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

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Wednesday, we had CHRISTMAS!!! 😆😆😆😆 we started at the day by waking up early, and I made pancakes for the apartment! After that, we opened up all of the different presents that we had gotten from family and Ward members! 😁😁 I got tons of sweet stuff like new ties, lots of candy, and a new game called "Bang! The dice game" everything was so great and I couldn't have been more happy!😁😁

After that, we met up with all of the other missionaries in Okayama and we went to a strawberry Orchard where you can do "all you can eat strawberries" 😆😆 Sadly, we didn't know that you needed a reservation and they were full😭😭 So instead, we went to a grossly overpriced Cafe and got some cheeseburgers 🤣🤣 After that, we had no plans so, we went back to the church and played Bang the dice game all together. 😁 We all say that Bang saved Christmas because we were all out of luck and had no new ideas of what we could do, but Bang ended up being so much fun! For dinner, we went to one of our favorite member's house and we all ate some great chicken together😁😁😁 We also did a really fun white elephant with them and everyone was able to get some pretty fun and sweet gifts! 😁

Thursday, we went up and met up with some of the YSA in our ward and we all went to Ramen together since one of them is leaving on his mission pretty soon😁😁😆 After that, we had a very big cleaning day as a whole mission so everyone spent a large chunk of the day and cleaned the apartment. Our apartment is really great because it is the biggest in the mission, but it is also the worst because that means it is usually the dirtiest and most difficult to clean😭 But, we got it looking pretty sharp and it's the cleanest I've ever seen it!😁😁 After that, we met back up with the kids from earlier, and we all visited another YSA who doesn't come to church as often and has been feeling a little sick lately. We dropped off some food and some snacks and then we all went to dinner together, which was a lot of fun😁😁

Friday, we started the day out with English class as per usual and we had about five people come which was really good for the Friday afternoon class. After that class, we went and visited one of our favorite members, Yuki 姉妹 who is my Japanese mom. We ended up talking with her for a while, lost track of time, and then all went and got dinner together at a nearby Indian Curry restaurant😆😆😁 She's been having a really hard time recently because she has been working so, so much and has had almost no time to sleep. So, she was so happy that we visited her, and it was a great day spent with her! 😁😁

Saturday, we met up with another one of our favorite members, Masahiro, and we went out and got some very good ramen together.😁😁 After eating ramen, he wanted to take us out golfing, so we went to a nearby driving range and hit some balls for a little while! 😆😆 It was super fun to spend the day with him. We finished the day by going home, doing some studies, and then had our sports night as we always do on Saturday, which was super great! Our friend Mari came to sports night, which was super great because this was her first time coming to the sports night! She doesn't love sports too much but she really wanted to spend more time with us, and we couldn't have been happier! 😁😁

Sunday we had church as usual and right after church, we went over to the Watanabes, who is the senior couple in our Ward, and all the missionaries, plus Masahiro, pulled up and we all ate some great late Christmas dinner. 😁😁 There was so much good food: mashed potatoes, gravy, roast beef, squash, jello, steamed vegetables, plus an amazing banana meringue pie for dessert 😋😋 It was so phenomenonal... I can literally spend every day at the Watanabe's😆😆😆

Monday, we went over to another one of our favorite families, the Clark's, and we watched a lot of football, ate really good food, and just talked for a long time! 😆😆 His wife made some amazing food as always, and it was really fun to get to watch some of the BYU football game with him!😁😁

Tuesday, we started out the day with District Council, and after District Council, we wanted to go and get some food all together! So, we went to one restaurant and it was closed. So, we went to the next restaurant, and it was closed. So, we went to the next restaurant, and it was closed. Then, we went to another one, and that one was closed as well. Finally we went to Pizza Hut and it was the only thing that was open. 😁😁 We decided to splurge and bought some really big pizzas because we thought it would be fun since it was New Years Eve!! (we would regret that😭😭) After finally finishing going there and eating, we went to our favorite member of the mafia's house and had a great time with him! His wife had made it back for the New Year's, which is the first time I have seen her in over 3 months! It was so great to see her, and she was as happy and sweet as always!😊😊😁 But, to our surprise, they had made a lot of food and we were still so full from eating Pizza Hut... But of course, we had to eat all of it😅😅 By the time we got out of there, it was only an hour till we were going to eat again with another member.😅😅 The member was so kind and decided to buy us, and all the other missionaries Pizza Hut for dinner😭😭😭 and he bought A LOT of pizzas😅😅 That about killed us but, luckily, we made it out alive... 😁😁

Spiritual Thought:

2 Nephi 2:27

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

"God has made it a rule for Himself that He won't alter people's character by force. He can and will alter them–but only if the people will let Him.

Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."

—C.S. Lewis

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

That's all, folks.

Dinner with the Watanabes 😁😁😁

Christmas morning Pancakes! 😁😆😆

Opening presents... 😁😁😁

Gas burger...

And bang the dice game saved Christmas....

Christmas dinner with the Maki family! 😁😊😆

I really liked the chicken....

Dessert and Yochan 😆😁

Fire Ramen 😁😁😆

Cleaning day😁😁

Dinner with the Maki family...

Dinner with Yuki姉妹

Fire indo curry...

Ramen with Masahiro!

We played some Bang after! 😁

Lang study snoozes hit hard 😭😭

Dinner with the Watanabes 😁😁😁

The cutest couple in Japan 😆😆😆

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we went to a super sweet old Japanese town, and there was lots of fun stuff to do. I ended up buying a sweet pair of Chopsticks as well as a sick Rice hat. Go check the album for the flicks! 😆😆

Wednesday, we had a special Christmas Zone conference, and it was super, super great. It was a little bit shorter and we didn't give a training which was a nice break for us. It was nice to see lots of missionaries as well as a girl who also went to AF, and we knew each other back home. At the end of the day, we had a special Christmas English class and did a white elephant game😁😁

Thursday, we went to our awesome friend, Sunami's house, and we did a little igo tournament (that one board game with the black and white stones). It was super fun and he brought one of his other friends and she wants to start coming to English class if she can! At the end of the day, we went to a very big train station by the apartment and did some Christmas caroling with other Ward members. I've been learning guitar for the past few months, and I was able to play a bunch of Christmas songs for everyone, which was a lot of fun!

Saturday, we had our big Christmas concert that we have been practicing a long time for! We sing so many different songs, had lots of friends come, and finish the concert with hot chocolate and snacks. It went really well and everyone seemed to have a really good time! the ward member said that this was the best Christmas concert they have had in years! 😆😆 I got lots of flicks and videos on the album, so go check it out.

Sunday was pretty normal, and after church, we went home to do a few studies. After studying and other missionary things, we went on our bikes and biked about an hour and a half to a distant member's house for dinner together! We also went with one of the YSA in our Ward who got his mission call recently and is leaving to go to Northern Japan in about 2 weeks! We had a super great time with them, and we had a lot of really, really good conversations with their family . We ended up getting home pretty late because of how far it was to bike! 😆😆🤣

Monday, we had a regular date instead of p-day because pday was moved to Christmas day. Since we had no plans, we were able to go with the senior couple and visit lots of inactive members who are very far away from the church. After that and doing some studies are entire day was pretty much gone, but we had such a great time!

Tuesday, we went on exchanges with the other Elders in our apartment. We started the day out with District council, and we want to do something fun since it was Christmas Eve so we all got to the church early and made a big pancake breakfast with all of the missionaries in okayama as well as the senior missionaries. The senior couple had made sourdough pancakes, and they were so flipping good!😆😆 After that and our meeting, I went with Elder otahara, who is the Japanese kid in our apartment, and we had such a great day together! At the end of the day, we all met back up and went to a little spot in our city that was putting on a fun Christmas Eve event. They had music, food, lights, and lots of other stuff to feel so Christmassy! After that, we met up with the Clarks (one of the best families in our area), and we all went to McDonald's together, which was super fun! 😆

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

That's all, folks.