Dear Family,
Well hey there hi there ho
there! How's everyone doing back home? Our week over here was pretty good, we
talked to a lot of people got a new baptismal date investigator for next month,
and I got to go to MLC. Mom had asked if temple Pday is coming up soon but
actually it was last week but we're just so far out that it's difficult to go
sometimes, and we had a bunch of lessons pop up again. But next transfer I
should be able to make it. Let's hope! Anyways this weekend was conference and
this next weekend is transfer emails! So Bam! It's already here. It felt like
yesterday that Elder Aoki got here and we taught Takeuchi Kyoudai for the first
time together. Well as of next week I'll be transfer 14 of 16. I'm basically
there. But not quite so I've still got all kinds of good people to meet and all
kinds of funny stories to make!
So I mentioned a second
ago I got to go to MLC. MLC stands for Mission Leadership Council, and
generally is just zone leaders, sister training leaders, assistants, and
president Wada. However once in a while people get invited to go, usually if
president is considering them for a zone leader, assistant or sister training
leader position. So the odds of me transferring just shot up from 50% to
probably 98%. Hopefully if I do transfer it will be my last one. I would like
to finish my last 3 transfers in the same place. One strange thing that
happened at MLC however is that president asked me and another Elder to come
sit at the front with him sister Wada and the assistants, there were probably
10 non-leaders invited but only us two were asked to come to the front. It's
for lack of a better word "fushigi" 不思議 which basically in this case means curious. The same
curious that Alice in wonderland always uses. Yes, curiouser and curiouser, as
I know most of the girls just said in their head, that curiouser. We'll see
what happens on Saturday, whatever happens I just hope I have enough time to
write in my journal. It's hard enough as a regular missionary, but I still
haven't missed a day since August 20th, 2014.
So we had a lesson (on splits because I was at
MLC) with our investigator Hiro. This is Hiro number three. We have the member,
the one who moved to Kyoto, and the new investigator. So on Tuesday we taught
him most of the restoration and invited him to be baptized, but not with a
date. So while on splits Elder Aoki asked him to be baptized and he said he
would on August 26th. So we have another buddy with a baptismal date now, it's
not looking like anyone will be baptized this month but next month there will
be! The branch is really appreciative of us, and one member, Watanabe Kyoudai
has told me thank you so many times for working hard enough to as a district
have a baptism every month, he also is convinced I'm going to be transferring
to help some other area make it that far too. So kind of a bummer there, but
still good thing.
Also here is a miracle from the week, me and Elder Aoki on one of the days this week, were running out of places to dendo. Because of the cherry blossom trees blooming 99% of Odawara is tourists, so it's hard to find people to teach because they all leave basically the next day. So we decided to go to the beach (not many tourists go to Odawaras beaches, they go to some nicer ones. So we went there skipped a few rocks while deciding where to go next and then I noticed a gaijin, a man from America, turns out to be Minnesota, and I talked with him. His name was nick. He was just sitting down watching the waves and I had the thought, no one just sits down and watches the waves like that if they don't have something on their mind. So I talked to him, he's only here for a bit but has been seriously thinking about his life and stuff. Eventually i taught him just like I teach Japanese people on the street (this is the first time I realized I can teach in English the exact same way I do in Japanese and it's not weird) and I ended up sharing a camp Helaman story with him and a story of how I came to know the Book of Mormon was true. And after bearing my testimony he looked at me and said, "you know, I'm a pretty strong atheist, but if there's people like you out here then their might just be something to your religion." And after talking a bit more I gave a gaijin with some interest a Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission, in English. It was a pretty cool moment, and he committed to reading it and if he sees the missionaries in Minnesota to talk with them about how it goes. Cool little miracle right? The spirits promptings are fushigi (curious) things! We just gotta follow them!
Anyways, I'm doing my best not to get trunky, me and Elder Aoki are playing ping pong every morning and I'm pretty good now, and the transfer is going well. I hope you all had a great time at General conference, I watched it in Japanese for the first time, it's hard to hear in one language and write in another, so next year I'll have better notes. The talks and music were all amazing. I can't wait to study them even more. Have a great week everyone! I love you!
Love,
Elder Gailey
P.S. That's awesome that you got to take some pictures and go out with the missionaries dad! I'm way glad! It's probably way nostalgic for you right? Maybe I dunno, but that sounds fun!
P.P.S. No worries mom just let me know if you have any ideas, also when do class sign ups start? I was thinking about maybe taking weight training as well, help me get back a little you know? Lol love you!
Also here is a miracle from the week, me and Elder Aoki on one of the days this week, were running out of places to dendo. Because of the cherry blossom trees blooming 99% of Odawara is tourists, so it's hard to find people to teach because they all leave basically the next day. So we decided to go to the beach (not many tourists go to Odawaras beaches, they go to some nicer ones. So we went there skipped a few rocks while deciding where to go next and then I noticed a gaijin, a man from America, turns out to be Minnesota, and I talked with him. His name was nick. He was just sitting down watching the waves and I had the thought, no one just sits down and watches the waves like that if they don't have something on their mind. So I talked to him, he's only here for a bit but has been seriously thinking about his life and stuff. Eventually i taught him just like I teach Japanese people on the street (this is the first time I realized I can teach in English the exact same way I do in Japanese and it's not weird) and I ended up sharing a camp Helaman story with him and a story of how I came to know the Book of Mormon was true. And after bearing my testimony he looked at me and said, "you know, I'm a pretty strong atheist, but if there's people like you out here then their might just be something to your religion." And after talking a bit more I gave a gaijin with some interest a Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission, in English. It was a pretty cool moment, and he committed to reading it and if he sees the missionaries in Minnesota to talk with them about how it goes. Cool little miracle right? The spirits promptings are fushigi (curious) things! We just gotta follow them!
Anyways, I'm doing my best not to get trunky, me and Elder Aoki are playing ping pong every morning and I'm pretty good now, and the transfer is going well. I hope you all had a great time at General conference, I watched it in Japanese for the first time, it's hard to hear in one language and write in another, so next year I'll have better notes. The talks and music were all amazing. I can't wait to study them even more. Have a great week everyone! I love you!
Love,
Elder Gailey
P.S. That's awesome that you got to take some pictures and go out with the missionaries dad! I'm way glad! It's probably way nostalgic for you right? Maybe I dunno, but that sounds fun!
P.P.S. No worries mom just let me know if you have any ideas, also when do class sign ups start? I was thinking about maybe taking weight training as well, help me get back a little you know? Lol love you!
Pday
Sakura (Japanese Cherry Blossoms)
Sakura and the Odawara Castle
Old Photo of Elder Gailey in Hakone
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