Monday, August 31, 2015

Yours Truly, The Seed Planter

Good morning folks,

It's been a pretty rainy week here. It's also been a pretty busy week as well. Everything was pretty normal until Wednesday rolled around.

On Wednesday we were about to head up to 安曇野 to visit the new investigators we found up there last week, but right before we left the previous senior missionary couple the 當眞 (Toma)s needed to borrow their apartment key to pick up some stuff they left behind. They very kindly offered to drive us to 安曇野。We had a really good lesson with one of the investigators. Her name is 金子(Kaneko). She has a lot of interest in why there are so many Christian churches and kept telling us that she wants to learn more about the Mormons. We taught her the Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and says she wants to read it and learn more. She was super receptive to our message and was good to have something exciting happen with a new investigator.  Her only issue is that she can't get to church because all she has is a bicycle and the church is over an hour away by bike. We'll be working on that.

As the 當眞s were about to drop us back off in 松本 we got a phone call where we were told to go interview a 約束者(yakusokusha-an investigator with a baptismal date) who one of our DLs has been teaching in 上田(Ueda). The issue was that he was on a government probation and we needed to learn more about his crime and probation before we could interview him for baptism. So we quickly went home, packed, and rushed back to the station to catch the train and ride for two hours to spend the night and meet the investigator in the morning. The next day Tu'akoi and Valente went to go do the interview and Elder Tu'akoi had a very special experience. The man being interviewed was a Peruvian named Carlos, who moved here around 10 years ago. His wife died about four years ago and life's been pretty rough for him since. He decided to pray one night to ask God for help and the next day the missionaries showed up. He was living in a home that a less active member used to own, but had since moved and Valente visited and the man became a 約束者 that day. When Tu'akoi did the interview (in English) he said to him, "The missionaries brought me Jesus Christ and the Atonement. I love it, I want it, I need it, and I need it now." He was baptized yesterday. I wish I could have met this man.


I went from beautiful 上田 to 諏訪(Suwa) to go on exchanges there. It was another day of train rides and I got to work with Elder Crippen for the evening. The big highlight was at the family home evening of a Brazilian member who told of his conversion story. He had sought for the truth for years and then two guys with white shirts and tieknocked on his door and changed his life forever. Brother Pontes is one of the nicest men I've met here on my mission and to watch this man tell me with tears in his eyes in his Brazilian Japanese how much he has been blessed since he found the truth will be something I'll never forget. That's what this is all about. To bless others with the Restored Gospel where they can find peace and joy.

In closing I'd like to share a side note from my previous area in good 'ole Toyota. It is currently has the most 約束者s of any area in the mission (11) and had a baptism this week. I found and taught about half of them. I know I said I'd never want to go back, but I can't believe the success they're having. It's like missionary Disneyland! I
spent 8 1/2 months there and dreamed that the area could develop into what it is today. I kind of wish I could have one more crack at it, but sometimes I think I should just be content with the seeds I sowed.

I hope you are all doing great in your respected parts of the world. I hope that you're all safe and sound. We are moving into fall and I am super excited for some color changes up here in the Japanese Alps!

Love you all.

スピードの天使
堅城長老


This is beautiful 上高地(Kamikochi). 
We went here with one of Tua's
investigators from Meito who came to visit



Just bored while riding 17 miles to visit a less active who wasn't home.






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