In my letter to him, I sent Alex this quote below with some of my thoughts. This is what he had to say about it.
I like that quote, It's been a recurring theme in my studies as of late,
and it's a good reminder that God expects us to try to use what he's
given us before he gives us more.
Here's Alex's letter from this week:
So many wonderful things have happened this week. The spirit has been
really strong, and I have learned so much. I have grown stronger in my
testimony and conviction of the sacrifice Christ made for us, and I am
so glad that I can be cleansed through him.
This weeks kanji of the week is: 教会 This means Church, and is pronounced kyokai.
And here's this weeks summary!
Monday:
We had a normal morning and right after emailing, we went to go get our
hair cuts. I barely know how to say what I like for my hair in English,
let alone Japanese, but it turned out well. We then went back home and
Elder O. packed while I made everyone chocolate banana cake.
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(When Alex first got to Japan, he wrote and said that they only have a microwave and a rice cooker, no oven or stovetop. He asked for recipes he could make. I sent him the recipe for this really good chocolate microwave cake that I've made for years. ) |
When
Elder O. finished, we went and visited a friend who I've now met
three times. Her name is Noriko, but I can never remember what her last
name is. We spent the evening talking with them, and they gave us pizza.
It had some weird toppings (although normal here) like, shrimp, and
shell fish.
Tuesday: We had English lunch at
YIRA. This was Debbie's last time going, because they're moving to
Malaysia, so she talked about some of her experiences here in Yonezawa.
They used to live by us, so we saw her every now and then as we
walked/biked around. In the evening we went over to a member family's
house and had dinner. At the Endo family's house we also did an activity
where we each drew part of someone's face and then passed it to the
next person, and wrote things we liked about them on the back. It was a
fun activity.
Wednesday: We had DCS this day,
and after that we went to say good bye to the Iwai family. They were
nice and let us in for a short visit, and they gave us some really good
french chocolate. We then went and stopped at Brother Seino's house/work
and talked to him for a short bit. After him we went to Sister Taira's
house and talked to her for a while. She gave us some food, and drink,
which was unexpected. She's really a really nice woman. In the evening
we had English class, and there wasn't too much to mention from that.
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| Great timing for a pic |
Thursday:
This was the day that Elder O. left Yonezawa with Elder P. It
left Elder E. and I alone in Yonezawa, and we went to visit a 95 year
old member here: Sister Ochikochi. After that we went and tried knocking
on peoples doors, and although everyone was nice, we didn't get more
than a "sorry I don't have any interest." After that, we had a quick
dinner and a lesson with the one of the other companionship's
investigators: Sister Suzuki. She is a fun person, and she asked some
really good questions that we were able to answer and help build her
knowledge and testimony of the gospel with.
Friday: We met a man who lives on the far north of town before heading of to Sendai. He used to meet with the missionaries, but had stopped for one reason or another. He said that we could come back anytime and talk, so we will. After that, we got our stuff from the apartment and took a two hour bus ride up to Sendai. Once we got to sendai, we had a quick dinner, and then went to one of the missionaries apartments in Sendai and slept for the night. I got to say hi to some of the people I knew from the from the MTC, and catch up with them. One of them was a Japanese Elder who only speaks Japanese. It was cool to see how much more I could speak to him in just these short three months than I could back then.
Saturday: We had a
mission-wide meeting with Elder Evans of the Quorum of the Seventy to
get training for the iPads we'll be getting soon. It was fun, and very
spiritual. I loved learning so much from Elder Evans and the others who
talked. I grew in my testimony of the love Christ has for all of us, and
the power His atonement has for each of us if we just do as he asks. I
got to sit next to my new companion, Elder F., and he's been great so
far. We then got on a bus back to Yonezawa. When we got back we quickly
dropped off our stuff and then biked to one of our investigator's
houses: Brother Ito. He and his mother are still doing really well, and
they read quite a bit from the Book of Mormon. It was really cool to see
they did that. We shared a short message about prayer, and then left.
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| Elder F., Alex's new companion (Half-American, Half-Japanese) in the goofy glasses I sent in Alex's birthday package |
Sunday:
We had gotten a call the previous night asking us if we could go to the
Fukushima ward, so that we did. We got there and had a great five hours
with the members in Fukushima. Surprisingly some of the members
recognized me and remembered my name. The members down there are so
nice, and I love them all. They are so happy when the Missionaries come
on Sundays. We then took a train back to Yonezawa, and since we hadn't
done any of our studies for the day yet, we went back to the apartment
and did that.
I love you all so much.
Love,
Elder
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