So, this was a pretty good week. Lots of effective contacting and finding. Lots of miracles.
Wednesday: We decided to go and find a danchi in the next valley over and we don't quite make it. When there are roads on the side of big hills, they tend to be very windy and very confusing, but we did find a nice little apartment to house. Only one person answered, but he accepted a Book of Mormon and told us that we could come back! He was really nice. Then we contacted before Eikaiwa and did studies, we were able to talk to a man who previously didn't live in our area, but just moved here this week when we contacted him. He was really nice too and wants to meet, so we will wait for his schedule to clear up.
Thursday: interviews and Weekly planning. Today, nothing really happened to us. Interviews were an hour behind, so we talked to Sister Warnick and got to know her better. They were in Sagamihara, two areas over, so we took the train. Then we did weekly planning, always a blast... One funny thing from today was the other elders experience during the middle of the night. Their fire alarm went off and there was no problem, so they told the Warnicks. Everything was fine after that, but the elders phones were on silent, so when the Warnicks were worried if it was the CO alarm and didn't get an answer from the now sleeping elders, they sent the fire department and police department to their apartment. They had a very interesting night, but some of the public service people took a pamphlet and flyers, so hopefully they will call the elders back. That was a really funny story the way they
told it, s i am sorry that you had to hear it from me, it made us laugh for 10 minutes.
Friday: We went to Shin-Yurigaka to the police station to get permission to do a kubari as a zone. We will have a blitz soon, so once again, i have been to a police department. Sorry, i wasn't in trouble though. Then we did some more contacting to get ready to bring people to Stake Conference. At night, we met an investigator for sports night and he had a blast, but we don't know how interested he
is in the Gospel, but he was super nice. Saturday: Priesthood leadership meeting and Stake conference 1. Elder Choi came and told us all what is what and it was really good. I think that the members will have a better Dendō fire now and want to share the gospel with their friends. We went to the adult session with a member who had not been to church in several years. He saw a lot of
people that he missed, so i hope that he will come back more. We saw a lot of timing miracles. One is after stake conference. We had to stay later and write a report, but during the meeting, it was thundering and lightninging outside and just raining really hard. But when we were done with our report, so was the rain, so we biked home dry. Another is where n we used the bank. I didn't think that i needed to use the bank, but then after elder Salamanopoulos was done, i went in and when i came out, he had stopped a guy who was way prepared. He started daily contact with us, s we will start to meet with him soon, I hope.
Sunday: long day, but good day. The end of Stake Conference was good, lots of good things for the members i think. We did stats and studies, then got lost at night going to a place to house, but ended up going in a big circle back to the apartment at about the time that we had planned t be back, so we contacted again and found another person who is ready to meet from the phone. So many random people in this phone, but it looks like they are all ready now, if they weren't when old missionaries put them in.
Monday: P-day, we finished shopping, and are going to get Elder Salamanopoulos a new prescription for his glasses. We are also going to clean for inspections this week. There are only the two of us in
this big house, so it is already pretty clean, but there are some parts that need some TLC.
Well, it was good to write everyone, i love you! Have a goood start of the school year, i will pray for you!
�郅筏皮い蓼工瑁�
マ�`フィ�`�L老
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Hello from the top of the Mountains (hills)
Hey everyone, how is it where it is flat, if you are in Texas that is. This week, it really hit me how big this hills are when we were looking at a roof that was where our feet were. I will take a picture the next time we are there. It is only on the next hill over.
Here is the speedy version of this week,
Tuesday: District Meeting because we have Zone Conference on Wednesday. We got together and had a training on how to talk to people with out a Christian Background about God and Prayer, which, get this, and I didn't know this until the next day, is what the president was going to give a training on, so there you go, extra help from the Spirit so that everyone would wake up at that part of Zone Conference. Then we went to Shin-Yurigaoka, which I think is my favorite Eki that I have ever been too. Not because there are lots of people all of the time or there are good shops and food, but the architecture and the atmosphere is just amazing. I feel so relaxed there it helps me dendō better. imagine a train line running down a valley and spanning the valley, a multi-leveled building with walkways that are a story up, but seem and feel like ground level. It is just really well put together and it awesome. That is my rant for the day.
Wednesday: we caught an early train to Sagamihara, which is almost an hour away from us, so we were up early, but we got there on time for practicing "We thank thee O God for a Prophet" with the district, except for the zone leaders. Zone Conference was really good, lots of talk about being more accountable and being better at planning. The Oldest missionary in the zone, Sister Kawamistu (she is dying in September), couldn't even remember when the last time an accountability training was given, so it might have been the first in the mission. We will have to do better. But it was good and long. At eikaiwa, we taught the intermediate class about body parts, so i had to remember Biology and that kind of stuff. The sisters were going to teach it, but plans changed. They set up a really hard board to work on. During the game, it was just guys, the Elders and a handful of 50 years+ men playing do you love your neighbor. It was hilarious. We played with penalties and the performances were the ABC song, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, etc. from the missionaries, because we were
the only ones penalized.
Thursday: Weekly planning. I cant remember what else we did that day though, it is a good thing that i have a planner to do that with me. And then we did splits. I went with Elder Poulsen from Indiana and we had a good evening.
Friday: Sports night and a lesson! Elder Poulsen and i taught a new investigator, who is now our new grandpa in Japan. He was super nice and needed some grandsons to eat lunch with. It was a good lesson and next time he will bring his son with him.
Saturday: I had splits with Elder Abe from Akita. We had a great time too. In total, during splits, we gave out 10 copies of the Book of Mormon, so South America, you have been challenged! We saw a magic show on the street and it was really impressive. He made the card go inside of his wallet, which had two other wallets and then come out of his mouth! Super cool, 魔法！
Sunday: super busy, we had a shokuji with a recent convert and his wife in the mountains of Machida 1 and it rained on the bike ride there. It was really good. They are Ramen professionals, so it was
really good, but it cant replace Asada Shimai's cooking. We were officially drafted into the choir, so no backing out of it.
Monday: we got to dendo with Rick (Riku), the son of one of the counselors in the bishopric, and he is way good. We met a man from West Africa and France, and then a group of immigrants from Vietnam. They were really happy because I had pamphlets in French and Vietnamese. They accepted, but they live in the North mission, so I hope that they call up the missionaries over there. It was a good night of dendō.
Tuesday: The Last Temple P-day... Everyone was there, everyone was sad, but everyone was blessed. The temple is an amazing place where you go to feel the Spirit and to receive answers to your questions. I know that with all of my heart. Also, on the spiritual note, here is a really good one about agency that is a lot easier to catch than others, Helaman 14:30-31. It is super good, and applies to everyone, literally.
I love you all so much, have a great week and good luck with school
starting up again!�郅筏皮い蓼工瑁�
マ�`フィ�`�L老
Here is the speedy version of this week,
Tuesday: District Meeting because we have Zone Conference on Wednesday. We got together and had a training on how to talk to people with out a Christian Background about God and Prayer, which, get this, and I didn't know this until the next day, is what the president was going to give a training on, so there you go, extra help from the Spirit so that everyone would wake up at that part of Zone Conference. Then we went to Shin-Yurigaoka, which I think is my favorite Eki that I have ever been too. Not because there are lots of people all of the time or there are good shops and food, but the architecture and the atmosphere is just amazing. I feel so relaxed there it helps me dendō better. imagine a train line running down a valley and spanning the valley, a multi-leveled building with walkways that are a story up, but seem and feel like ground level. It is just really well put together and it awesome. That is my rant for the day.
Wednesday: we caught an early train to Sagamihara, which is almost an hour away from us, so we were up early, but we got there on time for practicing "We thank thee O God for a Prophet" with the district, except for the zone leaders. Zone Conference was really good, lots of talk about being more accountable and being better at planning. The Oldest missionary in the zone, Sister Kawamistu (she is dying in September), couldn't even remember when the last time an accountability training was given, so it might have been the first in the mission. We will have to do better. But it was good and long. At eikaiwa, we taught the intermediate class about body parts, so i had to remember Biology and that kind of stuff. The sisters were going to teach it, but plans changed. They set up a really hard board to work on. During the game, it was just guys, the Elders and a handful of 50 years+ men playing do you love your neighbor. It was hilarious. We played with penalties and the performances were the ABC song, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, etc. from the missionaries, because we were
the only ones penalized.
Thursday: Weekly planning. I cant remember what else we did that day though, it is a good thing that i have a planner to do that with me. And then we did splits. I went with Elder Poulsen from Indiana and we had a good evening.
Friday: Sports night and a lesson! Elder Poulsen and i taught a new investigator, who is now our new grandpa in Japan. He was super nice and needed some grandsons to eat lunch with. It was a good lesson and next time he will bring his son with him.
Saturday: I had splits with Elder Abe from Akita. We had a great time too. In total, during splits, we gave out 10 copies of the Book of Mormon, so South America, you have been challenged! We saw a magic show on the street and it was really impressive. He made the card go inside of his wallet, which had two other wallets and then come out of his mouth! Super cool, 魔法！
Sunday: super busy, we had a shokuji with a recent convert and his wife in the mountains of Machida 1 and it rained on the bike ride there. It was really good. They are Ramen professionals, so it was
really good, but it cant replace Asada Shimai's cooking. We were officially drafted into the choir, so no backing out of it.
Monday: we got to dendo with Rick (Riku), the son of one of the counselors in the bishopric, and he is way good. We met a man from West Africa and France, and then a group of immigrants from Vietnam. They were really happy because I had pamphlets in French and Vietnamese. They accepted, but they live in the North mission, so I hope that they call up the missionaries over there. It was a good night of dendō.
Tuesday: The Last Temple P-day... Everyone was there, everyone was sad, but everyone was blessed. The temple is an amazing place where you go to feel the Spirit and to receive answers to your questions. I know that with all of my heart. Also, on the spiritual note, here is a really good one about agency that is a lot easier to catch than others, Helaman 14:30-31. It is super good, and applies to everyone, literally.
I love you all so much, have a great week and good luck with school
starting up again!�郅筏皮い蓼工瑁�
マ�`フィ�`�L老
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
A week of joy
Doctrine and Covenants 128:22-23
22 Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.
23 Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!
This is kind of how I felt this week, lots of hard work and rewarding feelings. This is the rundown of the week, I would like to start focusing more on experiences than what I do everyday, you can know that when I send home my planners. But for now,
Tuesday: District meeting: district meeting with 8 people is a lot more difficult than with 6, and we are separated from the other Elders because we live in a different apartment across the city, so information is hard to convey. Also, half of the district is Japanese and only 3 of us are native English speakers, so I prayed a lot before district meeting that everyone would be fine with how it turned out. Everything was fine, lots of work is being done in the Machida areas, so everyone is happy. We are going to sing "If You Could Hie to Kolob" in Zone conference this next week, so I am excited. It is not in Japanese, but I have a translated copy and everyone is good at singing (except me). Then we finally finished our weekly planning, and made some good goals.
Wednesday: Eikaiwa: tonight is music night apfor eikaiwa, so instead of playing a game, we let missionaries and investigators and students bring their musical talents to Eikaiwa and preform. We had the banjo, classical recorder, Ariana Grande karaoke and some missionaries singing hymns. But me and elder Salamanopoulos teach the TOEIC and Eiken class, which is really fun here. It isn't Hibarigaoka advanced class, but it will be fun.
Thursday: second weekly planning: we needed to double check our goals and extend some plans, but we were able to keep our planning short today. Then we hoped on a train meaning to go to the next Eki up, but we started to talk to this guy and it was really good, so we ended up going to the last Eki in our area, which is in Kawasaki city. Our area covers parts of Tokyo, Tama, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and machida, so that is pretty diverse, but so far everyone has been really nice to us. We had a good day of dendō and gave a Book of Mormon to a guy who is going to Kansas for study abroad.
Friday: sports night: today we went to Tsurukawa Eki, which is just over the "hill/mountain" but it was interesting, it has a different feel than Tamagawagakuen. We didn't find anyone that day, but it was nice, then we did studies and went to sports night where we gave a message about obedience. I played ping pong for about 2 1/2 hours with the sisters investigator. No one would switch me out, so I got some good practice in.
Saturday: we had a lesson! This is where all of the joy was felt. We went to teach a man who called us randomly on the church phone, and we thought that he might not be all of the way there, but we went anyways. We pull up and it takes him a while to answer the door because he is listening to some loud weird music. When we walk in, it is just crazy, the walls are covered in writings, and there are pills in calendars for him, so we know right off the bat that he is not all of the way there. We sit down and talk, but he has a hard time focusing, until we talk about prayer, because he believed that he had talked to some gods, (I was siting next to Robin, the wind God). When we taught him prayer, he literally exploded with joy! I am just going to say it, but he is the happiest person ever. We aren't going to be able to go back, so we left him with all of the pamphlets, a copy of the Book of Mormon, and who's to pray and the atmosphere in his apartment was so happy!
After our adventure with him, we ended up in a Eki called naruse, which was a bit of s bike ride from the church. We were there for a little while, but then we had a FHE activity at the church, only 3 members showed up, but we still helped them have a good time. We played some new games that I can't wait to play with all of you, but we had a nice time.
Sunday: very busy day. We went to church, and jumped in the wrong class. We walked right into the Gospel Doctrine class talking about the historical value of what was done in Nauvoo. Now, if this was English, I would have been fine, but it was rapid fire Japanese and I had a headache before we started. Wow. Intense. The. We joined the youth for a standards talk, but no one asked us questions. After church, we joined the choir or else there would have been only one guy... so we are singing again in 3 weeks. Lots of musical numbers. I hope some of it sticks for English singing. Then we eventually get home and do studies. We eat dinner and go Streeting for a bit and then sit down to contact the many strangers in our phone and area Book. Good time, good people.
Today: pizza with the district, Gyomu's super, daiso for elder Salamanopoulos' package, emails, playing 2 truths and a lie with the district and now we will continue in our efforts to see the area. Today: Shin-yurigaoka, wish us luck!
Love you all!
マーフィー長老
22 Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.
23 Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!
This is kind of how I felt this week, lots of hard work and rewarding feelings. This is the rundown of the week, I would like to start focusing more on experiences than what I do everyday, you can know that when I send home my planners. But for now,
Tuesday: District meeting: district meeting with 8 people is a lot more difficult than with 6, and we are separated from the other Elders because we live in a different apartment across the city, so information is hard to convey. Also, half of the district is Japanese and only 3 of us are native English speakers, so I prayed a lot before district meeting that everyone would be fine with how it turned out. Everything was fine, lots of work is being done in the Machida areas, so everyone is happy. We are going to sing "If You Could Hie to Kolob" in Zone conference this next week, so I am excited. It is not in Japanese, but I have a translated copy and everyone is good at singing (except me). Then we finally finished our weekly planning, and made some good goals.
Wednesday: Eikaiwa: tonight is music night apfor eikaiwa, so instead of playing a game, we let missionaries and investigators and students bring their musical talents to Eikaiwa and preform. We had the banjo, classical recorder, Ariana Grande karaoke and some missionaries singing hymns. But me and elder Salamanopoulos teach the TOEIC and Eiken class, which is really fun here. It isn't Hibarigaoka advanced class, but it will be fun.
Thursday: second weekly planning: we needed to double check our goals and extend some plans, but we were able to keep our planning short today. Then we hoped on a train meaning to go to the next Eki up, but we started to talk to this guy and it was really good, so we ended up going to the last Eki in our area, which is in Kawasaki city. Our area covers parts of Tokyo, Tama, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and machida, so that is pretty diverse, but so far everyone has been really nice to us. We had a good day of dendō and gave a Book of Mormon to a guy who is going to Kansas for study abroad.
Friday: sports night: today we went to Tsurukawa Eki, which is just over the "hill/mountain" but it was interesting, it has a different feel than Tamagawagakuen. We didn't find anyone that day, but it was nice, then we did studies and went to sports night where we gave a message about obedience. I played ping pong for about 2 1/2 hours with the sisters investigator. No one would switch me out, so I got some good practice in.
Saturday: we had a lesson! This is where all of the joy was felt. We went to teach a man who called us randomly on the church phone, and we thought that he might not be all of the way there, but we went anyways. We pull up and it takes him a while to answer the door because he is listening to some loud weird music. When we walk in, it is just crazy, the walls are covered in writings, and there are pills in calendars for him, so we know right off the bat that he is not all of the way there. We sit down and talk, but he has a hard time focusing, until we talk about prayer, because he believed that he had talked to some gods, (I was siting next to Robin, the wind God). When we taught him prayer, he literally exploded with joy! I am just going to say it, but he is the happiest person ever. We aren't going to be able to go back, so we left him with all of the pamphlets, a copy of the Book of Mormon, and who's to pray and the atmosphere in his apartment was so happy!
After our adventure with him, we ended up in a Eki called naruse, which was a bit of s bike ride from the church. We were there for a little while, but then we had a FHE activity at the church, only 3 members showed up, but we still helped them have a good time. We played some new games that I can't wait to play with all of you, but we had a nice time.
Sunday: very busy day. We went to church, and jumped in the wrong class. We walked right into the Gospel Doctrine class talking about the historical value of what was done in Nauvoo. Now, if this was English, I would have been fine, but it was rapid fire Japanese and I had a headache before we started. Wow. Intense. The. We joined the youth for a standards talk, but no one asked us questions. After church, we joined the choir or else there would have been only one guy... so we are singing again in 3 weeks. Lots of musical numbers. I hope some of it sticks for English singing. Then we eventually get home and do studies. We eat dinner and go Streeting for a bit and then sit down to contact the many strangers in our phone and area Book. Good time, good people.
Today: pizza with the district, Gyomu's super, daiso for elder Salamanopoulos' package, emails, playing 2 truths and a lie with the district and now we will continue in our efforts to see the area. Today: Shin-yurigaoka, wish us luck!
Love you all!
マーフィー長老
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Hello Machida!
So, Machida 2 area, big and mysterious right? It is really hilly here and my bike is broken, so we have been walking a lot, so I am tired, but here is a rundown of what has been going on!Monday: last Pday in Hibarigaoka, we went to the mall and I got Inca Cola and Guarana, really good South American soda. We housed and streeted at night, but we had Indo curry as a district. It was tast. I started to fix a puncture in my tire, but later, it turns out to be more than just a puncture... we found a really nice lady who listened to the Restoration message and was really happy. Elder Lapine and
elder Gerritsen will have to go back.
Tuesday: Taught Masato in the Morning about commandments, it all kind of just came out, so kpnow he has been taught all of the commandments, yup. Then we packed, it was sad, I saw all of the dead missionaries clothes that I have now, elder Spackman, elder Millard, elder Hawkins and elder Burnham. After studies in the afternoon, we housed and streeted, but no one wanted to talk.
Wednesday: Studies, district meeting, search for an open bike store, all of the stores were closed for some reason, saying by the the Asadas and Michiko shimai, Eikaiwa, and at night "fixing the puncture" in the bathroom. It turns out it was half fixed. I learned at Eikaiwa that inflammable means highly flammable, so I have put some dangerous stuff near heat.
Thursday, transfer day: so, started early for Machida, caught a train through Shibuya, won't have to go there for a while. Machida is kind of in the middle of the mission, so there are lines going everywhere. We met up and met the other Elders to say goodbye to Elder Battaglia, my trainer and to grab some supplies. We ate lunch and went to the church for planning, but our area Book hadn't been sent to us yet. So we left and dendō-ed around Tamagawagakuen-mae, our new home Eki. So many college students! We talked to so many people! Wow! They were everywhere!Friday: even busier! We hopped into the area without knowing what we were doing and now we are so busy! We dendō in the morning down by the Eki, study in the afternoon, dendō in the later afternoon, and then went to Sports night, which was basically Sagamihara and Machida members and the missionaries, lots of people came, good opportunities to meet members. We had a hope to do weekly planning, but still no area Book until too late today.
Saturday: we tried to fix our bikes, I fixed elder Salamanopoulos', but mine died halfway to the church. Then we went on an adventure to help a family move to Yamato, that was a good service opportunity. We found it on time and helped get everything in the truck really quick. Then we dendō-ed on the way home and met some really cool people. In the evening, it started to rain, and we had an appointment to go with a friend to the Summer festival at the bottom of the hill from where we live. It was really big. We waited for him for a while, but he never came because he felt that he was too late, so we just used our dinner time to go and eat Gyros and Samosa from local stores that had stands, they were so good! We met the Machida Boy Scouts too! Lots of people.Sunday: things got crazy: we had DCS, met the Warnicks and President Itō, President Warnick's counselor, sand Come, come, he saints alone for the ward with the sisters after practicing once, met so many people, including a member of Bless 4, a really popular band. We had a big missionary work meeting for 3rd hour and this ward is so excited to get to work! Then, after church, we get swept away to a Brazilian members house, and they are just so nice and funny! This ward is amazing, we had to walk a long time though, so most of our day consisted of Streeting. Good long day!
Monday: today we will go and fix our bikes, do shopping and clean the house. Tonight we will have monthly planning. Fun fun! We will see you all next week, but before that, look on Lds.org and
look for the new online Willie and Martin handcart company exhibit! Really good!
郅筏皮い蓼梗
マ
`フィ`L老
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