I am being
transferred and our area is being whitewashed (which is when both missionaries
are taken out of an area and a new set of missionaries are put in their
place. Usually, when there is a transfer
one of the missionaries will remain in the area.) I am moving to Kakogawa, which is near Kobe.
We are on the water, and I am way excited. I am sad that I have to leave this
area, because I was just starting to figure out where everything was in the
apartment and how to find my way around town, and most importantly the best
places to stop for ice cream during the day. However, I get to go figure that
all out in Kakogawa now. My trainer is moving and becoming a trainer and Zone
Leader. And my new trainer is becoming district leader. We will be getting
three new missionaries in our district. A couple missionaries from the group
before are now training. Crazy, right?!? They just finished their training and
now they have to train. Best part about that is you know that it was inspired
from Heavenly Father and that Heavenly Father is going to make sure that these
missionaries receive the training that they need.
This week`s miracles:
We had planned to have 13 lessons
and had 20 prospects who we were hoping to teach those lessons to. However, they
just kept falling through, they either said they were too busy or they didn`t
have any interest. It was tough being rejected over and over again. And by Saturday
we only had 5 lessons. It was seriously a tough week! However, on Sunday we had
the opportunity to meet with an investigator three times, and teach him a
lesson each time. He had so many questions, and after we taught him to pray he
wanted to pray right then. We hope to see him continue to receive the lessons
and hopefully receive baptism. That`s the wonderful thing about trials, is that
Heavenly Father will always bless us if we push through the hard parts and not
get discouraged.
As you will see, I have uploaded a
few pictures. First is of a man burning his dead vegetables and plants. In
Japan their garbage disposal is a little different and in the end it is just
easier to burn everything. It becomes a problem if you are drying your clothes
outside, because they don`t really have clothes dryers in Japan either. So this
entire week, all of my clothes have smelt like smoke, so I always get this
feeling that I am camping. The next picture is yes, McDonalds! I was sitting at
the kitchen table the other night studying and I looked out and saw, way out in
the distance, two golden arches, and couldn`t believe my eyes. Of course the
next day we went to McDonalds and that`s why there is the picture of all those
wrappers. The picture of the night sky I was just playing with my camera and
took that picture around 9:45pm. It is in black and white, isn`t it cool?
Finally my biggest victory, was finding Krispy Kreme donuts. My companion and I
walked by the booth, stopped and quickly turned back around, to buy some.
However $20 later we were walking away with a dozen donuts. Kind of expensive
but it was worth it.
8/18
This week has been a week of
adventure. For preparation day, our district went to a tabehodai for one of the
sisters birthdays. Tabehodai is probably a missionaries’, favorite word. It
means, "all you can eat buffet"! I literally ate all I could eat.
Including an entire cake!!! I have learned that if you can remember that you
don`t really have a lot of time to make meals, and then remember that you
really only eat breakfast and lunch every day, you eat everything you can when
you are at a tabehodai. I seriously at so much food that it hurt to exist. My
entire body ached. However afterwards I got back on my bike and rode really
fast to get home within 45 minutes so we could get back to the apato and look
over lessons again before we went out proselyting.
Gross story of the week: We have
been teaching this older man, the one I told you about that is missing 1/4 of
his teeth and only has half of his tongue. This week when we visited him he offered to
give us drinks, and of course it’s brutally hot outside, so I accepted and was pleasantly
surprised when he came walking back out his house with what looked like two
strawberry smoothies. To our great disappointment it was a 21 vegetable juice,
and it was thick and heavy. We did our best to give him a big smile and show
our gratitude. Bringing the glass to my lips I knew I was going to have to chug
it to get it all down. My companion kept gagging as we both drank our entire
glasses of the nastiest juice I had ever tasted.
Yesterday we decided to go visit one
of our new investigators. Within 5 minutes of our visit which was in the
doorway like most of our visits here in Japan. He was handing us two large cans
of beer and as much as we tried to decline, he was determined to have us take
them. Then he disappeared back into his house because he wanted to go shopping
and buy us dinner. And of course you can`t really tell a 90 year old man, no; especially
if he is blind in one eye. My companion and I saw this opportunity as a time to
get rid of the beer. We considered chucking it off the side of the railing but
he lived on the 10th floor and thought that would cause too much commotion. My
companion decided he would hide the cans. So he sprints to a place that he
could hide them and sprints back. Upon my realization that this man is 90 years
old, blind in one eye and will not be taking the stairs, but rather the
elevator which is on the other side of the apartment complex near the hidden
beer, my companion spun around, ran back to the beers picked them up and went
to the complete other end and set them in a place the man wouldn`t see them.
This entire time I was dying laughing because... well I am not really sure why,
but at the time it was really funny the amount of effort we were putting in to
get rid of these two cans of beer. But of course it was worth it because we
always want to avoid the appearance of evil at all costs.
Also, we got to see the diamond-ji.
It takes place every year, and basically it is a bunch of piles of wood up on
the side of a mountain that create symbols/ kanji. And they light these many
stacks of wood on fire and it`s extremely beautiful. It is amazing what the
Japanese can do! The patterns are almost perfect and space between each pile of
wood is very similar, you can tell that they put a lot of work into this.
I really am having a great time and
next week will be my first transfer. I think my trainer will be leaving to a
new area and I will be staying in Katsura. My trainer has been in this area for
I think 4 transfers now, and the members really love him. His birthday was this
last week and he got so many little gifts from everyone in the ward and even
some investigators. I hope everything is going well and always remember,
"Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good Sheperd, and the stone
of Israel. He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall." - Jesus
Christ. I know this is true, if you continue to build what you believe upon the
rock of our Savior, he will never let you fall. The best way to do this is to
read your Book of Mormon every day and to always have a prayer in your heart.
President Harold B. Lee said, "The most important thing you can do is talk
to God." You are always in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Wilcox
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