Okayama Mission Home

Konnichiwa everyone!

I first just wanted to say congrats to my brother, Mclean Smith on the
mission call to Uruguay. Proud of you and can't wait for you to get to
the field!!

This week was crazy busy. We got a call from the AP's on Thursday,
and they told us they we would be moving in with the Okayama elders
into the old Okayama mission home. From our church in Okayama west,
it's exactly a 30 minute bike ride. So Korth Choro and I are going to
really get to know our bikes well, as we will be doing a lot of bike
riding from now on! But it is fun to live in my dads old mission home.
I definitely didn't expect that to happen on my mission. Missions are
so full of change!

Our Filipino investigator, Jessica is doing super well! She had her
baptismal interview yesterday and did wonderfully! She loves coming to
church and just has such a desire to change and follow Jesus Christ.
I've been very proud of the Ward and how well they have fellowshipped
her. She already has so many friends in the Ward! Fellowshipping is
the way to retain others into the church! Having a friend at church
makes you feel so much more welcome. This Ward is really doing well,
and I am so glad I get to serve here! This coming week we set a goal
of having 10 member present lessons, and the Ward is way excited to
help us with it. It should be a good week!

  It was awesome to see the message of the restoration finally click
with Takeo-San, our deaf investigator. It's definitely a challenge to
try and speak Japanese and stay fluid with a member translating what I
am saying into sign language. But it gave us a great challenge! Takeo
said after the lesson that missionaries had tried to teach him that
before, but he never fully got it until this last week. It was a
miracle and he was so happy. The message of the restoration has so
much power!! He will be coming to church in a couple weeks with his
family when he has a day off work, so we are super excited for that!

  Jay, our Chinese investigator wants to be baptized! He just wants
to learn more about Christ beforehand. (Which is ridiculous! Who would
want to learn about Christ before being baptized!? 😉) It seems as if
past missionaries haven't done full lessons with him. They just touch
here and there in different doctrine. So we are going to start over
with him and teach the lessons. This week he is also going to be
praying about the Book of Mormon. Please keep him in your prayers as
he looks for his answer!

  We did have a crazy experience when we went to visit one of our
friends, Mohammed. We knocked on his door and he wasn't there. So we
knocked on the next door to introduce the church, when a lady came up
the stairs and started yelling at us and telling us to leave. I was a
little shocked, but we politely left the building. It makes me sad to
see that people have such bad images of the church. But it was a bit
of a humbling experience to have to stop what we were doing, and just
leave. Awkward, but humbling. Every single day as a missionary is
different. We talk to new people, learn new things, and have different
experiences and challenges everyday.  It's so fun everyday.

We are tired, happy, and breathing. So you could say life is going
great on this side of the world. I hope all is well at home. I love
and miss you all. Have a great week!!

Elder Evans


                Pday in Karashiki last week



                              Jay