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

September 1, 2013 - Hello From Isahaya

Yes, I was transfered. I miss Okinawa. However, Isahaya REALLY needs help. Here is the big news. 

 

I am training again....and I have another junior companion. That puts me in a threesome. On top of that....I am the district leader over ten missionaries. 2 of which are the zl`s which scares me. President must trust me a lot. It freaks me out.

 

My companions are Elder Just from Orem, Utah and Elder Anderson (the bean) from Logan. They are both super sick. I love it. I`m speaking more Japanese than I thought I could. I have to talk A LOT. Elder Just has really good Japanese, but I still have to say the difficult things and that is...hard. Haha, but I love it.

 

Today, I called all the district for reports.....nobody has investigators. We do in Isahaya, but nobody really has any.....We are currently the zone with the least investigators. I was shocked by our numbers....it is time to get to work

 

Yesterday, We had a district conference in Nagasaki. Elder Nakatsuka came again. He`s a beast. He is so freaking awesome. President came as well. Both of them got everyone in Nagasaki pumped to do missionary work. SO I was really happy. However, Elder Nakatsuka had all the DL`s stand up. He then asked my age. Haha, He asked everyone in the congregation to think about how much Heavenly Father trusts a 19 year old boy to decide whether or not a person is worthy for baptism....kinda freaked me out.

 

BUT, it`s been great here. I miss Elder Alger and my investigator Y-san. The last day I talked to her on the phone. She started crying and told me how scared she was of her cancer.....I really didn`t want to leave, but I know that Elder Alger will take care of her.

 

Our big Investigator here is a guy named R. He is half black, but speaks zero English. He is so hilarious. He`s like a sassy black guy.....but Japanese. I love him. We had a great lesson with him the other day about faith and he`s progressing. Here`s something about him. He says　だいじょうび　He`s says it`s not funny if he just says things normally so...why would he say 大丈夫．　He‘s great!

 

Other than that, I just started out here. I saw the wedding pictures. It looks like a blast but......I miss my roommates! AHHHHH They all have beards! haha, Tell them I love them and miss them.

 

I`ll keep pushing and finding people to teach

August 27, 2013 - Transfers this week...

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

 

Elder Alger hard at work. 

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Our English class students and their son.

 

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

 

Our clean apartment. (Parents are stunned.)

 

 

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

 

 

 

Elder Low

July 29, 2013 - Crazy week. Things are looking great!

 

I had a lot happen this week so listen in carefullly.

 

First, training the bean. I didn't realize how much I could have improved my relationship with my last two companions until now. Yes, I got along with them and I love them both....but Elder Alger and I have so much fun working. He's a blast. His Japanese needs work but I'm so grateful that he laughs off his mistakes and keeps pushing forward. He doesn't get discouraged very easily which makes me want to work with him more. This week gave him lots of chances to be angry but he was great. Here we go!

 

On Monday, we spent P-day going to Okinawa to buy him a bike. He's been using a bike that belongs to a missionary who went home before Christmas. It's a piece of Junk. So we took a bus to Okinawa. The stupid bus took 3 hours though. It's normally an hour and a half but it was super long on Monday for some reason.

 

We finally got there and met the Williams couple and bought Elder Alger the same bike that I have. It's a good one. The Williams then drove us back to Nago (which only took 45 minutes by car) and then we worked hard that night.

 

The next day at District meeting, we went out to eat with the district. When Elder Alger and I walked back to the church to get our bikes, Elder Alger's bike had been slashed. Yep, he had the front tire slashed the day after he bought it. So today, we have to go buy him a new tire. On top of that, Elder Alger doesn't have any rain gear.....and on Tuesday, we had a crazy surprise rainstorm. It was so bad that the upper part of my shirt got soaked. I had my rain suit and everything. The rain just leaked down my neck all day.

 

Keep in mind that Elder Alger was still pretty happy and pushing hard the whole time.

 

One Wednesday, we taught Y-san. She committed to come to church finally, but canceled on Saturday. I was super bummed. On top of that, she's going to be in Kin every day from today until the 14th so we can't meet her. I told her I was still going to call and make sure she's doing good......but I'm really concerned about her....She's still very optimistic and keeping other commitments so that's good.

 

On Thursday, Elder Alger and I went down to Futenma to meet the President for a training meeting. It was awesome. I love being with President. THEN, after that, President had to go meet with the Stake President of Ginowan Stake so he assigned Me to go with Sister Gustafson and the Williams couple to translate for them for the day. Sister Gustafson had to go talk to some of the sister missionaries in Okinawa and then I had to help her check into a hotel. That was SCARY. I don't know any hotel vocabulary. It went ok though. After that, the Williams took us back to Nago to meet President and our investigator M-san so that President could interview him one last time.

 

President showed up while we were teaching Eikaiwa. The Stake President drove him up to Nago. I went and grabbed M-san and showed President a room that he could interview M-san in. After that, I asked if the Stake President was going to sit in on the interview as well. Then President said, "No....you are".

 

I was kinda surprised. I had to leave Elder Alger to teach Eikaiwa which kinda scared him but he did fine. Miyagi was very open with President and at the end of the interview President turned to me and asked why we were still waiting for him. He's ready and anyone can see it.

 

So we'll have a baptism this week. :) As the President left, he shook my hand and told me that he was really impressed with me which made my Dendo Fire go through the roof. It was an excellent day.

 

That's the big stuff of our week though. I'm having a lot of fun with Elder Alger. Good things are happening. My biggest concern is Elder Alger's Japanese. But he'll learn. He always says, "I can't Sprekkin" (I don't know how to spell that exactly but....he's so fun).

 

A dang good bowl of Ramen. (Click on any photo to enlarge)

With Elder Alger

 

We'll keep working hard. I also bought a pair of machine washable pants and I LOVE them. :) I got the package from Clint. Thank you so so much.  :)

 

Thanks for sending the new tie.

We had the Nago festival which had lots of fireworks. It's kinda hard taking a picture of fireworks.....it's like taking a picture of a movie. Makes me miss 4th of July.

 

 

Love,

Elder Low

July 22, 2013 - Training a bean . . . it's crazy

The Night before transfers. Last night with ALL the Okinawa Elders. It was so much fun. :)

 

 

Some ice cream and hot fudge we had that night. :)

 

The reason I'm making that face with Elder Sugimoto is Elder Hammond was behind me trying to make me laugh.....It kinda looks like I'm angry though

With Elder Zimmerman

Me and My Zone Leader Elder Yamanashi

 

 

 

I would go buy pants today but I have to go to Okinawa to buy my bean's bike...so let me tell you about him.

 

His name is Elder Alger. He's from Eugene, Oregon and he's a pretty great guy. He's still getting used to the fact that he's in Japan. He's kinda quiet, but I'm trying my best to make sure he's smiling lots. I remember my first week was rough. I think he's doing good though. As far as his Japanese .......it..... needs help. It actually wears me out because I have to do most of the talking. It's a little diffficult but it's helping my language tons.

 

Elder Alger and I both had talks yesterday. The subject was Kami no Yogensha (prophets). It was really difficult for me. It was even worse for Elder Alger. I felt they both went pretty well though. Elder Alger gave a brief testimony and I talked about the prophets words in the last year about missionary work and member work (because our members don't help us a lot). It went well. After the talk, a couple members set up some dinner appointments. :)

 

M-san has a baptimal interview with the Mission president on Thursday. I called the Bishop and told him that we wanted to be prepared for the baptism on the following Sunday.

 

P-san is gone. We can't get a hold of him at all. We can't go to his house because it's on the college campus and we can't go. He won't answer his phone. It's heartbreaking. I feel like we should have been more bold but at the same time I feel like we did everything we could. He just....stopped.

 

Y-san had a great-ish lesson this week. The lesson was on Obedience. We started talking about it and she brought up the word of wisdom. Then our Joint-members started talking out about it.  At that point, I realized that she doesn't have a strong enough relationship with her Savior to do that yet and that maybe we should have talked more about Jesus Christ. We committed her to continue reading and praying and she's excited to do so.  BUT Y-san also said she wants to be baptized but that she's just not ready to commit.....so that's good. :)

 

Other than that, our other investigators are struggling to keep commitments and to meet. It's a little rough, but we're having fun in Nago......It's hot but fun. Elder Alger was pretty surprised by the heat.....and the language. He's a great elder though and I'm excited to train him.

 

The language is still difficult. I feel like only crazy people speak Okinawan Hogan though. Basically, we'll contact them and then they get really mad.......AND I don't have a clue what they are saying. Then Elder Alger asks why they are mad and all I can do is say "Hogan". We don't hear Hogan a lot though.

 

That's all I have for this week though. I would love to see pics of Clint.

 

I'll keep working hard.

Love you all,

Elder Randy Kazuhiro Low

July 16, 2013 - Waiting For Transfer Calls

Today, our transfer calls are supposed to come. I have the phone sitting next to me right now and I'm FREAKING out!! This is my third transfer in Nago so it is very very likely that I leave. However, President said he wanted me to train this transfer and I don't know if he trusts me enough to whitewash an area. That's a LOT of work! I'll do whatever he asks.....but it's terrifying waiting. If we're still in the church when the call comes, we'll let you know.

First order of business, I found some things that I could use. First, a family photo album would be nice. I realize that I only have the ones from email. maybe some pictures of all of us in disneyland or things like that. Something to think about.

 

Also......I hate to do this to you, but it's so hot out here and we sweat.....a lot. I was thinking, maybe I need some machine washable pants. What do you think? Let me know.

 

I hope Clint is having a good time. I had a dream that He and Grandma surprise attacked me here in Nago. I hope he's having lots of fun.

 

Also, I got Jake's engagement photos. Looking Slick. Kinda weird thinking that it's really happening and that I won't be there:( but looks like they are super happy. So that's awesome!

 

Ok, enough of all that. Here's what's been going on this week:

 

First, I have Jon's card. I've taken good care of it. I'll send it soon.

 

Today, I'm a little late because Elder Jolly and I went out to eat Sushi with a ward member. Yes, you'll get some photos of it (and I got a haircut as soon as I returned to Nago. Elder Jolly and I both needed it bad). It was super good. Elder jolly kinda struggled with the Natto sushi. I liked it though. Mom would be so proud. I actually eat it for breakfast every morning. Somebody told me it's really good for your skin so I decided to get used to eating it. It's kinda grown on me.....which scares me because you can't really eat it in the states. I won't know what to eat for breakfast when I get home!!!

 

Eating Sushi. Click any photo to enlarge

 

Note the squid embryo sushi...

 

 

 

This week, our numbers were a little.....low. We had splits in Ishikawa this week. It was so fun, but that killed a whole day of Dendo. Also, we had a training meeting about working with the wards in Okinawa on thursday. It was a good training, but it also killed our numbers.

 

The day in Ishikawa, I worked with Sugimoto Choro. He's a BOSS. He can't speak english, but it was so fun. He's only on his second transfer, but he's an amazing missionary. We just barely heard that he is transferring to Hiroshima.....We still don't know where we're going.

 

With Elder Sugimoto

 

 

Sorry, this email is kinda crazy. I'm freaking out right now because I WANT TO KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!

 

Ok! Despite the fact that we had low numbers, the ratio was pretty good. We found 3 new investigators this week. One of them was a woman who said she used to have a religion. Mahikari is that name of the religion. I know Jon is super familiar with it.

 

Also, we continued with Y-san. She's doing a great job of keeping her commitments. She is amazing. She's been reading and praying every day. She said that she feels closer to baptism. She says she's considering it now. We're giving her a date this week. We would have given her one earlier, but we had the whole ward problem. We're really excited to work with her towards baptism.....that is if I don't transfer (still don't know).

 

We had Sister H take us out to lunch earlier this week. At lunch, she corrected me for using a scripture that Jesus gave to his apostles. She said that it wasn't for us. It was for his apostles. Haha, I thought it was kinda strange. (It was in 3 Nephi 13:28-30)

 

Anyway, that's been our week. Yes, I'm drinking lots of water. I carry about three water bottles to last me from 12:00 till 5:00 and then three more to last from 5:00 to 9:00. It's so hot and I always feel disgusting because we're always sweating.

 

I emailed first today so you might get transfer info in about an hour. If not, I'm really sorry. It should come in the next hour.

 

I love you all.

Elder Randy Kazuhiro Low

 

This just in: Transfer news:

I am..........................

 

Not transferring. BUT!! I am.............

 

TRAINING! I'm getting an american bean this thursday. I'm kinda nervous, but it will be a great experience. The President just called and said that he really needed me to stay in transfer because we are getting 13 elders and 16 sisters. CRAZY! Anyway, gotta run. I love you all.