Monday, November 18, 2013

Hey Everyone!

How are you all doing?  We had another great week here in Kichijoji. It's way fun. Today is the official start of the new transfer, but transfer day isn't until Thursday. Elder Nagaoka will be on his merry way to his new area, which means Elder Fukuchi and I will be in just a normal 2 man companionship from then. 

This is just a picture of some of the Elders here in Kichijoji

 from Saturday night. Elder Piland is going home tomorrow, 

so we went out to eat with him to celebrate. 

LtoR, Elder Fukuchi, Nagaoka, Nebeker, Piland, Me.

So, there were some pretty cool things that happened this last week. First of all, on Wednesday, I went with Elder Rindlisbacher and Elder Medeiros to the Driving Center so that Elder Medeiros and I could take our tests for our Japanese driver's liscences. While we were there, waiting for our tests, this Chinese lady (Lily, which is actually the same name as my niece who was born a couple months ago) starts talking with me. She starts telling me about how she used to work as a flight attendant at China Air, and she had been to Salt Lake before. She said that she really loved how our church was really focused on family. She then asked me if she was allowed to join our church. I said yes. Then I asked if she wanted to join our church. She said yes. We swapped contact info, and then took our driving tests. Unfortunately, we both failed. The driving test in Japan is super strict. The guy giving the test said he failed me because I wasn't looking in my mirrors enough. Oh well. I'll just have to try again in a couple weeks. 

I called Lily up and invited her and her husband to church, and they came. It was way good. They actually ended up oversleeping, and they arrived just as church was ending. They stuck around for a bit, and we had a really good conversation. We gave Lily a Book of Mormon in Chinese, and her Japanese husband one in Japanese. Turns out they actually live in the Tokyo North Mission though (Kichijoji is right on the border of the two missions). So, we'll end up having to refer them over there, but they live close enough that we'll be able to keep meeting with them. They're way cool, and super nice! I'm excited to see them again. They'll be coming to a Christmas Concert in Kichijoji on December 7th, which is apparantly Lily's Birthday. 

The other Elders here in Kichijoji had a baptism on Saturday. There was only one problem: the water heater wasn't working. The guy getting baptized was over 60, so it's not like we could just tell him to tough it out and be baptized in cold water. So, what idea did they come up with? Let's just fill up the font with buckets of hot water from the apartment! So, between 6 of us, we got a bucket brigade going from the apartment, into the room with the font through a window, and then into the font. Not sure how they came up with that idea, but it worked. Several hundred buckets of water and about an hour and a half later, the font was filled with warm water. 

That's the big news for the week. Thanks for all your emails. I hope you all have a great week this week! 

Elder Blake