A week packed full of miracles and tender mercies!

This last week was packed full of miracles and tender mercies that I hope I never forget!

The Zone!!! I love these people!!

This week in Saitama Zone we had interviews with President and Sister Nagano.  They came to our church and we got to see all of the missionaries as they came through; we were assigned to do thorough checks of all of the tablets (I would say iPads, but the 5 new missionaries this transfer have Samsung tablets because the church is transitioning over.  Anyway. . .) Although the process of going through each missionary's Area Book, notes, email, pictures, and even a lot of their Facebook accounts takes a while, I was blessed to see a small miracle on the screen of one elder's iPad!

I was reviewing the posts on his iPad to make sure they were appropriate for a missionary's account when I ran into several folders.  Normally, so long as the folders aren't hidden, you can quickly skim the small preview pics inside even if there's a few hundred.  I glanced over all of these folders, but felt drawn to one folder filled with a ton of pics.  As I started scrolling through it I noticed some pictures of large ice sculptures, and I realized that the Japanese elder who owned the iPad must have lived in Sapporo for the winter festival (Yukimatsuri!) I felt prompted very specifically to go to the bottom of this massive folder and look closely at the last dozen or so pictures.  Not just skim them, to look closely.  After seeing the ice sculptures, I was almost certain I knew where the prompting was leading me.  The last couple of pictures were those of a large group of missionaries at a train station.  I looked at the first 4 and thought, "this is probably a waste of time..." And almost exited out, but I felt impressed to just go a little farther.  I did, and then I saw this picture which at a glance could be mistaken as something not worth looking twice at.

I didn't see most of this elder's pictures, and there's no way I would've just run into this one without some guidance.  Elder Tamura didn't recognize the name Rick Stout, and I doubt Rick knows that he knew Elder Tamura, but this missionary in my zone is a convert from just a while ago while my cousin was a missionary.  Way cool!  It was a little reminder to me that the Stout family's history is written all over this island.  Shout out to Ricky! :)

We went on splits this week with one of the new missionary Companionships and I got to go with Elder Jensen, who is a transfer 1.  He's so full of passion and fire for the work, and our day together was an absolute blast.  Even though they were as lame as ever, he laughed at all of my jokes and listened carefully to my stories, and I did the same to him.  We just hit it off way well and had become really good friends by the end of the night.  It was a really pleasant reminder that I may be a weird personality, but there are people in this world who I can be myself around and just feel at home with.  That's something everyone needs to remember!

While I was with Elder Jensen, we actually ran into Matsuda San at a restaurant and it turned out to be a great miracle as both of us were low on cash and he payed for our meal (and bought us tons of extra food ) we had a great conversation, and he came to conference!  If his heart gets any softer it'll be as mushy as a week-old banana!

On the topic of Elder Jensen, we received some startling news this morning.  Elder Eyre is emergency transferring and will be his new trainer!  We'll have another elder, Elder Miller whom I knew in the MTC, in our apartment!  I already miss Elder Eyre, he's just a way positive influence in the flat.

We got to watch 3 sessions of conference yesterday, including the priesthood session.  I actually saw it live!!  I couldn't help but think after it ended that everyone was off to get a pizza dinner and I had just barely eaten breakfast :P

Between it and the Saturday Morning session, we went on a nice walk with Fujii San and were able to talk a bit.  The park was way sunny and pretty, but the best part of the walk was when I asked our tall friend, "When are you the happiest, Fujii?" He contemplated it for a while and then said, "Well... When I'm at church."

Pancakes for our beloved seminary students :D

On another split with Elder Jones we determined to go to a nearby high school first thing in the morning to invite as many high schoolers to our mission school activity as possible!  However, we slammed on our breaks about 10 minutes early because at a four-way stop near a train station there were literally hundreds of high school students crossing the street!!  WE FOUND OUT WHERE TO HAND OUT FLYERS!!!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!! We're all so hyped to get this program stated, because I believe it's going to save the rising generation of the church in Japan. With Elder Jones and his goofily-effective methods, we passed out nearly 100 in a half hour.

Our new chirashi!!!!

Alright, this actually happened nearly a month ago, but it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life.

We received a phone call from a recent convert of one year who was in a panic.  "I found something online and I've been talking with my friends and... I just don't believe the church is true. (In Japanese, then in broken English when I asked for clarification—) I can not bee-reebu, these chachi."

The next day we met with our heartbroken brother Uchida and listened.  He talked without taking a breath for nearly 20 minutes straight.  I felt impressed to write down his key concerns on a piece of paper, and to simply listen.

When his feverish talking came to an end he just sat and waited.  His two biggest concerns were how good people suffer and some claims that people have made about DNA tests on native Americans disproving the Book of Mormon.  Elder Frazier and I testified about how good people have harsh trials because we cannot grow without tribulations, and life is all about growth!  Elder Frazier's words were powerful.  In regards to his next question, we went to the Book of Mormon itself and testified that we knew it to be true.  We then read the simple sentence in the introduction, "The Laminates are among the ancestors of the native Americans." He read it aloud and looked perplexed.  Then read it again and his eyes got wide.

"Among.... Among!!  It doesn't say anywhere in the Book of Mormon that they are the only ones!  Maybe it is true!  Maybe I can believe... No." He sat up much straighter in his seat, "I WILL believe!  Thank you so much!" In that moment the spirit's influence was so powerful that I didn't stop feeling it in a special and powerful way until the next day.  It was the most amazing fe

eling ever to be a part of helping someone overcome his fears by faith.  I'm happy to report that the next day we saw him at the Institute activity at our church.

Love you so much :D

     Elder Stout :D

          🇺🇸  •  🇯🇵

  スタウト長老 ^o^

Elder Frazier has a Costco card, and so we made time today to go to Costco :D :D :D

This is my "no food can give me memories of home and going shopping with the mom but these hot dogs" face.

Only in Japan Costco.....

I love Costco because this food is dirt cheep AND American.

In case you were wondering, those two never go together here...

This lady taught me how to play a Chinese violin and said she might give me a real violin next week cuz she's gonna throw it out anyway!!!!!! WHAT?!?! (All at English class.)