10.05.2015

not a single lesson

今日は皆さん

hope everyone had a great week. I'll get right into my week!

Monday: we stayed inside our mission home basically the whole day and did a big zone activity. our zone is 20 something people so we had a ton of fun. We played this weird Japanese card game really similar to mafia, but I still don't understand the language so I didn't have a clue what was going on. The only thing I knew was I was the killer, but everyone killed me off 2nd round. Funny thing is I didn't know that I died for a while. Later that day we visited a member who is in a wheelchair living in a hospital. It's good to visit him because he doesn't get much of an opportunity to get to church or see a lot of people outside of the hospital. Good feeling to brighten his day a little.

Tuesday: we had a district meeting about faith. It hit me so hard. I got thinking about why I'm on a mission right now. It's because of my faith. This mission is so hard that I can say with 100% if I didn't have faith in this gospel I wouldn't be here right now. I would've went home a long time ago without my faith. (No brother Connell I haven't taught the faith cycle yet). We did a little housing (going door to door) and it was pouring rain. It surprises me how hard it's been raining here. We had the usual 40 minute ride to the area getting covered in rain. Everyone that came to the door (not very common) felt super bad for us. They acted interested just because of how sorry they felt.

Wednesday: I had an interview with my mission president 中塚会長 (Nakatsuka kaicho) and I was sweat straight bullets. Idk why, but when I got called in I was way nervous. It was basically a get to know you and I explained how I want to be the best missionary this mission has ever seen. He shared with me Ether 12:6 about faith. And I shared Alma 36:3! Everyone look them up. I don't care if you think it's weird or you're not a Mormon. Try it! What's the worst that can happen? I don't see any harm coming from it. Sorry, anyway it was awesome to just talk with him because he's never around and is always busy moving all over Hokkaido.

[Ether 12:6 "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."] 

[Alma 36:3 "And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."]

Thursday: didn't leave the apartment until 5:30ish because of doing stupid 2 hours of area book. Since we got iPads pretty recently, we have to input all the records written in paper from past missionaries. I finish probably 1 or 2 in the 2 hours we get. It's not hard, just very tedious and I want to get out and actually teach. It was my one month mark and my companion's one year mark of being in Japan....we celebrated with this bakery we love called Boston Bake. Exciting right? At Eikaiwa (English class) we actually had 2 people this week!!!! Alright! All time high for me! I talked with the new person and ended up asking for his number to practice English (really low key trying to build a relationship and share some of the gospel we have to offer). We'll see if he keeps coming to class.

Friday: we went to visit a less active member くまがい兄弟 (Brother Kumagai) he didn't answer, but that day I really felt something. I feel like because of the little success we've been having, our purpose at least for this transfer is to deactivate less active members. The mission isn't only for people who haven't heard our message. We then housed a little more in the pouring rain. Stupid me didn't wear a hood, so some nice lady felt bad and just gave me an umbrella. That was nice.

Saturday: it was another elder's birthday so we only had until 7 to go to work, before we went out to a restaurant to celebrate. We ended up getting no work done, because we planned to play tennis with some people we met earlier in the week. Simple way to build a trust and some sort of relationship. Companion's idea not mine. They didn't show up, so we went straight into sport's night where we played basketball for 2 hours. A ton of fun, but I want to actually do missionary work too.

Sunday: we got 2 referrals from this little old lady さと姉妹(Sister Sato). She invited us to go into a room with her and another ward member to sit in a circle and pray about these people. We sat in a circle of four and one by one prayed specifically about these two referrals out loud, in Japanese of course. We prayed about what we should do, when we should teach them, and what they need. Basically for some sort of guidance. The spirit was way strong in that room. Overwhelmingly strong. We did it for both people, so there were 8 prayers in about 15 minutes. Awesome experience of the week. Housing later that night was low success again. I think I was 0/7 the first 10 minutes. Once people hear "イエスキリスト(Jesus Christ) they say.. I'm good and just shut off the speaker we're speaking to, or just walk away.

Overall, this week we haven't done very much work outside of the apartment. The extra hour of the first 12 week training and the extra 2 hours of area book take up a lot of time. Right now we're cooking through both though, so hopefully near week 8 or 9 we'll have more time to do stuff. This week was so unsuccessful that I didn't even teach a single lesson or really talk to anyone about our message It's rough. Really rough, but I know the lord has a plan for me, and these rough spots will sharpen me a lot into the person God wants me to become.

Sorry for the long emails, but I don't want to be another boring, vague email in your spam or trash folder again. Love you all. I enjoy the emails. Love to hear from some of you from back home (cough cough Sohiksih)
愛してます

敬具 (sincerely yours)

ー 謝意人 長老 (Elder Scheidt)

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