Mother's Day Skype with Elder Stout

We got to Skype with Elder Stout on Mother's Day!  It was so good to talk to him.  He is doing great!  He told us that they just had transfer calls, and he is going to be training a new missionary!  They are receiving several English speaking missionaries, several Japanese missionaries, and several missionaries from Brazil.  He doesn't know which his new companion will be. 

Calling you was a massive highlight of this whole year! :D I love seeing everyone and just getting to talk to them.  The two biggest feelings I have after talking with everyone is, 1) That I love all of you and can't wait to hang out again, and 2) That I want to work super hard now because in reality the time until I'm home is all too short.

I'm so so so excited to be a trainer, but also so so terrified.  Everything you've said is exactly how I'm feeling: very excited and blessed and nervous and inadequate.  If The Lord trusts me and if President Nagano trusts me, then I must be able to do it.  I'm terrified to know if my companion is English speaking, Japanese, or Spanish!!  I have no idea what I'm getting, but I'm stoked for anything! :D  We're going to work hard and we're going to see some massive changes in the near future.  Elder Li and I have really imagined an amazing vision for what this mission could be, and it all starts with the members.  Hopefully, if I show my trainee that we work with the members from the very beginning, he can change the culture of the mission from day 1!!

It's a lot of pressure, but I just know I can do a good job.  Please pray for me every day, but pray harder for my new companion.  I know I will.

As for people we're working with, as I said over the Skype call, we haven't been able to meet with Tsukagoshi san.  It's a big holiday in Japan right now so he may be out of town, but after visiting his house many times I wonder if he's afraid to meet with us after not passing his interview.  Please pray for him to have courage, and most importantly to have hope.

Daichi has not been able to skype this week.

Matsuoka san is about 45, he's insanely busy as is expected with Tokyo life, but he makes time to meet with us once every week.  We've set a baptism date for the 11th of June, and he said that if he feels these things are true by then, of course he will be baptized.  Please pray that he can give up smoking and will be able to work it out with his job to come to church every week leading up to his baptism.  He is such a kind and intelligent man, and even though he usually likes to view the gospel from a careful-to-test-the-waters-nice-ideology viewpoint, he's beginning to recognize the spirit and it's an amazing transformation to witness.

We had a wonderful lesson with a man named Tang from Taiwan and the WHOLE thing was in English!  Wow.  He's actually moving, so we have to refer him to some other Elders, but being able to teach in English is so liberating, I love it.  I get to know these people so much better and have an easier time answering their questions.  Although it was really funny noticing how Elder Li and I fell into habits of thinking up Japanese phrases which we usually teach, and translating them into English out loud.  For example: "We know this is true.  So we would like to recommend that you read The Book of Mormon to know for yourself."  Recommend.  It sounds so funny in English, but in Japanese, that's just the polite way of saying, "If you read this Book, you can know too."

I've actually had an interesting idea recently.  So, the mind is a muscle, right?  Well, when your average teenager wants to get super in shape, what does he do?  Does he work every muscle in his body for 6 days a week?  No.  You work different muscle groups daily to give your body time to grow.  What if our minds are the same!!  This transfer, my language plan is going to be like my work out plan: Monday and Thursdays: Vocab, phrases, and grammar.  Tuesdays and Fridays: Listening Speaking/pronunciation.  Wednesdays and Saturdays: Reading, writing, and Kanji.  Obviously, I'll still focus on my investigators needs, and learn what they need.  But for the other half of my study, I think focusing like this will help me grow much faster.  What do you think? :) Maybe I'm just crazy; let me know.

It was so good to see all of you during the skype call :D :D :D I love being bombarded with the siblings.  I felt like Harry Potter holding the Deathly Hallows and watching significant figures from his childhood just fly out of nowhere to give him advice and to laugh with him before things get really intense.  So, y'all are basically the best.  Thanks for being such a fun and tight family.  Mama and Dada, I'm so grateful for the personal time we got to talk.  I'm sorry it was a little bit short, it always is, but that's a little "shoganai."  The time flew by so fast.  I think we talked about everything we needed to... in any case, I was just grateful for the opportunity to call and loved every minute of it :)  I hope you got enough time with me!

Ok, I wasn't planning on sending a big email today because we skyped, but apparently I had a lot to talk about... 

I love you Mama, and I love you two Dada!!  I love all of you siblings!!!

Until next week! :)

スタウト長老! ^o^

Elder Stout! :D

Japanese pizza is weird.  This picture is
missing the corn pizza though, luckily . . . .

This park looked like too much fun!

I LOVE YOU!