Elder Jameson's version of our week and Typhoon VongFong

Elder Jameson wrote:

Tuesday was a weird day. We had district meeting and afterwards we met with E, who is doing great, and another member who's name is Miyagi. They are both awesome and doing well.
We didn't eat dinner at 5 but went to do service with this lady named W. Elder Bevan is good with working his way to gospel topics during things. I'm just blunt and go straight to it. Last week he asked her if she wanted to study the Book Of Mormon. She said sure. Huge miracle because she said she would never study. The Spirit works with people. We had a great lesson but when we showed her the pictures of the prophet, she was upset saying there were no girls. That was super hard to explain in Japanese. It was good at the end.

Monday night we had a good miracle happen during planning. I asked Elder Bevan who we should visit. At that moment I had a feeling to visit a person that we haven't visited in a while. Elder Bevan said that it wasn't a good idea because he isn't home all the time. I looked at him and said "lets pray about it" so we prayed. After the prayer he said we can visit him but on the way back home. Again I had a pressing feeling to visit him but with a exact time of 7 pm. I told him and we made a schedule around that. We went at 7 to visit him. He said he just had returned home.  We talked about general conference and he said he would come to priesthood. (Which was cancelled because of the typhoon but still awesome.) After we left we said a prayer of thanks. He came walking by about 3 minutes later saying he was going on a walk. If we had visited him at a different time, we wouldn't have met him. After that we prayed again to see where to go and we met this couple from Hong Kong. We found out the hard way how to speak to them. They look Japanese so we spoke Japanese back but they spoke broken Japanese with a hard accent. Then we asked in English if they spoke English. They did and fluently. It was super cool and we invited them to visit mormon.org to see how this message can help their life.

Wednesday was crazy. We went out early to dendo because we had a late lunch appointment, which also pushed dinner back and it became a weird day.

But we visited this lady named N. She is basically fluent in English but she has some past mistake that haunts her so she doesn't come to church. She was active for a long time. We are trying to think of ways to help her. We went to eat afterwards and we dendoed around. Things were sparse. We did meet a mom that was concerned for her life after this one. Maybe things will progress with that. We eventually were able to meet the high school student from the other week, M. We met outside McDonalds. He thought hard about the question of a perfect world. He said, "if I kill someone and get a good lesson from that, is that okay?" Not quite. We taught him about repentance and the Book of Mormon. Repentance through the Book of Mormon actually, and the Godhead. He is such a great kid and he is the top student and president of his class. A really smart kid. He invited us to an activity he is planning for the 25th. Maybe this will be good :).

Thursday was filled with weekly planning and visiting E. She has changed so much. It fills me with so much joy to see her changing. She even keeps a daily journal for the things she prays for. How many of us members do that?

Friday, stuck inside planning for things. Then the typhoon started. It wasn't raining and the winds weren't that strong so we got some work done, some return appointments. Yeah! If we don't die in the typhoon!!

Saturday and Sunday were spent in the apartment. A lot of time with Elder Bevan. A lot. It turned out well. Our relationship is great. We worked on the area book and less active book to organize it in a way to be helpful for other missionaries coming through this area.
Honestly being in a concrete apartment is awesome. The storm didn't do anything to us. Completely safe inside. The power went out for like an hour but that was at night.
That was our week. We need to still watch general conference. I'm still looking forward to it!

Typhoons and Things

Hello Everyone!

This here is my companion and Nago's giant pig statue. Unlike the rest of Japan (I'm am fairly sure) pork is part of the traditional Okinawan food. I could be wrong about that though so don't kill me if you find out I'm wrong. :) Below that is a picture of me and Nago's famous Brother Miyagi. He is a way awesome convert of a little over a year ago and we all love him. He overcame a lot to join the church and if I know anything about it he is an awesome example of how the Atonement changes people. He has a little bit of a mental problem, but he is just a ton of fun to be around. He meets us about every week to study from the scriptures and every once in a while we go out to eat together. I love to hear his prayers. You can tell that he is talking to the Father. 

The last picture is this way awesome kid we found a while back. He is just seventeen, but he really thinks deeply about things and is a way hard worker. He is completely determined to become the top of the business world and has thought a lot about what kinds of things he will need to do to get there. He is the top of his school and I think that he is  ahead a grade... anyways he way cool! Hopefully he starts progressing!

 

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​At the end of this week a big typhoon came again. It got here on Friday night and went all day Saturday and yesterday. That wasn't any fun because we were inside the whole time, and didn't get to see general conference. We worked on organizing our records and area book a bit though, and that was good.

I love working with the people here. I love to work with the members and the people we meet on the street! We did some calling while we were stuck inside and I think just about every time I got off the phone I felt great! I don't really know why I love to talk with these people so much but I think it is one of my favorite parts of the mission. I love their voices and their language. I love this mission!

I love the Lord. I know that this is the true and only church of God. I love this church and the gospel that it declares. I am so grateful for the confidence and peace it affords. I love my Savior Jesus Christ.

My love to all,

Elder Bevan

TYPHOON VONGFONG

Dear Parents of the Japan Fukuoka Mission Missionaries,

As you may have heard, there is a Typhoon of considerable size coming to Japan. The Japan Fukuoka Mission has an Emergency Plan and we made sure each area and companionship had a 72-hour emergency kit with water, food and flashlights with extra batteries. They were instructed to stay indoors and we will keep them updated daily if needed. All the emergency precautions took place and all the missionaries are safe. We will notify you again when the Typhoon is past. We appreciate your son/daughter work in the mission and pray for their protection. Thank you for your concern and prayers.

Japan Fukuoka Mission.

日本福岡伝道部で働いている宣教師の御両親へ、

もうお聞きになったと思いますが、かなり大規模の台風が日本へ向かっています。日本福岡伝道部では緊急対策があり、各同僚組みが７２時間緊急キット（水、食料、懐中電灯と電池）を持っている事を確認致しました。宣教師達はアパート内に残り、必要ならば私達が彼らに必要な情報を提供します。必要な準備は全て出来ており、宣教師は皆安全です。台風が去った後、又お知らせ致します。皆さんの愛する息子・娘達の伝道部での働きに感謝し、彼らの安全を祈っています。

皆さんの懸念と祈りに感謝しています。

日本福岡伝道部

Typhoon and Stuff

Hey everyone! Nago is just fine and dandy. Typhoons are just a part of life down here, nothing really big. In fact, this time of year is called typhoon season. There might be another one coming this week, we are not sure yet. If there was ever a place prepared for a typhoon it is Japan. Everything is made for rain. Everything. 

The roads all have great drainage systems, the houses are made to withstand rain, if it is not made of concrete, it was made to take the weather, and so nothing was really hurt by the typhoon except the plant life (which took a pretty good beating). A few houses had a little water damage, and one house was hurt by the wind, so there is not really anything to be done by way of service, but that is good I guess.

We stayed inside while the typhoon lasted. For the second day the power was out, but by the end of study we could go out again and we actually were able to get in three lessons that day! What a miracle and a blessing! On the third day everything was dry again and the only remnants of the typhoon are the branches here and there that were broken in the storm. So that is that. :)

Besides the typhoon, things are pretty normal. Our investigators need help and prayers. They are facing a lot of adversity and trial. We must have the lord's help in these things or they will all fail. Yesterday we wanted to go to meet a referral, a Grandma that had taken us out to dinner. We rode for four hours there and back, next to the ocean and over the island (meaning huge stinking mountains :). We did not find her before we had to come back for appointments. 

For anyone who does not understand humidity I will describe the scene for you. Not a single article of our clothing was dry, and when we put on our helmets, sweat squeegeed out of the head bands and dripped down onto our ties... yeah it was 大変. We were exhausted when we finally returned to Nago, and we had accomplished nothing that we went to do. 

I think I learned a little of patience from that. I learned that I need to be a little more quiet, and a little more patient, and a little more diligent. I learned that I should go and do the things I am asked to do with no complaints at all. I learned that even when we are doing something difficult, even when they do not turn out the way you want them to, there is still beauty along the way. I am so grateful for a Father who created such a beautiful world for us to live in. I am so grateful to be serving here. I love this work.

Neoguri Typhoon

Dear Parents of Fukuoka Mission Missionaries,

As you may know, Japan was recently hit by a typhoon of considerable size called Neoguri. When it initially hit Okinawa, it was classified as a Super Typhoon. But as it moved north towards Kyushu and mainland Japan, it dispersed and was reclassified as a tropical storm. We are very blessed to report that none of our missionaries were injured. The missionaries were all directed to stay indoors and were given additional instructions. Thank you for your concern and for your prayers. 

Fukuoka Mission 

福岡宣教師のご両親へ

もうご存じだと思いますが、日本は最近大分大きなねおぐりという台風に打たされてしまいました。最初に沖縄に打った時には超大型台風という風に呼ばれたんですが、北の方に行く途中で熱帯暴風雨になりました。怪我した宣教師がいなかったことを嬉しく報告します。宣教師は全員外に出ないように言われて他の安全になるための指示も教えられました。心配や祈りにも感謝いたします。

福岡伝道部