2017 07 03 It's Been, An Interesting........Week

Short intro…. Yep, it's been way cool week. With that I'll go ahead and tell it.

Monday (月 Getsu 曜日yobi):

We had fun Pday BUT it came to an interesting early end. We hopped on a Taira around 4 to head to Kumamoto for a combined Zone conference that starts on Tuesday. It was a lot of traveling and we didn't get to the Elder's apartment until about 9 that night.

The Train Route

It’s Pretty here!

Tuesday (火 Moku 曜日yobi):

We had a great Zone conference today. We talked a lot about diligence and it was way cool. Getting back from the conference to Sendai was an interesting adventure. On the way back we missed a couple of our train connections and to ensure that we were home at a reasonable time we got to ride the Shinkansen back to Sendai, it was nice.

Wednesday (水 Sui 曜日yobi):

We called someone a couple weeks ago and we went out to eat with him. WAY good food AND we even taught him a little bit too! ;D  It’s not easy finding new people to teach, but it seems like he has real interest in the gospel and we’re pretty excited for that. We tried 伝道 but, it didn't go to well but we had a lesson again with Madoka姉妹 and it wasn't the best lesson but, we tried answering her questions. Also, Elder Chadwick 's bike broke and that was fun.

Check out these potatoes we found!

Thursday (木 Moku 曜日yobi):

We taught Miki さん (san - “Mrs”) today, well Elder Chadwick taught her while I played with her son to keep him distracted, it was a blast. Then we spent the rest of the day weekly planning then went to Eikaiwa (English conversation class).

Me, Hidemichi (LA), Elder Williams, Elder Yagame, Rinka (LA) and Haruna (investigator)

Friday (金 Kin 曜日yobi):

Today we 伝道 (Dendo - tracking) around in the morning but no one was home. We went to kid's Eikaiwa (English conversation class) this week and they were a ton of fun to teach. We came back to our apartment area and tried to 伝道 (Dendo - tracking) but, we got a call from Aoki 姉妹 (shimai - sister / she’s the mission leader’s wife). So, today was her birthday but her husband and son got called into work so, her and Madoka 姉妹 (shimai - sister / the sister we’ve been teaching) were going to eat out together and they invited us along so we could teach a lesson. The lesson was good but it went way too long.

Thank you to whoever put that in my scriptures but, who are you?

I suspect it was my sister Talley or Megan...

Saturday (土 do 曜日yobi):

We tried to do some street contacting today but there was LITERALLY no one out. We got excited to finally find someone and we were having a good talk with this one kid but we found out he’s a Toitsu教会 (Kyokai - church) person*. It was a bit weird. Then we went to sports night and no one came. We got a little bit bored at the park so, we played a form of tag, with the basketball. Basically we rolled it and whoever it touched was it. So, in an attempt to dodge I jumped backwards but, I jumped a little too far back and ended up landing on my front and probably sprained my wrist.

*Note from Dad

I encountered a few Toitsu Kyo members when I was a missionary in Japan. Here’s a basic Wikipedia definition...

Toitsu Kyokai is also known as the Unification Church and is a relatively new religious movement founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon. Since its founding, the church has expanded throughout the world with most members living in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and other nations in East Asia. Its membership is also known as “Moonie”.

The Unification Church has been the subject of controversy over its beliefs, which differ from traditional Christian interpretations of the Bible and have been called heretical and anti semitic by some critics. The church has also been accused of brainwashing its members, which led to some being subject to deprogramming. Other controversial events include Moon's 1982 conviction in the United States of filing false federal income tax returns and criminal conspiracy and the 2001 wedding of Roman Catholic archbishop Emmanuel Milingo to a Unification Church member in a ceremony presided over by Moon.

Some kid's Eikaiwa students

The youngest members of the branch and they are very violent

Sunday (日 nichi 曜日yobi):

Sunday, good fast Sunday. We weren't able to teach Madoka or Momoka today but, we went to Kushikino with Aoki会長 (choro - elder) and we 伝道 (Dendo - tracking) with him, way cool. Then in the evening we saw some miracles. Of all the various contacts that we’ve made, we have not been able to commit anyone and schedule a Return Appointment with them. Tonight we set THREE Return Appointments! Then, we were talking to a high school about God and showed him the Book of Mormon and said the book was help from God. Then we explained more about the BOM and shared a scripture from it. He accepted the gift of the Book of Mormon and then we asked if we could come back and teach a little bit more and he said sure. MIRACLE!!!

Our present to Aoki姉妹 for her birthday

I ran out on Thursday, I love these things