頼もう
Pretty full of Christmas activities this week, even though most people don't celebrate Christmas here. Christmas to Japanese includes eating Christmas cake (especially strawberry shortcake), going to KFC on Christmas, and LOTS of Christmas sales for clothes and what not. They save the big celebrations for New Year, or 正月(shōgatsu). Bit different to what I am used to but hey, it's still pretty cool.
Finding this week was pretty rough. Most people didn't even stop to talk to us after we greeted them. I went on splits with one of the zone leaders, 水口長老, and we had the opportunity to do some online 伝道. We used FaceBook and sent videos to members. The work is hastening...fast :p Unfortunately our finding didn't go too well; more rejections. Kind of discouraging, especially on splits, but there's a lot to learn from those as well.
Saturday was jam packed of Christmas. We headed over to the 本部 early in the morning for the Christmas Open House. My group practiced a bit then we got to work. My companion and I were sent to manage the Nativity room. There were dozens of Nativity sets from all of the world. It was really cool to see. There were lots of missionaries inviting people on the streets to come check out the open house as well as a bunch caroling in front of the church. My district and the 鎌倉 district got to sing as well;. We sung Picture a Christmas, the Nativity Song, and many more. As we sung, I couldn't help but notice that there I was, in Tokyo, singing songs from my primary days. Just amazing :)
We hopped back on a train after our shift to go to our ward Christmas party. We waited at the station for someone we met the day before who said he was going to come but he didn't show up. The ward party was pretty fun; we played some Christmas games and ate some really nice food, including Costco chicken and pizza! Plus, Santa came to town! I didn't know he spoke Japanese, so that was different :p
The primary kids gave each of us a Christmas poster they had made. How cute! Then later at night, we went as a district to visit the American guy with the big Christmas decorations on his house. His name is Daniel. We rang the bell and started singing. When he and his wife came out, they had the greatest smiles on their face. After he finished, he went back into his house, and then came back with a bag of cookies for us! Unfortunately he went back in right after that, so we didn't get to talk to him. Glad we could help them feel the Savior's love for them though :) We then knocked on a couple doors before the night ended and sang to everyone. Most people shut the door on us once we started singing but we just kept going. I love spreading the Christmas spirit, even if others don't understand it yet. As we were sitting in our apartment later than night, someone rang our doorbell. We opened the door to find the 田口 family outside; they gave us a Costco pizza and bagels! I love them so much! Christmas is next week soo let's continue to light the world together! また来週ね！
-Elder Chab
チャブ長老
愛しています(^-^)
Nativity set from Cambodia!
Thailand!
Japan!