11/15 月 sun
Todah, we tried to clean our futons. But to no avail--the mold needs
bleach and the coin laundry to remove its disgusting stains. The
battle continues. Now to find a member with a car to bring us/it to
the coin laundry.
After life, etc, we went to see one of my favorite members in the
entire world. :D We see her every Sunday, but they decided to treat
the chouroutachi (elders) to pizza (homemade), so we went. And it was
actual pizza. For all you non-Japan-goers, the Japanese pizza is...
different. I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but it's...different. But
this pizza was very good, and it was authentic. She said that a
senkyoushi from New York taught her how to make it. It was very good.
I was about 75% through the pizza when I had to throw in the towel.
G. shimai made it 90%. The chouroutachi ate everything and looked
like they were in moderate pain.
Then we went back to the church for calls. It was exciting.
11/16 火 mon
So today, I had the opportunity to meet a man who was freed from the
foolish traditions of his fathers. He gave us an argument that
was...actually almost Korihor's exact speech, word-for-word, but
without the "no one can know of the future," and with the added modern
twist of "there's no archeological evidence of the 40 years in the
wilderness, so it could not have happened." It's been almost a year
since I've head a false dichotomy verbalized in English, so that was
exciting. We left him with our testimonies, a smile, and the promise
that if he ever wanted to believe in God again, our doors were wide
open.
I also got to enjoy 500 ml of a "Premium Peach Drink." It was pretty
good. I don't know that it was premium.
At the beginning of the day, I ate the rest of my pizza before I
realized we were visiting our friend and fellow-member, T-shimai. I
love her to pieces. She loves giving food to the missionaries, and we
have very similar taste in music (not that I can listen to any of it;
but we can talk about how much we love it). Well, it wasn't bad at
all, thankfully (the amount--her food is always tasty :D), and we had
a very deep conversation on the nature of the Godhead. She talked
about how important it was to know that there was a devil, and talked
about how wonderful it was that she had been found by the
missionaries. It was really touching.
11/17 水 tues
So today, we had the chance to visit an investigator that we only get
to see like, once a month. Her parents are from Kyoto, so she speaks
like she's from Kyoto, which means she doesn't speak Japanese at all.
I mean, the words they say are Japanese, but they speak in code.
Tatoeba,
The normal Japanese person: Would you like a glass of water? (Means:
Do you want a glass of water?)
The Kyoto-jin: Would you like a glass of water? (Means: Get out of my house.)
You might be laughing here, but what I gave you is an actual example
of their Kyoto-an code. Seriously. I thought it was a joke until
someone actually said it to me.
But anyways, we had a good lesson with her.
We also found a gem in the gym today: a manga of Christ's life, done
in classic manga art style. It was fantastic--provided my douryou (companion)
and I with five minutes of gripping entertainment before we pulled
ourselves away and got back to work. Later in the day, because of the
rain, we decided to make a couple of necessary calls. We saw an
interesting name in the phone's phonebook and rang her on a whim. She
actually picked up! Not only that, but when we, not knowing exactly
what to say, invited her to the Primary Program, she was like, "Okay,
sure. I'll come."
Man, that was so exciting. I don't know if I've ever had that happen, before.
Also ate the Lotte Nashi ice that we found at Tamade. God bless Tamade.
11/19 木 wed
So, somehow or another we taught five lessons today. That was a big
surprise, because the day itself was very normally-paced, other than
the fact that we got up at 9 for seminary.
We had a lesson with T-shimai that we prepared for, and we made the
no-bake cookies that S. chourou (elder) taught us. However, for some
reason or another, they didn't harden like they were supposed to, so
we just wrapped them in foil and brought them to the church. Our
doseki came and we talked to her for a bit. Then we found out T-shimai
wasn't coming after all.
Well, darn. So we shared a small message with S-shimai and sent her
on her way. Right after, we visited E-chan with the Primary President.
It went really well, and the two of them formed a kankei (relationship)
pretty much right there. E-chan's a little hazukashii (bashful), so
she wasn't jumping out of her seat, but it was really cute to watch
the two of them. On the way home, N-shimai gave us a cheesecake.
I... well... I was very touched. That was very sweet.
Afterwards, we talked to a couple girls on the way to the conbini, and
visited another member family. They were super, and gave us cake :D
Later, when we started planning, we got a call from T-shimai and got
to share a small message.
11/20 金 thurs
So today was actually kind of incredible. Something happened on my
mission today that has never happened before.
We had a really good district meeting where H. chourou talked about
working with members. and he gave an awesome sports team tatoe, where
you have, say, 15 people in a branch. 5 are your starters (great
dousekis, dendo fire), 5 are 2nd string (more worried, less familiar
or inclined to share the gospel), 5 are bench (relatively
unwilling/able to keep commitments or share the gospel). Your job is
to give them commitments based on where they are in the team--the
fastest way to sour a relationship with a member is by giving them a
commitment that's too big for them. By doing that, you can make the
starters into coaches, the 2nd string into starters, and the
benchwarmers into 2nd string. Then of course, you can pull the
spectators or the towel-boys from the stands and make them into
benchwarmers. It really lit the Abeno district fire.
Then we went to indocurry, and I had pumpkin curry and blueberry
lassi. On the way home, we said hello to an old man, and he kept
looking at us, so we went back and talked with him. He was kind of
like, "Hey, well I'm going home, so come with me."
...So we went with him... Then we got there and were like, "Is there a
wife inside? Do we go in? Do we stay here?" Well, it didn't feel too
creepy, so we went in after we saw there was a wife. Then we taught
them the first lesson. He was uninterested and pretty much kicked us
out (half-good-humoredly), but the wife was a little more open and
almost accepted the Book of Mormon. We left and I was amazed. That
had never happened to me before. It was really interesting, and
altogether, not a bad experience.
Afterwards, we came back and told the chouroutachi of our victory,
then we sat down and reviewed the Abeno lineup.
Afterwards, we went to our LA, C-shimai's, and she gave us hot
chocolate and more cake. We still have to eat the cake from the
M-kazoku, too. Haha, I guess because I don't have time to hit the cake
shops like I did in Imabari, the cake is coming to me.
Altogether, not a bad day here in Osaka.
11/21 土 fri
Today, we spent all day doing SKK (weekly planning). I felt like we
needed to be at the church by one-ish, so we headed out a little earlier
than planned and got there at about one-ten. Just as we got through the
door, we got a call from an unknown number. It was a person named
A-shimai, who had been contacted 2 or so months ago by the previous
sister missionaries, B. shimai and G. shimai. She was like, "Hey, wanna
meet up sometime?" And I was like, "Yeah, we'd love to meet you." And
she said, "Okay, well, I'll call you later." So that was exciting. Really goes
to show that there is no effort wasted on the mission.
We finished up SKK until the chouroutachi came and fixed G.
shimai's brakes again, then we had dinner. This was cut short by a
phonecall from our beloved E-chan's mother, B-shimai. The gist of the
message was "I can't take E-chan to church, after all." but it took
something of an hour to say. When we parted ways, I looked at the
clock and saw that it was late. And we needed to find a ride for
E-chan.
Fantastic, fantastic ward members eventually took the wheel, and
things were taken care of.
11/22 日sat
Today was so darn fun. :D
90% of why today was fun can be summed up in two words: Primary
Program. Best thing in the world. It also brought a lot of new faces
to church. The woman we called on Wednesday ended up unable to come,
but she said that she wanted to come next week, so... tanoshimi.
It was also a dear member's birthday on Friday, so we sang happy
birthday to her. She got teary--it was really cute. We also shared a
message with another kaiin, and went to our beloved S-shimai's house
for cooking class.
At cooking class, we have two investigators: One progressing, the
other who frequently declares she cannot progress. It's a tiny bit of
a worry, but it worked better when we focused on our progressor.
We were talking about prayer again, and following up on their
progress. We called them every evening this week (permission gained
beforehand) to remind them to pray. We asked them how it went. Our
progressor had a couple of wonderful experiences, and our
non-progressor had not. We asked if the phonecalls helped after the
lesson, and if it would be helpful to continue them next week.
Us: So was it a meiwaku? Do you want us to do it again?
Her: *kind of knits her eyebrows and tilts her head to the side* Well,
I'm going to pray even if you don't call me, so...
GOOD.
Then we hopped on a train and went to I-shimai's. We got to know her,
recieved a referral, and came back late because we got there late
becasue we missed our stop. Gaaah. But anyways, we got to Teradachou
and had to walk home (it would have taken longer to stop at Tennoji
and bike back). It was a 20 minute walk. We had twenty minutes. We got
there in 10.
Very tender mercies from the lord this week.
Ponderize for last week was in 2Nephi 31. It's the one that goes, "How
can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep his
commandments?"
True that. It's like saying "I honor my mother, but I don't listen to
her and I don't do anything she asks." Christ has asked us to follow
Him. How can we walk after him if we don't follow his footsteps?
Christ is the Light and the Way. Christ has never broken the
commandments. If we want to be like Christ, we have to do our best,
too. As we do, we will find a greater, far greater world in the world
beyond, and a very satisfactory one here.
Love you all,
Sanzu shimai
pretty much right there. E-chan's a little hazukashii (bashful), so
she wasn't jumping out of her seat, but it was really cute to watch
the two of them. On the way home, N-shimai gave us a cheesecake.
I... well... I was very touched. That was very sweet.
Afterwards, we talked to a couple girls on the way to the conbini, and
visited another member family. They were super, and gave us cake :D
Later, when we started planning, we got a call from T-shimai and got
to share a small message.
11/20 金 thurs
So today was actually kind of incredible. Something happened on my
mission today that has never happened before.
We had a really good district meeting where H. chourou talked about
working with members. and he gave an awesome sports team tatoe, where
you have, say, 15 people in a branch. 5 are your starters (great
dousekis, dendo fire), 5 are 2nd string (more worried, less familiar
or inclined to share the gospel), 5 are bench (relatively
unwilling/able to keep commitments or share the gospel). Your job is
to give them commitments based on where they are in the team--the
fastest way to sour a relationship with a member is by giving them a
commitment that's too big for them. By doing that, you can make the
starters into coaches, the 2nd string into starters, and the
benchwarmers into 2nd string. Then of course, you can pull the
spectators or the towel-boys from the stands and make them into
benchwarmers. It really lit the Abeno district fire.
Then we went to indocurry, and I had pumpkin curry and blueberry
lassi. On the way home, we said hello to an old man, and he kept
looking at us, so we went back and talked with him. He was kind of
like, "Hey, well I'm going home, so come with me."
...So we went with him... Then we got there and were like, "Is there a
wife inside? Do we go in? Do we stay here?" Well, it didn't feel too
creepy, so we went in after we saw there was a wife. Then we taught
them the first lesson. He was uninterested and pretty much kicked us
out (half-good-humoredly), but the wife was a little more open and
almost accepted the Book of Mormon. We left and I was amazed. That
had never happened to me before. It was really interesting, and
altogether, not a bad experience.
Afterwards, we came back and told the chouroutachi of our victory,
then we sat down and reviewed the Abeno lineup.
Afterwards, we went to our LA, C-shimai's, and she gave us hot
chocolate and more cake. We still have to eat the cake from the
M-kazoku, too. Haha, I guess because I don't have time to hit the cake
shops like I did in Imabari, the cake is coming to me.
Altogether, not a bad day here in Osaka.
11/21 土 fri
Today, we spent all day doing SKK (weekly planning). I felt like we
needed to be at the church by one-ish, so we headed out a little earlier
than planned and got there at about one-ten. Just as we got through the
door, we got a call from an unknown number. It was a person named
A-shimai, who had been contacted 2 or so months ago by the previous
sister missionaries, B. shimai and G. shimai. She was like, "Hey, wanna
meet up sometime?" And I was like, "Yeah, we'd love to meet you." And
she said, "Okay, well, I'll call you later." So that was exciting. Really goes
to show that there is no effort wasted on the mission.
We finished up SKK until the chouroutachi came and fixed G.
shimai's brakes again, then we had dinner. This was cut short by a
phonecall from our beloved E-chan's mother, B-shimai. The gist of the
message was "I can't take E-chan to church, after all." but it took
something of an hour to say. When we parted ways, I looked at the
clock and saw that it was late. And we needed to find a ride for
E-chan.
Fantastic, fantastic ward members eventually took the wheel, and
things were taken care of.
11/22 日sat
Today was so darn fun. :D
90% of why today was fun can be summed up in two words: Primary
Program. Best thing in the world. It also brought a lot of new faces
to church. The woman we called on Wednesday ended up unable to come,
but she said that she wanted to come next week, so... tanoshimi.
It was also a dear member's birthday on Friday, so we sang happy
birthday to her. She got teary--it was really cute. We also shared a
message with another kaiin, and went to our beloved S-shimai's house
for cooking class.
At cooking class, we have two investigators: One progressing, the
other who frequently declares she cannot progress. It's a tiny bit of
a worry, but it worked better when we focused on our progressor.
We were talking about prayer again, and following up on their
progress. We called them every evening this week (permission gained
beforehand) to remind them to pray. We asked them how it went. Our
progressor had a couple of wonderful experiences, and our
non-progressor had not. We asked if the phonecalls helped after the
lesson, and if it would be helpful to continue them next week.
Us: So was it a meiwaku? Do you want us to do it again?
Her: *kind of knits her eyebrows and tilts her head to the side* Well,
I'm going to pray even if you don't call me, so...
GOOD.
Then we hopped on a train and went to I-shimai's. We got to know her,
recieved a referral, and came back late because we got there late
becasue we missed our stop. Gaaah. But anyways, we got to Teradachou
and had to walk home (it would have taken longer to stop at Tennoji
and bike back). It was a 20 minute walk. We had twenty minutes. We got
there in 10.
Very tender mercies from the lord this week.
Ponderize for last week was in 2Nephi 31. It's the one that goes, "How
can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep his
commandments?"
True that. It's like saying "I honor my mother, but I don't listen to
her and I don't do anything she asks." Christ has asked us to follow
Him. How can we walk after him if we don't follow his footsteps?
Christ is the Light and the Way. Christ has never broken the
commandments. If we want to be like Christ, we have to do our best,
too. As we do, we will find a greater, far greater world in the world
beyond, and a very satisfactory one here.
Love you all,
Sanzu shimai
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