All it takes is obedience to God's commandments!

Thanks for the email. I love hearing from you and the family! :D Y'all are my pride and joy. I've been more focused on the work now than ever before, and yet my family still pops straight into my mind when I begin testifying about any aspect of the gospel. You are always very close to my heart and thoughts. (All of you :)

Yay yay yay!! I'm so hyped for mother's day too! :D Last call was so much fun, and this one will be, too! :D We've got both of the Elder Stouts for another go, so that'll be great too :)

Desho!? I've been so excited to make connections with grandpa's past too, you have no idea! I'm serious when I say that I plan to spend a lot of hours talking with him about his mission and life experiences. Especially about Japan. And with Grandma, too! :)  Just lemme know when he has the letter, and we'll bring it over :) I think it will be really meaningful to our good friend.

Bu met us on Saturday and came to church yesterday and participated in all of the meetings like an active member. He's the best person ever. Also, on Saturday he brought his translating buddy to his house and she brought her two daughters and all three of them came to mission school because they want to learn English. A huge miracle!! But the biggest part of all is the fact that they said they wanted to learn about what we teach in the church as well. So we have a small family with wonderful potential!! Bu is already helping us dendo! He wants to finish learning the commandments this thursday when he gets back from vacation to Disneyland Tokyo, and then we'll pick day for his baptism (sometime in the next month and a half he said.) things are going so well. I love Bu!

Alright, this week in Sanjo was SUPER DUPER awesome. Toshiki has a new busy job and has been like a really proper fiancé, Yui has been busy at home getting ready for the baby, and this next week is the Japanese "golden week", a weeklong holiday, during which the two of them are going to drive to Toshiki's grandmother's house and ask permission to get married. From there, the wedding will be as soon as possible! So, basically they're getting married way soon!! Which also means that they're probably getting baptized really soon. More good news for us, but sad for the sister missionaries, is that because it's easiest and probably best to teach them together, we have resumed teaching Yui! Which has been a lot of fun for us.

Okamura san is back in action. We met thrice, he came to church, and he's learning again after 2 transfers of nothing! He also could be baptized very soon if it is his desire. We will be inviting him this Thursday :) Long and funny story I hope to tell you all about someday soon over a beach campfire ;) Suffice it to say, it feels like a miracle that he's back!

A big miracle this week happened after we were unable to meet with Mark all week. On Saturday night we we walking back from our biggest mission school class yet when we saw a kid in a hoody a ways down. We knew it was him immediately, completely unfazed yet super grateful that the Lord just dropping an obvious tender mercy in front of us again. We called out and asked how he was. He asked, "Did you not get my message?" We responded we hadn't because we had no wifi all day. And then he told us, "My step dad just died. I was really close with him."

We hugged and talked in the darkly lit street, until his mom and little sister came walking over from an unseen car. They were only there for about 5 minutes before their taxi came, but that was all the time the Lord needed us there for. It was such a tender mercy that we were able to be there for him in a time of so much trial.

I testify that God watches over us all the time. As doctrine and covenants tells us, "And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." 

This statement is critical to finding joy in this life. All it takes is obedience to God's commandments, and he takes care of the rest. Just do what you know is right, and he'll just carry you along. That has been our entire week. Huge miracle after huge miracle. The ward is more unified and excited to work than ever before and all of the ward members are introducing us to friends and family after the fireside we held yesterday... mission school is strong, our investigators are strong, and the Lord is watching over us. We still haven't seen a baptism in Sanjo, I pray that I will see Bu's and hopeful Toshiki and Yui's too, but at the very least, I know that the Lord has many baptisms in store for this wonderful branch, soon to be a ward. And maybe my purpose in coming here was merely to lay that foundation. I've never loved a group of people (save it be my beloved family,) as much as I love each individual of this branch. I'm feeling a fragment of the Lord's love for his children as I serve among them. The leaders of this church love us and live to serve us. I sustain President Monson and all of his counselors. I know an inkling of the love that they feel for us. As we follow our true prophet we will continue to find joy in following the Lord. I'm so grateful to be a disciple of Christ! I bear my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

    Elder Stout :D

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スタウト長老 ^o^

Went jogging for P-Day (or P-Evening, we had a lot of dendo to get done that morning.)

Tokoroten. These noodles were the weirdest thing ever, but it was such a cool story! Our friend from the hospital was super nice and took us to his friends shop a little farther out into the country. So cool!! Apparently this shop was on a tv show for being really good but out in the middle of nowhere. We loved it and had fun! Also built a really good relationship with this man, Sakai san. He reminds me of a Japanese version of grandpa Austin! :) I wonder if they've ever met ;)

then he took us to "Hanami", or "to see the flowers." The cherry blossoms are gorgeous in Japan :)

Up on a scary shaky bridge.

This was all I could do to keep Taysuhiro quiet during the dendo fireside... I felt bad when he handed me my camera and asked to take a picture and then just as everyone got quiet there was a loud *SNAP*! But his father was very understanding.  This kid is a handful.

I love Japan. The rice fields are flooded right now, and it's absolutely beautiful.

Aw man, I love Japan.

Ordered this beast....

It was... alright. ;)