December 21st, 2015: Nagano!

NAGANO!!!

I have had probably THE strangest first week in recorded history...

Get ready, because this is gonna be a long one!

When we arrived in Japan, we actually had to stay the night in Tokyo

because we missed our connecting flight from Tokyo to Nagoya! So that

was fun. We were put up in a way nice hotel that had complimentary

buffet meals and that was pretty much the best thing ever. It was

really relaxing, and I was super happy because I was dead that night.

So the next morning we got all packed and headed to Nagoya! It was a

short flight, and I got to sit next to a Japanese sister going to

Nagoya as well! She was way cool! Her name is Owada Shimai! We

basically went through the the whole catalog and I asked her a ton of

questions about all of the items in Japanese! It was super fun! Then

we landed and I met Ishii Kaichō! He is seriously the coolest guy

ever! Him and his wife seriously crack me up! Also, random side note,

I met up with Whitney Wilcox here!!! She was a trainer for a sister in

my dōki, and so I got to talk with her a ton! She is the bomb! But

yeah, all of the missionaries going to the far off places in the

mission got to stay the night in the mission home, like me! Also, my

trainer is awesome! His name is Baldwin chōrō and he is flipping

great! His Japanese is AWESOME and he is really cool. He has been a

way rad trainer so far too! We are already good friends!

So the next day we took off early in the morning for Nagano! Nagano

was the exact place that I wanted to get called, so when I heard it, I

was so relieved! Besides the fact that it is way cold here, Nagano

reminds me a lot of home! We're in a mountain valley, and there are

ski resorts all around! You could mistake it for Utah! I love it so

much. We got to the apartment and got all of my stuff situated, and

then had to go to an appointment! The appointment was with a woman who

my trainer hadn't really ever met with before, and no one really knew

why she wanted to meet with us, but being missionaries, we obviously

met with her! And oh was it a strange first day in Nagano. We showed

up at the post office where she told us she wanted to meet, and we

eventually found her and went into a restaurant because it was way

cold outside and we wanted to talk. The whole situation felt a little

strange form the beginning, but because I am a new bean I didn't say

anything. Long story short, this woman turned out to be a member of a

small Buddhist extremist sect (interestingly enough, they were accused

of bombing some sanctuaries because they felt like foreigners were

changing things too much... Yeah. Sketchy huh!?) and she wanted to

throw down hardcore! She brought in backup too! Her religious leader

showed up and started calling us to repentance! Luckily, neither of

them spoke any English so when I would ask for my trainer to explain

he would be like, "I have no idea what is going on... It's getting way

freaky." And I would just nod my head as if he were explaining it to

me... It was scary. We politely excused ourselves when it started to

get really heated and then basically booked it out of there. As we

were hurrying away, we actually ended up getting lost in the dark side

streets of rural Nagano! We wandered around for a while, and

eventually figured out where we were. We had to walk so far in the

cold to get home! That was Thursday.

Friday was a little sketchy too. It started out great when we went and

read the Book of Mormon with a recent convert named Okada kyōdai. I

realized then just how bad I am at reading in Japanese. It is flipping

hard! So I have been practicing everyday and I am already improving a

lot! But yeah, Okada kyōdai is a great guy. He doesn't have a lot of

friends, so we stepped into that role. I sat by him during all of

church, and we talk a lot. Haha, we even have a handshake that we

made! It's way funny! Hahahaha after we finished reading with him, we

decided that we were going to go and buy me a bike. We decided to go

to a Trek store, but it was way far away! We had to take a train

halfway across Nagano, and then walk a couple of miles to get there!

It was already dark when we showed up. We went in and I was super

stoked to get a bike finally! I found one that I liked and brought it

up to the man working the register and told him that I wanted to buy

it. He looked at me, then down at my bike, then back up at me, and

then started yelling out this super fast Japanese at me. I could tell

he wasn't pleased. I looked at my trainer and he looked as confused as

I felt. Basically, this guy thought that this bike wasn't big enough

for me, so he wouldn't sell it to me. I again told him that I liked

it, and he proceeded to come and grab the bike from me and took it

into the back of the shop, all the while motioning for me to follow

him. I was a little nervous at this point. We went into the back of

the shop and he pulled out this measuring tape and started measuring

everywhere on me and then diligently writing the numbers down. Once he

was finished, he brought his clipboard with my whole body's

measurements on it to show us. I was like, "Cool. I want the bike."

And he got more mad. He started doing all of these equations and

calculations and you would have thought this man was trying to one up

Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawkins! All in all, he was trying to show

us that I was around 174 (I can't remember the units) and the limit

was 175. He didn't think that was good enough for me and so he wanted

to order a new bike for me. But I was not going to walk home. The bike

felt good (it actually fits perfectly we found out because I have

shorter legs than most people my height... Weird huh?) and so I told

him that. This guy was raging! I thought he was going to start

throwing punches! So I pulled out my credit card, and told him again

that I wanted to buy it. He got the message that time, and got super

quiet. It was actually scarier than when he was yelling at us. It was

super tense and awkward as I bought the bike and then left the store.

My trainer was like, "What the heck just happened. I have never seen

that before." And we all just started laughing. It was a strange

Friday.

Saturday was amazing! We met again with Okada kyōdai and read from the

Book of Mormon. That is when I noticed that I had actually improved in

one day! It is cool how much you can do with God on your side, isn't

it? We read, and then after we had a small English lesson. It is

hilarious because Japanese people cannot pronounce the sounds right.

But it was fun. Right after that we met with an investigator named

Naoki, and he is unique because we only talk to him in English. He is

obsessed with learning English, and we are pretty sure that is the

only reason that he meets with us. His English is way good though, and

he says he practices everyday! We gave him a Book of Mormon to read

and told him to find ten words that he didn't understand, and that is

what we would talk about next time. We're praying that as he reads it,

he will see the truth in it. Then came my favorite part. THE WARD

CHRISTMAS PARTYYYY! It was so cool! I got to meet all of the ward

members, and their kids. So the children here in Japan are probably

the cutest ever. It is awesome. I was playing around with all of them

and now they all know me by name. They all yell, "Pashy chōrō, Pashy

chōro!" Whenever they see me. It is great. So we all ate this good

food that the members brought, and then came time for the devotional.

I was lucky, because I got to be SANTA CLAUS! I dressed up in this way

ghetto outfit from the 90's, and then charged into the chapel yelling

English. Don't worry, they told me to speak only English. I was

actually impressed with my ability to chuckle... Hahahaha everyone

formed a line and was going crazy, including all of the old people! I

gave them all candy and told them merry Christmas! Of course everyone

recognized me, so after the party everyone came up to me and was

calling me Santa. I was jokingly telling them that I was just a

missionary, not Santa. Hahaha oh, and the cutest thing happened ever!

I was sitting down after being Santa, and one of the little boys (he

was probably five or six years old) comes up and grabs my hand and

looks me in the eyes and said, "Thank you." In way soft and kind

English. My heart literally melted as I said, "You're welcome." He

smiled a toothy smile and then ran back under the table with all of

his other friends. That's what it is all about guys. Family. That's

why I am here, in Japan, spending two years of my time learning a

foreign language and living in a foreign place. So that families can

be together forever. It was a great Saturday.

Sunday was pretty good too! It was very...intimidating...to say the

least. Naturally, our mission president, Ishii Kaichō, decided to stop

by our ward this Sunday. So, being new, I had to speak in from of a

bunch of people, INCLUDING MY MISSION PRESIDENT, in Japanese. That was

freaky. It was only like eight minutes long though, so it wasn't too

bad. I just introduced myself and bore my testimony. I am actually

proud of the fact that my Japanese didn't suck! I attribute it to my

amazing MTC teachers! Thanks so much Norawong Kyōdai, Carlile Shimai,

and Babcock Shimai! I am not a failure after all because of you guys!

;) hahaha, but the rest of the Sunday was good. We had a bunch of

meetings, and then later that day we went finding! In Japan, it is so

important to OYM (Open Your Mouth) to everyone that you pass. We found

two new investigators ON THE WAY to the place where we were gonna go

finding. You never know who has been prepared by the Lord's hand, and

the only way to find out is to OYM! We came home feeling successful on

Sunday.

Today is our P-Day, and right now we don't have any major plans.

Tonight we are meeting with Samuel, one of our new investigators, and

my trainer is leaving it up to me to invite him to be baptized! AHHHH!

I guess we'll see how that one goes!

That's about it for now... Hahahaha I love EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE

OF YOU! Thank you for everything you have done for me! The work is

needed here in Japan, and I am so grateful that I get to share the

gospel. The Japanese people are phenomenal, and I already love them so

much.  So here we go! It's time to save some souls!

愛しています！

パシー 長老

Also, here is my mission address... Sorry I forgot to put it in last time!

Japan Nagoya Mission

1-304 Itadakai, Meitou-ku

Nagoya-shi, Aichi

465-0028

Japan

Hopefully that's right... Also, I will try to send another email with

pictures! The email situation is way weird right now... Oh well! I'm

working on it! :)

Stuck in the Tokyo Airport

This is our ward Christmas Party