January 11th, 2015

Ai suru Kyodai Shimai minasan, (Dear Brothers, Sisters & Everyone)

We have had quite the strange, exciting, sad, and fun filled week here in Koshigaya Japan. 

Monday Tuesday and Wednesday were all very strange. I never, ever want to watch someone die (return home) from their mission again. Hughes Choro was one of the very best here in Tokyo and I could tell how much he had given the Lord during those few days. He never once complained or got trunky, but I could catch times when he didn't think anyone was looking where he would let some of what he was feeling surface. It killed him having to go home this past week, but to his credit he worked just as hard right up to the end. I feel so lucky to work with so many amazing people here. We have West Point, Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy cadets, people who turned down Harvard to serve missions, professional entertainers, engineers, people who finished their pre med degree two years early so they could serve a mission by the time they were twenty and all kinds of other amazing missionaries here. I'm constantly humbled and blown away by those around me. Hughes Choro is just one of many incredible missionaries.

Monday and Tuesday were filled with packing and different things to help Hughes Choro be ready to leave. We also managed to visit and have last minute lessons with all kinds of people before he left. Koshigaya was actually where he was trained so it was amazing to see how much everyone loved and appreciated him and how well he worked with the area. Tuesday night we went in to Nakano for his exit interview. We went to the mission home and he and president Nagano interviewed in the office while Burch Choro and I talked to sister Nagano and her daughter who recently returned from the Los Angeles California mission. It is always so wonderful to see that family. It really feels like they are my parents out here. We were able to chat, laugh and talk about different things while she and her daughter baked cookies for upcoming interviews. I was also able to see Koyama Choro again which was really great. He was happy to see me too and seemed to be doing very well. He is going back out from the honbu (mission home) this transfer which was so good to hear. 

Wednesday morning we took elder Hughes to the train station and saw him off for the next twenty four hours. He planned his last visits ( every returning missionary gets one day to travel to areas that are nearby the honbu and have lessons with old investigators) for Thursday and so we worked all day Wednesday as just the two of us. It was weird and the apartment got sooo quiet without him, but we still have tons of fun together so it's all good.

Thursday was a pretty good day. We met elder Hughes and his two other returning companions at the church for two lessons. One was with our investigator named Ozawa San who has schizophrenia, and the other was with the college student named Fujieda San. Both lessons were really good. The three transfer sixteen (ready to go home) missionaries just took over and Burch Choro and I simply sat and watched it all unfold. There was a very powerful spirit there and we were able to set a baptismal date with Ozawa San. He had one before but got super depressed when he couldn't quit smoking and fired the elders. He recently decided he wanted to try again, but is still very nervous about changing. Change is really hard for him, but he also has a crazy strong desire to follow Christ so he is always in a sort of conflict. Anyways, we were able to resolve a lot of concerns and he accepted to be baptized on the thirtieth if he can prepare. The next lesson was with Fujieda San. It was pretty much the same as the first, but he assured the elders he could not get baptized. He really wants to, but his family is very nervous and pretty hantai (anti) when it comes to Christianity. It's a real shame because he is more active than the members and loves to learn. We aren't sure how to help him progress, but he has a desire and we can work with that. Both lessons were very powerful and full of the spirit. I am grateful for those three elders and how much they helped us that day.

From there Burch Choro and I have been working on our own. Thursday we were called to run over to a recent convert's house to give her a blessing. She has been very sick and hasn't been able to come to church for a few weeks. She was very happy to see us and the other member who came. Her name is Lilian Tanaka and is a Filipino married to a not-so-friendly nihonjin (Japanese man).  She is a little crazy and is constantly taking pictures of everyone and everything. She has thousands of photos all around her apartment and was sure to take a bunch before we left. She is very sweet though and has a good strong testimony. We gave her a blessing of healing and then Burch Choro gave a very sweet blessing of comfort as well. She has been experiencing some difficulties with family and was very much comforted by what the spirit spoke to her through us. It was a great visit and she was able to come to church this week. She has us all call her "Mamzi."  Like I said a little crazy haha.

I can't even remember what we did on Friday, but one cool thing is that one of my sempai (fellow students) from the MTC is now here as well. He is tall, goofy, and full of love and will do very well here I'm sure. I do remember that we went to Urawa, the next area over where the zone leaders are, and had district leader training. It was pretty wild to see that my kohai, (entered MTC at same time) Broberg Choro, is now my zone leader. He has set the mission on fire and at transfer five was chosen as a zone leader. I'm excited to split with him and learn from his example. I also remember that we visited Ozawa Kunio San. He was a little depressed but lightened up after a little bit. We set expectations to contact him daily to try to help slowly lift his spirits.

Saturday was pretty funny. We had a ward shinnenkai, (game night) I cannot remember the English word, which was super fun. I had one pretty funny goof right as we left the apartment. We got down to our bikes and walked out of the ground gates to set out for the church. Burch Choro got on his bike and headed off and then it was my turn. I swung my leg up over the seat and heard a VERY loud, Very abrupt tear. It was SO LOUD Burch Choro thought that someone had dropped something off of the roof of an apartment building. He turned around to me and I just yelled out,"I ripped my pants!" Hahaha. It was my favorite pair too.  We ran back up and inspected the damage to find a huge rip all the way down the crotch seam hahaha. I'll try to get a member to fix them soon. The actual activity was super fun. They had all the missionaries participate in games which was ridiculous. We can hardly speak the language and they threw us into games involving rhythm and words we have never learned. It was still fun though. The good thing was that a bunch of investigators came and we had a lot of small short teaching opportunities. 

Sunday was really good. Everyone was excited to meet the new coming missionary and there was a baptism of one of the three primary kids in the ward which was cool. We had a few investigators come, but not to many. And none of ours did. Sunday night I did call in reports with all of the missionaries here. We do night calls and they report their day to me, but I always love call in reports at the end of the week. I didn't realize how much I missed doing all this leadership stuff. It gets me involved with the elders and sisters so much and you grow to love and serve them so much more. It really is a privilege for me do be able to do it. 

I think that's all for this week. 

Love you all!

Viehweg Choro

January 4th, 2015

Hey family,

Sorry I sent a pretty lame email last week. We were super busy and had

all kinds of appointments and things we needed to get done over here

in the promised land of Koshigaya.

I thank you dearly for all of the presents, letters, and love you

sent to me this Christmas. I felt the support and love from all of you

and want you to know how grateful I am to know and come from such

great people. All the gifts fit wonderfully and keep me very warm.

Sisters, those ridiculously big poofy socks you sent are the best

things ever. There is no carpet in Tokyo so the floor gets very cold

sometimes.

I have so much that happened over the last two weeks, but I'm just

going to highlight a few of the good ones in no particular order soooo

sorry, but not sorry.

I think the first thing want to talk about is my Christmas experience.

First off it was great to talk to all of you that were there via

Skype. I'm sorry it was a pain to get ahold of you. To be honest, I

was extremely nervous about it. Almost to the point of getting sick

right before hand hahaha I really didn't want to call, but I knew I

needed to. I'm sorry if I was awkward or quiet—I simply had no idea

what to say. Dad said I seemed happy and I suppose that is what I want

you all to know. I have never been this consistently happy in all my

life. There are difficult times but the pure joy that accompanies the

work of salvation is without compare in this life. So please rest easy

even if I seem weird and do not want to talk hahaha.

Firstly, I want to talk about our experience Christmas Eve. We finished

all of our calls and reports early to set aside a good half hour to

devote solely to the birth of the Savior. We started off by singing

Silent Night and as soon as the words left our lips the most pure

tender presence of the spirit settled over our apartment. We had

received a tree from Burch Choro’s mom and lit it up with our space

heater that gave the room a very quiet, reverent feeling. From there we

opened the scriptures and read from Luke. As we sat there reading

about the one reason we all chose to come to Japan the spirit touched

each and every one of our hearts together. The best way I can describe

is is by quoting the scripture from the Book of Mormon about having

“one faith and one baptism…with hearts knit together in unity and

love one towards another.”  It truly was as if the spirit of God was

uniting our hearts and speaking and moving through each of us together

in that dimly lit apartment. After reading the story of Christ’s birth

we each bore our own personal testimony of the Savior to each other. I

don't want to describe what happened next because I believe it was

beyond sacred, but I felt something I don't think I could describe

even if I tried. Suffice it to say that I know perfectly why I am

here, and I know the love that God the Father and the Savior have for the

Japanese people. Everyone said that you find out the true sanctity

behind Christmas as a missionary. That proved to be more than true for me.

Christmas missionary work was an absolute blast and we were able to

have some wonderful contacts with people. Unfortunately no one became

new investigators, but what happened the day after Christmas made up

for all of that.

Before I came to this area, the ward made a goal to have a baptism the day after

Christmas. One day Hughes and Burch Choro prayed that someone would

come to the church who desired to be baptized, and the next day a part

member family’s husband came walking into the church saying he was

ready to be with his family forever. The sisters took over teaching

him and Christmas week we still weren't sure if he was ready or not.

The zone leaders came and did an interview and okay’d the baptism. So

we set the day officially for the twenty sixth. The morning of the 26th, just

before the service, Hughes Choro called his family back in the States. He chose to have

only his mom, dad, and grandma Skype in and then invited our

investigator Mae sit in for a lesson with his family. It was amazing.

Mae speaks fluent English and he started right off saying how grateful

he was for the church and the missionaries. He testified his wife was

still alive because of the prayers of himself and the missionaries. From

here Hughes Choro’s family took over. He didn't even have to say

anything. His mother, father, and grandmother taught perfectly and far

better than any missionary I have worked with ever could. It was so

powerful. Right after that we all attended the baptism together and

got punched in the face by the spirit. Sakaniwa Kyodai, the man who

was baptized, gave the best recent convert testimony that Elder Hughes

said he has ever heard, and Mae loved it. After the meeting he said he

could not think of one reason not to join the church, except that his

family said they would disown him if he did anything beyond attend eikaiwa,

and game night with our church. He needs a lot of prayer but he is so very close to

baptism. I was also emailed by president Nagano saying that Yuta San back in Kamagaya was

close to baptism as well.

This week we had shogatsu (New Year Celebration) which is crazy here. Missionary work is not

very effective, but we managed to do a lot more than most other

companionships and stay busy which was a blessing from the Lord. Mae

also blessed us with one incredible experience. We gave him a lesson

about how similar jinjas, Shinto shrines, and Jewish temples were and

how God loves the Japanese people and has prepared them for the gospel

by showing them parts of truths over generations of time. The next day

we took a huge tour of Tokyo. Mae took us to Asakusa, Nishiarai, and

Meiji jingu and the empirical palace grounds. I was blown away. There

were tens of thousands of people there. It was just like something out

of the New Testament. A whole lot of people making sacred ground not

so sacred for reasons they cannot explain to you. Even the temple

priests can't tell you why they do the ordinances they do.  Dad can

explain these things but so much is similar to the gospel it is way

cool. I have pictures but not too much time to talk about all this. We

taught and viewed all day long and it was one of the coolest

experiences I have ever had. We went through about six different areas

and zones doing this, but we had special permission to do it. There is

so much more but I just don’t have time to talk about it.

We are all very sad to see Hughes Choro going home. I definitely want

more time to learn from him, but he's leaving all the same. That being

said, we had transfer calls today and I will be the district leader for

Koshigaya with Burch Choro as my companion. I have only been here two

and a half weeks so I still don't know much, but I'll manage.   God

qualifies all whom He calls so if you weren't qualified, he never would

have called you. I'm actually really excited. This area is great.

Also last night we had dinner with the Suzuki family. The father

served his mission in Pocatello way back so we had a great time with

them. I'll try to get all these pictures out..it may take a few weeks.

Dad, I'm sorry we didn't talk too much, maybe next time it will be

smoother and we can have some better time to talk. I was nervous

anyway and didn't speak all that well.

I love you all!!!  Aunt Launette thank you so very much for the email I love you.

Love,

Viehweg Choro

Tori Temple

December 21st, 2015

Hey family,

Thank you so so so much for the gifts and packages. Mom and Dad I got your package and have not opened the gifts yet but I ate all the gingerbread in two days...  Brittany Jessica Kristin Danielle Lisa, thank you so much for the twelve days of Christmas package! Even though I only have four left... It's still great. 

First off I will be calling on the twentyfourth of December IN Japan. So that will be the twentythird for all you gaijins. I will call in the morning my time which will be evening time there. Dad if you can let me know what time is good for YOU at that time frame. I really don't want to have to worry about losing a signal so maybe it would be good just to have people at home who can Skype directly to talk. I would rather have a good conversation that way, than trying to connect fifteen different devices to the session. Sorry for those who may not be able to talk with me. I still love you all. I have about fourty-five minutes of time okay? I can email a little bit about this so let me know what time works for you. Also give me the email address for the skype account you want me to use!  Dad thank you for the awesome sports update. What a game, I'll try to be nice to you when we speak haha.

So...Koshigaya.

This area is awesome. I miss Kamagaya terribly and feel like I left home behind, but Koshigaya is so different and new, it is a great opportunity for me to learn and grow. My companions are Elder Hughes from Branson, Missouri. His family does a huge theatre production professionally there and he is a prodigy when it comes to music. Not to mention he as our last assistant so he is a mission legend. I am very lucky to be working with him. Elder Burch is one hilarious elder from MERIDIAN, IDAHO. We found a few mutual friends and have bonded really well. Going from a place where I spent four out of five transfers with one Japanese elder sharing my apartment, to an apartment with four Americans has been so crazy. It was like coming home though. Loud, rude Americans are the best.  Anyway, this transfer Hughes Choro is dying so most likely I will stay here another transfer at least, but nobody really knows for sure.

The actual transfer was a little bit of a nightmare. The zone leaders sent me the wrong travel plan and I got a little mixed up on trains. I managed to find my way, but the Koshigaya elders had to wait an extra two hours. At which time I was solo and did not have a phone so no one knew what happened to me, hahaha.  All good though, I made it safe and sound.  Getting set up in the Koshigaya apartment was great.  IT'S A PALACE.  I was living in a complete dump craphole compared to them, haha.  It's a really nice place and the view catches the mountains, sometimes Fuji San, and Sky Tree, which is really cool.

This week was really great adjusting to the life here in Koshigaya. The Eikaiwa class is so big and fun and the investigators they have all have really high potential. There is one named Mae who is about sixty and LOVES the elders. He has two punk sons who don't care about him and a wife with cancer, so we are like his children. I feel we may be a little too friendly for a missionary investigator relationship, but he has really been progressing lately which is cool. He is a hilarious man and so rude for a Japanese person. That's why he loves the elders, we all can be rude back to him and laugh really loud. He is always buying missionaries food and loves coming to all of our activities. We had a few lessons with him this week which was good. 

On Wednesday we had a lesson with some recent converts, the Minami family. They are both very old and she was baptized three years ago while he waited untill this past year to be baptized. Anyway I have never seen faith so strong compared to these two.  Minami Kyodai was an Olympic runner at one time but had a stroke and developed a bad drinking problem. He was drunk most of his life, but sobered up after seeing his wife come into the church, then he followed after her. They were so cute while we taught them, which was another impromptu lesson, and followed along in their scriptures marking and noting all kinds of things. I took some pictures.

Thursday we had a Christmas concert in Koiwa put on by the Tokyo missionaries. The music was pretty rough, but the spirit was so strong. We attended with Mae and getting there turned into quite an experience. We were supposed to meet him near his office in Akihabara which is notoriously evil.  Not a good place to go.  Anyway, there is one exit from the Eki which is G-rated, and another exit which is horrible.  We accidentally got off at the wrong station and, unbeknownst to us, decided to enter the most expensive line in all of Japan, hahaha.  When Mae found out he gave Burch Choro so much grief for being here three transfers and still not knowing how to get around "safely."  Anyway, Hughes Choro had gone early to practice his violin in preparation and I came a few days ago so had no idea what to do and we got a little lost. Eventually we met up with Mae and made it to the concert.

I was able to meet Yuuta San there which was so good. We never got to speak before I transferred and he simply told me how grateful he was for all we had shown him. He is continuing to meet with the sisters as well as the members there, my friend Inoue Kyodai, and seemed really good. I talked to him after the concert and he said he was able to feel the spirit very strongly. We took a picture and parted ways after that. I have come to love that man so much. When you find someone on the street, and slowly see them change and come closer to Christ you grow to love them as your own brother or sister. Their wants and needs and worries become yours as you work to resolve them. He is proof to me that this gospel is true. I always had faith that it was, but now I have seen how it truly changes a person.  After the concert we returned to Koshigaya with Mae and ran into an incredible drunk woman.  It was awful.  In Japan the Christmas season is when people officially pair off and start to date, so all those divorced or single get really depressed.  This woman had drunk so much she was fainting in and out on the Eki platform. She wandered over and started blabbering to Mae and grabbing his arm, but every fifteen seconds would faint and collapse, catching herself at the last second before hitting the ground.  We just got her on the train and waited for the next one. Two stations down the line this woman stumbles into the train again and does the same thing to Mae, but has no memory of the first time!  She then collapsed on the floor and peed herself. It was ridiculous. We had no idea what to do so we just sat her up in the train and got off. Hopefully she got him safely.  So glad we heed the word of wisdom.

After the concert Hughes Choro went out to Niigata for their Christmas concert up north so it was just Burch Choro and I. It was like being with Horne Choro all over again since they are doki (came out at the same time) and I have not laughed so much over the course of my entire mission than I have with elder Burch.  He is so spacey and clueless it kills me, but I love him to death and he works super hard. We managed not to ruin anything, and find a few people over the next few days until Hughes Choro returned Sunday night. 

Sunday was really special. The Koshigaya ward is small, but it is so special. All the members do is centered around helping he missionaries. In Kamagaya the members seemed to think that school, work, social life, and church were all separate and could not intermingle. Here it is all connected and they just want to help us work. You can feel the love in this ward and sacrament meeting this week was the closest thing I have ever felt to being in our home ward.  I loved it.  After sacrament we were surprised and told that the gospel doctrine teacher did not show up, so Burch Choro and I had to teach about the gathering of Israel, impromptu, in Japanese.  Burch Choro is still young and doesn't speak Japanese so well, so it was mostly me. I don't think I taught any false doctrine?  We did our best, but it was a classic missionary experience I think. Pretty funny.

I'm making it a shorter email this week, I think. But I love you all and can't wait to talk to you soon. Thank you for all the support and love. I know the gospel is true and I love being a missionary!

Elder Viehweg

Minami Family

Sunset from Apartment

View from Koshigaya Apartment

With Yuta San

December 14th, 2015

Hey everyone,

This brought tears to my eyes when I read it, I hope you all enjoy it as well.

Christmas is not a day or a season,

But a condition of the heart and Mind.

If we love our neighbor as Ourselves;

If in riches we are poor in spirit

And in our poverty we are rich In grace

If our charity vaunteth not itself,

But suffereth long and is kind;

If when our brother asks for a loaf,

We give him ourselves instead, if each

Day dawns in opportunity and 

Sets in achievement, however small-

Then every day is Christ's day and 

Christmas is always near.

So, we were called last night and told that they were closing our area. I was completely in shock, and the first thing I thought about was Yuuta San. This past week he finally had the spirit confirm to him what he has been seeking, and brought up baptism, quitting the tobacco, and living other commandments all on his own. It's going to take a lot of work, but he has the beginnings of a testimony and believes in the Book of Mormon and in Jesus Christ. Needless to say we were absolutely pumped from that point on. He came to all three hours of church again yesterday as well as a priesthood year end party earlier and loved all of it. I'm not gonna lie, I am a little crushed. Six months in the same area and only one investigator makes you pretty keen to stay and finish the job. Of course I know it is not up to me, but if it were, I'd stay just for Yuuta San. I've grown to love him and I have seen how the gospel has changed him in just two months. I know the church is true, and I know that it can and will change anyone willing to experiment on the word.

There are many reasons for the closing. The ward is having some issues with the work, and my companion needs people who can better communicate with him while he continues to work and push through his own challenges. Looking at things now, I can see why Nagano Kaicho wants to do this, but I am still heartbroken. There has been a lot of sweat, many more tears, and a considerable amount of work in these past four and a half transfers, so I feel like a giant bandage is being ripped off. I'll miss Yuuta San dearly and I hope that the Ward cares for him. Please, I have said this before, but GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO HELP THE MISSIONARIES. Dad, I was happy to hear you tell the sisters you are always willing to help them, that really means so much.  So make sure no one sends anything to the Kamagaya apartment because no one will be there!

Okay so here is this week:

Tuesday we had a zone meeting in Matsudou. It was a really great one. Our mission has good standards for work and obedience, but we are lacking in consecration so that was the focus for this meeting. As a mission we are fortunate enough to be able to read emails throughout the week, but the zone leaders felt impressed to have us all turn off our emails during the week to better focus on the work. After just one week I have noticed a much bigger difference in my own attitude so I am thankful for inspired leaders. At the end of the meeting we did something I have never done before.  We all knelt down as a zone in the huge Matsudo church, and prayed to the Lord promising we would further consecrate ourselves. It was a very powerful moment for me and strengthened my testimony. I had the privilege of praying and I could feel the spirit from every missionary there confirming that they were now promising to become further consecrated to this work.

Wednesday we had our regular English class which was really fun. I mostly played with the little kid, Sooichiro, the whole time and managed to help teach some English as well. He's just so dang cute. That day we also found two new potential investigators and received contact info from each. We used the video "Because of Him" for the first time while street contacting and it worked perfectly. If any of you are wondering how you can do missionary work, just show that video to a few friends and simply ask them what they think. That's all we did and it worked! And you all have much more faith and strength than I do.

Thursday was zone conference. It was so great to see the Naganos again. They are simply the best people and always so great to us. They started off by announcing our Christmas presents. Each companionship will now have a futon dryer to keep them from molding in the summer, and they also gave us all ties with the mission motto embroidered on it with a bag of cookies. Such a sweet gesture. The zone conference was awesome. It was very much focused on companionships and communication. They even dived into some psychology to help us all better understand how we can better work together despite differences. It was a really great training and I learned A LOT. Basically I am still horribly impatient and have a lot of work to do but hey, now I have a direction. After zone conference the assistant surprised us and said he was coming to Kamagaya to work with us for the day while his companion split with the Matsudo zone leaders. It was soooo fun.

Miller Choro is a six foot four kid from Provo Utah. He lives right next to the MTC so he's pretty Utah Mormon. Anyway he is absolutely hilarious and has a heart of pure gold. I swear the Tokyo mission is full of the happiest, most loving people--it's crazy to me. The only other missionary as loving as Miller Choro is probably Lee Choro, our district leader from Hong Kong. Anyway, I learned so much from him. We had a good day working together on Friday. Friday night we had the lesson with Yuuta San. We planned to follow up on the spirit, but before we could he came out and told us he had felt a very strong peace and calm from the scripture we sent to him the other day through text. I had forgotten I sent it to him, bit it is the scripture in third nephi eleven where the people hear the voice three times before recognizing it. We then introduced a Bible video we wanted to help teach him with, only to find out he has watched almost all of them on his own since downloading gospel library! From there the lesson was easy to teach. When we followed up we found out there is still a lot of work to do for the commandments, but he is so close to baptism I can feel it. Anyway, it was a really good lesson and unfortunately I won't be able to see where he ends up. But I have hope and faith, and I know we did all we could for him. I sure will miss Yuuta. He's the gem of my stay here in Kamagaya.

Saturday was very busy. We had eikaiwa, then visited a less active and her sons, went back to the church to see a high school student we met on the train and invited to come to the church, talked with him and got his number, went to get a gift for Yuuta, then we headed to the priesthood year end party I mentioned earlier. It was a busy day, but so much fun. The party was hilarious. I have NEVER seen Japanese people act that way before. I guess the male specimen is the same in every culture, once the women are gone. I was laughing so hard the whole time at all the rowdy, immature, loud, sometimes a little inappropriate actions and words of all the men, hahaha. It was like they all just let their hair down and kicked off those shoes. A nice change of pace of you ask me. Yuuta San had a great time too.

Sunday we had Yuuta at church and he was able to learn about many different things. Some of it was spiritual, which was great, some doctrinal, and then he also learned about the structure of the church and how it helps all the members in priesthood meeting. I felt that it was a perfect balance of all three.

It's been a good week but also a very difficult one. These past few transfers have been pretty hard on Koyama Choro and unfortunately I wasn't really able to help him all that much. Still, I am grateful for all that I am learning and all the weaknesses I am discovering. I feel that I rely more and more on the Lord each day. Which is probably how it should be. I love you all so very much and miss you dearly. Keep the faith.

Viehweg Choro

December 6th, 2015

Greetings family and friends,

Dad thank you very much for the advice you sent me. It is worth more than you think and I am very grateful for the example you have always set for all of us. I love you very much. You are exactly right in saying that the Christmas here will be very different. It already is. There isn't that warm hum of Christmas spirit in the air that you feel in America, but we have it in our hearts. 

Dad I want to ask if you have been saving all the photos I have sent home. If not it is okay, but it would be nice to have a nice little cache of them for later in life. As for meals, we cook lunch and dinner together. Breakfast is on our own. I normally eat cereal, Japanese cereal is sooooo good, and a fruit smoothie or natto. I actually like natto now hahaha. Lunch is Japanese curry and rice, mabudofu(Chinese) and rice, rice, yakisoba, or we go out. Dinner is usually ramen that Koyama Choro makes which is really good, soba, somen, udon, or spaghetti. I am learning how to cook a few Japanese style things, but it is all very simple haha. Nothing really great. We like a lot of the same food so it works out really well. It is rare that we eat with members. Maybe once every three or four weeks we get invited to dinner, but that's okay because they always want us to stay for two hours which is not very effective for our work.

This week has been a fairly good one. We climbed above the average for total lessons which was really good to look back on when reporting stats to the district leader. Of course Shannon has more lessons in a day than I do in a week, but it still felt good to see a little result after all the planning and work. 

Monday night we had a lesson with an inactive member, Yamagata Kyodai. He works on Sunday's and I have talked about him a lot I'm sure, but we watched the restoration video with him and discussed his conversion. His story is actually very sweet. From the time he was a middle school student he had an urge and a desire to be a Christian. In school learning about the religious history only fed into that. He met the missionaries one day at the grocery store where he worked and was invited to come to eikaiwa. From there he received the lessons and learned all about the church. He said that one night he had a dream where the Savior told him to trust in what he has learned and follow his desires. From there he was baptized as a member of the church. It was a really cool story and we all felt the spirit very strongly. Unfortunately he still lacks the courage to find a new job. When we challenged him he said that he is working even more right now so he can become a manager and then make his own work schedule. All we can really do is love him and keep giving him opportunities to feel the spirit.

Tuesday we had splits with the Matsudo elders. I worked here with Chou Choro from Taiwan, and Koyama Choro went to Matsudou. It was a pretty good day. We did a lot of finding and streeting which turned out better than usual due to the warm weather I think. That night we attended seminary and helped the one youth who showed up to study from the Doctrine and Covenants. He is a very special kid named Takun. He loves missionaries and comes to all of our activities. I have really been able to get close to him which has been really cool for me. He feels like a younger brother which is something I always wanted, BUT I was blessed with two beautiful darling younger sisters. After that we set up and played ping pong with some members and friends which is always fun. The next day as we went to Kashiwa, the middle point between us and them, we found a new investigator. The kid was a high school aged boy who said he had interest in learning, it was a really good contact and he lived in Kamagaya so we were excited about that. However when we called his mom answered the phone and after a few minutes of hushed talking, the boy got on and apologized saying his parents were strict and wouldn't let him learn. It was sad but we encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon we gave him on his own. Every single day we talk to people who stop to chat because I am a helpless American, but as soon as they see Jesus Christ on my name tag they throw their hand up in our face and walk off. Dad probably can imagine what I am talking about. It really is sad how a name that has brought me so much happiness can cause people to act in that way. If only they knew. But that's why we are here!

Wednesday night we had a great lesson with Yuuta. We started off with watching the video finding faith in Christ since he has a really strong desire to learn about him. After the video, Natalie we took your advice and showed him the new holiday video. He was pretty quiet for a moment then started talking about how he wants to change. He wants to stop smoking, and he wants to quit working at the pachinko parlor (gambling machine house), and he wants to learn more about the church. He is being influenced the by the spirit and doesn't even know why. We are really working with him to help him recognize that influence more, but he is still struggling to realize it. So thank you for offering that small piece of revelation Natalie. You should be a missionary.

Thursday we had district meeting in Matsudou and I gave a training on setting goals. It seems like I always get asked to share on some kind of topic, but sometimes I just wish I could sit back and soak in all of the thoughts everyone else shares. It was a good meeting and I had to cut my training short due to time which was fine by me! After that we did weekly planning.

Friday was another lesson with Yuuta. We met at the church and taught him a big one. The law of chastity. He actually took it a lot better than I thought he would. He has so much love and respect for people around him it only made sense that there would be a commandment protecting families and relationships. However he still thought it was a little difficult for him. He said he would need to repent of a lot, and change a few things in his life to get on track with the commandment. At the end of the lesson he said he would do his best to live the law of chastity, but doesn't seem very confident. We need to encourage him and support him more, but we are not sure how. Either way he has a desire to keep the commandments which means he is feeling the spirit. Again we just need to help him recognize that. Another cool thing that happened was we pulled out the gospel library and watched a bible video to start off the lesson. To help his faith in Christ grow we have decided to watch one at the start of each lesson. Anyway, we explained that all the videos were on the gospel library app, and he downloaded it right on the spot! Pretty cool. He also said he could come to church this Sunday AND that he wanted to go to the mission Christmas concert in Nakano with us. He is progressing well but the mission has a goal for every companionship to see a baptism before Christmas. He needs a lot of prayer and faith to make that happen!

Saturday we did eikaiwa, and met with Yoshida Kyodai, the very poor recent convert. He has some mental illnesses like severe depression so the lesson was very difficult. As in it was three minutes long. Poor guy. He has nothing except the gospel. We do our best to love him, but he still really struggles. The good thing is he is a die hard. He is at every activity, and comes to church every week.

Sunday was awesome. Yuuta came to all three hours of church!! It was so great. That was the first time the Kamagaya elders have had an investigator at church in the past four or five months. He absolutely loved it. His expectation was a little skewed and he was surprised at the crying and laughing children, the relaxed atmosphere, and the love everyone had for each other. It felt so good to finally have an investigator come to church with us. After the last hour he said that from now on he wanted to come every opportunity he could to get to know people and learn more. Unfortunately that is determined by his job, but he has the desire. We set up a next appointment for tomorrow and will commit him to a new baptismal date. As I said before he really needs to be able to recognize the spirit so please pray for him. Sunday night we were invited over to eat dinner at an eternal investigators house. He made us sukiyaki and steak which wa so good, but as soon as we started to introduce the lesson he suddenly remembered he had a business call to make. We think he is lonely and needs some love, but we aren't sure how best to help him. He has been meeting with the missionaries for three years now. Good man though, and very generous.

That's about all for this week. I am being taught and am humbled each day having Japanese companion. I don't know anything! Enjoy the Christmas season and help the missionaries see miracles. I love and miss you all but do NOT want to come home.

Love,

Viehweg Choro