So, I really don't have much to report this week. It was transfer week and I obviously stayed. Dying here in Tamana. Anyway, the reason I don't have much to report is because I got sick with bronchitis.  I've been out since Wednesday. So, I literally sat in the apartment all week.  Wednesday night Eikaiwa was brutal. I thought I was going to collapse. Then we went home and took my temperature and I was at 102 degrees. The Asthma loves a good bronchitis so I feel like I've been running since Wednesday. I still pray that one day I'll outgrow my asthma. I had to whip out the nebulizer two or three times. I thought I was going to pass out.....and my roommates thought I was going to die. Haha, I feel bad. I finally had the energy to get up yesterday and I went to church. Turns out that everyone in the branch already knew I was sick. Word spread fast. People brought me soup and ice cream and stuff. It was really sweet.

Now, I'm doing fine. Just a little cough. My energy is back and I'm ready to get back to work.

Oh! I forgot to tell you. The mission president was called down to our stake to give a talk at Stake Conference next week. The stake president really wants to get everyone excited about Dendo. I got a call from the Stake President and he said that he wanted a missionary to raise everyone's dendo fire and the Mission President had recommended me. So, now I have to give a talk at Stake Conference for everyone in the Kumamoto stake. I'm awful at speaking in front of people in Japanese. I'm pretty nervous, but I guess we'll see how it goes. I've been preparing a lot.

Anyway, that's really all I've got. I'm sorry. It's been a pretty awful week, but I haven't had a lot of awful weeks, so I guess I had to have them sometime. Time to get back down to business this week. I'm so pumped.

Love you all,

Elder Randy Kazuhiro 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

So, we are still working our socks off. Things seem to be getting better, but still slow. It takes a while to work up from zero. However.....kinda cool things happened this week. The Kumamoto zone leaders gave us a call and said that the stake wants to know what we are doing in Tamana. Apparently everyone is hearing about how we are doing and the stake leaders are REALLY impressed. We aren't really seeing any success yet though. We have found a TON of investigators, but none of them are progressing. They all live 30 minutes away from us. It's really hard to get them to church or to get members to help us out with lessons. Anyway, the stake was way impressed and have been asking how we've been working.

Our work has been going pretty well though. We're just trying to get people to know who the missionaries are. One cool experience we had this week happened a couple days ago. There was a bunch of kids playing soccer in a park. They started yelling "Hello" and "I feel happy". Usually when the kids see us, they yell any English they know. Anyway....I don't really know how it happened, but they started kicking their soccer ball at us. Then we were playing soccer in our suits with a bunch of children. It was only about ten minutes. However, when we went to go housing, we ran into a lot of the kids and they started telling their parents about how we were the gaijin that were playing soccer with them. Almost all the kid's parents listened to our message, because their children had already introduced us to them.

The people here are usually pretty stiff unless they know who we are. If they just see that we are Christians, they have no interest. But when they see that we are nice people, they are way kind.

Anyway, the work is going well. I don't really have much to say. We are still just chugging along. I get to see people experience the Spirit in them every day I go out. It is such a blessing. I love being a missionary. I miss you all, but I'm running out of time out here and I've gotta make this last stretch count.

I love you all,

Elder 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

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