I am here in 松本 with my companion reflecting on a whirlwind of a week. Things got way crazy and we traveled a lot. Statistically it wasn`t our best week, but we don`t do it for the stats right?
This week has kind of been a dream because it`s my first time on the mission where I was so busy that I didn`t have any time to do finding. We didn`t necessarily teach at all of those appointments because people didn`t show up to their appointments. We had appointments stacked on top of each other, so if someone didn`t show up, then we`d have to rush off to the next one. Nothing bothers me more than when someone doesn`t show up to an appointment. All the time we spend preparing for them and then nothing. This week only our Brazilian investigators kept their appointments.
The big events of the week were my trips to 上田(Ueda) and 諏訪(Suwa). On Thursday I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with my buddy Elder Jones in 諏訪. We taught a lesson about the Restoration to an investigator together and it was great to be able to work with him again. He is our DL right now and he is a great missionary and is super fun to be with. I was supposed to do a baptismal interview in the evening, but a couple days before her husband said to her that she couldn`t be baptized so that changed our plans. Also another investigator canceled his appointment and that left Jones and I with some time for housing. We went to work and had some fun and found two new people for him and his bean-chan to teach. Jones has been a huge success for the 諏訪 Area and he sees so many miracles. If you don`t remember, Jones was in my MTC district and he`s from good `ole small town, Enterprise, UT so it always is fun to be with someone from small town, USA.
On Friday we came back to 松本 for DTM and then Andrade and I taught a quick lesson and then caught the train to 上田 to go do two baptismal interviews out there. It`s a two hour ride so we got there in the evening and we got the opportunity to meet Carlos, the Peruvian who was baptized there last transfer. He is a way nice guy and is also really smart. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, English, and a little Japanese. He is really spiritual and loves being a member now. After meeting him I did a baptismal interview with one of their investigators named 清水(Shimizu) who was going to get baptized on Sunday. It was my first time doing a baptismal interview, but there were no problems and he was a really nice guy. That night we celebrated with some Brazilian beans, that Valente bought, with rice and sausages. The next morning Andrade did another interview in the morning and then we headed back to 松本.
That night we had a first lesson with Eni, our German speaking Brazilian. They just talked in Portuguese the whole time and Andrade taught the Restoration and answered a ton of questions about us as missionaries and about the Book of Mormon. It was way cool to have someone truly ``investigating`` what we teach. She apologized at the end of the lesson for not talking in German at all, but she said it was because she was ``hungry to know about the things we teach`` so she asked all of her questions to Andrade. She is way cool and she is so prepared. I just wish I could talk to her!
Lastly we have been working a lot with Aoki and Preto. We have been meeting with them three times a week to prepare them for baptism. Sadly due to some family issues that came up, they cannot be baptized this upcoming Sunday. We`re hoping and praying that we can reset the day quickly, but right now it`s not decided. I love them so much! I listen to the lesson in Portuguese, but I talk to them in Japanese and sometimes English. They are so ready. Our lesson last night was way powerful and they know it`s all true.
That`s about it for the week. I wish the best to you all!
Elder Aoyagi`s home ward is 松本 so he sometimes visits.
He spoke in General Conference recently.
Yep, that mountain way out there is 富士山 (Mt. Fuji).
You can sometimes see it in 諏訪 and I was blessed enough to see it for the first time.
Buzz in 諏訪
Beans in 上田
More Brazilian food we made: pastels
It`s just majestic.
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