Hey hey hey!
Well I only have 4 more days... never thought I'd be able to say that. Crazy stuff! I'll be honest, I’m not really sure what to even put in this email! I'm really excited to see you all, giving my final talk at church on Sunday in Japanese was difficult. I felt like i would still be coming back the next week for Sacrament meeting anyway so it didn’t really feel like the end. However, the ward was great and did so much for Sister Bybee and I as we leave, they all individually and as families said thank you and goodbye, and they are all so grateful for the work that we put in at the end of our missions. In the last 3 transfers there have been 5 baptisms in the Kamiooka ward, and they really appreciate it. So yeah this last week has been pretty good!
Dad said it correctly when he said that it was our busy week. We were ridiculously busy all week. The temple went really well this last week, the temple presidency asked everyone over transfer 9 to do it in Japanese from here on out so I did it in Japanese again and I learned some really cool things. It’s hard to explain because its mostly just translation things that stuck out to me that time but it was really good to do it in Japanese again. Who knows if I'll ever get to do it in Japanese again you know? So that was on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday we spent the whole day on splits. We had one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday so we were moving around a lot and not spending a lot of time in our own area. There were lots of miracles during that but the biggest one was that I was finally able to find Kazuhiro Kyoudai! He is the one that Elder Hall and I baptized in my first transfer in Kamiooka, with the moustache. He got really sick and fell out of contact with the missionaries and was unable to go to church since he was confirmed, but this time I found his house and he wasn't in a mini-coma, so we met with him and he came to church on Sunday with us on the bus! He's back!! So that was a huge miracle, I also had my returning interview with President Warnick, and it went really well, he's an awesome person and gave me all kinds of good advice. It was weird doing the interview though because basically for the first time in 2 years I was encouraged to think and talk about what will happen after the mission. That was for sure a strange feeling. We had the last of the 3 baptisms in a row this Saturday with Elder Hall's companionship baptizing their Chinese investigator Sun San.
Last kind of just to talk about my last Sunday in Japan. It was such a bitter-sweet day. It was awesome because when I was sitting out in the congregation i was in a row with 3 recent converts and 2 missionaries. All but 1 of the recent converts was at church this last week and the other one was at a different ward, so it was a really cool way to go. Also after sacrament meeting we were up in Gospel Principles class and all 5 of them were just banding together talking about what they know and don’t know and helping each other figure it out. There were 5 people, all with a very basic knowledge of the Gospel, grabbing on to the Iron Rod and pressing towards the tree of life together. Boy, it was nice to see!
Also, the Cunningham's came and visited!! I forgot to take a picture with them but it was great! They were so nice and it was nice to see a familiar face before I leave, I even got to talk to Andrew! However, America is pretty intense compared to here! It’s going to be culture shock times 1000000. So please help!
Dad, no unfortunately I don't get to keep my iPad as it is region locked for Japan. Also about the whole open house thing, if you think it would be good I'm all for it, why not, right? Do I have to wear a suit?... I still don’t like suits...
Dad, here is my last week plan:
Well I only have 4 more days... never thought I'd be able to say that. Crazy stuff! I'll be honest, I’m not really sure what to even put in this email! I'm really excited to see you all, giving my final talk at church on Sunday in Japanese was difficult. I felt like i would still be coming back the next week for Sacrament meeting anyway so it didn’t really feel like the end. However, the ward was great and did so much for Sister Bybee and I as we leave, they all individually and as families said thank you and goodbye, and they are all so grateful for the work that we put in at the end of our missions. In the last 3 transfers there have been 5 baptisms in the Kamiooka ward, and they really appreciate it. So yeah this last week has been pretty good!
Dad said it correctly when he said that it was our busy week. We were ridiculously busy all week. The temple went really well this last week, the temple presidency asked everyone over transfer 9 to do it in Japanese from here on out so I did it in Japanese again and I learned some really cool things. It’s hard to explain because its mostly just translation things that stuck out to me that time but it was really good to do it in Japanese again. Who knows if I'll ever get to do it in Japanese again you know? So that was on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday we spent the whole day on splits. We had one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday so we were moving around a lot and not spending a lot of time in our own area. There were lots of miracles during that but the biggest one was that I was finally able to find Kazuhiro Kyoudai! He is the one that Elder Hall and I baptized in my first transfer in Kamiooka, with the moustache. He got really sick and fell out of contact with the missionaries and was unable to go to church since he was confirmed, but this time I found his house and he wasn't in a mini-coma, so we met with him and he came to church on Sunday with us on the bus! He's back!! So that was a huge miracle, I also had my returning interview with President Warnick, and it went really well, he's an awesome person and gave me all kinds of good advice. It was weird doing the interview though because basically for the first time in 2 years I was encouraged to think and talk about what will happen after the mission. That was for sure a strange feeling. We had the last of the 3 baptisms in a row this Saturday with Elder Hall's companionship baptizing their Chinese investigator Sun San.
Last kind of just to talk about my last Sunday in Japan. It was such a bitter-sweet day. It was awesome because when I was sitting out in the congregation i was in a row with 3 recent converts and 2 missionaries. All but 1 of the recent converts was at church this last week and the other one was at a different ward, so it was a really cool way to go. Also after sacrament meeting we were up in Gospel Principles class and all 5 of them were just banding together talking about what they know and don’t know and helping each other figure it out. There were 5 people, all with a very basic knowledge of the Gospel, grabbing on to the Iron Rod and pressing towards the tree of life together. Boy, it was nice to see!
Also, the Cunningham's came and visited!! I forgot to take a picture with them but it was great! They were so nice and it was nice to see a familiar face before I leave, I even got to talk to Andrew! However, America is pretty intense compared to here! It’s going to be culture shock times 1000000. So please help!
Dad, no unfortunately I don't get to keep my iPad as it is region locked for Japan. Also about the whole open house thing, if you think it would be good I'm all for it, why not, right? Do I have to wear a suit?... I still don’t like suits...
Dad, here is my last week plan:
Tuesday I ship my bags to
the Narita Airport through a company called ABC Mart then once I arrive at the
airport about 4 hours early on Friday I will go to the ABC Mart desk and pick
them up, then I will take them into the airport and check them into my flight
and all the way to Seattle. I will arrive at the mission home on Thursday
afternoon, have some returning checks, potentially one more interview, and a
study session with the mission president and his wife most likely about
marriage. Then the next day we go out and dendo one last time before getting on
the bus and heading to the airport. Then just like it says in the plans, I
should be there right around 9:00 am walking out of the gate to see you!
Hopefully that was good enough summary! I'm excited to see you all but terrified to leave Japan. It definitely seems like I will still be attending the Kamiooka Ward next Sunday, and that the end is just a dream. I'm sure taking off my tag at the end is going to be one of the most difficult things that I have had to do in a long time, and I'm not looking forward to it but it will be great to see you all. I love you all so much, and I'll see you soon! Have a great, safe, prayer filled week!
Elder Gailey
Hopefully that was good enough summary! I'm excited to see you all but terrified to leave Japan. It definitely seems like I will still be attending the Kamiooka Ward next Sunday, and that the end is just a dream. I'm sure taking off my tag at the end is going to be one of the most difficult things that I have had to do in a long time, and I'm not looking forward to it but it will be great to see you all. I love you all so much, and I'll see you soon! Have a great, safe, prayer filled week!
Elder Gailey
From Kim Cunningham:
It was our pleasure! I'm
so glad it worked out :) He's such a great young man! Yeah, I think it was kind
of a culture shock to be on base! Little America! So so different than Japan!!!
He was funny! He almost forgot what it was like to ride in a car :) He thought
how weird it was to wear a seatbelt. It's those little things that we take for
granted every day! So cute :) Yeah, it was really good timing that Andrew
called just as we sat down to eat ;) Andrew is excited for him to get to BYU!
It will be so fun!!! Big hugs guys!
Elder Gailey's last Sunday
Elder Gailey finding Kazuhiro
Hiro came to visit, Sister Bybee and Elder Gailey
Kim and Jim Cunningham brought surprises for
Elder Gailey and Elder Dunn and took them out to eat.
Festival
No comments:
Post a Comment