Sunday, March 3, 2024

the one with the actual pub

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, Elder Holmes and I had a pretty chill P day. We went to a sick garden and some other shrines and shops it was a pretty chill day, which was nice. 

Tuesday, we had our Ping Pong game night and had 11 people come! It was awesome and such a fun night...I've got new people to try and beat now....

Wednesday, we took a day trip out to Ozu, which is about an hour and a half away from Uwajima, and spent the day trying to find people there. We hit up the Ozu Castle, and it was so cool! We met a bunch of high schoolers at the top who were trying to visit every castle in Japan. 

Thursday, we learned how to juggle.

Friday, we took another day trip down to a garden that supposedly was really cool. It was also like an hour away but it was a pretty cool garden...the people there were really nice and gave us some...interesting food and drink. Had this fermented plum drink that was brutal. After the garden, we went to a nearby park and found a family playing soccer so we joined and had a party! We got their info, so hopefully, we can play again with them soon. Then we just started walking and found "the sandlot" but in Japan and then spent like an hour looking for a bus station. We did end up getting home, and all of that walking saved us a whopping 40 cents, so yeah, that was....something.

Saturday, we fixed Elder Holmes's bike because he popped a tire before I got here, and he's been using a loaner. After that, we went to what we now call "the pub." For some background, we met this dude last week after he chased us down because we were white. After talking with him, we found out he owned this bar, and it seemed pretty sick. So we finally decided to hit the pub this week and say hi to him and his wife. They had coffee, tea, and alcohol which is not exactly ideal for us, but then he told us he also had this juice. He said the juice makes you go "OooOOooooooO," so we prayed it wouldn't have anything bad and decided to get it. It ended up just being like a smoothy, and it was pretty good. We also met all of the locals at this pub and had some really funny conversations.

Spiritual thought:

2 Nephi 31:13
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

"When doubt or difficulty comes, do not be afraid to ask for help. If we want it as humbly and honestly as this father did, we can get it. The scriptures phrase such earnest desire as being of “real intent,” pursued “with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God." I testify that in response to that kind of importuning, God will send help from both sides of the veil to strengthen our belief."
–Jeffrey R. Holland 

I love the last sentence from Elder Holland... I think sometimes we expect God will only help us in these crazy ways involving angels or simmilar feats but I think more often than not, God uses others around us to help us with the difficulties of life. 
Since being on the mission, I have had a lot to be grateful for and a lot I realized I took for granted back home. I'm so grateful for all of the friends, family, and people in my life who have been there to help me. I love how God puts these specific people in our lives because he knows how much they will help us in our lives. So, I hope this helps you remember just how amazing your friends and family are πŸ™‚

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

Finally got him on the train...29

Found the dogs in Uwajima The count's up to 26

.5πŸ”₯πŸ”₯

Found our boy Thomas

Went to a shrine and it had some sick drawings!

This was the other cool one!

Sick view from the top of a mountain that a grandma took us up

Dogs up 27

New friend we met on a long bus ride

Fig Bish

Service project helping out with an art showcase

More service

Some of the people we were helping out

Keeping them coming 28

Sunday, February 25, 2024

the one where everything changed

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Holy, this was a good week...

Starting with Tuesday, we made it to shikoku and spent the day in wakayama. We went to a second-hand store and a few other places to go shopping and had a pretty laid back p day. We stayed there because my comp and another misisonary's comp were going to MLC (missionary leadership council) that night and it was going to save some travel so we just spent the day there. Because of that, I went on exchanges on Tuesday before I was really even comps with my new comp (Elder Holmes). 

Wednesday, we went to work in toyoka, which is where this elder (Elder Coates) was assigned. It was a pretty basic day of missionary work, and we had a good time. We spent the night there and it was a fun day.

Thursday, we left to go meet up with our actual comps, and once we all met up, we ate some lunch at this ramen shop, which was hekkin good. After that, Elder Holmes and I started making the long journey to our area. We had a long day of travel ahead of us, but we made it back to our area just in time for eikaiwa (english class) and had some fun people come! I was so happy to FINALLY be in my area, and Uwajima is awesome! It is SUPER η”°θˆŽ (country side), so we have to be more creative with how we do missionary work.

Friday & Saturday were mostly regular days of missionary work except for the fact that we saw SO MANY more miracles than I've ever seen so far! Elder Holmes and I get along so well, and it's really been showing in the missionary work! We are really hoping to spend two transfers together 🀞🀞

Sunday, we had a really good day at church, but it was looonnggg. After that, we went to a couple of shrines and found so many people to talk to, and we met a professional photographer at one of them! She took so many amazing pictures and offered to take some pics of Elder Holmes and I! Check the photos album to see some amazing pics of cherry blossoms!

The reason for the title is that this week was AMAZING! I mean, my mission was good before, but now!? "Oh man! I'm still geeking out about it!" –Syndrome (the incredibles).

My new comp and I have seen so many miracles, and these two transfers with him are going to fly by! We have been doing so many creative ways to do missionary work, and it's been so fun, and we are seeing so much success! In about two days we found four people! We made some really big goals this transfer, and I know that as long as you work as hard as you can, the Lord will magnify your efforts to achieve your goals!

Spiritual thought:

2 Nephi 26:30

Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing; wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing. Wherefore, if they should have charity, they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish.

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."
–C.S. Lewis

Todays message is all about love!! I know I talk about it a lot, but it's just the best, so here we go again...

To simply put it: through love, everything else works out. When we love God and our neighbors, everything in our lives will get better. With this new transfer, I have an AMAZING comp, and together, we have been working so hard on loving the people of Japan. We have seen so many miracles come from it, and it's only gonna get better!

Sometimes it can be really hard to love others around you for a plethora of reasons, but if you do your best to love everyone, your life will be better! Other times, we forget to tell others around us that we love them, so just in case you haven't heard it in a while, I love you! And I want you to tell that to someone who you think could use a little extra loving! ζ„›γ—γ¦γ‚‹γ‚ˆγ†!

That's all I got this week, but feel free to email me if you get a chance!

Ended up seeing a professional photographer and she offered to take some pics

Found some mammoths on the way to my area

Ping pong game night with some recent members

Hitting up the shrine that's right next to the church

After a long time, I'm finally with my comp

Not much for art, "but this does put a smile on my face"

"Everybody was kung fu fighting"

On our way up to a castle

Made it to the top and here's the castle!

Got some sweet cherry blossoms at the top

Sick day with the comp

Full view from the top

Closer pic of the 摜

Bamboo forest

Hit up another shrine with some more early blooming cherry blossoms

View from the top

Some more sick pics with my greatest possession

So many fire flicks πŸ”₯

Even more

This one's for my mama

The lookout over the graveyard

This is the new pose

New profile picπŸ”₯

Last little shrine and this was the ceiling

More fire flicks with the new comp

Looking like family pics

πŸ”₯πŸ”₯

She knew what she was doing...

Holy this one's my favorite πŸ”₯πŸ”₯

Her pics are so much better than oursπŸ”₯

Close up on the 摜(cherry blossoms)

More of her pics

Hope you like 'em

Japan is so sick

😱😱

One more of the statue

Last pic of the trees...they are just so cool

The awesome lady that took the pics!!πŸ”₯πŸ”₯

γ‚γ‚ŠγŒγ¨γ†γΏγ•γ!

the finale

  "Boom, you looking for this?" Starting with Monday, we had district P day for my final P day in Japan! We went to a sick beach a...