It has been a crazy, exciting week here in Sapporo! Every day we meet so many people and experience so many things. I think I have contacted a foreigner at least once every day since I got here. We see so many white people! In fact, we picked up a new investigator this week named Allen, who is from Pasadena, CA. It is really weird to talk about the gospel in English, but it is a lot easier to relate the gospel to him.
We actually weren't the ones to find him. The sister missionaries found him, and then did the next lesson together with us and passed Allen off to us to become our investigator. He came to a singles FHE at the Daniels' house last night and loved it. He can actually speak Japanese really well (better than any missionary, for sure), plus he can speak German and Chinese. He loves talking about religion, and he actually majored in Theology when he went to college. But, it will be hard to get him to church because he already goes every week to his own church. But hopefully through activities we can help him build relationships with members, and eventually have that build up to him coming to church. It is an interesting situation that I have never had to deal with before. I would guess that missionaries in America and Europe have to deal with this all the time, but it is completely new to me.
We had a great lesson with Yoshi san this past week. He came to the fireside at the mission home this past Sunday, we had a lesson with him on Wednesday, and we were able to set a baptismal date for September 12th! He seems really solid and wants to come to church. Unfortunately he couldn't make it yesterday, but he has already committed to coming next week.
Another great thing about FHE was that I got to see a couple members from my past areas. There was one brother from the Higashi ward that I hadn't seen for nearly a year. The other brother was from Iwamizawa, but he recently moved into Sapporo! It was way fun to get to talk with them.
This past week we have gotten to go finding with a couple different members. One just got baptized 2 months ago, and the other one got baptized about a year ago. They both love sharing the gospel, and rather than us asking them to help us out, they come up to me and say, "When can I go out to work with you?" I love it! We already have three days this week lined up where we will go finding with those members. It will be another great week.
This past Friday we had a Zone Training Meeting and it went really well. I was really pleased with how the Zone Leader workshop ended up, and I enjoyed working with Elder Fetters, the other zone leader in this zone. We all learned a lot, especially about how to start teaching and inviting to baptism from the first lesson.
I love missionary work. I couldn't be happier. I was so scared when I got the call to go whitewash trainer in Odori, but I am loving every minute of it. I have never worked harder, but I have never felt better. I have to wake up every morning at 5:30 now just so that I can get my journal written in and complete other things every day. I am always dead by the time that 10:30 rolls around, but that is the way it should be.
I love you all. Thank you so much for all of your love and letters and prayers.
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