Fun Times

Alex's weekly letter from Japan:

(Some kind of thought that has to do with my week; use your imagination;)

This week's kanji of the week is: 金 pronounced "kah-neigh" and means
gold or money.

Monday was pretty laid back, and we didn't do anything in particular
for our p-day activities. In the evening though, we went and played
basketball with some members and some random people who were at the
basketball court we went to. That was basically that entire day.

Alex's bunk is the top left.

Tuesday we went up to a place called Hachinohe New Town, and we tried
to find an old investigator. He wasn't home but his wife was, but she
was busy. When we got outside the apartment building, a small
earthquake happened (nothing to be alarmed about); it was my first
earthquake outside, so that was cool. We then housed around for a
little bit and then headed off to visit a deaf member couple
unannounced. The wife was home, but the husband hadn't come back yet
and wouldn't be back until we had to be somewhere else, so we just
quickly said bye, and left. After that we went to a high school and
college to try and get posters hung up. They both took the posters,
but they weren't sure if they could hang them up. We walked around the
campus of the college a bit, and then went and handed out fliers for
our English class. After that, we went to a festival and had a great
time there. We had a bit of food there, and also got to talk with a
lot of people, so it was fun.

Wednesday was fun with sign language class, making some changes to the
poster for English Class, and English class. It was very fulfilling,
and we got stuff done that needed to get done, but I can't say there
is too much to write home about that day.

Thursday we finished some minor changes on the poster, and got some of
them made. We then headed over to a member's house and did home
teaching with him. It was a good lesson, but sometimes he goes off on
subjects that I have no idea what he's talking about. After that we
had to bike back home for dinner (another small earthquake happened
then) and then went to institute. Institute was fun and I love the
teacher and other members that go there. The class is entertaining,
and we learn lots.

Alex said this is a giant safety cone they found on a college campus.

Friday in the very early morning (3:30ish) there was a bigger
earthquake (level 4, I believe) that happened and woke us all up.
Nothing bad happened from it, but the trains were delayed a bit. The
reason that last part was important was because we headed early in the
morning (7 o'clock) up to Aomori for a zone training meeting. I had a
grand time there, and the spirit was very strong. I can't say all that
went through my mind about that, but the basics were that of "love,"
and "faith."  We then hopped on a train back home and studied for the
rest of the day (which wasn't much).

Saturday was weekly planning day and we got that done in a usual
manner. After we finished we had to head over to the church for DCS
(in english it's called Missionary Coordination Meeting), and after
that prepared and had English class. English class was fun, and we
stayed afterwards with some of the students and built relationships
with them. It was fun and I love the people who come to English class.

Sunday brought a unique experience, or at least a first, as I was
asked to lead the signing of a hymn. It was Families Can Be Together
Forever, and the signs were easy enough. Then, they asked me to sign
the prayer right after that too. I might have been able to do it if
someone else had prayed, but the person who said the prayer spoke so
quickly that I  couldn't keep up. It was a good prayer, but I had to
switch out so that the deaf members could actually understand the
prayer. After church, we also had sign language class, and we learned
how to sign about the millennium. We also tried to do some street
contacting, but that didn't go so well. There weren't that many people
where we went, and didn't really get to talk to anyone.

I hope that you all enjoyed reading this weeks letter, and I hope that
you all have a good week!

長老