Hiroshima - Week 7 (Total, Week 26)

I stayed in Hiroshima, with my same companion, so it didn't even feel like a transfer went by. This transfer is only 5 weeks long, since our Mission President is going home. My companion is also going home after this transfer, so we will see how he is ;) 

Nothing too crazy happened this week. I'll tell you a little about our Cambodian investigator. He is about 35. He has 6 younger siblings. He came to Japan so he could support them. He works everyday from 6am-6pm, except Sundays, and makes 750 yen an hour. Which is about $7. He is the kindest man I've ever met, and I have never heard him complain about anything. It's definitely eye opening to see people like this in the world, and become part of their lives. Anytime I feel like I want to complain, or if I'm sick, or feel like not working, I think about people like this. I hope this can help you guys this week. 

Love you guys. 

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 6 (Total, Week 25)...1/4 done!

Transfers are this week! But I'm probably staying here with Elder Cascardi so no worries!

Elder Cascardi and I went to Miyajima last Monday. It is an island pretty close by. It was way pretty! We went to an aquarium there and saw a bunch of penguins running around! I also bought a samurai sword there :) 

For my birthday we went and ate out as a district. 4 man district. And the next day a lady in our ward took us out to eat at the same place!

We also had a tokoyaki (octopus) party on Sunday with some less actives and members. We also set a baptismal date with the Cambodian guy, so that was way cool! 

Well. That's this week. Hope everyone has a good week, and thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Hiroshima - Week 5 (Total, week 24)

This week has gone by crazy fast. This past week we finally found some good investigators. We have done a ton of dendo this past week, it has been the most contacting I've done on my mission so far. 

This past week we were housing and ran into a big drunk Japanese guy. He was bigger than me. He came out and told us to leave and then walked us out of the building very angrily, he looked as if he were about to beat us up the whole time. And no offense but my companion isn't be biggest kid, it was scary. 

We also tried basketball dendo this week, and went to a sports center place and played basketball. We met a bunch of teenaged kids, and made friends with them. We invited them all to Eikaiwa. It actually felt normal talking to them, and not like I was a robot missionary. 

This transfer is almost over and it's insane. This past week for my birthday a family in the ward made a cake for the May birthdays. They had a piece of chocolate that looked like me on it, and they sang happy birthday to me. It was an awesome birthday :) 

Happy Mother's Day everyone :)

愛しています。

 デイビーズ長老

Hiroshima - Week 4 (Total, week 23)

Hmm.. not too much crazy happened this week. 

We had another training this last Friday by an elder who is dying in our mission. He had a lot of good dendo tricks that we could apply into our missionary work, like when to find, when to have lessons,
etc. it was way convenient.  Having an iPad is way useful, but can get very distracting at times. Hopefully all the missionaries (including me) will be able to stay focused on the work and not get taken over.

This week we met a really nice family. Their daughter is in her lower 30s and is handicapped, and they are retired and take care of her. The dad is super nice and was way happy to see us. The daughter likes English, and used to come to our Eikaiwa. We talked with them for a bit and after the dad told us to come back anytime. We visited them again later in the week, just planning on talking with the girl, but she was distracted by a video game, so we ended up talking with the dad, he asked a lot about our church, and we taught him the whole first lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. 

We did a ton of finding this past week, and didn't really get to teach all that much, hopefully all this hard work will soon pay off, if not, looks like I'll have to work a bit harder :)
Love ya
Elder Davies

Kyle’s companion, Elder Cascardi wrote a little bit this week also:
Thank you so much for the prayers. When we are really tired, sometimes
strength comes suddenly and every time that happens I fell it's
because everyone is the world is praying for us right now.
Thank you

This is "Indy" as in Indiana Jones.....haha

Elder Davies and Elder Cascardi with a couple primary children.

Hiroshima - Week 3 (Total, week 22)

Hiroshima - desu

This week we got iPads!! So yes, this email is from my iPad :)

We also got to go on Junkai's with the Zone Leaders! I always learn so
much from them. With them we found 3 Cambodian guys who are Christian.
They came to church this past Sunday and loved it! They said they have
been looking for a Christian church for the past 3 weeks. We
introduced the Book of Mormon to them and they seemed to love it! They
said they want to come to church every Sunday!
We had a total of 5 people at church on Sunday, just between Elder
Cascardi and I, so things were a bit crazy.
Also, just last night we were housing at about 8, and we ran into a
Chinese guy who was baptist. We told him we were Christian and he got
way excited and also said he had been looking for a church to go to.
So right now pretty much everyone we are teaching is not Japanese,
it's pretty funny.

Being out here in Japan is way awesome, I'm loving it! So far it has
been such a great experience, and I have learned and grown so much
already!

愛しています。

Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 2 (Total, week 21)

This week has been very tough. Pretty much all of our appointments didn't go through, we've been way tired, and on top of that it's pretty much been raining nonstop. 

Even though this week has been tough, it has been the best week of my mission. You always learn the most through the hard times. Elder Cascardi has taught me so much, and is constantly helping me with everything. 

We also have a member here who looks exactly like Indiana Jones. We call him Indy Kyoudai. He loves it when you tell him he looks like Indiana Jones. The whole ward here is just awesome! 

Last Wednesday we did our weekly planning at Heywa Coen. It's the Hiroshima memorial park. It was beautiful outside too. During our weekly planning we ran into some Brazilians who Elder Cascardi started talking to. They were WAY interested. They became 2 new investigators for a Brazil mission. We have also ran into a lot of Chinese people lately who have been becoming investigators as well. 

Well, that's pretty much everything! Hope everyone has a good week, and know this church is true. :) 

Love Elder Davies

Hiroshima - Week 1 (Total, week 20)

So last week we got our transfer calls and I was going to Yonabaru, on the Okinawan island. They called the night before transfers and my call got changed, and the told me I was going to Takasu (Hiroshima) instead. 

These past couple days have been the funnest by far. My new companion is a Brazilian who is going home in a few transfers. He used to be a Zone Leader, and now just a District Leader. He's way experienced and wayyyy nice. 

General conference was this week for Japan, and it was amazing. They focused a lot on marriage though which isn't for me yet ;) We didn't get too much Dendo in because we were so busy, but this week, we plan on working hard. 

Love 

Elder Davies