TRANSFER WEEK

JUNE 2, 2013

So yep, this week is transfer week. We got a call last night from President Zinke, telling Hayward長老 that he was to become the new Assistant to the President, which means he needs to go to Kobe tonight, rather than transfering on the normal day (friday). And then I learned that my new companion that comes on friday is Onizuka長老, a Japanese Elder that was with me in the MTC, and came with me to Japan, so he's my doki. We're both on transfer 4, so not a whole lot of experience between us. He's actually a convert, with a pretty cool conversion story. From what I hear, he was also raised by the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) so I'll have to see how much of that is true. :P But it looks like my next transfer is going to be all in Japanese. Until we get together on Friday though, my temporary companion is one of my Kohai from the MTC, Hutchings長老. So that means that until Friday, I'm the senior companion. I don't really feel like I'm ready for that, but I guess I dont really have a choice. :P It'll be hard, but Kakogawa is a great place, and I'm excited to stay here for one more transfer.

SO. This week, we had the COOLEST MIRACLE EVER!!!! On friday, we had a Zone training meeting in Akashi, so in the morning, we started walking from our apartment to the eki. As we got to the Eki, a man called out to us in English. We started talking to him, and as we tried to introduce ourselves as missionaries, he was like "I know who you are." He had just moved back to Kakogawa a week ago, and before that, he had lived in New Jersey for 20 years. He asked us "If its alright, can I like, ask you some questions real fast?" but because we had a train to catch, we had to set up another time to meet. So we made an appointment for saturday at 3:30. Then we went to Akashi for ZTM. and then after it was over, we went to Himeji for a baptismal interview. While we were gone, this guy, Hiro, sent us a Cmail (like a text message) and said that he was "excited to meet tomorrow. Have a good day and God Bless You". At ZTM, we told everyone our cool experience. While in Himeji, as we were trying to leave, we accidentally got on the wrong train, which ended up delaying us about 25 minutes. We finally got back to Kakogawa, and as we were walking back to our apartment, we started contacting some random guy by an intersection. While we were talking to him, guess who showed up on the other side of the intersection? Just this Hiro guy, and 3 of his kids! We were way shocked! I continued the contact while Hayward長老 talked to this family. The kids were all born and raised in America, and are fluent in English, but they have been raised by Japanese parents, so their Japanese is pretty good to. They are 10, 9, and 6, and Hiro was like, why dont I bring my kids tomorrow too? I guess that they are part of a Christian Church (the unification church? I dont know like anything about it except that its from Korea...) and they believe in God, Jesus Christ, and go to sunday school every week. We were way surprised that we met them randomly twice in one day, and Hiro and his son even recognized that it wasnt just a coincidence. We were way pumped, and couldnt believe it.

Isnt that cool? Well, its not the end. The next day, our schedule was packed. from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm, we had lesson after lesson that day. We ended up going all over the place, and it was crazy. Unfortunately, some of our lessons fell through, but we still taught 5 lessons that day. After one of our lessons fell through, we started going back to our apartment to grab something for lunch (which we didnt schedule any time for...) and as we left the church, guess who we saw AGAIN? Hiro and his 3 children! we just said hi to them, confirmed our appointment for 3:30, and then at the last second, asked if we could just meet at the church, instead of the eki like we had previously arranged. He was fine with that, and knew where the church was, because, get this, he met with the missionaries there 20 years ago before he moved to America!! We were so surprised that we had met them a third time randomly on the street. Every time we thought it was a cool miracle, it just got better. When we finally met with him and his children that day, it was crazy. They have a ton of knowledge about the Bible and Jesus Christ, so we started talking about the restoration and Joseph Smith. Hiro told us that he had been praying while he was in New Jersey, and he felt like he needed to move back to Japan, and then since he's been here, he has been praying to find out how to best help his children. The day that he prayed, he met us at the eki. and then again. and then again the next day. He was like "thats just way interesting." His children really understood about Joseph Smith, and the restoration. They were like "This church has a prophet?? and it has Gods power and permission? Thats so cool! Dad, does our church have power and authority?" We also asked Hiro to pray, like Joseph Smith did, to find out which church is true. He said he would, and then we asked "If you get an answer that this church is right, will you be baptized?" and he was like "if I get an answer from God, how can I deny it?" We told them that we have a baptismal service on the 21st of July, and his kids were like "I wanna go! I wanna go!" It was way great. Hiro also told us these crazy things that just show how much of a miracle he is. When he met with the missionaries 20 years ago in the same church, they talked about the word of wisdom. At that point, Hiro was drinking 5-6 cups of coffee a day. But for some reason, he accepted to stop drinking coffee and keep the word of wisdom. After that, he slipped a little and tried to drink coffee. When he tried to drink it though, his body had a really weird reaction to it, and he couldnt drink it. He thought it was the caffeine, so he tried decaf, but same thing happened. he cant even eat coffee flavored candy. Since that day he committed to keep the WoW, he physically hasnt been able to drink coffee. His wife drinks it, but he still doesnt. Also, he is living in the same house he lived in 20 years ago. He opened the closet there, and guess what he found? The Book of Mormon, in the same place that he had left it 20 years earlier. How cool is that? After this lesson with him, we were just ecstatic, and couldnt believe what was happening. It was raining, so we gave them 2 umbrellas that were at the church, and they said that they would return them the next day.

And the miracle continues! Yesterday, we were going to meet with them, but after church, he cmailed and said that his son had eaten too much ramen and got a stomach ache, so they couldnt meet again. We were a little sad, but we had some other stuff to do. We had 30 minutes before our next lesson, so we went to go visit a former investigator who lives a little far away. As we were going, Hayward長老 just felt like it wasnt right, and even though we still had 20 minutes, we turned around and went to the church. And as we got there, guess who else was there? Yeah, I couldnt believe it either. Hiro and his children had come to the church to return the umbrellas, and had just send us a cmail to say that he had. We got that cmail right when we got to the church. As he pointed out, God is faster than text messages. :P

We met with them and talked about Gods plan for them. He really is perplexed by the fact that we've met randomly like 4 or 5 times on the street, and he was like "I want to find out what God has in store for us.". He also wanted just a friend for his children to keep their english up, because they're going to live here for like 7-10 years, and he knows how much of a benefit it is to know two languages. Guess what else happened by chance this week, a family that lives in Orem Utah came to kakogawa, because the wife is from here. The husband is from Hawaii, went to the fukuoka mission, and they met at BYU hawaii. They and their kids are staying here for like a month and a half for summer vacation. The guy asked us if there was anything he could do to help, and so we explained about this miracle family. Guess how old this guys kids are? his sons are almost 10 and 9, and his daughter is 6. They are the exact same!!! This miracle is still developing, but I think the plan is for us all to meet tomorrow. This is the crazy awesome thing that happened this week, but so much happened. I dont have time to write it though.

The sad thing is that Hayward長老 is transferring TODAY, so he wont be able to see them tomorrow. Hopefully we randomly meet them on the street again though! So thats pretty sad. This crazy miracle happens, and Hayward長老 is leaving... its way too bad. But I'm sure he'll come back and see them again! Well, this letter is way long, so I'll send it now. We've got some stuff to do to get ready for this transfer, so I'll cut this letter off here. Well, anyway, I love you guys so much! :D :D :D :D :D See you next week! 

JUNE 9, 2013

So yeah, this past week, I had 3 companions! Hayward長老, Hutchings長老. and now Onizuka長老. Pretty crazy stuff. This past week was interesting, to say the least.

Its a little hard being the area senpai, or just being with companions that are just as inexperienced as I am, but ma, I guess thats how I'll learn.

This past week, nothing super crazy happened. We were just working and trying to meet with all our investigators this past week. Its pretty interesting to have a Japanese companion, but usually we dont have a problem talking with each other or anything. Except for when he and our investigators start talking about crazy random stuff, I have no idea of whats going on sometimes! oh well! Gotta work hard!

Onizuka長老 is such a stud. He is a convert, got baptized two years ago. Hes got a cool story too. He's got a lot of blessings from the Gospel, so he's got a powerful testimony.

Today we arent taking a lot of time emailing, but I think I'll write another letter home or something today. Well, I hope you are all doing good at home! I love you all and think about you all everyday. Hope this next week you all have fun! Love you all!