yeah this week was pretty legit. after email last week, we headed over to Himeji for everyone in the district to hang out a bit before starting the week long companion exchange thing with Hale. Then that night, I got to hang out in Kakogawa with Escalante just like old times. haha yeah last transfer was fun. then the next day he and Kodama headed off to Okayama for their leadership training. So Hale and my adventure had begun. It didnt turn out to be a very exciting adventure but we had some good times. But yeah like i said last week, Hale and I came to Japan at the same time, so neither of our japanese is super good. but like i had anticipated, my japanese was better than his, though his is pretty good.
But yeah so tuesday, we headed out walking around the Eki (trainstation) at Kakogawa and talk to some people, and we talked to a guy about Eternal Families and he became a new investigator. After talking to him, I was pretty happy just due to the fact that we had just had a conversation with a guy in japanese. it was pretty legit. then throughout the day and into the exchange, we actually were able to have quite a few fun chats with various people. Then Tuesday night, we taught Kakogawa's eikaiwa (english class) and i was way excited to see all my old students again and actually had some really cool conversations about where everyone's favorite place in the world was. and those conversations were actually in English. Hale was teaching the kids class which i was jealous of at first, but in the end i was glad i taught the grown ups. Yeah it was a way fun Eikaiwa and afterwards, we asked Yumiko and Kaz (a couple of our eikaiwa students i had found like 4 weeks ago) if they wanted to talk more about our church and Yumiko really did, but Kaz basically told us no for her. So the Kakogawa elders will have to get that one figured out somehow.
Then Wednesday, we took the train back to Ako so we could teach Eikaiwa there. I was a little worried since nobody came last week, but a guy called us and asked us about it before it had started and said he'd come. So his name is Daiki and he and our other student, Kyougoku showed up a half hour late. but it was actually a pretty fun. Then we were supposed to have a lesson with the investigator we had found but he wasnt home. So we walked around the College until some old guy came and kicked us out. i tried to play the "I dont speak Japanese" card, but he didnt believe me. usually people dont believe me when i tell them i can speak japanese. but i guess thats just the life of a gaijin in japan. So then we headed back to Kakogawa for the night and found another investigator at the Eki.
Then Friday, We thought we'd go around and visit some people that hadnt been to church in 10 or 20 years and share a message or whatnot with them. none of them were home but i wrote notes(which took forever because kanji is hard) for all of them and left them in their mailboxes. Then there was one house marked on our map which hale decided we were going to visit. So the guy at this house comes to the door, and I think he's just a less active member, so im talking to him like that. I share our message and talk to him about prayer and whatnot as if he were a member. then Hale invites him to church and he said it sounded interesting so he'd go. i was a little confused by the end of the meeting, but Hale is all like "cool a new investigator!" and then it all made sense. haha but he was way cool, and from what i hear, he came to church yesterday and they taught him a lesson. so that was pretty cool.
Then Saturday, we headed back to Ako, planned, had our ping pong activitiy. and Sunday was also pretty normal. Except some guy is having me proof-read this book about samurai he tried to translate. and it was pretty as expected, the english is awful. So I dont know what ill tell him. i still dont even really know who the guy is though so idk..
But yeah this week was way fun, and it gave me a huge boost of confidence in terms of my Japanese speaking ability. because I was basically able to do everything we needed to that week without too much problem. I think having a Japanese companion has been helping me speak a lot.
Well thats about it. sorry this email is so long. next week will be short, im guessing. also a shout out to Alec!
love you everyone,
Elder Horton
ホートン長老
pictures:
1 some shrine thing we found in Ako
2 the super manly salt sculpture we watched them carve the last couple of weeks
3 i had to take a picture of that
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