The Gospel Magic (Happy Birthday Mom)

We had a role play lesson with the bishop on Saturday night. It was good food, good learning experience and I hope the Bishop didn't lose complete faith in the Numazu missionary's teaching skills but at least me and my companion taught in unity.  Not really many questions asked during the role play, but at least we are improving.  Anyways, after the dinner, we had that awkward moment where there wasn't enough time to visit the person we planned on visiting but there was still time to do something.  So, we went very original... housing!  Trick or treat but there is no costume and we are the ones giving away the candy. #feastuponthewords  Usually in housing you just go say, "We are missionaries and we do..." and pick something that you want to share. Plan of Salvation, families, Joseph Smith etc.  However, after a couple houses of nothing special, I decide to draw on my companion's talent to make some magic happen, quite literally actually.  "How can we tie in a magic trick into the gospel?"  I turn and ask Elder Silva before heading over to the next house.  We brainstorm and go through a couple of cheesy things but we decided to go with "Do you want to see a magic trick?"

We walk to the next door on the fourth floor of the apartment complex we are at and the door is slightly held open with a door stop. "Sumimasen!", we say and nothing happens. So, I hit the door bell and out comes a mid-20s or so man with a young girl. "You want to see some magic?" I ask. They seemed busy but Elder Silva started with his magic trick anyways and wows them with a crazy trick dealing with changing an ace into a queen of hearts. He is pretty good by the way. Then he finishes and I pop my head in the conversation. "He is a really good magician but he is also a missionary. He came to Japan for two years to share the gospel which makes him happy. His magic made you happy but Christ will make you more happy". At least that is what I hope I said. Silly Japanese... They didn't become investigators but they said we could come back in a couple weeks. So that was definitely pretty cool. We also found a less active who didn't know they were a member but they seemed interested when we invited them to the ward's food party after church for next Sunday.

The weather here is so hot that we sweat whenever we enter the apartment. July is the worst month for weather here I believe and by the end of August it should be bearable. Maybe it is so hot because of the recent dendo fire that has been burning here from my bean. We had another half un-planned lesson after church with our favorite sandal wearing, sunglasses rocking, slightly handicapped from a car accident Mukasa San. This time it involved answering some questions on the three kingdoms of glory. "Because God loves us, he has made an awesome kingdom of glory for everybody! (Except for that outer darkness)". Then we showed how baptism was necessary to enter the Celestial Kingdom and live with your family forever! So, will you be baptized...? The response in English was 'No Sir'. He told us afterwards he thought that God was kind and that he saved everyone and that by Him asking for us to receive baptism was too much. We will keep working with him but the lesson went well as my bean talked a lot.

Oh, and happy birthday Mom!  6.... 29 right? Ha ha... (I am already regretting writing that). But yeah!
Another magical experience is that of the Holy Ghost! As a trainer, I lead but really sometimes I have no idea what is happening. We were invited to lunch today with a member and her recent convert nephew and it was P-day so we didn't really anticipate sharing anything but then she told us in English to share something that would help him commit to come to church instead of work. So, being without anything I turned to my bean and say go ahead.  I didn't think he would do anything and I would take over but he was like, let's share 1 Nephi 3:7! We had practiced how to share a scripture in companionship study and I had used that one to practice introducing scriptures in Japanese. So I gave the background of the story, he told a personal story about when he worked on Sunday decided to go to church instead, and then I ended with the promise. (The Sandwich Testimony Method)  The Lesson I learned today from that was that if we prepare and do our part, the Holy Ghost will tell you the rest. My bean had the answer on what to share on the spur of the moment but I didn't know what to share so I feel like I was nudged to half-jokingly ask him to take the lead and it worked out. Sometimes we don't know where we are going or what we are doing but if we try our best, God will do the rest.  We might think it is magic but really, we just don't quite know how to perform the trick just quite yet and God performs the miracle through his own power.  So study hard, cram it all in, and have God help you take the test that is called life!

 I love you everybody and have a good, wait no, a GREAT week! Enjoy the pics!

Stonehenge or my lunch

Elder Shawn Hall

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The Lucky Number and New Reign of the King

This past week we had an unfortunate thing happen.  My new fresh outof the MTC Beanchan started counting every single person he talks to on the street. He uses a metal counter and clicks it whenever he is the one that starts the conversation on the street. A week or so ago, he reached the number 16 and that was the first person he talked to that had become an investigator. Then number 32 came along (GO JIMMER!!!) and that person became a new investigator too.  So, we had it figured out that every 16th person that Elder Silva talked to would become a new investigator. This week Elder Silva stopped a guy and I got talking with him after he did his amazing Spirit-filled, Beanchan-level Japanese "Do You Want To Hear Our Message" spiel and we were pretty close but in the end the guy opted out and decided a return appointment was beyond his capacity. So, we ride away a bit disappointed and then Elder Silva clicks his clicker. "Oh, no! He was number 48!" So 16 ain't a magic number, unless you are waiting to date members of the opposite sex. Never fear though, number 57 became an investigator so we are back on track!

 That story basically describes this last week. I have never before found so many people on my mission and they have just been people we have talked to on the street! Yeah, we have met a lot of people that are just being nice and will listen for a minute or two but also people who have given us their digits. Now the problem is we have a ton of potential investigators or people that want to met but have no time! So I have been forced to hit up the phone a lot they recently. Hopefully we can get more lessons with people and not just numbers. We did have a totsuzen lesson after church that I wasn't prepared for. Mukasa (not Mufasa) San showed up to sacrament meeting when he told me over the phone Friday night that he couldn't because he was sick. Luckily the Spirit got my back as I had no idea what to do when the opening prayer was offered. It turned out alright though for the first legit Japanese lesson I took the lead as Senpai for. We committed him to ask a question in his prayers as he had never done before. Will follow up with him tonight to see how it goes so more phone dendo for me!

We went to the big city of Nagoya this week to meet our new mission president Ishii Kaicho. He is not a member of the Seventy but he is still super awesome. We thought he would tell us a lot of changes but I liked his approach of just building upon what President Yamashita has taught us. He did introduce himself and gave these really cool five points about missionary work (and life in general):

1. Obedience is the price
2. Faith is the power
3. Love is the motive
4. The Spirit is the key
5. Christ is the reason

 So cool, right? I especially like number 2 because I have seen the power of faith a lot more with my bean. Before I had the faith, I think, to see success but it was always "I have faith God can do anything BUT me, not so much. or "I have faith that he could get baptized BUT he is no where close." I think the change has been the unqualified faith of my new companion. No is just not an answer for him. Just when I was about to confine myself to being a missionary that worked but never saw a baptism, here comes my bean with "We will find a baptism!" I think we get caught up in excuses or little things that in the end God can take care of. He can increase our weak abilities, influence others to righteously use their free agency, and get rid of obstacles through our faith. Just as the Lord tells us in 2 Nephi 23 "I work among the children of men according to their faith." Faith really is the power for Christ and His Atonement to propel our inner change, our self improvement, and our eternal conversion. I hope you all have have the faith this week to follow Christ and improve in any way possible! I love you and Christ does too!

See you next week!

 Me and my doki (people that came with me to Japan) after meeting President Ishii Kaicho

Fermented Soy Beans, Portuguese Bean, and and Green Beans (a.k.a. America and Canada's Birthdays)

Random note, my bean doesn't like fermented soybeans all that much but
I guess they are just Nato for him.  He also doesn't like boring
P-days so we went and ate at an all we can eat place today.  Sadly, I
forgot about a member dinner appointment with a recent convert in the
ward tonight so my body is going to hate me.  Whateves I guess.  He
does like finding new investigators too which has been fun.  No
appointments really since everyone is too busy or just doesn't
understand what I am saying but we have definitely added to the list
of people to make appointments with.  And I've said some really weird
stuff this week to people on the street.  I learned the five kanji
word for Independence Day and went around the street telling people
Happy Fourth of July!  My bean wanted to tell people more about Joseph
Smith so then I segwayed into religious freedom and Joseph Smith.  I
told a guy that he wasn't Buddhist, I'm not Christian but we are just
all children of God.  A guy told me he won't give me his number
because we aren't friends so I told him to come to church so we could
be friends.  I'm kind of going crazy as senpai if you couldn't already
tell.

Fourth of July was pretty fun.  I wore a red tie with a white shirt
and blue pants.  It was pretty badly matched and you could have
definitely put me on "What Not To Wear" but it was worth it to show my
patriotism.  It was my only Fourth of July in Japan since the last one
I was in the MTC but I enjoyed it. It was weird being the only
American but I think I was obnoxious enough about it when I told
everyone on the street I was happy today because of it being the
Fourth and playing the national anthem on my IPad at night in the
apartment as I stood up with my hand over my heart because I have the
LDS hymnbook app.

Being Patriotic in Japan

This week's spiritual thought is never lose faith, even when you can't
see the end.  We found a guy on the street and swapped numbers.  Elder
Silva was so happy and he bought me dinner that night to celebrate.
So then I call several times throughout the week but it doesn't even
go to an answering machine so I lose hope and figure he gave us the
wrong number.  Then last night, HE CALLS US!  That humbled me a little
bit...  Life is like the terribly confusing streets of Numazu, with
very few checkpoints and so many intersecting small roads without
names.  I ride down streets only knowing a general direction towards
the place where I am wanting to go.  On these streets, I get unsure if
I am going the right way, so I keep on going anyways.  Eventually I
get to a road I know and can find people, the church, or my apartment.
So a lot of times in life, we have to ride down unfamiliar roads and
make choices on our own without knowing the whole picture.  We keep
going and trying our best, and we will eventually run into a familiar
road or into a faraway place which tells us to turn back.  God knows
the road map and we can always ask for directions too.  Just remember
to follow his traffic laws and he will protect you.  I haven't failed
to get back to the apartment so neither will we fail to get back to
our Father in Heaven if we try our best!  You'll always find your way
back home!  Keep pedaling and everyone have a great week!  

Love you!