こんにちは! Hello! How are my favorite family and friends doing back home?? It has been a little bit of an up and down week but once again I am here at the computer with another one down. Time flies. We have been really blessed this week though with some awesome experiences.
Tuesday we had District Meeting (not gonna lie it`s nothing too exciting considering our district consists of our apartment elders ha) and afterwards we recieved a phone call from President Tateoka. He told us that we would be getting another opportunity to do some service on the upcoming Thursday. Yay!! We were all so excited. So we called our zone, told them the news, and got things ready to go. We headed down to Sendai on the bus Wednesday evening, woke up early Thursday morning and headed out for the activity. I need to remember to be humble about having this opportunity considering not all of the missionaries in the mission were given it. Only the Sendai and Morioka Zones. I was lucky! Anyway, something different about this past service project was that the news station from Utah, KSL, came and did a little newsline. As we were sitting on the bus getting ready to head out to the area, a lady from the Deseret News and Bruce Lindsey from KSL hopped on the bus as well. Ya I was a surprised! Haha not gonna lie when I saw him and heard his voice it felt like I was right at home watchin the news. So it was fun to have them there and see them do their work.
One of my favorite parts of the whole project was that we got to do our service in one of my old areas, Tagajo. It felt so good to be back. The place is pretty torn up though. We worked on one house and took out the floor and cleaned up the yard and what not. We could see the water line on the house of where the water had been. It was so sad. Thankfully the house was still standing but everything they once had was all gone. There is so much work to be done and it will take quite a while for things to get back to where they once were, if that ever happens. We were also given another really awesome opportunity of being able to go further into more of the destroyed areas to check things out. We traveled over to an area called Ishinomaki. It was brutal. They did let us take pictures this time and I took advantage. It was so sad. There were only a few houses still standing but for the most part everything is gonzo. I felt so bad for those people. They lost everything they once had. It caused me to think about what is really important in life. Of course it`s my family! I love my family more than anything in the world and am so thankful I can live with them forever. As we headed home we made another stop by the city hall in Tagajo. The man in charge of all the service wanted to tell us `thanks`. He was so kind. He even got a little teary eyed. These people are so grateful for any help they get. As we rode off in the bus everybody outside and even inside the building waved good-bye to us. It was so special and I could feel their love and appreciation as much as anything in the world. I love these people and want to do whatever I can for them!!
Yes we still did do our missionary work :) Kawamura Rika did make it out of the hospital but we still have not been able to meet with her. She is going to talk with her doctor again today so we will be able to figure out more about her situation later on. She will be fine though!! Her faith is strong. Her son, Yugo, is still tearin it up! He came to church again yesterday by himself and is doing everything to prepare for baptism. It`s more of a time game right now but we`ll be patient!
All four of us missionaries spoke in church this past Sunday about missionary work. Not gonna lie I didn`t have the most time to prepare for things so I really had to rely on the Spirit for help but I made it work. As I did study though I was able to ponder on our responsibility as members of the church to share the gospel. It is such a big responsibility, but wonderful blessing!! I know that as we do our part as members of the church to share the gospel we will be blessed for our efforts. There are many ways to do missionary work, we just gotta think a little bit and do it! My favorite way to serve is still through example. I`m definitley not the best at it and I have a lot of room for improvement but I know that as we try and become more like our Savior it can influence those around us to do the same. I`m grateful for all of you and the examples you are in my life. I love you!!!!
Elder Ovard
オバ－ド長老
No comments:
Post a Comment