First Thanksgiving in Japan

November 29, 2015

A ward member made a very good Thanksgiving dinner.  Everyone got stuffed. What wonderful ward members Nic has met.

Oh yea! Pumpkin Pie.

Pumpkin Pie.  A touch of home.

What kind of pie do you have?

I just can't figure this pie out!

Four happy missionaries.

One ward member served with Elder Gandy, who would have thought it?

Man this week has been full of so many miracles and fun things!  I
cant believe it is already P-Day!!!  I will share with you three
miracles that I liked this week!
One of the biggest miracles that we had was we had a lesson with
someone named Mori San.  He is our progressing investigator and this
is our second time meeting him.  Usually people dont meet us a second
time so this was really good!  We were teaching him the Plan of
Salvation and we were lucky enough to have a member present with us.
We need to work on the lesson a bit because there were a couple words
that we didnt knkow and it was really hard to teach.  But when we
would have slip ups or we didnt know how to explain something we would
use our member to help us teach.  It is great to have someone there
who knows Japanese fluently and also knows the gospel and can teach
about it.  Actually, haha something funny happened during the lesson.
We got to the spirit world and we didnt really know how to teach it so
we had our member present teach it.  So he was teaching it perfectly
except in the middle of it he said, "If you are bad you go to spirit
prison and you dont get resurrected"  We were like, woooaaahhhh!  Okay
thats not correct.  We corrected him and told him everyone gets
resurrected and he was like "Really?"  It was kind of funny.  I guess
you really have to watch out for what others teach each other. hahaha
Besides that little slip up, it was a really good lesson and we
committed Mori to come to church and to read from the Book of Mormon.
He said he will do both! :)  We were so excited to have him come to
Church.
This brings me to my next part of the miracles, on Sunday Mori
actually came to church!  It was great!  I sat next to him and he
seemed to really like church.  He was singing the hymns and paying
attention the whole time.  Today we actually had the primary program
so there was a lot of doctrine taught today.  It was really good for
Mori san.  He didnt stay for all the classes but I think he really
liked Sacrament meeting.  When we meet with him again this week, we
are going to follow up with him and see how he liked church.  When we
talked with him after sacrament meeting, he said he really liked it
but he left before we could talk more about it.  He came at the best
time because so much church doctrine was taught and it was taught very
simply.  I cant wait to talk to him about it this week.  He is
progressing very well and I think that he will be our Christmas
miracle.  I am so excited to work with him more this week.
The next miracle that happened was actually really fun.  We had a zone
blitz in Kasukabe.  A blitz is when everyone in your zone comes to
your area and they all work in your area for about 2-3 hours.  They
mostly do finding.  It is a great opportunity to find new
investigators.  It is so much fun.  You also get a new Elder to work
with, so that is fun!  I loved it because I went around with another
Elder who was the same transfer as me.  We talked to people in English
and they actually talked back to us!  It was great.  If they didnt
know English we would kick into Japanese mode.  We talked to a lot of
people and we met a lot of new people.  We also set up some
appointments with people who we found.  I am really excited to see if
we get any calls this week.  We handed out a lot of Book of Mormons as
well.  So far we have one guy who seems really interested and that is
awesome!  I love being able to work with other Missionaries and I love
finding new people to talk to.  It was a very successful Blitz.
My mom should be updating my blog this week with all my photos that I
have been sending to her so make sure you go check it out!  I am not
going to lie....  The pictures are pretty great! :)  Make sure to be
friends with my mom on Facebook and check out my blog!!!  The blog is
nics.mission.blogspot.com  If you have any questions send my mom a
message on Facebook and she will answer it for you! Let me know how
you are doing!  I hope you all are having an amazing week and I hope
that this next week goes just swell for you!  I am so grateful for all
my friends and family who love and support me on my Mission.  It was
hard not to be home for Thanksgiving but I have felt so much love from
the Kasukabe ward members that I didnt have any homesickness or
anything like that.  I am so blessed to be in such an amazing ward!  I
love it here!  I love you all and cant wait to here from you!  It is
getting close to the Christmas season so make sure you share the true
meaning of Christmas with everyone and remember our Savior!  Share the
true meaning of Christmas with a friend and tell them why you love
christmas or what christmas means to you!  Thank you all again for all
your love and support!  I love you all so much!  Take care and talk to
you next week! :)
😊🇯🇵

Elder Unsworth

You're A Good Missionary

 Elder Unsworth

November 22, 2015

One of the missionary's drew this for Nic.  He had to give a talk on happiness and he decided to use the song "Happiness".  

Dinner with ward members.  Nic had a great time talking and getting to know these wonderful people.
  He loves this ward!

 Well hello everyone!  This week has been a great week!  I got my

transfer calls today and I am staying in Kasukabe for one more

Transfer!  I am staying with Elder Calhoun and we are going to see

some miracles!  We are going to work hard and improve in the Gospel

and in our Japanese skills.  Here is to another transfer!

This week we got three new investigators!  Two of them were from a

ward member who refered them to use and anther one was from a family

who has a less active son and his friend was interested in the church.

The two referals were a great lesson.  Nakazawa Kyodai came and sat in

with us for the lessons and he is amazing!  He would clarify things

that didnt make sense and he would pretty much be our translator if we

said something that didnt make sence.  He is an amazing ward member!

The less active member and his friend was a pretty cool miracle.  So I

went and played basketball with them this week and afterward I showed

them a video about Jesus Christ.  They loved it!  I shared my

testimony and then invited them to church.  They said they would try

to come.

Well on Sunday they both showed up!  I was so happy!!  The less active

kid hadn't been to church for years! I was so happy to see him their

and it was the friends first time!  After sacrament meeting we talked

and they said they really enjoyed it and that they will try to come

again next week.  We also tutored the boy a bit with his homework

because he said he needed some help.  Man if you thought math was hard

in English.  Try doing story problems in Japanese!  I had no idea what

was going on!  Luckily we had a member there with us so we let him

teach! haha  But overall, I am really excited to work with these two

men this next transfer.  It is going to be really fun and I have a

feeling he is going to be our Christmas Miracle!  He is an amazing boy

and he loves church!

I am so happy that I get to stay in Kasukabe for one more transfer.  I

am looking forward to working with the members and building a better

relationship with them.  This area is so awesome and I love it so

much!  It is going to be hard when I have to leave.  But luckily I can

stay one more transfer!

Thank you all for your wonderful love and support I hope to hear from

you again!  Take care and let me know how you are doing!

My mom has been posting some pictures of my on facebook and on my

blog.  Her name is Diane Unsworth if you are not friends with her.

And the blog is  nicsmission.blogspot.com   If you have some time, go

check it out and leave a like or a comment and say a favorite memory

or share a photo of us together! :)  I think that would be really fun!

 I love you all so much!  Let me know in your next letter if you share

something!  My mom will also be posting my pictures in the blog spot

so if you want to see this happy missionary having fun, check it out!

I love you all so much! :)  Have an amazing week and eat some Turkey

for me! :)

Elder Unsworth

On Stage Again!

November 15, 2015

Dinner at the Marutanis

Romeo and Juliet.  The elder's sang Amazing Grace while Romeo and Juliet waltzed on stage.

Curtain Call

Cast Photo

Another Cast Photo

Two very happy Elders!  Friends for ever.

I LOVE TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!

It's beginning to look like Christmas at the temple in Tokyo!

 This week has been very eventful!  I got to go to the temple again!  I

love going to the temple.  It always makes me so happy and I love the

feelings I get from going there.  I cant wait for the next time!  It

is going to be so much fun!

This week I would like to share with you one thing that happened that

really strengthened my testimony and has made me a better missionary.

Sunday, I had the grand opportunity to give a talk. Oh boy did that

stress me out. I had to write down every sentence one by one and then

translate it. It was so hard. I talked about my mission and the

Christmas miracle. I pretty much had my face in my iPad the whole

time. But when I shared my testimony at the end, it was from the heart

and I felt the spirit a lot. It was great!  Everyone told me I did

really good but to be honest it frustrated me a lot. I miss being able

to say what ever I want. When I would give talks or do things like

that, I had so much confidence because I just a,ways spoke from the

heart and I could say what ever I wanted. Now I have to write

everything down and try to pronounce it the best I can. It makes me

frustrated but it pushes me to work harder. The more and more I talk

though, the more and more I learn. So I am going to try to talk a lot

more this week in Japanese. Later that night we got a call from the

bishop. He said a family was having a hard time and he needed us to

come help him. So we went with him to this families house and it

seemed like they were doing okay. But he wanted us to share a message

about what we learned at stake conference. I was scared, I had no idea

how I was going to share what I learned and at the same time help a

family who is struggling. But somehow, I spoke Japanese and I invited

the spirit to be in the room. I wasn't perfect and I still needed some

help from the bishop and my companion but I spoke Japanese and invited

the spirit and helped a family. I could just tell by their faces that

they were happy to hear from us. They needed a "spiritual recharge". I

think a lot of people need this sometimes in their lives. I know when

I get home from my mission, I am going to utilize the missionaries a

lot more. But this night was very special to me because Heavenly

Father listened to my prayer and helped me with my Japanese. I know I

couldn't have done it without him or the spirit.

I know that the gift of tongues is a real thing.  It has helped me so

much on my mission and I know it will continue to help me on my

mission.  I love the spirit that I feel when I testify of the Gospel

in Japanese.  This week has been an amazing week for teaching and for

testifying.  Transfers are coming up and I am a bit nervous about that

but I know all will be well.  I am loving my mission and it has made

me into a better person already!  I cant wait to see what kind of

person I am by the end.  This Gospel has helped me so much in my life

and I want to share that with everyone!  Thank you all again for all

your love and support.  You are amazing and I love you all so much.

Take care and have an amazing week! :)

Elder Unsworth

November 8, 2015

Fishing on P-Day

Zone P-day fun

Elder Calhoun shaving.  They shave when they can.

The biggest fish ever caught!!  haha

Coke: Oh so good!!!

The Hosoya Family

Wow what a week it has been!  So much has happened!  I will just hit

some of the key parts of this week.

I have been teaching a lot of lessons to less active members, recent

converts, investigators and everything in between!  I love teaching

people and they love having us over.  Here is some lessons that went

awesome this week!

On Friday something amazing happened! So I called a guy on our

teaching list the other day and we set up an appointment to meet and

have dinner together!  It was really cool that he answered because

usually people don't answer.  But he answered and I was excited to

meet him.  So we met outside the church and then we told him that I

had never had sushi.  He then told us that he would take us to his

favorite restaurant and we would have sashimi.  Sashimi is pretty much

raw fish.  No rice, nothing.  Raw fish.  I will list now all the fish

that I had that night.  Salmond, Tuna, another Tuna, yellow back fish,

Eel, Octopus, eel mouth, squid, chicken, and the best, Puffer fish!

Every other fish was ehhhh but I loved Puffer fish!  The Puffer fish

was breaded and cooked and it was so good!  All the other fish was raw

and it tasted like fish and it was ehhhhh.  Octopus also was really

weird.  But I am grateful for the experience.  We then talked about

church and why we are happy and what we do.  He thinks that life is

meant to have fun and to do what ever you want to do.  But he wants to

learn more about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ.  So we set up

another appointment.  When it was time to leave and pay the bill, I

was afraid it was going to be a lot of money.  So we got to the cash

register and it cast 11,000 Yen.  Thats $110!!!!  I was like, oh crap!

But Ogawa san paid for it all!  He was so nice and he said that he is

not a nice person and that he is a bad person but he is so nice!  I am

excited to meet and talk with him again.  I am so grateful for Ogawa

San and all that he did for us.  He is such a nice man and I know that

he is going to love church!  He loves to serve people and he just is a

nice guy all around.

On Saturday we saw so many miracles!  It was so crazy.  So we started

the day off with a lesson with a guy who is an eternal investigator.

The good thing about this guy is he loves to read the Book of Mormon

every day.  And we talk about it with him every day.  But at his

lesson we talked about the Book of Mormon and he had questions about

what Justice and Mercy are.  We descried that Justice is what Heavenly

Father does to us when we are judged according to our works.  Mercy

can be found through the Atonement.  He then told us that he wants to

learn more about the Atonement and he wants to start his path to

returning back to Heavenly Father.  We were so excited!  We set up

another date to meet with him at the church.  After that we went to

Lucy's Japanese class and she gave us a referral.  She gave us a whole

family that she wants us to go teach english to and also the Gospel.

So that was really cool.  At the end of the class these old ladies

came in with this really old Japanese instrument.  They played a

couple song and then let us go up and play with it.  When I got on it,

I quickly found out that it was like a Piano.  I then started playing

Praise to the Man and all the other songs that I knew.  It was so much

fun!  I then played some Japanese songs and when I was done, I noticed

that everyone was listening to me and then started clapping.  It was a

really neat and fun experience!  I want one of those instruments so

bad!  They are so cool!  But when we were leaving the class this women

came up to Elder Calhoun and said, "I know you".  She then asked him

where he lived and he said North Carolina.  She then asked him if he

had ever been to California.  He said yes and she said she saw him

there 3 years ago.  What are the odds that she would remember him?

And that they would meet in Kasukabe Japan!  We know that it was a

miracle from Heavenly Father and that he was preparing her for us.

She had a room mate in California that was converted and so she knows

a bit about the church.  She also has a husband and a child and she

said she will come to church next week!  We are so excited to teach

them!  I really think that they are going to be our miracle baptism!

We have something called the December Miracle.  We all are going to

try to get at least one baptism by the end of the year.  The whole

mission is doing it and so far some people have seen the miracle.  So

we need to work hard in order to see it as well!  We then had

Basketball that night.  When we showed up, everyone was sitting

outside the school.  The person who was suppose to pick up the key

forgot to pick it up.  We were so sad!  Luckily there was someone who

was in the school so we asked them for the key and they said someone

had already taken it.  We went back to the gym area and was getting

ready to tell all the kids to go home.  But one kid who was not a

member said, "Teach me how to pray"  So we taught him and he prayed

that someone would come with the key.  We then had some less active

kids also teach him about prayer and how it works and who Heavenly

Father is.  Ten minutes after the prayer was said, someone came with

the key!  It was so cool!  I think it really built that kids faith.

We played and had so much fun with each other!  After Basketball, we

shared the video Because of Him.  It is a great video that talks about

Jesus Christ.  I think I sent it to you or asked you to watch it when

I was in the MTC.  But we shared the video and then asked the kids to

come to church.  One of them said he couldn't because his mom is

against the church but the one who prayed said he will come if he has

time.  It was such a cool experience!  Probably one of the coolest

days of my mission! :)

Well those are my two favorite days of the week!  Thank you all again

for your love and support I love hearing from you.  I hope you all

have an amazing week!  Never forget that your Heavenly Father loves

you and watches over you.  He wants to see you happy! :)  I know that

this is true.  When I talk with people in Japanese I feel so much love

for them!  I know that my Japanese isn't the best but I still feel the

Holy Ghost in my life.  I love this Gospel.  I love that I know that

through this Gospel and through the Temples I can be with my family

forever.  I want others to know that as well.  That is why I am out

here.  Not for myself but to help others become closer to their

Heavenly Father and to become closer families.  I know that through

this Gospel you can feel the best Peace, Happiness, and love than

anywhere else.  This Gospel has helped my life so much.  I am so

grateful for it.  I love my friends, and I love my family even more.

Thank you all for your love and support.  I cant wait to talk to you

again next week.  Oh also, next week is Temple P-Day so I will email

on Wednesday.  Talk to you all then!  Take care! :)  If you have time

this week, I challenge you to go to the temple!  It will bring so much

peace to your life!  Even if you just drive by it to see the Beaty of

it.  But if you go on the ground and inside it, you will feel even

more happiness and peace.  The temples are amazing places.  I love

them! :)

Love you all, have an amazing week! 😊🇯🇵

Elder Unsworth