So this past month there has been a problem here in Takayama and it is now safe to announce because my Mom has heard the news from an Elder Mueller`s Mom on Facebook. So, bears in the surronding mountains have been coming into my city in order to get food because there is a scarceness of food in the mountains this year. All of the school kids have bells to scare the bears off and there have been five attacks so far. Luckily God is on our side or else I would just have to grin and bare it but, no need to worry about me.
This upcoming Thursday is a day us Americans like to call Thanksgivings! Sadly, in Japan, they call it, just the 27th of November but, our plan is to go pig out somewhere and get super fat and lazy. Maybe we will do that after we pay our tithing so that the storehouse will be full. But, we are probably going to have a themed Eikaiwa class tonight for fun as well. We learned last week in Eikaiwa that one student had a friend who shot three monkeys here in Japan and that they were going to eat them. So, maybe he will give us some monkey meat for Thanksgiving but I am pretty sure shooting Monkeys is highly illegal here. But, I shouldn`t judge I guess!
This week we had something to be grateful for. We have a Filipino investigator Jameson who has a pretty interesting story. We first met him outside a 7/11 that was opening and in order to talk to everyone we see, Vaughn Choro asked him `Hey, is this 7\11 open now?` There were signs everywhere that said open in English and Japanese but it worked and he invited us to a get together their school was having. We went, ate, said hi and left. Then we played ping pong at the church a couple of weeks later and gave him the `we are missionaries` talk. Then he came to church and we taught him the first lesson duringSunday school when we weren`t expecting him to come. Then yesterday, we played Uno at the church (which he had never played before) and after we finished a game, he started telling us about how he was going to the Phillipines to see he Dad`s grave. This random topic quickly changed to the Plan of Salvation, to the Gospel of Christ, and then to Baptism Invitation. He kept switching back and forth between Japanese and English so I got about 3\4ths of the conversation and I talked a bit too. It was really weird because we hadn`t planned it at all and were just planning on giving him an intro to the Book of Mormon. But, the Spirit took over and he has a baptismal date on Christmas Eve! Basically when talking and teaching to Jameson, I learn about how the Spirit really does everything and we just happen to be trying our best. We have to get permission from his Mom still but he told us he has faith in Christ and wants to follow him.
So, for Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and help change people`s eternities. I might not be with my family this Thanksgiving or Christmas but I am helping others be with their families for eternity. I am grateful for being able to build myself and my testimony here out in Japan and for having the Spirit guide me even when I feel lost. Even though I can`t write much to all of you, know that I am grateful for you and that I love you. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and can be able to be grateful for all the blessings that God has given us in our lives. And start playing that Christmas music!!!
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