I've  had a really busy week. It was a little rough.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up and had no voice at all. Nothing but air coming out of my throat. It was awful because my body wasn't really hurting or weak. I had plenty of energy to work, but because I couldn't talk to anyone, Sister Gustafson had me grounded. I had to stay in the apartment all day long. The voice was still way bad on Wednesday so I had to have a member take me to the hospital. We went in and the doctor gave me all these meds.....but failed to tell me what was wrong. I guess he knew what he was doing though because the meds fixed me right up.

On Thursday, we had to go to the airport to pick up all the Elders from the two islands. They came up for Zone Conference. It was really really busy with them because we had 10 Elders in our little apartment and then in Oroku they had about 10 Elders. It was really rough....especially cooking. I made SO much Curry. It was really good though. Also, Zone Conference went really well.

Zone Conference (Click any photo to enlarge.)

After Zone Conference, we had a meeting with the entire Stake Presidency, Ginowan Zone Leaders, the AP's and Kaicho. It was such an intense meeting. I can tell that Kaicho was a pretty serious business man before the mission. At one point, he had everyone in the room on the phone. He really gets down to business. He also wants us to double our Eikaiwa in Naha. That's a pretty big task that we are about to jump on. It's going to be exciting.

After the meeting, Kaicho asked me for our Zone actuals for the month of June. I was so excited to report them. We had more New Investigators and more Baptismal dates than any other zone in the mission. He was so impressed. I was so Ureshii. This zone is doing so well.

Also, Elder Gordon and I found 7 new investigators this week. One of them came to church. Her name is Suzuka.....but she goes by Suzy.She's 20 years old and she's a friend of one of the members here in Naha. She came to sports night and said she's always had interest in the church. It was pretty fun having her at church. There are LOTS of young men, but not lots of young women so the young men were all excited. Haha.

Dinner at a member's house

The only tough thing about this week is we made about three appointments for tomorrow.....and we are not allowed to dendo tomorrow. Apparently, there is a huge Typhoon coming in. Kaicho called and said that the winds will be strong enough to knock a bus over. We were given assignments to prepare today for tomorrow and to not even open up our doors tomorrow. I'm a little concerned. I think everything will be ok though. It will just be a little disappointing to stay inside all day. I already did it twice this week. Maybe we'll play shogi or something.

Anyway, the work is going really well. I'm loving the work.....I really want to go out and work, but it looks like we might be stuck here a little bit. Don't worry about me though. Everything is going well.

I love you all,

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

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

 

Here are some pics of my sick day last week.

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

 

 

 

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

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

 

 

At the Halloween Party

 

 

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

 

Adding new furniture for our two new elders

 

 

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

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

I love this work and I'm working hard.

 

 

A Japanese Graveyard

 

 

 

 

I love you all and miss you.

Elder Low

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

 

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

 

The zone

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Lunch with the zone.

 

Travelling with the zone

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

At the mission home

At District Leader training with the President

 

Then I took a train back home.

 

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

 

Anyway, the work is going well.

 

 

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

 

 

Preparing lunch

Looks heavenly

 

 

I miss you all.

Elder Low