Halloween on Miyako?

We are planning to have a Halloween party. So this week we went and visited a bunch of dropped investigators and so so investigators as well as our investigators and church members. We made invite cards and we are having an English Halloween party. We will teach kids so English vocab and have games. We think it will turn out great :)

Other than that. nothing really happened this week. We did see a miracle this week when we went to visit a less active. He wasn't there but his mom just returned home. We talked to her a bit and she was kinda down on life. We talked about how we can live with families forever and that made her really interested. So out of that she became a new investigator and I'll be teaching her tomorrow. Tomorrow we are having a companion exchange. Ill be with the other second transfer bean. But he is Japanese. Wish me luck.

S`s date dropped. We don't know when she can receive baptism. It can be anywhere from now and 4 years. Her daughter is the one it depends on. Because she wants to be married but can't. In Japan it is law to change your name if your parents marry other people. Unlike in America where you can keep your name. And her daughter doesn't want to change her name before getting married.

Here are some amazing photos.

Jameson 長老

It's amazing what you can do when you trust the Lord

I got 7 letters this week. 2 from the sisters in the ward (the missionaries) (LOVE Sister Bunnell and Hermana Howard!!) and one from sister Kuroiwa. One from Brittany, Codi, and Andrew. It was a happy week.

Other than that nothing really happened.

Shimozato hit a huge wall. She is living all the commandments with no problem. She said she is looking forward to living the law of tithing. She is perfect and ready for baptism. But she may not receive it on Saturday mostly because she took in a male friend. They have no relationship and haven't ever had that kind of relationship. She is just giving him a place to stay. Just because of all of that she can't be baptized. Becuase she is too kind she can't.

On the other side, we have two other women who can receive baptism next month. We extended the invitation to be baptized and they said they want to but they need to think about it. One of those 2 lessons was in English. Hahahaha I finally got to actually teach. She is from the Philippines and she is fluent in English, Tagalog and Japanese.

Other than that we didn't have much luck with meeting anyone so we fasted on Sunday and somehow we ran into a lot of amazing potential investigators. It's amazing what you can do when you trust the Lord. Sacrifice really does bring forth the blessings of heaven!

I have little to no time because things are kinda messed up today because we helped a less active this morning.

Jameson 長老

Take courage and stop being idle

Helloooo!

So transfer calls. were. boring. Everyone is the same.

But that means we get to work with S still.

other than that, honestly nothing happened all week. Failed commitments, "I' good", less actives not interested. Nothing.

So this week. 2 things really happened. Law of chastity lesson with S. She is the perfect emblem of faith and brightness in this world. Seriously she took off work on the 26th already so she can be baptized. She went up to Okinawa this weekend and wasn't able to attend conference with us. But we called a man in Naha that could take her to Saturday morning (she called us saying "I'm so sorry i can only go to Saturday morning... is that okay?"). If you think over all the talks for Saturday morning.... are they not perfect for a person who is preparing to become a member? I know that there is divine revelation for these talks. And all those people who talked on Saturday, they talked for S.

She came by the church while the other elders where there yesterday and she said she absolutely loved conference.

Not only that but she bought us cookies. What a wonderful person.

But we also were very concerned because we had to teach tithing next.... and she has a very tight life right now. But Bednar during his talked stressed the importance of tithing. That was Saturday morning. How is it really the only talk during conference about tithing was when our investigator was watching. Divine revelation.

Anyways the church is true. What I learned from conference is this: If you aren't opening your mouth, if you aren't doing your share of the work, YOU are slowing the work of salvation. You are not doing your duty to your Heavenly Father. Take courage and stop being idle. We all have at least one person we can bring to the light of this gospel.

Thats all I have time for today. so I love you!!!!

Jameson 長老

ps. Caught some fishies! and ate some sugar cane. The biggest fish is mine. its called ojiisan. Mostly because of the whiskers. They look like a beard. But it was really strong and tasted quite good. not like fish at all. It was like a foot long.

There is power in prayer

Helloooo all!!!!

We haven't watched conference yet. we watch it this weekend. But instead of 2 hour breaks, we only have an hour break per session. I like that. We were trying to figure out which session to invite people to.

Gandy may leave. We aren't sure but the call will come later today. I'll probably be here for 3 more transfers. Nakabe, I think will stay one more transfer and make it 5 here on Miyako. Nara choro might leave because he got into a pretty nasty bike accident last week and broke his two front teeth. It was yabai. He was bleeding everywhere.

SOOOoOOOOOOooOO this week was rough.

We had little contact with anyone because that typhoon came through on Saturday. Saturdays and Sundays are our most important days because we get the most done. But it was a really bad storm. Probably similar to a level 4 or 5 hurricane. The sugar cane fields around us were torn to bits. I took recordings of it but they are too big to send so those will come when I mail the card.

The power went out around 6 on Saturday night and stayed out til 9 the next morning. it was the worst because we were in pitch black darkness. We sang songs to pass the time. The sleep was hard because it was in 100% humidity. The water stopped working as well so I took a shower with bottled water. That was shocking because it was freezing cold.

But I offered a fasting prayer and asked to have the power back on. 5 minutes after the prayer the lights went back on. THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER!

So awesome sause with S again. So we taught the WOW last week and we asked her how she was doing. She dropped coffee cold turkey. We watched the restoration video and afterwards she said she knows that experience is true and that Joseph is a prophet and that the Book Of Mormon is true. When we told her that we might be transferred... she said it was super sad because who was going to baptize her. Man this lady is so amazing. During our last lesson I told Gandy we needed to make a prayer rock for her and give her a triple combination. We did so at the end of the lesson. She started crying. first off because when she bought her bible, it cost a lot. (for some reason) so receiving free scriptures really touches her heart (and that triple was my triple so I need to buy a new set) and her son all the time when he was young would always write God on rocks he found. (so the rock we found, we went to the beach and looked for 30 minutes for the perfect white rock.Then we wrote prayer on it.) All in all she says that it really means so much to her that there are people who are actually sent from God. She said that she knows God sent us. Every time we teach she can feel it. That brings so much joy to me. Every time we see someone hold that Book of Mormon for the first time... and they look at it with wonder brings so much joy. When they say they feel something after reading a pamphlet, that brings so much joy. After they pray they say they feel warm. My heart jumps. All I can do is smile because my joy is full. Even when people slam doors or deny our truth. The great things out weigh the sad things.

That's all I have time for today!

Love you

Jameson 長老

pictures are from the black out!