Sherwood Chourou - Transfer 2! (Week 7 in Japan)

1st transfer is officially over! I feel like these first few weeks have gone fairly decently for transfer 1.

Anyways, with the transfer, I have been paired with a new companion, Burton長老, but I'm still in Iwamizawa. It's been a little awkward getting back into the groove, but I think we're all set now.

Family Home Evening is tonight and we've invited a mom from kids eikaiwa (english class) to join us! Hope we all have fun!

I recently got myself some origami paper and have made quick work of figuring out how to make stuff. So far, I've figured out 2 ways to make a girl in a kimono, one more convoluted than the other, and I intend to figure out even more stuff to potentially use for dendou (maybe like little invitation card kinda stuff). Photos shall be included.

Funさん is unfortunately having his baptismal date pushed back because we didn't have enough time to get all the lessons done, but we should be able to set a new one and get back on track. As for Hibikiさん, we're still trying to figure out how to next meet with him, but we should be able to that out soon.

That's pretty much all for this week. Hope everyone's alive and well back home! Matte ne!

Pics:

- I used pokemon for kids eikaiwa

- we found a disney princess house

- origamis

- Burton長老

Sherwood Chourou - Week 6 in Japan

Konnichiwa!

Sorry I missed last week's email, gomennasai! It was Zone P-day and our schedule was absolutely packed! With that in mind, I'll do my best to redeem myself this week.

It's the end of the 1st transfer! It feels like hardly any time has passed since getting here, somehow, but this whole month and a half has been awesome. Our friends Funさん and Hibikiさん both came to church yesterday and had a great time! Hopefully, we'll be able to commit Hibikiさん to a baptismal date soon and get to see both of them come back into Christ's fold.

Last week, we had a lunch party at the church. There was so much good food, I'm amazed I was able to restrain myself to only 2 plates! I'm including a pic of the party (not the greatest photo I could've taken, but oh well).

Anyways, hope everyone's doing well! Unfortunately, I don't have many photos to send, gommenasai. I got a pretty good pic of a cool building we pass every so often, though (it's probably something related to Buddhism, but that's fine). I'll try to be better about not forgetting to email in the future. Matte ne!

Sherwood Chourou - Week 4 in Japan

Konnichiwa!

We've had a good last week, I think. Fun san, our Vietnamese friend, came to church yesterday and we met a cool guy tonight who says he's interested in learning about Jesus! It's good to see miracles like these so early in the mission. Hopefully we'll be able to start having proper lessons with Fun san with the help of a translator soon.

I'm running out of things to talk about lately, but I'll keep giving updates on the miracles I'm seeing out here and any good thoughts I come across. Hope you all are still doing well! I've made up for last week and am including a few photos from a hike we went on last P-Day (And a dead bee outside our apartment. Rip in pieces, Bee chan.). Matte ne!

Sherwood Chourou - Week 3 in Japan

Konnichiwa mina-san! I'm starting to wonder if I intend to keep putting that there for the rest of the mission...

Anyways, I'm still alive over here, and things are going swell. We actually set a baptismal date with a Vietnamese dude named Fun (foon), which is frankly amazing to me considering my companion and I don't know Vietnamese, he doesn't know English, and the bridge that is Japanese is weak to say the least.

Besides that, though, things are pretty slow going over here, which is kinda sad but kinda nice at the same time.

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to take any new photos, so instead I am providing a link to an lds.org page about the Sapporo temple open house from a couple years ago, pictures of the inside included. Enjoy!

Everyone please remember to email me! Matte ne!

https://www.lds.org/church/news/see-inside-new-sapporo-japan-temple-opening-friday-for-tours?lang=eng

Sherwood Chourou - Week 2 in Japan

Konnichiwa mina-san!

Things are great over here in the field. The food's all good, the people are nice, and everything is beautiful! Missionary work is slow, but we're moving forward. We were taken out for sushi twice this week, which was fun. Today was temple pday, hence why I'm emailing today instead of 2 days ago. It was awesome.

Anyways, not much else happened, but I got some fun pictures to send! Please remember to email me, cuz not everyone has been contacting me. I love hearing from you all. Matte-ne!

P.S. I actually tried to send this yesterday, but our wifi was down. Sorry for the late email!

Pics:

-The Only Trashcan (cigarette bin) in Japan

-Thomas the Tank Engine buses

-Cool model "crystal"

-Cool traditional style building

-Many ties

-Gudetama charm (the lazy egg)

-Pond in front of Sapporo Temple

-Olson Chorou (Elder) and I with a friend having sushi

Sherwood Chourou - Week 1 in Japan

Konnichiwa, minasan! I'm finally out in the field, and everything's going well.

I was assigned to the Iwamizawa area, a nice little town with a nice little ward. They gave us a ridiculous amount of food yesterday! One of the Sisters I met in the ward is the sweetest old lady, and she's only about half as tall as I am! I feel so tall now. I can barely understand anyone besides by companion, Elder Olson, but that's okay.

The work seems to be slow going over here, but one of our investigators, Kato san, came to church yesterday! Hopefully things will keep moving forward with him as we serve him.

Apparently, Elder Olson's last companion left some things for me here, including a pikachu charm, a pair of lightsaber chopsticks, and 2 missionary handbooks (bringing my total up to 4)! They're so cool!

So that's pretty much all that's gone down over here. There are some peoole we're teaching who don't want to act on what they learn, and a member who doesn't like going to church, so I'd love for everyone to think of them in your prayers! We need all the spiritual help we can get over here. Thank you for all your support, and please remember to email me! I love hearing from everyone, whether have anything to respond with or not.

Matte ne (later), minasan!

P.S. I bring gifts of pictures

1. My fellow missionaries from the MTC

2-3. Sapporo temple

4-6. Cool park

7. Light saber chop sticks

8. Picachu charm

Sherwood Chourou - Traveling to Japan

Monday, May 6, 10:00 am (sent from LAX)
Konnichiwa, mina-san! I'm finally flying out into the mission field today! Sorry, I don't have any photos yet, but once I get to Japan, I'll take somed pics and send them homeward. Hope everyone's been well back home! Thank you everyone for your support and your emails! Please remember to contact me every week so I can hear from everyone! My p-day is Monday now, so I'll respond to everyone's messages then. Arigatou gozaimasu!

Tuesday, May 7, 12:00 am (sent from Tokyo)

I'm in Japan! These are my fellow Sapporo missionaries, a (at least mostly) Japanese meal I had on the plane, and what I'm guessing are mascots for the upcoming olympics.


(Mom is attaching photos from the mission president's wife and a photo Sherwood Chourou sent this morning)