Things in Yanai are doing well. We haven`t gotten lost in a while, so definitely an improvement. I really like the ward here. It`s still weird to have so many people you can`t remember all of their names, but the members are great; church definitely isn`t quiet anymore (in my past areas Sacrament Meeting was dead silent). Yanai is a small town. There isn`t a lot here, but we are very close to the ocean so some P-day we want to ride along and check it out. There is an island nearby that has a bridge crossing over it, so we might ride our bikes over the bridge when we get the chance. We can`t see the ocean from most parts of where we work, but when we ride the train, it goes right along the ocean.
On Saturday we went to Ube for ZTM (Zone Training Meeting). Every transfer (every 6 weeks) we have training by the Zone Leaders, which is fun, but it cuts out most of our working time. In Iizuka it wasn`t too much of a problem because it was just an hour away. But it took us 2 1/2 hours to get to Ube and another 2 1/2 hours to get back. It was a huge pain. The trains are rather convenient for missionaries, but in Yamaguchi they all go really slow. The whole prefecture is just straight up rural. We left the apartment at 6:30am and got back to Yanai at 4:15ish. We didn`t eat anything in between, so we made sure to stop and eat before we went back out.
Today I need a hair cut and we need to do some dry cleaning, so we aren`t doing anything fun yet, but I finally have a companion who likes to do stuff on P-day, so we should be able to see some cool stuff (if we can find anything to do in this podunk town). Anderson choro and I are doing great. He is really fun to work with and we are able to teach well together (something that as a missionary is critical). I haven`t had bad companions, per se, but we didn`t get along great or have the same vision of where we need to go, so this is a nice change. He also likes jazz, so that gives us something to talk about sometimes. But we have been able to focus on the work and I think we will see some miracles in the nearby future.
Last week we did a lot of housing and didn`t get anywhere. We did run into a couple of Former Investigators by accident though. The problem is, we don`t have anybody right now who has very much interest. Most of the people we talk to have already spoken with the missionaries before. The only way I can think of to find new investigators is to astound them, but you can`t do that in just five words (hello, my name is Lee). So I haven`t been too happy, but after reveiwing PMG, the scriptures and some other resources, I was reminded that our purpose is just to invite, and if they don`t accept than that`s not our fault, we just keep going until we find someone who is open to our message. Like it says in the "Power of Everyday Missionaries" book, You win when you invite (or succeed, I don`t remember exactly what it says).
I hope you guys are doing well. Do something fun for me (like a hike, or something) and send some photos. I`d love to hear about that. Love you,
Elder Lee
Iain
RHM
