T'was an interesting week. Lot of rain. And a typhoon. But we are all good!
We had to say goodbye to our third link this week, Elder Hansen. Selling a bike took much more time than anticipated; lesson learned. We then went on splits with the zone leaders. Elder Knapp and I went to good ol' Kamakura for district council; I forgot what it was like to have more than 3 people in your district haha. After making it back to 藤沢, we celebrated Elder Hansen's birthday at Tonsai, a tonkatsu restaurant. We filled ourselves up and then parted ways. After finalzing some packing the next morning, we went to the 本部 to drop him off. It was a sad goodbye but I know the Lord will watch over him as he enters the next chapter of his life.
Had some pretty awkward conversations with people on the street. One guy stopped after I asked for some good restaurants to eat at. He paused, as if he was thinking, looked at my nametag, then my companion's, told us to wait for a bit, put back his headphones on and then dashed away. I was blown away. Luckily, I've gotten used to that kind of treatment but wow, seems like my nametag is like a gun or something haha.
We did meet some really nice people though while housing, including a kid from Brazil. He accepted a Book of Mormon and we'll probably be stopping by to visit him and his family this week.
Sunday was a busy day. My companion and I had to split for the 3rd hour of church because I was to be part of a missionary fireside in Yamato and my companion and I were assigned to give talks in the Zama branch. I talked to the ward members about using social media to do missionary work and then booked it back to Zama, in time to catch the last 5 minutes of my companion's well done talk. I went up next and talked about some things that I have learned on my mission, including the guidance of the spirit and loving others. This was the first time I had spoken in sacrament meeting in English since I left, so I didn't know how it would turn out. I pretty much ditched what I had written and kept going. I don't remember too much but many of the members thanked us after and Sister Giles had told us, with tears in her eyes, that what needed to be said today was said. I was a bit surprised but I remembered that it was not me that spoke, it was the Holy Ghost. I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost and his guidance!
Well, this is my last full week in Japan, as much as I hate to admit it. We have a lot of work to do with the ward and branch members this week. I'm super excited!
Also, if there is anyone wanting to know more about my homecoming, please contact my mom, Montira Chab on Facebook!
-Elder Chab