Two Year Mark

Hello everyone! Well the internet has been going at an incredibly slow rate today, but I'll do my best!

First things first. This week I reached two years since I started my mission. 

I went into the MTC November 16th 2013. It's been a tough road to get to this point and I'm still not done. I have about 8 months to go, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. It's changed my life and will continue to do so. Thanks again everyone for all the support while I was home. I couldn't have come back to Japan without it. I love you all!

This week has been absolutely incredible! We've been so busy!! We managed to squeeze in 21 lessons this week despite having to spend a lot of our proselyting time planning for a Zone Training Meeting! The Training meeting was probably the biggest thing that happened. We took almost a week to prep and plan for it, but the result was pretty amazing. We've been working with the missionaries here in Matsudo, trying to help them build the faith to see the Miracle of a White Christmas. We several trainings throught the meating that dealt with faith and works and at the very end we did the Board Breaking activity I always did at swim team before my Regional Meets. It was pretty intense!! We had a couple of the newer missionaries come up and show their faith by breaking wooden planks with their hands. The entire Zone practically exploded from the excitement. They all left with a lot more vision then they've had in the past. I guess that's the point! We're super excited to see what happens this transfer! There are a lot of miracles around the corner.

Tomorrow we are going to Kichijoji to see Elder David F Evans speak. The entire Tokyo South Mission will be there as well!! Following Elder Evans we'll be going to Nakano to the Tokyo Mission home to have our holiday conference. I'm excited! I'll be sure to send lots of pictures next week!

Love you all!
Don't catch any colds!
-G

P.S. We went to costco today! Pictures next week

Adjusting to Missionary Life

I love my companions!
It's interesting having a triple companionship like ours. It's my first time really knowing what it feels like to have room mates. We are always bickering about dumb stuff but we work crazy hard and see so many miracles! Just this week Elder Young and I were both sick! I'm still on the recovery, but despite being sick we tackled 22 lessons with Elder Day's assistants! That's more lessons than I've ever taught on my mission before and we did it as Zone Leaders, we barely have time for lessons because we are so busy with training and other things. 

Elder Young is the man when it comes to using time effectively. He doesn't stop for anything! He used to be the second fastest Pizza cutter in Australia and he worked as a store manager for Dominoes Pizza. His store set a world record for the most pizzas sold in a day! He had every job you could possible imagine offered to him by dominoes officials (We`re talking jobs with 6 figure pay here) and he turned it all down to go on a mission! This guy just knows how to work! It's awesome! I'm learning lots of healthy habits.

With Elder Young's tight schedule we're really pushing Elder Day, our new missionary to greater hights. The other day he had a small meltdown from all the stress and Elder Young and I had a great opportunity to train him on something we call the "Circle of Influence" with this new fund knowledge he's been working harder than ever before! However he isn't doing it alone! We just received a bag full of "Adjusting to Missionary Life" booklets for our zone and apparently this book has changed Elder Day's Life! We asked him a training on it at zone meeting this week! We'll see how he holds up! This is actually what his face looked like after discovering the booklet. Great right? Elder Young has been teaching him how to cook too! We've had a lot of fun with Elder Day, he's like our little brother.

With the Success in Lessons we've seen progress with our investigators. This is Takuya. Elder Young and his younger brother found him together (that's a fun story) and he's getting baptized on the 1st of December in Koiwa Ward (He lives outside of our area). We're excited for him. He has more desire to be baptized than I've ever seen from any other investigator! He's great, we love him!

Well that's all I have time for this week! Tune in next week for more excitement! Lot of big things coming this transfer!
Love you all! Enjoy the last few days of Fall, Winter is just around the corner!
-G

Week One in Matsudo!

Hey everyone!

Well it's been another busy week! I'm pretty sure that it's always just busy weeks for missionaries. Today isn't even really a p-day for me, it's just a lighter work day than the rest of the week.
This week was Transfers. I got to Matsudo at around noon on October 31st.
Right from the start we hit the ground running.

 

There used to be 5 people in this apartment. Now that there is only 3 of us we're picking up the other Elder's investigators and we are incredibly busy. We also have 5 Baptismal dates who are progressing fairly well right now. I feel like I've been dropped into the deep end.  We did weeklly planning right away and then that night during the hour and a half we had to dendo we found 3 new investigators! It was incredible! My first day in the area and we saw a lot of really cool miracles.

 

Working with Elder Young and Elder Day is a blast though. Elder Young is an incredible leader and I've actually been in the same district as him before so I knew him before. We work pretty well together. Elder Day is a great new missionary with a lot of Faith. He really want's to be a good missionary and it shows. We're trying to help him focus his attention on other things besides Japanese. It's going to be a great transfer I can see a lot of the momentum building.

As Zone Leader I have a really cool opportunity to work with the Assitants to the President and with President Budge. This year in Tokyo we will be having a `White Christmas` meaning that every companionship is to see a baptism before Christmas.  The utimate goal is to give back to the Savior. In connection with that we're working a lot with the individual districts in our zones to set the stage and vision for the next few months. There is so much Fire for the work in Tokyo right now it's incredible. This transfer is going to be 100mph the entire transfer!

I realize that I haven't sent any good pictures so I'll make sure to get some of my companions and I along with our church before next week (It's the largest ward and church building in Asia, just saying) lots of exciting things happening!

Have a great week! Eat some Pumpkin pie for me!
Lots of Love from Tokyo

I lied! I have pictures of stuff!!
You know what is almost as good as Ramen?

Tsukemen!

Elder Young is the one who`s behind Elder Day, Who's the one with me in the other picture.
 

Transfer Calls and Earthquakes

Sorry it's been awhile. I feel like I can't keep using the same excuse but to be honest I just haven't had to get a sufficient ammount of pictures and thoughts and put them together into a cohesive, enjoyable, easy to read blast message. So let me make up for the past few weeks by sharing the advenstures we've had this week!

 

Well a few people have asked me about the Earthquake we had a few days ago. It registered as a 7 and I'm guessing it made the news in America. Truth is it barely touched the news in Japan. Earthquakes happen here all the time. I've lost count of how many times I've felt them. There still super strange to me. This one however was the first one to get my heart pumping a little. It hit off the coast but almost the whole country felt it. Here in Oyama we got a 4 for sure. The information in this picture was posted following the Earthquake.

 

 

It hit us at about 2:30 in the morning and Elder Justesen and I managed to somehow both wake up right before it hit. It didn't really feel very big for the first few seconds. Then it got bad enough for us to stand up and move for the Desks when it ended. We both looked at each other with the same facial expression. That was exciting! We went back to bed and slept great! Totally normal. Nothing fell down and no one go hurt. It was a little exciting though.

This past week we also had our last District Meeting and I had my last district meeting as a District Leader in Oyama. I'm being transferred. My new home will be Matsudo! I'm going to the biggest church building in the Mission. Some of you may remember my pictures of it before. It's about 6 stories tall and has a Basketball Court on the top floor! I'm going to be with one of my favorie Elders, Elder Young. He's from Australia and we're going to be Zone Leaders! I think we may also be working with a new Elder, Elder Day. He's on his 2nd Transfer. A lot of things are happening! Oyama will have 6 missionaries. 3 Sisters 3 Elders. Elder Justesens new companion is coming from Niigata and their going to train a new missionary!

I've been really priviledged to work in such an amazing district this past transfer. I've learned a lot and grown a lot from the powerful testimonies they all have, and the miracles that I've seen as a district leader here in Oyama have helped me to realize that "God has not ceased to be God of Miracles." - (Mormon 9:16) I'm really quite sad to leave Oyama. Oyama ward has been almost like family to me and I really love the Investigators here. Hopefully Elder Justesen can keep working with them so I can come back and see a few of them get Baptized! Meanwhile, Elder Young and I are going to see some incredible Miracles in one of the coolest places in the Mission.

Well the transfer is at an end and I'm beat. I'm going to take a nap now.

Missionary Parking

Apparently B is running a Half Marathon this week. How did she get roped into that one, since when does she ever run? I'm trying to run every day here. I'm burning fat but I'm also dropping muscle too. I'm skinnying up very slowly. I figure the rest will come off when I come home and can work it off.

Glad to hear you sent Elder Justesen a friend request! He`s seriously the best! I'm going to miss hanging out with him if either of us get transferred. Elder Justesen is a really quick typer and he has less emails to write every week! Remember I have a 4 Parents and 3 Siblings plus Dakota, Rach, Sho and Sometimes others. I never actually do have time. I really made it a goal to write better letters and emails this transfer and then I ended up working even harder with Elder Justesen and now my number one priority every P-day is sleeping. Something that I simply can't seem to get enough of. My leadership responsiblities are still going great, but they do have me busy. The biggest issue however is the fact that we teach a ton of lessons every day! We managed 6 lessons yesterday! It's great working with Elder Justesen, we work really well together. Like Elder Gallacher I think I've made a true friend for life here. It's funny though that neither Elder Justesen nor Elder Gallacher are from Utah ha ha. Our investigators are doing great. We've been working a lot with Okenchu, our chinese investigator. He's doing great. He knows what we teach is true and he wants to get baptized, we're just trying to help him find another Job that keeps him away from evil. He needed money so he started working at a night club which is kind of funny because he doesn't really drink. We're praying for a miracle and I'm praying I don't get transfered yet. It sounds like a lot of big changes are happening this transfer though. I'm convinced Elder Justesen becomes a trainer. He's just that awesome.

I'm working hard and keeping thoughts of home at bay. I did the math today and I believe I only have somewhere around 37 weeks left on my mission. I'm going to sprint to the finish. There is still a lot to do and a lot to learn. I also still need to be companions with Elder Healy. Today was Temple Day so I got to see him. Sounds like he's doing good. Today I had the chance to offer up my transfer to the Lord and I feel that he's pleased with the work I've rendered this transfer. I hope that I can continue this pattern for transfers to come. The Typhoon was bad but it hit early in the morning. Another one is supposed to hit on Saturday. They're saying it's one of the biggest ones in 10 years or something. I gotta say though, I've been rather underwhelmed by the Typhoons here.  Things are good otherwise. I'm happy and and healthy and although I'm tired I realize that I can sleep when I come home from my mission. A Good missionary should always be a little tired!

I couldn't get any good pictures this week. My camera battery was dead and I forgot to charge it so I'll have to put some more in a better email next week if I can. We're going to Nikko again as a Zone this time! Japan is the best!

Here is one pic though. I call this Missionary Parking (^o^)

Nikko

Well I`m doing great! I`ll be honest I`m exhausted and with only a few weeks until Christmas I`m starting to catch the Holiday Spirit.  Christmas last year was strange but great. It`ll be interesting to experience Christmas away from home.

Elder Justesen and I have been working crazy hard this past week and have seen a lot of miracles. The next two weeks are also going to fly by. I`m kind of glad time is flying by, although it is a little scary. I come home 9 months from now.  That feels like an eternity, and also like no time at all. I am at least staying healthy. I`m actually dropping weight again and have been sleeping a lot better as a result of the running. I`m thinking that`s a habit that will stay with me when I come home. I heard about Kat and Uncle Ben from Elder Healy. We had a conference this past week and he and I got to hang out for a bit. He`s a pretty cool missionary. We`re going to start asking President Budge to put the two of us together. (^o^) we`ve made it too far to not be companions!

Sounds like things at home are going great! I don`t really get the deal with Mallorie and Curtis. Are they Married? Way Jealous you all went to the Pie. I seriously miss good Pizza. They just simple don`t have it here. 



We went to  Nikko again today and had a blast! I took a lot of pictures but I can`t send all of them, so I thought I`d throw in a few.

Elder Justesen was stoked to do a little hiking!

I`m not sure why Shohei wanted a picture of the back of  Elder Justesen`s head..

All these statues have red hats and scarfs. No one could tell us why....

Updates

Things are going great this week. We didn't make a baptismal date with our Brazillian Family. There are a lot of churches in Brazil that take money and lots of other stuff so they are understandably hesitant. We did however give them all blessings today. They all are sick and once they learned about priesthood blessings they wanted them. So I did one in English and Japanese and Elder Justesen did one in English.  We did all the annointings etc. It was tough, but the spirit was super strong.

We did however make two more baptismal dates this week. Both for the 27th of this month. One is 17 and a really close friend of mine, the other is 20 and super super cool. He accepts everything we teach with eagerness. He's going to for sure get baptized. If the lord wills it, it'll happen. We're definitely working.
I don't have any time today because I lost the phone earlier and we spent email time trying to hunt it down.
I also didn't take any pictures this week, but I do have one good one.

This is what a Japanese Suburb looks like at night in the Rain.

I'll try to get some better pictures as I go. We're going to Nikko again next week with our friend Shohei.
Super excited!