Yesterday as we came home from church we had 2 huge moving trucks parked outside of our apartment building. We now have some new neighbors!! Haha. We still hadn`t gone to visit them but this morning as we were leaving our apartment a younger couple met us up the stairs and greeted us. They told us they had just moved in downstairs and then they handed us a bag with a few house-needed things. I was quite surprised by their kindness and apparantly they were going around to everyone in the complex! As I talked with Elders Ohira and Ishida afterwards I did learn something new about the Japanese culture. When they move into a new place, they introduce themselves and take some sort of gift around as well. I haven`t moved around too much in my lifetime but I`m pretty sure in the states` it would be the other way around?!!
We picked up a couple really awesome investigators this week. In case you didn`t know, we teach a free English Class every Wednesday evening for an hour. We actually have a really good turnout right now consisting of about 15 students. Some are members but there are a lot of non-members as well. At the end of english class, we share a brief message about our beliefs in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is tons of fun and I look forward to it every week!! We have an advanced class and a beginners class. Right now I am teaching the beginners class.
There are a few young kids who come with their parents (the parents participate in the advanced class). I try to have fun with them and even sometimes joke around with them a little bit :). Last week we were learning some vocabulary and we came across the word `handsome`. I asked Akari, a cute 9 year old girl, if she knew what it meant. She didn`t have any idea so I told her it meant- Ovard Choro haha. She obviously believed it and when we looked at the Japanese definition she started cracking up haha. I did find my foot in my mouth this past week though. We learned about communication which included the word `cell-phone`. As a joke I told her I was going to give her my cell-phone as a present. I told her she could text her friends but not to tell her mom. (I know that`s bad haha :/) She didn`t believe that I was really going to give it to her but I kept going along with it. She didn`t take me too seriously and I saw the phone left on the chair as the night came to a close so I wasn`t worried. After class and everything had ended I reached into my pocket only to find that I didn`t have my cell phone!!! AAHH. She must have taken it with her!! Haha so I borrowed somebody`s cell phone and gave mine a ring. It came to the cute little voice of Akari haha. I felt so bad as I tried to explain to her that I needed it back. I was lucky they weren`t too far from the church though and they were very kind as they brought it back to me. Kind of an adventure though!! Akari had previously told her mom that I joke around with her sometimes so thankfully it wasn`t too big of a surprise haha.
There is more to the story though. Yes, it does get better and more serious. So don`t worry haha. As part of our lessons, we recently finished up a sequence about the Restoration. One evening after we taught about the Book of Mormon, Akari`s mom asked a few questions and expressed a little interest. Her name is Kumiko. We ended up giving her a Book of Mormon to take home, along with a pamphlet about Joseph Smith. The same night as the cell-phone drama we were also able to make an appointment for the next day to talk more. (Another reason Kumiko was ok with her daughter having my phone. She thought they could just return it the next day haha.) We met with them at a nearby mall and talked with them about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was amazing. It may not have been the most spiritual lesson due to the environment we were in, but it still did the job. She told us that she believed it was true!! She basically testified to us that because God is one there must must be one church. I was so happy!! She seems to have all the right questions and is seeking truth. She asked us if it was ok even if her husband and other members of the family didn`t have interest and we told her that was no problem. Definitley excited to keep working with them!!
The church is true. I love you all. Thanks for all you do. Hope you have an awesome week!!
Elder Ovard
1 comment:
You look great Blake! I hope you get to go to that festival this week. Sounds like you are still doing awesome,love the cell phone story, so cute! Miss ya!
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