Merry Christmas!! I can't believe we're finally to this week of the year again! Can you even believe it? I love Christmas time. It's, as Mark said in an email once, one of the most bitter-sweet times to dendo. It's the best time to represent the savior, and the hardest time to be away from those you love. I guess I'm pretty lucky that I only had to spend 1 Christmas away from family......
Having my cousin has made it pretty dang easy to work hard every day. Granted it makes it easy to get distracted, so we're always striving for improvement ;) I'm so grateful that we get to spend such a special time together! Last year in Narita was life changing for me, and this Christmas season has been more special than I ever could have asked for.
Speaking of Christmas! I wanted to send you a Christmas present and so I bought a bunch of Japanese treats and two simple cards (that are really fancy, but simple.) and that's about it... last years present might have been a little more heartfelt, what with the letters to everyone, but I already sent it basically before I really had time to think. I'm gonna be a masterful gift-giver like Mark one day, but I hope you can easily work with this years present! It might not arrive until a few days after Christmas, that was my bad... I'm sorry!!
Toshiki! He's doing great. As of right now, there are no official plans for the wedding, we're still working on it with everyone. However, we taught him about the law of Chastity and committed him to live it, and he said "yes!" Following that, we gave him two options on a board and handed him the marker. He circled this option. :D (President Nagano laughed when I told him we took a picture of it later )
His girlfriend Yui Chan has been coming to all of our activities lately like the stake Christmas music night and to our family-night-movie-party where we watched the Joseph Smith film. They've been really humbled lately, and her heart is really being softened. Please pray for both of them, but suffice it to say that Toshiki is on a roll coming to church each week!!
Asako is also doing amazing. Every lesson with her is super spiritual (it certainly helps that we have a member of the branch presidency join each lesson!).
Mark!!!!!! He hasn't answered his phone this week and we're really sad about it. I'll let you know what's up next week. I do know that he's been crazy busy with school and stuff and maybe just needs a break. We're praying really hard that we'll see him again soon.
Do you wanna hear the best story of the week!?! :D Elder Stout and I went out to knock doors last week and we saw a guy outside of his apartment building. His name was Shing Bu.
We started talking to him and sure enough, he really wanted to learn. He's from Myanmar, and his Japanese is still pretty new, but his eyes lit up when we said who we were and he asked us to come back. Yesterday we did, and we had one of the most spiritual first lessons I've ever had within his home. Not only that, but half of it was drawn on paper to help us understand each other. It was so cool!!
We also found out that he already has a bible in his own language!!Bu san is so passionate about the gospel and already knows the blessings that come from it (first time I've ever born testimony and somebody's given me a blank stare saying, "Yeah. I know it makes me happy." He's so awesome. He just really wants to learn with us. So, our next step is to find a Book of Mormon for him in Myanmar!!! :D
Um... That's so exciting to hear about Josh Whitmar!!! I can't believe it. He's always been like an older brother to me, but at the same time I've also always felt like we're the same age. He makes me feel old. That talk is one of my favorite talks of all time. I really really love it. I think every member of the church should be required to read it and study it multiple times in their lives. It completely changed mine. (Elder Stout's good friend, Josh Whitmer gave his homecoming talk yesterday and shared some great insights about President Ezra Taft Benson's talk on pride. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/04/beware-of-pride?lang=eng )
Fun story for the day: we woke up after splits with the Niigata Elders in Grandpa's favorite city, and walked outside to find that it went from absolutely no snow to half a foot over night!! Walking 30 minutes to the eki was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. When we took the train across snowy tundra and cities back to sanjo, it was snowy here too, but after a couple of hours it all melted. We had a rain storm last night, and there's no trace of it. Everyone is so confused at why there's no snow! We should've been covered a month ago. I think the Lord needs Elder Stout and I to use our bikes just a little bit longer! Go dendo!!!
I love you so much!! Can't wait to see you in a week from today!!!!! :D :D :D :D
Elder Stout :D
πΊπΈ • π―π΅
γΉγΏγ¦γι·θ ^o^
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