August 11, 2013

Sunset at Nago Beach

(Click any photo to enlarge)

 

 

 

So, I got no email from you guys this week. I'm sure it's because you are enjoying the happiest place on earth. The picture wth Brothers Monson and Wirthlin is the best. I'm super jealous that you're there.

 

I got the photo album and it's perfect. Thank you so so much. I'm already putting it to use. The pants also work great. I'm 32-34, but I think I'm good on pants right now. I went to Uniqlo recently and got some really good ones. :)

 

This week was pretty boring actually. Not a lot happened. We had a cleaning check from one of the sister missionaries and it was not so good.....not because we weren't clean.....but for really dumb reasons. Let me give you some examples. I know you're probably thinking we just weren't clean, but this is really some of the things we got marked off on:

 

• There is no air conditioner in the sleeping room.....I don't know how we can fix that for her. It costs about 400 bucks.
• Elder Alger got in trouble because of the way his suitcase was laying in the closet. It was laying flat. She marked him down because it wasn't on it's side.
• Our front room closet is full of tools and stuff. They don't belong there. They need to be somewhere else (I don't know where else we can put them......when I came to the apartment, that's where they've always been and I've been here for 5 months.)
• She said I need to find a new place for my machine for my asthma.....I don't know why. I just keep it on the top shelf of my closet
• Ok, this is the one that gets me the most angry. The first thing she did when she walked in was told us that she wasn't going to take off her shoes because she's old and American and so she didn't take off her shoes......and then, she started leaving dirt around our floor and she said, that we didn't clean our floor. Her husband said, "Well, we didn't take our shoes off....I think that's the reason there is dirt on the floor". If he wouldn't have said anything, I might have blown up.

Elder Alger was so ticked. My other cleaning checks have all been really good. That was another thing. She was going through our past cleaning check lists and they all said things like, "really good apartment" and "Everything is in good shape" and she complained about that too. Haha, so Elder Alger and I were really bugged by that.

That cleaning check took a good amount of time and so our work that day wasn't so good. Also, this week we had a zone conference in Naha, so we had to spend Thursday night in Okinawa city. That wiped out two more days of work in Nago. Our numbers were really bad this week. Anyway, we had a really good conference in Naha, and it's always nice to see all the missionaries and President. President bragged about us and how we have been growing.

At Zone Conference. 3 generations of missionaries. My bean and my trainer. :)

Also, this week we had a ward bbq and was actually really good. The bishop opened up to us. Things are looking better.

One last thing. Y-san called us this week and canceled her meeting with us. She has to go to the hospital on the day we had set.....turns out she has cancer. She's freaking out. I'm really worried about her. She still prays and reads everyday, but we haven't been able to meet her for TOO long now. I hope we can keep helping her.

Anyway, I got to go catch a bus. We're spending P-day with the zone today. Until next week

Love,
Elder Low

August 5, 2013

M-san was Baptized and it was amazing. I'm so happy for him. I'm just happy that he made it. He's so happy. He keeps calling us and telling us thank you. He's such a funny guy.

Click any photo to enlarge.

 

 

After the actual Ordinance, M-san started crying and bowing and thanking me. I was so happy. I'd never seen him cry before. It was so powerful.

Our president asked all the missionaries to take a break on Thursday because we made a goal for every companionship to have a baptism in July. On August first, we all took a break. It was really nice. My District went to the Aquarium.

 

 

 

 

This week was crazy. We were very lucky to have a break on Thursday. President is so awesome. Everyone in the mission had a nice break and then we worked hard again on Friday.

This week before the baptism was pretty intense. We have a couple new investigators and they are looking pretty good.

 

So, I got the package with the Pants. Thank you. They are super helpful. I still have to do laundry every three days but I am glad I don't always have to wear suit pants.

 

Other than that, Elder Alger and I are having a blast out here. He's really easy to get along with.

 

 

 

Also, I get to go to Naha this weekend for a surprise zone conference. So I get to see President again. I'm really pumped.

I'm going to keep trying to survive the heat. I have to drink so much water and I shower everytime I enter the Apartment. We are always sweating.

We'll keep pushing forward

Love,

Elder Low

July 8, 2013 - Hot in Nago!

So, I didn't have time to respond to a lot last week. Sorry about that. We had Zone P-day. First of all, it is hot. I know you were saying that you checked Nago and that it is 83 degrees or something. Yeah, that's crap. I don't know where you looked up that weather but that sounds like it would be beautiful right now. At about midnight, our little thermometer in our room gets below 95. It's hot and humid and I think I do laundry every day. We have to take showers up to three times a day. It's almost always above 95 if not 100 degrees. I've never been so hot in my entire life. I never thought that having the water heater off is still too hot to shower in. It is HOT!

 

So, our P-day was a blast, but we had some problems. The P-day was all the Okinawan missionaries. The Ginowan zone and the Naha zone. It was lots of fun.....but one elder broke his wrist right before the p-day. He got hit by a car and broke his wrist. It was pretty bad. He sat in the heat while the Williams couple drove around Okinawa looking for him. Poor Elder Grimmer has to have surgery tomorrow for his wrist.

 

The Ginowan zone....and the food. The poor Williams couple did so much for us AND had to deal with Elder Grimmer's arm. They are the best. P.S. they are from Fruit Heights. They keep telling me that when I get home they want to take me to Wingers.

 

 

A self timer photo on the beach of Okinawa. Everyone got crazy sunburned.....except the Nihonjin......and Elder Low. Just looking really dark. :)

 

Me and Elder Hammond (ZL) on the beach.

 He's pretty much the best!

 

 

Then, this week, four missionary bikes were stolen. Don't worry, mine wasn't one of them because I lock my bike. Unfortunately, two of the bikes WERE locked. Those two bikes were the two Okinawan sisters bikes. And another one of the bikes was Elder Grimmer's.......yeah, he had a really rough week this week. The fourth bike was my district leader's...........he just didn't lock it. Haha.

 

So, bad news this week. I think we've lost one of our investigators. He stopped coming to church and he told us to cancel his baptismal date. He doesn't want to think about life after death or baptism he "just want to keep praying and meeting on Wednesdays". Then, on Wednesday, he left a message on our phone ten minutes before our appointment and told us that he's tired and isn't coming. When I called him back to try to schedule another day, he told me "I'll just see you next Wednesday, k?" Needless to say, I'm pretty disappointed. He was getting so excited and I KNOW he's felt the Spirit.

 

On the Up-side, we have another who is going SOOO well. She still hasn't come to church because of her sick mother but she is keeping all her commitments and always getting excited to meet. She says "It always brightens my day". Although she's moving very slow (because she still can't come to church) she's moving. And if it keeps up, she'll get baptized for sure. The sad thing is I'll probably transfer before that happens. Do you realize that I've spent this WHOLE time in Nago?

 

I'm on transfer three which is usually the killer. By the way, next week is transfer calls so my p-day will be on Tuesday. So, we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll be an eternal Nago missionary. A lot of missionaries on Okinawa have been here FOREVER. My zone leader spent five transfers in Futenma and now is the ZL and has been for the last 3 transfers. He only has six more months on his mission. He's had 3 areas total. Two of them have been on Okinawa. I might be on this island for longer than I expected.

 

We have another investigator who will be baptized this month. When this month? I'm not sure yet. However, if he gets more excited, he might die. Haha, he tells EVERYONE. He's a delivery man and we saw him talking to this man by the bus stop......he was talking about his baptism and how excited he is. Hahaha, he makes me smile. I'm really excited for him.

 

Anyway, that's this week. Next week, I have a day in Ishikawa, a day in Okinawa, and not a lot of free time to Dendo.....which is weird. Usually we just ride our bikes around for hours in the heat. I'm really excited for it and can't wait to tell you all about it.

 

Me and Elder Monson.

 

 

Until next week. I love you all

Elder Low