Interviews, finally I received one.
So as the title might suggest I was actually the recipient of a Mission President interview this week. It was really nice to be on the other side of the table. As I will cover later, the mission president came and did interviews with all of us down here in Ise. So it was a good day, but anyways on to the week. Monday ~ Preparation day came with shopping and all that good stuff. We played ping pong with a member at the church, and it was way fun. After that Elder Handley and I left so I could go get my haircut for the upcoming interview with the president. With that all taken care of, we went to a second hand shop to see if I could nab a little watch or band for my broken one. It turns out that they had a pretty nice looking metal watch for about $35, which was in my price range so I went for it. Thank you Grandma Layden and Grandma Williams for sending some Christmas money, which made the watch possible. After that it was off to lock myself in an office and finish all the reporting on tithing settlement. All I have to say is, it's over and completed, and that was my night. Tuesday ~ We started out the day with normal studies and then ran out to do some service. After that we returned to the ins and outs of regular missionary life. We had earlier found an area covered in apartment complexes and we decided to give it a go. So we went there, prayed and felt good. Then we proceeded to get shut down by everyone in the first and second buildings. Mind you, they are all about 5-7 stories tall and have anywhere from 3-7 apartments per floor. Do the math and it equals a lot of rejection, some were nicer than others. For instance we met what seemed like a really nice chill guy, but after learning that we were missionaries he told us no thanks to religion and then when I just offered to be nice and do something to help him he told me the Japanese equivalent of get out of my face. Such is the missionary life. When we went to the third building, I had higher hopes and so we started out and got all the way through the building to the second floor with some passed out pamphlets, but not much else. Then we met a guy who was way cool and even said he wanted to try going to church if he liked it. So we set up and appointment to meet with him again and it was way good. That was pretty much the end of our night. So it was a bit rough until the end. Wednesday ~ To start we had Eikaiwa at the hotel in Toba, and we had a way good discussion there. It ended up being way awesome. We then returned to meet up with a less active at the church, so we could play ping pong together. He was way good and we had a great time. He is trying to come back to the church and we will be setting goals for him to slowly increase his activity. After that we hadn't really eaten since the morning so Handley and I ran back to the apartment for some food and then went to our regular Eikaiwa which is always way fun to teach. So that was the day in a nut shell. Thursday ~ Dun Duh dun! President Ishii and his wife made their way down here to crack down on all the terrible missionaries’ and bring them all to repentance. Ok not really, they came down here to do their regular scheduled interviews and see how all of us are doing. So we set it all up and the other elders all went first and I was last. If some of you don't know I am a very special case of a missionary, as I dual operate as the Branch President of the church's branch in Ise. Aapparently I am a hot topic of discussion in the mission, as I'm the only one operating in this type of situation. So when it came time for my interview, it turned into an hour long talk of the ins and outs of what to do as a Branch President and things like that. He let me know that he wants me to go somewhere else in the mission and help another area so where that will be, I have no idea. But they are working on getting me out of here and somewhere else, so who knows. After the interview we went to lunch with the Ishii’s and they were way kind and payed for the meal. After that we had planning and lots of it. And then we went to Japanese class. Usually I enjoy or loath this time as it can either be productive or a waste of time. It's really hit and miss sometimes. This time I had a way awesome teacher and we were reviewing for what is known as the JLPT, Japanese Language Proficiency test. She was judging my skills and then asked if I had taken any of these tests before. I have not so I asked her what level I should take, 5 being the easiest and 1 being the hardest, and she recommended I just skip to level three, which is kind of cool. So I decided that I will take this test when I get back to America, but the closest places the test is proctored are in Colorado or California, so yep that's a problem for later. And with that confidence boost, we ended the night. Friday ~ So we had DTM (District Training Meeting) in Tsu and following Elder Osmond and I had a kokan (companion exchange). If the name sounds familiar it is because his dad is one of the Osmond brothers, the singing Mormons, and brother to Donny and Marie. We had a good time and met with Tetsuya and he confirmed his desire to be baptized soon so we set up an appointment with the district leader to interview him and see if he is ready for baptism. He also promised to come to church. After that we did some contacting and then went to the church for kids Eikaiwa and we had a blast. One of the moms asked about the church and it was a good little intro in hope she continues to ask questions. That was pretty much the night. Saturday ~ So we ended the kokan and Handley and I went back to Ise for studies and then I prepped for a cold night. I got all the thermals and coats out and prepared for the worst and then we went out and did work. We went to the same area as Tuesday and continued the search through the apartments for the one who wants to listen. While wading through all the “no thank you’s” and trying to keep our feet from freezing, we kept going, but to no avail that night. We did prove to God that we will push through the hard stuff and keep going. We ended the night tired and cold. Sunday ~ Sacrament meeting was good and Tetsuya came to church and all these good things happened, but the time that I was dreading quickly came, time for Ward Council. Thanks to a couple of unexpected points brought up it turned into a 3 hour meeting. Yep, I was done. I hated meetings before and I still do. I felt like I had a plan to get us all in and out in about an hour but the first discussed topic took an hour. Yeah it hurt. They idea presented was a very rough not hardly thought out and we had to smooth it over and polish it before we could leave the discussion. So, yeah meetings. Then at night we went to an investigator appointment only to find out that we had the day wrong, but she cheerfully invited us in saying that her schedule had randomly opened up and we had a good talk that was just an overall good feeling. And that's how we ended the week. Learning that calling to check up is always better than to assume, something I have had to re-learn many times on my mission. Anyways that’s all from me. Hope all of y'all are doing well. I would love to hear from any of you guys. Something short or something long, it does not matter. I love y'all and hope you guys have a good week. Peace out. Love, Elder Williams 愛する、 ウィリアムズ長老
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MissionCalled to Serve in the Japan Nagoya Mission.. Archives
July 2017
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