Elder Evans in Kobe: Week 5 in Japan

Konnichiwa!!

This week I did a lot of learning! Ill just start off on Monday! Monday- we met with an investigator named Ohara-san. I guess this guy has been meeting with missionaries for tons of years. Like 10-15 years. He randomly texted us and asked us if we could meet, so we thought, why not. This was my first time meeting him, and my companions second time. He has been taught everything, the problem is, he has his own ideas of EVERYTHING. When we met with him, he did most of the talking. He speaks in really hard Japanese, so I had no idea what was going on. So that was fun. We ended up meeting with him 3 times this week. So we will see what happens with him! We will also be meeting with him again tonight!

Tuesday- We got up and did some study, and then rode our bikes 30-40 minutes to Kato-shi to play tennis and talk to people with one of the members in our branch. After we were done, we started riding back but the wind was blowing so hard. I was getting super frustrated because it was really hard to ride. After that, we got out and did some housing. The whole day, people were very rude, and we got a lot of "Shuukyou wa dame desu!" (religion is bad) and lots of doors slammed in our face. Im not a fan of housing, so I am trying to figure out a more affective way to find people, other than knocking on doors. Then we went with our shibu kaicho (branch president) to teach one of his friends, and then right after that, we went to teach eikaiwa. So that day was really busy, but I had a lot of fun teaching!

Wednesday- I was able to go on companionship exchanges with my zone leader, Dale Choro. He has been in Japan for 15 transfers. He only has one more transfer until he goes home, but he has not given up on missionary work yet! He is a really hard worker! I actually felt like I was being trained with him! We did our studies, and then he helped me translate some things that we could use throughout the day while we were contacting people! For some reason, since I have been in Japan, I dont. stop. eating. and it has gotten really expensive! But for lunch, he took me to a restaurant that has a meal called "King Sized". It is pretty much a huge bowl of rice, with tons of meet piled on it. He told me that he didnt think I could finish it. Which was funny because I ended up finishing it way before he did, and I could have kept going if I had to ;) After lunch, we started doing some finding. He would show me, and then make me do it. One of the times, we knocked on some ladies door, and he told me I would be talking. She opened up, and I said my lines. I normally introduce myself, and then they just tell me "Kekko desu" (Im alright) but after I said my lines, she wanted to keep hearing more. I panicked and looked at Dale choro and said "HELP!" He laughed and said "Good luck, Keep going". So I panicked and just started teaching about the gospel. After a couple minutes of me struggling, he started to help and we were able to teach her a lesson for a little while. Throughout the day, Dale choro and I ended up teaching 10 lessons total and gave away 2 books of mormon! I really enjoyed my time with Dale choro and learned so much from him that day!

Thursday- We had a meeting with our Dendo Shunin (Branch Mission leader), Mirata Kyodai. I think I have talked about him before, but he speaks english, so that meeting is normally a mix between Japanese and english, which is really fun! And I actually know what is going on, so thats always nice. Then we went back to the apartment and had our weekly planning session. This past week I have really been focusing on following the promptings of the spirit and acting on them. I have done a lot of research and I decided that I wanted to be more of an instrument in the lords hands. At the end of the planning session, I had the feeling that we should call someone. I told my trainer that we should pray, and then pick two names out of our old investigators list, and call them. So we prayed, and then picked a guy named Inomi-san. Beck choro called him, and the guy was very happy to hear from us! He asked us if he could meet with us, and he set up an appointment with us for Tuesday at 2!! How awesome is that!? Then the next guy we called, wanted to meet with us, but he lives in Osaka now, so we were able to send a referral to missionaries in Osaka to meet with him. I was very happy to have acted on promptings from the spirit, and for those promptings to pay off! When we were about to walk out the door, the sisters in our area called us and told us a member wanted to pick all of us up and had a surprise for us at their house. They also asked if we could share a message. When we got to the members house, they had prepared a huge dinner for us. It was called Sukiyaki! Which is like a big pot that sits on the table that cooks the food right in front of you! We ate soooo much and it was OISHIE!! (Delicious)

Friday- We had a zone training meeting so we traveled up to Fukuchiyama, where we talked about faith, and taking that step of faith towards christ. The zone leaders likened it to the story of Peter in Matthew 14. The lord walks on water out to the boat, and peter says, "lord if it is you, let me walk out to you" and the lord told him to come. Peter then, took a step of faith, and stepped out of the boat, and started walking towards the savior. After taking a few steps, he started to doubt and sink, but he immediately turned to the lord and asked for help. The lord stretched forth his hand and pulled peter back up. We can liken this in our lifes because 1. Peter stepped out of the boat, and started walking towards christ. He took a step of faith. And 2. Because as soon as he started to doubt, and had a problem, and started to sink, he turned straight to the lord, and the lord immediately helped him. In out life, if we start to sink, if we immediately turn to the lord, he will pull us back up. Our mission president has given us a new challenge as a mission. We are going to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and it has to be done by the end of December. I have really enjoyed this challenge! And as of right now, our mission is baptizing about 11-15 people per month. In a call with the area presidency, President Welch was impressed to promise the area presidency that our mission is going to double those baptismal numbers by May! I know that we can do that! There is a marvelous work going on in Japan right now, and I am so lucky to be a part of it!!

Saturday- Not much happened! We went home teaching with a member in our ward, to a different part of our area, and that was really fun!

Sunday- we had church, and it was fast sunday. I have really come to love fast sundays! During sacrament meeting, a lady named Mirata Shimai, got up and bore her testimony on missionary work. She said that when I first got here, she was kind of like "crap, he is young. We got a high school boy". She explained that she was really proud of me for all the work I am doing, and for connecting with the young men so well. It made me feel really good, because thus far, I havent felt like I have made a difference here yet. I really want to make a difference, and I felt like I had been too shy and not opening my mouth enough. So what she said was a big confidence booster.

Thats pretty much what happened this week! I hope you all have a safe and exciting week! Be safe! Love you all!

Evans Choro