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
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