Place: Ise
Companion: Elder Buchanan
It was just another insane week in the life of a missionary. We've been getting way blessed lately.
This week was pretty full of various teaching, service appointments and we saw plenty of miracles. A month or so ago, Elder Brown and I found Shizuya. He's 17 and he's pretty cool. We had a lesson scheduled with him this week so Elder Buchanan and I practiced his lesson and prepared really well. The lesson was picture perfect! We took him to the church where we played some ping pong and then taught him Lesson 1. At the end we showed him the 20 Minute Restoration video (I love that video because it brings the Spirit like no other video). After the part of the video that relates the First Vision, Shizuya turned to me and said "I feel something. It feels warm and good." After the video ended Elder Buchanan sealed the deal with a commitment to be baptized and we set his date. That was quite an amazing miracle lesson! All we need to parental permission. I'm really glad that Elder Buchanan got to have that experience in his first two weeks as a missionary.
We also had interviews and Zone Training in Yokkaichi! So we got to see President and Sister Ishii and all the guys from around the mission! It was so good to see other missionaries! Seriously, in Ise we are in deep isolation. After the training we hopped on another high speed train headed south and went home. Kitamura san picked us up from the station in his car and took us out to go buy ping pong paddles at this tiny, remote little shop clear out in Meiwa. Again, we tried the Gospel on him and again, he blocked us at every turn. It saddens me to see such good souls who are so blinded and confused by the philosophies of men.
Anyway we got some dope ping pong paddles for pretty cheap and then he dropped us off at the church and we got set up just in time for Shinji (Nicknamed John) to show up. We had a furious round of ping ping with our new paddles and had a great time together. We tried watching Meet the Mormons together but we had played too hard and were too tired for it to be really effective so we stopped halfway through and went home haha.
Oh also my grandparents came down on Monday and took us out to sushi at the Kitamura san's brothers sushi shop! We did the 踊り食い (swallowing live minnows) again and they bought us Ise Ebi (shrimp)! It was literally the best thing I've ever eaten.
This week we were also asked by Hayashi Shimai to give her son a blessing before he went into surgery. So we went to their house and we got to finally meet more of the family! We met the husband and daughter who are not members and of course, her son who is also not a member. They treated us as guests of honor. Wow that was quite an experience. We got to give him a blessing. The surgery went very well and he's already out of the hospital apparently.
Yesterday was a typical Sunday. And by typical Sunday I mean an absolute train wreck or stress and trying to organize and run meetings on the fly. That's another thing I want to change about Ise. Literally just about everything we do is kinda on the fly. There's not a ton of organization. We had much better attendance is week. We had about twenty members or so and had a great fast and testimony meeting. Haha
on Saturday we had come to the church and set up everything for the Women's Session of General Conference but NO ONE CAME! I was so disappointed but it's ok. We're going to spiritually nourish this branch, even if it takes a little force feeding. So we watched the Women's conference for 3rd hour in church. After church we stayed at the church for about five hours and got a ton of stuff organized,coordinated and planned. Then we went to the Fujitas! Fujita Kyodai and Shimai warmly welcomed us and we had a fun evening together.
This week is looking to be another awesome week of adventure and dendo (missionary work). Being a missionary is seriously the funnest thing I've ever done.
Oh! Also we went and visited out flute man who lives across the street from the church and he gave me another Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) lesson! Haha he's a way cool Japanese guy and pretty much told me I have to practice, practice, practice or I'll never live up to his expectations. I love this guy ;)
I gotta go practice this tradition Japanese bamboo flute thingie now I guess. Love y'all!
Have a great week!
Elder Johnson
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