1. Mochi is good but some other traditional Shogatsu food isn't my favorite...
2. Clean apartments take a LOT of work
3. Ice Cream on top of mochi waffles are THE BEST!
4. 2013 was three years ago!
5. America and my family still exist (Shoutout to my older sister
Shelby for beating me to marriage! Congratulations Shelby and Nathan
Astle!)
So basically earlier this week we got a text from President Ishii
telling us from December 31st to January 2nd that we were supposed to
stay inside the apartment, clean, update records or do other
missionary stuff unless we had appointments set up with other people.
He told us not to house at all either because it won't be effective
because the New Year (Shogatsu) is Japan's Christmas so everyone would
be with their families and get mad at us. So, that is what we did
from Thursday to Saturday with a couple of member appointments
sprinkled in here and there. We also met up with our French
investigator Mattias during the break because, well, he isn't Japanese
so had time to meet. Sadly he is going abroad for a couple of weeks
but it is also fun to talk to our fellow foreigners sometimes.
We had a couple of lessons before and after the Shogatsu three days of
shut-ins though that were really good. Our Ugandan friends didn't
come to church because one of them randomly went to Nagano Ken on the
other side of the mission which was too bad. We actually met with our
investigator Haruhito twice this week. He is a college student we met
on the street my first couple of weeks here in Fukutoku. He is way
down to meet us and listen but we still don't know how much he is
interested. We retaught lesson 1 and focused on Joseph Smith and how
he can pray to know that this is true. As a missionary I always love
teaching and testifying about Joseph Smith. The First Vision really
puts it into perspective for me how much God and Christ really do love
us to restore the true way to succeed and be truly happy in this life.
It is something I want to do a lot more.
Overall this week was kind of bumpy with Shogatsu going on. It made
me think a lot about what I want for these last five months on my
mission this year. Looking back I haven't really become the
missionary I have always wanted to be. The why behind that is I feel
like I lack in Japanese, in teaching, and sometimes in a desire to
work. Before the mission things didn't really come hard to me at all
but for the first time in my life I've bitten off something that I
can't chew. Sadly I feel early in my mission I didn't do much to
overcome these things but also some things never come easy. Even
after a year and a half there is a lot I need to work on. I thing I
can of realized why thinking about it this week has been that really
these struggles are a blessing. What is a better constant reminder of
my dependence on God than feeling like I can't do it alone? Really a
lacking in a necessary skill is a blessing and opportunity to gain a
testimony of the Atonement by working hard with God's help to get
better. I may might never know every Japanese word or grammar pattern
but as I work towards that, God will qualify me to do what He expects
of me and help me do what I need to do to bring His children closer to
Him. So perfection as a missionary might not come this year but I am
determined to really give it all I got. If this were baseball I would
be rounding third base now and we all know how fast if everyone slides
into home. I hope everyone has a great New Years! I love you all!
Enjoy getting back into the groove of school and work!
Elder Hall
ホール長老
Ponderizing Scripture:
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give
unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient
for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble
themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak
things become strong unto them."
-Ether 12:27
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| Some classic Shogatsu food! |
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