Comcast internet sounds fun too. I remember wanting it so bad, but now I think when I get home I want to use the internet as little as possible. Sounds like it'll be perfect for work at home though! Maybe I can use it to upload music I record and stuff. haha
Thanks for the notes and stuff from other missionaries! I am glad to hear even though there are hard things they are seeing miracles and pushing through! That's way cool that Taylor and Marquie are heading out soon. It's cool that I'm not the only missionary from the ward anymore.
As far as the lots of people who investigated here in Nemuro for a long time, it seems like a lot of them are just like what you said. That and they just like missionaries, but have strange reasons for not getting baptized and obeying all the commandments. The main thing is thinking about what is most effective and where you need to focus.
So this week was pretty awesome! Monday was a way good day. We didn't have a lot of time on P-day because there are lots of things to buy for the apt still, but had great dendo time. We got spoked (stood up) for a lesson so we had a practice lesson with the branch president who was going to team up with us. Then that night we went to meet with a kid and his family that we met on the street who are way cool, but it ended up being bad timing. We made another plan to go again and decided to house nearby. There were not a lot of people home and the people who were said no really fast. It happens sometimes, but for some reason I felt especially tested by it. It teaches us in PMG about always asking for referrals wherever we go and when we asked one guy he said "no one here is interested!" kinda loud. I've had other crazy stuff said, but when I heard that I felt really strong that he was wrong and we kept housing. We finished the whole first section of the block and were thinking of going home, but decided to house the next building. First door was a crazy prepared awesome family named the Sekiyas, a mom with two sons. They were the most polite and nice kids I've ever met plus the mom was really happy to see us and very responsive. Really happy about that.
The next day we tried to visit our Philipino investigator and got there right as she was leaving so we couldn't meet, but we dendo'd the area. We met this way awesome lady named Uke who is really interested and remembers seeing missionaries a lot as a kid. We had a lesson with this guy named Suzuki who is an old investigator as well, but not nearly as old as the others. He still has problems keeping commitments which is tough. Before we visited him we tried to visit a PI (potential investigator) that we found last time and he wasn't home, but his mom was and surprisingly she was really interested as well!! After Suzuki's lesson we had some yakitori bentou which is a chicken on a stick kinda thing. Anyway it's really good and is only in Hakodate and Nemuro. After that we were going to visit these non-attending members, but I remembered I had to copy something to send to the Honbu so we stopped at a 7/11 to do that. After we left, we ran into a cool guy who is an English teacher at the high school. We taught him a lesson right there and got his phone number. Cool stuff like this happens all the time, I just usually don't remember it to write in the emails. (sorry) Wednesday was another good day meeting with investigators and finding other cool people on the street as we went places. We also taught the Sekiyas, but the mom was sick so we just taught the sons. We used a cool example with soap and pepper in water to teach baptism and they really want to receive it. The older kid Souto is the most obedient kid I've ever seen wow. We asked him to pray at the end of the lesson and he was like "Really? Can I?" :D That was great.
Thursday was way busy. Had planning session in the morning, got some business done for Inumaki choro's return flight arrangements, and got on the train to Obihiro for zone training meeting. Only about y'know... 5 hours. We did stop in Kushiro halfway to eat a little, but didn't get to Obihiro til almost 9. We crashed there with a ton of other missionaries and had a great ZTM the next day. It is funny to have my trainer as the Assistant to the President. We learned a lot about working with the ward and showing love to those you contact by being friendly and not just all business when you talk to them. It is however really important to always make sure you testify and teach them though. After that we ate and dendo'd for a tiny bit in Obihiro. Then we took the train back to Kushiro and dendo'd there a little bit. Had another fun night with the missionaries and zone leaders there. The next day we dendo'd a tiny bit and tried to visit Inumaki Choro's converts from when he was there. Then we ate sushi at Matsuriya which pretty much everyone in Japan says is the best sushi in the world. It was great. I ate too much. I also had whale. It was all right. Then we met the Kushiro branch pres and his wife (he is an American, but his wife is Japanese) and rode with them to Kitami where the first half of district conference was. That was a 2 1/2 hour drive, but way fun. We got there and I went on splits with the missionaries there and found a WAY awesome guy in the mall there. He is 25 and coaches basketball at a high school. I taught him all of lesson 1 and the restoration and he was way interested. Did all that, made good friends with him, all from a conversation started while looking at hats. He used to work at a YMCA and said that he really liked prayer and wanted to become a Christian, but didn't feel like that church was right. Unfortunately he lives in Obihiro, but he let me give his phone number to the missionaries there.
That night we slept in Kitami and the next morning headed back to Kushiro in the Nemuro branch presidents rent-a-car. I just have to say I'm the worst at sleeping in cars/trains/planes etc. It makes for a very tired self especially if I do fall asleep. District conference was so good it was crazy. Ozawa kaicho spoke on faith and how he has faith about the success of the church in Nemuro. That is a very hard thing considering no baptisms for 6+ years, but I know it is going to change. A new convert in kushiro spoke and so did Evans Kaicho (the mission pres.). He gave a great talk on things we can do as just members to dendo. So did Aoyagi Choro of the 70. His talk was so powerful it was crazy. Some things they talked about were 1. Making sure the people around you know that you're LDS and have the standards you do 2. Not doing it because you want them to be converted, but because you want them to get the blessings 3. Showing the love of Christ through compliments, praise, service. I wish you could've heard it. Of course, it was in Japanese, but still. After that we hung out there for a bit and rode back to Nemuro. We were insanely tired, but still went out to dendo. We visited this guy named Mochida who we found last week in the crazy blizzard. We taught him a way good lesson. It was way tight. When we asked him if he had any questions he brought the flier we gave him and he was just like, "yeah, teach me about the Book of Mormon." Long story short, it went awesome and we made a baptismal date with him. He is way smart, cool, and thinks hard about what we say so he understands it pretty good. We also passed out a few copies of the Book of Mormon in his apartment building and went home after meeting another "eternal investigator." Hopefully he'll make the right decisions that he needs to like the other eternal investigators. Anyways we are planning to go to this cool park today called Meiji Koen. I'll take some pics.
Thanks for everything and thank you for always being supportive and praying for me! I'm stoked for the letter! Please see lots of miracles there and try sharing the gospel with everyone! I know in Utah a lot of the people you run into at stores and on the street etc. are probably already members, but they need to feel the Savior's love too. Try saying hi, smiling, complimenting, everyone you can! LOVE YOU!
Aishiteimasu! Hutchinson Choro
Our house in Nemuro
With the Kushiro elders
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