This week was fantastic! As usual for missionaries, we saw lots of miracles and tender mercies, also had a hundred thousand conferences. Zone meeting, Elder Choi's Conference, and another conference at Niigata church on Sunday.
The conferences were amazing and we learned a ton which I wrote down in my study journal, but I probably won't write most of it in here ;)
President Choi, a member of the 70 came to teach us. He is the one who gave the conference talk on, "Don't look around, look up! Look at the rain! Open your mouth! Drink it!!" He is actually in the Area Presidency for Japan and so we know him quite well :) He felt impressed to stay in Niigata after the conference for 2 days, and so he changed his schedule in order to do so, and commandeered all 3 hours of church to hold a special fireside (starting after the sacrament.) It was an amazingly powerful meeting in which he spoke about members uniting together to do the work. Everyone came out really excited to share with their friends, even Yusuke, Miharu, and Chiho, President Nakagawa's kids who we teach English to! :) We'll help them to invite their friends to English class ;)
After driving us to Sanjo from the Niigata Church, Brother Tsuchida (an older member who for some time has been somewhat hopeless about the state of affairs in Sanjo,) walked in and looked at the stack of Book of Mormons on the display table. "Elders, can I take one of these? I think I know someone who might read it."
"Of course!"
He selected one, hesitated, then grabbed a second and left without looking back.
We were biking down the street and suddenly a guy on a motorcycle rode by. Elder Stout yelled out, "It's Mark!" And I causally said, "Oh, ok." And stopped. He bashfully apologized, "I was totally joking, it's just a random guy on a motorcycle...." And then made the observation, "You know, it's pretty crazy that we see miracles like running into our investigators randomly in cities miles from their homes so frequently, that you didn't even question me or think that it was odd."
It was a really funny moment as we both evaluated our current life. As missionaries, we are honored by seeing the Lord's hand in such abundance that I forget that to a normal person, our daily life is unbelievably filled with coincidences.
Although it wasn't Mark, it was a fantastic reminder.
Oh, so speaking of Mark, we went to his house, and while he's not learning the lessons quite yet, his mom loves mission schools and wants to help us teach it. Also she invited all of her neighbors to come, and the new venue is right next to their house, so we should have a bunch of new members now!! YAY!!! From this, we're pretty sure that they will take interest in and learn the lessons within the next week or two or three. I'll keep you updated :)
It's been hard to contact Toshiki and Yui this week, but it sounds like they mentioned to the ward presidency something about getting married very soon. Aw man, I'm sorry, it's just up and down with these two, to no fault of their own, but I can't really give you an accurate estimation of when they will be baptized. Just please keep praying, your prayers are working!! :)
BU CAME TO BROTHER KUMAGAI'S HOUSE AND HAD DINNER WITH US YESTERDAY AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! In our lesson we reviewed the Word of Wisdom. He had one concern with Coffee. He felt it was healthy, and really hard for him to overcome. We shared with him direct quotes from Doctrine and Covenants, and testified of the blessings we've received. I showed him the pics of Lucy's baptism and shared how blessed our family has been from you and dad keeping the commandments! :) Then in a very touching moment, he grinned, "I just want to know God's commandments. And when I know them, then I will follow them. Please teach me the rest of them. I think I will be baptized in one month or two."
I think he'll be baptized in one, I really do. Only 3 commandments left!
Bu is my favorite. We barely speak any of the same words. However, the spirit speaks through our hearts, and somehow we've become best friends with him.
Helping Brother Tosaka on his RICE FARM!!!
Cool rice machine!
Mission school is coming along amazing!!!! We had a training this last week on how to teach in a big classroom setting, and so we tested it on Saturday and got a lot of positive feedback. It's been so cool to watch the mission school evolve, but where we are right now, us missionaries are becoming quite qualified English teachers!!!! :D We always wear suits and follow certain procedures and professional lesson plans... I know a lot about teaching English to foreigners now, which has been way cool :) But the coolest part is that it's helping our ward members dendo! (Do missionary work.) They're getting fired up from the Choi Conference to help this work progress and save Sanjo from dying. The work can be unbelievably hard in a country which is afraid of churches. However, the mission school is softening people's hearts. It is such an invaluable asset! I'm so grateful for modern revelation! :)
We found more pictures of Grandpa Austin! They're so cool! If he already has them, that's still cool, but even more cool is that they are floating around in Japan. A member of the Niigata branch who loves family history and church history in general has several hundred pictures of people when Grandpa was here on his mission. He wants to have Grandpa identify as many people as he can. I'll bring them back to America with me. So we have a new family history project that we can work on together.
We found more pictures of Grandpa Austin! They're so cool! If he already has them, that's still cool, but even more cool is that they are floating around in Japan. A member of the Niigata branch who loves family history and church history in general has several hundred pictures of people when Grandpa was here on his mission. He wants to have Grandpa identify as many people as he can. I'll bring them back to America with me. So we have a new family history project that we can work on together.
COOLEST PICTURE OF MY LIFE!!!!! GRANDPA WAS SO COOL!!!! ALL THE MISSIONARIES BACK THEN USED TO DO IT, THERE ARE TONS OF PICS!!!! SO AWESOME!!
Can I have $30 to do it too?? (You don't get to keep the kimono :( )
Grandpa studying!!
A certain Elder Watanabe in the middle? Do you know him, Grandpa?
Brother Maeda on his wedding day!!
That older lady in the kimono was one of the first members in Japan, and a devout saint her whole life :)
OH! But I want to thank you for the wonderful package you sent!!!!!!!! :D :D :D I finally got it from Elder Miller, the new assistant, and it was the best package of all time, of course. Elder Stout and I loved it, and the letters were very much appreciated!!! :)
I love you deeply!
Your favorite child,
Elder Stout :D
πΊπΈ • π―π΅
γΉγΏγ¦γι·θ ^o^
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