We keep pressing forward

Okay we had a rough week. It was seeming like Iizuka was starting to turn bitter towards us.

On Monday we taught T. It didn't feel right. Something was off but we could not tell what it was. We also helped a member in his garden. He is a deaf member so it's really funny to hear him work. He doesn't realize the grunts he makes when he works hard. It is really hilarious.

On Tuesday We had a lot of appointments set up to fill the day. One of which fell through. That was sad but we were able to visit some potential investigators and try to set a better connection with them. We had another appointment with a less active S. He loves the missionaries. When we got there he had 10 hamburgers from McDonald's. It was great! But we taught him and it was a great time. He has cancer so he can't come to church.

We went finding afterwards and found an area that was tucked away behind a forest. Most of the people haven't met missionaries before so they were really nice and surprised to see us. One family has a son studying economics like me!! We hit it off and they seemed mildly interested enough to let us come back.


Wednesday We went finding over by an area we found recently. It was raining and this old lady gave Elder Knighton an umbrella. It was so kind. But it was for the size of a small grandma. Not a 6 foot 4 giant. We went around and lot of people tried to give us things. Japan is so funny. They try to give us things that are against the Word of Wisdom. Some lady the other day said "can i get you some coffee? Tea? Beer?" We just laughed and said water is fine. I usually just say since I'm a swimmer I like water. It doesn't really make that much sense but they accept it.

We met this one man named N. We asked him if he thought God existed. He said yes, because people are too complicated. We taught him and he said he would come to church but he didn't. Everyone seems to have bad memories here. They commit and forget. But we will visit him soon.

Thursday this week... I seriously don't like remembering. T came out of her house saying "moshiwakenai" the thing all Asians say when they are trying to be polite but they are rejecting you. I about freaked out. She said she listened to her sister and her sister told her to stop coming to church and listening to us. So she agreed. It was so incredibly frustrating. She completely changed. We testified to her. Knighton bore the most powerful testimony I've heard from him. We said, "you received an answer from God and at that time what did you think about this church? She said "I thought it was true, but now I got an answer from my sister. My church is true." In all the logic I tried to muster up, I still couldn't rationalize the connection she had just made. It completely blew my mind with how quickly she changed. It was so incredibly sad. She used many excuses that we were able to bear testimony of and give the truth. At the end I said "you received an answer from God. I don't know why you are turning away from that but you need to remember it. God knows he gave you it. We know God gave you it. We know that you know God gave you it. Why would you deny it?" She never answered the question. She just said "I've made my choice." We have a last chance today. The member said "We made a promise for Monday" T said, "I'm good. I wont go." The member said "you don't understand... I made a promise. you have to go." I honestly thought that was funny but we have a chance tonight. I don't know how it will go.

Friday. we went with Nakamura to the H family. We were able to build a better connection with them and they said the daughter can come to church on next Sunday!

After that we went with Nakamura to E to teach her. Nakamura is awesome. He just teaches. Some how we were able to get her from the point of not wanting to pray... to wanting to pray. He got the job done.

Afterwards we went and dendoed a bit. We found this really nice woman who started to cry when we talked about families. She may or may not have interest but she agreed to meet again.

Okay a little venting. I'm getting really tired of people just rejecting us without us really saying anything. I walked into a store to buy cream for a rash that I have. I walked in and called for a worker. the woman came out and said "NO! I WILL REJECT YOU!" I looked at her with a look of "seriously?" and she said "wait... are you a customer?" I said yes and she ran inside and the husband came out. Man. even when you shop people hate you.

But on Saturday we met a lady from last week. She is an eternal investigator. We taught her about the importance and the origin of the Book of Mormon. She said "wow I haven't learned about this before." She has been an investigator for 5 years. and she wasn't told about the first vision......... I'm a little worried what other missionaries taught her.

Sunday we went with Nakamura to teach some people. We taught F which seemed really on the line. We did a mock baptismal interview and it was weird. It had a weird feel to it. We will have to pay attention to him. But we went and taught O. She is really funny. I don't know how much she took in but Nakamura just went for it.

We dendoed with him for a bit. This is the first time I have actually dendoed with a member. As of yet I actually haven't taught a lesson from a members referral. Out of the past 5 years, Iizuka has had 8 baptisms. All but 1 were found from missionary efforts. All but one are less active. The one who isn't was a referral. Things start to add up.

We went by ourselves and met this really cool guy name S. He said we can come again and he was a pretty swell guy. He may have interest in God!

All in all that's our week. A lot of contacts this week were really rough. We didn't really do that well. But we keep pressing forward.

The following photos were "borrowed" from Nakamura's Facebook.

Nakamura and Jarom