名東しかない。(Only in Meito)

Good morning Sports Fans,

This was a wild ride this week. I know that most people think that as
Zone Leaders we just sit back, take cool pictures, and eat bonbons,
but that simply isn't the truth. I've been all over the place this
week and it was a wild ride. Meito Zone is notorious for being the
most susceptible to have problems and it didn't disappoint this
weekend. But before we get into all of that, let's talk about the
week!

So things really started off on Tuesday with a Zone Leader conference
call where President Ishii shared some things he learned at a Mission
President's seminar in Korea. It was good and I learned a lot from him.
Afterwards we went on an AP exchange. I worked with Elder Nakamoto
(who is American) in the pouring rain. We talked to a ton of people on
the street and tried housing a massive apartment building where we
found a young kid who had a ton of interest in us and about God and
the purpose of life. It was a blessing to find him. We then got back
on the bikes and rode home in the monstrous rain. Elder Nakamoto was a
pretty fun guy to work with. He's from Torrence, California who was
kind of a beach bum surfer and is a way chill guy. He is a way good
missionary and has been helping us out a lot. Tommy on his exchange
met and taught Matsumoto-san and she loved church! We were supposed to
teach her again on Friday, but she got sick and couldn't meet and
couldn't come to church again, but we are meeting her tomorrow.

Wednesday it kept raining, but we were supposed to help our new found
Canadian friend Dave build a deck on his roof. Instead we did some
other projects to prep to do it next week. He is a way interesting
guy. He asked us a lot of questions about the church and told us that
he has met missionaries in every country that he has been in (Canada,
America, Mexico, Bolivia, Australia, Japan, etc.). We did some service
with him and then he grilled us some BBQ under an umbrella. He is also
a collector (his house shows it) and offered to give us each a sword.
That was way cool and we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and we
are going back to help him this week.

On Thursday I rolled out to go on an exchange in the actually rather
beautiful city of 春日井 (Kasugai). I worked with our District Leader,
Elder De Spain for the day. He is one transfer less than me in the
mission, but he is way young (he just turned 19) but is full of energy
and is doing well as a missionary. We had a lot of opportunities to
teach and it was a lot of fun to work with him. He really wants to see
success and even though this is his first transfer as DL he is doing
really well. On Friday we attended his DTM as well and he good there
too. He's just young and gets really excited and if he just relaxes
and doesn't hold the reigns too tight then he'd be perfect.

Friday night we had to head to 名東 (Meito) to meet with the Okazaki
ZLs, Stake leadership and President Ishii for what we call 伝道調整種会
which is as difficult to say in English, Mission Coordination Meeting.
We discussed recent converts and people with current baptismal dates.
It started at 2000, but as all meetings go, it started late and went
until 2115. As missionaries we are supposed to be home at 2130 but
since we had a train to catch and walk home we didn't get back until
around 2230. We were just smoked from the day of meetings and travel.

Yesterday was another good Sunday at church. We are trying to develop
good relationships with the members here and I think it is working.
Especially with the Christmas season coming up they are trying to help
us and work with us more. We had a ton of meetings after church and
planning for the branch Christmas party coming up. After church we
taught a lesson to an investigator named 岡本(Okamoto) who is actually
Christian and a former investigator. He has searched the US and other
countries for the true church and he knows that the Book of Mormon is
true and that our church is the restored church of Christ, but has a
hard time with the commitment to one church. We are working with him
right now to strengthen his testimony.

So after this lesson is when things got more crazy. We were trying to
visit a less active and the phone rang and it was Elder Nakamoto
informing us of an emergency transfer that would taking place the next
day (today) with the Meito elders. The poor elder who is staying there
just got there three weeks ago and hardly knows his area and all of
the investigators and is only a transfer 5 missionary and they are
giving him a companion who needs his help. That's a lot to chuck on
his shoulders and I hope that doesn't create more issues. Also, our
sisters had a crazy experience with their two 約束者s (investigators with
a baptismal date) at a member's home. I won't go into too much detail
about that, but I will say that I was very grateful a priesthood
holder was present at the time. Also while talking to one our DLs on
the phone we had to help coach him and comfort him in his frustration
of not seeing success this week. He is a really great guy I don't want
him to be discouraged and talking to him helped him I think.

Holy cow this email is long, but it gives you a little look into the
life of one such as Elder Thomas B. Eadie III and Elder Holden J.
Hardcastle as we work from our little HQ in 'Nam to protect and serve
those in the 名東 Zone.

I hope you all had a great week and have a great Thanksgiving. We are
going to try and celebrate it as best we can. I love you all and am
eternally grateful for all of your support and love. Happy
Thanksgiving!

スピードと天使

堅城長老

Katanas

This is now how we solve companionship issues.