Area: Izumi
Companions: Hirano Choro
Hey everyone! I cant believe it's Monday again. This transfer is already halfway over; time is flying! It sounds like it's a sauna back home in Utah! I'm not too excited when it gets hot here in a few weeks. I've heard it's something like I've never experienced before. It's going to be interesting. Anyway, it sounds like you all had a great week. And the yard is looking great Dad!! I'm sorry I'm not there to mow the lawn for you; I actually miss doing that a lot. But before it gets hot here, there is a two week rainy season where it rains non stop. We thought it wouldn't happen this year because it was getting pretty late, but it looks like it may have arrived. It's actually nice today, but the past few haven't been. I'll get to more of that later.
This week, I'm not gonna lie, was pretty slow. It was probably the most unsuccessful week of my mission, numbers wise. Not a lot happened. I'll try my best to recap, but it might not be too exciting.
This week, I'm not gonna lie, was pretty slow. It was probably the most unsuccessful week of my mission, numbers wise. Not a lot happened. I'll try my best to recap, but it might not be too exciting.
First of all, our plans for last week on pday fell through....We were riding like madmen to get to the big budah statue so that we could see it before going to the honbu for FHE, but halfway there, the axel on Hamblin Choros bike broke so that kind of nixed our plans. And then we found out that the less active we were planning on going to FHE with canceled, so HIrano Choro and I had to stay in Izumi while the other two Elders went to Nagamachi. That was a pretty big bummer.
Wow....I'm trying to think of exciting things that happened but I can't think of anything....uh oh.
So, I realized this week that I bring death no matter where I go. I'm the living version of the death dude who floats around in a cloak holding a scythe. Sadly, a member in Izumi ward passed away this week and we were able to attend his funeral (don't worry, no cremation this time fortunately). The Izumi missionaries and the Kamisugi missionaries attended it and we sang his favorite hymn in front of his dead body. I mean seriously, hopefully I won't have to see any more dead people before I'm done here?!? Anyway, it was good I guess.
Wow....I'm trying to think of exciting things that happened but I can't think of anything....uh oh.
So, I realized this week that I bring death no matter where I go. I'm the living version of the death dude who floats around in a cloak holding a scythe. Sadly, a member in Izumi ward passed away this week and we were able to attend his funeral (don't worry, no cremation this time fortunately). The Izumi missionaries and the Kamisugi missionaries attended it and we sang his favorite hymn in front of his dead body. I mean seriously, hopefully I won't have to see any more dead people before I'm done here?!? Anyway, it was good I guess.
After that, we got permission from the zone leaders for all of us to ride our bikes to Sendai and get lunch with them so we got Abura Soba (it's basically ramen without broth). Unfortunately, right around the corner of the funeral house, some driver didn't look both ways while leaving a parking lot and hit Hamblin Choro on his bike and destroyed his rental bike (because the bike he broke on Monday is in the shop so he has a rental. Two bikes in a week!) He was okay, but his bike was destroyed. So he and the zone leader had to walk the rest of the way to Sendai for splits. We got back to the Kamisugi apartment to grab our stuff and since the other two needed bikes, I offered that we walk back to Izumi. So, we walked our bikes almost two hours to our area. It was quite the long walk; I need it though!
The next day, we had interviews with President Smith. It was really nice. It's fun to be able to talk to them, especially to Sister Smith while you are waiting. She's a hoot. She makes us laugh so hard. My interview with President Smith was pretty good. He is focusing really hard on us knowing the missionary lessons in Japanese inside and out. He wants us to be able to memorize every word in the PMG and its pretty hard. He also wanted me to teach him a lesson, but we ran out of time... whooo. But during interviews with him, I always get a feeling that he is called of God and he knows exactly what he is doing in leading this mission. It was a good interview; he helped me a lot. The rest of the day, we had to practice singing for the funeral, and taught Eikaiwa.
On Thursday, we had a district meeting at the church and the zone leaders attended too. It was my first district meeting all in Japanese since I was a new missionary. I gave a spiritual message on how we can increase our faith. I focused on three things: Obedience to mission rules, even if you may not understand them; diligent prayer so that we can change our desires to God's desires, and setting goals and making plans. It went pretty well I think. I learned a lot from studying for it. After the meeting, we went to the Seaman service again. We were pretty late for it so I could only have the same conversation about him being a seaman 10 times instead of the 30.
The next day, we had interviews with President Smith. It was really nice. It's fun to be able to talk to them, especially to Sister Smith while you are waiting. She's a hoot. She makes us laugh so hard. My interview with President Smith was pretty good. He is focusing really hard on us knowing the missionary lessons in Japanese inside and out. He wants us to be able to memorize every word in the PMG and its pretty hard. He also wanted me to teach him a lesson, but we ran out of time... whooo. But during interviews with him, I always get a feeling that he is called of God and he knows exactly what he is doing in leading this mission. It was a good interview; he helped me a lot. The rest of the day, we had to practice singing for the funeral, and taught Eikaiwa.
On Thursday, we had a district meeting at the church and the zone leaders attended too. It was my first district meeting all in Japanese since I was a new missionary. I gave a spiritual message on how we can increase our faith. I focused on three things: Obedience to mission rules, even if you may not understand them; diligent prayer so that we can change our desires to God's desires, and setting goals and making plans. It went pretty well I think. I learned a lot from studying for it. After the meeting, we went to the Seaman service again. We were pretty late for it so I could only have the same conversation about him being a seaman 10 times instead of the 30.
Saturday was the start of rainy season!! President Smith made a rule that if it is raining a ton, you can't ride your bikes, so we got to walk everywhere. We thought we would go visit our one investigator. In our minds we thought it would take a little bit, but not a ton of time, but boy we were we wrong. It took us like an hour and a half walking in the pouring rain to get to his house. I was so wet!! Then we got to his house, and he wasn't home!! So we walked all the way back in the rain. When we got back, we were absolutely soaked. Rainy season is crazy!
Wow, that is about it this week. We didn't really see too much good happen this week; it was a rougher one. So sorry for the boring email; I don't have a whole lot to work with to spice it up.
Well in other news, I can't believe I'm turning 19 this week!! I seriously feel like I'm still 15 or 16 years old just starting high school. I don't feel this old. I don't know what we are doing for it, probably just going out to eat and having a regular day. But this week is the start of patriotism week where we sing America songs all week. We started this morning and it was great. Being in another country really increases your patriotism, at least for me. Haha! Only if we could light fireworks and shoot shotguns in the air and blow up stuff or something. We are going to do something with the Chapman family on the 4th though, so that will be fun.
Well that is about all I can think of. Again, I apologize for the lack of events; it was a slow week. I love you guys. Have a great week!
And also, Happy birthday Matthew!!! I hope you have a great one. It's too bad we aren't together having the famous weeklong Didericksen party this time of year, but I hope you have a great time! Love you buddy!
Love,
Elder Nathan Didericksen
Love,
Elder Nathan Didericksen
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| My district plus the ZLs |
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