日本の冒険！Week 11: Powerful Humility! 力強い謙遜！

Hey people. Ok. This is a private message to my loving family. Hello. Ok. It is over.

woah. You guys all there still? It seems like I haven`t E-mailed in ages. Right now I am in Kyoto, Emailing right next to my companion and 森村兄弟。(brother Morimura) yeah. So maybe I should back up and tell everything from the beginning.

Monday: 金閣寺。 awesome. Pics to come. Like seriously awesome. Just look at the pics.

Lets see. Hard to remember everything. Um. Oh yeah! Companion exchanges. Tuesday through Wednesday. All 4 of our district went to Fushimi, me and Hale 長老 went by Bike! (ouch. hurt the next couple days. haha. Heavy backpacks and long distance.) It was an awesome exchange. Learned a ton about the guidance of the Spirit. Although we didn`t set up any appointments or anything, I definately felt the spirit guiding us where to go. Exchanges are usually good spiritual boosts. ^^ We also all went to a members home to eat a FEAST. 6 course meal. Basically I almost died. But it was sooo good. yeah. Then we all gave a spiritual message and biked quickly to their apartment through crazy streets. (Big city over there) Anyway, that was pretty much awesome. Headed back the next day.

Friday district meeting in Fushimi. Then we helped them out with lessons because they had overscheduled. So that was cool.

Saturday We went to an English Speaking contest with a member and a referral. It was pretty cool. Some of the English was really good. Some of it was really not. haha. The member we went with had good English. We taught the referral some basic gospel truths and we are planning to meet with him again soon.

Anyway, Yesterday we went to church, and there was a Taiphoon! We had 2 investigators at Sacrament, but then church ended right after the first block, so everyone could get home while it was safe. We were practically forced into a car and left stranded without our bikes at the apartment. Everyone told us NOT to go outside. so. We called a ton of former investigators and such. Later when the storm calmed down a bit we walked to the church and got our bikes. haha. :P The storm was crazy though. In the morning, we looked outside and just saw this HUGE cloud moving VERY fast straight towards us. umm...... its going to rain today, huh? haha.

Today, we are going somewhere with 森村兄弟！ He wanted to take us somewhere cool! so It should be a cool day! haha. We have good relationships with our investigators. So since it is P-Day, he wanted to go with us to see something cool. We haven`t decided completely yet. We told him we have to E-Mail first, and he said well lets go together to the one in Kyoto! You have to write your families, and I have to read Manga! haha! ^^ So excited for where ever we go today. ^^ He is super cool and funny.

Me with a gold Palace. Happy.

Well, Out of time. Love you all!
オーライリ長老

Yeah, I took all these pictures! like awesome stuff everywhere! WOAH!

Yes. I took this. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!
This place is SOOO Awesome.
Looks exactly like one of my desktop backgrounds.

My face covering the awesomeness.

If a fish swims up the little waterfall thing, it is said to become a dragon.
 Near the gold Palace.

Lots of cool stuff around.

Kyoto train station.

The Sunday Storm!

日本の冒険！Week 10: Shining Hope! 輝きの希望

Things are starting to get crazy over here - 9 investigators in the teaching pool, with the 3 same progressing investigators. (二口、森村、遥（Futakuchi, Morimura, Haruka）)

So, contrary to what I just said, it was a pretty slow week. Our PIs weren`t able to meet with us because they were all crazy busy. (tests, work in 北海道, and something else) but we were still able to do some awesome stuff, and plan an awesome week for the coming week!

We taught a new investigator! 一瀬姉妹(Sister Ichise) 金人！Golden! So she came to the church 2 years ago, and we somehow just now got her number. Somehow, she got a triple scripture set. We asked her if she had read any of the Book. She said  "Well, I read up to this Moroni chapter 10, but nothing after that... haven`t read this D&C stuff at all."

"What?? you haven`t read D&C yet?!" haha.  It was actually closer to something like "WOAH that is awesome!" haha. ^^

"Can you share some of your favorite scriptures with me?"

"Um.... yes. Yes we can do that."

So that lesson went awesome. We are teaching her again in a week from Wednesday. After we taught her this week, we taught 英会話, which is always a blast. I suggested we play "Do you love your Neighbor?" which turned out really fun.

Sunday was awesome! 二口兄弟 came to sacrament, we sang a musical number (me, Hale 長老、 the 伝道主任 and his wife, with 可奈子姉妹　at the piano). After Sacrament, 二口兄弟 had to go take care of some work stuff, but came back in time for the YSA FHE, which was way fun. Had a lesson, prayer, snacks and such. It was good for 二口兄弟 to get to know everyone since his baptism is coming up soon! (Pray for him! (Futakuchi))


Just something from my studies this week. ^^  Shining hope:

It is not enough for our hope to dimly light our own path to eternity, we must let our hope shine, guiding others to that same happiness. As others find their way from our light (hope), Their own hope (light) increases, and combines with our own light. Thus both hopes build up from each other. Soon the entire path is illuminated by our light along side those we have lifted up. Then will we more fully realize the greatness of the path, and our desire to show others the way increases. When we arrive at our destination, our Joy will be full because of all the people we have brought through this amazing truth, through our Shining Hope.


Well, that was basically the highlights of the week. Met some other people, who might start to show more interest in the next few weeks. We had lots of time to find people, haha. ^^

皆さん、愛しているよ！

じゃあ、またねぇ！

オーライリ長老

Next week on adventures in Japan:

Elder O`Reilly goes to 金閣寺, meets with all 3 progressing investigators at least once, 3 less actives, 2 member appointments (meals! ^^) a speech contest in 京都 with a new investigator, a day long exchange in 伏見, and....... assuming he can find enough time to meet with us a couple times, a Baptism! (二口兄弟) We might have to postpone it if his work is too busy.... but if all goes well he is ready! ^^

Yeah, be crazy excited for the report next week. It should be crazy.




So boring pics this week. Didn`t really take the camera anywhere cool. haha. In fact, all the pics below are from inside my apartment, out the window.

Yep, just a cool view out the apartment window sunday morning. 

Another view from the window, the same morning.

Um.... another view. The same morning.
Ok, fine! I`ll get more of a variety this week! gosh! 

Week 9: Living Faith 生きる信仰

日本の冒険！Week 9: Living Faith 生きる信仰

So it was a crazy long week. I always talk about the train being magic. It makes the days short and the weeks long. Rode the train a lot this week. I love the train! ^^ Get to see a lot of Japan, and if no one wants to talk, I get to study up some Japanese. You know that`s right. ^^

Ok, so week highlights:  Taught 森村兄弟 thrice, Monday Tuesday and Sunday, Taught 二口兄弟 once, taught 遥 Once, and taught the 吉田 family once. Went to a training all day Thursday, ending the day with giving my second Japanese Priesthood Blessing, and went to a district meeting on Friday. Yeah, that`s right, I probably had a more awesome week than you did. Sorry. haha ^^

OK. So 森村 is doing well, we just taught the word of Wisdom yesterday. Its going to take a few weeks to work through that one. he was all like `What?! Why do I have to give up tea and coffee?` He is a funny guy ^^. He drinks tea 5 times a day, smokes, drinks coffee, and drinks Sake. But, he is giving up sake and Cigarettes for 2 weeks to see if it is what God wants. So progress! ^^

二口 is doing awesome! He was sick for 2 weeks before, so we had to review some stuff and back track a little, but he is way excited for baptism! we set a new date for the 30th. Get ready for some baptism pictures! ^^ He is completely following the word of Wisdom, coming to church each week, is already into the book of Alma, prays everyday, its all looking really good. This is the guy I found my first day in the mission. Cool stuff! ^^

遥。 that probably doesn`t look too familiar.  She is our new progressing investigator! Met with her again this week, (she is the member referral) and we taught the message of the restoration. Highlight of the lesson was when we told her God knows her name. She said すごすぎる！(That is too awesome!)  At the end of the lesson, she offered a closing prayer. It was an incredible experience! She said she felt something, during and after the prayer. Something strong. pssssstttt..... HOLY GHOST!!!  ITS THE HOLY GHOST!! haha. Good times. Afterwords, she came to 英会話 which was fun. then before she went home, she basically pleaded to be allowed to come to church...... ummm..... yes. yes you may come to church. haha ^^ Unfortunately her mom made her stay home and study, but she will probably come in the future.

Last monday, we went to 清水寺。 HOLY AWESOMENESS. GO LOOK IT UP RIGHT NOW. OR LOOK AT MY PICTURES. OR BOTH. Incredible place. awesome temples, some water of eternal wisdom fountain thing, incredible views, sweet pagodas. I hope I can go during Sakura season!! I`m sure its basically something worth dieing for. Anyway, just look at my pictures. yeah. haha.

My personal study has changed since the training in Kobe. So at Kobe, I got together with all the people I was with for 2 weeks at the MTC, which was way fun. Unfortunately, one of the sisters and one of my MTC companions had left already, for very different reasons, but it was still way cool. Got to hear about everyone else`s areas and such (they are all in the middle of no-where, lol) But anyway, President basically told us, you shouldn`t just read the BoM straight from front to back while studying on your mission. I was like, oops. ok. got to change that. So I`ve been changing my studies and learning a ton more. For example, Friday I studied what I call `Living Faith`. I read from the JST of James chapter 2, the part that says faith without works is dead. I figure if faith can die, then it should be alive! So thus the theme for this coming week is Living Faith. I will be focusing on works that show God my faith, so he can have faith in me.

Have a great week!
じゃあ、またねぇ！
オーライリ長老

Next week on Adventures in Japan: Awesome stuff. Get crazy excited. We will get 二口兄弟 all set up for his baptismal interview!

I`ve gotten a hair cut since this picture, ok? don`t judge. haha.

Desktop backround #23423

These things fill my soul with happiness for no real reason.

some building. It is probably awesome.

LION STATUE

Explanation nessisary? I think not. Do I wish I could spell nessisary? yes.

awesome view.

some random Guy.
Some high shool girls I overheard called him Ron from Harry Potter, which I found funny.

JAPAN IS SO GREEN!!!!!!

I could spend days just at this one place.

OK. Proud of myself for this one.

These kids were fun. They liked talking to us because we are weird probably.

ETERNAL WISDOM

You know how missionaries take weird pics and think they are cool?
 yeah. I don`t do that.

日本の冒険！Week 8: Faith Overwhelming! 信仰は力強い！

Alright, who was it? Someone over there has a ton of faith. Thanks for sharing! haha. Last week I asked you all to pray for us to find people. Well we did! And here`s how it all went down, in this weeks episode of

日本の冒険！Week 8: Faith Overwhelming! 信仰は力強い！

So. We found people this week. Tuesday, 2 days after I e-mailed, we set up an appointment with a new investigator ( a married couple, actually). That hasn`t happened in a little while, so that was good. ^^ The same day we found another Family with interest. No appointment yet, but I smell one not too far off! haha. ^^ The next day, we met with a new investigator, a referral from a member! the lesson went very well, and we are going to meet her again this wednesday! So good stuff! The Next day, We met with the family who we found last week. The wife and kids were asleep when we got there, so the husband came outside and we taught him for a good amount of time. Don`t know exactly his story yet, but it is interesting. For example, during the lesson, we asked how he felt when he first saw his child. He told us he was blind when she was born. Oh. um. are you blind now? No, I got over it. Oh. Didn`t know you could do that. Anyways, sounds like he has a very interesting story. He was very interested in our message and was happy to recieve a BoM. We`ll see him again, hopefully with his family, later this week.

So thanks for all your prayers! By all means, please continue to pray for that! ^^ I really felt the faith this week! In fact...... if you don`t mind, you could also pray for me to understand Japanese! ^^ Speaking isn`t really too much of a problem anymore, but understanding is tough sometimes. Praying for me is the best way you can support me! ^^ thanks everyone!

So our progressing investigators. 二口兄弟 isn`t super sick anymore! ^^ He came to church. We taught him a lesson. He had forgotten almost everything. -.-   haha. It`s been 2 weeks since we taught him. His faith is strong, but he didn`t remember why Jesus Christ was important, so we will definately talk about that with him this week. ^^ Unfortunately, he is getting transferred to 北海道 in October, and won`t return until Christmas. So we aren`t sure what to do there, but we`ll figure it out.

森村兄弟。 Doing really well. Wasn`t able to make it to church, but we taught him on Thursday, and we are teaching him today at 6. Actually, the lesson on Thursday was awesome! haha. He is a super funny guy sometimes. For example, at the end of the lesson my comp. apoligized for talking so much and not letting me talk, and next time he was going to let me talk pretty much the whole time. ( he does talk a lot, haha) 森村兄弟`s response was priceless though. haha. `Really?! That`s Wonderful!! I think I`m going to Cry now!` HAHAHA. Yeah, he is a super funny guy. Also very hard working. We asked him to read a passage twice and take some notes on it. When he returned for the next teaching appointment, he told us it took him 5 read throughs to understand it, but he did now. Then he gave us a one page report on why baptism was important. Way cool guy! Might not be baptised super fast though. He wants to read the whole BoM before baptism. We`ll be working with him, but hopefully he reads fast! ^^

Anyway, short on time.

Osaka stake 40th anniversary party was way cool! about 300 - 500 members from all around the area came, and it was a super neat experience! lots of talks (that I didn`t really understand, haha) and tons of people to meet. Apparently I shook hands with 2-3  people from the Seventies. Not sure which ones those were though, haha. :P The stake center was way cool (pics in a sec) and it was a really cool experience overall. Tons of missionaries there.

Ok, other cool thing of the week. So our mission is starting something that is supposed to change missions around the world. So usually, the mission pres. gives training to zone leaders, zone leaders give to district leaders, and district leaders give to everyone else. Our mission just started this month to skip the district leaders and have zone meetings once a month, where everyone learns from the zone leaders! so that is supposed to take effect other places soon as well. Our mission president had the Idea. So we went to 京都 for a zone meeting that was 3 hours long. Pretty cool stuff. ^^

Anyway, hope you are all doing great, I know I am ^^ Have a wonderful week all!

じゃあ、またねぇ！
オーライリ長老

Next week, on adventures in Japan: Elder O`Reilly meets with 3 of his new / newer investigators, both of his progressing investigators, and goes to Kobe for a trainee training at the mission home! also, Elder O`Reilly goes (today) to 清水寺！

Trevor got his camera back!

Dinner one night.

Random shot out of the train. Lots of train rides. pretty fun! ^^

`Nother random shot. Japan is so awesome........

Little Imp things! all over the city that the stake building
 of Osaka was in. Cool looking things.....

Random building in the middle of the city ( Osaka )

It was a pretty big city. ( Osaka )

Stake center! ( the parking was insane! never seen cars so tightly parked! It was like that one traffic board game thing! only one car can move in the huge block of parking space! ( didn`t take a pic of the insane packed cars, sorry!))  !!!!!!

The members loved us a ton this week. haha!! ^^

Well hello thousands of adoring fans, and welcome to 日本の冒険！Week 7.

So it was an interesting week. The members loved us a ton this week. haha!! ^^ by that I mean we received many blessings in eat-able form this week. \(^o^)/ for example, our ward mission leader took us to dinner twice this week! haha.

Once was to the sushi place I went to before. It was really quite a funny experience. He was pretty excited that I liked sushi. haha. He was like, ooohh, try this! and his wife would be like, Let him choose! haha. I only chose 5 plates of the 21 plates and 2 dishes that I consumed that evening. haha. Almost exploded, but it was awesome. He would do things like, oh, grab that one. `is it for you?` yeah, yeah, grab it! haha. Then he would eat one of the sushi from the plate and pass it to me. you have to try this it is so good! haha!  I was pressured into taking some plates..... haha. Oh take that one! it is ABSOLUTELY delicious. This one? YES. TAKE IT.

The other place they took us was a restaurant type place. I ordered one thing, and apparently they ordered 2 other things for me. LOL. So I basically had 3 meals. Wayyyy good food though. A 寿司 sampler tray thing, plate of 天ぷら, a plate of うどん and a bunch of other stuff. Way stuffed after that too, haha. Then they drove us to some other place for dessert. haha.

So those were on Tuesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, at 英会話 class, (I told you we taught English every week, right? its really fun!) a member brought us a whole chicken, 2 ice creams, and about 30 rolls. So that was delicious. ^^

On Sunday, we usually get a couple things from the members. This week we received so much we couldn`t fit it in our back-packs, and a member had to drive it to our apartment! haha. So we`re feeling the love. Having 2 progressing investigators come to church regularly seems to have sparked something. ^^

At church yesterday I asked members some Language questions I had. I was pretty happy that they asked me how long I studied Japanese in the US, not if I had studied it. ^^ They thought that someone native in Japanese wrote down the questions, because of the Kanji. So that made me pretty happy. ^^

So.... about the 2 progressing investigators. well they didn`t come to church this week.... :(  森村兄弟 had work, and 二口兄弟 was wayyy sick. 101.3 fever. So we`re praying for them both! ^^ We taught 森村兄弟 twice this week, and he is really progressing. We had him write us a report on Baptism, something that was highly encouraged at the zone meeting we had. It went really well. He understands everything he needs to do to feel the spirit and be baptized, and he`s doing it! we asked him to read Mosiah 18 twice to learn about baptism, but he ended up reading it 5 times! (O.O) so that was exciting. 二口兄弟 we didn`t teach this week. He was sick all week. We gave him some scriptures to read by E-mail, (Cell phones in Japan don`t text (well they can, but they usually don`t) they E-mail) and he read those. We might visit him at his house this week if he is not better (we usually meet at the church), we just recently acquired his address.

We also helped some members in the ward recently translate Japanese into English for a speech contest, which is really fun and really helpful for learning Japanese and getting contacts from members, as well as making new friends, so its really good for missionary work. One of the sisters we helped made scripture book covers for us, which are way awesome! I`ll send a pic once I get my camera, haha.

Well, other than all that.... we just talked to a ton of people. Sometimes everyone we talk to is from far away! like we taught a lesson to someone on the street one day, but we have to refer him because he lives too far away! that will be the second super good referral we have given.

Good news! last night while knocking doors, we found a family to teach! so that will be way cool! apparently finding a whole family to teach is rare, don`t really know why. My companion says he hasn`t taught a whole family for over 5 months! We are teaching them on Friday at their home, which is conveniently about 4 minutes from the church by bike. Honestly I was almost shocked when she said, yes, you can come back. Anytime is good. We`ve knocked a lot of doors, but it has never resulted in an appointment before! haha. Well, it did once, but that appointment fell through. Anyways.......

Well, That about wraps it up for this week. Do something crazy this week! and then tell me about it! haha ^O^

じゃあ、またねぇ！
来週の冒険はすごそうだ！
オーライリ長老

Next week, on Adventures in Japan:

Elder O`Reilly meets his new district leader, teaches a family, a few progressing investigators, and (pray for this one.... haha) some new investigators! Also, Elder O`Reilly goes to Osaka for some 40th year anniversary of Osaka Stake thing! (wait, what was that last one??) ( I don`t know what it is or why we`re asked to go, haha.... but we are going on Saturday ^^ )

(No pictures this week... he had to send his camera home for repairs... hopefully he gets it back this week!)