皆さんこんにちは!
What an adventurous week! It rained a bunch this week and it started to get pretty warm...summer is coming! Oh and Happy Easter everyone!
Last Monday night, while heading back to our bikes, we heard someone playing the guitar. Me being a music fanatic, we went up to the house and listened. He was super good! And someone was singing too! It was like a jazz/blues type of song. We talked to them through the window for bit. Unfortunately we couldn't say much because it was actually a lesson haha. Cool experience though!
Last Tuesday was crazy; it rained the whole day. Nevertheless, we stuck to our plans and went to 武蔵小杉(Musashi-kosugi). Streeting didn't go too well due to the rain so we began housing. We did that for a few hours. When we were heading back, we got stopped by some police; they asked for our ministerial certificates and foreigner cards. No problems there; we even talked to them for a bit. Unfortunately, my shoes were falling apart(and they were in bad shape before the rain); I was basically walking in a puddle of water. As much as I love rain(which is a lot because it hardly rains in California), it isn't as enjoyable as a missionary. Anyway, we didn't find anyone that had interest but it was still a great day for working hard! The rain can't stop us!
Friday was pretty fun. We helped Liu姉妹's friend move into her new apartment in the morning. We then biked to 二子新地(Futako Shinchi), which is about a 10 minute bike ride. We didn't think there would be much success since it was so close by. After saying a prayer, we began housing. 5 houses later, we run into this bright yellow house. Next to the kekko box(doorbell) were some pretty inappropriate stickers; we already had bad impressions. We rang the bell anyway and a lady answered. I said we would like to share a message about Jesus Christ and she said in English, "Oh wait, I'll be right out". That shocked us; hearing English from non-missionaries is super weird. She came out and talked to us in English; her name is Malou (pronounced Maloo) and she is Filipino. She has walked past our church several times and has always wanted to go in but didn't know if she could because she wasn't a member. We explained to her that everyone is welcome; she thought that was awesome. She recently became a Born-again Christian but felt like she was still missing something. We talked about Jesus Christ and that our church is the only true church. She was happy to hear that and said we were an answer to her prayers! She said she would come to church whenever possible. She's definitely a 金人! The only problem is that her husband is pretty much opposed to the fact that there is a God and doesn't let her go to her current church every week. We couldn't give her a モルモン書 or anything because we only had Japanese copies, but we referred her to the sisters; hopefully they can meet soon. What a miracle!! It definitely strengthened my faith and testimony that God does prepare people for us to find!
After river cleaning on Saturday, I tried Black Thunder ice cream for the first time!! It's the best!! Sunday was an adventure! My companion and I taught the 9-10 year old primary class; we talked about Easter! It was pretty hard to keep them focused but it was fun! After church, we went to the 鶴丸(Tsurumaru) 家族's house for dinner. We asked 鶴丸兄弟 what he did for work...he said he's a hand model!! He models jewelry! How cool is that! We told him to be careful while cooking so he doesn't injure his amazing hands haha :p We had sandwich rolls and Korean BBQ! The food kept on coming; Schow長老 and I were struggling to finish it! The sisters couldn't keep up haha! And then he brought out some giant cupcakes; I couldn't finish mine. 鶴丸兄弟 shared some stories from his mission. We planned on sharing the message but the sisters did instead. They asked them to share the gospel with their family/friends; they said they would try their best. They are such a great family! I love them so much! There are too many great families in 川崎！Who put them all in one ward!!?? It's going to be hard to leave them!
We had lunch with the Yamashita's youngest son, Aiki. By the way, the Yamashita family is another great family from the ward. He took us to 焼肉(yakiniku), which is basically like Korean BBQ. BBQ two days in a row haha! It was kind of 懐かしい because I had KBBQ with my friends before I left. Anyway, it was super good! I even tried cow tongue! He wanted to get better at English(even though he is basically fluent) so we only spoke in English with him. He's about our age; he isn't going to college or thinking about serving a mission though. So we are trying to help him develop that desire to serve. We shared a message about the Tree of Life and challenged him to read the モルモン書 every day; he was excited to do it! Another amazing member!
With Easter this past weekend, I had a lot of time to think about our Savior, Jesus Christ. I even went to the temple today. As you know, we aren't perfect. We have flaws. We don't know everything. We make mistakes. We will eventually die. But that's okay. God knows everything about us and has provided us with a plan. His plan is centered on Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Through Jesus Christ and the Atonement, we can become the person that God wants us to be. We can be forgiven of our mistakes and shortcomings. We can change and improve. Because Jesus Christ was resurrected, we too will be resurrected. A month before I left for the mission, my grandfather passed away. I was sad, yet peace filled my soul. I know that I can be with him again because of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! May all of you have a blessed week! またね!
-Elder Chab
チャブ長老 or 茶武長老
愛しています^_^
This was from a few weeks ago... Abura soba before 英会話!!
After Ricard's birthday lunch!
Last picture of sakura before they died :( Until next year!