The Best 2 Years: Elder Jace Thompson in Omaha/Japan: September 2024

Sunday, September 22, 2024

the one with uno

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we had a pretty chill P day. We just called the fam, got lunch at McDonald's, got groceries, and then kinda chilled the rest of the day. At night, we went to a members house for dinner! One of our friends (Jennifer from Bangladesh) also came, and we all ate, played games, and had family home evening together! Their family had a lot of young kids, and we all played uno, and it was SUPER chaotic... Really reminded me of home🥹🥹 Hands down the best member meal I've had to date😁😁😆

Wednesday, we had MLC (Mission Leadership Conference), and since I'm now a Zone Leader, I got to go! We go to the church right next to the mission home for it (which is in kobe, about 3 and a half hours away) and met up with tons of missionaries! I got to see lots of people I hadn't seen in a while, and it was just a good time. We talked about goals for the mission and then talked about Zone Conference as well! Zone Leaders always give a 45-minute training in zone conference, so now I get to prepare, plan, and do that!!😆😆🫠🫠 Right as we got home, we went to eikaiwa and it was really fun! We had lots of people come and it was really relaxed. We spent the whole time introducing ourselves and then playing a little game! It was a good day, for sure!

Friday, we left our area again to go to a baptismal interview for someone who speaks Portuguese! My companion is from Brazil and was the closest elder to the area, so we took another 3 hour trip down for the baptismal interview! It was also pretty fun, and I got to meet up with my comp from the MTC, so it was good to catch up and see how things have been going! Before we got home, we met up with a friend and got dinner with her at McDonald's (my comp really likes it so we'll be going pretty often I think 😆😆) we gave her a book of Mormon and taught a little lesson at McDonald's and she was super nice and we are hoping we can keep teaching her more!

Saturday we had a blood drive going on at our church and while people were waiting and stuff we had a band playing for everyone and then there's also these robots that are kind of like Legos just a little more complicated and lots of people in the area brought them and showcased them to everyone! It was a really fun time, and I've been getting a lot closer with the ward members here!

Sunday was great! We had two of our friends come to church, Jennifer (the girl we ate with on Monday) and her friend Paige (she is from Nevada). They are both in Japan as students and both are fluent in English! After sacrament meeting, we wanted to teach them in English so they would be able to understand more of what was being taught and since my companion doesn't speak English, yours truly was teaching that lesson🤣🤣 It actually went really good and the spirit was super strong! We're hoping they'll want to keep coming to church! 😁😁

Spiritual Thought:

3 Nephi 13:10

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.

—C. S. Lewis

Holy fetch, I love C.S. Lewis... What a quote 😆😆

Well, that's all I got this week! Feel free to email me!

That's all, folks!

Flicks with everyone....

Last District P day In Osaka

Playing Uno with the fam😆😁

New Comp, new dogs #70

ロピちゃん

Had a sweet sky... This ones for my mom

Passing out some BoMs while housing

Ah yeah we back in the groove... #71 and #72

McDonald's with Moena! 😁

Sunday, September 15, 2024

the one where he moved to okayama

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Well, starting with Monday, we had District P Day, and you already know we hit up another meat buffet! After eating, we went bowling and man bowling is so fun! While bowling, every once in a while, they have the 'midnight bowl' where the lights go down and music intensifies, and crap gets real. Every lane gets one bowl, and if you get a strike, you get a prize and bragging rights. We'll yours truly was lucky enough to have the midnight bowling land on him and then proceeded to bowl a nice strike 😏😏 If you wanna see the video, it's on the album😁

Tuesday, we had our Last DCM with the district! It was really good and kinda bittersweet because two missionaries in the district are heading home this transfer. It was a super good transfer with them, and I could have had a better district to be district leader over! At the end of the day, we went to dinner with one of our members, Ito 姉妹 and it was super great! We also got transfer calls and (not to my surprise) I was getting transferred! In my last interview with Pres, he told me that I was going to get transferred and that he wants me to go around to all the zones in the mission! So I had a guess of where I was going. I found out that I was going to Okayama! Not too surprised, but I am becoming a Zone Leader, and that was very surprising! Gonna see how this goes! 😆

Wednesday, we went to dinner with another member named Irie 兄弟! He's one of the best members in the ward, and we love going out with him! He always takes us to the best okonomiyaki (cabbage Pancake) place that has been run by the same old lady for like a hundred years or something (I'm pretty sure she's got Pres Nelly beat on age).

Thursday, we had a final goodbye farewell with our recently baptized member, Mima, and then our other friends Kai and Takafumi! They are so kind and they gave me and Elder Campbell lots of gifts (it was also his birthday celebration because it was in a couple of days). Those guys are the absolute best, and I'm really gonna miss them a lot!

Friday was my last day in Osaka! We spent most of the day doing pretty regular things, and then at night, we had our last ping pong night! It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but I'm sure I'll see them again at some point! I love Osaka and would love to come back, even if only visiting!

Saturday, we got up, and I left for Okayama! It was a long day of traveling, but overall, it was pretty good! I got to meet up with lots of sweet missionaries along the way and say goodbye to some of the ones going home! Once I got to Okayama, I immediately got picked up by my new comp, Elder Lopes (He's from Brazil, and he's such a good dude! He also doesn't speak any English, so I'm going to learn a lot more Japanese this transfer)! I'm super excited!😁😆 He's also on his last transfer, so I'm going to kill him!) and by a senior couple that's in our area. We left to go to a sports night that some ward members and other friends were having! Finally, somewhere I really belong😆😆 We played a ton of basketball and volleyball and had a great time together! After playing, we went with one of our friends and got some shaved ice and hung out!

Sunday, we went to church, and I was introducing myself to all of the new members! They are all super awesome people, and I am beyond excited to work with them for the next while! After church, we had lots of calls to make for being ZL and then did the usual missionary work for the rest of the day!

Spiritual Thought:

3 Nephi 11:11

And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

"Because each of you in this audience is precious to God and to this Church, I close with this special apostolic declaration. Before you ever received the gift of the Holy Ghost, you had the Light of Christ planted in your soul, that “light which is in all things, … giveth life to all things,” and is the influence for good in the hearts of all people who have ever lived or ever will live. That light was given to protect you and teach you. One of its central messages is that life is the most precious of all gifts, a gift which is obtained eternally only through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Light and Life of the World, the Only Begotten Son of God came to give us life by conquering death."

—Jeffrey R. Holland

Only the best people in Osaka

District P Day Bowling!

Final District P Day Flick...

Dinner with Ito姉妹

A little late but flicks of last weeks eikaiwa!

Final day with Irie兄弟

Farewell to the boys...

"God be with you till we meet again"

All of the missionaries with Mima兄弟

Went to sushi with one of our friends!

Can't wait until this guy gets dunked💦😆...

Man I'm gonna miss the people here...

Final flick of ping pong night😥

Sports night in Okayama! 😁😆

My companion and one of my favorite members...

Another flick at sports night with another member and our friend!

Sunday, September 8, 2024

the one with the Tokuhara family

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we had a pretty good P day! We went with the other elders in our district to shabu shabu (which is a meat buffet and you cook the meat yourself in a broth) and then went to Nara Park which has hundreds of deer all over! They are entitled little fricks though, and they bite you if you don't give them food. Super fun P day! 😆😆🤣

Wednesday, we had a lesson with Ayane and another one with Mima! Which were both super awesome! After that, we went to dinner with Takuya (my friend from my first area), and it was a pretty good day.

Thursday, we went to a members house for lunch, and we made Okonomiyaki! It is like a pancake but with cabbage... It doesn't sound good, but it's pretty good. I've got some flicks if you're wondering what it is, so go check 'em out!

Friday was pretty normal with ping pong night, and other than that, it was a pretty regular day of streeting and talking to lots of people all day!

Saturday was more or less the same as Friday. Lots of streeting and then ended the day with English class and more ping pong. Also we are getting transfer calls next week on Tuesday and then transferring on Friday and I think I'm getting transferred (Pres told me I was in my last interview) so I said lots of goodbyes to people... I forgot how sad transfers are...

Sunday was super great! We started by having lots of friends come to church, and I shared my final testimony with the ward (if I don't get transferred, it's gonna be REALLY awkward 😬😬🤣). After church, we were able to give Mima the aaronic priesthood, and it was so great! It's been so cool being able to be here for some of the biggest changes in his life! After church, we went to the Tokuhara family's (they come to eikaiwa, and they love all the missionaries but haven't ever really progressed) house and ate sushi with all of them. It was another kinda sad day because I said goodbye to them as well, and they are such a great family. The dad loves classic rock music, and today, he showed me all of his super sick CDs!! 😆😆

Spiritual Thought:

Alma 34:32-35

For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

35 For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.

"We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbor, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil."

—J.R.R. Tolkien

Well, that's all I got this week! Feel free to email me!

That's all, folks.