Housing, and Streeting, and visiting old, and potential investigators, it was getting boring, ineffective, and we just were not having a good time. So in brainstorming some other finding Idea's,
Elder Thurston mentioned doing work at the College, because he had done so in California. So we went, and found the International affairs office, to offer our services in English classes at the college, or Japanese translation, or basically whatever we could do. We got to meet this really nice German lady named Natalie, who was actually the director of the international affairs for the college. Turns out that there isn't too much we can do, besides talking to the students, and offering it to them, but they did have, on Friday this little party for all of the international students, other foreigner's, and really just anyone that wanted to come. So they invited us to that, and we went, and it was sooooo much fun.
They started off by playing the "never have I ever game," but in a different way. They would read off, "If you have ever..." and then if you had, you would run to the center, and high five with everyone else that had done so. Then, they had a little introduction time, where they had everyone get up, and announce, where they were from, and introduce who they were. It was actually extremely nerve racking. My stomach was flying like crazy, but I got up and did it. It was funny, because there would be people that had been in Japan for a while, (longest being 10 years) and they were still shaky in their Japanese. Then I got up, and told everyone I had been in Japan for 1 year and a half, and they all flipped. "Your Japanese is so good" "How long did you study before you came out" etc.
Then we had a Bingo game, and in the end, we all danced. We did this fun dance, that an Egyptian got up and taught us. Who would've thought that the first Egyptian I would meet would be in Japan. It was called the Coconut dance, and I really wish I had gotten more pictures, but in the end, I just got one video... Oh well. Sorry. I'll try again next time. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to make a lot of new friends. We also got a lot of people who said they'd like to come to English class. Way way way better than pinging houses all day. It was neat to see so many different people from all over the world gathered in one small hall.
I do have a request now though. We don't really have that many good finding idea's now, because those parties only happen once a month. We've got a few things that we are trying, but haven't found anything too successful yet. If you could all think of some idea's that we could try to find someone interested in learning about the gospel, and letting me know, that would be great. These day's, going around housing all day, just isn't effective anymore. Everyone has been housed at some point in their lives. Whether by us, or by J-Dubs, or some other religion, no one wants to talk to the missionaries anymore. They don't think that we actually care so much as we have to do so. Once upon a time, it was a lot more effective, and worked, but now days, it's all up to the members to help us. The missionaries cannot do it alone anymore. We can work our butts off all day, we can always be better, and we can always get more obedient, but even at our peaks, we aren't likely to get more than 1 or 2 baptisms. Those 1 or 2 people are important too, but what about the other 20,000 that we tired contacting to get those.
We actually had numbers given to us of 2015's stat's for the Sapporo Japan Mission. For every 4,995 people contacted by the missionaries, be that Housing, Streeting, or just talking to people on a train, 1 person got baptized. For every 42 that were referred by Church Headquarters 1 got baptized. That is all those that found it themselves, or were transferred by some other missionaries somewhere else in the world. And then finally for every 8 people that were referred by members 1 got baptized. The difference is INSANE. It takes 5,000 contacts to get one baptism for the missionaries, but only 8 for a member. Because those 1/4,995 people are still important, we will continue to work hard, and contact, but you as members, can help a lot. If we are out trying to find the 1/4,995 all day everyday, we could get 5 baptisms throughout our 2 years. Maybe... And that's still good, but it gets tiring, not fun, and depressing. Missionaries are a lot happier when they are teaching. If every member would just give 10 referrals throughout the year, that's more than 1 person per member. Minus the inactive, and young children, that's still almost 1 million baptisms in a year. You will be happier because you helped bring someone to the gospel, and we as the missionaries will be happier, because we will be teaching everyday, and we will be seeing a lot more success.
I promise you that no one that you invite to listen to the missionaries will stop being your friend. If they do, then they weren't a very good friend in the first place. I challenge you all to pray, think about who you could share this wonderful message of hope with, and who you could invite to listen to the missionaries. Make a list. Pray about each one of them. The numbers for this mission (one of the lower baptizing missions in the world by the way) say that if you can just invite 8, you will see a friend get baptized. It won't take too long. You could do it while you eat. You could do it instead of watching the sports statistics at the end of the news that you don't care about anyway. You can all do it, and I know that if you do, it will make a huge difference. The number of convert baptisms is on the decline. The member's need to take the initiative help the missionaries to get to those people that don't accept us because we are missionaries. That is my challenge to you this week. Talk to 1 person. If they do reject you, than that is OK. They have their agency, but you need to give them the chance to exercise it.
I know that this church is true, and that you can see success. I know that Everyone needs this gospel, and the Atonement. You can give it to them today. I know that Jesus Lives. I know that he loves everyone. You can know it too.
We'll catch you next week.
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