Abe, but it's pronounced Japanese style, ah-bei.
Heyo, everybody!
I had to write the beginning twice 'cuz I accidentally deleted my
email... Gah...
Weekly Questions!
How about me?
Twice asked, I'm only just too lazy to answer both separately, so I'm
doing good, or in fact better than good! I'm doing excellent!
What am I doing?
I am doing missionary work! We actually almost got one of our most
important and focused-on stats to average! 64/70, yosha! We had been
improving constantly from the beginning of the transfer, but it
already looks like we'll finally make it this week! I'm super exited
to do it, as weird as that is for me haha. Next week will be 100/70!
What do I remember about my baptism?
I remember standing with the other kids in front of the font while
somebody was talking or telling us what to do, but I don't really
remember a whole lot... I do remember taking some pictures and getting
a journal at the party afterwards.
How is English Class going?
It's going way good! President Wada came to our ward and cleared up
some misunderstandings, such as how, though we say English Class is a
proselyting tool, we don't intend to actively and aggressively
proselyte during English Class, or how it is a church, so we are asked
to pray to start and end all meetings if at all possible. It helped
the English Class, but I feel bad for having "fought" と言うか、disagreed
with our English Class coordinator. He really is an awesome guy who
was just a bit afraid of some things because of what had happened in
the past, so Elder Bates and I want to give him a candy bar or do some
kinda service for him to show him how much we really do appreciate
him. He has actually helped a lot with providing opportunities for
missionary work and such, and once he sees an idea that actually
works, he loves it. I kinda felt bad for making him seem to be
unfriendly when really we just weren't on track and honestly, we
weren't nearly as friendly to him as we should have been. That's an
example of what not to do!
Does my Mission President allow parents to come pick up missionaries?
Yupp. Free game, as far as I'm aware! I'll ask him sometime, though,
just to be safe.
One of our potential investigators is now finally an investigator!
Finally! He is a Christian, which is a bit of a problem 'cuz we aren't
trained with Christians in mind and I'm a bit out of practice, but it
will be a fun learning experience!
An odd feeling I just recently felt, but I don't want to leave this
area. It's way weird 'cuz for one, every other area I've been in I've
always felt like my work to do there was done just before I
transferred out, and two because I honestly quite hated it here my
first two transfers, but now I just feel like if I never had to leave
here I would be happy. I've met some awesome people here and I am
working on being remembered, and maybe one day I will be good enough
of a missionary that the members will actually remember my name!
That's the plan, anyways!
Random Story Time!
Please, allow me to share a story and a scripture to go along with it.
It begins at the beginning.... Of the transfer. Elder Bates had had
some errors with his debit card the prior transfer that caused him to
start the month with 100$ less, and Elder Kennedy had had several
doctors appointments(yes, someone else broke. Elder Bates got bad
hives on his legs, too. That's 10/11) as well as spent a transfer with
a returning missionary, which isn't the slightest bit friendly to
anyone's wallet. Anyways, I will now share the scripture that will
give you an idea of how scheming I am, but really how awesome of a guy
I really am.
1 Samuel 22:2-And every one that was in distress, and every one that
was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves
unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him
about four hundred men.
And thus a great army was gained over the course of but a few days.
And thus the army of Hodogaya did bring peace to the land and there
was much potential gold in the chambers of Elder Brooksby the Younger,
as well as an increase of friendship and reliance, one with another.
And thus the days of May did end with much rejoicing at the hand of
all parties, and forevermore was Younger Elder Brooksby considered a
king among them.
I went on splits with one of the zone leaders, who also happened to be
one of my former companions, Elder Fernelius, and he was hardcore
freaking out at how many random kids called out to us in 15 minutes of
walking in a certain area or our area. He said whoo, just felt an
earthquake! Anyways, he said "I swear, they must have posters of you
guys in their school that say to greet these foreign people, with a
picture of your faces on it!" It was entertaining.
Okay, we had an awesome idea just before this last weekly planning
session and I wanted to get some thoughts on it. So in Japanese wards
the membership is often quite a bit less than 50% active members, so
Elder Bates and I thought of this because of something Elder Nelson
said in the "Hastening the Work of Salvation" broadcast that we were
watching at the time. He said something along the lines of "You don't
feel that anyone is missing until you set a place for everyone that
should be there." So I was like, "Man, what if we set up a chair for
every member of our ward on a week one of us was talking in church,
then just say "Look behind you. These are all of your brothers and
sisters that should be here. We need your help to bring them back."
And be all epic." What do you guys think? I want some honest feedback
here!
Loves to you all! Peace!
Younger Elder Brooksby
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