Thank you for loving the Japanese people!

What happened to the summer?!  I can't believe it's already over.  My first full summer in Japan: I absolutely loved it.  It what hot and humid and loud with lots of screaming bugs, but something about the Japanese atmosphere was charming.  Man, I love this place.  It's still my favorite country (except for America) by a long shot.

Are you loving the orange leaves and cooler weather??  It's starting to feel like Halloween, especially because we're preparing for the ward Halloween party.  I love these last 3 months of the year, each one with an awesome holiday :D It's especially great for dendo (missionary work) because it's easy to help members invite their friends to come and see the church and meet the other members in a very friendly, non-threatening setting (not that Christian churches should ever be scary, but hey.  Even halloween parties are less scary than church meetings in a Buddhist country. ;)

So, Fujii.  We had a lesson with him that helped me understand him a lot better.  We texted and asked, "Can we meet up one more time before you leave?" and he agreed to. We got there and just talked like normal, he wasn't particularly odd about anything.  Then we started from the beginning.  "So, when you first met missionaries, why did you agree to take lessons from them?" "Well... I gave them my phone number, and when they called back I felt bad like, 'I gave you my phone number, so I have to go.'"  "So, you pretty much just met to be polite?" "Yes...."

"So, why did you keep meeting with the missionaries?" "Well, I don't know.  I became interested.  I enjoyed being with you." "Fujii, be honest with us.  We don't want there to be any pressure AT ALL.  We are here to teach people about how they can build a relationship with God, improve their lives, and become happy.  Do you have interest and want to continue to meet with us?" ".........um.... yes.  Actually, I think I should keep learning.  I'd like to keep meeting with you.  I'm still thinking about baptism."

We were bold, we went in with the faith that God would take care of his work, and we were SO relieved and happy when Fujii responded in this way.  Since that day (the beginning of last week,) we've met with many members and gone to a dinner appointment and he's attended church.  He already feels like a member of the ward and everyone loves him so much.  He is in fact moving soon, but he told us he wants to do a lesson with us the day after he moves, so evidently it isn't too far.  He also told another friend of ours that he wanted to continue coming to this ward weekly :)

Dinner with Fujii and the Hashimoto family who are the BEST!!! 
These people are so Dendo Fire it's awesome!

I love Fujii, and I'm so grateful I've gotten to work with him.  The adventure won't end here, but I can't honestly say that I have any idea where his path to conversion will lead next.  Please keep praying for him.

We had a doseki (that means "member present for a lesson."  Much shorter in Japanese, right? ;) with Matsuda san.  An old SUPER "dendo faia" ("missionary-work fire", excited to do missionary work) member named Kogami Kyoudai came, and he bore testimony at just the right places as we talked about the Plan of Salvation.  Matsuda San's heart was truly touched and it was just amazing to be a part of it.  You can just see the spirit working in the hearts of some people!!

On splits with Elder Morris we talked to our bishop about working with the ward and he's really focusing on inviting people to our Ward Halloween party and then inviting ward members to the DCS, or missionary coordination meeting.  Have you been to the ones in your ward a lot?

International Group!!  YAY!  I love it.  It's this tiny group of foreigners to Japan that meets after Urawa Ward to hold church in English.  It's just a tiny thing, and honestly missionaries give almost every talk and lesson, but the little congregation of 20 or so members is wonderful.  They're from all over the world: China, Korea, Trilanka, Philippines, America, Japan....

Some of the extremely simple testimonies born are the most powerful of the day.

I'm praying for Todd to come here too!!!  That would be so awesome!!!!!  I want him to so  bad.  Aw man, this is our mission no matter where he goes, but I wanna be companions so bad.  I asked President Nagano "On a scale from 1-10, how likely is it that I will train Todd?" he said, "Honestly?  I have no idea."

And it's true.  Sometimes they change the transfer calls as they're calling missionaries, so... fingers are crossed. ;)

I loved the two quotes you sent me!  That one from President Uchtdorf is really powerful to me.  There have been people who came up to me and shook my hand with tears in their eyes saying, "Thank you for serving a mission.  Two missionaries changed my family's and my life years ago.  Thank you for your service."

And I will never forget the day that President Yamashita cried over the pulpit at a mission conference and said, "Thank you for loving the Japanese people.  For loving my people."

I can testify that small actions can change lives.  Sometimes it's hard to see in the moment, but those brief, unexpected moments when somebody thanks you for your sacrifice brings it all back.

This week we got to visit the Primary!  We were in charge of a 10 minute lesson, so Elder Frazier and I cut up black paper into little rectangles and everyone tried on their own missionary name-tags, then we sang "We'll Bring the World His Truth" in English with the words in Katakana on the board.  It was so adorable. (sing this next part out loud) "Ui habu bin bon, azu nifai obu orudo, tsu gudori parentsu hu rabu za rorudo." I know by the adorable little smiles and handshakes I got from the proud little dudes (one little girl in particular who was dying to become a missionary in like 9 years,) that we're making a difference in some lives.

One of the ward mission leaders in Saitama.  We had a meeting with all of them, and he came up afterwords.  Apparently he was in one of Josh Whitmer's zones as a missionary in the last year!  WOW!!!

Sorry, I took this at a stop light as it turned green, but this area of the town is way pretty.  Prettier than the pic, I promise.  I'll show you someday!

And here's us sending emails at 7Eleven right at this very second
because I feel bad for not taking more pictures...Whew, today has
been BUSY.  I'm ready to get some sleep... 愛しています！(^O^)

I love you so much and am so grateful for your letters :) They are always one of the biggest highlights of my week as well.  I love you so much and look forward to hearing from you again :)

     Elder Stout :D

          🇺🇸  •  🇯🇵

  スタウト長老 ^o^

"Be not afraid, only believe"

Hey!  It's great to hear from you, as always. :)  Elder Frazier and I are doing great. 

Last week we met just about daily with Fujii san and answered all his questions, cleared up his concerns, and taught him about many of the commandments.  There was a member at almost every single lesson. Things had just been getting better and better and he seemed very excited for his baptism on the 25th of September.  Things were going perfectly!  On Sunday morning we announced to the Ward Council that he desired to be baptized that Sunday and everyone was excited and talked about setting up the service.  Same thing in DCS (our Missionary Coordination Meeting, or Dendo Chousei Shukai.) As sacrament meeting was about to begin Elder Frazier sat on the stage getting ready for his talk, and I stood out in the congregation waiting for our tall friend to enter the meeting.  That's when we got a text.  I handed the phone to a Japanese member because some of the kanji was beyond me, and he just handed it back, "He won't be getting baptized next week." As bishop was standing up to start the meeting, I ran up to the front and whispered what had just happened, then sat down in the pews.

Elder Frazier had overheard what I said, and he, Bishop, and I just sat there frowning during the whole meeting.

Apparently Fujii san found a job, and so he's moving far away and won't be able to meet anymore. "If we ever have a chance in the future, let's talk then." 「機会があれば、よろしくお願いします。」Frankly, we're all kind of devastated.  His phone didn't work yesterday, but he called us back this morning after a few tries, and said we can meet tonight!  I guess you'll know what happened next week, but things are looking grim.  Please pray that he'll be able to meet with the missionaries near where he's going!

We love this man and all we've ever wanted is to help him be happy.  Whatever he chooses, we'll respect.  But until he chooses something, we're not gonna give up on him!  There are so many funny stories I'll be able to tell you about him.  We've really become good friends in these short few months.

On a brighter note, one of the members present while we taught Fujii san was an elderly man named Yamanita Kyoudai (kyoudai is just "brother" in japanese if I haven't explained that before :) He reminds me of Grandpa Austin!  After the lesson he said, "Your Japanese is 95% perfect.  But let's have a lesson tomorrow and make it 100%." So we did our language study with him and he's helping us so much!!  It's been AWESOME!  On the topic of Japanese, this week we're going a full week with no english, so wish me luck ;) I'm so excited to learn a ton!

So, Fujii moving has been a low point in the week, but here's a really high point.  A cool tender mercy!

We got a call from Tokyo 1st (Elder Frazier's old area, the other set of 4 elders besides the Shibuya elders in the 8-man apartment,) and Elder Lyn asked, "Hey, do you want a referral?  His name is Oliver, and he said he wants to meet you!"

Oliver was a random name in there phone that they had no information for, so we called him up.  When the phone began to call him, we saw his name flash up on the screen.  His number was already in our phone!  A very kind man answered.  Without hesitation he asked to meet at one of the eki (train stations) closest to our apartment.  We said "of course!"

When we met him there, we began talking and could not believe how prepared this man sounded.  He loved the church, loved the Book of Mormon, loved the church booklets and had read one of them all the way through.  Elder Frazier boldly asked him, "So, you've heard about baptism, right?"

"Yes, I was baptized a while ago in Tokyo."

HUH!?!?!

We found a less active member who was just looking for an english ward and an excuse to come to church!  We told him about our building, and he said he'd been, but what he didn't know was that we had an English speaking unit.  He was so excited to come and started joking around saying, "Here, give me a call on Tuesday and try to convince me to come to church more so I don't forget!" We all laughed, and we're gonna do it!  We're now in frequent contact with him.

We also have been meeting Matsuda san more and more.  Once with Morishita kyoudai, and the two of them talked for EVER.  But it helped us get to know him well :) The best was that he came with us to a dinner at a members house yesterday and we all made tons of Gyouza together!  I'll attach pics.  It was one of the best activities ever for an investigator: we had a competition trying to eat the most.  He had a good time!  Matsuda san may be a slower progresser because of person struggles with certain commandments, but his desire to learn about the gospel and respect for Jesus Christ astounds me.  He and his wife are two extremely good people.

Yesterday we also had our international group!  I forgot to tell you about something.  I have a new calling!  Not only am I the ward chorister, but I'm also the ward's choir director!!  I lead the little congregation of 20 people every week and we've been learning "I am a Child of God" in Japanese and English to perform at our stake conference in a few weeks!  It's been so fun and everyone gets a kick out of doing the breathing exercises I learned from marching band.  It's been so much fun to conduct again, I'd forgotten how thrilling it is to lead music :D  I love that feeling more than most in the world!

I also taught a lesson in the group.  The missionaries kind of run the show, we're trying to build the group up.  It's been great though, I showed lots of pictures of Hudson and the rest of the family because we were learning about families :)

So, another tender mercy: before the meeting I was greeting our little congregation and had the opportunity to shake a woman's hand.  As soon as I shook her hand I knew that she knew someone close to me.  "Stout.  Do you know President Stout from Kobe Mission?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, he's my grandpa."

She got emotional and assured me that he is an amazing man and that she loves him and grandma so much.  She asked about aunt Wendy and I told her that Wendy's doing well, although a little sick.  She was excited when she learned that I was dad's son, and was curious about how Davy is doing as well.  She then asked me how Grandma is doing.  I shared the hard news that he had passed away some time ago, and she took my hand with both of hers and began to cry.  She asked about Grandma Stout and the news was just as devastating to her.  Even though it was sad, her tears meant a lot to me.  They made me feel loved, and they reminded me of the impact that grandpa made here, and of the impact that one person can have on the life of another.  She then told me that she would love to give the whole Stout family hugs, and then said she wanted to meet again soon.  While I was conducting the opening hymn "Be Still, My Soul" she had her face buried in the hymnal, crying.

I believe the sister's name was Ayako.  Or maybe Amiko... I'm so bad with Japanese names, I feel awful, but I'll memorize it when I meet her again.  I love her and all of the wonderful people of Japan.

Man, I love Japan with all my heart might mind and strength.  I want to help these people so bad.  The church here is struggling bad.  Almost all of the members are first generation and so maintaining wards is extremely difficult, but the hardest thing for the Japanese people is raising their children in the church.  It is so against everything that japan says about religion and beliefs, so outside influences are awful as it is, but then the members learned the gospel when they were older, so they struggle to make it fun.  So, so many of the youth think that "the gospel" is just a long list of "don't do this or you'll be damned." And if that's your mindset, it's no wonder it's not fun for them!

The gospel is about joy, and sorrow.  Anyway, I've thought a lot about that as we've found time to hang out with our youth and play basketball/help them with english (missionary work is pretty different where I am than I thought it'd be ;)

We've been talking a lot about how we can be more effective with our dendo.  We're offering mission school now, and helping kids with all sorts of homework and test prep.  President Nagano is sure that it will lead to a lot of good.  I just want to help people.  I feel like I haven't done half of what a missionary should be doing, I just want to help more people.  I've reached that point where I love my mission and want to give all I've got to being the best I can be.

Elder Frazier and I cheezin' for the camera!  We sent
that picture out in our first email for all of the newbies.

So, our zone's new Zone Vision is "Be Not Afraid, Only Believe."

With 5 new trainees and 3 new areas, it's a great start to helping people fearlessly talk to everyone they see! :D I'm so excited for this transfer!!

The new Zone Vision.  The zone is the celestial kingdom and
each of the 5 rays represents one of our focuses for this transfer.

This is the other Elder's investigator Egami San!  He's deaf and does Japanese sign language which a member interprets and missionaries respond to.  It's so cool!

I love you so much Mama and Dada! :D Thanks for the talk that you sent, by the way dad, I love it so much, it meant a lot.  I love hearing from you each week and look forward to writing again.  Thanks for being the best parents in the whole wide world :)

Love,

        Elder Stout :D

          🇺🇸  •  🇯🇵

  スタウト長老 ^o^