Sunday, October 29, 2017

Still Looking for a New Apartment

Hello everyone!

Here is another makeup email. Sorry for the delay ๐Ÿ˜‡

So these past two weeks have absolutely flown by! I'm amazed at how fast Mondays roll around. It seems like the past week was just a blur or companion exchanges, member appointments, and traveling. So here is the update. I'll work my way backwards.

Yesterday was Sunday, right? Wait, yes, it was. We had one of our investigators come to church! He has a baptismal date for two weeks down the road. He believes in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, believes that The Book of Mormon is true, and enjoys the church. Also, our ward mission leader brought one of his friends to church! That was cool to see. And one of the Sister's previous investigators came to church on her own which was a big surprise to everyone. And then there was a food party after the block. I love food parties ❤️ 

We also found a new investigator by asking him where the closest SevenEleven was. We then ran into him again while he was helping a different person get their car over a curb. We exchanged info and it seems like we can easily meet him again in the coming week. So excited! And he is our age. Love it!

So, yes, we have been searching relentlessly for a new apartment. We are trying to find an apartment that is much, much newer than the one we have now. That is probably the main thing. Also one that is close to the church and the train station. We have our eyes on a few that are a good mix. Each of them offer something pretty attractive. Like air conditioners, bathroom dryers, or just being super new. It's been fun to see my companion work at searching the web and calling people and talking about things the new apartment should have. I say it's fun because he was an office elder for the past three transfers so he knows how to work the system. It's been great to have him as my companion ๐Ÿ˜†

We went to Wakayama Castle last week. It is a good castle. We went inside and it was cool. Castles are always cool. This one was cool because it has hallways that outlying the inner courtyard that is open for the public to walk through. That was a first. We didn't get to go through all of the grounds, but we will probably will again in the next month or so. And, there is a free zoo on the castle grounds. So cool! It's not super big or fancy, but for being free I was impressed. Definitely fun to see while one is visiting a castle!

Interestingly, in Japan, all of the power and telephone lines are above ground. This makes looking at a city scape a little like looking at a web. Many of the poles are put right in the middle of the sidewalks with makes maneuvering through people and poles fun. There is your fun fact of Japan!

We went to a park for a ward activity. The park is WAY SUPER COOL! It's tucked away in the hills so all you can see is green hills, blue skies, and white, puffy clouds! Gorgeous! Played so many games, ate food, talked, and then I got sunburned. The first of the year! Needless to say I am buying sunscreen today.

I've been thinking this past week about making and accomplishing goals. Preach My Gospel has a section dedicated to setting goals in chapter eight so I have been looking at that a bit. I've been talking with everyone I have companion exchanges with to see what others are doing. But one of the most interesting things that I have come across was in Mosiah 29:38. In this chapter, King Mosiah is proposing the idea of appointing judges over the people instead of a king. The people realize that this is a good idea and "...relinquish their desires for a king...". It was immediately brought to my attention that we sometimes need to let things go to become more like Christ. As we follow our Savior we will be told by the Holy Ghost what we need to change or improve so that we can follow Christ better. It's easy to look at yourself and beat yourself up for not "measuring up" to a certain standard. Whatever that standard may be. Even if it is a gospel standard taught by Jesus Christ. One thing I have learned out here is that I need to be patient with myself as I strive to repent. And I believe we can all use patience with ourselves. So please be patient with yourself. 

We also had a conference where we were visited by Elder Oaks! Whenever an apostle comes the whole mission gathers. Elder Oaks talked about being ourselves. He also talked about the progress of the church Japan. It was way spiritually filling to be taught in the presence of an apostle of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I definitely got good stuff from that meeting.

Those are the highlights. We are making a very strong effort to find new investigators right now. That is our focus as a companionship. The bishop told us to meet with members and strengthen them so we will be doing that too. I'm so grateful to be working with the members here in Japan. They are a wonderful people! I love them!

Those were the highlights. I don't want to write a novel so I'll leave it at that. I hope you all have an awesome week! Fight the good fight and never give up!


ๆ„›ใ—ใฆใ„ใ‚‹ใ‚ˆ!
Elder Peacock
A missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Serving in the Japan, Kobe mission, Wakayama area

ๅญ”้›€้•ท่€
ๆœซๆ—ฅ่–ๅพ’ใ‚คใ‚จใ‚น・ใ‚ญใƒชใ‚นใƒˆๆ•™ไผš
ๆ—ฅๆœฌ็ฅžๆˆธไผ้“้ƒจใฎๅฎฃๆ•™ๅธซใงใ™
ๅ’ŒๆญŒๅฑฑใ‚จใƒชใ‚ข

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