It Aperated (2/5/17)

It Aperated (2/5/17)

This was my first full week dendoing in Iwamizawa! It has been a lot of knocking on doors and a lot of "bukkyo dakara"s (very common rejection sentence which literally translated means "It's because I'm Buddhist..."), but it has also been a week full of MIRACLES!!! I also got to meet another one of our strong investigators :) We teach her kids English and do primary lessons with them and on other days we visit her in her genkan (entry way or porch) and talk with her about various things and the Gospel. Until I came to Iwamizawa I never thought I would have so many Japanese parents. XD  Really though, the members take such good care of us, the Inaba's (Senior Missionary couple) help us out so much, and our investigators too help us out so much! This investigator pretty much acts like our mom. Anyway it would be easier if I did a play by play for this week. Just like how the Pats are going to have play by plays on how they destroy the Falcons. >:)

Tue: We had our Zone Conference down in Asahikawa!  (About 103 kilometers or 63 miles away.  It is surrounded by mountains and holds the record for coldest temperature in Japanese history at -41.8 degrees F.)  The day before we had our zone activity too where we played a bunch of games and did a lot of Japanese culture stuff like calligraphy and throwing beans at an oni.  (See http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/japanesebeanthrowing.htm for reference.)  The ZC was really good and I learned a lot from it. I even got judged on my nails (I passed (D u D) ). Then we got some famous onigiri (rice balls of various types) which were delicious! Best one though was the zange (type of fried chicken) mayo onigiri. Then we took the long train ride back, but we had a whole train car with just our district. People are scared of us when they see more than 3 white people together X). OH, though we saw like 5 other white people at a train stop on the opposite track and even we were a bit nervous X). Going back to America is going to be very frightening.

Wed: This was the day when I first met that mom like investigator, Katayama-San. We had a really good time talking to her. We also had children's Eikawa (English class) with the Branch President's (Miyazaki Kaichou) kids.  It was a lot of fun and it started off English then turned into Morse Choro showing the kids pictures and videos, while I showed  Miyazaki shimai pictures of my family and showed her and Inaba Choro family history stuff. We also did a lot of finding.

Thursday: This day I wasn't feeling too well so I took a nap, we did DKK (companion planning meeting) and then Eikawa (English class). Our Eikawa class was a ton of fun, and we talked about our goals in life. We also talked about if we had to live in a foreign country where would you live. I chose Iceland but to my surprise NO ONE had heard of the country before! That was a fun conversation. I also made a new life goal to make 1 friend in every country in the world! That would be awesome if I could achieve that
dream. :)

Fri: This was a busy yet fun day. We had a lesson with the Miyoshi's which went really well. We shared with them some promises that came from 3rd Nephi and explained what the sacrament was. We also committed them to come to church on the 12th! We also got some flowers from them. (They are flower farmers). We then took the hour long car ride back and headed to the Katayamas for MORE EIKAWA! Yup, we do Eikawa 3 days in a row. Their’s though, is the free family English program for their 7 year old and 10 year old daughters, so we taught them English (more like I was quizzed on kanji ;S ).

Sat: Lot's of finding. We found one guy who we shared a slightly shortened version of the first lesson. We also had lunch at Makudonorudzu.  (McDonald’s).  I swear this may be the one word I will never be able to say in Japanese.  (Interesting side note, it is the most often repeated Japanese word by Harvey Choro’s dad)

Sun: None of our investigators came to church but I was able to meet more members. :)  We also had dinner with the Inaba's with our investigator Masaki-san. We read 1st Nephi 3 and 4 explaining to him how the Lord prepares a way for his work to be done and relating that to his life and relying on the Lord. It was an amazing lesson and he opened up a lot to us regarding his life. Then on our way home right before we parted he suddenly stopped and told us to stop. He reached down into the snow and picked up Inaba Choro's name tag which he had lost last Friday on his way back from the Katayama's, at least 2 miles away from where he could have lost it. It was undamaged and had very little snow on it. It either was picked up by a wizard who aperated it or that was the hand of God in teaching us a lesson. We were so surprised and explained to him the circumstances regarding how it was lost and how Inaba Choro had been praying to find it. We then related that back to the lesson we just had and felt the spirit SO strongly. The Lord truly prepared all of that to testify to Masaki-San of the truthfulness of our message.

Love you all and I hope you can all find the miracles in your lives!!
Elder Harvey

The Kanji I wrote were n Sword pronounced Ha   ”ü‚µ‚¢ and beautiful here pronounced bi. I wrote my name HaBi :)