Hey everyone, it's a long one this week. Holy cow this has been an insane week.
Nukaya Choro transferred and Horne Choro and I have been working as a futari (duo) since. It's actually been pretty fun. New missionaries have a special power to attract people and get their attention through their ignorance. I love it hahaha. Nukaya Choro transferred on Wednesday and we worked together that whole day.
Thursday was crazy. We had Elder Whiting come to tour the mission and give the latest revelation from an apostle for us here in Japan. The meeting was in a place about an hour and a half away by train called Urawa. We use a special email account to handle all missionary matters such as letters from the honbu (mission home), zone leaders, other companionships, and investigators. Each companionship has their own email account and it is called an exchange email. Each month we are issued a new password for this account that we have to enter or we cannot access the information on the email account. Well, poor Horne Choro didn't realize that if he deleted emails from his account, it deleted them from mine as well because it is shared. So he deleted our new password, so we did not get the travel plans to get to Urawa. I looked up a route that got us there and hoped for the best. After riding four different lines we finally arrived in Urawa with no incident! Felt pretty good. However, looking around and seeing no missionaries anywhere made us feel nervous. We called the zone leaders and they told us that the church was not near Urawa Eki, but near Naka Urawa Eki thirty minutes the other way...great. So we scrambled to call people and figure out how to get to the right Eki without getting lost again on all the crisscrossing lines and tracks. We made it to Urawa by eight thirty, which was the time we were supposed to be seated. We still weren't there though. The next step in my brilliant plan was to go to the nearest 7-11 and use the free wifi to find the church, but there was none to be found. We wandered for about thirty more minutes and then finally went into a random store to ask for a map. The lady happened to have one and pulled it out showing us that the church was actually a fifty foot walk from the Eki, but of course we went every other direction in search of it. So, we wandered in wet and late, it was pouring rain, right in the middle of Elder Whiting's talk. Not good hahaha.
It was incredible. He talked about how he had created a nice slide show PowerPoint with the other area authorities showing members and statistics all for Elder Ballard to see. About a third of the way into their presentation Elder Ballard blurted out,"Well..are yuh dun yet!?" Elder Whiting then said that they said, "Yupp..we're done." M. Russel Ballard then looked out over every Asian authority and I guess he asked, "Gentlemen, why are we not baptizing in Japan?" They gave out answers that had to do with the lack of Christianity, the language, the culture, to which Elder Ballard assured them those were all simple things and not the big issue. The meeting was silent for a while, then I guess someone said, "Well, I guess we don't have enough faith." Elder Ballard sat back and then said, "THAT is the reason!" So here in the Tokyo mission, the missionaries and members are in a faith crisis. I will be the first to admit that my faith to find and baptize was weak. I didn't think I would, and apparently everyone else thought so too. Elder Whiting told us all about this and then quoted some stats. In our mission, less than one percent of us extend the baptism commitment in the first lesson, and less than three percent of us extend it in the second. He asked us all how many of us had been told within 24 hours of relieving our call, if we had been told how little success we would have on our missions. We all raised our hands. Over time, we took that attitude into the mission and created a culture that tells missionaries and members that we will not baptism or teach. Keep in mind I am relating the nice side of the story. You could feel the fire from the pulpit as he spoke. It was hard, and he warned us that it would hurt before he spoke, but it was exactly what we needed to hear. You could feel collectively in the chapel, that everyone from that point in was committed to changing the culture. It was a wonderful conference. Afterward he walked right up to Horne Choro and me and asked us if we overslept as he shook our hands. I took the fall and told him I got us lost. Nagano Kaicho (mission president) came to the rescue and explained that I had just been put in this position and had never been to Urawa before. I was grateful for that haha. So please everyone, for the sake of the people here, and from the meeting that was held under apostolic authority which I attended, reject what you have been told about Japan. Don't even acknowledge it. Believing that we cannot baptize in this mission is the whispering of the devil. I am sorry for how my faith was weak, but I have committed to changing. It's a choice really, and I ask that you all change with me. Believe that Japan is a baptizing mission. The Lord works according to everyone's faith, not just the missionaries.
We returned to Kamagaya and had some time to do weekly planning. We blitzed through that and then biked over to visit a member. It was a little rough, we didn't have a lot of time to prepare, and the member's grandchild had a tragedy every two minutes. They were thankful for the visit though. I feel so bad for Horne Choro. He looks at me all the time and says,"How do I say ( )?" And I just look at him and shake my head, haha. After that we finished daily planning and finally returned to our apartment to eat, for me to do call in reports, and then go to bed.
The Next day was Zone Meeting in Matsudou. So we woke up early and rode the trains there. I had no time to prepare but I was asked to give a training on faith, which was exactly what Elder Whiting talked on, so I think I received some crazy densha keiji ( train revelation), and made a quick plan for what I wanted to say. Zone Meeting was good, and the Zone Leaders were really happy with my training so that was good. After that we returned to Kamagaya, did our study, went to visit another member twenty minutes away, tried to visit another inactive about thirty minutes away, then returned home and finished study and went to bed. When I was reporting to the Zone Leaders they told me about how four different companionships had extended the baptism commitment to people who all accepted. The change has begun.
The next day (Saturday) we had planned to use just about every hour to study, do eikaiwa (English class), go visit some people, visit the same inactive members who were not home the first time, and a few other things. We got called early in the morning and were asked by a member to help their friends move to a new house for three hours right after eikaiwa. We already had barely enough time to get everything done, but accepted it of course. Looking back on the day I don't even remember what happened, but I know we got it all done, how..I have no idea.
Sunday was even more busy. We had correlation with the ward mission leader, church, talked to some members about different things, a tiny bit of study time, a lesson at a park pretty far away, a member visit, another inactive assignment from the bishop and a bunch of people to call and talk to who called us earlier. The guy never showed up at the park, but we met a super nice Chinese man and got his number and gave him the Book of Mormon with an expectation to meet again so that was awesome. We visited the members and it was a little rough, but we made it through the lesson with only one of the four kids saying,"zen zen wakaranakatta" or, "I understood none of that." Dang it. Oh well, the parents were very gracious and supportive of us. Next we biked over to an inactive family's house who we finally caught at home and set the expectation to visit again. That was nice! From there we had enough to time get back to the apartment right before curfew.
Yesterday we woke up at five in the morning to go participate in the service for the flood and earthquake victims. About an hour away in this area called Tsukuba a river bank about thirty feet high broke and did some very serious damage. Horne Choro and I went out there with Takara Bishop and another member to do some service. Members and missionaries closer to the disaster area have been working there all week, but there is still way too much to be done. It was such an amazing experience. Last week when the members and missionaries all showed up in their yellow helping hands vests, no one trusted them. Little by little, through love and service, the victims soon realized that we simply wanted to help. By the time our ward got there the people all knew who the yellow vest people were and called out to us as the nice Mormons from time to time. Unfortunately, yesterday's activity was organized through a local government volunteer program, so just as you would expect the government made us wait around for four and a half hours before they could "find" someone for us to help. Ridiculous. We were assigned to help this man who lived right next to where the river bank broke. When we got there I looked inside and there was four feet of mud piled up on the floor. Towers of boxes, lumber, and building supplies had tipped over and were piled in a huge mess. Lift machines and vehicles were buried and smashed all around the space. It was a disaster. From there we got to work. It was soooo fun getting dirty and using my hands like that again. I've really grown fond of manual labor, and it's been a long time since I have been able to do any. We got to work and had a good rhythm going when the government forced us to take a mandatory one hour lunch break. Stupid. No one wanted to stop. Anyway, Horne Choro and I walked outside and got our first real good look at the damage. It was incredible. Right where the river bank broke there was a community of one hundred houses. All but one had been completely flattened and buried in mud. There was a huge swath of earth carved out where the water rushed through which tore the road in half and threw houses and cars all over the place. Stone and concrete walls were washed out and broken like toys. We all see the aftermath of disaster on TV and in pictures, but nothing prepares you for the first hand experience. It was so sad thinking about all the people who are literally left with nothing now. Takara Bishop then talked to us about how bad the 2009 tsunami had been, and from what we saw we realized that there is no way we could comprehend the magnitude of what he must have seen. Crazy. After our mandatory 'rest from helping people "because we want you to and we are the government," we got back to work. Each time we got working really hard the people made us take mandatory breaks! I couldn't believe it! JUST LET US WORK!!!! So aggravating, but it was still really great and we got A LOT done for that guy. Unfortunately the volunteer association gave us one more kick in the teeth and made us quite at three, so we really only got about five hours of working time in. It was great though, I can't really describe it any more than what I have already attempted. I have never seen a disaster scene before, and I really am so grateful to have been a part of that. I'll send some pictures for you all.
From there we sanitized, and returned to Kamagaya. We had no time to proselyte after cleaning up so we ate dinner and then I did call in reports for the sisters. It may not sound like it, but this week has been the busiest of my entire life. I got done with all my calls last night and just sat there looking at the ceiling. I was soooo tired haha. It felt good though. Getting to the end of each day knowing you probably didn't do everything in the best way, probably didn't get enough things done, or probably made a bunch of stupid mistakes can be overwhelming and hard. But each day I know that I gave my all to the Lord and the people when I sit back in my chair and finally take a breath. It's a great feeling, and I know I will improve on being more organized so I can better serve the people, Horne Choro, and the district. Man what a week.
So that is why I am writing to you on Tuesday this week! Unfortunately all the work and stress has left Horne Choro and I with some battle scars. We both came down last night with a super bad sore throat. Today I was still able to exercise and feel okaaayyy, but Horne Choro is a sick little puppy. Still has a great attitude though. One more funny thing about him. Each time we stop on our bikes he does the most ridiculous thing. He sticks his butt out behind him in one sudden fast movement so his arms are stretched out strait hangin on to his handle bars, and his butt is hangin over the back wheel behind the seat. Needless to say it looks ridiculous and I finally asked him why he does it. He says that if he doesn't he goes over his handle bars every time hahahahahaha. Horne Choro is so funny and quirky. He is a little clumsy but I love him to death, I only hope I am doing okay with training him.
Can't think about anything else. Sorry for the mega long email, I had a lot of time in the car going to and from Tsukuba and ran out of potential investigators to call. It has been a good week, but I am so happy p day is here. I love you all so much!
Thanks for all the letters Natalie, Danielle, Kristin, Lisa, and Macsen! I love you all so much.
Love,
Viehweg長老
No comments:
Post a Comment