Saturday, November 5, 2011

Monday, 31 October 2011, Email

Hello everybody!  ごめん、今日短くしないと行けない! 

          Well,  actually the title says "sorry, I have to make it short today"...time is pretty gone for e-mailing this p-day :P This has been a good enough week I guess! A lot of things that we were hoping to have happen fell through, but there were a lot of good things that happened too. We were able to meet twice with Otsuki, and he is definitely progressing really well! Despite the efforts that we made to help him come to church though, he wasn`t able to make it because he still goes every Sunday to spend time with his mom. We have daily contact with him though, and are meeting regularly...we are just going to keep working and praying hard that he can overcome that issue. 
         We were able to meet with Yoshiya as well, but weren`t able to have an official lesson...we did a service project with him and his family though, and were able to have some good discussions on gospel topics such as The Word of Wisdom. We have a lesson appointment scheduled for this Tuesday, so we are hoping to make a lot of progress with him then.
          The biggest success of this week was probably the Halloween Party and Dendo Fireside that we had. Now, just to make that clear...those were separate events, but they were both a lot of fun. ;) However, as unlikely as I might have thought it would be...we did manage to share a spiritual message before the party began. We all gathered in the chapel, sang an opening hymn and had a prayer...and then the shimai shared a message about in this church we really feel that families are important and that through the activities that we have, they can be strengthened. It was pretty cool :) A lot of in-active members came, as well as some non-members too. All in all, a really good success I feel. 
          We had been preparing a lot for the dendo fireside that we had on Sunday, and were feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing leading up to it...but it turned out really well! Elder and Sister Matsuhashi started it off by explaining and testifying about the revelations regarding Japan, and then the four of us younger missionaries took turns explaining each of the four sources for the pool of propinquity. From the things that we heard afterward, everyone seemed to come away with a good impression, and excitement for being a part of finding the people being prepared here in Matsumoto. I felt a certain air of excitment too as we explained those finding methods to everyone...felt the potential of having everyone involved and working with us on these things. That is definitely what is going to make the difference...getting everyone in the branch working right along side us  in our finding efforts. That`s of course a goal that has been strived for for a very long time...but I really feel that through the fireside that we had, and the ones that we will have in the next few weeks...we made a big step in the right direction for that.
          I guess another fun little experience was that Elder and Sister Bingham from Nagano made a surprise visit to our branch on Sunday, and they gave talks in Sacrament meeting which actually fit perfectly with the theme of our fireside. They talked about trusting the missionaries and working together with them to accomplish the Lord`s purposes here. Neither of them speak enough Japanese for a ten minute talk, so I stood up there at the podium with them to translate for the congregation...probably still one of the more awkward feelings I have experienced. 
          Transfers are already here this next Monday, and so we`ll see what happens! Until then, have a wonderful week...I hope everyone is doing well! Love you! 

                                                                                                                                     -Elder Voss 


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