Hello!
(referring to his Dr. visit last week) I spoke Japanese with the Japanese doctor but the "radiologists" couldn't speak English and they refused to accept that I could speak Japanese haha.
So last Monday after p day we had a lesson with Kishor! It was so awesome! He is from Nepal. He cares a lot about Nepal and he wants so badly for everybody there to be equal. We taught about prayer and how he can receive answers to prayers. He prayed for Nepal to get better basically and at first I had the thought, oh we need to teach him about faith and the kinds of things we should pray for, but then I thought, "why reduce his faith?" I realized that if he has the faith to make Nepal better I'm sure that God will help him. That may involve him doing certain things to help them but I had the strongest feeling of confirmation that we are all children of God and we can have an influence on others. I know that God will help him to help Nepal.
On Tuesday we met with a new convert, Noshiro. He is a very interesting guy and this last lesson was so special to me. The whole time I have kind of wondered if us meeting with him were really helping him or not. Then we talked about the Book of Mormon and Elder Yoshikawa mentioned how he can tell a difference when he reads and when he doesn't. Noshiro said,"I know exactly what you mean. There is a COMPLETE difference in the days where I read and the days when I don't. When I read the Book of Mormon, my day just seems to go well and I am happier. The days when I don't read my days aren't very good." I also know that when we read the Book of Mormon we will have the spirit with us more and we will be happier.
On Wednesday we were coming home by bike from Eikaiwa. It's already dark (because you know it gets dark in Japan at like 3:00) and the roads back to the apartment are really narrow and windy. We were going pretty fast around the corners because there are never any cars. Elder Riggs was up ahead and he just went around a corner and it was obvious that no cars were coming. "Go the right side of the road and stop." Is what I felt. So I did. Right then a moped sped around the corner and if I hadn't moved I would it would have ran right into me.
Thursday I had another scary dream and didn't sleep like at all. I woke up at 1am and didn't get back to sleep until 4:30 ish.
It's been so cool. When I first came here I decided that I wanted to kubari at the same eki as much as we can at the Same time every day if possible. At first it was way slow but eventually I realized that I was seeing the same people! And the people started to recognize me and trust me. Now every time we go we pass out like over a hundred chirashi every time. And I see the same old people and they stop and talk with me. One guy in particular I love. He is itou and probably like 90 and he moves so so slow with his cane. He lived in New York for a while so he speaks English well. I also had a very drunk guy come up and kept commenting on how small I was. He puts one hand on my chest and the other on my back, "your so small! How!? Americans are HUGE! How are yours good at Japanese? There is no way you have only studied for a year and a half. Were you born in Japan? Did you grow up in Japan? Are your parents Japanese? Are you sure you aren't Japanese? I mean your body is small like one and you speak like one! Are you eating all your food?" Haha it was very fun. He actually had known about Mormons. Then his other (not as drunk) friend came up and talked to me too. They were so blown away that I had learned Japanese in a year and a half. They kept asking how and I said, "the reason that I can speak Japanese is because there is a God and I pray to him every day before and after I study and then I preach his gospel everyday and he blesses me to get better."
The other day during a kubari a guy ran past me and his was just bawling. I tried stopping him but he was already out of there before he could stop. I realized that that was the first time I have ever seen a Japanese person cry! It just emphasized to me that the Japanese people really do have things they are worried about and things that they need fixing. The Japanese have 2 faces. The Tatemae and the Honne. The Tatemae is like their public face. It's the face they show you when you first meet them. It's very polite and makes you seem like they have no problems in their life. Their honne is their real face. They tell you their worries, what makes them happy, stuff about their family etc. but when I saw him crying was so touched and felt so much love for him. I know that God loves all of his children and he is actively trying to reach out to each of us to show us that he cares and that he wants us to be happy.
Sunday was insane! We had 6 investigators at church! Valentine came and brought his friend. He is from Nigeria and doesn't speak Japanese so I interpret for him. Just a thing about interpreting that I thought was interesting. I don't know why I thought this was cool for the first time so recently haha but I was listening to the speaker and translating and I realized that it cool how I say the words I hear but I don't know the whole story, I don't know where he is going with the story. So even though I am telling the story in English the whole story is completely new to me too haha. Anyways I think that was cool. So after sacrament meeting Tsunoda came! He came two weeks ago to give a donation to the church for the help the missionaries he met 20 years ago in learning English. We told him we couldn't accept donations but we got to talk to him. He never heard the lessons but the last time he met missionaries was about 20 years ago. He came back today in a suit and a desire to learn! He said he felt like he should come back. He loved the Book of Mormon and now we have a lesson to meet with him on Wednesday! Please pray for him!
I love you!
Elder Draper
ドレーパー長老
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