Our Fruit Basket was loaded!
Merry CHRISTmas from the Kamakura 宣教師(missionaries)
皆さんこんにちは！！メーリ・クリスマス🎄🎅！
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! Hopefully no one got
any coal! If you did...well you have next year to improve :) I love
Christmas so much. In Japan, it isn't as big of a holiday as it is in
America and couples usually go on dates instead of people spending
time with their family. Nevertheless, it's still great!
From now on, I am going to try to keep these updates shorter,
especially this one. It was a slow week. We had Christmas Conference
at the mission home on 水。It was amazing! We enjoyed several talks and
food! The food reminded me of potlucks back at my home ward. We also
did White Elephant (gift exchanges). I even got to see my MTC kouhai!
On 金、the 鎌倉 ward had a Christmas party. Once again, super fun and
great food! The primary had a skit about the birth of Jesus; it was so
adorable! And by the way, Japanese children are sooooo cute! A few
nonmembers, investigators, and 英会話 students came too. A pretty great
turn out!
Church was cut short because of Christmas; we only had sacrament
meeting. Even though I could barely understand it, I still felt the
spirit. In Japan, wards have a "Fruit Basket" for the missionaries.
Every week, that basket gets filled with food and the missionaries
collect it after church. Due to Christmas, that basket was filled 2-3
times more! We are so grateful for the church members! For those back
at home, this is such a great idea! It helps us so much, especially
because we don't have too much time to shop for food. After church, we
went with Suzuki兄弟 and Tsuchiya姉妹 to Christmas carol at a nearby
carehome. I loved it! Music speaks to me on a different level so that
was extra special. Seeing those people smile just made me feel the
Christmas spirit so much more. After caroling, we went back to the
church. We met a super amazing guy, Imaeda-san, while walking home. He
shared a lot about his life, including the rough times. His wife died
recently so he has been living just with his 14 year old daughter. He
mentioned that whenever he walks past our church, he was curious about
what is inside. So we gave him a tour and talked a bit about the
church. We exchanged contact info and offered him a Plan of Salvation
pamphlet and Book of Mormon. He gladly accepted and agreed to meet
again. It was a Christmas miracle! He was definitely prepared by the
Lord! We then had a shokuji (meal) with the Matsumoto family. The food
was soooo good! And get this, it was an American-style meal! It
reminded me of Christmas dinner back home. The Matsumoto's are so
sweet! We also shared the "Light the World" video and talked about
service. What a great Christmas!
I hope all of you are taking the time to remember the real reason we
celebrate Christmas. God gave the greatest gift of all, His son, Jesus
Christ. Christ gave us the gift of the Atonement. I testify that
through Jesus Christ and the gospel, we can improve our lives and live
with our Heavenly Father again. I love everything about this gospel
and how it has changed my life. Even though Christmas is coming to an
end, I ask all of you to always remember Christ and always look for
opportunities to serve others. I know you will be blessed if you do it
from your heart. As always, thank you for the support and love. I wish
all of you a very Merry Christmas!! Please continue to spread that
CHRISTmas love!
-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 or 茶武長老
愛しています^_^