Week 19 - 12/24/17 - Pictures

found a lego set at daiso which is the dollar store. Best dollar I've ever spent.

 Nagai kyodai ( our mission leader ) 

 someone left us a present!

Cool skeleton dressed up as santa 

 During the week we printed out some photos, bought frames, and a bunch of candy bars that we wrapped and gave them to some investigators and members! It was cool to see how even our small gifts meant so much to them! 

Blitz 

Dinner after the Christmas open house a couple weeks ago 

Week 19 - 12/24/17 - Group Email

Merry Christmas!! This week was great and we had lots of things happen! On Monday we had a zone p-day then a blitz afterwards. We did a white elephant together and played some games as a zone. For the blitz we went to the hon-atsugi eki which is way bigger than the one in my area so that was really fun and there were tons of people to talk to!

We had our third lesson with our new investigator Yokota this week. This time he invited us inside and opened up a bit more than the last two times which was great. We taught him the restoration and I was finally able to recite the first vision that I memorized in the MTC! The lesson went super well, he understood what we were teaching, and his prayer at the end was way good! It was definitely the best lesson we have had since I've been here and I felt like the spirit was there! 

On Tuesday we had a mission wide conference. It was fun to see the whole mission together in one place! We heard from all the stake presidents in our mission and did a talent show and lunch and a few other things. During the week we printed out some photos, bought frames, and a bunch of candy bars that we wrapped and gave them to some investigators and members! It was cool to see how even our small gifts meant so much to them! 

We saw a Christmas eve miracle yesterday! 2 of our english students came to church it was so awesome! That was the first time we have had anyone come to church let alone 2 people. They both loved it so hopefully we can work with them. One of them said his favorite part was the hymns (I could tell... he was trying to hit those high notes lol). I thought that was cool because all my life I have been used to just singing at church and didn't realize how much the words of hymns mean to some people. I have started to love singing the hymns also since i came out on the mission! 

After church we went to the rest home with a bunch of members and did some caroling. It was so much fun and all the old Ojiichans and Obaachans loved it! We were blessed to have two meals with members this past week. The ward also gave the missionaries a bunch of food for Christmas, the Shonan ward is so nice! I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas where ever you are! 

メリークリスマス!

Elder Dean

Week 18 - 12/17/17 - Pictures

Christmas openhouse at Kichijoji

Shimada kyodai hooked us up with these fresh scarfs for Christmas. He's the best guy! 

 The tie I made! 

Week 18 - 12/17/17 - Group Email

Hello everyone! This week has been both way slow and fast at the same time haha. It's been fast because we had a Christmas open house at the mission home, interviews, our ward Christmas party, and a couple lessons but also slow because my comp has gotten pretty sick which has caused us to be stuck inside the past 3 days. For the open house, my zone performed some songs then some of us got assigned to carol outside. The next day we had our ward Christmas party and lots of people came which was good! Different families in the ward performed some Christmas songs then we ate a bunch of food. Because my comp has been sick, alot of our time has been spent inside contacting and studying and it's been very boring. Also since he's been sick I have cooked every meal the past few days which has been interesting! Elder de Andrade has been teaching me all his good recipes. I checked my weight last night and it looks like I have gained 10 pounds since I've been in Japan!? If this keeps up I will be absolutely massive when I get home! lol

On Monday night we went to visit a PI named Yokota who is a college student. We taught him how to pray then came back 3 days later and he said he had been praying everyday and that it was great. Not sure how great because he is extrememly quiet haha. But then we taught him about the Book of Mormon and shared some scriptures about our concept of God that he really liked! So we will see how things progress with him. Our main man Tazaki has been working like crazy everyday so we haven't been able to meet him for the past 3 weeks. He literally only can reply to our messages once or twice a week because he is so busy... Japan is crazy when it comes to work. 

On P-day I bought some fabric and ended up making a tie with it! I heard some Elders do that so I figured I would try. It was easily one of the craftiest things I have ever done and it turned out way better than I thought it would lol. On monday night we were riding down by the eki and I ran over a tac on my bike so I got my first flat. Luckily we have a patch kit in the apartment so I was able to fix it. We had to walk home though which was taihen. 

Love you all!

ディーン長老 

Elder Dean

Week 17 - 12/10/17- Pictures

Our Christmas tree

 The mission wanted us to send a pic saying Merry chirstmas(I know, we are artists right)

 

 some lights over the street in Hirastuka 

cool Christmas display at Tsujido eki 

 group  from the blitz we did like 3 weeks ago 

 mall next to Tsujido eki 

  we had a dinner with the Shino fam

 My birthday dinner

Week 17 - 12/10/17 - Group Email

Hello everybody! This week has been pretty slow, not too much has been going on. For last p-day we went to eat all you can eat yakuniku (Yakuniku is when you grill meat at your table). So there was tons of meat and it was literally amazing! I tried cow tongue for the first time which wasn't bad. Also liver but holy crap that stuff's nasty. After that we went and bought a little 2 foot christmas tree, some lights, and ornaments that we set up in our apartment! 

We had splits this week with the zone leaders which was really fun. My goal was to learn how to better use the Book of Mormon while talking to people on the street. While I was with Elder Pierce we gave out 4 Book of Mormons in an hour, so that was awesome! Splits are way nice because you get to work with different missionaries and it's nice for a change. In the evening we did an "english challenge" at one of the bigger train stations. For english challenge we write on a whiteboard that if you can answer an english question you can have a piece of candy. We all wore santa hats and made tons of people happy so it was a good time. On the way home from splits I saw a kid that looked like a student so I yelled out to him and barely stopped him. I told him that we teach english and he said he has been looking for an english class and we talked for about 20 minutes! I also gave him a Book of Mormon so we will see what happens with him!

Yesterday after church we went with a member to visit some less actives. Everytime we have been in cars with members it always turns into a road trip basically haha so we knew we were in for a long trip. We ended up driving around for like 2 1/2 hours all over Hirastuka and only visited 4 less actives lol. It's alot different than Utah because the members live way far from the church. It was fun to see some new parts of the city though! Other than that not too much has been going on. I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season!

Elder Dean

Week 16 - 12/03/17 - Pictures

Week 16 - 12/03/17 - Group Email

Transfer emails came in last week and I am staying in Shonan with my same comp! Yesterday we were on our way to visit a PI and saw a bunch of South Americans(nanbeijin) having a barbeque in their front yard so of course we had to go check it out haha. We walked up to the gate and right away they started talking to us, invited us to join them, and gave us tons of food! There about 6 from Peru and another 6 from Brazil. Only one spoke english so just awkwardley stood there while my comp spoke to everyone in Portugeuse. It's so crazy how different the cultures are between them and Japanese people! 

This week started out kind of crappy. On Monday we had a zone pday at the park so we had to change into exercise clothes in the bathroom. While I was changing I set my tablet down and forgot it when I left. I remembered 30 minutes later but when I came back it was gone... People say Japan is super safe and no one steals things but I guess that's not completely true haha. The park was super dead too so probably less than 10 people used that bathroom in that 30 minutes. Now I am using a loner tablet from the Mission Home until I can get a replacement. Zone P-day was actually really fun though! We played ultimate frisbee and capture the flag. It was felt great to finally fun around a bit. 

Since the Light the World campaign has started we have been trying to think of ways we can serve each day. On the 1st we decided to write some letters to a couple people in our ward and delivered them! We had stake conf. this week and I was surprised there were actually tons of people there! It reminded me of my stake back home almost, it was pretty awesome. 

One night this week I slept walked and for some reason rotated mine and my comps futons. It was really weird and my comp woke up while I was rotating his futon and was like what the heck are you doing haha sleep walking is so strange. Well I hope everyone has a good week! 

Elder Dean