Good morning,
This week was a good one. We got a new branch mission leader, got some home teaching assignments, did a little bit of service for a member (and got a lot of food in return), did some finding in an area that missionaries don't normally visit, made friends with the owner of our local surf shop, found out that Tuesday and Friday are 540 yen lunch days at a nearby restaurant, and got to do some missionary work with our branch's only young man. I don't have too much time this week to elaborate on any of that, but I am healthy and happy, so you can all be reassured of that fact. We're working hard to get more member involvement and have activities that members can invite friends too. We're also working on getting an English class for young people established so that they can get some exposure to missionaries and church members. I also bought a jacket today. That's not really related to anything that I was just talking about, but I'm pretty pleased with it. I might send a picture of it next week. But those who know me well will understand that shopping is not something that I come by naturally. Shopping is hard work. In case anyone is interested, I plan to marry someone with a talent for shopping. :)
Have a great week,
Elder Mitchell
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Week 58
皆様こんにちは!
We had transfers this week and I am now companions with Elder Aiu. I actually stayed in Iwaki for this transfer, so not having a need to pack was a welcome change. This is actually the first time that I've stayed in an area for a transfer call since our new mission president got here this summer. I was pretty excited about that. There are a few different things that I want to do in this branch before I have to leave it. One is get their Family Home Evening program back up to what it was when they had senior missionaries here (for those that don't know, senior missionaries are super-nice old people who have more than enough money to retire and decided to go on a couple-year vacation to help out the church in other areas. Or at least that's what they generally are here in Japan... :)). Anyway, when they left it sort of lost branch involvement. I'd also like to get more people to come to our new English class for young people. We've had as many as six people, but we think that it would be a bit more of a party if we had 15 or 20. :)
This week we've had a few lessons with people, but most of them didn't quite play out how they were supposed to. We're doing our best to invite people to Come Unto Christ and help them receive the restored gospel, but for some reason even our recent convert hasn't been coming to church lately. We also have a guy that might be referred to by some as an "eternal investigator" who likes meeting with missionaries and hearing about the gospel, but will frankly tell anyone that he will not be baptized into our church. So I guess we have work to do on a few different fronts.
Last (and maybe most important), we got to witness a miracle firsthand this week! One of the Sisters in my area hurt her knee pretty badly and had been told by a local doctor that she would more than likely need surgery. This information was shared with some mission leaders and they took her to Sendai where they could get a better idea of what the problem was. If she needed surgery it would more than likely be done in America and lead to a premature end of her mission. BUT, they got the MRI and the problem was nowhere near as serious as the first doctor had guessed. So not only did she not have to return home, but she's back in Iwaki! She is slowly but surely recovering and is still able to go out and share the gospel with people!! The moral of the story is that Heavenly Father protects his servants and that the work must go on. :)
Have a great week,
Elder Mitchell
P.S. This is something that I was taught how to do a couple weeks ago during a missionary training. I was pretty proud of it... I also took a few pictures of myself just now. :)
We had transfers this week and I am now companions with Elder Aiu. I actually stayed in Iwaki for this transfer, so not having a need to pack was a welcome change. This is actually the first time that I've stayed in an area for a transfer call since our new mission president got here this summer. I was pretty excited about that. There are a few different things that I want to do in this branch before I have to leave it. One is get their Family Home Evening program back up to what it was when they had senior missionaries here (for those that don't know, senior missionaries are super-nice old people who have more than enough money to retire and decided to go on a couple-year vacation to help out the church in other areas. Or at least that's what they generally are here in Japan... :)). Anyway, when they left it sort of lost branch involvement. I'd also like to get more people to come to our new English class for young people. We've had as many as six people, but we think that it would be a bit more of a party if we had 15 or 20. :)
This week we've had a few lessons with people, but most of them didn't quite play out how they were supposed to. We're doing our best to invite people to Come Unto Christ and help them receive the restored gospel, but for some reason even our recent convert hasn't been coming to church lately. We also have a guy that might be referred to by some as an "eternal investigator" who likes meeting with missionaries and hearing about the gospel, but will frankly tell anyone that he will not be baptized into our church. So I guess we have work to do on a few different fronts.
Last (and maybe most important), we got to witness a miracle firsthand this week! One of the Sisters in my area hurt her knee pretty badly and had been told by a local doctor that she would more than likely need surgery. This information was shared with some mission leaders and they took her to Sendai where they could get a better idea of what the problem was. If she needed surgery it would more than likely be done in America and lead to a premature end of her mission. BUT, they got the MRI and the problem was nowhere near as serious as the first doctor had guessed. So not only did she not have to return home, but she's back in Iwaki! She is slowly but surely recovering and is still able to go out and share the gospel with people!! The moral of the story is that Heavenly Father protects his servants and that the work must go on. :)
Have a great week,
Elder Mitchell
P.S. This is something that I was taught how to do a couple weeks ago during a missionary training. I was pretty proud of it... I also took a few pictures of myself just now. :)
Monday, February 5, 2018
Week 57
Letter to the family. . .
Um. I didn't really get a chance to email today. The sisters apartment is closing because one of the sisters messed up her knee and can't walk. That's not the whole reason but it is a decent amount of it. We got most of their food which is kind of nice. We also bought a huge amount of meat at the grocery store today because it was 50% off. We're going to freeze it and not have to buy meat for a while. We were pretty excited about that. :)
I'm happy and healthy and loved all of your emails. Or at least all of the ones that I've read so far...
I love you the most,
bEN
Um. I didn't really get a chance to email today. The sisters apartment is closing because one of the sisters messed up her knee and can't walk. That's not the whole reason but it is a decent amount of it. We got most of their food which is kind of nice. We also bought a huge amount of meat at the grocery store today because it was 50% off. We're going to freeze it and not have to buy meat for a while. We were pretty excited about that. :)
I'm happy and healthy and loved all of your emails. Or at least all of the ones that I've read so far...
I love you the most,
bEN
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