Hey
Sounds like everyone had a pretty busy week. We actually had a pretty busy week ourselves with lessons and things. I left my old planner at the apt. so I will try to remember as much as a I can from what happened this past week but it just went so fast.
Monday was a blast. We went out to eat with a bunch of Elders from our zone and started an exchange that night with the Zone leaders.
Tuesday - I was with one of the ZL's who actually served in Sumoto for around 3 transfers. We went around and visited some of his old investigators and stuff but didn't have a whole lot of luck getting any new lessons started. We had one recent convert who got sick and the branch made him dinner and asked us to take it so we did that and got him to bring his son (Not baptized) to english class.
Wednesday - We had district meeting and I had asked every companionship to prep a little thing and they all did a good job so I was pretty happy about that. We headed home pretty excited to teach a lesson to the Tachibana family but they ended up canceling on us which was a bit of a disappointment. We went out housing and were able to find 2 new investigators which was great. One of them met with missionaries quite awhile ago and even remembered some of the stuff they taught him including the word of wisdom. We are pretty excited to teach him.
Thursday - We had another exchange with the other elders in our district. I went to an area called miki and dendoed with Elder Hale. Really good missionary and we had alot of fun. They are in a really countryside area so we spent most of our time housing but were able to find one investigator which was nice.
Friday - We had a lesson with Hashimoto which we were excited about but it didn't go as well as we had hoped. He said that he just couldn't belive in Jesus christ and has his own personal god. Doesn't really seem to want to keep committments either so we might have to take a break with him for a bit which is a little disappointing. We did our weekly planning session and also took another dinner over to that recent convert.
Sat - It was a really great day. We went over to Hosoda (The lady we just baptized) house and had dinner with them. Her daughter has been a member for 10 years and is honestly one of the best members I have ever met and is trying super hard to share the gospel with her family. 10 years later a week ago we were able to baptize her mom and we had a celebration dinner with sushi and everything. It was really really good. She is already trying to spread the gospel to her other family members and brought her 17 year old nephew Ryo along too. We shared a message and did a small lesson with him but he doesn't really have the desire at the moment but hopefully we can see that change soon. It was alot of fun and we had a great time.
We did alot of finding after that but not alot of luck.
Sun - it was another great day. While earlier in the week the Tachibana's canceled on us they came as a family to church all 4 of them! It was really great to see them all there. The sons are already asking where they can get baptized we just have to get permission from the mom and set a date for them which hopefully we can do this coming week if they don't cancel. They seemed to have a really great time. Also the recent converts son also came to church so we had around 5 people there. We pretty much double the branch numbers this week so it felt really good. I had to give a talk which made me a bit nervous. I don't remember if I told you or not but in Sumoto since its really small they only have church for 2 hours and sacrament meeting is around 45 min. Since its short like that they only have one speaker that goes for 20 min or so. I got through it and last for 20 min.
After church while riding out to the area we were going to house we stopped one guy and he agreed to come to church. Went out housing in a neighboorhood for 2 1/2 hours with not a single ounce of luck then on the way home we found another investigator. Kind of interesting how missionary work goes sometimes but we were blessed and found 2 new people.
So it was another great week. I am way excited for this next transfer were are going to see some great miracles i am sure. Transfers are actually this week and sadly my comp. could end up transfering but we will see what happens. Kind of weird to think that I will be going on to my last transfer.
I am going to send the bap. pic in another email.
Thanks for everything, Love you tons
Cam
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Hey
It was a pretty good week for us.
Tuesday - We had zone conference which was great like always but what was kind of weird is that it was my last one. On a missionaries last conference they always give time at the end for all the returning missionaries to give their last testimony (dying testimony is what we call it) and most of my MTC district was there cept for Mcburney. It was way cool to hear everyone give their last testimony and the spirit was way strong. It was really weird to think that it was my turn because at every ZC you always see elders go up and give their testimonies and always think that that moment will never come but I guess that it did. Pretty crazy.
Wednesday - We had a pretty long day of housing without tons of luck but found one person which was nice. Afterwords we had a lesson with the tachibana family. The mom still feels like she is not sure about the church but said that if the kids want to get baptized she isn't going to stop them. The kids said they want to but we weren't able to get a date at the lesson but we are going to try again this coming week. Hopefully it goes pretty good.
Thursday - Kind of the same as the day before. Did some housing and found one new investigator. We taught Hashimoto which went alright. Turns out he found an old Bom in his storage and remembered that he use to be an investigator around 20 years ago and has been to church in Kobe. He still wants to get baptized but quiting smoking is really tough for him. We are trying to come up with different ways to help him quit. Other than that nothing is really holding him back.
Friday - We had a great baptism in Akashi. We went out and spent most of our time there. President and Sister Mcintyre came out which got all the members super excited. My comp. did the baptism but since sister Hosoda is pretty old (75) it was pretty hard to get her under and took around 4 tries but finally got her under the water. We were all pretty nervous but she got baptized in the end. He daugther was so happy to finally see her mom join the chruch after 10 years to the day she got baptized. Pretty special baptism. I forgot my camera today so I will try to get the pictures to you next week.
Sat. - We had a bunch of lessons but none of them really turned out to be anything special. We have gotten a bit tired of housing so we decided to go up to the castle and try to do some contacting up there. It will be really good in a few weeks when the cherry blosoms come out but it was pretty scarce and we didn't talk with alot of people but it was still pretty fun. Afterwrods we did some housing without much luck.
Sun. - We had one inv. come to church and later Kensho came to sunday school. Turns out he is going to be really busy and won't be able to continue investigating the church which is too bad. He had a bap. date but we are going to have to drop him now sadly. After church we worked hard but for some reason just couldn't seem to get any good contacts in.
So it was great week with an awesome baptism and ZC. Also I got the package thanks so much. You didn't have to give me so much money but thanks. I think I might buy a new camera before I head home they are pretty sweet out here.
Thank you so much for everything
Love you tons
Cam
It was a pretty good week for us.
Tuesday - We had zone conference which was great like always but what was kind of weird is that it was my last one. On a missionaries last conference they always give time at the end for all the returning missionaries to give their last testimony (dying testimony is what we call it) and most of my MTC district was there cept for Mcburney. It was way cool to hear everyone give their last testimony and the spirit was way strong. It was really weird to think that it was my turn because at every ZC you always see elders go up and give their testimonies and always think that that moment will never come but I guess that it did. Pretty crazy.
Wednesday - We had a pretty long day of housing without tons of luck but found one person which was nice. Afterwords we had a lesson with the tachibana family. The mom still feels like she is not sure about the church but said that if the kids want to get baptized she isn't going to stop them. The kids said they want to but we weren't able to get a date at the lesson but we are going to try again this coming week. Hopefully it goes pretty good.
Thursday - Kind of the same as the day before. Did some housing and found one new investigator. We taught Hashimoto which went alright. Turns out he found an old Bom in his storage and remembered that he use to be an investigator around 20 years ago and has been to church in Kobe. He still wants to get baptized but quiting smoking is really tough for him. We are trying to come up with different ways to help him quit. Other than that nothing is really holding him back.
Friday - We had a great baptism in Akashi. We went out and spent most of our time there. President and Sister Mcintyre came out which got all the members super excited. My comp. did the baptism but since sister Hosoda is pretty old (75) it was pretty hard to get her under and took around 4 tries but finally got her under the water. We were all pretty nervous but she got baptized in the end. He daugther was so happy to finally see her mom join the chruch after 10 years to the day she got baptized. Pretty special baptism. I forgot my camera today so I will try to get the pictures to you next week.
Sat. - We had a bunch of lessons but none of them really turned out to be anything special. We have gotten a bit tired of housing so we decided to go up to the castle and try to do some contacting up there. It will be really good in a few weeks when the cherry blosoms come out but it was pretty scarce and we didn't talk with alot of people but it was still pretty fun. Afterwrods we did some housing without much luck.
Sun. - We had one inv. come to church and later Kensho came to sunday school. Turns out he is going to be really busy and won't be able to continue investigating the church which is too bad. He had a bap. date but we are going to have to drop him now sadly. After church we worked hard but for some reason just couldn't seem to get any good contacts in.
So it was great week with an awesome baptism and ZC. Also I got the package thanks so much. You didn't have to give me so much money but thanks. I think I might buy a new camera before I head home they are pretty sweet out here.
Thank you so much for everything
Love you tons
Cam
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Hey
We had another good week out on the island.
So it was an interesting week. We had a really tough time at the start of the week. We spent tons of time out finding and finding and just couldn't seem to have any luck at all it was pretty frustrating. We had a lot of lessons fall through on us which made it a bit harder but the end of the week made up for it.
On Saturday we went to Kobe to meet Elder Cook of the 12. It was really amazing to meet another apostle. He talked about the importance of missions and really testified powerfully about it. The spirit was super strong. He also talked a lot about charity and loving people. It was a really good meeting and we even got to go up and shake his hand and introduce ourselves. It was pretty dang awesome. We are pretty luck to have visits from apostles and I think that everyone really felt the spirit and learned a lot.
Sunday was probably the busiest Sunday of my entire mission. We were at the church from 9 am to 6 pm. We had 5 people at church and taught them all lessons. One guy named Kensho Okabayashi came and after teaching him the restoration and doctrine of Christ he decided to make a goal to be baptized on the 19th of march. We met him around 2 or 3 weeks ago and exchanged numbers. I gave him a call a night before and he ended up coming to church. We are meeting him again this Tuesday and we have a lot of hope for him he should turn out to be a great investigator. We also had Hosoda's baptismal interview done and she passed so she will be baptized this coming Friday which is her daughters 10 year mark of being baptized. Its going to be a really special baptism for everyone.
We only had 8 members at church this week so with all of our investigators there we almost doubled it so it was pretty fun. We are really being blessed right now and I am way thankful to be here. I saw McBurney at the big mission meeting and we realized that the next time we would meet will be when we go home. Its pretty crazy. I can't believe that Trent will be home this week. Make sure you let him know I say Hi. Maybe I will write a letter or something.
After this we are going to go out for sushi for my birthday which should be pretty fun. I will take some pictures for you.
Thanks for everything
Love you tons
Cam
We had another good week out on the island.
So it was an interesting week. We had a really tough time at the start of the week. We spent tons of time out finding and finding and just couldn't seem to have any luck at all it was pretty frustrating. We had a lot of lessons fall through on us which made it a bit harder but the end of the week made up for it.
On Saturday we went to Kobe to meet Elder Cook of the 12. It was really amazing to meet another apostle. He talked about the importance of missions and really testified powerfully about it. The spirit was super strong. He also talked a lot about charity and loving people. It was a really good meeting and we even got to go up and shake his hand and introduce ourselves. It was pretty dang awesome. We are pretty luck to have visits from apostles and I think that everyone really felt the spirit and learned a lot.
Sunday was probably the busiest Sunday of my entire mission. We were at the church from 9 am to 6 pm. We had 5 people at church and taught them all lessons. One guy named Kensho Okabayashi came and after teaching him the restoration and doctrine of Christ he decided to make a goal to be baptized on the 19th of march. We met him around 2 or 3 weeks ago and exchanged numbers. I gave him a call a night before and he ended up coming to church. We are meeting him again this Tuesday and we have a lot of hope for him he should turn out to be a great investigator. We also had Hosoda's baptismal interview done and she passed so she will be baptized this coming Friday which is her daughters 10 year mark of being baptized. Its going to be a really special baptism for everyone.
We only had 8 members at church this week so with all of our investigators there we almost doubled it so it was pretty fun. We are really being blessed right now and I am way thankful to be here. I saw McBurney at the big mission meeting and we realized that the next time we would meet will be when we go home. Its pretty crazy. I can't believe that Trent will be home this week. Make sure you let him know I say Hi. Maybe I will write a letter or something.
After this we are going to go out for sushi for my birthday which should be pretty fun. I will take some pictures for you.
Thanks for everything
Love you tons
Cam
Monday, February 7, 2011
Well it was another pretty good week on the island. I am loving this area and am pretty glad I get to finish here.
On Tuesday and Wednesday we had an exchange with some of the elders in our district. It ended up being pretty fun. I went over to an area called Miki and had a good time there but we didn't have too much luck finding or teaching anyone. At their english class there was a member(Ami)who had just gotten back from her mission in Sapporo and turns out she knew Brandon. Said he was a way good missionary and was her Zl/DL at some point that he was a ton of fun. Man I swear the church in Japan is tiny.
On Wednesday night we had a lesson with our Yakusokusha Hashimoto and taught him about the Restoration which went really well. He still wants to be baptized and is trying his best to get ready.
Thursday we had another lesson with Hashimoto and taught tithing which went alright but he has some major concerns. He said that he wants to talk to a church member that has a family so he can get some advice on how they are able to support their family and pay tithing at the same time. He has a good relationship with the branch pres. so we are going to set that up for him. He hasn't said he wouldn't follow it yet just that it would be really hard and wants to talk to someone else about it.
We also had a lesson with another Yakusokusha Jindai. He hadn't been keeping any of his commitments and we asked him if he wanted to get baptized. He said no and then asked if he could leave so he ended up being a drop which was kind of disappointing. Hopefully we can help him get that desire and strengthen his faith over the next few weeks.
Friday - So we had one of the most memorable lessons of my mission this day. They have been teaching this guy named Johnny for the last 3 transfers or so maybe a bit longer he is Japanese but really likes English a lot and they always taught him in English. After doing one lesson with him where he refused to come to church and would only read a little out of the BOM I didn't have too great of an impression of him as an investigator. Also his teaching record pretty much says that's what he is like in all the lessons. We planned and decided if he doesn't accept the commitment to be baptized we were going to drop him. Before the lesson we had him read 3 Ne 11 which talks about baptism and the correct way and stuff. We read over it together with him and started talking about priesthood authority and the correct manner of baptism and stuff. He was actually baptized into the Greek orthodox church and has a bit of background there. Anyways, he said that it doesn't matter how you get baptized or by the right authority just as long as we follow christ. I agreed that we need to follow Christ and that its really important that we follow him but that Christ himself said in 3 ne 11 to be baptized by the right authority in the manner he taught. I felt like I had to correct him and not agree with the false doctrine. Yeah, he didn't like it to much... we started into a thing about authority and he said he believes the BOM to be the word of god and that Nephi got the priesthood but wasn't sure about Joseph Smith. We tried to use the logic that if the BOM is true then JS is a prophet but it took forever for him to figure it out. He then said the only way he would get baptized is if he went to SLC and got baptized by the prophet because only he has the authority. We tried to explain that we have it but he wouldn't listen. During all of this he was trying to prove us wrong using the BOM against us but it didn't work out too well for him. After that we explained to him that we couldn't keep meeting because we are too busy but if he would like to learn more he is more than welcome to come on Sundays or Tuesday nights to practice his English. He pretty much exploded on me after that one. Started yelling at me about how rude and unchrist like I was. How he hated my attitude and how I was threatening him with baptism and stuff. He kept on quoting the BOM about how contention is of the devil but he yelled and told me how much he disliked me for about 10 min. We had another appointment so we had to go but he refused to leave the church. He also asked for our mission homes number so he could complain. So we gave him that and opened the door to let him out which he still refused to leave. Finally after getting him out he said that he would be coming back the next week for another lesson and let me know how bad of a person he thought I was. Pretty crazy lesson. I think he was just using us for English and got upset when he lost that chance to practice. Also turns out I get a call from the Mission home this morning and he actually called and complained today. I guess he complained that we stopped meeting him because he didn't want to be baptized and talked about how bad I was. He only would speak in English when he called so they figured he was just using us for our English but called us to see what was going on anyways. We both laughed about it and I guess he even pulled out the scripture on how contention is of the devil and shared it with them while he was complaining about me and saying bad stuff.
Definatley a lesson I won't forget.
Sat. We worked way hard and were able to find 2 new investigators.
Sun - We finished up our lessons with Hosoda. She is pretty much ready to go on the 18th for baptism. Its really going to be great and everyone is really excited for her.
Also found a new investigator and did a few member visits
This next week is going to be pretty busy. We also have Elder Cook of the 12 coming to visit our mission so everyone is pretty excited about it. Should be alot of fun.
Thanks for everything
Love you tons
Cam
On Tuesday and Wednesday we had an exchange with some of the elders in our district. It ended up being pretty fun. I went over to an area called Miki and had a good time there but we didn't have too much luck finding or teaching anyone. At their english class there was a member(Ami)who had just gotten back from her mission in Sapporo and turns out she knew Brandon. Said he was a way good missionary and was her Zl/DL at some point that he was a ton of fun. Man I swear the church in Japan is tiny.
On Wednesday night we had a lesson with our Yakusokusha Hashimoto and taught him about the Restoration which went really well. He still wants to be baptized and is trying his best to get ready.
Thursday we had another lesson with Hashimoto and taught tithing which went alright but he has some major concerns. He said that he wants to talk to a church member that has a family so he can get some advice on how they are able to support their family and pay tithing at the same time. He has a good relationship with the branch pres. so we are going to set that up for him. He hasn't said he wouldn't follow it yet just that it would be really hard and wants to talk to someone else about it.
We also had a lesson with another Yakusokusha Jindai. He hadn't been keeping any of his commitments and we asked him if he wanted to get baptized. He said no and then asked if he could leave so he ended up being a drop which was kind of disappointing. Hopefully we can help him get that desire and strengthen his faith over the next few weeks.
Friday - So we had one of the most memorable lessons of my mission this day. They have been teaching this guy named Johnny for the last 3 transfers or so maybe a bit longer he is Japanese but really likes English a lot and they always taught him in English. After doing one lesson with him where he refused to come to church and would only read a little out of the BOM I didn't have too great of an impression of him as an investigator. Also his teaching record pretty much says that's what he is like in all the lessons. We planned and decided if he doesn't accept the commitment to be baptized we were going to drop him. Before the lesson we had him read 3 Ne 11 which talks about baptism and the correct way and stuff. We read over it together with him and started talking about priesthood authority and the correct manner of baptism and stuff. He was actually baptized into the Greek orthodox church and has a bit of background there. Anyways, he said that it doesn't matter how you get baptized or by the right authority just as long as we follow christ. I agreed that we need to follow Christ and that its really important that we follow him but that Christ himself said in 3 ne 11 to be baptized by the right authority in the manner he taught. I felt like I had to correct him and not agree with the false doctrine. Yeah, he didn't like it to much... we started into a thing about authority and he said he believes the BOM to be the word of god and that Nephi got the priesthood but wasn't sure about Joseph Smith. We tried to use the logic that if the BOM is true then JS is a prophet but it took forever for him to figure it out. He then said the only way he would get baptized is if he went to SLC and got baptized by the prophet because only he has the authority. We tried to explain that we have it but he wouldn't listen. During all of this he was trying to prove us wrong using the BOM against us but it didn't work out too well for him. After that we explained to him that we couldn't keep meeting because we are too busy but if he would like to learn more he is more than welcome to come on Sundays or Tuesday nights to practice his English. He pretty much exploded on me after that one. Started yelling at me about how rude and unchrist like I was. How he hated my attitude and how I was threatening him with baptism and stuff. He kept on quoting the BOM about how contention is of the devil but he yelled and told me how much he disliked me for about 10 min. We had another appointment so we had to go but he refused to leave the church. He also asked for our mission homes number so he could complain. So we gave him that and opened the door to let him out which he still refused to leave. Finally after getting him out he said that he would be coming back the next week for another lesson and let me know how bad of a person he thought I was. Pretty crazy lesson. I think he was just using us for English and got upset when he lost that chance to practice. Also turns out I get a call from the Mission home this morning and he actually called and complained today. I guess he complained that we stopped meeting him because he didn't want to be baptized and talked about how bad I was. He only would speak in English when he called so they figured he was just using us for our English but called us to see what was going on anyways. We both laughed about it and I guess he even pulled out the scripture on how contention is of the devil and shared it with them while he was complaining about me and saying bad stuff.
Definatley a lesson I won't forget.
Sat. We worked way hard and were able to find 2 new investigators.
Sun - We finished up our lessons with Hosoda. She is pretty much ready to go on the 18th for baptism. Its really going to be great and everyone is really excited for her.
Also found a new investigator and did a few member visits
This next week is going to be pretty busy. We also have Elder Cook of the 12 coming to visit our mission so everyone is pretty excited about it. Should be alot of fun.
Thanks for everything
Love you tons
Cam
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