Week 82- 4/24/17 The Book of BOARDmon

Well howdy pardners!

It's another wonderful spring day here in Oyama. We had a lot to do this week so I'll walk all of y'all through it.

On Monday, we received a call from our bishop that he wants to make a giant Book of Mormon display and he wants our help. We go and get some wood supplies and paint and that was pretty much the biggest stressed of the week. It took so much time to do. But it was pretty fun. 

Tuesday was spent biking out and finding friends who just haven't been to church in a good 15-20 years. Nobody really wanted to talk but it was a beautiful day and such. We pretty much walked across the entire city of Tochigi, so you can look that up on a map. But then it rained way hard at night and our English students got absolutely drenched. Such devotion!

Wednesday was spent still working on our big ol Book of Mormon. We primed it but it turns out we didn't have enough primer so we went to the store and figured out the primer we used is all wrong so we bought primer and sand paper. That was a good portion of my day but we did have a sizable Eikaiwa attendance. We ran several classes and more people showed up than before!

On Thursday we had a conference with Elder Choi of the Seventy down in Urawa. I haven't been to that church in over a year so it was nice returning to my first zone. Haven't been back there since I left Okegawa. Anyways, Elder Choi spoke in this last General Conference (he was also wearing our missions tie during conference) and it was pretty good. That pretty much lasted all day and when we got home we continued to work on our project which we dubbed the Book of Boardmon. My hands are still blue from all the paint.

Friday was also still working on the board. We had to do another coat. Saturday was insane because we had to finish painting the letters. We drew and cut out a Stencil but the paint messed up so we had to do a ton of touch up work by five o'clock. We had a lesson at three and a lunch appointment so we really just had about two hours to paint quickly. After that we brought over to the church and had an open house for ward conference which was the next day. Everybody got to dress up like Nephites and we had a good time. I'll attach pictures. 

Usually you only serve as a District Leader for 2 transfers at a time.
So now that I've been a DL I can either move up and be a Zone leader
if needed or continue to somewhere else and be the DL again. I'm kind
of hoping to train again though. One of my trainees is a Zone Leader
and the others are trainers. Pretty insane how my influence spreads.
I'm in an area that usually is not a Leader area because we're so busy
so we took everybody by surprise. They took out all the leaders here
and put me with a more experienced elder again because this area just
needs experience. My companion is an ex zone Leader so we come up with
a ton of ideas and it's going pretty well.

I have exactly 4 months left on my mission. It's pretty crazy how fast
time has flown. I've pretty much become the designated English
translator in our ward and I had to translate a double lung operation
during ward conference. That was hard. Especially if you don't know
the word for lung for half the talk!

One thing I've learned on my mission is that there's really no such
thing as luck. Miracles happen so much in the field that they become
happenstance. Now I understand why the Nephites in 3rd Nephi don't
care about miracles because you just get used to them. Always treasure
those experiences. Miracles strengthen those with faith, not the
faithless.

That's pretty much what happened with us. I hope everybody's week was okay! Have a good week!

 

Book of Mormon stories that we can teach you

This is omoizakura. They bloom later and they're only in Oyama.

Eikaiwa

Week 81- 4/17/17 We're The Elders

Once again hello everybody! It's my special time of the week to tell

you about all the other special times. Transfers came and went and now

I'm here with Elder Peterson. He's worked in this area before and we

hit the ground running. We've had so many miracles it's crazy. Maybe

I'll share them when I get home.

So Monday and Tuesday were spent prepping Elder Watanabe for going

back to Koiwa. He was a fun companion for two weeks. We also went

around and visited a ton of people. On Tuesday, we had a going away

party at the Adachi's because they always throw one for departing

missionaries and it was awesome. So much good food and I bonded a ton

with a Brazilian recent convert. Theirs enough Portuguese speaking

people in this city that it would actually be worth my time to start

studying.

On Wednesday I got my new companion and we hit the ground running. We

visited a ton of members and they're all way excited to see him again

(he worked here about a year ago). The weather has been warming up

fairly nicely and we are officially in spring! We've had to start

sleeping with the ac on low. Thursday was the same as Wednesday except

we biked out pretty far.

Friday was pretty busy. We had some service to do in the afternoon

then biked down to the next station over to have dinner with the young

men's president and a less active youth. On the way home we met a man

who was fairly aggressive but after some testifying and talking he

softened up set an appointment to meet!

Saturday was spent promoting our mission school and working with

members. We also passed out a ton of fliers at the eki and had way

good success. A man with a Mormon friend on Utah met us and bought us

doughnuts and juice from a nearby 7-11 (very high quality in Japan,

almost gourmet) and was very nice to us. Now Sunday is when it gets

interesting.

On Sunday we went out with Fabio (the previously mentioned Brazilian) to

visit another Brazilian we found the other day. Our conversation was

going pretty good when a lady walks up and starts telling us to leave,

because we can't preach our Christianity here and said we were

annoying. Well at this point we were already done and she kept

interrupting us so we leave. On our way to the car she pulls up and

threatens us and says she's going to call the police. At this point

Fabio has had enough. He starts telling her to do it and how we'll be

right here waiting because we aren't doing anything wrong. She drives

off so we get in the car but she starts following us. We shook her off

but now we can't go back. Oh well. Most people are really nice here

but there is still the population that persecuted fairly strongly. On

the way home Fabio told us "she can't talk to you like that. You're

the ELDERS." He's a good man and I love him to death.

Well that's pretty much it for the week. Enjoy some pictures!

Eikaiwa!

Week 80- 4/10/17 Transfers Have Come

Yes it's that time of the year again. Transfers have graced the land

of oyama and as per tradition I will reveal them at the end. I had a

pretty fun week with Elder Watanabe.

So last Monday was pretty much a chill day. Funny how you'd think I

would be tired of those by now but nope it was greatly appreciated. On

Tuesday I proceed to introduce Elder Watanabe to the area and we

visited a ton of people. Turns out that Elder Watanabes dad knows the

bishop in our ward a a couple of key less actives we've been trying to

get wi for forever. We were able to meet them and build relationships.

Bishop also fed us tacos on Tuesday night (thanks for the package mom,

I guess you did technically manage to send me Taco Bell!).

Wednesday was cool as well. Elder Watanabe didn't bring his bike

because only here until the end of the transfer so we've been walking

everywhere. I honestly don't even really remember what we did on

Wednesday, but it was awesome. We ended our day with Eikaiwa.

The next two days were full of splits. Because this was an absolutely

insane transfer, I had to do all my splits this week. So I split with

Elder Mccune on Thursday and got to do my first baptismal interbview

and Elder Ricks on Friday. Saturday was general conference, and Sunday

was also general conference. There was also a baptism on Sunday. The

sisters nine year old investigator Kaiki got baptized. I'm good

friends with his dad and I was asked to be in on the confirmation

circle. I was so honored.

So transfer calls. I will be staying in Oyama, this blessed land.

Elder Watanabe will be going back to Tokyo, but we knew this. My new

companion is Elder Petersen. He is currently my zone leader and is

transferring down here. I've gone on splits with him a few times and

I'm so excited. He actually used to work in this area so that'll be

nice.

Anyways thanks for tuning in. I have some pictures!

cleaning the font for the baptism

after Kaiki baptism

Week 79- 4/3/17 This Bird Has Been Freed

Hello everybody! It's been one crazy heck of a week. I'm sure you're

all worrying about what is wrong with Elder Sharon. Fear not, he has

gone home. He will receive the proper medical care but will

unfortunately not be able to go on a mission any longer.

I'll fill you in on my week. Monday was another hospital visit. We

then relayed the information we learned to the doctor and he called

and said it's pretty much just Elder Sharon's choice and President

Naganos choice. All we really wanted was medical clearness and we got

that so we won the fight. The doctor wasn't terribly sympathetic to

our case though. He kind of tried to guilt trip Elder Sharon into

staying.

Tuesday was preparing. We also took the train down to Tokyo and

attended their zone conference since we had to miss ours. Wednesday

was also spent preparing for Elder Sharon to leave. We had a surprise

lunch trip with a member and we got a ton of really good food.

Thursday was pretty much nothing until evening. The Utsunomiya Elders

came down and president picked up Elder Sharon. We then visited a

couple people and moved on with our lives. Friday was still with the

Utsunomiya Elders. It was a cold and rainy day. I don't really have

much to report. Saturday was also with the Elders until my new

companion, Elder Watanabe came up. He's only here for a week and then

he'll go back to his original area. We then ended tot he week with

Sunday! We drove around with members and had a blast.

That's all I have for you folks. Sorry but I also don't many pictures either.

Elder Sharon's last Eikaiwa