Well I'm stressed and I love my life. So can we share a message about happiness?
That's like literally my life. As a missionary I worry so much about other people it is crazy. I don't even want to know what's it is going to be like when I have a kid. But I guess I'll have fewer kids than investigators, so like it is all good. But man parents are お疲れ (hard workers). Anyways, let's begin the weekly rap up. Monday ~ There was nothing really out of the ordinary on this day. We just ran around trying to talk to people and visited some less actives. One of the less actives wives answered the door and since they had recently moved she was way surprised that we knew where they lived. It was pretty funny. She was so surprised that two young men who are obviously not Japanese were able to find out where they lived. The real trick though is that her husband, the member, had told us where they were moving. He just wasn't home at that time. But it's all good. So the only truly crazy part of this day was that night a large rain storm, typhoon, blew in to Ise and at about midnight it was at its strongest. I woke up to us the restroom and was surprised to see the amount of rain that was coming down. It was crazy. But there was no harm done and all of us here are fine. We actually didn't quite catch the full storm as it turned north. Tuesday ~ We were expecting this to be a rainy blustery day because of the typhoon, but it turned out to be one of the nicest days this year. The wind was a bit strong but other than that the weather was perfect. So in the morning we did studies and lunch and then I made brownies for the family home evening that we were going to have with an investigator. After that we went to do service at a local day school for mentally handicapped people. Then we had a meeting with the Branch mission leader, where we discussed what to do about the upcoming baptisms. From there we rushed to a lesson with Tetsuya and we taught him the Ten Commandments. He has recently been struggling with some commandments and thinks that all of God's commandments are extremely hard, but when we read the Ten Commandments with him he was certain he could keep most if not all of them, starting right then. It was a nice confidence booster for him. From there we ran to the church, 20 min bike ride from Tetsuya's, and grabbed the brownies and ice cream. From there we biked out to the Selvy's home and had dinner and a short gospel message while we ate brownies, and then we played ping pong where pretty much all of their kids beat me. After all of that we had to run home, because we stayed pretty late. But we made it home on time. After we got some stuff finished up at home, I got a call from the APs. It was Elder Coleman, my old companion. Now I have been really good, up until this point, at avoiding any leadership roles in the mission, but He was telling me that he had some big news for me and that he wasn't quite going to tell me the details but that it involved a new leadership calling for me. So yeah, it should be interesting. It involves me meeting with the Stake President this Saturday, so yeah we'll see how that goes and what is going on. Wednesday ~ This was another crazy day in the books. I swear that I never have a normal day. So we do all of our studies and stuff like that in the morning. Then after lunch, we take a long one hour bike ride out to a members home to do our weekly role play lesson, which has just turned into mini member lessons that we use to help us teach in more unity. Today's was really good as we talked about how we can become more Christ-like people. They had done the PMG chapter 6 Christ-like attributes activity, if you have never done it, you should get yourself a PMG and do it because it's good. But we wanted them to take that and apply it. So we decided to teach how to apply it and have it help us improve. So we taught about prayer and fasting and that we can pray and fast for literally anything that we believe is a righteous desire. We all then shared experiences of prayer/fasting. It was really a good time. Overall it was a good lesson. From there we raced all the way back to church, and I literally mean raced. At times as there was a road biker that I got in a competition with. So we make great time and got to the church in 45 minutes. From there we had a lesson win Hayashi Shimai, the recent convert. It was a real good lesson and we got her focused on getting to the temple. She's way too good. She’s so easy to teach. Then after that we went to dinner and from there we had to rush back to Eikaiwa. We weren't early so therefore we were late, but it was all good because we planned that morning what we were going to do. At Eikaiwa we had a great time and one of our students even agreed to listen to the lessons about the gospel. Like a perfect way to end a completely crazy hectic day. All planned by yours truly. I think I'm starting to take after my dad in the fact that I think I can accomplish more in a day than is truly physically possible, but oh well I'll just pray harder. But that was the day. Thursday ~ We had this week's planning session and we got everything taken care of and from there we went to visit some less actives. One of which was kind of sad. He told us that he now believes in Shinto and some other things, and then we heard his wife say some stuff from inside the house and he then said in English, because he speaks really good English, that his wife does not like Mormons and for her sake we shouldn't visit much more. So pretty much his wife has forced him to be less active, which sucks. But after that we met up with some new friends at Karage don, fried chicken on rice. It was way good. After that we all went to Japanese class where I kind of zone out everyone because they kind of teach below the level that I feel I'm at, but they do catch my small little errors which is good. After that we went home. Friday ~ We went to ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) in Yokkaichi and met up with the Zone members and the APs. It was good training. Lots of things to do that will help us work with less actives and members better. And it was all very well thought out and planned and delivered. It was great. From there we went home and decided to start implementing the ideas from ZTM, which is a lot of paper work type stuff. So some really fun stuff, add sarcasm. Then we had game night where I snuck out one win, but continued my streak of getting beat. All good though. Saturday ~ So we got up early, like 5:30, and got ready because we had to leave Ise by 7:00 AM to make it to Nagoya in time for a large mini youth mission. There we gathered with the youth and taught them about mission life and how to be missionaries and then we actually took them out and dendoed, I think the direct translation is proselytizing. And it was great. Me, my comp and our two youth actually found 2 investigators, 2 potential investigators and got 1 referral from some guy on the street. Those are crazy numbers for any missionary in Japan and to think we did it all with only about 3 hours to actually dendo. Yeah the kids rocked. They were too shy to stop people, but once you stopped the person and got the conversation rolling, they were way good. Like almost too good. They were better than me for sure. It was so fun. Then we hurried over to the meeting place where the activity was going to end, but before that we stopped and bought stuff to make for dinner. We then hurried to the gathering point and made dinner at the church. It was way fun. After dinner we had a testimony meeting where all the youth pretty much said that they weren't thinking about missions before this, but now it is definitely something they are considering, which is way cool. During this crazy time I met with the Stake President for 20 min. and we discussed some things and it was pretty much what Elder Coleman said on Tuesday, but I haven't officially been sustained so there is still some hush hush but I'll tell next week. But after all of that we made it home just in time and were way tired. Sunday ~ It was a normal Sunday with good speakers. We had two investigators at church and they seemed to like it, so all in all a good day. After that we had to clean the church and then we planned for some lessons and went home to fix Elder Pope's bike tire as it had popped again. After fixing it we made taquitos, good old Mexican food. From there we visited a PI (Previous Investigator) and then we visited a less active who are less active because the parents won't let them go to church, but they are way solid people and want to be at church. So yeah it's was way good to meet with them. But that rapped up our night and our week. Love, Elder Williams 愛している、 ウィリアムズ長老
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Well here goes nothing
Another week has come and gone and I feel like I only blinked. It's crazy. My parents used to say time flies and I thought they were crazy. I thought time would drag on forever, especially in boring school classes. But now, I understand time keeps moving and sometimes I feel like I'm being left behind, and other times I feel on top of things even a head of time, but time keeps moving whether we use it or not. So you either use it or lose, and you can never get it back. So have fun, do what's right, and use the time God has given you to be your best, and always keep improving. Anyways I guess I should stop wasting your time and actually talk about what happened here. Monday ~ Nothing special. We just shipped Elder Adams stuff off and then went to visit an investigator family to let them know that Adams Choro was headed out. They were a bit sad, but they were looking forward to meeting the new elder and for us to be having a FHE, family home evening, with them. So it was way cool. Tuesday ~ We got up early, well Adams did, and got ready so we would make the trains. There a member came to say good bye and become my companion for the next few hours. We said good bye to Adams and I helped carry his stuff to the platform and he was off. From there I went off with the member on an awesome adventure through Ise. We went up to a place called skyline and saw all of the area and it was way cool. Then we went and got some food and then rushed back to meet Elder Pope at the train station. We were a bit late, but he was just setting up his bike so it was all good. From there we got his stuff delivered and then headed out to do service. After having a fun time at service we came home and he unpacked and I cooked and then we ate dinner and I realized we really had no food, so we decided to go shopping. After that we had a lesson with an investigator and then we visited an investigator to set up a next appointment. And everything was going great the lesson was good and the investigator said they would come to church in two weeks. We got another appointment and then as we walked back to the bikes to ride home, we realized Elder Pope's tire had been punctured and we had to walk. We made it home in time and we then fixed the tube that night. So all in all, it was a pretty busy day. Wednesday ~ So we didn't have much planned so we went to the college and had a good time talking to some people there. And then we visited a less active which was fun, and then we taught Eikaiwa (English Conversation Class). I love Eikaiwa and it was really funny. We played telephone, which was way funny as the output is always so funny. But that was pretty much our night. Thursday ~ We taught one of our members, Oota Kyoudai (Brother Oota) an English lesson as he is planning to visit America next year and he wants to be able to somewhat communicate. From there we had a lesson with Hayashi Shimai to begin her after baptism lessons. It was way awesome and she is so perfectly awesome. Anyways, after that we went looking for a less active and thanks to a Japanese Postal Services worker, who we met while we were looking for this less active, we were able to find the address perfectly. These guys are so awesome they are better than google maps. I told the Postal worker the name and that they recently had moved and he gave me an exact address and directions. It was way awesome. Then we went to Japanese class where we met two way cool people. Their names are Matt and Joey and they are way awesome. They came from Australia to be English teachers and they are just way awesome. Joey works at a local middle school, and it is literally right outside her apartment while Matt has to bike 3 miles to work. But they are such a cool married couple and have been slightly introduced to the gospel by Matt's best friend who is a member. Way cool. But we just talked and that was our night. Friday ~ Friday was planning and game night. It was a good day but nothing exciting just a good old game night and planning. I still get smashed at ping pong but I might be getting better, kind of. Saturday ~ So, we had no big plans and then our ward mission leader called to have us come over and talk about the area and meet Elder Pope. It was a good little meeting and his wife was nice enough to bring us some snacks. Then after that we stopped at a traffic light to try and figure out what to do when Joey and Matt roll up on their bikes and we have a nice chat on the street. We then set up a time to meet before the next Japanese class, and go out to eat. They are way nice. Then we visited some random people and talked to lots more. No real takers but then we tried to go visit Tetsuya, our investigator, but he was sick so he said come back next week and we wished him luck and told him we would pray for him. From there we went to visit Tou, a convert that got baptized in April. We talked to him and set up a time to start his after baptism lessons, which haven't been started yet. Then after all of that we went out to dinner for Karage don (chicken). Then we rushed to the store to buy some Oreos and chocolate so I could make Oreo balls for the upcoming ward party. Yeah it was all good and the Oreo balls turned out great. Sunday ~ We had church and Elder Pope introduced himself and it was way good. After all the meetings, we had a big luncheon to say good bye to one of the members because they are moving. It was way awesome and as always I didn't seem to make enough Oreo balls to satisfy the appetite of all the takers. But everyone at least got one. After that we went home planned the rest of the day and we ended up visiting an FI (former investigator) family that was willing to listen to the message once more. It was way awesome. So now we are up to two families that we are teaching and that's a first for me because I usually have taught individuals. But that was pretty much it for us. Well hope all of you guys have a great week. Love, Elder Williams 愛している、 ウィリアムズ長老 Don't say the t-word. Do you mean Transfers?
So for those of you reading this, transfers may not seem like a big deal, but for missionaries this is pretty much tier life. We work hard with someone for 6 weeks or more and then at the end of those six weeks we wait by the phone for an hour or so to get a call from the Mission office. If you don't get a call, then nothing is changing, but that hasn't really happened to me much. Only twice on my mission have I not got a call on transfer weekend, and those were second transfers with my trainer and when I trained. So if that spoils anything for this week's letter I'm sorry. The details will come later in this letter. Monday ~ So it was p-day (preparation day). We had a morning appointment and after that it was pretty much clean so we could pass cleaning checks and all sorts of things like that. We emailed, shopped, and did all of that fun stuff, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Tuesday ~ We had service at the mentally handicapped hospital which is always fun. We played lots of games with them and the workers are always so nice. After that we went home and changed and then went to visit an investigator. He was kind of down on himself because he has lots of problems keeping him from being baptized, i.e. word of wisdom and law of chastity issues. He is pretty much in the final stretch of overcoming them, but he was feeling kind of discouraged. So we helped him shift his views to the celestial kingdom, but he thought that was still way impossible, but he accepted the fact that God can help him overcome. After that we went to an appointment at a restaurant, but the guy was a no show, so we just ate curry and went home. Wednesday ~ We did our studies and then ran to a member appointment that was about an hour bike ride away. Then we started to rush home because the 痲(f迂fu) [means couple missionaries] were coming to check our apartment. While rushing home they drive past us and told us to hurry up, jokingly. So while they inspected the apartment which was spotless, I made everyone a big dinner and it was great. We got high marks and positive remarks, and the Sister missionary was especially happy and pleased with our bathroom; shout out to my mom for grilling me on how to clean a bathroom for 12 or so years. It was all good and we then cleaned up dinner and all went to Eikaiwa to finish the night. Thursday ~ So we had two baptism scheduled for the coming Saturday, so this day was set apart specifically for the district leader to come and interview the candidates. So the first one happened at 3 o'clock-ish and she, Sister Hayashi, passed with flying colors. Then our next person, Brother Higashimoto, went in and also passed with flying colors. They were both cleared for baptism for Saturday. We were all way excited, so we went out to celebrate the occasion with food. All in all, it was a really good day. Friday ~ First off we had DTM (district training meeting) in our district leaders area of Tsu. Then we made our way home and while we were eating some leftovers our ward mission leader called us and wanted to take us out to deliver all of the baptismal invitations. It was way nice so we jumped on that offer and he came and picked us up 15 minutes later. After delivering the invitations, we also visited 2 investigators and 1 less active family. It was way nice, and it was definitely only possible with his car. Bikes would have taken too much time because when he dropped us off it was already time for us to call it a day. But later that night we got a call from a member. So the man who was supposed to be baptized, Brother Higashimoto, visited a member who proceeded to call us and explain that Higashimoto’s boss, like the big boss the #1 boss man, told him that he needed to go to a project out towards Tokyo and that it would start Saturday morning, and so he had to leave immediately. He couldn't say no or else he would lose his job, but he was way sorry and said that once he's finished he will come back and be baptized as soon as possible. We were kind of flustered, but it was all good. And that was pretty much our night. Saturday ~ So this is the morning of transfer calls and as I made brownies for the upcoming baptismal program we received a call from the Mission office. And when I answered the phone, it was my old companion/trainer Elder Coleman calling me one to tell me all of our transfer information and then to also let me know that he is now stuck in the office as the new Assistant to the President of our mission. He hates it, but loves it all at the same time. So Elder Coleman let us know that I would be staying in Ise and be getting a new companion by the name of Elder Pope, and Elder Adams would be transferred out to a place called Seto. After we received the call and the brownies finished cooking, we had to run to the baptismal service. From there the service started and after the talks we all loaded up into cars and drove out to a river that the church owns, and preformed the baptism in the river. It was way awesome. Hayashi Shimai (Sister) was so awesome and it was a beautiful day, see the picture below. After that we returned to the church to give her the gift of the Holy Ghost and then we had a luncheon with everyone there. It was definitely a great day. After that we went home and Elder Adams packed and I figured out all the trains he would need to take to get places. After most everything was packed we went to visit some investigators to let them know he was leaving. After all of that we began the journey home just to find a random festival going on with a fireworks show, so we stayed for the show and then we finished our journey home. Sunday ~ So we didn't have regular church. Instead we had the temple dedication for the Japan Sapporo Temple, up in Hokkaido. We didn't go all the way to Hokkaido, but we got a ride to the nearest broadcasting location, which was a church building about 2 hours away by car. It was definitely a long ride, but worth it in the end. We then made the return trip home and then had a lesson with an investigator. She fed us dinner, but when it came down to it she is not willing to accept the fact that the Book of Mormon is scripture because she loves the Bible so much. Anyways, it's always nice to talk to her, but she is pretty set. All we can do is keep trying though. If anyone has any ideas to help crack a tough cookie like this don't hesitate, I'm open to ideas. And that was our night. Well that's the week. The thought of the week is sometimes we might not understand why something is happening or why God would let something like that happen, but we just need to trust Him and keep pushing. Always trying to be better because that's all we can do sometimes. Anyways keep going. Keep trying. And never give up. Love, Elder Williams 愛している、 ウィリアムズ長老 Who knows what happened I wasn't even there.
That's kind of the feeling for this week, as I was barely in my own area all week. I spent most of my time on Kokan, or as the English missionaries call it a companion exchange. We will get to all of it eventually but I feel like most of my time was spent away from Ise. Anyways, let's begin the week. Monday ~ As for us missionaries this is the true day of rest, but we still got a lot done. That's the life of a missionary. Then at night as we were getting ready to go out, our ward mission leader called and said lets go visit a less active, so we went and had a nice little visit with them. From there we met with the mission leader and discussed the upcoming baptism and stuff like that. From there we made our way home, because it was late at night. Tuesday ~ So we had studies and then we went to meet the Zone Leaders, to begin our Kokan, in which I would be going to Yokkaichi and my companion staying in Ise. From there we went less active hunting and talking to people. Then we had to go to the church so Elder Hansen, the zone leader I was with, could give an interview to someone who was to be baptized soon. The interview went smoothly and she was baptized this past Sunday. It was way cool. After that it was more hunting for less actives and people to talk to, with not much success. A few people were pretty close to meeting again, but they all kind of just stopped part way and said nope. But it was all good. Then we went home and ate water melon that a member had given us. Wednesday ~ All the missionaries in our zone went to a big youth activity, FSY, or EFY for those of you in America. So it was way cool, because I got to see people I haven't seen in a long time like; Suzuki Maito, who was my first ward mission leader back in Fukuroi; Roberto, who was a less active youth that is now active in Takabata; and some other friends from other youth activities I've gone to. The activity was way fun. Then once that was done the Kokan ended and I went home. Back in Ise we did planning for the next week and taught Eikaiwa, so not much else got done. Thursday ~ We finished up planning and then the investigator we planned on teaching canceled because of a sudden problem in her home. Understandable, so we told the member that was coming with us, and he was like, well can you just teach me English instead. So we agreed and taught him an hour English lesson and then he said he wants to do it every week and to thank us he took us out to dinner. It was way nice but that was our day. Friday ~ Was DTM (District Training Meeting) and it was nice to get together with the other missionaries. After that I went to the City of Tsu to be on another Kokan with the District Leader and we had a nice time. We visited less active members and then went finding, and even found two way cool people that said they would go to their Eikaiwa class. From there we went home and made homemade mabudofu ( a spicy tofu and ground beef dish over rice) and it was way delicious. Later that night, we had a long phone call with the Zone Leaders, and after we hung up we realized we had like no time to get ready for bed so we made a mad dash for the futons (beds) and had a good night’s rest. Saturday ~ So it took our companions a while to get to Tsu, to end the Kokan (exchange). Once they got there, we had a quick hello-goodbye and ran so we didn't miss our train that was coming. After that we went home and did a bit of prep for the baptism and stuff and then we went finding. I had a few people that I wanted to try and contact, but none of them were home. So we went housing. Interesting story from that is so I was housing and this guy had his gate closed so I opened it, because it wasn't locked, and went in to knock on the door. From there the man who we clearly saw in the house would not come to the door. Now in Japanese culture you technically haven't entered their house until you've stepped out of the genkan (front entry area) and up into the house, so knowing that I took the liberty of opening again the unlocked door and saying, "Gomen kudasai" or pretty much “Excuse me, is anybody home?” From there a man came to the door and we talked, but once he learned that I was a missionary he got all flustered and angry and practically threw me off the property. The whole time yelling and cussing pretty much. He pretty much called me an idiot who was doing no good for anyone in society and some other random stuff, but it was all good, just another day in the service of the Lord. Sunday ~ So I had to give a talk that I really didn't prepare for so I spent the morning studying and coming up with a game plan. I ended up taking 7 Books of Mormon to church and then spent my time testifying of its power. then in the middle of my talk I pulled all 7 books out and set them on the podium and told them that I was going to give each family a book and have them to write their testimony in it, and then they can hand it out to someone. They all took the challenge and I gave each family a Book of Mormon at the end of sacrament meeting. Church was way good and then we had a small luncheon and it was good. From there we ran out to meet with a member and their grandkid. It was way fun and we had a great time with them. Then we had dinner with an investigator who refuses to progress, but keeps wanting us to come back. She won't trust the Book of Mormon and has a super hard time believing that God could call a prophet. It’s hard and she almost always counters anything and everything we say, but we are getting there, because she finally said a prayer correctly. And that was how we ended our night. Well that's all from here. This week is transfer calls and I have a feeling even though I have only been here a short time I will probably be leaving, but who knows. Only time will tell. Love, Elder Williams 愛している、 ウィリアムズ長老 I'm tired and sore, but would you like to listen to a message of happiness?
That's what I feel like my life is like sometimes. With this whole push-up competition and then proselytizing, man it's enough to make you sleep all day. But hey, there is no rest for the wicked and the righteous don't need any. Right?! Anyways, lots of fun things coming your way from the Land of the Rising Sun. Monday ~ So we had a lesson in the morning and it went really well. It was a way fun hangout time with our investigator. From there we did all of the necessary things like cleaning groceries and such. But then towards the end of the day Elder Adams didn't feel so good, so we ended up staying home and I did more cleaning. Tuesday ~ We did the normal morning routine and all was good and then we headed out to an appointment and she happened to not be home, so we rushed over to our service appointment. We were a bit late, but it was all good. From there we went to the church to be picked up by a member for a youth BBQ. So I had made my good old chicken marinade and everyone loved it. I brought a kilo (2.2 pounds) and it all got eaten. But the BBQ pretty much took all of our day, as it was quite a ways away. Still during the activity I almost found a new investigator. I talked to him and he eventually came over and ate with us, it was way good. But it turned out to be just a fun time and he said he would call us if he would like to meet, so maybe in the future. Wednesday ~ So we had a mougi, role play, with a member and when we showed up they had their granddaughter over and she is not a member. The grandma invited us in and we started doing the lesson with the granddaughter. Thankfully we had planned doing the first lesson, even though we had done part of it before. So we just jumped right into the lesson and the kid seemed to like it and said that the next time we come over she would be there. So it was pretty cool. Since they lived pretty far away and a member had requested we open the church for them that evening we hurried our way back to the church. Where we prepped Eikaiwa (English Class) and this member practiced piano. Eikaiwa was fun and we all played a fun game at the end, and it got pretty competitive, which is really funny to watch. Thursday ~ We had an exchange and I went with Elder Takara a brand new Japanese missionary, who does not speak much English, but he's working on it. It was way fun to be with him. So with Elder Takara we had a lesson with one of our investigators that is prepping for baptism and then after that we went out in search of less actives and past investigators. It eventually just turned into housing and we found two really solid potential investigators. It should be interesting to see what happens. From there we went to a Japanese learning center, where I still haven't really learned anything useful or helpful. But hey it's a good place to go meet people. But that was it for the day. Friday ~ Well, after the end of the exchange we headed home and did planning for the week, so nothing interesting really coming out of that. Then we had game night at the church. It was a fun time and I finally beat someone in ping pong, but it was short lived, as I got destroyed in the next round. Saturday ~ So we had all day training in Yokkaichi. It was a long day, but it was followed up by a performance of the missions musical group. So it was pretty good. But we ended up getting home with just enough time to get to our dinner appointment with a recent convert. After dinner and talking with him we went home and called it a day. Sunday ~ Like always is crazy. We had church and then talked with people at church. After all of that we returned home where I contacted pretty much everyone we haven't seen in a while and set up appointments with them. From there we had leftovers for dinner and then headed out to meet an investigator. So here is where I'm going to give my spiritual thought for the week. It's about the power of prayer. So when we went to meet this investigator we knocked really hard on his door and called his name but nothing. We proceeded to leave, but I didn't feel settled as we haven't seen him in a while. So I convince Elder Adams to turn around and go back up the four flights of stairs. Once there I knocked again and nothing. Finally I got the impression to pray. And it was more like a "Hey you realize that you haven't asked for help” feeling, so I asked Elder Adams to pray and he was really reluctant and even refused because he didn't see the point. I insisted and even said the prayer myself. After I closed the prayer I knocked normally, not pounding or anything but just a nice set of raps on the door and called his name nicely once, and all of the sudden I hear movement in the house, and then the door OPENS. He happened to be a bit sick at the time and told us to come back on Tuesday. But after he closed the door there stood Elder Adams in awe, kind of dumb struck at what had just happened. First, we had practically beat down his door with nothing, and then after a prayer and a few quick knocks he opens. Elder Adams just wanted to head out and come back later, but I knew that we needed to see this man that day. God does answer prayers and does open doors. It specifically says "Ask and ye shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." So that's the message on the power of prayer. From there we visited some other investigators and got them to setup a family home evening night. It is going to be a fun night. But that was it for us. So that was the week. The moral of the story for the week is prayer is powerful. Sometimes the answers come quickly and others come slowly, but the answers always, without fail, come. Love, Elder Williams 愛している、 ウィリアムズ長老 Push-ups Hurt
So I'll explain the subject line later, but just to say I am really freaking sore right now. No pain no gain, as with all things in life I guess. Enough complaining, and let’s get on to the weekly report. Monday ~ Pretty peaceful P-day. Cleaned and bought groceries. Taught a lesson to an investigator prepping for baptism and then proceeded to play ping pong with him. I am still terrible at it, but they say I'm improving. I think if I'm going to play a sport with a net in it I'm going to stick to volleyball, but the churches here don't have volleyball courts so しょうがない, (Shoganai!), it can't be helped. Anyways, after ping pong we made some unsuccessful less active visits. Then I called a "less active" and she agreed to have us over the next day. As I did some research on her to see what her problems were I found out she had pulled her records and therefore she is quote unquote less active. That was our night. Tuesday ~ So we headed out in the morning to teach our "less active". Anyways, she is now a Jehovah’s Witness and she is going to be very fun to teach as I know that this church has all the right answers and she seems to have lots of questions. After her lesson, which went pretty well, we went to service at the hospital for the mentally handicapped and had an awesome time there. From there it was visiting LA’s (less actives) and FI’s (former investigators) but nobody was too interested in meeting, kind of a bummer. And that was another day. Wednesday ~ We did all of our studies and then headed out the door, to bike for an hour to the members house, where we had a practice lesson. The lesson was good and they are way awesome. From there we went to get some food, and then proceeded to continue the trek back into town. From there we had to setup Eikaiwa and prepare the lesson, so that was pretty much our night. Thursday ~ We had a lesson with an investigator who was preparing for baptism and the member that came to the lesson was awesome. After the lesson we got her to start filling out the paper work for baptism, and she decided to take it home and bring it to us later. Then the member that came with us was like, “hey you guys got any more scheduled lessons today?” I told him we were planning on visiting some people, but nothing set in stone. So he decided to take us out to Yakiniku (grilled meat), or in other words all you can eat meat. Once there I asked about our time limit and was told that there was none. The member then looked at me and pretty much said, "I just spent $20 for your dinner. Eat everything they have." I was happy to oblige. But I felt very fat afterwards. So that was our night. Friday ~ We had DTM (District training meeting), which was interesting because there are only four of us in the district. This is where the push-ups come into play. So the district decided to start a push-up contest to encourage us to get out of bed, and the losers will have to buy the winners ice cream. I'm competitive so I plan on winning but the competition starts on Saturday. So that was fun. After that we all grabbed some ramen for lunch. Then we had weekly planning and stuff like that. Then we had game night where I got destroyed in ping pong, and that was the night. Saturday ~ I woke up and began the push-up competition. The rules are they have to be done before 8 AM and push-ups are 1 point and sit-ups are a half point. So I began and by 8:00 AM I had done 200 push-ups and 40 sit-ups. Needless to say I was tired. The actual day was full of visiting people and rejection on the streets, but all was good.. Sunday ~ We had church and it was, as always, a good experience. Also I had decided to fast because I wanted to better the area and was kind of stuck on what to do. So after church we went home so Elder Adams could eat lunch, but I was still fasting. So we hit the streets and we actually found a new investigator. But after that all of our appointments randomly canceled and I had the night solidly booked. So I was like woe is me and all down but then I remembered something my trainer said, "If God cancels all of your appointments it's usually for a reason." So I decided to flip through the phone and see who I should visit and ended up coming across the name of a recent convert who I've met, but not had a lesson with yet. Previously, he had told us that he would be traveling this weekend and wasn’t sure when he would be back. But I called him and it turns out he was home and we had a good meeting with him. There I finally broke my fast, from water at least. It was 7 PM’ish. Yeah, I was kind of tired, but it was all good. So that was my week. Also this morning to continue the push-up contest I did 240 push-ups and 120 sit-ups. So I'm way tired. But I'm winning by a lot. Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老 Weekly Wrap-up
Good morning everyone. Hope y'all are doing well. If you're wondering about me, I am still alive and kicking. It's been another week in the books and I have now spent more time on my mission than I have left. It's weird, but that is to come later. So let's begin. Monday ~ Well, it was P-day (Preparation Day) and it was pretty cool, we had an investigator lesson in the morning, and then we went shopping and did cleaning and all that fun stuff. After all the things were taken care of and put in order we headed out to the streets and had a really fun time trying to talk to people. We did not find anybody new to teach, but hey you give it your all and don't look back. And that was our day. Tuesday ~ So we planned on meeting an investigator, but we couldn't get a tachiai, member to come with us, so we had to cancel the lesson. Really hard, but we see this investigator later in the week. So after that, we went to service at a hospital for the mentally handicapped, always a good experience to work with those wonderful souls. After all was said and done there, we went out housing because street tracting was not fruitful the day before. Regardless, there were lots more rejections and some crazy grandmas that told us that we had the same religion even though we believe in Jesus Christ and she’s a Shinto. So yea, some people are funny. But that was pretty much the day. No one was really open to the message so we keep trucking along. Wednesday ~ We did all of our studies and then we went out after lunch. We did a lot of searching for less actives and some more housing. Still nothing to crazy happened. Anyways after all of the insane contacting we did, we finally got to wind down with Eikaiwa (English Class) and had a way fun time with everyone there. The students are so nice and we had a wonderful time. We then ran home after all was said and done. Thursday ~ Well, we got a call in the morning from the ward mission leader saying that he needed some help. So we packed up, ditched the studies, and ran off to his house. Once we got there, he told us that we just needed to help him flip over this old boat. It was way heavy and I was definitely the one bearing quite a bit of the weight. It kind of reminded me of weight lifting class, because I felt like I was doing dead lifts. From there we went to lunch at a famous Ise restaurant. It was pretty inexpensive, but it was way good. I got the famous Karagedon (fried chicken over rice). From here we went to the church and did planning for the area, and then after all of that, we did street contacting before our Japanese class. One of the people we visited was the person we had to cancel on during the week. When we knocked on her door we had no idea why we had decided to visit her, but when she opened the door she told us that the night before she had prayed and was told that the missionaries would come see her the next day. Pretty cool miracle. We then headed out for Japanese Class and it wasn't bad and we were almost able to get an investigator out of the class. Just not enough time before they kicked us out. After that we went home. Friday ~ So we shipped out early to get to Zone Training in Yokkaichi, but because of train problems we didn't get there until right when it started. So in missionary terms, we were way late. Anyways training was good and the president was there and we got to listen to him. I actually sat next to him and got some extra advice. From there we had some lunch and then rushed home for a member appointment and due to more train problems we were a bit late. Trains, you got to love them or got to hate them, sometimes both. Anyways the member lesson was awesome. After we did some prep for our game night and then we had game night, which turned out awesome. I got smashed in ping pong. It was way fun. Saturday ~ So this morning we had a lesson and it turned out to be a beautiful lesson with him. This man truly wants to change and it is amazing to watch him work through the gospel. After that we grabbed a bite to eat and then went to meet another investigator and their family. They were way nice and at the end we set up a time to do a family home evening with them. So it was way awesome. From there we went to a matsuri, Japanese festival, where we randomly ran into another investigator. From there we went to dinner and did some denwa dendo, phone tracting. And that was our night. Sunday ~ Always a good day. We had a good set of classes and lots of things got done / learned. After church I did some record searching over lunch and pulled out four people I wanted to visit that night. So we set out to make the visits, and two of the four said come on back, another wasn't home, and the last one said to come back later, but the feeling was more like please don't ever come again. Then on our way home, we ran into a member and set up an appointment with him. From there we just chatted for a while. He's a young single adult, so I told him to go to my old ward in Takabata and start dating the single LDS girls there. He never had heard that there were young single LDS women there, but after I told him he said he might make a trip up there to meet them. Score one for the match making missionaries. Anyways, that's the week from the Shinto Capital of the World, also known as the City of Ise. Love all of you guys, and I hope all of you guys are enjoying your summer break. Love Elder Williams 愛しています、 ウィリアムズ長老 Well I missed last week so here goes nothing
For all of you that patiently wait for my emails, which I suspect is not that many, I'm sorry for missing this past week. Anyways, where to begin? Let’s go back to the Fourth of July. Monday ~ So we had a Fourth of July party with the district. It was way awesome. Lots of food and good times. Then we had a cool lesson with an investigator and his friends. Way awesome. We showed them around the church and taught some English. But that was pretty much our day. Tuesday ~ So we headed out to visit some people and that night we hung out with the Filipinos and started filling out the baptismal record for that week. We then shared a quick message and had some fun with them. Then it was back to the apartment. Wednesday ~ We went finding at the college and park and did some scouting out for our next barbecue. It was way awesome. We met some cool people and had an overall good time. Then we went to Eikaiwa and had a fun last time with those guys. I received some presents and stuff. It was all very fun. Thursday ~ We met with some Eikaiwa students for lunch and the after all of that we had a large planning session. We then had a lesson with some way cool guys. They came and gave a church tour and we even went out to dinner at Indo curry together. It was a way fun night. Friday ~ We had DTM (District Training Meeting), where we said some goodbyes to members of the district and then we headed home, where me and Pollister began prepping for the next day’s barbecue. We both made chicken marinades. I used the Williams family recipe and Pollister made a teriyaki version. It was a cool idea to give everyone two different flavors. Then we went to the Filipinos and finished the paper work for baptism. We then all went out to attempt the King’s Challenge (an eating challenge) from Sukiya. It's a place the serves gyudon, or sliced beef with onions all cooked up with some sauce and served on rice. The King’s Challenge was huge, but I conquered it first. After that, with very full bellies, we hurried home. Saturday ~ We spent the whole day prepping for the barbecue. We made 40 hamburgers from scratch. It all culminated in the large barbecue that night where the rain miraculously stopped right when we needed it to. It ended up being a way awesome barbeque, lots of people came and we had plenty of food. During this time I received the call that I would be transferred to Ise (an area southwest of Nagoya) and finish training a half-way trained bean. Sunday ~ To start off Julz, our way cool investigator, received baptism and he was baptized by his friend Mark. I later gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very awesome baptism. After all the goodbyes were said at church, I ran home to pack. Then we went out to Jeff's house with the Filipinos and celebrated the day. We then ran home and I finished packing. Monday ~ The day was filled with going out to lunch and then rushing home to finish packing and shipping my stuff. Then we had a party at an investigator's house and then a lesson at the church. It was all good. For my last night it was a fun time. Tuesday ~ I woke up, showered and put on what clothes I had kept. Then at 8 AM I stepped on a train with my bean knowing this would be the last time we were companions. I then got off and changed trains and headed toward Ise. I took a short break in Yokkaichi Train Station, as that was where I was meeting my new companion, Elder Adams, from Melbourne, Australia. Once he arrived, we headed down to Ise where I got semi situated and then we did a mini planning session to catch me up on some things. After that he started to show me around our area in Ise. Wednesday ~ We had some member appointments and we went all around for them. The members are way nice and it was good to get to know them. We had Eikaiwa and usually when I first go to Eikaiwa, they aren't the greatest, but Ise has a really awesome and big Eikaiwa. It's way nice. Anyways, its way fun here and we played some really fun games. Thursday ~ We had lots of member appointments. Again it was like a go around and meet the new guy type deal, which is cool. Anyways, after that we went out and talked to people, which is a bit harder than it was in the city, because I'm back in the country. After that we headed on over to a Japanese learning class where they sized up my abilities in Japanese, aka they gave me a ton of kid Japanese books and asked if I understood. It was way fun to watch them be like, “What? The white kid can speak.” So it might get harder from here on out. Friday ~ We had our studies and then we did a large planning session to look at who needs to be focused on and that type of stuff. Then we went to a guy’s house to help him fix his computer and then we went to our game night where we got to hang out with some awesome people. Saturday ~ We did some LA (less active) and past investigator hunting for a while, all the while talking to anyone who would give us the time of day. After all of that we met up with an investigator and went out to a fireworks show and there we also met up with a member. It turned out to be a way fun and a cool experience. From there we rushed home because you know fireworks are at night and we had to get home. Sunday ~ We had church and I got to meet most of the branch and it was way cool. There are only like 15 members down here, so they have some room to grow and it should be way awesome. During sacrament meeting I gave my first testimony and introduction. And it was way nice. After church we had lunch and then went and had two lessons with investigators. One who is progressing towards baptism and the other who has been investigating a long time and still doesn't get it, btut she's going to pray about the Book of Mormon. That's good I guess. So that's all from me here. Catch you all next week. Elder Williams ウィリアムズ長老 It’s the Fourth of July
To start this email off let’s just say Go America! Land of the Free and Home of the Brave! I would like to recognize all the men that took upon themselves to fight for our freedoms, and no matter how bad the odds were they continued on. They took on, at the time, the world’s largest army and they fought for Liberty. Those men that braved many battles and were forged in the furnace of affliction, like the winter at Valley Forge, brought about a religious freedom that brought about the ability for this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to be restored in America. So once again, Go America! Anyways, let’s get started with the week. Monday ~ It was a prep day but we got to go to the Nagoya City Aquarium. We went there with an investigator that we found and the sisters. We had a good time at the aquarium. While there, we watched a dolphin show and some other cool stuff. All in all, the aquarium was a way good time. After that we had some errands to run. This was a crazy start to the week. Then we went to an appointment with an investigator who brought a friend to the appointment and it was way fun. Tuesday ~ So we had some appointments with people, but no one showed or wasn't home. So we spent the day housing and trying to find potential investigators, but we had this feeling like there was something that we needed to do. Eventually we decided to go visit a less active family, but they weren't home either. As we were riding away, one of the daughters stopped us and we proceeded to talk her for about an hour. Her family situation has put a lot of stress on her. Her parents were recently divorced and her whole world is still kind of in free fall. She's not sure if the church’s teaching about Eternal Families even applies to her anymore, but we got her going a bit and she promised to come to church. That was the end of our night. We went home feeling like we accomplished what God wanted done that day even though we really didn't find anyone new or meet with any of our investigators. We just knew that God wanted us to talk to that young women and help and that's what he needed done that day. Wednesday ~ So we studied like normal and then hit the streets. We went out and went towards the missions largest train station to the institute house to pick up some materials for a less active. We were still on a bad streak, but it was all good. Later, we had a lesson with an investigator and then we went to Eikaiwa, English class. All in all, it turned out to be a good night. Thursday ~ Started with a very long planning session and then after we ran around trying to talk to people, but we just kept getting rejected. So we visited an investigator and that was good. We had a good visit with them. One of them will be baptized this coming Sunday and he's really looking forward to it. Friday ~ We had DTM (district training meeting) and we had a good time there. We then did more contacting to no avail; it's kind of the theme for this week. Lots and lots of rejection but we’re still good. We then went to seminary in our ward and waited after that for an investigator to come, but he never showed, again story of my life. But all is good for now. Saturday ~ We went and had a lesson with our Filipino friends. It was a good lesson and got them all to promise to come to the upcoming baptism. After that awesome time, they decided they wanted to still hang out with us so we went to dinner with them. After that we rushed home changed clothes and went to basketball for probably my last time in this area. I killed it and was scoring ridiculous amounts of points. Pretty much anything I shot went straight through the hoop. It was a way good feeling. We then rushed home to end the night. Sunday ~ We had meetings before church. And then in the middle of our meeting a member comes in and informs us that there is an American family upstairs. So we take off to go and help. We get there and we set up all the translating equipment and get them all squared away. We then helped the family throughout church in all their different classes. Also this week was fast and testimony meeting, so I translated a lot of testimonies even my companion bore his and I also had to go up and translate from English to Japanese for one of our recent convert's testimony, which was way cool. Also that girl that was from the less active family actually came to church with her sister and her dad. That was a cool miracle. Anyway, after church the American family took us to ramen we helped get them on their way. After all of that we went to visit the Filipinos and give another lesson as one of them is prepping for baptism. After that we went home and that was the week. Thanks for all the love and support. Love, Elder Williams 愛, ウィリアムズ長老 Hello again. It's me Elder Williams. Well I guess there is no better place to start then where I left off last week. So here goes nothing.
Monday ~ Without much of a plan we decided to head out to an area a ways away from our apartment to go talk to people. In the process we were getting rejected, a lot, which is no bother to me as I am here to find the one that is looking for, or needs the gospel. It doesn't matter if I have to weed through thousands of people who say "no". I will keep going and so I did and eventually we found someone and he said we could go out to eat together. But after that we had to rush home. Tuesday ~ So we were just a bit busy this day. First off we traveled to the way north edge of our area and visited an FI (former investigator). He was a cool guy, but he's a bit of an eternal investigator, 10 years. So we probably won't be visiting much. Then we had our recent convert lesson, also on the northern edge of the area. Then we ran down to meet with our Filipino friends, who live on the southern edge near the ocean. It was a way fun day, but we felt like we were running everywhere, north to south. But after the lesson with the Filipino’s the day was spent and we had to go home. Wednesday ~ So this day we did DKK, weekly planning. So yeah, we were planning and then when that was finished we had to prepare for Eikaiwa, so yeah. We hardly left the church. But hey we planned really well and got ready for the upcoming week. Thursday ~ We had a zone meeting in Yokkaichi and that meant we had to get up about 30 minutes earlier than usual, so 6 AM, not too bad. And we then rode the trains all the way to Yokkaichi. There we received training from the AP’s and the mission president. And that was good stuff. Then we had a lunch and then more training. After that we had a member appointment, and that was our night. Friday ~ Today was a Kokan (exchange) so I went to Gokiso. It was a good night where I ended up finding two investigators and getting someone a baptismal date, kind of a crazy day. But nothing much else happened besides a meeting with a recent convert. So, all in all not a bad day. Saturday ~ We ended the Kokan (exchange) with sushi. It was a good Kokan. After that we went to our Filipino friends and visited and then we went off to basketball. I had a decent night nothing too crazy. Kind of took it easy on my shoulder but it was all good. From there it was the usual rush home. Sunday ~ Our early meetings were canceled, but we still ended up being way early to church and then stayed way late, as people had lots of questions about the gospel and doctrine and that good stuff. During church we ended up doing splits and teaching two separate investigators. One of which, was one of our recent convert's wife. So we learned Jeff is married. Yep, you read that right, it was kind of funny because none of us knew he was married, but it was all good. After church, we visited a less active and then visited some investigators. After that we returned home and that was the week. So one thought from the training I received. God always wants to help us, but he also wants us to grow. So while being a missionary we seek to be helped by God at pretty much all times. But God also requires us to do something. He requires us to give our all, literally. He wants us to be hungry and striving to hit the streets and talk to people, and not relaxed and waiting for people to come to us. We have to be desperate to find the souls God is preparing for us. And once we find them, we need to keep going and never look back. Anyways, when he sees that we truly are committed to him, he blesses us so much more. Anyways that's all from Japan. 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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