5 September 2009
Dear Family
Hello. You mentioned the bike last, but actually that's about the most eventful part of my week. I got another bike from a returned missionary, and it works fine. It's actually faster than my old one, should do me very well for the next month and a little bit. But, that wasn't exactly the exciting part.
The exciting part was when I was riding down a hill and decided to go into the street from the sidewalk, like I normally do. But the very unexpected happened, and I heard a car coming very fast. Cars going fast in Japan are a very rare thing. But, without time to look, I just turned back towards the sidewalk. Unfortunately it's about the weirdest curb, and if you just go straight on the sidewalk it has the little ramp for bikes and strollers, etc. but on the corner itself (the curving part) there was a curb, which I hit. I decided that a curb was better than a chance of a car. So, naturally hitting a curb quickly, I crashed. And my leg hit a pole. So I lie down on my back, just thinking about all my body parts, no broken bones, no problem.
We'd just finished weekly planning before this. First day of my last transfer, and I was really excited to go out and talk to people. So while my leg hurt a bit, I was still just thinking to rest a couple minutes and then keep going. While quite a few people walking by just looked and kept walking (I felt like the man fell among thieves in the good Samaritan story with everybody staring and ignoring me), eventually a police officer saw me and asked if I was OK. He seemed intent on calling an ambulance, so to dissuade him I stood up and moved around a bit. No problem. After he left I had to sit down again. I started to realize I might not be able to walk around for the rest of the day like I wanted to, so I started just thinking of getting home. So after a short rest I stood up, rested my hurt leg on my pedal, and pushed my bike with the other leg. After getting up the hill I crashed going down, I just pushed my bike out from under me put my backpack as a pillow and lied down again. I decided I didn't want to pass out, so I'd lie down again. Good resting place, the sidewalk.
So again, lying down with people staring and walking by (I'm going to say it's because Elder Nishio was with me). Now I really just wanted to get home so I could ice my leg or something. So I rested a bit, had Elder Nishio got me a drink from a vending machine, waited for a little color to come back into my arms at least then tried going again. Finally I realized I just couldn't get home with my current circumstances, so I called the other 2 missionaries and had them come bring me some ibuprofen. So, after resting while waiting for them, then taking pain meds I was finally able to get home. Slept for a few hours, then spent a relaxing evening (I think my first relaxing evening in Japan) reading from the Old Testament. I joked with the brand new missionary who had to come save me his first day in Japan that when he gets to my age in the mission he'll do anything for a day off.
The next day we had a lesson at 10:30 in the morning, which I needed to bike to. So after praying, getting a blessing, and taking more pain pills, off we went. I was able to walk fine the very next day. Probably thanks to the blessing, but everything went well. The crash was Thursday, the lesson and a normal day Friday contacting with occasional rests for my leg.
Saturday, my leg was feeling better; I still had a bit of a limp, but could walk just fine. So we were out contacting again Saturday and I started talking and walking with somebody. Everything seemed fine, until we got to some stairs. Stairs were the hardest thing for me. And he wasn't going fast, but normal speed and I just forgot about my leg and started going with him. About half way down my leg just gave out from under me and ended up bending itself all the way (like I was sitting down kneeling). It hurt much worse than my bike crash. The guy asked if I was OK, and I, while grabbing the handrail hopping down on my one good leg to get to a place to sit, only managed to say it hurts, it hurts. Since he seemed in a hurry but didn't want to be rude I wished him a good day and just sat down and took the pain pill I brought with me just as an in case.
While I was sitting I was just praying to get to our appointment at 3 o'clock that afternoon. We actually got 2 new investigators on Friday (blessings of working when hurt I think), and had an appointment for Saturday at 3. Probably about 5 minutes after sitting down, my leg miraculously felt a lot better than before I fell in the first place. Before the fall my leg had been feeling very stiff, which I just associated with the fact that I crashed. The stretching actually made it much much better, but I would never have been able to stretch it myself because of the pain. But the Lord knowing I needed to get better helped me fall down some stairs.
So you might be worrying now, sorry. Please know I wouldn't tell you about anything you would worry about until it's already over :-) I think last transfer I began to be a little too comfortable, so the Lord needed to humble me. Japanese is far far from perfect, or understanding everything, but with a Japanese companion when I don't understand I have somebody to look to and it's very relaxing you might say. So, the Lord gave me a challenge there was no way I could overcome on my own. I couldn't get home without help. But, it helped me remember, and the evening of study was very helpful I think. Friday just trusting more in the Lord just to get me where I needed to be, we had a good lesson and then found 2 new investigators. Saturday and Sunday were also much better than the past couple weeks had been. So things are looking up. My leg is fine now. Just a few bruises.
So, I had an exciting week. I felt the Lord's hand in my crash (Perhaps in one of those humbling ways). And then even more in my recovery by falling down a couple stairs. The Lord sometimes works in ways I wouldn't think of, but they seem to always work out. I'm doing well, and expect to see lots of good things happen soon. Have a great week. I love you all lots.
Love,
Robert
September 21, 2009
Dear Family,
It sounds like everyone is still doing well and the party was a success. 73 people in the house does sound like quite the achievement. How did you count them all? Did they sign a book? My week wasn't that exciting.
I had a companion exchange in Senri that was fun. We had a successful day, giving out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon and getting a few phone numbers, although we didn't quite pin down any return appointments. The Okamachi Elders who live in the same apartment had a terrible day on the other hand (apparently just everything fell through), and said they bought crapes and taiyaki to make them feel better during the day, and then ate TimTams at night to feel even better. Then they started feeling the tons of calories they ate so decided we'd go play basketball for morning exercise. That was a lot of fun. They actually have a wooden floor basketball court at the Okamachi chapel, even if it's only half court. The church here is full court, but carpet. Plus I think the hoops here are a little short. I took more Advil before playing just to make sure, but my knee has been fine. I was running around at a festival held here at the church on Saturday as well, no problems.
Thursday, while our day wasn't quite as bad as the Okamachi Elder's day had been, we still decided to buy crapes when the new investigator Elder Burton and Elder Nishio found on the comp. exchange didn't show up, but just walked right past us ignoring us. There is a little truck selling crapes near the train station where we go a lot. It a giant crape they fold into an ice cream cone shape, and put lots of whipped cream, etc. in it. I got custard and ice cream in mine. Then, thinking that the Okamachi Elders got 4 new investigators the day after their bad day, we bought taiyaki and TimTams too. They were all good. We only got 1 new investigator the next day, but it was probably because we didn't run to the church to play basketball the next day.
Unfortunately those were the most exciting parts of my week. Not too much else to talk about. The festival Saturday was fun, but I was expecting a lot more people for a stake activity. I was very disappointed in the turn out: Pretty much only members from the 2 wards that meet out here came. It was still fun though. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Robert Sorenson
(I don't get to put the Elder for that much longer, figure better throw it out while I still can)
PS Just before I forget, I do like football, and I'd forgotten about Karl's pool. We would probably go visit them anyway good thinking :-)
PPS Grandma sent me a dream catcher. But I can't remember. Do they catch your dreams before or after you dream them?
Well, I'm heading off. No worries. We were playing dominoes. I won the first two games, Elder Neff won the last one. I'll hopefully e-mail briefly next week, but we have a sports activity planned, not positive. Love you very much, have a great week.
September 14, 2009
Dear Family,
Hello. Well not too much happened this week. Dennis and his son Kenji finally came to church though, so that was really good. He just happened to come the week we got a new bishop. I was very surprised. I was wondering why there were 2 people from the Stake Presidency attending, but didn't think that much of it. Then they asked the whole bishopric to stand up and I knew what was going on. I really like the choices they made for the bishopric. I liked the old bishopric too, but I'll say it was a very inspired selection. Plus perhaps we'll have more time now to work with the old bishopric.
Also with our good fortune we'd scheduled a couple weeks ago to have dinner with Bishop Soeda (the new one), so we didn't have to schedule a new appointment with him like everyone else probably has been. We had a great evening Sunday with the Miyazaki (ward mission leader) and Soeda (Bishop) families. We ate dinner, then talked about some questions they had from 'Preach My Gospel' then shared our message before a very delicious dessert (homemade peach yogurt ice cream [they put some yogurt in the icecream]). If I can find the right stuff in America I'll adapt the message we've been sharing with members to a FHE lesson when I get home. I think it might even be more fun in America.
Also a nice fact was we were actually there for the first time our ward mission leader was talking with the bishop, so we know that they are thinking about the ward mission plan. Elder Nishio and I can now take some ideas to our next meeting.
On top of the other fun stuff, my last zone conference was this past week. The returning missionaries get to bear their testimonies, but in our zone conference I was the only one of the 8 returning missionaries there. Oh well, nobody to give a better testimony after me :-) At conference everybody had to give a best practice presentation. Something they have been focusing on, or think they do well in missionary work. It was a lot of fun. Most of the people prepared good activities. One companionship actually sang theirs, it was very amusing.
Oh, and not to worry you, I do have a couple of requests for a package. Ibuprofen, Advil, deodorant, and toothpaste. Both my deodorant and toothpaste are about to run out, and my ibuprofen is gone. After I wrote my e-mail last week, that night my knee started hurting really badly. I talked to the missionary doctor in Tokyo, and he said he didn't think it was anything serious, but I had really banged up my leg and knee. So he put me on 3 tablets of ibuprofen, 3 times a day. Since you only sent me with a little bottle for headaches, it ran out really quick. Luckily since we had zone conference Sister McIntyre was nice enough to bring me more, but she brought more advil than ibuprofen, so I think she might be out. My knee is feeling much better now though. I haven't taken any medicine yet today (and I still have some). I'll probably keep using it before long amounts of time where I'm just out and about and especially when I have appointments where I sit on the floor, but otherwise I'm fine. I just thought it might be nice if I could give Sister McIntyre medicine back in case any other unfortunate missionary needs it.
So that was the most exciting part of my week. Oh, and on tuesday while we were doing district work, we found a new investigator that accepted a baptismal date for the Ibaraki Elders. Of course he called and couldn't come to church this past week, so his date might need to be pushed back a bit. I hope you all have a great week.
Love,
Elder Sorenson
Hello again. Just a little thing I remembered. What happened to the pool? I thought I'd get to go swimming when I got home. No big problem though, just wondering. Oh and a thought, if you're not planning a welcome home party we could at least have a small birthday party Friday or Saturday night. You mentioned pork chops for Dad's B-day and I remembered my B-day was always fairly close to Dad's :-) I think hamburgers like normal would be amazing. They're just not as good out here. Much too small, and they don't have pickles.
Love you lots and lots,
Robert
31 August 2009
Dear Family,
Glad everyone is still doing well. It's been a fairly eventful, sometimes frustrating week. Well, I suppose the eventful part started not this past Saturday, but the one before, or even before that. The back wheel on my bicycle started feeling a bit dangerous and not seeming very well, so I asked for another from the bicycle of an old missionary, and of course got it. It worked well for about a week, then, randomly stopped working. I took it to a bike shop and they told me it was the bearings on the inside and they'd be with me in a little bit, but they had another customer first. So, while I was waiting I was just trying to see if I could get the wheel well enough to even walk home, rather than pay for the little shop’s service, and well, it started working fine. The bike shop owner was very surprised, but told me I should be able to ride home on it but I should get it fixed soon.
Next was the Saturday event. We had sports. The wheel again broke half way to the church (I, of course, forgot to fix it). In a hurry we ran to the church to get there in time for the activity. Luckily I was inspired to just wear our sports clothes instead of our church clothes like we had every other time before changing at the church, so we were all ready to run. After sports we got a ride back to our bicycles and I half walked half carried it home. So, since that wheel was bad I went back to my old wheel which didn't feel well, but still worked OK.
Thursday we had an appointment with some members about 30-40 minutes away in the mountains. We got there fine, had our lesson, and then had to leave in a hurry to get home in time for curfew. Of course my bike chose to act up as we started to go home, the back brakes won't stop rubbing the wheels, no big deal, I unhooked the brakes. The problem was the spring thingy that pulled the brakes off the wheel stopped working. Of course, the problem is when they aren't working, even if you unhook the brakes there's nothing to keep them from flopping back onto the wheel when you hit a bump. So, when I hit a small bump going down a big hill, the brake came back down, and some how managed to wedge itself in under the rim of the wheel. I couldn't pull it back off and therefore couldn't get home. Being pressed for time, I said a quick prayer explaining that I had curfew and since it was one of the missionary rules, Heavenly Father was supposed to help me keep them. Sure enough after praying I managed to roll the wheel and pull at the same time just enough to get the brake out. Since I had no tools I couldn't do anything else, so praying for safety and that the brake wouldn't get stuck again we just set off again, fairly quickly. It got stuck one more time, but I was able to pull it out again. We got home 1 minute before curfew :-)
So, Friday, I figured I'd better fix the brake problem. I just took the brakes off since they were broken. I then just started riding a little more carefully. With less than 2 months left, I've just been trying to keep my bike working and get to the end. I guess I wasn't supposed to ride that way, because Friday was the day my wheel decided to go bad for good. On the way to another appointment my wheel just stopped turning. When there're no brakes on, if the wheel isn't turning it means you have a big problem I think. So we parked my bike and hurried off to our appointment. We got there just in time. Luckily it was at 7:30 instead of 8 like the Thursday one was, so we had time to walk home after the lesson. Saturday and Sunday we had quite a few walks to the church then we would get a ride home afterwards. Luckily, the church is only a 30-40 minute walk.
Saturday I called the mission home and asked if they had any extra bicycles they could send me, since it would have cost more than $100 to fix my bike. They said yes and sent one. Today I got to have fun putting it together. They took absolutely everything off before sending it to me, so it took an hour and a half and it's still not perfect. I realized the handlebars were crooked as we left to e-mail, but wanting to e-mail I just ignored it and will fix it tonight or tomorrow. The main problem was the pedals. They gave me tons of trouble. One of them ended up getting partly stripped and is now in a bit crooked. But at least it's in. I'm hoping it's in forever, because if it comes out one more time I'm not sure it'll ever go back in. But, I have a bike again, and it should last me until October I think.
As far as investigators are concerned, nothing exciting. I committed one of them to follow the advice set forth by Elder Kikuchi in the August Ensign, in his 'Opening the Heavens' article. I committed him to read and pray every morning as it advised, since he was already talking about what great advice it was. I asked him if he would do it, and he said 'That's a great goal.' Not quite acceptance there. So, I agreed with him and asked him again if he would commit to doing it. He said 'Well, I do it sometimes already, it's a great goal.' So getting more straightforward I asked, "Is it your goal?" He answered he would try and do better, but that was the best I could get out of him, sigh. I sometimes think he really wants to know, and then at others just don't know. We need to get him to church.
Well, that's about as exciting as my week has been. Lots of frustration and miracles with my bicycle. I don't know how we kept getting to all of our appointments on time, and then getting home on time, but we did. And things should be fine.
Oh, the other exciting event was going up to the college on Friday. We found a college on our map, and knowing that lots of college students tend to be at colleges, off we went. It was at the very top of a mountain. Everybody else takes the bus, but we, of course, used bicycles. Once we got up to the college we parked our bikes, and set out for an excellent day of proselyting. We found the soccer field, ice arena, and baseball field first, but nobody was there. I guess nobody was having practice. So off we went to the main campus. It was very nice. It had a nice set up and an excellent view, since it was on top of a mountain. The only problem was that in all our walking around, we only found 1 student to talk to. We only saw about 6 in total. And half of them were women. Oh well. We found the college, and learned it was just a little sub-campus of a bigger one not in our area, and that it's not the best area for proselyting.
I'm doing well. I look forward to seeing you all in not too much longer. This week starts my last transfer. Have a great week.
Love,
Robert
