Friday, October 28, 2016

The Willie & Martin Handcart Companies (8/10/16)

First off, mom asked if i'm the language king like Justin says I am.  Mochiron watashi wa gengo no Ou desu yo. もちろん 私は言語の王ですよ (of course I'm the king of language.) And ya it is kinda sad to know I won't be able to see Justin but his e-mails are inspiring so it's a good enough trade off. Anyway on to what happened this week.

Wed. So that picture Dad found on Facebook was actually someone I just met and was teaching for TRC. Which is basically a member lesson but in all Japanese. In 2 more weeks it will be with Nihonjin members over Skype so I'm excited. This guy we were teaching actually went to Sapporo for his Mission so he was super excited to find out we are going to Sapporo. I don't know if I will have Facebook or not. I think I won't.

Thursday. We taught Shimobayashi San and found out why she was so against prayer. Her husband had a terrible illness and when she prayed to God for help he died. We were already over time so we had to end the lesson there.

Fri. Had more class, I think this was the day I sat with Nihonjin at lunch and then with Kyle. I couldn't find my Doryo (colleague?  Maybe his companion?) in the lunch room and as I'm explaining to Elder Perry what's going on I got called down to the front desk. Turned out he left without me.

Sat: This day Sucked! I got really sick and barely made it through class. I rested for the last 3 hour block of PCL though. I felt like I was about to pass out all day. The weirdest thing though is that when I went to rest I don't ever remember sleeping but somehow 3 hours passed by in like 15 min. And to boot our cold water line broke around 9 because some kid ran into the line and broke it. Everyone thought the MTC was just going hardcore on Fast Sunday.

Sun : Fast Sunday. Probably my fav day this week. Was still sick but ya.  A lot of cool stuff happened but I'm going to skip the first 15 hours of the day. So the Devotional was by President Holland (Elder Holland's son) on his presentation on Joseph Smith's life. It was amazing. I didn't realize all the hardships he had gone through in his early childhood.  The part that struck me most though was right after his leg surgery.  You know, the one where they opened up his leg and scraped off part of the bone. The one where he had no anesthesia or any pain relief medication and the only things he asked for was for his mother to leave the room and for his father to hold him. Ya about 2 years later he's still on crutches and had to hike from Vermont down New York.  Well a lot happened on the way. But that story ends with little 11-12 year old Joseph (I think) lying on the ground lost from his family in a puddle of his own blood unable to move when an unnamed stranger finds him and carries him the rest of the way to New York. That had such a profound impact on me that when we do our best and can't even move anymore, through Christ's Atonement we can be carried the rest of the way to our eternal destination. This was only solidified as we then watched Ephraims's Rescue right after the Devo. It follows the story of Ephraim Hinckley as he becomes part of the church and has to help the Handcart company. It also followed the story of Thomas Doublan who was part of the Handcart company. This movie was especially touching to me because of all the history my family has with the Willie and Martin Handcart Company both in pioneers and rescuers (Zach has five 4th great grandparents (3 of whom died en route) and four 3rd great grandparents that were part of the Willie Handcart company, including one who was crippled his whole after carrying women and children across the freezing Sweetwater River as a 16 year old).

Mon We taught shimobayashi and Wakaki San this day. We taught Shimobayashi about the Plan of salvation and where her husband is right now. We got Wakaki Shimai to go to church on Sun. We taught about the importance of church. Still sick

Tue. Still sick, but this day was pretty cool. Watashitachi wa takusan reshuu shimashita (we did a lot of review.) The Devo was by Elder Neil L. Anderson (one of the Twelve Apostles). It was really cool. I learned many things that corresponded with what I learned Sunday. A lot of it had to do with having faith and going to work. Then the Lord will let us know what we need to be doing.

Wed. Still kinda sick but wayyyyy better. We have another TRC lesson tonight going to be fun.

愛したます
Aishite imasu
Harvey Choro




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