March 22, 2015 Email:
Hello everyone! As you probably know, this week has been crazy here in the Sendai mission. Apparently you already got the photo they took of our mission, so I don`t need to send that at least!
So, I`ll start by finishing up how Yonezawa went, since that`s where I was until Friday. On Tuesday we went to (a) family`s house and enjoyed a delicious meal of Tonkatsu and Kara`age. The kids were very well behaved!
On Wednesday, I taught my last Eikaiwa and a new student came. He spoke Chinese and he was really cool, but I won`t ever see him again, probably. But we`ll be friends on Facebook soon! We also finally got to see (H)-san and teach her about the Word of Wisdom with a member who just came back from Hawaii. (H)-san said that the Word of Wisdom wasn`t hard and seemed like a good idea anyways, so she`s going to follow it! The member, "M"-chan, told us about her re-conversion story where the love that the elderly missionaries had made her want to go back to church.
On Thursday, Pierson Choro and Olsen Choro left for Sendai leaving me and Mendoza Choro in Yonezawa for that day and Friday. We had a pretty good time teaching (S)-san about following the prophet. She has read so much from the Book of Mormon and is really starting to progress a fair amount. I think that General Conference seems a bit boring to her, but that`s how most people, even members feel, when they first watch it.
On my last day in Yonezawa, Mendoza Choro and I didn`t have too much planned, but we did what we could and actually found a new investigator about an hour before we had to head off for Sendai. It was pretty surprising for sure! He`s a member of another Christian denomination, but said that he is willing to hear about our church as well.
Sendai was pretty crazy after being in the `inaka` for so long. People just pouring everywhere! And the missionaries were all packed in Sendai as well, which was fascinating. I hardly knew anyone in my apartment, the Kamisugi apartment, but I finally met the other elder from our stake as well as my MTC companion who I`ve hardly been able to meet on my mission.
The conference itself was pretty insane. They had all the missionaries shake hands, and I realized that I don`t know a fair amount of the people I saw because we`ve had so many new missionaries recently. I thought the conference would focus on how we`re going to use iPads, but it ended up being focused on how to avoid temptations that come from iPads. Apparently we`ll get specific training later, but we have booklets that detail how things will go. For example, we`re going to get functions in phases, with iPads being used for study first, followed by using them for planning purposes, and finally, in a month or so, we`ll be able to use Facebook and other methods of missionary work. We should actually get the iPads in a week or so, which will be nice, but we have to wait for a district meeting with Smith Kaicho. Also, the good news is that it looks like we`re borrowing them for free! That was something a lot of us were worried about.
Anyhow, Yamagata. What can I say, it is a wonderful place! The ward is pretty big (not compared to a Utah ward, but to me it`s huge). The members are really cool and have a great desire to dendo. We met with a recent convert named "A" Kyodai (Kyodai means `brother`, mom!) and he made us a delicious feast of meat. The lamb was actually quite delicious, but the heart had a strange texture. Either way, it was a lot of fun. I`ve only had a day and a half here so far, but I can tell that Yamagata is going to be my favorite area!
Also, we had a two hour long baptismal interview with a deaf guy. Usually, only the district leader does the interview, but we had permission for me to go in as well. It was pretty intense because there are a few issues, but he will get baptized at some point. Either this Saturday or sometime soon, but we still have to check with our mission president I think.
I think that`s about it! I`ll send a few pictures of my new area! The one in this email is our district`s party with the Recent Convert. The device in the middle cooked the meat. You can see the six missionaries in our ward as well as a member couple on the far right with "A" Kyodai in the middle.
Aishiteimasu!
Elder Earl
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