Elder T. Stout and I are on one of the highest highs of our mission!!

You remembered my birthday! :')  That video was the best ever!!  I especially loved Hudson and Mark's segments ;)  Thanks so much, it means a lot that everyone put together a fun vid! :) And I really appreciated your email :) I like to think that even in high school I was your little buddy ;)

I used to think I was so big in high school because I could drive a car, but you still took me to school and stuff. And then I thought I was so big for living on my own in a foreign country, and then I remembered that you're still managing my life from behind the scenes even though I'm supposed to be an adult! I think on my "birth" day, it's important to remember who gave that birth to me. ;) Thank you so much for being the best mother in the world. Sister Nagano reminded me that a mother's love is entirely selfless and is the closest thing we can relate to Christ's love for us, and I continue to learn more and more that you are the epitome of that pure love for me in my life! (You two dad, this compliment is for both of you :)

We celebrated my birthday today at a brand new sushi shop that opened up TODAY, on my birthday!  Sushi is my favorite food, so we came.

Best Birthday Ever!!!

Genki Kun! He doesn't look too genki!

My favorite sushi!!

I really appreciated your email last week! Sorry I wrote such a downer email, I was definitely having a bad day. I just want you to know that those down feelings are completely gone, and Elder T. Stout and I are on one of the highest highs of our mission!! This week was unreal! :D I'm so happy to hear about the miracles you saw with Davy and cousin Helen Jane!! I want you to know this was a big week of miracles for us, too! :)

Yesterday Toshiki and Yui had a meeting with their parents to discuss whether or not there will be a wedding. We were all way nervous (because we've been praying for them to get married for several months now.) Well, the meeting happened aaaand.... THEY'RE GETTING MARRIED! The date is still up in the air, but Toshiki called us and asked about when the soonest he can get baptized is. President Nakagawa, Toshiki's family, and the missionaries are all going to be heavily involved with, for lack of a better term, the "legal wedding" at Yui and Sister Okuzawa's request, and Toshiki and Yui are hoping to get baptized together right after that. (If I understand correctly, they want to have a more traditional style wedding ceremony after the baby is born in June so that Yui can wear the kimono she wants.)

Toshiki asked me if I would baptize him, and so Elder T. Stout is hopefully going to baptize Yui. Toshiki has been shooting for an April 7th baptism, and is hoping to have the legal wedding planned for before then, but it may be the following week or a little after that. Everyone's saying April, though. Whatever the case, they plan to get married as fast as possible, and there is great rejoicing in Sanjo right now!!! Prayers are being answered!! The transfer calls are on April 10th, so T. Stout Choro and I are... honestly, just really hoping we'll be companions for another transfer... ;)

We have secured 2 wonderful service opportunities!! One at the library where they ask us to help in every activity there, and another at a hospital where we welcome in the patients! So far we've made 10 or so friends who love the missionaries now! Not to mention three really solid potential mission school students whom we will try to get to class this week, two of which lived in America for some time and love Mormons!

Our hope is to be able to start a mission school in the library's study hall because there are some nearby high schools. It's in the works right now.

Right now, our focus in the work is all mission school. I know it sounds kind of strange, but in Japan, the majority of baptisms can be traced back to somebody coming to our English class (eikaiwa). And right now, our mission is seeing many baptisms from the mission school for high school and college students! I am a firm believer that it's going to strengthen the image of Christians in Japan (which is not good at all), and bring many young people into the church in Japan. Mission school is, I believe, what is needed to save the church in Japan. We have so many strong members from years ago, but they're all getting very old. The church has struggled in recent years, and housing and streeting just don't bring enough investigators these days. That's why we're focusing so much here. In a blessing dad gave me, he said I still have a great work to do in Japan, and I've found it!

This is out of my journal:

"At 12:00, 2 hours before we planned to go and visit Mark (due to the library being closed randomly), we decided perhaps it was now or never as we had nothing to do but go home and study. We arrived at his house pretty soaking wet with prayers in our heart that he would be there. As we turned into the parking lot we saw his bike there with the keys in--!! We hopped off of our bikes excitedly and hurried to the stairs, noticing boot prints Mark's size, still wet running to the stairs. "Here's here." "Let's say a prayer."

We knocked on his door and the sound echoed throughout the building. We waited fearfully. And then he answered. Mark, wide-eyed, hair everywhere, in his unzipped work uniform stood with his mouth open, "Uh... hey!"

It was awkward, but way good. We laughed and said hi, and he said, "I was just here for lunch, but I need to be back by 12:45... Did you two bike here? Are you kidding me guys, that's crazy!" He got a big grin on his face, and I knew he felt loved. That's all I needed.

"Maybe we'll see you around?"

"Yeah, maybe..."

"Can you come tonight?"

"Maybe... I don't know, probably not."

"We'll see you around!"

It left on a positive note. We were happy! I yelled back to Elder Stout, realizing aloud, "I know why nothing worked out in Kamo today!" "Oh yeah? Is it a holiday? Is that why the library was closed?" "No. If we had studied at the library or eaten lunch at 12:00, we would've missed Mark!"

A few days later, Elder Manapori and I went to his house on splits and this wonderful elder's culture was so in sync with Mark's family's Philippine culture. It was amazing that the splits happened that day. He eased all the tension. Mark was a little awkward, but Elder Manapori convinced him to come to the church and by the end of the night all awkwardness was gone. Mark came to the church the next day and apologized for vanishing. He said, "I'm sorry man, I'm just Roman Catholic. And I respect your religion, but I can't get baptized."

We were a little disappointed to hear his response, but we were overwhelmingly happy to have him back. He promised to come to church every week and continue to meet with us........ He's already a member; he just doesn't realize it I think. ;) I'm still convinced he'll be baptized like, in the next year as he continues to build his faith and let the spirit into his heart.

April is FINALLY here!! The Japanese school year is opening up. Which means we can finally go to the college library and cafeteria and start up that mission school in the open classrooms we've been dying to do!! We've got three solid contacts there among the staff, (business and English teachers), and feel like it will be way easy to make friends since we already have a couple friends among the students! :) But that's not even the best part of this week. Not even close.

Our relationship with the Nakagawa's is really strong. Both parents and all the kids! (By the way, they invited us over to dinner tonight :D They're my Japanese family, no kiddin'.) We've been doing mission school whenever something doesn't get in the way, and they all love it! But it's a little hard to hold it at their house for Sister Nakagawa, I think. However, this week our branch president took work off one morning and we met together to go visit some places. He had prayed and thought about it a lot, and felt impressed to go to two places. What we secured were rooms for mission school. Community centers. Way easy to invite kids to. Way safe environment. Big 20 student classroom with white boards and free mugicha included! But the best part is, both locations are surrounded by 3 high schools and the only college in our area. As in, they are all within walking distance. Not only that, but both locations are also a 10 minute walk from the Nakagawa's house, and a 10 minute bike ride from Mark's. AND GET THIS! The Nakagawa's want to come each week and are thinking of friends to bring, and Mark promised us again on Friday that after school starts this next week, he will invite ALL of his friends and classmates to come, and now there's a place right next to their schools for them to go. Our situation could not be better. It could not. There are so many prayers of gratitude every single day!!!!! We owe so much thanks to President Nakagawa and to the Lord!

But we started three other classes this week as a branch! We made some friends at an indo-curry shop and all three of them are now coming during their lunch break each week to learn Japanese. The Sisters are teaching it because Sister Kouyama is fluent, but we're trying to sit in when we can because they all have potential as investigators. Elder Stout and I also finally, by a miracle, contacted Sister Kumagai's niece (age 28) who she referred to missionaries a few years ago but nobody's been able to meet with. We met, and she's now doing EigoNouTore Course (English Brain Training. It's the name of one of our classes. It sounds lame in English, but in Japanese it's an iconic title.) with us while the sisters do Kodomo Eikaiwa with her kids. (We have her father as a male present.) Mission school is igniting in Sanjo. I think we're about to see it erupt.

Everything is falling into place, and we're basically about to become full-fledged English teachers. A lot of people are afraid to talk to you after they say the word "church" on your name tag, but we're about to destroy that image! Of course, most importantly, statistically speaking, 8% of our students will be baptized, and many of them will serve missions, be married in the church. That is a much higher number than any other form of finding, so we're going to keep doing our best! It's exhausting work having to learn how to work with representatives from hospitals and libraries (not to mention in another language,) but it's been a truly special experience so far for sure. :) Please pray for us to find new investigators as we share our short messages after each lesson :)

Thank you so much for your email, Mama! I love you so much!! It's always the best to hear from you :) Sorry this email might've been a bit boring, just a lot about the work, but these are huge miracles for us :)

TTYL!

Love,

    Elder Stout :D

          🇺🇸  •  🇯🇵

スタウト長老 ^o^

A really hard week.

I hope you're 元気! I'm doing much better. As far as health goes, we had interviews last week, and as soon as we stepped in the door, Sister Nagano took one look and me and announced, "Elder Stout! You're still sick!! You need to sleep in until 7:30 tomorrow!!!!" And so I did. But after that, it was a regular day ;) I still feel drained of energy, but I don't think I'm gonna recover by not doing anything, so we've been getting to work. Every time we do a little bit of stuff we see massive miracles, and so we can't afford to be sick any longer!

This week was a really hard week. I was still feeling really tired and slow, and T. Stout Choro has been feeling similar recently, but we still did our best every day. On Tuesday, we had mission school and Ichiro, Yasushi, and Mark all came! 

I talked with Mark most of the time and it was a fantastic contact. He was telling us about how even though he wants to be a guitar player, he doesn't want to do it for fame or fortune, he wants to do it to brighten other people's lives and do what he loves. As we talked about his life, he testified to us about how the Lord is guiding him, and we did the same. The spirit was so strong, and I felt strongly to once again invite him to be baptized. We had thought of a good day on which to invite him, and so in that moment I did. "Mark, all of these blessings can be yours. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?"

But something was wrong.. He got a little uncomfortable and asked, "Well, what if I don't...?" We talked of the blessings, and Elder T. Stout really touched me as he testified that, "You don't have to, and we'll still be best buddies if you don't, but I know how happy it will make you!" And I did the same. Mark remarked, "Ok, I'll think about it! Thanks guys." And took off for home on his bike in a little bit of a hurry.

I felt really unsettled all night about it and prayed and talked to my companion lots. Neither of us knew what to think. We still don't. Because following that night we haven't been able to get ahold of him by call, text, or Facebook. And when we checked LINE (the Japanese social media app that we use frequently nowadays,) he had unfriended us.

That, mixed with waking up at 5:00 in the morning one day and then 5:30 the next day (we had to take an early train to Niigata and then had some stuff the next day) was the state I was in during Zone Conference. We also had a lot of role-plays and practice lessons to do at the meeting, and I just kept messing up and saying weird and confusing stuff, and I got way frustrated. When Doctor Meyers called for a weekly checkup and asked, "Elder Stout, tell me all about how you're feeling!" Referring to my cold, I started to describe the symptoms, but then just broke down. Then I turned against the wall because the whole zone was standing behind me.

Also, that normally doesn't happen to me, so weird.

"I know you're not a psychiatrist, but I've been on a way emotional low recently. Our investigator Mark...... and I've been sick...... and I'm tired....."

"Well of course you're feeling awful Elder Stout!" He remarked in a chipper-but-understanding-loving-grandfather tone, "You're at the worst part of feeling sick. Right now I would expect you to be as blue as blue can be. Why, I'll bet you couldn't even feel the spirit much during conference today, could ya?"

"Nah, about 50% of the time... hey, sorry to bother you, I know this is like, way weird."

"Now that's completely normal Elder Stout. Don't you worry a bit, I'm here for you Elder Stout."

By the end of the call I felt a ton better. I really felt like his call at that time was random, but inspired. It meant a ton. I might as well have had a comforting angel show up and give me a nice talk, I really appreciated it. Dr. Meyers has become my mission grandfather since the Sunday I had dinner at his house in Shibuya.

Anyway, that was the state I was in as I walked into Sister Nagano's office. Hence her being way worried and caring towards me. She just sat me down, and showered me in a hundred compliments that it would take my whole email time to write down. Sister Nagano was also an angel for me this week when I felt like I really needed it. She just went on and on during our interview, and then the next day after a stake conference she attended, she walked up to me and did the same thing all over again! And again the next day at our Sunday meetings! (They stayed all week.) What's more is she has been sick all week too, and so the fact that she was so Christlike and focused on me in the midst of her own sickness meant a lot.

Anyway, we're getting settled again and have been trying to roll with the punches. Satan, that old serpent, can be a real jerk sometimes, beating us up or making us beat ourselves up when times are roughest. But I know that the Lord is looking out for us and watching us and will send his angels both living and dead to comfort us.

We need to remember always to be angels to those around like just like Jesus would!

That was about the week... had a great conference, Bu and Hoshino kun came to church in Niigata for the big conference this week!!! THAT was a miracle. Hoshino kun is an old investigator who resurfaced at ping pong night and, after being touched by our spiritual message, asked to meet up the next day and then requested a ride this Sunday! :) He's doing well. As far as baptisms coming up: I'm afraid that here at the end of 5 months with Elder T. Stout, we will be very blessed and lucky if we see Bu's baptism on April 8th. He wants it, the ward wants it, I don't know what could prevent it from happening. But we need your prayers way bad right now. We're working so hard, but sometimes don't see as much success as we would like. But according to Sister Nagano, we've done a lot of good here. So we're trying to hold our heads high and trust that the Lord is using us how he needs us.

Ta chan trying to figure out how to take selfies on an iPad.

This is what Japan thinks English is, because it's written on everything. The exact same conversation. If you say, "Hello! How are you?" To anyone, they will inevitably say, "I'm fine, thank you. And you?" It's how they're programmed here.

Spending the night with all the choros at Niigata! Our zone is huge, so everyone has to sleep here overnight for conferences.(Played ultimate. Funnest morning of my life, spent it with Elder Clark too! Probably not the best idea while I was sick, but I felt way better because of it. While we were playing anyway.... ;) I forgot how much I loved this game.)

OH! Also, Toshiki and Yui are probably getting married next week!!!!!!!! He's talking to her dad! If they get baptized it'll be a miracle, but it's possible, so please pray!!!!!!! More to come on them next week.

I love you so much and I'm so grateful for your letters. Look forward to hearing from you again.

    Elder Stout :D

          🇺🇸  •  🇯🇵

スタウト長老 ^o^

Bu, Mark, Toshiki, and Yui all came to church and had an amazing experience.

Hi! I'm doing much better today, but we were indoors like aaaaaaaaaall week. It was the worst. I mean, we went out several times, I but kept getting more sick every time we did. Eventually Sister Nagano and Doctor Meyers commanded me over the phone to just sleep a lot more.... and then we snuck out and went to church ;) This was probably one of the most significant weeks of Elder T. Stout and my time together. Bu, Mark, Toshiki, and Yui all came to church and had an amazing experience. All of them had fun, felt lots of love from the ward, and were really happy they came. While we've been fervently praying for our friends to be baptized, outside of that we met them less than usual. And yet, through the Lord's mercy, their hearts were softened and Bu, Mark, and Toshiki contacted us before Sunday saying, "What time is church again?" "Alright, I'll be there!" 「いる、スタウト？ゆいも来る！」("Are you at the church, Stout? Ok, Yui's coming with me!")

It was a great reminder that the Lord is in charge. For we cannot attribute any of this success to our groggy naps and hot fevers. So, like Ammon, we are "glorying in our God" right now and praying more and more for the baptisms of these special people!! (If you could help us out, it would be appreciated ;)

Elder T. Stout and I are almost positive that we can see the baptisms of Mark and Bu in the next 3 weeks. Their faith is so high, their humility is so low. They're just real 金人!! (Kinjin, or golden people.)

Bu took a couple pictures. One of him and Elder T. Stout using this really popular filter in Japan that makes you look super glowy!My favorite part of this pic is mark leaning over the cake about to demolish it.

I love this picture so much!! Bu asked us for it and wanted to get it right next to the sign with Jesus Christ's name on it. He's so excited that he's following his father's footsteps even though he doesn't have much support from anyone other than us.

We think he's very lonely. We're soooo lucky that we found him and are able to become such good friends.

Oh! Bu also sent us this picture after church with all of the other ones. We have no idea what it means, but we took it as a way good sign.

Other than that, the week was pretty much boring. We went to mission school and taught our awesome students, then we slept. Then we went to eikaiwa and almost taught our students but then ended up in a mad goose chase after Ren who escaped from his job in Niigata and whom we just chanced to run into after getting a call from his mom to catch him. He saw us and sprinted so we did too. We didn't catch him.

And I was out for a few more days.

However, we went to dinner with him two nights later. He really wanted to. We weren't sure if we were supposed to expect an apology or an explanation. All we got was this:

 "Ha! Missionaries! Chasing me? That's a first! You guys totally lost."

And me retorting, "Um, if I weren't sick, I woulda caught you!"

His reply, "Whatever, we'll see next time! How about next week!?"

On Friday, word got out to the ward that I was sick and we got like, three phone calls AND Sister Nakagawa made us soup!! She is my favorite person in Japan right now. I've found several Japanese mothers, so whenever you're worried that I'm not being taken care of.... don't be. ;)

After meeting with Mark he had a huge test to see if he'll get into Japanese high school on Tuesday and has been texting us on and off wanting to meet up since then. We weren't able to until Sunday, but it was ok. He. Is. A. CHARACTER. Some of my favorite quotes of all time come from this kid. I feel like he is the perfect 16-year-old boy, like, I was exactly like him, and still probably am. He would be my favorite character if this were a TV show. He just says it how it is.

("Pare" is how you say "bro" or "dude" in Tagalog. Ask Kyle, he'll back me on this one.)

Numba 1

Mark: "Pare, my mom won't let me ride my bike (he has a moped,) because of the snow..."

T. Stout Choro: "That's prolly a good idea, it's pretty dangerous on the roads......."

Mark: looking completely bewildered, "NAW MAN! SHE WON'T LET ME RIDE MY BIKE!" Then proceeds to tell the story to another member who says the same thing, "Yeah, it's pretty dangerous..." He just sat down with his hands in his hair looking way confused, "You guys don't get it.... it's my bike...."

Number 2

This was last week on the mountain with Mark and John.

John: "Yeah, everyone in our program is foreigners. Like, we have Philippinos, we have Chinese, we have Vietnamese, we have Koreans...."

Mark: "Naw pare, there aren't Koreans."

John: "Really pare? Are you sure?"

Mark: "Naw man, if there was, I would... court... her..." carefully choosing the most fitting words to describe his feelings. We all died laughing. He just looked baffled that we found it funny and said, "What? I like Koreans..." No worries, we quickly changed the topic to something appropriate for missionaries to talk about ;)

Numba 3

He was trying to be really polite in this moment, but Japanese, English, and Tagalog were all flying through his genius tri-lingual mind and he just didn't know how to respond.

Me: "Yeah, a member in our ward's dad just passed away...."

Mark:  "WHAT THE HECK?"

Mark has such strong simple faith. The day that we first told him about Heavenly Father he just got way big eyes. He's always amazed by the things we teach him. He really loves Jesus Christ and has a good heart. I can't wait for him to become a missionary, like he's said he wants to. He'll be so good at making friends and sharing the message of the restored gospel! :)

I'm way glad to hear that Grandpa's doing so well. FOR REAL!! He is the healthiest person of his age I have ever met in America. It's pretty normal to run into way healthy 80-year-old and 90-year-old people here in Japan of all places, but it still seems really impressive to me that after a surgery grandpa would be the kind of man to sneak out and feed his horses ;)

I wanna be just like him!! Please get feeling better grandpa, I'm sorry you had such a rough week. I love you, you're in my prayers!! You too grandma :D

Maeda Kyoudai has disappeared. We weren't able to visit him because Kumagai Kyoudai (our ward mission leader) told us he wants a break from the church. He was getting a lot more visits than just us and I think he got a little overwhelmed. But It's been about a month now, and the last time we visited he gave us a ton of gifts and things, I really think he wants us to come back. Maybe there was some miscommunication with the ward, but we'll see. Because we're going to go for another visit this week or next. We'll keep you posted :)

Sorry, last week a lot more happened, but I've done nothing this week and so I have all of this pent up energy that I wanna get out! So I'm writing a huge email.... ごめんね！(gomen ne! Sorry!)

On google maps, Shibuya's missionary apartment has these four bikes outside of it. Elder Eyre's red one, Elder Morris's blue one, Elder Li's white one, and my yellow one. It makes me happy to look at :D

These two are awesome!! And will be huge in getting our mission school started here. A college teacher, and a way awesome dad. Both fluent in English.

Biraj sent me this pic..... AAWWWWWWW!!!! HE'S MY FAVORITE!!!!!!

Mae and Dan need to live at our house with me for just a little bit!!!!! That is all.

Also, real quick. This man.WHAT!?!??!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

He's gone the way of all the earth.

He also said the closing prayer at the devotional with Elder Holland several weeks ago. I folded my arms after Elder Holland sat down and everything went quiet (we were just watching a live video, but it was a lot like actually being there.) and then after 15 seconds of silence, I heard somebody hiss, "Hibino!" A little too close to the microphone. ;) I couldn't help but open my eyes at the beginning of the prayer seeing a young man scrambled, embarrassed to the stage. I knew it was him when I heard the strangely nostalgic and familiar way that my trainer always began his prayers a year and a half ago: 「心から愛します天のお父様、」

I still feel connected to that man! I miss him. I'm so grateful for the hard work he put into helping me all of this time. I was never grateful enough. That's one of my goals, to be more grateful in the moment! I've never been nearly grateful enough for God's goodness and for my wonderful life. I'm gonna go write Hibino Kyoudai an email. :)

Thank you for those verses (Alma 56:47-48, 56), I also really love them! :) And I relate to them really well. My ability to share the gospel has it's source in my mama and my papa teaching me while I was young, and for that I am forever grateful to you two! :) I love you more than words can describe! 

Looking forward to hearing from you next week already.

As Elder Kitagaki once said, "Elder Stout, you are huge. I mean, your heart."

With all of the love of my huge heart,

    Elder Stout :D

          🇺🇸  •  🇯🇵

スタウト長老 ^o^

P-day hike with Mark & John from the Philippines

It's been a pretty great week! Whew, so much to talk about, but I don't know how much time I'd better spend writing. Yesterday, we saw a miracle which I will refer to later which may have made me sick with a sore throat, which I noticed this morning but ignored and then we hiked to the peak of a mountain and trudged through thick snow in sneakers to an ancient shrine overlooking the ocean, and then came back in the rain, and walked through the door, and I'm much more sick than I was this morning, so we're writing emails in the apartment and I'm in my futon.

So, this email will be shorter, I'm sorry :\

 

Anyway, here's my week! :) 

We are so grateful for your prayers. Do you want to know what your prayers have done for us? :)

-BU: We were able to meet with him for the first time in 2 weeks. He's extremely tired and just a little sick. Also, when we showed up (yesterday,)I might have hugged him and caught what he has. But the huge good news is that he really is just unable to meet (we were worried again about his girlfriend,) and he wants us to continue to send him scriptures and he wants to come and have an english lesson on saturday and then come to church for the first time on sunday!! And he's really really serious about it!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D (when we showed up on his apartment doorstep we had no idea what he would say, but I truly felt the power of your prayers.

-MARK: He apologized profusely for not being able to meet much (Although he came to the Nakagawa's for mission school! :D) and he promised "after my test (tomorrow,) I will come to church!" So, he's planning on coming to church from now on, and everyone is super supportive! :D We've also made a habit of stopping at his place and teaching him lessons and getting to know the family better. We feel so welcome there :)

-YUI: She is progressing so well and is meeting with the sister and is a true kinjin. Toshiki is still struggling a little bit, but loves meeting with us and really wants to be baptized too, however Yui is progressing really fast!!

We also volunteered at a library :D We helped shelf books, and also helped to throw "butterflies" or "Chocho" at the little kids after the librarians read some "ehon" or "picture books", and it was awesome! I wish I had the pics they took, but we all had to take our shoes off and then come sit down, and it was just the two of us with all the moms and kids and then the boss man just laughing from across the room at the sight of two huge gaijin with all the kids. Then we went and helped them organize some other cards and such, and by the time we had rejected green tea, coffee, and two other kinds of tea (happens every professional venue in Japan), they thanked us graciously with a cup of hot water each and sent us on our merry way making sure we'd be back next week! :D We're making so many wonderful connections through this service, and are seeking more opportunities. We're hoping to soften hearts and find people who need something more out of this life :)

One of my favorite people ever, brother Kumagai. He reminds me of Brother Buhler, to this day one of my greatest heroes/best teachers quorum advisers ever!!

A way cool guy we met from New York who's name is Francis. Please pray that he can find what he's looking for in this life. :) He said he'll pray for us, too.

I love hearing your mission stories again, thanks for sharing! It's exactly like that: miracles ensue when we do our best. Although, sometimes it seems like blessings and miracles are like several connecting holes to a single geyser which come out in huge pressurized streams. Where if life blocks several of the small geysers, like the geyser of Asako getting baptized, or the geyser of Bu answering his phone, it causes all of the pressurized water to shoots out faster and stronger from one of the other holes. Faith is like the pressure. The more faith you have, the more the blessings come, even if they don't come from the facet that you're expecting.

We're seeing lots of miracles :)

In other news, we went on a hike with John and Mark, and gave John a Book of Mormon for him to bring to the Philippines. He was really excited, and we promised to follow up with him soon! There are lots of funny pics and vids of our trip to the mountain which was so fun, so please take a look at those :)

Us and our best friends! :D

I love you so much! Thanks for the wonderful emails each week and for all you do for me! :) I'm so grateful that I'm lucky enough to be your son!

    Elder Stout :D

          🇺🇸  •  🇯🇵

スタウト長老 ^o^