Happy Memorial Day, AMERICA

May 30, 2016

Sports day with the Itokazu family.

This is the school!

Running Races!

Tug of war

This was a cool game like chicken. You would get on top of three
people and then fight other kids. You won by stealing their hats. It
looks way fun!

This is the Oishi family!

Temple Day

Wahoo, temple P-day!  My favorite!!!

Museum

Tiny OldTown

An old Edo bridge

Hello, Hello, Can I call Utah?

This is the way people would carry people around in the Edo period of
Japan. This museum is called the Edo museum. It focuses on the Edo
period of the Japanese history. That is like when they had emperors
and samurai sword and that stuff. So this is like a taxi for famous
people. 

How they use to carry water. I was too tall for it!

Elder Unsworth the water boy!

The Strong Man!

So I don't know why, but back in the Edo period, men would run around
with these. It would tell people that there was a fire.
 I guess it told people to go help or something.

Carrying food!

 One hungry missionary!
. These things actually are pretty heavy! 

A stage! I am home!!!

Hey dad, look at this car.
It reminds me of the GL.

Silly Elders

Everyone ready!!

This is the picture where we had tons of people taking our picture.
We have starting left to right:
 Elder Ito,Elder Purba, Elder Lin, me, Elder Sharon, and Elder Jackson.
It was so much fun being at the museum with them! :).
Best picture ever!!!

Bike man.
This is Elder Jackson and I.
 We had so many school kids
around us taking photos.

Another funny picture!

Wow, what a cool bike!

Do I look regal? 

A big boy trike!

Elder Lin, our new mode of transportation!

One last group picture around a car.
 This day was an amazing day with these elders.
 I wish I could hang out with them more often.
 I think this car makes us look like we belong in the 50's.
We could be the mafia! 

Weekly Letter

I can not believe how fast the time goes sometimes.  Hello family and
friends!  This week seems like it just flew right on by.  It feels
literally just like yesterday I was typing away an email for all of
you.  I would like to thank you all for your prayers and love for my
investigators.  They are doing amazing.  My top investigator right now
is Ishino.  He is doing great and he might be baptized this week or
the next.  There is just a couple things we have to get cleared up
before we can baptize him, but it is defiantly going to happen
sometime soon.  So please continue to pray for him and send some love
his way.  Our next investigator is Fang and he is also doing really
well.  He is following all the commandments and he says he is coming
to church this week.  We tried to set up a baptismal date with him but
it still seems a bit scary to him.  I think we need to try and invite
him to more church activities so that he can feel the love from the
members and realize that this church isn't that scary.  I think he
just needs to build some friendships in the Ward.  We are having a
party in the next two weeks, so we are going to invite him to come to
that and hopefully that will get something going.  But I have a good
feeling about him and I think he will be baptized sometime in the near
future.  We then also have a man named Ogawa.  He is going really well
and he loves the church and the Gospel.  But he is just way busy so we
can only meet on Sunday's.  So things are going slow with him, but he
is doing amazing!  He has so much interest in the church and he is
plowing through the Book of Mormon.  So everything in Togane is going
very well.  We have many other investigators we are meeting with and
teaching and I am so grateful for them.  To top things off we also
found a new investigator!!!  It was a way cool miracle!  Here I will
tell you about it.
So we were going to visit a members house and they live up in a place
called Toke.  Well to get to Toke, you have to travel up this
mountain.   Having cars zip by you and going up hill on a bike is not
fun.  But we do it pretty often so I think we are kind of use to it.
But every time I get to the top, I am dead tired and sweaty!  Well we
got to the top and we had the impression to go to the train station
and talk to people there. Elder Lin then had us go a different way
then we usually went.  This was actually our first time on that side
of the Station.  I wondered why we were there and there was literally
two people there.  One was a girl and we aren't suppose to talk to
them, and the other was a boy.  So we went and talked with the boy.
After talking to him and introducing who we were, we found out that he
has interest in Jesus Christ and that he wants to learn more!  We then
showed him the Book of Mormon and explained it to him.  We gave it to
him and set up another day for us to meet.  The crazy thing about this
miracle was he said he lived in Togane, he knows where the church
lives and lives pretty close to it, and he gave us his phone number!
It was such a cool miracle and I am so exited to meet with him again
and teach him!  I think he is coming to church next Sunday so please
pray that he will come!  Miracles are everywhere I tell you, you just
have to look! :)
Sorry, I don't have too much time left to write emails so I just want
you to know that I am doing well.  We had lots of lessons this week
and we saw lots of miracles.   We go to bed dead tired and somehow we
wake up with energy to go and do the work all day long everyday!  I
love this work so much  and I know that I am being blessed everyday.
I am so blessed to have amazing friends and family.  You all mean so
much to me and I love hearing from you.  But this week we went to a
museum and I have to tell you a funny story real quick before I get
off! Today was temple pday and after the temple I hung out with some
elders and we went and had the time of our life.  We were deciding to
go to a museum or a zoo.  I didn't really want to go to the zoo
because it was outside, we were in our suits, and it was really hot.
So we went to the museum.  We got there and at first it was like a
museum.  We walked around took pictures.  But then we started finding
things you can touch and play with.  We had so much fun with that.  We
were on these bicycles.  Just imagine these six foreigners playing on
these bikes and then having some high school student take a picture
for us.  Well the part that surprised us was when the kid was getting
ready to take the picture the whole high school group came over and
took our pictures.  There was no doubt like twenty to thirty people
taking our pictures.  Even some adults were taking our pictures.  It
was so funny!  We then went around and posed on more things and had
lots of fun, and the group of people followed us and continued to take
our pictures.  We called ourselves the Men in Suits.  Haha I bet we
looked was funny for everyone.  But it was way fun and it was a blast.
I wish every pday could be like that.  We had more fun then anyone
probably ever has had in a museum.  I loved today so much!
Wherever I go and what ever I do, I always look for a way to enjoy the
work.  Sometimes, you have to sit back and have some fun in life.  I
am loving the work here in Togane because I am finding opportunities
to share the Gospel but also have fun while doing it.  I love spending
time with other missionaries and also spending time with my companion.
We always have an adventure every day and we always are laughing at
each other or at something funny that happens between us.  I think the
success of a happy missionary and one who can have fun is really high.
I think Elder Lin and I are seeing success because we are happy and
enjoying the work.  I love working with him and I love being a
missionary.  The work is amazing! :)
Well it is time for me to get off now, so I will say goodbye.  I love
you all and I hope you have an amazing week.  I hope those of you who
are now on summer vacation have a fun time!  Don't forget to send me
pictures!!!  Check out my blog to see the pictures I took today at the
museum and also through out the week.  They are pretty awesome! :). I
love you all and I will talk to you again next week.  See you!
Love you!!! :)

Elder Unsworth

 A Stressful Week

May 22, 2016

Zone pday.  I got that shirt from a member.  It is pretty cool!  It is
from Star Wars! :). I like Elder Lins too! Haha
But today was way fun and I loved being with my zone.  They are a hoot
and we played so many fun games.  Volleyball, and capture the flag was
way fun.  We also dipped our feet in the ocean and saw a couple jelly
fish.  That was fun! :)

This is Elder Miller.  He is one of the Assistants in our mission and
he is my grandpa!  It is always fun seeing him and talking with him.
Maybe one day I can fill his shoes and be a trainer, district leader,
zone leader or assistant!  He is an amazing missionary and I love him
so much.  He is going home soon, so I will miss him.  But he is
amazing and I thought I would take a picture with him before he goes
home!  He also loves Disney so we are like brothers! :)

I have made a mistake with the name of my blog.  It is
nicsmission.blogspot.com  I hope you take some time and go check out
some of the cool pictures I have been sending home.  And of course,
always send me pictures!  I love seeing all of you and seeing all the
fun things you are doing! :)
Well when it comes to this week there have been a lot of fun things
that I have done.  From teaching many lessons in a day, to walking
around the streets all day, it has been an amazing week.  The thing I
have learned a lot this week is that the Lord will bless you to see
success.  During the day, it was not unnatural for a lesson to cancel
on us.  We would get a phone call or a text message saying that the
person can't meet us.  Well, we made that time for a lesson, so we
used that time for a lesson.  We would go visit other investigators
and have small powerful lessons with them.  It seems like they needed
us to come over.  Because we would get there and they would be a bit
sad or at least not smiling and then by the time we would leave, they
would be happy and asking us when we can come again.  Sometimes the
Lord blesses us in mysterious ways that we don't understand at first,
but by the end, we find out why.  I have loved all the visits I have
had with my investigators this week.  They are all doing amazing and
one of them is getting closer and closer to baptism.  We are doing
some pretty big lessons this week so pray that everything will go
alright and that he will continue to show his faith in Jesus Christ.
I know that as we rely on Jesus Christ and show him our faith

, he can work miracles.
Another thing I have loved a lot about this week is the zone meetings
and conferences I have had.  Usually you have one one week and then
another another week.  But this transfer they both lined up on the
same week.  It was such a cool experience to be spiritually recharged
twice in a week.  Meeting with some of the best missionaries in the
whole world and learning from each other is such a privilege.  The
missionaries here work so hard and they have taught me how to become a
better missionary.  I even had a great opportunity to give a small
training at one of these meetings.  I did it simply on testimonies and
how a testimony has changed my life.  The spirit was so strong in that
training and it bore witness to me that the things I was talking about
were true.  That if we share our testimonies with others, it can
change their lives.  I know that this is true and I know that this is
what I am here to do.  I love this work, I love sharing my testimony,
and I love the feelings I get from doing so.  I am so blessed to be in
the Japan Tokyo mission and serving under the direction of President
Nagano.  He is such an amazing Mission President.  At zone conference
I learned a lot about how we can use the spirit in our lives and how
he can help us become better people.  How we can receive revelation
from God through the Spirit and how he can answer any of our questions
that we might have.  I loved this training so much and it strengthened
my testimony of the Spirit and how much he helps us every day.  I
think the most important way of inviting the spirit to be with us is
by reading the scriptures, praying, going to church, and partaking of
the sacrament.  It is that simple and if you do those things, your
life will be changed.  I love this Gospel and I love the Holy Ghost.
He is my friend and my companion in this work.  I couldn't do anything
without him.
Life in Japan is going along well.  It is getting a bit hot here but I
don't mind it too much.  A small breeze though goes a long way! Haha.
I love working with the members here and they have been so helpful to
me.  I can feel their love and sense how much the missionaries mean to
them.  It is a special relationship that I make with them that will
last for a life time.  I love these people with all my heart.  They
have become my new friends and family.  I would do anything for them.
I hope all is going well back home with everyone.  It sounds like the
school year is to an end and that things are about to change.  Just go
out and enjoy the summer and have fun!  It sounds like everyone has
something fun planned for the summer vacation, and if you don't, go
plan something!  Take some time off and go enjoy yourself! :) I love
you all so much and I love hearing from you.  I hope to hear from you
again soon and also receive some pictures!  I love those so much! :)
Take care and talk to you all again next week.  Oh by the way, next
week is temple pday so I will be writing on a different day.  I think
you all know the drill now...  Anyways, talk to you again next week!
:) Don't forget to read the scriptures, pray, and go to church!!!  It
is our GPS from God and it is the way that we can get back to him.  So
G(Go to church) P(Pray) S(Scripture Study),  Don't forget to do those
things this week!   It will bless your life more than anything, I can
promise you that! :)
Love you!!!! :)

Elder Unsworth

Miracles in Togane

May 16, 2016

We had dinner with the Tauras family.
What a wonderful family.

Pants we bought.
 They are so comfortable.

This guy showed us some magic.
It was really fun.
He is our English student.

Good-bye to wonderful roommates. 

Good-bye to Elder Munro

Good-bye to Elder Gibson

This was the tram we came in on.
It's a monorail and you dangle from
the rail way cool!!!  But not the fastest!

 Zoo P-Day

I am so excited to FINALLY be going to the zoo!

We couldn't find an elephant to lift me up, but we found these animals

we could touch!!! Haha.

 I was going to ride it and have Elder Lin take

a picture of me! :)

Maybe I can teach these "kids" the gospel!

Alright, lesson number one....

I don't think they are listening!

I found something to ride!!!

Just one of the family!  I loved the red pandas.

Elder Lin's impersonation of a red panda.
Isn't he cute! 

Elder Apeman.

Awe! I finally found an elephant!

Glad I am not their companion.
These two were having a great fight.

Hello family and friends!!! 

 Man things in Togane are going along
amazingly!  I love it down here so much and I love seeing the miracles
all around me.  This week I have been working really hard and I think
we have been getting an average of about two lessons a day.  Some days
this week we had three lessons in a day!  The Lord really is blessing
us for our hard work and it is starting to pay off.  I would like to
share one experience of an amazing miracle I saw this week.
Thursday was our miracle day.  So, the Chiba zone is doing a 40 day
fast.  Thursday was our day to do the fasting.  Everyday someone fasts
until the 40 days are up.  We thought it would be easy because it was
weekly planning day, so we would be inside for most of the fasting.
Well that made it kind of hard because of all the food around us.
Haha. But we did our study and then did our weekly planning.  It was
really good and we were able to make some good goals and talk about
all the needs of our investigators and our new investigators.  Well
during weekly planning a thought came into our minds that said, "we
need a baptism". Elder Lin and I thought for a bit about who could be
our next baptism and we came up with Ishino.  He was progressing very
well and he loved the lessons.  We tried to set a baptismal date with
him during our second lesson with him but he was kind of against it.
He wanted to learn more before he could accept.  Well we thought that
now was the time.  So we thought about a date and we came up with May
29th.  We went to his lesson and taught about baptism and receiving
the gift of the Holy Ghost.  We extended the baptismal invitation and
he accepted it!  He said he thinks he is ready for baptism and that he
wants to follow Jesus Christ!  Brother Oowana was also there and he
helped clarify some things and got him pumped and ready for baptism.
It was an amazing experience.  The spirit was so strong and the lesson
went great.  Another cool thing about his lesson was we talked a bit
about his wife.  We asked him if she had any interest and he told us
he wants her to learn as well.  He said he might bring her to church
this week and have her sit in on some of our lessons!  It was a way
cool miracle.  The power of fasting is real and because of it, we are
going to see a baptism this transfer!  I am so excited for Brother
Ishino and all the wonderful faith he is giving to the Savior! :).
After that lesson we were so pumped we went home and got ready for our
next lesson.  This lesson was with an investigator that has been an
investigator for about 10 months but has never been to church.  He
keeps the commandments and he prays every night but he wouldn't come
to church for some reason.  We had a lesson with him and out of no
where he said, "I think I want to go to church now". Elder Lin and I
looked at each other and we had the biggest smiles on our faces!  We
were shocked that Fang said that and that he was willing to come to
church finally.  We left the lesson feeling amazing and full off the
Spirit.  The power of fasting really is powerful and it will help you
with anything, especially your investigators.  We then had one more
lesson planned with an investigator that night.  It was for a Family
Home Evening lesson.  He was actually the only one who showed up so we
played some ping pong with him and then was getting ready for our
lesson when he said he had to go because his neighbor needed help with
something.  We asked if we could share a quick message with him but he
denied it and went home.  That was a bit of a bummer because we were
going to talk a bit about baptism but it is okay. We can have it
another day! :)  I just still can't believe how many cool miracles we
saw that day.  My testimony of fasting has increased so much, I know
now that it works and that it is for the benefit of other people.  I
have come to notice that when I try to serve other people, or pray for
other people and forget about myself, that is when the Lord blesses
me.  That is when I see miracles and when the lives of others are
changed but at the same time, my own life is changed.
I am loving the time in Togane so much!   I am starting to see the
work pay off and I am starting to see miracles happen.  Ever since
that day, Elder Lin and I have been pushing to have lessons with our
investigators and all of our lessons so far have been really good.  We
are getting about three lessons every other day and in between that
about two lessons a day.  The Lord defiantly had a hand in this
progress, there is no way that we could go from one lesson every other
day to two lessons every day!  I love it.  I know that He lives and
that he loves us.  That is the message that I am here to share.  I
know that Jesus Christ lives and that he loves and blesses us.  He is
our Savior and Redeemer and our best friend.  I love him and he means
everything to me.  I love this church from the bottom of my heart and
I know that it is the only true church on this earth today.  It is His
church, it is the Church of Jesus Christ.  I love sharing that message
with everyone around me and I love seeing the Spirit touch their
lives.  This Gospel is amazing and it changes lives, it has changed
mine.
I am looking forward to this transfer and seeing all the wonderful
miracles in store.  This church is a church of miracles.  I love this
church so much.
I love you all and I love hearing from you.  Don't forget to visit my
blog at http://nicsmission.blogspot.com !  It has my weekly email on
it but it also has some fun pictures as well!  I hope you take some
time to go and look at it! :)
I hope you have a wonderful week and for those of you who are
finishing up school, work hard, enjoy it, and look forward to an
amazing summer!  For those of you who still have to work, find some
time for a vacation and go have some fun! :)
I love you all and hope to hear from you soon! :)  Take care  and talk