Okay, so I have been in Japan for an entire transfer. Does it feel like it, not at all. But I am staying in Yonago for at the remainder of my training, but Elder Baker is being transferred. My new companion will be Elder Sekiguchi, who is native Japanese. I am terrified. I will find out more about him and let you know.
Dad, you requested that I give you my investigators names, here they are:
Miyake - he is 24 and golden, he researches everything, we gave him the restoration pamphlet and he read it 10 times the night before we taught it. he says his greatest desire in life is to find the truth. he works on sundays and we`ve been fasting that he can get sundays off from work. his baptismal date is 11/3
Kajiyama - He is 26 and pretty trendy (wears crocs... somehow some people in Japan think those are cool...) He came to church for the first time yesterday and seemed to like it. his baptismal date is 11/17
Tanaka (Sister) - she came to church last week and stayed all 3 hours, she is pretty involved with buddhism and doesn`t know how to handle the religious differences.
Tanaka (Brother) - he thinks he is really smart and always tries to get us to join Amway when we meet and we always refuse obviously.
Yasui - he is 55 he comes to english class every week and LOVES American stuff especially music. he knows weird movie quotes and said he loves British english music. I talked to him about One Direction of all things and we have an appointment with him next week, who knew that One Direction could be used to spread the work of god?
Yamaguchi - he is like 79 years old and can`t walk, he sits seza all day and is too scared to come to church.
Sakamoto - I don`t really remember or understand him very well...
There are more but I don`t have time to talk about everyone.
I always love the reaction I get when I tell people I`m 18. In Japan people often wait until they are finished with college to go on a mission because differing is difficult, so to them an 18 year old missionary is crazy! also, Elder Baker turns 22 and is basically 4 years older than me. that`s weird. I have lots of issues with him but we won`t discuss them.
This week Elders George and Baker went to Kobe for Mission Training thingy and Elder Kemp and I were companions for a day. two 1st transfer missionaries roaming the streets of Yonago... but we found 6 potential investigators! well I found 5 and he found 1, but hey, we did something useful! One man named Kenya Hamamoto, I biked alongside him for about 15 minutes and I felt decently competent in what I was saying! We still haven`t met with him, but I feel like it was The Lord patting me on the back and saying `you can do this` it really seemed like a simple miracle to me.
So last week was bad and I was feeling down, so I decided that I needed to be happier, I bought some cool pens, some Halloween stickers, and then some chocolate to lift my spirits and it has helped throughout the week for sure. I also now have my own stamps so writing real letters will be easier because I won`t have to go to the post office every time anymore.
In Japan they have MILLIONS of pens, the favorite seems to be the multi-color pens where there are like 3 or 4 colors in one pen and the little slide-y thing on the side to switch colors. But yes, they love their pens over here, and there are lots of them.
Andrew and Rebecca, thank you for all the loving advice you gave me last week when I was feeling a bit more down than usual. Mom I got your letter, Rebecca you too. Letters take longer to get here than I thought, because of forwarding and all that, but I DO GET THEM EVENTUALLY! I am really excited for conference this week!!! But I will definitely miss the Priesthood Meeting outing with the Paces, that was one of my favorite times each year. It is always great to hear from family so please don`t hesitate to write me.
I have great challenges ahead of me and I`m really scared, excited and every emotion in between at least once every day. I don`t think I have ever cried so often as I do on a mission. I am being blessed though everyday, I can feel the prayers and support of everyone. I love and miss you all!
Love,
Jonathan, Elder Pace
No comments:
Post a Comment