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

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we met up with some of the sisters in our zone and went and hiked to this castle in one of their areas! Sadly though, I do have some really sad news about Monday... Our favorite Japanese Mafia friend gave us a call, he said that he had called his priest from his Baptist Church from like 27 years ago, and that his priest told him to stop reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and coming to our church. He said that he loves our church a lot but since his other church has been his church for 27 years that he can't come to our church anymore and that he is going to stop meeting with us. That was a pretty rough phone call, but we still have hope that he might be able to make it back to church at some point in his life.

Luckily though, Tuesday was a lot better for us! We started the day with District Council, and it was super great! After District Council, we went and got ramen at a local Ramen Shop that is so good!! 😋😋 we also met up with a new friend from a language exchange app named Mari, and she was so awesome! She is super kind and took us to a really, really nice restaurant and paid for all of it, which was so nice! After that, we still had a little bit of time and she said that she wanted to take us to a nearby grocery store and she wanted to buy all of her favorite snacks for me and Elder Wynn to try!! 😁😁 God was definitely looking out for us on Tuesday...

Thursday, we went to a member's house for lunch, and she brought one of her friends who we have met with a few times at different church activities!! He is super kind and she made some really really good food for us!!😁😁 At the end of the night, we went and played volleyball again with our boys from last week, which was so awesome!! We're trying to hopefully get some of them to come to our Sports night that we do every week on Saturday! 😁😁

Friday, we spent a little bit of time actually going out and trying to find people, which was super refreshing because we have always been so busy lately! You talked to lots of people but sadly we didn't get any contact information but it was still nice to be outside and talking to people! At night we also had an English class and our friend from earlier this week, Mari, came! Her English level is very low, but she was grateful for us to translate for her, and she said that she wants to keep coming every week, so hopefully, we can keep meeting up with her at English class! 😁😁

Saturday was such a busy day. we started out the day by doing some service for our Ward by picking up food at the church and bringing it to a different place for a food drive! Right after we got home, we met up with another one of our Ward members, Masahiro, and we went and got some very good Japanese food together! We have gone out with him a couple of times, and he loves taking us to go try some new food places, so it's always a blast! Right after we got back, we went and met up with another friend from that language exchange app named Ai! She was also super kind and we ended up meeting at a cafe and talked for a long time she also wants to start coming to our English class or maybe our sports night every week! So hopefully all will go well with her and we'll be able to keep on meeting up with her at different activities! Finally at the end of the day we had our Sports night which was a blast we were able to have some of our old friends come from last week so it was great to see them!we also had some new people come as well! 😁😁

On Sunday, we sang during sacrament meeting with another family in the ward, and it went really well! After church was over, we did more song practice for the Christmas concert that is coming up in December 😁😁 the rest of the day was filled with lots of meetings and phone calls with other missionaries!

Also, for those who may be wondering and may not know... I have been eating as many corn dogs as I can since I made it to Japan. With one single goal in mind: eat more dogs than Elder Hall (my first comp in Japan). Well, his mission has finally come to an end. He went home this week, which means we have a final count on dogs eaten.

Final Count: Elder Hall 78 アメリカンドッグ (corndogs). Elder Thompson 88 アメリカンドッグ. Yours truly came out on top. The competition is finally over.

Spiritual Thought:

2 Nephi 31:19-20

19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.

20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life

"Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.” You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even—no, especially—when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. "

—Jeffrey R. Holland

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

That's all, folks.

P day hike flicks.... 😁😁

Flicks of the castle

Gotta hit the .5 with the greatest companionship ever

Lunch after DCM!

Dinner with Mari!

The food we ate.... It was so good😋😋

This place was so expensive 😱😱

All the snacks from our friend Mari! 🤯🤯😨

Flicks of the boys eating some pumpkin pie😆😆

Just gonna leave this here...

Fukushima 姉妹 made us some amazing dinner! 😆😆

Flicks after dinner with our friend Yuma

We did some family history... 😆

The river that goes through the city...

We found some offbrand clothes🤣🤣

Lunch with Mashiro! 😆😆

Flicked up with our new friend Ai! 😁

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we first went and bought some kimonos! They are like this cool Japanese traditional robe... I got flicks on the album, so go check them out! After that, we went and hiked this super cool Mountain😆😆 There was a super cool shrine at the very top of the mountain, and we took some sweet flicks, and the view was awesome!

Tuesday, we practiced some songs that we're going to be singing for our Ward Christmas concert! We also had DCM, which was as good as always, and then at night, we left and went to Kobe for exchanges with the APs.

Wednesday, we did exchanges, and it was a super good day! I went with Elder Caruthers and it was the first time we ever really worked together so it was really fun! We talked with a lot of people and were able to get a lot of phone numbers, so hopefully, they can keep in contact with them! At night, we also had Institute which was really fun because I have now gone three times, and I have gotten to know the people that come😆😆

Thursday was such a good day! 😆 We had another lesson with our favorite friend, sunami さん! The lesson went super great, and he is slowly starting to stop drinking coffee, alcohol, and smoking cigarettes!! 😁😁😁 Near the end of the lesson, he pulled out his wallet, emptied all of the cards and cash, and gave it to me as a gift😅😅 I tried to tell him no and give it back to him but he wouldn't take it back and kept insisting that it was a gift for me😂😂 That night, we also went to a nearby sports complex and played volleyball with a bunch of awesome people and had such a great time!😁😁

Friday, we had English class and it was super fun! 😁😁 After that, we spent some time trying to find new people and then, at the end of the day, went to dinner with one of our friends that we met off of a language exchange app! He's super cool, and hopefully, we can keep meeting with him! 😁😁

Saturday, we woke up early and drove 2 hours with a member and played some softball for a steak activity! 😆😆😆 It was an absolute party and brought me back to the good old days of Uwajima when I used to play softball with some Grandpas every week😆😆 Once we got home, we ate lunch at McDonald's, really today was a day of Classics, and then we had Sports night and we had two new friends come!! They are both super awesome, and we are hoping to keep on meeting up with them!😁😁

Sunday, Sunami came to church, and everything went really well! 😁😁 After church, we had a hot pot party with the YSA in our ward and our friends! We made some Japanese soup, and then we played a bunch of card games together! 😁😁

Spiritual Thought:

Jacob 3:1

But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction.

When a man turns to Christ and seems to be getting on pretty well (in the sense that some of his bad habits are now corrected), he often feels that it would now be natural if things went fairly smoothly. When troubles come along—illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation—he is disappointed. These things, he feels, might have been necessary to rouse him and make him repent in his bad old days; but why now? Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us. —C.S. Lewis

Well, that's all I got for this week. feel free to email me!

That's all, folks.