Where does time go, because I want to find it and tell it to go a bit slower for me?
So yeah that's the feeling for this week. Like time is going way too fast and I can't seem to get it to slow down. Like dang. This whole mission thing is like almost over. And I'm the only one allowed to say that about myself. If my parents weren't coming here to drag me home they might not have ever gotten me out of here. But that's how it's supposed to go, I guess. So here's a quick recap of what went down here two weeks ago. Monday 4/10 ~ P-day so yeah, shopping, emailing, resting, and I really can't think of much else. After all that we went and visited an investigator at his house to check on him, and we let him know about the whole Jimmy Osmond thing and he was way happy. Then we ran back to the church and taught a lesson to an investigator and it was a bit rough, but it turned out good in the end. He kind of got our point. But that was our night. Tuesday 4/11 ~ We had interviews with our mission President, Ishii Kaicho. It was way good. We first got training from our ZL's and that was way good too. Then we kind of just waited around till it was our turn for interviews. After that we went to lunch and then we caught a train home to Nagano. Then after the extremely long train ride, we made it to our station where we disembarked and got ready for the rest of the night, which was our Eikaiwa class. The other elders messed up on the trains and they missed the class, so we had to take over and teach all the students. And that was it for the night. Wednesday 4/12 ~ So we had some cleaning in the morning and then after that it was off to service. After service, we had a nice dinner and then we picked up Elder Osmond's dry cleaning. Then we headed out to visit lots of people, but the first guy we visited just asked us to stay and talk, and so it turned out that we only got one of the visits that we wanted to, but it's all good. Thursday 4/13 ~ We had a plan to play basketball and then go to a lesson with an investigator afterwards, but the lesson fell through so we got to play basketball with the less active for longer and it was way fun. After that it was out weekly planning session, so not much to report on. Friday 4/14 ~ So we went out with a member to go and visit tons of people, but as we were headed out we got a call from a member who wanted a visit from us. So we set a time and then we went to lunch and made our way over to the member’s house, where we got to view the Cherry blossoms and enjoy some time with the members, it was way good. After that we returned home and did dinner and then we went and visited all the people we didn't visit on Wednesday. So that was a good trade off. We even found a place to play basketball with a bunch of college kids. Saturday 4/15 ~ We had a lesson early in the morning and that went great and we then had to rush to the church to prepare for the upcoming concert. So we prepped and then we practiced and they told me I had to sing and in the end it was all good. Then that night was the big show. It went well and after we had some nice refreshments and everyone got to enjoy them. Then we had clean up duty, and that went smoothly. From there we went on to dinner and more dendo (missionary contacting) so it was a good night. We had some time to check out some places to house around a college we had found and it looks really promising. Sunday 4/16 ~ So it was the big day when Jimmy Osmond made his appearance in Nagano. It was way good. He gave a good talk in sacrament meeting, and we even had some non-members in the audience, so that was good. After that there was some time for Elder Osmond to catch up with his dad, and then we prepared some technical stuff for the devotional. So yeah, I still have got a handle on technology stuff. Then before the devotional we had a ton of snacks and stuff so that was way good. The devotional itself went well and we had a few investigators there, so that was really good. Then after all the cleanup and greetings from everyone were done we went home and changed, and then went to meet up with Jimmy for dinner. He took us out and treated us to lots of nice stuff for the rest of the night. But yeah I'll try and catch up fully next week but I'm kind of tired from writing this one. So we will see y'all on the flip side of next week. Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老
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My weekend with Jimmy Osmond Well, I'm out of time for this P-day, so this is going to be real short. I'll send a more detailed report next week, maybe. But yeah this week’s letter will be mostly pictures with explanations. So yeah that's it have a good day.
Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老 They say the Holy Ghost speaks in a still small voice. And now so do I.
So I'm back and hopefully I will have enough time to explain my heading, but that doesn't happen until Friday, so who know this might just be a cliffhanger. So sorry if you don't like cliffhangers, but that's how this is going to go. So I think I left off on . . . . . Saturday ~ If I'm wrong, then fly to Japan and tell me in person, otherwise I'm pretty sure I left off on Saturday. So we started the morning with a lesson at 10 AM, because who needs studies?! Actually, all of us do, so after the lesson we went and got lunch and then went home to do our studies. After that we both felt really tired and weakened from being out and about so much, so we completely updated our area book and records and all that good stuff. Then that evening we went out and visited a FI (former investigator) who quickly invited us in. Upon learning my companion, the one the only Elder Osmond, was related to the Osmond brothers, he was super excited. If you’re not over 50 or not Mormon, then you might not know that name. The FI was super happy and it was way cool. So we had a nice long talk with him and it pretty much took our entire night. We did have time on the way home to run into Daiso, my favorite dollar store, and buy some stuff to prank the other Elders for April Fool’s Day. With our newly acquired toys we proceeded to scare the crap out of one of the other elders, way great idea. And the fun continues as we still continue to surprise him. But after the prank that was it. Sunday ~ So we had fast and testimony meeting, while most of you guys watched Conference, the beauty of the translation time delay. So yeah, then after all of that we had singing practice, because somehow being a missionary gets you into the choir. After all of that we had some dinner and decided to go visit our ward mission leader, who's been a bit under the weather recently. So we show up and he's actually talking to the senior couple missionaries on the phone and when he comes to the door he says into the phone “the missionaries are here, so I have to go”. I bet that confused the senior missionaries, but we had a good visit with him and after that we hopped on the train back home and that was our night. Monday ~ We had a meeting with a less active that we have been playing basketball with recently, so that was cool. It was actually the senior couple’s lesson and we just sat in on it. After that it was emailing all you guys and then off to a haircut. A member in the ward does all the missionaries, so I got a nice cut for free and it was way good. Then we had dinner with them and it was way good. But since it was a ways out there, we hurried home and that was our night. Tuesday ~ So we started off with a good day of study and I was feeling a bit out of it, but I thought I was ok. So we went and played some basketball with the guy we had the lesson with on Monday. And after that I had a bit of a sore throat, but nothing crazy or at least that's what I thought. So we ran home grabbed some dinner and then prepared all the food we needed for our Eikaiwa dinner party. Way good. Man the Lord tests your faith though, because when it was time to start there was only 3 students and I was like “well this one flopped”, Then everyone walked in about 10-15 minutes late. I guess our class has got Mormon Standard Time down to a tee. After the party we attended seminary to help one of the teachers. It was a good feeling to sit in with all the youth in class. But we then hustled home, to be in on time. Wednesday ~ So a member randomly called us up and decided to take us out to lunch and I'm never one to turn down a chance to meet with a member. From there we had service and that sore throat had developed in to a cough, so I kind of worried about getting some people sick, but it turned out to be ok. Then after that we had a lesson with an investigator where we are trying to get down to the bottom of why he meets with us, but he's hard to read and hard to understand so we will see how it goes with him. But that was the night. Thursday ~ So we didn't have much planned but a member called us up to go visit some less actives. So we hopped on that like white on rice, and yes that is my joke about Japan today. We had a great time, we even found a less active that the member said would take a year or so of constant fellowship to return and by the end he decided that things had changed and that they might be able to come back sooner, all because the good relationship that we built with her. So from there we had to do our weekly planning, so yeah that happened. A shout out to Isaac Dobbins, my friend over in the states, who feels the pain of planning, except while I'm planning a week, he's planning a wedding and a life with his soon to be wife. Good luck. So yeah, planning capped off our night. Friday ~ So I woke up and bam I've got no voice, just great. I thought maybe it would be back in a while, but yeah I was wrong. So we decided that I probably needed to see a doctor. But first DTM (District Training Meeting). After that we went to the hospital and I got a diagnosis. It started as a cold, but because I talked too much with a cold I hurt my voice and caused a polyp to appear in my throat that is keeping me from speaking. Now the heading above should make sense, since I can barely speak above a whisper. The doctor prescribed some kusuri (medicine) and then he prescribed 2 weeks of silence. Wow, I don’t know about that. I've got faith so it'll only be a week of silence for me. Needless to say, this might be one of the most trying times on my mission, no worries though I'll press through. After that we went to a member appointment and that was funny trying to not talk, yeah I ended up talking a lot, whoops. We had a good night with them, and it was all good. Saturday and Sunday ~ This began our conference weekend. So I sat quietly, without any other choice obviously, and learned a lot. Conference took the rest of our weekend, because Sunday was also Conference and then my rest and recuperation day. “For God blessed the Sabbath and made it a day of rest.” So I rested. And that was the week plus some. As for right now my voice is slowly returning and it should be back some time soon. We I love all of y'all. Have a good week and as a good friend of mine says, "STAY SAFE" Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老 More Pace Change
Well I'm back on track today, with little time to write. We had a lesson this morning followed by a little birthday party which leaves me with little time, so here’s the quick summary of the week. Last Friday ~ So yeah there was that whole mountain thing, but I actually think that happened on Thursday, it is getting hard to remember. We did buy stuff to make a ton of Oreo balls and then checked out a sports center to see if we could play basketball there. Turns out it was cool for us to go there and it was would be a new way to try to dendo (find investigators). Then we went back for a lesson, but they canceled and after that we went out contacting less-actives. And with that said, we actually did climb the mountain on this day. Saturday ~ We had a Japanese class and it was a good experience for Elder Osmond as he learned quite a bit from the teacher. I wasn't paying attention and was trying to talk to people about being a missionary and what we do, so I learned nothing, oops. Then we ran off to a lesson with an investigator at a restaurant and it was kind of awkward doing the lesson in a restaurant, but I turned out ok. We then went off to visit some FI's (Former Investigator’s) in that area. Sunday ~ So we had church, of course, and then a luncheon afterwards where we came through, once again, with Oreo balls and everyone was way glad. Again there wasn't a single one left for us to take home. Then someone was convinced that I could be good at singing so they put me in a choir thing and I had to practice after church for a long time. Yeah, I'm that bad. After that we went to a birthday party for one of the other elders, which turned out way fun. Monday ~ So as just the guys, we went out for one of the birthday. Then Elder Osmond and I went to purchase him some basketball shoes so he could play the next day. Then we went to the church and sent emails and played ping pong. We then spent the night trying to contact all the old Eikaiwa members. Tuesday ~ So I had a rough morning. During studies my DL (District Leader) decided to take me on a walk and then proceed to tell me I wasn't doing my job as a missionary, even though we are teaching more people and doing better finding new investigators, and that my mission was pretty much worthless. Well, I wouldn’t have any of it and just kind of went off on him. I think I lost my cool, not so good for me. After that I got to blow off some steam by playing some basketball with a LA (less-active). Then we ran home and showered and went to Eikaiwa. And that was our night. Wednesday ~ We had service and then ran home, quickly grabbed a snack, and then ran to the church for a lesson. The lesson went pretty well and the investigator agreed to come to conference with us next week. Yes, if you’re wondering, I still haven't seen Conference yet. We will get to watch it next Sunday. Thursday ~ We spent the entire day visiting less-actives with a member in the ward. It was way good and we made some return appointments and the member then took us out for the best tonkatsu I've ever had, it was that good. Then we went to seminary and after that we had dinner and a quick planning session and that's all we had time for. Friday ~ So we had DTM (District Training Meeting) and after that we ran to the recreation center to play some basketball, with some kids. We were able to start introducing the gospel to them and it was way good. That night we finished our planning, because our lesson got canceled. So that is where I'll leave off for today. Love, Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老 |
MissionCalled to Serve in the Japan Nagoya Mission.. Archives
July 2017
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