Well as the subject line states, we have no P-Day today. Today we are
driving a bigwig from the church Missionary Dept. almost all day long
to take him to lessons in 岡崎 (Okazaki) Zone. So this guy created a
beta test program for a pamphlet for the iPads that is supposed to
help teach people without a Christian background and this was given
only to missionaries in Japan around last year in October. He is
visiting different missions in Japan this week and wants to watch
missionaries teach using the pamphlets. He's going to be in our
mission for two days and we were worried that we weren't going to have
very many lessons planned because we didn't have very much prep time
in advance. Luckily these lessons don't all have to be investigator
lessons so we'll still be able to take him to lessons where the
missionaries are practicing with members. So today we are picking him
up at the Nagoya Train Station and will be driving him to four
different areas and then tomorrow after church we will be taking him
to three more areas. We'll be working all weekend.
Well that's enough about today, so I guess I'll talk a little about
this past week. It's been a long week and I haven't really been
anywhere. Monday and Tuesday were spent at the Japanese DMV which is
worse than the American DMV any day of the week. The building itself
looks like a gigantic prison and seems to suck the happiness out of a
soul. Our purpose for these trips was to obtain my Japanese drivers
license. Monday night was my practice driving test which went ok. That
was my first time behind the wheel of a car in about 18 months and it
was pretty weird, but my skills were still there. The hardest thing
about the driving test here in Japan is that you have to memorize two
courses and you don't know which course you will take until the day of
the test. The instructors are also really picky about how early you
turn your blinkers on and how close you are to the inside lines when
you turn. I learned all of these rules on Monday night with a grouchy
instructor to prepare for my test on Tuesday afternoon. I was pretty
nervous for my test because usually missionaries don't pass on the
first time and President Ishii was really pushing hard for me to pass
so Nakamoto can get out of the 本部 next transfer. Tuesday rolls around
and we get to the DMV at around 1130 to check in and then I waited
until about 1245 to actually take the test. When I drove the course I
remembered everything and after I finished I felt confident that I'd
passed, but wasn't quite sure because that's what Nakamoto said he
felt like after his first test. Once my test (which only took about
five minutes) was done we had to wait around for another hour for the group
to finish the other tests. At a designated time they read the names of
those who pass in front of everyone and if your name doesn't get
called then you go home with no prize and a sense of shame. As they
started to announce I waited and... My name was the second of four
only who had passed for the day! It took another 30 minutes to get my
card made and printed, but I am now a licensed driver here in Japan. I
give all the credit to the Transdev Harrogate & District Travel bus driver
tie I was wearing from Fonty.
Wednesday was Mission Leadership Council where all the Zone Leaders
meet every transfer and we APs and the President give trainings. This
transfer our focuses were on working with members and using family
history as a tool in our 伝道 (dendo). It was a way successful MLC with
a lot of good round table discussion and everyone was really involved.
Afterwards we had to drive the 金沢 ZLs to the 駅 (eki-train station) so
they could catch their three hour train ride home, but the problem was
the other 本部 missionaries took our van so President Ishii told us to
take his. I was given the keys and my first time driving for real on
the narrow roads of Japan was in the president's gigantic van. It was
a little sketchy, but my virgin voyage ended safely and no plants,
animals, or people died so I consider it a mission success. At night
during 英会話 we tried teaching about knock-knock jokes and pick up
lines, but nobody understood so it was pretty much a failure. Their
sense of humor here is way different. After 英会話 we had an after
baptism lesson with our recent convert named Katsuki. He's only 16
years old and he's such a bro. We taught a lesson with the bishop
about the priesthood and the whole time he seemed kind of in awe about
how important the priesthood is and the power it has.
The next day was pretty slow for me. Nakamoto went with 阿部 (Abe) and
the senior couple missionaries to go look for a new apartment up north
to open a new area so I was stuck in the office all day. I didn't have
too much to do in the late afternoon , so I ended up shredding old
records from 2005 for two hours straight. I filled up three huge trash
bags of thousands of travel reimbursement sheets. We still have more
records so I'll save those for another slow day.
That's about all of the excitement for the week. I guess I just want
to finish my email with some stuff I've been thinking a lot about this
week which is conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. On my mission
I've realized how far my personal conversion has come. Looking back
over my past 18+ months here my testimony has grown so much. I have
the desire to come closer to Christ and follow commandments and strive
to return to our Father in Heaven. I am so grateful to have been so
affected by my mission up to this point. Nakamoto and I listened to a
youth broadcast with Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles and he talked about how every good thing in his life came
through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It made me want to have the faith
to be able to say the same thing someday. This church is true and the
blessings are real and the joy is forever and I'm starting to
understand that and it's exciting.
I hope all is well on the home front. I'm under four months left out
here folks which is getting interesting to think about. I'm so
grateful to be working out here with such wonderful people and I feel
so blessed by your support. Thank you so much!
スピードと天使
堅城長老
写真
Licensed to Thrill
Getting gangsta by this car we found the other night
we drew this picture to teach thug in 英会話 (Eikaiwa)
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