Turnt Up Tokorozawa, Tokyo

Wow.. I am in Nihon! So to start: I got assigned to the Tokorozawa area w/Elder Nagano! He is from Connecticut and went to school at BYU-I. He is of full Japanese decent. I will send a picture of us. This place is pretty sweet, check it on google earth! I have a lot of pictures that I won't be able to send because I am mailing on an iPad and have no method of sending the pictures from my camera. When I get a chance I will.

So last week leaving the MTC was straight crazy. Saying goodbye to my teachers was really sad. What a great job they did in teaching me the language and how to teach with the Spirit and giving our investigators the best experience possible. I am so impressed with their ability to teach so well despite their young age and lack of training. God definitely has His hand in helping them with their ability to teach and the learning process at the MTC. I got up at 2:45 after packing until 1:30 and got on a bus. Usually they just drive us to the airport from there because it is easier and cheaper but they decided to take us to the train station instead? I blew the MTC a big kiss goodbye (what a relief). We got to the train station and had to wait awhile. It was so cold. Then we took the train to the SLC tram which took us to the airport. We soon learned that our flight to Portland was delayed by like an hour and that the flight from there to Tokyo would leave before we could catch it and that we had to wait another day. It was so funny to watch missionaries freak out and stress about the plane situation. I was just chillin' cause it was out of our control. This guy said he would try to figure something out. He convinced the flight in Portland to wait until we get there because we had like 35 missionaries on that flight or something. Missionaries were so excited, a few even hugged that guy it was so funny.

While in SLC we had some time to call our family. I called and talked to the parentals. I had a calling card and every call I made my minutes got cut down a ton. I called my sister Nancy and niece Kennedy. So nice to talk to everyone and later Amber and Pearl. Sorry to the bro in laws I didn't have the time to call you. When I started my call to Nancy this man came up to me and was trying to buy my comp and me, as well as the rest of the district food for the flight. I had just had an Elder from our district take my McDonald's gift card to buy everyone food and told him it was ok. He was determined though. Stood there through the whole convo with Nancy continuing to ask periodically. This lady also came to take my picture to of me calling to send it too my family. Which was great. Just way too much going on. My mom FaceTimed her once she got the picture and the lady
answered. Which was sweet! But I was trying to call my sister Amber while FaceTiming my mom and listening to this guy asking us to buy food. We were running out of time before our flight and my calling card ran out. This guy said I could borrow his phone while he got us food to call my sister. He ended up spending like 35 bucks for everyone. Nice guy! Just stressful!

Anyways we eventually got to Portland! The flight to Tokyo was about 10 hours and we also lost a good amount of time flying over. Flight + time change was about 24 hours. I took a really nice nap and ate some good food on the plane (any food other than the mtc's). The guy I sat next to was a total alcoholic and drank a ton on the flight. He was way fun to sit next to. He said when he saw he was sitting next to a missionary he knew he would hate me but was surprised to find out I was a nice guy. He said Mormonism and him don't mix. I asked why. Of course, we got into a religious discussion. He thinks Joseph Smith is a complete fraud but believes in the bible. I explained some of my experiences and shared my testimony. I was straight chillin but he got pretty upset about it. Mostly cause he was kinda drunk, I think. Hard to explain but he was getting worked up and I just told him I love him and that we shouldn't talked about it anymore. Haha cool guy.

When we got to Japan I had my first experience with a Japanese toilet. They are insane here. There are like ten buttons to control that thing. I don't know what they all do but some of them control the seat heater, and one of them sprays your butt after you go potty. It's actually pretty nice. I like it a lot. At the airport I met my mission president and the assistants. We took about an hour long bus ride through the heart of Tokyo. SOOO sick! I love big cities. The area around Tokyo tower is so dope!! We eventually got to the mission home in Kichijoji which is such a cool place and the mission home was way nice. Sister and President Wada are the best. Sister Wada is the cutest nicest lady ever and they made us some great food. In the mornings we went running and went to the park for "radio taiso" which is where a bunch of old people go and turn on their radios to do this dance/stretch/exercise thing. We did it with them. I was laughing so hard. One of the funniest things ever. I love these people. While I was at the mission home I met a senior couple named the Powells who own Mrs Powell's Cinnamon Rolls. I guess my Grandpa and Grandma knew them and my grandpa used to always tell her she needs more raisins on her rolls. That's grandpa for ya. So funny. On Thursday I met my trainer and we took a crazy amount of train rides to get to Tokorozawa. Insane. I try to talk to everyone I can here. My companion was shocked I am not nervous and quiet. He says I have "dendo Fire" dendo is missionary work or anything related to it.

We went and met with a less active member named Sasamori. I introduced myself. That was it. No joke ~~for over an hour he talked and didn't let my companion say anything and I didn't understand anything! Like literally nothing.. I guess he was telling us that he doesn't need to go to church he knows he will go to heaven regardless. The next day we went to this restaurant here called "Sukiya." Their most popular dish is this bowl of rice with meat on top. Really simple but really good. They have this thing called "king size" which is just an insanely large bowl of their popular dish. I agreed to it but when I saw it I instantly regretted committing to it. I got it with cheese too. I guess it's some sort of challenge here and if you complete it you are a "stage one pounder". I thought there was no way, but half way through I committed to it and after trying hard to hold it down I finished every last little bit. I am seriously so proud of myself. I feel like I gained the respect of my peers and that's what really matters!

After I recovered we went to the park to play basketball. The Japanese kids here are so funny to play ball with. It's so sad how easy it is for me being at least a foot taller than everyone. I feel so bad swatting them. It feels like I am playing little kids. On the way back it was dark and I was trying to keep up with my comp on the bike and this lady just popped out on the other side of the fence. I just slammed into the side of her bike. It was hard. Totally her fault but I was really scared I hurt someone especially since she had a little girl on the back of her bike. My handlebars had turned and slammed into my crotch. Won't get into details. Let's just say it hurt. She was really apologetic.  I had knocked her child of her bike but she was fine. I had to pull my front tire out of her spokes. That was a long day and I accidentally passed out in my dress clothes on the futon for the whole night around 8. I missed dinner and the next day was fast Sunday.

Church here is a blast, the people are the nicest and so patient. I got up and bore my testimony.  I honestly was not nervous at all, the people here are so nice and welcoming. They all tell you your Japanese and testimony are great no matter how bad it was. Haha.

So far I have had sushi, sukiya, curry, roots (ehh), Nato (bleh)

I really like curry and sushi. The food here is sooooo good. I struggle with chopsticks still tho... It sucks. They have these candy bars called black thunder and an ice cream bar version of it. So good (thanks Sheehan). I am already addicted. Black thunder, not ever once!