A whole year....

 So a week in Japan and it is the one with a year mark. To get started, let's back it up to

Monday: we found these Yukatas, which are a very hard thing to find for missionaries apparently, and they were only 20 dollars, so, bam, done! We went and had a nice kubari in Ōizumi because so many people come home at 6 and 7 here, even from school. Nice day, not too busy, but it was good.

Tuesday: busy day! We went out in the morning and dendōed around the Eki. To kick off the afternoon, we went and visited Uenoyama Kyōdai. He was doing good, we will visit him with the bishop this week so that we can know just how to help him with his memory. After that, because we were in the area, we went to South Hoya so that Elder Gerritsen will be ready if I transfer next month. We streeted and looked around, and we found some good places to house. For dinner, we went to the Aono Family's. It was their son's 17th birthday, so we got him some pudding. He REALLY loves pudding. We shared a really good talk with them that was the homework for Zone conference. It is President Benson's Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon. It focuses on how members and missionaries can use the Book of Mormon in their lives more. We had something that I have never had before, dry curry. That was so good!

Wednesday: It rained a lot today, like cats and dogs and rhinos and elephants. We tried to street in the rainy morning, but no one was in the right mood or they were hiding at home,so we went and ate lunch at life before district meeting. Our new Dendō Shunin, Ward Mission Leader, came and sat in. I gave a training over the Book of Mormon and we all ate umeboshi again so that we can see the difference between having the Book of Mormon and not. If you have umeboshi in your mouth, you don't and you are sad, if you have chocolate in your mouth you are happy and have the book. Then we went and waited for the rain to die down a bit so that we could get home. Then we did studies. After dinner, we went to Eikaiwa and apparently everyone is scared of the rain because there were only 7 people this week. It was fun though.

Thursday: we  decided to see what Hoya is like in the morning. There where people, but not that many, we missed the rush, which is at about 7am. Then we did lunch and started weekly planning for the afternoon. After planning, we set up for set up for Zone conference and then because frida is Elder Gerritsen's birthday, we went to Hamazushi, which is brand new and always busy. We ate sushi and he got a coconut during that was a raw coconut. Then we we did language study. Today marks a year since leaving home, and 10 months in Japan. It doesn't seem that long, but when I think about it, it is a really long time. Everyone is done with a year of college, Gavin has graduated and going on his mission, and now I am an older missionary. It is weird.

Friday: So today was Zone conference with everyone. I gave a training, alone, and it was ok, it was from the 12 weeks program and about the Book of Mormon, so i had some practice this week. It was great and it was in Hibarigaoka, so we had a fun time not having enough tables for everyone. We just turned the pews around and circled up. That night, we went to Hoya and learned that it is so much busier there when people are coming home. We finished off  the night with language study.

Saturday: We went to Kiyose in the Morning and learned that there will be a festival there at the end of the transfer, so we might go and check that out, it looks like it will get a lot of people to come out of hiding in Kiyose. It was pretty hot, so we went home and cleaned the church alone. We then set up TOEIC and Eiken alone, then went and did a kubari session. That was effective! Lots of people in Ōizumigakuen want to learn English. We taught TOEIC and Eiken that night, so i helped Hisashi get ready for the test next month. He is a good guy.

Sunday: So the day started normally, but after we got out of DCS and Eikaiwa, lo and behold, there was Gappmeyer Shimai, our MTC teacher! We were a bit confused and then nervous because we were gong to teach about The Second Coming in Japanese for Gospel Principles. It went well though and Gappmeyer Shimai was happy to see us both and was impressed by how much our Japanese had changed. Granted, it has been a year and for Elder Gerritsen, six months, but that was a nice surprise to be able to show your teacher how much better you can speak and teach that Nintendo the MTC where we just used the Ninja book. After church, we talked with members, did stats, and ate lunch, then studied. After we did that, t was time for dinner, so we ate and then went to Ōizumi to kubari. We learned however that sunday night is when the politicians come out and rally. There were also no people on the streets so after trying to kubari and street, we went and did a quick make up language study to make up for a day of not having it this week.

Today: not much is happening, we are going to have a nap and just chill. Tonight we are going to house in Ōizumi area and try to kubari again. The last time we did Monday night was really good and lots of people stopped to talk to us.  Wish us luck!

I hope everyone had a great week, and have a fun time too!
愛していますね、
マーフィー長老

So 8 is here, lots of big things to come

We are going to be starting transfer 6 in Hibarigaoka and it started with a bang. Transfers, elder Carrasco moved to shonan, and sister benson moved to Tama. In exchange, we get Elder Lewis from Logan, UT and sister Jensen from also Utah. #TheLoneRanger.

I don't remember much of last week, meaning the stuff that I was going to put in the email but ran out of time for, but here is the run down from what I remember. Last Sunday, we got a brand new Ward Mission Leader, Brother N, so we will be catching him up on what is going on next week.

Monday: District leader splits with Elder Burnham, I was really confused there, but it really happened. We had a great lesson about the temple and enduring with Kurenuma, we were all really moved at the end and he is going to get ready to go before the Tokyo temple closes this year.

Tuesday: We cleaned the apartment and rearranged our study room, and then we went to the hospital. Don't worry, no one is sick, but we had a referral in a hospital and we had to see who it was. It turns out that it was a member, Brother O, that just needed a Book of Mormon and to talk to the missionaries because they weren't from around here. He was super nice and I can't wait to go back. Japanese hospitals are so nice! It smelled like medicine though. And I read the kind of hospital wrong on google maps the first time. So we went in thinking that it was a Psychiatric hospital, but it is a physiatrics hospital. That was good. Then after we unsplit, we housed and did language study.

Wednesday: district meeting and a kubari session because we have permission to go back to Ōizumi Eki and kubari! After that, was Eikaiwa and I gave a spiritual message about who is Jesus Christ. In the end, a lady asked for a Book of Mormon and we went and ate peanut butter fudge.

Thursday: Transfers! So we take elder Carrasco to the Eki early because we think that elder Lewis is coming early, but then the time comes and goes, the trophies of us are just standing in the Eki and we call the other area and hear that elder Lewis just barely left, so we scramble back to the church to look up his route and to do some personal study. It was a crazy morning and then we did weekly planning. After that and dinner, we housed and finished our studies late at night.

Friday: in the morning we went to Higashikurume, nothing in particular happened, but the Eki still smelled like night night gas. That afternoon we went to kubari again, then we streeted before dinner with the I Family and Masato. We had a great lesson and Masato is working on prayer and realizing who God is but he is doing great!

Saturday: so we got a call from  Brother N and he wanted to know if Masato could come to eat at his house with the district, and we chosei-ed (I forgot what that is in English). We cleaned the church and set up for TOEIC and Eiken, and then

Sorry, I ran out of time... Bye! Love you
マーフィー長老

The end of transfer 7

So, Monday. I stated off on Splits with Elder Burnham for Zone leader splits. That started not so good, I felt horrible and I almost threw up, but then I got better and we went and housed. That night, we celebrated his birthday with some very interesting stuff, I will send pictures when I get them, but it kind of just happened.

Tuesday: we moved district meeting to today because of interviews on Wednesday. Then we visited an Eikaiwa student at his house, he showed us his power converter and solar panel array and all of his art. We streeted and housed for the splits and talked about family history with some people.

So this is as far as I got, but here is what we did for elder Burnham and I will tell you more next week, Chao chao!

愛していますね！
マーフィー長老

Where did the week go and why are transfer calls on Saturday?

Wednesday: District meeting, it was really fast, we all are working with some great friends here in Hibarigaoka. We went to Hoya and didn't find anyone, so still trying to get an investigator from over
there. Good Eikaiwa, but we didn't get to play a game. We talked to a very awesome friend, we will call him Joe, about God as our Heavenly Father with the Mormon message, "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father". It was really good. I love how simple that video is.

Thursday: Monthly planning! Wow, planning for an afternoon. In the morning, we went out and saw why we don't really go far from the Eki in the morning, because there are not many people after rush hour in the morning. By the way, this is day 196 in Hibarigaoka. Thursday night, we went to a nice place to house and it is called Cosmos and I love how nice the people are there.

Friday: today is my day to fast for the wards 40 day fast and I went into it expecting miracles. Miracle one, I was not dehydrated the next morning, even though it was very hot. Miracle 2, we managed to stay in our mission while Streeting next to the border in Shakujikoen and Nerima Takanodai. It feels different over there in comparison to the rest of the area, just a different atmosphere. Then we went with Mizuguchi Chōrō from Tokorozawa, who was on splits with elder Burnham, and went to the big scary police station to renew our permit for kubari. It went well, but we have some paper work to finish before we can start again. Also, I found tortellini, so I broke my fast with tortellini! At night, we went and continued to house the huge area in between the church and the Eki. We met a Catholic lady who was super nice, but not interested I. The Restored Gospel. Also, in Shakujikoen, we saw a Van Braun apartment building.

Saturday: we had lunch with the Ishizaka's. We went to conveyor belt sushi and one person, he will not be named ate 20 plates at least. That was a lot of sushi. After that, we had studies, and then we went to the Polynesian night event the mission held with Kurenuma. There were so many people. All of kichijoji church was filled. It was amazing. If I could visit New Zealand or Samoa or Tonga, I would. It was epic, the dances and singing and the energy were there for sure. Then elder Gerritsen and I thought TOIEC, had a good talk about hot drinks with the students.

Sunday: I am not even sure what happened. Usually the planner helps me, but I know that the planners plans got torn to peaces by time. I do know that we visited Uenoyama Kyōdai, did a survey for the Mission Office and did some housing and studies after church.

Monday: busy day. We had to take the Tokorozawa Elders their tablet chargers in Akitsu in the morning, then we wanted to go to Aoki to look for shirts for elder Gerritsen. They were closed that early but we floated around the Eki and ate good bread. I was attacked by a pigeon twice. Then because it was elder Burnhams birthday, we went to shabu shabu. We got him ties and something great that you will have to wait for next week because it won't go down until tonight. Good day, I enjoyed it.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week, don't forget to be grateful for all of the blessings that God has given you! Bye-bye!
愛していますね！
マーフィー長老

ps。お母さんへ来週の準備の日に、私はパッケージを送りますね。楽しんでください。素晴らしい靴下があります。

Temple and Splits

So, it is the end of May, Baskin Robbins has a sale tomorrow and that means that June is here. I hope you all don't realize that I am gone, because it has not been that long. Time is so fast out here. I go to sleep and wake up a week later. But that's ok because our dendō is filled with miracles and sunshine! I will be super tan by the end of the summer and I still haven't gotten a sunburn. I am proud of that accomplishment.

So break down of the week backwards:

TODAY: Tuesday, Temple Pday. Elder Burnham and I went to the temple together this time and it was great! We got back and now are writing emails, you know 'cause trains are super full and you can't type well there. But we will go grocery shopping soon and I am so happy because they opened a Gyome's in Hoya, which is a super cheap and effective store. Tonight we will house and have a good time doing it because we will go to our best streets in a long time.

Yesterday: so today I was in splits with Elder Carrasco. We were going to go and find some Nanbei people for him, because he is from Mexico, but we ended up having a Great time in Higashikurume yesterday. We served some Seniors, met a nice kid who will hopefully call us because he was super interested in the Gospel, met a fat cute pug, and talked to some crazy people. They were all nice, but they kind of scared Elder Carrasco. We had Ben and Jerry's Ice cream, which was great, but it was Brown Sugar Blondies, so it was the Best. We went housing at night and almost everyone answered and listened to at least 10 seconds of what we had to say! Miracle! 3 apartment buildings with everyone home! Good splits. I also found a light saber in a Gotcha Gotcha, so I have a light saber now.

Sunday: Stake conference in Kichijoji. We got to sit right up,front because Hibarigaoka Ward was the choir. We sang "I am a Child of God" and Elder Yamashita was there and the President and they were very happy with how the primary sang. Those kids have some good lungs. But it was a really good meeting. Elder Yamashita talked about remembering that we are Children of God, so why do we fear. Then we biked home, ate, studied and then went housing.

Saturday: we cleaned the church, set up for Eikaiwa, and had our studies. Then we were going to go to Kiyose, but it was super hot and we ended up just going to Higashikurume instead. That was the most effective trip to Higashikurume ever! I don't know if you remember Mark, the American who's family fed me and Elder Millard, but we ran into him and had a good talk. Other things: the Eki smelled like anesthesia, and had the same effect. We saw a bunch of people from the Middle East in their traditional clothes, saw a parakeet in a car, and a Shiba the size of a bear with a military person. That was kind of awesome! Then we went home and taught TOIEC because no one showed up for Eiken. The last take away was sketchy, this one was Terrific.

Friday: we got ready to be mailmen, wrote some invitations to church, and then we were off. Elder Gerritsen and I biked from the north of the area to the south so that we could invite a lot of less actives to church. Then at night, we saw a miracle. We were going to go and house where we knew good houses were, but I had a feeling that we needed to go to the Eki, so this is all while we are sitting on our bikes outside of the houses. So we turn around park and start Streeting. It is almost time to go home, and we are on our way back and we pass this man, we say hi in Japanese, but then I feel like I need to say it in English and the man stops and starts talking to us. He had lived in Canada for a while and was fluent in English. He was out looking for some dinner while taking a break and what he got was us. He wasn't that interested at first, but then we talked about what he thought the purpose of life was. He said that it was to be happy, but we also needed to experience sadness. We were like, wow, that is exactly what we believe! He might not call us back, but he was super nice.

Thursday: we had weekly planning, which took less time than usual, so we got to go over by the Eki a little bit. Then we went and had dinner with the Asada's. Asada shimai has been teaching us some secrets to cooking, so maybe you will get to taste some really good food when I get back. After that, we had to submit SPM stats and send some emails for the Zone, so we didn't get to house where we wanted to.

Wednesday: we decided to go out more in the morning instead of scheduling studies then, so we went and streeted at 10 in the morning. We learned that might not be the most effective activity, but we want to be out more in the mornings, so we will keep trying. Then we had district meeting, so from the picture, you can see what mood we were in. After that, we streeted again with more people and then had Eikaiwa. We ran out of time to play a game at Eikaiwa, so I was sad.

Tuesday: so, we had Zone conference with 2 zones, which I will send the picture of latter, but it was great! We talked about prayer, it's importance, how we can teach about it more effectively, and how we can improve our prayers to bring us closer to Heavenly Father, that took the whole day, so when we got back, we went and streeted after Dinner. Good day.

Love you all and remember, don't forget to be awesome! Oh, and you all should take a look at the new Ensign. It has a lot of really good articles.

郅筏皮い蓼工瑁
マ`フィ`L老