Uh hi...

Yaaaaaaoooowa

I will start this off with a quote because the rest of this email won't be super interesting. I am really bad with pride but I read a few really good quotes by Ezra Taft Benson yesterday at church.

“Pride does not look up to God and care about what is right. It looks sideways to man and argues who is right.… Pride is characterized by ‘What do I want out of life?’ rather than by ‘What would God have me do with my life?’ It is self-will as opposed to God’s will. It is the fear of man over the fear of God.

To the proud, the applause of the world rings in their ears; to the humble, the applause of heaven warms their hearts."

Some bomb stuff for all of us to take in right there. I went on a split (change companions for a day) with an Elder I live with named Eaton. We put in work. His Japanese is insane and he is super bold and gets people to open up. Blew me away. I hope to implement some of the things I learned. Together we got 4 new contacts. We saw a couple on the street carrying some really heavy luggage. They were super gothic, piercings all over and super different. I judged them a little at first I won't lie but they were super chill. They were from France and had came a long ways to get here while trying to roll luggage with broken wheels. We carried it for them and they were soo thankful. Such a bomb opportunity to serve, we really don't get many of those.. He agreed to meet again to get him a French BoM. We also met this Nigerian outside a drug store smoking and dressed like a straight G. He was super chill and I kept hearing songs I recognized and realized he was bumping music in his car across the street. He and I connected a ton talking about rap haha. He said he wanted to chill and gave us his number Lol. Another kid we met who dances and did a way good robot for us. Hopefully we can meet with some of these people. Getting a second meeting is so dang hard here. 

Yesterday we had some friends come to church, one of which is from Oman and super chill. Then right when we started walking home we met a 20 year kid who is just down. We took him back to the church and had a great conversation. Hopefully we see Yutaro again soon. I really love talking to kids around my age. All business men here ignore you cause they are busy, and old men and super stuck in their ways and don't stop talking. They just go off about Buddhism and other religions. Though kids around my age are usually pretty humble, chill, and not very religious. 

So our main investigator Ikeda is doing ok. He wants an answer. He is reading the scriptures every day and praying about its truthfulness. He will probably come to church this week. We gave him an invitation to be baptized in about a month and he said no. He doesn't want to keep the word of wisdom. His desire is low because he hasn't really felt the Spirit. From my own experience I think he may need to show a little faith and obey God's commandments to come closer to the spirit and receive an answer. Then his desires will change. Really hoping he feels the Spirit as he continues to CPR (come to church, pray, read scriptures). All of you better be CPR'ing as well!

I love you guys, thanks for your prayers and support now as well as when I wasn't doing the right things in my life.

Sorry not a ton this week but:

1. A dinner we had with a member here and his friends last night. The dude on the left is so sick.

2. A monster hummer here that I see sometimes, literally looks like a toy. So weird because you never even see normal hummers here..

3. Elder Eaton the kid I went on splits with. Lol I made the meme

Spackman 長老