September 23, 2013

So today was super busy.  I have found that P-days can be the busiest days of the week.  They are not relaxing at all; ever!  One of the finding activities we have in Japan (and I think other countries too) is Eikaiwa (english teaching class; pronounced eh (like a Canadian) kai (like kite without the t) wa (like wombat)).  There are actually lots of people in Japan who like to learn English, so it`s kind of a big deal.  Of course on Amami we only have five people who come (on average).  But it is still fun.  There is a man named Tanaka-san who comes to eikaiwa and has heard that every six weeks missionaries are transferred.  He was worried that we would all leave so he called us up Saturday night and asked if he could hang out with us on our P-day.  We said sure and he said to meet him at the church at ten o'clock.  He has an RV (obviously smaller since it`s Japan and called a campingu caru (literally how they say it).  He drove us to the other side of the island and back (which in total ended up taking about five hours).  We got to see some great sights and a side of the island that we would never get to see (it is at least three hours by bike, one way!).  It was fun, but we have had little or no time to shop, clean the apartment, email or do anything else today.  As I said, stressful.

The other side of the island with two nearby islands.

My companion and the RV owner who drove the four of us around the island.

The Japanese write on the beach in kana.  The message says Kana I love. 

The campingu caru.

We have been able to continue meeting Kumamoto-san who at this point is our star investigator.  He is the only one we meet on a regular basis (all the others we show up and try to see, but they usually are not home; plus they all say they are busy and don`t make solid appointments, just ``yeah, come back sometime next week``).  He reads the Book of Mormon everyday and each week comes with tons of questions.  It`s way fun to answer the questions.  We haven`t really had to teach anything, just answer his questions.  So far he has been following our ideal lesson plan, so we are super happy.  He says he started off not believing in Christ at all, but now he is at thirty percent and if he gets above fifty percent he will probably do something about it (like be baptized).  He started learning about the gospel about a year ago.  It`s amazing.  We have high hopes for him.  I just don`t know what to do if my companion gets transferred in a couple weeks (changes areas).  Without a Nihonjin, I don`t know if we will be able to answer his questions (he asks super deep and complicated questions that I don`t know if any gaijin missionary will be able to understand).  But I know things will work out.  

In order to solve the dilemma of not having any solid investigators, both of the companionships on the Island have started to do a lot of door to door tracting and it has actually worked quite well.  We have a few potential investigators (people who might want to be taught about the church) and we are really hoping one or two of them turns out.  

I love it here.  The island is beautiful.  The past week it has been raining which is kind of a pain, but we have been able to teach some good lessons and I think we will be able to teach some more this week.  We aren`t here without a reason.  There are definitely some people who have been prepared to hear our message; we just have to find them.  

Thanks for all of your support.  I hope you are all doing well.  Best of wishes,

Elder Lee

At the aquarium last P-day