It's been another crazy week--やっぱりですね！
First, we had Elder Holland come on Tuesday. I was expecting him to grill us, but he didn't. I was most impressed by how much he really loves us--he wanted to shake each of our hands and look us in the eye, as a personal "interview." He truly cared about our well-being, we could tell he was motivated by a sincere desire to help and lift us. He even set aside some stuff he had prepared to teach us so that he could spend time answering questions. I definitely could feel that He is one of the Savior's chosen representatives. Just his example of love made me want to be a more selfless, Christ-like missionary! One thing he said that really struck me was that after a mission, "you will never be the same." You can try going through your mission thinking, "I'll work hard, be obedient, whatever, I'll put in my 2 years then go back home and get back to real life." But you will not--can not--be the same person as when you left. It's up to you if you will be better or worse. This mission right now IS real life, as real as it's ever gonna get, and it's up to you whether you will be changed for the better by it. It was so powerful! As he left, we all felt like the Nephites in 3 Nephi 17 when they were crying and didn't want the Savior to leave. Unfortunately, Elder Holland wasn't able to stay longer like theSavior did, but those ridiculously fast 2 hours were amazing.
Also, I just need to throw in how amazing Nathan Choro is! I knew we would see each other at the Holland Taikai so I asked him to bring me some peanut butter from the Costco in his area, then he hooked me up with not only peanut butter, but a huge thing of granola, 2 stacks of cheese bagels, and an entire rotisserie chicken hahaha. So that is why countless Nihonjin got to see a white guy walking through crowded downtown Sendai carrying 2 bags and holding a rotisserie chicken. As if I don't stand out enough already.
We had a good lesson with R and Y--we went out to Yokote Burger with them and then decided to have a lesson after with both of them. We were in this public building called YY Plaza, on the 3rd floor where it is usually quiet. We asked for their questions, and they wanted to talk about Christ and the Atonement. Just when it was starting to get really good, Maynes Choro was starting to bear his testimony, and "Thriller" starts blasting at us from the first floor. Maynes Choro just looked at me and was like, "Dang it Michael Jackson!" Part of the first floor has a vaulted ceiling up to the 4th floor, so through the windows we could see this group of 80-year old women dancing to MJ with a surprisingly large audience. Satan has seriously some weird tricks up his sleeve. So that kind of de-railed our lesson but we were able to bring it back and they still got a lot out of it. It was especially cool to have both of them there, because we would have Y answer R's questions and it was perfect. Near the end, we asked them what they thought they could do to follow Christ more, and they both said they wanted to start keeping the Word of Wisdom better. We didn't even suggest or solicit that, but it was so cool to see that they really want to follow the commandments.
We went out to eat with K, and he is so golden! He is actually a lot like R Kyoudai from Aomori. He is done with school and has a nice job and is getting paid well, but that kind of sums up his life right now. So he is looking for a little bit more. He took us to a restaurant where we had some steak, sushi, and gyuutan, and then after he even offered to walk us back home. As we were walking, we asked what questions he had about the gospel and what he heard at church, and first he wanted to know about the spirit. We had a good discussion about that, then he wanted to know about Christ's resurrection. We explained that, and then gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet as well. And when we talk more about that this week, I think it will lead really easily into the doctrine of Christ. He came to church again, and we learned about the Restoration of the Priesthood in Sunday school. So he has some questions about that, and we will be teaching him about the Restoration soon as well. It's so cool because can already see how his questions will lead to more questions and he will want to learn all the principles that we are supposed to teach, but he really feels the relevance since we are able to teach them in the order of what he wants to know and what he has interest in. It has been a good learning experience for me about adapting teaching to meet needs.
One unfortunate thing is that he has some chastity issues with his girlfriend (we haven't taught the Law of Chastity yet but we just picked up stuff from our conversations). But, he wants to get marriedto her! But, her father doesn't approve of her getting married until she finishes college and nursing school in like 6 years. So, we'll see how that goes down when the time comes. One cool miracle was S san--he and K live in the same apartment, so he brought K to church the first time he came (Shas a car but K does not). After our lesson with K Saturday night, he said he would be coming to church with S the next day. But we got a call from S, 5 minutes before sacrament meeting, saying that his 101-year-old Mom's health is declining (surprising right) and he needs to be with her so he can't make it to church today. We were like "yeah that's totally fine, take care of your Mom!" And then we realized that that meant K wouldn't be able to make it either. But then, lo and behold, K shows up like 2 minutes later! Apparently S let him borrow his car so that he could still make it to church. I was just floored--literally, we met S a few weeks ago, he still doesn't really get the gospel, but he has been a better fellowshipper for K than anyone else hahaha. I love it!
This week is transfers, so Maynes Choro will unfortunately be leaving Yokote. I will be staying, and I will be working with my new son--Elder Barton, coming straight outta Provo!! We'll see if I get to raise him to manhood or if I will have to give him up halfway through his childhood like Elder Hall.
Thanks for all you do! Love and miss you always ❤️😘❤️😘❤️💕💕💕
パスケット長老
Elder Paskett
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| dinner with K! |
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| The scratches on my coat from getting hit by a car. I just found out they will probably pay me some recompense ¥¥¥ so I will be loaded!! |
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| We ran into a magic show with some famous guy named Bravo Nakaya or something. He brought me up on stage and we were on TV! I told him my name was Paskett Choro (Elder Paskett) and he kept calling me Choro San (Mr. Elder) |
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