Monday, September 9, 2019
こんにちは!
I get to keep my area and companion for another 6 weeks! I've grown to love both of them so much and can't wait to see what the next transfer brings. Also, some of you may already know about Typhoon Faxai, and we're ok! More details below.
Spiritual Stuff:
Last Thursday, at our usual district meeting as we talked about the people we were teaching and how we might help, we talked about one of the people that the 長老たち (chouroutachi= elders) are teaching, who has a baptismal date but suddenly basically dropped off the face of the earth. He wasn't answering their calls, didn't come to 英会話 (eikaiwa= our free English class), and the only thing they know about where he lives is that it's close to the 駅 (eki= train station). We decided that if anyone had time and happened to be near the 駅, they would house in hopes of knocking on his door. That night, we decided to do some whiteboard 伝道 (whiteboard dendou= writing something on a mini whiteboard and talking to people about it, usually a question or challenge of some sort) and some housing around the 駅 because we had time, why not? We were having absolutely no success, once people found out who we were they wanted to go away or they wanted us to go away.
We were walking back to the church to do some contacting with it's excellent wifi, when we noticed a brightly lit alley that we had never seen before, despite the fact that we walk that route multiple times every week. We decided to check it out and found a few restaurants and shops, a little hidden shopping area, apparently. We got to the end of the alley and walking along the cross street comes that person who had dropped off the face of the planet! We were all very surpised, him more than us I think, because almost immediately he told us that he had drunk beer a few days prior and didn't want to face the 長老たち. He felt like he was a terrible human being for betraying their trust and lying to them. We were able to reassure him that that absolutely was NOT true, and that he should call the 長老たち and tell them what he was feeling because they could help. Thankfully, he is still reading the Book of Mormon and praying, so we are all hoping and praying that this is just a bump in his road to receiving baptism.
We were able to talk some about Christ's Atonement and what it means for us, as well as the fact the Heavenly Father loves us no matter what. Sometimes we think that we can never come back, just like this man, but we can always come back. No matter what we've done or how we feel about it or ourselves, because of Christ's Atonement we can always come back. And no matter what we've done or how we feel about it or ourselves, our Father in Heaven will always love us, because He is our literal father.
Daily Life/Fun Stories:
I guess I should probably talk about the typhoon first. Typhoon Faxai was, at the time I went to bed last night, a Category 3 Hurricane that had chances of intensifying to a Category 4 over the next couple hours. It passed directly over us last night, making a lot of noise, but not causing much damage to Odawara (see pics for the only "damage" we directly experienced). An Odawara church member's car-protecting roof thing was torn off, and a ward building a couple areas over had a tree fall on it, but so far nothing worse has been reported to us. The trains are still stopped, and last night we canceled a lesson, but otherwise nothing has affected us.
Last Tuesday we got up at 5am but it was worth it to see my 同期 again! (douki= people that came to the mission at the same time as you). Unfortunately we did not take a picture, but I did take a picture with Ikeda姉妹 when I saw her at the stake Fiesta on Saturday! Thankfully the entire mission was invited to bring people, not just those in the Fujisawa area, and missionaries from other areas were also invited to take part, which is why Ikeda姉妹 came. It was so good to see her again after 3 months! I can't believe it's actually been that long...
The mission is getting a clarinet! I've been talking with Sister Esplin, the mission president's wife, and we've already ordered reeds (Vandoren, yes) and are working on music. There are 3 missionaries total in the mission who can play the clarinet, and there are already some Christmas plans in the making...
Last Wednesday I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life. It was much bigger than my palm, and thank goodness it was nowhere near our apartment or the church. However, it was heading towards one of the shops in the 駅 so pray for them... I didn't get a picture I was so shocked, though I wish I had.
I taught Ogata姉妹 how to make French toast this week and could only laugh when she commented on how much sugar was being added to the eggs... It was delicious though, so worth it.
On Sunday an elderly couple from Syracuse, Utah came to sacrament meeting. They don't speak a word of 日本語 (nihongo= Japanese language) and are just traveling around 日本. The branch mission leader's first reaction, for some reason, was to turn to me and ask if I could translate. I've been in 日本 for barely over a month, and our district leader who's been here over a year and a half is in our branch... Yeah, I threw him under the bus and he ended up translating, along with the branch mission leader who lived in Ogden, Utah for 35 years. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to avoid translation, though...
New Foods:
-gyoza with cheese in it. We decided normal is better, though this gyoza did come frozen in some sort of mixture that took the place of any otherwise needed water and/or oil, which was interesting and convenient.
-puchi keeki
-glica ice cream (same brand as pocky)
-yukimi daifuku ice cream (deliciousness)
-some weird Brazilian food at the Fiesta (no idea what it was called or what was in it)
-shiikuwaasaa (yes, that's the correct romanized spelling)
-ankake gohan
About the Pictures:
- The radar around 8:30pm last night
- Watching the storm brew and the clouds move very fast in the opposite direction as normal, moving with the rotation of the typhoon
- The only "damage" we experienced
- lol she keeps taking pictures of me when I stop us to take a picture
- You see all those leaves? Those are lotus plants. And the leaves are at least 3 times the size of my head
- Love the views we bike past (and sometimes stop to take pictures of)
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- I gave in...
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