Eric's Mission, Tokyo, Japan

So first of all I want to tell my dear brother Andrew something. Guess what I just found out, missionaries in Taiwan have Facebook! I can't believe it.  I thought Japan was supposed to be the first mission outside the U.S. to have Facebook. It's not fair!  But I guess this means that when we start teaching more Chinese people you can Skype in and help us out through Facebook video chat, so make sure you have really, really good Chinese in the next few months. I'm just telling you this now so you can prepare for this big responsibility by making a Facebook page now. So make sure you make it really good with lots and lots of pictures that don't include you and just a girl so that other people can see you before your mission. Facebook is pretty sweet. At first I was a little worried that Facebook would be very distracting for me because I've never used it before. But never using it before really helps me a lot because I don't know exactly what I can do...

Sorry, just practicing my Japanese typing because I haven't had to do it in a long time since I've been in Tokyo. My Japanese is slowly slipping away! Oh no!!!!!!!!!   We had a pretty great week.  A lot of the people that we are trying to meet have just been in the hospital which is really weird. We are going to try to visit them there soon. We have done lots of train dendo! Since we are now in the rainy season of the year we have been very creative in how we find people. Instead of just streeting, we ride trains and dendo in barber shops so we don't get wet and so people aren't running away from us, and the rain, when we talk with them. And what do you know it, densha dendo is awesome! Train dendo to use English. But speaking of rainy season, I thought we had it bad in Japan but I was looking at the weather for Taipei since Andrew is going there soon and they are getting way more rain than we are so good luck Andrew! Try some train dendo when you...

Hey everybody! How's it all going?  We have been keeping really busy recently. Actually this week I have taught the most lessons that I have ever taught on my mission so far.  Elder Tu'ua and I have been working really hard and we have seen the fruits of our labor in Tokyo.  Tokyo's a great place but would you believe it, I went back to Togane yesterday.  But don't worry I came back to Tokyo again. The reason I went back to Togane is because an investigator that I was working with was baptized yesterday and she really wanted me to come and see it.  So after a 2 hr train ride and $26 we arrived in my old area.  She was so excited to see me that she forgot all about the mission rules and tried to give me a big hug, but me being the obedient missionary that I am, turned it into a handshake very smoothly. Lol. Funny story, elder maki and I found her and talked to her awhile about the church but she said that she wasn't interested so we left.  But the next ...

Hello Everyone! Here is another report coming to you from the middle of a land of concrete and not much else.  I have finally gotten settled into my new area but I still haven't had time to unpack everything.  The apartment is so much smaller than the last one I was in.  Tokyo's going pretty great but it was a really big shocker when I saw so many foreigners just like me.  I'd forgotten how different it was to dendo gaijin than it is to dendo nihonjin.  I need to hone my gaijin skills again.  Things are a little slow in our area, but Elder Ta'ua and I have some pretty amazing goals set up so we are going to see a big change soon. My companion Elder Ta'ua is pretty sweet.  He is transfer 6 so he has been on his mission for about 9 months already.  He likes to joke around a lot so we get along really well.  Actually one time while I was in the bathroom, he hid himself so when I came out I couldn't find him at all....

Hey everyone! Well as you can see from the title of the message I am officially moving from my home in Togane to the big city of Tokyo again. I am working in the Tokyo First Ward which is another American ward that just speaks English.  I'm super excited to be able to listen to church again and know what is happening, but I really need to work on my Japanese. I'm working with an Elder named Tu'ua and he is from Hawaii and he is super big and buff. Work out sessions in the morning should be really good now. But I'm really sad to be leaving Togane. It is a great place and everyone is super awesome! I'm really going to miss all of my friends. So guess what happened yesterday in our church. Believe it or not we had 50 visitors attend church! It was a crazy miracle! It was crazy because I was late to church because I was picking up some of my investigators to bring them and when we got to the church there were no seats left for me to sit in. It was...