Monday, December 30, 2013

Hello everyone!

Sorry this week is going to be short. We ended up being really busy preparing for the new missionaries coming tomorrow. So, I'll just sum up the week real quick.

First major event of the week was the all mission Christmas Conference on Tuesday. That was pretty fun. Everyone got together, and we had some music, a few talks, lunch, and a white elephant gift exchange. I ended up getting... and elephant. A little wooden elephant carving. How fitting for a white elephant exchange, right? 

Christmas day ended up being a good day too. We had office staff meeting in the afternoon, and there were a few people who exchanged gifts. Sister Wada wrote a personal letter to each person in the office. The Yamashita's gave everyone these neat little book marks. Elder Fukuchi called his parents, and when they asked if his companion (me) was around and if they could say hi, he just sat there... then said no. Alright. Not sure why, but whatever. haha! I thought it was pretty funny actually. 

Thursday we went to look at apartments over in Machida. Elder Fukuchi was talking with the real estate agent in the car in between houses, and asked him if he had a family. "No," he replied. "Do you want a family?" "Yeah. Maybe when I'm 40 I'd like to get married and start having kids." I just sat there thinking to myself that I don't think I had ever met anybody I was aware of who planned on starting a family that late. I guess there's a first for everything. 

Saturday night we had an activity here in Kichijoji, a culture night. It was pretty low-key, mainly missionaries and their investigators. A few members came to. The main attraction was a pot-luck dinner with a musical variety show. All the musical performances were performed by missionaries' investigators or by missionaries with their investigators. It was really fun.

Sunday was probably the most interesting Sunday I've ever had on my mission. I woke up in the morning, and went into the bathroom to put in my contacts. The door was open, and in the mirror I can see the APs' beds and desks. All of a sudden I see President Wada in the mirror, sitting down at Elder Crandall's desk, dressed in a full suit, just smiling. Elder Crandall and Elder Medeiros weren't done praying yet, then Elder Crandall finishes, looks over, and President Wada is just right there. He jumped a bit. I was pretty surprised too. President Wada came in and told them that he couldn't sleep the night before because he kept thinking about the upcoming transfer, and there were some changes he wanted to make to the transfers that had just been announced the morning before. Alrighty then.

Continuing with the day, Brian (the guy from Zimbabwe) spoke in sacrament meeting. He can't speak Japanese, and he didn't' want to give his talk with an interpreter next to him, so he sent us his talk ahead of time and I translated it for him. He read his entire talk in Japanese. It was really funny to listen to him read it with his Zimbabwe accent. I understood what he was saying because I read the original in English and I translated it, but I wonder how much everyone else understood... 

Brian also brought two of his friends with him to church to hear him give his talk! That was great. After Sacrament meeting they stayed for Gospel Principles class. The teacher starts the class, and writes the topic for the lesson on the board: The Word of Wisdom. Well this ought to be good. The teacher dives right into the deep end by opening up the lesson with the question, "According to the word of wisdom, what things a forbidden?" We go down the list: coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Both of Brian's friends had gone out for a smoke break right after sacrament meeting, and when they found out we didn't smoke, they started apologizing. We told them not to worry about it. That's when the teacher realized they weren't members. But then, instead of continuing the lesson in a way someone who has never heard about the word of wisdom before would understand (you know, what it is, why we have it, where it came from, etc), the teacher went off on some tangent about whether or not there is biblical backing for the word of wisdom. When all was said and done, we had a group of missionaries repeatedly face-palming, two confused friends of Brian, and several tangential questions. Quite the eventful day. 

Today was zone p-day. We played volley ball here in Kichijoji, then everyone went out for lunch together. Wrap that up with some shopping, cleaning out the apartment real good, and an hour long talk with an Italian, and it was a good day. The Italian guy is a member that goes to another ward, but he dropped in to see if we could provide him with a Book of Mormon in Russian for him to give to his friend. I could tell he was a true Italian because his hands never stopped moving when he talked. Haha! He's a really cool guy though. I found out that he served his mission in Arizona back in 1985-ish. One of his areas was actually Gilbert. Pretty crazy. He gave me his number and invited me to go over to his place sometime so he can teach me how to make pasta the Italian way. I'm excited. 

That's about it for now. Talk to you all next week!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Hey Everyone! 

Merry Christmas! I hope you all are ready for it! It's coming up quick. I'm really excited for Christmas this year. It's been a lot of fun getting ready for it this year. 

Seeing as how I'm in Japan, there are lots of opportunities to teach people about that meaning of Christmas: why we celebrate it, how we celebrate it, the meanings behind all the different traditions. I've had several opportunities to put to use a story my family reads every year for Christmas called "Teach the Children." It's a simple story that teaches about all the symbolism behind Christmas. It's a great story, so I recommend you take a look at it. I'll paste it to the end of this week's email so you can read it if you want. Anyways, the reason I've had so many opportunities to use it is that there are so many people that have no idea Christmas has any relation to Jesus Christ. Even if they do, nobody I have met yet knows that all the lights, the trees, etc are all symbolic of Christ. We had a dinner appointment at a member's home, and they invited all the missionaries in Kichijoji. The Sister misionaries brought an investigator, and I shared the spiritual thought. I used "Teach the Children", and it turned out really well. The Sisters' investigator had no idea that Christmas was so deeply rooted in the birth of Christ. This last Saturday was the Kichijoji Ward Christmas party, and the ward mission leader asked us to prepare some sort of presentation we could put up in the foyer as people walk in. Elder Fukuchi and I worked together on it and made a slideshow that looped. We made a slide for each of the symbols from "Teach the Children", and then shuffled them in amongst all the other slides (our church meeting schedule, information on upcoming ward activities, pictures of Jesus, etc). It was a really nice touch to the party. 

Speaking of the Christmas party, it went really well. Lots of members brought friends, and quite a few investigators came as well. There's a member in the Kichijoji Ward, Brian, who is from Zimbabwe. He's here in Japan going to college (studying sociology) until summer next year. And he's albino. It's pretty trippy. He shows you his family pictures, and his family is completely black, and then Brian is just sitting there with his white hair and pasty white skin. He's a way cool guy. Anyways, he was a total baller and brought a friend with him to the Christmas Party. His friend, Nickson, is also studying at the same school, and Brian invited Nickson to the Christmas Party. Nickson is a really nice guy. Brian explained alot about our church to him, and Nickson had lots of good questions, and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself at the party. 

Well, that's about it for this week. Sorry it's kinda short. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Enjoy it and be sure to have an extra cup of hot chocolate for me!

Merry Christmas!

Elder Blake

Teach the Children

Just a week before Christmas I had a visitor. This is how it happened...I just

finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I

heard a noise in the front of the house. I opened the door to the front room and to

my surprise, Santa himself stepped out from behind the Christmas tree. He placed

his finger over his mouth so I would not cry out.

"What are you doing?" I started to ask. The words choked up in my throat, and I

saw he had tears in his eyes. His usual jolly manner was gone. Gone was the eager,

boisterous soul we all know. He then answered me with a simple statement.

"TEACH THE CHILDREN!"

I was puzzled; what did he mean? He anticipated my question, and with one quick

movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree. As I stood

bewildered, Santa said, "Teach the children! Teach them the old meaning of

Christmas. The meaning that nowadays Christmas has forgotten."

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it before the

mantle. "Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains

green all year round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind, all the needles

point heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning toward heaven."

He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR. "Teach the children

that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a Savior for

the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise."

He then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDLE. "Teach the children that

the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this

great light we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness."

Again he reached into his bag, removed a WREATH, and placed it on the tree.

Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love. Real love

never ceases. Love is one continuous round of affection."

He then pulled from his bag an ornament of HIMSELF. "Teach the children that I,

Santa Claus, symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of

December."

He then brought out a HOLLY LEAF. "Teach the children that the holly plant

represents immortality. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior. The

red holly represents the blood shed by Him."

Next he pulled from his bag a GIFT and said, "teach the children that God so loved

the world that he gave His only begotten Son... " "Thanks be to God for his

unspeakable gift. Teach the children that the wise men bowed before the holy babe

and presented him with gold, frankincense and myrrh. We should always give gifts

in the same spirit of the wise men."

Santa then reached in his bag, pulled out a CANDY CANE, and hung it on the tree.

"Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherds' crook. The crook

on the staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the

symbol that we are our brother's keeper."

He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL. "Teach the children that it was the

angels that heralded in the glorious news of the Savior's birth. The angels sang

'Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men,"

Suddenly I heard a soft twinkling sound, and from his bag, he pulled out a BELL.

"Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it

should ring mankind to the fold. The bell symbolizes guidance and return.

Santa looked back and was pleased. He looked back at me and I saw that the

twinkle was back in his eyes. He said, "Remember, teach the children the true

meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center, for I am but a humble

servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship Him, our Lord, our God."

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!!!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Hello Everyone!

How have you all been? It's been a really busy week for me over here. But, I can't really think of much to share. Even though we were busy, most of it is stuff that's pretty mundane and not that exciting to talk about. It was still a good week though. Pretty fun.

The mission van after it was loaded up to go open 

the Tama Sisters' apartment. Driving through Tokyo 

without a rearview mirror: Check.

We're finally making some headway on finding new apartments for missionaries. This last week we've opened up two new apartments for the upcoming transfer, and we'll be opening a third this week as well. Right now in my companionship, Elder Fukuchi doesn't have a drivers liscence and Elder Hosoda has one but doesn't like driving in Tokyo. That means that I'm essentially the designated driver whenever we go look for apartments of set new ones up. I don't know if I've explained this before or not, but the process to get a foreign license converted to a Japanese license is considerably faster and cheaper than the process for a Japanese person to get a liscence from scratch. That's why I have my license (which the mission paid for. yay!), but Elder Fukuchi doesn't. Elder Hosoda already had his from before the mission. Anyways, so that means I've been getting to drive around Tokyo alot lately. It's pretty interesting. What I've learned is that without GPS I would be hopelessly lost. Tokyo's road system is a mess. Just a giant sprawling web of roads. Definitely keeps you on your toes.

Elder Hill at the returning missionaries' breakfast
 helping clean up the the food Sister Wada
dropped on accident. Turns out that kitchen
 dirt is one of Sister Wada's cooking secrets

There were some missionaries who returned home mid-way through the transfer this week. When the mission split and the transfer schedule shifted 3 weeks, that threw off alot of the returning missionaries' return flight plans. Since the mission split until now we've been having some missionaries go home at transfers like normal and some missionaries going home halfway through the transfer. It all just depended on whether or not the missionary was able to change their return flight plans. However, this was the last group of missionaries going home mid-transfer. From now on the return schedule is normal, and everyone goes home together. Anyways, This group of returning missionaries had Elder Mangum in it. I got to see him when he came in for his Final interview and then again the next morning. His parents came to pick him up, so he's still in Japan for another week, and I'll get to see him again Saturday before he goes back to the states. I'm gonna miss him. He was a fun companion. At least he lives just down the road!

Sorry it's kinda short. I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately. I really can't think of much else write for this week though. I'll talk to you more next week! Take care!

Elder Blake

Monday, December 09, 2013

Hey Everyone!

Sorry this is going to be short. Everyone kept stealing my computer throughout the day, and then whenever nobody was using it we had things we had to go do. So, now I'm typing this at the end of the night, and I haven't got too much time. Sorry!

It was great to read your emails today! It's been a pretty good week. There was a pretty big Christmas concert that we hosted here in Kichijoji Saturday. There were about 500 people that came, and our Chinese investigator Lily came to that. It was actually her birthday, and she brought her husband. They seemed to have a really good time. During the concert, the Kichijoji missionaries set up a "Visitors Center" of a sort on the first floor. We set up a few tables, Elder Fukuchi made a slide show we put on in the corner, we organized church tours for non members, and even opened up the baptismal font to show them that. That was pretty fun.

Earlier in the week, I went and took my drivers license test for the second time. Elder Medeiros and I both managed to get our licenses. I still haven't had to drive out on the main roads yet though. Tomorrow I will though. Elder Fukuchi and I are going to look at new apartments over in Hodogaya. 

Yup. Sorry it's short. P-day is up. Talk to you all next week!

Elder Blake

Monday, December 02, 2013

Hey Everyone!

So, I just wrote a few days ago. There have been a couple of things that have happened though. This week will definitely be alot shorter than the last one though. I guess that'll balance them out just perfectly then. haha!

Friday there was an all Sister's conference here in Kichijoji. They had asked me to interpret for that as well because they wanted all the sisters to be able to pay attention and focus, and if one of them was interpreting that makes it pretty tough to take notes and whatnot. So, Elder Crandall and I were companions for the day and went to that. It was kind of strange. I mean, we were the only two guys at this thing, and it was specifically tailored to the sisters and their needs. 

Sunday was pretty good. We went out and hit the streets for a little bit, and got to talk to some pretty cool people. We actually found a guy who was baptised almost 40 years ago but hasn't been to church in who knows how long. We invited him to a Christmas Concert this next weekend, and he might come to that. We also gave him a Book of Mormon because he didn't have a copy of one anymore. So, we'll see where that goes. 

Today was pretty fun. We went and had lunch with Ishii. He's a member from Atsugi, but I met him back when I was in Yamato because he attends the English Branch in Yamato. I did bump into him a few times in Atsugi too though. Anyways, Ishii called me up last week to tell me something. I had completely forgotton until he called me, but the day I transferred out of Atsugi he called me in the morning and said he had a favor to ask. He wanted to apply to the BYU Provo English Learning Program, but the application had an essay portion that had to be written in English. So, we met him up at the church, I helped him write his essay, then transferred later that afternoon. Ishii was calling to tell me that he had been accepted, and that he is going to the states on December 12th. I told him that he should come see me before he heads off to the states, so he did. We went and had lunch together today, and while we were talking I found out that he knows Clark Sensei from the MTC. That's also when I found out that he's married now. Ishii showed me pictures on his phone. Looks like it was a great wedding. Ishii tried calling Clark Sensei right then too, but he didn't pick up. Oh well. 

Yup. And tomorrow is Elder Yamashita's Birthday. Elder Medeiros had the idea to fill his office up with balloons. Fortunately for him, I have experience in that department. Haha! We're still not quite done yet, but it's getting there. It'll be fun.

That's about it since Thursday! Take care everyone!

Elder Blake

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Hey everyone! Happy Thanksgiving!

How have you all been? It's been a pretty eventful week and a half since I last wrote. Hold on to your seats.

Last week was the start of the new transfer, which means that returning missionaries were going home and new missionaries were coming in. Tuesday morning, the day missionaries departed and came in,  we had a combined mission conference with the Tokyo North mission here at Kichijoji. It was alot of fun getting to see old friends from the North Mission. I was also pleasently suprised to see Elder McKnight there as well. We were in the MTC together, but he was in the group after me. We got along pretty well. Sometime in that transfer when I came and he was still in the MTC he went home, so when his group came to the field I was suprised when he didn't come too. I'm not sure why he went home, but I didn't think he was coming back, especially after several months and then a year passed. Then, at this two mission conference, I see him out in the crowd of mingling missionaries, and I'm all just like, "woah! When did Elder McKnight get back?" He had only been out in the field for a couple months, but he ended up in the North Mission. I'll tell you what, my respect for him went up alot more when I saw him there and found out that he came back after being home for over a year. 

The conference was really good too. Elder Evans, the head of the church missionary department, and his wife came and spoke. The AP's had asked me to interpret, but then the morning of when we were setting up all the interpretation equipment, Brother Westman who is a member in one of the wards here in the mission and is a professional interpreter, came over. Turns out President Wada had asked him to interpret. When he found out that I had been asked to interpret too, he had me go sit by him and help him out. He let me interpret Sister Evan's talk, and gave me some good feedback. Then I got to sit next to him and listen to him interpret Elder Evan's talk. I was really impressed. That was a real treat. So back to Elder Evans, he's the head of the church missionary department, so he rubs elbows with the First Presidency and Quorom of the 12 alot. He talked about alot of interesting things. One of them was why when they lowered the missionary ages, why sisters still only serve for 18 months instead of 2 years like the guys. He said he doesn't know all the reasons, but one of them is that one of President Monson' big concerns about returning missionaries is whether or not they'll be able to quickly and easily get married. The way it was before, when guys came home from their missions, a majority of girls available to date are several years younger, and when the sisters come home a majority of the guys available to date are still several years younger. But, because the ages are changed now, you figure that most young men will turn 18 during their senior year of higschool, and then leave for thier mission between 18 and 19, and a majority of departing sisters are now leaving at 19, that means that when they all go home a majority of them will be within about a year spread of each other. Pretty interesting I thought. Another really good part was at the very end, when he shared what are in his opinion the 3 most important rules in the missionary handbook. He said 99% of all problems missionaries have could be avoided if they just obeyed those 3 rules. The 3rd and final one he shared came with the disclaimer that it's not actually written in the missionary handbook, but he said, "Just don't do anything stupid." I laughed pretty hard at that one. 

Halfway through the conference the departing missionaries snuck out the side door and then got on a bus to head off to the airport. Well, everyone except Elder Rindi. He's from Hawaii, so his flight wasn't until 9:00 PM, so he stayed til the end of the conference, and then went to the airport with the Wada's and us after the conference. After he got through security we went over to the arrival gates to wait for the new missionaries. I actually ended up seeing a member from my first area Yamato there at the airport. That was pretty cool. When the new missionaries started coming through the gates, all the Japanese missionaries came out well ahead of everyone else because of Customs. Do you know who I saw? I saw Ryohei. He was on his way to Fukuoka with another group of missionaries going to the same mission, and they were tranferring flights at the airport we were at. That was a pretty big suprise. We got a picture together, and he gave me his email. I'll have to see if I can get that picture from him. All of our new missionaries finally arrived, and we loaded them all up on a bus and came back to the mission home. 

The next day consisted of trainings for the new missionaries, and then the trainers came to pick up their new companionsThursday morning. The AP's asked me to interpret again, so I was interpreting for the new missionary training all day. It was pretty fun. Really long though. There were some pretty interesting new missionaries in that group. 

The weekend was pretty normal. Saturday there was a YSA activity at the church next door, and when we were attending a baptismal service for one of the little girls in the ward I saw Ryohei's sister. She came home from her mission while I was in Ushiku. So, I got to tell her that I saw Ryohei at the airport. That was pretty cool. 

Then we come to yesterday. Yesterday was a crazy, crazy day. Elder Fukuchi got a call from Elder Farr in the morning, and he said that his bag had been stolen. Their apartment key was in the bag, so they couldn't get into their apartment. We had them come to the mission home and we gave them a copy of their apartment key. Then we got a call from Sister Kawajo, and she had lost her wallet, so we had to cancel her debit card. About this time it was almost 9:00 in the morning, time to get ready for staff meeting. Then President Wada comes in, and asks me the procedure for when a missionary gets in a bike accident. Turns out a fairly new missionary got in an accident, and dealing with those is one of my responcibilities. It all ended up getting taken care of, it just took a process of calling them, calling PBO, calling them back, talking with police, waiting, getting called back, etc. Elder Barker, the missionary who was in the accident, is ok. He went around a corner and hit a 16 year old kid who was on his way to higschool almost head on. Elder Barker faceplanted on this kid's chest and got a bloody nose, and this kid's bike's front tire hit Elder Barker's knee hard enough that it bent. Somehow he walked away with just a bruise. The amazing thing is nobody fell over, they both ended up on their feet straddling their bikes. 

After that finally got taken care of, I started putting Sister Sasaki's bike together for her. She transferred into Kichijoji, but had trouble getting her bike shipped here. It finally arrived, and I was going to put it back together for her before district meeting. That's when I found out that some bikes are just never meant to be taken apart. All the sisters in the mission get little beach cruisers with baskets instead of mountain or sports bikes, and Sister Sasaki is no exception. There were so many little tiny bits and pieces that I had no idea where they belonged because I've never used anything but mountain bikes. I eventually got it all figured out. you can ride it, and there were no leftover parts so I'm pretty sure it got put together right. It ended up taking enough time that we only had 10 minutes to eat lunch before district meeting though. District meeting went well, and then we all finally got a breather for a few hours before English Class that night.

English class went well as always. Then after class I was back in the office with Elder Fukuchi, and Elder Yamashita came in and I started talking with him. Then I passed out. Don't worry, this has a happy ending. Nothing is wrong, the doctor says it must have just been a fluke. Anyway, they called an ambulance, but by the time they had me on the stretcher to take me out to the ambulance I was ok. As they were strapping me in, I called over to Sister Yamashita to grab a Book of Mormon and some pamphlets for me. I wasn't able to give any away. I was in and out of the hospital pretty quick and didn't really get to talk to anyone except the EMT on the ambulance ride over and the doctor's assistant as he was prepping for the doctor to check me out. Oh well. 

And today is Thanksgiving! We had Thanksgiving dinner up in the mission home with all the Kichijoji missionaries, and we had permission to invite investigators. We invited Lily, and she came and had a great time! There was actually another Chinese investigator there too, so they were able to talk and have a great time. It turned out really well. 

Yup. That's today. Oh, and today's picture is my Thanksgiving Dinner. It was really good. 

Talk to you all next week! P-day is on monday like normal again next week, so don't miss it!

Elder Blake

Monday, November 18, 2013

Hey Everyone!

How are you all doing?  We had another great week here in Kichijoji. It's way fun. Today is the official start of the new transfer, but transfer day isn't until Thursday. Elder Nagaoka will be on his merry way to his new area, which means Elder Fukuchi and I will be in just a normal 2 man companionship from then. 

This is just a picture of some of the Elders here in Kichijoji

 from Saturday night. Elder Piland is going home tomorrow, 

so we went out to eat with him to celebrate. 

LtoR, Elder Fukuchi, Nagaoka, Nebeker, Piland, Me.

So, there were some pretty cool things that happened this last week. First of all, on Wednesday, I went with Elder Rindlisbacher and Elder Medeiros to the Driving Center so that Elder Medeiros and I could take our tests for our Japanese driver's liscences. While we were there, waiting for our tests, this Chinese lady (Lily, which is actually the same name as my niece who was born a couple months ago) starts talking with me. She starts telling me about how she used to work as a flight attendant at China Air, and she had been to Salt Lake before. She said that she really loved how our church was really focused on family. She then asked me if she was allowed to join our church. I said yes. Then I asked if she wanted to join our church. She said yes. We swapped contact info, and then took our driving tests. Unfortunately, we both failed. The driving test in Japan is super strict. The guy giving the test said he failed me because I wasn't looking in my mirrors enough. Oh well. I'll just have to try again in a couple weeks. 

I called Lily up and invited her and her husband to church, and they came. It was way good. They actually ended up oversleeping, and they arrived just as church was ending. They stuck around for a bit, and we had a really good conversation. We gave Lily a Book of Mormon in Chinese, and her Japanese husband one in Japanese. Turns out they actually live in the Tokyo North Mission though (Kichijoji is right on the border of the two missions). So, we'll end up having to refer them over there, but they live close enough that we'll be able to keep meeting with them. They're way cool, and super nice! I'm excited to see them again. They'll be coming to a Christmas Concert in Kichijoji on December 7th, which is apparantly Lily's Birthday. 

The other Elders here in Kichijoji had a baptism on Saturday. There was only one problem: the water heater wasn't working. The guy getting baptized was over 60, so it's not like we could just tell him to tough it out and be baptized in cold water. So, what idea did they come up with? Let's just fill up the font with buckets of hot water from the apartment! So, between 6 of us, we got a bucket brigade going from the apartment, into the room with the font through a window, and then into the font. Not sure how they came up with that idea, but it worked. Several hundred buckets of water and about an hour and a half later, the font was filled with warm water. 

That's the big news for the week. Thanks for all your emails. I hope you all have a great week this week! 

Elder Blake