Week 23

Mon

Sister Vincent got her hair cut. It was a morning of "I'll do it, no I don't want to, ok I'll get my hair cut, but I don't want to." She did and it looks just fine and a lot healthier than it did. We went with a recent convert to a member's house thinking that it would be dinner, but it turned out to be just a small snack and a lot of conversation. As we left, we were hungry but very happy that our recent convert made friends with this member. As we were riding home, we got a call from a Potential Investigator saying "Have you eaten dinner yet? Let's go!" So we biked fast back to town center and went out to eat with this girl. We didn't get to invite her to hear the lessons, but next time...

Tue

Trainer's Training! The first by President Yamashita. It was a little different than before, but just the same spirituality. Sister Vincent had fun seeing her MTC companions and I got to see my companions. One thing that President Yamashita asked us to do is when we visit members and they aren't home, first leave a sticky note asking them to pray for us. The second time, leave a note saying thanks for your prayers, this is something good that happened because of your prayers. This will make the members feel bad because they probably prayed once or twice but not dilligently. So then we leave a third note much the same as the second and they start praying consistently. We have started this idea and already the members have responded with more love and willingness to meet with us (not that they were unwilling before, but they have started asking us over instead of us asking for appointments).

Wed

Two of our recent converts have been bitten by the family history bug. We visited one and he said that he was researching his family line and found an account of an ancestor who died in a sword fight with a samurai. HOW COOL IS THAT? No time for dinner that night, so just a glass of juice as we swapped our scriptures for English teaching textbooks and out the door.

Thu

We met with our investigator and left feeling like we taught a good lesson but the investigator was still at the same place as when we got there. How do you solve a problem like kyudosha (which means investigator)? Then we met with a less active and gave her a copy of the general conference edition of the Liahona. After the lesson, she sent us a text saying I want to learn more and meet the missionaries more and come to church more. We were very happy and hope to get regular appointments with her. Then we had dinner with another less active. She is reading the Book of Mormon every day and she said that some things in her life have improved. I'm not sure if she's put two and two together, but we can tell that keeping the commandments has blessed her.

Fri

At district meeting we planned an activity where we are going to go to a pizza buffet that the elders found. Then we talked about how to recognize and cultivate the spirit. One elder mentioned that eating right and exercising and generally taking care of your body can help make the spirit stronger. Then we realized that we couldn't keep our activity if we wanted to make a goal to eat healthier. We decided to keep the activity and start eating healthier afterwords. We had a dinner appointment with a member. When we left, it was dark and we had an hour ride back. The member said that we shouldn't take the road that we usually take because it's too dark and too busy so she reccomended this other road. When we got on it, we found out that it was just as dark and busy as the other road, but instead of being a windy-twisty road, it was one straight line down one giant hill. It made it easy to get back on time, but we don't think we'll ever take that road again.

Sat

We had a morning full of visiting members and putting postits on their doors (no, I do not need post its. I still have about 7 stacks). Then we had our weekly planning session since we didn't have time on Thursday or Friday. It was nice because it was a hot day and we got to spend it indoors for the hottest part of the day.

Sun

Our investigator didn't come to church which made us both sad because if she had come it would've meant she had come for a month straight. We got a stack of former investigators from the elder's and spent some time looking up their addresses. Unfortunately it took longer than we expected. I called a bunch of people and we got some appointments, including a former investigator that we haven't gotten a hold of for about two months. Yay!

 

Sister Vincent is very stressed about our upcoming companion exchanges so please pray for her.

 

Love,

Leah

Week 22

Mon

We decided to take it easy on P-Day and spend it indoors taking naps and writing letters and such. Then we went out to visit some Inactives. We finally met an inactive that we've been trying to reach since I got here. She was really nice and gave us some corn on the cob. She said she's not interested in hearing church talk, but she likes sister missionaries, so we hope to do some service for her or something to help build up a relationship. Then we went to visit a couple. When we answered the door the wife said oh my husband is sick so you can't stay long, but then she went and got us lemonade. There was a little bit of small talk as we drank our lemonade and then when I asked if we could say a prayer, she began acting as if she was about to barf. I'm not sure if she and her husband really were sick or if they were faking to avoid the missionaries...

Tue

We called a Less Active and it turns out she's been reading the Book of Mormon every day. She said that she reads it to find the places where the translation is different from the Book of Mormon that she had when she first converted. (Recently, like within the last 10 years or so a new translation of the Book of Mormon has come out in Japanese that is more understandable than the previous version. In the previous translation it would probably be called something like the Tome of Mormon or something like that.) Nevertheless, she is reading. She particularly likes 3 Nephi. I testified rather strongly that only through Jesus Christ can we be saved, through no other path. She said that it was mean to say who would be saved or not and then quickly hung up the phone. I felt a little bad, not because I wanted to take back what I said but that I could have said it with a little more love. I texted her an apology and the next morning we got a reply saying why are you worried, I didn't think a thing of it. It strikes me that the Lord really does justify the words of His servants.

Wed

We went and did some service for a recent convert because we love her and because her health isn't that great. We swept and mopped floors and we hope to go back and help her clean the bathroom.

Thu

We went to our investigator's Eikaiwa class again as volunteers. We were both dreading going up there because it's an hour and a half by bike in very hot and humid weather. We missed the turn off for the normal route we take so we went up a different way. Turns out, that way is SO much easier! No mountains or big hills, very easy to find our way, so from now on we will probably take that road. We felt like our prayers were answered in helping us not die of heatstroke biking up there. While there, we got to eat dinner with her husband and daughter. I really want them to become investigators as well!

Fri

Zone Training Meeting, the first with instruction from Yamashita Kaicho. Most things are staying the same, just that Yamashita Kaicho uses different vocabulary than Baird Kaicho. Then we got back and met a less active we haven't been able to get a hold of for a month in the middle of the street. It was definitely God answering our prayers for her. We asked if she would come to church and she said she'd come. Yay! We visited a Less Active that came to church the week before and she gave us 8L of bottled water. Our bikes were very heavy coming back.

Sat

Transfer calls. We got a text the day before saying that from now on transfer calls will be on Saturdays. Sister Vincent and I...are staying the same. The elders are getting a bean-chan so Yokkaichi is becoming a 6-person ward/area. We visited a Less Active and she promised to come to church the next day. We got a text from our investigator canceling our lesson, so we were a bit disappointed, but we sent her a text back saying can you come to church tomorrow and...

Sun

...she did! The Less Active, our investigator, and the Less Active we called on Tuesday came to church. In fact, the less active from Tuesdaybrought her husband with her! We were very suprised. One of the members came up to me during sacrament meeting and said that there was a call for me on the church phone. I went to see and it was this LA asking when church was and that she and her husband would like to come. I was wholly suprised. She and her husband showed up 3/4 of the way through Sunday School, stayed for the third hour and for the baptism afterward (the elder's investigator). We got a dinner appointment with the two of them for this week. Her husband tried to give both Sister Vincent and I hugs and we had to do some quick footwork to turn it into a sort of armpit/shoulder/side hug. We will have to go over the gender rule with him I think. We went out later that day to find a less active that doesn't have a record in the area book. While we were walking up the street to that person's address, someone called out hello from a passing car. The car then pulled over by us and the man inside started up a conversation with us. He is from Turkey and in Japan for business. He saw us and really wanted to speak English for a change because he can't really speak Japanese. I'm not sure if that was his real purpose or not, but I didn't get a creepy feeling from him. I said that we were missionaries and he said oh really, where's the church, do you have something I could look at and I said yes and gave him a flyer for our Eikaiwa class which has a map of where the church is. He said that he would come to church next Sunday. I kind of hope he does and (if his intentions were not all together pure) I kind of hope he doesn't.

Love ya,

Leah

Week 21 (July 7th)

I gave in and counted up my days. From today I have officially 300 days left of my mission.

Mon

I made donuts for breakfast. We rode a cable car up to the peak of the mountains as a district activity (see pictures). It was perfect weather at the top of the mountain. We saw this HUGE bug, like the size of  a post it note. Elder Wilkinson stepped on it and it kept moving even though half of its insides were outside. Ugh. We met a girl riding back to our apartment who seemed very promising so we hope that we'll get a follow up appointment with her. I was reading in the scriptures in 3 Nephi and I came across the scripture in 11 that says "this is my beloved son" and an overwhelming feeling of "this is my beloved daughter Leah, in whom I am well pleased" came over me. I felt so happy and relieved to hear that. Earlier in the day both Sister Vincent and I had been feeling pretty crummy for some reason and then I decided that I would put my shoulder to the wheel and shove even though the world says that when you feel bad you should take it easy. When we got back to our apartment, the bad feeling was completely gone. It was a testament to me that when you forget yourself and go to work that you have a good experience.

Tue

My bike chain was a little wonky so we took it to the bike shop and they fixed it up in a jiffy. We parked our bikes outside of a less active's house. When we came out we surprised a lady who had been looking at our bikes. She said "these are really nice bikes so I was wondering what kind of person would ride them." I said "sister missionaries" and she got all fluttery and quickly walked away. We saw another huge bug, a Japanese beetle about the size of a Necco candy. Gross. We met the elders and a member while we were out riding our bikes within fifteen minutes of each other. Funny little world isn't it. One old lady we talked to asked if Sister Vincent and I were married.

Wed

Two of our recent converts didn't come to church last Sunday. When we visited them, they said "something feels different about this week. We ought to go to church." That made my heart happy. One less active called us up and said "I want to take you out to McDonald's some time. When are you free?" I'm always happy to get those kinds of calls.

Thu

We visited a less active that I haven't seen since February. It was strange to see how different it was since the winter. We ate KFC and Baskin Robins as our Independence Day celebration. We went to a recent convert's house unannounced, she wasn't there, so we decided to write her a note. As we were writing, she came home! It rained and I didn't have my rain coat. It was fun.

Fri

We met Yamashita Kaicho. For some reason, when I met him, it felt like Grandpa. I'm not sure why though. Yamashita Kaicho said that after our mission and after he's done he would love to perform any of our sealing ceremonies. That would certainly be interesting. We met this nice old couple on the train. They got off the train before I could hand them any materials, but hopefully this seed will get a chance to sprout. We then volunteered at our investigator's Eikaiwa. It was a busy day.

Sat

REALLY HOT. Right after breakfast, we get a call from Yamashita Kaicho saying, "Sister Vincent, call home RIGHT NOW. Your family is waiting for your call." So as soon as we hung up the phone with him, Sister Vincent was like, before we do anything, let's say a prayer. So we prayed and then we tried to call, but neither us, nor the sister leader, nor the zone leaders, nor Yamashita Kaicho knew how to call outside the country. We finally got a hold of one of the AP's and they told us. It turns out her grandfather was in a freak car accident and this could put him over the edge. It wasn't as bad of news as we thought it was going to be. I think Yamashita Kaicho was just unsure of what to do in these situations because he's only been here 3 days. We went out to lunch with a member and his friend, and then waited 2 HOURS till the missionaries said forget it and went to the ward bowling activity (where I came in last out of all).

Sun

Fast Sunday, so no water plus hot weather plus biking plus housing=two very dehydrated missionaries. One of our investigators came unexpectedly to church. We were so happy and suprised. Hopefully we can get her to come to church every week.

 

Love you

Leah

 

Week 20

You must have been praying about my bug bites because they've all gone. Also, my knee is all healed and pink and I can sit in a Japanese style again. This week I didn't take notes about each day because I was all over the place busy, so it may be a little sparse. Sorry...

Mon
We had chinese food with a Less Active couple. It was very delicious. The lady thought that I didn't like the food but I told her that I'm just a slow eater, not that I don't like it. They said that they met a sister missionary from Indiana before. I know that there are many wards in Indiana, but it still makes me wonder if I ever met her.

Tue
Konno Kyodai liked your e-mail, Dad. I'm not sure how well I translated but they got the spirit of it. We went to their house thinking that we would just share a scripture and the e-mail but they were like no, come in, have lunch with us. We had ramen with a raw egg. Sister Vincent tried really hard to eat the raw egg, but it took a lot of turning a blind eye. We tried to visit a less active that lives nearby. We waited and waited at the door, but no one came out even though we heard noises from inside. So we rode around the block and as we got back to their house they were pulling out of their driveway. They were waiting till we left to pull out! We visited another less active lady who can't come because she's sick. She saw in the ward bulletin from the week before that there was a donation drive so she gave us money to donate to the drive. I was a little uncomfortable accepting the money, but I was touched by her charity.

Wed
I got very frustrated at a Less Active. I tried not to show it but I'm pretty sure something was in the air. I really need to take a walk in her shoes. We were riding by some houses and I saw a lady working in her garden. I complimented her tomatoes, and then she gave us some! Yum.

Thu
One of our investigators is on the brink to accepting baptisim. She is the only one in her family who is accepting lessons, so her biggest fear is growing distant from her family. She doesn't want to be lonely at church. In PMG it says that most times people's obstacles between accepting baptism or not are social rather than doctrinal. I've definitely found that to be true. I can answer a doctrinal question but I can't fix social problems. We had a member call us out of the blue and ask if we wanted to have dinner with her. Yes, please! She's awesome.

Fri
We rode up to a far place in our area. Thankfully it was cool, but sunny.

Sat
We went to a cake place with a member and her non-member husband. We felt very sponge-y but also very grateful. IT WAS SOOOO DELICOUS. I want to go again. He had a good time it seemed and wants to do something with the missionaries again. One of our recent convert's husbands said don't come back. We aren't sure what to do. She is a little sick and he said that she can't go outside. If she could come to the church, then we could continue lessons and she could take the sacrament, but if she really is that sick, then we don't know where to go from there.

Sun
Broadcast about missionary work. I'm excited for the changes and the new mission president.

Love you
Leah