Back to Finish Where It All Started!

September 12, 2016: Week 98

Area: Izumi

Companion: Bruce Choro

Hey everyone! It was so great to hear from all of you! I appreciate you guys for not forgetting about me and sticking with me for these almost two years. 

Well, I got my last transfer call of my mission and I couldn't be happier with how it went! It went kind of like this, "Elder Didericksen, you only have one more transfer right? I've thought long and hard and I feel you should finish your mission where you started; I want you to go to Hirosaki and finish as a trainer." I'm gonna be honest, I don't know exactly what he told me after that. I was too busy running around and freaking out in excitement that I get to finish my mission where it all began. I get to go back to the place where I fought and struggled with the language, where I first attempted to learn this unique culture, and where I came to love the people of Japan. Words can't describe how excited I am for the last six weeks of this adventure. It should be a way awesome way to end the ride. 

With the excitement that transfer calls brought, it's hard to think about what happened this week. It was a pretty good week I think, I just can't really remember a lot of it. 

This past Tuesday, I went to Furukawa and did splits with Elder Koide, an elder that I left the MTC with to come to Sendai. Working in Furukawa reminded me how in the middle of nowhere the kind of place it is. He and I went housing way out in the boonies where a bunch of old, rice farming houses are and it was pretty fun. No one was interested, but we got to meet some funny "grandpa" farmers who were pretty nice. It's always fun to work in an old area!

Wednesday, Elder Bruce and Robb came back to Furukawa so we could end the split and then Elder Bruce began to head back to Izumi. Unfortunately, I was unaware of the time and our bus back to Izumi rolled away right as we got to the bus stop. I was not too happy to be stuck in Furukawa for another 4 hours, but then a nice grandma directed us to another bus to Sendai. So, we rode to Sendai and then took a subway to Izumi.  Thank goodness for nice, old Japanese grandmas. They are the best!

Thursday was pretty crazy. Sendai got hit with a pretty big storm and it rained all day. SO with that, we weren't allowed to ride our bikes and had to walk everywhere. As we were walking back from about an hour walk to a less actives house (they where not too happy to see missionaries on their doorstep), we got caught in perhaps the biggest downpour of my life! It was absolutely insane. It rained 10 times harder than last weeks "typhoon" that kind of missed Sendai. I got straight hammered; everything in my bag and every inch of me was absolutely soaked. We were sprinting to the church to get out of it and I was so glad when we did. It was kind of fun though and reminded me of playing in the huge storm in the parking lot at the St. George condos with the family. 

Friday was the highlight of the week. The other two elders found some dudes playing basketball and they are pretty interested in the gospel. They invited all of us to play basketball in Sendai, so we got permission to play in a park in downtown Sendai. When we got there, there were already two guys playing who were insanely good. I've never seen a Japanese guy that good at  basketball. So, we all went up and asked if they would like to play some pick-up ball and they were down with it. I can't even describe how crazy this one guy's handles were. He plays in a street-ball league somewhere in Japan and is ridiculous. If you have ever seen the Pepsi commercials called "Uncle Drew" with Kyrie Irving, this guy had handles as good as that. He also has a scholarship to play at a college in Seattle I think. He about made me fall over on several occasions. They were really nice guys though and it was fun to play with all of them. I haven't played people that good since high school so it was super fun.  It got me pumped to play some ball with the guys again! We also gave them all Books of Mormon and a few of them seemed interested so I hope it goes well. 

But yeah, that is the basic gist of what happened. It was a fun week full of finding and getting my ankles broken by some Japanese ballers. I can't wait to face these last six weeks of my mission in Hirosaki. Time is starting to wind down pretty fast so I will work hard and try my best to leave my mark in an area that I really love before the final buzzer sounds. It should be tons of fun. I hope you all have a great week! Love you!  Talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Nathan Didericksen

 We bought nice Japan soccer jerseys like what they wore in the
Olympics.

The rice fields of Furukawa