Hello everybody, and welcome to this week’s report from Japan.
This week's report includes caroling, barbecues, thankfulness, bike mishaps, and much, much more. Keep reading for more information. But let's start from Monday night. Monday - After P-day ended, we had a lesson with an investigator named Paulo. He's Brazilian, but is pretty fluent in Japanese. Paulo is always full of questions, so we prepared for a very interesting lesson. By the time the dust settled we had taught all of lesson one, parts of pretty much all of the other lessons, but he likes it and he's going to read the Book of Mormon and watch some Mormon messages. So he's doing all right. We also finished planning the barbecue that would happen later in the week. Tuesday - This day and Wednesday made me very glad to own Frogg Toggs. Frogg Toggs are a brand of rain suits that are awesome. When my dad said he was going to order them for me before my mission, I thought he was a tad bit crazy, but I actual really need them. I stayed dry, and was quite cozy, while my comp was using a ¥500 (5 dollar), rain suit from 7-eleven, which worked very well considering its price. That day we biked way out to a member’s house and had lunch with the Shimai (Sisters) and one of their investigators who comes to Eikaiwa. So we biked a long ways in the rain and it was quite draining, but during our visit I had the experience of eating “nato”. If you don't know what “nato” is, it is fermented soybeans that are nasty and I had to eat them straight, but I only ate a little because this was just “nato” beans and nothing else. It was nasty! Not recommended. Ok after that we had two lessons with investigators, that thankfully we had rides to. They went well and we had a good time talking to our Branch Kaicho (President). Wednesday - It continued to rain so we did weekly planning and records for most of the day. Wednesday’s rain made Tuesday's rain seem like just a drizzle and I became even more grateful for my Frogg Toggs. Despite the rain, we decided to go out to visit a part member family, but we wouldn't quite make it to them. On the way we stopped at a ¥100 store (dollar store) to get stuff for other lessons that we had that week. Like a flower for an object lesson about faith, where we read Alma 32 with them. We then ask them that if they trust us, that the stuff we are teaching them is true and good. And then we tell them to eat the dirt from the potted plant we brought them. The trick is the dirt is actually finely crushed Oreos so it's quite delicious. So while stopping to get this stuff, things happened. While I was getting off my bike I stumbled and kind of slipped because the wet ground from the rain and I bumped into the front widow and because it was like a millimeter thick it shattered and broke. So to clarify, I didn't actually go through the window I just bumped into it. I was 100% fine, but we had to talk to the police and Hombu (Mission Home), but everything is fine and taken care of. No harm done except to the window. Thursday - It continued to rain and we did more records, taught a recent convert, and prepared for Eikaiwa (English Conversation Class). All in all pretty boring, except Eikaiwa is always fun. But because of the rain we had a smaller class than usual, but that was ok. Friday - We had DTM (District Training Meeting) in Hamamatsu City and Ishii Kaicho (Mission President) and Shimai (President’s Wife) attended and it was an awesome time. After that we went to Indo Curry, with all you can eat “pan”, which is the bread that you dip in the curry. It was quite delicious. Once we were back in Fukuroi City we visited investigators and checked up on them and made more appointments. We ended our night in a LA (less active) house, who happens to love cats. So I had a great time, at home that night being congested. But we've almost got her back to church, so the allergic reaction was worth the visit. Saturday - Somehow we were teleported to Brazil. We went with our investigator Paulo up into the mountains to set up the barbecue. And once most everybody was there, we began cooking. Needless to say I ate so much meat and Coxinha, pronounced more like coshinia, which are fried cheese balls and brigaderro. And at the end of the barbecue when we thought we had eaten enough meat to clog every artery, Paulo pulled out one more string of sausages and like 7 more steaks and began cooking. Once he was done and had eaten some, he turned to us and said “tabenasai”, or in English “please eat” the food. So we ate some more and it was delicious, but right then and there we decided to fast the next day. It was an awesome day as we spent it with his family and we got to talk about the gospel with him. After we were sufficiently fat we returned home and went caroling. And because I sing terribly I got to be Santa. Sunday - It was a good day at church as a LA (less active) we have been working with came back to church and an\ investigator also came. We had a good time as Coleman Choro (Elder) spoke. After church we met up with the sisters and an investigator to go caroling to a bunch of people and again I was Santa Clause. After all was said and done we found ourselves back at the LA (less actives) with cats, where all the missionaries continued to help resolve her concerns and mondais (problems). I just played with the kitten as the Shimai (Sisters) were doing the talking; I only hopped in to help with my testimony and a small explanation when asked. Other than that not much happened. Love, Elder Williams 愛してるよ! ウィリアムズ長老
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Hello everybody,
Well, one more week has come and gone, and I'm still here in Japan, living the amazing life of a senkyoshi (missionary). Yes, you should be jealous. Well, here's this week’s rap up for all of you guys. Monday - P-day. An amazing day meant for cleaning, shopping, and doing all sorts of stuff. Well, when dendo (missionary) time restarted that evening all of our appointments canceled so we went and played volleyball with one of the Shimai's (Sister’s) investigators. And that was the end. Tuesday - Like always we studied in the morning. And after that we totsuzened (just dropped in on) some members and gave them bread. We also totsuzened (just dropped in on) a LA (less-active) and Elder Coleman decided to offer up or help with all of their animals for the next morning. I thought it was all good until I heard the time we had to be there. Well, more on that in Wednesday’s report. But then we went with the Bishop to visit 2 investigators and only one was there, but after her lesson we ended up going and visiting some other people and at a LA (less active) house we met the meanest/funniest grandpa. When he learned we were from a kirisutan kyoukai (Christian Church) he started yelling "DAME. DAME DAIYO!" (No good, No) Kind of hard but it was funny cuz the daughters wanted to listen so they tried to keep him quiet and push him out of the room so we could stay. Well after that experience we went home and prepared for the next day. Wednesday - Like I said Elder Coleman offered up our help at 5:30 AM, so yeah. It was a blast, kind of. We helped clean up a bird cage and fed their koi (carp) and it was cool. After that we let the carrier pigeons out and guarded them from stray cats. Then we returned to do studies and then went and visited members and then went to the daycare where we volunteer at and made giant bubbles again. The kids are always crazy, and sometimes, a bit too much. After that we went to a part member family and had a lesson with them and since it was our first time meeting most of the family one became an investigator. From there we had to race home because it was like a 40 min bike ride and we had 20 min. Needless to say we called the DL and told him we probably were gonna be late. We were late but only by like 5-10 min so we were definitely flying. After that we retired for the day. Thursday - We studied at FIFA and then had a lesson with a LA (less active) and then prepared for Eikaiwa (English Class) because everyone cancelled. Eikaiwa was awesome though. We taught them animal sounds and animal sayings, sly fox beat a dead horse, and then played head bands and barnyard. It was hilarious. Friday - We had ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) in Shizuoka City. And after that we returned home in time to visit a member and prepare to retell our investigator that he couldn't baptized. He took it well and after that we spent time with a recent RM who gave us all his tatoes (object lessons), and it was cool. Saturday - We had lots of activities for this day. First was a “Queens” lunch, which is when all the Shimai (Sisters) get together and the Kyodai (Brethern) make lunch for them. We ended up making tacitos and they were a hit. After that we had a showing of “Meet the Mormons” for our Eikaiwa class, and we then just totsuzened (dropped in on) people. Sunday - I was asked to speak, so that was interesting. I talked about Christ and his leadership, and it was good I think. After church the Shimai (Sisters) and us went and did a ton of member work and it was awesome. It all culminated in us meeting with a LA's (less active) and having a lesson to try to get her back to church. Then we went home. And that was the week. The scripture that was cool this week was 2 Nephi 31:20. Now a challenge: Recently we were challenged to read the Book of Mormon and highlight all of the following; Mentioning's of Christ, his attributes, his gospel, his words, and things about faith. Each in a different color and in a fresh paperback Book of Mormon and see what happens. We take it at about 2 chapters or so a day. But it's awesome. Highly recommend. Love, Elder Williams 愛、 ウィリアムズ長老 こんにちはみなさん!
みなさんげんきですか? そして、今日私はこんしゅうのけいけんをわかちあうとおもいます。 "Hello everybody! How's everybody doing? So today I think I would like to share this week's experience." (Literal translation) So this week was crazy and a lot happened but I'll start with Monday. Monday It was a good p-day we got a lot done and I got my first Japanese haircut. Well it turned out ok. And we were supposed to have 2 lessons that night, but both canceled so we were kind of plan-less for the rest of the night so we updated records and tried to dendo some random people we met on the street without any success. And that was pretty much the day. Tuesday We got a call that morning from the investigator that we were supposed to visit that night and she canceled on us and that meant our whole night was kind of done for again because she lives way far away so we blocked off the whole night. But our lunch plans remained intact with a LA (less active) member and we talked with him as friends not really as missionaries. It went pretty good, at least that's the feeling we got, but the LA is really hazukashi (shy) and quiet. So that afternoon and night we visited some FI's hoping for someone to have regained interest. And we kind of just ran into dead ends until we met the Seichii family who said we could come back another day, but that was about it. After all of that we returned home feeling like something was going on because all of our plans kept falling through. Wednesday Well we did studies and DKK which is weekly planning and that took the whole morning and part of the afternoon. After that we went with a YSA (young single adult) member and totsuzened some investigators one of which is supposed to get baptized this Sunday. But, that's not gonna happen because we learned as he was filling out his baptismal papers that he's not actually married to his wife. But they have three of the greatest kids ever. So we kind of wanted to tell him right then but we had an appointment with him on Friday so we decided to wait and break the news to him then. Thursday We went with the Shimai (Sisters) in our area to visit a member who is going to the temple for the first time and help her in her garden, more like farm. So we ended up planting a bunch of tamanegis (onions) and helped her harvest some jagaimos (potatoes). And then talked about the temple with her. And after that we had Eikaiwa (English Conversation Class). And it just so happened to be the largest Eikaiwa we've had yet! We had a kid’s class of like 3 with a YSA member and around 18 adults there. It was awesome we played head bands and it was really funny how the people were trying to guess what they were. What was really funny was the Shimai also put my name and Coleman's names in the stack and I found the person with my name and she was really confused but I snapped a photo with her before I told her what was on her forehead. After that we headed home for the night but not before setting up some events with our investigators that came. Friday We did a lot of member work and we helped some members with their needs and just talked with some. The best time came at the Kouno kazoku (family) house. We had a little snack with them and talked about the history of the area and learned a lot about how to help people and who still lives in the area because none of the records are up to date. Also they had the greatest juice ever, it was nashi (apple-pear) juice, and it was sooooooooo delicious. After that we visited a member and gave her a birthday present and then raced home to meet with our investigator who I previously mentioned. We decided to teach tithing and the law of chastity because he really hadn't got those lessons. So to start we gave him the chastity pamphlet and he read the first page then wanted to read it all. We then explained that without marriage he couldn't be baptized. We are not sure he actually understood. After that we met up with our district leader and his brand new bean-chan (new missionary) that he is training. Not much else happened but I went to Hamamatsu City. Saturday I was in Hamamatsu and we were supposed to teach Kodomo Eikaiwa (Kid English Class) but no one showed up and then we went and did member dendo after lunch and after we visited every member we still had time before ongako no yuube (music night), that was being hosted by the ward. So we decided to visit an FI of theirs and we had a 30 min lesson in their genkon (entryway/porch) and he was willing to meet again. And this was a miracle because they have had a lot of their investigators drop recently and they didn't have anybody to teach. But after that we returned to the church to perform in the music night. And after that the Kokan (exchange) ended and I went home. But on the way home I learned of all the cool and funny things that happened while I was in Hamamatsu. The good thing was there was an awesome lesson with some of our investigators and the funny thing, which is really kind of sad, was that the bean (new missionary) has really never ridden a bike so he's just learning and he falls, a lot. But hey, we all have our trials and his is the bike. Sunday This was the best Sunday because we had 3 investigators there and the Shimai (Sisters) also had 3 and one of our investigators brought his 3 kids. So in total we had 9 people there, which was awesome. Later that night we went and visited some oyasumikaiin (inactive members) and one of our investigators. We headed out with the bishop and we visited everyone, which was nice except our investigator dropped us but it was kind of funny. So his wife is a missionary for another church and she learned that he was taking lessons and had a Book of Mormon. And she got mad and he didn't understand because he didn't even attend her church anymore, but to keep peace he struck a deal with her that if we couldn't come visit him than neither could any of her missionary friends. It's kind of sad that he dropped but still it was funny. Well that's it from 日本. Love, Elder Williams 愛、 ウィリアムズ長老 こんにちは。(Konnichiwa = Good Afternoon or Hello): So a lot has happened as always because hey this is a mission and there's always something going on. So you pretty much got the whole day last Monday. So I'll start with Tuesday. Tuesday we had a Kokan (exchanges) with our district leader in Hamamatsu City and I again stayed in Hamamatsu. This time I was with a transfer 4 elder who is kind of still figuring out the area cuz he had only been there 5 weeks at the time so we had some fun getting lost because he really didn't know what was going on. So not much happened. Wednesday, the Kokan ended and back to missionary life. And right after we got off the train we saw a member who took us to lunch. We had tonkatsu (breaded meat) which is awesomely amazing. After that we had a recent convert lesson and then that night we had a less active lesson. Not much else though. Thursday, no dendo (tracting) happened on this day because we had to go to the hombu (mission home) for training. And I got to see all my doki which is cool and stuff. And after that we didn't get much else done. Friday we decided to do a lot of member work so we spent some of our last bit of money, cuz the trains to hombu (mission home) took most of our money, on some really awesome bread and then we set out. We ended up visiting 5 families and one of which is a part member family who will eventually get baptized. Saturday, to start the day we did giant bubble time with the kids in the ward and investigators. I'll send pictures. Then we taught a kid a 30/30 lesson which is half English half gospel. He really enjoyed it. Man I thought I was done with homework on the mission but we did this kiss English homework so you can imagine how that went. After that we went to an investigator's house and taught them the restoration cuz that's what people need in Japan. Except this was nice cuz it was in English. So we taught him he has some questions but we told him as he reads the Book of Mormon he will receive answers. After that we visited a less actives house. Then we rushed home. Sunday, was stake conference in Fuji so I got see Mt. Fuji. And after that was all over we went to an investigator's house and taught the restoration, see a pattern. After we did this the dad was a bit distraught, but his main concern is why would God allow his wife to have cancer and since we had just taught about the restoration of the priesthood so we asked to give his wife a blessing. And they said yes. So during the blessing the spirit was overwhelmingly powerful. It was awesome. Well that's pretty much it. 愛 = Love, Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老 こんにちはみなさん。みなさんのかつどうはすごいいだとおもいます。
(Konnichi wa minasan. Minason no katsudo wa sugoi idato omoimasu.) Well that's enough Japanese for the time being. So Japan is crazy and it never ceases to amaze me what we do here. So after my email last week I went and visited a shrine and a park it was quite cool. After that we had a lesson with a Brazilian jujitsu guy and after that we went to an FHE activity with a family in our ward. They are awesome. We shared a short message using a Rubik's cube and then we played some games and had some dessert. Then we went home. Tuesday, we had a Kokan (splits) and I went to Hamamatsu with our district leader and dendo’d (tracted) there till Wednesday morning. First we went and crocheted with some ward members. And after that not much really happened except for the fact that we visited this really rich investigator that fed us really nice cake. Wednesday, the Kokan (split) ended and I was back in Fukuroi. Once in Fukuroi we had to hurry and bike to meet an investigator who was baking us okonomiyaki (Japanese cabbage pancakes), which were pretty good except he brought us 2 types: one of which was eel, and that is my weird food for the week. After a quick message and lunch our investigator took us around the park we met him at. After that we hustled back to the church to give a lesson to a girl and her mom and they are both progressing but they are both a little bit worried about baptism but eventually we'll get them to commit. Thursday, we did our studies and kind of had a boring morning. But then we taught a recent convert and helped prepare him for the temple. Then we had Eikaiwa (English Conversation Class), where we prepared them for our dinner out together by practicing ordering food in English. From there we went home. Friday, we went to Hamamatsu for DTM (District Training Meeting) where we found out that one of our zone leaders went AP. It was pretty cool to know but it also serves as a reminder about how close transfers are. Nothing should change as I am being trained and I should be in Fukuroi through the New Year, because transfers are 6 weeks long. Tonikaku (anyway), after DTM we had pizza that our district leader bought from a recent convert in his area. After that we returned to Fukuroi to dendo and prepare for our Eikaiwa party. The party was at an American barbecue restaurant where I got true American ribs for like 1000¥ or $10. It was only a half rack but it was still really good. After that we went home. Saturday, so in the morning we realized we hadn't found an investigator at all and our goal was to get at least 7 new investigators. So we prayed and prayed some more before we headed out because we wanted to end the day with at least 3-4 new investigators. So we headed out to our first lesson with a Brazilian family, and man I am thankful for google translate. Then we went to FIFA for some language study and we got an investigator there, 1 found. After that we had an impression to totsuzen one of our investigators. He wasn't home at first but his two daughters were so we talked with them and they agreed to take the lessons and while we were talking to them he came home and took us inside where we met his wife and she agreed to hear the lessons, 3 more investigators. The count was up to 4 and we hadn't even had lunch yet. From there we went to the church to grab some fruit from our basket to take to one of our investigators whose family was sick. They loved it. From there we went home and met this really cool Filipino guy who agreed to talk to us about religion. He's a Christian and really misses going to church, we are now up to 5 and its just lunch time. After lunch we decided to do some less active work and we headed out to Kakegawa City. So we arrived at their danchi (apartment building) and no one was there, so we were gonna leave a note. I saw their neighbor had a sticker on their door that said they were a missionary for some Christian church, Pentecostal something or other. I thought hey this would be fun so I knocked. It turned out the wife is the missionary, but the husband isn't and that he isn't sure about that church anymore but he believes in Christ still. He also helped find where the less active actually lived and was super nice. He even wants us to come back, so bam another investigator. The total is at 6 new investigators. After that we had to bike 10 km home and it ended up being an adventure as our route took us on dirt roads and through the forest. But we made it home just fine. So the moral of the story is if you are truly desperate for something and you think about it all the time, if it is a righteous desire the Lord will bless you with it. You just have to be really, really desperate. Sunday, so we had church and meetings all of the usual stuff but our Sunday got really interesting. So we planned to do some less active work and make some visits. But this was no normal trip the scheduled trip stood at about 27 miles and that's if we stayed on track and everybody lives where the map says they live. So we headed out and the first leg of the journey is 11 km or about 6.8 miles. So we get there and there's no danchi (apartment) number so we couldn't find them. Next leg is about 6 km or like 3.7 miles and the address was weird and since they live close to the beach we went to the beach. After that we went to our PI's house which with the beach trip was like 10 km or like 6.2 miles. We actually hadn't eaten anything and thought this was just going to be a quick visit but they ended up feeding us and we talked a bit about religion and what we do as missionaries and why we do it. As we were getting ready to go our PI told us about a short cut with no traffic but he warned that there would be some hills. He's a bit older, and us young bucks were like yeah we got this hills are a piece of cake. So he happily he guided us to the short cut since he loves biking. On the ride, the easy part that is we talked a lot about church history and the restoration. He seemed to be really interested so he's now an investigator. Tonikaku (anyway), he told us that the hard part was coming and to get ready so we did. And we went uphill and kept coming up hill for what seemed like forever. Probably about 5 km or 3.1 miles of steep uphill. After that it alternated between up and downs, but nothing to major. Once we reached a point that he felt comfortable leaving us he turned around and went home and we kept going on home in the end it turned out to be like 20 km or 12.4 miles from his house to ours. In total we biked about 51.5 km which is 32 miles pretty much exactly. And that was our day we were wiped out and done for the night. But we made it home and reached our goal for investigators for the week. Monday, so p-day comes again and this time we woke up a bit early and cleaned most of the apartment up. Like it's gotten a lot better but like we deep cleaned our kitchen our dining/study room and our bedroom. And last week we deep cleaned the bathroom areas. So the last room to deep clean is our other study room / clothes room. But then we had district activity where we went to a bird park with lots of different kinds of birds that would land on you and that you could feed. It was pretty awesome. Now we are chilling and preparing for our next investigator lesson. Reflections from the week: be desperate in your prayers and you will more than likely receive an answer. Well apparently this is the first time my trainer hasn't really had any comp problems, like none of his were major or anything, but there were always like some little things that they argued about. He's an awesome guy and not only are we comps but we are really good friends. It makes things really easy. Alma 56:47 ~ Now they had never fought before but they did not fear death; they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did their lives; yea they had been taught by their mothers that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them, 愛, ウイリアムズ長老 Love, Elder Williams So where to start? After my email we went to fellowship an investigator, and we attended another matsuri (festival/celebration) in Kakegawa (city). This matsuri was less crazy and more traditional and was really cool. We also got to visit Kakegawa Jo (castle). At the matsuri I tried some more food like what we call custard fish, which is fried bread in the shape of a fish filled with custard. Monday wasn't as good of a day for dendo (tracting) as we ended up with a zero day. Tuesday started out with us going to FIFA and doing language study. Next we had lunch and because there was no time on Monday because we dendoed a bit longer than was required we figured it was ok if we went and picked up my new bike. That night we went home and did denwa dendo (phone tracting) and I made brigaderro balls to house our apartment complex. Then Wednesday we went and visited some of our investigators. One of which is a kid who is facing a bit of depression and has dropped out of school. We seem to be his only friends besides the computer and he is always on it when we come over. And sometimes when we try to talk to him, he won't even recognize that we are talking to him and he'll just sit there on the computer. I don't know how to help him, as he just seems to be closed off. Well on a brighter note we accompanied a ward member named Maito, he's an RM that knew my college roommate Nate Hill, to his job at a daycare where we are the entertainment. We play soccer with the kids and races with them. And they teach me little kid Japanese, which is a whole other language. After that we taught our investigator that will be baptized in early November. Then we had sushi with a PI and made him an investigator. I am able to stomach about one plate of sushi and that's about it. After that plate I eat some deep fried tofu rice thing which is good. After sushi the day was pretty much over and we went home for the night. Thursday, we did FIFA again and went home and did weekly planning and made Oreo balls, which are crushed up Oreos with cream cheese added and mixed in and then refrigerated and rolled into balls and dipped into melted milk or white chocolate. We used these to house instead of the brigaderro because although the brigaderro was delicious they looked really ugly. So we went and housed our neighborhood and then some of our investigators that live nearby. We then rushed to Eikaiwa (English Class) where we played a fun Halloween themed game. We drew a Halloween picture and they were in groups of two and one person was allowed to look at the picture and the other was not. The one looking at the picture had to describe in English the picture well enough to draw it. After a while we switched and did another picture but not without showing them what the original looked like. And after hanging out a while, and getting a new investigator, we called it a day. Friday we had zone conference and that took most of the day because it is an hour and a half away by train and bus. But it was a good day as we got to talk with Ishii Kaicho (President Ishii) and his wife. And we received instruction from them, the AP's, zone leaders and sister training leaders. After all of that we made it home at about 5:30 and we went to visit a sick family in the ward and on the way we found 2 investigators, but never actually found the sick family as the map wasn't very accurate. We then had to race home so we wouldn't be wanpaku senkyoushi (bad missionaries). And we made it home in the nick of time. Saturday came and it was full of Halloween party setup/preparation. We also decided to make tacos for the ward members that came to setup. How we did this is we found a taco making kit in a grocery store for about 700¥ or about $7. So we made stuff for the members and they loved it! Or at least that's what they said. But there was plenty of leftovers for us to take home. With the party all setup, all that was left was for kids to show up. The members were a bit worried that this would all be for nothing, but within 30 minutes we ran out of the 40 name tags that we had and people were still coming. At the height we probably had at least 50+ kids there and the all loved it unfortunately all the parents that came were moms. And because we have sister missionaries it’s kind of だめ (dame = against the rules) to make them our investigators. So the Shimai (Sisters) had a field day. After the clean-up we headed home, wiped out from the day. So Sunday was pretty normal at first. We did all of the normal things; visited investigators, looked for new ones, and did all of the missionary stuff. For dinner I used the leftover taco stuff and egg roll shells to make tacitos. When it was time for bed, both Elder Coleman and I were feeling a bit sick, like throw up sick, but he was really bad as time wore on. Eventually I gave him a blessing and remembered that I had some tums and now we are fine. No idea what it was, but there was a bowl next to our futons last night. Today, so far, has been unexciting. But I cleaned our shower and toilet and just overall bathroom, which was disgusting. Let's just say I almost reverted to being a bit sick during the cleaning but now the apartment is mostly clean and all that's left is to take out some trash tomorrow. Well that's all from 日本 (Nippon = Japan) 愛, ウィリアムズ長老 Love, Elder Williams P.S. - 1 Nephi 9:6 "But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore He prepareth a way to complete all His works among the children of men: for behold He hath all power unto the fulfilling of his words. And thus it is. Amen." こんにちは皆さん。げんきですか? とにやく、日本はすばらしいです。ほんとに。私たちはすごいいぎかんがあります。たべものはちょっとへん。でも、私はたべものをあいしてみます。 So if last week wasn't exciting enough this week was crazy. On P-day we spent most of our time working on Halloween fliers and printing them out, getting them ready to hand out. We also cleaned a little and went and bought a bike. In the course of buying a new bike, my trainer and I got a bit confused with the conversion from yen to dollars and I almost bought a $2000 bike but we figured it out and I bought a nice Giant brand mountain bike which is being shipped here, cuz apparently I'm too big for Japan. So after that whole trip we returned to the church and went out to dinner with a member to udon (noodles). The members name is Maito and he actually served with my MTC teacher (Krandall Kyodai) and my old college roommate (Nate Hill). After that, he tachiaied (member present lesson) with us for an investigator who will be baptized next month as long as he quits smoking. After that we returned home and finished the day. Tuesday was really eventful as our troubles with the printer continued as it seems to always be running out of ink. So, on our last trip we decided to go to a different store and right in front of the store the gear shift in the back snapped for no apparent reason. Don't worry I didn't crash and I'm totally fine but the bike is destroyed and we even took it to a bike shop with the help of the branch president to get it fixed. At the bike shop we traded it in for a different bike to rent for 2000 yen or about $20. So I again returned to having a momma chari until my trainer took compassion on me and switched me bikes. We hope to get my new bike today or tomorrow or whenever it arrives. So on to Wednesday we fellowshipped a couple less actives by taking them to lunch with the Shimai (Sisters) and then after that we had an appointment with an investigator named Yuto, who is like 15 and lonely. But we visit him and be his friends but we actually ended up teaching his mom a little and she seems interested, cuz we always look happy and are trying to help her son. Then we went and did danchi dendo (apartment building tracting). Which was awesome we only found one investigator but I learned a little bit of Japanese culture that is helpful to dendo (tracting) and quite funny. It's called gomen kudasai (excuse me). Because in Japanese culture the genkon (front entry) isn't considered a part of the house, so you can open the door and say gomen kudasai and they come to the door. This isn't our normal approach but if we've gone a long time without anyone opening the door we might do this just to talk to somebody. So on Thursday we did some phone dendo and ended up setting up an appointment with a random person. We went and met them and it was this really old guy who had only ever attended Eikaiwa, but he seems a bit interested in the gospel so we taught him a quick 10 minute lesson after getting to know him. Then we both had an impression to house around and we found another investigator! It was awesome! From there we raced to the church to do a recent convert lesson. And from there we had a meeting with another person from the phone and we met at McDonald's, which is 100 times better than American McDonald's by the way. After that we had Eikaiwa. Then on Friday we went searching for some less-actives who we didn't find, but we passed by a Matsuri (celebration/parade) which was crazy. And after that we OYM’ed (open your mouth), who I thought was a 15-16 year old, but it turned out he was 18. He invited us to play some basketball and I was definitely down to play. After we played we invited them all to Eikaiwa and to our Halloween party. Then we went to a lesson with the same guy as Monday, as he wants us to come and help him as he tries to quit smoking. We had another member with us at this lesson who was a convert and he had a nice talk with our investigator. After that we went with him to basketball with some members and lots of nonmember so we picked up some investigators there and they thought that I was something special but I'm not at all. Then we raced home to not be wanpaku senkyoushi (bad missionaries). Then on Saturday we watched conference with the Shimai (Sisters), and then we enjoyed going to another Matsuri with a less active, wow that was crazy, the Japanese are crazy. Then we had conference on Sunday again with the members and we as missionaries watched with some investigators that wanted to try to listen to it in English and eventually while they were there we switched to Japanese and at one point to Chinese because one investigator's first language was Chinese but other than that I watched in English and when it was in Japanese I just read along on my iPad. Then we went to an investigator's house and she prepared us for the Matsuri by dressing us in traditional Japanese clothes which was awesome. And it was crazy. Well other than that not much else that has gone on. Conference was awesome and I didn't fall asleep once while watching Conference. So good bye for now. Till next week 愛, ウイリアムズ長老 Love, Elder Williams Translation from the top: “Hello, everyone. How are you? Anyways, Japan is awesome. Really it is. I am having an awesome time. The food is a bit wired. But I'm trying to love it.” |
MissionCalled to Serve in the Japan Nagoya Mission.. Archives
July 2017
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