Hello Everyone,
On Sunday night, the da senpai (those in our zone who are six weeks older than us) packed up and we all said goodbye. Only two of the six elders in the zone are going to Nagoya (#futurecompanions) so saying goodbye to the others were a bit tough because I might not see them any time soon, especially the Spartan King Ollino Choro who is an Auzzie. I was so blessed to have such good elders as my examples and they really helped me and all of my district feel at home. They will all do great and can't wait to hear from them over in Nihon.
On a happier note, I got to talk to Eric Mika this week! For those of you who don't know he is, he was a BYU basketball player that started for the team this year. He decided to sacrifice and take a break from basketball in order to serve the Lord and go on a mission. I never brought up the fact that he played for BYU and it never even came up. He was really humble though and we just talked like any other missionaries would about where we were from and where we were going and how he will be in Rome when the temple is dedicated.
Another person some of you might know that I saw here this past week was Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve. This was my second apostle so far and knew more of what to expect this time around. Last week when Elder Cook came, in our district meeting we talked about the apostolic blessings that Elder Cook left with us. So this time around I payed really close attention to the promises he made to us. All of them were really cool and comforting but I think my favorite one was that he blessed us "to teach with understanding and that those we teach will understand the word and have it take root in their heart". One of my biggest fears of being on a mission is that because of my shortcomings that I will miss an opportunity to invite someone unto Christ and fail them. But what Elder Ballard promised us helped me remember that no matter how inadequate we feel or how incapable we are, that if we have faith and try our hardest and best, even if it a small amount, that Christ will make up the difference. Missionary work is hard and life is in general too. But we should always remember that Christ and our Heavenly Father are here for us and that they love us and want us to succeed.
In class this past week, we practiced giving someone an overview of Lesson One in Preach My Gospel on The Restoration of the Gospel in five minutes or less. Before we started, our teacher asked us to think about what the main theme of the lesson was. After we finished, we talked about how the whole lesson was really just an invitation. An invitation to know that God is our Father in Heaven and that he loves us. An invitation to have one's family be strengthened by the Gospel of Christ. An invitation to learn of Christ and his teachings and to come unto him and to find out about the Restoration.
God has restored the true church through Joseph Smith in the latter days because he is inviting us to be a part of his restored church and we wants all of his children to partake of his gospel and come unto him and be happy. I know that the only way to truly be happy is to follow Christ and come unto him. Over the past three weeks I have had my fair share of troubles but I have kept coming closer to Christ everyday by living it and I know that whatever troubles I may have, Christ and His Atonement will always be there for me. I am so glad to be able to serve the Lord and be a missionary and can't wait to go to Japan and invite the Japanese people in Nagoya to come unto Christ.
I hope that everything is going good back at home and I will talk to you again next week.
Elder Hall
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