Shogatsu & Miracle week! (1/3/17)

Shogatsu & Miracle week!  (1/3/17)

SO much has happened since last Wednesday it's kinda hard to believe.  Anyway this week has been shogatsu week (New Year) so a lot of special things happened this week that only happen around this time. Shogatsu is by far the biggest holiday here in Japan. Ok here's the lay out.

Thur: So this day I had splits with Elder Fullbright. We started off the day by going to the church to help the ward with church Ward Cleaning Day which was pretty fun. Then we went and ate sushi! It was Elder Fullbright's first time. Then we went to visit investigators but no one was home. As we started making our way back to the church to finish our studies *BOOM* miracle. The investigator whom we just happened to run into on the train the day before walks right in front of us. To say the least I was amazingly surprised. It turns out he was just on his way to the store so he could buy some pizza sauce. We talked with him for a while, helped a taxi driver get unstuck, and then taught an amazing lesson. Eventually we had to say farewell, but not before making a return appointment. I was not going to let this miracle go to waste. Then we went back and did some home teaching with a member. We went to the Stake President's house, I shared a spiritual thought and their son ran back inside to grab me some chocolate.

Fri: Our last day to dendo! We went to go visit some people but no one was home in the morning. :( BUT, we visited a family that is struggling right now which was good! (That we were able to visit – not that they were struggling.)  Then we visited Keita-San and taught him a lesson. Then we had to jog/slide down a mountain to get to a goach (dinner appointment) with a member. It was really fun! She is the ward missionary so she also invited our dendo shunin (ward mission leader).  We had a great akashikai (testimony meeting) and the sisters got a referral! :) On the way back home we found a guy super drunk who had fallen into the snow. We helped get him back up and tried to offer our help but after I took his hand he just pushed me away. ;(

Sat: So this was the start of Shogatsu week. This day we were not allowed to proselyte at all. Instead it was designated as apartment cleaning day. Though we spent most of the day at 2 member family's houses. During Shogatsu there is no 1 hour time limit for goach's so that's why it took pretty much our whole day because the members knew and wanted to play games with us. We went to the Mabuchi kazoku (family) first where we ate mabudofu and Kara age (a tofu dish and fried chicken nuggets) Then they brought in a bunch of bags and were like "ok we are playing bingo to get presents." It was really fun. Then we went to the Domon kazoku. They had a bunch of traditional food. Surprisingly enough it was the first time I ate squid and octopus in Japan. We also talked a lot about how their daughter got engaged with our mission president's son.

Sun: We had Church as normal but the Stake decided to change fast Sunday till next week. It was really cool though because a lot of older women were wearing kimonos because it was Shogatsu. We also went to the Koyama family again! They are so awesome! Any family who feeds you on Christmas and New Year's Day is amazing! They made homemade sushi, chicken, and other amazing foods. Then we played some games with them at the end.

Mon: We got fed by Tando Shimai, again! She gave us a ton of mochi (rice cake of varying kinds) which was super good! The best type was the cheese mocha.  Which is funny because it started off as a joke by Elder Murdock. I don't know what kind of cheese she used but it was delicious! Then Elder Isobe and I shared the spiritual message. It was amazing to find out during this lesson about how specific it was to her needs. Then we walked around for a while and then headed to the Bishop's house for another goach. It was delicious as usual. The bishop's wife made something I probably will never have again. She made pizza gyoza (Japanese dumpling)! It was awesome!  Then we played a traditional Japanese game which was really fun. Oh also this day was designated as Morumon Sho (Book of Mormon day)

Tue: TODAY,  This day is all day p-day! We went to Funajima kazoku today which was really fun! We played various games and ate professional desserts made by their patisserie daughter. PICTURES

Love You all

Elder Harvey

(Clicking on pictures will enlarge them.)