Transfer 13!

May 9, 2016: Week 80
Area: Aomori

Companion: Kudo Choro

Hey everyone, This is going to be super short, so I'll just give you an update on what's going on!

First of all, it was so good to see you guys over skype and hang out with you for a bit. I cant believe that was the last time I'll see your faces until I see you at the airport in 5 months!

So we got transfers this week and I'm actually headed down to one of my old areas called Izumi, which is right outside of Sendai. My companion's name is Elder Watanabe and he's a pretty new missionary, but that is all I know. I'm also in an apartment with only Japanese elders so I won't being using English for a while! Hopefully I'll survive! It'll be a ton of fun. It's weird to go back to my old area, but I was only there for one transfer so it will be cool to have a redo and see what I can do there!

Well, that is about it! I love you guys! I hope you all have a great week! Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Nathan Didericksen

I just can't get public transportation down!

May 2, 2016: Week 79
Area: Aomori

Companion: Kudo Choro

Hey there family and friends! Can you believe it's already May?!?! Man it's going by fast. I feel like I arrived in snowy Aomori just yesterday, but that was like 4 months ago; it's crazy. I don't really feel like we've had spring yet, it's still just been super cold for late April lately. I'm so ready for summer, I can't even explain it! I'm pretty pumped for this week though, I mean we've got May the 4th (be with you), and cinco de mayo! We will have to figure out something to celebrate the occasion. 

Well this week was an interesting one. I had a couple of pretty funny experiences this week that I will get to later. This week consisted of a lot of finding, mainly knocking on doors. I used to absolutely hate knocking on doors all day when I was a younger missionary, especially a year ago when I was in Furukawa because that's all we did for a whole transfer; however, I don't mind it too much anymore. Yes, we still get a fair share of rejection and doors slammed in our face telling us they hate Christianity, but on the other hand, we have been able to see some funny stuff along with some good successes. We were able to find 2 new investigators through housing his week! It was way awesome!

I wrote about one of the guys we found last week a little bit. We knocked on his door and he actually let us in! He is about 85 years old, but he let us teach him and his wife in their genkan last week. We weren't able to make a return appointment then but we visited him again on Wednesday and he was in his yard doing stuff, so we taught him about the Book of Mormon and were able to give him one and commit him to read it, thus turning him into a new investigator! I don't know how promising he is 'cause he is pretty old but we will take it for what it is!

The other guy, we found in a tiny town a ways from Aomori called Aburakawa. We've discovered recently that the place seems to be a gold mine because we've found several potential investigators there. So we went housing out there and we were able to find a man named Yamada San. He was out in his driveway cutting wood when we approached him and talked to him. He actually knew what our church was when he saw us. There is a member family, the Sasaki family, that lives in the town pretty close to his house and he knows they are members (sweet, already have a good connection!). We taught a light version of the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. He gladly took it and actually said, "alright, I'm gonna read at least 10 pages before I go to bed tonight". He also asked where our church was and said he wanted to go sometime and that he was interested! He says he's super busy with work and stuff but said that it was okay for us to visit him and teach him and possibly his wife! I'm not getting my hope super up but that was pretty exciting!

On Friday, we had zone training meeting where we talked about our commission as missionaries and what kinds of blessings we are receiving from the restoration. It got me thinking about what was made possible through the restoration of the gospel Jesus Christ. I was able to bear my testimony about this in sacrament meeting yesterday. We have the Book of Mormon, the priesthood, living prophets, etc. We have lots of blessings from the restoration. But with the recent excitement about the Sapporo temple around here, I thought about the knowledge of eternal families and temple blessings. I talked about how I always loved going to the many temple open houses while growing up in Utah because there's so many different temples and how I loved going to the celestial room. The reason for that is the two mirrors placed in the room that reflect of each other to make it look like they continue forever. I love the symbolism for eternal families right there. I'm so grateful for that doctrine and that Mom and Dad are sealed in the temple, meaning we all are sealed as a family.  

Thursday, we had another meeting in Sendai for trainers and new missionaries. It was kind of a follow-up orientation, so we got up early to catch the five hour bus to Sendai. I was looking forward to seeing the beautiful radiant colors of spring in northern Japan but it was dark and rainy the whole way down. The meeting was good. It was like the fourth time I've been to one of these meetings so I heard the same stuff again, but it was good. We talked about the importance of righteous leadership in D&C 121 as well as having Christ involved in any relationship we are in, whether it be a companion on a mission or a marriage or whatever. 

After the meeting, since mine and and Elder Price's areas are in Aomori prefecture, we got to take the Shinkansen back! That's always fun. We were in a huge hurry in buying the tickets and it was stressful. Elder Price's bean can't handle public transportation or anything slightly stressful for that matter, so he was freaking out, and the added stress with lack of time and trying to buy the right ticket, I screwed up. Let's just say our tickets were strangely a lot more expensive than usual, but I didn't really think about it because we were in a hurry. Elder Price and I bought the same ticket for the same car so we went together while our comps were in another car. We get in our car and see that it's way fancier than another car. I was like, "wait did I read the ticket wrong?". So we asked one of the workers and he said it was the right car. So yeah, we accidentally bought first class tickets for the Shinkansen! We stood out and looked so silly as two tall, white, teenage Americans rolling in first class with these rich business men and women. It was so funny. It's not everyday you ride first class on the fastest train in the world. Unfortunately, it cost a lot of money. I won't tell you how much, but it was ridiculously expensive. I'm scared to call the mission office and ask for a reimbursement for a first class ticket! We will see if I do it. So there is my whoops moment of the week.

Last story is that I crashed my bike super hard the other day. Surprisingly though, I wasn't hurt at all really, which is quite a miracle actually. Part of it was probably I'm pretty good at crashing gracefully. I've had a few good crashes mountain biking where I was able to not hurt myself as bad as I could, but I was protected this time. I was riding pretty fast down a hill standing up (my seat had water in it so I couldn't sit down) when basically my chain suddenly exploded so to speak. With that, my tires randomly like stopped rotating. It was super weird. But before that happened, with the sudden jerk of the chain freaking out, my hands came off my handlebars. Miraculously, I didn't crash immediately. Somehow, without holding onto the handlebars  and while standing up, my bike seemed to glide by itself like someone was guiding it. It was super weird, I can't really explain it. It glided by itself long enough for me to get a little control back and then I crashed. I went rolling over two or three times before I stopped. When I went down, I thought to myself, "welp, I'm screwed. This is gonna hurt really bad". But I didn't get hurt at all. I only have a couple of bruises. It was way legit. God protects His missionaries! I really felt that this past week!

Anyway, that's about it. It's the last week of the transfer so by the time we talk, I'll know what's going on. I think I'm leaving Aomori since I've been here for almost half a year, but I guess we will see! And it's Mother's Day next week! I'm so excited to talk to you guys! And it's my last Skype which is pretty crazy! I love you guys! See you in person next week! Love you!

Love,

Elder Nathan Didericksen 

Elder Price has this thing where he likes to buy fake money and take

"money pics". So what better place is there to take money pics than

while riding first class on a Shinkansen! ¥¥¥¥

Sorry, short time today!!

April 25, 2016: Week 78
Area: Aomori

Companion: Kudo Choro

Hey everyone! Sorry. I have like no time today 'cause we went to Hirosaki to see the famous Sakura festival. This festival is probably the most famous Sakura festival in Japan. The blossoms are absolutely stunning! I'm so lucky I was able to see this festival twice on my mission! Japan is such a beautiful country! So a quick rundown of this week: Recently, we have been focusing as a district to work more with members and really try to build better relationships with them. Ever since I got here and it looks like it's been like this for a while, the members here aren't the most outgoing and active in trying to make relationships with the missionaries, so we are working hard on that. Hopefully as we do so, they can take some part in missionary work. As a part of that, we are trying to not only meet and teach them, but to do it in their homes. So, each week we have a list of members we are supposed to visit. The people on our list this past week live far away, so I got to take some trains to some tiny, but awesome towns to visit some of these people. One couple we visited was the Kuraiya couple. The are a really nice older couple who have been members in the Aormori branch for a long time. They live in a tiny town right next to the ocean--like their backyard was the ocean. It was so cool. Their house was a really cool, traditional Japanese home. The genkan, which is like the entryway, was so wide with a little Japanese pond to the left of it and had old Japanese items hanging everywhere. I loved it! We had lunch with them and shared a message about temples. It was an awesome area to visit.  I had a pretty weird recipe this week. We went to a family's house for dinner one night and they brought out a dish which looked like a normal fruit salad with whipped cream and stuff, like the one we always eat at home. But it wasn't....... It was apples covered in mayo. It was pretty weird. Other than that, not much happened. We couldn't meet with a lot of investigators so we just did a lot of finding. That's about it. Now Imma spend the rest of the time for sending pictures! Love you guys! Love,  Elder Nathan Didericksen Sakura in Hiroski, Japan The ocean as your backyard...awesome!!

18 months!!

April 18, 2016: Week 77
Area: Aomori

Companion: Kudo Choro

Hey everyone! Happy Monday!

With it being April 15th last week, I've hit my 18th month as a missionary! It's crazy how fast it's been going lately. It's strange to realize that I might actually have to leave Japan here pretty soon. The clock is ticking!

So this week was pretty cool. We saw some pretty cool successes and attended some really cool meetings, 

On Tuesday, I went on splits with Elder Okamoto, one of the zone leaders in my apartment. The guy is a stud when it comes to the work. He's also super smart and mature. Everyone loves him. He's already like 22 so he knows how to act around people really well. He also majors in music and plays the clarinet in college. He let me play his clarinet the other day and I completely forgot how to play that thing. I think it has been over 5 years since I've touched my clarinet! Anyway, he was a lot of fun to work with. 

We went over to the Aomori College campus and went finding all day. We were able to talk to tons of people, including a lady who is Christian and was really nice. We talked for a while and she said we could come back some time. We also met a young man who plays baseball for college. We asked if he believed in God and he said he thought there was a "baseball God" who helped you if you worked hard... That was something I've never heard before. Anyway, he said we could come back so we are going to visit him again today! But yeah, the split was super successful. We were able to find an investigator, hand out a few Books of Mormon, and teach a few lessons on the street and on doorsteps. I sure learned a lot from Elder Okamoto. He's a boss. The way he could talk to people on he street, make them feel comfortable, as well as connect the gospel to their lives was way cool. I hope I can better at that someday! 

The next three days were pretty rainy and windy so we were rather limited because we couldn't ride bikes and no one was outside. On Thursday we rode the train to a neighboring town to visit a member. The town was very quiet and in the middle of nowhere. It was nice to be in a quiet little town again; it reminded me of Kitakami. It was kinda fun. We got lost for a while, but we were able to finally find the house. 

While we were looking for the house, we passed a group of like eight year old boys playing soccer. I said hi to them in English and they got way excited. Usually, kids that age are a little scared of me because they aren't used to white people, but these kids weren't. They surrounded me and started asking me a bunch of questions like why I was here and if I could speak Japanese and stuff like that. Then one kid asked if most Americans are super muscular and I said that wasn't the case. Then one kid grabbed my arm and literally said to me, "let me touch you!" Then they all started shouting in unison, asking if they could feel my biceps. In no means am I a muscular dude. I'm just tall and lanky, so I don't know why these kids were so set on feeling my muscles. Well I couldn't really stop what was happening so I proceeded to stand there as I was surrounded by a group of like seven kids feeling my arms and stuff and yelling at me to flex. Haha! It was super funny, but really weird. 

On a more serious note. We were able to meet with gymnast investigator twice this week and were actually able to set a baptismal date for May 29th for him. He still has no idea what's going on I'm pretty sure, but he said yes! At least we have a goal now. It's going to be pretty hard for him to be baptized though because he's insanely busy all of the time and will soon be traveling all around Japan for gymnastics tournaments. On top of that, his mom isn't really down for it. All they want him to do is focus on gymnastics. But nevertheless, we were able to have some cool lessons with him and he still has the desire to learn and follow Christ. He told us yesterday that even if he can't be baptized here in the next year, he wants to go back to Sapporo after high school and meet with the missionaries there. So that was pretty cool to hear.

Lastly, this weekend was highlighted with zone conference on Saturday, and then with President and Sister Smith coming to sacrament meeting and then holding a fireside later in the evening. Zone conference was good. We talked a lot about the light of Christ, and how we are the message. If we live Christlike lives and develop his attributes, we can shine that light and the Japanese people will see that light. He told a cool story about Sister Dalton's son who served a mission in Brazil. He was walking down the street with his companion when a lady came up and stopped them, telling them that her grandmother really wanted to talk to them. So they found and met the grandma. She was in a wheelchair and was blind. When she was sitting towards the window, she said she saw two very bright lights. She called her granddaughter over asking what it was. She responded it was just two young men in shirts and ties. She responded saying,"go get them! They have what we need!". She was able to see the light of Christ through them, even though she was blind. Pretty cool story.

The fireside was good too. It was fun to hear from President Smith and his counselors. He has a pair of amazing counselors who have been a real blessing to the church in the Tohoku area. I'll have to tell you the story of one of them, President Seza, sometime. He has an amazing story. But after the meeting, I was able to talk to some of the members from Hirosaki, my first area! It had been a year since I'd seen them. When I was there, I couldn't really speak Japanese so it was way fun to actually get to talk to them. 

At the Taikai, President showed a video called "thank you from Tohoku". It was about the tsunami that hit this area five years ago. It showed some clips of places that I have actually been to that got devastated by the tsunami. I still remember the day it happened, watching the news live on tv. It now has a special significance to me now that I get to live and serve among these people who suffered so much. In the video, it showed how nations from around the world came to Japan to help them. It showed different Japanese people saying thank you to the world. While we watched it, everyone one in the room was crying. It was cool to see how the world comes together and helps each other when disasters like that hit. I felt such a special love for these people here in the Tohoku area. It's a privilege to be able to be among them and serve and love them for two years. I bet the video is on YouTube so I encourage you to watch it sometime.

Well, that's it from me. It was great to hear from you guys! I love you all! Have a great week! We get to Skype for the last time in three weeks! Wahoo!

Love, 

Elder Nathan Didericksen

General conference weekend!

April 11, 2016: Week 76
Area: Aomori

Companion: Kudo Choro

Hey family! It was so great to hear from you as always! The pictures of Avery and Dax at This is the Place looked really fun! I can't wait to hang out with those two when I'm home! I hope they remember me! 

This week was pretty good, with general conference as the highlight. I absolutely loved it and it made for such a good weekend. General conference as a missionary is pretty awesome and this was probably my favorite that I've seen so far. The talks were so powerful and brought the spirit so strongly. I came in with some questions and concerns and they were answered as if the speaker was speaking directly to me. It was pretty cool. It was really sad to see President Monson declining; nevertheless, he was able to deliver some powerful messages, even though they were really short. My other favorites were Elder Hallstrom's about being a child of God, as well as Elder Hale's about the Holy Ghost. 

For the first couple days of the week, it was just me and Elder Kudo all alone in Aomori. The other two elders were in Sendai so it seemed a little lonely. On the bright side, my new companion is unreal at cooking. He makes us a feast every single meal. He's made us okonomiyaki, karage, hamburgers, etc. I recently committed to be healthier and to get in the shape I was in before the mission, but he's not helping too much with that! Oh well though, it tastes really good!

Here's an update on our investigators:

We met with our investigator who says he wants to be baptized but his father is against it. He's an adult so he can get baptized if he wants, but he doesn't want to disappoint his family. He still hasn't really done anything about that situation so we don't really know what to do with him. He can't meet for two weeks so we will wait and see what happens.

Our other investigator who has parents against religion, came to conference yesterday! He really liked it, especially Elder Oak's talk, so we had a lesson after the conference and taught about prophets. It was a pretty cool lesson. He thought it was so cool that prophets and apostles are on the earth today. It was also a cool opportunity to testify about prophets while using the things we had all just learned in conference.

And then there's the gymnastics master who we recently picked up. We taught him the plan of salvation. I think it's kind of hard for him still but he really wants to learn about Christ. We learned this week that because he was so good and busy with gymnastics, he didn't really go to school. We discovered it when we asked him to read something. He's at an elementary students reading level. I can't read much kanji, but I could seriously read more then he can. K that's a lie, but I'm just saying he's a little slower. And he doesn't have much of a Christian background so we need to go slow with him. He's way solid though! His desire to learn and and to change his life is way cool. I hope he's able to realize that the gospel is the thing to help him realize it. He's also been reading and praying which is awesome!

That's about the highlights from the week.

I guess I'll just end with my thoughts on general conference. General conference weekend was a really cool and spiritual weekend for me. I felt the  presence of the spirit throughout the entire thing, and felt it very strongly at some specific points. I went into the conference with some questions and concerns and they were answered. One question was simply how I could find joy in missionary work and just missionary life in general. Sometimes it's hard to get excited to walk in the cold all day and get rejected by businessmen all day. Not every day is like that obviously, but there's some harder days. 

As I was thinking of that, I was really touched by Elder Donald L. Hallstrom's talk, "I Am a Child of God". He talked about how we know that doctrine, but unfortunately, we sometimes forget it or take it lightly. He said that when we encounter trouble or sorrow, instead of doubting our faith or withdrawing from God, we need to remember that we are children of God and He loves us. When he said that, I instantly felt the love that God and Jesus Christ have for me. I felt that when I get rejected or disappointed, feel alone or forgotten, that they are standing there with me by my side, and they love me. God doesn't want me to get sad or discouraged, feel alone or forsaken. He wants me to remember the greatest eternal truth known to this church and that is I am, and the rest of mankind, are his children. What a simple, but beautiful truth that is. 

I also felt a love for my family. A lot of conference was focused on eternal families. It really made me miss mine and made me want to see them again. I'm so grateful for how close our family is and how we are set on gospel principles. I also felt the increased desire to help and serve others after I return home from Japan, whether it be a widow in the ward or someone who is having a hard time. The things I learned at conference made me want to be better. 

And lastly, Elder Holland ended it with a home run, encouraging us to hold on to the things we learned and felt this weekend, and keep going and know that God is always with us. It was a powerful talk. 

With that, my third conference on my mission is over. It was a wonderful, spiritual experience. I should be here for one more in the mission and I'm excited for the next time I get to hear from our leaders. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you guys so much! Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Nathan Didericksen

Transfer 12 week 1

April 4, 2016: Week 75
Area: Aomori

Companion: Kudo Choro

Hey family and friends! How are ya doing? I'm glad you enjoyed conference and got to see Shawn and Tawna! I miss those guys! Also, the pictures you all sent were way fun! 

This week has been kind of crazy with transfers and traveling and things like that. Things have finally settled down and we are back to normal now which is nice, but it was fun to get to travel a bit. 

Recently, the mission has been focusing on getting transfers done as quickly as possible so we didn't have a whole lot of time to prepare. Elder Kugai had to leave for his new area on Monday afternoon so Elder Robins was in a trio with Elder Daniels and I for the rest of the day. It was pretty fun; it had been a while since I've been in a trio companionship. 

In Aomori on Monday, there was a big Australian cruise liner that had ported in Aomori port, so the streets were just crawling with Australians all over the place. It was fun to see a bunch of clueless white people all over the place instead of me being the only clueless white guy. We tried to talk to a fair amount of them, but it was hard. We could barely understand their Australian English. Their accents were so thick and they were using expressions that I'd never heard before. And it's just awkward trying to talk to people in English now, especially when you are trying to share the gospel with them. I realized I'd be screwed if I served in America or something. I'm too awkward! 

Anyway, that same night, we went out to eat with an Eikaiwa student and his girlfriend. He lived in California for a while so he's pretty good at English. He took us to this fancy, Japanese restaurant. We had a bunch of super traditional Japanese foods like sashimi, fried onigiri, fried garlic cloves, soups, etc. It definitely wasn't cheap. When the waitress brought out the bill, we were all pulling out our wallets ready to drop some serious money, but it was only five dollars for the five of us. I guess his girlfriend has hookups at the restaurant so we got a 125 dollar meal for five dollars! Heck yeah!

The next morning on Tuesday, I rode the five hour bus by myself to Sendai for the trainers meeting. That was weird. I hadn't been by myself for that long since I've been home. It was kind of fun and adventurous. Finally, I got to the mission home and we had a meeting on training new missionaries. I was a bit nervous and anxious the whole time due to the fact I was training a Japanese bean; I didn't know what to expect. The meeting was good though. President gave some good trainings and insights and as always, Sister Smith brought the humor. She's the best. 

After the meeting, we all piled in the vans with the APs and President and Sister Smith and drove to the Sendai airport to pick up the new missionaries. That was super weird going to the airport. It was the first time being there since that cold December night about a year and 4 months ago. It also freaked me out that I'd be there again in six months to fly back to the States. Weird thing to think about. It was pretty fun to be on the other side of things instead of being the jet-lagged, scared new missionary out of the MTC. The new missionaries finally arrived and we drove back to the mission home, had dinner made by Sister Smith, and went to bed. 

Early the next morning, we had another meeting, an orientation for the new missionaries which was fun I guess.  It was a long meeting and then they had to get set up with their iPads and finances, so it took a while. Finally, after it ended, Elder Uehara, an old comp/new AP drove us to downtown Sendai really fast so we could catch our bus. I slept way hard on the bus which was awesome. Also, one cool thing...on Wednesday night when we arrived to Eikaiwa, there was a white guy with his son teaching a class. I guess he served in Aomori twenty years ago and was visiting his areas with his son during spring break. He's a dentist in Kaysville, really nice guy.

On the work side of things, we had a pretty good week. We were able to pick up 2 new investigators! One was an investigator who stopped meeting with the missionaries a year ago. He actually really wants to be baptized but his dad is super against it and he doesn't want to destroy his relationships with his family. So that is a little frustrating and we don't really know how to help him there. Hopefully his father's heart will soften.

The other one randomly showed up while we were playing ping pong for pday last week at the church and said he wanted to learn English because he really likes America and really wants to live there. He's unreal at gymnastics. He's the best in his category out of everyone in the Tohoku/Hokkaido. Anyway, he came up to us during Eikaiwa and said he wanted to take the lessons. He's interested in Christianity because he links Christianity with Americans and since he's so interested in America, he wants to learn why we believe what we believe. So, we taught him last night about the restoration. He has an absolutely non-existent Christian background. He didn't even know what the Bible was, or that Christ and a cross has any sort of relationship with each other. So basically, we started from ground zero, going very slow. 

That's one thing I've learned how to do here is to teach the gospel very simply. It doesn't need to be complicated. Obviously since its in Japanese, I have no choice but to be simple, but on top of that, no one knows a thing about Christianity, so you need to take it simply. The lesson was pretty good. He's kind of quiet so we don't know how he feels about it yet, but we are going to teach him at least twice this week so we will see how it goes! At least I have some people to teach finally! It's a start!

That's basically the jist of the week. We're all still trying to get used to our new circumstances. I absolutely loved being with Elder Daniels. We worked really well together and had a ton of fun. The whole district was just awesome. It's different now and I'm not really used to it yet, but hopefully we will get there. For the time being, I'm just trying to be a good example to my new companion and teach him the best I can. 

Also, I'm way pumped to watch conference this weekend. Conference as a missionary is the bomb! I hope you guys enjoyed it already! I can't believe it's my third general conference on my mission! Wow! Anyway, I hope you guys have a great week! I love you all! Talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Nathan Didericksen 

Transfer 12!

March 28, 2016: Week 74
Area: Aomori

Companion: Daniels Choro

Hey y'all!! It was fun to hear from you as always. Easter sounds like it's been/is way fun! Everyone looked so snazzy in their new Easter outfits! I really want one of Dad's smoked hamburgers too! 

This week was pretty solid. No new investigators, but we found about 3 solid potential people by talking to them on the street, which was great. But before I get to the week, I need to tell about transfers!

I can't believe another transfer has come and gone; this one went by so fast! I'm already in my 12th transfer; it's insane. And it was probably one of the most fun transfers of my mission. My comp and district were way, way fun. Unfortunately, basically the entire district is being broken up..... So I'm actually staying for my third transfer here in Aomori, but my companion, Elder Daniels, is transferring to Miyako after only one transfer here. I really enjoyed being with him. We were always laughing and we worked really well together. I'll miss having him around for sure. 

So with that, I'm getting another new companion. This time, I'm actually training a brand new missionary, a Japanese missionary! I was so surprised when I heard that one! His name is Elder Kudo, but I don't know what part of Japan he is from. So I think I'm taking a five hour bus by myself to Sendai and then I get to go with President and Sister Smith to the airport to pick up the new missionaries! I'm so pumped for that! It'll be weird going there for the first time since I flew in as a new missionary! 

And then on the apartment side of things, Elder Kugai is transferring down south and Elder Okamoto is coming. Our apartment had such a fun time this last transfer. We were obedient, but we were able to find that balance. Elder Robins and I will try our best to keep the fun in the district. I'm also kind of nervous about training a Japanese missionary; you never know what to expect. But I'm sure it will all be okay and I'm grateful for the opportunity. We'll see what the next six weeks bring!

So back to the week. Monday was way fun. We had district pday and it was Elder Daniel's birthday, so we all went bowling together, my first time bowling since being home. It was super weird wearing normal clothes and hanging out with them. I felt like a normal person again. It was kind of a small glimpse of what it might be like 6 months from now. Anyway, I was pretty rusty the first game, getting last place with a score like in the sixties or something. I was a scrub. But game 2 was a lot better; I actually won! It was a good day celebrating his birthday and having one last hurrah with the district.

Tuesday was pretty solid too. We went to an Eikaiwa student's house to help him do some spring cleaning type stuff. And after helping him with that, his wife made us curry with karage which was way good! 

Later that night, we had an appointment with the Murakami family who live pretty far away from us. Since it was raining, we decided to take a train to another station and then walk from there to their house. We were in a hurry, so we quickly hopped on a train which I thought was the right one. Unfortunately, I didn't realize we were headed out of our area on the way to Hachinoe until like 20 minutes later! So we got off at some stop In the middle of nowhere, waited for the next train for like 30 minutes, rode it back to Aomori, and then rode the right train to Shin-Aomori. I'm so dumb! I've ridden the wrong train literally so many times on my mission! I guess I'm just not fit for public transportation! We finally made it to their house, but we were kind of late. They were nice about it though. It was a fun time at their house, I love that couple. They made us homemade pizza, watched a bit of the new face to face with Elder Holland, and shared a message. It was a good night.

Wednesday was probably the best day of the week. Elder Robins and I went on splits and we had a really good day. Last week, we really focused on the Easter initiative using the pass along cards and the video. We were able to find two potentials who gave us their contact Information! 

The second guy that we found was kind of a miracle in a sense. We went to set up for Eikaiwa, but the other two elders were setting up so we we ran back to Main Street to see if we could find someone in ten minutes before Eikaiwa. We talked to quite a few people, but no cigar. With only like two minutes left, I stopped a man and told him about Easter and said we were sharing a message about Jesus Christ. He said he would be down to meet another time and gave me his contact info! It's amazing how God pushes you to the last minute and then that is when you see the prize! That was a cool little reminder for me to use every precious minute because you never know when you'll meet someone who will listen to you.

A couple of days later, Elder Daniels and I were doing the same thing and we stopped a kid with only a little time remaining and he listened to us too! He said he was interested in religion (and Star Wars; he told me how it ends......) took a Book of Mormon, and gave us his number! He said he's pretty busy with track practice, but I pray we can meet with him and teach him! We will see!

Easter Sunday was good I guess. Easter isn't really a thing here, even among members. I was so surprised last year on Easter Sunday and it was the same yesterday as well. I didn't hear the word resurrection, Easter, or even Christ, for that matter one time. I was baffled. The only mention I heard of it was Elder Robins' talk. He had a different assigned theme but spoke about Easter instead to try to let the members know that yesterday was a celebration of the most important day of all time. When he said "today is Easter!", I heard several members say to themselves "that's today?!" And stuff like that. I was so baffled that Christians here still have no real idea what Easter is. I guess that is just part of the culture. Oh well, I'll have a normal Easter next time! Christian holidays in Japan just aren't the same..... 

But that is about it I think. It was a good week! I'm super bummed about the changes with transfers, but I will have to learn to like it. Hopefully, Elder Kudo and I will see some good things happen here. I love you guys so much! I hope you have a great week! Talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Nathan Didericksen