Monday, August 7, 2017

#FirstShallBeLast

Like as in first area shall be last area. Lol. Scripture Jokes. 
 
Well, for those of you who have been tuning in for the past two years, congratulations. I just sucked probably about a day out of your life and you can't get that back. For those of you who just look at the pictures, it was probably only a day or so. So even more congrats to you. 
Anyway, this is the last one. Yeah, I won't send one next week probably. So you'll just have to ask me when you see me next week. Haha. So this is our last full pday and so we are super busy today. Way fun. 
Well anyways. Last Monday we went to the mall and got Baskin Robbins, because it was the 31. Then we went shopping and found some good stuff. Elder Delis and I decided to dendo over there afterward and started to, but then I got a flat tire. We decided to walk to a less active member's house then find a bike shop after that. Well we found one, but it kind of killed our plans for that night. 
Then we did a lot of other crazy stuff this week and it was awesome. We met a lot of people and it was a good time. I also learned a ton this week. So. I hope I don't think I can even type it in an email. But one cool thing we were talking about was Adam and Eve. And then this morning I found a scripture that talked exactly about what we were talking about and it reached the same conclusion that we did. So that was cool. We thought of why this religion believes that Adam and Eve did fall, but it was part of the plan, and why other religions believe so differently about them. Then when reading in Jacob in the Book of Mormon, I read verse 3 of Chapter 4. 
 
Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents.
 
In this he is talking of writing on plates which became the Book of Mormon. When they wrote this, they had most of the Old Testament, where most of the knowledge of Adam and Eve comes from (i.e. Genesis). So they wrote in their record of spiritual things about Adam and Eve so that we can think of them with joy. We thought that was pretty dope. 
Well I hope that you have a great week. And I know I said at I won't email next week, but I might send pictures or something. 
 
Speaking of pictures.
DTM 
Going to fireworks
Miyaki was listening to an English learning cd that we found. 
 

 
 
 
So I forgot something that is super important that we did this week.

I checked something off my bucket list that I didn't even know was there. We played four square inside a library this week. So that was dope. I challenge you all to do that in your local library. (Actually you probably shouldn't so you don't go to jail, but haha I did it).

That is all.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Have fun with your potato...and stuff.

Well this week was super great. We have been running our bikes so hard everyday, and it is just great. Elder Delis and I are got home the same day and although we talk about it a lot, it just makes us want to work harder because we realize how little time we have left. It is crazy, we got our flight plans and such...well he got his and the Honbu seems to have forgotten about me entirely. lol.

One great thing we did this week was we went housing and found a lady from Massachusetts or Michigan. Big difference, I know, but I forget. I though Massachusetts and Delis said he though it was Michigan. So you know. We don't know. Also we decided her name was Marcie. (We didn't find out her name dakara). So we knocked on her dorr and she said that she was to busy to be converted right now. Hahaha. Then we knocked all of that danchi and no one answers but the last guy answers
and we talked for him a solid thirty minutes. It was dope.

Another thing that happened was that the Honbu told me I was going to Ogaki, but I wasn't. They completely closed that apartment so I sent my luggage there. That was fun.  We got to walk it to the apartment. Yay.

This Saturday went to the fireworks and that way way fun. We passed out a ton of fliers and stuff.

Also, from Thursday to Saturday we went to Ichinomiya and helped them with the festival. But all we did was sit and hope that gaijin come and ask questions. So we just sat there for five hours. Three times. Yep. I will send a time lapse if most of the second day, but then my iPad died, so yeah it might be a little short.

Well that's about all my life this week. Have fun.

Elder Richardson

P.S. Congrats to all my friends that were married this and last month and like forever ago as well. Good job. (`_´)ゞI salute you.
 1. Time lapse of train here from some point.

 2. Time lapse of matsuri

 3. Picture of matsuri

 
Pictures and videos from English class.
 




 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Transfers Vol.16^_-☆

Well this transfer comes to an end and...once again I am transferring. Even though I go home in literally three weeks. Haha. So I get to go back to my bean chan ward, Gifu. I have mixed feelings about it all:
  1. I don't want to transfer, I am going home in three weeks
  2. I am not going back to the same Gifu I know. I am going to Ogaki apparently (which is one of the wards that was eaten by another ward) so that is kind of a bummer, and I have to do what I don't want...learn a new area. 
  3. I get to go to Gifu! I do really love it there, so I am excited. 
  4. I get to be with Elder Delis. We met one time in the MTC and we are going home the same day. Also he is super cool,  in that I have been around him too much on my mission, but he is pretty cool guy. 
  5. Holy cow. I am on my last transfer. Pretty crazy. 
Anyway, I am pretty excited, but at the same time...packing is taihen. So I am not excited and this was the time that took me longest to pack. 

Also, this week was good. I don't really remember much if it, but it was a good week. We went and watched Fireworks on Saturday. So happy Pioneer Day. If you don't know what that is, ask the nearest person from Utah. So that was what we did this week. 

Thanks for tuning in. Sorry it was lame this week. 

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Yolo week.

So this week stuff happened. We are going to not tell you that, but  instead I will pass my ipad around and there'll the other missionaries to each do a day of the week and guess what I did. Lol.

First off is Monday well.. last Monday I went over to Seto to get a  haircut form the homie Elder Collett. He cut my Rhiannon real= buceabd  shpar. After that I hung with Elder Morgan. He's way dope and comes home a month after me. He's single. And is looking for girls who do NOT want a seriou relationship. If you're interested please contact him at Bryce.morgan!@myldsmail.net.  He comes home in September.  Anyway. I am also coming home soon as well.. we are looking for
candidates for double dating: after that my companion kinda got mad at us for talking with the sisters and playing ping pong within them. Even though none of us have any interest in any of them. Ya. That was fun. I realized on this day of my mission that I need to work on myself to make myself a better husband and father :) wink wink. I've recieved a lot of counsel from my mission president and I've got his guarantee and blesssing that I will be a good father cough cough wink wink.

Tuesday was a wonderful day.  We did a lot of things; I dont nesicarrialy want to explain all of them because I can't really remember a lot of it. It may be the that I have a severe case of amnesia or just that I fell a little too hard off my futon and into the soft tatami floor when I prayed this morning. Either way it must have been eventful in some way but I guess we will never know. Maybe I saw a baby kitten, maybe I got attacked by crazy spiders because Japan and summer. Or maybe it was just a really normal day. Maybe one day God will reveal the truth to us. Unseal the sealed plates or just open our understanding. Maybe all we need is to have faith.  I wish you luck on that journey.

Wednesday. I survived, and am not dead yet (for 29 more days at least). Guess that should make it a goood day.

Thursday:   Has anyone seen the Bee movie? It's kind of like that.

So on Friday I went on a koukan with Elder Collett and that was pretty  good. We went to Yakiniku king and it was way good and we took a couple of videos so that will be attached. By the way if you haven't noticed it is my turn to actually write about my week. So yea. Anyway this day we also found some cool stuff in Daiso and you know what that means. Actually, you know. Mom, I'm sorry that this week you aren't getting any real information. But that's life, so just endure to the end. We also  went and ate sushi and I won a prize just like I do everytime. This time I won the keychain of a crab sushi. They come out every summer. So if you are in the area, make sure that you get the onion rings, they are the secret, you have to put that plate in last. Or at least that is the theory right now. Well we did some good stuff and yeah.

Saturday. So today we got back from a kokan. For those of you who dont know a kokan is a magical portal all of the time in a day disappears into. So basically most of the time got sucked into that. But eventually we tried to visit some members which got really confusing. But that is normal because speaking Japanese. Just kidding I mastered that language before I was even born so it can't be that. But then we went an tried to do some housing before we had to go home. But the magical portal seems to have taken my memory of said housing away too so just try and imagine what that would be like for me. Probably a lot of our house is good and we are fine.

And I'm sorry
Or
My hands cannot talk right now.
Any of those are probably accurate times 10

Fin

Sunday There are a few things you have to know about church in Japan to fully understand a typical Sunday. First, everyone sings the hymns at the top of their lungs and just slightly off. But they're all off in
different ways. It's really a life changing experience.  Second you must understand that nihonjin have three ways to say hello in the mornings. They either say a general hello, a good morning or say wow its hot. Thirdly you need to understand that it was shokujikai which means free food. We had fun. And oh boy yum. Food is good. After church we walked down the street and saw three men that seemed kind of interested in the gospel. We asked them if they if they knew who Joseph Smith was and they said yes we ate lunch with him once. We super explained some things and turns out they weren't interested. We thought about what kind of people we want to find and thought back to
what Ishii Kaicho wants us to find. And we thought yes, young people. So we prayed and what happened after that? We found this even older grandma. It was good. Afterwards we went home and just smiled about our day and the goodness that comes from being a servant of the Lord. It is super fun to be such a good missionary. It's like just such a pleasure to be the kind of missionary that everyone wishes they could be. I love being so good.


Vids from Yakiniku

 
 
 
The following pictures and videos from Elder Hansen's mom that
should have been included a week ago.  Sorry!


 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Festival of the Weaver Starring Sister Hansen

Hello everybody! This week was full of surprises and also just full of stuff! Also it was one of the most important holidays as well! That of course was Tanabata. Hahah.

Anyway on Monday we had quite a few errands to run, one of which was going to sushi. Lol. So we took some pictures and I found this fish that is super hard to find... I explain in the video. Then we went to Don Quijote and other stores to find a Yukata and found some other dope stuff.

On Tuesday, I spent the Fourth of July with no Americans around me. I had a companion exchange with Elder Ribeiro from Brazil. So we celebrate by having a typhoon. Hahaha. Unfortunately that cancelled a lot of our dendo activities that we had planned.

On Wednesday we taught firemen eikaiwa and that was way fun. And then we went and visited the Takahashis and talked about member dendo and then they took us to Bronco Billy, which is a steakhouse, and when we were there, we realized that it was the Fourth of July in America still when we were there. So that was pretty cool. Then we had eikaiwa and such.

Then on Thursday we had our weekly planning session and that was really long and boring and all that...just like always. Hahah. Just kidding, but it was long. It always seems to suck up our whole day.

Then we had our Tanabata Takyuu Taikai. Or in other words our Festival of the Weaver Ping Pong Conference. It was good. And we also had a koukan this day and so Elder Henricksen came with us to the event. There are lots of pictures if this one, so they will be in a separate email. But it was way fun. I had a lot of almost wins with everything. I almost beat Elder Collett in Ping Pong and then I almost beat Brother Ikeda, our Ward Mission Leader, in shogi. It was way fun. And he wants to play again and so that will be good. Hopefully I will get better. Everyone is always way impressed with me though because they are amazed that I even know the rules, and also, since I play with chess strategy most of the time, they have no idea how to defend against some of the things that I do. Also my former companion Elder Hansen's mom came and that was way fun! Anyway it was way fun. And then that night Elder Henricksen and I had some fun on our koukan. So that was Friday. Also in the morning we had interviews with President Ishii.

 Then on Saturday, we went to one of our young men's basketball game and that was way fun. We taught then some of the easy cheers that we do in America end we learned the one cheer that they do here. So that was fun. And also the team we were there for was killing it for the whole first quarter. Then we left, but we are pretty sue they they won. Then we biked forever and went to the Ishikawa's house for dinner and it was a good time. They had given us some pudding that they had us put Hershey syrup on and then they gave us a glass of milk so for us it was a no brained in what we had to do. So we made chocolate milk with the Hershey's syrup and that kind of freaked them out. It was way funny. So they learned some good American culture.

Then on Sunday we went to church. It was really hot, and it was good. We got to have singing practice and that was fun. We also planned the Talent Show which I will not be attending. It is so weird to have to help plan things when I know for sure that I won't even be here. Then we had a lesson with the Nakano family and that was interesting. I was told they were awesome to teach and stuff, but then we get there and it turns out that they don't have any interest, but were just being
nice because they like the missionaries. Then that night we went to Sister Dominguez house (I know way Japanese name) and we had my favorite Japanese food! Tacos and stuff. (#^=^#) It was a really good time and we had a pretty good lesson...if I do say so myself. And we were able to involve everyone, so that was good.
 
Well this week was pretty packed and I'm sure that I missed some stuff, but most if you don't actually read this anymore anyway. And if you have questions you could always send me a mail and ask...or I guess you could wait a month and then just ask in person...or you could send the mail. That would probably be more time effective. And yeah.
Sushi 
 Sign
 Hats
Cake Starring Sister Porter
Typhoon
 Fireman
 Koukan
Basketball (whenever I filmed, nothing happened)
 

Monday, July 3, 2017

Of Death, Firemen, and Spanish Adventures

Well, this was not the best week of my mission. I don't think it was the worst either though. Last week on Monday morning I woke up and felt awful. I will spare you the details. So pretty much all we did was get ready, go to the church and do emails, then came home and I died on my futon.

Tuesday, I died on my futon and we called some people. That's about it.

On Wednesday, I woke up and felt a little better, so we were able to leave the apartment. So we tried to visit some people and we had another lesson with Brother Takikawa. It was way good! Except for the part when out of nowhere the member started talking about the different ways snakes are symbolized in the bible and in modern society. So that was fun. I wish we could get through the story of Adam and Eve and why it's important with a member present. But, seeing as I don't have much time left, probs won't happen. Lol. We also taught eikaiwa that night and it was way good.

On Thursday we taught firemen (and woman) English and it was hilarious. Also the curriculum isn't the best because we have to make it up and since it has been going on for a little while, we are
running out of ideas. But it is way hilarious and they just want to come and speak English. That night we went to our other eikaiwa class and Elder Collett and I taught the advanced class "real English" aka normal slang like guys, dude, bro, and dope. Then that night we had a koukan and I got to go with Elder Morgan to Seto.

Friday, we were going to visit their investigator Augusto because we had our "Spanish team" to go talk to him. Well, he wasn't home. But we got to use our Spanish super power on a guy on the street named Jeronimo. He is from the Dominican Republic and asked if I was too. Haha. Also, all the Spanish speakers get really excited when we introduced ourselves and we decided that I should just tell them my first name. Haha. They always try and guess where I am from. Also we went to Bronco Billy Restaurant and our waitress was Brazilian and Elder Morgan and I were speaking Spanish and such so she asked what part of Brazil we are from. Lol. Also we had DTM in the middle of the koukan, so that was a little weird.

Then on Saturday we did Weekly Planning because we didn't have time on Thursday, so that took the chunk of the day and we had an awesome lesson with Makoto that night and he was way good and we felt the Spirit guiding that lesson. It was good. We also taught him English slang he can use when he goes to America this month.

Then on Sunday we had church and we ended up hanging out with the Filipino Sisters and it was way fun. And Sister Grace invited us over for dinner that night and since she lives really far, that was all we were able to do. But it was super fun and she is so funny! We had to wait like half an hour for our tachiai to show up, but that wasn't that bad. And she was super happy we came. Then on the train on the way home we met this cool guy who took a picture with us. It was great.

Anyway this week we had quite the time in the apartment for most of it and because of that, we think we can probably get out this week. Pretty excited for that. Everybody have a good Fourth of July (the
most important holiday) and eat lots of food (it's what the founding fathers would have wanted). Also have a great Tanabata on Friday! (If you are still looking, we hear that Yukatas are pretty cheap at
Shimamura).

 Have a great week!

Elder Richardson
Dude we met on the train



 

 
 
Housing Mogi
 
 Firemen CPR Mogi

Monday, June 26, 2017

#Mom-Blocked

Well this week we went around a we tried to find our investigator that went MIA and we actually found him. The bad part was when we got "mom-blocked." Then we went around and visited some members and such and that was pretty fun.

We got to continue teaching Brother Takikawa's after baptism lessons and so we made him teach us the plan of salvation. That  was way fun. And he really understands it all well. Our member got confused part way through between spirit prison and outer darkness, but it ended up OK.

We also visited the Nakashima family and they haven't been coming to church for a little bit, but then the next day he came to church! It was super awesome.

Also we visited Brother Kaneko and found of more about why he doesn't come to church. He said something along the lines of, all the members in Japan are selfish because they can't follow the footsteps of the pioneers like pioneer trek. Made me laugh a little bit. I still don't see how that makes people selfish, but apparently it does. Also he said that he feels it is to late for him to start praying again.

Those were the main things that we did this week. Sorry this one was so short, but to be honest you are all probably rejoicing. Yay.

Have a good week

Elder Richardson

1-3 A random street we stopped at. Sorry these are all I have for this week



Monday, June 19, 2017

Kasugai...Home of the Cactus

Well this week was interesting. We did quite a lot of stuff. I think the thing I learned this week was that God answers our prayers as long as we do our part. If we only do half, the Lord can't do anything for us. That is why all blessings are based on obedience. God is a God of Justice, so He has to follow that. He always is ready and willing to bless us, but sometimes we force Him to withhold some of the things that He would love to give to us. That is why He weeps with us when we feel sorrow and He rejoices with us when we do right.

Anyway, on Monday, I was still in Gokiso and so we decided to go and visit the Pokémon center before I left, and to go to the Atsuta Jingu (which is pretty famous in Japan). Also we went to get some awesome maze soba. So that was really good. Then we visited Sisiter Saito and it was way fun (we went with the other Elders, so that was super great). And Sister Saito is super awesome and her testimony is always so strong.

On Tuesday was the actual transfer, and so in the morning I woke up and got ready, then we went to the train station and I left. Since my train ride was only going to be twenty three minutes if I rushed and such, I got the opportunity to just mosey through and take my time. I ended up arriving before Elder Adams (the Elder I replaced) left Kasugai. So that was fun to see him again (we were in the same district when I was in Nanao). Then we were waiting with Elder Henrickson for his companion to come and so we went to get Indo Curry...in other words, a continuation of the week of food. Lol. Then we went housing and such and it was good.

Then on Wednesday, we had eikaiwa and that was way fun. We teach a small eikaiwa in Kasugai even though the ward is closed and they are going to be getting rid if the building soonish. But for now we teach in Kasugai and it is pretty fun. We also got to Skype the Seto missionaries and the Ward Mission Leader that night and it was pretty fun and really good to be able to coordinate what we are doing.

Then on Thursday, we spent the day in this other place called Kozouji and visited a bunch of members up there and all the missionaries teach an eikaiwa up there as well. So that was good. We got to meet with a man named Kaneko and he is super funny. He has very few teeth, and he likes English, so when he talks, it can be hard to understand sometimes, but it is way fun to talk with him. He was really excited to find out that I can play the piano.

On Friday, we went to this Japanese class that is free for foreigners and that was way fun. We ended up going to get sushi with one of the guys from the class and it turns out he has taken a little bit of the
lessons from the Elders and has been to the church before. He said that he wants to learn about the gospel again too, so that was really good.

For Saturday, we went to visit Sister Okamura for her birthday and it was way fun. Also it was super unexpected because a family from Gokiso was there celebrating as well.  It turns out that SisterYuasa from Gokiso is the daughter of Sister Okamura. So pretty much, I have now met their whole family! Lol. (Brother Yuasa's parents were serving in Numazu as couple missionaries when I was in Fuji). So that was super fun.

Then on Sunday, I got to give a talk in church, and so did the other missionaries that transferred in. It was way good and all of our talks kind of fit with each other pretty well. Which is pretty good since we weren't given a topic. Then after church they had a chorus practice and they came up to us and told us that we were going to be singing in it. It was pretty great and we even had a member invite one of their friends to come sing, and he will sing in church with us and everything. Then we had a shokujikai. Which is, as always, amazing.

All in all, this was a good week, and every day I am grateful to be part of the Lord's work. I don't have much time left, but I am going to make this last bit count. 最後まで耐え忍びましょう!

Elder Richardson

Pics, cause that's all you really look at...

1 For Elder Mendoza
2 Sushi


Tuesday, June 6, 2017

ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ


So this week was really short and the main thing that happened was we found someone interested in learning about the gospel on Tuesday through housing and she ended up coming to church in Sunday. So that was a pretty cool. Other than that, it was a pretty normal week. We went on a koukan and Elder Yamazaki and I went and dendoed with Brother Itakura and ended up trying a restaurant that we had heard of and seen before, but none of us had ever tried it. It was called Baby Face Planets...and it was pretty good. Just a weird restaurant overall. But the food was good.

Today we are going to have district activity and since I guess we were all hungry when we made the plans or something, we are going to a restaurant that is all you can eat. Then we will come to the church and just play ping pong and such.

Sorry this was short, but that's life sometimes.

Elder Richardson

Brother Itou hooked us up with some sirloin steaks. We didn't have a
grill, but they were still fantastic.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

So I guess they use ducks and we use goats.

Well, this week, we had a great time. I think the coolest thing was seeing the effects of our planning and knowing that we made good, and guided, decisions. We had a lot of lessons with members this week, and each lesson we taught was very different. But each one was exactly perfect for each family. It was a good week for teaching for us.

Unfortunately, it wasn't so great a week for finding. We got a lot of appointments, phone numbers, etc. and it was looking like it would be really good. But then no one came to the appointments they made and they don't answer their phones or call back. So that was a real bummer.

Another cool thing we got to do was go on a hike with a local Boy Scout troop. It was way fun and super 懐かしい for both me and Elder Mendoza. We both got to remember the different things that we liked about working at scout camp. And a couple of the things we didn't like as much. (^-^) But it was a really good service opportunity and they were really excited when we were able to come and show some scout skills to the boys. One of the leaders mentioned to us how good he felt it was for the troop, being a really small troop, to have some leaders that aren't way older than the boys so they can look up to and connect easier with. So they are way happy to have us there. And it was super fun.

So that's about all that happened this week.

This week I learned something that was pretty cool. Right now I am studying the Book of Mormon and focusing on what it says in the title page of why it was written. And highlighting it in three different colors.
1. to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things
the Lord hath done for their fathers
2. that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not
cast off forever
3. And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the
Christ, the Eternal God

So I realized through marking these things that the great things the Lord does for us and the Covenants and prophecies, etc. of the Lord are the same thing. The only difference is the timeline. Covenants are just future blessings and all the great things the the Lord does for us are past covenants and prophecies. I thought that was really interesting. And that goes really well with D&C 130:20-21. There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that
law upon which it is predicated.

Well that was just one small thing that I learned this week and I thought that it was cool. I hope you all have a great week and learn something new that you think is cool. And you can email me the thing
that you learned so I can learn it too. Then we will think that it is cool together.

Elder Richardson
 
 Dinner at the Kawabata's

 I fell asleep during Language Study at the church and this is how Elder Kojima decided was to best use his time.

Eucalyptus trees that they use to feed Koalas at the zoo. (Starring Mr. Mishima)

Monday, May 22, 2017

どこでもポテト、ポテトばかり

Well, this week went by rather quickly. I will only give the highlights. 

First, we have been going to this English Club at the Local Institute of Technology and it has been really fun. And there are actually a lot of people there that have some interest in the gospel. One in particular, his name is Tomohiro, has been able to meet with us a lot and he is pretty interested in what we believe. It is way fun. And he is a total bro. We went out to ramen with him and he asked us lots of questions about the Church and the Book of Mormon and all of that stuff. And it was really a good time. He also came to ping pong night at the church and when we were going to go he asked if he could see the chapel. It was way good. 

Also, I lost in Shogi to Elder Yamazaki. (>_<)

Another thing that happened was that we haven't been able to meet with Rei, so we called him and asked how he was doing. And he is doing great and can see that God is helping him as he prays and follows the commandments. Then he asked if we could pray over the phone and it was really great. He is working really hard to follow all the commandments and he is really looking to baptism. 

Another thing that happened was that Elder Oaks (one of the Apostles) came to Japan and he gave a really awesome devotional. He talked about how the Lord will always help us learn things that we need to know through our trial. It was really a great night. Also his wife dendoed in Sapporo, so she bore her testimony in Japanese. It was super awesome. 

That is really all of the main things that happened this week. I probably left something out, so if you know about it, you can ask me and I will tell you about it, but if not, you will have to just wonder. 

Well, I hope you have a good week. And stuff. 

Elder Richardson

Pictures. 
 
 
 
A promise to my sister.
 
A window into Elder Kojima's mind
 
We were having fun with crows
 
We double taught Gospel Principles
 

We finally went to celebrate Mendoza's birthday
 
 
 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

We Are All Monkey Chickens. . .

Well, first off, Happy Mother's Day! What a great holiday. Many families across the world are celebrating their mothers in different ways. And in most countries of the world, one tradition stays the same. The missionaries call or skype home, they say something along the lines of "Hey, what's up?", and then the mother starts to cry. 

Anyway, let me tell you how I prepared this week for the day that is Mother's Day. First, on Monday, we went and had Kebabs. They were rather good. Then that night we were supposed to go to the Watanabe house to do an FHE. Well we were struggling finding a tachiai (teaching helper) and were trying really hard to make it there on time as well. Well, when we were almost there and I was calling Janet Shimai to tell her that we would be late, that was when she decided to tell me that that afternoon something had come up and she had cancelled the appointment. She just forgot to tell the people that she had the appointment with. Fun. So we went and did plan B: knock on doors and go on a hunt for some members that supposedly live around here. It was good. 

Then on Tuesday, we decided that we had time to go and try to visit these people that Elder Mendoza knows from before his mission. They don't live in our area, but we got permission to go, because they don't want to talk to other people, just him. So when he tried to just send the missionaries of that area before, the people just said that Elder Mendoza should come. So anyway, we went. And they weren't there. It was a good journey though. I found at their house a four leaf clover! And then when I was just looking some more whilst Elder Mendoza wrote them a note, I found a five leaf clover! It was crazy. So I think I might be super lucky now. Haha. Then that day we found some Dr. Pepper. So the luck worked. 

So on Wednesday, we had to do some office type work. But then we got to go see our friend Rei. He is super great and he is working really hard to try and get baptized. He is working right now to obey the Word of Wisdom. He is super awesome. Then we went to the church and had a lesson with Hiro and Haruki. It was way good. We got to talk about a lot of stuff, but mostly just about what kind of person God is. Then we had eikaiwa and the other Elders had an appointment come up and the Sisters are both Japanese, so we had to teach both classes by ourselves. But then Brother Inagi came (he is one of the guys that wrote the TOEIC book that we teach from) and our friend Sarah came as well. So they helped us teach. 

Then on Thursday, we realized that we were out of laundry detergent and also were on our last set of clothes, so we got to do some non pday shopping. (^^) then we did some weekly planning and were chock full of appointments that night. We met with Konal, who we then realized he doesn't have interest at all in the gospel and just meets with us cause he is nice. So we are going to stop teaching him. Still will probably go hang out every once in a while though. Then right after (actually overlapping) we had a lesson with Junpei, we read the Star Wars script and then read 1 Nephi 2. It was way good and we got to talk a little about commandments. Then we went out to eat with Brother Choi. This was probably the last week we will get to meet with him, so we were way happy. He is going to go back to Korea. We went to Katsu Explosion and it was way good. 

Then on Friday we had an awesome DTM. I was really grateful for Elder Yamazaki. I was really feeling weird that day and was not really feeling like being a missionary, but then we got there and he asked me to play the piano for prelude and that really let me ponder while listening to music that has such a great message. And then the DTM really hyped me up for dendo. Then we had a lesson with Hattori and we asked him why we meet and it turns out to be just what we thought. He just wants to talk. So we decided that we shouldn't really meet with him that much anymore either. So that was fun. Then we got a call from our beloved Elder Ence (the AP himself) and he told us to go to this takoyaki party for some English speaking thing. Well we went and realized it was at a college, so that was the first slightly weird thing. Then we looked at the email we got from the person and realized that it was a girl. And so we looked at each other and said that if this was a girls club, we are going to have kill Ence. (^-^) Anyway, it was ok and there were a lot of guys there too. And it was so weird. We were just hanging out at a college party and it was so fun...and it was still dendo! We got to give out a lot of eikaiwa and there were some people that were interested in the gospel. Unfortunately they were girls. So since comping to Gokiso, I have gotten to give a lot of referral to the Sisters. Anyway that was a really fun night. 

Then on Saturday, we were going to have a Ward BBQ, but then it got rained out. So we had an okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake) party instead. And only one investigator showed up. So it was fun. But a little awkward. That party lasted forever still so we ended up staying at the church until our appointment that night. Which was way fun. And it was Elder Mendoza's birthday and we told the members that we were visiting and they happened to have number candles and they put it on the dessert that she had made. It was perfect because he randomly decided to go to the bathroom and so we were able to set up and all. 

Then on Sunday we just had normal church and Elder Mendoza got to skype home and it was fun. Also we finished weekly planning. It was really good. Thats just about it. 

Well, I hope that you had a great week and stuff. 

Elder Richardson

Photos
Look to see something wrong with this.

We found this . . . in Japan.

The birthday boy

Kawahara FHE
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, May 8, 2017

The Most Attractive Man in Asia

Well this week was really great! We did a lot of stuff, including transfers. Also nearly all of us in our district got haircuts. So that was a thing. We have been working really hard and Elder Mendoza is really easy to work with. It's really nice. 

Anyway, on Monday, we (Elder Jones and I) went around and said goodbye to people and things like that. It was pretty good. 

Then on Tuesday, we had the actual transfer day. Elder Yamazaki came up and stayed here when we were waiting for our companions to show up and he asked for a haircut. So that was haircut number 1. Then Elder Mendoza came and we did some planning and such. That night we were surprised by seeing the sister missionaries. (Normally this would not surprise us). Sister Harada is training this transfer, so usually the trainers are all gone for the whole day and stay somewhere else. But they came to the church when we were in the middle of planning and we were able to go to the service activity with them. That was pretty lucky because this week there were many people there and we definitely needed all of us there. 

On Wednesday, we had to go shopping (because of transfers) and decided that while we were out, and since it was so close, we should get haircuts as well. Then we had a lesson with our friend Hiro who is pretty good at English and wants to be a sports volunteer at Olympics. And we talked a little more about fasting and we talked about America. Unfortunately, it was right before eikaiwa, so we didn't have much time to really talk about anything. Then we had eikaiwa and there was almost no one there (this past week was a holiday week in Japan called Golden Week). Also, because of the new transfer and trainers and such, we had five or so sets of missionaries there. And most of them were Japanese, so they filled the class pretty well. It was a really interesting eikaiwa. 

Then on Thursday, we had a lot of things to do so we could get ready for the Undokai (sports day) the next day. So we went and found shirts for the missionaries and we practiced our skit the Elders Quorum was doing (video will be attached). Then we went and just dendoed. That night we were going to visit a member who has been struggling recently and so we decided we should go and see if the bishop could come with us. Well we ended up going to the wrong house on accident and it was the bishops dad. So we shared a little message and decided to talk to the bishop on Sunday and plan when we can visit the member together. 

On Friday was the Undokai!! It was way fun. The stake rented out a huge dome and we did all sorts of games and events and stuff. Elder Mendoza and I got to be in the relay race. And it was way hisashiburi to run in a race like that. It was really fun though. And since it was a stake event I got to see members from Gifu and Ichinomiya (where I have served before). That was way fun. But they were both on the other team than us. And our awesome Korean homie came. He is a member that is here for work and he is so cool. So we got him to come and it was way fun. It was just hard to translate things that I don't fully understand in English. (^^) Then that night we went and visited our newlyweds in Gokiso (they were married in March). And that is where the title of this email came from. They are a way funny couple and it is really interesting. He is Chinese and doesn't really speak that much Japanese. And she doesn't speak very much English at all. So watching them communicate is really fun. Especially when you speak both languages. So that was fun. And they like having the missionaries over because we can translate for them. ( ^∀^) so anyway, we were looking at family pictures and she pulled out her pictures and there was an engagement picture of them and we were like who is that guy? And he said, "the most handsome man in asia."  So we thought that was really funny. 

Then on Saturday we decided to do some finding. Or in this case, more accurately, looking. Then we realized that it was Golden Week and so we thought that people are probably by this way famous park in our area. Well, we took a wrong turn somewhere, because we were riding up this hill and then when we reached the bottom, we ended up at the exact same place as we started. So yeah. Then we went home and had some dinner and went to meet with the other missionaries at the church to plan. The Nonami Elders forgot or something, because they were way late. And we had to start ping pong night, so planning was canceled. And Brother Armstrong (our ward mission leader) was hungry, so he went and got some burgers for everyone from McDonald's.  And we had a good time at ping pong night. 

Then on Sunday, we had church. It was really good. Because it was fast Sunday, we had a Teaching in the Savior's Way meeting for all the people that teach classes. And it was really good. Then we had a lot of meetings after church. Our regular one with Brother Armstrong, one with the Bishop, one with our new eikaiwa coordinator Brother Wong, and then the one that we were going to do the day before. So that was a long day. 

Well anyway, I guess that is a roundabout way to say that I had a 普通 week. I hope that you all had a great one. 

And to end on a spiritual note, everybody play an Eb. And then read in Moroni 10:3-5 which says, "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."  Then in order to know how that answer will come, read Alma 32:28 which reads, "Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." I know that if we do these things that it works. We just need to test the words of the Prophets. In the scriptures the Lord often says things along the lines as in Malachi, "prove me now herewith." We just need to test it. 

I hope that you all have a great week and that you see the wonderful things that the Lord puts in your way. 

Elder Richardson

Pictures:
 
Ping Pong Night Burgers

Creepy Thing in Our Apartment

We found a good kebab place!

Kebab Happiness
 
Undokai Cheer
Ping Pong Night Madness