This has been a pretty good week. We had a couple of special missionary moments that remind us why we are here. At the suggestion of a sister from the branch, we invited a non-member over to the house for dinner I didn't even realize he was a non-member because he comes to church ever Sunday, but I wondered why I had not seen him at any of the leadership meetings. In a small branch, that just doesn't happen. We had a great dinner with him and got to know him better. I then put on my missionary hat and asked him why, as active as he has been, hasn't he joined the Church. The discussion seemed to end a realization that he has been looking at the Church from a logical, even scientific point of view. He said he liked what he saw just wasn't convinced whether or not it was true. We then found out that he had never actually read the Book of Mormon. He committed to read the Book and Mormon and to pray about it. He also said that if he did get a spiritual confirmation that the Book of Mormon was true that he would get baptized. Exciting!
We then had an opportunity to participate with the Elders in the presentation of a discussion on the Restoration of the Gospel, with an associate pastor of a non-denominational church located just off base. The discussion went very well and he also committed to reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. Exciting!!
Finally, today we ran into a less active part-member family and set up an appointment to meet with them at their apartment on base this next Wednesday. The husband is a less-active member and the wife is a non-member (Catholic) who has had a not-good experience with previous missionaries. Our plan is to present an introduction to the Church program about Resiliency and the Reliant-Family Program. This is a program designed specifically for military families to help them deal with military associated issues, such as transfers and deployments. I think this will be a good re-introduction to the church for them. Exciting!!!
Friday was a fun evening with the Branch Halloween Party/Trunk-0r-Treat and chili cook-off. Unfortunately it rained all day long and so the party was moved indoors and limited the trunk or treating to handing out candy in the community room. Still a fun evening. Attached are a couple of my favorite costumes.
The Sisters came as pirates and got photo-bombed by Elder Malone.
How could you not love Christopher Robin and Pooh, followed by the disco kids.
We also found that Japan has also adopted the fun side of Halloween. Saturday we decided to try a new place to eat that is know as "The Chicken Shack" by the Americans here. I had only heard good things about it, so with the help of the GPS we headed for it. It was about 35 minutes away up into the mountains west of us, a bit. What a pleasant surprise. It was a restaurant where their main dish was chicken quarters grilled over a wood fire. Seating was outside on platforms where you had to sit cross-legged. That doesn't work very well for me, but I worked it out.
There is actually a small heater under the table and you cover your legs with the quilt so it makes things nice and cozy. Felt good on a cool fall day.
Lunch was chicken, beef udon noodle soup and a large onigeri (rice ball wrapped in seaweed with a tuna center). It was all good.
Afterwards we wandered around the grounds a bit and it was a really nice exposure to Japanese culture.
Maybe a little too much exposure?
We also discovered that Japan was decided to adopt some of the fun side of Halloween.
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