Week 50 - 07/29/18 - Pictures

~cool miniature castle at the mall near our apartment

 ~More eikaiwa 

~Zone conference

~Shota kun from eikaiwa moved to America this week so we took a pic together 

Week 50 - 07/29/18 - Group Email

It was a great week here in 厚木! One of the highlights was from a lesson we had with our investigator named Taiki. I have known him for awhile because he comes to english class and the other Elders used to teach him. Well since we dropped down to 2 Elders I get to teach him now! During the lesson he shared a lot of trials he is experiencing right now. For example his Mom is terminally ill and has dementia so he can't communicate well with her. On top of that he says his father doesn't love him and sometimes abuses his mother. When he was telling us those things I felt a super strong love for him and a desire for him to be happy. It was a really cool experience and the spirit was strong in that lesson. It really makes such a difference when I'm able to feel that love for those we teach. I was able to testify that the Book of Mormon and prayer really can help him feel happiness despite his circumstances! He's an awesome kid! 

One day this week we were supposed to get slammed by a big typhoon so we had to stay inside for the latter half of the day. Luckily the storm kinda missed us and it just rained a bit. I got to call a bunch of people from area book during that time though which I honestly kind of enjoy. You never know who you're gonna get on the other end when you call old investigators lol. It's a good time! To explain the subject line people in Japan say "moshimoshi" when they answer the phone. I absolutely love it haha

Yesterday we were housing and came across a gravel road that had a bunch of identical looking, tiny, beat up houses so we decided to knock some doors. We didn't get far until a rougher looking guy came out just super angry and yelling at us. He said he was gonna call the cops and that we couldn't be there. I'm just like calm down dude we didn't know haha. I pulled the "gaijin" card as well but he didn't like that. Well after awhile I got him to chill out and was able to explain what we were doing. He said that area was for people with bad behavior or if they have a dog, mental issues... and he had a dog lol. He said it's dangerous in that area and that we definitely shouldn't be there. I was a bit confused because it was literally in the middle of a neighborhood but wakaranai. In the end he was a chill dude and even let us pet his dog haha.That was the most adrenaline I've felt for the past year, I'm not used to it anymore! 

One last funny story. Everytime we pray we play jankenpon (rock paper scissors) to decide who prays. Well anyway we were leaving our apartent and I won so I started praying and instead of saying "Dear Heavenly Father" I said Saishogu... hahaha. We had a good laugh about that. 

We have some solid plans for this week so I'm looking forward to that! 

暑いから気をつけてね！

ディーン長老
Elder Dean

Week 49 - 07/22/18 - Pictures

 ~elder farnsworth dying 😭

~ramen 

 eikaiwa 

more pics from the hike last week

Week 49 - 07/22/18 - Group Email

So I think I have sweat the most at one time in my life a few days this past week. It's so HOT! One day we got ramen with a member which isn't a good idea to begin with since ramen is hot. Well the restaurant we picked happened to have broken AC or something then to top it off I was dumb and chose the spicy ramen so I literally looked like I was dying by the end lol. The member also sweats a lot and his light blue shirt was completely dark blue by the end! 

My new comp is named Elder Loper. He is from Northern Idaho and started his mission in April so he's still pretty new. This past week literally 1/5 of the missionaries went home sadly and only a couple came in so a crazy amount of changes happened with the mission orginization. In the past district leaders were usually only over one ward but now almost all are over two wards. It's gonna be interesting! Since so many missionaries left my apartment dropped to just me and my comp so we have a giant apartment all to ourselves😄

Everything is going great and I'm doing well! We have 8 lessons planned for this week which will be the most I've taught in a week so far so I can't complain. Sadly the investigator we put on date told us he might be going out of town all of August which is when we planned it so that's too bad but hopefully we can set a later date in the future. 

Well not too much happened this week due to transfers, cleaning and what not but I love you all! 

Week 48 - 07/15/18 - Pictures

~lots from the hike up oyama

 ~la fiesta

~everyone rides these weird bikes with tiny wheels, so inefficient haha

 ~kid we met in Mcdonalds

~dinner with the shirais 

 ~the spider we caught 

Week 48 - 07/15/18 - Email

We got transfer emails today and I will be staying in Atsugi with my new companion Elder Loper! He is one of the other elders in my apartment and will be on his second transfer so I will be follow up training. Unfortunately this next transfer our apartment will just have two elders so that will be a change but it should be good. Also I will be the district leader which will be fun! 

Last pday we went and hiked mt. oyama for the second time! Last time the summit was cloudy and this time... sadly cloudy again but what do ya do. It was actually super cool and foggy up there though. I'll send some pics. We went with a kid named Yuya that we met recently and he asked me if I wanted to go to Nagano on a hiking trip with him next month. I wanted to say yes sooo bad you have no idea hahah. It is hard for people to understand that we are literally confined to an area and CAN'T leave lol. 

One of the highlights of the week was that we were able to set a baptismal date with our investigator Kenshiro! He is a really cool 20 year old kid that has an honest desire to learn about the church. It's been fun teaching him! 

We received an announement from our pres last week that we will be having a big mission conference combined with the Tokyo north mission next month which means I will get to see my boy Ethan Hoj along with some other dudes from the MTC. I'm super pumped for that! 

One day this week I met some kids and started skating with them. I landed some dope tricks and it was super chill to get to skate again! Moments like those are really weird and kinda forget I'm a missionary for a sec. It is good to remember though that as missionaries we aren't just gospel teaching robots. People see the things we do and remember the nice foreigners in white shirts that said hi to them or skated with them or whatever and that could help them give missionaries a chance in the future! 

We also had a fun event this week, The "Fiesta!" Basically the whole mission was there and we were able to bring two investigators that loved it. Our mission celebrated Lation culture so there was dancing, singing, etc. I felt connected with all my friends serving the latino people around the world! haha. 

Random funny story: We found a giant spider outside our apartment one day then just kinda forgot about it. Well a few days later it was outside our apartment again so Elder Campbell and I used a pot to catch it then put it on Elder Farnsworth's desk lol. It was pretty funny. 

Lately, I have really grown to love one of our investigators named Kiyoshi who is a 68 year old man. I have been teaching him ever since I got to Atusgi 4 months and have seen him change a ton! He is so much more outgoing and happy evertime we see him and I love it. He recognizes that it is because of the gospel and has been noticing God's influence in his life recently. The only reason he hasn't been baptize yet is due to his wife who hates religion but he strongly believes that through prayer and faith his wife's heart will change and we fully agree! 

Hope everyone has a great week! 

ディーン長老

Elder Dean

Week 47 - 07/08/18 - Pictures

dope dry slope near tokai! I wanna ski...

 Some kids we met 

 dinner with a ysa 

Pic from the care center  

 huge spider right outside our apartment 

 elder campbell and I scheming our next move 

Week 47 - 07/08/18 - Group Email

We just got back from hiking so I literally have no time! It was a good week though. I went on splits with both the other Elders in my apartment last week which was lots of fun. Also I played shogi for the first time which is basically Japanese chess. I didn't think it would be that great but its honestly so much fun and like chess on steroids. I played with some ten year old boy and thought for sure I would lose but I actually destroyed him and felt kinda bad hahah. 
I love you all!! 

ディーン長老
Elder Dean

Week 46 - 07/01/18 - Pictures

 Rice fields

Enoshima island

 

  Dinner with the Hara Fam

  Pizza party next to the river