Ok, so you know how I said that transfers were last week, well the way they work here is that on Wednesday you get a call from the APs (assistants to the President) and they tell you who's moving, who's staying, and who your new companion is going to be. So essentially we were all waiting Monday morning to find out where Buckingham 長老 was going to get transfered. While we were thus involved in waiting (studying in the midst of it all) we got a phone call. Not to the phone of De Freitas and Buckingham 長老 but to Clements 長老 and I. SURPRISE! I got transferred! So no more Kumamoto for me, I am now on a completely different landmass a good half day's journey away. I now reside/work in Tokuyama 徳山 in the Yamaguchi 山口 prefecture.
It was a little sad to leave everyone behind in Kumamoto, but we did have Eikaiwa that night so we got to have a last good bye to at least everyone that could make it to that. Just before that though, in preparation for the impending Transfers, En 兄弟, the Guy who tried to bike to Tokyo, had us over for what he expected to be an end of transfer meal, not a farewell to Everett 長老 meal, but it all worked out for the better. Kumamoto was way nice, and I wish everyone there the best of luck, but now I've got a whole new group of people to work with, and it'll just grow from there.
So I got to Tokuyama on Thursday about 3:30 or so and to my surprise Bushman 長老, from the MTC with me, was waiting; he's in my district now, and my new Companion is Koyama 小山 長老, a Japanese elder! It's been an interesting dynamic at the apartment. We've been able to communicate well, but there's just a little bit of a disconnect every now and then, and it makes for interesting situations (our first time cooking together was an experience in and of itself :) Tokuyama is right on the Coast of Mainland Japan and we've got beautiful views of the ocean and several surrounding mountains, It really is quite pretty come sunset and sunrise. Sometimes I think that coming from Japan, Koyama doesn't quite have the same wonder that I do for the simple little differences.
He's way good though, and working together been doing wonders for my Japanese. Before, I didn't really use Japanese too much outside of contacting, church, and lessons (okay, so I used it quite a bit) but now I get it at home, too. It's non-stop Japanese for me now! Koyama is only on his 6th transfer and I'm on my 2nd, so we both are pretty new to this whole 伝道 missionary work thing. It's great though, this area is in great shape and we have a bunch of people that we get to work with every week. Plus we have a baptismal date coming up soon, so I have that to look forward to again!
I haven't had a whole ton of time to meet all of our investigators yet, but who I have meet have been awesome. I've been able to find several things in common with all of them and that all important relationship and trust is building. It's very difficult to teach somebody if they don't trust you. (I just got way distracted, there's a deaf couple sitting next to me at the library and I've been trying to read their conversation) It seems like the greatest problem that our investigators have is really understanding the role of prayer, and why exactly this message is important in their everyday life. Many of them are afraid, or embarassed to pray, and I just want them to understand that there really is no such thing as a bad praryer, as long as you are speaking what you are feeling and are truly trying to communicate your thoughts, God will hear and answer your prayer, sometimes you just have to do a little bit of searching before you can find that answer. We speak to God through Prayer, and God speaks to us through the Scriptures and the Holy Ghost, through our feelings and thoughts.
So, good luck to everyone back home in all your various activities, I very much enjoy when I get to hear about the goings on back in the States (and various other places [Sweden and such]) and I keep every single letter that I've been sent. It's becoming quite the stack so far, but I think that that is the way it should be. Plus, I may or may not have a competition going on to see who sends me the most
stuff........
Well, things are great here in Tokuyama and I wish all of you the best in all you do. The Computers here don't have a USB port so no pictures for the time being.
"So how long have you been out, a year?"
"Nope, one month." =)
Elder Everett
エベレット長老
No comments:
Post a Comment