So it's noon on a Monday here in Tokuyama, I'm sitting at a computer in a little library corner above the local train station and Koyama is totally passed out on his Backpack in a corner. There's this funky little video being played off to my right (it's played every day advertising Shunan city and all its activities) from which I don't think I'll ever get the song out of my head. And life is good!
So I told you we were having a Bowling Activity right? Well that was sweet; the bowling alley gave us a little print out afterward of all our scores, what pins we left, and the general statistics. Oh man, I wish all bowling alleys did that; that was awesome. We had a really nice conversation with the Morinaga 「森永」 (the #1 women's single Ping Pong High Schooler in Japan) and should be able to start teaching her soon! Her father is a less active member, and his Home Teacher works with us all the time, so we've already got a great connection to the ward and It should just take a little push before she really starts to take off in the Gospel. She's already interested in what the heck it is we do as Missionaries, and teaching English is always a plus in Japan. Here's for hoping.
That night we headed over to Yanai to get ready for a mini-zone conference. I've decided that exchanges and getting ready for Zone conferences are glorified sleep-overs for missionaries, and there is nothing wrong with that! Conversations though, now focus on people you're working with, and just crazy stories that always abound in Missionary work (one companionship may have met the #2 Most Wanted in Japan, and taught him lesson 1). It's really cool though, to hear other’s successes, and just knowing that for everybody, the happiest time (at least for these two years) is whenever somebody commits to Baptism, or actually is baptized. As cool and funny as all the other stories may be, in the end, they all pale in comparison to seeing the change and miraculous spirit shown by converts in their testimony after being baptized. “Joyous” is about the only word I can think to describe it.
Wednesday was a little rough during the day. We had our plan to visit all our investigators, but everyone was gone. It ended up being a grin and bare it day until that night when we had a nice Mogi 「模擬」 lesson (practice lesson) and Eikaiwa. This week was acronym week which is always fun. At the start nobody has any idea what I'm talking about, but by the end everyone is way involved and making acronyms all on their own, about just about everything. Apparently I am an Energetic Vigorous Elegant Romantic Enthusiastic Titanic Toilet. Maybe they need a little more work on that one.
Thursday we had the Zone leaders come over for a glorified sleep-over (companion exchange). We had a good plan all set up to visit everyone, but again nobody was home. 残念！ We did find some nice potential investigators though, including one whose kids go to a Catholic school here. (which by the way, is next door to our apartment. To get to our apartment you take the turn at the Catholic church, or if you're coming from the other direction, you turn just after the "World Liquors" store) Working with the ZLs (Zone Leaders) was great, though. Habuer 長老 really helped me understand that all missionaries are really just people. We all work hard, are called to a special calling, but everyone has their history, and everyone works hard for their own reasons. That, and it doesn't matter who you are, you have some form of geeky background that's always fun to share. I didn't get to go to Dance this week (the other companionship for the exchange went) but our other lessons were just as....entertaining.
Friday was pretty good, we have this thing around here called the English room, where we go and just talk in English to a bunch of Japanese people that want to learn English. I met this one guy from California (totally looks Japanese) and ended up teaching him all of lesson one just in a casual conversation. His questions were like, straight out of Preach My Gospel (the missionary's guide book) and his whole family is religious, of all denominations. You just don't find that in Japan (granted he is American, but whatever).
Saturday was rough, I was a little sick (dehydration.....which means it's my own dumb fault) and ended up missing an event we wanted to go to at the local High School. Oh well... We did end up buying a pocket 'Othello' board though, that's been great fun!
Sunday was very awesome. We had our normal Church schedule in the morning, and then just went all over the City with one of the members visiting less-active members and introducing ourselves to them. All of them had some hobby or work that either Koyama or myself had in common with them. Hopefully through those connections we can help them come back to the church and feel, at least one more time, the happiness and joy that comes from it. And all it takes is at least one friend in the Church and it's that much easier to come back. Before this mission, I openly admit it, I was quite shy when it came to one-on-one interactions with those I did not know. I would actually do whatever I could to avoid them at all costs. Now that that is essentially all I do, I don't think I'll ever have as much a problem when I get back.
That night we had a super delicious dinner: Steak (from the members), and mashed potatoes and boiled carrots and grape juice. It was our American meal night (probably the only one) and that night after planning we played GO on our new Othello board. GO is a great game, and I highly recommend it to all. It's way traditional Japanese, and I love it. I played with Koyama, and through some stroke of luck won by 10 spots! The whole time he was like "What is this, I'm Japanese, I can't lose at GO". My board game winning infamy lives! That whole night was so 懐かしい natsukashii (nostalgic). It felt like a normal Sunday back home and I couldn’t help but smile all night.
Now it's P-Day and I have taken some of your time. Just remember the times you have with your family, and do all you can to preserve those moments. It's absolutely awesome to hear that Richard Mackelprang and Matthew Watkins have made it back from their missions and are doing splendidly, and that Devin Romney is just about on his way to start his mission. There are few things greater than to grow up with good friends, and after several years, see that they are still your friends in the gospel and are living life to the best of their ability. Be that strong link for a friend, for an acquaintance, for that person you saw in the street that you just said 'Hello' to. You are an example to somebody, you may not know who, but somebody is always watching, so live your life to never let them down, and I'll do my best to do just that on this end of the Globe. Good luck.
Much love and well wishing,
エベレット長老
Elder Everett
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