Monday, May 27, 2019
Week 93 - Group Email - 05/26/19
Hi everyone, It's getting HOT here!
This week I went on splits with Elder Boccazzi who is from Argentina. At one point we were riding bikes and I got a flat tire way far from the bike shop. Luckily a way nice 19 year old kid stopped and hooked us up with a ride in his car and saved us a bunch of time. He was such a nice kid! It was a great reminder that there are Christlike people everywhere!
Another day we were housing and met a mom and daughter who were actually super interested. They might have been the most interested people I've met since I've been in Japan. The daughter was half Japanese half Iranian because the dad is from Iran. We asked if we could share a 20 minute lesson and they said of course but unfortunately there was no male member of the family home so we couldn't. Right when we were about to try and set something up for another day we heard someone walking down the stairs to the apartment and the daughter hurried and slammed the door shut. We turned and there was this huge Iranian dude that angrily asked what we were doing there. We told him we are missionaries and he told us to leave right now. We had to pass really close to him to get out and he was straight up growling at us and I thought he was for sure gonna punch us or something. Anyway probably can't go back there which is a huge bummer but we were able to give the daughter a Book of Mormon so we hope she hides if from her dad and finds the truth!
I don't really want to write anymore haha, so I'll end here. Hope ya'll have a great week!
Elder Dean
This week I went on splits with Elder Boccazzi who is from Argentina. At one point we were riding bikes and I got a flat tire way far from the bike shop. Luckily a way nice 19 year old kid stopped and hooked us up with a ride in his car and saved us a bunch of time. He was such a nice kid! It was a great reminder that there are Christlike people everywhere!
Another day we were housing and met a mom and daughter who were actually super interested. They might have been the most interested people I've met since I've been in Japan. The daughter was half Japanese half Iranian because the dad is from Iran. We asked if we could share a 20 minute lesson and they said of course but unfortunately there was no male member of the family home so we couldn't. Right when we were about to try and set something up for another day we heard someone walking down the stairs to the apartment and the daughter hurried and slammed the door shut. We turned and there was this huge Iranian dude that angrily asked what we were doing there. We told him we are missionaries and he told us to leave right now. We had to pass really close to him to get out and he was straight up growling at us and I thought he was for sure gonna punch us or something. Anyway probably can't go back there which is a huge bummer but we were able to give the daughter a Book of Mormon so we hope she hides if from her dad and finds the truth!
I don't really want to write anymore haha, so I'll end here. Hope ya'll have a great week!
Elder Dean
ディーン長老
Monday, May 20, 2019
Week 92 - 05/19/19 - Group Email
This week there was a National Day of Service in Japan and my ward decided to knit little rag things for charity! I thought it would be easy but it was low key way hard and my comp and I stuggled big time. By the end I kind of started getting the hang of it but by that point it was too late and my rag had taken too much damage. Definitely a humbling experience!
On Sunday we had an old couple come to church that we have been teaching named the Tajima's! They seemed to have a really good time and we're hoping they will continue coming.
We saw another way cool miracle this week! In the morning I felt like we should walk a different route to the station than normal so we did. We ended up stopping an old 87 year old man talked for awhile. While we were talking to him some random guy pulled over and walked over to us. I thought for sure he was coming to tell us to stop harassing this old man or something but he actually came and asked if he could listen to what we were saying! The old guy kind of left at that point but we were able to continue talking to this guy (Satou san) for about 20 minutes. It was a very good conversation and we gave him a Book of Mormon. He also said he plans to attent English class with his family so we are looking forward to that!
Another miracle was that we met Michael Jordan!! Not thee Michael Jordan but a dope guy from Ghana and his friend Stephen! They ranted to us about how much people in Japan work and we were able to teach them the restoration. They agreed to meet Sunday but when the appointment rolled around they were no where in sight. We messaged and Michael said he had something going on so would be late but would message us when he arrived at the station. Well he never messaged so that was awesome but that's missionary life for ya haha.
A random funny thing happened during English class on Wednesday. The topic I was teaching was about health and I was going over one of the conversations in the book. The conversation was about two coworkers talking and one felt sick so the other told him he should go to the docter. Anyway the last sentance in the converstaion was "I think that you need to go to the doctor!" When I was demonstrating for the class I said that sentence while smiling and with a happy tone not thinking anything of it. Then randomly one of my students who is an intersting character looked at me with a way mad face. I asked what was wrong and he said "I don't understand your personality." He said since I had said that sentence while smiling he felt like I was implying something. He started to get way defensive so I told him to leave if he was going to continue arguing so he marched out of the room. Later he messaged me and said "In my opinon you should go back to USA." I was so confused by the whole conflict lol. He ended up saying sorry so no problems anymore. It just made me realized that people will get upset over literally anything!
Lastly we set a baptismal date for our man Koumei but found out after that he has soccer games basically every weekend until December so very unlikely that it will end up working out. Regardless please pray for Koumei to be able to be baptized June 15!
Here's a scripture I love - Acts 5:40-42:
40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Have a great week everyone!
ディーン長老
Elder Dean
On Sunday we had an old couple come to church that we have been teaching named the Tajima's! They seemed to have a really good time and we're hoping they will continue coming.
We saw another way cool miracle this week! In the morning I felt like we should walk a different route to the station than normal so we did. We ended up stopping an old 87 year old man talked for awhile. While we were talking to him some random guy pulled over and walked over to us. I thought for sure he was coming to tell us to stop harassing this old man or something but he actually came and asked if he could listen to what we were saying! The old guy kind of left at that point but we were able to continue talking to this guy (Satou san) for about 20 minutes. It was a very good conversation and we gave him a Book of Mormon. He also said he plans to attent English class with his family so we are looking forward to that!
Another miracle was that we met Michael Jordan!! Not thee Michael Jordan but a dope guy from Ghana and his friend Stephen! They ranted to us about how much people in Japan work and we were able to teach them the restoration. They agreed to meet Sunday but when the appointment rolled around they were no where in sight. We messaged and Michael said he had something going on so would be late but would message us when he arrived at the station. Well he never messaged so that was awesome but that's missionary life for ya haha.
A random funny thing happened during English class on Wednesday. The topic I was teaching was about health and I was going over one of the conversations in the book. The conversation was about two coworkers talking and one felt sick so the other told him he should go to the docter. Anyway the last sentance in the converstaion was "I think that you need to go to the doctor!" When I was demonstrating for the class I said that sentence while smiling and with a happy tone not thinking anything of it. Then randomly one of my students who is an intersting character looked at me with a way mad face. I asked what was wrong and he said "I don't understand your personality." He said since I had said that sentence while smiling he felt like I was implying something. He started to get way defensive so I told him to leave if he was going to continue arguing so he marched out of the room. Later he messaged me and said "In my opinon you should go back to USA." I was so confused by the whole conflict lol. He ended up saying sorry so no problems anymore. It just made me realized that people will get upset over literally anything!
Lastly we set a baptismal date for our man Koumei but found out after that he has soccer games basically every weekend until December so very unlikely that it will end up working out. Regardless please pray for Koumei to be able to be baptized June 15!
Here's a scripture I love - Acts 5:40-42:
40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Have a great week everyone!
ディーン長老
Elder Dean
Sunday, May 12, 2019
Week 91 - 05/12/19 - Group Email
Hey everyone! We were able to see some great miracles this week so I'll start by sharing those.
On Tuesday evening we decided to visit a former investigator. He was home thankfully and invited us in for Coke! He's a super kind 82 year old man name 田島 (rice field island). We were able to teach him the whole restoration that night and set up an appointment for the following Thursday. Thursday came around and we had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation aside from the 15 minute lesson we recieved on WW2. We invited his wife to join but turns out she has some dementia going on so she was a tad out of it. She would randomly mutter things and her husband would just yell "Shut up!" in both English and Japanese... Apart from that he was really nice😌. Sounds like he should be coming to church this next week so we're looking forward to that!
The other miracle was a Chinese man we found named Chin. We talked to him for about 30 seconds on the street and he agreed to walk 20 minutes to our church with us for a church tour. That literally doesn't happen with Japanese people. We showed him around the church and gave him a Book of Mormon in Chinese. We also played a hymn for him! I played piano and my comp sang while Chin was filming us and speaking Chinese. He told us he was currently married but for some odd reason sent the video to his ex-wife in China?? Elder Koslow's solo was great though hahaha. Chin doesn't actually live in our area but we were able to refer him over to the Elders in Yamate and he said he really wants to go to church on Sunday over there!
Last pday we met up with a youth in our ward, played some shogi (Japanese chess) and did a mogi (practice lesson) it was a 将棋模擬 (shogimogi) haha. This kid plays a crap ton of shogi but I was almost able to take him. Of course I botched it though and took the L. His name is Tenshin and he's a way good kid. He wants to go on a mission! Not super common with some of the youth in Japan.
- We played some basketball in Yamato and brought our friends Shunsuke. I jammed my middle finger way bad and now it's all swollen 😩
- Had a leadership training meeting at the mission home and got to eat some bomb ramen.
- met a way funny skater kid who was abolutely blown away by the standards we live, it was pretty funny. He was also the first japanese person I've met who agreed wtih us when we told him he is smart lol.
- I finished the Bom of Mormon for the 7th time on my mission! There is always something new that I'm able to learn from it. I'm hoping to finish it one more time before I finish my mission!
Well, that's about it for the week. 愛してまーす！
Elder Dean
On Tuesday evening we decided to visit a former investigator. He was home thankfully and invited us in for Coke! He's a super kind 82 year old man name 田島 (rice field island). We were able to teach him the whole restoration that night and set up an appointment for the following Thursday. Thursday came around and we had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation aside from the 15 minute lesson we recieved on WW2. We invited his wife to join but turns out she has some dementia going on so she was a tad out of it. She would randomly mutter things and her husband would just yell "Shut up!" in both English and Japanese... Apart from that he was really nice😌. Sounds like he should be coming to church this next week so we're looking forward to that!
The other miracle was a Chinese man we found named Chin. We talked to him for about 30 seconds on the street and he agreed to walk 20 minutes to our church with us for a church tour. That literally doesn't happen with Japanese people. We showed him around the church and gave him a Book of Mormon in Chinese. We also played a hymn for him! I played piano and my comp sang while Chin was filming us and speaking Chinese. He told us he was currently married but for some odd reason sent the video to his ex-wife in China?? Elder Koslow's solo was great though hahaha. Chin doesn't actually live in our area but we were able to refer him over to the Elders in Yamate and he said he really wants to go to church on Sunday over there!
Last pday we met up with a youth in our ward, played some shogi (Japanese chess) and did a mogi (practice lesson) it was a 将棋模擬 (shogimogi) haha. This kid plays a crap ton of shogi but I was almost able to take him. Of course I botched it though and took the L. His name is Tenshin and he's a way good kid. He wants to go on a mission! Not super common with some of the youth in Japan.
- We played some basketball in Yamato and brought our friends Shunsuke. I jammed my middle finger way bad and now it's all swollen 😩
- Had a leadership training meeting at the mission home and got to eat some bomb ramen.
- met a way funny skater kid who was abolutely blown away by the standards we live, it was pretty funny. He was also the first japanese person I've met who agreed wtih us when we told him he is smart lol.
- I finished the Bom of Mormon for the 7th time on my mission! There is always something new that I'm able to learn from it. I'm hoping to finish it one more time before I finish my mission!
Well, that's about it for the week. 愛してまーす！
Elder Dean
Monday, May 6, 2019
Week 90 - 05/05/19 - Group Email
We got transfer emails today and both my comp and I will be staying here in Hodogaya. Hopefully we can start to get a little more going this transfer!
Not a whole lot of time but here some things from the week.
Last transfer Elder Waldron and I found a college kid who accepted a Book of Mormon but literally didn't seem like he had any interest. He jokingly said he believes in the "Game god." Well last week I messaged him and invited him to play basketball which he really liked. Then this week he came to our ward BBQ and had a great time. The members were awesome and buttered him up by giving him all the left over meat to take home. Then yesterday he came to church! He said he thought it was awesome! We are going to try and start teaching him now and it looks like things could go well.
We started teaching another college student a couple weeks ago and he was 1 1/2 hours late to the first lesson... but he still came! The second lesson he was about 15 minutes late. Then this week we met again and he was 2 hours and 15 minutes late!! Some people just aren't good with time I guess? We straightened it out with him though so it shouldn't happen again hopefully lol.
A few nights ago we visited a family in the ward and shared a quick message. After that we knocked an apartment nearby and about 20 doors in an old guy came out then quickly went back in to grab something. He came out again with a Book of Mormon and said we gave it too him a couple weeks before on the street! He said he is actually really interested and told us to come back. Definitely a huge miracle! Out of all the buildings we were led to his!
That's about it for this week.
Thanks for all of the support, love you guys!
ディーン長老
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
-
From movie night the other week. Zone blitz in our area. hiked Mount Oyama. IT's pretty cool t here is a huge Buddhis...
