Well I can't quite tell you how stressful things have been lately. We didn't see as much success this week as we did last week. Most of our new investigators were dropped. So at least we don't need to worry about them right now. There is enough to worry about. Another investigator who does nothing is just more stress.
We met K_____ s_____ last week twice. And it was really good both times. And she wrote on her planner to go to church enough times before her baptism and we set up more times to meet her. Its always a good feeling when we teach her. And I know she feels the spirit. We pointed that out to her and now she knows she feels the Spirit. But she canceled our Saturday appointment to go to the doctor. Which is kind of legit. But then we were going to meet her again today. Our appointment was to be in 6 minutes from now. But I called her and then she said she has someone coming over from the city and she won't be able to meet us. And she didn't come to church yesterday. She wouldn't even answer her phone on Saturday. So its just stressful. She isn't progressing. But she so needs this gospel. I don't know what to do. I can't force them to do something with this. So if they choose not to then they just won't go anywhere.
We also met with L_____ X_____ Y_____ this past week. With one of our Chinese members. And she helped address some of his concerns with getting baptized and going to China because she is going back to China too next month. That stinks for Saijo. In my time here I have seen our active members go from 9 to 4. And soon to 3. They keep moving. We need 20 to start a branch. Well anyways. I don't know entirely how well that went because they spoke in Chinese at that part. I have been studying a little Chinese lately so I can say a few things and I know some vocabulary. I think I know more Chinese now than Spanish. So I could only understand enough to keep track of where the conversation was. Nothing specific about it though. But L_____ X_____ Y_____ wants to come to the Hiroshima Carp game with us on Saturday so that will be fun. He seems to be doing good. He is really reading the Book of Mormon. But he is really seeming hesitant to really get going with trying out this church. So that is hard. I don't know how to help him progress. But we're trying.
Our last investigator who has done something in the past little while is named H_____. He is a pretty recent investigator. We haven't met him too much. Only twice so far. So we are still at the beginning. But he is cool. He is 23. And he is reading the Book of Mormon pretty good. Last time when we were planning what to teach him we really felt like we should teach him the Atonement. And we prepared personal experiences and stuff and just had a good plan. And then we met him. And I wanted to get right to the lesson because it would take a while but Elder Dolbin wanted to ask him about his reading and if he had questions. He is very smart so I thought he would have questions. And I thought that would take too much time so I was hesitant to ask because I felt this was really important to teach to him. But we asked. And he read a couple of scriptures in the Book of Mormon that he had a question about and it was perfectly answered by what we had planned to teach. It was really cool. Right now we are really just trying to help him get his own testimony. I really hope it works. Or he won't stay an investigator for a very long time.
I had the opportunity to interview on of the zone leaders investigators for baptism this week. My second interview as district leader. It was interesting. Both interviews have been in English for me. This investigator is from China and her English is very good. And as I interviewed her I just felt that she was so wonderful and that she was really ready to receive baptism. But something came up in the interview where I wasn't able to pass her. We needed the permission of President Gustafson. Which made me sad because I really felt good about her. But then President called me and talked to me about it and passed her. So she got baptized yesterday. And it was so cool. And she shared her testimony at the baptismal service and it was just so good. It was a nice experience to see her get baptized.
Well. Life is hard. Dendo is hard. I feel like I'm just doing the same things over and over trying to get people to do something when they don't really feel the motivation to do it themselves. But we are working hard. We have faith. And we are going to find, teach, and baptize someone in the months of June and July. This is very likely my last transfer here. So I want to go out with a bang. And this has been my favorite zone. Hiroshima is a wonderful place. I have really grown to love it here. And I have now been here longer than I have been anywhere else on my mission. And I have done more to see the history and culture of this place than I have in previous areas. Like going to a baseball game on Saturday! So I feel like this place is where my mission has been. I don't ever want to forget it. I love this place.
Have a good day everyone. I love you all.
Love Josh
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