September 28, 2015
Kasukabe, Japan

The Takahashi family had the missionaries to dinner.  They had a great time with them.

P-Day fun with Elder Koyama at a Buddhist arch way.  Nic is still good at doing selfies. Haha

Buddhist Arch Way

Elder O'Reilly and Elder Unsworth working together for the afternoon.  Nic had a great day.

Can you guess who made these?

September 21, 2015

A week of service

Getting ready to head out for a day of service.

Volunteers getting directions from those in charge.

53 people from Nic's stake ready for a day of service but also a day of fun. Nic loves serving the people of Japan.

Ready to load the bus.

A Roller Coaster that is right next to Nic's house.  He would love to ride it but it is against mission rules.  He will have to do it when he goes back after his mission.

 Weekly Letter 8-21-2015

Wow this week has been amazing!  So much has happened and I have no idea where to start.  Well I guess from the beginning! haha

In our mission we teach an English class for free for anyone who wants to learn.  I love doing this so much!  Everyone who comes loves to talk with me and I love talking with them!  They are so supportive of the missionaries and they think that we are amazing people.  I love being with them because it is also a moment when I can speak English instead of Japanese! haha

Speaking about Japanese.  I went to a members house this week to have Dinner with them.  The members here are so nice and they love talking with the missionaries.  It is kind of hard because I cant understand them that well.  So most of the time I just sit there and smile.  But at this members house I was able to talk with them a little bit!  So success!!!  My Japanese is getting better! haha  At the end of dinner I had the opportunity to share a quick message about families and prayer.  I love talking about families because it gives me an opportunity to talk about my family.  I love my family so much and the spirit is always present when I talk about them.  The good thing is, I was able to share my whole message without any help!  It was an amazing experience and I loved it so much!  I am so excited to learn more Japanese and teach more people!  Each week my Japanese gets better and better, it is great! 

Another great thing that happened this week is we had a Mission Conference.  We had our Mission President and his wife there, and we had the General Authority who is over our mission there.  He was amazing!  He talked about faith and how we can be better Missionaries.  His name was Elder Whiting and he talked with power.  He was a great speaker and his talk helped me so much.  After the talk, I had the great opportunity to have an interview with him!  This is so rare, only 10 of us were selected to go and I loved it so much.  We talked about my family and how I can improve my mission.  Lets just say, by the end of the interview he was impressed with me.  This meant so much to me!  I am so grateful for Elder Whiting and everything he does.  The spirit was so strong in the room when I talked with him.  He helped me so much.

Another great thing that happened this week is I was able to go help the people in Japan who was affected by the tsunami.  It was so sad to see all the garbage everywhere and to see all the stuff that the people had to throw away.  I helped them by clearing out their houses, shacks, and in any other way that I could.  The amazing part of this is there was no complaining or groaning from the Japanese people. They all were glad that we were there to help and they loved seeing us.  They even tried to give us some food and water.  The Japanese people are so kind and loving.  That is my favorite thing about my mission.  The people are amazing and so kind.  I hope that the town that was affected by the Tsunami will be able to build itself back up soon.  We took about 53 people with us to help with the service project.   We helped a lot of people but there is so much more to be done.  

Over all, this week has been a great week.  I loved every moment of it.  Hopefully this week will be just as great! I love serving the people of Japan and I am loving my mission.  There are so many great things that happen each week.  By the end of these two years I am going to have several books filled with my memories.  That is something I have found important on my mission.  Writing in a Journal is so important! I love going back and rereading things.  They help me so much.  I love writing in them!

I hope you all had an amazing week!  Send me an email and let me know how you are doing!  I love hearing from you all!  Take care and know that you all are always in my prayers.  Thank you for all your love and support.  Take care, talk to you next week! :)

Elder Unsworth

September 14, 2015

Week 2 in Japan

Elder Unsworth and Elder Koyama in front of their apartment

Rice Fields

Hey Japan, I have a great book to share with you!

I am calling you to repentance.

Showing off his new rain gear.

Having a little fun in the rain!!

Neither rain or shine or even floods, you can not stop a missionary from doing their work.

Yes this is the street.  The typhoon flooded the streets.

Crazy people driving in the deep water!

The bus system in Japan driving through the flooded streets.

My socks got wet and I am drying them over the stove at the church.

Trying his first war head!  He actually liked it.

Lunch with my district leader, Elder Abo from Spanish Fork.  He is an amazing guy.

Wow this week has been crazy in Japan! 

So I dont know if you heard but Japan got hit by a typhoon this week.  I thought, man I really need to go buy a rain suit.  Good thing I did.  Oh wait, it didn't work in the typhoon!  It was the crappiest rain gear I have ever bought!  It kept me kind of dry, the insides would get a bit wet but not soaked.  But I guess I am kind of tall for Japanese people so none of their cloths really fit me as well as American clothes.  I have to buy pants that are like a Large or XL.  But that means the Jacket comes in a large as well.  It is kind of big on me but not too big.  I am still trying to find a better one that fits me better.  Also, the pants go up when I get on my bike so my pant legs are revealed to the rain and so are my socks and shoes.  The shoes keep the water out really well!  But they also keep the water in really well....  When my socks get wet, they push the water down to my feet which then gets stuck in my shoes!  Ugh, everywhere I went I felt like I had swimming pools on my feet!  I am so glad it didn't ruin my shoes!  I was worried about that the whole time.  My shoes are fine and so am I! :)   There was one day though that the rain hit really hard.  Of course, we have to drive 45 minutes in the rain to the church everyday.  Plus the rain adds a bit of time because we cant travel as fast. But we get to the church and try to dry off as much as possible and there sitting in front of the church is a huge puddle!  There was so much water on the road!  So like every other good missionary would do, we waited in the church for it to stop raining....  Well it never really did so we went up stairs and I decided I wanted to dry my socks off.  They were so wet!  The only way I could think figure out how to dry them was heat.  And the only place there is a heater in the church is the stove.  That's right, I turned on the stove and dried my socks over it.  Hahahaha it was so funny. Elder Koyama got a kick out of it.  Don't worry I was safe and I didn't burn the church down!  Well after we sat around the church for awhile and tried to figure out someone to go visit we decided that no one would let us in because of the rain so we decided to go home.  When we went outside, there were huge puddles everywhere!  I thought Japan was going to be the new Atlantis!  I also didn't know that I was in Thailand!  There was so much water.  There was one area where the water went all the way up to my knees.  Maybe a bit past my knees.  I will also send you a picture of all the cars driving through the water.  They were crazy.  In Fact, one car got stuck and was just floating there.  The Police had to put up signs everywhere telling people not to drive down certain roads because there was too much water.  There was one intersection that was way flooded and Elder Koyama tried to cross it but got stuck half way and fell in the water.  Not really fell, but he had to put his feet down and it got his foot all wet.  So my feet were wet, his feet were wet.  We decided to take this opportunity and have some fun in the rain.  There was not a single puddle that we were afraid of.  We had a blast the whole way home.  It was so much fun and so wet!  It was a good day.  When everyone is wet, it is fun; when you are the only one wet, it is not fun!  Luckily everyone was wet! :)

Luckily the typhoon has passed now and I can now drive my bike without having to worry about huge puddles everywhere!  

There was also a small earthquake that happened.  I am not going to lie, it was kind of fun waking up to it.  My bed was moving and it was the first Earth quake I have ever felt.  I was a bit nervous but I am fine!  Everything in my area is fine and the mission is still going.

I am also talking with my companion a lot more and it is great!  I am learning so much Japanese and my companion is also learning a lot of English!  So we talk back and forth in both languages.  English is so much easier for me!  But I have to practice my Japanese. Every day it is getting better though! I am so happy about that! :)

Luckily the last couple of days have been pretty great and I have been dry!  Although it is really hot!  I have to stop and get a drink of water every time I pass the church.  Everywhere we go it takes like an hour bike ride.  And it is going up and down hills.  It is so tiring.  But I love being outside.  It is a time when I can practice my Japanese and not have people hear it!  haha   It is also way fun to sing and ride my bike.  Everyone around me hears Disney but I am not sure if they understand it because I sing in English.  But they know the tune! haha

Overall, I am loving Japan and I am so excited for this next week.  I love serving the people and teaching them about the savior and his Gospel!  I am so excited to find new investigators and teach them about Jesus Christ and their Father in Heaven.  So many people have never heard about them and I want to introduce them to them.  

Thank you all for your love and support that you send to me.  I love hearing from you all and I hope this week will be amazing for you!

あいしています!!!!!

Elder Unsworth

Welcome to Tokyo, Japan

 Nic and President Nagano and Sister Nagano
Nic is in Tasukabe. It is a bit north from Tokyo. It is a mix of farm land and city.

Nic and his companion Elder Koyama.  He is from Sapporo, Japan.  He is 20 years old and speaks very little English.  

Elder Koyama likes to cook.  Nic said that he is a very good cook.  Even picky Nic will eat it.  HaHa

Nic's bed.  He was very surprised by what the call futons.  His is a mattress on the floor and not very comfortable.  He did say it was better than some of the dirt floors he slept on but not by much.

Nic showing off his new bike.  He is so proud that it is a Chevy.

This is the church in his area.  It is very tall an narrow.

This is the people that showed up for English class.  He especially likes the sisters.  He said that they all treat him real nice.

This is Lucy.  She is in the English class.  She loves Nic's fun sense of humor.  She is also helping Nic with his Japanese.

This is the first person Nic taught in Japan.  His name is Brother Kanekos.  He is trying to become ready for the temple and the Elder's are teaching him about the Melchizedek Priesthood.  They had to travel about an hour and a half on their bikes to teach this gentleman.  When he offered Nic a drink, he couldn't refuse.  

He couldn't lie, "It burned the whole way down but it tasted amazing!!!

The beautiful rice fields in Japan.

All it does is rain!!! Nic and his companion got caught at the church and had to ride a half hour home.  They were a little wet by the time they got there.  He stated that he was going to buy an rain jacket.

Well this week I think I am going to do my first group email.  Hopefully you all are okay with that.  I don't have enough time to write you all individually today, but I am so grateful for all your emails.  

I am finally in Japan.  My new P-day is on Monday but that is Sunday your time.  I also have to send my letters late at night your time because of the time difference.  Sorry about that.  

But I am finally here and sharing the Gospel.  My companions name is Elder Koyama.  He is 100% Japanese and he is from Sapporo.  He doesn't speak a lot of English so it is really hard to communicate with him.  I try my hardest though.  The area that I am in is called Kasukabe.  It is just a bit north from Tokyo.  It is really nice and clean here and it rains a lot!  I have never been wet so much in all my life.  I swear everyday it rains and everyday I get wet.  Kasukabe actually has a real church here.  It is three stories high and very skinny.  But it is a church!  It is so cool! My apartment though is 45 minutes away by bike.  It takes forever to get to the church every morning.  We have to ride so far to get there.  

The ward members are so nice here.  They welcomed me with a smile in their heart and they gave me lots of food.  It was so nice.  Although the people on the streets aren't as nice.  They don't even look at us.  We say hello and they just keep walking.  It is so weird.  It gets on my nerves a bit.  One day I am going to say hello to someone and stop them and then talk to them about the church and it is going to be awesome!  

I am so excited to teach some lessons.  So far I have only been to one lesson and I had no idea what was going on.  Japanese people talk so fast and it is way hard to understand.  I just always bare simple testimony of what I know is true.  Its really all I can do right now.  But I am way excited to teach my own lesson.  

So for those of you who don't know, I have not drank soda in the past five years.  I had a challenge to not drink and so I haven't had one soda in forever!  But when I went to a members house they offered me one and it is very rude to say no.  So I had to drink it.  There goes my streak of not drinking soda.  Oh well, I actually forgot how good it taste.  I loved drinking my first Coca-cola in five years!  It tasted so good but burnt my throat so much!  I cant believe how much it hurt.  Hopefully I will get use to it soon.  

Well I want you all to know that I am doing fine and that I am safely in Japan.  Thank you all for your love and support!  I hope to hear from you all again this week.  Keep working hard and have an awesome week!  Talk to you all later! :)

Elder Unsworth