Our new friend Mark from the Philippines!

This week has seriously been fantastic.  Toshiki hasn't been able to meet until tonight, and so we'll see how he's doing then!  It's been a little tough trying to meet up with him, but he still wants to be baptized in December, so we'll keep you updated!

Asako is doing AMAZING. She comes to Eikaiwa and Ping Pong night and church, and the ward is so good with her. Nakagawa Kaichou is the best, he relates with her so well and having lessons with him is a dream come true because he knows right when to testify and what to say. She is really progressing now and we're hoping to set a baptismal date with her soon here.

We have a new friend to introduce.... his name is:

MARK!

He is from the Philippines, at age 16 performs with many bands, and needs help with his math homework.  That's where we come in ;) I met him on splits with Sister Roper's nephew, Elder Peterson. 

Mark said he'd love to come to mission school, and while there he actually asked tons of questions about the church.  He now has a Book of Mormon and will be coming to church this next week. He's already Christian and really likes what he's heard about the restoration. Also he's helping out at our Eikaiwa and is a natural teacher, and everyone loves him. He said he doesn't really have any friends (but look at him, he's so cool!) and so we're gonna be able to meet up lots. So far his family seems supportive of him coming here!  Aw man, I could go on and on about Mark and the miracle find that he was (he actually stopped US as we were biking). 

I'm glad that you had a great thanksgiving!  Elder T. Stout and I just went and bought a bunch of 7Eleven food that was the equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner and called it good. But meeting with everyone at Zone Conference was so wonderful!!!!!! Seeing Elder Clark and Elder Li is my favorite. I always spend the whole break time talking with those two, and this time having Elder Stout there with me made it so cool. 3 of my favorite companions at once!! Doesn't get much better than that.

Also, guess what?? Biraj skype called me! :D

Oh man, I love that talk about the current bush. I actually downloaded that video about a year ago and have both watched and shared it with members a hundred times. All of my companions know it's my favorite mormon message. :) Thank you for sharing! "I am the gardener here, and I know what i want you to be." It's so true. The Lord is in control. I really love the teaching that we can let the Lord take control of our lives and we don't have to stress it too much because he'll make us into our best selves. :)

Welp, that's about the week :) We're doing great and having so much fun, I'm sorry I'm not able to write more, I'll write more next week!

  

I love you so much! :) Sorry this week was a little all over the place. We have the best family ever, even when my emails don't make sense just know that I miss y'all so much and I love you!

   Elder Stout :D

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スタウト長老 ^o^

This week has been fantastic!

We are doing GREAT!  This week has been fantastic, and I am more confident than ever before that we're going to be a part of a something great this transfer (and hopefully the next few transfers.) Man, this is the closest companionship I've ever had, and it's week 2! :D

So, our first adventures were this week were trying to get a bike.  We walked for 2 hours to get to the bike shop in the rain only to find...... it was closed.  So, that was the worst.  But we got these huuuuuge beef bowls for dinner!  So it was still worth it ;)

The next day we dendoed lots and it was awesome!!  Elder Stout was fantastic at talking to people and we've delveoped a good way of stopping them, him introducing us to them, me learning more about them, him sharing a spiritual thought, and then an invitation!  We're becoming a killer team!!  We found a new investigator in our first hour AND gave him a Book of Mormon!

We finally got our bikes and our first trip was to brother Tosaka's house, a less active member.  We helped him with his rice company and packaging and shared a spiritual thought Elder Stout had prepared, and it was awesome!!! :D He came to church yesterday and is doing great!!

Toshiki kun is doing great!  This week he's started to progress a lot.  Due to some personal matters, his family is in a lot of stress right now, and he's been humbled.  It's brought him closer to God and he's determined on his own and then informed us that he wants to be baptized on Christmas Day.  There's also a really good chance that his girlfriend has the same desire, so please pray for them.  We love the Okuzawas!

AND AND AND!!  We have a new investigator named Asako Chan!  She's around her 30's and has been studying with the sisters for some years, but in the last year hasn't done much because the sisters were removed from Sanjo last year.  However, she came to church in Saitama while visiting a friend and I met her there!  She knew elder Frazier and one of the Urawa sisters.  Well, when I came to Sanjo, we met and she's decided to take lessons again!  We always need a male ward member there so there's a lot of coordination that goes in, but she is so prepared.

Also we met a new man at the train station named Hasebe who were meeting on Wednesday who is also investigating now!  The Lord is blessing us with so many friends to talk with.

Today we hiked Mount Yahiko and it was the most gorgeous fun P-Day I think I've ever had.  Brother Sturges (the one American in our ward) helped us get there by driving us to the mountain, and his wife made us onigiri!

One more big development.  We've been doing practice lessons with part member families to get to help them. :) Our branch president Nakagawa Kaichou (Kaichou is president in Japanese) told us yesterday that he can tell we're determined to work hard and he feels like he can trust us and that we're good missionaries.  Hearing a bishop say that made me feel SO good :) We're determined to do our absolute best!!  We have the trust of the ward and that means we can do anything!

I love you so much mama!! :) I'll write more next week!!  I love you too Dada! :D I appreciated your letter but I'm sorry I didn't send you an email, I will next week!  Climbing Yahiko took longer than we thought... 

Anyway, love you tons! :)

    Elder Stout :D

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スタウト長老 ^o^

Elder Stout & Elder Stout in Sanjo!

 IT'S TRUE!  THE TWO ELDER STOUTS IN JAPAN ARE COMPANIONS IN SANJO! :D

I am so unbelievably excited for this transfer.  There is not a line up that I have hoped for more than working in Niigata ken with Elder Stout.  I'M SO HAPPY! :D

I'm really sorry, we took all of our time up today traveling and such, so there's not much time to email.  I'm really sorry it's super short, but I'll send a longer email this next week :) 

This week was really wonderful.  Elder Okano and I were working really hard every day.  

We had planned a lot of things with our English tutoring classes and such to make this area more productive, but when it was reaching it's peak of us planning, we got a phone call from Elder Li saying, "This is your transfer call.  Elder Okano, you're headed to Utsunomiya!  Elder Stout, do you know what this call means?" And I knew exactly what it meant.

Aw man, I'm so happy. :) I'm not sure if it's necessarily a good thing, but I've prayed so hard every day for the last few months that Todd would come and we could work together, and the Lord answered my pray in a very special way!  Being with him has made me miss all of your terribly, but we're where we need to be! :) The two of us are going to do everything in our power to build the kingdom here in our beloved Sanjo!

Ps, Dad, Todd got me the hug from you :) I miss you too and think of you often.  I can't wait to spend time with you again like I've been hanging out with him all day!

Rachel, you owe Todd and I a couple of matching ties.  No, I did not forget your promise ;)

I love you so much, take care!!! :)

    Elder Stout :D

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スタウト長老 ^o^

I seriously love this place!

Sanjo.  This place is so special.  However, during my time with a previous companion, there was rarely a day that went by in which he didn't talk about how cold Sanjo was and how few people there were (it was actually really cool that I got sent here because I had heard more about this area than any other area in my whole mission.  When missionaries would mention it, I'd say I really wanted to go to Niigata, and then they'd tell me lots about it!)  Between what I've seen and heard, my thoughts about this area are very conflicted.  Here's why: about 75% of what I heard about it was straight complaining.  Kinda those classic comments about a "dead area" that you and Mark talked about in your letters.  "Everybody just says 'kekko desu!" And "every house from here to Yahiko Mountain has been knocked on several times by missionaries." And "Everyone already said they have no interest."

I'm gonna be straight up, I hate a negative attitude more than almost anything else in this universe.  No matter how different I am from a person, if they have a positive attitude, we can be great friends.  But consistent negative comments just wear on my patience really fast and make me depressed.  And so it is with Sanjo!

There are a lot of people who will just swat at the air like you're a fly and say, "I don't need that!" It happens from time to time, but let's be honest, it happens everywhere else too.  That's the reality.  You can't mine gold unless you dig through some dirt first.  I've come to conclude that the only thing that's difficult about Sanjo is that it is very cold.  But I like the cold for the most part.  Maybe I'm just lucky because this is my dream area.  There are miles of rice fields, old houses, ancient japanese structures, gorgeous mountains covered in pine and bamboo, the list goes on and on.  I absolutely love this place.  And we've actually had 4 times as many lessons this last week as is normal for the area (normal is 3) Elder Okano said he really wants to turn things around.  Right now, we're working hard!  But lots of prayers would be appreciated.  However, never feel bad for me or anything, because I'm not trying to be humble or whatever.  I seriously love this place.  As far as looks, it's my favorite area yet. :)

The two-man apartment is really interesting.  We only ever see each other, which is so strange.  There are no other missionaries within an hour train ride of us, so we have a lot of ground to cover :P The ward is really hoping that we'll have some sisters come in soon, but for now there are a couple of investigators and less active members who are ladies that we visit with a male member.  It's pretty isolated, which I am not used to at all after Shibuya.

Hahaha, the apartment is already cleaned up quite a bit, but I took a few pics for you ;) It's almost on par with a clean apartment, and pretty soon it'll be the most comfortable apartment in the mission!!

Fixing the lights.

Aaaawww, that sounds so fun!  I love to hear about y'all working in the yard and making grape juice and jam and apple sauce and such! Those girls are so cute!  I saw the pictures of their costumes and I died!!  This year was a hit, Rachel. Bravo ;) You too Mae, Hudzy looked way good!  Good work on the vest ;)

Man, this week was awesome.  I'm trying to remember all that happened... we talked to TONS of people!  We mostly focused on working with less active members though.  One of our ward members, brother Kumagai said that a certain brother Maeda might have known Grandpa!  Anyway, we knocked on his door and it was awesome!  I've learned that one of my missions that the Lord wants me to accomplish is working with grumpy people.  Elder Okano was pretty devastated by some of the rude things that were said, but I didn't understand any of them so I just smiled and kept being friendly and he said he'd like it if we came back! :D We met another brother Shida who is an inventor and being in his house was so cool! He's one of the nicest people ever, and was so happy to have us there.  So was brother Tosaka, he was all smiles the whole time!  We actually had to tactfully say, "I'm sorry, we have another appointment..." because he loved talking with us so much! :) That's really been the focus of our work.

Toshiki is awesome, but he's hard to teach.  His family is actually half members, and he has interest in raising his children in the gospel, but when we meet he just wants to play sports and stuff, and getting around to the lessons is really difficult.  But our relationship with him has gotten to be great!

So, this is the worst story that could ever happen to missionaries.  After a long day of finding, we found a new investigator named Junjun who was so awesome and said that he wanted to come to church with his buddy!!! And then on Sunday they weren't there, and later that day we got an email saying, "Sorry, I got lost, so we just found a catholic church and went there instead." And then he hasn't responded to our invitations since......

Dang it.

Please pray for us to find new people!!  We just applied at the city service center, so we'll be making lots of friends!  And we're going to colleges to offer to teach English as a mission, and people in the district are already finding people to teach the gospel as well from it! :D So, that's definitely going great!!

Today we biked 20 miles and went to Yahiko and explored the shrine and it was one of the coolest days of my life!

Anyway, life is great and we're doing great too.  I love you! :) Can't wait to tell you more about this wonderful area next week!

    Elder Stout :D

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スタウト長老 ^o^