Japan week #76

Hello everyone!!

      This has been a great week! 

   We only had one really crazy cool experience this week! We've been working hard, and we're seeing lots of people, which has been FANTASTIC, but this week we had a SUPER cool, probably SUPER prepared lady led to us. We met her last Sunday night, she just stopped us on the street and starting talking to us. We then met her last Monday, and she told us that she wasn't going to stop us that night, but as she was passing us she could see light coming from us, and she said we looked like angels, and so we talked, and had a great time with her that Monday evening. And then we saw her again and taught a great lesson about the restoration, and she is SUPER interested. She is stinking amazing, and wants to learn and talk about Christ, a LOT. She has been christian for thirty years, but has never joined a church. So, we're looking forward to bringing her to the path of salvation! :D It's been truly amazing. I have really gained a testimony of how the Lord not only guides us, but also guides others to find us...It truly has been incredible. 

     And then we also had splits on Wednesday. I went with an Elder Francis, and turns out, he and I are meant to be together. We spent a bit of time talking about and seeing Dr. Horrible's sing along blog, Firefly, avatar, etc. And we dendoed like bosses! Taught some great lessons, and had a wonderful day! He's training right now, and doing a wonderful job. 

     And that's about it for this week. We had a member of the 70 who lives in Sapporo come to give a talk about church yesterday. His name is Ootahara. WAY cool guy, super funny, and after sacrament meeting Strachan and I were in the bathroom, and Elder Ootahara walks in, and we just start talking. About mashed potatoes. And how one of his mission comps was from Idaho and how they would eat it all the time. And then he walked out, and I looked over and Elder Strachan and said, 'Dude....We just hung out with a 70 in the bathroom, doing the guy talking at the urinal thing, about mashed potatoes...' And we just started DYING. It was great! :D

   All in all, a WONDERFUL week! :D Love you ALL! Talk to you soon! 

    Love, Mike  

Japan week #75

Hey everyone!

     This has been a really good week! Elder Strachan and I are seeing more and more miracles when it comes to finding people to teach! We have a couple of people now who seem to have a bit of interest in hearing what we have to say, which is WAY cool! I have had a way hard time getting the work going in this area, and I'm glad that we're finally getting it rolling forward here. In particular we met a young mom with a family of 6 last week, and got to see her again two days ago. And it was AMAZING! First off, having a 4 kids in japan is CRAZY WEIRD, which makes her all the more cool, but because of that she has a lot of the same views on family, and wants to do all she can for them. And it just worked out perfect when we saw her again. Her younger kids were asleep so we were able to have some quiet time to talk, and we were able to get the lesson going super easily. I love the times when the person you want to teach goes into the lesson themselves with you there to kind of nudge them in the right direction! I love it! But because of it we were able to make a really good relationship with her, and got to talk a  lot about plan of salvation type stuff. It was very good, and the spirit was very strong. Unfortunatley, that night was also the blizzard that sent us home, so we were DYING standing on her doorstep talking. :P After our lesson was over we had to walk over an hour home in it to get home, and we took a pit stop at one point in a convenient store, and our hair, eyebrows, faces, everything was ice! I had ice just, frozen on my face. O.O It was NUTS! And then when I got home some of my toes were black! No wonder they hurt so dang bad! They're still black, but it's all good! Toes are still alive, no pain, just looks kinda funny! :) So don't worry about it! 

   Elder Strachan and I are still best buds, as is usual. Transfers are in two weeks, and we're thinking we don't stay together for another one. :( Which is way sad but, could happen! We're looking forward to working hard, and getting as much good going in this area as we can! Love you all!

   Love, Mike

Japan week #74

Hey Everyone! 

   This has been another busy week! We had ZTM last tuesday, and had all of two days to plan for it, so we ended up taking almost all of sunday, and our entire pday to finish it all. :P It was nuts, and it was crazy hard, but we feel like we pulled it off super well. Had a LOT of help from up above, and the Spirit was very strong while we did our workshops, so that was such a huge blessing! 

   And that was basically the end of our crazy end of the year stuff. We're now completely back to our regular dendo schedule, and we're SUPER happy about that. We hit the streets way hard this week, and were able to make a lot of contacts, and met a ton of really cool people! We have still basically no investigators, and that's hard, but Elder Strachan and I are trying to be better than we ever have been before, and it's been yeilding lots of results so far! :) I had an interview with pres the other day, and we talked a bit about some of what I want to do in my last six months. And he talked a lot about there not being a big thing that needs to change to make it better, but how changing a lot of little things can have drastic results, which we obviously all know; but it was just super cool to talk about with him. Nakastsuka Kaicho is serioulsy Yoda. He's the dang coolest, smartest guys in the world. LOVE HIM!

    Thanks for all your support and love! Talk to you all soon!

 Love, Mike

Japan week #73

Hey Everyone!!  

 It's only been a few days since I emailed, so I really have nothing to write about. We finsihed up our crazy schedule stuff, and now we're getting back to regular work and it's been great! 

  We did have lots of fun with the new years though. We had a lot of dinner appointments, and it was a blast. Lots of full stomachs, and members forcing more in, I love it! ;) Its great at this time of year to see how everyone　here just opens up and shows so much love. For a very internal, not really interested in what's going on in other's lives kind of culuture that Japan has, I love seeing this different aspect of everyone. I'm sad that it's over, but it's been a blast, and an incredibly memorable one for my last in japan. Love you all! 

 Love, Mike

Japan week #72

Hey Everyone!1

  This has been a fun week! Well, ten days. ;) Haven't emailed since two pdays ago because of Christmas and the new year and what not, so our schedules got changed! It'll all be back to normal next week though! 

  We had so much fun with Christmas, and with new years, and with our parties and what not. Elder Strachan and I really had a great time. Christmas Eve was a huge party that the four ZL's in Sapporo were in charge of, and it was DANG fun! :) We had all the missionaries in the Sapporo area, and the president and wife and son, and the senior missionary couple and their son come, and we had a ton of fun. Games, spiritual stuff too, great food, music, had a great time. And then Christmas was normal. Got to hang out with our district for awhile, and then we got to relax for a part of the day, and then we worked. My birthday was also a regular day of work as well, and we were on splits for it. And so that night we were spending the night in the other elder's apartment, and they all surprised me for my birthday! They all got me gifts, sang to me, and it was  BLAST! :) Had a little party afterwards, and it made my day! I was actually way surprised, and had a great time. :) And then we've had some lazy days in the apartment cleaning, reading the book of mormon all day, and what not because it's impossible to work out here during new years time. So we've been chilling, having fun, and making good with the time that we do have. 

 And that's really all we've been up to. I'm looking forward to the schedule getting back to normal, and getting back on the streets!

 Love ya all! 

    Mike