Hello my exquisitely gorgeous and wonderfully brilliant mother,
Can't believe how long it's been! I have officially been in Japan longer than I was in the MTC. It still kind of feels like the MTC was long, but these last 9 weeks in Japan have flown by. I am also realizing how cushy and convenient and easy everything was in the MTC compared to here--so I have repented for complaining about how long the MTC was.
Yeah I really am glad I have had these opportunites to play the organ and piano! It's kind of funny because I felt like everyone played the piano in the MTC. And especially my old doryo, Nathan Choro, is a piano prodigy. So I didn't really need to play much then, but out in the field those talents have been put to good use. So, note to any pre-mission piano players reading this letter--keep practicing! Because you'll for sure use it in the mission field. And the more you practice, the fewer number of times you'll mess up, and the fewer number of times the ward choir director will wince from your mistakes. ;)
Happy to hear that Relief Society is going well and you're learning a lot! I'm not sure why someone as perfect as you would feel that you have room to improve, but I suppose eternal progression is the goal. Hope the meetings and trainings go well and you continue to enjoy everything! Don't get stressed out please!
Glad general conference was good! We will be watching it this weekend, I think what we will be watching at the church when the branch is showing it, but we'll just watch it in English on our ipads. I'm excited, and hopefully R Kyoudai will be able to come as well. He read one talk by Pres. Monson from last conference (called Choices) and said he really enjoyed it--it was much easier to understnad than the Book of Mormon and kind of helped him to have more of a context of how the gospel will help his life.
We had one lesson with R, about tithing and fasting. Murase Kaicho was there with us too, and he basically taught it all, he is super good. He even prepared a video of Elder Bednar talking about tithing, and shared some experiences, basically all we had to do was extend the commitment invitation. He fasted yesterday with us, he unfortunately wasn't able to come to church or have a lesson because of work, but we talked on the phone that night and he said he fasted, and he will pray tonight about a special question that he has (he told me what it was but I didn't really understand...something about God's will for us and how he wants us to be happy) so we just promised that from fasting, he would be more receptive to the spirit and would be able to get a special answer.
We were planning to teach him the 10 commandments and the sabbath day, but he wasnt able to meet--and that would've put us behind schedule to be ready for his baptism on the 22nd, so I managed to teach a little sabbath day lesson over the phone. He actually already knew some things about it, like how God rested on the 7th day after creating the earth. So I asked him how it applies to modern day, and he said it is still supposed to be a day of rest. So we talked about that a little bit, and invited him to ask his boss for work off on Sundays--and he said he would! I asked if he thought it would be difficult, and he said it would probably be totally fine. So hopefully that will go well and he will be able to come to church consistently after this! Talking on the phone with him has made me more aware of how real the gift of tongues is--I am just able to understand so much over the phone with him, more than I would normally be able to pick up. Heavenly Father really does have a plan for R to accept the
gospel, and he will make up for what I lack so that I can help him. It has been awesome, and humbling, to see how much the Lord really is guiding the work here. I am just honored that I, weak as I am, get to be a tool in His hands.
Last Monday we went to follow up on a Book of Mormon that we had placed while housing. We had given it to super friendly, genki obaasan named H Shimai at a danchi. We weren't expecting much, but she had read 20 pages and had even marked them up and taken notes! She had a concern about why Nephi killed Laban, if killing is a sin and the center of Christianity is forgiveness. Honestly though, I think having this concern shows how sincerely and intently she is reading. But we tried to explain how the killing was justified in this instance, but she said it was still hard for her to understand. We ended up just bearing our testimonies about it and encouraging her to keep reading. She said she would continue on and said it was ok for us to stop by again another time. We passed her on to the Sisters, but it was cool to see that just reading a little bit, sincerely, can change someone from listening out of politeness to genuinely wondering about the truth. The Book of Mormon is powerful.
We tried a cool idea with the Funahashi Kazoku--before we went housing, we stopped by their house and decided together which area we would go to. We left with kind of a vague direction to travel rather than an area, but the important part was that they helped us decide. So we housed in said direction for two nights, then we returned and reported the miracles we saw. There were two that stuck out the most--the first was a man who answered the door with his shirt unbuttoned, his hairy chest exposed. He was very friendly and open (open in more ways than one!), and he took a pamphlet but didn't have too much interest. But he said that since we were working so hard, he wanted to give us something--he went into his house and then came back with a plastic jar of pumpkin flavored kit-kats! Never seen those before. But that was so nice! Then miracle #2 was a younger guy who wasn't super interested at first, but as we kept talking, he just started getting into it more and more. By the end he was asking us questions about God and Jesus and how they are different, and if we worship Mary, and he was just really intrigued. He has a little bit of previous knowledge of Christianity, so I think that made him even more interested in the message of the Restoration of Christ's Gospel. We left him with a Book of Mormon and a promise that it would answer his questions about God and life, so we will stop by again this week and see if he read. When we stopped by the Funahashi Kazoku again, they were super excited to hear about everything! The kids were the most enagaged they have ever been so far. We gave them the pumpkin kit-kats and then shared a
video with President Eyring about how God's hand is always in our lives, but sometimes if we're not looking we will miss it. Definitely a good reminder for both missionaries and members :)
It's starting to get cold here, we are beginning to break out the long-sleeve shirts and such. I'm excited for some real snow though!! The other guys keep telling me winter is horrible and freezing cold, but I am stubbornly excited about winter haha :) I actually prayed for snow this morning in comp study, then it dumped rain on us today, so I
guess I still need to learn patience.
We went to an all-you-can eat Yakiniku today!!! Holy cow. I probably ate an entire cow. Maybe I should say hole-y cow instead ;) But it was way good. I also discovered the melon soda calpis float, and my life has been changed for the better. Did you guys ever do melon soda floats? :)
So this week has been good, I'm loving it here and each week gets faster and faster. Please keep R Kyoudai in your prayers, and K (the guy we gave a Book of Mormon to) as well. Thanks for all you do, and for being such an amazing mother!!
愛しています、
パスケット長老
Elder Paskett
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