Deja Bean

So I got an interesting call this past Saturday morning.  Now as missionaries, we get a lot of calls, whether it be members asking us to help teach an English class, investigators answering a message we left them, or random people wanting to learn English from us.  This was a bit different though since it was in English.  My companion picks up the phone and talks for a bit.  It seems like a serious matter and he hands me the phone.  `Yeah.`  `Elder Hall, how are you feeling?`  `Well a bit nervous now to be honest.`  `No need to be.  Well Elder Hall, you are going to one of your former areas.`  `Are you serious?` I ask as I jump for joy I am going back to Takayama.  Then I realize I was just there before Matsumoto so it probably wasn`t there.  `You are being transferred to Numazu!`  WOW, I didn`t see that one coming at all.  So, I get to do what almost no elder gets to do, go back to their bean area.  I have heard it happening a lot for elder`s last transfers but this is no where close to my dying wish.  `You are going to be with Elder Ottesen and you are white-washing.`  So I am going back with an elder who used to be my zone leader and is on his last transfer.  One elder serving there had to go home sadly because of sickness and they needed to put two new elders in.  So, they put me back because I know the area from beanhood.  So basically what I wanted to happen transfer 3 happened transfer 8 but I am glad because I enjoyed my time in other areas too.  And it will be super cool because I will be leading a lot of stuff because I know the area so it will be good preparation for being senior one day.

In other news this week, my zone leader Elder Bedwell just went home after serving a honorable two year mission.  He stayed at our apartment last night and we had s`mores over a stove flame to celebrate.  It was really weird saying good-bye to him and seeing him walk out of the apartment alone to walk to the train station to go to the mission home to go back to America.  It was really bitter sweet because he was going back home but also leaving behind Japan and the mission experience.  It made me think how one day, it will all end.  I haven`t been able to see that before really.  I knew it would end but I never knew what that really meant.  We often realize that this Earth life isn`t forever yet we forget about what death actually entails.  So it is kind of like that, knowing I won`t see one of my best friends for a year even though he is in a better\not-as-cool-as-mission-but-moving-on-to-bigger-and-better-things place.


So sometimes we feel that Earth life is the only thing we got.  I know waking up at 6:30 just seems like an eternal thing to do but it won`t be.  I remember in 6th grade using our gradation year for our computer password and thinking `2013 will never come.  That is so far away!`  But it has, and 2014 and 2015 too.  So us young-ins might not think so but death will come to.  I`ve come to realize we need to prepare now to meet God because we don`t know when we will or we just don`t realize that that day will actually come.  So Y.O.L.O. should be more like, Y.O.G.J.O. you only get judged once. #finaljudgement  Because the little decisions in terms of Earth life don`t seem so big but they actually matter in the eternal scheme.  So it might be hard now but in the end, it will all be worth it.
This week in order to say good-bye to Elder Bedwell we ate out a lot.  One day, we were so hungry, we could eat a horse!  So Elder Toma (the senior missionary here) decided to spend some money to buy us exactly that!  The Horse Sushi was really good but the egg was better.  Nothing salivates my mouth like raw horse dipped into raw egg and put straight into my mouth!  Not exactly my mother`s cooking but definitely good none-the-less.

So I am transferring but other news is Tommy our investigator with a baptismal date... well, he kind of chickened out a little bit saying it was too soon but we had a good lesson about the purpose of baptism and the interview and why it is important to know baptism isn`t the end of the line.  And speaking of baptism, my favorite 11 year-old investigator from Takayama got baptized this past weekend!  I was super excited to hear about it and that everything went well and that the parents went back to church.  Maybe they will transfer me back there too.  I am hoping that if they do that it won`t be in winter...

Sorry this is long but I love you all!

Enjoy the picture of a super typical Japanese rice field and have a great week!