Days of Celebrations

July 25, 2016

Shou

This is Dun. He plays this way cool instrument. It sounds so cool and
he can play any song. I was not as good as him. Haha

This is the youth we hung out with.
 His name is Seinto.

This is the festival we went to by the college.
Way cool.

Elder Unsworth showing off his dancing skills.

I was not the best dancer but it sure was fun.

More fun by the college at the  festival.

This is our Catholic Vietnamese friend.
 His name is Duin.

This is the place we went to for pday.
It is an old Japanese town with
original houses.
There was a really pretty lake that goes through the road.
There are a lot of festivals that happen here during the summer.

These were all made out of one piece of paper.
 That is so cool! 
I wonder how they did it?

Hello wonderful friends and family. Another week zoomed by and I can't
believe I am already emailing again! I just want to jump right into
some of the high lights of this week. Actually before I start, I would
just like to mention that I think this week was our most effective
week of the transfer. We got a total of 30 lessons and a couple of new
investigators. We are on fire in Togane and I love it here so much! :)
Well, we got together with Takashi again and had lunch with him.  We
went to KFC and they had an all you can eat hour!  So we ate as much
chicken as we could and had a grand old time.  Sometimes you just need
to get out and have some fun with the members by going out to eat with
them or doing something with them.  They always enjoy that.  Then you
can share a simple message with them and they love it!  After KFC, we
went to the church again and had a lesson with Sho.  This is the
Japanese sho.  We taught the plan of salvation and at the end of the
lesson we invited him to be baptized in August.  After thinking about
it and talking about it with us he accepted the date!  Whoo hoo!!!!
We have another baptismal date!  I was so excited and happy.  He also
seemed happy and excited so it all worked out.  Sho is doing amazing.
He reads the Book of Mormon everyday and he prays.  The only problem
with him is his work.  He sometimes has to work on Sunday's and so he
can't come to church.  For example he can't come to church today
because he has work.  So that is a huge bummer.  But we are going to
see if he can get Sunday's off and maybe work on Saturdays or
something like that.  Because he said he really likes church and he
wants to keep coming. We also had a lesson with our man Dun.  We
taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and really focused on Baptism.  At
the end of our lesson we set a baptismal date with him for August
27th!  Woo hoo!  Two baptismal dates in one week.  Hopefully we can
keep the streak up and keep setting them.  Our investigators are doing
great and they are really putting forth their faith to follow Jesus
Christ.  Dun is doing great and I love him so much.  He is like my
best friend.  :) Two baptismal dates in one week!  That is such a huge
miracle. I hope we can keep working hard and I hope people will keep
excepting the gospel. Togane is doing great and I am excited for next
transfer. Actually next week is transfer calls so I will find out if I
am staying or not. I am about 90% sure that I will be staying, but
there is still that 10% of me that thinks I might be leaving. I guess
we will see!  I hope I can keep teaching dun and sho! :)
Saturday was full of parties.  We did Eikaiwa in the morning and that
was fun and hilarious.  So many funny things happened there.  Let's
just say that one of our students uses weird words all the time and
today was specifically hilarious!  I love Watanabe San so much.  But
after that we went to Chiba for a matsuri.  We went with Dun and he
said he had a way fun time.  At the party we ate food, danced, watched
kids hit things with bats, and then played bingo.  It was so much fun
being there with Dun and it was great to be in a spiritual atmosphere
with so many awesome members and have an investigator with you.  Dun
loved it and said he would like to do it again.  That is all that
matters for me.  I am happy he had a fun time.  We then went back home
and did our study and then headed out to another matsuri in Gumiyo.
They were having a festival near the college so we knew there would be
a lot of college students there.  We went there and saw three of our
investigators!  We talked with them and taught them and it was all
great!  It was a cool miracle that we saw so many people that we knew
there and that they were happy and excited to see us too.  We then did
some finding there and found two new investigators!  There were
miracles happening left and right at the matsuri.  It was a way fun
night and it was very successful.  We talked with so many people and
they seemed more willing to talk with us because we were at a
community festival.  It was very effective for missionary work and the
best part is there is another matsuri on Sunday near our apartment.
We won't be buying anything there, but we will be talking with people!
 I am so excited for Togane, it is on fire right now and doing
amazing.  I love it here so much!
Oh and also, I am not sick anymore!!!  So thank you all for your
wonderful prayers and love. I feel so much better now and I feel like
a new man. I am loving the work here in Japan. It is definitely
getting hotter and definitely getting more fun. There are just so many
people to talk to and we are teaching so many lessons. I am loving it!
 There isn't anywhere else I would want to be right now then right
here. I love Togane and I hope I can stay here for another transfer.
Thank you again for everything you do for me. I have so much more I
wish I could talk about but time is so limited when emailing. Today I
actually went to a historic site in Japan. It is a small town that
still looks like the older days and most of the buildings are
original. It was very beautiful and had a lot of cool nature things
and shrines. If you have a moment, go check out my blog and look at
the wonderful pictures on there. Thank you again for everything and I
will talk to you all again next week! I love you!!! :)

Elder Unsworth

Until we meet again Brother Taura

July 18, 2016

This is  me at Brother Taura's funeral.  They had a nice little corner
that had a couple photos and things of his.  It was a very nice
funeral.  I will miss him a lot.

This is a new investigator that we taught in Chinese.  His name is
Rui, he is way kind and he might have interest in the gospel.  We arestill trying to figure that out.    We
have only taught him the restoration so far!

Crazy spiders in Japan.  This is a small one.  They are
everywhere!!!!!  He is eating or he captured a Beatle.

Hello wonderful friends and family!  I just want you all to know that
I love you so much.  I am always so grateful for all my wonderful
friends and family who continually show love towards me.  I hope you
all are having a wonderful time with your lives and that you are
finding joy in your own lives.  This week was defiantly a good one but
also a hard one.  I have been sick this whole week so it has been hard
to go out and work to my fullest potential, but I tried my hardest and
that is all that matters right?  Even though I was sick, we still saw
a lot of success in the area and we are continually strengthening our
area.  To start things off, I would like to share with you a miracle
that I saw this week.  One that kind of changed the way that I look at
the rules of a missionary.
One day we were doing some contacting and reporting.  At the end of
that Elder Law looked at me and pointed out that my socks that I was
wearing were not appropriate.  They were my favorite socks, I only
wore them on special days.  They were argyle socks.  He told me that
they had to be a solid color sock.  Well I told him what I thought and
said that I didn't think they were distracting, bad, or
unprofessional.  I liked them and I thought they were appropriate.
Well after talking about it for awhile I decided to turn to the white
handbook and see what it says.  Sure enough it says solid colors that
match your slacks.  Socks, why are socks so important?  Instead of
fighting it more I humbled myself and realized that I was wrong and
that I needed to change.  If I want to be exactly obedient then I need
to follow the white handbook 100%.  So I told him that we needed to go
back home so I could change.  This is where the miracles happens.  If
we wouldn't have gone home, we would have turned right out of the
church and went to do some finding, but because we were being 100%
obedient we turned left out of the church and went home and that is
when we ran into our new investigator.  We stopped him right in front
of the church and asked him if he had ever been inside before.  He
said no and he said he has interest in the church.  We then gave him a
church tour on the spot and he said he really liked it.  He even said
he will come to church this week and that we can meet him up again
this coming Tuesday.  It was such a huge miracle.  I then realized
that because we were being exactly obedient to the White Handbook the
Lord will bless us.  We then went home and changed my socks, I guess I
won't be wearing those socks again until after my mission.  It was
such a testimony builder though, I love that experience so much and it
makes me want to be more obedient to all the rules, no matter how
small they are.  We then did some housing that night and ran into a
new investigator.   His name is Rui.
It was a testimony builder for me that God gives us commandments and
rules for a reason.  It doesn't matter how small or silly they might
sound.  He gives them to us for a reason.  I now know that I need to
follow every rule as close as I can.  Not just so that I can feel good
and know that I am doing the right thing, but because when I am
obedient to his commandments, I will be blessed.  I will receive
special blessings in my life and I will be happy.  I was so happy
after that moment. I wasn't annoyed that I had to change my socks and
I wasn't mad at anyone, I was humbled and meek. I knew that there was
a reason why the Holy Ghost was telling me not to fight anymore, I
needed to become humble and follow the rules.  When I did that, I
received the blessing.  I think we all have choices in our lives to
choose right from wrong.  At the time, the wrong might be easier and
might even be more fun.  But as we choose the right path and do what
God wants us to do, he will bless us.  When I was going home to change
my socks, I wasn't expecting to run into a new investigator.  He just
happened to be there.  I think God will bless us in our lives and
sometimes, we may not even know what that blessing will be.  But when
it happens, we will realize that it is from our loving Heavenly
Father.
I am so happy to be a missionary at this time in my life.  it is
blessing me more than anything ever could.  I love Togane, I Love
Japan, and I love serving people.  A mission is defiantly the best
choice of my life.  I am so lucky to be able to be called a mission of
the Japan Tokyo Mission.  I love it here!  Another bonus, I found that
my Japanese is staring to make sense!  I can say the things that I
want and teach people the way that I want to teach!  I am loving it
now!  I love learning Japanese and it makes sense now!  I am so
blessed and I know the blessings are just going to get better.
I love you all and I hope you take some time to go check out my blog.
I went to a museum last week and posted some pictures in there.  So if
you have some time, please go check it out and tell my mother what a
wonderful job she does with keeping it updated and looking good.  Man
she is amazing.  I love her so much.  I love you all and I will talk
to you next week! :)
Elder Unsworth

Rough Week

July 11, 2016

Happy Birthday Takashis!
Fun lunch with member.

What!!!
Elder Law's recommend had expired so only a picture in front of the temple.

Elder Unsworth, Tou, Elder Law
He may not be our investigator but he will always be my friend!

As I said before, A tough week!!!

So you stop by a rice field,

and take pictures!

But more than that, you enjoy the beauty of Japan
and the truth of the Book of Mormon!

Highlight of the week:
Dinner with the Itokazu family.
What a great family

Elder Law, Elder Unsworth, Hiroto, and Sho.

P-day fun

Natural History Museum 

July 12, 2016

A little dark but a cool dinosaur

T-Rex

T-Rex Elder

Another picture with the T-Rex

Turtle

Mammoth

Me pretending to be a caveman. 

It would stink to be this guy if you had a sore throat. 

One big whale.

No one believed me that I was sick until we went in the heat thermometer and I glowed.

What a week this has been.  There has been so many ups and downs, it

is crazy!  Well I think in this letter I will just tell you about some

of my investigators and then you can see how my week went.

So my first investigator that I would like to talk about is Ishino.

So we haven't been able to contact him for the past like two weeks.

So one day I got the bright idea to go visit him at his house and see

how he is doing.  We went to his house and sure enough he was there.

We talked to him for a while and we found out that he found a job!  So

that is why he hasn't been able to talk with us.  Well as we talked

more and more we came to find out that he had lost all of his interest

in the church.  He wants reading the Book of Mormon or praying or

going to church.  We tried to help him out and tell him that he needs

to do those things and he kind of rejected us.  Well, I am sad to say,

but I think we are going to have to drop him.  I was so sad when we

were talking with him, he just didn't seem the same anymore.  I

remember when I found him on the street and he had so much interest in

learning about who God is and how he can help us.  Well, I am not

giving up on him yet, I am going to have a member talk with him a bit

and see if there is anyway the church can help him or something like

that.

My next investigator I would like to talk about is Lin.  He has been
pretty sketchy lately and hasn't been really keeping our commitments.
He would read the bible every day but he would not read the Book of
Mormon.  Well Elder Law and I went into the lesson thinking we needed

to either set expectations or drop him.  So we went in to his house

and had a way fire lesson.  We testified hard core of the Book of

Mormon and how it can help our lives.  We also talked about how prayer

and going to church can also help us.  He said that he will start

doing those three things so that he can figure out if this is Gods

true church or not.  So that was good!

Next is my new investigator named Tou.  He is very interesting.  We

met him last week but had all our lesson this week.  We taught the

restoration and he liked that.  We then taught the plan of salvation

and he loved that.  We were even able to set a baptismal date with him

on August 13!  He came to church that week and told us he liked it but

that it was hard to understand because his native language is Chinese.

After church we watched the restoration video and he said that it is

kind of hard to except that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his

son Jesus Christ.  We then tried to set up another day to meet with

him and teach more but he was acting kind of weird about it.  We

didn't think much of it.  But later that night he sent us a text and

told us that he doesn't want to investigate the church anymore.  We

were so confused.  We had no idea why he said that, so we are going to

meet with him this week and see how we can help him and if maybe we

are just taking things too fast or what.  But hopefully we can help

him out.

Next and defiantly not least is our wonderful Nagashima.  Well he was

also pretty hard to contact with this week because he had a bunch of

tests to do and he was sick.  So we met him on Sunday and went to a

members house to have dinner.  Everything was going great.  The

members love him, he loves the members and everything was just

perfect.  We were able to teach three of the commandments to him.  The

law of Tithing, Word of Wisdom, and fasting.  He said that he would

follow these commandments and that he is excited for his baptismal

date.  Well we gave him a paper that his mom needs to sign because he

is underage.  He took it and said he would talk to his mom about it.

Well I called him the next day and he said his mom doesn't want him to

be baptized and that he can't be baptized anymore.  I was heart

broken.  So many of our investigators were falling out of the sky.  I

am defiantly not giving up on Nagashima.  We are going to try and meet

with his mom but everytime we ask him he says that that would be hard

to do.  But we are going to find something we can do to soften her

heart or at least talk with her.  I am so sad about Nagashima but I

know that if I continue to rely on the Lord and always plead to him

for help, he will help me.  I love Nagashima and I really hope that I

can see him be baptized.

Well that is how my top investigators are doing.  I have tons of other

ones but they are not progressing as well as these ones.  This week

was a pretty rough week and to finish it off, I am sick now!  I am

going to die!!!!  But I can't give up there.  I am excited to go at it

this week and work my hardest.  I love Togane and I know the Lord will

continue to bless this wonderful land.  I hope that I can figure out a

way to help my investigators and find out how we can fix their

problems.

Well everyone, it is time for me to sign off.  Thank you for all your

love and support.  It means a lot and I love always hearing from you.

I love you all so much and I hope you have an amazing week.  I can't

wait to hear from you again next week!  Hopefully this week goes along

better than last week.  Please if you can, pray for my investigators,

especially Nagashima.  I hope everything turns out okay with him. I

love you all and I will talk to you next week! :)