Japan Tokyo South Mission: Earthquakes and Repentance lol

Ayyyyyo!

I'm loving Atsuki! It has super pretty green hills and rice fields but still has a big city feel. Lots of great things happened this week. We had a lesson with both of our investigators this week and saw huge improvements.

So Kobayashi, funny old guy. He makes the funniest faces and noises in our lessons. Loves reading the Book of Mormon but was apparently just wanting to "learn about religions." So therefore he has expressed how he won't pray or come to church. We went from that, to him saying things like, he thinks Jesus Christ's teachings will make him more happy, he will come to church, then at the end basically volunteering to pray. We were way stoked. He got sick though so he wasn't able to make it to church but every week he progresses a ton. He is smart too. He understands everything and asks deep questions that I usually can't understand lol.

Shimizu, middle aged man, probably in his 40's. He is a post office worker but is always wearing a suit. It's pretty rare here in Japan to be able to teach middle aged men who aren't insane. They all work so hard and are so busy. Though we actually got to meet with Shimizu 3 times this week! The first one we talked a lot about effort and what happens when we put God first. We shared the Tyler Hawes Mormon message which I love. In that lesson I got kind of emotional, I don't know why but I just felt so much love for him. In a complete no homo kind of way, it was a love I've never felt. We challenged him to write down a few things he is thankful for every day. He has had trouble recognizing blessings in his life and has been kinda down. We can all do a better job of being more thankful. Then middle of the week we went to Fujisawa for sports night to play basketball but their hoop was broken :/ though we still had a good time with him. Then yesterday I was on splits but Elder Brown and Stevens set a baptismal date with him for June 12th! He has had 3 dates before now but this one is sounding very solid. He apparently asked some really good questions and for the first time admitted that his strong feelings in lessons and church is the spirit. AHH I love my investigators.

Church was so great yesterday. Though it always is with Atsugi ward, sickest ward ever ah man. I was on splits w/ Elder Mitabi. He is Japanese and the shortest elder in the mission. He may be the shortest missionary in the mission no joke haha. He is less than 5 ft I think. So of course the baptismal date for Shimizu is great but we also got the opportunity to step in with the bishop to give this woman a blessing who has been struggling. Before the blessing we were in the bishops office while she told about what was going on and she was just bawling. During the blessing she was bawling as well. She seemed so relieved after the blessing. Man I have felt and seen the power of the priesthood and it's real. One of the many reasons I believe this is God and Jesus Christ's true gospel is because of that power. Sunday was also great because Shimizu made it to church. He has had work a lot recently and hasn't been coming. Five other potential and current investigators also came, and a less active who hasn't been in over 15 years.

During class we talked a lot about repentance and how important it is to forgive. I read this: "The Lord will not forgive us unless our hearts are fully cleansed of all hate, bitterness, and bad feelings against other people (3 Nephi 13:14–15). “Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin” (D&C 64:9). If we don't forgive we can't be forgiven for our sins. Are we not all imperfect? Have we not all needed to ask for forgiveness at one point in time? We must show the compassion to others God shows to us. I have always considered myself too forgiving, though church was a wake up call that I actually need to be better. I think I justified not forgiving people who never apologized. Though as DC 64:10 says, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." Time to forgive and LET IT GOOOO... Cancel. Such a sick Sunday.

One of the guys who came to church I was shocked to see. The day before he saw us walking on the street by the church and waved while in his car. Really rare here. I was too surprised to wave back haha. Then he turned around, drove up to us and stopped to ask about English class haha. We ended up inviting him to church and to our surprise he showed up!! We were pretty busy that day and the chances of him seeing us by the church at the specific time he was driving around looking for us was slim. Sometimes things are too much to just be a coincidence.

We got ahold of Naomasa this week. The guy that we met last week who went to Purdue and has a family. He said he has been reading through the Book of Mormon! He's busy though so we will see how that goes.

I also taught a training on finding which was a little weird teaching vet missionaries. I talked about three main things. The importance of being happy when trying to share a "message of happiness" (for example forcing a smile on your face until it becomes real), considering the fact that each individual is called to their specific mission and area for a reason and if we don't use our unique skills and brain process we are wasting those talents, and the R-word... Referral. Referrals are way hard to get here for many reasons and there is a lot of stress put on getting the church members trust so they are comfortable in giving us referrals. Though I think there needs to be more focus on God's trust. If God trusts you he will be more willing to help you find His "referrals." (Thanks for sharing your personal experience on Skype Tanner:) Which also helps the members trust. This means it's way important to put in the effort THEN the blessings will come. That's true with anything we do if the effort is put into following God's guidance. Again, any advice that comes from me is something I need to work on as much any of you.

So yeah last week I "felt" an "earthquake" but this week I legit felt one. We were in the church and the floor was moving and building was moving. What we felt was an 8.5 earthquake off the coast of Yokohama, so it wasn't as strong here. This one still kinda scared me though...

Today we had zone p day which was fun. We went on a little hike and there was a great view of Odawada and the ocean there. I will send pics. There was also this huge slide there, I'll send a video of that :)

I am loving Atsugi. I know hard times are ahead but that's life. Gotta find the joys in it. Everyone do me a favor and smile more this week :)

Love ya

Spackman 長老

Not a ton of pictures this week but they're way sick

1. View of Odawara