November 17th, 2015

Happy thanksgiving and happy birthday Macsen! 

Sorry I forgot to mention it in last week's email. From what dad said it sounds like you had a really great time with lots of delicious food I cannot eat here, haha.

We had a pretty good week this past week. It didn't feel as busy, but that is partly because I can NEVER remember what happened. I get to Pday and my mind just says "stop" and that's the end of the story. Then you have days like temple Pday where you wake up early and take three hours of trains to and from Tokyo which gives you lots of time to do missionary work! Needless to say my brain is struggling to type these words in English. We also have a lesson tonight so Pday is gone, but we will find time to get food and stuff sometime...I hope.

Dad I'm sorry about the two heartbreakers this past week. It sounds like BSU has really had a kind of a bummer year which is a little disheartening, but this too shall pass right? Hahaha. It sounds like you had a nice busy week with everything. Ma, thank you so much for the package I can't wait for it to get here!  It has started to cool off here in Tokyo, but it's a joke really compared to what we have in Idaho. It scares a lot of the people here, and when they see me wearing a long sleeve shirt they sort of freak out and tell me I'm a big strong American.  Which is even more funny, because I am actually small and skinny for an American man. 

So last Monday we had a lesson with Yuuta again. He is still progressing although very slowly. The good thing is nothing he has learned has discouraged him or scared him away.  As slow as his progress is he ALWAYS wants to learn more which is so great. We taught him about prophets and committed him to reading the first vision pamphlet which he gladly accepted. He thought it was really great that people believed in a prophet that was currently living and liked the Mormon message we shared about President Monson.

Tuesday was a pretty fun day. We had been asked by an eikaiwa student the other day to come with her and her friend to a special English society that she belonged to in a comer of our area. They picked us up at a store near our apartment and drove us over to the community center where they met two times per week. We walked in to find fourteen older people sitting around some tables waiting for us to arrive. It was so funny how official these people acted. They had a chairman and rules and all kinds of procedures for their 'society,' it was hard not to giggle. They had us stand and introduce our home towns and families in English as well as what kinds of things we do for fun. They asked to know what the culture was like in Idaho and I told them that everyone owned guns!  Hahahaha!!!!  Their eyes got soooo big, but once I started talking about what we do, and the hunter safety courses, they relaxed and came around to the idea of guns being a good thing. After that they all stood up and gave their English presentations on being healthy. It was adorable really. These people all thought about ways they could stay fit mentally, physically, and emotionally and presented them to Koyama Choro and me. They asked us to prepare a few thoughts on that topic as well, so I of course talked about you, Mom and Dad, as well as Grandpa Viehweg. I also told them that if they really wanted to be healthy they would stop drinking and smoking.  They all looked shocked at that one too.  Then the room erupted with laughs, finger pointing, and jokes about who drinks too much and what they do at those times.  It was pretty funny, but we also got to talk more seriously about the word of wisdom.  After that they took us all to a really fancy Japanese style restaurant. I have pictures that I will send.  We didn't get any referrals from that experience, but everyone was very happy and appreciative and they all know who we represent as volunteers.

Wednesday we taught Yuuta again before eikaiwa. We decided to review repentance and the atonement which turned out to be a good idea. He has made some really bad decisions in the past and won't give us details, but it involves being previously married.  Anyway he admitted he had not asked God for forgiveness for those things yet, so it was good to explain more what the atonement does for us, and how we can use it.  He left the lesson with courage to confess to God and ask for forgiveness again when he prayed this time for specific reasons.  He is still reading but has slowed wayyyy down because he got to the chapters on Isaiah in second Nephi that no one really understands.  I didn't really get them until this last time I read the Book of Mormon when I would flip back and forth between the Book of Mormon and Bible trying to decipher what they heck Isaiah was saying.  Anyway, he still reads daily but is struggling to understand.  We help him as much as we can and also text him easy powerful scriptures daily which he really likes.  After that he attended eikaiwa and had a lot of fun.

On Friday we had a zone meeting in Matsudou which was great as always.  The Matsudou zone has some of the best missionaries in the Tokyo mission and I feel very lucky to be working with them all. One of my MTC kohai, somone who was one transfer below me, is now serving as a transfer three district leader and trainer.  He took two years of Japanese before his mission so he is wayyyyy good at it, but it was good to talk to him and help him relax about what he is doing.  He gave a really great training on using time effectively.  His name is Munroe Choro and he is from Gold Coast Australia. After the zone meeting we had splits with Lee Choro, our district leader, and his companion Chour Choro.  Lee Choro is from Hong Kong, and Chou Choro is from Taiwan. Anyway, I was able to spend the day walking in Matsudou. Since I came to Kamagaya I have only left to work in another area one time and hat was my second week here. No one really realized that until last week and they insisted that I get out and try working somewhere else.  I had a good day with Chou Choro and we had a really good lesson with one of those struggling investigators. He left the lesson ready to try again to apply what he had learned and was excited to keep studying the gospel.  It felt good to be a part of that.  The next day we returned to Kamagaya.

Saturday was suuuper busy. We had to teach two English classes because sister sergeant is deathly ill and they cannot get out of the apartment, then we had to help some members with several things, study, and then attend the ward talent show. It was pretty funny. One of the acts was a magic show and no one seemed to really think it was ironic that the man was doing magic tricks in a Christian chapel haha. It was good though and the best part is Yuuta came!  He really loved what he saw and liked how friendly all of the members were with him. After the talent show we ate some food and a got to know some people better before going back to the chapel to have another lesson. Lee Choro advised us to teach about faith, so we planned a lesson around Alma 32 and comparing a bunch of scriptures to him and his situation right now. It was so good. He really loved all the scriptures talking about faith not being a PERFECT knowledge, but a hope for something great. The scriptures we read were all so relatable to what he is doing right now, experimenting, recognizing, and believing. He also said before the lesson that he has really felt better about himself lately.  Before he met us he felt like he had become lazy and a little depressed, but he now feels purpose and drive to learn and work. At the end, we connected faith with actions and brought up the word of wisdom again. He has completely quit drinking tea and is very hesitant about cigarettes. He admitted to being addicted and really likes smoking, but he knows how bad it is for his health. We reassured him time and again and testified about how the Lord is waiting for him to just take one step more to reach the point where he can help him. At the end of the lesson he agreed to try to quit for three days from tonight, Tuesday night, and see how it goes. It's not ideal, but it's a start. He is already reading and praying fervently so maybe this time is all he needs to receive that confirmation he is looking for. Pleeaaase pray for him. Please. Hahaha, this may sound selfish but we have worked SO HARD to find someone like him. He needs all the support he can get. 

Sunday was a pretty regular day. The primary did a program for all of sacrament which was beyond adorable. I can't handle being around all these nihonjin kids. They are sooooo cute and funny. One tiny kid got up to the mike and said ,"boku wa, iesu sama ga daisuki desu!!." It translates into something like ''Jesus Christ is my favorite." So cute. After church we went out and tried to find some new investigators which we ALWAYS desperately need, and then meet up with the newly released temple president Inoue kyodai to visit some less actives. That was terrifying. Japanese people are terrible drivers and we were almost killed several times, hahaha. It was fun though and he is such a great example. He served with his wife for two years as missionaries, then as mission presidents, then as area representatives or something, THEN as temple president for six years. He got released last week and the first thing he wanted to do was go out and work with us. So great. He also knows Hotta Kyodai dad. 

Monday was a day of work. We visited several less actives and a few members and did a lot of finding. We had some good contacts but nothing else besides that really. And today was temple Pday! We had to split the mission in half for temple Pday because of the numbers so I didn't get to see my son, Horne choro, or any of my doki. It was pretty much me and Koyama Choro, he is my doki, and a bunch of older missionaries. Still fun though. Tonight we have a lesson with Yuuta again so please pray for him. We didn't get a real Pday today with all the training and missionary work but that's ok. I am more than happy being tired for so great a cause. 

Shannon your mission stories are pretty funny and it sounds like you are having a blast ,haha. Keep up your good work and thank you for being such a good example to me.  I love you all more than you know. Thanks for all of your prayers.

Oh I forgot one more thing. I got hit by a car the other day, hahaha. First of many I am sure since everyone runs red lights here and speeds like maniacs. I am okay, just a few bruises on my legs where I got hit. It rolled me up onto his hood a little but he slammed on his brakes so he wasn't going too fast. It was really funny actually, hahaha. 

Love you,

Viehweg Choro

American Meal

Sushi