Ya Big Cheaters!

You guys all watching General Conference before me... We don't get it until next Sunday.

Anyway, this week was a little slow. We worked hard, but things just weren't working out. Well, on the investigator side of things anyway. Ouchi-san and Ogasawara-san are regular appointments now, so it's nice to teach them. They seem to be learning the Gospel just for the knowledge, however, not so much for the real benefits. Our tachiai, Kawamura Shimai, gave us some good guidance on how to better help Ogasawara-san, though. Ogasawara-san is quite religiously Buddhist. She often goes to shrine and pays respect to her ancestors at the hotokesama in her house. So, Kawamura Shimai suggested we talk about temple work and how we can do ordinances for our ancestors. Elder Suzuki and I think it will be good for her. I think it could be the key to change her attitude about the Gospel.

Last night we had a dinner appointment with the bishop and his family, the Ogawas, at their home. After dinner the bishop asked about the progress of our investigators. I said that everyone is kind of mada mada and the one's who have the most potential are hard to meet with. He asked how we do finding and I said housing. His wife said "That's the least effective way." I agreed and the bishop said that referrals are the best. Then he asked how FF was doing. (FF is the method for helping members fulfill the prophecy of member missionary work in Japan that is catered specifically to the Japan Nagoya Mission.) I told him of the success that we have been having with the Wakatsuki family and how they are praying for and introducing their friends to the Gospel. I also told him that we visited them this past Friday and got some more referrals from them. I think it sparked something in the Ogawa family. They remember doing FF with a missionary a while ago and talked about how missionaries stopped meeting with them and how they got busy and how they stopped praying. Then Ogawa Shimai said, "Young people are best," then turned to her daughter and said, "Do you have friends you can introduce to the Gospel?" Saya-chan said she hadn't really thought about it, but her friends have a lot of questions like why they're here on the earth, etc. So we shared scriptures from 2 Ne 2 and D&C 31 talking about the importance of sharing the Gospel and following the Spirit. We ran out of time, so Ogawa Shimai said, "Ok, come back and we'll do FF." I can feel things are gonna pick up quickly here in Fuji.

We had a fun district activity this past week. We went to look at the Cherry Blossoms and played some games. See the cool pictures attached. I was wearing that sick shirt you sent me, too. Elder Perkins busted up when he saw it. The picture of us all from left to right is Elder Roney, Elder Suzuki, Sister Fujisawa, Elder Perkins, Me, and then Sister Watanabe.

It's a little short this week, but that's it. I'm excited for conference now.

Love you all.

Love,

Elder Sanderson