次のレベルを開けたよ

 Ｗhat's up everyone! This week was great and I hope it was great for you as well. We saw lots of miracles and progress. We had the opportunity to teach so many lessons and get moving with a lot of our investigators. I was also lucky enough to go do baptisms at the Tokyo temple! It was super sweet. I was a baptizer which was my first time doing that and after that I was able to help with laundry and see the behind the scene rooms of the temple which was also a first. I hope to do it again with an investigator some day. Also 神様のおかげで we were able to get 3 people to church! Leesan came which takes her 1 step closer to baptism and the other 2 people we found streeting just the other day and they were down to come to church. None of them are Japanese but speak it fluently so it was great. It's kind of funny, my favorite people in Japanese are all foreigners. The Chinese and Koreans in Japan are the best because they speak Japanese but have the social capabilities to have fun and do things with a little more boldness. 笑 Language update - This week has been a night and day difference talking only in Japanese has taught me all the little things to talk simply speak my mind. Yesterday we went to lunch with a Japanese homie and just talked common conversation for an hour and I was able to hold my own and keep up with his Japanese. I feel like I can pretty much get my point across with anything I want to say. My problem is vocab but as I make my way to mister N3 it will clear up over time. Continue to pray for me though because without gods help  たくさん弱さでバナナになってるよ！Getting over my `I need to be fluent` standard and realizing I have only been here for just over 3 months has helped. Anyways I wish I had more time to share but I gotta hop on a train to Chiba! 

Until next time - Elder Parker!

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今日はめちゃくちゃ楽しかったよ

そうね、別宣教師と一緒スケートをやたり卓球をやたりした！

We played with another set. They came down from Yachio

I still have a long way to go haha. Super fun haha its addictive for sure. My ping pong skills are getting up there. I wanna play Parker when I get back really bad. Before all I had was foosball but I'm upping my game hahaha. I wish they played foosball here though so I could win more

Life is tuff out here. Haha you know how much I miss seeing people being out with there friends having a good time in public. I never see socialization in the crushing society of these poor Japanese people who are all killing themselves un effectively with work and school with no happiness in life and the ones that do "be different" are shamed for not being the exact same as someone else. For example in a classroom of people studying either everyone has headphones in or no and if you are the only one with them in your will be shunned. America needs to take a step back from "aha be your self" and Japan needs to take a step towards it to create a society where people can find joy in there life on earth not to mention the daunting number of single people and the ones that are married have husbands who treat them terribly with smoking and alcohol addiction

Everyone in America is still gonna complain about dumb stuff but it started as a promised land and it truly still is. For advanced as Japan is to be honest their living situations are miniscule at best compared to America. And yes America has drugs and bad people but I would rather have that then a life where making eye contact with someone while walking down the street is embarrassing

People love Japan because they make good media and its a cool place with lots of history but in all reality every single American that I have talked to that has lived and worked in Japan went back because the hours these people get dragged through that's just normal and it doesn't bother them that they can't do anything is awful and growing up school and college isn't any better.

To a point though in a odd way Japan is great at not judging. You could do something stupid in a translation and then later someone could say, "did you see that person and the train station" and everyone one would have no clue because they're not looking at other people. They are either on their phone or asleep. It's the weirdest thing, I could go yell at the top of my lungs and everyone would look for a half a second and then instantly forget about and go back to what they where doing. At least this is my perspective of Narita with is closeness to Tokyo and Yokyo is most orderly. Places like Osaka and Okinawa are very different I've heard.

分からないことをゆっくり消えてる

 Hello family, friends, and colleagues. I am realizing I am losing my ability to spell anything in English! As for this email I already had to have the computer help me spell three words in the first sentence! That's alright though because my Japanese is improving a lot. Since last Friday me and my companion made the goal to only speak in Japanese and so far it has been a success, difficult but a success. I have learned a lot from it so far and we don't plan on stopping any time soon. In fact, writing this email in English right now just feels wrong haha. Anyways, this week has been great and we have seen lots of miracles through it. Starting off the week in Tokyo with the best zone conference I have been to. It lasted literally all day but it was really really good. KingBay(a missionary) gave the best farewell testimony I have ever heard by a landslide. It was pretty awesome. As for ping pong night we had a new guy come who is also 19 and super sweet. We got everyone playing around the world which included a couple old members which was really funny to watch. Right after we had a lesson with someone new that has already read 4 chapters of The Book of Mormon and had so many questions! It was awesome. On Friday morning we taught the gospel of Jesus Ghrist the best I have seen since getting to Japan so lots of improvement around the table. On Saturday night we ate with QiaoFeng and then played ping pong with him for the rest of the night and he is getting a break from school soon which means he will hopefully be coming back to church to make progress. We also had a lesson with Lee San who said she can come to church next week and 2 more times in December to be baptized. She also stopped drinking tea! Sunday was tough. Couldn't understand a thing in sacrament meeting but regained a little bit of confidence after talking to some members. That's the main ruff point of last week and other than those things we had lots of good streeting and a couple other good lessons with not really interested people. Hopefully we continue to see lots of fast success and improvement here in Narita!

Elder Parker

Facebook Post by President Cook

 Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President, and her husband were on assignment in the Asia North Area recently and part of our mission had the sweet opportunity to hear messages from them along with Elder & Sister Rasband from the Area Presidency. 

They reminded us that we are testifiers of truth; that the Book of Mormon is our tool to gather Israel; to be bold; and that, like the Brother of Jared, the winds in our lives are always blowing us closer to the Savior.

Facebook post from President Cook

Matsudo, Chiba, & Kiryu - November Zone Conferences! 

We combined zones this transfer so we could enjoy a traditional American Thanksgiving feast together. This was a new experience for our missionaries from Japan, Brazil, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, and England! 

We learned about working with members; the doctrine of baptism; and how to find people by talking with everyone!

#amazingmissionaries

#weinvite

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You have no idea how good this was. She is insane with the cooking. In the cup thing on the plate there was sliced fish under the other stuff. Everything else besides the broccoli, I have no idea what it was. Haha.

You guys would love the food here. I dread the day I have to go back and eat American food again. Haha. I thought I would miss it but to be honest I feel like I am eating the best I ever have in my life.

Window Seat

 Hey everyone! This week was crazy and has been pretty mentally straining which I'm sure is for the best. It was transfer week which is always hard on me for some reason. Watching Elder Bingham leave and saying goodbye to the people we have built such strong relationships with left me a little sad and retrieving my new companion who is the most melatonin guy you'll ever meet hasn't helped me get my head in the game haha. However, we did have some good lessons and streeting experiences on Friday after transfer day which I would like to share. We also had a lot of success and lessons before Friday but I honestly just don't want to think about it right now. 

After getting back from Tokyo, Friday night we had a good Eikaiwa class and a bunch of people showed up again. It went pretty well and I somehow managed to give a message on why we come to church in Japanese at the end which was really good. 

On Sunday night we headed for Urayasu and stayed with Elder Kroff and all the elders in my district. They are all super sweet and serving in Chiba and Urayasu. That night we had a DL\ZL call as well which was really funny because the internet was so bad and all we could hear was cutting in and out of Elder Ogata who is native Japanese laughing at us. 

Early the next day at the annex, which is connected to the Tokyo temple, we got to hear from President Bonnie H Cordan, her husband, and the Rasbands. I actually got a lot out of it and I think the mission really needed it. At one point they had everyone stand up who had just arrived in Japan in the last 2 transfers. About 70 percent of our mission in that room stood up. So that is a lot of missionaries who are in drowning water feeling inadequate and the few missionaries who can speak well still have questions of what they are doing in Japan with little ward support or success in their areas. They shared some powerful things and gave some encouragement and helped me realize how much God loves me and that I am not alone as, cliche as that sounds. 

Last night the sun was setting and it was getting dark at around 5:30 so we were running out of time and I needed to get out streeting. I decided to go to this mall but on the way there prayed whether to go there or a park close to the station. I ended up turning around and going to the park and right when we pulled in there was a young guy with earrings on the right and I instantly knew that was who we needed to talk to. So we parked our bikes and headed straight to him. My companion can understand Japanese pretty well but still has a hard time bearing his testimony in the language so I have been doing all the talking which was perfect because this guy had a lot of similar interests. After talking with him for 20 minutes we got contact info and planned to get lunch or skate some time soon. After talking to him I started talking to this one middle school kid which turned into a good 30 minute conversation with 15 middle school kids who had all been playing soccer. I don't really know how I stood my ground with Japanese while talking to them but なんとなくwe did it. 

Today we are heading back down to Urayasu for ZC tomorrow morning. Also I was thinking why learning Japanese is so hard for a lot of us and I think it's because we have all been raised speed running everything. Speed run homework, work, games笑, chores.. etc but you just can't speed run 10,000 words and 250 grammar principals over night. It takes time and there is nothing you can do about it. So I appreciate the prayers and please continue to send them haha! Also for those wondering the weather her is still pretty nice with the majority of last week being short sleeve weather.

Until next time! - Elder Parker

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 Isaac's Christmas list- 

100k cash

A car, house, career, and wife pre established for when I go home.

A pet turtle named Jeff

Throw me in that crunchy role subscription too.

A helicopter 🚁  with a machine gun hanging under it.

A yacht for fishing

Thanks

Isaac

#blessed to be the youngest

僕が書けるほど日本語を分かるんだけどまだ喋られない。

 皆、調子はどう？？？　今後日本語しか書きたくないと思います。頭がよくない人って　ごめんね！分かるように翻訳してください！笑　冗談ですわ

Hey everyone. How are you all doing? This week was pretty awesome! One day while streeting there was way more people then normal so we asked some people なぜいつもより人が多いんですか？そういう質問 and apparently there was a huge 花火(firework) event in little 田舎 Narita. We started following people and wow people from Tokyo and Chiba and everywhere came. It was so sweet! We even saw some Chiba members and youth with their non member girl friends hahaha. You should have seen this one guy's face when he saw us haha. He was probably worried if you throw the word Christian too high she will leave him haha. One time we were talking to a Chinese guy and his Japanese girlfriend and he was all like oh yeah I am Christian. She broke her neck so hard at him with ahh😂. We ended up talking to this high schooler and just watching the fireworks with him. There ended up being probably 10,000 people. It was so much fun. It made me pretty happy to see so many people and to see them being social and laughing with their friends. It was the best. The firework show was pretty legit as well!

Later on in the week we put LEEsan on date for baptism! She wants to be baptized so bad but of course everyone in Japan works insane hours at work and school with zero efficiency so she has work on Sundays. We told her she needs to start coming and she almost started crying but she is going to try and come. Sadly I don't think she has the heart or just doesn't know how to talk to her boss about it so just pray for her because God knows how to help. Also, at Eikaiwa, a lot of people came. There is a picture down below and only one person in the room is a member so we had a really good turnout and are going to start teaching a couple of them. Also this week we met up with this one guy who is super sweet and also 19. We went to Mister Donut with him and after we needed to get a new bike tire because mine popped. It was like a 30 min walk so he just gave us a ride. While driving in the car he turns on the `Making my way downtown` song and he said it was his and his girlfriends favorite song hahaha. I told him it was a joke song in America but he said he still likes it ha. It was really funny and the next day my comps tire popped right after changing mine which was also pretty funny. Anyways this week was good. There were some discouraging times with the language but that's just me being frail, weak and needing to have Satan stare down the barrel of a 45 lol. Also transfers are coming up this week. I am staying in Narita again and getting a new comp who I actually played a lot of volleyball with while serving in Fargo. He has been in Japan the same amount of time as me and I can't imagine his Japanese is much better then mine so it will be tough but we will get things done!

Lately something that everyone knows but no one acts on I feel God has been trying to get me to realize, which is that man... everyone wants what they don't have and can't practically achieved. I meet a lot of people from all over the world and it is the same things over and over again with desires of instant gratification with unrealistic expectations. I run into so many people that think Americans just have the hugest hearts and are always so happy and can convey their emotions and they want to go to America and speak English. Then you go to America and everyone's like, uhh people are jerks and this country is going to crap, or what not. And visa versa. I think God is trying to teach me how to appreciate and love the things I have because if you want something super bad and whine over it, you are just gonna want something else or more of it after you finally achieve it. You could've just figured out how to enjoy the process of achieving it to whatever imperfect state that is. As we fulfill our purpose we have on earth to experience all things and choose to do it with a completely different mind set our stay here on earth can be so much better. Anyways long story I be learning these things to benefit me for the rest of my life through thick and thin so If you're on the fence about a mission, serve and never look back. 

Elder Parker

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一緒に食べるの?

 Good evening! Everyone good? This week was great and to be honest all kind of a blur. There is nothing like coming back after 9:00 pm exhausted just to hit the pillow, open your eyes, and do it all over again. Did you all know it was Halloween yesterday? I had no idea it was Halloween. We were out streeting after dark in downtown Narita and I stopped someone walking past us and he said a couple English words so I asked him how his English was. He told me his English was small like my Japanese (in Japanese) haha. He then asked us if we were still going to eat that night and he wanted to eat at a restaurant on the same street with us. Of course we complied and ate together at a really nice restaurant. He wants us to come to his house and do yakiniku with his family also ha. He paid for us too and it was like 10K yen. Anyways later while walking around I had the thought of Halloween for some reason and thought it was on the 30th. I looked and it was the 31st so I was really confused and then realized that it was that day. When I realized I was kind of sad. Last Halloween I was in Sidney, MT just starting the mission. It's crazy isn't it. Time just goes and it's something you just can never get back. Later I realized that I feel like God definitely sent him to us to lift the mood and give us an unknown Halloween dinner which was really fun. I was talking to my last companion in the states today and I feel like in Japan you really gotta love and appreciate the fact that you are in Japan or else with the language troubles and pressure of missionary work without crazy amounts of success, It can be hard. 

Anyways, this week I got to spend 2 nights in Urayasu and wow was that awesome. If any of you remember the name Elder Kroff, he and Elder Sakamoto are serving there. Me, Elder Kroff and my companion were all in the same MTC district so it was fun to catch up with and spend 2 days together. I was able to go with Elder Sakamoto and we had a really good exchange. We did not find anyone but almost got someone on the beach all by myself which was great. It's always fun getting to go with a native because they don't care to practice the language so they just let you go for it and struggle which is great. He asked me what I like about Japan. I never felt in danger in America but my honest answer was actually how safe it is, haha. That doesn't sound like me does it. In America I guess there is just the background "what if" thought but here there just isn't a need for that it's just always safe. No drugs, no weapons, and the closer you get to the biggest city the more polite and organized it gets haha. To end the exchange we all met up and had Yakiniku together and we rode bikes through some crazy city. It was the most peaceful bike ride I have ever had, not an ounce of anxiety or worry which just doesn't happen in a big city like that on a bike outside of Japan. 

Thursday night we had the most epic ping pong night yet. Our investigators Lee, Mijika, and O came. We played a lot of doubles which isn't my strong suit but at the end Bishop wanted to 1v1 me and that was the best game ever. We went about 6 points into overtime and I ended up winning it which was epic. 

Friday Night we went to Hamazushi with QOIU FENG and his friend but we had to leave in a rush for Eikaiwa which ended up being filled with people. We had some people come that we talked to off the streets which was the first time that's happened. It ended up being super good and we got their contact info. 

On Saturday we had a ward event and then on Sunday we had church. Hiroto was supposed to come to but sadly was unable to make it. Anyways, man sometimes church is so discouraging after both events in which at them I just can't understand what is happening because everyone is talking so fast and casual and it's not directed to me. I just felt like passing out after church. On the bright side we were able to have a really good lesson with Lee San. She is so ready for baptism and next lesson we will be putting her on date so please pray for her. We also went to dinner with her and a pilot. She told us a couple weeks ago she had a friend at the airport where she works who said he served a mission. She brought up the Book of Mormon to him and he was like yeah I know that book. Lee got super excited and wanted us to meet him and go out to eat together, so we did. While we were talking I told him I lived in Canton and he said after his mission he sold his car to someone he served with who lived in Canton. Later on he said he served in Osaka and I was like ay you ever know an Elder Potter. He was like oh yeah that's who I sold my car to so that was a fun connection. It's always refreshing hearing stories and seeing pictures from missionaries that were here in the nineties. For some reason it always gives me confidence and motivation. Anyways hope that wasn't too long and I appreciate those who read! 

On your Left - Elder Parker 

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