Week 37

Mon

We visited a less active couple. The man video taped our message and us praying. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it was because he wanted to review our reactions to his reactions or something. The sister gave us onigiri (rice triangles), but she didn't have anything else to put it in so she put it in an empty milk carton. I thought it was cute.

Tue

At the Halloween party, we had a photo booth where they could request the photo to be sent to them by us the missionaries, so on this day we printed out the photos and made cards out of them for those that requested it. We stopped by a member's house and her two year old fed me three sticks of gum. By the time we left I had a huge wad of gum but no place to spit it out so we taught our next lesson with me trying to hide the gum in my mouth. I finally got a chance to spit it into a kleenex when our investigator went into the kitchen to get us drinks. The lesson with the investigator went rather well I think. It seemed more focused on gospel topics this time. She gave us a plastic bag full of junk food that she got from a festival the previous weekend. We dropped by another member and talked about when you know you have completed the repentance process. Then we went to another investigator's house to have a farewell lesson because she was moving out the next week. She believes that Joseph Smith met Jesus and Heavenly Father, and she also believes that Mohammed talked to angels and that Buddha did reach Nirvana and so on. We got enough information from her to send a referral to her new house, so hopefully the missionaries there can talk more with her. She wanted to share with us her favorite song before we left and so we asked what kind of song it was and she said it was a relaxing song. It turned out to be a harp/bubbling stream song so we were safe...until she switched it to Shania Twain.

Wed

A recent convert sent us a text and said can you meet me at the church at 10:30, I want to meet with you, so we of course said yes we'll be there. She shows up in a rent-a-car, proceeds to drive us out of our area to see a craft show. Admittedly, I did like being there (and I did buy some things), but I still felt uncomfortable doing those things on a day other than P-Day and out of our area. We then ate lunch and went back to the church to teach a lesson. It was a good lesson though. She seemed to understand some principles of baptism, enduring to the end, and the Sabbath Day that she hadn't before. Only a few people showed up for Eikaiwa, but among them were the less active couple that we visited on Monday.

Thu

People kept saying that the typhoon would come on Thursday, but the time kept getting pushed back and back and back. Turns out, the typhoon didn't pass over us at all. We got some rain, but that's it. So far, I am unimpressed with these weather events that are supposed to be damaging. So far they've all been weak. I'm sure now that I say this there will be some disaster this week that will strike. Yay, service opportunity! We met with Kato-san, our fantastic investigator and had three tachiai's for that lesson. We got through about half of the Plan of Salvation before we ran out of time. I feel bad for Kato-san because we always seem to have long lessons with her and she is a very busy lady so she doesn't have a lot of spare time. However, she is always willing to listen. Another investigator that we met with that day actually prayed and read the Book of Mormon that week! She seemed much brighter and full of energy when we met with her. I definitely think that the two are related.

Fri

Kokan! I went to Ichinomiya, an area north of ours. Their apartment is HUGE. Two of our apartments could fit in theirs. Few people were home, but that's ok.

Sat

Sister Moore and I made goals to help us achieve the mission standards of excellence. It was a spiritual morning. We watched the Joseph Smith video with our family eikaiwa people and their reaction was better than I expected. They readily accepted a Book of Mormon. Then we hopped on the train to go to Stake Conference. We met some members and some missionaries at a nearby ramen shop and had dinner with them and then went to conference. There were some funny talks and some great advice.

Sun

Stake Conference again. Three investigators and one recent convert came. I also got to see many of my Yokaichi friends. More great talks but the biggest surprise of the day: Our bishop became stake president! Everyone was really surprised. We aren't sure who will be bishop but I guess we will find out soon. We talked with our investigator on the way home about what she thought. She said that the things she heard entered her heart more than anything else she's learned. She wants to know what she needs to do to be baptized and what she has to do after she is baptized. Here's hoping she becomes a yakusokusha soon.

 

Lot's of love,

Leah