September 15, 2014

Hey everybody,  I hope you had a great week, and here's how mine went!

Monday: So we had seminary again this morning and we talked for part of it about how God has protected us. Wouldn't you guess, but after email when I was going to the hospital for a checkup on my pinky I got hit by a car... Well just like we had talked about at 6:30ish in the morning, God protected me and I didn't even get a scratch! It was a bit of a shock, but I was able to laugh it off with my companion and joke about how at least I got hit by a car while going to the hospital, cause we were planning on spending some time there either way! :)  I learned even more about how God will protect his missionaries and I wanted to thank you all for your prayers. This is absolute proof that prayers work. Also my bike is ok so no worries there either! ;) After that we went running to the beach again with the other Elders and had some fun there. Tonight we also went to Hakodate yama(mountain) with some investigators and the other missionaries for a district activity and it was really fun!

Tuesday: Today I had splits with the new missionary in our district named T Choro. We had a fun time and found some very interesting people. They might not have been all there mentally, but it made some great memories for his very first splits in the mission field! We also got to teach a recent convert his AB(after baptism) lessons which went well. We did it at a member's house and they also gave us dinner which was good, and we went back home a few kilograms heavier. 

Wednesday: Today I had splits with my District Leader D Choro! He's a really cool guy and a great missionary and we've become pretty good friends so it was fun to get to go on splits with him. We went to teach an investigator who loves English and loves missionaries and is willing to listen and talk with us so we are going to work hard to share this amazing message with him. We also got to go to a Family Home Evening at the Ward Mission Leader's house which was way fun and we got some Non-Attending Members to come so that was good!

Thursday: Today after our Weekly Planning Session we went to knock on some houses for a little while. It sadly was kinda a long day, but then we went to the Young Single Adult Family Home Evening which ended up being way fun. 

Friday: Today was super good! We started off with a good productive lesson with an investigator who is a member referral. They know a little about the church, but don't really want to join right now, but they're listening and we're trying to show them that while it obviously is their choice and we won't force them to do anything, in order to make the correct choice they should at least try reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know for certain whether it is right or wrong. We also got to teach a Non-Attending-Part-Member couple(the wife is a member but is off and on) a lesson and they fed us a big dinner as well! But they were super nice, and we sang them an hymn and they enjoyed it so that was great. Then we went to Eikaiwa which was way fun, as usual. I really have found that I enjoy speaking English... ;) But we really do have a fun class, and we try to make it fun for them! Then afterwards we got to teach a little lesson on prayer and the Book of Mormon and God to a 16-year-old boy who plays tennis at school and enjoys a video game called Dragon Quest... But he's way cool and we've been able to make a pretty good relationship with him, and he wants to become a missionary so we're trying to help him get Baptized first... ;)

Saturday: Today was super fun! We had the Sports activity for the ward and investigators at a nearby sports center.  Then we visited a few investigators, and then had the weekly ping pong activity at the church where I just sat and talked to people who had come. But it was fun, and then a Non-Attending member came afterwards and we sat outside the church and talked with him and some other members for a while and were able to help him make friends within the church so hopefully he'll start coming back.

Sunday: Today Church was really good. We talked about becoming parents(ya just what I need while trying to focus on a mission right? ;) ) but I basically decided I just follow Mom and Dad's example. Nice and Easy(to say...)! Then we had some lessons with some investigators and that's all I've got time to write cause I need to get back to the apartment.

But this week was way fun, and way busy, but it was awesome! Thanks so much for all of your prayers, and I'm praying for all of you too! 

Love you lots! 

Stephen