Mom and Dad,
Monday-Normal P-day: We ran around and got lots of miscellaneous things done.
Tuesday: Kids' eikaiwa in the morning. This week was my turn to teach. Let me say: it's way awkward standing in the front of a room full of kids and their mothers and teach English. Also, it's expected that you act silly and what not for the kids, so that makes it even more awkward for us. I decided that from now on the gaijin sister missionary and I will teach together so she can be silly and I can be a little more normal. Don't you love compromises?
We rang one of our investigator's doorbell twice and knocked, but he didn't answer. We were sure that he was there, so we called him. No answer. We rang again and finally he came to the door. He opened it only to shut the door and lock it. Hiratsuka and I had no idea what happened so we kind of stood there for a couple minutes. We then called him again. No answer. We rang his doorbell again and he answered saying he was sorry and that he had forgotten about the appointment and was in the bathroom. He added that he'd see us next week.
Tuesday is also regular Eikaiwa. I added a new dimension to our teaching. After I finish teaching that week's lesson, I play hangman with the students and teach them a really long English word. Last week was fluccinocinihilipilification. This week was pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconiosis. They love it! This Tuesday will probably be hippopotomonstrosesquipidaliophobia.
Wednesday: we taught the young investigator who is Protestant. He had asked his Protestant friends about prophets and the priesthood, to which they said both no longer exist. Latter-day prophets and the priesthood are truths that are going to be difficult to teach him about because of those that do not have that knowledge.
Thursday: We biked up the foothills of Mt. Fuji again to teach one of our investigators. He's a way solid guy and understands spiritual things, but he has a couple of hurdles that are hindering him from accepting the Gospel. He is kind of along the lines of a philosopher. I always thought that teaching people with a Christ centered base would be easier because they would recognize the truth more readily--there's so much I have to learn!
That evening we also went to the house of an investigator with the sister missionaries--I'm going to refer to them as the shimai from now on. The investigator wanted us to be at a Halloween party she was holding for some elementary school kids she works with--to be an example for the kids and to help them with English. Well, there were probably twelve kids or so; all grade school boys except for one girl. It was a very long, very exhausting hour-and-a-half.
Friday: We had Zone Training Meeting, so we were in Kobe again. Awesome! I love Kobe and the honbu. ZTM was really great; our ZL's are way awesome. One of them was also trained by Bogedahl Choro. At ZTM we talked a lot about how to apply the new Mission Training Plan, and to prepare some special lessons plan for it. Compared to previous ZTM's, it was a little short--probably because we just had one two weeks before. Oh, I also bought a jar of Nutella from the honbu. Life keeps getting better and better! :)
Saturday: we rode way far out along a super narrow, curvy highway that had no space for bikes. Yes, if you saw it, mom, you would freak out. Our reason was to visit an investigator that hasn't been met with in awhile. I haven't met with him before so I didn't know a whole lot about him. The conversation lasted only about a minute and that was mainly Hiratsuka Choro was trying to get him to talk. While we were out there we did a lot of searching, then we headed back for a lesson we had scheduled with the really energetic guy we met with right after General Conference. It was a really good lesson and the member we had there was really helpful. We invited the investigator to come to church, but he declined. He doesn't quite see the need or importance of going to church.
Sunday: He came to church! Funny the way the Spirit works, huh? He actually showed up right after the Sacrament was finished, but was able to catch all of the testimonies that were shared. He went home after Sacrament meeting so he missed out on Sunday school and Priesthood. After church we went dendo-ing with Asada kyodai, the amazing hair-cutter. He probably has some of the strongest dendo fire in the ward. On Sundays (as often as he can) he takes the missionaries in his car and dendo-s with them. We visited a lot of less actives as well as several potential investigators; we also visited the guy who's super busy and, therefore, difficult to meet with. It was probably one of the most productive Sundays I've had in my life!
Lastly, do you remember Elder Holland's talk from April Conference entitled "Lord, I Believe"? All should read it and ponder it--that includes anybody reading this on my missionary blog!
It's a really great talk that has helped me. We are going to teach the principles in the talk tonight at a dinner appointment.
That's all I have for this week. I took a little more time this week since I had time to read and respond to two weeks worth in one email. Give everyone my best!
愛、
～ウィルソン長老
No comments:
Post a Comment