P-day last week in Nago

At the Nago Aquarium

 

 

I left Naha. It was the hardest transfer I have ever had. The  ward came to the Church for Eikaiwa, because that was when I was leaving. I left with Elder Glover and Sister Sharp (She went home. Just finished her mission). I haven't had that hard of a goodbye since I left you all in Utah. Before Eikaiwa, I went to see Sunagawa Kyoudai (our blind member) and I thought that was hard. At the Eikaiwa, there were lots of tears. Everyone told me to come back to Naha. It was especially hard saying goodbye to the ward mission leader. He's been the best. Naha just became my home and I didn't want to leave. 

 

However, now I'm done with being a Zone Leader. I have a new "special assignment" from Kaicho. I'm in an area called Tamana. It's in Kumamoto, but I live in Omuta......which is in Fukuoka. In other words, I take a 45 minute train ride to my area everyday. There are 0 members that live in my area. I'm part of the Omuta branch, but I can't work with them a ton because MY area is so far away. The area was opened last transfer and nothing happened. Literally. Not one investigator. Kaicho wants me to pick it up. So far, we're doing good. We're finding investigators and stuff, but It's going to be hard getting people to church and stuff like that. Member present lessons will be almost impossible. It's going to be a challenge. However, this will likely be my last area. So, I don't intend to just "Find" every single day. I am going to do everything I can here. 

 

I'm living with Elder Nara and Elder Tabuchi. They don't speak English. And then my comp is Elder Kikuchi from Utah.  There isn't lots of English spoken here. It's fun. I hope I can learn lots of Japanese here.

 

SO, unfortunately, I don't really have anything to tell you all. So far, we've found 2 investigators. It's tough though. We'll see where it goes.

 

So, I hope I have lots to report on next week. I am working my butt off. I hit my bed hard everyday which is a good feeling. I love being a missionary and I'm not going to waste any time.

 

I love you all.

Elder Low 

Well, I didn't get to go to Disneyland. That's too bad. It looks like you all had a lot of fun. I don't recognize Sam anymore.....except that he's wearing my shirt. ;)

I had quite the week. Let me get started.

Transfers. Nothing happened to me. SO I got to spend the day in the airport waiting for people to come in......it was especially stressful because there was a rainstorm so nobody had correct times. So, Elder Gordon and I got to spend the entire day with Elder Chung from Okinawa. He's possibly my favorite missionary in the mission. I just love hanging out with him. He's so funny and really gets how to be a missionary. Because we had so much time, we had to eat TWO meals in the airport. SO expensive. I hated it.

Zone leaders waiting at the airport

Eating at the airport

Eating out

Ice cream!

So, here's the big news this week.

We had a Okinawa conference. All the members for the entire Island. First, we were separated into stakes for the Saturday session. I was translating for an American woman who had a talk. Sister Jennifer Chenney from Logan. She has lived in Okinawa for 7 years and is the best member missionary I've ever heard of. It was such a pleasure to translate for her. While we were waiting for the meeting to begin, I just talked to her about all the people she knew. All the missionaries she'd worked with.

Then we had a surprise visitor interrupt our conversation. Elder Aoyagi came up to me and shook my hand and said, "Elder Low. It's been a while". Then he gave me a big hug. He is the greatest guy. AND his Japanese is SO easy to translate which was a relief.

The next day, we went to Okinawa to meet with everyone on the island. Every missionary in both zones were there. I walked into the meeting and I heard someone calling my name. Brother Miyagi from the Nago ward came up to me and gave me a huge hug. He bought me two little notebooks. Haha, it was a very thoughtful present. Then he grabbed my hand and dragged me around the HUGE church and introduced me to everyone he knew among the members....which I was surprised at how many that was. He apparently talks about me a lot. All the Nago missionaries laughed and said, "We know, Brother Miyagi. You've told us before". I was so Ureshi.

Then, in stake conference, it was proposed that he would receive the Melchezedic. Priesthood. It was the greatest experience. He was so happy and everyone knew him. He's now building the church.

In other news, the two Okinawan stakes combined and so did the Naha wards....so we now have 8 missionaries in our ward. It's getting really busy over here. We might grow a little bit as a zone as well because of the reorganization of wards. It was pretty nuts. We watched Elder Aoyagi release entire wards. It was kinda sad. Entire wards closed and were combined with others. Nago became a branch. We have lots of work in Okinawa.

Anyway, that was the big news my week. As far as the work, it's SO hot. We sweat all day long. It's great though! I love talking to people. We've met some really awesome people in the last week and now that we have so many missionaries in our ward, I have some really cool Dendo ideas. We'll let you know how it goes!

 

Exhausted in Weekly Planning

 

Weekly plan like a BOSS! Elder Otani always said. 私たちは末日のくみちょうだよ！！！

(We are the boss of the latter-days.) He's way funny.

Love you all. Thanks for photos!

Elder Low

So, this week was a little rough. We got a surprise call on Tuesday afternoon. President called all the zone leaders for a Mission Leader Council. So, Elder Gordon and I left the next day to Fukuoka with the Ginowan zone leaders. Those Ginowan zone leaders are the best. They are fun and fun to be around, but they also know how to be missionaries.

So, we all went to MLC thinking that we were going to get yelled at. However, it was a really good meeting. Kaicho asked everyone to share specific plans in order to achieve our goals. We shared that one of our goals was to get the missionaries every teaching opportunity as possible. There are so many wards in the zone that ask the missionaries to teach Gospel Principles and we usually try to give that to the ward, but we talked about how maybe that's a really good teaching chance for the missionaries. When we shared that at MLC though, it seemed that a lot of the missionaries were bugged about it.

Some of the other zone leaders were talking about how Japanese isn't important to be a successful missionary. I think they might have had the impression that I'm leading a Japanese school. In the end, President backed me up and said he really liked the idea. Later in the meeting, he actually committed all of us to be teaching as many lessons as possible....including Gospel Principles in order for the missionaries to be able to speak more fluidly. I think a lot of the missionaries in the mission aren't learning this language. It's so difficult.

So, this Sunday, I gave a talk in church. I talked about the blessings of sharing the gospel. I talked about Mom and Dad and their "How they met" story. (by the way, all the missionaries in my mission think my parents have the cutest story. KACHAOW!) The ward seemed to be really touched. It was wonderful. After that, we taught Gospel Principles class, because the ward asked us to and then we taught a special PMG class to the youth of the ward. That's going to start being a thing here. The bishop was really pleased with us this last week.

As far as the work, our area has had a lot of neglect recently. We had the week away in Miyako and the week away with the Yonabaru issue and the trip to Fukuoka. All of our investigators have kinda disappeared. I was so upset with our numbers last night. However, we are going to pick it up this week. We still have our couple and we're going to go find a couple more people this week so we can start teaching people again. Our golden couple's appointment was the day that we were scheduled to come to Fukuoka so we had to postpone our meeting, but they are doing really well. I'm SO excited to meet them again. They are SO cool! I can' wait.

Anyway, thank you all for your support. I am overwhelmed with all your emails of encouragement. I feel pretty special. So thank you. I love you all so much.

Going to make you proud,

Elder Low

Sam got braces. OOOhhhhh that's rough. I hate them.....but when they come off, the girls won't be able to stay away from him....be careful.

 

I'm still the District leader. I was so happy when I heard that I got to stay. I love being district leader. Unfortunately, I lost my son. Elder Anderson transferred. He went to NAGO. I was so excited. He was too. He's going to pick up all my investigators and meet Miyagi Kyoudai.

 

Transfer day. Last time with Elder Anderson.

Click any photo to enlarge.

 

 

It's really exciting. Also, I got to talk to Elder Alger when we called Nago to figure out transfers. He's training a bean this transfer.....So, I'm a missionary grandfather.....Kinda crazy.

 

Also, I'm training for the third time. My new comp is Elder Chantry from Orem Utah. He's a pretty awesome guy. He just graduated from high school so he's 18 years old. He's kinda a quiet guy. I worry sometimes that he's getting homesick, but at other times, he won't stop freaking out about being in Japan and how exciting it is. I'm just glad he's obedient and has a testimony and is genki. That's what I want. OH and he eats fish unlike Elder Anderson....so I can cook fish again! :)

 

Elder Low and Elder Chantry

 

 

 

I had the opportunity of Dendo-ing with Elder Tagawa and Elder Coehol. That was transfer day so I spent all day waiting in Nagasaki for our new companions. It was SOOO much fun. They are both super experienced missionaries and I learned so much. I guess that is the down side of being a trainer. I had WAY too much fun working with them. We taught with so much power and people were so interested. We even found a guy from Spain and Elder Coehol talked to him in Portuguese and the guy spoke in Spanish and somehow they understood each other.....It was SO fun. :)

 

Work in Isahaya is a little bit rough. We are getting rejected a lot. Standard missionary life. We taught a ton of lessons on the street and while housing, but nobody accepted the message. It's so heartbreaking seeing people who need the gospel so much...and then they shut it down. "We are Buddhist. We can never change. It's who we are." I am so sick of hearing that. I ask if they knew it was true, would they not change and they tell me it's impossible. It's so sad.

 

However, we will find the people that God is preparing for us. They are somewhere and we are praying and fasting to know where. As rough as it is being shut down and rejected, I love being a missionary. I always would joke and say I wanted to be a super hero when I grew up when I was a little kid.....but I kinda feel like one now. I wear a cool suit everyday, and I help people. It is the best. 

 

We aren't giving up.

Love,

Elder Low

August 27, 2013 - Transfers this week...

So, I'm sorry, but I still don't know where I'm going....or if I'm going at all. I do know this though: The AP's called me the other day. (Elder Monson. He's the one who's related to the Baer family. He's a boss) He said, next transfer I'll be training......again. Haha, I'm only 5 transfers into the mission and president is making me trainer again. I'm kinda worried about it. I've been really stressed recently. I'm really upset that Elder Alger and I aren't going to be comps next transfer. He's an awesome missionary and I loved working with him. :)

 

Elder Alger hard at work. 

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

 

 

Now I'm all worried that they are going to give me a comp who is a picky eater or is hard to get along with. I think Elder Alger was pretty easy to train because He was such a great missionary and soooo easy to get along with.

 

Also, if I do transfer, I'm worried about Y-san. I guess that's something I need to get used to. I'm going to transfer many times in my mission. I can't stay in the same place forever, and I don't want to. I just hope that she keeps meeting with the missionaries. She's so close!

 

In other news, my zone leader Elder Hammond is the new AP. He's perfect for it too. I'm really excited for him. I'm a little bummed that he's not my zone leader anymore, but that's ok.

 

So, this week, there was this man who came to our church. He said he needed our help so we sat down with him. He then went on about how the Nuclear Powerplants in Japan are going to be the end of the world and how he needed our help to call New Zealand so he can immigrate there. He said we should leave Okinawa ASAP. We barely were able to teach him anything. He didn't really believe us because he said that if there was a god, we wouldn't have the nuclear problem. I felt really bad for him. I don't want to live a fearful life and I refuse to. I'm happy and I want to stay that way.

 

Also this week, some English Class students took us out to Yakiniku. It was the best. They are the sweetest people. We tried to share a small message, but they weren't super interested. They said they had their own ways of life. They were very sweet though.

 

Our English class students and their son.

 

And then there is L. She's the one I was talking about that said she can't be happy because her son is missing. She's getting worse every day. I asked her how she spends her days. She says she sits on Youtube and watches what a terrible world this is. Then she tried to show me and Elder Alger a video of people being burned alive in Kenya. I was freaking out. Haha, I just told her we couldn't watch but she kept trying to show us. I then started thinking about Mormon Messages. I asked her to look up Mountains to Climb. She stopped watching those horrifying videos and pulled it up. I think it really impacted her. I hope she sees that there are thousands of reasons to smile if she just lets herself. I assigned her to stop watching horrible videos that make her sad and she agreed. I hope she watches more Mormon Messages.

 

Our clean apartment. (Parents are stunned.)

 

 

That's all the news I have this week. I might have time to drop by the church and let you know where I'm going next transfer. If not, I'll let you know next week. Wherever I am, I'll do my best to work hard!

 

 

 

Elder Low

August 19, 2013

Pretty exhausted this week.

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

So, next week, you'll be getting emails from me on Tuesday instead of Monday because we get transfer calls next week again. I'm starting to wonder if I'll still be in Nago. My zone leader was talking to me about it and said he thinks I'm going to be replacing my district leader. I think that's a little too much, but I don't know.

Here are the sisters in our zone.....yeah, there are a lot!

 

 

So, at zone p-day. While the sisters were over eating by the couple. I was stitting by these goof balls. Haha, I love them.

 

 

 

 

I had a really successful week with Elder Alger this week. We had more contacts than any other missionaries in the zone this week. It was really awesome. We also have 4 new investigators that look really really promising.

 

In other news, Y-san called me again this week. I've been really worried about her because we really haven't had a specific lesson in three weeks, but she called to tell me about her stituation. She says that she thinks her cancer isn't very serious, but that she is still freaking out. She actually finds out today whether or not she can meet with us THIS week. However, she did tell me some really good things. I asked her how she was handling her stress and she said that she's been praying like crazy.

 

I asked her how that has helped her. She said that she feels like it usually calms her down, but she had a really bad worry about her mother. Her mother had to go have another check up in the Hospital. (Yeah, they both go to the hospital ALL the time) She said she was praying for her mother so hard and praying that she would be able to function that day and not worry about her mother. That day, her mother came back from the hospital. The doctor was surprised to tell her that her sickness had gone from dangerous to full recovery.

 

She told that to me and it didn't register at first. I was absolutely shocked. Her mom is fine now. When she was talking to me on the phone, she was just bawling and thanking me and telling me that she really REALLY needs to meet us. I was so happy to hear that and I'm so excited to meet her again. The only problem is she is always going to the hospital. We are having the whole ward pray for her. She's been prepared......we just need to meet her.

 

Elder Alger and I gave talks about the temple yesterday. He was pretty upset about it.........Haha, I remember my first talk in Nago didn't go so well either. He is freaking out about language. Haha, he's doing good though. That's our major focus. I feel bad, but I keep throwing him in the deep end and make him contact people and see how much he can teach on his own.....I think he's learning fast though.

Other than that, we are excited to work with these new investigators. We'll keep working hard.

 

Love,

Elder Low

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

First Baptism

Hello Low Family, 

I just thought you would like to see what your son looks like heading to his first baptism....

Here's the newest member on the island and the 2 Elders from Isikawa and the 2 Elders from Nago and Elder Williams.  (Click on any photo to enlarge.)

It is such a pleasure to serve with your son, we just LOVE him.. He is such a great missionary....
Elder and Sister Williams

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

June 4, 2013

At Nago Falls

Click on any photo to enlarge.

 

 

Another week in Nago gone by...but I'm dying right now. Today, we receive our transfer calls and I'm getting so anxious! Elder Gandy and I pretty much hate everything about waiting for transfer calls. A lot of people in the zone know what's going on because they found out early from President. I feel like everyone in the zone knows what they are doing except Elder Gandy and I. Also, we have NO idea what's going to happen. Last transfer, we were both pretty sure that we weren't going anywhere......and we didn't.....but now we don't know.

 

So, the rain has been so mild recently that we don't put on our rainsuits......that sounds really dumb, but we usuallly get more wet from sweat than rain when we put on our rainsuits. Yeah.....the weather is pretty much the worst part of the mission right now. It's really hard. Haha, we usually take two or three showers a day because.....we have to.

 

This last week, we had Stake conference. At stake conference, President Gustafsen came with two general authorities. The only two Japanese general Authorities. Elder Aoyagi and Elder Nakatsuka. They were really awesome. Also, we had our investigators at Stake Conference. One of them drove us. He's really progressing. I hope I can stay in Nago so that I can Baptize him. :)

 

I talked to president about Elder Wirthlin. He's super excited for him to come......but I'm freaking out right now. I can't wait! My zone is going to have four beans.....so there is slots that Elder Wirthlin can fill!! If he's in my zone, that would be so awesome.

 

Really quickly.....you said that I probably won't be Elder Wirthlin's trainer.... I was thinking I wouldn't go trainer this transfer, but President called Elder Gandy and said there was a mix up in the Honbu and long story short, he was wondering if Elder Gandy thinks I'm ready to be a trainer........That's another reason why Elder Gandy and I are freaking out right now. I might have to go trainer. I'm super nervous. However, on the upside, I'm super happy that President even considered me to be a trainer.

 

Other than that, not a lot happened this last week.

 

This work is really moving along. In district meeting, we had our farewell to Elder Kurose and it was so so sad. He had everyone bear their testimonies. He's an amazing missionary and I'm very grateful I had the chance to work with him. Haha, I also was very happy that I could understand what he was saying. The gift of tongues is working miracles out here.

 

With Elder Kurose

 

 

The spirit of coming on a mission is really strange. I never thought that I could feel like I'm constantly feeling the spirit. It's amazing and all thsoe who still are not planning on going on a mission......if they don't come, they are missing on the biggest testimony builder possible. I'm so grateful for all the prayers from home and I guess you'll all find out what's happenening with transfers soon.

With the District at the Aquarium

Elder Kurose made Kimchi Nabe

It was sooo good.

 

Okinawa Shaved Ice

 

 

Love,

Elder Low