Monday, April 29, 2019
Week 89 - 04/29/19 - Group Email
So this week we had two funerals. Wednesday and Thursday. Both days my comp and I had to literally just stand on a street corner for 2 hours holding a sign telling people which way to go. It was interesting service but service nonetheless.
On Tuesday we had a lesson with a new guy that we found in Areabook named Masao. We met, had a great lesson and he seemed super golden! At the end we asked him to pray and he was like "Yeah I'd love to. I actually have some things I want to ask God!" So he started praying and all he asked in his was prayer was "Please tell me how Elder Koslow and Dean got my phone number since I gave it to Elder Peet and Elder Tsujimoto." Right after he ended Elder Koslow was like "I can answer that!" So he tried to explain our areabook system and how missionaries come and go every transfer. Well this guy was not happy at all. He thought it was very alarming that missionaries passed his phone number along without asking his permission. Japan has super strict privacy laws and he thought we were breaking those. Honestly still not sure if we are or not but our Pres. said we're good lol. Anyway, he was really passive aggressive and sounded like he wants to do something about it. We just told him after 20 minutes of trying to explain ourselves to call our mission president and figure it out with him. After this way awkward conversation I asked if he still wants to continue meeting and he was like "Of course, I'm interested in this stuff!" so we were both way confused. However, he added that if two new missionaries call him without his permission he'll be very angry so RIP to whoever transfers in and doesn't read the areabook notes...
We met a 16 year old kid yesterday who said he dropped out of highschool because he wants to be rich lol. All we could say to that was ganbatte! (good luck!)
Here's a scripture I like! 3 Nephi 12:16 "Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
One of the best ways to share the gospel is through out examples so everyone let your shine!
Love you all
Elder Dean
On Tuesday we had a lesson with a new guy that we found in Areabook named Masao. We met, had a great lesson and he seemed super golden! At the end we asked him to pray and he was like "Yeah I'd love to. I actually have some things I want to ask God!" So he started praying and all he asked in his was prayer was "Please tell me how Elder Koslow and Dean got my phone number since I gave it to Elder Peet and Elder Tsujimoto." Right after he ended Elder Koslow was like "I can answer that!" So he tried to explain our areabook system and how missionaries come and go every transfer. Well this guy was not happy at all. He thought it was very alarming that missionaries passed his phone number along without asking his permission. Japan has super strict privacy laws and he thought we were breaking those. Honestly still not sure if we are or not but our Pres. said we're good lol. Anyway, he was really passive aggressive and sounded like he wants to do something about it. We just told him after 20 minutes of trying to explain ourselves to call our mission president and figure it out with him. After this way awkward conversation I asked if he still wants to continue meeting and he was like "Of course, I'm interested in this stuff!" so we were both way confused. However, he added that if two new missionaries call him without his permission he'll be very angry so RIP to whoever transfers in and doesn't read the areabook notes...
We met a 16 year old kid yesterday who said he dropped out of highschool because he wants to be rich lol. All we could say to that was ganbatte! (good luck!)
Here's a scripture I like! 3 Nephi 12:16 "Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
One of the best ways to share the gospel is through out examples so everyone let your shine!
Love you all
Elder Dean
Monday, April 22, 2019
Week 88 - 04/21/19 - Group Email
This week was great and we saw some cool miracles! The not so good part of the week however was when we got a message from our bishop telling us an older member named Yamazaki姉妹 pass away. Kinda crazy because Elder Waldron and I visited her and her husband just last transfer and she seemed way healthy! But that's not all, literally 2 days later we got another message from bishop telling us that another older sister (Sagara姉妹) had passed away suddenly as well... What are the odds?? Sorry to the start the email off sad but it's better than ending it sad, right? 🤔
On Thursday I went on splits in my old area again with Elder Barboza which was a good time. Us 4 missionaries ate at Yakiniku king which is all you can eat BBQ. We also went big and payed for the better course (no regrets) and it was literally amazing. Some of the best meat I've ever had. Like full sized steaks that were all you can eat. Not sure I've seen someone eat as much meat in one sitting at Elder Barboza. He's Brazilian though so that explains it.
On Sunday we went to Stake conference. This one was special because I have now served in 3 different wards in the stake so I got to reconnect with a lot of members!
One funny thing from the week. After stake conf we changed our clothes quickly and went out finding. Usually whenever I stop someone I point to my tag and explain who we are so when we started talking to this dude I pointed to my shirt but realized I didn't have my tag. Ooops. so I looked over at Elder Koslow to point to his tag but noticed that he didn't have his either! You would think that I could remember my tag by now but nope.
On Thursday I went on splits in my old area again with Elder Barboza which was a good time. Us 4 missionaries ate at Yakiniku king which is all you can eat BBQ. We also went big and payed for the better course (no regrets) and it was literally amazing. Some of the best meat I've ever had. Like full sized steaks that were all you can eat. Not sure I've seen someone eat as much meat in one sitting at Elder Barboza. He's Brazilian though so that explains it.
On Sunday we went to Stake conference. This one was special because I have now served in 3 different wards in the stake so I got to reconnect with a lot of members!
One funny thing from the week. After stake conf we changed our clothes quickly and went out finding. Usually whenever I stop someone I point to my tag and explain who we are so when we started talking to this dude I pointed to my shirt but realized I didn't have my tag. Ooops. so I looked over at Elder Koslow to point to his tag but noticed that he didn't have his either! You would think that I could remember my tag by now but nope.
Elder Dean
Monday, April 15, 2019
Week 87 - 04/14/19 - Group Email
We met a guy on the street this week who asked us why missionaries hadn't called him for the past 20 years. He said he used to learn about the church way back in the day but lost communication at some point. Lucky for him he found us haha and we were able to talk for a long time and exchanged contact info so we should be meeting again soon hopefully!
We had zone conference this week and I didn't have any big assignments (aside from playing the piano) for the first time in a while. It was super nice! Crazy to think that I only have 2 more zone conference left... We also got to watch general conference over the weekend! Nothing better than conference as a missionary, that's for sure. I loved hearing from President Russell M. Nelson and continue to feel that he truly is a prophet of God!
I really enjoyed too many of the talks to pic favorites but I really liked President Nelson's talk - "Come, Follow Me" and
The Atonement of Jesus Christ by Tad R. Callister. Go give them a read if you didn't get a chance to watch!
I love you all!
ディーン長老
We had zone conference this week and I didn't have any big assignments (aside from playing the piano) for the first time in a while. It was super nice! Crazy to think that I only have 2 more zone conference left... We also got to watch general conference over the weekend! Nothing better than conference as a missionary, that's for sure. I loved hearing from President Russell M. Nelson and continue to feel that he truly is a prophet of God!
I really enjoyed too many of the talks to pic favorites but I really liked President Nelson's talk - "Come, Follow Me" and
The Atonement of Jesus Christ by Tad R. Callister. Go give them a read if you didn't get a chance to watch!
I love you all!
ディーン長老
Monday, April 8, 2019
Week 86 - 04/07/19 - Group Email
This week was filled with lots of finding. We didn't have much scheduled so we went hard trying to find some new people to teach. I felt like we worked really hard so hopefully something comes out of it. We also were able to have a lesson with an eikaiwa student that went well. We are planning to continue teaching him weekly from here on out and are looking forward to it.
We saw a cool miracle during the week. Elder Koslow called a former investigator from Areabook named Amin and talked with him for awhile. He told Elder Koslow that just a few days prior he had been cleaning his house and came across the Book of Mormon which he dusted off, put on his bookshelf and took a mental note to read it later. Then Elder Koslow called and was able to teach him the restoration. A few days later we were streeting and Elder Koslow and I both felt like we should try knocking an apartment nearby. No one was interested but right as we walked back onto the path the first guy I stopped ended up being Amin! We were able to follow up about the Book of Mormon which he said is a book that he thinks can save him and help him make the connection that the recent events weren't just coincidence. He's currently too busy to meet but hopefully in the coming weeks he can find time to meet.
Besides that we have also been able to make contact with a lot of less active members. We found one who we plan to try and work closely with from here on out. I love visiting less actives because you never know what you're gonna get. They are either way savage or super nice haha.
A couple random stories:
- We knocked a door and a lady (probably in her 40's) came out. We came to find out that her interest was solely in English but we still tried to teach her a little. We finally tried to give her a pamphlet about the plan of salvation and she pointed to it and said in English "I am interested in this!!" and we oh really? That great! But then she corrected herself and said "NO, I'm am not interested in this!" Then pointed to us and said "I am Interested in YOU!!" Her personality and broken English made it really funny. But needless to say, we got out of there quick!
- We met a guy who said he believes Jimi Hendrix is God and who is apart of the "Jimi Hendrix Church." ??
- We were trying to find a member's house to visit so we knocked a nearby home to ask if they knew them. I explained that we were looking for someone by the name of Shuto and asked if they knew them. For some reason they just said "Kekkou desu!" which translates to "I'm good!" and hung up. We didn't even say we were missionaries to I'm still confused about that.
Well that's about for the week. Love you all!
Elder Dean
We saw a cool miracle during the week. Elder Koslow called a former investigator from Areabook named Amin and talked with him for awhile. He told Elder Koslow that just a few days prior he had been cleaning his house and came across the Book of Mormon which he dusted off, put on his bookshelf and took a mental note to read it later. Then Elder Koslow called and was able to teach him the restoration. A few days later we were streeting and Elder Koslow and I both felt like we should try knocking an apartment nearby. No one was interested but right as we walked back onto the path the first guy I stopped ended up being Amin! We were able to follow up about the Book of Mormon which he said is a book that he thinks can save him and help him make the connection that the recent events weren't just coincidence. He's currently too busy to meet but hopefully in the coming weeks he can find time to meet.
Besides that we have also been able to make contact with a lot of less active members. We found one who we plan to try and work closely with from here on out. I love visiting less actives because you never know what you're gonna get. They are either way savage or super nice haha.
A couple random stories:
- We knocked a door and a lady (probably in her 40's) came out. We came to find out that her interest was solely in English but we still tried to teach her a little. We finally tried to give her a pamphlet about the plan of salvation and she pointed to it and said in English "I am interested in this!!" and we oh really? That great! But then she corrected herself and said "NO, I'm am not interested in this!" Then pointed to us and said "I am Interested in YOU!!" Her personality and broken English made it really funny. But needless to say, we got out of there quick!
- We met a guy who said he believes Jimi Hendrix is God and who is apart of the "Jimi Hendrix Church." ??
- We were trying to find a member's house to visit so we knocked a nearby home to ask if they knew them. I explained that we were looking for someone by the name of Shuto and asked if they knew them. For some reason they just said "Kekkou desu!" which translates to "I'm good!" and hung up. We didn't even say we were missionaries to I'm still confused about that.
Well that's about for the week. Love you all!
Elder Dean
Monday, April 1, 2019
Week 85 - 03/31/19 - Group Email
Last p-day we went over to Yokohama and did some sightseeing. We went up Landmark tower and opened our transfer emails up there which was fun. We also ate at some all you can eat deep fried food place and that was super tasty. I found out that deep fried bread is surprisingly really good. #
So my new comp is named Elder Koslow. He's from a far away place called Meguro Tokyo. Literally a 40 minute train ride from the mission home. Craziest part is that as of July his house will be in the mission due to the boundaries changing. It's always fun to work with a new comp and learn a lot so it's been a good past few days!
Yesterday we ate dinner at a members home (the Saijou's) and were able to bring an investigator as well. He seemed to have a great time and we ate lots of food so it was a win win.
On that note, I have eaten more this past week then any other week on my mission I think. We ate at 3 different all you can eat restaurants...
On Saturday morning we were able to help out with the stake youth conference and were asked to teach seminary. We talked about holding to the iron rod and obeying commandments. It went well and was lots of fun! It's always a good time working with the youth.
That's about it,
Have a great week everyone!
ディーン長老
So my new comp is named Elder Koslow. He's from a far away place called Meguro Tokyo. Literally a 40 minute train ride from the mission home. Craziest part is that as of July his house will be in the mission due to the boundaries changing. It's always fun to work with a new comp and learn a lot so it's been a good past few days!
Yesterday we ate dinner at a members home (the Saijou's) and were able to bring an investigator as well. He seemed to have a great time and we ate lots of food so it was a win win.
On that note, I have eaten more this past week then any other week on my mission I think. We ate at 3 different all you can eat restaurants...
On Saturday morning we were able to help out with the stake youth conference and were asked to teach seminary. We talked about holding to the iron rod and obeying commandments. It went well and was lots of fun! It's always a good time working with the youth.
That's about it,
Have a great week everyone!
ディーン長老
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From movie night the other week. Zone blitz in our area. hiked Mount Oyama. IT's pretty cool t here is a huge Buddhis...
