皆さんこんにちは！
Tomorrow (the 14th), I hit the 6 month mark! I can't believe it! I feel like I've learned and accomplished a lot within that period but then I also feel like I haven't. It's a weird feeling. Either way, I am still going to strive to do my best and make the most out of the mission.
We had a mini conference on Wednesday at the Fujisawa(藤沢) stake center in Shonandai. It was 懐かしい(natsukashii-memorable, nostalgic) because I hadn't been there since Christmas. I was able to get a picture with ALL of my companions! Anyway, Sister Warnick talked to us about 英会話 and how to improve the quality of it. President Warnick talked about some goals and the new missionary schedule. We also watched the training broadcast for mission presidents.
We had zone meeting early Thursday morning. Then Friday night, Gutierrez 長老 and I went to the Kanagawa(神奈川) area so we could start zone leader splits. I was with Murata(村田) 長老 and Gutierrez長老 was with Molen 長老。The next day, 村田長老and I tried to street after studies but there weren't too many people around. So we began housing. Again, not too much success; people either weren't home or didn't answer the door. However, one of the few people that did answer, came out to talk with us. We had a good discussion about God and how he can help us. We also talked about prayer a little bit. She was involved in the little discussion; she seemed super 金人(kinjin- golden investigator). But at the end she said she wasn't interested :( That's okay though; she wasn't as ready as we thought. There are other fields ready to harvest :)
We had zone meeting early Thursday morning. Then Friday night, Gutierrez 長老 and I went to the Kanagawa(神奈川) area so we could start zone leader splits. I was with Murata(村田) 長老 and Gutierrez長老 was with Molen 長老。The next day, 村田長老and I tried to street after studies but there weren't too many people around. So we began housing. Again, not too much success; people either weren't home or didn't answer the door. However, one of the few people that did answer, came out to talk with us. We had a good discussion about God and how he can help us. We also talked about prayer a little bit. She was involved in the little discussion; she seemed super 金人(kinjin- golden investigator). But at the end she said she wasn't interested :( That's okay though; she wasn't as ready as we thought. There are other fields ready to harvest :)
We had a special sacrament meeting on Sunday. Elder Choi(Area Presidency), Elder Whiting(of the 70), Elder Gong( of the 70), and President Warnick along with their wives came to sacrament meeting. Most of them shared their testimony. Then Elder Gong talked about the strengthening power of the Atonement. All of their messages were amazing! You could definitely feeling their spiritual presence as they were in the room.
Gutierrez 長老 and I taught the English doctrine class. The lesson was about "The Only True and Living Church". When we talked about the importance of sacrament, Sister Esther made a comment, with no offense intended, "Indians always eat curry, so they smell like curry. If we keep taking the sacrament, we will smell like Jesus". What an example haha :p The implied meaning was "By taking the sacrament often, we can remember Jesus and become like him". Always remember our Savior when taking the sacrament!
Later in the evening, I did some contacting as Gutierrez長老 finished backing up his iPad. He hasn't had the email app on his iPad for almost this whole transfer and the iPad would act up every now and then. He wiped everything off it after backing it up and restored it to almost factory settings and lo and behold, the mail app came back!
It was an odd week. Especially since our P-day was on Tuesday and we had all those meetings. But it was good nevertheless. I also tried to focus on being more optimistic this week. Even if the day was slow and no one wanted to listen to us, I tried to maintain a positive attitude. I wasn't able to do it 100% of the time but I can honestly say that by just trying, there was a huge difference. Helaman 5:12 states:
" And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
Make Christ your foundation and the adversary will have no power over you. Go to church because you actually want to, not because you have to. Read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, because you want to. Turn off that autopilot mode and remember the reasons for doing these things. God knows what will help us in our lives and he has given it to us. We just have to take that first step with real intent before we receive all his blessings :) I know that is true ^-^ I hope all of you have a splendid week! Remember to make Christ your foundation! またね!
-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 or 茶武長老
愛しています^_^
All of the companions I've had out in the field! Coleman長老, Gutierrez長老, Jödicke長老, and Lind長老!
Maeda兄弟！Our investigator cancelled on us so we texted Maeda兄弟 but he didn't read it and thought the lesson was still on so he showed up at church. We had a mini lesson/testimony meeting with him instead!
Some of our amazing 英会話 students!