Our Mission is a 5-Star Rollercoaster

We're doing great! :D This last week was packed with miracles, you won't even believe it!  There were also some downs, and some in-betweens: our mission is a 5-Star Rollercoaster.

So, Ren Kun is back in Niigata, right?  Did I explain who he is? He's Toshiki's little bro who needed to go to Niigata tozuzen (all of a sudden.) That was really sad news at first, because he can't leave his area and go to church or meet with the missionaries down there.... But then, good news! He can skype virtually any day of the week!! So, from now on, we're going to be able to constantly Skype him every other day and make sure he's doing well, feeling loved, and staying spiritually nourished. He's doing great though, as we were reading together he told us to turn to his favorite verse: 2 Nephi 26:23 "For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in adarkness." WOW! What a kid... I'm still debating between my FAVORITE scripture, but... he's got his priorities strait. And so, even though Ren's in a tough place right now, we're helping him stay in the light. :)

His older brother, Toshiki, is also having a rough time. Today especially. He skyped us though, so... we know he wants to talk. And he keeps setting up about one lesson a week, but his baptism may be a little farther out than we had all hoped.

Here's where things get awesome:

There are Shimaitachi in Sanjo finally!! We have sister missionaries at long last!! The ward has been dying for them to come. No joke, at least once a week somebody has asked us when the sisters are coming back to this area since I've been here. I mean, they love the elders, but for some reason everyone loves the sisters even more. Anyway, they came, they gave great talk at church, and now the entire ward is on fire! "Dendo" fire.

When sisters come to an area, it's a good time to refer all of the female investigators to them because, frankly, it's just way easier for the sisters to teach them. In the case of Toshiki's girlfriend Yui, they hit it off super well and are now meeting frequently! :D We're still good friends, but I think the sisters will be amazing for her. So, we probably won't be teaching her much from now on. We're really sad about that, but seeing her and the sisters and sister Okuzawa walk out of the lesson all beaming, we couldn't be happier for her! The sisters are also teaching many of the ward members now, so Elder Stout and I have a bit more finding time!

Our next miracle's name is Brother Okamura! So, he happens to be an investigator of some time, but recently he's been "chanto" meeting with us. All of our lessons were good, but just a few hours ago, he told us he believes the church is true and same with the Book of Mormon. He said, "I've learned in recent years that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and when I read the scriptures, it just all sounds right." He just wants to keep coming! I think we'll hear more about whether or not he's going to become a member of our ward this Friday (as we ran out of time), but our hopes are very high!

Ok, here's one of my favorite ones of all time. Remember the miracle that happened with Brother Maeda? How we learned that he and grandpa knew each other? Well, we've become the best of friends. He's given us a lot of beautiful calligraphy to hang on our walls, pictures he's taken, mochi, rice balls, hot chocolate... honestly, we'll probably need to start rejecting his gifts before he gives us his whole house as a new missionary apartment. ;)

My mind is constantly brought back to the day that we first knocked on his door and he had a hard time talking to us much. He seemed happy enough that we bothered to stop by, but in no mood to really have a conversation. But now... well, he'll talk as long as we're willing to talk! :D "We must never forget that people can change." And what's more, the best way that we can help them is through simple love. However you can show them love.

Over 60 years ago, my grandpa's eyes saw a man about his same age, who is now a good friend of mine. They never knew each other's names, and they probably haven't seen each other since. But there was a specific day when they sat just one chair away from each other, and I was blessed to uncover that forgotten connection. It's so cool!

Mark is doing great!!! Oh no, I'm seriously running out of time, but I have to share this miracle real quick: We contacted Mark and he said he might not be able to come with us to the Nakagawa's house to do mission school (like, missionary English and math tutoring), he was with a friend and away from home. Well, when we arrived at the station, we ran into him! The crazy things is that he was far from home, at a super random time, and with his mom, and the odds of us running into him at this location were like... at least 1,500/1. MIRACLE. His mom gave us all a ride strait to the Nakagawa's and we had an amazing time! Everyone learned tons and laughed so much and we're going to do Mission School every Thursday night from now on!!!!! President Nagano has been strongly encouraging us to get it started, and it's a miracle that it's finally been established with 4 students!!! We're so happy we can't handle it. Also, I love the Nakagawa family. Our relationship is hilarious. I'll send a pic next week!!

And finally, I'm sorry, I don't have a picture for this one, but....

Asako Shimai. You asked how she responded to learning that we're staying here in Sanjo. We called her up on the phone:

"How were the transfers??"

"We have sisters coming!! Sister Griffin is coming, did you hear?? (Sister Griffin was one of her first missionaries who came back for her last transfer! We also served together in Urawa, way cool.)"

"Yes, she wrote me! I'm so excited! But what about you??"

"Sadly..... We're both staying!!"

We all laughed and then she got really serious and said, "I've been thinking more about baptism. Maybe... You two and Sister Griffin will be here, that's going to be so special. I've thought, maybe I want to get baptized sooner. Like, while you're all here."

And Elder Stout and I gave each other a hundred bajillion high fives. YAY YAY YAY!!!!!!! She's still nervous and not rock-solid positive, but we're doing everything we possibly can to help her have the faith to accomplish her goal. We're hoping for Febuary 25th. Please please please pray for our sister!! She already comes to church each week and has for a year, so she's pretty much a member.... ;)

I love you so much mama!! Talk to you again next week. Thanks so much for everything you do for me, I love you emails each week. You're the best! :) I miss you tons!!

本当に会いたいですよ！！

   Elder Stout :D

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スタウト長老 ^o^