Things have been going well
this week! I feel like I've been able to do some very effective work this last
week, although I've only actually been in Fussa for two full days all week.
>.< Gotta' love splits!
From Tuesday to Wednesday I went with Elder M. (my companion from Transfer 4)
and working in Kunitachi area. It was great to get to work with him again, and
to understand his Japanese now. :) We did several things, but what I felt like
I learned the most with him was an effective way to invite many people to
Church through English Class. It felt extremely natural for him to tell someone
"konichiwa", then for me to tell the same person "hello",
followed by a simple English question (do you speak English?/ How are you?) and
then introduce them to our Eikaiwa classes. We'd mention that the class is held
in a church building, or that we were missionaries for a near by church, and
that we were looking for opportunities to serve the community so we decided to
hold a free English class for people. This also made it really easy for us to
ask if they'd been to church before, and then invite them to come, just one
time, and see what it was like. We found several people interested in English
class, and a few that might even be interested in coming to church sometime. I
really felt like it was an effective split.
Friday to Saturday I went on splits with the District Leader's companion, Elder
N. in Fuchu. We had a full white day so we spent most of the day walking.
Luckily for us it was the first day of the official Golden Week holiday, and
there was a big matsuri being held in between their main to train stations.
Lots of happy people, that were very willing to talk with us. We tried out the
same approach that Elder M. and I did on splits, just modified a little bit
since we were both Americans. :P It definitely worked differently, but we had a
lot of success. We spent a good chunk of the day walking around a very
populated park and just chatting with people. While we were there we found an
interesting couple that were interested in coming to church because they
"love gospel!". After talking with them for a minute it seemed like
they were talking about music more than anything else, but we taught them
briefly what we believed the gospel to be, and invited them to come to church
to learn more about Christ's gospel. They said they'd plan on coming next week
to church in Fuchu. I also found another investigator while handing out flyers
at a station, she at first was really interested in the English class, so she started
asking questions about it. Of course I followed the above pattern and also
invited her to come to church on Sunday to see what it was like. She was
interested in coming to see what it was like and committed to coming. I'm
uncertain if she came or not (I still need to follow up with Fuchu on
everyone...) but I was excited to find 3 new investigators for someone. :D They
were all very nice people, that I felt had some good potential.
Saturday afternoon I went on splits with Elder M. again and went back to Tama
for a baptismal service. It was SO good to see everyone there again!
I was kind of sad that some of the youth didn't come but that's OK, I had a blast
anyways! He was, again, still a little nervous about being baptized,
and thusly had been with the Tama Elders all day long. It looked like he'd be
OK to receive baptism, but as the time drew closer he became more and more
nervous. Elder M. and I had a really good lesson with him, in which we
promised lots of blessings, taught him from the scriptures, and bore solid
testimony. I think that was one of the best lesson's I've been a part of. He
ended up deciding last minute that it wasn't time for him to receive baptism,
and that he should wait a little bit longer. Everyone was kind of a little sad,
but in the grand scheme of things this might have been better. Elder M. and I
are still unsure if he's 100% changed, or if he's still kind of holding onto a
few things.
It's hard to believe that it's already temple week, and that transfers is just
around the corner again. @_@ Time has gone by so fast it's not even funny! I'm
excited to get the news about transfers, I feel like Fussa could really benefit
from a Spanish speaking Elder, with all the Spanish families/investigators
we've got. I'm also excited to hear where I may possibly be for the mission
split. @_@
Sister H. is doing pretty good. She's still a little worried about
getting baptized on Saturday the 11th, but from talking with her today and
yesterday she sounds like she's really willing to make a go for it this time.
she passed her interview last Friday, so I've very excited for her! We've been
going to sports night with her son the last several weeks as well, and
that's really helped us to build up his friendship with us. I'm hoping that
pretty soon we'll be able to commit him to start taking the lessons again, and
follow his mother's example in being baptized.
We haven't heard from Sister T. in over a week, so it looks like maybe
she's not quite as interested as she used to be. :\
(Another investigator) is doing OK, he still wants to meet with us when he can and it sounds
like he really cares about baptism still, though we've heard that he may have
some hard feelings for his brother-in-law who teaches the Spanish Sunday School
class. We're worried that may be one of the reasons the he hasn't been coming
to church. :\ We're meeting with him on Wednesday to teach a little lesson
before he goes out of town for two weeks. After that he'll get back with just a
little bit more than a week before his baptismal date. If he doesn't come to
church that weekend after he gets back we're going to need to move his date
back I'm afraid, since he's only come once. :\
As for N., we've not been able to meet with her this week either, due to
conflicts in scheduling with Brother M., and our times, as well as what
sounds like a lack of communication with her (she's not been answering often).
Brother M. will also be going out of town in the coming weeks, and so
we're in the middle of trying to find a new joint for N. that can bring her
to church. Hopefully with the new Ward mission leader that just got called last
Sunday we'll have a bit more luck with that. :)
I can't think of anything else to add, so I guess I'll wrap it up with this. We
found a Slurpee machine in a 7-11... Melon and ramune flavored Slurpee's rock.
:)
love,
Elder Mosdell
