Shizuoka - Land of Miracles

Date: 8/29/2016

Place: Shizuoka

Companion: Elder Wilson

Elder Wilson

I'm in Shizuoka!!
In the morning we went to the train station together and I saw Elder
Gubbay off (he went to go stay with Elder McClellan for transfers). It
was way sad to part ways. I love my bean and I will miss him! He's
such an awesome missionary and Inuyama is on the verge of seeing a ton
of success right now. Bruna's Mom is set for the 18th, Carolina is so
close to accepting a baptismal commitment and there a lot of other
investigators (mostly referrals and part members) that are really
starting to come together! I'm so sad to leave! I popped my bike tire
and the patch kit didn't work so I just packed it up with the punk and
took it to the train station. There at the station, I met Yuna and a
couple of guys who were way cool! It was nice of them to come and see
me off. Then I hopped on a train headed for Jingumae and hopped off at
Nagoya. 

Brother Sakai

IM ALONE YEAH

Actually bring alone was really boring. I was way happy to see Elder Iwaasa on the train 

Since everyone was transferring, I saw a lot of missionaries
at Nagoya Station! I thought I might enjoy transferring solo but I
realized on the way down there that I actually didn't know what to do
with myself and hated being alone so it was great to see some
missionaries at the station. 

Random peeps I met at Nagoya when I exchanged trains

I freaking love this human. Elder Hunsaker is a homie. I bumped into him at Nagoya as well.

Then I switched to JR and hopped on a

train to Toyohashi. I was lucky enough to bump into Elder Iwaasa, who
is transferring to Numazu! That was awesome and so we just rode all
the way to Fujieda together to get our companions. It was a good 3
hour ride with several changes, which was a pain but we got there!

The ride to Shizuoka! With Elder Iwaasa

We carry our bikes in bags when we transfer. It's a bit of a pain but hey, it makes for a great adventure getting in the way of everyone ;)

Elder Wilson is a beast! This is going to be the best transfer ever!
He grabbed my  bike for me and we got on a train for Shizuoka. On the
way there we found an awesome potential investigator! Then we got off
the train and had to walk in the rain all the way to the apartment
because my tire was flat. Shizuoka is a big city! The biggest I've
served in so far. We live in a nice neighborhood about an hour's walk
from the station. Then we spent the next few days in a blur of
planning, making goals, making phone calls, heading back to Fukutoku
(where I just came from) for Mission Leadership Training and more
planning for the zone. Mission Leadership training was awesome! Elder
Coleman is the new AP and he has a lot of fire. The mission is
changing a lot. They are working really hard to change the mindset of
the mission and boost everyone's faith. MLC was AWESOME and got us
really fired up! Usually, after big meetings like this, missionaries
all get on a train and hang out all the way to Nagoya before splitting
up. But this time, everyone got on the same train and then scattered
and started talking to people! We took an entire train car by storm!
It was the coolest thing I've ever seen! In Japan, all train rides are
pretty silent because you're not supposed to talk on trains, but this
time the entire train car was alive with people talking to
missionaries! This is how it should be all the time! We split off from
everyone at Nagoya and then us and the Shizuoka Sisters talked to
people almost the entire 3 hour ride home.

This is Shizuoka missionaries! Plus Sister Thomas' popcorn.

Then we planned and schemed some more for the zone. I'm losing my mind
in the apartment! But it's been good. We still had time to get out for
an hour or two though and found a handful of potentials and an
investigator! THIS PLACE IS SO GOLDEN! Almost everyone we talk to
actually has a good conversation with us! People here are super nice.
We found a PI and an investigator just walking from the apartment to
the church! It's been awesome! Elder Wilson is a beast of a missionary
and he works hard so all has been well.

The apartment here is pretty big and rumor has it that we are going 4人(4 people)
next transfer if all goes well! The ward here is awesome! The bishop
is a BODY BUILDER. Yeah we're going lifting with him on Saturday.
Chikano Ryou Kyoudai (Bro くん) from Kariya (one of my old areas) moved
here for work so I get to see him again! I love that guy! This is
going to be awesome! This Ward seems to be pretty high class. We live
in a sort of rich neighborhood, surrounded by big houses (big for
Japan). I'm so used to Aichi and everyone we talk to being a factory
worker! This is way cool! Our ward is amazing! In Ward council, they
talked a lot about part member families and set up a music activity
right there on the spot so that we could invite our investigators! Our
ward is comprised primarily of part member families and they gave us a
list of 15 families with good potential to start working on! This area
is THE PROMISED LAND. I love this ward so much already!
I'm so excited and so happy to be dendoing here with Elder Wilson!
Also we have sister missionaries in our area! Sister Thomas (this is
her last transfer) and Tsujimoto Shimai! Haha Tsujimoto shimai and I
for some reason keep on following each other around the mission for
some reason. We were in the same district in Suwa and then in Inuyama
and now we are in the same area! Haha it's been fun. Sister Thomas and
I were in the same zone in Okazaki, which was way cool! She also
served in Nonami as soon as I left it so we know a lot of the same
people. Elder Wilson and I though have been in opposite areas for our
entire missions! So we don't know any of the same people or have any
of the same stories which means we have a lot to talk about and it's
way fun!

Random weird experience of the week: we got serenaded by an old,
half-naked Japanese man on a bamboo flute (shakuhachi) from his second
story window as we were walking to the church. We were just walking by
and heard him practicing. He noticed us through the window and called
out to us and then started playing! Haha it was the most Japanese,
bizarre thing I have experienced in a while! I'm so mad at myself for
not taking a video!
Yeah it's been quite a week!

Love ya guys!


Elder Johnson


Enviado do meu iPad

The people at MLC (Mission Leadership Council?)

Me, Sister Pasi, Sister Lyman, Elder Decker and Elder Wilson