Hello!!!
Yeah I still haven't gotten my package yet. Its a bummer but I mean, that's not what Christmas is about. (We have tracked the package to Japan. They attempted to deliver it twice. USPS suggests that someone from the office go to the post office and see if they can retrieve it. They do not believe a 3rd attempt will be made. After 30 days, it will be sent back to sender.)
So this week was really fast and crammed with a bunch of stuff. Well that's how the past 3 weeks have been. Elder Olsen and I haven't had time really to do weekly planning these past 3 weeks. Not only that I haven't had a good language study. Its been pretty busy. But that;s a good sign at the same time. We are trying super hard to set more time aside to get more finding done and fill up our teaching pool more.
Miracles!
Monday we visited M, and he was super happy to see us. We cleared up some of his worries and set another baptismal date for the 31st of Jan. He isn't going to stop drinking by himself. That is a huge problem. On Tuesday and yesterday he gave us 2 different referrals of his best friend, K who wants to become more healthy, and his son who studies the Book of Mormon with him. Hopefully they they have interest and they will help us help M.
Later that day we met a 27 year old man named U.T. He said that he wanted to believe in God because he thought he could get a girlfriend with that. That's not exactly the right reason but he said he wanted to learn to pray.
Then we met with this guy named H. He is a 19 year old boy that has a lot of interest in religion. He is super busy though. He might come to a upcoming activity and he said he will come to church when he has time.
I would like to do a quick review of S. He might have some kind of memory problem. He can't remember anything to save his life. We just have to teach him simply and have him reteach us what he was taught. Eventually he will get it. We may have to change the baptismal date with him. He doesn't really have a motive to life right now so we are trying to remind him of baptism so that he can have a reason to live and drop smoking and drinking. We got through all the first lesson and hopefully we can move past that.
Tuesday, we had a pretty good lesson with W. I said most of what happened on my last email. We got through the first part of the plan of salvation. Its weird. We already taught that and yet she completely forgot it. I don't understand how so many of our investigators forget so quickly. I guess that means we are doing a bad job of reviewing. So anyways we reviewed and she liked it. Something was different. She kept asking, "how could you believe something like this? How did you come to know this?" Simply put - study and prayer.
Later we had a gyoza party. A lot of people came and it was really fun. The members got to know our investigators a little better and their relationships are building.
Wednesday. so I'll review over H. M. It turns out that he has been baptized before into a different church of course. On the other hand he says that the restoration is true, that God exists, and that he loves Him. But there is something missing. He still doesn't know if he should be baptized. He said that he needed to pray in order to know. That's a good step. Next week we will talk about what kind of answer he needs to look for.
On Wednesday we met T. He came to church! He is progressing. He is into second Nephi already. He prays before the reading assignments. He understands the reason of prayer without us even teaching it. We actually haven't taught him much. He just reads the pamphlets and learns by himself. We can't meet him often so this is a great trade-off. He loved church and he wants to go again. He is looking really good right now.
We went caroling as a branch. It was super good. We met so many people and got to share the Christmas spirit. I look back and not a lot of Japanese people know what Christmas is about. Being able to share a little of that through song makes me happy.
Christmas day was wonderful. I didn't have a great Christmas with regards to presents or material things. The meals we had were by ourselves. But I did get to see my family. I got to see S in the hospital and spend some time with him. We gave directions to a man from Kyoto. We went bowling with an investigator. It was simple but fun.
Friday. We had a lot planned but somehow it all fell through. Probably the best thing was D though. We visited his family on the 24th for caroling and it was awesome. They were so happy. In fact, this time when we visited D, he wasn't drunk. He was completely sober. We told him that K wanted to change, learn the gospel, and have her and J be baptized. He took it really well. He was all for it. We asked him to be a part of the lessons as well so it would be a family thing. He agreed and said that was a good idea. Things are looking great with them.
Other than that we filled the gaps with finding and planning.
Saturday. Good day. M was completely blasted out of his mind. He wouldn't come to the door. But his friend K came by. As we started to talk to him, M came out. The friend turns to M (as he was smoking) and told him to stop. He said that is was lame. The friend really wants to come to church and learn more. He seems like he has his head on tight. He can be a good help to M.
Later we happen to find S on the street. Okay this is probably the most ridiculous situation. So he goes into the hospital to drop smoking and drinking, but the hospital allows them to go outside for at max 3 hours of time without supervision. So S goes out and smokes. They don't stop him. Anyways, we found him, walked with him and taught him. It turned out pretty good. He might progress if we can get into that motive of baptism. He seems to forget it often. But he does say that he wants it.
Later we met T. He is super funny. He said he is a Christian during Christmas. We invited him to church and he said he would come. We taught him quickly what prayer was and headed on our own way.
Sunday, We had planned for K, J, a members mom named H K, M, K, T, and S to come. Well K had a headache, K disappeared, M and K weren't home when we went to pick them up. On the other hand, S and T came!!!!! poor T. We didn't tell him what to wear so he came to church wearing a Santa suit. Poor guy. It turned out good, A lot of the members came up and said merry Christmas because of that. We were able to sit down and teach a lesson. We asked him if he had questions. He has been to a church before so he knew most of what was happening. He wanted to know what the bread and water were. (He to the church right as the sacrament started so we didn't have time to explain it.) It led into baptism and forgiveness. We asked him if he would like that and he said yes. At the same time he said, "but I don't think it is that easy to receive forgiveness." Then we taught the rest of lesson 3. We were able to set a baptismal date for Feb 14th. He is such a good kid.
The sacrament meeting was super great! They basically had all the youth give the talks. The talks were all so simple but yet great. The speaker system was back in and everything was heard clearly. Yokatta ne.
We later went to K. The man she drinks and smokes with was there. He was being the devil on her shoulder. We would ask her things and he would feed her things to say. Last time we were there he lied and told us he was her brother and that she was sick. Well no relationship and she was completely fine last time. I really hope that this friend would not come back to this house. We will try to come by later in the week to talk to her.
Other than that this has been a great week. With new years coming up I wonder how busy some of our investigators will be. I remember back to last year and it was really hard to meet everyone. But we will put our faith into and try our hardest.
Elder Jameson
Monday, December 29, 2014
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Christmas 2014
Okay So I will probably only review everything that has happened up until Monday. There has been a lot that has happened and my poor memory is failing me. Please forgive me if I leave things out.
This past week has been a repetitive cycle of visiting all of the same investigators. It has helped a lot and it helped us figure out more of their needs.
On Monday we had p-day and it was packed with things. It seems like our p-days don't really allow us to rest. Anyways, we got a lot done and started to teach our investigators.
It would be best if I just review the things that we did over the entire week.
Met H M. He was doing really good. We talked to him about the spirit, what it feels like, and it seems he really took it in. Over the week he has started to say more heart felt prayers. Not exactly asking the things we asked him to say but he is becoming more sincere. Towards Friday we brought a member with us to a lesson it went super good. He is understanding the plan of salvation. Recently since S hasn't been understanding the lessons all that well, we have been making follow up questions that teach and test their knowledge at the same time. M has shown some great progress with this.
S. Man this guy is up and down. It seems like we have to start over with each lesson. So we started to teach a different way. Granted we should have probably started teaching this way in the first place - setting up questions for him to teach us what he knows. That really drives home. We teach him by drawing pictures and when we ask him to explain it, He starts to draw the same picture. We were able to cover prophets and Christ right before he came to church on Sunday. He wants to change but he doesn't really have a motive. This past week we worked hard trying to find out what his motives were and it was a stressful progress. He wanted to quit smoking and drinking but after he got in the hospital, he thought that it was still okay. Since his personal beliefs don't require any personal commitment to obtain a greater happiness, he doesn't care. We testified that there was something more to life and that the prophets taught it. It hit home and he is starting to open up more. It was a really hard thing to figure out.
We have been so blessed this week. We have prayed of when we should visit S each day. Everytime we go he either has just left the hospital or just went back in. He keeps saying "How do you keep meeting me? This is crazy." We respond "because we prayed to know when to come. God is watching you S." He responds,"oh you guys are dangerous." Then he laughs. I love this man so much.
M. Oh dear. He basically dropped because he was drinking and smoking all the time. The story becomes better though. We met him on the street and he said that he can't join because of the attendance fee or every week he has to pay. We told him that wasn't the case and we were able to reset a baptismal date for the 31st of Jan. Also he referred his friend and this coming Friday we will teach them both.
C. We visited her and prayed with her quite a bit. We set up an appointment but she called an hour before with sudden change of plans. She did this 2 days in a row. She is such a great person but meeting her is soooooo difficult. If we were able to meet her and get her to church, she would progress so much. She is praying everyday. Since her sister has gotten better from cancer, her testimony of prayer has gone up. She always asks us to pray and she said she would pray for us.
W. This week was a pain. The lesson was really hard. On the other hand we decided just to teach her the doctrines for now and lay off on the commitments. We have been teaching her for about 3 months now and she hasn't really heard much of the lessons because we have taught so much about prayer and reading. The 23rd we taught her part of plan of salvation and she thought it was interesting. She asked "why do you believe something like this?" Well its simple, we have been talking about prayer for quite a while. We prayed to know if this was true and we felt peace and comfort telling us it was. She responded "that sounds too easy". This message isn't supposed to be hard. Its actually quite simple. All we need to do is act and have a sincere heart and pray. The rest comes.
Y. This is sad. He dropped but he had great progress. We taught him about the restoration and he said that he thought it was true. The next lesson came around and he didn't really seem all that happy. We taught him prayer and invited him. (He is pretty tight on time. He said he only had 15 minutes so at 12 minutes we asked him to pray.) He sat there for 3 minutes and said "well I don't have any time." We asked if we could meet again. He said "I'm pretty busy." As we all know by this point, when a Japanese person says they are busy, there are 2 things that are possible. They are really busy or he doesn't want to meet. Y doesn't have a job, friends, or hobbies. He goes to a park and sits there all day. He isn't busy. Hopefully our paths will cross again.
Eikaiwa! Man our eikaiwa is exploding. We split into 3 classes and we are preparing more and look what happened. The class went from 5 to about 18-20. We have a pretty cool story and miracle about that.
About 4 weeks ago I talked about his guy named K. He recently moved here and he met missionaries in his other area. Well he came to eikaiwa and his English is basically fluent. During eikaiwa, some of the students in the advanced class started to ask church questions. So it turned into a church discussion. It turns out that K is actually a less active. He said it was good to hear the gospel again. He was baptized 3 years ago and went less active. Now he wants to come back! Miracles!
D and K. Wow. Well we learned again that its best not to let people talk about sins. He doesn't even give us a warning. He says "hey I have something to tell you." Then bam. Well.... Lets say he has some bad things in his life. The good thing is that he wants to turn away from that. BUT the situation is really difficult. Because of his past sins he was cast out of his church. Now he has some pretty strong feelings against that church. Every time we bring up the gospel he always avoids it. He can talk about stories from the bible all day long. But when you try to apply it to life he turns and says "man you guys need to loosen up." Pops a can of beer and lights up some smokes. He is obviously hurt and Satan is pulling him hard away. On the other hand, K is ready to progress. She basically said that she wants J and her to be baptized. Of course she wants to study it first but for her experience from our church (coming to the Christmas party) and others, she really likes our church. J loves us for some reason. We see him playing outside all the time. He yells for us and says "MISSIONARIES WAIT!" Runs and gives us high fives. K is holding strong for the family and knows that it is because of the beer and smokes that D is turning bad. She wants him to stop but she admits she lashes out at him too. She said she would try better at that this next week.
She said she really wants to go to church with D. Again D isn't seeming like he is budging anytime soon with his standpoint. So we we are going to go at it from a different angle. We are still planning that but we hope it will go well.
Church. S and T came to church. The other Elders had one investigator come. An old investigator came as well. 4 people at church. No one really came to say hello. There are lots of things the Branch needs help doing. We are going to do a dendo fireside this next Sunday. Hopefully that will change things up a bit. Over all the work is going well and I'm excited for everything to progress.
This past week has been a repetitive cycle of visiting all of the same investigators. It has helped a lot and it helped us figure out more of their needs.
On Monday we had p-day and it was packed with things. It seems like our p-days don't really allow us to rest. Anyways, we got a lot done and started to teach our investigators.
It would be best if I just review the things that we did over the entire week.
Met H M. He was doing really good. We talked to him about the spirit, what it feels like, and it seems he really took it in. Over the week he has started to say more heart felt prayers. Not exactly asking the things we asked him to say but he is becoming more sincere. Towards Friday we brought a member with us to a lesson it went super good. He is understanding the plan of salvation. Recently since S hasn't been understanding the lessons all that well, we have been making follow up questions that teach and test their knowledge at the same time. M has shown some great progress with this.
S. Man this guy is up and down. It seems like we have to start over with each lesson. So we started to teach a different way. Granted we should have probably started teaching this way in the first place - setting up questions for him to teach us what he knows. That really drives home. We teach him by drawing pictures and when we ask him to explain it, He starts to draw the same picture. We were able to cover prophets and Christ right before he came to church on Sunday. He wants to change but he doesn't really have a motive. This past week we worked hard trying to find out what his motives were and it was a stressful progress. He wanted to quit smoking and drinking but after he got in the hospital, he thought that it was still okay. Since his personal beliefs don't require any personal commitment to obtain a greater happiness, he doesn't care. We testified that there was something more to life and that the prophets taught it. It hit home and he is starting to open up more. It was a really hard thing to figure out.
We have been so blessed this week. We have prayed of when we should visit S each day. Everytime we go he either has just left the hospital or just went back in. He keeps saying "How do you keep meeting me? This is crazy." We respond "because we prayed to know when to come. God is watching you S." He responds,"oh you guys are dangerous." Then he laughs. I love this man so much.
M. Oh dear. He basically dropped because he was drinking and smoking all the time. The story becomes better though. We met him on the street and he said that he can't join because of the attendance fee or every week he has to pay. We told him that wasn't the case and we were able to reset a baptismal date for the 31st of Jan. Also he referred his friend and this coming Friday we will teach them both.
C. We visited her and prayed with her quite a bit. We set up an appointment but she called an hour before with sudden change of plans. She did this 2 days in a row. She is such a great person but meeting her is soooooo difficult. If we were able to meet her and get her to church, she would progress so much. She is praying everyday. Since her sister has gotten better from cancer, her testimony of prayer has gone up. She always asks us to pray and she said she would pray for us.
W. This week was a pain. The lesson was really hard. On the other hand we decided just to teach her the doctrines for now and lay off on the commitments. We have been teaching her for about 3 months now and she hasn't really heard much of the lessons because we have taught so much about prayer and reading. The 23rd we taught her part of plan of salvation and she thought it was interesting. She asked "why do you believe something like this?" Well its simple, we have been talking about prayer for quite a while. We prayed to know if this was true and we felt peace and comfort telling us it was. She responded "that sounds too easy". This message isn't supposed to be hard. Its actually quite simple. All we need to do is act and have a sincere heart and pray. The rest comes.
Y. This is sad. He dropped but he had great progress. We taught him about the restoration and he said that he thought it was true. The next lesson came around and he didn't really seem all that happy. We taught him prayer and invited him. (He is pretty tight on time. He said he only had 15 minutes so at 12 minutes we asked him to pray.) He sat there for 3 minutes and said "well I don't have any time." We asked if we could meet again. He said "I'm pretty busy." As we all know by this point, when a Japanese person says they are busy, there are 2 things that are possible. They are really busy or he doesn't want to meet. Y doesn't have a job, friends, or hobbies. He goes to a park and sits there all day. He isn't busy. Hopefully our paths will cross again.
Eikaiwa! Man our eikaiwa is exploding. We split into 3 classes and we are preparing more and look what happened. The class went from 5 to about 18-20. We have a pretty cool story and miracle about that.
About 4 weeks ago I talked about his guy named K. He recently moved here and he met missionaries in his other area. Well he came to eikaiwa and his English is basically fluent. During eikaiwa, some of the students in the advanced class started to ask church questions. So it turned into a church discussion. It turns out that K is actually a less active. He said it was good to hear the gospel again. He was baptized 3 years ago and went less active. Now he wants to come back! Miracles!
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| Our Christmas Skype |
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| Elder Olsen and Elder Jameson |
Church. S and T came to church. The other Elders had one investigator come. An old investigator came as well. 4 people at church. No one really came to say hello. There are lots of things the Branch needs help doing. We are going to do a dendo fireside this next Sunday. Hopefully that will change things up a bit. Over all the work is going well and I'm excited for everything to progress.
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| Listening to his RM sister challenge him to finish strong! |
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| We LOVE these Elders!! |
Monday, December 15, 2014
The Gospel of Jesus Christ can help
Hello friends!
This week wasn't as amazing as others but we were able to still meet a lot of people and share a little bit of the Christmas spirit with them. I am trying so hard to love them more and try to become like my Savior. I really am hoping I can become the missionary the Lord needs me to be.
On Monday last week we had the Christmas party. Since it wasn't well prepared it didn't go super well. BUT the people there felt the spirit of Christmas and enjoyed the time there. I asked one of the members (who works at the college) to find a Chinese investigator. I don't know why I asked her but I said I wanted to teach one. So she did! But I was still prepping things and didn't have time to talk to her sadly. The good thing is the other set of elders attached themselves to anybody they didn't know. They were really good at that. From that they got an appointment with the Chinese lady named E, and some other people as well. It is quite impressive they were able to get all of that done. On the other hand, K came to the party. She came with J and they had a great time.
Overall things went well! I'm sad that Elder Olsen and I didn't have the chance to talk to the Chinese woman but I know she is in good hands.
Over the next week, we had the same appointment schedule everyday. The afternoon we visit M, S, and try to fit in Mo.
We taught M the work of wisdom. He said he would follow it. For some reason a lot of people couple smoking and drinking with "their hobbies" so when those things go, they don't have anything else to do. M said "if I stop I don't have anything to do." Its hard to get people to stop when they have a lot of free time and when their children own a tobacco and alcohol store.
S is doing good. He is trying to pray. He has some heart felt prayers. They are really simple but they express so much power. He doesn't feel them yet but I know he will get there soon. This whole week we have just tried to visit and build his trust in prayer. I admit we probably spent too much time just talking. We probably could have saved time and gotten more lessons. We are going to work hard to not have that happen this week.
Wednesday we met this one man that had the same exact problem as M. He said "if I stop I have nothing to do. I'm going to die in 10 years anyways. I'm not going to stop." Its really sad to see people hurt themselves. They don't understand the eternal things. I guess that's where the gospel comes in. So many things about the gospel will change the nature of people.
We were on the street and we saw M walking. I saw a bag that he was carrying and it was kind of bulky. I turned to Olsen and said "I think that's beer." So we hunted him down. He said yesterday that quitting alcohol and smokes was easy. But he said that he drank that morning. He just sits at home drinking all day long. We told him to try better. Then we asked him if he went shopping. He said yes. we asked him what he bought. He ignored the question. Asked again. He said it was a secret. Once more we asked and he said it was alcohol. We told him to throw it away. He said he would but we didn't believe him. Its starting to become really shaky whether he can receive baptism or not.
We met some nice people and were able to share the message. We weren't able to talk to many people this week due to focusing on these people written before.
We were able to meet C just for 5 minutes and to see how she was doing. She has a cold and is sick but her sister who has cancer is getting better!!!! Yay for prayers! She is so wonderful and we love her to death.
Thursday we had zone training meeting. It was super good.
Eikaiwa was great. In all 17 came. We made 2 classes and next week we will have a 3rd. When we prepare more and try harder to stay more active, the Lord blessed the class. Now we hope we can start teaching some people from this.
Friday we tried meeting M. He was gone. It was weird. So we went to S. Did I tell you the hospital he is staying at is on the top of a huge hill? Its so hard biking up there. Well its okay but its not fun honestly. Its so worth it because he is doing good. We talked about God and how He will help him overcome his problem. He prayed and asked "God, will you please help me overcome this problem? Is there a way out?"
We came back around to M and he said "why are you here so late?" We explained that we tried to find him but he wasn't anywhere to be found. He said "well I was drunk so I was sleeping!" Man its really rough. We are trying hard to get him going.
Quickly visited Mo. He is doing great! He is kinda praying, but that is a start. We asked if we could visit him on Saturday and he said yes.
Then we headed to K and D. Woah. I'm not going to say what is going on in that family because first off it is probably best not to. Second off there is too much to say. D straight up told us all his sins. We didn't have time to tell him not to say it. He just went for it. Poor guy is torn up. The family is a mess. The only thing holding them together is their son. (Interestingly enough, the oldest son who is just K's son from a different marriage, we met on the street and gave him a Book of Mormon 2 weeks ago. Crazy small world right?) Just basically a constant fight.
We are working to understand who is telling the truth. On Saturday we sat down with K and heard her story. Both have problems and we think we know how to help. But ultimately it is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that can help this family. Actually all families. It will teach them the right principles of how to love, teach, and protect your family. How to prepare them to be an eternal family.
Saturday, M is starting to not go well. He is always drunk. But he said he would come to church on Sunday if we picked him up. S said he can leave the hospital. But he said he was going to leave to smoke. Ahhhhhh no! We tried super hard to have him not smoke. He is so addicted.
We met Mo. Watched the restoration. He said it was true. The reason why he said its was true is because it was on a video. Hmmmm I haven't had that response before. He would be a great priesthood holder. He prayed at the end to know if it was true. He felt peace and we told him what that was.
Again we visited D and K. We talked to K this time. We are trying our best to help.
Sunday, we went to pick up S, he said he couldn't come because of some rule. Then went to pick up M, he was drunk. He couldn't come. Super sad but that's people's agency.
The Chinese girl came! They taught her a lesson and she is super awesome! That is going well. The other elders are working great together and getting work done.
We worked the rest of the night. Met Mo and taught him a little bit. Then met C to ask her if we can stop by for the next few days before Christmas. I love these people so much. They are crazy awesome! I hope we can help them feel the Christmas spirit and eventually come closer to Christ.
Talk to you next week!
This week wasn't as amazing as others but we were able to still meet a lot of people and share a little bit of the Christmas spirit with them. I am trying so hard to love them more and try to become like my Savior. I really am hoping I can become the missionary the Lord needs me to be.
On Monday last week we had the Christmas party. Since it wasn't well prepared it didn't go super well. BUT the people there felt the spirit of Christmas and enjoyed the time there. I asked one of the members (who works at the college) to find a Chinese investigator. I don't know why I asked her but I said I wanted to teach one. So she did! But I was still prepping things and didn't have time to talk to her sadly. The good thing is the other set of elders attached themselves to anybody they didn't know. They were really good at that. From that they got an appointment with the Chinese lady named E, and some other people as well. It is quite impressive they were able to get all of that done. On the other hand, K came to the party. She came with J and they had a great time.
Overall things went well! I'm sad that Elder Olsen and I didn't have the chance to talk to the Chinese woman but I know she is in good hands.
Over the next week, we had the same appointment schedule everyday. The afternoon we visit M, S, and try to fit in Mo.
We taught M the work of wisdom. He said he would follow it. For some reason a lot of people couple smoking and drinking with "their hobbies" so when those things go, they don't have anything else to do. M said "if I stop I don't have anything to do." Its hard to get people to stop when they have a lot of free time and when their children own a tobacco and alcohol store.
S is doing good. He is trying to pray. He has some heart felt prayers. They are really simple but they express so much power. He doesn't feel them yet but I know he will get there soon. This whole week we have just tried to visit and build his trust in prayer. I admit we probably spent too much time just talking. We probably could have saved time and gotten more lessons. We are going to work hard to not have that happen this week.
Wednesday we met this one man that had the same exact problem as M. He said "if I stop I have nothing to do. I'm going to die in 10 years anyways. I'm not going to stop." Its really sad to see people hurt themselves. They don't understand the eternal things. I guess that's where the gospel comes in. So many things about the gospel will change the nature of people.
We were on the street and we saw M walking. I saw a bag that he was carrying and it was kind of bulky. I turned to Olsen and said "I think that's beer." So we hunted him down. He said yesterday that quitting alcohol and smokes was easy. But he said that he drank that morning. He just sits at home drinking all day long. We told him to try better. Then we asked him if he went shopping. He said yes. we asked him what he bought. He ignored the question. Asked again. He said it was a secret. Once more we asked and he said it was alcohol. We told him to throw it away. He said he would but we didn't believe him. Its starting to become really shaky whether he can receive baptism or not.
We met some nice people and were able to share the message. We weren't able to talk to many people this week due to focusing on these people written before.
We were able to meet C just for 5 minutes and to see how she was doing. She has a cold and is sick but her sister who has cancer is getting better!!!! Yay for prayers! She is so wonderful and we love her to death.
Thursday we had zone training meeting. It was super good.
Eikaiwa was great. In all 17 came. We made 2 classes and next week we will have a 3rd. When we prepare more and try harder to stay more active, the Lord blessed the class. Now we hope we can start teaching some people from this.
Friday we tried meeting M. He was gone. It was weird. So we went to S. Did I tell you the hospital he is staying at is on the top of a huge hill? Its so hard biking up there. Well its okay but its not fun honestly. Its so worth it because he is doing good. We talked about God and how He will help him overcome his problem. He prayed and asked "God, will you please help me overcome this problem? Is there a way out?"
We came back around to M and he said "why are you here so late?" We explained that we tried to find him but he wasn't anywhere to be found. He said "well I was drunk so I was sleeping!" Man its really rough. We are trying hard to get him going.
Quickly visited Mo. He is doing great! He is kinda praying, but that is a start. We asked if we could visit him on Saturday and he said yes.
Then we headed to K and D. Woah. I'm not going to say what is going on in that family because first off it is probably best not to. Second off there is too much to say. D straight up told us all his sins. We didn't have time to tell him not to say it. He just went for it. Poor guy is torn up. The family is a mess. The only thing holding them together is their son. (Interestingly enough, the oldest son who is just K's son from a different marriage, we met on the street and gave him a Book of Mormon 2 weeks ago. Crazy small world right?) Just basically a constant fight.
We are working to understand who is telling the truth. On Saturday we sat down with K and heard her story. Both have problems and we think we know how to help. But ultimately it is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that can help this family. Actually all families. It will teach them the right principles of how to love, teach, and protect your family. How to prepare them to be an eternal family.
Saturday, M is starting to not go well. He is always drunk. But he said he would come to church on Sunday if we picked him up. S said he can leave the hospital. But he said he was going to leave to smoke. Ahhhhhh no! We tried super hard to have him not smoke. He is so addicted.
We met Mo. Watched the restoration. He said it was true. The reason why he said its was true is because it was on a video. Hmmmm I haven't had that response before. He would be a great priesthood holder. He prayed at the end to know if it was true. He felt peace and we told him what that was.
Again we visited D and K. We talked to K this time. We are trying our best to help.
Sunday, we went to pick up S, he said he couldn't come because of some rule. Then went to pick up M, he was drunk. He couldn't come. Super sad but that's people's agency.
The Chinese girl came! They taught her a lesson and she is super awesome! That is going well. The other elders are working great together and getting work done.
We worked the rest of the night. Met Mo and taught him a little bit. Then met C to ask her if we can stop by for the next few days before Christmas. I love these people so much. They are crazy awesome! I hope we can help them feel the Christmas spirit and eventually come closer to Christ.
Talk to you next week!
Monday, December 8, 2014
The Lord really does love His people
Well I'm still with Elder Olsen but things are awesome because 2 more Elders came to Nago! We are super blessed. The huge wave of missionaries are going home but we asked our president if we could have 2 more. Mostly because we have no time to do any kind of member work. The members need a lot of help. Both of the missionaries are old. One returns after this transfer and the other returns after next.
Tuesday we met with W after we received news that the other elders were coming. We were super happy. W isn't doing so hot. She isn't following our commitments and its starting to get rough to teach her. Things may have to stop soon if it won't get better. We showed the Finding Faith in Christ video. It was super good. She began to understand that believing in Christ was a slow process. We then related it to the seed in Alma 32. She says she might actually start following our commitments.
We met S on Wednesday at the hospital. Man, He was messed up pretty good. He looked awful. He said that this place was a jail and hated it. All he wanted to do is smoke and drink but he couldn't. I was happy that he couldn't. Still it was super heart breaking to see him so down. We gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read it in his free time.
Up until dinner we have to prep the apartment for the new Elders. After that we dendoed the night away.
Thursday we went to visit a man who we were able to set up a baptismal date with last Monday. Other Elders have taught him but because his family was hantai he couldn't be baptized. He also though when you are baptized they hold you under the water until you die. A little funny that he had that thought so that is not okay. We taught him and he has about half the baptismal questions down. He is good to go. He can be baptized on December 23rd.
The rest of the day was planning and teaching eikaiwa. Eikaiwa was better this time. More people came and we did more activities. We are trying super hard to make it better. Its not that good right now. It was in a rut when we came here.
The other Elders came on Thursday. They are great!
Friday. The Lord loves his people. Let me tell you that. I am completely amazed at His timing. We had a lesson drop and we were sad. We started going to our next appointment. We stopped this guy named K on the street. He is stinking fluent in English. How is he fluent? Studied by himself and MISSIONARIES from the Tokyo mission. He was amazing. He moved here a week ago. Asked for directions, our number, and if he can come to church, Christmas party, and eikaiwa. this guy was a miracle.
We then taught H M. We wanted to build more relationship with him so we sat down and talked about our lives and our families. That really helped. He said he would come to church (which he did) and said he would pray. He is so kind. I wish you can meet him.
We met this man named Y on the street and set up an appointment in a park. We thought he wouldn't show. He did! Not only that he is super cool. He doesn't like reading the Book of Mormon because apparently the characters on the front cover are wrong. A little silly but we challenged him to try to find all the wrong things in the book. We also challenged him to help us do stuff at church as well. He accepted. He couldn't come this Sunday but he said he would come to the Christmas party tonight.
Saturday. We met H M again. He is doing good. He keeps progressing. That's what I find interesting. All the investigators we have progressing rapidly are the ones who have dates. The rest are kind of idle. It shows the people who have that commitment truly receive the blessings from heaven.
We then went and visited S. Completely 180 turn. He was playing ping pong. I have never seen a 55 year old man move like that. It was amazing. He is doing awesome. He has read until 1st Nephi 15. Said he didn't understand it but said "I think if I read this book my heart will change." Him being off of the tobacco and the beer is so amazing. He is so happy and genki. Now we just need him to start praying and reading, which he said he would do.
After dinner we went on a slight junkai to introduce some of investigators we gave the other Elders. Elder Tagawa and I went to visit a less active. I have tried to visit her so many times with no luck. We met her! It was super awesome. The kids loved Tagawa and we had a good lesson. Afterwards we did the same for the N family. We gave the other Elders the family because there wasn't much we could do. Both elders are good with people and kids. It turned out really well. I'm super happy about it.
Sunday. Both Hs came to church. The Ward was still pretty dead. The testimonies were dominated by 2 sisters that together took about 35-40 minutes of the meeting. Not the best. After the meeting the members passed by the investigators. We went around and asked them to say hello. They said okay and some just went and sat down in the other room! So I chased them down and asked them again. All of them went and said hello but it wasn't their first thought to do so. really upsetting. M said "wow today was a lot better than 5 months ago. No one said hello and everyone seemed sad." Its a work in progress. We have all of these great investigators. We need the Ward to have a spiritual meeting. The best meetings we have had is when Stake leaders come. The best I remember was when 2 sons and a dad came from Naha and spoke. That was awesome. Elder Olsen and I talked about it quite a bit and are glad the second set of Elders can help the Ward.
We set up for the party after church.
Then we were on our way to an appointment but the person called us to cancel. We turned around and went to K's house. man crazy huge miracle. Blew my mind.
We get there with some chocolate balls we made. We hear her laughing and music playing. We knock and the son sees us and freaks out "MOM THE AMERICANS ARE HERE!" Then some time goes by and then this lengthy creepy man stepped out. Says that he is K's brother and that she has a cold. Therefore she is sleeping. We looked at him and my thought was, "we heard her laughing and talking 30 seconds earlier." I didn't argue with him and started to explain that we made her chocolate balls. At that moment D came home. He was super happy to see us. He completely broke down and went almost into an all caps rage. He was so mad about the lengthy man. Apparently it is some gay guy that comes and drinks and smokes with K. They do it in front of the son. D is super protective of the son but K doesn't really care. He said "before I came home I prayed to God to help me not get mad when I came home. I came and saw that man's shoes. I was so angry and so I decided to go through a different door. That's when I saw you here."
I don't want to say that we were the answers to his prayer. But God truly lines people's lives up so that we can feel His love. We talked with this man for over an hour and he is trying so hard to be a good God fearing man. His relationship is terrible. We were able to share some scriptures from the Book of Mormon he received 2 years ago from other missionaries. Also gave him promises about how if his family was centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ, they would be strengthened and problems can be resolved. He wants us to protect his son and to surround his wife in good environments. He told us to come over whenever and teach his wife. They might come to the party tonight.
The Lord really does love His people. I am very happy and humbled to see that fact every day. As Christmas draws near I reflect on the fact I am a representative of Christ. I have this amazing chance to do as he would do, teach as he would, and try to love everyone as he would. Let's all try to be like D and try to have the light of Christ pour out in every part of our lives. That way the world can see the true meaning of Christmas.
Until next week!
Elder Jameson
Tuesday we met with W after we received news that the other elders were coming. We were super happy. W isn't doing so hot. She isn't following our commitments and its starting to get rough to teach her. Things may have to stop soon if it won't get better. We showed the Finding Faith in Christ video. It was super good. She began to understand that believing in Christ was a slow process. We then related it to the seed in Alma 32. She says she might actually start following our commitments.
We met S on Wednesday at the hospital. Man, He was messed up pretty good. He looked awful. He said that this place was a jail and hated it. All he wanted to do is smoke and drink but he couldn't. I was happy that he couldn't. Still it was super heart breaking to see him so down. We gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read it in his free time.
Up until dinner we have to prep the apartment for the new Elders. After that we dendoed the night away.
Thursday we went to visit a man who we were able to set up a baptismal date with last Monday. Other Elders have taught him but because his family was hantai he couldn't be baptized. He also though when you are baptized they hold you under the water until you die. A little funny that he had that thought so that is not okay. We taught him and he has about half the baptismal questions down. He is good to go. He can be baptized on December 23rd.
The rest of the day was planning and teaching eikaiwa. Eikaiwa was better this time. More people came and we did more activities. We are trying super hard to make it better. Its not that good right now. It was in a rut when we came here.
The other Elders came on Thursday. They are great!
Friday. The Lord loves his people. Let me tell you that. I am completely amazed at His timing. We had a lesson drop and we were sad. We started going to our next appointment. We stopped this guy named K on the street. He is stinking fluent in English. How is he fluent? Studied by himself and MISSIONARIES from the Tokyo mission. He was amazing. He moved here a week ago. Asked for directions, our number, and if he can come to church, Christmas party, and eikaiwa. this guy was a miracle.
We then taught H M. We wanted to build more relationship with him so we sat down and talked about our lives and our families. That really helped. He said he would come to church (which he did) and said he would pray. He is so kind. I wish you can meet him.
We met this man named Y on the street and set up an appointment in a park. We thought he wouldn't show. He did! Not only that he is super cool. He doesn't like reading the Book of Mormon because apparently the characters on the front cover are wrong. A little silly but we challenged him to try to find all the wrong things in the book. We also challenged him to help us do stuff at church as well. He accepted. He couldn't come this Sunday but he said he would come to the Christmas party tonight.
Saturday. We met H M again. He is doing good. He keeps progressing. That's what I find interesting. All the investigators we have progressing rapidly are the ones who have dates. The rest are kind of idle. It shows the people who have that commitment truly receive the blessings from heaven.
We then went and visited S. Completely 180 turn. He was playing ping pong. I have never seen a 55 year old man move like that. It was amazing. He is doing awesome. He has read until 1st Nephi 15. Said he didn't understand it but said "I think if I read this book my heart will change." Him being off of the tobacco and the beer is so amazing. He is so happy and genki. Now we just need him to start praying and reading, which he said he would do.
After dinner we went on a slight junkai to introduce some of investigators we gave the other Elders. Elder Tagawa and I went to visit a less active. I have tried to visit her so many times with no luck. We met her! It was super awesome. The kids loved Tagawa and we had a good lesson. Afterwards we did the same for the N family. We gave the other Elders the family because there wasn't much we could do. Both elders are good with people and kids. It turned out really well. I'm super happy about it.
Sunday. Both Hs came to church. The Ward was still pretty dead. The testimonies were dominated by 2 sisters that together took about 35-40 minutes of the meeting. Not the best. After the meeting the members passed by the investigators. We went around and asked them to say hello. They said okay and some just went and sat down in the other room! So I chased them down and asked them again. All of them went and said hello but it wasn't their first thought to do so. really upsetting. M said "wow today was a lot better than 5 months ago. No one said hello and everyone seemed sad." Its a work in progress. We have all of these great investigators. We need the Ward to have a spiritual meeting. The best meetings we have had is when Stake leaders come. The best I remember was when 2 sons and a dad came from Naha and spoke. That was awesome. Elder Olsen and I talked about it quite a bit and are glad the second set of Elders can help the Ward.
We set up for the party after church.
Then we were on our way to an appointment but the person called us to cancel. We turned around and went to K's house. man crazy huge miracle. Blew my mind.
We get there with some chocolate balls we made. We hear her laughing and music playing. We knock and the son sees us and freaks out "MOM THE AMERICANS ARE HERE!" Then some time goes by and then this lengthy creepy man stepped out. Says that he is K's brother and that she has a cold. Therefore she is sleeping. We looked at him and my thought was, "we heard her laughing and talking 30 seconds earlier." I didn't argue with him and started to explain that we made her chocolate balls. At that moment D came home. He was super happy to see us. He completely broke down and went almost into an all caps rage. He was so mad about the lengthy man. Apparently it is some gay guy that comes and drinks and smokes with K. They do it in front of the son. D is super protective of the son but K doesn't really care. He said "before I came home I prayed to God to help me not get mad when I came home. I came and saw that man's shoes. I was so angry and so I decided to go through a different door. That's when I saw you here."
I don't want to say that we were the answers to his prayer. But God truly lines people's lives up so that we can feel His love. We talked with this man for over an hour and he is trying so hard to be a good God fearing man. His relationship is terrible. We were able to share some scriptures from the Book of Mormon he received 2 years ago from other missionaries. Also gave him promises about how if his family was centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ, they would be strengthened and problems can be resolved. He wants us to protect his son and to surround his wife in good environments. He told us to come over whenever and teach his wife. They might come to the party tonight.
The Lord really does love His people. I am very happy and humbled to see that fact every day. As Christmas draws near I reflect on the fact I am a representative of Christ. I have this amazing chance to do as he would do, teach as he would, and try to love everyone as he would. Let's all try to be like D and try to have the light of Christ pour out in every part of our lives. That way the world can see the true meaning of Christmas.
Until next week!
Elder Jameson
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Heavenly Father prepares His children
We had a crazy week. I don't have much time but I'll blast through it.
Monday was a half p-day because we were had Thanksgiving with the military. (Which was amazing. We have left overs. :-) )
We visited S and we taught him to pray. He has no self confidence and doesn't really have a motive to do it by himself so we basically have to have him do it for him. We wrote down a prayer and he did it.
Later that day we went to a new area we found. We met a lot of college students. One girl actually brought up a new reason not to trust in God. She said "people say when ever they do good things they owe it to God. I want to compliment myself sometimes." It was interesting but missing the point. It took a few moments to build a case against it but in the end it shows that God really is the only thing that will succeed in the end.
Tuesday we had a our last district meeting. Since some missionaries were going home they were able to bear their testimonies. The former AP, Dolbin Choro gave a great testimony. It showed how much love he had for the Savoir and how much he has learned from serving him. If every missionary was more like him, each mission would change for the better.
We had our lesson with W. She isn't really progressing anymore. Sadly she isn't keeping her commitments which is making it hard for her to know if this is the truth. We keep telling her that. Hopefully this next lesson she will keep them. But this past lesson we talked about why there is war and how can we resolve it. It all is based on the gospel of Jesus Christ and loving our neighbors. When these two things are not followed, then bad things like wars start to occur.
After W we had our lesson with S. It was a good first lesson. She has so much potential. Since she is married to a member, she can really learn how to apply the teachings to her everyday life. She seems really bright and willing to learn. We just started off with basic things and we set an appointment for Thursday.
Wednesday! We met with this man named H. M. We met him last week. He wondered why there were so many sects. So we taught the first lesson and he said "Wow I'm relieved. Now I understand why there are so many churches." We were able to continue with that and he said that he thought the Joseph Smith keiken was true. SO with that we set up a baptismal date for the 17 of Jan.
We did some dendo and made it to C. We planned super hard for her. During the lesson we were teaching the power of the atonement. She has so many hard things in her life. We wanted to help her understand that the atonement can give her strength to endure. We were wanting to set a baptismal date at the end but some reason things kept coming up. Half way through the lesson a family member called and said they needed her over. We had to stop and leave it there. Its interesting how God works sometimes. He places things in the way because there are sometimes missionaries that are going the wrong way so he needs to stop it. Based off the lesson, she wasn't prepared for that invite. But now we will be more careful to help prepare more.
Thursday. We had thanksgiving and a lesson with S. Great lesson! Our unity was almost perfect it seemed. Everything was great! We even invited her to baptism on the 25th of December to which she said yes... but! This is were things get messy. It turns out she is actually a few months pregnant. If you do the math they were married a month ago. Before the member came back, he was way less active. Like not going to church since he was 12 less active. Turns out that he isn't very strong. When we offered the baptismal date he freaked out saying that he doesn't even understand the message so he thinks she should take things slower. We told them it wasn't any pressure but more of a goal. If she were to come to know by that date, she could be baptized. If not, no big deal it will be moved. Well he felt offended and pressured even though it was her decision. Turns out a few days later we were told by his parents they thought we came to their house randomly and then forced the baptism on them. (They completely forgot about the appointment.) Even up until now, the member will not answer our phone calls. He didn't come to church either. A little upsetting and really frustrating. He is slowing the process instead of helping. A little bit of a bummer.
Anyways. On to brighter and more awesome news. Friday we had junkai. There Elder Ho and I were walking and this American almost hit us in his car. For some reason I just started talking to him at his window. I asked him where he was from. "Philly." I about freaked out. I told him I used to live in limerick and we kept talking. We invited him to our Christmas party. He said he was busy but he said he would have his wife and son J go. For some reason my mind went "wait.... J... K had a son named J." K is an investigator who we met about 2 weeks ago. She is awesome, super genki. But she got sick and we wanted to give her bananas to say we were sorry and for her to get better. As fate had it, we didn't have time to stop by her house that day.
So i asked him "how old is your son." "8 years old" I thought, K's son is 8. Then I asked what his wife's name was, he said "K." My mind exploded. Heavenly Father really does prepare his children. The best part is that he said that we can come over when ever we want. He said his wife is going through a rough time and he wants her to be around good people. So therefore "come over whenever, you don't need an invitation." Super awesome miracle.
Saturday was just filled with work. Nothing too exciting happened.
Sunday we went to go pick up S for church. As we pulled him outside his apartment his boss was waiting there saying "we need you at work" so they drove off. Elder Olsen and I were dumbfounded. But it turns out to be good. We went by his house later that night and caught him as he got home. He is going into rehab to fix his drinking and smoking problems. He said we can come to visit him when ever we want. This is a great chance. While he is off the beer and smokes, he will be more open to the spirit. We are hoping things can shape up for him :-)
Love Elder Jameson
Monday was a half p-day because we were had Thanksgiving with the military. (Which was amazing. We have left overs. :-) )
We visited S and we taught him to pray. He has no self confidence and doesn't really have a motive to do it by himself so we basically have to have him do it for him. We wrote down a prayer and he did it.
Later that day we went to a new area we found. We met a lot of college students. One girl actually brought up a new reason not to trust in God. She said "people say when ever they do good things they owe it to God. I want to compliment myself sometimes." It was interesting but missing the point. It took a few moments to build a case against it but in the end it shows that God really is the only thing that will succeed in the end.
Tuesday we had a our last district meeting. Since some missionaries were going home they were able to bear their testimonies. The former AP, Dolbin Choro gave a great testimony. It showed how much love he had for the Savoir and how much he has learned from serving him. If every missionary was more like him, each mission would change for the better.
We had our lesson with W. She isn't really progressing anymore. Sadly she isn't keeping her commitments which is making it hard for her to know if this is the truth. We keep telling her that. Hopefully this next lesson she will keep them. But this past lesson we talked about why there is war and how can we resolve it. It all is based on the gospel of Jesus Christ and loving our neighbors. When these two things are not followed, then bad things like wars start to occur.
After W we had our lesson with S. It was a good first lesson. She has so much potential. Since she is married to a member, she can really learn how to apply the teachings to her everyday life. She seems really bright and willing to learn. We just started off with basic things and we set an appointment for Thursday.
Wednesday! We met with this man named H. M. We met him last week. He wondered why there were so many sects. So we taught the first lesson and he said "Wow I'm relieved. Now I understand why there are so many churches." We were able to continue with that and he said that he thought the Joseph Smith keiken was true. SO with that we set up a baptismal date for the 17 of Jan.
We did some dendo and made it to C. We planned super hard for her. During the lesson we were teaching the power of the atonement. She has so many hard things in her life. We wanted to help her understand that the atonement can give her strength to endure. We were wanting to set a baptismal date at the end but some reason things kept coming up. Half way through the lesson a family member called and said they needed her over. We had to stop and leave it there. Its interesting how God works sometimes. He places things in the way because there are sometimes missionaries that are going the wrong way so he needs to stop it. Based off the lesson, she wasn't prepared for that invite. But now we will be more careful to help prepare more.
Thursday. We had thanksgiving and a lesson with S. Great lesson! Our unity was almost perfect it seemed. Everything was great! We even invited her to baptism on the 25th of December to which she said yes... but! This is were things get messy. It turns out she is actually a few months pregnant. If you do the math they were married a month ago. Before the member came back, he was way less active. Like not going to church since he was 12 less active. Turns out that he isn't very strong. When we offered the baptismal date he freaked out saying that he doesn't even understand the message so he thinks she should take things slower. We told them it wasn't any pressure but more of a goal. If she were to come to know by that date, she could be baptized. If not, no big deal it will be moved. Well he felt offended and pressured even though it was her decision. Turns out a few days later we were told by his parents they thought we came to their house randomly and then forced the baptism on them. (They completely forgot about the appointment.) Even up until now, the member will not answer our phone calls. He didn't come to church either. A little upsetting and really frustrating. He is slowing the process instead of helping. A little bit of a bummer.
Anyways. On to brighter and more awesome news. Friday we had junkai. There Elder Ho and I were walking and this American almost hit us in his car. For some reason I just started talking to him at his window. I asked him where he was from. "Philly." I about freaked out. I told him I used to live in limerick and we kept talking. We invited him to our Christmas party. He said he was busy but he said he would have his wife and son J go. For some reason my mind went "wait.... J... K had a son named J." K is an investigator who we met about 2 weeks ago. She is awesome, super genki. But she got sick and we wanted to give her bananas to say we were sorry and for her to get better. As fate had it, we didn't have time to stop by her house that day.
So i asked him "how old is your son." "8 years old" I thought, K's son is 8. Then I asked what his wife's name was, he said "K." My mind exploded. Heavenly Father really does prepare his children. The best part is that he said that we can come over when ever we want. He said his wife is going through a rough time and he wants her to be around good people. So therefore "come over whenever, you don't need an invitation." Super awesome miracle.
Saturday was just filled with work. Nothing too exciting happened.
Sunday we went to go pick up S for church. As we pulled him outside his apartment his boss was waiting there saying "we need you at work" so they drove off. Elder Olsen and I were dumbfounded. But it turns out to be good. We went by his house later that night and caught him as he got home. He is going into rehab to fix his drinking and smoking problems. He said we can come to visit him when ever we want. This is a great chance. While he is off the beer and smokes, he will be more open to the spirit. We are hoping things can shape up for him :-)
Love Elder Jameson
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