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

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