Matsumoto, my new area!!

Well, the new area of Matsumoto is pretty much almost as cold as Takayama except minus the good old snow.  It did snow yesterday but only like an inch which is pretty weak compared to what I am used too.  I live with my companion Elder Jones and the zone leaders live in the area but in a different apartment complex.  The senior couple missionaries, the Tomas, also work here but sadly they don`t live in our apartment either.  Elder Toma is super rich so he has given us money to buy food but he also likes food too so he sometimes comes out with us to eat even if his wife isn`t too happy about it.  The branch here is about 80 members strong and is basically a ward but it happens to be in a district so it is just waiting for other branches around it to get bigger so it can become the Nagano Stake instead of the Nagano District.  The members seem to be nice but there are SO many of them.  I`m used to just 20 so I could easily talk to them all and get to know them pretty well but now it is like wow, where do I even start?

I have more investigators than I am used to too.  There are currently four eternal investigators right now in our area:

1. Tommy- A Chinese, married, forty-year old who when he prayed to find out whether or not to be baptized, had a dream involving a horse (something to do with the year of the horse I believe) that told him he should be baptized.... some day.  Right now he is reading through the whole Book of Mormon so he can find out if it is true or not.

2. Mori- In the middle of teaching the commandments but has a tad bit of a social disorder that makes it hard for her to meet in places with a lot of strangers.  Sadly for her but overall good in the Lord`s kingdom, many strangers come to church so we are trying to help her overcome the fear by having her meet a bunch of members in lessons before she can come.  Really nice lady, about 30 and lives with her Mom.

3. Hiragata- Likes to learn with the missionaries but when the previous elders asked her to pray about baptism, she said she already had a no in her heart so she thought it would be pointless to ask.  So, the game plan is to help her find the desire to.

4. David- Brazilian whose English and Japanese aren`t nearly as good as his Portuguese.  Haven`t met him yet, but I know his wife is Jewish and has gotten through part of lesson one with the missionaries.

Next week there will be at least five investigators after some various finding activities take place so more in next e-mail.  But this week has been a lot of adjusting to only living with one other person and meeting a bunch of new people.  So far my journal writing has been drastically improved without another companionship in the apartment to talk to after planning session.  It is really weird though because I have been on a mission for about nine months now and the other three elders in the area have been out for well, at least 20 months.  So I am super young and all the members think I am a beanchan in comparison but, soon enough, they will all go home and Matsumoto will be MINE!!!  Well that was a bit dark.

Anyways, not too much stuff happened this week but I did find this new music on lds.org a couple weeks back that I really liked so I thought I would share it with you.  The song is about being closer to Christ even when we are making mistakes.  I know that one thing I have learned on my mission is that God does command us to be perfect, but not right away.  All we have to do is try our best to be perfect and whenever we fall short, the Atonement makes up for the rest.  I know I wouldn`t be able to be on my mission and face all these challenges and language barriers if it wasn`t for the atonement.
Hope you all have a fun safe week and that you strive to be closer to the Savior each day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ541grs7Zw  (Shawn did not go on youtube!!  This was the only way I (his mother) could get this song to load on here!!)  ha ha

Pictures: I found out Opening Your Mouth is easier with a companion.

And the mission map, first Numazu (dark blue), then Takayama (yellow), now Matsumoto (green).

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