Goodbye Togane, Hello Mito

August 8, 2016

Goodby Inoue and Takatori family goodbye party for me.

Inoue family

Takatori family.
He is the bishop.

Wakaumi family.

This is Lin and his girlfriend.
 Saying goodbye to him.

Saying goodbye to Takashi and Dun.

Saying goodbye to Dun.

Saying goodbye to Takashi.
He is a member I worked with a lot.
I love him so much!

Elder Law and I in front of our apartment!

Good bye Elder Law and my apartment!

Saying goodbye to Sho.
 He is the one I found on the train.
He was way happy to see me! :)

Saying goodbye again to Takashi. :)

One last goodbye to Elder Law.

New companionship!!!
Elder Ishikawa  , Elder King, Elder Unsworth

Hello everyone and boy do I have some fun news for you all!  Well as

you know I was transferred from my wonderful area Togane and was moved

to Mito.  Since I have been in Mito I have loved it.  We have had many

festivals here and we have taught many lessons and just had a

wonderful time.  Also being in a trio is so much fun.  Elder King is

great and Elder Ishikawa is as well.  I love being with these three

amazing missionaries.  However this morning as we were doing some of

our studying we got a call from the Assistants and the asked to speak

with me.  I am now being transferred to another Area in the mission.

It is called Narita and it is the place where the international

airport is.  An Elder has to go home because of health problems so

they had to split up the trio and send me to the new area.  I knew

that this was going to happen sometime during this transfer because

missionaries get switched around all the time, however, I didn't think

it would be me and I didn't think it was going to be this early in the

transfer.  Well with this all being said, I am sad to be leaving Mito

but I am excited to continue my work in Narita!  It is a great area

and we are going to see so many miracles.  My new companion Elder

Porter, just moved to the area about two weeks ago so we are pretty

much white washing the area.  So this is going to be fun!  I can't

wait to get there and get to work!

I also have one more great news!  So I don't know if you remember him

but this man's name is Tatsuya.  He was an investigator I found when I

was in Matsudo.  I was sad to be leaving him because he was such a

great a friend.  I loved that man so much.  Well when I came back to

Matsudo zone I was excited to see him again some day.  Well to make

things even better, he is deciding to be baptized this Saturday!  I

get to see a baptism on my mission!!!!  I am so excited and I am

overly excited for how this is going to change his life and the life

of many other people.  The best part of this is how special Tatsuya is

to me.  I am the one who found him and opened my mouth to talk to him.

I am the one who taught him when he was brand new and I am the one who

helped him along when he didn't understand things.  And now I am the

one who is the happiest man on this earth.  The best part is none of

this has to do with me.  This is all about Tatsuya and the steps he is

deciding to take in his life.  He is going to be an amazing member of

this church.  I am so happy to see my work actually pay off and see

someone that I taught be baptized.  I can't explain how happy I am

right now, but I am overly excited for Tatsuya and I can't wait to see

him again this Saturday! :)

One day I would like to talk about that I thought was pretty cool was

Sunday.  We had a wonderful church meeting and we had two

investigators come to church.  One of them came so that he could talk

with the bishop about how he can get off of Tabaco.  He really wants

to turn his life around.  He is doing great but there are still a

couple of things we need to work on with him.  Today during sacrament

meeting the three new missionaries got up and bore their testimonies.

I liked doing it, it was fun and filled with the Spirit.  Afterwards

we had wonderful church meetings.  I went out with a counselor of the

Bishopric and we went housing together!  It was so much fun.  They are

trying to get the new English Program up and going at the church so

they are going around with the missionaries to houses around the

church looking for kids who are interested.  It was great and it was

also really easy because he is Japanese so he knows exactly what to

say! Haha We talked to a couple people and it was great.  We then had

a lesson with an investigator named Yuya.  He is deaf and we had to

write everything down so that he could understand what we were talking

about.  It was so much fun and he is so nice.  He has a lot of

interest in the church and he accepted the restoration pretty well.

We talked about baptism with him and he accepted it.  He asked how

long it will take for him to be baptized and we told him about 3 weeks

to a month.  He seemed really excited and he sounded like he really

wanted to be baptized!  We told him he needs to start coming to church

and he said he will try to come every week.  It was a way cool

miracle.  He is going to be great.  What makes this even better is

later that night we went and visited a family.  I remembered the

families face.  I saw them when I was in Matsudo for Stake Conference.

Well I asked them if they knew how to do sign language and they said

yes!  We now have people who can help our investigator understand

church!  I was so happy.  This Ward is amazing and I can sense there

is a lot of good things waiting to come to past in this area.

Not too much else to talk about because of the transfer plan.  I need

to go pack some more and get my bags shipped off so I am going to

close this weekly email here.  But this week in Mito we had so many

cool festivals.  We had a firework festival that shot fireworks in the

air for over an hour!  The finale was amazing and the sky was so

bright!  I loved seeing the shows.  Then they had a huge festival

where the closed down the Main Street in the city and had a parade

going down it the whole day and people were dancing and doing fun

things all day long.  At the end of the day they did the city dance

and everyone did it. I of course participated and it was so much fun!

I love Mito and I am so grateful that I was able to come here for this

week.  it was so much fun and there were a lot of cool things that

happened.  I loved finding new investigators and also teaching people.

I have seen a change in Mito and it has only been a week.  I will miss

this place.

But I want you all to know that I love you and that I love hearing

from you!  Thank you for your prayers and your love.  I hope you have

an amazing week and always remember how much the Savior loves you and

blesses you each day.  I can't wait to tell you about my new area next

week! I love you all and I will talk to you later!  Love You!!!!!

Elder Unsworth

Time is flying, 11 months left

August 1, 2016

I asked Nic to send me some pictures with his tag.
This is a new missionary thing.
I love the ones that he sent me.

This is one of my favorites.
Lot of fun pictures.

Wow what a week this has been!  Let me tell you first about my
transfer plans.  I am leaving the wonderful city of Togane.  I am so
sad to be leaving, the members here are great and Elder Law and I have
been working really hard to build this area up.  But I am leaving and
now going to a place called Mito!  (Me Toe) is how you would say it.
But if you remember Matsudo, one of my previous areas, I am going to
be in the same zone again!  So I am way excited for that.  I am also
going to be really close to the beach so that will also be really fun
and awesome!  I am so excited for that!  Another really cool thing is
I am going to be in a trio!!!  I don't know if you remember him but I
will be with Elder King again.  He is the Elder who was with my in my
last trio for about a week back in Kasukabe.  I am also going to have
a Japanese companion named  Elder Ishikawa.  So we will have an
American, Australian, and a Japanese person.  It is going to be so
much fun!  I am so excited!!!  Elder King and Elder Ishikawa and I are
going to kill it in Mito.  We are going to work so hard! :)
As for this week we had a pretty fun day on Saturday.  Well really the
night.  The morning was kind of rough because we tried to do some
finding and nothing really worked out.  No one wanted to talk to us
and it was so hot outside! But we went to the Asanuma's house and they
invited, Sister Taura (who's husband just past away, so it was good to
see her) Brother Owano, Brother Yoshita, and Brother Ogata.  They are
all single members in the Ward and we had a really good talk with
them.  They are all old and really nice.  We then had the lesson and
we showed the brown family video.  All of them were so on board with
it.  Owano said, I have ten friends I am going to invite to church
activities this week, look I even made my own business card to give to
them.  He is such a nice old man.  Brother Asanuma said, "We need to
have you two share this video with everyone in the Ward.  Maybe when
people do their home teaching you can go with them and do this with
them."  he is so on board for it.  Everyone one else told us they
would invite their friends this coming week.  Sister Taura said she
doesn't really have any friends right now that she could share the
Gospel with, but she told us she would pray about it tonight and then
try inviting someone in the next two weeks.  She is amazing!  I love
the members in Togane so much.  They are the reason why I am here, I
love talking with them and building relationships with them.  I love
them and they love doing missionary work.  I could see the passion and
the desire in their eyes as I was talking with them. They are all
amazing! :) That made Saturday worth it.  Despite all the bad things
that happened that day, that dinner made it worth it! :)
Overall, I think I am going to miss the members the most from Togane.
They have made such a huge impact on my life and they really have
become my second family.  I hope if I ever come back to visit Japan,
that I can come back here and visit my family again.  I love them all
so much and I am leaving a part of my heart here with them.  Togane
will forever be in my heart and I hope that this area continues to do
well.  It is amazing how much of an impact love can make in someone's
life.  Because of the love that I have felt in Togane, it has changed
me.  It makes me want to get to know my next Ward even more so that I
can have the same relationship with them.  I love my mission so much
and it really has blessed my life more than anything.  It has helped
me realize how much our Heavenly Father loves his children and how
much he really know us and listens to our prayers.  He loves us so
much and I really wants us to be happy.
One last miracle that happened this week. So after church this week we
went to a lesson with a new investigator and found out what he wanted
to learn about. He called us the other day and said he wanted to learn
more about the church. He met with the missionaries last year and then
lost contact with them. So we are now teaching him. He has so much
interest and he really wants to learn more about our church, come to
church, and feel Gods love.  He has been reading the Book of Mormon
already and he wants us to help him understand it more.  He is way
solid and I am excited for the next Elders to teach him.  Well, on the
way back, we found three new investigators on the train ride home. It
was such a cool miracle. One of them went home and made a Facebook so
that we can talk and be able to contact each other. He is way solid!
The other two said they wanted to learn more about church so we are
going to give them a church tour Thursday!  It was such a cool miracle
being able to find so many people in a short time. We told the lord we
wanted to find more investigators and here he is putting so many
people in our path. I love it!
I know that as we pray about the things we want to do and then listen
for the Holy Ghost to tell us what God wants us to do, we can see
miracles in our lives.  Because we listen to the Holy Ghost and do
what he asks us to do, we find new investigators and we are able to
help the investigators we have now.  I am so blessed to have the Gift
of the Holy Ghost.  He is always with me and he is always leading me
the right way.  I love this church and I love my Savior.  He is my
everything.  I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful
week!  I will talk to you later!  I hope you have an amazing week and
look for the happiness in your life.  I love you and I will talk to
you next week.  Take care and don't forget to check out my blog! :)
Love you!!!! :)


Elder Unsworth

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