It`s been a wonderful past couple of weeks. We had an awesome Christmas. Thank you all for your love and support over the Holiday season. It`s always special to preach the gospel during the Christmas time of year to a people who really have no idea what it`s all about. The big day for them is definitely New Years. They go to their shrines and temples and give thanks and worship their ancestors. Saunders Choro and I actually had the opportunity to visit one yesterday with a memeber. It was quite interesting to see how they do things! Although I didn`t throw money into the big bin and offer up a prayer to my ancestors, I wanted to get in on the action at least a little bit so I bought one of the fortunes they were selling. I put my dollar in and pulled one out. It was a little hard to understand but with some help I was able to gather it was a pretty `normal` fortune haha. Apparantly you can get really good ones and your year will go accordingly. Good thing I didn`t get a `bad` one! Haha. The funny thing is- as I would ask them why they do things and what the meaning is behind it, a lot of them wouldn`t even know! I guess you could compare it to the Christians who go to church on Easter and Christmas.
We did have an English Class student attend church with us on Christmas!! We were so happy to see her there. And our branch is awesome at fellowshipping. If only we could get them there more often!! We also found a new investigator last week. Her name is Hasebe. She married in her 30`s with a 3 year old boy. I would consider her our strongest investigator since coming to Nagaoka. We have taught her 2 lessons and she is reading the Book of Mormon!! Not gonna lie though- I was pretty nervous as we followed up with her and she started asking about Nephi killing Laban. Ahhh!!! Haha. We got through it however and she will continue to read! :) She is really nice and loves to talk. Our next step is to involve the branch!
In Japan they have something called `oosoji`, or `deep cleaning`. They do it around the first of the year. This year, as a mission, we decided to join and do the same! So our apartment is looking quite nice:) We were also given some time to read from the Book of Mormon beginning in 3 Nephi to the end of the book. That worked out well for me as I am trying to finish the Book of Mormon in Japanese before my mission comes to an end. I am almost finished with 3 Nephi so I was able to gain some ground!;) It was a really good experience though. I don`t know if I`ve ever read so much in my life! Ha. I love reading about the visitation of Jesus to the Nephites on the American continent. It is so powerful. I love the way our Savior teaches and administers. He is our perfect example of love. His teachings are so simple yet bring so many blessings! I`m grateful for the Book of Mormon and the help it has been for me in obtaining a testimony of our Savior. I know He lives!
Love you all. You`re the greatest. Hope all is well. Take Care!
Elder Ovard
Best lookin aparment in Japan!;)
Merry Christmas!! We had tons of snow.
New Years with the Nozaki Family
1 comment:
You look so great Blake! And holy cow, that is a ton of snow. It seems like you always have a good investigator. So proud of you! Not too much longer, enjoy it! Love you.
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