I've already been here 4 weeks now. I'm really starting to feel like a missionary. We have had some cool stuff happen this week.
On Last Monday after I sent stuff out, We got to go to my Bishops house for FHE (Family Home Evening). He has 3 kids, and they are all so funny. They made some delicious curry, and then we sang, and the sisters shared a spiritual message with them. I showed them my singing in General Conference, and they were amazed. They thought that was soooo cool.
Tuesday, nothing too exciting happened, We did some Dendo (dendo is a way of saying mission, so when I say Dendo it literally translates to ''we missionaried'' but probably a more accurate translation is proselyted. Please remember that throughout my mission, because it is a very common thing to say here and I get really used to it and will probably include it in more of my emails without even realizing it) We made cookies to give to people, and that was about it.
Wednesday we had Zone Conference (there are 5 zones in the Sapporo mission with about 20 missionaries in each. The island of Hakkaido, which is our mission boundaries, has 5 million people with 110 missionaries). We actually didn't join anyone from our zone. Our Zone Conference consisted of 2 other zones, and then our district (about 7 districts per zone). How funny. Got to learn some really cool stuff from there, and I had my Bean Shower (welcoming party). I'm not going to explain what that was just in case anyone else get's called here, or if they do it other places in Japan. It will get to be a surprise. You'll just have to wait till I get home to know what it was.
Thursday. This was the highlight of my week. I had been getting a little discouraged, and wasn't too happy with our work. Our numbers were low, and it didn't seem like we were doing all we could to get them higher, but at the same time we couldn't figure out what we could do to make them higher. But Thursday night, right after English Class, I went to talk to some students. First I talked to Abe san. (pronounced Ah Beh not Abe like Abe Lincoln) and asked him a bit about him coming to English class, he had been coming for a while, and I asked him if he would like to meet with us about the church. He said no thanks. More discouragement. But then I tried talking to Yoshi san. I wasn't to sure about him, because he always seems really shy and I didn't think he would want to meet with us just because of that, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I asked him the same questions, and he must of sat there for about 2 minutes just thinking. Just staring at the desk thinking about it, and then he said ''Yes I would meet with you'' BAM so awesome. I just got my first appointment, and I got to do it in English. It was soo cool.
Friday. This day was pretty cool to. We went Housing out away from our house a fair amount away, and of course per usual we got rejected at every door, but this one lady was really kind about it. She told us thank you for all the hard work we do, but that she was really happy with her life and didn't need our message about happiness. So we left her and went down to the next level, and she came down after us like 5 minutes later. She brought us Oranges. How kind. She took time out of her day just to give us oranges. She still didn't want to here our message, but she did want to give us oranges. And then after that, she came back down again, to give us tissues for when our fingers get sticky from the orange juice. So kind. I've never felt so good about being rejected. And then this same day, we were streeting, and a guy stopped, but as soon as we said we were talking about Jesus Christ he reached into his pocket, smiled, and gave us both candy and walked away. My mind is just blown as to how kind the Japanese people are. Every once in a while you get a rude rejection, but most of the time it just makes me want to teach them more. Because they're so kind. I just want them to have this gospel. So difficult.
Saturday We had our lesson with yoshi san. It turns out he has been to over 60 countries. He brought his photo books in which he had collected a bunch of currency from the different countries to look through. He also told us his story of climbing the pyramids of giza. He and his 3 buddies went out at like 2 in the morning, and climbed over a couple walls just so they could climb the pyramids. They got caught, but they all had fake ID's that got them out of trouble some how. So funny. We found out that his main interest in listening to us is to practice his English, but that's ok. He will still be hearing what we are talking about. He told us he would call about when we could come again, but that most likely we'd talk about it at the next English class. He was really cool.
Sunday We got to sing for Sacrament meeting. It was a cool song that Elder Rostedt's older brother wrote called ''The Triple Testimony'' It takes scriptures from 2nd Nephi, Alma, and Moroni about Nephi, Ammon, and Moroni Testifying about Jesus Christ. It all weaves and intertwines together and sounds great. I got to sing Moroni's part. It was so cool. We had the mission president and his wife in our ward that day. I also got to give my testimony, and give a short Self Intro, and only messed up one part. I was trying to say I had a loud voice which is literally "Big Voice" but instead mixed it up and said "Tall Voice" which means High pitched. Little different Language is still coming along.
Well I'm out of time for this week
Shout out to my Dad, Aunts, and Both my little brothers, who all had birthdays this month and I haven't had time to write them anything yet (sorry)
Well until next week minasan
Ai Shite Imasu
Elder Eliot
PS It's cold here :)
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| Otaru Canal Walk with Blue Lights |
