You may have guessed it but this week was busy again! I'll just hit the highlights this time.
One, we met with a college student who runs an English Speaking Society for the nearby business college and he wants us to help teach his class. There are over 100 students so there's a lot of potential there! I'm way excited for that. That'll probably happen sometime in early February. I think I'll still be here for that but President Nagano has surprised me before.
We met with a less active member and he said he'd come back to church next month so that was good. He also invited us to go be samurai with him at his dojo in the mountains. Not forever, just on a weekend sometime. He said he'd let us borrow some swords. Apparently the previous elders always asked him to let them go. I'm just fine without all that but if it makes him feel better I'll go cut some bamboo with the old guy. He's an interesting guy but I kind of like him.
Since Elder Ito transferred into our apartment it feels like Kisarazu/Chosei District again. We're getting the band back together! All that's left now is Elder Purba! We're all old missionaries and Elder Ito is Japanese so we just speak Japanese all the time and my English is terrible. I'm going to get made fun of for speaking English like a Japanese person when I get home! Maybe I'll just have to stay in Japan. Okinawa's pretty nice....hmmm. Well, that's post-mission thinking so I'll leave it alone for now.
We had a sports activity with the Ward and when Elder Watabe and I tried to leave after an hour to go do missionary work they said, "this is missionary work! You can't go!" So we weren't allowed to go. It was fun. We played volleyball and leg dodgeball. (Roll the ball across the floor while one team is in a small box and the other team surrounds them). It's for kids but it was way fun.
Something else that was fun is Elder Watabe and I hiked a mountain to see a giant Buddha statue. Something about missionaries and false idols... We just can't stay away. We HAVE to go get a selfie with it! It was way fun but way cold. In fact, it was so cold that I was ready to go home and just call people for the night. But I remembered that before I left Kisarazu I made a promise that I would go to Takasaki and serve as hard as I could as a better missionary than before so.... we didn't go home. Instead we started knocking on apartments where a lot of Chinese people live. I like Chinese people, they want to hear about Jesus when they get out of the China bubble. (: So anyway, this young guy named Ben (Chinese people also have American names) answers the door and when we asked if he wanted to learn more he said yes! He said we could come visit him again after he finishes his big test because there's a nationwide giant test going on next week. So after that we'll go over and start teaching him. I'm so excited and so happy that we were immediately blessed for our effort. God doesn't always give us blessings right away, trust me I know, but He does always bless us. Sometimes it takes time and we wonder if it will even be worth it but I can promise you it will be and it is. I've been given too much to ever doubt that God loves me and will continue to help me. I know I'm not anything special either, God loves each and every one of us because we all are His children. I love being on a mission right now and being able to show people, maybe for the first time, that God is there and that He knows and loves them. There's no better feeling. I'm so grateful that I could come out on a mission and come to more fully realize just how good I've had it being raised in the church. For those of you who are church members already, "Don't ever take it for granted! Every minute is a blessing because you know your purpose and you know the truth." There are a lot of people who don't. You also have an obligation to at least share what you know to be true. Please be an example by living your beliefs.
I love you all!
Elder Rogers
It snowed
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