KONNICHIWA NERDS,
Gracious time flies as a missionary. Anyways, this week has been absolutely sweet and I've got a whole lot more time to talk about it. First off, Japanese makes no sense, but at the same time, it makes sense. I honestly can't find any other way to explain it. We went to a Chinese restaurant as a zone for Thanksgiving, it was super good, and it was on the 8th floor of a building by the train station. Which train stations out here are like little downtown areas with a ton of fun shops and a big nightlife scene. It was sweet. We also checked out a couple shrines which are super nice because they’re pretty, and they're a nice little escape from constantly being surrounded by city and not having mountains right by you. (Still getting used to that one.) We did have some crazy happening though. First, Elder Sakae and I have been doing a lot of streeting around parks and there are a solid amount of monster hills through here (my calves look great by the way, thank you Japan) which gives us some good bonding time with our bikes. While biking I took a chunk of the curb with my pedal and lost control as a truck was coming by. Luckily I’ve got some hardcore guardian angels and I was only a few inches from getting cleaned out. I just received a graze of the shoulder. It's the little miracles that count out here.
Speaking of fun on bikes, myself and Elder Hawkins (He's my trainer’s trainer, from England, funny guy) decided to bike to Sagamihara in order to join a Quorum of 70 members in a big soccer game. Except Sagamihara is an hour bike ride away. And the game started at 6:00 AM. As I was once counseled by my older sister, "Sleep is for the weak." So it was totally worth it. Except we had to bike back after the game, it was rough, but the sunrise was sweet. And the soccer was top notch. Also we had dinner with the Honda family, Brother Honda was very excited to show off his Honda motorcycle, it was so funny. Also they gave us a ride in they're new Prius and I sat in the passenger seat, which was weird because the steering wheel is on the other side. They made an amazing dinner and Brother and Sister Honda are this hilarious old couple who can both speak a little bit of English since he used to work at BYU-Hawaii. It was so nice since we've been trying to reach out to the members more. They gave us homemade bread and a GIANT bag of rice, it was so sweet. Machida is the Promised Land, I’m telling you.
Also I know some people have been curious about my companion/trainer Elder Sakae. He's from a small town outside of Kyoto, he knows a tiny bit of English, so in order to communicate I talk in broken Japanese, and he talks to me in broken Japenglish (Mix between Japanese and English). We can still somewhat communicate; it's just slow going. He's only been out here for 24 weeks (4 transfers) and it's his first time being a trainer. He's very quiet, so I do a lot of the talking, but I can't understand a lot so he jumps in every once in a while. Not all the time, but hey, he's there and that's all good. I'm still trying to figure out his humor, but we'll get there, he's a humble guy and a super good cook.
We have no investigators, but that's absolutely perfect, and I'm not saying that sarcastically. There was a huge lesson learned from that. We had a former elder from this mission who visited the ward on Sunday, he's now living in Japan as an intern for a car company. But in talking with him, I found out most of this mission is going to be finding and flat out talking to everyone. But when you find someone who's ready for this gospel, you'll know. Just remember to never stop believing in miracles. The big thing we forget as missionaries is its not about the numbers. Or yourself. What matters is you're doing your best and going hard 110% of the time. Open your mouth, teach the message, lay the foundation, and be a friend to everyone. You're here to serve and put in a full effort. Bring it unto their hearts, but remember that it's their choice to let it in. You can only do so much, and don't get discouraged if it doesn’t go the way you want it to, people have their agency. Press forward with faith, and know that this work is bigger than you'll ever be. And don't forget to have fun while you're at it. :)
Sorry for this being so long.
愛しています、 カフ長老
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