頼もう！
Hello wonderful bamboo shoots! In one of my favorite dishes, abura soba, they have these things called menma. It's basically boiled bamboo shoots. They've kinda got the texture of a rubbery, boiled carrot. I thought it was pretty weird when I first tried it; I didn't think you could eat bamboo like that. But it's good. 10/10 would recommend :)
We went to an area called 星川(Hoshikawa) on Tuesday. Before I proceed, let me tell you a bit about the area. 星川 literally means "star river". Most of the buildings in that area are pretty tall; some 20 stories high. You can definitely see stars better at night. And right in the middle of the town is a river. So it lives up to its name. Anyway, we decided to house a 12-floor apartment building. We knocked on about 30 doors starting from the top and decided to go back streeting. We came across and older guy; we greeted him and he stopped. We mentioned that we were missionaries and that we teach about Jesus Christ. He told us that he normally wouldn't stop and talk to people like us but he felt something special this time. He also said he was drunk :p. But he wanted to meet again so he gave us his number after taking a Book of Mormon. He works night shifts and he sleeps in the day, so he's a bit hard to contact. But hopefully he is as sincere about meeting when he was drunk.
We went to a number of places for finding this week. In the end, we were able to talk to a lot of people and get a new potential investigator each day. It was a lot of fun. With LINE, getting contact info has never been easier! We are trying super hard to contact these people as much as we can and set up some lessons.
On Saturday night, we took some time to prepare for the Christmas open house held at the mission 本部 in 吉祥寺(Kichijoji). There will be Christmas decorations, including nativity sets, from 60 countries. Warnick姉妹 loves and collects nativity sets. All the missionaries will be working hard to make this two-day event full of Christmas spirit; it'll be a great introduction to Christ and Christmas for the people here. My district and the Kamakura district were asked to sing for 30 mins. So we practiced singing some Christmas hymns that night. We practiced today as well. I am super excited!
So Sunday morning, we received a referral from the Japan Fukuoka mission. This referral was met on the airplane to Japan, by one of the new missionaries straight from the MTC. That's so cool; props to that missionary. As with all referrals, we tried to contact them ASAP. We called and emailed; no response. We decided we would try to visit the guy then. Only thing was that he lived at the lowest point of our area, with no train to get down there. Our options were to take the 40 min bike ride or pack up our bikes, take a train to the closest station, unpack the bikes and bike for about 10 minutes to his house. We went with the second option. We packed up our bikes and got on a train. After we got off, we started putting our bikes together (mainly just the front wheel to the frame). I finished my bike then looked at my companion. He said he couldn't find the axle for the front wheel. We searched in his bag and couldn't find it. We assumed it was left on the floor before we got on the train. We called Don兄弟 and asked if he could drive us because he lived close by. He agreed and off we went. We arrived at the address but one problem. It was all apartments and the address we had didn't have an apartment number. So we called again; no answer. Then we knocked on all 12 doors; no one with that name. We then drove back and thanked Don兄弟 and headed back home on the train. When we got to our station, we surprised to find that the front axle was nowhere to be found. That was a lot of disappointment for one night, so much for our Sunday. I trust there was reasoning for all that though.
Last thing, I'd like to share some stuff from my studies this morning. I was reading the Book of Mormon and "Our Search for Happiness" by M. Russell Ballard. I came across 3 Nephi 13:20-22 while reading the Book of Mormon today, which reads:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
In "Our Search for Happiness", Elder Ballard shares the same words, but from Matthew 5:19-21. That was a really cool connection between from the Bible and Book of Mormon.
Anyway, I want to share some insights. There are a lot of things that bring us happiness and joy in this world. Food, games, sports, money, friends, the list goes on. But true happiness comes from living the gospel. Non-worldly things. Eternal families, loving others and being loved. I know that as we place our treasures in the eternal aspect, we will be full of light and we will be able to share it with others.
I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday as well. I don't remember everything I said but I had mentioned my grandpa that passed away last August; he had Parkinson's disease. Rather than sorrow, I was filled with peace knowing that I will see him again after this life and that through the gospel, we can overcome trials. A couple members came up to me with tears in their eyes, thanking me for my words. I know it was the spirit that guided my words though. I love the mission so much! また来週ね！
-Elder Chab
チャブ長老
愛しています(^-^)
View from 12 stories up
Picture from last transfer with the Yamazaki family!