Tomakamai...city of colourful houses...

ohhh....goodness. I cant figure out how to change the keyboard on this computer so this will have to be short. Last time I said that I was maybe staying in the same area, but surprie surprise....I transfered to an area in the Sapporo mission. Im in a place called Tomakomai...its weird. Im going to take getting used to. And the houses here are in all different coulors its crazy! I:ve seen like blue and pruple and pink and lime green houses all over the place. So My new companion is Elder Huefner and hes been here for...this is his second transfer. And he has been teaching 4 of us Sendai missionaries how to get around in this town...hes a good sport though. Last night was crazy! I was trying to figure out what my responsiblities as District Leader are in this new Sapporo mission and I have to say, that this is probably one of the hardest things you can go through as a missionary. in less then a week, go to a brand new mission with a brand new mission president, when all of our Sendai customs are still ingrained in our heads. Anyways...yeah so I guess my mail changed didnt it? I dont know what my new address is, but when i figure it out i`ll say something. Umm...so this week we pretty much were evacuated from Sendai in less then 24 hours and then the aftermath of the evacuation was pretty much my whole week. It is going to take some hardcore getting used to. The president here is a Sports-man whereas Tateoka kaicho was kinda more my personality...rules and stuff have totally just been flipped and we are still going to try and get used to it as quick as possible. Also this computer costs money and will probably be unable to use in a few weeks so in a few weeks I will give a good report on everything that has happened. For now, we are trying to live in a 2 man apartment with 4 people and just trying to get along. Its been a way stressful week...Hope everyone else is having a good time! Thank you so much for your prayers! Well see you later!

Earthquake and Tsunami's!!!

Hey whats up!? I'm totally fine...actually my story is way lame...me and Ruefenacht choro were doing weekly planning and the house started shaking a little bit....yeah...we couldn't focus on planning...haha. Nothing even came off the walls or anything. And then we were like the only city that didn't loose anything! We still had electricity and water and gas. I think we are the only area that didn't loose anything...haha. No...there are only 4 people in the district and the other pair of missionaries were in the 2nd best condition. Today, apparently there is going to be acid rain in Yamagata (the other city in our district), but I think Tsuruoka isn't going to get it much. Tsuruoka is literally the only city that is in the best condition...haha...Lame! Yamagata got their lights out for a day or something, but we Literally didn't get ANYTHING! The only thing that we might have is a little bit of the Sendai effect. Yesterday when we went to buy food, there was NOTHING! No milk, bread, eggs, natto...NOTHING! So if that keeps up then we might go hungry a little bit, but other then that...it's totally ok. There is apparently no gas anywhere in Tohoku. People are lined up at the gas stations like crazy! And I think the cup ramen and easy to make goods are all out, all over Tohoku. But yeah, that's my story...pretty lame, right? Are you comforted? You probably didn't even need to worry...haha.

Yeah, this is what I send my parents...but yeah...haha. Anyways...so this week was crazy!!! We had Earthquakes and Tsunami's like crazy and it was crazy! So all the missionaries in Sendai are ok! Woodrow choro, one of the zone leaders, said that he hasn't taken a shower in like 3 days, but apparently the missionaries over by Sendai are in way big trouble they have no gas and electricty and they've been sleeping in the church for like a week. But literally the only thing that has changed here in Tsuruoka is that we couldn't buy food yesterday...and there are lots of foreigners behind me getting ready to go back to their countries...haha, but yeah. I heard that the Earthquake was like 9.0! Crazy! We can't watch the news or anything, but we get news from people...just talking to people. So the effects are probably going to be food and we are not going to be able to go to Sendai for a while because of gas problem.

On a brighter note...we taught a great Lesson 1 today! There is this guy named Takao-san and he has been learning Jehovah's Witness for like a year now. Originally he thought that they were us, and that Christian was all one religion, but it was a way good lesson. We used the truths that he learned from the Jehovah's Witness and it was a way spiritual lesson! There is also a guy we're teaching Ryusuke-san, and he is way good! He's the guy that saw his dad in a dream like 15 years ago...right before Ryusuke-san was going to pass away...but then he came back!  There is also Jiro-san...who smells like cigarettes and his house is a dump. But he now knows that knowing if the Book of Mormon is true or not is one of the most important things in his life. He told us that he will study the book like no other! But he won't pray...that's a down-side...but ohh well, he'll come along. As for today...we are running a little late on time...we have an appointment with Chisen kyodai, who loves Ammon! So I can't go through the days and stuff, but yeah. Ohh, yeah...I guess something cool was that I was in Sendai on the 10th. We were on our way back to Tsuruoka on the night of the 10th, and then the next morning the Earthquake hit. Our phone gets like Earthquake warnings and we got like 4 of them total. This morning...15th...we got another Akita-ken Earthquake warning, but we didn't feel it at all. But yeah...I bet the pictures of Sendai are way bad! The other missionaries apartments and stuff were wipped out! Anyways...yeah, so the training on the 10th was way good. We got regenerated to do our work! Find, Teach, and Baptize. Well, we'll see what the Transfers bring...we might be here for a while...haha...or maybe We'll transfer over closer to Sendai to help out with stuff...who knows what will happen, but for now it's same ol' same ol'...but the people of Sendai definatly needs your prayers! Please pray for them! There is only like 60 of us missionaries and millions of people in trouble, so they definetly need your prayers!

There are miracles all around! Just look!

Well it's been another great transfer and it will yet be another great transfer with Ruefenacht choro in Tsuruoka. No I didn't transfer, and no one in my district transfered either. But one of them is going home in like a week or 2. But anyways...Let's see...on Tuesday last week, on the 1st, it was raining and snowing and my feet felt like they were going to get frostbite and it was so miserable, but then we ran into this one guy who we talked to him from outside his window and we talked and talked and I was getting tired of talking to him and standing outside in the freezing cold, and Finally he said we could come in and give our message. He had met the missionaries a while back and he knew about Joseph Smith and stuff but yeah, so we got a new investigator! That was the good thing about Tuesday.

Wednesday...This was P-day and transfers...I didn't get transfered, so we went and did a bunch of stuff. Pretty much, yeah...sorry...I forgot my journal today so I'm going off of the planner and I can't remember doing anything special...I'm sure there was something, but I totally can't remember. I'm pretty sure we just taught Daigo-san, and his job is killing him! He works 10 hours a day from like 4:30pm to 6:30am the next day....Everyday! And I think it's really taking a toll on his health.

Thursday...we did Weekly Planning and it was great. haha...ummm...lets see...we found this one crazy kid that said we could share a message with him later on in the month and besides that...hmm...this story may have been on Thursday. We were housing and we knocked on this guys door and I was standing at an angle that I couldn't see into the house, but Ruefenacht choro could see strait into the house, and so before I started talking to this guy about the message, Ruefenacht choro starts like looking at me and kind of guestures for me to look inside the house, but I didn't want to be rude and attempt to look into the house so I just started talking to the guy like I normally would, and he told me he was Buddhist...(of course...) and said that he didn't want to hear a message about Jesus Christ, and right before he closed the door, Ruefenacht choro was like "Hey that's a cool painting you have there!!" And with that exclaimation I took that as a chance to look into the door and lo and behold...haha...there was a 4-5 foot painting of the last supper on his wall! hahahaha!!! It was the funniest thing EVER! Right after he told me he didn't want to hear a message about Jesus Christ...the look on his face was PRICELESS! He looked like he was in a nervous wreck! It was SOOO funny! He still didn't want to hear the message, but I just thought that story was way funny! Me and Ruefenacht choro laughed about that so much! We still laugh about it...

Friday...Ohh yeah, we had like 4 lessons planned for Friday, but 2 of them spoked. Daigo-san's dad was home and I don't think he was very happy when he saw us...hehe...and then the new investigator we found on Tuesday...he said that he had to do something, so it wasn't a good time, but we got his number so we can get him another time. While housing, we found this one girl that was crazy kinjin! She was telling us that she wanted to strenghten her family and that she would want to listen to a message about Jesus Christ to strengthen her family. Way cool. We need to go back and teach her sometime.

Saturday...we visited this PI that we found about 2 weeks ago and he let us into his home and we got all set down and he just starts crying his eyes out...apparently 2 weeks ago his mother-in-law was alive, and in the time of 2 weeks she died. So he wanted to hear about if God really existed or not and then if his mother-in-law was still alive somewhere in the spirit world or whereever. He was starting to realize just then that God did exist and that we actually do have spirits. It wasn't the best lesson, cause we were kind of caught off-guard at the crying, but I think for the most part it went well. He kind of rushed us out of the house because he was going to go with his wife to the grave to give their respects, so yeah...but anyways, it was a good expirience. Then later that night we had a curry party thing...the youth did this Family Home Evening and it was pretty good. One of the girls drew a picture of Jesus in Anime form and it was amazing! I got a copy of it cause it was so good.

Sunday...just church and stuff. It was a good time. We had no plans for the day except for finding...and it was a long day. We found this one guy named Ryusuke and I started talking to him in Japanese and then he was like "Do you speak English?" and I was like "Why, yes I do!" and then I did my contact in English...and set up a lesson and apparently his dad before he died in the war was like kind of a Christian...at least, he read the bible and prayed to God and stuff, and then he died in the war or something, and Ryusuke-san, I guess, had a heart problem this one time and just as he was dying, he saw his dad in a dream and his dad told him to go back! Your time is not yet come! And so Ryusuke-san, I guess, came back from the dead...which is pretty cool if you ask me, but yeah, the first thing me and my comp thought of was "ohh, his dad wants him to do baptisms for him...of course!" haha. We also found this one guy that looked like he was dirt poor and we made an appointment with him too and he didn't have any teeth or anything, but we'll see how that lesson goes. He says he believes in his own God...(like most EVERYONE says...)

Monday...we taught Ryusuke-san and it was pretty awesome lesson. I think it was actually one of the 1st Legit lessons I think I've had in a long time. Usually you have to force your way into talking about the gospel, and the people you teach are just wanting to listen, but not really "investigate"....but Ryusuke-san actually wants to know, which is great! In his prayer at the end of the lesson, he asked God to help him understand what we are saying and to help him and his family get closer to God...Wow! I was Wow'd at his prayer...it was amazing! We also found this one guy right after Ryusuke-san's and we started talking to him, and apparently he's read all of Gospel Principles book...and then when the Jehovahs Witness's came to his door 7 months ago, he thought they were us and so he's been listening to their message for some time now, and when he gave me an explanation about the Atonement I was wow'd! So we brought him to the church and we showed him around and apparently he's come to our church like 3-4 times before and turns out he really has read all of Gospel Principles, cover to cover...so he told us that we could meet with him at the church...so that should be good. He's a way funny old guy. Then for P-day, me and Ruefenacht choro went to the church and watched the 2011 youth video, We Believe! It was awesome! You should watch it if you haven't seen it yet. Especially, there is a Samoan that sings a song with his Uke...it's tight. Watch it!

Also this whole week Ruefenacht choro has had a really bad case of Wisdom tooth pain and turns out we are going to go to the dentist today for his x-rays...so that should be fun. He might have surgury soon, so we'll see what happens. His dad is a dentist, but thought that his last wisdom tooth was ok, so they left in it, but I guess it wasn't ok. But yeah! So there are my stories for this week. Hope you like them. And I am still diligently looking for an adapter for my SD card...it's not really working out though...I can't find them.