Week 36: Planning and a heartbreak (Not a Dear John) - week 27th on the field

Howdy,

   It's your favorite missionary man with your weekly report.  As for this week, Elder Larsen and I have been planning activities for our ward.  To strengthen the members, we've decided to start a weekly Family Home Evening and a weekly ping pong night for the ward.  For Family Home Evening, our set-up will be just like how it is at home.  We start out with a couple games that we like and then we do a spiritual message, then to finish, we have dessert.  I've planned out the next 3 weeks for the spiritual message.  I have this vision of how this could go.  If the members are into it, we'll try to hand them the leadership role so that they can take over the activities.  So Family Home Evening is going to be every Monday and Ping pong night will be every Tuesday.  楽しみ! (Tanoshimi / It will be fun!)

   

   Today will go like this:

We'll have 45 minutes of games and an example game for our spiritual message. Elder Larsen and I will run a blindfolded obstacle course.  Each contestant will have a partner telling them directions on how to get through the course.  While that is going on, the rest of the people waiting will be yelling directions to mess the contestants up.  Our lesson then will be listening to the spirit and how with the loudness of the world, if we can take a step back and listen to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost, we can be guided to the finish line (Eternal life and Exaltation). As we study the scriptures and pray every day, we gain a better knowledge of God and his love for us.  We gain knowledge on how to follow the guidance of the spirit. Then, while that goes on, the Shuri Sisters will run the second game at the same time. They will have their lesson on faith. They will attach strings to chairs making the path to the other side of the room hard to get through. They then blindfold the contestants and spin them around 10 times. They pull away the chairs so the room is completely empty and take a video on how the contestants react. With the blindfold on, the contestant's goal is to get to the other side of the room. The point is that it seems hard to get through life when we see obstacles in the way but with faith in Heavenly Father, He'll "provide a way for you to accomplish the things that he has given" (1 Nephi 3:7). In the end, we'll eat snacks together and chat for the rest of the night.

    

   So, a 'Dear John' is a unexpected notice of "Sorry, I have met someone and gotten engaged.." of sort that a missionary receive from a girl at home that they'd been seriously dating before he left for a mission and expected to continue their relationship after his missionary finishes while he is on a mission...   well, that didn't happen to me, but I believe it would be something closer to that heartbreak happened.  We met this 15-year-old kid at English class, and his mom invited Elder Larsen and I over for dinner last Monday.  This kid came to Sacrament meeting on Sunday and was super interested in our church. The mom told us on Monday that she was okay with us meeting with him. So he set appointments for Tuesday and Wednesday.  He got to the point where he LOVED the Book of Mormon and wanted to be a member of the church (in a matter of 2 days).  We even set a baptism date for him.  Then during English class, I guess he freaked his mom out by being so gung ho about baptism that that next day, the mom prohibited us from meeting from him any more.  I think he's not coming to English class any time soon either.  This just breaks my heart to see a kid with a desire to do more with his life, stopped by the lack of knowledge from the parent.  If the parent really respected us, she'd search out whether or not the things we are teaching are good or bad for her kid...but what can I say?  I'm not a parent yet. I haven't taught my future kid how scary the world can be. I just can't relate... all I see is a barrier in front of someone's progress, and we care for someone so much that taking that wonderful chance away from them cuts into my soul.  All I see is a boy who wanted to know the truth, and that chance was taken away.  I miss him so.  I love these people I teach but many of them are at the point where the choices they make effects every given moment in their life.  Every lesson is an endless choice of which side of the fence to jump off to.  Every decision of keeping a commitment or ignoring a prompting can alter so many blessing we are yielded from.  Keep following the spirit.  Keep pressing forward in faith.  Keep doing the Lord's work, for he died for each and every one of you.  Remember Him.

Love you all,

Elder Jacob Wilson

Package from my Grandma in Japan

Selfie with the stuff

Stress Relief: Punching a Box--JK!