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 :)
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| 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.
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| 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!!! |
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| 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! |
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| 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^
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