Ball is Life!

The best $20 you could ever spend in Japan

(No wonder he has gained so much weight since he's been there.)

 Here in Matsue, Smith Choro and I are known as the "Basketball
Missionaries". Why? Because since birth, Ball has been life to both of
us. We were talking to a member family a couple weeks ago at dinner
and I asked them what we can do as the Matsue missionaries to better
strengthen this Ward, and better find investigators! The mom looked at
me and said "well have you tried doing basketball missionary work?"
Well, we hadn't, but since then whenever we do missionary work,
basketball always seems to come up in the conversation, so we have
been able to find new people through... BASKETBALL! Matsue has a
professional basketball team, and really nice court, so there are lots
of basketball players here! One night, my companion contacted a
younger guy on the street, and the guy was wearing a really cool
basketball shirt, so we compared basketball to the gospel and had a
great little talk with him. Right after we walked away from talking to
him, a 18 year old boy walked past us so I said "hello" and he said
what he could in English. I asked him if he liked English and he said
he really liked it. I asked him why and he said "Because I like the
NBA!" It's funny how God puts people in our path that we can connect
to easily. And it's really fun to connect basketball to the gospel!

    One night while we were out finding and talking to people, I had a
feeling to try to call brother ishihara, who was supposed to receive
the priesthood 5 or 6 weeks ago, but then stopped coming to the
church, answer phone calls, or talking to any of the members. We were
super worried about him because his family doesn't like the church
very much. So my companion (who was the one that baptized brother
Ishihara) and I have been praying for him everyday. We had called
brother ishihara time and time again before, but while we were out I
felt like I should try again, so I did.... And he answered the
phone!!! He has some worries and concerns but I was able to set up and
appointment with him for tomorrow, so we are so excited to meet with
him again, and the Ward was astonished that brother ishihara answered
our phone call. We know that it was because of the spirit, and how
much Smith Choro and I have been working to gain the spirit lately.

    Another highlight of the week was 2 nights ago when we got woken
up at 4am to what we thought was the world ending. It sounded like the
hospital across the street was crumbling to the ground!! But, it was
just the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life. Nothing major.
My companion and I had a great time with that. Even though it took
away from our precious sleeping time. The rain in Japan is absolutely
crazy. Doing missionary work in the rain, is even crazier but it's
giving us some good memories

Oh yeah, it's the 4th of July for us in Japan. So happy 4th of July!
You should hear Madruga Choro's (who is from Brazil) image of the 4th
of July. It's about the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life.
Guns, fireworks, Pies, and Bald Eagles flying everywhere. Sounds like
a great time to me!

Happy 4th! Have a great week!

Ebanzu Choro
エバンズ長老


A majestic picture of the Elders from last weeks parable.


American (ish) tacos at a members house. Go America!


Matsue