Hello everyone! So, I'm not sick this week. That's pretty good!

 

Here are some pics of my sick day last week.

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Haha, however, we did have a bit of a rough week. I'm super grateful for Elder Anderson though. He's super good at keeping up a good attitude. I think he wrote "Kekkou me" ("Tell me 'No Thanks'") on my forehead though.....cuz we are getting denied a lot. It's ok though. We still had a cool miracle this week.

We had the Halloween party this week and we were in charge of planning it with a newly married couple in the branch. It was a blast.....but it was busy. I am glad we don't have to do it again this week, because we didn't have a ton of time to work. We put up all the decorations and stuff the night before and had to shop for treats......(Yeah, I'm taking credit for some of the treats.....but most of the cool stuff was the members)

 

 

At the Halloween Party

 

 

Also, a cool little miracle: Elder Anderson and I found a less active member that had not met missionaries for around ten years. I think I wrote a little about her before. Anyway, we focused on her a lot because we felt like she was a pretty lonely lady. So, we asked her to come to the Halloween party....and she did! She brought her daughter and her friend and they had a blast. It was the best! She was so happy with the branch and she was glowing. I was so happy.

At the party, the branch asked the missionaries to sing a song as "mummies," but we didn't have lots of time to prep......so we sang three blind mice in a minor key....yeah. It was really sad.

 

 

But Okajima Kaicho (Branch President) was super happy that we got her there because he had never met her. He is actually really happy about all the stuff we're doing. He's the best.

Also, yesterday, I gave a talk on Sunday.....They asked me to talk about the word of wisdom. Oh, and they asked me about an hour before church started. Haha, it was a really awkward talk. The members came to me and told me it was cute.......usually not a good sign. hahaha.

Other than that, we haven't had a lot going on. I am loving being a district meeting and tomorrow we are going to Fukuoka for a zone conference. I'm super pumped!

 

Adding new furniture for our two new elders

 

 

Really though, even though I keep on getting denied....I'm having so much fun. I have never been so motivated to work hard. I worry about the young men in the 8th Ward sometimes. I hope they all get on a mission. I wish I had prepared for this more when I was a deacon or a priest. I always wanted to go, but I didn't realize how big of a deal it is. Some of the people out here have NEVER even thought about God. They don't have any of the amazing blessings we get from this church.

I guess I kinda took it for granted when I was at home. We really have the happiest lifestyle on this earth and it is because we are so blessed by a Heavenly Father who loves us. We have the WHOLE truth.

I love this work and I'm working hard.

 

 

A Japanese Graveyard

 

 

 

 

I love you all and miss you.

Elder Low

So.....today I'm sick....Haha, yeah. However, not sick enough to be in bed. I threw up this morning....which is the best of ways to get up. I feel much better after that though. Still a little weak. I think it might have been something I ate. We were a little short on food this week so I had to kinda dig around to find food on Sunday.....and I think it made me a little sick. I'm fine though.

 

Also, as you can see in my pictures, I'm super busy. On Thursday, the whole zone went to Sasebo for zone training meeting. It was awesome to meet the whole zone......Also, I had to do the translations for the Japanese Elders.....that's how young our zone is. My zone leaders are both as old as I am. So that was fun. It made me feel really stupid. The Japanese Elders were super nice about it and stuff.....but I think they might have been a little confused with my Japanese.

 

The zone

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Lunch with the zone.

 

Travelling with the zone

 

That night, I stayed in Nagasaki city and had a really awesome experience with one of the brand new missionaries. His name is Elder Fender and he JUST graduated from high school. We were walking down the street in Nagasaki and there was a man that Elder Fender ran up to and started testifying......He's pretty fearless. I just kinda stood back....but the man seemed to be getting really angry. Soon, the man pointed at him and said he didn't want to talk at all. He seemed......pretty ticked so I thought it was a good idea to jump in. I told him that we were just sharing a message that has brought us lots of joy. He then told us about how an hour earlier, he got divorced and lost custody of his children and he didn't want to talk to anyone. He also said something like, "Where is God? Not in my life." I began to testify about how it was no coincidence that he ran into us when he did. I told him that God was in his life, but he hasn't noticed yet. I gave him my number and told him to give us a call.....and then he started crying.

 

He said he needed time to calm down and then he would call. Then he grabbed my planner and said if he doesn't call in a week, call him. He wrote his name and address and phone number in my planner. It was quite a miracle. Haha, Elder Fender was so excited.....of course I was too. :)

 

The next day, I got on a train to Fukuoka. President asked me to help him in training a bunch of younger missionaries. It was SCARY. He had me get up in front of the AP'S and all the other missionaries there and tell them what I was doing last transfer and what I plan to do next transfer and he asked questions about everything. What was working and what wasn't. It was good though.

 

At the mission home

At District Leader training with the President

 

Then I took a train back home.

 

Long week. Also, We had a fireside in church about how the members can help us with dendo. It was really good...but there was a member who contradicted everything we said and told us that it was the missionaries job to find people.......I'm pretty sure he was sleeping during conference or something because I think that someone might have said something about member missionary work.....I don't know.

 

Anyway, the work is going well.

 

 

Other than that, I'm loving the work out here.

 

 

Preparing lunch

Looks heavenly

 

 

I miss you all.

Elder Low

We have a new exciting adventure here in Isahaya. We just went 4 man! Yes, I'm still with Elder Anderson and we got Elder Tagawa from Tokyo Japan and another Elder Anderson from Idaho......Yeah. We call them the Elders Anderson....Kinda difficult. It's a party though. Elder Tagawa taught me to cook some cool stuff and everyone gets along really well. Elder Anderson and I were on our bikes yesterday and he turned to me and said "Something feels different. I think this is going to be a much better transfer".

 

 

 

I have felt super awesome this last week. We didn't get a lot of work done (but still managed to find 2 new investigators) but Sister Gustafsen has been calling me all week. I'm in charge of buying new desks and wardrobes and stuff for the Isahaya apartment. So I have been riding around to fancy stores in my suit and feeling super professional. I love doing things for Sister Gustafsen. I think she likes me to do things like this because I was helping her make all the beds in Honbu my first week in Japan. Haha, I don't know. Sometimes I miss doing home chores. (Parental note: Who is this person and what did he do to our son?)

 

Today, I have to spend 350 dollars on furniture. I asked Elder Tagawa to help me with all the vocabulary for today....I don't talk about shelf sizes and delivery service very often when teaching the gospel....

 

Other than that, we had general conference and I had to watch the whole thing in Japanese....We have the DVD so I can watch them later but Elder Tagawa can't do English so I had to sit with him in the Japanese Session....It was pretty good. I can understand ONE talk at a time....but it takes so much focus and concentration that the next talk, I'm mentally wasted and fall asleep..So I understood about half the talks. ;)

 

I get to speak Japanese all the time now and I love it. This transfer is going to be SOO much better than the last one. My zoneleaders said that they expect great things from this area and we are already seeing miracles.

 

We'll keep working hard.

 

 

 

I love you all.

Elder Low

So, I have had a really long week. The saddest part is that not a lot of things happened. We had a cleaning check....don't worry. We passed with a 'Celestial' rating. As you may have seen in my pictures, I also went to a Branch Camp. It was kinda a long thing....We spent all day up in the mountains just to share a short message. I felt like it was a little too long. BUT I got really close to my Branch.

 

Our branch at Branch Camp. The Branch President is wearing the red shirt.

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Right now, I'm in Nagasaki because we were going to pickup Elder Anderson's bike....but now we have a problem and probably can't get his bike. There is a huge typhoon coming and....we might all be stuck in the church all day. I'm actually pretty excited about it. My branch president called me and let me know about it and told me to stay inside. Haha, so here I am.

 

I'm kinda struggling with the area. We don't have lots of people to visit so we're trying super hard to find new investigators.....but it's been tough.

 

Here we are out on the street, doing our job.

 

 

 

Also, R has been a little bit difficult to meet. He doesn't have a car or anything to transport himself around for work so he's always walking around......and he's really hard to meet. But he's doing some great things with his life. He quit alcohol and he's working on tea. Also, he's going to see his family in Kagoshima pretty soon here. :)

 

At the station, headed to district meeting

My district

 

 

 

 

We've been trying really hard to fix up a bunch of the things in the area. When I got here, there were a lot of things that were being done on a weekly basis. Things that .......are not super important. So, we want to cancel them.......but it's hard because people in the area are really comfortable with these weekly things....but we need to be doing more important things!

 

So, today is transfer calls. I'm not too worried about it. I am pretty sure I'm staying. I'll let you know though. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm losing one of my comps. Elder Just has been here for a while and I think he's going to be heading off to another area.

 

Anyway, I think I'm staying with Elder Anderson which I'm really excited about.

 

I don't have anything really to report on. I'll let you know how the transfers go. I love you all and I'll try to stay safe in the Typhoon!

 

Love,

Elder Low