I am LOVING Niigata! There are about 50 people in the ward, and everyone of them is on FIRE. On top of that, they are the nicest people ever. They give the missionaries an unlimited supply of rice and eggs, give tons of other food, and take us out for nice lunches. I basically don't have to get groceries, which is pretty nice, not going to lie.
Their support for missionary work is shown pretty well by how kind they are to us. They are willing to work with us in anything, and are just as fired up as the missionaries! I am SOO excited to work here.
We have quite a few investigators in this area, and I am excited to get to know them all. To be honest, I have only really met two of them so far. There are 8 or so that we are working with pretty regularly, which is pretty good! I'm excited to meet all of them.
Now, to give you an image of my area, if I go to some parts of it, I feel almost like I am back in Tokyo, and some of it is totally countryside. Most of it is the countryside bit. If you look at the map, my area is about twice the area of both my last two areas combined - which happen to be the smallest, most central areas of the mission. I didn't know that before - but I guess I get to see more of the mission now! I think the reason the area is so big is because it is mostly countryside - which is why we get free rice and eggs from farmers.
Well... There are prepared people just like there were in Tokyo! We found someone named Bob - most common name ever, so I feel like I can share it - he is living in Tokyo, and is pretty interested in eternal marriage and family history. Hoping that we can meet with him sometime this week, but he seems pretty busy; we also found an 18 year old kid who wants to hear some about the church! We'll see how they turn out.
Probably the biggest miracle of the week is that the Tech Staff finally got a call through to Brother S (the investigator)! He is out of the hospital and down for meeting again. Elder Ikegami called me for info about him, and I feel confident that God blessed him because of my little brother's prayers! In fact, I am pretty sure I would have given up on him earlier if he hadn't been praying... Which would have resulted in my companion never hearing about him, and he would have been accidentally dropped (there are so many useless numbers in that phone that it would have been forever before he was called again). I suppose that shows the power of faithful prayer!
Well... I am finding more and more that this is the Lord's work everyday! I don't feel like I have learned how to be a good missionary, but I have learned that the Lord can do this great work through us if we pray to Him and ask in all sincerity to be a tool in His hands, and trust me, there is no greater joy than becoming such!
Love you all!
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder O'Reilly
Some questions/answers to his Mom this week:
companion name: Elder Thor (like, legitimately) O'Connor - Our names are pretty similar.
where is he from: Saitama, Japan. But he moved to Arkansas when he was young
how long has he been out: 3 months? Ish? Two transfers. I've been out 5.
was he already in the area: Yes!
how is his japanese: Awesome. He is half Japanese.
how many are in your apartment: 4
how long did it take to get to your new area: 5 hours
did you travel by bus, train: Buses!
is this more of a bike area: yep. Definitely. I am exhausted.
more rural or big city: Both. Depends on where you go.
how big is the ward: 50 people
I think it is SO funny that you try to hang out with my companions families! Elder O'Connor is from Arkansas, so it will be a little harder this time. Sorry. :P
 |
| Hanging out with Elder Ikegami's sister, Alycia in Provo! |
No comments:
Post a Comment