Is it really 33 celsius there? That's insane. Yesterday didn't even make it to 10. Some days it's around 15 and that's nice, but that's as high as it's gotten. It is of course very rainy as well. I'm glad the music fireside was on Youtube as well. It was lots of fun, but I'm glad I'm done running back and forth to Sapporo (at least for now, I'll have to go back when they send Inumaki Choro home).
That sounds really tough for Uncle Merril. I have been doing my best to pray for him too. Sounds like it'll be fun to be together with all of Dad's family though! Dad's birthday sounds like it went great too. I feel like I'll be really disappointed with Chinese food when I get back. I'm going to try to send him something soon. How long ago did you send the conference Ensign? Since coming to Nemuro I haven't gotten a single letter from America. It's kinda strange. There wasn't anything at the honbu either. Also did you ever get my letter for the young men? I sent that 3+ weeks ago. Thanks for giving Cash my email. Glad to hear that he's working - I hope he's doing great. Super excited for everyone's mission prep as well! When is Adam's availability date???
SO on P-day after we emailed I got on a bus to Kushiro at about 10am and got there at 4pm. After that ate dinner and went on splits with one of the Kushiro missionaries for three hours and that was P-day. The next day went on splits with him for the whole day and it was pretty fun. There is so much you can learn from every missionary. The next day was a zone meeting in Kushiro and then a bus to Nemuro. We just checked in with our investigator Inoguchi who is doing great. He is just so busy with going to the hospital and watching after his sick mom. It's really cool to see how the gospel is helping him find peace in that time even though he's only learned a little at this point. We're visiting him again today right after this. On Thursday we had planning session, went to some appointments, and ate leimen at this yakiniku place. It is like noodles and really good, I don't know how to explain it. The sunset over the ocean that day was way awesome as well.
Friday was a good and busy day of visiting appointments, finding, rescheduling lessons, and getting ready for Eikaiwa. We also stopped by this place I did service at last week because they have a special needs day service there. They remembered me and were really happy to see us. We might be able to do more service there some other time. Eikaiwa was way awesome. 2 new people came that saw our flier on a store window. The classes are getting bigger and bigger and it's way fun. Saturday was visiting some members, a non attending member who is really nice, and lots of housing. The non-attending member is named Unosawa Shimai and was the first person to ever get baptized in Nemuro. She had a hard time at church a long time ago and stopped coming, but feels like us visiting her is a sign from God that she needs to come back. Hopefully we can get her ready to come back and help her kids come to the Gospel too. Yesterday was church and the Ozawa kid's baby blessing. The grandparents from both sides came plus one more guy from Tokyo came for a seminary thing so there were a lot more people than usual and it was really cool. After church we met another non-attending member Inamura Shimai and talked to her a bit. She got busy in the past and had to miss church, but after a while because of that she felt guilty and it was hard to come to back. She told us that she has a desire to feel the good feelings she felt back then and committed her self to pray everyday and make steps to come back. That was pretty good news. I'm excited to see this branch grow :) Other than that it has just been great being a missionary. I get very tired and sometimes frustrated about certain things, but I can always find a solution in the scriptures or in remembering why I'm here.
The guy from Tokyo Onda Kyoudai bore his testimony on Sunday, but he shared a cool though about member missionary work. Set a goal to share the gospel, introduce the church, invite to activity etc. even if it seems like you'll be rejected. He said that even when we do that and get rejected we are seeing success because being a missionary isn't about bringing a billion people into the church, it's about declaring the word. The missionary purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. The thing that we do is invite. I like to think of it like invitations to a party. If you don't invite them, they won't even know that it's going on. However, in order for them to want to go to the party and actually know how good it is, we use our testimonies, examples, friendship, and love. I think that's a good example of what missionary work really is. I love you all so much and am super grateful for such a great and strong family. How is FHE lately? I'm excited for that when I come back ;) You're the best!
Aishiteimasu
Hutchinson Choro
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