Basketball, Lessons and Elder Nelson

I look back on my weeks and trip about how much has happened in just a week. I will try and keep this a little shorter so I have time to answer some more personal emails. Sorry if I haven't gotten around to it or if I still don't today. Things are busy!

So things are pretty unpredictable here in March. They call it March Madness, I think referring to the weather. Though I just about get depressed when I hear that and think of the brackets, upsets, Cinderella stories and buzzer beaters of college basketball in March :( Earlier in the week we went to this big park here, Kokukoun. Probably the sickest park I have been to behind millennium park in Chicago. It's where we play basketball and meet people sometimes. Earlier in the morning my comp and I had gone running and it was pretty warm. When we went to the park this huge cloud moved in and at one point it was snowing. Everywhere we looked we could see the end of the cloud and blue skies and sunshine but just had this cloud of death over us the whole day.

We visited Kunitama last Monday as we do every Monday, just a member who needs some people to talk to. He hooked me up fat with a black thunder and a doctor pepper. Sooo good. Haven't had a dp in a while. I will send a pic of that. On the way there we met this man outside of his apart. Who we ended up having a mini lesson and having a prayer with him. The Spirit was pretty strong.

One random thing about Nihongiin (Japanese people) here always look way younger than they really are.  Most of the time they look about 20 years younger than what they are.

That crazy old man that can't stop laughing and talking about me showed up to Eikaiwa (English class us missionaries hold for free at the church in order to meet and make new friends, and also give service in teaching them. So much fun. It's probably my favorite part of the week. They shock me with how well their English is!). The man showed up pretty late. Which was ironic because the Japanese people in our class were asking what to say when you are late to something. He sat next to Nagano and just talked about me and could not stop laughing. Which of course makes me laugh cause I don't understand him but I know he is talking about me. I can tell Nagano gets a little annoyed that all this man wants to talk about is me. "Wow he is so tall", "he is so handsome and cool", "he is going to come out in movies", "dang he is tall, how tall do you think he is?" At the end of Eikaiwa this super creepy gay guy that shows up, started to play the piano, like he always does. He is terrible. He plays one note at a time and holds it, sounds like a two year old. But he closes his eyes and rocks his body like he is playing some master piece. Like bro you really feeling that C sharp you have been holding for the last thirty seconds? Lol. The crazy guy that's weirdly obsessed with me looks at Shu the gay guy and says "oh does she play the piano?". I have not laughed that hard yet on my mission. He realized later that it was a guy and was so proud he made us elders laugh. This guy is so crazy but funny. I got a pic with him so I could show you. It makes it even funnier that Shu is so gay and acts and looks a little like a woman. He just stares at me all the time and makes it very obvious. If he gets a chance he will touch you, so you have to keep your distance. He has smacked a couple elders butts which I think is so funny cause they feel so violated.

Here is the crazy guy who is obsessed over me. That's my "this dude is insane" face.

 We taught both of our investigators this week. It sounds like Iwasawa has made up his mind that he wants to be baptized but just isn't sure about what his parents will think. I guess they still want him to wait until after they die? Weird. Though we will see. We will hopefully get him a baptismal date this week and a date for him to have his parents convinced by and maybe if not convinced a date he will do it anyways. Jordan, our investigator from Nigeria) has a baptismal date for May 9th and this last lesson we really re-motivated him with it. Gave him a picture of Jesus being baptized and a picture I drew of the plan of salvation. With a bridge of the atonement over the hole of physical death and the 5 steps of the gospel in order to climb out of the hole of spiritual death. He is really struggling with finding work here in Japan cause he only speaks English. He is having a rough time. I shared with him (and Iwasawa who is having a hard time at work) that before I left on my mission for some reason I was sad and struggling to be myself and happy. Which isn't like me at all. I realize now how bad Satan doesn't not want me to be here talking to them and helping them come closer to God through Jesus Christ. That a lot of times Satan works really hard to bring us down so that we don't follow through and receive the blessings of what's on the other side of that struggle. I told them that they will go through the struggle regardless, but it's up to them on whether or not they will come out of it stronger or worse off. Look at what I would say is the biggest miracle of this dispensation, When Jesus Christ and God appeared to Joseph Smith to restored the true gospel to the earth. Joseph Smith felt the wrath of Satan upon him before he prayed. Imagine if he would have given in and not prayed? Satan was going to make him miserable regardless there for a little, but Joseph prevailed, and so can my investigators and so can all of you. Don't ever give up. Satan's strength is what we make it out to be. He is never too strong to keep us from coming closer to God or whatever is on the other side of our struggles or trials. It's up to us. When I said this to Jordan all of a sudden he just basically bore his testimony to us about his faith in God. That he loves to give his money to others. No matter how foolish people think he is. He knows God knows his heart and will bless him more for it. Which most likely means he will get a job. His words not mine. I was so stoked when I heard that. He is pretty motivated. What a stud. We got a pic with him. He put on that jacket just so he could get his swag up for the pic lol.

After Jordan's lesson we went to that park to play ball. So much fun. I will send a pic of us at the park with all the kids. We taught all those kids a lesson about Jesus after the game. Then my comp and I stayed a little longer and played these two really good kids. Nihongiin are really good at defense. I later figured out they are both like 29 lol. So 'guys' I guess. We ended up teaching them a lesson. Missionaries have tried to teach them many times. I explained the reason why we are in Japan is similar to how they want to share basketball with their friends because it makes them happy. I feel the same way about sharing the gospel. I also asked who the best basketball player is ever. They said MJ even tho I was saying that Bron is about there. We agreed on MJ for now. They agreed that in order to become better you should try and become more like MJ. So I said it is the same with life. Who was the best ever? Jesus Christ. So whose example and teaching should we follow in order to become better people and more happy? Jesus Christ. They were really excited but said they still are too set in their ways to change their minds. It's kinda frustrating but I hope I made a little difference. We figured out that we are all girlfriend-less and they wanted to have a group hug. Then they said it wasn't a good thing we were hugging... Haha

A member gave us tickets to a pro basketball game here. We were kind of obligated to go but we went in hopes to talk to people there. We were late and only saw the second half but it was wild! Japanese people cheer just like fans do in bball video games. Hard to explain without you seeing it, but they clap and cheer in unison, by they, I mean every single person. The cues to get people to clap are super loud. I was so overwhelmed. Half the players are Japanese. Half are black. The black guys look like giants compared to everyone else. Japanese players flop so much and their faces when they get fouled are hilarious. It's like watching anime basketball. During breaks the dancers dance to American songs like Happy - Pharell  and one by Taylor Swift. Everything is so different here but they try to implement American things, it's so entertaining.

Yesterday morning a member named Rei brought some of her old investigators (an older couple) to church for us to give them a tour. We showed them pictures in the church and explained them. As well as the baptismal font. They like music so we had elder Bennion sing for them in the sacrament room. The Spirit was way strong in there. I looked at the man and he was just sobbing. Like the homie Elder Jordan Lee would say "the Spirit had hit him like a brick". Way cool. The couple decided to stay for church and we had a lesson after. They had a great experience. Hopefully I hear how that continues. They live far away.

Later we went to a member conference for Nihongiin that Elder Nelson was speaking at. He explained the importance of members sharing the gospel through their example and simple testimonies about the gospel.

Again sorry. Time is limited. All of your emails will be answered. I have them flagged. I am getting an iPad this week I think, so I should be able to answer more then.

Love you all

Pics
1. Pepe and us at Stamina my fave restaurant. He is a member here from Peru