This week has been another fun and busy one! We had a lot of
adventures!
This week was Senpai Week. That means that I got to be the
senior
companion for the whole week! It was fun to lead the efforts for
us,
but it made me respect Elder Baldwin a lot more. It is
stressful! I
also realized that I hadn't been doing my best to help him with
everything, so from now on I will try to pull more weight so he
doesn't have to. I learned how to check train times, find
people's
homes, plan better, and teach more effectively. It was a little
hard
because as Senpai, I had to lead all of the lessons. Baldwin was
pretty relentless about it too. He would sit there in silence
and wait
for me to figure out what I was going to say while I was
struggling. I
appreciate that now. It got me out of my comfort zone and really
pushed me to improve.
This last Monday we went and saw the famous Snow Monkeys! It was
so
cool! We did it as a district activity, so the elders from a
different
area came and spent the night at our apartment on Sunday, and
then we
all took off on Monday morning to see the monkeys. We took a
train way
for ages, and then hopped on a bus for about a half an hour.
After
that, we had to hike a couple of miles up a mountain! But we
finally
got there, and let me just say that they did not disappoint. It
was
weird because these monkeys are so accustomed to humans that you
can
walk right up to them and basically pet them (except you
can't...
Yeah... Figured that one out the hard way...). I got a bunch of
awesome pictures. One of the other Elders got attacked by one!
It was
way funny! It ran up, jumped, and latched on to his body. He was
freaking out as this monkey started climbing all over him. A
random
Japanese guy ran up to try and get it off, and the monkey
started maki
some freaky noises in defense. All of us took a step back and
just
left the monkey on the other elder. It eventually jumped off and
ran
away. We were laughing because the monkey got a bunch of poop
all over
the other elder. Hahaha, monkeys are dumb.
This week we also had our Zone Training Meeting! It was fun to
get
together as a zone and learn from President Ishii! We got a lot
of
good stuff out of it. It was a good day for me because I
realized just
how far my Japanese has come. I probably understood 90-95% of
what was
said, and I was able to confidently answer questions. It was a
big
confidence boost for me.
This week we have been doing a lot of less active and member
visits,
and have gotten a lot closer to the ward members because of it.
They
are really opening up to us and trusting us more. It makes
missionary
work a lot easier with the ward on your side. This week we have
a lot
more visits planned, and we are also refocusing on our finding
efforts. We have a lot of hope for this week. This Saturday is
also
our transfer call day! It is going to be scary because both
Elder
Baldwin and I have been here for a long time, so it's very
likely that
one of us will transfer. That would be absolutely devastating!
Elder
Baldwin and I have become really good friends, and right now we
have a
lot of things going well for us. It would be hard to shake that
all up
with transfers. I would absolutely love to stay another transfer
here
with Baldwin, but as for right now, we are going to work as hard
as we
can!
I want to share a small thought with all of you guys before I
end my
letter. I want to talk a little bit about life and living. As
missionaries, we are constantly busy; therefore, our days,
weeks, and
even months blur together. It is hard to distinguish individual
days
from each other as we look back over the week. During my
personal
study one day, I came across a quote that I particularly
enjoyed. I
got it from a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled, "A Summer
with Great
Aunt Rose". The quote came from a poem and says,
"Forever is composed
of Nows." How interesting is that? It is essential for us
to enjoy
ever precious Now that we have been given, and use them to the
best of
our abilities. All we have are Nows. Don't waste them.
Thank you all so much! I love you all!
Love,
Luke/パシー長老
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