week 71

Yup yup! 7 months. Feels like yesterday it was 8 months! And then last week that it was 1 year! Crazy. And tomorrow, it will be Mother's Day! Or at least it will feel like it. That will be the last time we talk before I'm home! Excited?

Conference was good! I enjoy it a lot. It's interesting because there is so much to learn and study and then before you are done soaking in all of general conference, it's already time for conference again! Just trying not to get overwhelmed with all the stuff I feel like I need to do and get better at. Always trying to improve in so many areas!

Ya, we can watch it on LDS.org before we ACTUALLY watch it but that is kinda like cheating so... We try not to.

The week has been good.The baptismal interview was fine. Wasn't able to go to the baptismal service but I'll get pictures tomorrow if I can and send them next week. Might have the opportunity to do two more interviews in the coming future so pray for me!

The rotten beans were my idea. :) we had a really fun district meeting using them. And then we ate them. And then everyone hated me! Ha.

Yup... That's good for me right now I think. We have a busy week ahead of us so it aught to be a quick one!

My comp was having a good
session.

Love you! Thanks for the emails always. Don't forget about me!

 

week 71 Conference

Wish I could say there had been no rain here! But... There has been a lot of rain... It's great!

We get to watch conference this coming Saturday and Sunday. We have to wait for it all to be translated even though we are going to watch it in English.

I had the opportunity this week to do a baptismal interview for an investigator that the sister missionaries had been teaching for a while. Her name is Angela and is from the Philippines. It was a good experience and she was able to be baptized yesterday! We weren't able to make it to her baptism but I'll see if I can get some pictures from the service for next week.

We also had a Zone Training meeting with our Mission President. It was a good training and me and Elder Warr got things in gear afterward. This area needs some help and a lot of things are changing now in order for new things to happen. That is really vague but... Some crazy stuff is going to start happening here!

We also had a good time at a Japanese barbecue this week! Freshly shot boar meat, lunch boxes with some awesome food (I can basically eat anything now), and all the beer you could drink! Of course, it gave us a good opportunity to share about the word of wisdom but there were a lot of nice people there and we made some good friends.

The Sakura are blooming and Japan is a wonderful place to be.

week 70 Easter

This week, as far as things that happened:
- We had a ping pong tournament with the youth in the ward. Lost.
Turns out Japanese are really good at ping pong. Who knew??
#StereotypesAreTrue
- Shared a message about Love with a part member family for FHE. You
can learn a lot from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
- Had a fun district meeting and at the end, ate fermented soy beans
for some district unity
- Invited someone to be baptized the first time we met him and he said
that it would be something he wanted! It was awesome! But
unfortunately he wasn't there for his return appointment
- Shout out to my dad for his birthday on the 24th
- Got a taste of what it was like to do missionary work in America.
Had a lesson with someone in English for the first time on my mission.
- Got to be farmer joe and pull some weeds in a garden for an English
class student who then treated us to some good Barbecue Japanese style
- Taught a sudden lesson on prayer to a really cool family we met last
week. Awesome family of 5 that we hope we get to meet again.
- Made friends with a wild boar

That was my week! On a more personal, non-bulleted level, I've learned
a lot about becoming rich from collecting small flecks of gold. There
is a Mormon message about it but, if you haven't seen it, the moral of
the story is that if you are looking only for golden nuggets you will
miss out on making yourself rich from the small flecks of gold you
passed up. If we accumulate these small flecks of gold, overtime, we
will be rich. As with most things, there can be an analogy drawn from
this relating to missionary life and for that matter, life in general.

Big miracles happen and yes, there are golden nuggets to be found but
most of the time, on my mission at least, there have been small things
that have made all the difference. Small things such as handing a Book
of Mormon to someone, even if they aren't super stoked to read it. Who
knows what will happen to that book but the fact that they have it in
their house is a small flecks of gold. Being able to leave a good
impression of the church and Jesus Christ with people as you talk to
them on the street or at their door. Small flecks of gold.
I'm becoming a rich missionary. And I am grateful for this mission.
Brower chourou

Happy Easter

Week 69

Hey!

This week has been good. It's interesting but, without going into too much detail, this has been the best time of my mission and the hardest! I guess that goes to show that trials and hard things make for a full, rewarding life. Remember that.

Bike Adventures!!!

My bike is a champ! We go off roading and mudding and jump curbs and... Have lots of fun Doing missionary work too! ;) 

 All those pictures were from a place called Miyajima. It is probably one of the coolest places I've been in Japan so far. It is... A giant shrine and just... I don't know how to describe it because it isn't like a normal place. It's almost like they have taken every religious aspect of Japan and put it in one place so that anybody can go there and pray to their gods and... Ya. And because of the nature of the place it is pretty popular for tourists as well. Have a good week!

Brower Chourou