Thanksgiving!
So this week literally felt like an eternity. By Thursday I felt like I should already be emailing my family, but I was dead wrong. Anyways, I'll start back on last Monday. Monday ~ So we met up with a recent convert and talked and played ping pong and had an overall good time together. From there we went to lunch, and then after that we met up with the same recent convert, Higashimoto, and went to visit a less active who first came to church some 30 years ago. The lesson went great and he should be coming back by Christmas. I'm way excited. Anyways, after that we went shopping and got some sweet haircuts and shaves. I love being shaved by a barber, with real razors and hot wet towels. It's way fun. After that we headed home to clean and finish up some little things. And that was it for the day. Tuesday ~ So we had service and it went awesome, like always. Then because we were having an Eikaiwa Thanksgiving Party that night we prepared lots of American food; mashed potatoes, tacos, and the likes. Lots of people showed and it ended up being way fun and awesome. That was our entire night. Wednesday ~ So we had special training on Wednesday all the way in Nagoya City. So we left at 6:54 AM. And it was a long ride, and the training was good. Afterwards, my mission President set it up for me to see a chiropractor, because my back has been starting to hurt. He was way good and it felt just like I had left my home chiropractor.. So I got all fixed up and then settled in for a long train ride home. And that was our entire day. Thursday ~ Planning, planning, and then just wait for it. We actually had a lesson with our favorite couple the Noro's. They are way good and so close to coming to church. They should be coming soon hopefully. It was a way great lesson. Friday ~ We had to prepare for our newly organized Kid’s Eikaiwa (English Class). They are all fun little kids, so fun. I am still trying to channel my mom’s teaching ability. I hope, for these kids’ sake, that I'm half the teacher either of my parents are. Anyways, we got out a bit to look for some people but the prep took most of our time. Saturday ~ So we had some time before some of our lessons so we went out looking for less actives and it turned into a mountain biking experience. Sure glad that I bought a mountain bike. After all the searching we had one lesson and it went nicely. From there we visited some more people which it turned into a good night. Specifically we met up with Fujita, my second councilor. (Of course, it is weird to think I have councilors). Anyways, we met with him and ended having a nice branch presidency meeting. Sunday ~ We showed up early at church so I could do some interviews and prepare for the incoming Stake representative. Then after the meetings I gave out lots of the Christmas stuff that had been given to me from the church. After that we went home and ate a small lunch and then prepared for our lesson with a tough investigator. It was rough and it seemed to end in a kind of stalemate. But we are working with her. And that ended our night, and our week. Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老
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New transfer, Same comp, Same area, but only 4 weeks
So this transfer is going to be weird as we only have 4 weeks before we get another round of changes. But it still should be fun as missionary life always seems to throw new challenges at us. Seems like nothing new that we can't handle. とにか、(anyways) where did I leave off. Monday ~ Good old preparation day. I am probably going to miss P-day at home. A whole day dedicated to shopping and cleaning and overall just being ready for the coming week. Then we made preparations for our new kid’s Eikaiwa (English) class. But after all that was ready and done we set up our appointments for the week and had to call it a night. Tuesday ~ So we had service in the afternoon right after lunch, and after that we ate a quick dinner. From there we headed out to start passing out our homemade flyers for the kid’s Eikaiwa class. It helps keep some doors open longer when you mention that you’re trying to help the little kids in the area. All in all, we had a great time. Wednesday ~ We had a lesson in the early afternoon but it got canceled, so we spent the day out visiting lots of people. Lots of “no thank you” and “I'm ok” answers but it turned out well. We then returned to prep for Eikaiwa which turned out way awesome. From there our time was spent and we hurried home. Thursday ~ Was planning, more planning, prepping, some more planning, and then going to a Japanese class. Like this day felt like it was terribly long, but it can be summed up as we did lots and lots of planning. Friday ~ So we just went out to purely dendo to our hearts content and then we decided to visit one investigator and set up another appointment and the next thing we know it was dinner time. So we stopped and grabbed some food and headed to our first ever Kid’s Eikaiwa class. It went super well and the kids had tons of fun. Anyways, the moms thought it was awesome and the kids learned a bit of English so all in all it was a successful day. Saturday ~ So we didn't really know what to do or where to go so we ended up on a different side of town that I hadn't been to in a while. After we did some things which I felt we needed to do, we decided to visit a couple of less actives that live pretty far away. Anyways, to get to one of the less actives place we biked for pretty much an hour straight. So yeah, it was a long way back too. We totaled it up and we are pretty sure we got at least 55 km or in other terms 34 miles of riding in on the trip. So yeah, we were dead tired and after some quick stretching and a shower we were in bed. Sunday ~ So we had the primary program and it was a great. I gave a little talk at the end to cap it off and it was awesome. From there we had regular classes and then I had interviews and then after all of that I had branch council. So I was pretty drained but we went to an investigator lesson where we helped clean up his apartment. It was in desperate need of help and so we filled 10 trash bags full of junk and garbage and in the end we still hadn't finished tackling the mountain of trash left. After that we gave a lesson and then went straight home to shower because we felt disgusting. And so that was our day/week I'm a giant large nut shell. Sorry this got out so late. We had lots to do this morning with appointments. Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老 Hello again!
Hello! So last week I was unable to send a big email because we had a nice district activity that morning and then an appointment with one of our recent converts. So our day was kind of booked. Anyways, I'll start with last week. Monday 10/31 ~ Halloween Day. Well in Japan it was just another day. Here in Ise, there wasn't anything special or crazy going on. We met with our recent convert, Higashimoto, and played some ping pong. He was way fun and we just talked about some of his concerns and questions. From there it was a pretty normal day. We went and bought groceries and cleaned and did that whole P-Day jazz. Then we spent time calling all of our appointments for the week and making sure everyone was still okay. By the time we finished we headed home from the church. Tuesday 11/1 ~ We had our service after lunch, and then from there we hustled back to the church to give our recent convert Hayashi Shimai her last lesson after baptism lesson. In the lesson we discussed patriarchal blessings. She thought they were way interesting and would like to get one soon. The member we had sitting in on the lesson had not received his patriarchal blessing yet either, and after the lesson he asked me to interview him so he could receive it sometime in the near future. Then, to celebrate a good interview, we went out to all you can eat Chinese shabushabu, or all you can eat meat and side dishes. Let's just say I ate too much, but I had to get my money's worth. And that was my night, tons of meat, lots of ice cream, and lots of french fries. Wednesday 11/2 ~ So we had to setup Eikaiwa early and after we did that I had to make my own new set the temple interview questions, because I had trouble reading the other one. It didn't have furigana, which is when above the kanji it gives the correct way to read them. So I had to make my own set that day. It took way too long and once I finished we had just enough time to grab some food and then we ran back to finish up the Eikaiwa prep. Then we had Eikaiwa class. As always it was lots of fun. We then finished up a bit late and rushed home. Thursday 11/3 ~ We had a big planning day and afterwards we went to meet Matsuda and she was way fun to talk to and we set up another appointment. From there we went out talking to people. We found and talked to some pretty cool people, but no big takers. Overall, it was a good day. Friday 11/4 ~ So we got a call Friday morning from the senior missionary couple and they wanted to come inspect our apartment. Well, our apartment was in good shape, but definitely not inspection shape, so we spent the morning cleaning. I also made a small batch of root-beer for the senior couple and everyone coming to DTM (District Training Meeting). We had a good district meeting and everyone enjoyed having some root-beer at the end of it. After, we had our apartment inspected and we passed with flying colors. Then we all went out to ramen. From there Elder Lyman and I went out and visited and talked to lots of people. Later, our dinner appointment fell through, so we finished the night at one of our favorite restaurants and then headed home. Saturday 11/5 ~ So the night before both Elder Lyman and I weren't feeling the greatest and when we woke up we weren’t any better so we called in sick for the day and slept in until about 1 pm. Our thoughts were take time to be healthy now or be forced to take time being sick later. After we woke up, we did some studies and then prepared for some stuff. We then decided we were both feeling well enough to head out, so we went to meet with our investigator named Tetsuya. When we got here he told us that he too was not feeling the greatest and asked us to come back another time. So we left wondering what to do and we finally came to the idea to visit Tou, another recent convert. He was home and he was way fun to talk to. Then we went home because it was late. Sunday 11/6 ~ So in church we had Higashimoto Kyoudai (a recent convert) sustained as a priest and then later we had him set apart during priesthood meeting. After church I began my first round of member interviews. It was a long process and I now know what my mission President and my Bishops feel like after interviews with people. From there we went home and had some well-deserved food and then headed out to meet with Tetsuya. It was a good night. Monday ~ So we planned a district activity to go see the nearby Shrines and it was way cool. From there we had an appointment with Higashimoto. The rest was just another good P-day, buying groceries and stuff like that. Tuesday ~ So Tuesday was filled with service and visit to lots of people. Most of the people we visited turned us down and told us to not come anymore. So we lost most of our investigators, people that we taught. Unfortunately, that was our night. Wednesday ~ So our first appointment for the day was with Hayashi Shimai, and another member, Oota Kyoudai, and from there we went to sushi and she told us to eat and then keep eating and then eat some more, so it was a good lunch. On the way back Oota Kyoudai let us in on the info with the U.S. Elections and even texted us later and let us know the final results from the day. That night we had Eikaiwa and it was a great class. Thursday ~ Our night changed, as our appointments all canceled, but our day was mainly unchanged. We planned and printed and got lots of things prepared, but nothing too special happened. Friday ~ So we went to Tsu City for DTM (District Training Meeting) and then I came home with Elder Takara for exchanges. Once home we went to pull weeds with Yamazaki Kyoudai, and it took all day. We pulled weeds from 2:30-5:30 pm, and then we talked with the family for pretty much the rest of the night. We had time to grab dinner on our way home and that was about it. Saturday ~ Today we had transfer calls but nothing happened to us. And then our appointment got canceled that afternoon, so we went to the church and set up for Stake Conference. Then I had the opportunity to meet with the branch president of Tsu and discussed less active and how I could help them and how they could help us. We discussed about some really good stuff. It turned out that the Branch President from Tsu was Brother Ootani, who happened to serve in with Dad in the Osaka Mission, years and years ago. Then we started Stake Conference that night. Overall, lots of good things came out of Stake Conference. Sunday ~ We had more Stake Conference, and I had more interviews and then we had a luncheon. So my day was taken up clear until dinner time. Then we had a lesson and it went really well. After that we made a quick visit with another investigator and that was all we had time for. And that has been my past two weeks. Hope you enjoyed! Love, Elder Williams 愛している、 ウィリアムズ長老 I don't have much time
Out of a lack of time, I'm just going to say I'm alive. I'm well and I'm having fun, but slowly dying trying run a branch and keep the missionary life going. Anyways some highlights are we got one of our recent converts ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. Also we had a sick day this week where I was starting to get sick and my comp was too, so we decided to take time now to be healthy instead of being forced to take time later. Also we had some really good lessons and met lots of cool people. I'm still as tired as ever, but hey that's the life of a missionary. I don't think that there will be too many more days in my life where I won't end up tired at some point. Anyways, I'll end with this candid photo of me and my companion, Elder Lyman, walking up to our district activity this week. Love, Elder Williams 愛している、 ウィリアムズ長老 |
MissionCalled to Serve in the Japan Nagoya Mission.. Archives
July 2017
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