Japan week #51

Hey everyone!! :D

   This has been a stellar week for us, a flipping busy one, but a stellar one. We've been working hard, and we've been being blessed for our labors. We have a few really good investigators now that are making some good progress, and specifically one O San, is on course for baptism on the 9th of August!! :D :D If he makes it, that'll be number one for me! :) I am so flipping happy to know that I'm helping someone make progress and come closer to Christ. However, he was supposed to be baptized this Saturday, but after visiting with him and feeling the spirit, and praying about where he's at, I felt that he needs another week, so I put his date back a week, but he still really wants to get baptized, and he's progressing very well. :) 

   I really don't have any superbly cool experiences to share this week, it's just been a busy one with lots of teaching and good experiences, which has been very different from the rest of my mission. ;) It's been amazing. I pray everyday for opportunities to bear my testimony, and this week has been such an answer to my prayers. :) 

   So needless to say, I'm very excited for the next week coming up. :) Thanks for all your letters, thoughts, and prayers. :) 

  have a great week!

   Love, Mike

     P.S. So for my package momma, if you could send me some american candy and stuff, I don't know, just anything, would make me way happy. :P I ate some flipping gummy bears the other day, and forgot how much I missed it. :P And maybe if you could swing it...some otterpops? :P If that's hard, don't worry about it, but That'd be sick too. Cuz I've been crazy craving popsicles. :P Love you! 

Japan week #50

Hey everyone!!

   This week has been such a rewarding week! Hard work and sticking it out to the end REALLY pay off, that I know. :) And I love seeing it happen time and time again on my mission. This week we've seen some really cool things. The investigator that the sisters passed to us has been doing REALLY well. He's on course for his baptismal date on the second of august, and he's loving it. He hasn't missed church for 4 weeks, and he loves it every week. And just yesterday he stayed after church for almost another hour hanging out with members while we were in ward council, so that's WAY sick that he's  making friends and relationships with the good people in this ward. :) We're planning on meeting him tomorrow to teach the Law of Chastity, so I'm hoping that that goes well! 

  So our biggest days this week were Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we had a family home evening at the church, and we ran the show (us and the sisters). It was like a mini talent show, with a game and then a message and refreshments. And it was a rousing success. :) We got to the church at 3:30 to practice some of the songs we were planning on singing, and then we got started at about fiveish. I ended up conducting it, which I didn't want to do, but I had a BLAST doing! I got to go up in between acts and talk, and introduce the next act, and all that jazz, and I had a blast being back up in front of people again at an event like that. ;) Haha!! But we had two way amazing miracles that happened because of that fhe. One of the members that came, invited his parents, who aren't members, to come. And since that member's kids were going to be playing piano and what not, the grandparents came. And at one point during the program this member comes up to me, and told me that his parents, in particular his dad, was WAY impressed with my conducting. I was like, umm, ok, that's great! What does that mean? :P So I talked to them afterwards, and the dad was telling me about how he never liked the church, never liked missionaries, and that he had never approved of his son joining this church. But that after seeing me tonight, and seeing me interact with people, (and I think feel the spirit that was there ;)) really touched his heart, and he said that if there are really good people like me in this church, then it can't be a bad thing!! O.O HOW AMAZING IS THAT!! :D :D And the Mom said that she'd like to start reading the Book of Mormon, since her grandkids had testified to her about it, and that after this event she felt the desire to try and read it. :D :D Who would've ever thought that a flipping simple thing like conducting a ward fhe combined with the spirit, can bring about a miracle like that. :) Really and truly through small and VERY simple things, are great things brought to pass. :) They live in my area, and they would love to see us again sometime. :) Way excited!

   And also during the fhe, a deaf man came in and sat down. I talked to him, with the aid of a lady in our ward who knows sign language, and he's from Nagoya, moved to Sapporo about two weeks ago, and wants to resume taking the lessons. Turns out that he was taking the lessons, and was on track for baptism, but couldn't because he had to move because of his work. He owns a sushi chain. And so when he got here, he found out the church's info, and came! And then he came again to church yesterday, and was the flipping COOLEST GUY EVER! :) So we're planning on meeting with him this week, and are INCREDIBLY excited to work with him.

   And then yesterday after church, we had  a sweet experience finding. We met this lady in her twenties, that talked to us lots, and we had an opportunity to bear testimony to her about the Book of Mormon, and gave her one. After we had set up a return appointment, she told us that the reason she stopped to talk to us, was because that when she was about 12 years old, she got hit by a car, and two white guys, wearing white shirts and ties, black pants, and name tags, ran to her, helped her, and played a part in saving her life. And so because of that, she listened to us. :D :D 

    And we also finally got to meet an old investigator named M San, and we taught him a really strong lesson, and he was really touched. So from here on out we're way excited to work with him. :)

 Love you all, and thanks for all your prayers!

 Love, Mike

P.S. So I'm crazy excited to be with my comp for one more transfer. He's a WEIRD guy, but I've REALLY grown to love him, and we have so much fun everyday. It's been a really special experience getting to work with him. :) He'll definitely be leaving this transfer so, I'm going to be making the best of the next 5 weeks or so that we have together.  

  And being DL has been, busy. :P I have endless numbers and info about investigators to report to zls every night, and I have workshops to plan and prepare and teach, and lots of things to talk to people about, and splits to do to train missionaries...it's flipping crazy, but it's been way fun so far. The best thing about it is that I have a lot of opportunities to be an example now, and I think more than anything else I can do, is being an example, so it's been great. :)

   And the ward LOVES ME! :D :D I've been working really hard there, and they all love talking to me and being around the elders, which is really cool. Plus seeing our investigators at church lets them know that we're working, and that always helps! :)

Japan week #49

Hey everyone! So this week was way great!

   We have found some really good people that we're starting to work with. In particular the sisters in our ward passed us an investigator named O San. He has a baptismal date this august second, and he's flipping amazing. We've kinda been teaching him with the sisters, but they weren't ever going to pass all of the teaching responsibliity and what not to us, but this past sunday one of the sisters woke up at like three in the morning with the distinct impression to pass him to us, and that from here on out we need to take over. So that's crazy. O.O I was kinda like, he's your investigator, and it's going all great so, if it aint broke dont fix it, right? But they really feel like having us take over is what needs to happen so... that is exciting! It's a good thing we've been helping teach him up to now, because we have a relationship with him and what not, so it should be a smooth transistion. 

  So transfers happened this week, and I was actually VERY surprised about what happened. I thought for sure my comp would be getting the boot, but we're going to be together for one more together in the same area. So that's not reallly too exciting or crazy. The twist though is that now I'm a district leader! For the first time ever! O.O I have been pretty nervous because I deon't feel like I have anything to teach  or help any other missionaries with because I don't feel like that great of a missionary but...it'll be exciting. It's going to be one heck of a ride from here on out! 

  We also this week got to go to a "cherry hunt" with a ward here. You basically just go to a big flipping cherry farm, and just spend hours eating cherries, and spitting out the pits as far as you can, and just have a good time. :) It's great! Flipping love it!

  I don't have too much more to write about but, it's been a good week, and I love this work a ton!

    Thanks for all your support and love everyone! Love you!! :D 

     Love, Mike

Japan week #48

Hey everyone!! :) 

    This has been a fantastic week! I don't have a ton of time this week, so it'll have to be abbreviated this week but, it's been a stellar week!
       We have had a lot of success finding this week! We in particular met an old investigator named M San, and he's flipping amazing. We just showed up at his house yesterday evening, and he flipped out when he saw us. He was way excited and let us in, and we talked for a long time about him, his life, his previous experiences with missionaries, and it was all really great. :) 

     I was recently reading a talk from Elder Holland talking about how the Lord likes to test us and see how long we'll endure and persevere. And he was saying in it that it's always the last house, the last 30 minutes, and it's always raining. ;) And that's when we see the crazy miracles, and this week kinda confirms that for me. :P We've been working our butts off all transfer seeing basically nothing, but right here in the last week of the transfer, we find about 3 or so really good people that I feel have a ton of potential. :) The blessings don't always come immediately, but they definitely DO COME! :) Of that I know!

     So I'm horrendously sorry that this is so short but, it is what it is. 

     Have a great week everyone!

    Love, Mike
P.S.  I met my new Mission President. He is... AMAZING. He did a big fireside, and blew all of our minds. He's way nice, and he's crazy fluent in English, but I only ever talk to him in Japanese because I like Japanese more. :P  

Pictures from May

 Mike's "father" and "son"

Japan week #47

So, this has been a fun, but rough week.

   Last week we had a lot of miracles, investigators and people coming out of nowhere, only to move into this week where it all fell apart! No one would listen to  us at all this week out finding, all of our appointments fell through, lessons were stood up, just NOTHING worked out this week. It was flipping lame!! 

    And O San from last week, is not what we thought! We were talking to the Bishop about him, and he said the name sounded familiar. Looks it up, turns out that he got baptized years ago, but then went inactive and can't really come to church because of a mental illness he contracted...NEVER would've guessed...Seemed normal enough to me. So that happened. :P Haha!! But you know what, for all that didn't happen missionary work wise this week, was well made up for in different ways. 

  This week Elder B and I were able to connect really well. We've had some seriously cool, deep, spiritual conversations, and I've been able to really help him I think. We spent a long time one planning session talking about having a vision for what you want to be, and I was just feeling the spirit way strong, and I told him then what I could see him as: As this really strong, confident powerful missionary, super capable of doing everything he needs to do out here, and being able to help lots of people. And it made him cry. I don't know if he's had someone express that much love and confidence in him on his mission, and it was a really tender spiritual experience. So this week still ROCKED in my book. It was rough, but the Lord is blessing me ad my comp, and this area in ways that we don't even know. :) Thanks for all you're love and support!

 Love, Mike

Japan week #46

Hey Everyone!! :D
  This has been a really fun week. Elder B and I have been having a blast, and we've been seeing some really sweet miracles. God really and honestly blesses our hard and consistent work!
  Our biggest goal for this transfer is obviously finding people to teach, and we were able to make a some good progress in that area! :D In particular we met two youngish guys that are WAY interested, and whom I think have some really good potential. One is named H San. Cool kid, about 25 years old. He has a lot of interest in learning about Christianity, and he really wants to hang out with us, so that's a way sick miracle! And yesterday at church we had the sickest miracle ever! We had Stake Conference this weekend, and that's been fun but, a man today just walked into the church building, and kinda sat down and minded his own business. I had never seen him before, but since it was stake conference I figured that he was probably from a different ward, so I didn't think much of it. After stake conference was over, I was talking to some people, and one of the sisters in my ward brings this man up to me and introduces me to him. Turns out he has been to church at least two times before that, and he's NOT a member. And she was like, why aren't you teaching him? To which I replied, "Never seen the man before!" ;) So we started talking to him, and he has the possibility to be the flipping most prepared person in the world. He was lived the last ten years of his life in Sapporo, and he lives alone, and has been searching for purpose in life. A friend of his from somewhere in Tokyo (where he is from originally) told him that he should go to his church, the LDS church. So, he did. Turns out this guy, O San, also reads the Bible a lot, and really enjoys it. He also believes in God as our Father in Heaven, and he wants to know more about Christ, and about our beliefs. He also takes EVERY Sunday off, so that he can study, and attend church. O.O This guy is flipping nuts! For a Japanese person, this is really prepared. Just believing in God is a huge thing out here! :D
  So we taught him a bit right after church, and since he's about 30, we invited him to the single adult activity they had after church, that we were invited to. And that was amazing! Had a fun time getting to know some members, and eating great food, it was just great for him, such a good way to get his relationship with the church started. He had a lot of fun, and we have a lesson scheduled later this week with him.
  So... BAM! Miracles do happen. :)
    And aside from that, nothing really notable happened this week. It's just been a lot of fun working really  hard, and laughing and feeling the joy of the Lord's work. :)
  Thanks for all you do, and for all your love everyone!
   Love, Mike