Futenma, Okinawa - Countdown, 51 weeks!

Lets see. What has happened this past week and a half? 

Well last week on Friday, my companion went to the hospital to get surgery on his broken wrist. He was in the hospital for 5 days, so that was fun..? Lots of studies, and sleeping on a tile floor. Learned a lot though! :)

We also had the opportunity to have dinner with the branch president of the military branch. He has 3 adopted kids from Africa, and it was a blast! The kids were hilarious. 

These past couple of days, since Elder Barker can't ride a bike anymore, we have been doing a lot of area book dendou. And visiting all of the former investigators who are of walking distance. 

Today we are going to be going to the Johnson family's house for Thanksgiving. They are in a different ward so I have yet to meet them, but it should be a blast! 

Moto is still doing very good. Last week we gave him a "spiritual journal" to write his feelings and thoughts when he prays and reads. We followed up on it yesterday, and he said it was good. It's easier for him to remember scriptures, and good to look back to when he needs it. The only problem with him right now is that he feels the spirit, but still isn't quite sure whether or not it's the spirit. We have told him to pray about it and ask. Let you know how that goes next week. 

Tai  is still a punk. He wants to know this church is true, but will not, for the life of him, read the Book of Mormon. Says it's too boring. We have given him even small verses to read, and he won't. He comes to church, and prays. But reading the Book of Mormon seems impossible at this point. 

Like I said earlier, we have been doing a lot of area book dendou, and have met a lot of cool people recently. 

Anyways. Hope everyone has a good week. 

Love,

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - 1/2 way there! (Total, week 52)

Well it's officially been a year since I entered the MTC. It has been incredibly fast. The life before the mission all seems like a dream. I feel like I have lived here my whole life. Time just gets faster and faster though. Starting to get a little scary. Loving it out here though. 

This week we have gone to the hospital 4 times for MRI/checkups and stuff. This Friday my companion is going to get surgery. He has to stay in the hospital for 3 days, but luckily we are going to be doing splits so he can have a Japanese companion with him. 

We also did splits with the other companionship in our apartment. Elder Welch and Hansen. It went really well. I got to go with Hansen. He is way good. Japanese isn't amazing, but he is way happy to be out here and a very Christlike kid. 

A guy in out Military ward, Tamale, is from Hawaii. He took us out this week. He is amazing. He served his mission in Ogden, Utah mission. And he loved it. He told us a bunch of tips he did as a missionary, and he saw tons of success. 

Motoki is still doing well. We have been meeting with him 1-2 times every week, and then he comes to church every week with him brother and his brother's family. 

Taiki has been a bit sketch. He hasn't been answering our calls, or anything. Hopefully this week we can get in contact with him.

We had to refer Silvio over to the Okinawa elders. He moved this past Saturday to their area sadly. He was still doing very good. Having a lot of spiritual experiences and such. I wish we could have kept teaching him. 

This week has been crazy busy. I decided to remake the member book, organize the less active book, and contact everyone in our area book, or atleast try. Elder Barker and I have been working hard to get it all done, hopefully we can finish it by the end of this transfer. 

Anyways. Things have been going wonderful here in Futenma. 

Have an awesome week. Love ya!

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 28 (Total, week 47)

Transfer Week! 

This past Tuesday we got out transfer calls, and I am staying with the same companion. Our whole apartment stayed the same, so not too much of a difference. 

Wednesday, Elder Barker and I had to go to the doctor to check his wrist. It looks like he will be getting the surgery sometime this month. He will be staying in Japan, and we will just be walking everywhere for a few weeks. 

Thursday we had a lesson with Moto, but his joint didn't show up for the lesson. Said he forgot. But we still had a good lesson. He still is wanting to get baptized on 1/23/2016, and may even want to move it up, but too scared to ask his dad about getting baptized. We are going to have a lesson with him this week with his sister in law, about talking to his dad about getting baptized. If he gets permission, I think he will get baptized pretty soon. 

We were also supposed to have a lesson with Tai (our other baptismal date) but him and his joint forgot about the lesson. Looks like we are going to be making calls the day of and reminding them. But he is doing good as well. Still seems like he wants to get baptized on Christmas and in the ocean. It will probably be way cold, but I guess it will be a cool experience. 

Friday we met with Sil again. He is Brazilian, 25, married to a Japanese woman, and they have 2 kids. He feels the spirit so strongly but doesn't want to make any commitments to come to church or anything. He feels that when we come to his house, his apartment becomes a church for a little bit, and that's good enough for him. 

We also received a referral a month or so ago, but the Mission Home didn't get her name, phone number, or apartment number. All we had was the apartment address, and there was probably about 25-30 doors. We decided to knock the entire apartment. One of the last doors we knocked on was her! Her name is Naka-san, and she is 84 years old. She was about to go to the hospital, so she said we can come back on Saturday. 

Saturday we went over to the Naka's apartment, and she was way interested in the message. She has known some people the have been Mormon before, and always wondered why they were so different, and so happy. She really likes how the church focuses so much on family. We are going back this next week with a member, and teach her more.

Sunday we were at church pretty much all day. The American ward is from 9-12, and the Japanese ward is from 1-4. Then we talked with people, and practiced a song we will sing with the YSA later this month. Then a baptism at 5, and we got home at 6:30 to eat dinner. 

It has been a really good week. Elder Barker and I worked really hard, and got the most contacts we have ever gotten in this area. 

Hope everyone else has an awesome week!

Love you!

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 27 (Total, week 46)

Well what has happened this week.. 

We have been to the hospital several times for Elder Barker's wrist. He is going to be staying in Japan for it, but we will be walking everywhere we go. 

This week we played basketball with a guy named Shoy, who became a new investigator. We played with a bunch of little Japanese guys. It was way fun, I was about a foot taller than everyone. 

We had a lesson with Moto. He hasn't talked to his dad yet, but said that when he turns 20 he will get baptized. He turns 20 in January, so we made a baptismal date with him then. 

We also had a lesson with Tai. Tai is a 23 year old college student. He is from Tokyo. He comes to church every week, and we have lessons with him all the time. But he won't read the book of mormon. He says it is too boring. So we have been finding ways to make it more fun for him. 

This past week was Halloween! We had a big trunk or treat Halloween party at our church. We just went as missionaries, but it was a blast. It was done by the American ward, but we had a lot of Japanese people come. 

We had a Zone pday this past Monday. That was a blast. Played capture the flag and other games on a playground with all the missionaries on Okinawa. 

Transfer week is this week. The 4 elders here are probably staying, but ya never know. 

Love you guys! 

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 26 (Total, week 45)

We had splits this week with the Zone Leaders. Learned a lot. We found quite a bit of new people to teach. Too bad so far, we haven't been able to meet with too many of them. Mot is probably going to have to be delayed til next year. His dad is very against him getting baptized. He turns 20 in January (in Japan 20 is of age). But he is still doing good, still comes to church every week, still meeting with him, and having lessons with members. 

Life has been good out here on the mission, every week goes by faster and faster. I find myself on here emailing again, not remembering anything that happened. Things have been good though. 

We just found out that Elder Barker broke his arm in the MTC and is going to have to get it fixed. We still aren't sure whether or not he will be staying or if he will have to go and get it fixed in the states. 

UPDATES next week! Love you all!

Elder Davies

PS, if you want to be taken off the list let me know. I won't feel bad. I know what it's like getting these emails. :)

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 25 (Total, week 44)

Futenma is awesome! The ward here is way sweet! This past week has gone by so fast. And doing messages in English is weird. Our English class here is huge. We have about 30-50 people who come every week. Elder Barker and I are really going to start focusing on trying to make some of those people new investigators. 

This past week was Elder Barker's Birthday. We honestly didn't do too much for it, I'm a horrible trainer. But the Sister's in our area are awesome, so they did some things. 

We went out to eat at an all you can eat place with the Hughes. It was a blast. He served in Fukuoka as well, and told us all sorts of stories about when he was on a mission. 

We scheduled a baptismal date with our investigator named Mot. He is a part member family. He has 6 siblings. 3 of them are members, and are also returned missionaries. His mom is less active. He comes with one of his active brothers every week. He is a way sweet kid. He is about 20 years old. He has heard all of the lessons, so we are restarting them, but really teaching to find out his needs, and fill them. He got sick over the weekend, so we haven't been able to meet with him for a little, but we plan on meeting with him again this week. 

Everything is going well here still. Have a sick week.

Love,

Elder Davies

Futenma, Okinawa - Week 24 (Total, week 43)

How is everyone? 

This week has been good. It was a very long week, with lots to do, but we are finally getting comfortable with everything. 

We had interviews this last week, and it went way well. We got trained on how to do member work. They taught us different ways to get referrals from the members. It was a pretty cool training, and it will be interesting to see the difference in our mission from it. 

Elder Barker, my new companion straight from the MTC is doing really well. We have been working hard to see some success in this area. We have talked to a lot of people recently, and have some pretty strong potential inv's.

We have 2 pretty strong investigators right now. 

Mot, and Tai. Mot is in his 20's. His brother and sister are returned missionaries, and are way supportive. His parents though are not as supportive. He has a way good heart, and I feel like will make the right choice in the end. We have a lesson with him on Tuesday, our first, so we will see how that goes. 

Tai is also in his 20's. He has been an investigator for quite some time now. He is a college student, and is from Tokyo. He likes going to church, and likes all of the members. The only problem is that he is not a big fan of reading the BoM. We also have a lesson with him on Tuesday.

Everything is going really well here. Things should starting pushing off here soon, will let you know more next week! 

Much love,

Elder Davies