Monday, September 29, 2014

The Missionary Brainwashing Program

I was watching a bible video the other day, one where two of the apostles find Jesus' empty tomb, but when one of them left the tomb a couple of seconds before the other one, unexpectedly I thought "Oh no, he can't see his companion!". It's no longer the MTC, "How long have you been in the MBP?"

Hello e'vebody!

We met a man named Captain Chiba yesterday! He wants to learn about Jesus!

Weekly Questions!

How is life in Japan this week? How is everything going with Elder Brooksby the younger?
S'all going sweet. Life is great, people are great, getting packages is great, things are great!

How do I like training? Loving the training thing?
Yupp yupp! It's supa' awesome! We're having a good time out here, partying it up, Younger Elder Brooksby Style!

Where's my trainee from?
If you went generic and guessed Utah, you would be right! Spanish Fork, of all places!

About the Book of Brooksby, how is it that I am able to compile so much information? Do I just find quotes throughought the week and add them on my tablet, or just write them all down P-day?
I collect references throughout the week, then organize them when I have the right amount to make a chapter. Sometimes I don't spend many personal studies finding references, so sometimes it's a bit longer than a week before I finish it, but there is always a Book of Brooksby chapter under construction!

What can I tell you about Mr. Yazawa? How did we find him?
Well, he is a 83 year old man who lives alone, has liver cancer, speaks excellent English and runs his own hardware store. Elder Parks and I ran into him our first p-day in the area and were just observing the sharp-looking garden tools when he came out to see if we needed help. We started asking him the names of some of the tools in Japanese, then he started asking what they were in English. From there we determined that he has very good English and can communicate excellently, so we asked if he would be interested in coming to our English Class, but then he pulled out a flier that had been given him the day before by some other elders.
Currently we have any missionaries who walk by his shop dropping in and visiting, inviting to various activities and such. He eventually received a Book of Mormon from someone and now we drop off little notes with scripture references on them for him to study. He said he really wants to learn, but also wants to go slowly because it is confusing sometimes. It's now not so much a question of if he will get baptized, but rather when.

Have I ever been to a musical before?
I've been to plays that my siblings were in, but I don't quite know what exactly defines a "musical". I went to see "the little shop of horrors" once, and that was actually pretty cool.

Do I feel like there is so much more to do in Japan?
Mmm... There are different things to do here, not necessarily more. You kinda have to understand that the only similarities between America and Japan is that there are people and we live in the same century. Maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but you get the idea.

What are my thoughts on dreams?
I believe that dreams are a random collection of thoughts and memories created or recalled by your mind in your sleep, then when you wake up, your mind reorganizes the random images into a recognizable, somewhat orderly story. That's what I think.

Can I imagine a new, made-up kind of animal?
Yeah, why?

We saw a guy with an English hat that was actually proper English. It was crazy.

Random Story Time!
Elder Shurilla and I were on splits and we started talking to this guy near a train station, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to connect anything to anything this guy was interested in. I tried families, life after death, purpose of life, prayer, if God exists, etc etc... Until finally when I asked him if he knew anything about Jesus, guess what? He said that their religion seminar could have studied Christianity, but they studied Judaism instead! Just our luck, right? But wait, Younger Elder Brooksby can connect anything to the gospel, right? Jews, a family of Jews that went to America! The Book of Mormon! Sweet! Book of Mormon placed and the younger brother studying the bible will also get to read it!
That was the first time I had ever used Jews to get into a gospel topic. It was an interesting experience.

That's about it!

Peaches of oats!
Younger Elder Brooksby

Old picture from Hodogaya, but I don't really have any new ones.

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