Narita is the BEST! I love it so much here!!
Everything is so pretty and chill. So many people here even speak a touch
of English... well, they at least understand a touch of it (; But we're
right by the airport, so we run into a good number of foreigners who speak
Eigo! (: I'm ever striving to just open my mouth, because approaching people
hasn't become any easier since arriving here, but I'm seeing so many
miracles! Little things like feeling I should move and sit next to
someone on a train, and just as I do they stand up and leave but the person who
walks in right then and sits down right next to me speaks fluent English and
has a Christian background. To the man I'm describing, I gave a Book of
Mormon. He said, "My entire family back home is Mormon... Thank you,
I'll read this!"
My companion is good, I think! I know he's a physical
therapist, because he gives me massages every few nights. Apparently my
spine is a bit more bent than is usual! Probably from marching
band. He's decided to help me as much as he can, but suggested,
"Afta mishun, kiroporacta ebery day!" He also loves Tennis and has
used that skill in finding and fellowshipping several times since I've been
with him. He's really good, apparently he got into college because of his
talents! Other than that, I know he was a punk before his mission, but I
can't decipher anything else. Its really hard to try to teach lessons
when we barely understand anything about each other, but The Lord is with us
and there's a lot for both of us to learn!
Another time, (last night) I was having a pretty awful day, and
nothing seemed to be going right, but as I stepped off the train and we were
headed home, I heard someone say, "Hey look, missionaries!!" I met a
whole family of members from Utah. Their oldest son just got home from
serving in Sapporo. Not only that, their daughter who's my age was really
good friends with someone in my district! Getting to help them with their
luggage was such a blessing. It felt so nice to speak to people who understood
me.
So, eating... yeah. We pretty much eat white toast with
honey, pasta with mabudofu, and sometimes curry, and eggs. Then outside
of the apartment we get nice restaurant meals. Sushi, ramen, and pretty
much everything else here is heavenly. Every Sunday one of the members
makes us lunch after church and it’s SO GOOD. We're so lucky for
that. Oh yeah!! And your companion did invite us over! (: We had
a really amazing dinner with her. She's such a good chef too. I ate
way too much, and it was so worth it (: I'll send a picture!
 |
| Missionaries having dinner at Bishop and Sister Sugimoto's home. Sister Sugimoto, top left, was Elder Stout's mom's mission companion, Sister Masago! |
So, for those of you wondering about the rain here: it hasn't
flooded at all in Narita, (like I've said, this area is pretty mountainous, so
all of the water runs into the valley.) However, we've had tons and tons of
rain. And Hibino Chourou and I decided to go to the adjacent city the
other day, which just so happened to be the rainiest day I've seen yet.
And Sakurai is about an hour's bike ride. So I was completely soaked to the
bone by that night... *shudder* Other than that, I love the rain! Just
biking in it for hours on end... (; I've had a cold since my third day
here. Elder Hibino caught a cold from another Elder who transferred out
when I transferred in. I wasn't sure what he meant when he said,
"Ah, I'm caught! I'm caught!" until I "caught" what
he had. d: Anyway, my sore throat has been basically consistent after it
climaxed 2 weeks ago. Now it’s just dully numb d: Do you know any
remedies for that? Probably just eating healthier... XD
 |
| Bike riding rain poncho. Only in Japan! |
So, as far as Japanese, I don't feel like I'm improving at
all. But I know I probably am...
We went to Narita San, one of the biggest Bhuddist Shrines in
the world, which is just in my backyard, and it was SO COOL. It was the
most gorgeous scenery I've ever seen. I'll send pictures! There
were so many old cracked stones with ancient writings on them, pools full of
turtles and coy fish, old bridges, monks, gongs, graves, relics.... AH.
IT’S LIKE AN ARCHEOLOGICAL DREAM COME TRUE EXCEPT PEOPLE STILL USE IT DAILY.
(I may want to be an animator now, but that stuff is still my favorite.)
So, I want to summarize a miracle that happened to me this
week. We had a zone conference with President Whiting of the 70.
Just before the conference I looked EVERYWHERE for my spiritual journal and
couldn't find any sign of it. Finally, I just gave up and grabbed my
iPad, but then Elder Nabrotzky said, "You can't use that in the Chapel,
you need paper notes." So, kind of annoyed by that, I went and
grabbed my scratch paper notebook. Its the one that you bought with me
just before I left! Kind of a nicer looking thing, but after I got my
spiritual journals at the MTC bookstore about a week in, I started using this
thing for scratch. Anyway, when I got to the conference I sat down.
Immediately after we started, the announcer said, "You're allowed to use
iPads if you brought them." But I didn't have mine. The conference
began, and everything he shared was so powerful. In essence, we kind of
got lectured about how, "Why aren't there more baptisms in Japan?"
many excuses are given like, "Everyone's Bhuddist, people don't feel a
need for a church here..." But in the end, he told us it was because of
our lack of Faith. After surveying the entire mission, he found that a
pathetic 1% of all of the missionaries challenge to baptism after the first
lesson, as instructed in Preach my Gospel. The missionaries here are
afraid to do so because of how forward it seems, but Elder Whiting said,
"If you ask, 'If you come to know that these teachings are true, will you
follow Jesus Christ's example and be baptized by one holding proper priesthood
authority?' will anyone be offended? NO! Its not a rude
question. But it will give them a clear idea of the importance of this
ordinance."
Miracles come about through Faith. And when you find
excuses to avoid the teachings of prophets, well, that's a grand lack of faith.
Anyway, towards the end of the meeting, I had taken some 9 pages
of notes. I ended up writing really big in some places which is out of
character for me. I took notes where I might not have needed to and ended
up using a lot of paper. I had just filled the page I was on, and I
turned it as President Whiting, about to conclude, thought aloud, "Be
aware of the order in which events in your life occur. God is ALWAYS in
the timing. Alright. I'm trying to decide, what would God have me
tell you right now?"
The next page by sequence of the days writing in this book just
so happened to be a page which I had etched only two brief lines on in my 3rd
day at the MTC. The first read, "The natural man."
"The natural man," Elder Whiting said, "Is an
enemy of God and always will be unless we adopt the character of Christ."
In disbelief, I looked down at the next line in my notebook,
scrawled hastily on the first random page I had opened up to nearly 2 and a
half months ago after hearing some inspired words in a talk, "Christ turns
outward when you and I would turn in."
"Jesus Christ turns out when you and I turn in." Elder
Whiting said.
It was direct revelation. I truly believe that God spoke
to me personally in the most obvious and clear way that he deemed
necessary. For the last 4 minutes of this man's testimony I felt the
spirit stronger than I ever have before in my entire life. Not the usual
light or warmth in your bosom, or even insights to your mind beyond your normal
ability to think; this feeling was like a fire inside of me. There was so
much power burning in my heart that I was shocked and inspired and excited the
remainder of that day. But the first thing that happened when I got home
was I found my journal, and I got my iPad out. Were it not for so many
tiny miracles which transpired over the last two and a half months, I would not
have had that experience. God is in the timing.
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