At Shakeys!
Christmas Caroling!
Nagai 兄弟 made a card of all the missionaries in the ward!
皆さんこんにちは！
So this past transfer was only 4 weeks instead of 6. Our mission
president didn't want anyone to be traveling around Christmas time and
for missionaries going home, they can get home on time for Christmas.
With that said, I got my transfer email on Saturday!! It says:
"For this next transfer, you will be assigned to Kamakura A in the
Fujisawa East Zone as a Junior Companion. Your companion will be Elder
Coleman and Elder Lind. "
So I am going from the Fujisawa West Zone to the Fujisawa East Zone!
It's not too far away by train, maybe 30 mins or so. It'll be
interesting being in a trio! Traveling itself won't be so fun though.
I have to carry my bag, bike, and my carry-on luggage. It's going to
be a mess. Hopefully I figure it out!
Remember the potential investigator from last week? The one that
believed that the world was uncivilized before 1863? I'll call him
Fred for now lol My companion and I met with him at the church on
Tuesday. Fred read a little bit of the Book of Mormon so that's why we
decided to meet again. After we sat down, he began to tell us more of
his beliefs. He mentioned that there is a lot of evil in the world and
that the devil is everywhere..I mean, he isn't wrong lol After about
15 minutes (he can talk a lot), we decided to be a little pushy and
told him we wanted to start. We taught him how to pray and then said a
prayer. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a very good
listener; he asked questions and we answered, we'd ask him questions
related to the principle and he'd give his input. We really felt the
Spirit during the lesson; we didn't feel a good presence before we
prayed. After going through the lesson, we asked if he would be
baptized when he knows our message is true. He didn't really give an
answer and then began to tell us more about his beliefs. He mentioned
that he feels that he is God. He also said he wants to help us by
teaching us his beliefs. We told him that we know the gospel is true.
We also told him we can meet again when he wants to learn more about
the gospel. Other than that, we won't really focus too much on him.
On 水曜日, instead of going to 英会話、we had an appointment with the German
lady, Susan, and her family, the Stahls. When we got there, the
husband just got back from the store with a bunch of snacks for
everyone. We didn't meet the husband on the previous visit so Susan
must've mentioned us coming. We thought it was so nice of them to get
food for us. The husband is French but also speaks German, Japanese,
and English. He also was Catholic when he was younger; so he knows a
little bit about Christ.We got to know the family a little more and
then we shared a message about Christmas. We mentioned that Christ is
the greatest gift of all and then talked a little bit about Christ's
life, Atonement, and a little bit about the Plan of Salvation. We bore
testimony after sharing some experiences. Susan said she couldn't
believe in what we said and didn't think she needed to because they
already have a good life. The husband looked interested but whenever
he would try to say something, he'd look at his wife (as if asking for
permission), and then wouldn't say anything. More or less, they
weren't really interested; they said they aren't too religious. But
they said we are welcome to come back if we want to talk. It's their
choice if they want to learn more. I have faith.It was a pretty good
lesson though. And they are soooooo nice! We might go back one more
time this week since I wont see them because I am transferring.
On 木曜日, we met with a ward member, Kazushi. He wants to serve a
mission! So we are doing as much as we can to help him. He reminds me
a lot of myself. When I was preparing to serve a mission, the
missionaries from my ward would have me go to lessons with them. They
also gave me some tips. Anyway, me, Jödicke長老、Ayala長老、and Gilbert長老
went to Shakey's (which is in Chigasaki) to meet him. It's all you can
eat for about $10; so we ate a ton of food! They had some interesting
pizzas like Marshmallow Chocolate and Brownie Chocolate. They also had
shrimp and corn, Mexican-style and much more. After eating, we met
with the sister missionaries back at the station. We did some
Christmas caroling and distributed 英会話 flyers. We also taped small
chocolate bars to pass along cards. And most of all, we gave out 14
Book of Mormons!! Nagai 兄弟 wrapped the モルモン書 in Christmas wrapping
paper; they looked fantastic! We had so much fun caroling! We did that
for about 3 hours. Then the sisters had to leave so we stayed another
hour or so. Then we took Kazushi with us to do some housing in
Chigasaki! The apartments we tried to go to were locked/needed codes
to enter. We spent about 20 mins or so looking for a place to house.
Then Kazushi decided that we should pray to find someone to talk to.
After the prayer, we walked across the street and found someone! He's
still in high school. He recently came back from Denmark for school,
but he's Nihonjin. He also spoke English, a little Danish, and a
little German. We talked about why we are here and then shared a quick
message about how God loves us and can help us in our life. We then
told him if he could pray and testified. We also gave him a Book of
Mormon! He was excited! Sadly he didn't want to give us his contact
info but we gave him a flyer with the church address and phone number.
He's a great person!
This Sunday was fast Sunday since we had Stake Conference last sunday.
During sacrament, I bore my testimony in Japanese! I still don't know
much but that doesn't matter because the Spirit was so strong! I also
said goodbye to the Shonan ward. They thanked and congratulated me for
my work. I am glad I was assigned here for my first transfer. I'm
going to miss them a lot! Later on in the evening, we were street
contacting. Before we had to go home, we found someone to talk to. He
spoke English! He used to live in the US. He knew a lot about other
religions including us. But he wanted to hear more about us so we
talked about the Restoration. He also said he reads the Bible a lot!
He didn't have much time to talk to us but he was very interested. He
took the Restoration pamphlet and said he would contact us he felt the
desire.
Wow! Lots of miracles this week! There were also smaller things but I
am running out of time! We have to end P-day a little earlier because
we have a FHE in Chigasaki to go to. We made cookies! I'll be packing
up most of my stuff tomorrow and sending my luggage over to my next
area. Wednesday will be a normal day and Thursday I go to Kamakura!
It's been a blast here in Shonan/Hiratsuka. I learned a lot within the
last month. As Christmas draws closer, I would like to remind all of
you to be a light for others! Watch the "Light the World" video that
the church put out and share it with your friends! Thank you so much
for your support! See ya next week! 愛しています！
ーチャブ長老