27 March 2011 Uwajima Japan

Week 39
Mission Log
 
Everything is going very well out on the island.  We`re working hard.
Yes, I do know Elder Andrew Berhold quite well. 

This week was pretty interesting.  I found out that we`re actually
over two branches.  The one that I went to last week that had 17
members and another one that`s really far away.  We went there this
week.  We had to sit on the train for an hour to get there.  It cost
us like forty dollars to go there and back.  It`s really far.  There
were six adults there and three children.  They said they were
surprised at how many people came this week.  They were expecting it
to be four people, (including the missionaries).  I had to bless the
sacrament.  My companion and I both had to speak in sacrament meeting.
 It was weird, because when I looked out at the congregation, there
was only my companion, two sisters, and two children.  And, none of
them sat together, not even the children.  It was a very interesting
Sunday.
 
We essentially only have one strong investigator right now, but she`s
doing really well, and we`re working really hard to find more people
to teach.  Everyone in the branch here plays ping pong and eats snacks
together every Friday night.  It was really fun.  There is a high
school girl who is like national champion or something.  So she can
just destroy anyone.  At ping pong this week, Brother Mori (a mentally
handicapped member here)  decided that he wanted to perform a baptism.
 He started asking everyone there if they`ve already been baptized.
Three people were there that weren`t members of the church and
therefore haven`t been baptized.  He then started trying to get them
to get baptized so that he could perform a baptism.  It was kind of
awkward, but also pretty funny.  Everything worked out alright.
 
We basically can`t do any work on Wednesdays anymore, because it takes
up our whole day to go to our district meeting and come back.  They
used to just have district meetings over the phone here because it was
so far from all other areas, but the missionaries started to get
depressed being cut off from everyone else.  Now we ride the bus for a
couple of hours each week to get to district meeting.
 
It is very pretty here.  There are mountains everywhere.  There are
big palm trees all over the city.  We`re along the ocean.  It`s
usually sunny.  It`s a tropical paradise.  I really do like this
place.
 
I have to get going now.  Keep up all your good work at home.  I love
you all.  Bye.
 
-Elder Isaac Swift