5th Week in Japan -- 1st Area. Recap on Shibuya, and this week's mission work

This picture was taken at Shibuya when I was in Tokyo last week. 

 [For those of you who haven't heard of Shibuya before, it is a special {geographical} ward of Tokyo, like a suburb.  Some of the things which Shibuya is known for are its very large and busy railway station, a fashion district, nightlife scene, and also it has Information Technology businesses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibuya].

Just a thought:  In this picture, we are surrounded by very busy people, in a hurry to get somewhere.   Many of them look not-so-happy, worried, or maybe tired.  One of the beauties of the Sabbath is that people slow down for one day and rest, and contemplate the things that are most important in our eternal destiny.

Enough of Shibuya.   

Now, sometimes it's hard to remember everything that happened, but this past week, we have 3 progressing investigators, and 4 other investigators.  Every Thursday evening, we do weekly planning (as the manual Preach My Gospel  says on pages 147-150).  Last night we ate at a member's house with an additional member family.  I keep practicing my Japanese with them.  We have a lot of appointments with members, especially meal appointments compared to most.  This week I think we have 4 or 5 planned.  They like to feed us!  Some know English too, so it makes it a bit easier to communicate.  Everyone knows about Ghibli Films.  In the South Tokyo mission, there's a Ghibli museum.  A member gave me a Kiki toy (from Kiki's Delivery Service) and a little Totoro spirit toy (the yellow one).  I remember when I was really young, I watched Kiki's Delivery Service a bunch of times, I believe I was like 6?  And of course, since then, I have seen other Ghibli family films [For those of you not familiar, Studio Ghibli in Japan, via director Hayao Miyazaki, made some family-friendly animated films].  Heavenly Father has been preparing me for Japan all my life, in so many ways.   These films were just one way in which my preparation began, and they were my first introduction to the beauty of Japanese culture.  I've been drawing more recently too, for teaching purposes or on like birthday cards.  It makes me want to become better.

Someone told me, I think an apostle said this, but the first thing the members think about you (first impression) is not how well you can speak the language or how well you get along with your companion, but how happy you are.  So I try to smile all the time.  I think it helps a lot!  

Until later,  Parker Shimai