Busy Bees

Last week I got to meet Alex's current companion's mom who also lives in Utah. We met up in Salt Lake at The Copper Onion and enjoyed some good food (more about that in another post) while we talked for more than a couple of hours. It's so fun to have this connection and to get to know about his companion and to get to know her.

We've had a great week, and a very full week too. We haven't been able
to rest at all this week (not that we really rest any week), and it's
been great! 

 My scripture of the week is Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5, "Listen to
him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause
before him--
"Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no
sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which
was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be
glorified;
"Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name,
that they may come unto me and have everlasting life." 

 The kanji of the week is 人形 pronounced "knee-n-gyoh" and means (human) doll. 

 Monday was our first day walking all day due to snow, and we spent a
lot of it walking between stores for food and the apartment. Besides
that, not much else happened in our day. The evening was spent
shoveling snow for three hours. It was great, and fun! 

 Tuesday, after all our studies, we went and tried street contacting,
but since there were not too many people I saw, I suggested we go and
shovel some less active's houses. We did that, and then met with one
of them right after we finished her driveway (she wasn't home when we
started). After that we were walking back, but we didn't get too far
before we met a woman outside shoveling, so we spurred a conversation.
She asked if we were Mormon, and we said yes. Turns out that her and
her husband used to meet with the missionaries, and they said that we
could come back anytime we wanted to. They weren't in the area book,
so it was a lucky find! After that we went and had a lesson at an
investigators house. We spent the rest of the night walking back (he
lives 40 ish minutes away from our apartment walking). 

 Wednesday we shoveled the church parking lot, and then went to visit a
less active. She wasn't home, so we tried to visit another less
active, but she wasn't home either. We did some streeting for a bit,
and then went home, had dinner, and then had English class. 

 Thursday we went to Sendai for some training. It was great, and we
both learned a lot. It was specifically for new missionaries, so it
was helpful. When we got back, we went to the same investigator's
house (his name is Shutaro) as on Tuesday and talked for a while, and
then came back and did as much planning for the next week as we could. 

 Friday we went to Izumi for a worldwide missionary broadcast, and
after that had district meeting for a little while. Then the district
leader went back with my companion to Furukawa and I stayed in Izumi.
We went Streeting for a bit, and had lots of fun. We talked to lots of
people who seemed interested, but all were pretty busy. There was one
boy who might meet with missionaries soon though. The rest of the day
was studies. 

 Saturday we got back to Furukawa (me and the Elder I was on splits
with) and we did a role play lesson. Then we finished studies and
weekly planning. We then went to a member's house and had dinner
there. It was some really delicious salmon casserole thing, and tasted
great. That family is so strong, and they are really good examples. It
took an hour to walk back home, and so we didn't have any time for
anything else. 

 Sunday we had a wonderful time at sacrament meeting (although the less
active who said she would come this week didn't come), and Elder
A. gave a talk in church. It was great, especially because he
had to cut it short. After that we did all our studies (we had to push
a lot of it back because we shoveled the parking lot of the church
again). We then went to visit a family who live on the outskirts of
town. It still only took about 40 minutes to get there, but they were
about to leave, so we couldn't talk for long. We then went and posted
English Class fliers for the little time we had left. 

 This week was jam-packed with stuff, and I must say that if feels good
to do things productively. I hope that you all had good weeks as well,
and I love you all!

 Love,

Elder  

長老