So let's start small, Monday was pretty chill. Did some touring, got my hair cut, and we walked around a mall. Did some Okegawa Elders Bonding. However the next day is when it got weird.
So Tuesday. All day is pretty normal. We met Nao at a multi storied McDonald's and ate some free food. One benefit of having a Japanese companion who's father is a share holder for McDonald's, is you get free meal coupons. McDonald's is our back up plan always. So we bought Nao some food because he just lost his job and we gave him a pretty dang good lesson. He wants to meet every week now so we're like heck yeah man. But, after dinner it got weird. So, we decided to go do streating for the last three hours of our day. We walked to 宮原 or miyahara for you gaijin, and just did our thing. We met nobody. Nobody was outside, and those we did meet totally ignored us. However we kept going. After a bit, we got to the grocery store near our apartment. We were waiting at a crosswalk when this old man walks up. Now usually old men are nice so I said hi. He immediately knew who we were and asked if we were モルモン教 which pretty much means Mormons. Now, I bet you think this is a miracle story. NOPE. This man must have been drunk or mentally ill because he certainly wasn't all there and that was evident. Apon hearing our answer he starts talking about the sacrament and how we use bread and water. His voice slowly starts raising, and he's pretty much shouting at us asking 日本のパンは何ですか。or WHAT IS JAPANESE BREAD!? Now, my Japanese isn't amazing, but I know that question. He then goes on to explain (or shout) that we are disgracing Japan by using bread for the sacrament when Japanese bread is rice. That's when our light turns green, and we try to escape crazy by crossing the street. That's when he shot out his arm and grabbed my companion with a death grip. At this point, a million things are running through my head. My companion is in danger, and we're not allowed to be violent. Now, Elder Yoshino shouts こわいそ！(scary) and we pretty much pry the guy away. We're speed walking at this point while this guy is STILL following us, shouting at us and we're just telling him to leave us alone. Luckily, we were near the grocery store, and ran inside. He wouldn't follow thankfully, but he was waiting. After a bit he walked off and we snuck out of the grocery store and pretty much sprinted home, after I saw him enter the store after we left. Saitama is so weird, but it's my area so I'll work with it. We must have been blessed though because we were able to set up an appointment with an old investigator over the phone, because we were too scared to go outside. So yeah that was Tuesday.
The rest of the week was pretty cool. Had my birthday on Friday, we went to a steakhouse. It was pretty good and way better than anything we could make so I was thankful. The day after was the ward Christ,as party. I took that as an opportunity to bond with the youth. We played basketball in the freezing cold and after a bit they all warmed up to me. The members are getting used to me as well. They really love the missionaries and that's evident by the size of the Christmas box we received. I also got to practice a bit more sign language. We learned the baptismal commitment in the MTC and I met one of the members deaf friends and the ward party. I now know how to introduce myself in Japanese SAL.
Yesterday we also went to another party. After a brief lesson, we ate some very delicious food. I've learned the Japanese really love fried chicken, and I'm okay with that. We had it at a members house. Lots of people came and we had a lot of fun. Our investigators are doing well. A lot of them are out of town for Christmas so it's been pretty slow. We've been doing finding to pass the time so that explains meeting mr crazy. Well that's all that happened. I'll attach pictures of the week. Thanks for tuning in everybody!
Picture 1: I'm giving a cat a free English tutoring handout
Picture 2: the Okegawa skyline
Picture 3: birthday steak
Picture 4: zone conference
Picture 5: Christmas gifts from the members
モア長老
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