Then that night we picked up the two new Elders from the Eki! We walked back in the rain and I had a chance to talk with Murakami Choro for a bit. He is 26, and he went to a technical school to be a car mechanic before his mission. He is a little on the quieter side normally, but is totally fearless on the street. I was expecting (from what President Smith told me) for him to be shy and timid, but he's definitely not at all. Or at least doesn't show it. He is really good at talking to people on the street and making them feel comfortable. On Wednesday, finding went really well. The next day, however, when we met with a new investigator we had met our lesson was just so bad. It wasn't planned well and he wasn't super engaged and it went really long and at the end he was just not really interested. I think that part of it was that from the beginning, he was mostly being polite rather than actually being really interested, but if we had an opportunity to get him interested then we definitely botched it. It is so much harder to take cues from each other and teach in unity. I think part of it is because I understood Hancock Choro's Japanese during lessons, while I'm still picking out bits and pieces of Murakami Choro's, but I'm also realizing that I understood Hancock Choro and his personality much better. I didn't realize how much of a difference that actually makes in teaching until now. So that is something we are working on. We can communicate well enough
to plan out the day and stuff, but there's still definitely a barrier there. As far as him being timid or shy though, that's not really a problem. If anything, it's the opposite, that he is independent and feels like he doesn't need a gaijin accompanying him around and trying to help. So we're working on that too haha. Other than that, there are just a few issues with getting to bed on time, starting studies on time, sending texts without telling the other person, just kind of little things that are still really important. It's just different because with Hancock Choro, exact obedience was never even a question. We just did it, and when we had things to fix, we would talk about it and fix it. But now I feel like I have to hold myself accountable, rather than my doryo holding me accountable, so it's been kind of a test for me. Like at 7:59, when my comp is in the shower, no one except the Lord would know if I started
personal study on time or if I decided to have a 2nd breakfast instead. But just having that option has made me realize that I really do want to be exactly obedient, and it gives me an opportunity to really show the Lord my faith. It helps me be more joyful about following the rules as well. Anyway, so we have things to work on as a companionship, but it has been a good learning experience so far! I have been loving it and loving him!
We also had a Halloween party this week, and it went really well! Lots of people came, we had a good time. Mostly Eikaiwa students and branch members. We had fun scaring people at one little game. Then we bobbed
for apples and everyone enjoyed watching the Elders do it haha. (((By the way--Aomori apples are so delicious. It's not like the Georgia peaches or the Utah mormons where people think they're special but they're really just normal. It's like idaho potatoes--people know they're special because they actually are amazing. They're huge too. I bought an enormous apple for ¥220 the other day and it was worth every yen. And know that they are really getting in season members keep giving us apples and it's just amazing))) I also made good friends with the 8-year-old son of one of the Eikaiwa PIs, he dressed up as a ninja. We played a lot of the games together and we are buds now. I think there are some good Eikaiwa PIs right now, lately some new people have been coming so hopefully we will be able to slowly get their interest in the gospel piqued.
On Sunday church was good. I played the organ and I could barely hear myself for some reason. Something was different with all the speakers or something--I guess I was plenty loud in the congregation, but there was no sound up front. Which made it much harder to play, I had to rely on my eyes instead of ears to check for mistakes. I think it went well though.
We visited J Kyoudai in the afternoon, he was sick but we were able to share a little message from the doorstep. He is doing well, and has been reading every day! He still has the goal to go through the temple
eventually.
In the evening, we had the lesson with R! He wasn't able to come to our appointment Saturday night, so this was his first lesson with Murakami Choro. It went really well, we spent most of the time just answering his questions. He asked us about the difference between opening and closing prayers in our lessons (why we kneel for the closing prayer but not for the opening prayer), which I hadn't even thought about that before but I guess we have always done sitting prayers to open and kneeling to close. It's so good that he is so curious though! You can tell he is observant and really wants to learn. He had some other questions about the priesthood and the temple and baptisms for the dead and stuff. We directed him to some good places in the Gospel Library app so I think he will have a hay-day exploring that. We asked him why he wanted to baptized, and he said the biggest things were because he wants to become a church member and he wants the aid of the Holy Ghost in learning the Gospel. He actually said that. He wants to be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost so it can help him learn and absorb the truths of the Gospel. He definitely understands the Spirit better than I did when I received the Gift of the Holy Ghost haha. Sometimes I'm surprised how fast and how deep he is picking everything up, it's awesome. Such a stellar guy.
So that's been my week! A lot has happened, mostly it's all been good :)
Love you!
XOXOXooxoXOXoxoxoxOXOXoxoxxXOo
パスケット長老
Elder Paskett
My most magnificent, marvelous mamasama,
Hey sorry I just sent off my write-up of the week and then I got this! But to answer your questions...
I am staying warm! I broke out the scarf yesterday for the first time. Usually I have a sweater over my shirt and a jacket/rain coat over the sweater and that keeps me plenty warm. Haven't broken out the big winter coat yet but probably soon. It has been super rainy, and there is a little bit of frost at night, so I'm sure the snow will be coming
soon. As of now, still just rain though.
Have fun tomorrow for Halloween! We told everyone at Eikaiwa about Halloween in America, and they were pretty surprised. They celebrate Halloween here by having costume parties and stuff, but they were all shocked that the kids in America just go around to tons of random houses and get candy from everyone.
Peanut butter and jelly huh?? Was that inspired by the inside-out song?
Lots of changes in the stake...feels like it wasn't that long ago when the Settler's bridge ward was first formed. Exciting though!
Brent Wissenbach!! Enagaged!! What a stud. Make sure and tell Taylor to tell him that I said congrats, and that he is a stud.
Thanks for everything!!!
Love,
パスケット長老
Elder Paskett
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| Last night with Hancock Choro |
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