Japan Tokyo South Mission: Jacked Black 60 Year Old

Hey y'all!

This last Saturday we had to cancel our basketball activity to clean the church. We decided to try and invite people to it. Our friends: Motoki, Alec & Kaito all came. While we were there they got to meet the members and we invited them to church. They actually all said they would be down. I thought at least one would show up. Church was about to start and we were loosing hope. Then Kaito walks in! We start going to the meeting hall then Motoki shows as well! As we are sitting in church with the two of them, Alec came in! All three came to church! It was great. Between them and the other Elders & Sisters we had a total of 6 people come to church!! So great.

So Motoki and Alec are our two main investigators right now. Kaito is just an English class student but he's on his way. We got to meet with Motoki multiple times this week though. He is soo legit, I bet he gets baptized. We talked about baptism but he said he isn't sure because he doesn't know everything, which is totally understandable because we just started meeting. He understands everything, it's so nice. Love that kid.

We had a way bizarre experience earlier in the week after some housing. We had parked our bikes next to a grocery store where it charges you if you leave your bike for over an hour. So we went back there to move our bikes before the hour hit. As we were unlocking our bikes I notice a black guy across the street staring at us, pretty rare here in Japan. I always try to talk to foreigners so after we got our bikes we said hi to him as we walked opposite directions from each other. He was with a Japanese girl and just stared me down and didn't say a word. After we had separated about 40 ft. he started just yelling at us. "My mountain bike is WAYY more expensive than yours, and this is my wife!" We were soo confused... I just smiled and kept walking. We went around the block to park our bikes in a free spot. When we returned to the grocery store the black guy popped out of nowhere and said "Ay! I'm taking your picture, that's right I got you!" I just smiled and posed with my thumb up because I didn't know what else to do haha. Then he said, "yeah I got you guys, over here thinking I'm gonna steal your bike." "Woah! No that's not what we-." "No I saw you look at me and decide to move your bikes somewhere else to come in here. Where you from?" It was intense. We said we are from America, he said he was too and had lived in Utah. He continued to explain to us that therefore he is American as well. We said we believed him and eventually got him calm enough to converse. Once he realized we really weren't being racist he became our best friend haha. I love black people. He then had us guess his age. I was thinking no older than 45... He is 60! So fit. When we freaked out he said, I gotta show you this. He lifts his shirt and shows us the gnarliest 6 pack I have ever seen. He could flex the individual sections separately. I'm still blown away. He plans to start a YouTube channel to try and inspire others to stay/get in shape regardless of age. Way sick guy, we started the conversation with contention and ended with hugs :)

Lately we have met a ton of awesome people! At least 5 this last week were willing to exchange contact info. Hopefully we can start meeting with at least one of them soon. The other day the first person who answered the door for the night was a super nice middle aged guy. We are trying this new approach where we see if we can ask just one question. We asked him what the purpose of life is and instantly he replied with, "becoming more polished people." I was shocked, such a legit answer so fast. We agreed and talked about God's plan for us. Then he asked some questions and we ended up teaching about Joseph Smith. What a great opportunity I had to share the recently strengthened testimony I had received last week about prophets. I felt tears come to my eyes as I felt and shared the truth. Though I also saw a change in his face, a softening. He may have felt the spirit, I'm not sure. Though I am sure he felt me feeling it. People can feel how strongly we believe something so don't be scared to share it with others.

I have been here in Yamate for about 6 months now and I learned last Saturday that I will be here for another transfer! Craziness. I'm happy though, I love this place and love all of you <3

Pics/Vids

1. Classic Sakuraki skyline taken from Yamashita Park