It has been quite the party here in Iwaki the past few days! This past weekend was the Tanabata Matsuri. A Matsuri is a festival, and it was huge!! Haha. Elder Mitsuda and I were able to spend some time there too :) It was held in the streets of Iwaki. There were tons of decorations and booths and all sorts of different things. It kind of reminded me of Swiss Days, or being at a theme park with out rides, except this was huge! On Saturday night there was a huge firework show. We went with some members and a couple non-members. It was awesome! There were probably hundreds of thousands of people there. They had fireworks going for most of the night too. They really don`t mess around with the festivals here in Japan! Haha. It was so much fun to be at. It was completely Japanese culture. The festival ended last night, but today when we came to the place to email, everything was already cleaned up and everything! Japan is such a clean place. You wouldn`t have ever known there was a huge party the night before. I heard there might be another one soon so we`ll see :)
The work here in Iwaki is starting to progress. Elder Mitsuda and I achieved the `Standard of Excellence` again this week. We are so blessed! We are still working really hard with Nakamura San and her daughter Hitomi Chan. They are so sweet and nice but don`t really understand what`s different about our church. They still haven`t read the Book of Mormon, so Mitsuda Choro and I acted devastated and I think she realized how much it meant to us. So they`ll probably read now! Haha.
Next Sunday we have a Seventy coming to our branch! His name is Elder Aoyagi. He spoke in the last General Conference. I am so excited! I`m also playing the organ so hopefully I do a good job! Haha. We also have Zone Conference this Thursday in Koriyama.
Thank you all for your love and support. It means a lot! I`m so thankful to have the best family and friends in the world. I`m so thankful to be a member of the chruch too! We are so lucky to have the fullness of the gospel right in our hands. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that if we read it we will come to know our H.F. and our Savior. We are so blessed to be led by living Prophets and Apostles too! The world is crazy, but if we listen to and follow them, we`ll be alright! I love you all! Have an awesome week.
Elder Ovard
Blake and Elder Mitsuda at the Matsuri with some of the members.
1 comment:
What neat experiences you are having! It is so fun to see how great you are doing and keeping up to date with what is going on. We are so proud of you!
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