Dear Family,
Well it's been a long week lots of up and lots
of down. Here is the awesome thing though, everything is going well here, I'm
all healthy and we're seeing miracles. Especially with Hiro San and Takeuchi
kyoudai. So it's been good. We also have had some time to look for new
investigators this week. Nothing coming of it yet but we've been using our time
more effectively lately and made some time.
Anyways, so this last week (it feels like it's
been years) Elder Poffenberger left, he peaced out all the way up to Kamiooka.
That was on Thursday that that happened. Tuesday we were starting to clean and
pack and went to the church for a less active lesson with Umeda kyoudai and
then intended to return to packing and cleaning. It's quite the chore so we needed
about 3 hours. Anyways during the lesson with Umeda kyoudai we got a call from
Hiro San who we had met and set a baptismal date with the day before and he
wanted to come to the church for a lesson. So immediately after Umeda kyoudai's
lesson we hopped into a lesson with Hiro San. Then halfway through that lesson
we got a call from Takeuchi kyoudai. He also wanted to do a lesson so we did it
right after Hiro's lesson. And long story short all day never made it back to
the apartment to pack. That whole thing where everyone calls to do lessons
randomly is the reason we barely trust our plans anymore cuz every time we make
a plan it just gets all sorts of changed, but it's a good kind of change.
Then we packed and cleaned all day Wednesday
which was intense, but especially as the transfer was splitting up Elder
Poffenberger and I we were way sad. We kept going through bummed stages, where
you'd just sit down and stare at the others doing stuff. Then we would come out
of it and be fine. It was kinda funny, but we were pretty bummed. I found a guy
in our English class that probably could reach your ham radio from japan dad!
He's pretty weird but hey why not? Lol then when Elder Poffenberger left on
Thursday it was one of the sadder send offs. Takeuchi kyoudai was crying huge
huge crocodile tears, sukekawa Shimai was too. So we took some pictures, Poff
had a random guy in the Eki take some (he was terrible at it) and then it was
two.
Then Friday during district meeting Elder
Okada and I experienced one of their weirder things missionaries have to deal
with. So here's a story. We are sitting in the church waiting for the zone
leaders to start district meeting and there is a random guy trying to peak in
the Windows, very abnormal behavior for a Japanese person. So because we're
missionaries, and because Law Shimai would have freaked out if we didn't, we
headed out to speak with him but he basically just took off. So then the zone
leaders arrive and we start and he shows up again. It's pretty weird at this
point, but Sister Law being Sister Law stands up and walks out to go dendo this
guy. So they go out and we come out, a little bit in because technically we're
not supposed to talk/teach people of the opposite gender in this mission, so
the zone leaders were freaking out. Anyways long story short, we talk to him, he
asks to come inside and sit down cuz it's raining so we did, took him to a
lesson room and had him sit down and we sat on the other side of the room. Then
he asked Elder Okada to sit buy him and so even more weirdness, but he obliged
and we asked him some questions. He met missionaries 2 years ago and took some
lessons, and what are the odds, but he was the kid who took our picture at the
station when Poff left. The whole time my mind was flying 8000 miles an hour
putting pieces together and stuff and then I realized we got 2 calls from a kid
in the danger list on our phone this morning. His name in the phone was
"kawanishi (gay)". Now I would still usually give him a fair chance,
see if he wanted to change and wanted to repent, but that's when it got
weirder. He started asking Elder Okada if he liked sports and if he
weightlifted (Elder Okada is a very very skinny boy from down south it was
pretty obvious the answer to that one) and he asked to if he could feel Elder Okada's
arm. And that was huge red flag, so from that point on it took me about 3
minutes to take care of everything, Elder Okada was way freaked out and didn't
know what to do because he's Japanese and still didn't want to be the least bit
rude. But basically I escorted him out and
me and Elder Okada were just looking at each other like "what the
heck just happened..." So yeah that was Friday! It got better cuz we had
game night and bible study but crazy stuff, stuff that I would never have to
deal with in normal life. And lately those type things have been getting more
and more common it seems over here, so missionaries have to be lots more
careful than when I first got here.
Anyways then Saturday we had a mochitsuki!
Where you make mochi and stuff, I'll send some pictures. Before you ask what
mochi is though, I would encourage you to look it up on the Internet. Why you
ask? Well I have been trying to figure out how to describe it to you guys for 3
days, and well I can't describe it in English. So that's a thing. Have fun on
the Google now! :) I played sacrament in piano yesterday (flip that one) so
that was awesome! Thanks mom and dad for making me take lessons even when I
didn't want to. I'm glad I don't have to practice songs that I don't like, but
I needed it for a while right? Anyways, it's been long but good, this week has.
I learn more and more about prayer and Heavenly Father every day. There are
days when I just can't wait for August when I can finally drift... I mean drive
a car again and see all you guys. But I really have come to love the people
here and love being a missionary. I hope this week will bring more success,
pray that hero can understand and make his baptismal date. We'll be working as
hard as possible.
Love you all!
Elder Gailey
From Google - ‘Mochitsuki’
is a widely practiced Japanese ceremony. New Years ritual involving the
pounding of rice to make soft mochi cakes. Traditionally a family or community
activity, the women would soak and cook the special mochi rice after which the
men would take turns pounding the mochi rice with a large wooden mallet in a
stone or wood mortar until it was soft and smooth. Another man would kneel next
to the mochi, moistening and turning it between the pounding; sometimes a
second person would pound alternately from the other side. It was imperative
that a consistent rhythm be kept up lest the mochi "turner" get his
hands squashed. The pounded mochi would then be divided into small portions,
covered with starch or flour, and made into small cakes; some of the cakes
would be filled with a sweet bean paste. The finished mochi is one of the
traditional New Year foods.
The perk devotional. We all walked in complete silence to go buy Elder Poffenberger's favorite drink to commemorate his time here. Then took a picture. This is at 6:40 am. Flipping early and cold, but... Golden.
Goodbye to Elder Poffenberger
Elder Gailey's new puzzle
Mochitsuki
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