Short

So this week's email got cut short because I was talking on the phone with Elder Barker for over an hour ha. 

My beans name is Elder Stucki and he is from St. George. He played center and he can squat 500 lbs.

We went up to Fukuoka this week and it was fun. Tons of plane rides.

This district is way good now and it's awesome. The sisters became a trio and Sakamoto shimai is the new one.

The gospel is true and I won't have super long phone calls next week and I can talk to all of you later.

Also I met Elder Barlow when I picked up my bean. 

Also we are all skyping on DEC 26, 2016 at 10:00 AM JAPAN TIME which is Christmas for you.

I'm sure you can all figure that out!

Love you all!

Elder Tschirki

シャーチャン

日本最高ヤゼ〜

 

My favorite food, taco rice 

In Fukuoka with my bean

From the plane

My desk is organized

Daddy

So because of the Christmas season and the transfer schedule, the worldwide transfer schedule was cut short by two weeks which means that transfers are actually this week. Well Elder McColm is unfortunately transferring up to Miyakonojo and I got a special call on Monday from President Egan and I'm going to be a daddy. Or in other words, I have been asked to train a new missionary. I don't know who they are but this is my schedule for the next couple of days. I will fly up to Fukuoka tomorrow and be there all day and have the trainers training and then I met my companion and then stay the night in Fukuoka and then I will fly down to Okinawa with a brand new missionary or a "green bean" here in Japan, or more correctly termed a "bean chan." While its really sad to see Elder McColm go after only four weeks this will be a great experience. Elder McColm is one of my favourite companions I have had my whole mission. Way cool kid and will see miracles throughout his mission. 

He goes on to write about some stress he is dealing with that I didn't want to put on the blog (to protect the innocent and not so innocent!) Nothing to do with his companion...he LOVES Elder McColm!

But while there is so much stress and hard things going on we continue to see miracles and the work goes on. We actually were able to meet with a referral named Joshua and pretty much he kept talking about how great of an example a member that he works under is in his life and how he truly exemplifies Jesus Christ. Joshua is from Ghana and is in the Marines I believe, and he is the most golden person Ive ever met. We went to his house with a member and taught the restoration to him and h just accepted everything without problems. He already believes it. He wants the blessings of the gospel and he wants to join a church where he feels the spirit testify to him. He wants to grow closer to God and strengthen his relationship. He kept telling us how grateful he was for us to be there. He kept saying gratitude and how happy he was that we could come. He committed to come to church and read the Book of Mormon. But here is what the most profound part to me was. We were talking about the First Vision and afterwards we asked how he felt and thought and he said "well of course if you have enough faith and desire to follow Christ and God then you can be strengthened to the level you see God and Christ in person and talk with them." He truly has so much faith and no problems at all. Our member from the Army said that in his time at Quebec on his mission where he taught a lot of African people especially, he hasn't seen someone with so much faith and intent as he did. We are so excited for him. And the thing is is that this isn't uncommon. There are people out there that are prepared to hear the gospel and oftentimes just through our examples we can share that light and love of God to them and their hearts. They will want to know what we know and believe what we believe. They are out there so may we ever be examples of Christ to everybody out there that we meet.

Love you all!

Elder Tschirki

シャーチャン

日本最高ヤゼ～

 

Traditional house in Okinawa

Way pretty sunset from the apartment.

 

Relief Society

So for those of you that dont know what the relief society is, it is the oldest standing women's organization in the world ran by the LDS church and it is for women 18 and up. Well the reason I call my email this is because it is a joke and I  feel like a relief society president because there's more sisters here than elders and they just kind of tell us what to do and sometimes there's a little drama and some other stuff and me and my companion, elder McColm are both kind of chill and so we are just like okay and do it. But yeah I dont recommend being in charge of a bunch of 20 year old girls. Men dont know how they think or anything so its sometimes fun. No problems though. Everything is good here in Okinawa. 

So we had some interesting experiences this week. We met a lady that told us she hates us because we're American and then explained why. And then the next day we met an old Okinawan dude (they are ethnically different than Japanese people) and he said he loves American people and hates Japanese people and then explained why. So as you can see there are the extremes on both sides and they both have good and bad points to their arguments. So were just kind of like "we aren't associated with anyone we are just missionaries" and so usually the people here like the missionaries. So unfortunately we haven't had anything negative happen to us. On a side note, my number two place that I wanted to go on my mission to was Russia because it is crazy and I wanted to get kidnaped out there and have a cool story. But instead I went to the safest country in the world with 2 gun homicides a year and its a good life down here. 

 

We also did the worldwide day of service and we did it all day long and it was really good. Service is how we help other people feel Gods love for them. This christmas season, if everyone could find little things of service to do it makes a big difference in everyone's individual lives.

Also we found someone that gave us a book about how research shows that Japan didn't invade and kill hundreds of thousands of people in China during WW2 and how that was a fabricated lie by the Allied forces to cover for the Atomic bombs. So obviously we gave her stuff about Jesus. Then, later in the same day, someone else gave us books two from some religious leader and we couldn't really turn them down and its either a Japanese person or a Himalayan person but whatever its cool and she was nice and we cant read it on our missions anyways so it doesn't matter there's a lot of crazy people out here but thats okay. Crazy people are the best.

Recently we have had the opportunity to work with a few less active people and its really interesting to see that pretty much anyone that falls into inactivity still has a testimony and knowledge of the church and its truth. It shows how even anyone that has gone on a mission or whatever can fall into inactivity for literally no reason. Its really sad but can happen to anyone. But the Lord has promised through the prophets and apostles that if you read the book of Mormon  and pray everyday then you will never fall into inactivity. Its true. Its so simple but nobody on earth is too busy to not find time to read and pray.

 

Elder Tschirki

君を愛してるよ

 

Service at a member's house plus being sick 

Who would have thought that my first catfish would be in Japan...

Got another birthday gift from a member in Kagoshima. Miss that place so much. Kagoshima and Amami are my home.

A cool shrine by where we live

Cutest kids ever

 

 

20

Well I guess something happened yesterday and I turned twenty years old and that's weird I feel completely different. Tons of people say they feel the same but I feel like a man. I can drink alcohol (not like I will because that stuff is messed up) and I have a little more hair on my chest and I will be able to grow a good beard in eight months and I can speak Japanese pretty well and I can get myself dressed now and I'm in Okinawa and I'm in charge of helping people change their life like dang this is some pretty big responsibilities. But it's so much fun! So yesterday we had a birthday party for me with some military YSA who we always do stuff with anyways but yeah we went and there was fried chicken and pancakes and shoutout to Alban because that was the best fried chicken I ever had. But the thing is is now whenever I eat American anything I always have stomach problems so yeah it's so fatty and sugary and it's kind gross but good but I like Japanese food better :) but anyways yeah this morning I had some diarrhea because of American food and that's been the last week lol. Good times. Also yeah it feels like my my life is in a new stage and I'm just like figuring it all out. It helps being here because obviously a lot of the YSA are between 20-26 and they are in the military so they see a lot of good and a lot of bad things that happen out here and just talking to them is really awesome to know that these people truly put Christ first in their lives despite all the temptations and crazy people and situations around them. Also Sano Shimai in Kagoshima sent me a birthday present and I got it today and it's the best present ever! I'll show a pic later.

Oh by the way mom it is kind of weird being in a district with four sisters and me and my comp and hopefully the sisters all have good relationships because I don't want to be the guy that has to put up with the drama. I think everyone will be good though. Stay tuned. Oh ps they call people like me the "relief society president" ha. Good times.

So since Wednesday not much has happened really. A recent convert Teddy took us to a way good ramen shop and he told us his conversion story. We met with our 26 year old investigator Tamashiro Yuuya who is ex yakuza and wants to change his life. The yakuza is the Japanese mob that extorts money, sells drugs and prostitutes but they aren't dangerous to the general public. They only hurt and kill people that mess with them and don't pay them back. But our boy is trying to change his life and come to Christ. He even has a book called "from yakuza to Christian" or something like that. He is also getting his yakuza tattoos removed :( they look awesome (he showed us when he was drunk one time) and they're really pretty tattoos. Look them up on google. But he wants to completely turn his life around and right now the biggest step for him is quitting drinking but we know he can do it. He says right now he drinks to numb the pain of his tattoo removal surgery. His scars are pretty crazy because in the yakuza they tattoo most of your body. Seriously, look them up and you'll see. But he came to church and had a great time, felt the spirit and learned a lot! Every time we meet him he always thanks us so much and bows at a 90 degree angle and shows us so much respect. He is working so hard.

We had thanksgiving at a members house on base and he invited a lot of nonmembers and a less active dude. The member is way solid and doing great member missionary work. He is 23/24 ish. He actually served a mission in Ogden Utah. But anyways it was fun being there with all these young marines and hearing their crazy stories which most of them involve being insanely drunk in crazy parts of the world and everybody was just laughing. But the thing is is that now that a couple of them have their drinking rights taken away because of stupid choices they are really considering life and it's purpose and that's where the member has already jumped in and given them Book of mormons and has offered to help them so we will see what we can do too. They're all busy dudes but they seem open and willing to change. We will continue to work the the member to see what we can do for his friends. But really though, I don't think I've heard crazier stories. Shoutout to Clack. He is the funniest person I've met. 

We're also working with some less active people and one is in the military and he wants to start coming back so he actually came to district conference yesterday and we talked to him a bit and even last night and he really wants to get his life back on track so that he can go to the temple and be married eventually. It really shows just how no matter what you've done, you can always come back and come closer to Christ. Our progression is eternal. 

Anyways that's about it for this week! Keep being awesome and don't sign up for a bank account with Wells Fargo.

Love you all!

Elder Tschirki

君を愛してるよ

Small thing from Sano Shimai. She does this thing called oshibana which is when she preserves flowers and presses them and makes pretty things. I love her so much, 

she's the best.

This way good ramen we found

Tamashiro yuuya

Chilling in okinawa

Snoopy donut

Okinawa

Osprey

So I got to Okinawa safe and sound and everything is doing good. It was hard to leave Kagoshima because the best friends of my life live there and it was so sad. So sad. But so me being a good boy I printed out a picture of me and the Sano's and put it in a frame and gave it to them at the bus terminal and they were so happy. PS mom and dad I told them we are coming to Japan in march of 2018 and we'll visit them and they'll take us all over Kagoshima and we'll all take the boat down to Amami together and it's a pretty solid plan. Start saving up for your japan trip by the way because that's going to come sooner than you think and you gotta come back. March has the Sakura and everything and would be the prettiest time to come. Plus it starts warming up. Then I guess we can go from Amami down to Okinawa. We will bring the Palmers with us and it will be the ultimate trip. If you guys wanted to we could come earlier because I get home in July and we could go in the fall. That would be way pretty too. Like November ish. We could come to japan for my birthday and you could drop me off and I can begin life in japan. That is the plan, but it's just a matter of when I come back out here. Probs the sooner the better. Then I can find a wife haha. But anyways leaving Kagoshima was hard. Love that place. It really felt like home. But Okinawa is cool too. It's way different haha.

Anyways the reason I called this email the osprey email is because we're right next to the base and there's these really loud aircraft that fly over without a purpose every 10 minutes and it's really loud and the Okinawans don't like it at all and protest the base a lot but the aircraft looks pretty good though. But they are super loud and sometimes when we're talking to people they fly over and you can't hear and they point at the aircraft and kind of just awkwardly close the door. But the members in both the Japanese ward and the military branch are way solid. But these osprey man, they just have a way of flying through when you're in your personal study too and yeah it's crazy. 

My comp, Elder McColm is awesome and he is a transfer three. I'm his second comp. He's like me when I had elder Horstmeier. He is so cool and I've never had a funnier companion ever. We get along great and some people have problems in two man apartments but we have absolutely no problems and get along so great. We just joke about osprey all the time.

Anyways been more busy here in Futenma than any other area. That also means I'm way tired. I'm so tired. We also have two church services that we go to on sundays which means we're at the church for like eight hours on Sunday. But it's awesome! We have some awesome people that we're working with and as I know them better I will start to talk about them more in the next emails but life is going good.

 

Elder Tschirki

君を愛してるよ

Picture time!

I made my first okonomiyaki yesterday because my comp has never had it because he is on Okinawa and they don't really have it here. So I said I'd make it and it was WAY good. 

Elder McColm

My district

The Sano's took us to a way sick park last week. Miss them so much

 closer

My pic for them that I gave them when I left.

 

Figi

This is Elder Tschirki's mom. I accidentally got the emails mixed up. This post took place the week before the last post. :)

So a few weeks ago we found a dude from Fiji that has family in Hawaii that knows Elder Tofa's family and he came to church yesterday and we taught a lesson to him in English. That was weird ha. But he's way solid and is probably going to keep coming to church! That's probably why Elder Tofa is here in Kagoshima, like straight up.

This week was really busy. We were able to teach Akira kun again and we just read from the Book of Mormon and it went well. He's way solid and pretty much we're just going to wait on baptism until after his test season because he's way busy and not too able to come to church right now. He has tests every Sunday. But he's doing well and his mom is okay with him getting baptized.

We have a new investigator named Kuroki and he is also very busy. He is 26 and works as a mover and so he is only home for a few minutes a day and we've taught about the Book of Mormon and baptism and he is way good. Every time we go visit him we feel the spirit way strongly. He is sincerely wants the blessings and is really wanting to learn, but time is the biggest constraint.

We also threw away a members tobacco with her. We told her if God was sitting in the room with us what would she do, and she said she would ask for strength, and I said that probably in order to do that you have to do your part and throw it away, and she said "I see. You have
a way with words. That was the spirit. Let's throw it away." And she did! Hopefully she'll be able to stop so she can go to the temple.

This week the Sano's came back for sure and it was so great and I love them so much and straight up they are for sure my favourite people I've met in my whole life. So obviously I got a picture and tell me if you can't see the love. Love you all! Not as much as the Sano's though!

Elder Tschirki
君を愛してるよ

Old crazy guy at English class wants to learn chemistry English. 

He's way smart haha but completely crazy.  

Transfer Calls for Days

Well as the subject says, I'm leaving Kagoshima.... after two transfers. But I'm going down to the island of........ OKINAWA wooooooo. And I'm going to Futenma area, which has a military base, so this will be interesting. Two wards to take care of. Obviously the Japanese side is better so I'm excited for that. I will still be district leader and apparently right now futenma is doing really good and has had a ton of baptisms recently. I will have a young companion. He is transfer three next transfer. Should be an adventure! But because of transfers, that means I'm leaving Kagoshima and the beautiful Sakurajima and the Sano family, and my wonderful investigators, but I'm not worried about any of them. They'll all end up great. Except for sakurajima. It is an active volcano that hasn't exploded in a while so it should happen. It usually just blows up ash and soot though and turns the whole city black and I wasn't here when that happened.. but anyways yeah I'm leaving the cooling down autumn weather of Japan and flying down to the hot weather of Okinawa. Should be fun!

This week we couldn't meet with our boy Akira kun. Something came up and he couldn't come to basketball or the lesson. But he can't get baptized until January so we're not worried. Things come up, and life happens. We also met with Tsuruda and that was good. We talked with him about charity and such and helped him get on track to become more loving with people as the Savior is. He took it really well. He isn't mean to people at all, more like afraid. He doesn't connect well with Japanese people and doesn't want people to get mad at him. He's finished all the lessons and wants to get baptized but this is pretty much his last hurdle. So we're working with him. Besides that we didn't teach any other investigators I don't think. The weeks are so full and busy I don't remember, I need to look at my planner to remember.

Probably the highlight of the week was something that people may not think of as a highlight, but it was we went to a funeral for a 92 year old member that passed away. She's been strong in the gospel for so long. I don't think I ever actually met her, but her daughter, who is the branch presidents wife, wanted us to come last second, and so everyone else had a ride except for me and elder Tofa. We were calling people and nobody could go. So I prayed in the morning before my studies that if we needed to be there, God would give us a way, and if we weren't supposed to be there then we wouldn't go. Well about an hour later a member calls and says something along the lines of "I wasn't going to go but I decided that I should go and bring you two with me." Later in the car he said "I thought about it and I needed to serve you two and also the family at the funeral so I came." That is a literal answer to a prayer and then a faithful person on the other end that gets the prompting to act and does it. That's pretty much textbook. It was such a neat experience. And then the funeral was great. Surprisingly, they didn't cremate the body, and had a casket burial. Interesting in Japan. 

Then yesterday morning elder Tofa got a call from Kaicho and it turns out he's training and I didn't know where I was going and so I just wanted to pack because it was raining pretty hard and you know, nobody likes to be soaked in a suit. Well I didn't get my wish and we rode out to a place that's thirty or so minutes away and so obviously we're soaked and I wasn't so happy and then we had to ride up a mountain in the rain and my comp got off his bike (I didn't see) and I kept going all the way up. Well I get to the top and I'm just chilling for like twenty minutes at a dry cleaners because they had a canopy thing, soaking wet, without a companion and tired and a little mad. Well I'm sitting there and I figured my companion walked up or something, and just as they say in Boy Scouts, if you're lost from your group, don't go anywhere. Stay where you are. So that's what I did. (See dad I learned lots in scouts) and I said a prayer to God and I told him I didn't want to be mad or sad or anything and that I really wanted to have a good attitude. Well as soon as I finished, a person comes up and asks if I know a member and I said yeah and they said they're best friends with them. Way nice people. Then a couple minutes later elder Tofa walks up with an umbrella and he's happy and I felt happy too and wasn't even upset anymore and even though it rained all day and we could wring the water out of our suits, it was a fun day, from like 2:30 onward. So I had a couple really cool experiences this week about prayer. It can literally change you. God wants to help you but sometimes you just have to be humble and ask. God is great.

Love you all

Elder Tschirki

君を愛してるよ

 

 Way pretty sunrise from the apartment

 Last pic of me and sakurajima.

Some huge statues we found. Not even big though. This is like one you could have at your house.

I'm mad at my mom because we never had spam growing up. Spam is great.

 

Carolina Reaper

So the reason this week is called Carolina reaper (I think that's what it is called) so because we went to this ramen place and guess what, they have a really hot food but when Japanese people say something's hot it is usually like green pepper level. So this stuff was hot enough to kill someone and I died and had a ball of fire in my stomach all day and two days later the bathroom experience wasn't much better so yeah I couldn't finish the food and I asked the guy what was in it and he said "Carolina reaper" and I just about died because when you eat that your whole body is in physical pain. So I learned a good lesson about that and that I need to ask about what they put in stuff. But I probably won't ask that anyways so I didn't learn anything. 

This week was really cool. I'll start out with how we had a way sick halloween party and had like 60+ people show up and a lot of nonmembers and it was way fun. So many great people and cool costumes. 

So we taught Akira kun too and we finished all the commandments and we decided with him that we are going to go slower through his test season and meet once a week from here on out. Way solid kid.

Me and elder Jo were on exchanges the same day as the Carolina reaper incident and we were in this way odd apartment and I had this strong distinct impression that we shouldn't be there and so we left and went to a different apartment building and long story short we met this kid that loves his family. He's 26 and doesn't have his own family. But anyways long story short we made a return appointment with him and me and elder Tofa taught him again on Sunday night and he became an investigator and both times we met him I felt the spirit super strong and it just felt good. It just goes to show that when something isn't of God, you feel confused. You feel like you shouldn't be there. But when you are doing what's right, it feels good, it feels right, and that's because it comes from God. So that's pretty much what happened today.

Elder Tschirki

君を愛してるよ

A lot of the people that came.

  Sano Kaicho was Draemon for Halloween. Cool stuff.

 

I had to play piano and this little girl just sat next to me and talked to me the whole time and I've never seen her before but it was way cute.

 A cool activity we had at a members house

A way pretty sunset 

 Me on the phone. My comp takes random pics of me haha. 

John

So let me tell you about John. He's this guy that is interested in religion and is meeting with the other members but lost all of his papers and money therefore he isn't here legally and is living at a members house close to ours and changed his back story a few times and won't let us take a picture with him and ran away and tells us how he is wanted by the USA government and his dad was killed by them and how he is going back to Taiwan next week but I don't know how he can if he doesn't have any money, and now he knows where we and the sisters live and was asking sister Anderson questions about her address, email, etc. and yet they still haven't called the police on is guy because everyone is naive idiots but as soon as we met him I knew something was wrong and he needs to go to jail. But even Kaicho said just to wait until he leaves on the 27. We'll I have to disagree with everyone here because we're getting stalked by this dude John and it's creepy. Well guess what, to make it worse, Elder Frederickson in Mexico dealt with this exact same thing last week. But yet nobody calls the police on this guy. Well, that's what happened this week. Harboring criminals, no big deal.

Anyways this week was good. We found a new investigator, Takamine san. He's like probably 50 and way cool. We taught Akira Kun this week the law of chastity and we sat down bro to bro and just we're straight up like "sexual feelings are good man, girls are way attractive man, but you just gotta wait" and he didn't have any problems with that and so he's good to go and we're almost done with the lessons. But the best part of this week was this. We had District Conference which is just Stake Conference, and President Sano was released after nine years of being president. The spirit was way strong there and you know he is a man of God. He's only like 45 so he will have a good life of being a 70 ahead of him. He has been a branch president since 25 years old. But so we're standing there welcoming people as the missionaries do in Japan and the Sano Grandparents that I love so dearly walk in the other side, and they were saying hi to people, and then they saw me and walked over way fast and skipped through everybody and shook my hand and gave him a hug and shook her hand. I told the sister missionaries that I was just going to play it cool and be like "what's up" but as soon as they came it was such a happy reunion and I was smiling so big. I have never met anyone in my life that I love more than those two and they were so happy to see me too and then afterwards we walked into the hall and Sano shimai started talking to elder Tofa and the first thing she said to him was "elder Tschirki eats too much, it's ridiculous. Can you believe him?" And just started laughing and man I love them. They officially come back next month and I'm so happy. As you can probably tell I am so happy. It was probably one of the happiest things that has happened in my life. 

Mom I love my comp and the people in my district. Kagoshima is way cool. The area is awesome, the members too. Investigators are going good. The only thing is not living with Japanese people anymore, and instead of that three American people. I'm definitely more Japanese than American haha. It's true. The BBQ pics you sent look good but honestly I'd take a good Okonomiyaki or some sushi over that. Ramen is way good too. Udon is probably my favourite noodle. Raw eggs, fish, horse meat, etc. all so good. Japanese food for the win. Definitely living here after my mission.

Love you all!

 

 Elder Tschirki

君を愛してるよ

 

Sano Kaicho and his family took us out to dinner. 

 

A way pretty pic of sakurajima

 

A castle we found and walked up to and it turned out to just be an office. #Japan

 

Suit Season

So as the title says, suit season has begun. Some days it is still way hot in the 80s and other days it is in the 60s so it's kind of a hit and miss. It started yesterday. It'll get really cool in probably a month or so no problems there. Let's see. Elder Harrell and Tofa went to Fukuoka for MLC and so I worked with Elder Jo, a brand new missionary, for a couple of days. It was fun because I could do whatever I want and be the only one that could talk and understand. He's a way smart kid and pretty negative and condescending and so it was fun to go out and walk the streets for seven hours straight and show what real missionary work is like and not that MTC stuff. After that he just came home and was quiet and slept. Haha it was way funny. He's gotten a lot better since then.

Our investigator, Akira kun, is following the word of wisdom! We taught him on Tuesday and he was like "that's too strict" and we said "well it's from God and this is what He promises. Won't you at least try?" And so he did and so we met again on Saturday and followed up on it and he said "it's not even hard. At first I thought it was kind of strict but it's okay now, I get it." But while he hasn't noticed the blessings from living it yet, he will. We especially emphasized the "finding treasures of knowledge" part of the blessings because he's in school and we said if he follows it, God will bless him more in his tests and school. We also taught fasting and stuff and he said something like "I don't actually buy my own food but when I do I'll pay my fast offerings." He's pretty solid. A kinjin. (Golden person
(investigator)). The hardest thing is coming to church because he has practice tests every Sunday.

So anyone that doesn't know what the word of wisdom is, it is a commandment of God that we don't take harmful substances into our body such as coffee, tea, alcohol, drugs, etc. We also are told to be careful with what we eat and be healthy and mindful in what we eat. I
think everyone knows that we don't drink. Well let's think about it. God created us and our bodies and we know that those things are bad for them, so why would we justify ruining a present that comes from God? Why would we give ourselves negative health issues on purpose? Why would we treat our life like that? Is it Christ like? Would Christ smoke and drink? The thing is no, he wouldn't, so why should we? Christ says in the New Testament that we need to hear the commandments and then do them, and if we don't do them, we have no place in the kingdom. He says that we should either be hot or cold, and that the
lukewarm will just be spit out. We should either be righteous or unrighteous. That it is better for the unrighteous than those that profess Christ be don't live up to the standard. Let us all keep the commandments of God.

Love you all!

Elder Tschirki
君を愛してるよ

This dude, Saigo Takemori, is the real Last Samurai, 

and he's from Kagoshima. This is like three minutes from the apartment, 

but I just finally got a picture of it. 

Zone training. I got to do the Japanese translation. Pretty fun. 

Actually not too hard. My comp is the brown Hawaiian kid behind me. 

Me and elder parry to the right were just talking about NWA. 

We went bowling last week on pday, it was way fun.

Elder Jo

 Another Sakurajima pic 

 A massive spider in our apartment. I was shaving but it was huge.

Japanese Pride

So this week was way good. We said goodbye to elders Miyagi and Reed this week which was way sad. I'm going to miss elder Miyagi so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much. He's my number one favourite person I've met on my mission by far. So I told him because I'll be living in japan after my mission anyways that I'm going to be at his homecoming talk which will be in like May 2018. So yeah. And then the rugby World Cup is in 2019 and the olympics are 2020. I'm going to be living in Japan during a good period of time. Well anyways so they left and it was way sad but elder Tofa came in as the new zone leader and he is one transfer ahead of me and his Japanese is way good, kind of like mine, so we're really good together. He also wants to marry a Japanese girl too. He went to BYUH for a year. He's a stud and we'll do great together. Well we already made two return appointments so everything is going to go well. Kagoshima is still great. Still eating raw chicken. I'll put a video down there. 

 

Well as everyone knows, conference happened and there are a couple of talks that I really liked that I've been thinking about even before conference. I loved elder Nelsons talk about joy and how true joy only comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Along with that, Elder Renlund says that repentance is joy. So pretty much using the atonement of Jesus Christ and repenting gives you joy. It's really simple. We were created to have joy. And whether or not we fulfill the purpose of our creation is up to us. Everybody wants to be happy in this life. I don't know of anyone that wants to be sad. But unfortunately people go around the wrong ways to find happiness and joy. I promise the only way to truly be happy is through Jesus Christ. The other talk I thought of is elder Ballard and I've never really liked his talks but this time he laid down the law. Without Jesus Christ and the only true living church, where would you go? What would you do? If your answer is liberation, the only way is through the gospel. If your answer is freedom, the only was is through the gospel. If your answer is joy, the only way is through the gospel. Where would you go? What would you do? 

Anyways that's all I've got for this week!

Life is good!

Elder Tschirki

 Saying goodbye to elder Miyagi.

Last pic of the best district.

Way bomb indo curry

 

Cool pic of the dolphin from the aquarium last pday.

 Way legit pic I got of a jellyfish