Bye Bye Yamashita, Bye Bye Ottey, Hello Beanchan

Our recent Assistant to the President would always ask other missionaries as a joke if they had ever thought that their wife wasn't born yet. While not the most serious of questions, I would like to ask a similar question: Have you ever wondered if your next companion isn't even born yet? This question didn't quite occur to me until Saturday morning. My companion Elder Ottesen is flying back to America tomorrow so I knew for sure I would receive a call but it was quite an excruciating wait. Twice investigators called us during the hour of impatience and I almost died with a heart attack. I had no idea what was going to go down but I got a clue when I heard the phone ring and it was a call from President Yamashita. He only calls you if you are in serious trouble so I figured I was in for it. Turns out they hate me so much they are making me senior companion, giving me a missionary straight from the MTC who probably knows no Japanese, and tacking on District Leader for a fun side job. So that was a bit of a surprise! Send an old elder home and receive a new fresh one. I get him Wednesday and don't know anything about him! I know the church doesn't believe in reincarnation but I am expecting a similar companion this transfer as last time. The cherry on top though is that I get to train him for an extra week because next transfer is seven weeks because this one was five.

I thought I would become a father later but why not become the father to a new young missionary right after Father's Day instead of waiting around any longer? I luckily banked on the promise I made to my trainer that I would produce offspring before his death. Now I just hope he gets to meet him before he dies. I thought it would be cool if someone trained twelve times and then have a Joseph of Egypt rivalry going on but I will pass on being the Jacob of that scenario. Well that was random.

So this weekend I have been thinking a lot about faith and the Spirit. All of Sunday was focused on the Spirit: Priesthood was from President Benson, we taught in our English Sunday school class about the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and all the talks were on following the Spirit. So I am definitely scared out of my mind to be thrust into a situation in which I have to do everything when I feel like I know nothing. I asked President Yamashita at his last zone conference in a Q&A session what do I do when I just feel like going outside and working effectively is just too far beyond my reach and what can I do to want to work more. He surprised me and simply said, and I quote: Strengthen your testimony. What was that? I guess if I value my testimony more then I will want to share it with others. But I realized this week that I fear failure, I fear going outside and changing nothing. Just working hard without any results. But if I strengthen my testimony, then I will have more faith and I know that something will come about because of me choosing the right. Luckily, Christ and God both fluently know Japanese and perfectly know the Japanese people. I am really just the same as my next companion. I don't know how to help people and change them, I don't know Japanese, I don't know how to teach. But luckily, God does, and he is willing to help us and he will show us the way through the Spirit, if we are worthy. So it really comes down to, how strong is your testimony? Can you believe in Christ enough to change and do what is right no matter what the result? We all falter, we all fail, but God never does. We can lean on him to grow and to do his work.

So yeah, I am scared. I'll miss President Yamashita leading us as we get a new mission president and I will miss Elder Ottesen leading us around but willing, it is Christ who is doing the leading, it is the Spirit telling us what to do, and all we have to do is be in the right place and have the right tools of obedience and faith in order to pick up the Spiritual Wi-Fi hotspots. As Elder Ringwood told us at Christmastime, the problem isn't the message, it is the messenger. So take the leap of faith, step outside your comfort zone, follow the Spirit and wait for the miracles that are about to happen, because I sure will be trying to do the same with my new missionary following behind me.

 Shout out to all the Dad's today and to my dad for being a good example and friend to me!

 Love you all and hope you have a good week!