Celine Dion さすが

        So this week was a little struggle at the beginning, but at the end, it was pretty dang good. Which is weird because the end of the week was when all the bad stuff started to happen. However, it was a great week just once again proving that 終わり良ければすべて良し, or in other words, all's well that ends well.

        At the start of the week, we were just not getting along. And that was just too bad because Elder Holman is an awesome guy with a lot of dendo Fire. This transfer I decided to try to do my best to be
perfectly obedient. Which is a good thing; however, I wasn't doing it in the best way. So just over time the small little tensions that I caused built up and we had to have a little talk. I'm really glad we
did, because for some of it, I didn't realize that I was even doing it and some I didn't realize it bothered him. And I was able to share some things with him that I thought were important and we were able to start to fix the problem.

        Then at the end of the week, we had some issues with members taking offense of things said and things done. So we had some long meetings with people that were thinking of quitting trying with Church. During these problems, we noticed that our companionship has become much better, with our relationship, being on the same page, teaching, etc. So we got to talk with people and remind them of the covenant that they made and of what is really important. Although the problems aren't completely solved, everyone is much happier than before.

        The story behind the title is that we were with our recent convert (or he was with us while we were filling out envelopes to send is more accurate) and he was listening to music on his headphones and was talking about the songs. He, like all Japanese people, loves listening to English music and he tries to sing along. It is really funny because we can't hear the song and we just have a good time with it. One came on and he was doing really good and so we mentioned it and he was like "I wonder who is singing?" And then he looked and said, "ahh, Celine Dion sasuga (as expected)" it was just really funny.

        So all in all, we had a great week. And we even had shokujikai after church and an awesome dendo meeting with the whole branch. Everyone is committed to try and help only one other person, a specific person, to come to church. It is super awesome!

        I'm really excited to work together with my companion this week and to learn a new way to dendo together. It'll probably be fun. Hahaha

        Elder Richardson

 

We teach doctors English once a week and this week we talked about endoscopy. 
So here is a picture explaining it.

Daily life.

What Fruit do you like?

Well, hello again. 

            I'm glad you can join me. In case you are wondering, yes it is Tuesday for me, and no I am not being disobedient. 

            Now that is settled, let us begin. 

            On Monday, we spent my last day in Fuji biking to a ton of people's houses saying goodbye and knocking on a few people's doors we didn't know to say hello. I sent my luggage off and that was pretty much it. 

            Tuesday was transfer day. I left at 8 in the morning and arrived around 6 at night. Yay. It was really great except for carrying my bike. (In our mission Elders don't get to ship their bikes.) It was really fun though because I got to travel through essentially the entire mission. And one of my stops was in Gifu!!! I was happy about that. 

            On Wednesday, we went around and talked to people. And we got to teach two eikaiwa classes! It was awesome! That was pretty much all that happened on Wednesday. 

            On Thursday, we had planning and it was great! Then we went around with our recent convert to the Church who wants to go on mission and we talked to people! It was way fun. And that day we were talking to some kids as the were walking home from school when three elementary school girls came up and started talking to us in English. It was so funny and they were so brave! Haha! And that is where the title of this email came from. They started with "what color do you like" and then to keep the conversation going they asked the above question. It was really great and it really made our day. 

            Then that night we got to teach institute and we taught about likening the scriptures to your life.  It was a really good lesson. 

            Then on Friday we got to give a lady a blessing because her tonsils have been bothering her. It was a great experience and she and her mother were really appreciative. It was a long time since I had given one in Japanese. So it was kinda scary at first. 

            Then on Satruday we got to watch Conference and it was great! I got to see lots of people I know in the choirs! My companion thought it was really funny how many people I knew that were singing in conference. 

            On Sunday we also watched Conference and also biked pretty far to visit some people who were not able to make it. 

            Then yesterday we had Zone Conference with President Ishii, and that is why I am emailing today. It was awesome and I got to meet our new zone leaders! It is a Fuji crew in Kanazawa this transfer. I was in Fuji with Elder Hansen (our new zone leader) and the other zone leader Elder Decker was a bean chan in Fuji. And so was Sister Pasi who is the sister training leader. So it is pretty great! Fuji zone! Hahaha!

            Well I hope you all have a good time this week and that you go and reread the Conference talks and do the homework that they asked us to do in their talks. 

            Keep it going and be your best!

Elder Richardson

 

 

 

Zone Conference

Real Zone Conference

My awesome donut

 

 There was a giant buddha statue on the train ride here.

Typhoon video.

The Epic Tale of Transfer Calls

My, my, what a week it has been. We did so many good things and had some great lessons, we went out to eat a ton, and we also got to go on a koukan.

So anyway, just so you don't all die of anticipation, I am being transferred out of Fuji. And I am going to a very famous place among the missionaries in the Japan Nagoya Mission. It is called Nanao. All the missionaries are really jealous I think, because everyone always talks about being transferred to Nanao. And I'm not sure I understand this missionary slang, but they call it banishment. I am losing my bean chan and getting his old MTC companion. So that sounds pretty fun. 

I have heard that they have really good fish up there, so I'm really looking forward to try it. 

Well, anyway, of all the things that happened this week, I will just share what I have pictures for. And then maybe a few more. 

We got to go out to dinner with our former investigator Sai, and he took us to a yakiniku (which is like grilled meat) place and he asked us what we want and just kept ordering food. Then at the end of that meal, he looked at us and said, "not enough, lets go Chinese food." So we did, and we went to a Chinese restaurant that tastes like Panda Express, is run by Japanese people, with a Chinese man. Truly I must be an American. 

Well, I'm sorry this one was short and not really all that detailed, but you can deal with it. I'm not writing another one for this week. Hahaha! 

Anyway, I hope you all have a great time and next time I will write from Nanao!

-Elder Richardson

And then on the way down, we found this cool mural on the side of a haircut shop

We were trying to find a cool sounding temple that was way far away and went to where the map said it was, and about 15 kilometers later, (that was uphill by the way) we got to the place and found this little guy. And apparently the temple we were looking for doesn't exist. It was a really good bike ride though. And we found some really old bamboo in the forest around us.

On Friday, we had our last DTM in our current district and so we took some pictures afterward.

And then last, but not least, on Sunday (and no, it was not General Conference in Japan) it was Fast Sunday! So I felt like I should share my testimony for sure since I was leaving and we were sitting behind the bishop's wife and realized that she was drawing everyone that went up. So we asked if we could take a picture of her drawings... so yeah, they are actually really good. They look a lot like the people.  You can go ahead and find me.