The Best 2 Years: Elder Jace Thompson in Omaha/Japan: the one with the return of the king

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Sorry, this email is long and rushed😅😅

Starting with monday, we had one of the greatest P days of all time. We had district p-day, and we all went to a spot called round one, which we went to last transfer for district P day as well. It's the place that has bowling, a batting cage, sports, an arcade, and a drink bar for the whole day! We had an absolute party, and the one kid from the US who came to church and ate with us on Sunday, Alex, also came with us. We also brought our friend Chika and we all had such a fun time together! 😆😆😆 I also went off in bowling and had the greatest game of my entire life. I bowled a 179, which is so much better than I could have ever possibly imagined😆😆🤣

Tuesday, we started with District Council as usual, which was really great and kind of sad because it was going to be our last District Council of the transfer. After that, we did some song practice with the ward practicing for Christmas concert that we have later in December and then we went to another member's house for lunch. We went with the other two Elders that are also in our apartment, and it was super great. She is super awesome and makes some of the best food ever, and she made some very delicious curry for us! 😆😆 on our way back, all four of we're biking back when Elder Rowberry, the one who just got to Japan this transfer, wasn't paying attention when we all stopped and ran into the back of Elder Wynn's bike, he slammed on his brakes at the last second, and went up and over the handlebars and his bike got thrown into the road. And right as the bike got thrown into the road, a massive dump truck came and crushed his bike....And I mean CRUSHED his bike. So we called the police, got everything figured out, and walked home, and that was the end of the day for us. And, at the end of the day, we got transfer news, and Elder Wynn and I found that we are both going to be staying here in okayama!! We couldn't be more excited, and we are so happy that we get to stay for another transfer in okayama and work together!

Wednesday was another very phenomenal day. We were able to meet with our friend from the mafia, Sunami さん. We knew that he was moving apartments, and so us and another member came and helped him move as much as we could. We ended up having a really great conversation with him, and we got on the topic of a board game in Japan called igo. this game is one of the oldest games in the entire world that is still played and he was explaining it and I decided that I was going to try and learn how to play it so we could play together. After expressing my interest, he got very, very excited and said he wanted to have us come over every single day, kind of like we used to. Which made us super happy, and we couldn't be more excited because we have another chance to keep teaching our favorite friend! We also met up with the new friend at a cafe and then taught English class to finish the night.

Thursday was a very, very special day. After lunch and all of our studies for the day, my best friend, mima, who was baptized in my last area in Osaka, came and visited, and we were able to meet up! We went out to dinner together and had a real great time catching up. it was so great to see him again! He also knew that my birthday was coming up, and got me a very nice gift, which was so awesome, and I am so grateful for him. It was so unbelievably great to see him again, and he just recently got set apart as a ward missionary in Osaka, and he couldn't be more ecstatic. It's so cool seeing him progress through the church and seeing the blessings that he's been able to receive and the happiness that it brings him!

Friday, we were able to do more service at the community center near our house. after that we had a pretty normal morning and afternoon and then at the end of the day, lots of missionaries from around our area came and we practiced for the Christmas concert. We had the Christmas concert at the very next day, and so we definitely needed to practice the songs and see where we could improve, and we had about 40 missionaries or so there. It was great to catch up with a lot of missionaries who I haven't been able to see for a long time, and it was another really great night!

Saturday, we had our Christmas concert and it went so well! we had lots of members and friends who came and watched us sing, and after we sang, we had a very big feast with all of everyone that was there and played lots of different games for Christmas. And another one of my friends, kai, from Osaka also came and visited for the concert. he also knew that it was my birthday and gave me more very very, nice presents and gifts, including a very nice pair of Chopsticks which have my name engraved! He is one of the nicest people I've ever met, and it was so good to see him again and catch up. Again it was a super super fun day but very, very busy after the concert ended we had to clean up and then we started sports night. It was really great and one of our friends from last week, ayaka, came and she had such a great time and we are hoping that she will want to keep coming and keep meeting with us!!

Sunday was my birthday!! it was hands down one of, if not the best, birthdays that I've ever had, and I was able to have such a great day. I got so many different presents and congratulations from all of the members and I was able to celebrate with all of them all day, which was so nice. It's so nice to be in a place filled with people who love me and all of the missionaries and who want to do everything that they can for them. it made it a very, very special birthday that I will never forget.

Sorry, we have a long email today because so much happened, and we also had a long week because of transfers period. So, on monday, we had a pretty normal day since me and Elder Wynn are staying for the transfer. But we were able to meet with Sunami and he was so kind and taught me more about the rules of the board game I'm trying to learn and gave me lots of resources to practice on my own. Those resources, include a bunch of books about how to play the game and different professionals and the strategies they use, as well as an entire board and set of marbles for me to play and practice on my own and with others in the apartment! He really is so kind and is so giving, and I feel bad taking the stuff home, but he won't let me leave his apartment unless I take it with me🤣🤣

Tuesday, we went to Kobe for MLC again, and we spent pretty much the entire day in Kobe. It was really fun, but we want to just stay in Okayama now.🤣🤣 We love Okayama so much and have been spending so much time in Kobe lately and we want to just stay in our area and work here🤣🤣

Alright, sorry for the very, very long email. It was a long week, and stuff happened almost every day, and it made for such a great week.😆😆

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

That's all, folks.