May 11, 2008
Church today was way good. I enjoyed it a lot. Mostly thanks to the help of Reina and Jon. First we get there via the high priest group leader. Really nice guy, but he doesn’t speak any English. Lol, so when he picked me up he already had Reina and Jon with him. We get to church and the stunned missionaries greet us at the door. It was funny, they weren’t sure what language to greet us in. Then this dude, I’m still not sure who he was, came and shook our hands and slipped us some candy. Perhaps he’s the Brother Norris of the ward, lol. We went up some stairs and were greeted by the bishop. He actually was able to say hello to me in English and “Welcome”. It was cool. We eventually made it to the chapel. There are no pews, just folding chairs that are way more comfy than ours. A couple of people came to say hello to us before church actually started. Mostly just Jon and Reina talked to them, I was just introduced. When church started the bishop conducted. It was cool, because he had some callings and like, when he asked if anyone was opposed he actually checked the whole room, even behind him. Jon and I were impressed. Then he introduced us to the ward, saying we were there for 3 months as teachers and asking, kinda, if we could bare our testimony next Sunday or the Sunday after. Jon responded and said yes to him then told me what he said. Then the bishop said that I only speak English, so he encouraged the members to come say hello to me in English. It was funny. (he really did this over the pulpit...lol!) Singing was cool as well. I’m actually really glad I know most of the hymns by heart. Listening to them sing in Japanese was a very cool experience. I’m sure Jon (my brother) knows what I mean when I say hearing the hymns in another language yet they fit to the tune is really neat. Knowing the English for them helped as I listened to the songs as I was able to think of the words they were singing. Jon (the intern) says they usually translate the hymns pretty well. He’s seen some that aren’t at all close to the English ones, but for the most part they do alright. I guess they don’t have as many hymns either. And like, the page numbers are different. We sang “The Spirit of God” and it was hymn #3. Anyway, the little kids came up and sang a mother’s day song, and that was way cute. Then the young men had the program. Even though I was getting the speakers information through Jon, I really enjoyed the first talk. It was a young man, he said he just turned 14, and he just started doing home teaching. He said that usually he is really very shy and he was worried about going to people’s homes. But he said that he found that when he was home teaching he was able to relax and not worry so much. He said he knew it was the spirit telling him that home teaching was the right thing to do. What a great message. Jon kept apologizing because he said it sounded so much better in Japanese, but I told him I enjoyed it anyway. The next few speakers talked about missionary work mostly. They would stop between each speaker and let the boys sing a song. It was a really cool program. After sacrament meeting they closed off the front of the room with the podium and we had Sunday school. It was building to Abeneadi. Jon had a hard time getting the scriptures right, but it was ok. Then it was off to relief society. We stopped by the bathrooms real quick and this lady talked to me in English. She had spent some time in Seattle, I guess, so she thought it was cool I was from there. In relief society we all sat in a circle and they introduced us and wrote our names on the board. They have a really hard time saying Dempsey, it was cute hearing them try, lol. This one lady talked to me before hand and said that she doesn’t speak English and knows I don’t speak Japanese but she hoped that we could speak through our hearts. I loved that, how sweet. Reina translated for me in relief society, and she did a good job. It was about Joseph first translating the plates and how at one point he had to resolve an issue he had with Emma before he could continue. (They actually found me an English manual so I could follow along, it was really nice) I guess this story really impressed our teacher, as she hadn’t ever heard of that happening. The ladies were interesting because they brought up how Emma left the church after Joseph died. But the way they put it was very good, and I’ll have to remember it. They said she was blessed with a lot of gifts of the spirit while she was with Joseph. But she lost them when she chose to fall away from the church. They said that we too are given gifts of the spirit but we can lose them, as Emma did, if we aren’t faithful. I liked that. It was very true. It lead them to another part of the lesson, which talked about gifts we get from the spirit. The teacher asked if anyone had any spiritual gifts they wanted to share. One lady talked about her love of music and how she was able to help others enjoy music as much as she did. The other lady said she feels like she is in tune with the spirit when it comes to knowing how to comfort people. They asked Reina and I what we felt ours were, and I said I think that mine is my ability to understand the scriptures like I do, and Reina said it was her ability to communicate in different languages. She speaks French, English, and Japanese. Then the teacher said that she knows that everyone in the room has spiritual gifts and ended with her testimony. It was a good lesson. After, this lady we met earlier that lives in Hawaii came up to Reina and said it was a hard lesson and she was impressed that Reina did so well translating. Reina felt bad because she said she mostly just gave me the general idea of what people said. She and Jon just didn’t understand how much I appreciated knowing what was going on at all. Even general ideas were more than what I’d get just sitting there without them. After relief society we went to find Jon and ended up chatting to the missionaries. One is from Sacramento and the other is from Ogden. Both are pretty new, as one has only been out for 10 months and the other only 5. They said they enjoyed the ward though, and thought we’d like it too. They said that they have been impressed with how many people in the ward speak some English. They said that the first counselor in the bishopric’s son had just moved, but he actually spoke very good English. I guess he married a Chinese lady and they only could speak English together. One of the missionaries said his friend just got back from Argentina. He said his friend actually majored in Japanese before he left on his mission, and he really wanted to go to Japan, but he was sent to Argentina instead, lol. But he said he loved it there, and really ended up enjoying his time.
After church our ride took us home. He took this really super long way home, but he took Reina home first then Jon then me. I rushed in my apartment to change super fast then ran out the door and down the street. I tried the payphone at 7-11 but I think someone bashed it so It didn't work. I rushed further down the street to the supermarket (their Safeway) and got the payphone to work there. I got all sorts of looks though, it was funny. But I enjoyed our conversation. After talking I went back to my apartment and decided to read. I've been really grateful that I brought my books. I have needed them while my internet is off. Jon really thinks we'll get it tomorrow, but we'll see. I ate some cookies that I bought, and they weren't bad. I also busted into my Pringles, lol. That ended up being my lunch. For dinner I ate a banana and tried my milk. It's no bueno, but eh, I still have juice. You can't go wrong with fruit juice. It's sooo yummy here. Anyway, that was my night. Oh, I videoed my apartment so you could see, but I'll do it again when I have my table and stuff. I can already hear dad when he sees my room on the video. Lol. Well, I should go. I have to get up at like 7am tomorrow for work. We're meeting our area person then meeting our schools. We actually start going to them tomorrow. I really hope it's not too far... I have no bike...