皆さんこんにちは！
So as you probably have noticed, the titles for my weekly's are quite strange..This week is no exception! We didn't get to do too much this week because our transfer was kinda strange, especially because we closed our apartment.
We did a TON of cleaning on Wednesday. We went to the care home to begin our weekly service. They had us clean the floor, tables, chairs, and windows of the cafeteria. Nothing better than service! After that, Gutierrez 長老 and I packed all of our stuff; it took quite a while and wasn't easy, especially because we had acquired more stuff since we first got to 川崎. Then we did some heavy duty cleaning! We wiped the dust off everything, vacuumed, got rid of junk, and scrubbed the mold off under the bath. It definitely wasn't easy and took pretty much the rest of the day. That's what happens when past missionaries didn't clean up the apartments regularly! So please do everyone a favor and keep your living areas clean! That includes non-missionaries too! Just a quick analogy. This is what putting off our salvation is like. If we keep waiting to repent, it continues to build up and makes it harder for us to repent in the future. We must repent everyday! (^o^)/
The other elders came over when we were finished to help us move all of our stuff and food to their apartment. We then said goodbye to our freshly cleaned apartment and locked the door for the last time :( Gutierrez長老 and I "transferred" that night because we are just moving apartments, not areas. Bradford長老 made a cake in a rice cooker to celebrate the end of an amazing transfer and the end of 紺野長老's mission! It was pretty good, especially for being made in a rice cooker! Gutierrez長老, Bradford長老, and I also did the egg challenge; we ate a whole raw egg(yes the shell too). It wasn't that bad haha (⌒▽⌒)
Transfer day was pretty crazy. Gutierrez長老 left early to pick up his bean at the 本部(honbu-headquarters), Bradford長老 and Morris 長老 then went to their areas, and then 紺野長老 went to the 本部. Schow長老 and I stayed behind and became 同僚s! Gutierrez長老's new companion is Brimhall長老; To姉妹's is Patch 姉妹. We had an awesome 英会話 in the evening. I am super excited for this next transfer!
So we met a lot of interesting people on Friday. We went to the church after studies to look up the area we planned to 伝道 at. While standing outside, a guy came up to us and asked(in 日本語）"Is this the Mizonokuchi church?" . We said yes and asked why. He mumbled some stuff in 日本語 that both Schow 長老 and I didn't understand. He then asked if he could go in; we said yes and then walked with him to the door. We asked him why and he made some weird gestures and said in broken English "Is this where I get the drugs?". We said no and said he had the wrong place and invited him to come to church on Sunday but he just left. At night, we went to 武蔵新城 to street. We passed a bunch of people waiting in line outside for a popular ramen shop. We asked a guy in line if the place was good and that just turned into a really awesome conversation! We shared that we are all children of God and talked about what we do as missionaries. After about 10 minutes, it was his turn to go in so he had to leave, but we invited him to church and 英会話。He was super nice! If we didn't eat dinner an hour earlier, we probably would've gone in with him so we could talk to him more! To wrap up the night, we talked to this guy who owned a shop that sold food from Okinawa. We got to know him a bit and talked about church. Unfortunately he can't get off work on Sunday because he owns the shop. But it was a great day for 伝道!
Sunday was pretty 長い(nagai-long). The new missionaries gave a little introduction in sacrament meeting. I passed out the cookies we made to the members. Brother Wells' gospel doctrine class ended up just being us missionaries and Ricard; the lesson was about missionary work haha (^-^) We then had a lesson with Ricard; we gave him the after baptism "Temples and Family History" and "Learning and Serving in the Church" pamphlets. Then Suzuki姉妹 asked Schow 長老 and I if we could sing a hymn in Spanish for her friend, which happened to be Yokoyama姉妹. We sung "Las familias pueden ser eternas" or "Families Can Be Together Forever" for you non-spanish speakers :p Before we sung, Suzuki姉妹 thanked Yokoyama姉妹 for helping her and testified a bit; Suzuki姉妹 started crying a bit. It was so sweet :') After lunch, we came back to church because 今野兄弟 asked us to sing with the ward choir for the upcoming ward conference. We are singing "Press Forward, Saints" (in 日本語). Both of us are singing the bass part; it's so much fun! I never thought I would like singing so much!
Just to wrap things up, I want to share something I came across while studying this morning. Some people don't believe in God because they think that there are no more miracles. But as the scriptures states many times, "God is the same as yesterday, today, and forever". Also, Moroni 9 talks about miracles.
15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.
16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God?
20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.
21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.
There are miracles all around us. They may be small but they do exist. God has given us so much and each day we wake up is a miracle. One stops seeing miracles when they stop believing. We must have faith before we receive/see. I love the promise stated in the last verse. As long as we believe in Christ and ask in the name of Christ, as long as it be good, it will be granted to us. What an amazing promise! I am so thankful for that knowledge. I am thankful for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know that as you turn your life over to Him, you will begin to see more miracles than ever before. I love all of you! I hope you have a great week! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 or 茶武長老
愛しています^_^
The rice cooker cake!
A great way to end a transfer!
Scrubbing the mold under the tub wasn't fun!