Frank's Baptism was AMAZING!

MOMMA!!  Hey!!  I know I'm a terrible missionary for saying this, but skyping home was by far the best part of my Christmas too.  (The baptism was after Christmas ;) I had an amazing Christmas and I stayed focused, but seeing everyone and getting to talk briefly was so sweet.  It was like getting a glimpse of heaven, kinda!  Anyway, I really enjoyed it :) 

My poor companion was a sickie-guy.  That's no fun, especially when we get Christmas sushi :P

Also, at hamasushi, we got a dragon fruit!!!  Er, I got a dragon fruit.  Kitagaki Chourou thought it looked way gross.  It was super good though!  Kinda like a kiwi mixed with an onion!  Weird.

Selfie at the Sugimoto's for Christmas dinner!!  OISHI desu yo!  She made an apple pie just for me!  I ate it the next day because Frank hadn't been baptized yet.

So, I have next to no time.  Just tell everyone I love them and will have time next week just before transfers (; I'm writing this on the train because other than travel time our pday has been completely packed.  I went on district leader splits yesterday and then we've had two lessons/the temple... We can't even shop!  Luckily, the members have given us way too much food for the next while in Christmas presents (;

Frank's baptism was AMAZING.  He had such a light in his eyes, he looked like he was a different person, mama. He really did!  It was such a transformation.  We're teaching him AB lessons and I'm praying that he'll stay active in the church!

So, recently, this is what's been on my mind:

I need to become more focused on the people I'm with.  Not when I'm with them, because at those times it is so easy for me to love them and talk to them, but when I'm in the apartment or going to sleep or riding my bike or doing whatever else, my mind always wonders to myself.  It's not bad necessarily, but I've realized I focus so much on wanting to self improve that my progress has been stunted.  My district leader gave me a lot of really nice compliments, but his improvement point cut me deep because I know it's something I really need to work on.  He said, "you've gotta stop letting the things that don't matter get in the way of the things that do." In the temple I was just constantly praying that I'd be able to overcome this problem.  Things like during mealtimes and such constantly planning new calendars/check off lists/plans, but never actually executing them before making new ones.  It sounds stupid, but I really need the Lord's help with it.

I've also been thinking a lot that if we aren't ourselves, we are never happy.  That some missionaries always talk about kankeinai stuff and they seem to be the fun ones, but that the happiest and most fun missionaries I've ever known are those like my zone leaders and Elder Clark who are so focused.  The ones who are changed by what they do.  I believe that that's the key to being a successful missionary, is... Well, becoming a missionary so that doing the work is just being yourself.  That's when you're always happy. (That thought was mostly inspired by my district leader, but I totally agree.)

Speaking of Elder Clark (earlier) I saw him again briefly at temple PDay.  I love that man so much, it was so good to see him.  I hope so badly that we'll be companions again!!  If not, I hope we end up in the same zone for a while, because he's just the best kinda person.  I wanna be like him!  Also, I saw Elder Hibino which was a hoot!  He is such a funny Elder.  I miss him too. Oh oh oh!  And I bought a new mini triple combo in Japanese and it's AWESOME!!!!  I plan to read through the whole Morumon Sho!

Anyway, I think about you and pray for you often!  I don't ever want to sound trunky when I say this, but I'm always excited for the days when we can all be together as a family again!

Love you!

The baptism!!!

-スタウト長老

Elder Stout

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

I love this time of year too!  A lot of people ask me how Christmas is different in Japan, so I'll try to cover that.  Basically, nobody knows what Christmas is, and most old people don't really have anything to do with it.  Some people use it as an excuse to hang out with friends for an evening, and others eat "Christmas Cake" (yes, it's still a thing ;) really popular, too, is to go and eat at KFC Christmas night.  Why, I have no idea.  But if I had my own holiday, that would definitely be part of it, so I'm not complaining (;

Its funny, because KFC actually sells lots of Christmas cakes and has statues of Colonial Sanders dressed as Santa all over!  Every shop uses Christmas as a sales tactic, though only young families with kids/actual Christians get into it.  It really makes my day when we're riding down the completely dry streets (snow doesn't really fall in Narita,) and then we turn a corner to see a house with Christmas lights!!!  The little things make you so nostalgic.

Other than that, most people don't know what it's all about.  It's a great dendou (proselyting) tool for us though: we ask lots of people, "do you like Christmas?" and when they say yes, we ask them what it's about.  I've had the opportunity to share a Christmas message with a few people, and it's so awesome!  Many people are amazed to learn that the reason the year is 2015 is because Christ was born 2015 years ago.  That the holiday's name even has Christ's name in it!  Talking about the savior is a great transition into the Book of Mormon, and we've given out quite a few because of it.

I love Christmas time (: I think I will appreciate it so much more for the rest of my life after spending it so far away from family in a place where most people don't even know what it actually is.  Like with so many other things, my mission has really changed my perspective of what's important and how I should spend my time.  I'm confident that if the teenagers who spend more than an hour looking at a cell-phone screen in a day spent the week of Christmas in Japan (you know, in an Ebenezer Scrooge kinda way,) they'd) wake from the dream and leave all trivial games and texts behind to allow just a few more minutes to talk with parents, play with little siblings, and reminisce with grandparents the whole holiday.

Thanks so much for praying for my investigators! (: The power of prayer is amazing, fasting too.  Here is a story:

  Our zone has been fasting for 40 days (each companionship fasts for 24 hours twice,) and to end it, we all fasted together yesterday.  We've been talking about seeing a Christmas Miracle for several months now, to see every companionship in the mission have a baptism and for at least 100 new members to join the church.  (I have such a testimony of the power of measuring progress.  This work is about people and NOT numbers, but through tracking what we are doing, we learn ways to accomplish more and to help more people, and I have seen that so much, young as I am.)  

Anyway, as we were fasting, we prayed so hard for Frank to be able to give up smoking/come to church in order to make his baptismal date.  He's wanted to be baptized for nearly a year, and hasn't been able to for various reasons, but as Elder Kitagaki and I were singing the opening Hymn, the bishop's son (and ward mission leader,) ran up and whispered to us, "Frank's here."  Not only did he come, but we arranged for an interview for him (which is going on as I write!!) and he said he's already through with smoking.  It was a miracle.  BUT NOT ONLY THAT!!  Takahisa kun came to church again of his own accord, and stayed for a lesson, during which he decided that he wants to know if what we teach is true, and that he'll meet with us two times a week in order to be baptized on February 8th if he does!!!  Elder Kitagaki and I really felt that all of this extra strength came from our fasting.  We were so stoked.  It's just a feeling, but I truly believe that it was our faith which caused so much strength to arise in these two souls.  To quote Moroni, "It was their faith.... [which did a lot of good stuff.]" (; But really, we've focused so much on faith recently.  One scripture I love says, "God can work no miracle among them except they have faith." It doesn't say that God can't work miracles without others faith.  The key word is AMONG.  If we want miracles wrought AMONG us, we need to have great faith in The Lord our God.

Please keep praying for them, because the closer one gets to the waters of baptism, the harder Satan attacks.

In other news, our ward Christmas Party was SO FUN and, can I just say, I had the best excuse ever to hang out with a bunch of kids for just a minute.  It was SO fun.  Made me miss my lil' nieces!!!!

Oh oh oh!!  Guess what else mama?!  I had Yakimo for the first time yesterday to end my fast! (A ward member gave it to us when we road bikes over to help with something.) I used to hate sweet potatoes, but something about just biting right into it is SO good.  Made me think of you in Hokkaido!  By the way, I want you to know that I tell lots of people about your service here: ward members, random preachers I meet who happen to be from Sapporo, people on the train who ask why I like Japan... 

Also, ramen is heavenly.  Even if I'm stuffed from a "tabe hodai" (all you can eat,) I can't turn down ramen if my companion wants it... MAN there's nothing like it in America.

Oh!!  One more thing.........

Guess.....

Who....

I....

Saw.....

MY OLD DORYO!!!

It's only been a month, but seriously.  Being on a mission, time makes no sense.  It feels like it's been several years, and I was so excited to see him!  He is such a funny and unique Elder, but he is such a solid missionary too.  He's doing great as a Zone Leader!  Ah, Zone Conference was so fun.

WAIT!!!  FRANK JUST PASSED HIS INTERVIEW!!!!!!! HE'S GOING TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!!

Please keep him in your prayers!!!!!!  AISHTTEIMASU!!!

I love you so much mama!!  I think about you and dada often.  I try only to think of you as often as is appropriate though (; I'm working on consecration. I'm so excited for the good times to come, but right now I want to be all in this mission!!  I'm loving it so much!

One more thing, again, the language is really coming!  The more I put myself out there, the more I learn I can say.  I'll be pera pera before you know it!

-スタウト長老

Elder Stout

You will never disappoint The Lord if you keep trying!

 Hiya! :D I got the package and it is SO awesome!!  Thank you so much, the 12 Days of Christmas thing is perfect.  I've only opened two so far, but getting letters from Brother Buhler and Maxy seriously made my days.  Thank you so much, it's the best!!  Elder Furniss got a lil Christmas tree carpet we hung on the wall from his family, and it has lights to brighten that end of the apartment!  I love mine though, it's so festive with all the presents! 

It's right next to my old Christmas tree from the ward which still, can I say, was so sweet of Brother and Sister Newel.  It's been the best to read lil letters from everyone when I have some time.  Haha, grandma's package came first, which was super entertaining because my decorations used to be that yellow American Post package underneath the paper tree and that was it (; By the way THANKS GRANDMA!!  I'm excited to see what's inside (:

Along the lines of Christmas, it's been fun and interesting celebrating here.  Elder Kitagaki's family never celebrated Christmas, so he's not even getting a package.  But he doesn't need one, because... Well, I'll get to that later.  Anyway, as a mission we're giving one thing to the savior to become more consecrated.  Because these pictures are going in a secret video to the Nagano's, "Punctuality" is just a less embarrassing way of saying I'm always behind in my journal and brushing my teeth/getting ready for bed because I like to take showers at nights and eat apples with peanut butter which is my new favorite snack of all time, but I've realized that I should be better about journaling, so...

We also took a Christmas picture as a District! Left to right is Ortega Shimai, Reyes Shimai, Elder Jacob's, Elder Furniss, and me, and Elder Kitagaki!  This was the only picture I looked decent in, so... It's the one I'm sharing.

Our ward sings Christmas Carols every Sunday and it's awesome!  My favorite is singing "Guroria inu ekusuche rushisu deyo" in a Japanese accent with the whole ward (read that out loud).

So, I was assigned to make a poster for the ward Christmas party, and remembering another Elder Stout of Japan something close to 50 years ago, I had to at least vaguely base the poster on "The Mormon 5." I was rushed though.

Anyway, I also met a cat!  I held it for an hour and it fell asleep in my arm.  I love cats.

Cindy emailed me earlier this week and it meant so much.  Also, everytime you tell me something Carson said, it instantly inspires me to be a better person.  He's so cool!  I'll be more patient, Tim sent me an email and I'm going to be improving at a higher rate from now on I think (:

So, the thing I mentioned with Elder Kitagaki not needing a Christmas present:

  I forgot to mention this before, but I've known since our first week together, Elder Kitagaki's sister's wedding was to be in this transfer 3 weeks before his return at the Tokyo temple.  It was so close to him being able to come, and he and his sister were so close before his mission, that after receiving special permission from president Nagano we were allowed to go.  My first temple wedding!

My companion was super stressed the whole ride there.  He was so nervous to see his family after two years!  It was super funny though, Japanese reunitings are much less dramatic than the average American one: when his brother walked into the waiting room and saw us, he just said, "Oh.  Hey!" And gave him a fist bump.  However, I knew his mom when I saw her because the sea of relatives parted like the Red Sea to Moses as she dashed over covering her mouth with her hands.  With everyone watching, my companion stuck out his hand in a formal missionary manner with a dumb look on his face, and they shook hands . . .

And then she hugged him.  I totally laughed and cried, and everyone else kinda just went back to eating lunch.

His mom was the sweetest Lady ever!! She was so nice to me and expressed a lot of kindness without using any words.  His sister was ecstatic to see him and they were so fun all day.

I've had not only more contact with last transfer missionaries than most greenies, but also one of the rarest experiences of watching a companion's reuniting with his family.  I really feel like The Lord wants to show me personally what blessings await me if I but serve diligently.  It really reminds me of how similar this life is in comparison to a mission when you consider what happens when it's over.  I have an amazing experience ahead of me full of growth and cool places and amazing people, and that's how our whole earthly life is.  It comes with a full serving of heartache and trials too, but I've come to realize that amidst the incomprehensible joy of our eternal lives with family, a very distinct attribute of our Heavenly Father is that he weeps when we do.  Loving sadness is a godly attribute, and it's a very important part of our experience as children of God.  In fact, we couldn't even know happiness without sadness: it's a blessing.

Tangent aside, at the end of my mission I have my family waiting for me whom I can never appreciate enough, and at the end of this life we have our whole family tree waiting for us to reunite, and talk about experiences we went through only to learn they aided us all the way.  We are so blessed.  So blessed.

Recently I've really felt the power in the fact of the atonement that no matter how many times you mess up, you will never disappoint The Lord if you keep trying.  We're here to become better, and honestly, the only way to learn where you need growth is to notice where you make the most mistakes, right?

The gospel is true.

Still haven't met with Takahisa kun because we had to cancel due to inflexible scheduling and the wedding.  But I'll update you soon!  In other news, our investigator Okada San (he has a 3 foot long silver pony tail) has begun taking the lessons from us again and is actually progressing for the first time in a year!!  Pray for him please.  Frank, is half American half nihonjin (most people call him Furânk, so that's pretty funny to hear ;) he's an awesome person.  His story is one I'll have to tell you next week, but please pray for him to make it to church and be baptized on the 27th!

I love Japan!!!  I love my mission and the people I serve!!  I miss you so much!  But I'm way excited to talk on Christmas! Or sometime around then, I'll let you know when I know the schedule (: 

Bye bye!

-スタウト長老

Elder Stout

Me and my zone leader Elder Higashi, who is
WAY too photogenic for his own good

Elder Hugo, "my first greenie"