Ward, Zone Stake Conference

Ok, this week was a blur. And my email is acting up, so i only have time (and ability) to do short messages.

Tuesday: Zone Conference in Yamate, Yokohama. It was with all of the Machida Stake Missionaries and the Stake President and Patriarch. We left at 7:00 and arrived a little late because we got lost on the way to the church. It was really good, we talked about the history of Dendō in Japan because Yamate is where Missionary Work started in 1901. It was really inspiring to see how much everything has grown and how much we are improving. There used to be less than 200 members for 20 years. Now there are thousands of members. We caught a train back, but it was a lot latter than we had thought when we planned, so we ended up trying to call people and doing 12 weeks and language study.

Wednesday: We streeted in the morning and tried to visit a PI in the afternoon before Eikaiwa preparations. We had a good turn out to our class this time, with 4 people coming.

Thursday: Weekly Planning and we taught a Family! We taught using the Free Family English Program (FFEP) which is 30 minutes of English and 30 of the Gospel. It was super fun and this family of 6 is super prepared. They own a couple of apartments that are full of college students, so they have invited us to eat with the students starting next week. They are all so happy to hear about the gospel, and know how important our message of Eternal Families is, but the adults are so busy with the apartments. Hopefully our new plans can help them progress and learn as a family.

Friday: District Meeting, Studies, Streeting, and Splits with Abe Chōrō. It was great, after Sports Night, we went and contacted as many people as we could, so hopefully someone calls back. We have a really big district, with Me, Bird Chōrō, Salamanopoulos Chōrō, Abe Chōrō, Mizuguchi Chōrō, Elsmore Chōrō, The Lowe Couple, Ni Shimai, Baker Shimai, and James Shimai. It is pretty packed and really fun at district meeting.

Saturday: On splits, we tried to visit a PI and an investigator. The investigator was home and he was super nice, hopefully he will have time to meet this week, he hasn't been met in 2 1/2 transfers, so now is his time. Then we studied and the rain started. We got a message from the honbu that a typhoon was coming, so we decided to take the train to where we had planned to go instead of biking. Everyone in Japan hides from the rain, but we got to see a new Eki, Nagatsuda, in Kanagawa,  Yokohama. It was a great eki to go to, just not a lot of people because of the rain. Then we ate dinner and went to do splits reviews and visit another PI, he wasn't home, but en route to his place, my pedal fell apart! Yeah, 3 of the screws were just gone and it was  barely hanging on, so we made a crawl towards Machida Eki and found a place that was still open to replace my pedal. So i have new pedals now, and it was raining the entire time we were doing this, but it was a nice cool rain. Abe Chōrō is really funny.

Sunday: DCS, Sacrament meeting, Gospel Doctrine class, and Young Men's. We talked about how the words that we use effect those around us. The Young men are 最高！Then we had Ward Council, which was good, we got to talk about some events coming up and our goals and plans for the area. Then we biked home in the rain for some contacting time, dinner, and Studies. We didn't get to dendō a lot this weekend, but it was all good work that we did, so i am satisfied.

Monday: Today is the Fall festival with the ward, then we have a lesson, shopping, and dendō at night. I can't wait to see what happens this week, I love you all, see you later!


Elder Murphy

Transfer 10...

So, it has come, transfer 10, when you are officially old in this mission. But that is ok, there are a lot of people older than i am.

Tuesday: The last district meeting and we ate Umeboshi for the training. Then we got elder Salamanopoulos all packed for his transfer to very far away, about 3 minutes by train and 20 by bike. Our house is so clean, we have cleaned it twice in the last 2 weeks. Then we did studies while waiting for Sagawa and contacted after dinner. Then we went to find Salamanopoulos Chōrō's umbrella at a Konbini and we found it and a new Investigator who wants to study Christianity and was wearing a shirt that said he belonged to Christ. He was super nice.

Wednesday: We went to Danchi Hill, (Nara-Cho) and found a church, some nice views and a guy from Sagamihara that had missionaries visit his house a lot when he was little. He was nice he was walking around in the heat too, so we related well. Then we did studies and streeted until it was time to do set up for Eikaiwa. We did Music Night and we sang "Nearer My God to Thee" which is my favorite hymn in Japanese. Music night went really well, and lots of hearts were touched.

Thursday: We woke up at 5:30 to go to Kichijoji to pick up Elder Bird, my son. We were in Kichijoji for a long time, but it was worth it. the Fujisawa Beanchans, me, Elder Farnsworth, and Sister Matsumoto are all training, so it is really cool to see that. And a missionary who went home from the MTC in our zone is back! He is in Hibarigaoka now, so it is exciting. We got home later than expected, so we did Weekly planning and some personal study and passed out.

Friday: Today, we learned where not to go for morning dendō and that is Naruse. We tried to street and meet the high school students over there, but they were all busy getting cardboard for a school project from the backs of supermarkets and stores. Then we went home and studied and went to Tamagawagakuen for Streeting before sports night. We got the contact info for a guy that we had ran
 into before and he would like to do a tour of the church sometime, so hopefully his schedule opens up. Then we did sports night, introduced Elder Bird to some members and played badminton with a really good member. I also finished the Elder Bednar Challenge of reading the Book of Mormon with a specific topic or question in mind. I have been studying on "Who is God" and let me tell you, we are so blessed to be here. He loves each of you, no matter your background and no matter what you think.

Saturday: We visited a lot of ATMs and banks today to gather money for Elder Bird's bike on Monday. Good streeting. Then we studied and wrote DCS reports and went out again. We met a cool kid and he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and we traded contact info. At night we
went to Tsurukawa to house and street and the housing was amazing! Just thousands of apartments and danchi waiting for us to knock on their doors.

Sunday: Crazy day, we had Ward Conference, which was good, they focused on Missionary work, and we went with the young men as usual and were able to set up a time to go and dendō with them. Then we went to the Lowe Couple's house to set up an address for them and they fed us steak and potatoes for lunch. They are super nice and ready to dendō and visit Less active members with us. Then we tried to study, but a mix up with an investigator threw us off and we got invited to the Fujimura families house for dinner. We went and housed around them and have a lesson today from that, so we are pretty busy.

I love you all, i hope you are having a good week! This week is busy, zone conference, splits, bike shopping, and more, love you!
�郅筏皮い蓼梗ˉ蕞`フィ�`�L老

A new Challenger has appeared... Transfer 10 and .... WHO?

Hello everyone! Just a quick shout out to see how everyone is doing at  home. Are you all good? I saw the pictures and all of the Japanese people tell me what they see on the news. I know that you have all seen miracles though. So to get some 元気さ flowing, lets talk about the events of the week,
really short and to the point.

Monday: We had a dinner with an Eikaiwa student where we bore testimony of the reality of the Savior. He has met with the missionaries for 30 years and is a very strong supporter in words for
the Church, but for the action, he is a very strong Buddhist. I hope that we were able to help him feel some hope for eternity and what is after life.

Tuesday: Apartment Checks, we passed and got some Otter-pops. Then we had district meeting, ran home, ate a quick lunch and had a Zone Blitz in Shin-Yurigaoka. It was great! We gave out a bunch of copies of the Book of Mormon, met some new Eikaiwa students, and talked to a lot of people. I went with Elder Yödicke and Elder Poulsen, who i have been on splits with before, but it was really fun! Then afterwards, we stuck around and dendōed some more. Then we came home and studied and had time to contact and street at home.

Wednesday: We dendōed in the place that I think of as the bowl in the morning. It is a bowl shaped part that is surrounded by high hills. We didn't find anyone, but it was a good spot to dendō. We saw a turtle, a huge box turtle outside of someone's house. Then we went home and studied, contacted, streeted and went to Eikaiwa. We met the Lowe couple, our new senior couple in Machida, so it was really good.

Thursday: We studied everything in the morning so that we could help the Lowe couple set up their phone and get some of the area into their GPS. Then we did Monthly Planning and did splits with the zone leaders. I went with elder Yödicke, so it was a good evening.

Friday: SO MUCH HAPPENED. We went to a PI's house and taught about Christ and prayer and he was so happy, then we had to go and help the 1st ward with an activity that will happen on Saturday. Then we studied and it was time for Sports Night. We didn't get to dendō much, but the investigator is progressing.

Saturday: We went out to get a treat for a member who fed us lunch today. We had spaghetti. Then we studied and went to Mision Latina with a new investigator. He is really nice and prepared. The activity was fun and it was in Shonandai! I saw all of the members who helped make me who I am now and was able to talk to them and get out of Area referrals for Hibarigaoka. Then we came home after teaching our friend a lesson about the Restoration.

Sunday: Busy day! We went to church, which was good, practiced with the choir, came home studied, put together a lesson, went to a YSA event to teach them and to meet some less active YSA, and then came home. It was super fun and the YSA are so cool! I cant wait to work with them more from here on.

Monday: We held a funeral for Kawamitsu Shimai and went out to Wendy's with the district. It was super fun. Then we went to open transfer emails and I am staying in Machida 2 with a new  missionary. I am super excited! We will see who he is! Tonight we have a dinner appointment
in the far reaches of our area,so we have to go, but I love you all! Stay safe!

マーフィー長老

Hey, where'd the transfer go?

So, lo and behold, the transfer is almost gone again. I don't know why  it was so fast. Next week, i will be 20, the next transfer emails will  be here, and we will be cleaning or packing.  This week, here is the rundown.

Monday: After I sent the emails, we went to get hair cuts at a place  that was less than 10 dollars and the best hair cut i have had in  Japan. Next door was this little shop that we wanted to check out. It turned out to be a souvenir shop from other countries. It was a local  business, so i ended up with a Vikings head on a key chain from  Estonia and Beruit.  It is nice, something interesting to have.

Tuesday: A good day. We did district meeting and then went streeting  in Tamagawagakuen, where we found out that we can't get permission to  give the College English class flyers. But it was still a good day.  Then we did some good contacting. There are still so many people, but  they are all really nice.

Wednesday: We decided to go housing in the morning, and we met a  really nice Christian close by. He was really open because he had  converted to Christianity 30 years ago, but hadn't really studied
 about the differences in churches. Then we streeted to get used to our  new boundary with school grounds that we didn't know about. There are  still all of the students that we can talk to, just for a shorter  amount of sidewalk. Then we had Eikaiwa, which is great. I helped  teach TOEIC because there was no one there for Eiken. They are really  good here, so we had a good time.

Thursday: We did morning Eki streeting and taught. Lesson to a random person, but they didn't want to meet again. Lots of people in japan  are curious, but they don't feel like putting forth the effort to
learn. Then we did half of weekly planning and ate dinner. We had a  lesson with a member that works of Sundays, so we went to see how he was doing and he is maybe the kindest person that i have met in japan.  He gave us curry and pasta and pasta sauce just because we came. We talked about feeling joy at Sacrament meeting, which is something that I am working on. I want to feel more joy and awake feeling at church on Sunday even when i am super tired. It is possible and it will make
your Church experience even better if you are awake and are thinking about all of the wonderful blessings that God has given us. Friday: Finished Weekly planning after another morning of Eki
streeting. Then we contacted a little bit and went to sports night to meet up with the zone leaders for splits and to send an order form for more copies of the Book of Mormon. we give out so many here, the people are really open. After that, I started Splits with Elder Mizuguchi from Gunma prefecture. He is 12 weeks older than me in the  mission age.

Saturday: Splits:  We had to go the church to grab some forgotten items from sports night  and then we biked to a park near Machida Eki. It was 100 degrees outside today in the morning. The park that we went to could fit right into Houston. It had a nice walking area, a big splash pool and was right next to a museum. There were so many families in the splash area and so many Pokémon Go players in the walking area. It is really big in Japan again because they released the 2nd gen and battles. Then we did studies, dropped by a PI that wasn't home, and set off on an adventure. We wanted to go to Kodomo no Kuni, or The Children's Country. It is and eki and we got lost along the way, but found some good housing places. We got lost there too and met a man who met missionaries 70 years ago and he wants us to go back. There was a mountain in between our home eki and Kodomo no Kuni, so we will try and go back. Then after dinner, we went to go and house "near" the church, but we ran into this couple who stopped us and gave us about 5 pounds of vegetables. They were so nice and we really needed to food for the house. They. Were in the area on business, but they might be able to come to church later.

Sunday: A nice long day. We had DCS, Sacrament meeting, Sunday School, went with the young men, attended ward council, got some stats sent in and then it was time to go home and have dinner and do studies. We were going to do a church tour, but our investigator got sick. We had some contacting time at night and found out that 2 of our friends went to church in other areas today! They are going on their own! I am so happy! We will meet them on Saturday to go to Fujisawa for a Latin
 American event. I get to go back to the motherland where i was a Beanchan! Yay! Then we were able to get out and try to talk to the exhausted businessmen coming home from work. They were tired.

Monday: Today: We planned for a dinner appointment tonight with an Eikaiwa student, emailed, will go and do groceries, clean for inspections (They are actually tomorrow, last week was Hibarigaoka,
 and i thought that i was still there. I still say that i am in hibarigaoka in prayers sometimes).

I love you all, stay safe with Hurricane Harvey, you are in my prayers.
Elder Murphy