Japan 8 months 1 week-45

Study time

Are my teeth white???

dearest family and friends I have great news. Today I am also short on time because we have plans to party for the last p-day of the transfer. That is right transfers are next week, but that is okay I am almost 98% sure nothing will be changing for me. But on to the great news. I am going to the Onsen. An Onsen is the public baths they have in Japan. Yes. I am very excited to be culturized. Hopefully I survive. But onto this past weeks events-

Moiwa does not have a lot of investigators right now and the investigators we do have are not progressing as quickly as we want them to. For example our investigator Jace san (one of the two investigators we have) only speaks to us in English and refuses to be baptized in Japan because he wants to move to Europe, but he loves coming to church and is keeping every commitment we have extended to him. He started with 22 cigarettes (#gorts) a day and now he is down to 8. He is working way hard. Working with him is a lot of fun becuase it is the first time I have ever taught in English. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be. It is really fun to focus on the words I say and really listen to what I am saying. When I teach in Japanese, sometime I forget to think about the words I am saying because I am focused on how I am saying it or making sure I am saying the sentence right, but actually thinking about the specific words I am using and how it will change the lesson was a lot of fun. Words are really powerful. Oh funny story he swore in the middle of the lesson and I laughed out loud.

This week we also were able to meet with one of my old investigators Aoki san. She was my investigator when I first got to Japan. She was WAY happy to hear that I came back. We talked for a long time and in the end she said,"Guess what?! I have been praying!" WHAT?? When I left we dropped her because she said she has no interest and doesn't feel like her prayers are answered. Well she said she has been getting a lot of help through prayer and is trying. It was music to my ears.

Yesterday we met with the Henmi Family. The didn't come to church this sunday.... I figured out that their situation is a lot deeper than I thought. They really need the missionaries. We went over after church and she told us how she felt so bad they couldn't make it to church today and felt like she should call us right when we pinged the door. We also visited her on Friday and right when Henmi Shimai said, 'Where are the Elders? They haven't visited us in a week!' we pinged their door. We were able to share messages about endurance and how important that is when fighting depression. There isn't really much we can do physically to help them, but we go over often and do what we can to spiritually strengthen them. Next we are going to talk about Elder Hollands talk from conference about depression. I am excited and nervous for that.

Moiwa is coming a long great. We are out every day doing a lot of finding and walking a lot. We meet a lot of people who listen, but don't act. They feel the spirit and I KNOW they feel the spirit, but they don't act. It made me think about what I can do better to act. There are times when I feel the spirit, but I doubt and don't act. So I made a goal to change that and from that change we were able to meet 4 new amazing people this week. ONE MAY BE A FAMILY!! We taught the daughter. So I am, as always, excited for this next week. I love you all! Be excellent to each other.