Well, it is my first week in Ogaki, and I already love it here!
So
many miracles have happened this week. It has definitely been
one that
I will never forget.
Hahaha, my first day here was definitely very interesting. I'm
gonna
be straight up honest and say I spent most of the day cleaning.
Sometimes it amazes me how disgusting men can live... Hahaha, so
yeah,
8 or 9 trash bags later, I finally was able to set up camp!
Ogaki is a
really pretty area and I am so stoked! That night I had the
opportunity to do some good old fashioned areabook finding. The
area
boom is basically the records of all the past investigators in
the
area. Now, since we all have iPads, the records have all been
uploaded. But, I hadn't been able to sync up with my new area,
so I
pulled out the monster file and started flipping through it and
calling almost every single person. It was awesome! After two
hours I
had found two new investigators! The new investigators are the
Ohashi
family. It was actually way funny. I called the father,
Masayoshi, and
he answered in English. There was a ton of noise in the
background,
and he was talking super strange. He later told me that he would
like
to meet tomorrow, but he was drunk... We set up an appointment,
and
then he said something along the lines of, "If I don't come
tomorrow,
call me again. I might forget because I'm drinking..." I
started dying
and told him it was a deal. Man, sometimes it is the little
things
that make life funny.
That next day we met Masayoshi at the church, and then followed
him
back to his home where we met his wife, Ryouko, and their 1 year
old
daughter Kaede. We got to know them and they have a way rad
story!
They met in Canada (they both speak English) and fell in love.
Masa
went to Canada to ski for a year, where when he wasn't skiing,
he
washed dishes in a restaurant for money. They moved back to
Japan, got
married, and eventually had their daughter. They are a beautiful
family, and are extremely interested in the idea of eternal
families.
Ryouko especially. So we taught a little bit about the plan of
salvation, and then left them with the pamphlet and an
invitation to
read it. We were planning to meet them on Saturday but Kaede
caught a
cold so they cancelled. We will set up another appointment this
week!
The next day on Thursday we had the opportunity to go and sit in
on a
traditional Japanese tea ceremony! It was way cool! There are
also so
many rules it's insane! One of our English class students took
us and
showed us step by step how it's done. Then, I got to try! The
hardest
part was sitting on the ground for so long in the traditional
Japanese
manner. You have to just sit on your legs for ages! I couldn't
walk
after I finished. Seriously. I tried to get up but I couldn't. I
had
to sit there till the blood came back into my legs enough to
where I
could actually stand up! All in all it was a rare glimpse into
the
depth of Japanese culture. I have a lot more respect for their
culture.
On Friday we went and signed up for a Japanese class! We tried
to set
ourselves up a gig as volunteers at a local cultural center, but
the
workers there weren't super into the idea, so we compromised on
coming
to their Japanese classes and helping there. I am excited to see
if we
can swing some investigators from it! Later that night we had
outreach! Outreach is where you are supposed to get people to
come to
a church friendly environment to have a fun time. But, what it
usually
turns into is a mad ping pong tournament. Turns out I have some
mad
skills. But, there is this one lady here who is a straight up
animal!
She is probably in her 60s but she is more agile than any old
lady I
have ever seen. At one point we were rallying so fast it felt
like
those professional players in China! It was dope! HAHAHAHA, I'm
gonna
beat her next week.
We went and found a nearby college in hopes of meeting some
younger
kids that would be interested, but we ended up not having a ton
of
luck. We watched some soccer, talked to a few soccer moms, and
then
headed out. We tried to visit some less actives but in the
meanwhile
got completely lost. It sucked. Also, here in Ogaki the wind is
INSANE! Like, it is crazy hard to ride a bike here, it's so
windy.
I've been almost pushed off the road, into cars, or completely
stopped
by a headwind. Ugh. Hahaha
Sunday was a good day! We had a regular Sunday where I met all
of the
members (all 15 of them), bore my testimony about the importance
of
the sacrament, and had meetings. After that, we went finding
again! We
stopped by Ogaki park, seeing as it was good weather. And we
found a
ton of people there! We played soccer with a ton of 11 year olds
which
schooled us all over the field. Then played some badminton with
a
group of girls! We ended up teaching an entire lesson, and
hopefully
we will get to meet with some of them again! We also took some
great
selfies.... Yes, I'll add them. ;)
That was our week! It was great and I am so excited for next
week! The
work is moving along in Ogaki! I love it here, and I am grateful
for
all of you! Thanks so much! :)
Love,
Luke/パシー長老
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