We had lots of fun miracles this week.
To start, we went to Tokyo's Little Germany which isn't actually
in Tokyo. We biked there in like an hour and it was really cool. I
probably already wrote about it but I forgot so maybe you forgot, so
let's all just reminisce together. It was super cool, we rode
unicycles, played with bike-powered bubble machines (we're really good
at it), and even got to see a drum performance by high schoolers that
only come twice a year. What are the chances that it would happen on
the P-day we go let alone any P-day! Anyway, that's just one cool
thing from last P-day. Now for the real stuff.
On Tuesdays we go down to Tateyama. Yama means Mountain in
Japanese and they weren't kidding when they named the place. It's
miles and kilometers of up and up and up. Both ways. We got there
and it was hot so we decided to go to the mall and get lunch in the
AC. While in the food court we saw a member family, the Kawaminamis.
We talked to them and the mom bought us drinks because it was so hot.
*So thankful, lifesaver.* After that we talked to our 1 youth,
Takashi, about how he can get into BYU. Then he practiced doing
backflips in different areas while we videoed. It was super cool but
missionaries aren't allowed to ever since one Elder sprained his ankle
doing it. *sigh* After hanging out with him for a little while we
went up (and by up I mean to the top of a STEEP mountain) to Mizuno
Shimai's house and did yard work for her. She fed us (yay!) and gave
us ice cream to take home. It didn't make it very far though. Then
we decided that since we had already biked up 1 mountain that day, why
not bike through ALL the mountains? So we did. We biked until we
hit ocean and then took a right towards a member's house. She lives
waaaaay out there so no one ever visits her so we decided to change
that. We stopped at a 7/11, they're everywhere here, to look up
directions. Out of nowhere this guy just pulls up super fast and
almost hits Elder Purba! He stopped like 3 inches from him! He then
proceeded to get out of his car and scold us for....being here?
Somehow we got talking about how we're missionaries and what we do and
his heart softened. I could see it. It was so weird, but God works
like that sometimes. He let us go and a few minutes later he caught
up to us and gave us ice cream! What?! We talked to him for a little
bit and now we're friends. Twist ending, right?! I'll bet you never
saw it coming. I sure didn't. We continued onward at about the pace
of a bullet and traveled around the peninsula to the member's house
AND.......she wasn't there. BUT her daughter was and we gave her a
note to give to her mom. So our efforts weren't totally in vain. I
think. I hope. Ahh, it'll probably be alright. Then we had to make
it back home before curfew so we decided to take the
shortcut........through the mountains. We survived and made it back
with time to spare.
We had Zone Conference this week and it was so needed. After
getting all the trainings I realized I have a long way to go. I made
a mental list of all the things that I need to start doing or need to
start doing better. It was a pretty long list but I guess that means
I have lots of opportunities to improve. :) I know I'm a long way
from perfect but at least I have a perfect example to look to so I can
become better. I know that by following my Savior's example I can
become a better missionary and a better person. I'm so thankful I
have this opportunity to spend my time trying (key word there) to
become more like him. I'm also very grateful that I'm not alone in my
feeble efforts and that He's right alongside me, pushing me along and
carrying me when I can't do any more. I know that He lives and that
He loves me and I am grateful beyond words for his sacrifice. I know
that He's here with each of us when we let him and that he's cheering
for each and every one of us because he wants all of us to make it
back to him. And that's why I'm here, because he's saving me every
day and he wants me to do the same for his other children.
So another big miracle from this week: we decided to go over to
Eiji's house and do yard work for his family. He has a LOT of weeds.
Waist deep, thick as hair, weeds as strong as trees, you get the
picture. Well we went down to the dollar store and got some gardening
supplies. By that I mean we got 2 little $1 sickles and some gloves.
We showed up like, "We're her to do kusatori(that literally means
"weed pulling" but I'm not sure what it actually translates to) and
the mom was like, "Really?! You go for it." So we did and we thrust
in our sickles with our might just like D&C4 says to and we got
blessings! The girls came out and talked to us (that's not the real
blessing lol) and were so happy we were working hard to help them.
Then we completely cleared out a big section of their yard and the mom
was thrilled. She was so happy. We went back the next day and it was
even better. Elder Purba and I ran around hacking things like maniacs
and cleared up the whole back yard to make it more manageable to pull
out the weeds. I pulled out several trees that she didn't want in
there because I like manual labor, service projects are my favorite,
and it looks a lot better now. The mom bought us slushies and kept
sending her kids out with soda. I found out that there was a 9 year
old boy in the house and got an idea. I caught a lizard to lure him
out of the house and he took the bait. Pretty soon we were catching
bugs together, playing street ball, and he even helped cut grass and
pull weeds! By the end of the day we were best buds. His name is
Daiki. As we were going home we decided to go to Sushiro, a sushi
restaurant across the street from our apartment. Well, lo and behold,
as we were walking in Daiki came running over and gave me a hug!
"Where do you come from?" He then pointed over to a van that had his
whole family in it. They had the same idea! So we got put at
separate tables but that didn't stop the mom from coming to our table
and giving us ¥3000, that's $30. We can't take money so we gave it
back and while doing so we were able to meet that father. He liked us
more after that. Their whole family likes us now and we'll be going
over more often, hopefully to teach them.
All good things so far but sadly I have to bear bad news.
Kisarazu is know for having a lot of mentally sick, actually Joker or
Mad Hatter level insane people. I have gone my whole stay without
meeting any of them thankfully. That is until Sunday. There's a guy
famous amongst missionaries know as John. John is basically God in
his mind. Or maybe not God, Superman maybe? Anyway, he's crazy
beyond belief and he showed up just as church ended one day. He's an
old guy, about 60 and I guess he drank the water here or got a brain
injury at some point. Japan is very lenient with their mental laws
and so 90% of their crazy people are not being taken care of in mental
homes. John believes that only people with blue eyes are human and
that everyone else is....some other species. He also thinks that
non-humans are trying to poison him and that Aspirin is the antidote.
He eats like 20 a day or something. He also believes he has super
strength and can clap like the Hulk to scare people away. He believes
in Obama Bin-Laden. He has a biplane that he once flew at supersonic
speeds and he discovered gravity. He thinks Einstein and the like are
morons compared to him. He's French royalty and he's mentioned in the
Bible in Revelations twice. He's also meant to save humanity, people
with blue eyes. So yeah, he's completely wacked out. It was really
hard to get hi to leave too, but we did it. That was it with him and
we now have an emergency action plan should he ever come again.
And lastly we have today. We got invited by 2 different groups
to go see fireworks. I feel so loved. Sadly we can only go with one
so one of them won't be feeling the same way. While running errands
today a man approached me and asked, "Are you a missionary for the
Mormon church?" "Yessiree, that's me!" He then told me he was a less
active because he didn't know where the church was and I promptly
taught him the address. He thought it was lucky that we met because
he had been wanting to come back to church. He will be coming from
now on and we're going to see him on Wednesday!
Elder Rogers
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