What a long week. It's been pretty incredible and my camera's battery
died so I didn't get too many pics. I went to Nagoya twice this week
and it's been a wild ride. I love my new companion and we got a lot
done even though we weren't in 松本 for most of the week.
We'll start off with my Monday adventure. I got to experience some good
'ole Japanese farming. A member's friend needed some help harvesting
some rice in their tanbo (田圃 which is a rice paddy) and four big
foreigners is the best way to get manual labor done. It was actually a
really neat experience. They use this hand pushed swather-like machine
that cuts the rice into sheaves and binds it with cord and then you
line up the sheaves on the ground. They then build these racks next to
the row of sheaves and you hang the sheaves of rice upside down on the
racks. We were a super big help to these folks because they tend to be
kind of slow and take lots of breaks (it would've driven Dad nuts),
but we didn't need a break every ten minutes so we just kept working
and helped them finish ahead of schedule. The Japanese are so funny
when it comes to this kind of work. They are so worried about getting
too itchy, or sun burned, or blisters. Just different than what I was
used to growing up in Paradise North.
My first trip to 名古屋 was on Tuesday to pick up my new companion Elder
Gilberto Andrade from São Paulo, Brazil. He is one of the nicest guys
you'll ever meet. He is an extremely hard worker and has enormous
amounts of faith. We are going to get tons done this transfer.
We had to go again to 名古屋 on Thursday for our Mission Leadership
Council where all the ZLs meet at the beginning of every transfer.
Half of the meeting was about how to more effectively teach to
non-Christians using some new aids to help with teaching. It was
really good training and very different from what we heard from
President Whiting a couple of weeks ago. It was very emphasized on
teaching to understanding and respecting people rather than just
baptizing.
On to the work we got done in our own war zone. Andrade has become best
friends with the only Brazilian member and got two referrals from him.
Our own Brazilian investigators are doing awesome! Aoki and Preto are
doing so good. I love them so much. We are going to start meeting them
at least twice a week to help them get ready for baptism. They love
Andrade things are looking so good for them. We also met with Eni (I
thought her name was Enna) and she is the German speaking Brazilian I
found. I left her a German Das Buch Mormon in her post with a poorly
written note in German several weeks ago because she wasn't home. We
decided to stop by last night and she is pure gold. She said, in German,
that she has been reading it everyday and loves it. She kept saying,
"Danke schön, danke schön." Which is "Thank you, thank you." Since she
and her husband are Brazilian, Andrade started getting to know them and
Eni started asking him all sorts of perfect, golden questions. Andrade
answered all of them and she was so happy! Her and her husband, Louis,
want to meet again and we are going to practice German for 30 minutes
and then teach a lesson. They also gave us a lot of referrals of
friends who live in the area, including their daughter. Eni said,
"These people need to feel the peace I'm feeling right now!" How cool
is that?!
You all maybe are wondering what I am doing when Andrade is talking to all
these Brazilians in Portuguese. Well, I am listening rather intently
because believe it or not I can understand about 20-30% of what is
being said. I can understand everything that is happening in general,
but I can't get the specifics or understand direct questions. If Eni
talks to me in German I understand about 70-80% because stuff is still
in my head. My problem is that I cannot speak these languages; I can
only understand. While of course my focus is learning and teaching in
Japanese, I have to learn some things in Portuguese to be of help. The
goal is to learn how to pray and bear a simple testimony in Portuguese
and German by the end of next week. That way I can connect with my
investigators and build a better relationship with them.
Those are all of the exciting stories for the week. I love being in a
four man apartment. The sleeping area was a little tight at first, but
now Elder Hansen the Bean-chan is sleeping in the closet so it all
works out rather nice. I'll send a pic next week.
This is going to be a sweet transfer. To me personally some of the
best missionaries are in 松本 and in my zone this transfer. We're going
to make change.
As we roll into October, I hope that all is well and you are enjoying
the beautiful fall colors. Everything is still green here so we'll see
if we get a color change. I am so grateful for all of you and your
support. I'm sorry I don't always respond back to everyone, but with
my re-application to USAFA and other Zone stuff I've hardly had time
to write in my journal. Please know that I love and appreciate you
all!
スピードと天使
堅城長老
Beautiful 安曇野
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