Email #15

James Calhoun	Feb 2 (6 days ago)
to me, William

Dearest Family,

Whattup! I had a great week! Monday was super chill, I had a super long nap and then couldn't sleep at all that night, but it was worth it. Plus, Takashi came to church! He said he prayed to have more strength because he's been so tired from his job, and all his emotional stress and physical tiredness went away! Super cool. He said it was ok for us to email him again,so that was a big answer to prayer, both for him and for us! On Tuesday, we went and taught a less active member named Watanabe Kyoudai. He has a disease that makes moving his mouth really difficult, so his speech is super hard to understand. We have to have a member there to help, and it's hard for them to understand. The lesson went well, and we're teaching him again tomorrow. He also came to church on Sunday! That was super awesome, especially because he lives super far away and has to take the train, and the only train arrived in Sanjo an hour and a half before church started. He's such an awesome guy! His house is also falling apart because he can't work anymore, so that could be our first awesome opportunity for some hardcore service. In the lesson we taught, the member we went with, Tasaka Kyoudai, taught a lot and really went hard. He laid out he basics and did a really great job. Brother Watanabe had to get up to get something, and Tasaka Kyodai said, "That man is speaking Greek! He's so hard to understand." We were really glad he was there, because we were having an even harder time understanding him. One of the hardest things about teaching lessons is the sitting. It's crazy hard! It's really polite to sit on your heels (it's kind of hard to describe, like when the tops of your feet are on the floor and you knees are together forward, it's called seiza in Japanese) and I can't do it, I'm not flexible enough! And then you sit cross legged after they tell you to, and that's brutal too after a while. You sit on these woven straw floors called tatami mats, and the tables are super low. I'm awful at it, but getting better. Wednesday was pretty crazy. All our plans were falling apart, and we went to go visit one of our investigators who we hadn't talked to for a while. Right as we were getting there, these Jehovah's Witnesses got there too, and they knocked on the door before us and our investigator, Hoshino, told us he was busy! It was pretty funny. We think Hoshino has some memory problems though, so he let us in and had probably forgotten all about it by our next visit. We visit him about once a week to remind him to read the Book of Mormon and pray, but we aren't really teaching him or focusing on him other than that. We just want to be a good influence in his life! On Thursday, we went up to Niigata for a conference with a Japanese member of the 70, Elder Aoyagi. The 70, for my non Mormon friends, is a group of men who are called to administer over our church in different parts of the world. They're usually really highly accomplished, and they devote all their time to helping our church without pay. He talked and did a training and it was really awesome! He had a really great answer to a question one of the missionaries asked, how to deal with parents who are opposed to our message and having their children join. He said to try to meet with them and explain who we are and what we do, and how awesome their child is and how it will bless them. I think that was a cool moment for me, and a testament to how awesome this message really is. We aren't a sketchy or a bad or weird religion, and basically the only reason someone would be opposed to having their child join is because they don't know enough about us. We don't try to pull some shady tricks or anything, we just inform the parents about who we are. I thought that was pretty sweet. On Friday, we went back and visited Okamuda, the Buddhist man Elder Farnworth and I found last week. We taught him a little and he taught us a little, but he took a Book of Mormon! Hopefully it ends up going somewhere. On Saturday, Elder Mobley and I went door to door. At one of the apartments, this lady answered right as Elder Mobley was putting a flyer in her slot. It really freaked him out, and then she started giving him Bambi eyes, and that REALLY threw him off his game. He tried to explain who we were, but he was really struggling. He finished and then just stood there in silence for no joke a solid 7 or 8 seconds and then stammered on. The lady even threw in a hair flip for him. It was really funny. Sunday was pretty good, we went back to the apartment of a young guy we found last week who said we could come back, and we gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and he said he would read it. Hopefully that goes somewhere too! Today, we had transfer calls! I'm transfer two! And... I'm staying with Elder Mobley in Sanjo for another transfer! Exciting. Actually, nothing changed, the other Elders are the same, and the Sisters! Crazy. We have to crush it this transfer. Today we realized that we've been awful about taking pictures and sending them home, so we took a few at an import store here in Sanjo. I also got a pretty good video of Elder Farnworth and whathe does. That's about it for this week, love you guys! Dad, I did get the pictures. It looks awesome! Thanks for the email about Chris, I'm about to send him something. Mom, thanks a ton for the update! You are seriously the best. I love you all so much, thank you for everything! Have a great week! 

愛、

カラフ-ン長老