We have a new exciting adventure here in Isahaya. We just went 4 man! Yes, I'm still with Elder Anderson and we got Elder Tagawa from Tokyo Japan and another Elder Anderson from Idaho......Yeah. We call them the Elders Anderson....Kinda difficult. It's a party though. Elder Tagawa taught me to cook some cool stuff and everyone gets along really well. Elder Anderson and I were on our bikes yesterday and he turned to me and said "Something feels different. I think this is going to be a much better transfer".

 

 

 

I have felt super awesome this last week. We didn't get a lot of work done (but still managed to find 2 new investigators) but Sister Gustafsen has been calling me all week. I'm in charge of buying new desks and wardrobes and stuff for the Isahaya apartment. So I have been riding around to fancy stores in my suit and feeling super professional. I love doing things for Sister Gustafsen. I think she likes me to do things like this because I was helping her make all the beds in Honbu my first week in Japan. Haha, I don't know. Sometimes I miss doing home chores. (Parental note: Who is this person and what did he do to our son?)

 

Today, I have to spend 350 dollars on furniture. I asked Elder Tagawa to help me with all the vocabulary for today....I don't talk about shelf sizes and delivery service very often when teaching the gospel....

 

Other than that, we had general conference and I had to watch the whole thing in Japanese....We have the DVD so I can watch them later but Elder Tagawa can't do English so I had to sit with him in the Japanese Session....It was pretty good. I can understand ONE talk at a time....but it takes so much focus and concentration that the next talk, I'm mentally wasted and fall asleep..So I understood about half the talks. ;)

 

I get to speak Japanese all the time now and I love it. This transfer is going to be SOO much better than the last one. My zoneleaders said that they expect great things from this area and we are already seeing miracles.

 

We'll keep working hard.

 

 

 

I love you all.

Elder Low

So, I have had a really long week. The saddest part is that not a lot of things happened. We had a cleaning check....don't worry. We passed with a 'Celestial' rating. As you may have seen in my pictures, I also went to a Branch Camp. It was kinda a long thing....We spent all day up in the mountains just to share a short message. I felt like it was a little too long. BUT I got really close to my Branch.

 

Our branch at Branch Camp. The Branch President is wearing the red shirt.

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

 

 

 

 

Right now, I'm in Nagasaki because we were going to pickup Elder Anderson's bike....but now we have a problem and probably can't get his bike. There is a huge typhoon coming and....we might all be stuck in the church all day. I'm actually pretty excited about it. My branch president called me and let me know about it and told me to stay inside. Haha, so here I am.

 

I'm kinda struggling with the area. We don't have lots of people to visit so we're trying super hard to find new investigators.....but it's been tough.

 

Here we are out on the street, doing our job.

 

 

 

Also, R has been a little bit difficult to meet. He doesn't have a car or anything to transport himself around for work so he's always walking around......and he's really hard to meet. But he's doing some great things with his life. He quit alcohol and he's working on tea. Also, he's going to see his family in Kagoshima pretty soon here. :)

 

At the station, headed to district meeting

My district

 

 

 

 

We've been trying really hard to fix up a bunch of the things in the area. When I got here, there were a lot of things that were being done on a weekly basis. Things that .......are not super important. So, we want to cancel them.......but it's hard because people in the area are really comfortable with these weekly things....but we need to be doing more important things!

 

So, today is transfer calls. I'm not too worried about it. I am pretty sure I'm staying. I'll let you know though. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm losing one of my comps. Elder Just has been here for a while and I think he's going to be heading off to another area.

 

Anyway, I think I'm staying with Elder Anderson which I'm really excited about.

 

I don't have anything really to report on. I'll let you know how the transfers go. I love you all and I'll try to stay safe in the Typhoon!

 

Love,

Elder Low

September 29, 2013

Hey, so it's still hot over here....which kinda worries me because we start suit season tomorrow. I hope it cools down just a little bit.

 

So, yes....the new camera is pretty sick. (Yes, I still say 'sick'......judge me. ;))

 

Click on any photo to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

 

900 year-old tree

 

 

Isahaya, Japan

 

Also, this week, we've been working super hard with R. We met him a couple times this week and he is doing pretty great. I do have one concern. He told me he will never ever give up tea. He says he's preparing to be baptized and that it's what he wants. He said that he cannot give it up if there isn't a reason to give it up......but we haven't taught him about the Word of Wisdom yet. We are going to really focus on how it's not just our physical benefit but also our spiritual benefit.

 

His other big problem this week was hilarious. We were about to teach English class and he stormed into the church and told us he had a problem. He opened up to the picture in the Book of Mormon of Lehi and his Family on the boat.....you know the one? Well, in the photo, there is a picture of a little boy and he is JACKED. He is so built. His arms are monsterous. R pointed to the picture and said 絶対うそだ! He said there is no way that kid is that strong. That's BS and stuff like that. Haha, I was laughing so hard. He wanted me to call the branch president to get it fixed.....he was kinda joking aroung though. He makes me laugh.

 

He also told a stake leader that he really wants to be baptized. So he's doing great.

 

 

Prep for English Class

 

This week has been pretty rough though....We worked super hard, but didn't get any new investigators and a bunch of our appointments didn't work out. I think my companions might be getting a little discouraged. It's hard to be super Genki all the time.

 

In the apartment

 

 

 

Looks like chicken, but who knows.

 

 

We have no idea what this is.

 

 

But we had a cool dinner appointment with one of our members. Here name is Sister Kita. She's really just a fire ball. I found out that she used to be a Jehovah's Witness.....Yeah. Pretty crazy. She says that they come to her house A LOT! She just tells them that she found the truth and that she's not interested.....I was pretty impressed. She says it started with Love. This church teaches love.

 

 

 

Anyway, this is the last week of the transfer. Tomorrow, I'm teaching district meeting about being Christlike missionaries and how we need to always remember whom we represent. I hope it goes well. Also, next week you'll get emails on Monday (I'm sorry) because of transfers... I Love you all. Thank you for all the emails. I was super happy to see a letter from Jessica and Jake.....I'll be honest. It kinda made me jump when I saw the name Jessica Low.....Haha, Love you all.

 

Elder Low

September 15, 2013 - An Awesome Week

I'm pretty pumped right now.....so, this week, I taught my first District meeting ever. I was FREAKING out. I made a lesson plan about Baptismal invites and then I got a call from the ZL's saying that the AP's were going to sit in on my DM......SO I kinda freaked out and decided to make a new lesson plan about miracles! I talked about how we have a low expectation for our zone and how we can triple our numbers in a week if we look for miracles. I talked about how we see miracles. The three things I mentioned was Faith, Love, and Enthusiasm. It turned out WAY well. I showed the little youth video from last year about the girl who goes grocery shopping and needs money to get to church and miraculously finds extra money. The spirit was super strong and I felt WAY good about it.

 

Then, this week, our District alone received 15 New investigators in a week. It was the highest number of New investigators in a week for the entire mission. I got a call from the recorder who asked me how it was done. I told him and there was an Article in the FM mini news that was sent to all the missionaries in the mission. I was sooo happy. We are expecting a lot more miracles in the future. This is just the beginning.

So, we had an excellent week. Also, R was telling me how he doesn't agree with all the church's teachings but that he wants to open his heart, because if it is closed, God can't get in there. Haha, I was so happy with him.

Anyway, I'm about to go to the Bomb museum for District P-DAY. We're celebrating our huge numbers.

Love you all. thank you for your prayers and Support

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

August 19, 2013

Pretty exhausted this week.

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

So, next week, you'll be getting emails from me on Tuesday instead of Monday because we get transfer calls next week again. I'm starting to wonder if I'll still be in Nago. My zone leader was talking to me about it and said he thinks I'm going to be replacing my district leader. I think that's a little too much, but I don't know.

Here are the sisters in our zone.....yeah, there are a lot!

 

 

So, at zone p-day. While the sisters were over eating by the couple. I was stitting by these goof balls. Haha, I love them.

 

 

 

 

I had a really successful week with Elder Alger this week. We had more contacts than any other missionaries in the zone this week. It was really awesome. We also have 4 new investigators that look really really promising.

 

In other news, Y-san called me again this week. I've been really worried about her because we really haven't had a specific lesson in three weeks, but she called to tell me about her stituation. She says that she thinks her cancer isn't very serious, but that she is still freaking out. She actually finds out today whether or not she can meet with us THIS week. However, she did tell me some really good things. I asked her how she was handling her stress and she said that she's been praying like crazy.

 

I asked her how that has helped her. She said that she feels like it usually calms her down, but she had a really bad worry about her mother. Her mother had to go have another check up in the Hospital. (Yeah, they both go to the hospital ALL the time) She said she was praying for her mother so hard and praying that she would be able to function that day and not worry about her mother. That day, her mother came back from the hospital. The doctor was surprised to tell her that her sickness had gone from dangerous to full recovery.

 

She told that to me and it didn't register at first. I was absolutely shocked. Her mom is fine now. When she was talking to me on the phone, she was just bawling and thanking me and telling me that she really REALLY needs to meet us. I was so happy to hear that and I'm so excited to meet her again. The only problem is she is always going to the hospital. We are having the whole ward pray for her. She's been prepared......we just need to meet her.

 

Elder Alger and I gave talks about the temple yesterday. He was pretty upset about it.........Haha, I remember my first talk in Nago didn't go so well either. He is freaking out about language. Haha, he's doing good though. That's our major focus. I feel bad, but I keep throwing him in the deep end and make him contact people and see how much he can teach on his own.....I think he's learning fast though.

Other than that, we are excited to work with these new investigators. We'll keep working hard.

 

Love,

Elder Low