Last Temple Trip

This week felt really long. Last Monday feels like 2 weeks ago.
     So last week we went to Zone Pday and I didn't write what we were doing because I didn't know. Well, we ended up making armor and weapons out of cardboard and fighting in the gym. It was "Lamanites vs Nephites" and just like the last battle in the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites won. That's too bad. But I was actually on the Lamanite team and we kicked butt. It was pretty fun. That night a king fu teacher came and taught us. It was way fun and fast paced. We're not allowed to hit each other or anything but he went toe to toe with me and told me to block. Then he preceded to punch at me and miraculously he didn't hit me at all. Then he realized that we weren't supposed to hit people or get hit and he stopped. It was cool.
     We taught our kids English class again and the Sisters taught the kids while we taught the moms. It went really well. The only problem is that they emergency transferred the Sisters this week so now it's just us. We probably won't be able to run a class with that many kids and just 2 of us. So there's a possibility that that class might end up dying. We aren't sure yet. One good thing that came from the Sisters leaving is we got all their food, including a really expensive steak. I cut it in half and my companion actually ate it. It was so good. Other than that we're just really sad the Sisters are leaving. Since they're leaving, my District became just me and my companion. That was a problem so they made me co-District Leader with another Elder and combined our Districts. It's weird but I guess it will work.
     We went to an English activity at a high school this week and talked about World issues in English. I don't really like talking about world issues for a few reasons. One, I have no idea what's happened in the last year and a half. Two, the kids always have weird opinions on things. Three, lots of other stuff. But all in all it was good and at the end they made a hallway of students to high five us on the way out. We also went to the English club at Ibaraki University and it was fun. We talked a lot and my group laughed and had a lot of fun. Then we took some of them out to eat again and had a good time.
     This family that really likes us asked if we could hang out on Sunday and after explaining our rules for the Sabbath we told them we'd love to. Well, they load us up in the car and take us to a park. Except it's not the kind of park they said it would be, it was an amusement park with roller coasters and everything. They're so nice BUT even if it wasn't Sunday we couldn't have gone in. So we reexplained our rules and for some reason it just didn't quite click until we repeated it like 20 times. Eventually she got that we don't make other people work on Sunday and that by entering the amusement park we would cause someone to work. So we went to the beach instead and kept the commandments. There was a wedding going on down the beach and people were taking lots of pictures because it was a beautiful day.
     I'm so grateful for my mission and all the good it's done for me. I'm also grateful that I still have 5 months left to serve the Lord full time. It really is a huge blessing and has been "the best 2 years" so far.
      Elder Rogers

When you want the lion to do something, put little kids in front of him.

     So this week I don't remember much of so if it seems short that's because so is my memory.

      So we took a formerly less active to Institute because his mom won't let him go unless we do and it was pretty interesting. They study out of the marriage guide. These things have been happening with growing frequency over the past couple of transfers. Lol. The teacher said I was pretty smart for someone who's never had a girlfriend. I've had much better practice; companions that I'm not in any way attracted to. If I can put up with them, I can find ways to get along with someone I do like.
      We taught a ton of English classes this week. We started a Children's English class and a ton of people came! There were like a million kids and parents so we ended up making two classes so we could teach the parents too. It was cool. I like the cute little Asian kids. (:
      We also had splits with the Zone Leaders and it was fun. We talked to a lot of people all night and found a super strong high schooler who does shot put. He can throw it far enough to qualify for nationals! Anyway, he wants to meet and learn about church this week.
      We went to Ibaraki University and participated in the English club. While there I found two kids who were Christian but didn't go to church. They asked where ours was so they could give it a look sometime. Then we got Indo curry with them for dinner.
      My companion, Elder Talbot, made friends with a young family that we met at an English Activity and they like him so much at they invited us to come to the zoo with them. It was a free entrance day so we didn't even have to spend any money! It was pretty cool and the kids were fun. They kept running all over the place so it was good they brought us so we could chase them down and watch them. Tricky family.
      And that brings us to today, Zone Pday! We're going to the Zone Leaders' area to do.......something. They didn't say what. We'll do.......something and then spend the night because we live really far away and tomorrow is Zone Conference.
      I didn't take much pictures because my area is mostly rice fields (still look really cool) with a HUGE city in the middle. It's just rice as far as you can see and then BOOM! giant city. We've spent all our time in the city so far and it's my most populated area. Even though everybody else thinks it's the tanbos. Just goes to show that when you get called to the Japan, Tokyo Mission it doesn't mean you'll be in the city.
      Love you all!

Moved to Mito

     So I got transferred from Takasaki to Mito this week.

      On Monday we had dinner with the Ookawaras in Takasaki and they fed us like kings. Especially since it would be one of the last things Elder Ito would eat before he became Brother Ito. So for that visit he said the opening prayer, the closing prayer, and gave the lesson. It was the Elder Ito show and it was awesome. We dropped him off at the train station on Wednesday morning and now he's on with his wife. I mean life. Lol. I'll miss him but I'm happy he's moving on with the next part of his life. Then it was my turn and I left for Mito on the other side of the mission, again. It took 5 hours and 2 old men approached me with interest in the church. One lives in Takasaki and the other lives in Mito. 2 new investigators on the train!
      Then I met my new companion, Elder Talbot. He likes dramas and singing loud and he's vegan..........yeah. This is where I find out if I can get along with absolutely any kind of person or not. If I can survive him, I can get along with anyone. Bring it on.
      We found a kid and gave him a church tour and he wants to meet for a lesson tomorrow! Woohoo! We'll see how many baptism pictures I can send home from Mito, which may be my last area.
      There weren't a lot of people outside this week because it was rainy and Japanese people are allergic to rain. The good news is that there's a saying amongst missionaries, "every day you proselyte in the rain, your wife gets prettier." So I smile extra big on rainy days and wouldn't mind if it rained for the remaining 5 months of my mission. Haha 😂
      We cleaned a beach today for Pday and then got food with some members. At the beach I found a big shell and found out that you can throw those like a frisbee. Oh yeah, since the Ward is smaller here they don't feed us as much and I can control my diet. That and I'm not a Zone Leader anymore so I have exercise time in the mornings. I've already shrunk my stomach quite a bit and it's great. I may even come home without rice cheeks!
      Not much happened this week so I'll stop here but hopefully I'll have a lot to write about next week! Until then, love you and have a great week!
      Elder Rogers

Demoted and glad!

     So this week I got fired. Woohoo!
      True to Rogers fashion I went out with style and lots of fireworks and explosions.....of the spirit because real ones are illegal.

      This week was crazy because it was the last week of the Transfer and we still hadn't done any of our splits with the other Elders. So we did splits from Monday night to Saturday morning. I was away from Elder Lilya all week. I also had a new companion every day. That made it interesting when we started finding people because I would be with one person when I found a guy, and then I would be with a new person when we met for another lesson. And that second guy still wasn't my normal companion! So we found some new investigators that Elder Lilya still hasn't met. Which is a little awkward for the investigators because I'm transferring and I'm he only consistent one they know. Yeah, I dropped that bomb early in the email because I just can't suspense anymore. I got fired from Zone Leader in Takasaki and transferred east until I couldn't go any farther because I hit the ocean. I got transferred to Mito and I get to be a regular District Leader again. Yay! Yayayayayayayay!!!! Zone Leadering is a lot of work so I'm glad to have a LOT more time now. But anyway, I digress (that may be incorrect but I can't tell because I can't English speak moreany), back to the week of miracles.
      Day 1 of Splits week Elder Eyre (the most handsome missionary ever) and I were approached by a man from the U.K. who wanted to know if we could give him a Doctrine and Covenants because he had finished the Book of Mormon and wanted more! We traded LINE and set up a return appointment for that week which turned out really really good. He wants to meet with us every week and he's looking for truth with the intent of joining the church! I also put Vietnamese materials in my bag because I felt like it and then while we were walking down the street a million Vietnamese people start walking out of a school for Vietnamese people that opened up like last week without me knowing! Coincidence? I think not!
      Day 2 of Splits week Elder Purba and I went to Keizai University's English Speaking Society. Maybe Elder Purba should come to Takasaki because he did such a good job entertaining the 100 students there. He got them relaxed and having fun so they were able to learn a lot more and it was great. There is a growing number of them wanting to come to our classes now.
      Day 3 of Splits week Elder Hales and I left the apartment right after personal study and ran into a young man on the street who told us he was Buddhist and loved prayer. We set an appointment for the next day, picked him up, did a church tour, and taught him some of the Plan of Salvation. At Pre-mortal existence he stops to tell us that he thinks we met there and that it wasn't chance that we were meeting to talk about Jesus. He thinks what we're learning together is very important and prayed that he'd be able to learn well. He's super kinjin! After that we only had a little while for housing so we prayed for guidance and the third door we knocked on a young Chinese girl comes out and I happened to have packed Chinese materials in my bag that day. So I whip out the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and she asks if she can come to church! She's got a 5 month old girl so it was important to her and she gave us her husband's number.
      Day 4 of Splits week Elder Gonzalez and I were housing and I noticed a house had the Okinawa Shisa dogs. So we house it and the guy says he doesn't have time then, starts throwing around Hail Marys, and invites us to come back on Sunday! We found a lot of new investigators and I didn't even mention all the new English students we found!
      Another cool thing (or disappointing depending on who's asking) was my return date got changed again. I heard Salt Lake changed the date for their Mission President Training so I go home as originally planned. That's cool. I'm excited to continue working here in the best Mission on Earth!

Miracles and Mothers Day Calls!

So this week was the best I've had in a while for many reasons.
    First off, my job as a Zone Leader just got way easier. They realized that we have so many meetings and stuff that we barely have time to Missionary so they cut us off the hook and said we don't have to do Zone Meetings anymore! Yaaaayyyyyy! I may not be a Zone Leader for much longer anyway, but if I am at least it's easier now.
      Then I went on Splits with the non-Assistants that live in Tokyo, which is where I thought I was going when I got my mission call. Biggest understatement ever but there are a lot of people in Tokyo. It's like being a salmon and swimming upstream. We were able to find 7 new investigators in a day! That's actually high even for Tokyo (average is 1 or 2) so it was a huge miracle. Interestingly enough a good chunk of the people missionaries are teaching right now are Chinese, not Japanese. So now a lot of missionaries are studying Chinese too. As if Japanese wasn't hard enough. I tried before but I just can't pronounce anything right. I tried speaking to a guy in Chinese and he was just like, "Whut?" and then I knew I was a failure. But it's ok.
      Then yesterday we were able to call our family for 40 minutes! That was so awesome but it went by so fast. I tried to be obedient and end right at 40 minutes but I miscalculated and ended up talking for 40:59. Bad Zone Leader.
     That's about it for this week! Love you!
               Elder Rogers

Party 'til Elder Ito dies

     First off we had Zone Pday on Monday last week and it rained so our BBQ idea got washed out. We ended up playing sports in the church gym and eating crock pot BBQ instead. It was still good. We also went to visit our Little Brazil District and got some big burgers with them. It was way fun to be with them for a little while. They're all really cool.
     We had a Mission Leadership Council in Tokyo and had to get up super early for that because we live 2.5 hours away. We came in earlier than everyone else and saw President Nagano running on his treadmill upstairs and said hi to him. He was surprised to see us.
     We talked to our samurai Less Active friend and he agreed to teach kids at the church every week. We obviously won't let random kids walk in and swing around real katanas but they're fine to swing sticks around. At his dojo we finally figured out how to use shuriken so Elder Lilya and I can do it really well now. I'm becoming a ninja samurai.
     We had 3 days of farewell parties for Elder Ito because he's dying and going home soon. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the Ward threw him parties. They gave us a total of 5 Costco pizzas in 2 days. That's why I can't diet here. Sunday night we throw a dinner party for the YSAs and then teach them English. It's way fun. It was on fast Sunday so we brought a feast and just about everything disappeared.
      Now the reason I am writing this on Wednesday instead of Monday is because we had Zone Conference on Monday. That was a lot of fun. I'm sure my mom has like 47 pictures from it on Facebook somewhere so if you'd like you can ask her. The pictures of me aren't very flattering so it's fine if you don't see them. Anyway, that took all day so at the end of it we asked if the Naganos wanted to get dinner with us and after getting approval from Sister Nagano, President Nagano agreed. It was delicious and super fun. President Nagano told us some stuff about North Korea but not much. It's funny that he's the one to tell us non-missionary related stuff most of the time. Then Tuesday I told President Nagano we needed a new microwave during our interview and he bought us one during his lunch break! What a bro! He's great. I know they always do what's best for us and really are just here to help us out.
     Elder Rogers

Professor Elder Rogers

First off this week we were invited to help teach English at a nearby college because we're friends with the chief of the English club. There were over 60 students and they loved us so it was way fun. We made sure to be funny for them and they're excited for next time.

We also had a big sports day with a lot of the youth in the Stake. Our team took 2nd place because during the tug of war event we broke the rope. We pulled and after a few seconds it snapped!

Then today we had Zone P-day with about half of the Zone. We were going to go to the park and have a BBQ with some games but it rained so we did it in the church instead. Still fun.

Those were all the main events for this week! Love you all! Elder Rogers