Well it was a pretty good week. We were able to go to Nagoya for a zone conference like activity. Pretty much President Baird talked to us from 10 am until 6 pm...it was really long. Like really long. At like 12 30 they gave us pudding cups and I was like afraid for my life that that was lunch. Then by 1 30 I was starving again. Then at 2 30 we got lunch so that was good. They had me worried for a while. It wasn't a bad lunch it was chicken rice and curry. Pretty good. It was still a long training. But anyway it was a cool...we had it at the Nagoya institute house...if anyone knows where that is it is pretty funny. In downtown Nagoya there is this huge fish market and right in the middle of this huge fish market is the institute house. It is always interesting to walk down there because you see so many interesting things like on Thursday I saw some people like cutting off the tail of a whale and that was pretty cool and right next to the door of the institute there were these huge fish...probably still alive and also there were people like spraying the dead fish guts off the ground...I dont think Sister Baird liked it...haha. It smelled like dead fish all day, but it is way funny that that is where the institute house is.
Well English class is going well. I am way surprised but we got yet another new student so that was cool. At first I was not 100 percent for Book of Mormon english class at all. I thought we would lose all our students. But obviously I was completely wrong. It has not only stayed the same but has grown maybe even doubled. It just goes to show that even when according to the world it should fail, when you listen to your preisthood leaders you will succeed no matter what. Like obviously God's hand is in on this because I have never seen an english class grow so fast...it is incredible. and it isn't just here it has happened in some other areas so it is really awesome.
It is cool having a companion from Australia...I learn a lot about english. He uses alot of words that I don't understand...like prong...what is that. or fairdinkum... I still don't know what this means. We eat about the same food...maybe because we are in Japan. but it is still cool.
Like I said it was a good week. We had 4 people supposed to come to church but because of ailments and sickness and concerts only one came but I will not complain. She is a really cool 15 yr old girl...and because of our branch being tiny we have no young women so she went with the relief society. I think she enjoyed it. Then during sacrament meeting she sat next to a family and really enjoyed it...she said she would like to come back next week. It was very nice. But like in America we have the same issues at church as well. So I gave a talk yesturday and I thought it was pretty hot (mainly because I was sweating) but as I was speaking the women thought it was too cold and turned the ac off. It reminded me of Las Vegas summers at church. Obviously somethings are the same no matter where you go...haha!!! But any way I spoke on prayer it was really basic and just geared towards the investigator...you think after speaking in church two times a month I would get use to it but I still get a little nervous but just a little...I guess I wouldn't be human if I didn't but I told the story of how a man fell into quicksand and prayed to God. After a man came and asked if he needed help. The man in the quicksand said no God will help me. After that another man came and offered help but the man that fell into the quicksand denied it and said that God would help him...He then died and went to heaven and asked God what heppened I prayed to you and you didn't help. Then God replied I sent two men to help you...the ward seemed to like it but it is true...sometimes we don't realize that God is helping when he always is.
Well have a great week.
Love
Elder Nelson
梅雨 (rainy season) (June 5, 2011)
It sounds like everyone is having a great time and preparing for summer...actually us too. We are preparing for the hot and rainy summer that we have ahead of us but it should be fun. We also finally got a ward mission leader so that is very exciting and a 2nd counselor in our branch presidency so it was a very succesful week.
Well usually I like talking about interesting food so this week I want to say I had the best sandwich in the world. It had bread, lettuce, onion and bacon (No, Not real bacon!! it was fake. I could see through it and when I cooked it, it didn't smell awesome so it wasn't bacon but the closest I could get, My imagination had to do the rest but still) chicken (marinated in chipotle(sent from my parents)) egg ( yes, I cooked the egg) salsa (I found a 16 oz bottle at the store and it was so good I ate it all last week....kind of sad) and mayonaise. It was so good. It was kind of expensive and I don't want to get sick of it so I don't have it for every meal......It was so good. So basically I'm not always suffering from eating tenticles of octupus that I swear were moving 2 minutes before I ate it but I actually have "edible" food every once in a while.
This week was actually a really great week. It was awesome. We had an open house at our church. And we have been preparing for it for a month trying to get members to bring their friends. Now what ever happened none of their friends came...sad. But we got 6 people to come. One was an investigator. She is 15 and comes to our english class twice a week. She really wants to learn english and live in America when she graduates high school so we help her with that but she is very busy so we have a hard time meeting her. She came to the open house and loved it. She took every pamphlet and looked at every picture in detail. She said when she gets time she'd love to come to church...it was awesome.
We also had another english student come to church yesterday...it was pretty cool. He is a senior in high school and isn't very good at english but he is getting better. He came to church and loved it. He said he was going to come to church next week as well. That was pretty cool.
So we went to a museum last p day and found someone whose daughter is a museum worker so that was cool. We went back on Friday and talked to him for a long time so it was really good. He has read a little but says it is too hard to believe but it's ok. We will continue to talk with him and I think he will see that it is not that hard to believe.
My companion and I have been learning a lot about the two main religions here in Japan recently; Shinto and Buddhism...it is very interesting. They both definately come from ancient times and testify of Christ...it has just been changed very much. There are ancient writings that only monks can understand but the common people can't understand but a lot of these stories have resemblence with our stories and the Bible. For example there is a red arch outside of the temple and shrines. What can that represent...maybe the passover. And you have to wash your unclean body before you can enter the temple. There is also an ancient story that talks about how the Deity of the sun was hidden in a cave for three days and the whole world was dark and then after 3 days the rock was removed from in front of the cave and the Deity came out. There really are so many things that relate. It really helps my testimony and is a great way to be able to relate to the Japanese people.
I know this church is true and love Japan... have a great week. And wish the best to Nicole because she is starting down the scary path...marriage. No Just kidding but seriously good luck...
Love
Elder Riley Nelson
Well usually I like talking about interesting food so this week I want to say I had the best sandwich in the world. It had bread, lettuce, onion and bacon (No, Not real bacon!! it was fake. I could see through it and when I cooked it, it didn't smell awesome so it wasn't bacon but the closest I could get, My imagination had to do the rest but still) chicken (marinated in chipotle(sent from my parents)) egg ( yes, I cooked the egg) salsa (I found a 16 oz bottle at the store and it was so good I ate it all last week....kind of sad) and mayonaise. It was so good. It was kind of expensive and I don't want to get sick of it so I don't have it for every meal......It was so good. So basically I'm not always suffering from eating tenticles of octupus that I swear were moving 2 minutes before I ate it but I actually have "edible" food every once in a while.
This week was actually a really great week. It was awesome. We had an open house at our church. And we have been preparing for it for a month trying to get members to bring their friends. Now what ever happened none of their friends came...sad. But we got 6 people to come. One was an investigator. She is 15 and comes to our english class twice a week. She really wants to learn english and live in America when she graduates high school so we help her with that but she is very busy so we have a hard time meeting her. She came to the open house and loved it. She took every pamphlet and looked at every picture in detail. She said when she gets time she'd love to come to church...it was awesome.
We also had another english student come to church yesterday...it was pretty cool. He is a senior in high school and isn't very good at english but he is getting better. He came to church and loved it. He said he was going to come to church next week as well. That was pretty cool.
So we went to a museum last p day and found someone whose daughter is a museum worker so that was cool. We went back on Friday and talked to him for a long time so it was really good. He has read a little but says it is too hard to believe but it's ok. We will continue to talk with him and I think he will see that it is not that hard to believe.
My companion and I have been learning a lot about the two main religions here in Japan recently; Shinto and Buddhism...it is very interesting. They both definately come from ancient times and testify of Christ...it has just been changed very much. There are ancient writings that only monks can understand but the common people can't understand but a lot of these stories have resemblence with our stories and the Bible. For example there is a red arch outside of the temple and shrines. What can that represent...maybe the passover. And you have to wash your unclean body before you can enter the temple. There is also an ancient story that talks about how the Deity of the sun was hidden in a cave for three days and the whole world was dark and then after 3 days the rock was removed from in front of the cave and the Deity came out. There really are so many things that relate. It really helps my testimony and is a great way to be able to relate to the Japanese people.
I know this church is true and love Japan... have a great week. And wish the best to Nicole because she is starting down the scary path...marriage. No Just kidding but seriously good luck...
Love
Elder Riley Nelson
寂しい (lonely) (May 29, 2011)
Hey,
So the Tokyo missionaries have returned home. It was very sad to leave them because they were cool and we won't even ever have the chance to see them at zone conference again but thats ok life goes forward and we will continue to do the Lord's work. Life in Ogaki is good. We had a typhoon blow through this week. It was really crazy but it has pretty much finished so that is good. Members have been telling us that the rainy season is here so that is exciting. The members were all like I feel so bad for you. I would not like to be in your shoes. A mission is hard in Japan isn't it. We're like yes so can we come visit you sometime and they usually say sorry we are busy this week maybe next week or some other time so it is really tough. Not everyone is like that either but it just make it that much more difficult.
Today we met an investigator and had an awesome lesson. He told us all about Shintoism. It is very interesting and while he was telling us about it we were able to realize the similarities in our religions. For example before you can enter their shrines you have to wash your hands and your mouth because you are impure. Through that we were able to compare it to the sacrament and how by taking the sacrament our sins can be forgiven and we can be made clean again. We talked alot about the sacrament and he was very intrigued. We talked about all the similarities and there are a lot. It is really crazy.
Our english class is doing way good. We have gotten 2 new people that have started coming and they both are planning to come to church this week. It is really good. We are really excited. As people read the Book of Mormon they see the good that it teaches and have started to become more interested. We still have a lot of people just interested in English but people are starting to notice the good things that we are doing and that we are willing to help people. I am really happy with the english class and I think a lot of good will come from it.
I can't remember if I have said this before but once a week on Wednesday we go to a book club and they are really nice to us. Honestly we get more meals from investigators than members but they always give us snacks and things from their gardens. But it lasts 2 hours and we get about 20 minutes to share a lesson and last week we read with them the third to last paragraph in the family proclamation...and they Loved it. They complimented on how important this is and the women especially love how it says that men and women are equal partners. It was very good. And it is great when we can connect with the Japanese people and show them that what we teach is a good thing.
I Love this church and am excited to continue working here in Ogaki.
Take Care
Love
Elder Nelson
So the Tokyo missionaries have returned home. It was very sad to leave them because they were cool and we won't even ever have the chance to see them at zone conference again but thats ok life goes forward and we will continue to do the Lord's work. Life in Ogaki is good. We had a typhoon blow through this week. It was really crazy but it has pretty much finished so that is good. Members have been telling us that the rainy season is here so that is exciting. The members were all like I feel so bad for you. I would not like to be in your shoes. A mission is hard in Japan isn't it. We're like yes so can we come visit you sometime and they usually say sorry we are busy this week maybe next week or some other time so it is really tough. Not everyone is like that either but it just make it that much more difficult.
Today we met an investigator and had an awesome lesson. He told us all about Shintoism. It is very interesting and while he was telling us about it we were able to realize the similarities in our religions. For example before you can enter their shrines you have to wash your hands and your mouth because you are impure. Through that we were able to compare it to the sacrament and how by taking the sacrament our sins can be forgiven and we can be made clean again. We talked alot about the sacrament and he was very intrigued. We talked about all the similarities and there are a lot. It is really crazy.
Our english class is doing way good. We have gotten 2 new people that have started coming and they both are planning to come to church this week. It is really good. We are really excited. As people read the Book of Mormon they see the good that it teaches and have started to become more interested. We still have a lot of people just interested in English but people are starting to notice the good things that we are doing and that we are willing to help people. I am really happy with the english class and I think a lot of good will come from it.
I can't remember if I have said this before but once a week on Wednesday we go to a book club and they are really nice to us. Honestly we get more meals from investigators than members but they always give us snacks and things from their gardens. But it lasts 2 hours and we get about 20 minutes to share a lesson and last week we read with them the third to last paragraph in the family proclamation...and they Loved it. They complimented on how important this is and the women especially love how it says that men and women are equal partners. It was very good. And it is great when we can connect with the Japanese people and show them that what we teach is a good thing.
I Love this church and am excited to continue working here in Ogaki.
Take Care
Love
Elder Nelson
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