Transfer 16/16

The time has come. I am now the oldest missionary in the Mission. Except for the ones who either fast-tracked or extend but I won't count them.
      So if the new transfer started that means Transfer Calls were this morning. They called us early and said that Elder Otani and I will be staying together and I will die here in Kisarazu! Yay! It's a dream come true! Did I doubt it? No. My faith was sure, never wavering. I was not driven like a wave driven with the wind and tossed. Ok, that's enough of whatever that was. So main point is I get to finish my mission here in Kisarazu and probably baptize Liu and my new Filipino family called the Padpads. That's pretty cool.
     This week was just a great week in general due in at least part to good cooking. On Monday we went to have Family Home Evening in Kamogawa with the Chinese YSAs and had some authentic Chinese food which is way better than the stuff we get at restaurants I can tell you that. We had a way fun day together although Tai was unable to come due to a biohazard incident at the hospital with a misplaced syringe. That was an interesting call.
"Hey Elder Rogers."
"Hey Tai, what's up?"
"Sorry, I can't come to FHE tonight."
"Why what happened?"
"I'm in quarantine right now because I was cleaning up used syringes and....yeah."
*Chinese friend steals phone and starts going off at 200mph in Chinese*
Elder Rogers, "I'll let you handle that one."
      Well, Tai was fine but someone else may have gotten infected so she had to sit around in the hospital instead of coming to FHE. Bummer. The rest of us had fun. We were having so much fun we lost track of time and thought we might miss our train. Takashi didn't bring his bike so I gave him mine and sprinted for the station. That station is FAR from their apartment! I ran just barely under a sprint for like a mile and a half! It sucked but we made the train with time to spare. We were originally all walking to the train together but after checking my watch I decided it was time to book it and said we'd meet them there if the train hadn't left and then took off. I made it there first followed by Elder Otani and Takashi on bike and was soon followed by Wenting who also decided to run. Liu and Kin made it just before our train left so we were able to say good bye and shake sweaty hands.
      I taught a lot of little and not so little kids English all week long and though it's tiring I think it's really fun and am definitely considering being an English teacher instead or in addition to a PE teacher. I think I just like teaching. Kids, investigators, English, gospel, whatever. So yeah, being a teacher is my dream. I got to teach a Filipino family Japanese he other day and in return they fed me authentic Filipino food! So yummy! I don't think I like any particular food, just about anything will work for me. And to think I used to be so picky. If my mom could see me now!
     Liu is getting ready to be baptized soon. Not much to say other than she's awesome and I'll do my best to send a picture with her in front of the font next month.
     Saturday we took Takashi and Wenting to the temple for Takashi's first time doing baptisms for the dead before it closes on the 30th. I went first and then got to watch Takashi. I changed fast enough that I got to see Wenting and Kaira get baptized too. It was Kaira's first time too since she just turned 12. After we got done with the temple we tried to get food at the American New Sanno Hotel but they told Wenting she couldn't come in because she was Chinese and needed to do a 30 day procedure. She said we should go back again and say she was Japanese later but it wouldn't work. As we were walking away from the gate she said in English loud enough that the gate guard could probably hear, "I hate you." It was pretty hilarious because whenever she speaks English she has a strong Chinese accent that just makes it funny for no reason. Also she's too nice to actually hate the guy. I apologized for my country and ran in with Elder Otani who is Japanese and bought everyone Snickers and Beef Jerky. Then we were all good. We pretty much just wandered around Tokyo looking at cool stuff and having fun. We were all dressed up nice and we looked pretty international: American, Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese so we got a lot of second looks. It was just a great day with my best friends.           Sunday morning I got to Skype in to another baptism! Kuriyama from Mito got baptized on Sunday morning! She had to be baptized 3 times but they say 3rd time's the charm, right? The Elder who baptized her is Elder Hales who I was his first Zone Leader and he actually is joining my District this Transfer! He'll be here on Thursday so it'll be cool to see him.

Things are going great and I almost couldn't be happier. It's just such a blessing to be here I can't put words to it. I wish I was a writer so I could make an attempt but I'll just say: gooooood!

Love, Elder Rogers

(Please ignore that we all look fat in the picture with Tokyo Tower in the back. None of us are fat)

Two missionaries walked into a bar....

Let me start the week with an unexpected miracle.
     We had Splits again in Tateyama and Elder Matsuda and I were eating lunch at the mall. Taki Shimai called me and asked if I could visit her kids that night at 5 because she was doing temple work and was worried about them. She wasn't asking for much, just to go visit the kids and make sure they're ok. That and she's a good worried mom so I told her I would do it. We had the other Elders teach the English class and we went back to Kisarazu to check on the little angels. They were fine, especially when we had brought candy. Because we changed plans and went back to Kisarazu we didn't have English class and we didn't have to ride a long train back home at night, which turned out to be a miracle because Liu was available to talk right at the time we would have been stuck on the train! That was set up pretty nicely. We called her on LINE and did a video chat Lesson. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she had already read the pamphlet we gave her but she said it was different when she studied it with us. It had an impact that wasn't there before. She says the lessons are helping her find peace and hope and we set a Baptismal date with her for November 5th, my last Sunday! I'm so excited for her!
     Thursday we had Emergency Splits with Chosei because their companionship unity just went down the toilet. One of them was just feeling so bad and depressed that President Nagano decided he should work with me for a day. Yeah, like that'd help. Lol. He's done that a couple of times though. Anyway, they had a powwow with President and Sister Nagano that night and it turns out that all of these bad feelings hinged on a big misunderstanding because one of the Elders is Australian and speaks English and the other is Japanese. The Japanese Elder misunderstood one thing his companion said and it had a bad impact. When President Nagano heard about the misunderstanding he explained the whole thing to them both and Sister Nagano just laughed really hard. That's why PMG says to study your mission language and English. So you can have at least one language to communicate with your companion. Lol.
      Oh yeah, the bar thing. So when I first came to Kisarazu over a year ago a Less Active Filipino man approached me at the supermarket wanting to talk to missionaries again. Well, he started talking to missionaries after I left and has been in contact with them since. He owns a bar (which isn't a sin or against church policy actually, I checked. Crazy right?) and wanted to meet there. It's actually just a restaurant that serves alcohol so we went and visited him.....and took 2 Recent Converts with us. Haha! Yeah, 2 missionaries walk into a bar, AND bring their Converts with them.....to see the owner who is ALSO a member! A whole bunch of Mormons hanging out at a bar. What a sight. No one else was there so it was just a restaurant for a while. The. This other guy walks in for a drink and starts talking to us and becomes friends with us and starts hearing about our church! We were proselyting in a bar! Like Jesus going among the sinners. Anyway, that was a fun story but the best part was that the owner told us the reason he wanted us to meet was because he had a Filipino family that just moved here and needed help. So we are teaching them English and invited them to church to meet our Filipino members and learn and they said yes! They are coming next week! God works in mysterious ways. (I hope my mom doesn't freak out and think I've gone apostate).
      And that brings us to today. But I'll actually start with yesterday. Yesterday we heard there was supposed to be a big typhoon today. Today we were planning on going to Kamogawa and spending our Pday with Takashi, Wenting, Tai, Liu, and Kin and having Family Home Evening with them since they're all YSAs and the Branch asked us to. If a typhoon came we'd still go (as long as the trains were still running) because everyone planned a month in advance to get today off but it would suck. So I prayed the typhoon would go away or speed up and blow over last night. Well, it sped up and blew over us, then turned away north. So yesterday it sucked because it was windy and rainy while we still had to work but today it is beautiful and sunny! So we get to go have fun! I'm so glad God cares about us and the little things we like enough to move storms and so on. I love the Mission and all the amazing lessons I can learn about God first hand here. I'm so excited for my brother Dallin to get his mission call soon!
Elder Rogers

By the way you can see Fuji from where I live on a clear day

You ruined the surprise!

So I talked about how Kisarazu is the best because the people here are angels that like missionaries right? Well this week they did it again and made me feel even more special.

I'll talk about the rest of the week first.
      First thing was we had the Emergency Transfer and traded Elder Smith for Elder Otani. It also happened to be our Splits day. So I said hi to my companion, took his bag, gave him to another Elder for the day, and told him I'd see him later. We met up at the apartment that night but he did a Splits Review for five-ever with his temporary companion and I had Reporting so we actually didn't talk. But the next day we were able to talk and he's a pretty cool guy. We only speak in Japanese which is awesome because usually my companions won't do it even though it's a rule or they just are unable to understand me when I do it. So that's cool. It hasn't been all Japanese though because we have some Filipinos we work with here. There's our Recent Converts Jonivar and Arnold, and this new kid Rio that Elder Purba found a year ago that the missionaries re-found! We had a good Restoration with Rio and he seems promising.
     Jonivar got us dinner twice and the Sugimotos gave us cake and root beer (that's super rare in Japan) to celebrate Sugimoto Shimai's birthday. Turns out they were from the same Stake as Elder Otani back in Osaka and their daughter knew his brother! Small LDS world, huh?
     We went finding and ended up talking to a group of like 20 high school students. I don't know what it is about me and group dendo(proselyting), it's just so delicate because nobody wants to commit unless everyone does. You just have to find the leader and convert him and it's all good. You also have to be super fun and interesting to keep them there long enough to sledgehammer them with the Spirit so they'll meet again. It's fun but nerve-wracking because you have so much potential and don't want to mess things up. Anyway, I didn't do it. I didn't get 20 new investigators in one swoop, but it was close. Maybe next time.
     We got ahold of Tai and she hasn't been to church since the sixth month. That's June in English right? So that's a little while. She wants to come back though and since she's looking for a boyfriend right now we mentioned that we have a young reasonably handsome Chinese investigator coming to church right now. If she can get off work she wants to come, probably mostly to see Yoshi-kun, the Branch President's 2year old son, but that's fine. She'll remember the Spirit when she gets here. We also got ahold of Liu and she's ready to move on with the lessons. Wenting gave her all of the pamphlets so we'll need to start doing some 'splainin' soon. And I got ahold of Yang, our young reasonably handsome Chinese man. I say reasonably handsome but I have no idea because I've never met him. But I got his contact info from Elder Smith before he left and was able to contact him and fool him into thinking I speak Chinese! It worked! So now he likes me cuz I'm a Chinese bro but not really. He just thinks it's cool I tried.

So now for the cool part about the surprise.
     This past Sunday was the birthday of one of the girls in our Branch. She turned 12 so she's going to go to the temple before Tokyo Temple closes. Anyway, we were going to celebrate her birthday after church with a cake and stuff. I was in charge of making a back up/extra cake and not letting her find out. So I made 2 cakes because I go big and I get to clean up leftovers anyway. So Higashi Shimai tells me to go get the stuff and set up secretly upstairs so Kaira doesn't find out. We're also celebrating Wenting passing the hardest Japanese test in Japan so it's supposed to be a big party. Anyway, I'm running around the church like a ninja setting up decorations while Takashi distracts her in another room. I go and grab the 2 cakes I made out of the fridge and put them upstairs. Then I come back a second time and grab Higashi Shimai's cake. I'm taking it upstairs and notice that Kaira's name is not the only one on the cake, it also says "E. ROGERS!" What!? My birthday was like 2 days after I got here and nobody noticed.....but they did! And I was setting up my own surprise party!! No way! I was so touched (I don't know if that's actually a thing we say in English but it's the equivalent of what I would say in Japanese. Or maybe moved is better.....hmmm). These members are so nice to me! So Higashi Shimai sees me walk in holding her cake looking at it and says, "No! I told you not to grab it!" I ruined my own surprise party. But it was ok, I still enjoyed it. It was a great time with my good friends and lots of love and CAKE. There were 3 cakes!
     They asked me what my goals were for this next year of my life and I said finish my mission. Apparently that wasn't enough so I added that I wanted to get into a Japanese college. They seemed a little more satisfied but then gave me another suggestion. "Elder Rogers, give this cake you made to a girl and marry her!" Hahahah! My mom sent me cake mix that was so easy to make not even I could screw it up. There was no cooking skills involved whatsoever. But then they kept going on and on about my qualities and so I had to tell them, "Hey! You're 2 months fast!" First is the remainder of my mission, which I am ready to enjoy to the fullest. I don't want it to end, so I'll just have to not waste any time!

Elder Rogers

Another Emergency Transfer out of Kisarazu....

     So Emergency Transfers are never fun so we'll put that off to the side and talk about the positives first. We got to spend some quality time with our Recent Converts this week reteaching them some of the lessons and talking to them. They're so amazing and pure. We got to spend a day teaching Takashi to prepare him for the temple so we can go with him at the end of September. We got to go down to Kamogawa, the most beautiful spot in the whole mission, twice this week. While there we saw our long lost less active doctor Branch President. He's been living at the hospital for like 2 months unable to come to church but we saw him just as we were walking down the street. Then on Sunday he came back to church! I was able to meet his new baby daughter for the first time and she is so cute! And I saw Yoshi-kun and he has gotten bigger. He runs and even talks a little bit now! What added to that was when the Higashis came to church they brought a ton of food for us! But they weren't he only ones this week, everybody wanted to feed us. On Wednesday Wenting fed us lunch AND bought us dinner! Two meals in one day! Then Thursday the Sugimotos fed us dinner at their house. Friday Jojo walked in to District Meeting holding McDonald's he had brought for lunch. Then he made us dinner too! My Recent Converts are angels. They both fed me lunch and dinner in the same day and neither of them knew the other had. They both just spontaneously did it of their own will. We met Tai during one of our trips to Kamogawa and she bought us snacks and really good grape juice. We just got some much love food put into us this week! This did not happen last time! I'm just surrounded by angles here that are almost too nice. Actually, buying me a watch and feeding me twice in a day might qualify as too nice.
      Our investigators are doing really well. Mikami is almost done with his rice harvest and then he decided to work on his own so he can pick his schedule and come to church! Yay! If he starts coming to church he can be baptized! We also ran into Liu in Kamogawa and she showed us that she was carrying around the triple combination we gave her and she was reading it all the time, even at work! So cool!
   
      Now for the Emergency Transfer. Sunday night the Assistants call us and that's never good. They probably don't like it but missionaries hate calls from the Assistants because they're so busy they'll only ever call you for something bad. Sorry, the truth probably hurts from their side too, nobody wants to talk to them. Anyway, they call right before bed on Sunday night just like they always do for emergency transfers and I know that's the only thing it could be. So I answer the phone kind of confused and scared. But they ask for my companion so I relax a little but am still disturbed because I know something is about to go down. Elder Smith is going to Urayasu, that's in Tokyo, tomorrow. My new companion is Elder Otani, my very first Japanese companion. Also, he will be my last companion and get the honors of killing me.

Elder Rogers

Easy as Apple Pie

So last week I already wrote about but I want to talk about one thing that happened after I wrote that email.
      I got to meet up with Jonivar on my Pday the night before my 20th birthday. He's one of my recent converts and he's amazing! He's so full of love and light and such a kind person. Anyway, we wanted to spend some time with him especially since he was about to go on a work trip and it was almost my birthday. So we decided we'd go to the Outlet Mall and grab some grub together. We were walking around and he kept trying to buy me some clothes or anything for my birthday and I kept saying I'd let him get me something at the next store. Well we stalled him out and he didn't buy anything and we were hungry so we decided to just get dinner at a burger joint called Kua Aina (sooooo good!). He tried to pay but we stepped in and paid for ourselves. Yes! While we were waiting for our food Jojo gets up and leaves. We can't follow him because someone has to wait for the food and we have to stay together. So we ask the waiter if he knows where Jojo went and he points out toward a cake store. So we figure he's probably going to buy me a cake for my birthday and we feel bad because a little cake in Japan costs like $40! Well, he didn't buy me a cake. He's gone for a little while and our food comes and we just sit there waiting for Jojo wondering where he went and how much money he was spending. It was a lot. He came back with this little box and a really nice watch for me! He bought me a watch! Like, the nice kind! The ones that are super shiny and not plastic cheaply stuff! I don't know how much it cost but I was soooo grateful that he would do something like that for me. He's so nice and his heart is so big. He's definitely one of my all time best friends. I also got letters or emails from church members in Kisarazu, previous areas, and lots of family and friends back home. It was just so good and I felt so loved that I actually cried. Like, in the middle of a Seven Eleven parking in the middle of the day. I don't think I've ever been so happy that I've cried before but I did it this year. My companion Elder Smith was a little concerned because when he asked me what was up I just couldn't form the words to respond. So we just sat there while everybody walked past us and I cried in a parking lot. Eventually I pulled myself together and assured him that I was not sad, but actually really happy. That helped him feel better and we were able to go out and work for the day. On my actual birthday we visited Mizuno Shimai, the older sister who lives at the top of a mountain. We rode up there and she fed us and then we shared a message. She's like my Japanese grandma and she's super nice. Then Elder Smith bought me a Black Thunder McFlurry from McDonald's to top it off. We wanted to stop by Takashi's work and say hi to him but he was too far away. However, he booked it to the train station just in time to hop on our train, give me a birthday hug, and jump back off. It was so nice. I have the best friends!
     Some more good news, we've been helping Wenting (Yi Shimai) with her after baptism lessons and we taught her about Patriarchal Blessings. She said she wanted one ASAP and things worked out so perfectly that she was able to get an interview on Sunday and she will be getting her blessing this upcoming Sunday! So excited for her! She also passed the N1 Japanese exam which is the hardest Japanese test ever. So now she can become a nurse! She's unfortunately been unable to pass the test for the past few tries but we fasted and prayed together and this time she passed!
      Takashi also got sustained as an Elder and he received the Melchizedek Priesthood this past Sunday at Stake Conference! He's such a stud. We're helping him prep for the temple so he can go next month for his first time doing baptisms for the dead. He's also taken a couple of days off work here and there so we can hang out with him on Pdays or go proselyte together.
     Then on Sunday we had a huge miracle! Wenting came into church a little bit late and sat by me, which she never does, so something was up. Then she says, "Liu is here!" I don't know if anybody remembers or if I even said it before but Liu is one of Wenting's friends that I was almost able to teach last time I was here about 9 months ago. She had said she wanted to take lessons but was too busy with work at the time so I was unable to teach her. Well, she was at church! When I heard that I was like WHAT?! Where? So Wenting took me to the back so me and Elder Smith could sit next to her. We started explaining a little bit and then decided to just teach her in a separate room because that's what she came there for anyway. So we go into a different room and ask how she got to church and heard this cool story. She woke up and just decided she wanted to go to the mall in Kisarazu. That mall is like almost a 2 hour bus ride away. Anyway, she gets up and starts headed toward the bus stop and Wenting sees her. So Wenting asks where she's going and then invites Liu to come with her to church instead. So Liu says yes and comes to church! And now after a really long time we were able to start teaching her! And she is awesome! First we explained church and then we started teaching about the Restoration. Wenting was missionary-ing it up in Chinese to explain the things she wanted to know more about and it was really cool. She understood everything and really loved church. She wanted to learn more and wanted some scriptures. I remembered that I had bought a triple combination for Tai who unfortunately didn't accept it last time I was here. I had re found it just the other day and knew where it was in the apartment so we ran home, ran back to the church, and gave Liu that triple combination. She wanted it so bad and was jumping and clapping saying, "teach me! Teach me please!" She asked if she could be a member and we were actually the ones to say, "slow down just a second! We have to teach the lessons first!" She was happy with that and said she'd love to learn and then she thinks she'll join! Then I decided we needed to celebrate and so I checked the fridge and there was still the frozen apple pie me and Elder Wilcox bought last time I was here! Wenting had some doubts about it but it's frozen so it was still ok and we all ate the delicious pie together. It was just a huge miracle and blessing from God.
     This week was really just a big series of reminders that God is there and that He really really loves Elder Rogers for some reason. I'm a pretty average missionary so I don't know why but I guess I'm about to die soon so He's letting me die happy!

 Elder Rogers

Best Birthday Present EVER!

I got called back to the promised land of Kisarazu to finish out my days as a missionary!
I'm so excited! I'm not eloquent enough to put words to my feelings but I don think there really are words for this anyway.

     So first thing that happened was I got on a train to my old stomping (or is it romping?) grounds in Kisarazu and when I got there.....no one was waiting for me. So I waited for a little bit, thinking maybe eh we're just late, but they never came. So I built my bike and rode out to the church.....and no one was there. So I pedaled on over to the apartment....and no one was home. So then I went back to the station and bought a crepe.......and the crepe guy didn't remember me! I thought we were tight man! Just kidding, but anyway I went to a payphone to try to call somebody but no one picked up. I decided it was time to start looking for someone I knew so I went over to Sensui Shimai's house and she let me right in and gave me melon pan and milk and talked to me while I waited for someone to come looking for me. I called my companion again and he sent the rescue squad, Takashi and Jonivar. We hugged and then hung out at the church while I waited for my companion to come be united with me. He had waited at the halfway point for me and I had gone the whole hundred! Whoops! But then we went and got dinner together and it was so awesome! I really missed these guys.
     The next day we were able to bike out rough the mountains to an old investigator of mine, Mikami the rice farmer! He's doing so well! He's taken almost all of the lessons and come to church twice! If he starts coming consistently he can be baptized really soon! I saw 2 different people I knew just biking down the street and they both said hi to me. One of them drove past and pulled us over to talk. We had to send a Elder Atkinson's bags to Tokyo but didn't have slips for he moving company, but luckily the moving truck just happened to come to our neighborhood and we flagged he guy down and he took his bags right then! Miracle! We also got to go over to the Sugimotos' house for dinner and the Kisarazu Bad-daddy was just as cool as ever.
     Sunday may have been the best day I've had since I left here. It started off kind of weird with me having to go pick up a lady I had never met at the train station with one of the members because my companion was giving a talk. I saw Wenting in the station on her way to church and said a 2 second hi as I went up and she went down. She looked kind of confused so I just kind of laughed and went on to pick up the mystery investigator. Well we picked her up and took her to church and then had a lesson during second hour. She's Taiwanese so I snagged Wenting out of Gospel Principles and took Takashi with me too because I like him and Umetsu Shimai knew I would need all the help I could get so she came too. I ended up having zero prep time but no one else wanted to take charge so I just opened up the manual and started teaching a super awkward lesson because I knew nothing about his new woman. She waits until the very end to say, "I thought we were going to study English." WHAT! What did you let me go on so long?! That was painful because it's not a normal missionary lesson I teach! What didn't you say something?! I held my tongue but felt like the biggest idiot ever. She went home and I apologized for my ignorance to everyone and they all forgave me. Whew. Then we taught Wenting an AB (after baptism) lesson about baptism and she's still super cool. She literally shines with the spirit, not exaggerating. There is actual light that comes from her! During the lesson though I asked her a question and she zoned out and so I asked what was up and she just pointed at Takashi's shoes. They were the most tattered, destroyed shoes anyone has ever seen! The tops were turned into Holy slippers and they were barely hanging onto he soles by a few threads. Mid-lesson we all just lose it and can't stop the laughing. Once we manage to bring it back I just realized how good my life is here. When I was a kid I loved the Disney movie Hercules. In that movie Hercules feels pretty left out and weird no matter where he goes or what he does. He sings a song that I have identified pretty strongly with for a long time. He says, "I have often dreamed of a far off place where a great, warm welcome will be waiting for me. Where the crowds will cheer when they see my face, and a voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be. I will find my way, I can go the distance. I'll be there someday, if I can be strong. I know every mile will be worth my while. I would go most anywhere to feel like I belong."
      That's how I've felt for most of my life, but here is home. These people are good and I belong with them. I'm so happy to have met them and to be blessed to be around them again. They are like an extension of my family. I can't wait to introduce them to my family too! Anyways, I love it here and I love these people with all my heart. We called Arnold, a recent convert, and taught him an AB lesson and he's amazing. We were able to visit Jonivar too and have dinner at his apartment and teach him an AB lesson. The amazing thing was that they are all different people of Chinese or Filipino backgrounds but their experience with the gospel was the same. They all felt the spirit the same way, they all get answers to their prayers, hey all are supported by God, everything was the same! And we didn't practice answers with them beforehand or anything! That's because it's TRUE! All of it! The gospel is true and it is amazing what it can do for us.
     I know I'm meant to be here. I'm so happy I get another 2.5 months here and I'm already scared at how fast that's going to go by. I don't ever want to leave, I want to staaaaaaay. But I need to do my best now and obey what the Lord tells me. Who knows, maybe I'll get extended or something. I don't know, anything could happen. All I know is that this gospel is true and it has brought me the greatest happiness that I never knew I could feel. It has increased my capacity to reach out and love people more than I ever thought I could love. I just can't get enough of this gospel because it just keeps on giving!

Elder Rogers

One foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel

So I'm Transfer 15 out of 16 now.
I'm also on my last area.
     We had Transfer Calls this morning and we were actually like the first call of the day. The Assistants sent out the email that they would start calling everyone and then we got a call right after that. Forgetting the suspense, Elder Christensen is staying and I am transferring............ back to Kisarazu! It's a dream come true to die there!
     We basically spent all of our time finding and we found a new investigator! Finally! He's a college kid who's interested in eternal families. We also found out that there's a really good place to find young people out in the rice fields as far as we can go while staying in our area. Who knew?
     We had an Obon party, which is like Japanese Day of the Dead, and ended up answering our English students questions about the church and teaching a lot. There weren't a lot of big events but it was a good week.

Elder Rogers