So, this week was so good. I don't think the difference could have been any more apparent between last week and the week before. Though Koyama and I were only in Tokuyama for 2 days last week (one of them was weekly planning so half of that day was shot) it was a sweet week for Tokuyama investigators.
First off, let me start by profusely apologizing 「過度に謝る」(kadoni ayamaru) *I just learned that word in Japanese this week so I'm excited whenever I get to use it* to everyone who has sent me a
letter and I haven't responded, I am in the process now of answering everybody (I hope). In the process of doing such, I realized that many of you move around a bit (namely everyone in College) and I don't have the addresses for several people. If you would like to be in this mass exodus of Letters from the Desk of Elder Everett, please send me your address!
The other thing I learned this week is that my English is suffering. (case in point: it just took me three tries to spell suffering correctly (if it even is)) I'm beginning to enter this weird phase of being so/so in both languages; I've yet to decide whether this is a good thing or not. My other realization this week is that I am eating a lot of food that I previously would not have eaten on a regular basis. Let's look at the past couple of days at what I ate: Yogurt with granola and dried fruits for breakfast (before the mission I would do everything possible to avoid yogurt) ; yesterday we had a straight up fish, head, bones, tail, everything, on rice with miso soup. I felt so japanese-y yesterday. Other common foods eaten as of late: eggplant, onions, green onions, cabbage (a ton of it), mayonnaise, carrots, rice (I swear I'm starting to get rice cheeks), octopus, and Barley tea (it still kind of tastes like burnt popcorn, but it's growing on me) Oh, and lots of noodles. It's hard to think of anything that would be farther from what I was regularly eating before the mission (college = fast food, cheap so wendy's, taco bell, and
little caesar's pizza). I think it's quite a bit more healthy though, at least.... I hope.
So, Koyama is the district leader right (at least for 2 more days, after that is transfer announcements and who knows what'll happen then), so we get to do exchanges with everybody in the district, as well as
with the Zone leaders, and half of those were this week. Monday was a Zone P-day (preparation day where missionaries have a sort of break from work, mainly to do shopping and to see the city attractions) and Tuesday was off to Yanai. It was pretty fun, working with theirinvestigators (one of them is deaf so we got to use my Japanese Sign Language book!) and seeing their teaching/contacting methods. I definitely learned that there are many things that I need to improve on as far as just talking to people and leading them in the Gospel. For me right now it's just nerves, so once I finally get over that, it should be awesome.
Wednesday for Eikaiwa (we were in Yamaguchi before that to meet with the Zone Leaders) we had Food day. Which I think should be every day, but that would be a little rough. 「全ては日本語を書くことの誘惑を感じます。。。。」 I made Banana M&M pancakes for the class (which were delicious if I do say so myself) and we had various other delicious Japanese goodies from the students. I 愛 Japanese food. I endorse anko, sweet bean paste, sounds a little odd, but so good. And we even got one of our
potential investigators to come that day! Good food, good conversations, good atmosphere, good day.
Thursday was jam-packed. Weekly planning for half of the day (it really does take that long) and then lessons and Young Men's for the other half. All of the lessons recently have been a little sad for Koyama, everybody is getting ready to say goodbye to him (everyone is convinced he's leaving) and he's been treating most every lesson as if it's the last. Which is a good thing, I guess; the lessons have
definitely improved recently.
Friday we got a call from a family early that morning inviting us to go pick pears「なし」(Nashi) with them and their friend (our 14 year old investigator that takes dance). Of course! So we spent most of that day in Yamaguchi picking pears, talking with the family and with Hiro-kun and got a great relationship built with them. I would love to send some pictures of the event but the computer at the
train station has no usb ports or SD readers, so it's a little difficult. Oh man, Hiro-kun is beginning to feel like Yoshiaki-kun all over again. Once we meet with his parents then we'll really be able to see how far he can go! Oh man, he was answering the questions in Young Mens better than the deacons were!
Saturday there was an English speech contest in Hiroshima that Hiro-kun and Yuuka (The young woman in his class from our ward) put on and a dance demonstration for them while they deliberated the results. I got a sweet video (the sound track was a pumped up version of the Flintstones theme song) and I so want to send it! Someday..... Their demonstration on lasted so long, and they were still deliberating, so the MC was like, well, now let’s have a short English class, and Elder Everett will be teaching it. (Koyama and I were the only missionaries there) I was like, "Oh man, what in the world am I going to do with 30 people to entertain them for 20 minutes?" I started with some lame question and it was a little rough, and then I went to my Scouting roots and was like, “Hey, let's sing a song.” So I got them all to stand up and taught them all "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" actions and all. Oh man that's a great song to teach to a bunch of adults! Way fun. All of the speeches were amazing. That, and
Hiro-kun met Elder Nagafuchi who was in last month's Liahona. He converted at 14 and is now the Zone Leader in Hiroshima. I really hope that Hiro-kun will remember the things learned this week and the
awesome relationships he has in the Church.
Sunday we had 2 people come to Church! And then another investigator came after church, and we had 2 less active families come to Sacrament meeting! That's about 7 more people than we've ever had! We had a way good lesson with one of our investigators and everyone built strong relationships with all of the ward members. Our next goal is to get everyone to watch General Conference. In Japan General Conference is a week later and is shown via DVD. Luckily, our building was chosen as one of the viewing spots so we don't have to travel far on that day. It'll be a little rough for me at least watching
Conference in Japanese (We'll see how much I can understand....) but I'm way excited for it!
Before the mission, well, really before college, I didn't really appreciate exactly what General Conference meant. I took for granted the opportunity to hear and learn from living prophets and apostles and really esteemed it as a thing for naught. For me it was just a time to not be at church and to do churchy things not in a white shirt and tie. But it really is an amazing opportunity to hear and learn about how to overcome today's challenges and tribulations and to improve ourselves. The messages that are conveyed are for us, and are prepared specifically for the challenges that will be coming in the next 6 months. My advice today is for everyone to prepare now for Conference, and if you're not a member, to ask someone you know how you can see it, because if you listen, and if you really take note to what they are saying, nothing else will empower you more strongly than the testimony and teachings of the men called of God to prophecy for the world. Listen and see for yourself!
Go do cool things everyone! がんばってください！
エベレット長老
Elder Everett
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