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.
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 :)
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、」
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^
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