Mar 28, 2017

So since General Conference is this coming weekend, all of our going-home meetings and trainings and housekeeping things have been moved up to this week. The main thing that I learned from all these meetings and lectures about what to do when you finish your missionary service is this: DO NOT LOSE GOOD HABITS. I was kind of planning to sleep for three days when I got home to Japan, but I NOPE. I got called to repentance. Things like waking up on time, going to bed on time, praying all the time, and studying the Bible and Book for Mormon are habits that are so simple, but make all of the difference. I think the reason I feel so great and happy as a missionary is probably 30% because I'm a missionary, and 60% because I'm doing these physical and spiritual necessities. To anyone reading this, if you see me lose these things when I get home you have permission to slap me. Kindly.

***************************************************************************************So I saw my beloved old Provo companion Sister Lenogon, and while we were taking selfies, Sister Li who we used to teach in Provo walked by us and shouts excitedly, "啊 武重！我受洗礼了！“。"Takeshige! I got baptised!" 

Mar 21, 2017 "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hello crew,

Some guy interrupting our zone conference 

!!!!!!!!!!!

-end of email-

Mar 14, 2017 "I Held Hands With a Man This Week"

This week!

We went to a senior center to spend some time with friends:

This is Pauline, Harry, and Don. Don loves to hold hands with people, so I held hands with him for 30 minutes. It got really sweaty but his grip kept getting tighter and he would start muttering panic noises every time I tried to pry him away. I guess I'm glad that I made a new friend.

Mar 7,2017 "Where There is a Will (dimsum) There is a Way (dimsum)"

Soooooooooooo 

Once upon a time, when Sister Sookhoo and I were companions, we had preparation day on Tuesday. We also shared a love for dimsum. We decided to go get dimsum one Tuesday p-day. We got to the dimsum restaurant, and it was closed. They had a sign that said "Open Monday-Sunday. Closed on Tuesdays". We felt much anguish.

We vowed on that autumn afternoon that if ever we were transferred to a different zone and got the same non-Tuesday p-day, we would come get dimsum so that our friendship and companionship would be cemented by shaomai memories. 

6 months/4 transfers later it finally happened. (Look how much we are glowing (it's from the grease of the glorious foods we partook)) 

Some other cool things that happened: 

We took a VIP tour of some fancy humanitarian work representative from Israel. It was really cool, and he was very kind. 

AND THEN 10 MINS AFTER THE TOUR WE MET THE REAL VIP. Elder Stevenson, an Apostle of the Lord, and his lovely wife. 

We just ran into them at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and they were so sweet and warm. 

Also some other exciting things happened, like meeting a sweet woman from Germany who said that she would love to learn more about the things that we teach. It's sad to admit, but sometimes I assume that European people are not interested at all in listening to the message that we share as missionaries. But then this German woman helped me know that my assumptions were wrong and that I need to stop deciding their interest level for them. 

Also there was a group of school kids misled by an over-enthusiatic disagree-er of the LDS church, that decided to come to Temple Square this week to tell us that what we believe is wrong. And they did so very directly. I appreciated their concern for our welfare, but was not so appreciative of the spirit of argument and contention that they brought. Is it bad to admit that I found secret joy in watching Temple Square security take them away? 

Either way it was a really good week of good events and good food. 

Sister Takeshige 

Feb 28,2017 "Hebrews 12:6"

So in the missionary world, we use the term "killing a companion" when your companion goes home. 

Bye bye Sister Goncalves. 

Also here is Sister Nunez and I's last picture together. She also went home. 

Look how happy she looks. 

Here is my new companion. This is Sister Lu from Tai zhong, Taiwan. She loves ramen and loves to clean our apartment. She is also about the same size as me, and has cute clothes. Also whenever she speaks, people listen so intently to her words. Also she was half trained by Sister Nunez. This is going to be a good transfer. 

This week I feel like I was nonstop being chastised and fixed up. But it's not like people were straight up yelling at me. I just had a lot of experiences where I realized that I could do better. That's the awesome thing about God. He always wants to make you improve. He doesn't just throw us down to this earth and leave us be. He gives us Taiwanese companions who are so bomb at talking to people and sharing scriptures and helping them understand the teachings of Jesus Christ to show us how we need to work hard too. 

"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth" (Hebrews 12:6). 

✌