES!! (5/1/17)

Hey everyone! This week has gone by SO FAST! This week we spent a lot of time at member's houses because suddenly everyone want's to feed us. We also had some pretty good dendo and this week I went on splits with a younger missionary named Elder Yagi. We also met with a bunch of our investigators and met a bunch of new investigators. Also our Eikaiwa (English class) was huge this week. We had a bunch of members and non-members come which was great! The theme was directions and the game at the end was leading someone who couldn't see through a maze of chairs. All the while I was moving the chairs around >:) Mwhahaha. It was a blast!

Also things to note about goaches (dinner appointments) is that people here do not just feed you a little. They give you a full out feast! Oh also about the video I ate an orange whole and convinced everyone to follow suit. :) I know I am evil but it was a really fun experience for everyone. We also had a do it yourself sushi goach which was also really fun! This Ward is just so nice and helps us out so much! We also had a surprise goach on Sunday when our ward mission leader offered to help us with dendo and then fed us dinner at the end. It was really funny because they threw it together really fast but it was also really good! I had the best zange (fried chicken) I have ever eaten in my life! Luckily for me he made extra at the very end for us to take home and offered to teach me at some later date! Anyway pictures are worth more than words so have fun reading an essay!

Love you all!

Elder Harvey

BIKES! SPORTS! WHIPPED CREAM! (4/24/17)

I honestly don't remember a whole lot of what happened this week so I will try to make some sense of what my week was like. So Wednesday we had Zone training meeting which was really great. We had to go into Toyohira which takes time but that's OK. We also got news that we were going to get our bikes sometime between the next day and golden week.

We also did something for dendo, but all I remember is that we had a no show who told us he would come tomorrow and we also had a Book of Mormon given back to us by a new investigator :( 

Thursday we got our bikes which was really awesome! We also had apartment checks. The Arringtons loved how clean our apartment was and it went really fast because they  just had no comments.  Also that no show investigator once again was a no show. 

Friday we did something, at this point everything about this week has pretty much blurred together. What I do remember is making 3 appointments over the phone. Saturday we also had a bunch of dendo. I think this was the day we had a really good visit with an NA (non-active member), worked with a member and made a new investigator and an appointment, had yet another no-show and made a pass to the sisters (meaning they passed along an investigator for them to teach).

Sunday as always was super tiring. I talked with a ton of members trying to remember their names. We also found 2 KINJIN!!! (golden investigaotrs)  One was a 14 year old boy from Nepal and the other was an Old investigator who pretty much invited us in as soon as we started talking! It was great and he wants to hear the lessons again! Also today we had zone activity which was sports stuff. It was really fun and we contacted this lady in the park and taught a bunch of kids why we call everyone brother and sister. I also pied (with whip cream) my companion because he is dying this transfer (i.e. he is finished with his 2 years and is going home).

Love you all,

Elder Harvey

Happy Easter!! (4/17/17)

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a great Easter this weekend! It was a great Easter for me and the people in the area I am in! Oh, and this week was transfer week! And I actually transferred. Elder Seki stayed in Iwamizawa and is training a new missionary that he actually knew from before the mission. We found out while we were doing a Yakiniku (grilled meat dishes) party for dinner at our apartment. Trainer calls actually come earlier than other transfer calls. They come in on Monday night so we were celebrating what we thought was going to be our last P-day together...we were right! ;) I also found out where I was being transferred to as well. I transferred back to Sapporo!! But, I am in the "countryside" of the city. I am in an area called Shinoro. It's pretty much just all houses and a college. Well after we got that call it was already 10:00 so we had to get ready for bed because we had DTM (district training meeting) the next day.

Notable thing about DTM was that we all had lunch at a hole in the wall ramen place - really fun! I also made arrangements to go to Shinoro the next day because Elder Seki had to pick up his bean (new trainee) which was gonna take all day anyway. So I started making a bunch of phone calls to investigators and members to let them all know that I was going to be leaving Iwamizawa. We also had a lesson/goach (dinner) by a member and their home-stay referral. It was a ton of fun! I taught English and then we had an awesome lesson and finally dinner. I was shocked to find out that no missionaries had ever visited them at their house before. Then we headed back and I had to pack everything to leave the next day.

Wednesday: We started out waking up early so we could meet with Masaki San for one last time. It was really sad saying goodbye but I know that he is in good hands. Then we were off and on a train. The funny thing is though I had to stop at Ebetsu first (city between Iwamizawa and Sapporo). In the short time I was there we had 2 lessons and a sushi goach by a part-member family. We 3 elders sat with the Non-member husband who is about 70 years old. He kept commanding me to eat more which was really funny. He also started to order things just to force it on another Elder hahaha. It was really funny to talk with him and eat together. Then after that I was on another train down to my new area. I arrived and dropped off my stuff to go to an appointment with an investigator which was really fun. To get to know me he wanted to arm wrestle. He also accepted the word of wisdom pretty well. He has already quit smoking 10 cigarettes a day down to 4.

Thursday: Don't really remember a whole lot. We had DKK (Doryo (companion) Keikaku (plan(ing)) Kai (meeting)), it was blizzarding again and we went out and froze one last time before spring really got here.

Fri: We had to prepare for an Easter party for the next day. It gave me a chance to get to know the sisters in my area so that was really nice. Then we went out to meet a bunch of NA's (non-active members) and I was in charge of finding the way there which is always fun. :) We also found a KINJIN ("gold person" - golden investigator) at the last house we knocked on.

Sat: EASTER PARTY! It was really great to get to know a few of the members and to talk with a bunch of non-members. There was one youth there who is absolutely awesome! After the party we went streeting out side an outlet mall like thing and their family saw once again. We continued to street (I used gaijin (foreigner) power to the max and handed out a lot of Eikawa (English class) flyers) and this youth comes riding in on a bike to give us some caramel corn. I swear this youth (his first name is Ken which is actually a common name) is a boss. We also had a great lesson with an investigator that I met for the first time. It was great and it was really easy to break the ice seeing as he had an anime towel and a lot of video games. We also had a really great lesson on the plan of salvation with him.

Sun: Went to church for the first time. This Ward is huge! I introduced myself to all the members which actually went pretty well.  The Bishop accidentally called me Sister Harvey so that was a great way to get everyone to laugh in my introduction. I also shared a testimony of Easter and the importance of the sacrament. Then after church we went around with a member and visited a bunch of NA's but almost nobody was home. :( 

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all and I know that Jesus really did live again so that one day we too can rise up from the grave to be able to live with him and our families for all eternity.

LOVE,

Elder Harvey

PS  Oh and I forgot to mention my new companion is JAPANESE!! His name is Elder Tamioka. This is actually his last transfer and he just finished being ZL (zone leader) for our zone.