Monday, March 26, 2018

Of Accidents and Snowstorms, Week 71 in Japan

It's been a pretty good week. Lots of good biking and running to and from appointments. We've been able to meet and make appointments with some solid people so we're excited for things to finally get moving in the area. Coming in we didn't really have anyone we were teaching so it's been an incredible blessing that things have been turning around. 

Post Lesson


Our district leader Elder Giles had an amazing experience this week. Our apartment is placed on a steep hill. While on the way down this hill a taxi cut him off pretty hard. Due to the high speeds he took an action movie style drift, put his bike into a pole, and there was a 2-3 second gap of air time before he ate pavement. Due to his hardcore guardian angels he was in much better condition than his bike. The taxi driver gets out and tells him, "it wasn't my fault, hope your okay." Then scurries into the cab and books it for the sunset. The best part is the story doesn't end there. The next day we go into the bike parking to find that his already folded in half bike looked even worse than the night before and there was a ticket on it. We go to the police station and find that it wasn't because of law breaking but because he was a victim. Apparently there has been a mentally disabled man in the area who has been getting up at 2:00 AM, trashing bicycles, and disappearing into the night. He was last seen lifting Elder Giles's bicycle into the air and pile driving it into the asphalt before running from the scene. Elder Giles is now in Kamiooka police records as one of 4 victims in the past 2 weeks. 



This Saturday was an absolute blast. We went over to the Yamate area where we were meeting with a group of people to play basketball. We met up with our man Alec who is from China. He grew up in a town in northern China where the North Korea, China, and Siberia borders meet. He speaks English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese fluently and is crazy good at trash talk on the basketball court. It's hilarious. But we played some ball, and he took us to this awesome Chinese restaurant afterwards (Have I mentioned how much I love Chinese everything) and had an awesome talk. He's starting a young family, wants the best for his son, and really loves The Book of Mormon. We're going to be doing the same thing on Saturday with him but he requested that we have a sit down lesson at the church on top of everything else so we're super stoked. Also he wants to bring us to his house on the coast and teach us how to make Chinese food. It's only been a few weeks and it's already a great transfer. 

Wednesday got hectic! So it snowed Wednesday morning, then by the time night came around it just changed into rain.  Luckily it was one of our busiest days so we were right in the middle of it all! 

Surprise Snow Storm

We had to go drop off some stuff at a member's house but we took the wrong bus so we ended up in a totally different place and we had about 10 minutes to get there, so one miraculously timed bus and couple sprints later we got there on time! We dropped off some stuff, shared a message, and set up a time to visit their neighbor again, just in time to realize we had a conference call in order to plan a big Stake activity. So we found some shelter in a back alley and joined the call. After the call went a lot later than planned we had just enough time to grab a couple onigiri's for dinner and eat them while we ran to another bus.

If you would have asked me about barely having time for dinner and wearing a suit and tie about a year and a half ago, I'd probably chuckle and say you're out of your mind. But The Lord has perfect timing. I think he's given me just the right amount of challenges for me to grow. I'll admit some days are harder than others, but that's alright, everything always works out in the end. That night was one of the most fun nights of my mission. Despite poor conditions there were a lot of laughs and even more confused Japanese people. 

If you've read this far I would suggest 2 scriptures for you to read after. 

Mosiah 4:27: And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.
Enter Kamiooka District

Alma 32:42: And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

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