June 22, 2014

Transfer 8, Week 1

Guess what!  I got transfered again!  Surprise! 

 

I was so sad to leave Yanai.  Yanai was such a great place and I really loved the people there too.  Instead I got one last call from my trainer (Mukaitani Choro) and was told I was needed in Kumamoto.  So yeah.  I`m now in Kumamoto, Nagamine Ward.  Apparently there are about a hundred or so members of my ward, which is awesome.  I look forward to meeting all of them and I think it will be a great experience.  Yesterday and Saturday were Stake Conference, a special dendou one on Saturday and yesterday a conference that was broadcast from Tokyo and featured some of the church leaders including a member of the twelve (sorry I forgot who).  Was interesting but we didn`t really get to meet any of our members because we helped out the Nagamine Sisters with a lesson and there were just so many people that we couldn`t tell who was from where.  Exciting stuff. 

 

So, Kumamoto.  Really big city and really cool.   It has four wards (Tsuboi, Shimizu, Kumamoto and Nagamine) and each ward has a set of Elders and Sisters.  It`s ridiculous.  There are only two church buildings though, so Kumamoto and Nagamine share a building and the other two share a building.  I am sure when next Sunday rolls around I will be very confused who`s in which ward (Nagamine or Kumamoto).  But this area is much less rural than my previous areas.  The funny part is that it`s still the most rural out of the four area`s in Kumamoto.  We actually are emailing in a library in Tsuboi area because we came over with the Zone Leaders (who are in our apartment) and checked out the huge mall (called a shotengai).  We also ate some really good chicken tonkatsu, which is like a way to fry meat, and so far this P-day has been super fun.  I hope I will be able to enjoy this area as much as my last. 

 

As far as investigators and whatnot, apparently we have some, but the previous Elders left us almost no information, so we haven`t really been able to meet any yet.  But hopefully we can find some off our own steam soon.  I am really excited.  My new companion just came from Yamaguchi-ken, Shimonoseki, which is right at the bottom of Honshu (the biggest Japanese island).  He is actual my doki (same missionary age) but we never met in the MTC.  His name is Kirkham.  He was a wrestler, likes Pokemon, is a decent nerd and is actually rather quiet.  But we have gotten along well so far and I forsee no problems into the future. 

 

Which leads me to my next comment; Whitewashing.  Yes, I am again whitewashing.  This is a little different though, because unlike Yanai where the previous Elders left us with nothing, and Iizuka, where we made it fourman so there was nothing before us anyway, Nagamine has some investigators.  Actually apparently we have one with a Baptismal Date.  However we haven`t talked to him yet and don`t have a phone number.  We finally got the address and tried to visit last night, but he wasn`t home.  Hopefully he is home tonight.  But yeah, so fun stuff.  In a couple of weeks I hope we can check out Kumamoto castle and I`ll send you some photos, but that brings us to my last problem.  No, I did not forget my camera today.  The library computers don`t have an access function.  So next week (we normally email at the church so it should be fine next week).  Hope you guys have a good time in San Diego, say Hi to Colin for me.  

Love you,

Iain

Elder Lee

June 8, 2014

Transfer 7: Week 5

Let me first apologize for forgetting my camera.  Sorry.  I didn`t realize until about 2 seconds ago when I started emailing.  That is really lame.  Ok.  

This week was rather interesting.  Last week I didn`t really have much to say, but now I have a decent amount (i really wanted to show some photos though).  We went to Ooshima, an island connected to the mainland by a large bridge, and took lots of pictures.  It was lots of fun.  It took us about 35min to get to the island, where we decided to climb a mountain to get the best photos.  There was a lookout point on top that was pretty cool, but it took us another 35min to get to the top.  We would have been fine, but as soon as we started our descent, Anderson choro got a punk (flat).  So we walked our bikes down the mountain.  We then walked to the train station in the hopes of catching a train, but they don`t allow bikes on board.  So we walked back.  It took about 2hrs and 15-30min to get back to the apartment (from top of the mountain).  We were exhausted but then had to ride to an FHE activity that the ward held because our eikaiwa (english class) students were there.  We actually had a really good conversation about the gospel, so turned out well.  But unfortunately I have been tired this whole week because of that trip.  

The second good news is our new investigator.  He is in his twenties and loves to swim.  We found him on Thursday while we were knocking on doors.  He came out to the door (which is unusual) and then invited us into his house.  I was immediately suspicious because every time this has happened in the past, they didn`t want to hear our message and then asked us to leave (which is really awkward and then your like, "why`d you let us into your house if you didn`t know who we were?" Just really weird people).  Well this time was legit.  He said he had seen the missionaries a lot before because they met with his older brother.  His brother speaks English apparently and loved the missionaries, so this guy, kurusu-san, was influenced by the missionaries too.  Kurusu said his curiosity was peaked by those missionaries and lately he has thought a lot about God and what He is and how he can know for himself.  We shared with him the Book of Mormon and our testimonies of how we came to know it is true.  He was excited and really wanted to meet again.  Kurusu is really cool and might come to eikaiwa too.  We are super excited to work with him.  

Finally, I have a new companion!  No it wasn't transfer week (that`s next week).  We had an emergency transfer and Yanagida choro came to Yanai.  yes, he is Japanese; his kanji means willow field.  He is coming from Mihara, Hiroshima and whats more, Tenney choro and Parker choro and Robinson choro were in his last district (two of my best friends in the mission whom I roomed with and my previous companion, all of whom I love).  One poor elder got sick and went back to America, so Yanagida choro came here and now we are three man.  It is interesting and I am excited to get to work with a new elder (particularly a Japanese elder) but I don`t really like working as a threesome; I had enough of it in Iizuka.  But we have had a good time so far and I am looking forward to the next week.  Most likely someone is transfer and it will be twoman again, so I am not too worried.  

I have come to really love this branch.  The people are awesome and some of them are just so cool.  We are trying to get a better relationship with the youth and maybe we can find some new young investigators.  Fingers crossed.  Love you guys and hope you`re well.  I promise I will send lots of pictures next week.  I wanted to just send photos with descriptions instead of this normal email but alas, my memory sucks.  Hope Wyatt has a good time at EFY and whatnot.  Don`t hold back, it's all fun.  

Love you,

Elder Lee

Iain

(PS when you guys called me Iain on the phone I was super weirded out.  It will be an adjustment getting called by my first name again, but I think I will enjoy it).  

June 1, 2014

Transfer 7: Week 4


Well I finally feel satisfied with a p-day.  Last week we walked around what they call "White-Wall Street".  It has some interesting history and stuff, so we walked around and took some pictures.  It wasn`t the coolest thing I`d ever seen, but they had some old stuff that was at least worth while.  I have just had so many companions who don`t want to do anything interesting, it`s nice to have a comp. who doesn`t want to waste his p-days either.  Today we might go to the nearby island, if it`s not raining.  Otherwise we will go and check out a cake shop that a member told us about.  I meant to send some photos, but I forgot my camera at the apartment.  Next week for sure. 
     
Lately I have done a lot of study from the Old Testament.  Anderson Choro has a bunch of talks from Education Week (at BYU) and some other places.  I really like this one guy named Michael Wilcox (for future note I also like Scott Anderson).  He gave a talk called "Treasures from the Pearl of Great Price" or something like that.  But he spent about 40 minutes just talking about Moses Chapter 1.  It is amazing.  But he said something about Moses and how God prepared Moses to deal with the children of Israel because they were not obedient.  I decided to read Moses` life story and have found that there are so many things to be gained from him.  We aren`t all that similar, but I feel that sometimes I can understand and/or relate to him which makes the story really interesting.  It is amazing that no matter how many times God performs miracles through Moses, Israel still complains.
       

Moses at one point says dealing with Israel is so hard that he would be willing to die if God willed it.  God obviously tells him no, but I thought that was really interesting.  Prophets sometimes have a perfect appearance, like there is no way I could ever be like them, but you can see where Moses faulters and he just seems like a real person, so I feel like he is more relatable.       

Hope you guys have a good week.  Love you.  Sorry I didn`t write much.  I don`t think much happened this week.  But I will send photos with explanations next week, promise.  

May 25, 2014

Transfer 7: Week 3

Hello!  It`s raining again.  The law of Monday rain has finally carried over from Amami.  I think it`s a Japanese problem.  Seriously every Monday (sometimes Tuesday too) it rains.  I can`t decide whether it`s Japan or that God just has a good sense of humor.  

Anyhoo, we handed out copies of the Book of Mormon!!!  Woo.  It`s actually been quite a while since I`ve done that.  People in Japan just don`t like taking stuff for free.  Particularly because if they take a Book of Mormon they think they are obligating themselves, something which they don`t like to do.  Admittedly they are obligating themselves due to the fact that we really want to teach them about the gospel, but they should be okay with that too.  

Now the big news of the week.  I have been bursting with this all week.  Last monday, after email, we met an older man by the name of Sakae-san.  He knows people living in CA.  Guess what town they live in.  Nope, Woodland.  They live in Woodland.  His sister is apparently a Christian and has Mormon friends.  She would be around 70`s and her son (I think, maybe Grandson) lives there too.    Her name is Shimada, Sayoko.  Her son (grandson) is Jeffrey Hendrick (again not exactly sure if that`s right).  He sad they might be Mormon (I don`t think so) and they definitely have Mormon friends.  You should find them.  I`m not sure how, but you should.  How many Japanese people could there be in Woodland.  Just go knocking on doors until you find them.  If we work on both ends we`ll create a strong mormon family (baptism!!!).  

We went on Junkai (exchanges) with the Zone Leaders.  It was interesting because the one I went with didn`t seem to have a lot of dendo fire, but he contacted every person we could.  I took that and decided that even though I am not the most enthusiastic about contacting, I can do the same and talk to everybody.  

Also, yesterday we took over church.  We were asked last week by the Elders Quorum President to teach in Elders Quorum about love (Pres. Monson`s GC Talk).  Then we got a call by the Branch Pres. last minute to teach the gospel principles class.  So we taught during 2/3`s of church.  That was interesting.  We also didn`t have a lot of time to prepare because Kaicho (mission Pres.) asked us to do a special study assignment this week.  And we had to plan for a lot of PI`s (potential investigators) so we had no time at all.  But looking back I think we should and could have done more prep. and I feel bad about that.  So will do better next time.  

Also you guys should read Elder Ballard`s talk about Following Up for FHE.  It`s awesome and I think you would enjoy it.  Love you and have a good week.  

Peace!

Elder Lee

May 19, 2014

Transfer 7: Week 2

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

May 11, 2014

Transfer 7: Week 1

Well turned out I was transferring.  I am now in Yamaguchi, Yanai.  It also turns out I`m whitewashing (woohoo!).  My new companion is Anderson choro.  And we are the only two in the branch where we are now serving.  

So Tuesday evening (4:30) we got the call from the APs.  We were actually just about to go out and see a member, so we didn`t have the opportunity to email or anything.  I was told that I was going to be leaving and heading up north to Yanai, with an old friend from Amami island (my first area).  I was thrilled when I heard we were going to be companions.  But I was shocked when I realized that we were whitewashing.  WW is when you and your companion enter an area together at the same time.  They take out the old missionaries and put two brand new ones in.  So neither my comp. or I know anything about Yanai.  

Thursday morning I went to hakata station (in Fukuoka) and boarded a bus that took me up to Yamaguchi.  Afterward I jumped on a train and came the rest of the way to Yanai.  Surprisingly, I met up with Anderson choro when I boarded the train.  The train came and as it stopped we saw each other.  We were both surprised and it was pretty funny.  We hadn`t seen each other since he left Amami (my second transfer, in September) so it was cool seeing him again.  We arrived at Yanai station at 4:00ish (I left Iizuka at 8:00am).  Was a long day but a member picked us up at the station, gave us our phone and keys, and drove us to our apartment.  

We got to meet a quaker from Australia on Friday which was kind of funny.  We talked a little bit and then went to find a member.  We have spent a lot of our time so far finding members and people/places in the area, but it has been good and I think we will have a great fun time this transfer.   I love the area and the people here and I love you guys.  

Elder Lee

Iain

April 27, 2014

Transfer 6:  Week 5

As far as food goes, I have to cook everything.  Apparently my companions can't cook worth a darn, so I do it.  But I kind of like it so it's good.  It also keeps me from having to do the dishes very often, so I am happy about that.  We eat a lot of stir-fry, yakisoba, udon, fried rice, stew, curry and spaghetti.  It's really not all that hard, just takes some time.  We make rice for almost every meal, but we eat spaghetti a fair amount, so not only rice.  I like to make curry or stew with rice the best because I don't have to cook dinner, just make enough for both meals.  Very convenient.  But I have also made chicken or pork tonkatsu (like fried but a little different; really good).  We eat sushi sometimes, but only when we go out with members.  We try not to eat out all that much.  

The main event this week was the arrival of the bike (Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Halleeluujaaaaaah!!!)  So we got to visit lots of people who we haven't been able to lately (because they're farther).  

So the investigators son who brought us food last time (shu) was there again when we went on Friday, but she was asleep.  But that didn't stop him; he ran in and told her the gaijin came (foreigners).  She must've been completely out 'cause she didn't budge at all.  Then he decided to play baseball with us while we waited for her.  We played for 20ish minutes and then decided we had to leave.  It was way fun.  Shu is hilarious.  

Also contacted a lady who is 40 or 50ish but loves video games.  We decided to teach through video games (something that Knighton choro and I could do) and ended up teaching about Christ and His atonement.  We actually had a pretty good lesson and I think she understood it really well.  

On Sunday we went to the Relief Society to see if we could arrange a home for a lesson later in the week.  They like to pray for our investigators so we told them about video game lady and they all started laughing when we said we taught through video games.  

I don't remember getting any letters recently, but I will check again.  Sorry to hear the mail system still sucks.  In Japan it is lightning fast.  You send something and two or three days later it arrives on the other side of Japan.  

The black fence does bring back memories. (we painted a wrought iron fence during a community service project, Iain has painted ours at home in the past) I was actually thinking about that the other day.  We saw an old man painting his fence black and I thought about it.  Then I smelled the fumes and everything changed colors.  It was nasty how bad and strong that paint was.  

We don't get a lot of opportunities to serve.  Japanese don't really like accepting service and the city doesn't really organize anything for us to be apart of/help out with.  But we are working on a lot of eikaiwa dendou and trying to get lots of people out to our english class.  Pres. Gustafson wants us to grow to 50 people which is huge.  Right now we are at 22 but still have a long way to go.  But we have grown just since I've been in Iizuka, so there is hope.  We're going to visit city hall and a newspaper service today to see if we can't spread the word a little more.  Maybe go to some schools and talk to the clubs and english classes.  

I don't have anything I need particularly but I'll let you know.  Thanks so much.  I love you.  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Lee