Elder Mason Ford Bloomfield Tokyo, Japan Mission: Week 15 - Transfer #2

Well this week was dang fast and I don't really remember what happened.

Here is my letter to President:
This past week went by so fast. This week we had a lot of lessons canceled and potential investigators who dropped us and a lot of other disappointments. Despite the disappointments, I was able to take a lot away and we definitely saw some great miracles. Eikaiwa this week had more people than we've ever had come to eikaiwa. We bumped into a few kids that we knew and told them about tutoring and then they helped us hand out flyers for a little bit at the Eki. Our investigator Aoyama was supposed to come to church yesterday but didn't show up. It was a little upsetting because he was progressing very well and has a baptismal date. When we called him later he informed us that he accidentally over slept and missed his train. He also said that he actually really enjoys church and has a good feeling when he is there. That was great for me to hear because up to that point I had felt a
little like he wasn't having any real spiritual experiences or testimony builders. But he has been feeling the spirit at church and loving it.

Something I also learned this week was the importance of setting goals and making plans to achieve those goals. The first three weeks of the transfer I didn't really set any language goals, all I had was a plan and so I wasn't really growing or improving in that area. I decided to make some goals and change my plan and over the last three weeks my language abilities have really improved. I still have a long way to go but I now know the way to achieving my vision as a missionary.

My first transfer is over and I feel as though I have grown a lot. Joetsu is amazing and the people are as well. I'm very excited for this transfer because I feel like there will be more growth and improvement in the Joetsu area. I am really excited to be serving in Joestu as there is so much potential to achieve and so many people to find.

So yeah a pretty disappointing week. Noriko has no interest in the gospel but is still as nice as ever. So we are just friends. The two boys, Tanaka and Yokoyama didn't meet with us Saturday night. Yokoyama had dinner with his parents so he couldn't come. As for Tanaka we have no idea. One of their friends told us that they were brothers when we met them last weekend. I'm not to sure about it cause they don't really look the same but I hope it is true as that would mean they were both eating with their parents. We also meet a 16-17 year old boy this week who said he was interested in learning so we have an appointment with him this week. We also met another kid and talked to him while on the train. He was kind of interested but didn't want to set up an appointment so we exchanged phone numbers. The next day though he called us and said he wanted to meet so we also have another appointment with him. So two teenagers are interested so that is exciting.

We also made a commitment with Aoyama to read the Book of Mormon with us each night cause he isn't doing it on his own. So we pretty much are going to start having a nightly phone lesson/ reading session. The goal is to get him excited and make him want to read on his own. He will eventually have a good feeling about it just like everything else we have gotten him to do. Just like church, at first he didn't want to come but now he loves it and feels good when he is there. We also invited him to a bbq that the group is having and he told us if there is alcohol there he can't drink a lot. Hahahah Perfect! He's a 金人! We've only actually met with him and taught him three times because he is always working so we still need to teach the commandments and other stuff but I'm really excited and happy for him right now.

Also the weather has been pretty hot and humid this week except for Tuesday. Tuesday it RAINED! A lot. Hahah We were drenched and were riding our bike through shin deep puddles trying to get back to our apartment Tuesday night. We also got a flood warning for people living like maybe a mile away from us. It was insane!

We also had District Meeting this week and the only train we could take there was like way nice and kinda expensive but because it was for District Meeting we got reimbursed. Anyway it had a stop for like six minutes at the supposedly closest train station to the sea in all of Japan. It wasn't that exciting but there were actually a fair
amount of gaijins (foreigners) taking pictures and everyone was pretty juiced about it.

Today every one got their transfer calls and I am staying here and so is Ogata Chōrō. No surprise there. However our district pretty much changed a lot. Our District Leader is going to be training which means that I might have one of my MTC kohais in my district. Also the sisters in my district both got transferred. So the sisters in my area
are now white washing.

Well that's pretty much it. As for my Japanese I can say a lot more than I think I can but I still have a lot of words and grammar I need to learn. I also can understand like 65% of conversations maybe. It's just that some people's words are so hard to actually recognize. Like some people mumble and stuff like that which is like impossible to understand. However I have made the decision that starting today I would only speak Japanese except
for when I have to teach eikaiwa or someone is talking to me in English. So far the hardest thing has been remembering that I'm only speaking Japanese but I usually realize that I spoke in English and then say it in Japanese.

Well that's all for this week!
Love you guys!