Miracle with Iida Kyodai

We're going to see Elder Bednar tomorrow, and we're all very excited!  He's coming to our mission. I should've mentioned this a month ago, but he's coming to our mission and we'll be able to meet him in person.  This is amazing for 3 reasons:

1) It's an apostle visiting our mission, so we're about to receive some very specific, powerful, and helpful revelation that will boost our faith and productivity, and I'm so excited for that!

2) Elder Bednar in particular has really become one of my favorite apostles in this last year.  He gave two of the most well-known-among-missionaries talks in the MTC which really helped me at a hard time, I've watched and rewatched the face-to-face he did with the youth, and he is frequently quoted by our leaders when we talk about the work.  (Such things as "Faith is a principle of action followed by power.  We act, and then we receive.") So, the fact that he's coming to my mission after I've felt like I've built a personal relationship with him out here is really a tender mercy.

3) We're combining with Tokyo South.  That's right.  I'm going to see.... ELDER JACOB BURNHAM TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, time got away from us today, so I have to go in just a few minutes.  Dang it, this week was amazing, I wish I could write about all of it, but here's one really important miracle I need to share with you.  I say miracle not because it was a fun or special event or merely because it was particularly special moment, but because it was a miracle that God directly caused to happen in my life, and I saw it with my own eyes.

In the MTC, one of my favorite teachers and greatest missionary heroes of all time, Ren Hansen, acted as an elderly man named Iida whom he had had the privilege of teaching as a missionary.  Elder Clark and I taught him for weeks and weeks, and felt as if we had gone through the experience of helping this man come to know God, to overcome his addictions, to change his life, to come to church, and to follow Jesus Christ into the waters of baptism.  It was such a special experience that I shared with some amazing friends.

I knew that this same brother Iida lived not only in our mission, but near our mission home and in our mission President's ward, but the odds of me ever getting to meet him were very slim with so many areas in the mission, and I never dreamed that I'd see him with my beloved companion from the MTC.

However, last Wednesday I had the opportunity to work with Elder Clark for one more 24 hours, and I cannot say enough good about him nor our experiences that day.  We got to meet Daichi, and go to lunch with another sweet member in the ward, and it had been an amazing day.  But that night, as we talked together, we knew that there was someone we needed to meet.  We actually had to rearrange a schedule, ask some Elders who we were splitting with the next day to wait for us an extra evening, and the assistants were kind enough to let us stay at their apartment one more evening so that we could make the curfew.

Elder Clark and I sprinted as hard as we could, got a little lost (just like old times ;) and finally, we found ourselves out of an apartment building, inside of which we could hear the robotic breathing of the machine Brother Hansen had described to us in stories about his good friend.

We knocked, and when the door opened I was felt like I was dreaming.  There was brother Iida.  He invited us in and we sat down.  We only had time to stay about 10 minutes, but we talked fondly of brother Hansen, the MTC, how he's doing, and hugged as we talked about his difficulties with breathing and even sitting.  I felt such a strong bond with this fragile man.  The spirit was more powerful than I've ever felt it.  I can't describe it, but it was a pivotal moment of my life that I will never forget.

We made our way home with less than a minute to go, sprinting as hard as we could, but I'd never felt so much peace and joy before after a long day, especially after skipping dinner :)

Love you, gotta dash, 3 minutes to get home!!

I love you so much thanks for all you do :) see you next week!

Elder Stout :D

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  スタウト長老 ^o^