SO, I will only email you guys one last time after this....It's a little bit crazy. I'm getting really scared. Haha, It's a little bit ridiculous. I had a good week though.

This last Saturday, the Omuta branch went to the Fukuoka temple so I had the opportunity to go with them. It was my first time going to the temple to do a session in Fukuoka. It was SO great. I was so happy and it was also the first time for me to go to the temple with the new changes. I had so much dendo fire after that. AND the Fukuoka temple is beautiful. I just love the temple. Also, while I was there, I ran into Nakaima Kaicho. He's the Stake President of the Okinawa stake. I was so excited to see him. He told me all about Naha and how things are. He's wonderful and it was great to get to work with him there.

This last week, we found a sweet couple to teach. The K couple. They brought us into their house and tried to give us tea and coffee. It was a great teaching opportunity and they are going to let us come back. They wouldn't stop feeding us. Haha, they gave us just about everything they could find to feed us. They were very sweet.

T san is kinda sick. It looks like we can't visit her. Maybe we'll drop off some fruit for her family or something. She just doesn't have any hope for anything and because of that she won't try anything. We're really just trying to lift her up now. We'll see how it goes.

Other than that, I'm still just going as hard as I can. I'm getting so so tired and temptation tells me that I can't really accomplish anything in two weeks, but I'm still going as hard as I can. Haha, I didn't think that the end would be this rough. I still love it though. I love sharing this Gospel and I love representing my Savior here in Japan. I'll be emailing on Tuesday next week so that will be my last email from here.

Ahhhh. that's so sad.

Anyway, I'll make every second count!

Love you all,

Elder Low

We had a really busy week. Lots of work and lots of great things going on.

Our Investigator, T san, is probably our biggest focus right now. We have been really working to meet her husband or to get her to Church. This week, the goal was to get to Church. She almost committed, but some things came up. It turns out that she has some sort of Anxiety and Depression and she has attacks when she's around lots of people. We assured her that she had nothing to worry about and that the people at church were very kind and nice. Apparently these attacks come out A LOT. She says that she would feel so bad if she had one at Church. That's also the reason she's always home. They don't happen when she's staying at home, but apparently shopping is even difficult for her. We aren't quite sure what we are going to do with her. The Next goal is find a time to meet her Husband. I think if a member drives us home after visiting her, we can meet her husband.

Also, we found some good people to meet with this week so we're getting busy with lessons again. I love it that way. It's way better than being told off.

This week, we also had a zone conference. It went really well. Kaicho asked all the missionaries who were dying to bear their testimonies. It was really awful. I got really emotional and cried in front of the whole zone. It was super embarrassing. It just sunk in that I only have a little bit more time to do this great work here in Japan. I love these people so much and I love this mission.

At Zone Conference

After zone conference, I had an interview with Kaicho. He gave me and the others in my district a special assignment to go out of our areas to go find a new area to open up. He gave us some cities that we have to go find and work in. He said, "I have to get this done before you go home. This is why I sent you here". I'm so grateful that Kaicho trusts me. It's kinda scary though. We'll be working out in the middle of nowhere with no members. Haha, I get to be a pioneer for Kumamoto stake. Haha, I feel pretty cool. It's also a good way to keep me from going trunky. So that's great.

Anyway, I love being a missionary. I keep meeting these people and It's just amazing to be the person to introduce the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them.

Being a missionary is the best job in the world. I can't believe how I didn't understand that before I came. I didn't realize at all what it would be. I didn't think it would be this kind of work. Everyone says that it is fun. That's not really a good word. There are times when it is "fun", but that's not the best part of being a missionary. It's just the happiest work. I hope the young men in the 8th ward (or whatever the heck it's called now) know that this is not worth missing out on. I didn't realize how blessed I would be for coming out here.

I love you all and I know this Church is true!

Love,

Elder Low

Another busy week this week. We had the Typhoon on Monday so our week took a huge toll. We had lots of people we were supposed to meet with on Monday and Tuesday....but A lot of them bailed which was a huge disappointment. We are working hard though. This week is transfer week. It's not super exciting for me because this is my last one! It's kinda crazy. This is my last stretch. Everyone thinks I'm going to get trunky. I'm still giving it all I've got though. However, this last Sunday in Ward Council we planned for the Christmas party. I realized that everything we were talking about will take place after I've returned. I felt really sick. I love this country and these people so much and I'm scared to go back to the U.S.

Bikes on the train. I do this every day.

Anyway, we finally have a progressing investigator. Mori is now Progressing.....kinda weird though. She's about 60 years old and at our last lesson she came to the door in a skirt that was too short for ANYONE. It was way gross. She has some sort of social disorder, but she is very sweet and she understands well. She's reading the BOM and we've taught her a lot.

 

Ooooh....cool thing this week. I got yelled at again. Way hard. That's not the first time that has happened...

 

but I also got punched in the face.......that is the first time that has happened. The reason was ridiculous though. I rang the door bell and the introduced myself as "Low".....I always do that. Instantly he started yelling at me because I didn't tell him where I was from first. Then I told him that I was from America and he started yelling at me that I didn't need to tell him where I was from because he saw my name tag. I was so confused. He started yelling that I was worthless and garbage.....It was kinda hard to understand, but obviously I got the picture though. 

 

Then out of nowhere it nailed me. No worries though. Not any visible bruising. Jaw is kinda sore, but that's all.

 

It was a rough day, but it's all worth it. I am so grateful that the mission has taught me to stand firm in my beliefs no matter what. I love this gospel and I love sharing it.

 

 

 

That's all for this week, but I love you all. I miss you all. I'm going to kill it this last transfer. Going as hard as I can.

 

Love you

Elder Low

So, the reason I'm emailing today instead of yesterday is there was a Typhoon and we were all grounded yesterday. It's the worst. I get to study scriptures all day.....which is really nice, but every once in a while I'm like, "Shoot, this stuff is good! I gotta go tell someone about this book!" but we can't go out to Dendo. It's like having a bucket of waterballoons and not being allowed to go anywhere. I just want to nail something with this water balloon.

We got to watch Conference this weekend. It was wonderful....I know that's all old news to you guys at home, but I was so happy. It was the best. I love President Eyring So much. His talks were my favorites. Being stuck inside all day yesterday also allowed me to listen to most of the conference in Japanese. It was great study time. :)

This last week, we've been working with this lady named M san. Our first meeting with her was a couple weeks ago. She was a very quiet lady and we didn't think much of her. Then, when we visited last week, there was a sign on her door that told us that she couldn't make our appointment because she was going to the Hospital. So, we came again a couple days ago and she had been reading the Book of Mormon. She didn't understand it, but read a LOT. I was really grateful that she tried her best. We were able to talk with her about what she read and she understands it now. We are meeting her again tonight.

Other than that, we are still working really hard everyday. It's a very tiring area. It was even worse sitting all day in the apartment though. I just want to get to work. I was getting really antsy yesterday.

 

 

Anyway, I love being a missionary. It's the best job ever. I love the people here. I finally feel like I can comfortably connect with people in Japanese.  I regret not studying it before the mission though. I want to study it after the mission though. I love this language and these people and I don't want to lose that connection. In the meantime, I'm going to do what my roommate Elder Tabuchi told me to do. Like Nephi did, we need to gain favor of the Tamanaites and invite them into the wilderness. So, we are working on gaining favor.

Some food

I love you all and I'll do better with pictures!

Elder Randy Kazuhiro Low

Another hard working week in Tamana. It's such a hard area. I ride the train twice a day....it's kinda fun. I feel super Japanese. I do my best to talk to people on the train, but some people really don't want to talk. We taught one guy on the train yesterday who wouldn't shut up about how much he LOVES President Obama.....Haha, I don't think he knew what he was talking about. He was talking about how impressive it was that Obama was Black and was able to go from a slave to President. .....He might think that we still have slaves in the U.S......he was a little crazy. It was fun though.

The area is picking up, but because it's so far away from the Church, people don't want to come to Church. That is our biggest struggle right now. I think we'll have to just take a different approach on how we invite people. We have one investigator who looks like we could get him to Church. He's our strongest investigator right now....which isn't saying a lot right now, but he looks like he might progress.

We also had an open house at the Omuta branch yesterday. It was a blast. The members made a little lunch for non-members and we had a lot a fun videos about the church with music and stuff. I played the piano.....haha just a little song I made up. I re-arrange "A Child's Prayer". It went pretty well though. The High Counselor started crying and stood up and shared his testimony about how much he loved that song. He talked about the meaning of the first line. "Heavenly Father, are you really there?" It was a super powerful.

Anyway, that's pretty much my life right now. I go to Tamana everyday and we find all day. We are seeing great successes though. We are finding people and people are listening so I couldn't ask for anything more.

Things are going great. I love being a missionary and I love feeling the Spirit guiding us daily. Can't wait to report more to you next week. I love you all.

 

Elder Low

So, Elder Kikuchi and I are working SO hard. I come home so tired every single day. It's a good thing though. We have to carry our bikes in bike bags on to the train every day and then we can't come home for dinner. There is too much work to be done. However, we found a lot of cool people this week. We ONE lesson this week. Haha, it was THE first lesson that has been taught in our area.....baby steps. Things are picking up though. :)

We found a couple this week. They are Lutheran, so they have a good Christian background. They seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon. That was really good. They also gave us really expensive juice. I was happy.

We had English class and I was in charge of the Kid's English class. It was the cutest class. Nobody is older than 12 and they are all very energetic. We did body parts for the class. So, we sang "Head shoulders knees and toes" and played a lot of games. All the moms loved it. Apparently the last missionary who was here got angry easily so they were all super happy last week that there was a new teacher. Elder Tabuchi was so happy that he wants me to teach children's class every week.....Haha, it takes a lot of energy, but I guess I'll do my best.

I don't know what else to tell you. I really just go and work every single day. It's great though. We are super busy, but it's fun. For a lot of people, we are the first missionaries they have seen. It's great to represent the Savior everywhere we go. One of the investigators we found this week was by playing soccer with a bunch of kids in a park. We were finding and they started yelling English words at us so we went and talked to them. They were pretty cocky about soccer so we showed them our skills (haha, I don't have ANY soccer skills). They had so much fun and then their mom came out and asked us to come back to explain what kind of volunteer work we are doing......Haha, it was perfect.

Last thing, living with the other two Elders is the best thing ever!  Elder Nara has a book of 100 Donburi recipes.

He decided that it can be our countdown for when I go home. A new Donburi every single day. It's been so much fun! Cooking in this apartment is SO fun. :)

 

 

Anyway, I love you all. I love this work. It's hard right now, but things are picking up. I'll have more to report next week!

 

Love,

Elder Low 

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