Well, it is the end of my 15th transfer and here I go starting number 16! If I were to say that the feeling is surreal, well, that might just be an understatement. So with the 4-week transfer, and nearly half of the mission changing, there was bound to be something happening in Mihara. Well, if that's what you thought then you were with the rest of everybody else, everybody that is, except for President Gustafson and the Lord, because Elder Swasey and I are staying one more together.
I started off my mission bouncing around and wound up in my third area by my third transfer, and I have now been in as many areas since then I as I had up until then! I'm super excited for everything that's going to be going down in Mihara this transfer. We've been going around finding all of the hidden youth here in Mihara. We have one young man who comes every couple of weeks, and that's about it. But throughout this week we've found that there are actually 8 possible young men here in Mihara! 4 of them are members, 3 less active, and the other 4 are non-members but they all range from 12 to 17 years old! I'm not sure what it's going to take to get them to come out to church but I'm certainly going to do whatever it takes!
Tomorrow is a big day because we have a BAPTISM! She's a wonderful older woman who's been meeting with us ever since she began taking English lessons last August! She was telling us how much she has opened up since she began coming to church, and just how happy she feels whenever she comes to church on Sundays. The power of the Gospel has a profound effect upon the lives of the people who let it in. For the baptismal service Elder Swasey is playing the Violin and I am going to be singing 'When Jesus Christ was Baptized' which isn't in Japanese, so we've been working on translating it this week. I've done a lot of translating throughout my mission, but something about translating songs.... that's just a whole other ball park (counting the beats, fitting the words, not mixing old and new Japanese, keeping proper respect levels and tenses.... ) it's a bit of a beast.
As we've been continuing here in Mihara we've gotten really busy. Almost every day has turned into us going from place to place visiting and teaching along the way. As far as teaching goes, I have to say that this has been the busiest time in my mission. At the same time I know that there is always more that I can do and with this last 6 weeks I plan on going all out and doing everything that I can!
This past Sunday we had a branch conference, and our little branch of 20 or so people somehow grew to 36. A good number of them were from the stake, but it was quite a sight to behold. We even had a family come for the first time! The mother is a member but hasn't come to church in many years, and she brought her 2 sons (part of the hidden youth of Mihara) who are 14 and 16 years old. We also had a delicious pot-luck lunch afterwards with so much good food! Carbonala Pasta, Japanese Beef Stew, rice balls, sushi, japanese fried chicken (its different you know) … as they say in Hiroshima, 'my stomach got fat!'
The work continues to go on and I've got 6 weeks left to go and do all the good that I can! Wish me luck!
Elder Everett
エベレット長老
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