Rollercoaster

Do you like rollercoasters?
If you do, I have both good and bad news for you.

THE GOOD NEWS: this week has kinda been like an amusement park with
different, crazy rides every day.

THE BAD NEWS: this isn't an actual amusement park. I'm so sorry.

Here are some of the rides I went in this week:

THE LUNAR ECLIPSE:
It was just a regular day, until the skies grew dark and the moon was
visible. At first, it seemed like there was just a huge cloud covering
part of the moon. But the dark spot on the moon became bigger and
bigger! The first lunar eclipse I had ever seen! Not only was it a
beautiful sight to behold; many people were out on the streets, just
gazing at the moon. Apparently, when a lunar eclipse occurs, people
become philosophical and ponder deeply about life. It's at that time
that finding becomes really effective. We have answers to the
questions of these people, and we're here to share them! We've found
some interested people, whom we will meet up with soon.

(I tried to take a picture of the moon in Bikanchiku, but ended up
making a picture of the beautiful environment there)

THE REVERSOR:
"Reverse finding" is rare. We were trying to find some potential
investigators on our bikes in Tamashima, when suddenly we get a call
from this old man who wants to meet
up with us... IMMEDIATELY. That isn't unsettling at all! So we did!
Turns out this げんき ol' man was eager to know more about our free
english conversation class. He invited us into
this nice little bar he owns and talked to us a bit to find out who we
are and what we do. He
offered us a free meal in return for free english! Would you say no to
that? I didn't! We got a return appointment for the coming week. Yosh!

THE MORNING STAR:
So on Saturday we had this big meeting at 12:00. Since we would be
taught a lot of stuff during that meeting, we decided to skip our
study-hours in the morning and just go straight to FINDING. And it was
GOOD. There actually were people roaming the streets for once, all
going to school and work. We stopped a lot of people and talked to
everyone we could. We found so many people who want to hear more about
Jesus Christ! It was insane! We decided we should do "morning でんどう"
more often.

These were some crazy rides indeed, but I think my favorite ride was
the GENERAL CONFERENCE COASTER:
The meeting I talked about in "THE MORNING STAR" was the General
Conference, where everyone in the world gathers in their meetinghouses
and watches a broadcast of our president of the church -- our prophet
Thomas S. Monson -- and other apostles and general authorities
speaking to us. These only happen twice a year. We watched all of the
sessions (both Saturday and Sunday). The talks and speeches really
lifted me up, addressed my fears and struggles and gave me a better
vision as a missionary. I feel all charged up and ready to go!!

(We also went to Papa Pedro's Pizza Parlor on preparation day to make
and eat some delicious home-made pizza. I would say that no sandals
were harmed in the making of the pizza, but I'd be a big stinkin' liar
if I did; we hid one of our companion's sandals in the microwave-oven
the day before. You can figure out the rest.)

It's been a very eventful week, and I'm glad I get to experience
weird, crazy new things every day; things that are funny, things that
are less funny and things that fortify me and make me stronger
everytime. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here in
the wacky lands of Japan.

Thank you so much for reading this!! I hope to see you all again next week!

Have a great one!

~サントス長老