日本の冒険！Week 44: Happiness 幸福

Its been a great week! I busted the bike I`ve been riding. (the bike policy changed. We don`t move with our bikes anymore, they just stay in the area. So the bike I was riding was really old, because the last missionary in the area just finished his mission) The bike just stopped working while I was riding it. So I had to walk it to a bike shop, and somehow on the way the back tire exploded. yeah, don`t ask I don`t know. haha. so then I carried the bike to the close bike shop. Which isn`t close, the only thing that`s close is rice fields. haha. ^^

But I decided this week that I need to become more happy. So I did. haha. Funny thing is it actually is that simple. Happiness is a choice that can be made. And it's a pretty good choice to make. haha. So that`s why I had a great week. When you`re happy, everything just goes better.

So while my bike's getting fixed ( its going to be way expensive! but the mission reimburses it because its not my bike...... I think. The whole bike policy is still way new) I`m riding what normal Japanese people ride..... a comfy single gear bike. haha. Its way comfy, but not good for hills at all or speed. So I have to work pretty hard to keep up with my companion.

The conference in Osaka was way cool! It was Elder 青柳 (Aoyagi), so it was in Japanese. They gave us Lunch (curry) at half time, and Sister Zinke, the mission president`s wife, reminded everyone that it was my birthday. So I suffered the birthday song in the middle of like 40 people. haha.

After the conference, we went to sushi for dinner. yeah. Still my favorite food ever. I decided that I`m only turning 20 once, so I better eat 20 plates of sushi. It was tough. haha. Probably going to a sushi place on my 30th birthday is a bad idea. haha. I`ll probably do it anyway :P

Well, we got another new investigator this week, and we have at least one more planned this week! so should be good!

Hey remember to be happy! That`s why we`re here! ^^

Love you all!

Me

The meeting right after lunch. Sorry, really random picture but its all I got. haha.

Oh..... sushi. <3

I had birthday cake at the sushi place! ^^

In honor of the twentieth commemoration of my own birth, I conquered 20 plates of happiness. Sushi.

日本の冒険！Week 43: Stake Conference: Kyoto 京都ステーク大会

So yesterday was Stake Conference in Kyoto! It was way cool to be back. I went to stake conference in Kyoto 6 months ago! I met up with the whole Joyo ward again, and they`re all doing great! I sat by Futakuchi 兄弟, the Brother I baptized on my last day in Joyo. He`s doing good! And he was glad to see me.

We have a few lessons with Japanese people set up, but most of them fell through. We did have one new Japanese investigator this week though! ...... He was a previous investigator, met with the missionaries dozens of times, and won`t accept any commitments. not even small ones. He`s an interesting guy, but we`ll be working with him.

Well, its good to know that my efforts in Joyo were good. It was evidence to me that God can work through me, because I know I don`t have the ability or power of conversion. That power rests with God.

Well, Lots of hard work ahead! On my birthday, I`ll be going to Osaka for a meeting! A general authority with be there. Should be way awesome.

Love you all!
Me

Funny thing is these pictures came from before the pictures I sent last week! I didn`t take any this week.

Pretty cool, right? the water goes perfectly still at night sometimes.

This is called melon bread. Just another delicious bread from Japan. Look, it even says delicious bread.

She drew a lovely picture of me on the board. That's me on the right. haha

So get this...... this is the bishop`s son, came for one week to visit. He was my Japanese TA at BYU! Sat next to me during sacrament meeting. Funny thing to meet him here!

Mother's Day Call :-)

We were able to call Trevor and talk to him on the phone yesterday! It was so great to hear his voice and know that he is doing well. As he shared his testimony with us, we could feel the strong conviction that he has of our Savior and of the Plan of Salvation. We are so glad families can be together forever! We are so thankful for his service and for the great example he is to our family. We are willing to share him a little longer with the people of Japan so that he can share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with other families!

We love you, Trevor!

日本の冒険！Week 42: I HAVE NO TIME TO WRITE THIS 時間がない

Hey, soooorrryyy but I have like no time. We went to kiyomizudera as a district, got back a little late, and we have a lesson a little bit before preparation day actually ends.

Here`s what I mailed to President though:

Hey President!

So.... it was an Ok week. We worked hard, and didn`t find a lot of people. But, we did get some lessons set up next week, but not from the housing we were doing most of the time. Always seems to work like that for some reason. One of the new lessons was an investigator from 2 years ago, found in the area book by me. The other was a referral from the abeno elders, that was super easy to set up an appointment with at the church. I`m excited to finally have a lesson in Japanese here! haha. There`s been a lot of Portuguese going on, and I`m excited to have a more active part in the lessons this week.

Getting a call from my family is always a blessing. It gave me a chance to remember why I`m here and what the gospel can do for a family. My family has it pretty good. (^-^)

Looking forward to an exciting week!

Elder O`Reilly



Really sorry I didn`t read and respond to all your E-mails today! I`ll send some pics and then go teach the gospel!! I mean sit there while its taught in Portuguese... haha.

2 lessons in Japanese this week planned! Yipee!

Love you all

me

Me and comp! (Elder Tores)

So funny thing.... we were waiting in line for eternity water and she was asking her friend how to ask where someone is from. I over-heard and just told her America. She was surprised.... haha!

Eternity water again!! This time I drank from all 3.  My hair looks way red in this picture! I`ve been using black shampoo to make the red darker. Is it working? haha :P

日本の冒険！Week 42: Sickness...... and faith. 病と信仰

Yeah, I was sick this week. :P nothing too bad, we still went out everyday, but it was pretty annoying.

But we did exercise some pretty awesome faith, before any of the headaches started, haha.

So we decided to exercise faith in a very specific way, following the example of the brother of Jared. I offered a prayer, and in the prayer I asked that the elect would be guided and come up and talk to us. (yeah, that sounds pretty nice, right?)  and then we went out and walked around for about 30 seconds. Then we stopped for a moment and instantly a girl walks right up and starts talking to me........ in Portuguese.  haha. My companion explained that I don`t speak Portuguese, and then had a conversation with her, and her 3 friends. While I stood there looking good, saying nothing. haha.  Well, turns out it was a good contact and we`ll meet with her soon!

Most people might say that asking for someone to just come up and talk to you is too easy, that it would never happen. It was just a reminder to us that we need to remove the horizons and limitations we put on God`s power and rely fully on it! Not that we are going to just walk around and wait for people to talk to us... but a reminder that God can work in more than one way.

God knows each of his children and loves them all!

(that means you too :D)

Other than that I was sick a lot, just wandering around in a haze getting told to go away. haha. but we also went to 2 ward activities with non-members in attendance!  so that was cool. Also a member took us out to dinner on Saturday. The ward here is great!

(just so you all know I`m doing much better! It was just a really bad head cold)

Love you all!
Elder O`Reilly

THE COUNTRY-SIDE!......... STILL THE COUNTRY SIDE......... still the country side.......
haha. Good thing bike rides are fun.

Sorry, I`ll try to get a better pic of this sometime, but all the rice fields
 are flooded with about 2 inches of water! It looks way cool.

One of the activities we did was at the bishop`s house. His house he designed himself, and it`s like all wood! Way cool. The ladder goes up to a loft. (sorry, kind of a random picture, but its a cool house. Has a rope to swing on in the main room that hangs from the ceiling up 2 floors, and monkey bars right outside the kitchen. haha!)

I think my favorite desk so far.

Ward activity! Japanese parties are always packed! haha. The sister cutting had a birthday. ^^ ( the girl in the black and white checkered clothes kept stealing my keys and hiding them at church!  haha. Pretty funny little girl.) There were all kinds of languages going on at this party. Luckily a lot was Japanese. ^^

日本の冒険！Week 41: The Country side 田舎

(For some reason this email was caught in my Spam folder and I didn't know we had it, but here it is... :-))


So it was a crazy week. Duke 長老 left on Monday, and transfers weren`t until Friday, so I stayed in Sennan for 3 1/2 days. It was pretty weird.  I didn`t really have a district leader or zone Leader or really an area at all! haha. just floating. But Sennan was a really cool place. Its definitely country side though. The apartment is on the 10th floor, and the view was great! They have cool investigators as well, so we got some good lessons in. I was with Elder Jackson, whose companion also left already, and he`s pretty cool.

So because I was in Sennan between my areas, I had to pack and ship all my stuff in one day. And when I called to ship off my stuff, they said the latest they could come was in 3 hours. haha. So..... I shoved everything in my suitcases and shipped it off. Then took everything out of the fridge and brought it to Sennan. (haha) and stayed there for 3 days, following which I went straight to Omihachiman.

Omihachiman is even more out in the country. haha. Fields of rice and such everywhere. Also, there are a ton of Brazilians and my companion is Brazilian.  So....... I don`t understand what everyone is saying sometimes. haha. In fact, on Saturday we went to a BBQ with Brazilians, Peruvians, Filipinos, etc. No one spoke Japanese or English really...... so a little confusing and a bit strange.

Anyway, the area`s great, and I`m getting a long with my companion fine. Not a lot of investigators yet though. We`ll have to work on that. ^^

Love you all!
Elder O`Reilly