Eric's Mission, Tokyo, Japan

So guess what, it rained, snowed, hailed, sleeted, and thunderstormed everyday this week, like always, and we got to ride our bikes through it everyday too. lol  It was actually sort of fun riding in the snow because I got to skid to a stop!  I wiped out like three times though so I still need more practice.  It's definitely harder than doing it in a car.  It was so amazing to see everyone again last week on skype.  I'd like to shout out a thanks to my family for hosting it at their house.  It's pretty sweet having the party house right? lol  I can't wait to be able to skype everyone again in May. The time was just way too short. Well this week is Shougatus, New Year.  Also, tomorrow we have a mandatory all day apartment cleaning day.  I don't really care because I have been wanting to clean the apartment for a long time.  I just never have time to do it.  Sharing an apartment with 5 other teenage guys can get ve...

Christmas!  But it's just been way too crazy here so it doesn't even really feel like it at all.  The only thing that makes it seem like Christmas is getting to skype with everyone tomorrow and all the presents that we got from the ward and from all of you guys!  Thank you soo much!  I just wish we had a tree to put them all under instead of piling them all on my desk.  It makes it really hard to study with tons of presents on your desk I can tell you that.  lol  So what's new with all of you?  I don't really know what to say because I get to talk with all of you tomorrow through skype which is super amazing and I'm really excited for!  Unfortunately all the equipment that the old missionaries used was broken so I had to buy everything but it's all worth it!  I can't wait to be able to talk with you all again, I just hope that it works.  lol We are going over to the Oseki`s house tonight for a Christmas eve dinner and I'm pretty e...

Hey everybody!  So sorry we are going to have p-day tomorrow because we have a caroling activity at a rest home all day today.  I actually get to play the violin and I'm super excited!  So don't worry about me I'm fine and playing the violin for some senior people!  Should be super fun.  Also, mom I have a question about the rice pudding recipe.  In the recipe it says I need eggs in the instructions but it never listed eggs in the ingredients list.  So how many eggs do I need to make the rice pudding?  Also how many servings does the recipe make? Because 3/4 a cup of rice doesn't seem like that much.  Should I double it or something?  I'm going to make it tomorrow so I'll check up with you again then.  Thank you so much!  I can't wait to make such an amazing Christmas memory.  Love you all, and I'll email again tomorrow!  Mata ashita!  また明日 Eric   Elder Hall Preparing To Transfer To Tokyo ...

Hello Everyone!   Have you guessed yet?  I'll tell you later.  lol Wow, I have been so busy with the mission that I haven't had time to think about Christmas at all!  It was a huge surprise when I got home one night to find that my desk was covered with Christmas packages from everyone!  I think that's the most mail that I have ever received in one day, 3 packages and 2 letters!  That was a great day!  But don't worry, I haven't opened any of the packages up yet, I'll wait until Christmas well except for maybe the rice pudding ingredients.  lol  So about the rice pudding, we are out of rice!  What's up with that?!  I'll have to go buy some more before I can make any.  And for some reason rice is super expensive in Japan.  But it's totally worth it!    We have been getting lots of snow the past few days and it's actually starting to stick now.  We just recently had transfers and on Thursday when all...

Hey everybody! How are you all doing?  We have had another amazing week here on the opposite side of the world.  So first off, I'm sure that you are all wondering what happened with the transfer calls that we had this morning.  Well good news, I'm staying in Niigata for another transfer so I don't have to pack everything up again!  But one of my companions is transferring to Nakano to work as the new presidents assistant!  That's my second companion that has been sent to the mission home to work!  I guess I've been trained by the best!  Oh and I still get to work with Elder Shibuta again and our old district leader, Elder Pronk, is coming to work with us as the other zone leader.  Yep you guessed it, I'm serving with the zone leaders again!  This will be my third transfer in a row working with the zone leaders!  Everyone in my zone now calls me the 3rd zone leader because I've been with them for so long.  And it...

Hello Everybody back home!  It's good to be able to read all of my weekly emails from everybody!  I love hearing from you!  So another busy week.  I think I should be fine with the clothes that I have right now.  The rain pants work really well and they're the konnan brand or something like that, I can't really remember.  They also have some boots at the apartment that the other Elders left so I can just use those.  And transfers are next Monday so I don't know if I will even be staying for the winter months or not, will just have to see.  It sounds like you all had a really fun Thanksgiving back home.  For ours we just made some of my mashed potatoes and some chicken.  I made sure to document it for you all to see. lol  Oh and one of the sister missionary's mom sent us a pumpkin pie and it was super amazing!  We had to split it between 5 people but it was still really good.  But Thanksgiving had some reall...

Well Hello Everybody!   Thank you for joining me for our weekly email chatting time.  I'll try not to disappoint everybody this week so hold on tight.  First of all, I bought a micro sd converter at the store the other day and it came with a free 4 gig micro sd card so I was thinking of taking lots of videos of Japan and sending it to you for Christmas!  Good idea right?!  So if you have any requests for videos that you want to see, please let me know.    Now for some questions.  When we had our conference at Tokyo with Elder Evans he told us that we are getting our iPads in December sometime so it is officially official!  I'm pretty excited to get them because now we won't have to carry any books around everywhere!  At the conference I didn't get to see S....  I didn't know that she was in the south mission or I would have looked for her!  I haven't been able to get an electric blanket yet because we...

  So Niigata is a pretty cool place, but nothing can keep me away from Tokyo for long.  It's just so cool!  I love all the hustle and the bustle and to just see all the people everywhere.  I missed that a lot in Niigata because it's a lot more country like.  You'll be happy to know that for the first time in a long time I don't feel tired, you know why? I slept for a few hours on the bus ride here.  It feels so amazing to not want to fall down and sleep on the ground.  And the best part is, I get to ride the bus again on Wednesday too so I won't be tired then either!  I love living so far away from the mission home. lol  The only downside is that it costs like $100 a trip, so we know where all the tithing money is going. lol   My companions and I are staying at the hombu tonight with the APs ( Assistants to the President ) and all of the really really good missionaries.  And I get to be with my old compani...

Hello everybody!   This week has been pretty crazy!  My companions left me to go to Tokyo for a missionary training conference so I was left with my roommates to dendo ( share the gospel ) for a few days.  So we were two, second-transfer missionaries and four, first-transfer missionary hitting the streets of Japan together, trying to understand what everyone was saying to us.  Elder Johnson and Allred are super good at Japanese though so we were fine.  I still need lots of work.     Hey mom, Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!  I know that it's not the 11th yet in Ohio but in Japan it is!  I think you should send me some of your birthday cake!  I'm sure that it'll taste really good!  I wish I could be there for you on your birthday, but I'm thinking of you now.  And dad I didn't forget about you either!  So happy birthday last week! ( Actually my birthday is next week ).  Sorry it'...

This was Eric's favorite conference talk. He gave a talk in church using this talk as his reference. Come, Join with Us By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency Regardless of your circumstances, your personal history, or the strength of your testimony, there is room for you in this Church.                                         <img src="http://media.ldscdn.org/images/videos/general-conference/october-2013-general-conference/2013-10-1070-president-dieter-f-uchtdorf-590x331-ldsorg-article.jpg" alt=""> 10791_000_17uchtdorf Once there was a man who dreamed that he was in a gr...

Hello Everybody!  How is everybody doing?  Things are going pretty well in Niigata and we are getting a lot done!  I was able to buy some more jackets and stuff before I left and that's a really good idea about the electronic blanket.  I'll have to get one.  I'll ask my companions what they think about getting boots and what else they suggest I should get before winter comes.  But we have some really nice heaters in our apartment so we usually stay nice and toasty during the days.  The nights can get a little cold though.    So on to my new companions.  Their names are Elder Hall and Elder Shibuta.  And they are super chill.  Elder Shibuta is actually from Brazil so I'm sure that he'd be super good friends with Elder Dallin Toronto.  Luckily for me he speaks fluent English, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Spanish so I can understand him when he speaks English.  Elder Hall is from Utah, of ...