Japan Tokyo South Mission: Gotta Work Hard

Saying goodbye to Judd Choro was sad. It made me realize how limited my time is here. Gotta work hard these last 2 1/2 weeks. He is from Salt Lake area and went to Brighton. May be a future Aggie (so of course he was cool). He reminded me a ton of some of my Bountiful and Utah friends. What a stud. Going to miss some good times with this kid here. Crazy how close you can get with someone in just 6 weeks. He and I went back to the room to grab something and I was barely able to open my door enough to go in and see all 8 chairs from the lobby chillin in my room lol.

Since the Di Sempi, oldest elders in the zone (oldest in terms of time at the mtc), left we received 2 new districts in our zone yesterday. Haven't met them all, but they seem chill! Since Belnap and I were the only elders in our room, we took on two more. They seem like some of the coolest ones so that's good. Though one snores a lot :/ This means that my district is the new di sempi. Straight up so insane.... I'm trippin. So ready to leave but so shocked we are next. The days go by slow, weeks go by fast.

This last week we started skyping real Nihongin (Japanese people) for lessons. So hard yet so much fun they are all so patient and nice. Also willing to lie to make us feel good about our Japanese which I have mixed feelings about lolz.

The biggest thing this week though: one of our "investigators" went to church with us. He is Watanabe (the one that doesn't believe in God). At church some of the members thought he was a missionary too. Made him feel good because he has zero self confidence and thinks highly of the missionaries. Which is great. We prepped for next lesson to tell him why they thought that, because they see more in him than he sees in himself, just as we do and most importantly God does. Though when we got to the next lesson he said he had gone to a Protestant rally in Japan and they said that we were Satan's church and a cult. We had trouble explaining it with our broken Japanese. Didn't go the best. We came back next lesson and he said that he went to Protestant church and they gave him something to read that would help his drug addiction. He said that their church would help him quicker than ours. So frustrating knowing such little Japanese. He hadn't read this book they gave him but had tried reading the Book of Mormon and had said it was impossible. We told him our testimonies and asked when we could meet again and he said never. He just wanted to go to the protestant church. We left feeling like crap...

Of course we got a chance to teach him again. The teacher that plays the role of the investigator (Sheehan Sensei) told us that we weren't speaking with the Spirit, and had us watch a video. Both Belnap Choro and I prayed to know what to do. We felt that he needed to just pray in the lesson for help. We knew God would do the rest. When we went into the lesson we talked for a bit and told him that if he prayed right there and then he wouldn't have an addiction anymore. He didn't believe us. Told us it was impossible.

We shared Alma 32:27 and tried to explain what it means. Everyone check that scripture out! I would copy and paste but I can only have one tab open #mtcprobz. Definitely top 5 scripts for me. For those of you that don't have a Book of Mormon just look it up on google. I promise that God blesses us if we have faith, but also even if we just have a desire to believe and let that desire work in us, God will help us with the rest.

The lessons are usually 25 minutes long, we were in there for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Our teacher later told us that he was going to drop us again and never let us teach Watanabe again if we didn't blow him away that lesson. So he just kept being difficult and wouldn't pray. Finally stopped the lesson and said (as the teacher, not investigator) Watanabe thinks we are just saying stuff, that we don't actually believe it. Something changed after that. Belnap and I spoke with a power that I have never had before. Always considered myself to be a powerful speaker but not in Japanese nor with the power of the Spirit at that point. I asked him again to pray. I told him that I promised he wouldn't have an addiction anymore if he did it. A promise I would not usually make. I saw his chin quiver. Belnap testified of similar things. You would have to be extremely shut off to not feel the Spirit in that room at that point. After an hour of pointless conversation we finally started speaking with the spirit and he agreed. He knelt down and so did we (in this super awk position that Japanese people sit in). He started praying and stopped. Stopped for about 5 minutes. I knew he felt it. He thanked Heavenly Father and said for the first time that he is happy. After the prayers he was crying. Though he was the one having the experience I would be dumb to say I didn't have one either. He said he had zero desire to do drugs, that his body didn't feel the need. Belnap asked him to be baptized and he accepted!

Though this lesson was not with a real investigator. Sheehan told us that though he was acting as an investigator he still felt God's love and help in the lesson. God knows each of us personally. I promise that. He loves and knows what each of us need. Belnap and I needed to learn how to blow people away with the Spirit. 5-10% of Japanese people take a second lesson. That is absolutely terrible. Time to change those numbers. Not by my abilities though, I am nothing without the Spirit and God. Watanabe would have felt nothing without the Spirit. I promise the Spirit is real. I have felt it and seen it change many lives and will continue to do so. If you need help with anything and have nothing but a desire to believe, let it work in your heart and humble yourself and pray about it. Pray to feel His love, for help, for guidance. You may not receive an instant answer as Watanabe did but you will receive one if you continue to show faith. I promise.

I'm not proofreading that... Love you all!!

Ai Shite Mas,

Spackman Choro

I found my camera!! Here are some pictures.