Monday, February 11, 2013

I found a leather trenchcoat at a
second-hand store for $5.
Too bad it's 5 sizes too small

   Hey everyone! So today is the first day of a new transfer! And allow me to say that I totally called it. What does that mean? Well, let me explain. When we went to the temple last week, I saw Elder Mangum there afterwards. He's half Brazilian  and a way funny guy. I started talking to him, and told him to start packing his bags and get on over to Ushiku so he could help us baptize this new Brazilian family we're working with. Well, transfer calls came Friday morning, and wouldn't you know it, Elder Mangum is coming to Ushiku. I started laughing so hard. So yeah, He'll be getting here around 5 tonight. Elder Christensen is heading off to the mission home this afternoon around 2. From 2 to 5 I'll be with Brother Sato from the ward, and it sounds like he's got some sort of plan hatching, so we'll see what that's all about.

   This last week has been pretty good. Elder Christensen has been getting ready to go home, which has made it a little harder to get things done. He didn't really get trunky until this last week, but when it finally came it hit hard. So that's been an adventure in and of itself, but I won't get into that. Wednesday we had a zone conference that President Budge came to. There was a lot of good stuff that went on. President Budge shared with is a theme of sorts (I guess you could call it) that the Kobe Mission President has been using recently: teach simply, testify powerfully, and commit boldly. Well, that about wraps it up right there, we can all go home now! I love that though! That says exactly and concisely what I've been thinking about and trying to put into words for quite some time now. Funny how things like that tend to happen. Also, Last week my Dad was talking to me about belief, faith, love, and charity in his last email. What he had said was that belief and love are inward decisions, but faith and charity are outward expressions of those decisions. Well, wouldn't you know it, that came up during zone conference also. That was pretty cool.

Ushiku Daibutsu
Holds Guinness World Record for tallest
statue; 3x as tall as Statue of Liberty

   So, here's an update on the Comba family; they're doing great! Brother Comba is in the hospital for now, He has glaucoma. They've already operated on one eye, and they'll operate on the other eye in the next couple of days. Due to his eye condition, he's not able to read, but he's agreed to read the Book of Mormon out loud with his wife in the meantime. His ears still work perfectly fine after all. Also, Brother Mitake (the Mitakes are the less active family that brought the Combas to church) told Brother Comba about the audio version available for download for free from the I-phone app store. Seeing as how he's got nothing else to do all day except sit in his hospital room, he's going to start using that too. So anyways, seeing as how he's in the hospital, that means our last lesson with them was there at the hospital. So that's all way exciting, but there's even more good news! Sister Mitake has a younger sister named Hoberta who is inactive. Hoberta and her husband Ronaldo are friends with the Comba family too, and they've been at both lessons we've had with the Comba family. I just found out the other day that Ronaldo isn't a member at all in the first place. Well, he's been listening really intensely to the lessons, and he's just soaking it all in. Before we left the hospital, I talked with him a little bit. I asked him if they had a Book of Mormon. He said no. I asked him if he wanted one. He said yes. I told him I'd bring him one to the next lesson. When I was talking to Brother Mitake about it on the car ride back from the hospital, he was way surprised  I guess Ronaldo doesn't really like religion that much. In the past, if he was ever over at Brother Mitake's house and the missionaries came over, he would find some excuse to leave. That surprised me. Since we've met Ronaldo, he's been really friendly, and he's seemed super interested. People can change. Maybe he's ready this time.

  So, this is kinda random. There's this song I heard at a convenience store the other day. Maybe it's new, or maybe it's 9 months old, I don't know. But, the chorus goes "Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe". That song is TOTALLY a missionary song! Every day, we're walking around talking with people, and we're all like "hey, I know we just stopped you in the street like 2 minutes ago, but let's trade numbers and we'll talk with you some more later". Yes, that's that.

   Well, that's about it for now! Everyone enjoy Singles' Awareness day on Thursday!

Elder Blake