Our Heavenly Father Works in Some Crazy Ways

Hey guys!

I finally have an iPad! I will be going through my previous emails and answering all the ones I didn't have time to before. Slowly but surely. Chances are I may miss a couple emails. So if I miss one of your emails give me crap about it so that I remember!

Yesterday was pretty wild. After dinner we rode our bikes quite a ways to a "soft referral" from a church member. She knows the family's daughter. It took a while to find the house and it was dark, probably around 6:30 pm. We knocked on the door and a stocky man (which is pretty rare here) with a pretty low voice (also rare) came to the door sounding pretty angry. He and a younger man come outside very aggressively. The younger man was holding a wooden sword like he was ready to attack. I was so scared ;) lol. He learned we were missionaries and right away said no and to leave. We asked if he knew the girl that referred us to them or did his daughter know her?  He said no, getting more mad. We left and knocked a few more doors around that area. As we were leaving we passed his house again and cops came around the corner on mopeds (lolz). They stopped us. One went to the home and the other kept talking to us. Said the people had called the cops on us. Right away I realized how bad it was I forget my wallet. I had thought about going back and getting it earlier in the day, but didn't totally see the point considering it was Sunday and I wouldn't be buying anything cause commandments and stuff.

I had heard horror stories of missionaries being held in jail if they don't have their passport or ID on them. I was worried and said a prayer. At this point you should know that this week hit me how hard the culture and language are to understand here and how hard being a missionary really is. I knew this realization was going to happen so
it's ok, I'm alright. Just a hard week. My comp has been getting a little frustrated with things lately and it makes him pretty impatient sometimes especially this last week. So things were kinda hard. Don't get me wrong though, love the kid. The cops were super chill and let us go. On our way back we ran into this kid with perfect timing and complete randomness. He was so cool! He listens to American music like Aviici and Calvin Harris! I was so stoked to hear that from him. We connected really well and it's really rare to stay in touch with people you meet on the street but I have a great feeling about this kid. On our ride back I felt the Spirit really strongly and got kind of emotional cause I know I am going through these trials for a reason and I know that despite all the frustration of yesterday, it led us to that 20 year old kid on the street. I had prayed earlier in the day to become more humble.  I got it today, but finding that kid made me even more humble, cause I realize how much God has His hand in
everything and how I am fulfilling HIS work, not mine.

We had another good lesson with Jordan this week. He is so dope. This week we had a combined mission conference with the Tokyo (north) mission. So good to see Judd Choro and some of the other friends I haven't seen since the MTC. There was a lot of talk about correct use of electronics because it was the introduction of iPads to the mission. Before now everyone has just been using the iPad's as a test for this mission. Elder Nelson was there and shook every missionary's hand. When I looked in to his eyes I kinda went speechless. There was
just something there I have never seen in anyone's eyes! During the conference I was on the fourth row on the side where he was sitting and while another speaker was up there (who everyone was looking at) I glanced at Elder Nelson. He happened to be looking at our area and we caught eye contact. I quickly looked away but looked back and he winked at me so I winked back and we both laughed. So funny. No one else noticed. The big theme of the conference seemed to revolve around the amount of agency they were giving us and how much they trust us.
Made me really happy to be treated like an adult haha. "Own the technology, don't let it own you" how sad is it that many people let social networks or games run and determine the success of their lives. Way sad if you really think about it. Elder Nelson always tells us to, thank our parents for him, the three times I have heard him talk on my mission. So thanks mom and dad :) There was a ton of encouragement at this conference. One thing I really liked is one of the speakers said that we are rarely actually addicted to things. Addiction meaning the inability to choose. We can usually change and choose to better our lives. I think sometimes myself and many others find excuses not to better our selves or to do the wrong thing by saying "I can't wake up on time, just who I am, I can't change" or "I am too addicted to this thing to stop" or "Satan is tempting me too much to resist right now." Ignore these destructive thoughts.

We had Eikaiwa as usual this week. We all share about our week and I encouraged Nagano to try and make it more spiritual. When he shared he ended up sharing a super strong testimony (in English) everyone was paying super close attention and the spirit was strong. He said some crazy things that put even me on my heels like "don't try and tell me He (God) isn't there because I already KNOW He is" and "the way to know He is there is to pray, and if you won't do it then it's your fault you haven't felt Him." It made me a tad uncomfortable but I know he
was following the Spirit and I was super stoked about it. One of the students said she was touched and decided to pray for our closing prayer.

I am praying for you, your safety, health, happiness, and relationship with your Heavenly Father. He loves you and so do I :)

Ugh that was pretty mushy lol

Here are some pics from the basketball game last week. This first one is of us and some cool guys we met there. Ceiling looks way trippy.

愛します

スパクマン 長老