Hello! Well, week one was crazy! but fun! Let me fill you in on what's coming up in the wonderful Japan Fukuoka Mission. First! zone conference is on the 19th! I know you don't really know what that means haha but I'm excited! and second!!! ELDER NELSON, yes THE elder Nelson, is coming to our mission! so on the 21st the whole mission will be going to Fukuoka to hear from him!! So exciting!! Anyways!
Tuesday was one of the hardest days I've had on my mission I think. It rained literally all day. It poured rain ALL day. and it was freezing cold. So me and Horio shimai were out dendoing (tracking) in our rain suits all day and gosh. We were both in the worst mood. I was complaining in my head all day and just wanted to go home. We talked to over 100 people that day and only 4 of them actually listened to us and so we were both just feeling way discouraged. Anyways, we got to this one house and all this lady said to us was I hate Christ and slammed the door.... gosh. we both just stood there in silence for a minute, looked at each other, and moved on to the next house. well gosh, hearing that literally hurt me. I felt like I got punched in the stomach. I didn't understand how someone could say that about the person that suffered more than we can imagine for each and everyone of us. Then I realized how horrible I was being, and my attitude was not showing my love for my Savior. He suffered more than I will ever know for me and all I could do was complain about the rain. So I quickly changed my attitude and smiled the rest of our dendo time. It was a really humbling experience. It's easy to complain about all the hard things we have to do, but Christ, who did more difficult things than any of us will ever bear, never complained even once.
Anyways, on Wednesdays we have kids eikaiwa (English class)! It's way fun! The kids are all so cute and just love us to death! It's 30 minutes of games and singing songs! haha it's way happy! Thursdays is our normal eikaiwa... there are about 10 people that come and they are all way old haha and two of them don't get along so we have to always make sure they're separated haha. it's ridiculous. But I love eikaiwa! it's always fun and full of laughs!
Sunday was the longest day of church ever! gosh we had so many long meetings, and by the end I thought my head was going to explode from all of the Japanese!!! But I survived and it was okay haha. We also had dinner at the Hayashi families home. Gosh, they are so awesome! They have 8 kids, they are all grown and moved out, except the youngest one! She's 15 and so awesome! The ward here is so great! There are so many kids! It's the happiest. This little girl just sat behind me in church and braided my hair haha. it was adorable.
People here are kind of cold though. When we dendo no one wants to listen to us. We talked to over 400 people this week... which is A LOT.... and only 1 of them became a new investigator. But ya know, it was totally worth it! Her name is Wada san. She's way awesome and loves to talk. We talked to her for a really long time and were almost late getting home haha. She's Protestant but hasn't been to church in a long time. After we talked she thanked us and told us that for the first time in a really long time she felt good inside. She told ust that her heart felt clean. gosh! meeting Wada san was most definitely worth the 400 rejections. God also blesses us for our efforts. He know that me and Horio shimai are working our hardest and our efforts are not going unnoticed. and I'm really grateful for that.
Missions are awesome, and I can't believe mine is half done. Time flies WAY too fast. it's kind of a little sad actually. but even when the mission is over we never stop being missionaries! so that's happy! Anyways! I love you all!! Have a great week!
Tuesday was one of the hardest days I've had on my mission I think. It rained literally all day. It poured rain ALL day. and it was freezing cold. So me and Horio shimai were out dendoing (tracking) in our rain suits all day and gosh. We were both in the worst mood. I was complaining in my head all day and just wanted to go home. We talked to over 100 people that day and only 4 of them actually listened to us and so we were both just feeling way discouraged. Anyways, we got to this one house and all this lady said to us was I hate Christ and slammed the door.... gosh. we both just stood there in silence for a minute, looked at each other, and moved on to the next house. well gosh, hearing that literally hurt me. I felt like I got punched in the stomach. I didn't understand how someone could say that about the person that suffered more than we can imagine for each and everyone of us. Then I realized how horrible I was being, and my attitude was not showing my love for my Savior. He suffered more than I will ever know for me and all I could do was complain about the rain. So I quickly changed my attitude and smiled the rest of our dendo time. It was a really humbling experience. It's easy to complain about all the hard things we have to do, but Christ, who did more difficult things than any of us will ever bear, never complained even once.
Anyways, on Wednesdays we have kids eikaiwa (English class)! It's way fun! The kids are all so cute and just love us to death! It's 30 minutes of games and singing songs! haha it's way happy! Thursdays is our normal eikaiwa... there are about 10 people that come and they are all way old haha and two of them don't get along so we have to always make sure they're separated haha. it's ridiculous. But I love eikaiwa! it's always fun and full of laughs!
Sunday was the longest day of church ever! gosh we had so many long meetings, and by the end I thought my head was going to explode from all of the Japanese!!! But I survived and it was okay haha. We also had dinner at the Hayashi families home. Gosh, they are so awesome! They have 8 kids, they are all grown and moved out, except the youngest one! She's 15 and so awesome! The ward here is so great! There are so many kids! It's the happiest. This little girl just sat behind me in church and braided my hair haha. it was adorable.
People here are kind of cold though. When we dendo no one wants to listen to us. We talked to over 400 people this week... which is A LOT.... and only 1 of them became a new investigator. But ya know, it was totally worth it! Her name is Wada san. She's way awesome and loves to talk. We talked to her for a really long time and were almost late getting home haha. She's Protestant but hasn't been to church in a long time. After we talked she thanked us and told us that for the first time in a really long time she felt good inside. She told ust that her heart felt clean. gosh! meeting Wada san was most definitely worth the 400 rejections. God also blesses us for our efforts. He know that me and Horio shimai are working our hardest and our efforts are not going unnoticed. and I'm really grateful for that.
Missions are awesome, and I can't believe mine is half done. Time flies WAY too fast. it's kind of a little sad actually. but even when the mission is over we never stop being missionaries! so that's happy! Anyways! I love you all!! Have a great week!