I am so blessed to be in Japan as a missionary. Why I made it to my original and that happens to be Japan over others I don't know but I am beyond grateful for these out of world experiences I get to have and am happy I get to share some of those with you today!
I tried something new this week so you will have to tell me what you think. At the end of each day I wrote about the day, kind of like a journal. So that is what you will be reading!
It's a lot because a lot of stuff happened haha. This week was probably the most insane week of my life.
Tuesday(pday): Alright, today was so incredibly awesome I just can't describe it. We went to the Narita Shinshoji Temple which was so cool. Here we stay in pros always even if its P-day which is awesome because your always ready for a picture haha. It was pretty hot and humid so we sweat through our clothes which was crazy after being in ND area for so long. It was really cool to be there with 0 tourists as well! Anyways, we got to go in some of the temples/shrines and both me and my comp could feel a really strong spirit there. It was actually kind of scaring me. I was like shoot do I need to go Buddhist on em haha. I came to the conclusion that a lot of spirits where probably there due to the insane Japanese ancestry in which was probably trying to tell at us to go baptism their grandchildren 😂. After this I went and bought a backpack and a coin pouch at this 3 story tall mall which was pretty sweet and then at 6 we had a lesson with someone I stopped and talked to 2 days ago (from that day). By I, I mean I said hello how are you and then looked at my companion and said douzo😂. Haha. For what comes next it was just the coolest experience ever. We end up meeting in a restaurant called Saizaria and she is just the nicest 30 year old you have ever seen who is treating us like kings. She buys us food and the whole time we are looking at the menu she is fanning us with hers, no joke for like 10 minutes and I didn't know how to say, you don't have to do that so we just took it😂. Then out of nowhere one of her friends shows up that she invited but didn't tell her that we would be there. Then, again, another one of her friends just happened to be there and comes and sits with us too. So at this point we have 3 middle aged Japanese women who are so kind to us speaking fast Japanese to me and my comp. Yeah I was no help but my comp ended up pretty much teaching them the full restoration and it was the coolest experience ever. I have never taught people that engaged in what you are saying. It blew my mind I had no idea how to act it felt straight out of a movie. Ended up making a line group chat with them all, committing them to reading the Book of Mormon and answering some of their life questions and what not and will hopefully meet with everyone together again soon. At one point I tried to explain the word resurrection to them and it was so bad😂. We got a picture with them for you guys as well. That lasted nearly 2 hours and then right after at a red light we talked to someone waiting and boom he wanted to study our religion and asked for a business card which means more in Japan then America and said we can meet soon. Now in America if someone said that it would mean nothing but people actually follow through here hahaha. If someone says they will meet you somewhere they WILL show up and they will be on time and if someone says oh I don't have time but when I do I will go to your church, 3 months later they will randomly show up haha its crazy. Anyways that's pretty much it for this day. Sorry it was long but it was something I never want to forget and just can't describe unless you could be in my place.
Wednesday: Today was exhausting. I am barely awake and about to fall like a brick. This morning at like 7 we left for Tokyo at the Kozunomori station for zone conference at the temple! There is a church building kind of directly attached to it so that is where we meet. Anyways this was a super good zone conference and lots of language practice as it was in Japanese. The best way to describe it is as a super thin sheet of glass that is a little blurry that you are looking through. I am just so close to understanding what is being said it kills but slowly it will become clearer and clearer. Anyways we did a mogi(roleplay) where me and my companion taught about prayer to 2 Japanese members of the ward there. Haha, I was all over place. I accidentally said "I know that when we pray we are running with God"😂 but I gotta get perks for trying 6 days in haha. Other then that the ZC was centered on teaching simply with the spirit so are lessons don't take 2 hours. That ended at 430 and after we rode the train back and it was already dark by the time we got back so we tried to talk to some people at the eki before heading home at 9.
Thursday: Today was most excellence everyone. Starting of this day I got some fire study plans established so I can become cracked at the Japanese and continue to build my testimony. We had 3 super fun lessons today which where so engaging. The first lesson was with a recent convert who converted 1 year ago. The plan was to go over what she had been reading in the scriptures which seemed like a good plan until we found out it was Isaiah😂 yeah I was no help I had a fun time watching my my companion try and explain Isaiah's teaching in Japanese where we can barely understand It In English. Speaking of Isaiah I am giving a talk in 2 weeks and the topic I was given is literally 3 chapters of Isaiah😂 just gotta hope for the best and send it! Our second lesson was a mogi with a 24 year old member who is super sick. This one I could talk a little more in and talk to him about some piano songs I had been working on in which he loved. After this we ate rice with some meat on top and the plan was just to go streeting but out of no where a member video calls us 2 times and instantly hangs up and then texted us to meet them at a restaurant in 30 with an investigator 😂. The investigator that was coming was someone who said they didn't have time every time we asked but we heard he likes green peppers so we told him we had some we could give him and then boom we get that text😂. So we hurry to the store to try and buy him peppers but realize we have no cash so then rush back to the crib get some coins, bike back buy it and barely make the train in time to meet them at the Keisei Narita line. So we do and we sit down and we asked them a bunch of do's and dont's while eating that they helped us out with and then we are looking at the menu and the member points to the most expensive thing and goes are you hungry? Get that. My comp said something like yoooo that's expensive which in USD was like 12 bucks but here it seemed like a lot and she goes oh its okay I'm rich and I'm buying😂. We get our food and she said right now we eat then we talk and boom the investigator Suzukisan starts going ham in his ramen so I thought alright game time I cant get behind because we just don't lose here. Lots of food later we indulge in religious talk. Now only being in Japanese for a bit my Japanese just isn't good enough to verbally contribute a lot although it is crazy to see the gift of tongues in action. I sat there intently listened for the next hour or so and could follow the conversation and what they where talking about and especially the feeling that came with that. I could feel the spirit really strongly. He ended up saying he needs a sign from God to know if this God we talk about is true or not. Then the member coming in clutch and was like, yeah that's a stupid question. You see this is why we have the gospel boom boom boom 5 steps then you will know he Is there. We ended up committing him to praying which he had no clue how to do so we taught him and then asked If we could follow up with him tomorrow night but he didn't hear my comp so the member is like yeah let's meet again tomorrow night😶. He then sits there for literally 20 minutes contemplating and finally agrees.😂 By this time it was already almost 9 so we rode the train home after the member bought us all ice cream. Then went home in the perfect whether. Its so cool to see how bad my Japanese is but how much my understanding has grown in such a short amount of time. All 3 lessons I wouldn't have got anything my first day and now I could understand natives with a somewhat level on compression to understand if they, in the middle asked me a question. I probably couldn't give a good answer but I would understand what they where asking and the context. It has been a really cool experience you can't really describe unless you are there... it feels like I'm just in a fantasy world playing a sim game or something 😂
Friday: Today was great! It was a pretty normal morning and afternoon except I cranked out 15 words in which I memorized instead of just 10 so that was sick but anyways later in the day our plan was just to go street contact and stop by some people's houses which I am learning always turned into what you just wouldn't expect😂. While trying to find someone's apt we got totally lost. We where flipping around when we saw an old guy walking by so we stopped and talked to him and it turns out he liked to fish! So we talked to him about fishing for a bit which was great cause I do have some fishing vocab cause as you know that's something I enjoy a lot. Anyways, after practicing Japanese with him we told him we where going to see a friend and were a little confused on where he was. He looks at the phone and the address and proceeds to spin around a couple times and stare at the ground while scratching his head and going hmmmm そうね. After 5 to 10 minutes he says something and starts walking. I didn't catch what he said so my comp tells me he is going to take us there. In the MTC I heard stories about Japanese people just taking you to where you want to go but this was a first. Man literally drops everything and walks for like 45 minutes trying to find this place😂. After we finally find it he just walked all the way back like time just didn't matter at all. It was sick! Sadly the person wasn't home but it was at least a cool apt building! The rest of the night was lots of biking and talking. Now I shall rest.
Saturday: Today we had some crazy stuff happen😅 We went and biked to a couple people to go and try and see that where 25 minutes away. We stopped at a park so it took us about 45 minutes. On the way there and after we saw so many cars. On the daily I get to see usually 1 or 2 RX7's and usually about every other day I see a nice Skyline and then a bunch of nice beamers and of course like 10 86/brz/frs/WRX/STI/Evo's a day which is just fueling my fire hahaha. Anyways after we got back to town it was already dark so we decided to just walk through the train station real quick once. The first person we stopped to talk to was talking so fast and asked us what our purpose was. As soon as we said missionary he pulls out his phone and calls someone and starts describing missionaries. You put two and two together and he was calling the cops and telling them that we where trying to pickpocket him😑. This caught us so insanely off guard and of course our first instinct with the American in us was to run (speed walk through the mall and try to escape) and he followed us but the cross walk to go to our bikes was of course right in front of the police box and he was already there talking to them. An officer waits for us to cross the street and of course its the nicest lady cop ever who checked our Japanese ID to make sure we are legal and then was just so nice. She basically just said sometimes when two people like you come up and say hi it catches people off guard so some people may have some scared feelings. Which we understand but no one has ever done what he did before hahaha. We think he may have had something mentally wrong but they just let us go and we were on our way but man that was an experience I just didn't see coming at all😂. I was just gonna be like no Ingles and see what happens but my comp clutched it up and told her we were just trying to practice our Japanese and where missionaries. Which most people love that when they hear it but I guess not that guy haha.
Sunday: Today was sweet. We took our schedule and it just got completely thrown away haha. We had stake conference in Chiba and where planning on riding the train but right before we were about to leave a member called us and told us that he was going to give us a ride which was nice cause it was raining. After stake conference with a bunch of awesome members we walked out of there feeling like kings. The whole thing was pretty much just praising missionaries and how the members can do better even tho the ward here absolutely trashes on any other ward I've been in as a missionary 😂 They are so awesome. After, we got some pics with people and my mission president and his mission president our bishop drove us back to his house and they fed us some legit udon with egg plant in it and what they claimed to be a pear but was definitely not a pear, unless America and Japan just have a completely different concept of what a pear(梨)is😂. Anyways we spent awhile there practicing and teaching them about faith which I did very brokenly. After that, they dropped us off at the apartment and we rode to a lesson at 4 at a members house in which we where meeting an investigator(鈴木さん) to teach there. (To expound on how awesome members are, this member reached out to our investigator and set this all up for us and then told us to come.) It was cool cause it was my first time sitting on the floor to eat and talk. At first I was thinking she was bouta make some mid grade food after looking at the pot but then I swear she just starts pulling things out of nowhere and whipped us 4 up some insane octopus balls with soup and herbal tea and then some meats too, it was so good but even though we ate at 2 and then at 4-7😅 ha it was a long eating spree.. I am still hungry cause I swear even when I eat 3 cups of rice a day it just goes straight through me. Anyways I needed to talk more so during dinner I was trying to start conversation so you know we talked about music, cars, and anime. It was funny I was telling them some of the animes I liked and they chuckled and said I was a little interesting, granted they where all pretty depressing ones. Anyways after that we had a call we needed to take and that took pretty much the rest of the night.
Monday: Oh man my brain is going 400 on the dash right now so Imma try and write legible even tho I understand I am pretty much illiterate in English already. Anyways I am going to focus all my energy on an experience tonight I just never thought I would have😂. So after going around parks and stuff we found this one guy from Nepal and I was speaking Japanese to him and he had no clue what I said and then said he speaks English. So I was like sick and turns out he is from Nepal and doesn't speak Japanese which was crazy so we will meet over lunch soon. Anyways now the the sickest night ever. A couple weeks ago my companion ran into this guy named Ned out in the middle of nowhere. This man is white and low key looks like a crackhead but is actually really put together(picture of him is the one with the beard) . Anyways, we pull up to his crib after a 25 or so minute bike ride in on and off rain and he lets us in and is just the sickest dude ever. He's like don't worry about being polite or this or that I just want you guys to feel at home. He speaks perfect English and Japanese and has a Japanese.... well we get into that later. So we sit down and they had so much food which I have pictures of below! So me and my comp are just munching this food we are grilling up on this little table grill and we get to talking. He was a super cool guy and was like I know how it feels to be in a foreign country and sometimes its nice to feel at home so it was refreshing to speak some English haha. He works online remote for an American security company and has lived in Japan for the past while. He was definitely trying to convince us to move to Japan and do the same thing after the mission as he bought his nice house for 60kUSD. Anyways, I asked him if he ever worried that his job might fall through and he couldn't work. He said that it was fine because his family is rich and he gets an allowance and he actually gives that allowance to his what I thought was wife. So I asked him like who she was to him and he was like yeah well you see we are in a committed relationship but I could tell this Japanese girl was definitely just there for the money. He told us if we want to live in japan and pop out babies we need to marry a Japanese women😂. A little later he mentions he had a pet chicken which I got a picture for yall as well. Anyways after eating the best stake of my life (besides Tyson Hurdles of course) he agrees to come to church with us and next time we will read from the BOM together over some more food cause he just wanted to feed us so bad. He also had some super old neighbors that were scared of him at first but now just come over and walk into his house to play with his chicken all the time😂. He said he was going to try and get us service with them to get us into the community and learn how to harvest a rice field which will be so sick. After dinner with Ned and his lowkey Japanese wife/maid/side chick we were walking out and we heard his roommate and he said that they were Japanese number 1 porn star but retired from that for now😂. I was like yo what I just didn't expect this interaction at all haha. We got outta there right at 9 and then had a wet bike ride home which was fun as always! I am loving biking so much and it makes me want to go mounting biking so much.
(😂🤣also right now we just got a text from one of our investigators and he literally just confirmed with us the time we are going to dinner together and then told us he invited a member(seiya) to come as well. Our investigators are doing our job for us hahaha. It just doesn't get better then this. Sometimes its just too easy it doesn't seem real.
For those of you who made it this far whether you read some fun stuff or just scrolled down to the pictures thank you for clicking on my email, haha!
Keep the faith! Read from the most powerful book known to man!
- Elder Parker
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