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| Otaru District Missionaries |
12/21/2014
Hey everyone
So yeah I'm in Abashiri right now (see map below). This week has been crazy, so I'm going
to give you a run down of each day. As the subject says, I am super tired, so if
my enlishs doesn't make sense, or if it isn't spelled right, good luck. And
don't shoot me.
Monday: My last Pepraration-Day in Otaru. We finished emailing, and then went and
bought groceries, and ate yummy food, and then we went and visited, for the last
time, Watanabe Kyodai (kyodai means brother, and prefixes are suffixes in Japan)
(he is one of the Less Actives that is now reactivated) It was a somber meeting.
I'll send pictures. He's way cool though. He makes model tanks (which will be in
the pictures) and they are really good. Those are also in the pictures
Tuesday: Last day in Otaru. We had District Training Meeting (DTM) in the
morning. We had a testimony meeting for that, because it was the last DTM for 3
of the sisters in our district, and 2 of us elders were transferring. It was
cool. Way awesome to get to hear dying missionaries (returning home) testimonies. I have pictures
of our district too that should send. After that, we went and visited
another member to say good bye, as well as a less active who is still less
active. They were both really cool, and I was sad to say good bye to them, but
had to move on. That night The Sakumas fed us dinner. Bishop Sakuma couldn't
come, because he was sick, but Sackuma shimai (sister) and their kids came. It
was a lot of fun, and I was able to say goodbye to them. It was kind of a solumn
day. I cried on the inside alot
Wednesday: Transfer day. Hey just kidding. Don't know if any of you have
been following weather in Hokkaido or not, but on Wednesday and Thursday, there
was a blizzard hurricane type thing. It was insane. Some people died from it.
That morning, we got a call from our district leader that told us to stay inside
all day. Turns out the storm only occurred on the eastern side of the island of Hokkaido, and
most of the missionaries were in Sapporo, so no missionaries got hurt. Nothing
even happened in Otaru. There was a fair amount of wind but that was all. We
stayed inside all day. I made sure I was fully packed, and ready to go, and then
we played Japanese Chess, we cleaned, I watched the washing machine wash
clothes, Best day ever. (#actuallastdayinotaru #veryboring)
Thursday: Actual Transfer day. Got up early this morning, and got all of my
stuff put together, and we headed for the Sapporo Train Station. We got there
and started meeting with all the missionaries, when Boom. There's Elder
Spurling (my new companion). He's so much shorter than I thought he'd be. But he is so awesome.
He's so hippster. He pulls it off too. He is way cool. He has an amazing voice
too. And I'm killing him this transfer (his mission ends in February). Yup this is his last transfer, and I am
going to kill him. How fun is that. So yeah we met up and went to the city of Shinoro.
Because of the Storm, we couldn't go back to Abashiri yet, so we went and stayed
in Shinoro, and Dendoed there for a little while. We got to meet some of Elder
Spurling's old Investigators, and member friends (he was in the Shinoro area for
a while). It was fun
Friday: Also in Shinoro. Met this cool american that has lived in Japan for
10 years. He still can't speak squat. And his wife is Japanese. I don't know how
that works, but apparently it does. He was cool. But yeah once again we were in
Shinoro all day.
Satuday: We finnaly got to go to Abashiri. We woke up early in the
morning, to go to catch a bus for a 6 hour ride to Abashiri. Soooooo long. I
slept for some of the ride, and then sat there bored for the rest of it. It was
long. When we got back, we spent the rest of the time making cookies, and a
musical number for the Christmas party, then we went to the Christmas party. We
had a lot of fun, but it was small numbers. Abashiri has a branch of about 22
members. It's so much different from Utah. But yeah that happened, and it was
fun
Sunday: So Abashiri got hit by that storm, and that's why we couldn't go
back yet. There is quite a ton of snow. It's higher than my head. But the
biggest problem, is the Sun comes out still. It melts the snow, and then it goes
down, and it FREEZES. There is solid ice all over any road that isn't a main
road. I slipped 4 times. I really hurt myself on one of them. It's pretty
insane. but we still had fun. I got to bless the Sacrament for the first time on
my mission (in Japanese) it was fun. We went and did some Dendo after that. It
was so sketchy. I hate ice I've decided. It's the worst. Ice just straight up
sucks. but yeah. Then the Ward Mission Leader and his Wife fed us that night
because it was Elder Spurling's BIRTHDAY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. he just turned 21, and
his birthday is on the 21st. Lol. Golden birthday. He's so old...
So yeah that was my week. Sorry I am so tired, and dead. I can't even think
straight enough to write stuff. This will forever be known as one of the worst
messages I've ever sent. Oh well
Merry Christmas to all. Love you all so much. See you in what seems like a
long time but actually wont be sadly enough.
Bye
Elder Eliot
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| Sapporo Mission Areas, Kelson is in Abashiri (north coast) |
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| This is the beach, not Santa Cruz!! |
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| This man makes army tank models |
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| Last goodbye to Otaru missionaries |
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| Funny, English sign |
