Tender Mercies

I was really excited to be a trainer, but things aren't going as well as I hoped. He's kind of taking over everything. Even though he just got out of the MTC in Provo and so he has no experience. He also gets upset at me when I don't agree with him, or when I ask him to follow mission rules, like going to bed on time at 10:30. I'm talking with my mission leaders to see if there is anything I need to do. But right now I'm kind of just enduring. It's not very pleasant.  But it's making it very difficult to get anything done.

But the Lord is showering me with tender mercies in many forms. Like finding a random Kit-Kat in the freezer that I must have put in there. Or the quotes on those cards that you gave me. On Saturday, a lot of things that were difficult to handle happened, but the quote for that day was "today's trial is tomorrow's testimony." Or the fact that an Elder who I was really good friends with while I was serving in Ueda and he was serving in my district became my Zone Leader,so I can talk to him about everything. Or like the fact that when we had to go to the next area over to buy a bike for my companion, we ran into a member on the way back, and she told us her conversion story, which was a pretty crazy story and she spoke fluent English, so she was switching back and forth between English and Japanese and she bore her testimony to us. Or how We showed up at the church in time to catch the last 30 minutes of a fireside that they broadcast from Tokyo that was really good.

It's still pretty hot here. Although the weather has been kind of strange this week. Almost like the rainy season again. It just starts raining unexpectedly a lot, but not usually for very long. You have to be careful about it though. We got caught in the rain without umbrellas and had to walk home in the pouring rain last Thursday.

I really like Nakatsugawa. I feel really close to the members here. Because there aren't that many of them, and I speak a lot more Japanese than I ever have before so it's easy to just talk. There are lots of mountains around us. And not a whole lot of people. This week there were 4 days of festivals that I didn't know we're happening. So we went to see fireworks and dancing. I think it was in conjunction with the Japanese festival of the dead (Obon), when it is said that all the ancestors come back from the world of spirits to their graves, so every has family gatherings and goes to visit the family grave, kind of like Memorial Day.

Still teaching English class. They do it in every city where there are missionaries in Japan. It's kind of fun. I still don't feel like I know what I am doing most of the time though. There isn't a lot of guidance as to what we are supposed to teach, which is okay, it just makes it difficult for our students to progress in their English skills. We also have a children's English class here in Nakatsugawa. They have them in some places, but this is the first one I've ever taught. It's crazy! It's just a bunch of little girls between the ages of 4 and 10. And some of them just make fun of you, but it's just "whatever" because their just crazy kids. There are also sister missionaries serving in Nakatsugawa,which is also a first for me. I've never really served in the same area as sister missionaries, other than the month when I was in Fuji.

But just know that things are a little tough right now, but I am doing my best to work through them. And I know that God is looking out for me. He manifests himself in funny ways sometimes, but I know He's there. I would love your prayers for things to work out with my companion.

Talk to you next week.

Alex