Activities all week! It's Golden Week out here in Japan!
The members all wanted to do something on their break so we ended up
doing a bit of everything. I'm pretty tired but we saw a lot of cool
things happen.
Wednesday: Hiking
Thursday: Music Festival
Friday: Stake Sports Event
Saturday: Bishop BBQ
Sunday: Miralces
Met this guy named Ryuuji on Sunday who was the most chill guy in the
world. (His kanji is Ryuu as in 'dragon') He was a referral from the
Sister Missionaries and was marked on our map with a pin named "Crazy
Christ Man." Well, he's pretty unusual in the amount of interest he
showed in the church, Christ, and us in general, for sure. Said he
wanted to come to church and take lessons; gave his number straight up
and we'll be seeing more of him this week. What a guy.
We squeezed in a visit with a Peru family and the Gma w/Alzheimer's
talked to me forever and I didn't get a word. The thing is that she
would keep forgetting, too, so the conversation went like:
Gma: {speaking rapid Spanish}
Me: I don't speak Spanish. Americanos.
Gma: Ah, ah! Americanos! {more in-comprehensive Spanish and a lot of
mentions about Peru}
Me: si, si. (Pulling out every Spanish word I picked up in high school)
Gma: {asks question and looks up expectedly}
Me: uh.....
(Laughter in the background from the family+my companion)
--Repeat prior conversation--
Well, I have better Spanish than Portuguese, at least. Hahaha
We were at the church prepping for Kid Eikaiwa when the door
downstairs opens and footsteps were on the stairs. They've come! We
thought. A guy shows up, Brazilian, and we were called down to talk to
him. He had received a miracle, and in the purest of faith was going
about trusting Christ to provide everything for him. What to eat,
where to go, etc.
so he had surgery about two years ago. Went the the hospital after
work and they discovered a huge brain tumor. Went to Brazil for
operation and was told he would go deaf, blind, mute, and lose
function in half his body from the operation. Four days later he was
coming back home, supposed to be in a coma but somehow just fine. Half
his brain was taken out.
So He was telling us to believe in Christ. Ranting about it, really.
Came to the church because he saw the huge sign of the church outside,
plus the pachinko* Number One sign across the street. Jesus Christ=#1!
He yelled. We prayed in the service room, felt the Spirit, and asked
him to come back tomorrow and Sunday. So that happened. Never showed
up, though.
Brother Mizuno is just the funniest member. He kinda scrapped together
the Music Festival so of course he was the one to debut the most in
it. Two solid performances and several accompaniments. First the
piano, the the violin.
He opened with a funeral procession-like piece on the piano in which
he played slow not because the tune called for it, but rather because
he was so busy looking up at the sheet music and then down at his
fingers to confirm position before he struck one that he left gaps of
time between each note. Ended up taking 20 minutes.
And then Mizuno got up again. This time it was six violin pieces. It
hurt. I laughed as Mizuno squeezed out squeaks of a supposed song one
after another. It sounded like we were sitting in on his yearly
practice session. His bow was swinging wildly across the entire bridge
as he struggled to squeal out a resemblance of "When You Wish Upon A
Star". Hahaha
And lots of other stuff, but maybe for another occasion. Love you all!
愛しています！
カードん長老より
Elder Cardon
*pachinko=casino in Japan
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