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 

Me and Elder Glover in downtown Naha

 

As far as this week, we were in the rain a lot. It was kinda rough, but we saw some good things happen. First, we went out to eat with the couple missionaries. We had the cleanest  apartment in the zone so they took us up on base to eat. It was way fun....but kinda crazy. The Military bases are pretty strict. I thought that it would be nice because everyone is American and we would fit in.....Haha, I was wrong. We weren't allowed to wear our nametags, but EVERYONE knew who we were. It was still nice though.

This week, we had a mission wide goal to have 200 non members in Sacrament meeting. It was a pretty huge goal because this mission has never broken 100. We got the whole zone pumped up and we all worked hard to achieve this goal. Elder Gordon and I were able to take C san and F san to church, as well as a couple older investigators. In the end, the mission was able to achieve the goal with 208 non members at church. It was a miracle. I'm sure Kaicho is having a party in the Honbu.

So, you remember how I told you about how C san is kinda interesting? So, he went to his Baptist church last week and broke his foot there. He thinks that it might have been God punishing him. Haha, so he's getting easier to meet. It's been great.

Today, our wonderful Ward mission leader is taking all the missionaries to the Aquarium. That one up in Nago! :) I'm pretty excited. Nobody else in Naha has gone, so they are all freaking out. However, today is transfer day. I'm pretty nervous. I'm the most likely to leave the zone. I've been here the longest. ....but I don't really want to go. I'm pretty nervous about it. I would be fine finishing my mission here, but I don't think that's what's in store. I'll go wherever I'm asked.....but I'm kinda scared.

Anyway, that's pretty much how my week has been. Lots of working hard in the rain and sun. I love Okinawa and the people here. It's the best.

The district

Dinner at the Camachos

 

I love you all.

Another busy week this week. The month of August was a difficult one. I'm really excited to start up a new month.

Interesting thing happened this week. Do you remember me writing home about a C san? He had a Baptismal date a while ago, but we had to drop him because he's a Baptist and doesn't "need" to go to the Mormon church. He was dropped back in March or April. This last week, he came back. He called me and asked if we could meet. He's kinda a awkward guy, so the conversation was very quick.

"Hello?"

"This is C. Can you meet at the Church?"

".....Oh. Hi.....right now?"

"Yes"

"....Yeah, I think so"

"Ok"

 

Then there was a click and it was over. Haha, he showed up and we were lucky to have a member there with short such notice. He came and sat down and started talking about how great the Baptist church is and that we should go see it. I asked him why he wanted to meet and he said that he had a question about the Bible. He opened it up and it was marked up like crazy. Then he told me that recently, he can't feel God when he reads the Bible. I asked him if he had been reading the Book of Mormon. He said that he hadn't because it's not the word of God. So, we gave him the challenge to read the Book of Mormon to see if it was the Word of God. Then we testified that it was and promised him that he would feel God if he read it.

 

Long story short, the Book of Mormon won. He's meeting us again. That was exciting.

 

Also, we took F san to church yesterday. However, he couldn't come to our ward so Elder Gordon and I did six hours of church Yesterday. It was LONG. I was way tired, but It was WAY good to have F at church. He's progressing again. 

 

We also had an activity teaching "District meeting" to all the young men in the ward. It was really great. We taught companionship unity. It was so fun. We did "Duffy san Mogi lessons" In other words, I took my little stuffed Duffy to the church and he was our investigator. It was fun and the young men got excited. I thought it was a blast.

 

Last night, we also had a dinner with a ward family. The Yoza family. Brother Yoza was the brother who fought in the war of Okinawa when he was 16 years old. Also, his daughter lives in Machida! He is the most interesting person. I could talk to him forever. He's REALLY intense too. He is SO Japanese. 

 

Dinner at the Yoza's

The Food

 

 

In all, it was a pretty good week.

 

Elder Miyanishi is ready for his steak.

At Han's Steakhouse

With Elder Kemp overlooking Naha

 

 

 

Love you all,

Elder Low

Naha skies. You never know when it will rain.

So, another tough one this week. Mostly busy, but it was good. We had interviews on Wednesday with President which was great. I spent the entire day at the church translating for the Japanese Elders and Sisters. It was a pretty long day.  I was the last person to be interviewed and Kaicho was pretty worn out, so I didn't have lots of time to talk to him. It was a quick talk about the Zone and what we were going to to do.

AP's and the Naha Elders

Also, I had the chance to go out to Itoman to do splits. It was a really good exchange. I was really impressed with the Elders there. I worked with Elder Silver. He's a really hard worker. Elder Silver has a lot of confidence and he knows the vision. I had a lot of fun working with him.

With Elder Silver on the beach at Itoman

In other news, we saw Brother K yesterday. He's really struggling. He has a hernia and can hardly move. His diabetes is also getting pretty bad. He didn't come to church. He seemed pretty upset about that. He really really wants to go to church because he gets depressed when he's not there. We're working on getting him there.

F san is doing well. He also didn't come to church this week, but we were able to meet with him and talk about some more commandments and he is willing to follow them. He's pretty solid. I think he's still a little bit nervous for Baptism, but we still have a little bit of time with him.

Surprisingly, I find that the more I learn Japanese, the harder it gets to talk to people. I actually know that they are denying me. Haha, it's forcing me to be a lot more bold, but I think it's a good thing. I'm learning to be "politely bold". Haha, I had a couple bad experiences before. I'm getting better though.

Dinner at a member's house

So, we had a the worst garbage experience ever. Because of weather, the garbage person wasn't able to come for a really long time, so we've kept our garbage bags out on the balcony. They rescheduled a day, but we had Elders staying in our apartment that day and totally forgot about it. We remembered when we heard the song (In Japan, icecream truck songs are played on garbage trucks) and we freaked out. We ran out to the balcony and grabbed all the garbage to take it down. As we were running down the stairs, Elder Miyanishi broke one of the bags and a REALLY old onion and it's juices started to poor out. Elder Miyanishi started freaking out! "うんこよりもくさい!!!!"　I'm sure everyone in the apartment heard it. In the end, we missed the truck and had a HUGE garbage clean up. Because the garbage broke at the top of the stairs, the juices dripped ALL the way down and the entire apartment complex from floor 5 to 1 smelled worse than......Haha, well, Elder Miyanishi said it best. We had to clean the ENTIRE apartment complex. It only took about an hour, but it was crazy. Everyone in the apartment was really kind and had a sense of humor so we didn't get into trouble, but it was nuts.

Anyway, that was my week. It's going well. Still loving the work and the people here. I love you all.

Elder Low

So, I had a busy week this week. Not a lot happened. I'm still in Naha.....and I am happy that way. I was really worried to leave. This has been my longest area, but I really really love it here. BUT because of transfers this week, I got to do the big Airport day on Thursday. All day long waiting for new missionaries in the Airport. I didn't take pictures this time because it was really boring. We just....sat. At one point we tried to weekly plan, but that didn't work super well. It was a long boring day. We're really excited about the new missionaries in our zone though. They are all way cool! We also have a new bean sister missionary. We'll see how that goes.

This last week, we met with F san twice. He is progressing like an animal. He said that he knows God is guiding his life and he LOVES to pray. Before, he was telling us that God doesn't exist. So, that is huge progress. Here's the problem. He has lots anxiety problems and he came to church a couple weeks ago.....and he knew one of the members that gave a talk that week. He said that he didn't really get along with the member because the live across the street from each other and are always fighting......so now, he doesn't want to come to church because K kyoudai is there. So, there's something we need to work on....

Typhoon season is getting pretty crazy. We had another day inside. President called me and told me to assign the zone to teach three hour long lessons to their companion and then report back to him that night. I'm sure Jake and Jon can testify that teaching lessons to your companion is SO awful. Nobody likes it. But the whole zone did it so that was good. :) I didn't want to have to tell president that nobody in the zone did it because they don't like to practice with their companion.

Some other sad news. There is a convert in this ward....she baptized maybe a week before I got here. Her name is A. Everyone just calls her Popo. She left for Virginia to do a nanny job. She's been really struggling with the church. I also found out that her Baptism was WAY too rushed. There wasn't even a member of the ward at the Baptism. Not even bishopric. So, now we can't really help her. We gave her addresses to churches around where she lives. I really hope she goes.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for the week. From what I hear, there is a huge Typhoon coming this next week so we probably won't get to work a ton on Wednesday and Thursday. It's supposed to be worse than the last one. We'll have to get all emergency stuff ready and stuff like that.....Ugh. I would much rather Dendo.

Anyway, Love you all and I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Low

Sunset in Naha

So, first things first, I have to ask you for a favor. Our mission has asked every missionary to complete the "my family" pamphlet by September. We're starting to use them for family history. I'm sure you've seen it, but in order to fill it out, I need Kanji for all the names on Mom's side of the family and I also am going to need pictures of the grandparents. I need to get that packet filled out ASAP. If you could do that it would be really appreciated.

Anyway, I had a crazy week with almost no time for normal dendo. We were in Fukuoka last Sunday through Wednesday. It was the funnest time. Probably too much fun for missionaries.

Zone Leaders at the Fukuoka Temple

On P-day, after we emailed, we went back to the Honbu and asked what we could do for President and he gave us four tickets to the zoo across the street. He told us to have a good time and then at six go find some investigators for Fukuoka. So, we spent the day at the zoo and having fun around Fukuoka.

At the Zoo

It was SO much fun. Elder Chung is one of the Elders in Okinawa and I don't know if you remember him, but he's pretty much my best friend in the mission. I've really been able to work with him a lot and he's one of the funnest people I know.

On bikes in Fukuoka

A hot day in Fukuoka. Two of the bikes broke....so we had to walk back to the honbu.

That night, I had the chance to work with Elder Fender in Fukuoka and we had a really successful day. We found 3 new investigators that were all really solid. It was wonderful. The next day, we had an awesome training from President and the AP's and then we went home to Naha to prepare for two trainings for the Zone. It's been a lot of training here. It has gone really well though.

We weren't able to really teach any of our investigators this week. It was really slow, but we had a little bit of time to go finding and we found quite a few cool people. We found a cute old couple in a tiny apartment. The Husband was watching Sumo and told us to leave and that he didn't need our message, but the wife said she would love to hear the message. We were able to teach her a little and make a new appointment. She said that her husband was going to yell at her afterwards, but that it was ok. Haha, it was way funny because right after that, we said a prayer and we could hear them bickering. He was saying that they had their religion and she was saying that she wants to hear what we have to say and that we had such pure hearts and all this sweet stuff. Haha, I hope the next lesson goes ok.

Our Eikaiwa students

So, as you know, today is our transfer calls. I don't know what's going on yet, but I hope I stay. I really love this area and the people here. Of course I'll do whatever the Lord has in store for me. I just have come to really love these people.

Anyway, that was my week. It was a busy one. Maybe next week I'll be somewhere new. We'll see. I love you all and I'll talk to you all next week.

Love,

Elder Low

I am not in Naha right now. We flew up for Mission Leader Council. So, I'm spending P day with the Okinawa zone leaders in Fukuoka. I'm way stoked. It's going to be pretty fun.

Forgive me for today's email. I don't have a lot of time.

This last week, we had a exchange with the Yonabaru Elders. That is a tough area. The Elders there are working so hard. There is just not a lot of people home during the day. Also, with all the hills and heat it's really easy to get tired. However, those Elders are working super hard and they know what they are doing. I worked with Elder Miyanishi. I was so impressed. He had planned his day so well. We never had a second of time. We were going the entire day. He packed the day in so well, and he had his travel time down. I was really impressed. He's also a really good teacher.

Also this week, F came to church. I was really nervous because he's a really shy guy and he really doesn't like being in front of people. He really liked it though. He was taking notes during Sacrament meeting and he also had the chance to talk to the bishop about his situation with work and his physical problems. He has a mild back injury. The bishop was really good to him and we were able to figure out a game plan for F san and he seems pretty hopeful. We'll have another chance to meet him later this week as well. Things are just looking good with him.

Along with all that, we're still working as hard as we can. It is so hot. There is no way to not smell bad. I always have deodorant and all these other things to keep the sweat down, but it's not possible. I just feel bad knocking on people's doors looking like I just ran a marathon. It makes people wonder why we are out here though. AND we get lots of free drinks. Sometimes they are tea, but it's always nice to have people watching out for us. Okinawan people are either really really nice.....or SUPER rude....Or sometimes just crazy. It makes dendo fun though.

Anyway, I'm really sorry about this letter. I really don't have lots of time. I just hope you all know I'm super grateful for your support and I love you all! I'm doing the best I can. The church is true!

Elder Low

The Typhoon was totally fine! I spent all day on the sixth floor of our apartment. The entire mission was down for a day. It wasn't that bad though. Just crazy wind and rain. There were a lot of trees that came down and the streets were pretty messy. In the end, we were all just kinda upset that we couldn't go and work. 

Elder Glover on Tuesday while we waited out the storm. We lost our minds holed up in the apartment all day. 

This week, we had to fly down to Ishigaki for a baptismal interview. It was crazy. We were only there from 7 pm on Saturday night and then we flew back at 7 the next morning. The interview went well, but I was tired after sleeping in Ishigaki. I was sweaty and I didn't really have anything to sleep on. I don't love sleeping in other Elder's apartments. However, the Ishi couple were down on Ishigaki. I don't know if you know Elder Ishi, but he was  and area seventy and he is AWESOME. His wife is too. They drove us around and were the sweetest couple. Sister Ishi doesn't speak any english so every once in a while Elder Ishi would start to talk in english and she would start freaking out. Then he would have to explain what he was talking about. It was really cute. They are awesome.

Also, we were able to meet with F San and talk about his situation. It sounds like he really has a tough situation. We made a deal with the ward to figure out how to get him a job. We're working on that now.

The work here is hotter than ever. It is now impossible to go outside without coming home completely nasty. It's pretty terrible. We shower three or four times a  day and we buy so much laundry soap. People have started to comment on us sweating at there door. They always give us drinks.....but usually tea which is hard to turn down. People are way nice about it but I always feel disgusting.

This is where I live and work. It's hot. 

Even at night. 

Other than that, we really haven't had a lot go on this week. Just a lot of hard work.

I'll send some pictures, but I love you all so so much. I hope you all have a great week.

We got stopped by the flower helmet guy. He asked if we were friends. I said yes and then he asked if we could take a photo. Haha, priceless. He's really cut down on flowers though.

Love,

Elder Low

Well, the weather here is about as strange as it gets. Mother nature just wants to humiliate us missionaries. Every day we've gone out this week, it has been hot and humid as it gets. Remember me telling you about the heat here last week? It's back. Sweating from every single part of my body. However, this year is a little bit strange. Randomly, for about 2 minutes, we'll get buckets of rain. Not even kidding. We'll be in the middle of a street contact and suddenly we are soaking wet. There isn't even time to pull out rain gear or anything. By the time the gear is out, the rain has stopped. Haha, it's crazy!

We have also been meeting with our Baptismal date F san. He's had a pretty awful past. His depression is severe. Basically, three years ago he had a girlfriend that he broke up with. That day, she jumped off a bridge and died. So he feels like he killed her and he walks every day for about 5 or 6 hours thinking about suicide. We're kinda worried about him. He doesn't have a lot of hope that these things are true. It makes it really hard for him to keep commitments and such. However, we're doing the best we can to help him out.

Also, this week was our first week as a combined ward. It was quite a mess. People are still getting used to it. This Friday, Elder Gordon and I have a meeting with the Stake President, Mission President, the AP's, and the Ginowan Zone Leaders in order to figure out what we are going to do with the missionaries. So, that will be fun.

Anyway, That's really all I have for this week. I love you all and I'm working hard.

 

Love,

Elder Low

We had another busy week this week. This last Tuesday and Wednesday we had to do Zone training meetings with all the missionaries here on Okinawa and the ones down on the islands. It went really well. We did a training on teaching people without a Christian background. All the missionaries seemed to like it.

Also this week we had a lesson with F. I wrote about him forever ago. He called us because he wanted a job and he's getting desperate......so I told him to meet us at the church and he came. We talked about his situation and....He's in pretty bad circumstances. Every day, he walks for hours because he can't sit down. He's almost always thinking about suicide and his family situation isn't very good either. When we meet him he doesn't seem like he has depression, but whenever he talks about his personal life, it is very clear how bad he's doing.

We promised him the blessings of the Gospel and he said that he didn't know if he could believe it, but we didn't want to give up on him so we asked him to try. He was able to make a Baptismal date for the 24th of August. He's not super interested, but he agreed to give it a shot.

On Wednesday, we went to English class for the first time in a very long time. It was really fun. However, right after that we had an appointment with the Stake Presidency about all the Baptismal dates in the zone. I was very pleased to report that we had one in every single ward in the zone. The Stake President was very impressed. The Missionaries are working very hard. I was so excited. The zone is doing very well.

Me and my companion in the rain.

The heat has gotten a lot worse in the last couple days. Humidity is so high that we start sweating the second we step outside. I'm getting really tan though. Even though it is getting super hot down here.....I don't really want to leave. I love it down here. Also, today is our transfer calls. We'll be finding that out later, but next Saturday is a huge conference with ALL the members on Okinawa. If I don't transfer, I'll get to see Brother Miyagi from Nago! I hear he is the best member missionary up there. He gives me a call every once in a while (Technically against the rules, but nobody gave him my number.....I don't know how he knows it. President laughed when I told him about it). He always invites me to Nago ward activities. I don't think he understands that I can't go to them, but he called me and said that I had better come to the Okinawa conference. I hope he doesn't get mad if I transfer.

Naha at night

The last Monday, we got to go to Zone p-day and spend the day with all the missionaries in this zone and Ginowan zone. It was so awesome. We played dodgeball for an hour and then watched an approved movie. It was called Ephraim's Rescue. It was probably the best Church film I have ever seen. It was about Ephraim Hanks. It had two people that I knew as well. (James Gaisford from my EFY company and my English teacher Mr. Anderson) I was absolutely amazed. It might have been because I haven't seen a movie in a year and a half.....but I would recommend it to all of you. Maybe watch it for FHE or something.

In other news, I'm translating more than ever now. We now have 2 Japanese missionaries in our zone that don't speak English at all so I had to translate ZTM for them. Then, there are also about 7 non-Japanese-speakers in our ward and now I'm translating for them. Also, I was assigned to translate for somebody in Stake Conference next week. I feel so bad for everyone that I translate for. It is SO hard. I always fall behind and then start simplifying everything. It also wears me out. Haha, it's a mental battle to think of words fast enough. When I translate into English, I often say the words in Japanese on accident. We never say "Study". Missionaries always use Japanese for that word, so the poor people listening to me ask what the heck I'm talking about and then I fall behind. However, I  do feel pretty cool when I remember really difficult words. I think the missionaries in my zone just think I have Horrible Japanese though.

Anyway, that was my week. I love you all and hope you had an awesome Father's day. Things are going really well out here.

Elder Low

Well, this week was just really, really busy. Like I said, we had a training meeting for all the missionaries in the zone. Actually, we had two of them. We had a really wonderful training on Tuesday with everyone on Okinawa, and then Elder Gordon and I flew down to Miyako (see it here) to do the training with them there. It was really stressful. However, everything went really well. The missionaries seemed to all love the training. I was pretty relieved. Also this week, we had a companion exchange with the Miyako Elders.....That was Elder Redd and his new bean. It was absolutely fantastic. Elder Redd is probably the strongest missionary in the zone. He knows what he is doing and he knows how to train his companion. I was really impressed. I haven't had such a good exchange in a really long time!

After training in Okinawa

The only bad part was that it was SO rainy. On Friday, Elder Redd and I had planned to work all day together. When we headed out on our bikes, the rain and wind got way crazy. By the time we were out in the city (not really a city....there isn't much out in Miyako) there was flash floods. It was so crazy! As we rode our bikes, our feet were being completely submerged by water.....our rain gear didn't really help at that point. It got so windy that we started tipping over on our bikes. I had to call the other Elders and tell them it wasn't safe to come out to Dendo. Elder Redd and I headed back and then we had an all day study/practice session. It was so fun. We went through a lot of PMG and did a lot of Practice lessons. It was actually a really good use of time.

Rain

In Miyako

Miyako is struggling. There are about 3 active members on that island.  Elder Redd was reading the Prophecy by President Eyring about Japan. The missionaries down on Miyako are getting discouraged. However, we were still able to find some new investigators and teach some awesome lessons. People were pretty surprised that we were working so hard even though it was raining.

So, I'm pretty tired this week. It's a good tired, but I think after we are done emailing here, we are going to take a big nap. We have to do reporting, as well......Haha, I can't wait to sleep.

We came home and went to church and it was great. This week, the ward called the missionaries to start translating sacrament meeting for all the english speakers. It looks like we are going to start next week. We'll get to sit up on the stand with a little microphone that is hooked up to headsets in the congregation.....So cool!

Anyway, I'm just really excited to work in my own area this week. We are planning on working with the members really hardcore so that we can get them involved in this awesome work. We'll let you know how that goes.

Thank you for all your emails of encouragement. I love you all.

Elder Low

I had an unforgettable experience at church yesterday. It was pretty amazing. Elder Tashiro (Area Authority) came to our sacrament meeting. It was completely unexpected. The ward put his name as the only name on the program and everyone in the ward was very shocked and excited. He walked into the chapel and saw that his name was the only name on the program and thought that was inappropriate. So, he asked for the Bishop and two missionaries to bear testimony. He asked one of the sisters and my companion Elder Gordon. They didn't really have anytime to prepare, but they all gave great talks.

Then he spoke about Baptism. It was kinda interesting. Most of the congregation had already been baptized. Not that it's a bad topic, but I was a little surprised that he choose that. Anyway, it was a very, very powerful talk. Elder Tashiro is a very genki guy. He's pretty bouncy when he talks and has a lot of enthusiasm. He's really easy to listen to.

Anyway, in the middle of his talk, he started talking about our responsibility to share our baptismal experiences with our friends and people who don't know about baptism. Then he jumped into talking about this "friend" of his that sees lots of success in missionary work from testifying about baptism. He said that you could see the change that baptism had made on this friend. Then he said that the friend was going to come and speak for all of us. Then he looked right at me.

"Elder Low, will you come up here and share your Baptismal experience?"

I was pretty freaked out. He spent all this time talking about this "Amazing" friend and I was getting really excited to hear from this guy. I didn't realize that he was talking about me. I didn't even think he knew my name. Then, out of nowhere, he asked me to bear my testimony about Baptism. I made the long walk up to the stand. I had no idea what I was going to talk about so I just shared my Baptismal experience and my testimony. I'd never really felt so much about my Baptismal Experience. I was 8 just like almost everyone else I know, but for some reason, I started crying at the stand over this experience I was sharing.

Afterwards, Elder Tashrio jumped up and said, "Thank you my friend! I love you!" and then he hugged me. Haha, he's a great guy.

So, I threw that experience in the journal and smiled all day.

Also this week we went up to Fukuoka for our presentation on how we were going to help our zone.  It was kinda a weird meeting. He asked all the zone leaders to pull together a special presentation to show how their zones are doing. It would usually take a lot of time because there are 10 zones in our mission. We went first, and after our presentation, Kaicho (President) talked to all the zone leaders about what we were going to do and then everyone else only had about 5 minutes to present what they were doing. I felt pretty bad. The only thing we really talked about was the language of the mission. Most of the missionaries in the mission can't speak Japanese. ....Like, at all. We have missionaries that have been out for more than a year that still can't communicate with anyone. That was the main focus of most of the meeting.

Also, this week, Elder Gordon and I are going to be doing nothing but training missionaries. We have our ZTM on Tuesday, and then Kaicho is sending us down to Miyako for the rest of the week so that we can train the missionaries down there. So, we are going to be really busy.

Last thing, Y-san is done with all of her Cancer treatments! She's getting much better! I'm so excited for her. I've been praying for her since the beginning of my mission. It looks like the sisters can probably start teaching her this next week or so.

Things are looking good and I'm loving the work.

Anyway, I gotta go. I love you all.

Elder Low

My Area.

(Click Image to Enlarge)

 

 

OK! Quick experience. I got yelled at by an Okinawan who told me to go home because I didn't understand the Okinawan people. I told him to help me understand, but he just yelled at me and told that I was just another American. Then he went on and on about how the American's came and killed his ancestors and how we were all about war and violence. He slammed the door in my face and I felt like garbage.

 

THEN! Later this last week, we had a dinner for fast sunday. We ate at the Yoza family's house. They were so nice. There house is kinda like Grandma and Grandpa's. Grandparents on the bottom and the kids up top. Anyway, Grandpa Yoza was born in 1929....when Okinawa didn't have electricity. He's also a really quite old grumpy looking guy....like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino....only Japanese. Anyway, I shared this experience about the man and he stood up and grabbed me by the collar and said, in English (I hadn't said two words to the guy before so I didn't know he spoke English) "Come here Elder. I have something to show you".......I was pretty scared, but he threw me into a chair and started digging through his bookshelf. Then he threw this huge book into my lap and said "Look at this."

 

It was a huge book about the war of Okinawa and it was a pretty gross book. Lots of dead people.....Then he told me about how he had fought in the war. He was 16 years old. He saw all his brothers die in the war. Also, 72 of his classmates died. He was  a POW for about a day. Then he said, "They told us that the American's were not human. They were a demon. A monster." Then he flipped to a page of a American helping children and another of American's feeding babies. "Does this look like a monster to you?" he said.

 

He said that the whole thing was Japan's fault and he hated Japan after the war. It was pretty intense. I learned so much. He's an amazing guy too!

 

As far as the work goes, we have another suicidal investigator, but he's getting happier as we go....still pretty depressed, but it's a work in progress.

 

Things are going great. President called me and said that he was really amazed with the NAHA zone numbers for the month of April. He told us that Elder Dursteler and I could take a break.....Unfortunately, Elder Wells and I had a couple appointments.....so Elder Dursteler took a break and we worked in the rain. Haha, It was good though. 

 

Anyway, I will let you know if I transfer or not! I love you all and hope you have a great week. Talk to you all on Sunday!

 

With the Young Single Adults

 

 

Elder Low

 

Well, it's been a pretty long week. It's been a good one, but lots of weird things going on. I really don't know what to report. We have been working really hard, but it was just one of those slow weeks where you kinda get down from being rejected so many times. It happens though. Here are some of the good things that are going on.

 

K kyoudai is doing awesome. The only problem is he lost his apartment key.....haha, and he doesn't have a spare. Poor guy. He's spending most of his time in his apartment because he's scared someone will take it while he's gone one day. Haha, he's a funny guy. BUT, he  has such a testimony. Last Sunday I taught Gospel Principles about the atonement. When we went to visit him the other day, I asked him what he remembered about the Plan of Salvation. He said that he doesn't really remember anything....but then continued to draw out the entire atonement. How it works and what we have to do. He drew the two obstacles from the fall : death and sin. Then he drew how we overcome them; through the Resurrection and Gospel of Jesus Christ we can all return to Heavenly Father.....then he said, "I'm sorry. I've forgotten most of it." I was pretty impressed though. If he taught what he showed us to an Investigator, it would have been solid. He's a solid guy, and now he laughs....Something that didn't happen 5 months ago.

 

Also, I was able to talk to Y san again. Her chemotherapy is pretty rough and we still haven't been able to have a formal lesson with her. However, she's praying on her own and reports that she feels God's love. I hope we'll be able to meet with her soon. For now, we just pray that she'll be ok.

 

Elder Dursteler and I had a junkai in Yonabaru with Elders Ho and Robinson. They are great Elders and both work really hard. It was a little rough though. With Elder Robinson, we worked all day long and hardly even saw anybody. We tried housing and it wasn't really effective, so I thought we would go streeting, but nobody is out on the street. It's a tough place, but those two are really great.

 

Rain season just started up. It makes Dendo a little more difficult. I really hate the rain when you're riding a bike. But missionaries who work hard in the rain get blessings. 

 

Geez, I don't know what else to say. Church has been pretty rough. I was surprised attacked again and asked to teach Gospel Principles again. The sister missionaries were assigned, but they "weren't prepared" so I got to do it......It wasn't so bad though. I think the ward mission leader was a little upset though. He sat in my lesson and asked why I was teaching again and that he had asked the sisters......So, I don't think I'm going to be teaching again next week. However, he did comment that he loved the lesson...Haha, probably just to be polite.

 

I love our Ward mission leader. He does way too much for us and he knows missionary work really really well.

 

Other than that, I had a pretty average week. I'm sorry I didn't have much to report this week.

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Low

So, it happened. We finally baptized K san. It was absolutely amazing. I have never seen him smile so much in my life. He was laughing like crazy. The ward members welcomed him so quickly.

An Easter Celebration

There was only one problem.....there wasn't enough water in the font. HaHa, I literally had water up to just below the knee. We were very lucky that his whole body fit in the water. I basically laid him on the bottom of the font. All the missionaries in my zone say, "When Low baptizes....he gets LOW".....It was kinda funny......but also really close to being a problem. I'm just happy that he's part of the ward now. We lost him during church yesterday. He was having too much fun with the members. It was fantastic.

Also, Yesterday, I was assigned EVERYTHING. Right before Sacrament, they asked me to play piano for Sacrament meeting. That was fun. Luckily the songs were not too difficult. Then, the sister missionaries forgot that they had the lesson in Gospel Principles and made other plans...so I got to teach Gospel Principles....AND THEN the entire Elders Quorum presidency didn't show up....so I taught Elders Quorum as well. Haha, it was good Japanese practice though.

One more awesome miracle. Elder Wells and I were weekly planning and we realized that we don't really have many strong investigators. So, we went into the area book to look for some previous investigators that might be strong. There was nothing. Nobody that we could visit that sounded good. Then a thought came to my mind. Do you all remember Y san in Nago? She was the investigator that had cancer.....well, I thought I'd ask the Ginowan zone how she was doing. They said she was dropped because she could never meet......but they said that maybe I should give her a call. I was the last person to teach her. So I did. She answered and started crying. She was so excited to talk to me. I asked her how she was doing and she said she's been in the hospital since I left, but that everything was going to be done this next month.

She's almost completely done with Cancer.....and then get this. She said, "So, you haven't really sent me something to read since you left Nago".......I was a little surprised. Then she said, "My Book of Mormon is still sitting in my bag everyday....I've been reading lots....I have lots to tell you about." So, guess who we'll be teaching again!! I'm pretty excited for her. She's so prepared!

As far as dendo goes, we are having lots of fun. Rainy season is coming up here pretty soon.....so I'm a little nervous. But it will all be good. Also, I met a trans-sexual Satan worshiping woman with facial hair. She was American and read my name tag. Then she started yelling at me and at the end of her rant, she said "Hail Satan!" and stormed off......So that was really weird. I meet lots of weird peeps! Also, I saw the flower helmet guy again! He waved at said good luck! I was happy.

Other than that, I'm just having a lot of fun out here. I know that God is proud of his missionaries and I feel his love every day. This is the best job ever......and Fukuoka mission is the best ;)

Mom, I hope you get to see this on Tuesday.

I love you all and I can't wait to report the miracles that will come in the following week!

Elder Low

 

 

 

One crazy thing that happened this week: K san had his interview....and he will be baptized this next Saturday! I'm so excited for him. He's a completely different person. It was awesome to see him at General Conference yesterday. He was blown away and was smiling and getting along with the ward. I just look back to when I first met him and remember that this is the same man who wanted to kill himself. People can deny our faith and our Church, but this gospel changed his life. He is not the same person anymore. I'm just really happy and he's such a great guy.

 

Also this week, We had interviews with President. It's always nice to be with President. I also got to work with the AP'S......Elder Dolbin is one of them. He was my MTC comp. And the other one is Elder Coelho from Nagasaki. They are two of my favorite people in the mission. They are both such amazing men. It was great to work with both of them. I got to spend the whole day working with Elder Dolbin. It's so crazy to see how much both of us grew. He's a powerhouse missionary. 

 

Watching General Conference. Elders Dolbin and Coelho are to my right.

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

 

It felt so good to be with him again. We were such a great team in the MTC and we still worked way well  together even now. We found a couple new investigators. It was a party.

 

Now, I'm about to tell you about the most exciting part of my week....before I do, I'm a little scared to tell you about it because you will all think, "Oh....well, he's still a child. Still the same punk from before", but this new thing is so effective. It's called "Sumairu" dendo. (Smile). Here's what it is: we walk around Naha with a sign that says "Sumairu! We are mormons!" and we contact people like that. We just say "Sumairu!" and then start sharing a testimony right there! Also, we walk around with a ukulele and sing hymns to people. We introduced the idea to Kaicho (President) and he told us to give it a go.....and it's super effective. People love it! Even if they don't take the message, they walk away with a smile on their face....and they won't forget it. So next time they meet missionaries, they will remember the happy people on the street. We reported how it works to Kaicho and he got so excited he said he wants to come Dendo WITH US! Haha, It was so much fun. Obviously, we are being careful to still represent the Savior in all we do......but It's been Really good. Example: I saw this guy and he was smiling SUPER big, but tried to ignore me. So! I asked him "Why are you smiling so big?" and he just kinda shrugged his shoulders....but kept this HUGE smile. He didn't stand a chance against a couple of Americans with a Ukulele singing "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today". So I told him "How about you come over here and I'll tell you why I'm smiling". His name is N and we are meeting him tonight! :)

 

I'm getting super close to Kaicho (President). He calls me pretty often now. He said he wants to try something in Naha called a Dendo board. Naha is just so busy that he wants to get all the missionaries in the same place doing it the way the Dan Jones did it. Haha, it's super scary, but I'm up to try anything. I love trying new ways to teach people.

 

Saying goodbye to returning missionaries at the airport

 

 

Anyway, I'm out of time. I'm having so much fun and I'm loving this gospel more than I ever have in my entire life. It really does make the world of a difference to dive into the word of God and feel the spirit and see it change lives.

 

I Love you all,

Elder Low

So, this week was transfer week and I have a new companion. His name is Elder Wells. He's a pretty young missionary, but I like him a lot. Pretty quiet, but has a great heart. The poor guy was stuck with one of the most difficult missionaries in the mission last transfer and was about ready to kill himself. Things are quite different than with Elder Dursteler. He was pretty amazing. Still is. It's nice that he's still in my apartment. Also, he and I are going to Fukuoka tonight to be trained by president.....flying again. This is so much fun! But yeah. It's pretty great stuff.

Elder Wells and I have been really focused on helping K san. He's so close to Baptism, but he's been really struggling with smoking. He hasn't smoked for more than a week, but that's because he has no money to use. He's afraid that when he gets money, he will smoke again because he REALLY wants to smoke. Well, the other problem we were facing was that he couldn't get to church on his own. He has no way to get himself there....so we gave him enough money to use the monorail.....and he didn't show...

I was so worried that he had bought some cigarettes, but when we went to visit him, he had just slept in. He had the money in a little case and said that he was not going to spend it on anything, but getting himself to church. So, I'm really grateful that he's showing so much faith. Unfortunately, he didn't get to church, but his conversion is still coming little by little.

Other than that, we have really just been settling in to being new companions.

We are finding out that the biggest issue with some obedience issues is that some missionaries are not focused on the mission. They aren't focused on the people. President just shut down music in the mission and said if it isn't Motab or EFY it's not ok because people were listening to normal music like Pompeii by Bastille.....Yeah. I wasn't even home when that song came out, but everyone in the mission "Justified" it for some reason. It was pretty bad. So, now we are working with some disobedience out here. So that's a thing. Something that Elder Dursteler does not do well with. He gets pretty mad when there are disobedience issues. It's scary. Haha, It's really easy to be obedient around him. Not that I had a problem before.

So that's what's going on. I'm really happy and I love this ward so much. Things are pretty stress free. My biggest concern is what tie I'm going to wear to Fukuoka tomorrow. (BTW thanks for the package. I just barely got it!)

I love you all and we'll keep killing it out here,

Elder Low

As you know, today is transfer day. Sorry I didn't warn you earlier this week. I'm staying. No surprise there.....BUT, here is one interesting change about this week: Elder Dursteler is still the other Zone leader.....but he's not going to be my companion. I am now with Elder Wells. Poor guy wasn't on the Christmas card......so you can't look him up that way. Hahaha, the honbu kinda forgot about him for the christmas card. BUT he's a great guy. He has an interesting personality. He doesn't smile a lot, but I think he's a really happy guy. HAha, just kinda a tough guy. I'm really excited though.

Also, in other news, we're still working with K san......and he quit smoking. He's only quit for 6 days....but that's still pretty good. We're really excited for him. He started showering and dressing nicely every day.. Also, he doesn't have any suicidal thoughts anymore. It's amazing to see the difference. You can see how much this gospel has already blessed his life. We're coming quickly up on his baptismal date. We're going to have to see him just about every single day from here on out. His date is the 6th of April.

I don't really know what else to tell you. I'm going to try sending pictures through the computer today, but we'll see what happens.

I'm really excited for this next transfer. We're going to be seeing tons of miracles. I can't wait.

.....until then, we have a lot of stuff we have to accomplish. We have to go to the airport and help all the new elders come in and all the old elders go out. Then we get to fly to Fukuoka again....I don't know. It's kinda nice. I get to feel like a really rich guy. The honbu pays for me to go to Fukuoka and back....It's a pretty pricey ticket.....I'm really lucky.

I love the pictures of Grandma and Grandpa's new rooms. Made me laugh a little bit. Grandpa really likes his guns....Kinda a scary room. ;)

Anyway, I don't really have much else to say. I'm still just pushing along. We'll see how this picture thing works out. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Low

Still being a missionary. Still loving it. Elder Dursteler and I had a pretty good week. A couple of disappointments, but nothing too bad. Pretty standard. Here are the highlights of the week:

We had Zone Conference on Thursday. It was pretty nuts. We had 6 elders staying in our apartment. Two AP's and the Elders from Ishigaki.....It was kinda crazy. Not a lot of room in a missionary apartment with four guys.....adding six was a little much. It was good though. Then we had zone conference....haha, and I kinda got sick. Not super sick, but I had a crazy head ache and I've had a pretty annoying cold recently. Not a bad one to keep me inside all the time.....just a little annoying. It was a really good conference though. I love getting to see president and I feel like he really trusts me.....But I was pretty quiet on that day.

Zone Conference. Click to enlarge.

Our investigator U san came to church yesterday......Haha, he's 22.....and he really likes this 19 year old girl in our ward. He told us that earlier in the week and we didn't take it super seriously.....Then he came to church with this bag full of presents.....Haha, he kept asking where she was and when he finally found her, he asked her to sit by him.....she said no. THEN in sunday school he was telling us, "I think after church, I'm going to confess my love to her".....She denied him again and he was really disappointed.....but he's coming to church next week!!

Also, we have been working really hard with K san....... We really focused on testifying on how he can overcome all things because the Savior overcame all things. If he relies on the Atonement, he can quit smoking. This week, we are going to really follow up with him to make sure he's doing the basic things.

We also had a dinner appointment with one of our new investigators. His name is T....actually, he brought his wife too. We had a really awesome talk about the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed our lives. They seemed pretty interested and in the end they took a book.

Other than that, our week was pretty normal. Lots of hard work. Falling asleep REALLY fast at 10:30. It's really nice being able to sleep so easily when you work so hard. I'm doing great....still trying to figure out pictures...are you getting them yet?

Love,

Elder Low

I had quite a week. Let me just jump in.

We had an appointment with our baptismal date investigator this last Thursday. I feel like he is becoming more and more happy. BUT we had a happening...

We went to his house to teach him the end of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole enduring to the end and obedience part. It was going really well. We had a member there and everything. His apartment is kinda a mess, but that's not really a problem. The problem was this. Suddenly in the middle of the lesson, his eyes widened and he turned around as if he heard someone in the room. We stopped teaching. He looked back at us looking really confused.

We started asking if something was wrong and if he was ok......he just kinda sat there and shivered as if he was freezing. Then he started shaking. Not violently, but enough. Like he was cold. We asked again, "What's wrong?" and nothing. His eyes were still wide as if he was freaking out about something and he didn't say anything. Then it got freaky.

His wide eyes slowly rolled to the back of his head. He twisted his head to the side and tightened every single muscle in his body and let out a pained scream. It was really long and freaky. Then he fell out of his chair and started swinging at the air in front of him. Our member ran and grabbed him while Elder Dursteller and I called the cops. He started foaming at the mouth and continued to shake. Now, he was shaking pretty violently. Then he stopped completely as if he was dead. No breathing. Nothing. Our member started checking pulse and stuff and then he let out a huge gasp of air and said "I don't want to die".

Long story short, the ambulance came and he was just sitting there and was really freaked out. They took him to the hospital for a day and then he came home. We went and talked to him and he said that he doesn't remember any of it. He said he heard something weird and then all of the sudden, he was in the hospital. He will know what the cause was on Thursday.....we are pretty freaked out. It was probably the scariest moment of my mission.....and I've had pretty freaky moments.

Speaking of which, We just had 2 pretty big earthquakes. One was in the middle of the night. We all woke up and everything was shaking like crazy. I hear it was a 6.5. It was pretty scary.

Also, big news! I get to go to Miyako on Wednesday! I'm super excited and I'll finally get to meet the missionaries there!

Other than that, Elder Dursteller and I are working SO hard. We found 4 new investigators this week. Things are going better than they ever have on my mission. We are just moving so quickly and we don't have any problems in the ward or in the area.

Quick fun story: there is a professional chef in our ward and he wanted to welcome me to the ward.....with something called wasabi baptism. It's just a sushi roll with TONS of wasabi. Everyone in Naha does it....IT hurt SO bad. It was awful.

Anyway, I'm sorry about photos. I don't have a place to get wi-fi here so I might need to send them through the computer. We'll see.

Love You,

Elder Low