Elder Watkins Japan Nagoya Mission: Those Medellin' Kids!

Pic Tallent took at Hillswalk

Dear people,

How are you all? This week we worked hard and it seemed on some days like we couldn't do anything (it snowed on us for a whole day, etc), but it was good because we were doing the Lord's work. And wouldn't you know it, we did see miracles; one investigator prayed for the first time with us and looked in the Book of Mormon for answers to his problems and another investigator came to sacrament meeting. We my not always know what we're doing, but something is happening from it!

Me covered with snow

Saturday we had our last Kids Eikaiwa for a while. Reason being that Inagi Shimai who is the mastermind of it all has a new job that will take away from her being able to work on it with us. And it is a bit strange for just 4 dudes to teach these kids and their moms. So we had a big kids English party! We sang just about every children's song and nursery rhyme known to man, played games, and ate some goodies that Inagi Kyoudai brought back from America. It was fun, but sad that we won't see them for a while. Those kids are so cute! Working with them has taught me a bit about kids and being a parent/teacher someday. We invited them all to continue learning English from the missionaries personally whenever they'd like. The parents are all so nice.

I was touched when the older kids walked up to us and said, "Thank you!" to us. It was pretty neat to see that these kids really like us even though we switch every six weeks.

Snow on our bikes

We also got to watch a broadcast devotional from Tokyo where Elder Nelson of the 12 spoke. He talked about 15 gospel topics you can explain simply to your friends. He invited all the missionaries to stand including the ones far away. There were only 4 of us and 12 other members in the church in Nonami, but we stood anyway haha. Then Elder Nelson talked about missionaries for a minute saying that we "desire to help others have better lives" and that we are fulfilling a prophesy to gather Israel. It was pretty cool hearing it put that way. We don't always think of it like that, but it reminds me of why I'm really here.

Me being cool

I forget sometimes why I came here in the first place. But I remember when I see my pictures and letters and remember the missionaries and the Conway ward. And the scripture that says "If ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work" (D&C 4:3).

Well y'all this week we will get training on using iPads for dendo! We are looking forward to seeing this hastening of the work. Speaking of, you can now see a news story of elder Ballard's visit to Japan on https://www.lds.org/church/news/ so check it out if you have a slack moment.

Love you all and wish you all a good week! Please write me sometime too, I'd love to hear from more of you!

All dat love,
Watdawg Choro