Today was transfer calls! Everything's gonna change like
it does each 6 weeks.
We got the call from President Nagano and he said,
"Elder Frazier, you're transferring to Maibashi! You'll be with
Elder Gibson, and we're tacking a new missionary onto you, so you'll be a
threesome training companionship!" We all got way excited and cheered for
Elder Frazier!! He's gonna do amazing. I'm gonna miss him, but now
that it's coming to an end, I'm just so grateful for all of the things I
learned from him.
At this point during the call I was already thinking of new
ideas for the Saitama Zone! "Who's my companion gonna be? Who
are the new missionaries coming in? When will we meet all of our
investigators this week...?" And then President asked for me.
"Elder Stout? Yes, we're moving you too
actually." "Huh?!" "Yes, you are actually going to Sanjo.
In Niigata." "NO WAY!!" I literally yelled it out!
"...yes. And your new companion is going to be Elder Okano!
He's a Japanese elder. You'll be district leader. You'll have a
wonderful time there. Thank you for your hard work, do you have any questions?"
IT WAS SO UNEXPECTED BUT I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! Grandpa, I'm
going to Niigata!!!!!!!! Did you ever serve in Sanjo? Because
that's where I'm headed! :D :D :D
I thought I would be here for another 3 months or so, and I was
looking forward to it. I love this ward and have gotten closer to the
people here faster than any other ward, but it's been my dream to go to Niigata
since I arrived in Japan, and I cannot wait to take the bus aaaaaaaall the way
to my dream prefecture. Mama, I'm gonna have a White Christmas again,
maybe almost as white as the ones you saw on your mission ;) Elder Frazier's
shown me LOTS of pics from when he was there, and it's gonna be cold! I
can't wait. :)
Elder Bednar's conference was amazing!!! We did not get to
shake his hand because he had a meeting with the prime minister, so there
wasn't much time, but as soon as I saw him walk into the room and everyone
stood I felt like I knew him already. Over the course of my mission I've
really gotten to know him from watching and reading tons of talks and
things. Having him here felt almost like reuniting with a friend, but
also really sacred because he's an apostle. I learned more from him than
I have time to write, but the biggest thing I want to share is that he talked
about and demonstrated by his natural actions how to truly teach.
"Teaching is not talking. It's listening." He would ask
us questions followed by, "I don't want to hear what you think I do.
Don't give me some generic answer, just tell me, what did you actually learn
from that verse?" Or similar things, and as missionaries began to open up
and ask more questions and give more comments, he simply taught us from where
we were. It wasn't a long speech, and we didn't sense him moving through
a checklist of things he had to teach. Rather, in 3 hours he asked us
questions and answered our questions. That was the entire thing! It
was such a powerful example of how missionaries should teach.
He actually
condemned the method of "guess what's in my head" where we ask
questions looking for specific answers. "You will never feel the
spirit as you ask purely informational questions so that people will tell you
things you already know. They will never feel the spirit either! I
know you've done it, I've done it, we all have. It's a well-intentioned
but mislead teaching method." I definitely need to get better at that one!
I received lots of specific revelation for myself. It was
one of the most uplifting experiences of my life. He was using the Gift
of Discernment to see our needs, it was incredible. However, the entire
meeting was filled with so much love. He never set out to make a fool of anyone
or make anyone feel bad. In fact, he made us laugh so much!
He's a really funny man. One more quote he gave us before
Sister Bednar whacked him on the back: "It's been another hour. Ok
everyone, stand up again! Alright, here's another doctrine for you: the
spirit can only receive as much revelation as the rear-end can endure."
We
stepped off of the train at the mission home's train station and walked up the stairs to the exit. Then there
was Elder Burnham. It had been a full year, but both of our mouths just
dropped and we walked straight into each other and hugged. It was a moment
I've waited my whole mission for. We got to talk just briefly and it was
so exciting. Our exchange went something like this, "I love you
man!" "I love you too, man!" "It's been so long! Wait...
you can speak Japanese!!!" "YEAH! YOU can speak
Japanese!" "Woooooaaah!!!" "WooooooOOAH!!"
Haha, we took quick pictures after the conference and then more
or less left after saying, "I can't wait to see you again in a
yearish! We have TONS to talk about!" I'm so grateful for the
friends that I have. I feel like the Lord gave me the best possible life
He had available.
On Sunday this week we made it to just Sacrament meeting, but
you'll never guess who we met!!! MY BELOVED DORYO KOSHIN
KITAGAKI!!!!!!!!!!! We hugged and chatted in Japanese, and it was the
weirdest thing ever that I understood almost everything he said. Like,
that moment when at the bike-shop I overheard a song that I listened to with
the Stouts a hundred times, and I understood it this time. That was
weird. Anyway, it was so fun to see him! It makes me happy when
people are happy to see me. It makes me feel like I wasn't too hard of a
companion to have ;)
 |
| Hiroki Kun |
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| Splits with Elder Barrett |
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| Splits with Elder Goldsberry |
I miss you dearly. I know I'm where I'm meant to be. I know that the Lord loves us and knows exactly where we are, who we are, where we're going and who we're becoming and he'll guide us every step if we let him. Love you so much!!
Elder Stout :D
🇺🇸 • 🇯🇵
スタウト長老 ^o^
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