Check the pics

こにちはみなさん！

This last week we had dinner with the Sisters and our less active family (Kesh). I talked about them last week, it went really well! He made us Nepalese curry with all kinds of meats and parts of a chicken. Hopefully we can get him active again :)

So our friend Kohei (that we played basketball and ate sushi with and he later told us he is really excited to learn about God) came to English class and had a great time! We are meeting with him again tonight. I will send a picture.

We had a lesson and dinner and more Purikura with Issei (see pic). Probably the best lesson I have ever taught, but he kinda shut us down at the end. He's just not quite ready. It's sad but he's still a homie! I learned a lot about my desire to receive eternal happiness and have a family when I taught him, so that was good. Really amazing we can become like God and experience the happiness we receive in raising and helping children on such a larger scale when we become like Him. How amazing it must be to be able to play that parental role for everyone who has ever lived on earth.

The whole zone came here to Atsugi for zone meeting and went out and tried to find people for 3 hours on splits with a different companion. Everyone went way hard. We came back and added numbers. Hundreds of people were talked to, hundreds invited to come to church/take lessons with missionaries. Out of all of those some lessons were taught but no return lessons were set up and only 2 contacts were found. I was there for one of those. He knew about the church because of the South Park episode haha. It was actually a really great contact. Though he went home and looked up anti Mormon stuff and told us he doesn't want to meet us because we are racist... I'm not complaining nor discouraged, just gives you a feel for how hard Japan is!

We taught Shimizu and Kobayashi. Shimizu is still so close, Kobayashi is.. Well he is getting there! Haha nothing to really report. Love you guys :)

スパックマン長老

Pics

1. Busteed and my intro paper to the ward haha

2. Swaggin out in the dollar store

3. Purikura with Issei <3

4. Kohei!! Look at those retro Jordan's he's got on!

5. This last Friday our game night got way weird.... The guy in the brown is Hirose he is a little crazy and in our bible class

6. India Swag

7. This meat bowl I ate today, ahhhh its so good.

Girl Hungry

What's good guys!

Lots of Interactions with people this week. Elder Busteed and I have a good friendship and really joke around and mess with a lot of people here in Atsugi. Whether it's our friends who come to activities, ones we meet with/teach, or members we just have a lot of great convos with a lot of people because of our different style I guess? I love it. I really feel like I am myself this transfer because Busteed and I are really similar and he's so laid back. So I'll give the run down on all our friends from this week. It may be hard to keep them straight but I guess that just shows how busy and a little overwhelmed we have been lately haha.

I'll start with this really dope kid Elder Brown and I met that I think I mentioned in my last email, Kohei. He is so busy but we were finally able to meet him this week and play basketball. He is 17 and soo good. His life is basketball, he loves it so much. He went to America for a couple weeks to play and study basketball. Literally study it. So of course we get along. He really loves English and wants to learn from us. We taught him about God and prayer and I told him why we're sharing these things and he was like "good I really want to learn about God and church." He later prayed then messaged us on Facebook and said he really learned how important God is. Really excited about this kid. We ran into Kenji (our depressed, married, super chill friend who went to school in LA and is married and we played basketball with) in the middle of the city when we were going to a Jazz Festival, really good to see him.

There is our friend Issei who we take the funny photo booth photos with. We started teaching him a little. This last Friday at the end of a sick game night (where a member brought wii dance, a lot of our friends came and Elder Busteed and I shared Moroni's promise with everyone from the BoM) I had a really good talk with him and we really think we can get him to start getting more involved with the church. After our message two of our Vietnamese friends (Vu and Hai) who come to Eikaiwa said they want to start reading the BoM and are now investigators with the other Elders. We played soccer with them the next day which was really fun. Then of course we taught Hirose and Keiko at Bible & BoM study on Saturday. 

Girl Hungry: Then there is Hari our Indian friend who we spent a lot of time with this week. We teach him Japanese on Sunday's and run with him sometimes in the mornings. This week we started teaching him lessons. He is very humbled because it looks like his "girlfriend" in India is engaged, he is destroyed and a little mentally unstable. India has the weirdest dating system, it blows my mind. He has a strong accent and is just so much fun to mess around with. Though he won't stop talking about this girl. There are a lot of lonely, desperate people here (hence the subject line). It really sounds like Hari has convinced himself that he has been dating this girl when he hasn't told us a single good experience he has actually had with her face to face. Then there is our investigator Shimizu who sees his "girlfriend" once a month at work and he really likes her but she doesn't know he does and he doesn't know if she likes him and they have never been on a date. Yet he is still concerned what she will think if he gets baptized.... Then there is our new Chinese friend Chou. He came to church last week and is way chill and is now a new investigator. We ate some Chinese food with him and talked a lot about prayer. He is super outgoing but says he can't talk to girls because it's so hard in Japan so his biggest concern and question for us is how he can get a girlfriend, and the member who hooked us up with him us has the same concern. Just so many people here with girl issues (or I guess, lack of girl issues haha) and want girlfriends so bad some have tricked themselves into thinking they have one. Haha it's ridiculous. So many struggle socially here.. 

Ok sorry last person... Brother Kesh. A while back we went on a hike with him, he is such a cool guy. Him and his family have been through a ton of terrible things, fallen away from the church and haven't been to church in about 10 years. Really sad stuff, the ward is very concerned and always talking about them. We had a feeling we should visit him last night. I swear he is never home but last night he was. We planned on trying to create more of a friendship, just show love, and not really talk about church.. That didn't happen. He calls us in and we just sit down and have a crazy deep talk and he confesses that he wants to become active again but he wants to come back with his family and his wife so that it doesn't create contention. We are hopefully going to be able to help him do so, man it was so great. So thankful for that opportunity to hear that and start helping him. He kept saying that he is so thankful for the Atsugi ward, the missionaries and the UNCONDITIONAL love he's felt from them. Members learned about him not keeping the commandments and saw him fall away from church but all the members continued to love him the same and never judged. I really wish I could see a stat on how many members have fallen away from church because of judgement from others. Brother Kesh and his family are a perfect example of the opposite, what happens if we love others unconditionally. It's because of that love that he still has good feelings towards the gospel and a desire to come back. 

It's been stated that missionary work is the most important work here on earth. If that's true then what is judgement that hurts membership and causes others to go inactive, reversing missionary work? Think about it... Churches are where we come to be healed not come to judge others for being imperfect. What we say, do and even think has such a large impact, let's all love a little more. I know I need to.

So many interactions this week, it's really fun because we are so busy but it's a little overwhelming! Love you guys :)

スパックマン長老

Pics

1. Way sick owl out on the street

2. Some people here are obsessed with trains and ride in the front and just get so excited. Here is my impersonation... What's funny is a train obsessed kid comes running out of no where to look out the window next to me and is so stoked... The perfect example. Busteed stopped the video too early but you can hear him coming and see his reflection at the end.

3. **Punny** Chourou's (長老's) eating churros (ft. Elder Belnap!)

Make it Rain

A member here just brought 15,000 bucks to the church haha.

Stack dat money, make it rain, rollin in da dow!

Busteed

I don't want to speak too early but I think my mission president may have decided to give me a dope companion this transfer because the last two transfers were pretty rough. Busteed 長老 is so sick! I have been laughing pretty much nonstop since Thursday when he got here. Every day is a crazy adventure and something crazy or weird is always happening since we became companions. It's really good to just get back to having fun while doing work. He went to Utah State the first semester of my freshman year and stayed in Snow dorms where I spent most of my time. I'm sure we met we just probably didn't think anything of it at the time, now we are companions. We have made some insane connections with friends and similarities so far. Really excited about this transfer.

Before he came we were working in a trio. Elder Brown, Gutierrez, and me. It was good I guess. Kind of weird being with three people but in some ways it was really good. It lightened up the mood a lot. I really have been too tired and busy lately though to write in my journal so I can't read back on or remember most of this last week. I'm doing well though, my companion is great. Shimizu is seriously so close to baptism it's insane. He says it's too hard to explain what's holding him back, which is frustrating because we don't know how to help him.. But I bet he goes through with it sometime this transfer :) 

This week we got a little lost walking around and I jokingly said, "it must be the Spirit!" A little later we pass some guy who looks way down... I know right away we need to talk to him. As we are talking he just randomly sits down on the curb. Haha kinda weird but we sat down too. We said, "well since we are sitting will you hear our message." He said yeah and pulled a pamphlet out from some other church. You must understand, you usually can't find a person around here who has ever been to church or talked to church people, super crazy. We start talking and realize he's homeless. Then he says he hasn't eaten in a week... Of course we took him out and made him eat as much as he could then taught him the restoration. He was interested, and not just cause we were buying him food, or so it seemed. He said he usually sleeps in the park and I was determined to get this guy a place to sleep. We asked our ward mission leader and he said the church was a no go and we aren't allowed to let people in our apartment. Kinda sad but we had an extra futon (Japanese bed) and pillow so we gave him that and he said he would come to church the next day. We told him we would help him more the next day. Man we were both soo happy we got to help that guy. He choose not to come to church which really surprised me but thankful for that experience regardless!

We played ball with Kenji this week (the guy who I said I feel like I was meant to meet on my mission). It was soooo fun. Then we had a deep talk with him. I really got to talk to him about loving his wife more. He has the desire he just has trouble not fighting with her. We got him committed to trying harder. He's pretty busy so we may not be able to meet a lot but we'll see. It was so hot playing basketball. Later that day I was way dehydrated and lost feeling in my fingers, couldn't see out my right eye and got a way bad migraine. I'm ok though, Japanese summer is just something else. 

Anyways I love you all, I'll send a better one next week! :)

Elder Spackman

Pics

1. Kenji and us after basketball (plus weed leaf haha)

2. Elder Busteed and I have been thinking of really random ways to talk to new people. There is a big strawberry here with chairs under it, so we sat there and had random people take our pictures then tried to talk to them. Here's one of the pics haha

3. Here's our homeless friend who we fed and gave a bed and pillow. Not necessarily the face from him you would expect to see after that but... It was great!

4. My new suit jacket ;) jk.. But you already know I bought dat $8

5. Raining way hard here sometimes.. We just hung with some random kid and watched it for a while

Written on Monday, forgot to send it

First of all HUGE shoutout to my sister Amber + family on the new baby. I'm really sad I can't see my first nephew Ashton Porter Jones (seriously one of the sickest names I have heard). Not sure if I will call him AP, Ash, or Port? :) We'll see.

Transfer calls came! I am staying in Atsugi for my 3rd transfer with a new companion, Elder Busteed! I am so so excited for a fresh start with him here in Atsugi. You have no idea. These last two transfers (3 months) have been really hard, I'm willing to admit it now because things should be getting better :) I have heard a lot of good things about Busteed, he's a fellow USU Aggie so that should tell us enough ;) He is definitely the oldest missionary companion I've had, he's in the last 4th of his mission. I said goodbye to Elder Stevens this morning :( Definitely was my best friend here. Life is just one big goodbye. Our ward had a baptism this last weekend, a Hispanic lady named Marta. Elder Stevens got to baptize her literally right before he went home. His first baptism on the mission! 

This week I had the opportunity of giving Elder Brown a priesthood blessing, my first one, wow I felt the Spirit so strong. I defiantly feel like I was speaking the things God wanted him to hear and feel. We also gave one of the sister missionaries here a blessing, yesterday confirmed Marta and gave her the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I am so thankful for the priesthood and I know it's real through my experiences this week and because I have felt the power on the receiving end as well. 

I feel dumb telling these stories of people we meet then never talking about them again because we loose contact. We see miracles every day but a lot of times don't see anything come out of it, I know no work is wasted though. One of those people is Kohei, our friend who came outside of his house, was ready to go wherever, gave us both big hugs and said a great prayer. We tried to visit him after a long, hard day and he didn't come out.. Not knowing what to do afterwords because it was getting late, Elder Brown decided we should visit an old friend of his. This friend answers in just his boxers and Elder Brown said, "oh sorry if it's a bad time we don't want to bother you." He said, "No! Come in, I have been avoiding you." I later realized this is a guy we had tried calling many times. Elder Brown met him here about 6 months ago, he came to church and they were teaching him but lost contact. His name is Kenji, Japanese but went to College in LA and is so sick. One of his greatest qualities is he is just painfully honest like I am sometimes. Elder Brown was dying to get us together because he knew we would hit it off, we like a lot of the same music and he loves basketball! He was very open with us about his depression and struggles with his wife. He was crying as he said he didn't want to marry her but she wanted to soo bad and he couldn't say no. They are having a really hard time. She later came home though and they are a dope couple and have the cutest little boy, oh man. I love this family so much! I'll send a pic. We are playing basketball with him tomorrow! I'm so excited. Kenji really feels like one of the people I was destined to meet out here! I really hope I can help him out :)

Shimizu is still just stalling. The air got pretty heavy in our last lesson as Shimizu was asked what he is waiting for to get baptized. He got really quiet, uncomfortable, and tried to bail. He said he wanted to go sleep in his bed.. It was quiet for about 5 minutes straight and I thought Elder Brown was going to blow up on him. Shimizu was pretty much squirming in his chair. Today we are just going to play ping pong with him and have some fun, we think we should show more love because he has been pretty frustrating. 

I am really tight with one of the members here named Ishii and realized he hasn't been through the temple nor gotten his patriarchal blessing, we talked for hours about it and I challenged him to do both and he wouldn't. He couldn't give me a good reason and I gave him a hard time cause we are homies, but really what is it? Why can't we commit to things if we know they are good and we can't think of a legitimate reason not to? (or we at least know the positives outweigh the negatives) I can only think of fear, which shouldn't be a concern when we know God is by our side :) 

I love you all and I know you have a Father in Heaven who does too <3

スパックマン長老

Pics & Vids

1-2. The homie Kenji and his fam! :)

3. Me messin with Gucci on the train (my laugh doe)

4. Marta's baptism!

5. My fave restaurant Katsuya! 

Hey guys!

Hey guys! :)

I don't have much. It's Elder Stevens last p day, which is sad, but we are having a beach party. I'm excited to play some basketball and volleyball. It's been too long!

So those three new investigators we found last week and set lessons with? We lost contact with every single one of them and they didn't show up. That tends to happen in Japan but 3 in a week? That's ok though. They have their agency. I went on two great splits this last week. First one I went to the mission home in Kichijoji with Elder Bates, my first zone leader, who is now AP. He was one of the first people I ever went on splits with. It was dope to do it again! We are always laughing and having a good time working together. That's what missionary work is about having fun and being happy cause it really is such a sweet opportunity. I have been struggling to feel that lately. We went to a bible study class, the same one I went two like my first day in Japan, it was insane. The Spirit was so strong, the people that attend aren't members but they know the church is true but won't admit it to themselves. It's hard to explain but we read the bible and just talked and listened to the students testify of its truthfulness but not be willing to come to church or pray. We laughed through a lot of it because it's so bizarre, I have never seen anything like that. The next day we walked for about 40 minutes to get to some apartments. It started raining super hard with HUGE raindrops. I have never been in rain like that. One drop would hit the middle of my head and splash down to my forehead. We didn't have umbrellas and every last inch of me was soaked. We were just laughing and enjoying it. He's a stud. 

The next day I went out with my zone leader, Elder Kubera. He is super loving. We went out and tried to pass out Books of Mormon at the train station (see picture). It wasn't super successful but we met some really cool people! One of which is the most prepared kid I've ever met. He actually approached us and we started talking about church. He just went off in English about how he studied the bible, his mom is J. Witness, he went to New Zealand for the purpose of figuring out if it's true. Through his experiences there he realized who God is, but figured out Jehovahs Witness isn't true. He believes there is only one true church and he is searching for it. It was so perfect. We testified, taught, did everything. Then.... He refused to take a Book of Mormon... Refused to come to church, meet with us, pray for the truth, etc... We asked why, he said he doesn't think it's the right timing. He knows what the spirit is and what it feels like. He said he thinks God is leading him but said he didn't feel anything in the lesson. We are pretty positive he did though because we both felt the sSirit soo strong! He eventually gave us his number. I hope he gives it a chance and hope he is given another chance. It really reminds me of the story where Moses puts the serpent on the pole and any that look at it will be saved. All you have to do is look! All this kid had to do was read some of the Book of Mormon and pray and he would have received an answer. It's sad to see someone searching for the truth so hard but refuse to accept it when it's right in front of them. He believes God can give him an answer about it but refused to pray to know. We all can be that way sometimes though. 

We later did Purikura (Japanese style photo booth) again with Issei. Issei has been hanging with missionaries for so long and used to take lessons but stopped. He is soo cool and a really good friend. We taught him a lesson, the first time he has taken a lesson in a super long time. It was great. I don't know when but someday he will be baptized. I hope we just started the process back up for him. I was reminded on both of those splits to really dig deep and talk to people about their future. What they want to do? What kind of person they want to become? etc. It always relates to the gospel. Thankful for that reminder. Let's not forget about the big picture for ourselves. What are your goals? What kind of person do you want to be? How are you going to do it? What kind of person to we want to be known as when we die? Do we want to receive eternal life and happiness and live with God again? Keep a large perspective.

This last Saturday there was a GIANT festival. Atsugi is famous for its fireworks. I will never see that many people ever again I don't think. I would guess over a million, no joke. I'll send some videos.

I love you guys :)

-Elder Spackman 

Pics/Videos

1. Kubera 長老 and I made these signs to pass out Books of Mormon, way fun

2. Some random girls wanted a picture with us so we got one too haha

3. All my companions so far on the mission and me at testimony meeting

4. This SICK door on someone's house

5. Purikura - we fierce

6. Before the party in Atsugi

7. A super small fraction of the people there. I saw people as far as I could see, across the river, everywhere.

8-9. Elder Stevens and I gettin wild, and close ;)

10. Call me an artist ;)