What is this Place?...

Wow so much to be said this week, but I will try to keep it short. So we saw general conference this last weekend, it's later here so it can be translated. Blows my mind how much I get out of conference now. Sad to think how much I missed out all the times I skipped it in the past. I really liked the advice that was given on testimony meetings in church. Giving younger children other opportunities than testimony meeting to bear their testimonies before they understand the importance of a testimony, and telling us that we should just keep it short, say what we are thankful for and what we believe. They really just hit home devoting Sunday's to the Lord and keeping the commandments. Shouts out to President Monson. Seeing him falter as he bore his testimony reminded me of King Benjamin. Right before King Ben died he gave it his all to testify and plead with everyone to keep the commandments. Two things we saw President Monson do this last conference. I felt the Spirit then and many times as I listened this last weekend. One thing I guess I always kind of knew but didn't totally realize is what it means when we feel the spirit. It's a good feeling so it means it's a good thing, but is it more than that? Yes. It is. If we feel the Spirit whatever we are praying, thinking, hearing, reading or studying about is true. That's what the Spirit does, simply, it tells us what's true. (In this case for me I received more of a witness from the Spirit that President Monson and the other speakers are really prophets and apostles of God). If you ever feel the Spirit, remember, it's more than a feeling. ("More than a feeling" lol)

Last Monday I got to see Kohei again!!! We met up and went to Costco, he is doing so well. He feels the Spirit when he prays and his parents sound like they are pretty chill with the whole church thing. We challenged him to be baptized! He didn't quite say yes but he is on his way. He will get baptized someday for sure. I love that kid so much. We have a Chinese friend Chen who is the most awkward person I have ever met haha I love it. He has been coming to everything, church, baptism service and conference. He isn't ready to start meeting yet but almost there. There are actually a lot of Chinese people here. It's cool. We ate dinner with one this week named Chou. We have lost contact with Paul, he is sick and super hard to get a hold of. Otherwise he is ready to get in the water. We try to visit him about twice a day. I had a feeling we should visit him this last week, we turned around on our bikes and went there but.. Not home. Though I think it was meant to be as we met a kid who has a BoM?! Wha? Haha. We found another kid named Matsuda who is down to hang out, he came to English class and showed us some magic tricks that blew my mind. We have been going to the place called Fuchinobe, which has a big Christian university. All the kids have some understanding of the Jesus and a good image. It doesn't mean they are interested but it helps a ton! So we are spending a good amount of time there. I love talking to kids around my age.

Haha lol we went there yesterday actually, I said, "how are you?" To some kid and he speaks really good English because he lived in Canada for a while. I say, "your English is good!" He fluently replies with, "no i don't really think so." Japanese people never accept compliments but I started laughing super hard when he said that in
perfect English. I ask what he likes to do he says, "My hobby is to get girls, I'm like a pickup artist." Hahah I have never heard that as a hobby but... Respect. Later yesterday we met some old guy that does karate and he just attacked us. He didn't touch us though.. somehow he would perfectly stop his punches and kicks before he would hit us but it was insane. Way bizarre.

I'm pretty used to the weird crap of this country but every day I see something like that and it just shocks me haha. Japan is so weird. The other day we hopped into a quiet store to talk on the phone and this person in a giant power ranger suite walks out of the back storage room for no reason. Couple days before we walk out of a church to hear some really weird political marching music playing through speakers on top of a bunch of vans. I'll send a video. Sometimes this country feels communist... Later that day I saw a bad 5 car pile up. Sometimes I just wonder what this world is I live in..

The most promising person we are working with is a middle aged man named Ikeda. He is married to a member. Though they have a very bad relationship. We have talked about eternal families but we don't think either of them want that... Really hard to work with. They are only together because of their son. So sad. Though he has really been progressing and he said this last week that he is cool with baptism just doesn't want to stop drinking. He doesn't have that desire because he hasn't felt the Spirit and gotten an answer from God. If he prays with real intent he will get one, then have the desire to stop, then probably get baptized!

Last thing, so funny that they brought up testimony meeting in conference and how we should keep it short because a really old lady in our ward got up for a long time in our last testimony meeting and was asked three times to sit down. She swatted away the bishopric counselor with her hand every time and just kept talking, I could not stop laughing.

Love you guys. I hope you're all keeping the commandments and therefore finding more joy in your life. If you don't know what I'm talking about ask me or another member. This church changes and helps lives more than you can imagine. Give it a shot. You have everything to gain and nothing to loose.

Elder Spackman

Here's the good stuff: 
 
1. Reunited with Kohei! I swear he smiles in real life.. Haha

 2. The ward hooked it up last week with peanut butter and a ridiculous amount of granola, my favorite stuff

 
3. Us with a recent convert here, lol he is so funny

 
4. One of the many weird things I see here, this is outside of some store for something (idk)

 
5. We played a game in English class the looser had to get up and dance ah man this was so funny (that's me going ayye)

 
6. The vans, flags, and music. Communist or nah?..

 
7. Guy snoring way loud on the train

A Couple Videos to Kennedy

Examples

 皆そんこにちは!

Man I had so many mixed feelings leaving Atsugi. I was looking forward to a new start but so sad to say goodbye. Kohei had a free week basically and he hung out with us literally every day before I left. Sunday he came to a ward activity (where I swallowed the bug on the way), Monday we played sports together with him and the whole zone then went to Costco with him and Bro. Ishii. Tuesday we planned to play basketball and teach him a lesson but he made a friend at the gym so we just went back to the church and ate together and played ping pong with the friend. Wednesday we taught him and talked about baptism. The Spirit was way strong in the room. He said if he gets an answer about the Book of Mormon and if his parents are ok with it he will follow Jesus Christ's gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of Holy Ghost, enduring to the end). His parents have a good view of missionaries and think we are good friends for him. I didn't get to meet them but we wrote them a dope note with some pictures and he said his mom really liked it. I wrote him a big goodbye note with some pictures and he gave me a really cool Mt. Fuji decoration. We will see each other soon because we still live close but I miss that kid.

We hung out with Kenji one last time before I left too. We just went for a drive, talked, and drank soda haha. It was way chill. He told us before we hung out that he just wants to hang out and not talk about church :( I told him I wouldn't but when he started asking us if he should get back together with his wife or divorce her I couldn't resist. I just told him he needs to ask God, cause we don't know! I told him we didn't need to keep talking about church I just wanted to say that but he asked how he would find an answer. We introduced the Book of Mormon to help him find the answers. He is on his way. I miss those two already :/

One last thing that happened before I left is Busteed and I were passing out English class flyers at the train station and this girl around my age asked in fluent English if we do a cooking class? I said no of course, I don't cook haha. We started talking and I was telling her about God and she frankly told me she doesn't need him. I told her He exists and loves her regardless. We talked for a bit longer, she was waiting for a friend, as soon as she saw him she said "oh he's here!" Then she just jumped at me and gave me a really quick and awkward hug. As missionaries we aren't supposed to hug the opposite gender but I felt a little bad not just giving her a pat on the back. Most awkward experience on my mission and most awkward hug ever. Japanese people don't hug, plus I just met her? Then I saw she was meeting up with some 80 year old that's her "friend"? Weird experience. 

Sagamihara is great from what I have seen. Ahhhhh the apartment is so nice. I went from the worst apartment in the mission, no joke, to one of the better ones. I don't even have to duck on doorways! My companion Elder Harrison is loving and cool, he is really strict but it's a good opportunity to work on my obedience. We are working way hard and I'm so dang tired. It's really given me an opportunity to concentrate on the work and because of it I am not feeling down at all! In fact I have been way happy ever since I got here, even though I'm not having as much "fun" if that makes sense? 

Ever since I got here I have had the craziest dreams! One of which was a movie of myself chasing down a person I accidentally offended who is on a killing spree of everyone I know, legit action movie, my mind was blown. Another one where there were these blue trees and they were so cool and a lot of black people love them but white people were trying to cut them down and burn them and were releasing bears on the black people to stop them from protecting the trees. I got blamed for the incident and everyone was saying I was a racist for killing the black people.. CRAZY stuff haha. 

Our two main investigators here are Paul and Ikeda. Paul is from England and he is one of the most unhealthy people I have met. He just doesn't take care of his body. Smokes, doesn't drink water, take care of his teeth, etc. it's all mostly because he was severely bullied as a kid and it's really affected him. He is so stoked about the gospel though. He is 33 but wiggles around like a little kid when we talk about the gospel because he gets so excited. He prayed about the church and then had a crazy dream saying the church is true. He wants to be baptized. We are trying to help him with his word of wisdom problems. We had a good opportunity to give him a blessing. He also lives with his girlfriend but we are planning on getting them married here in the church as soon as we can! Ikeda's wife is a member in the ward. We are trying to help him get baptized to receive the ridiculous amount of blessings the gospel gives families. He's a little hard hearted and his wife was there last lesson and she was just calling him out. The air was thick, we think it may be good he heard that from her though.

We met a guy on the street this week who had been to SLC and knew about Mormons. He took us to his business (it's hard to even get people's phone numbers here) in this huge building. It was a physical therapy place, really good lesson, but weird atmosphere. He was playing massage music, giving us weird water, and these ladies came while we were there and behind these curtains making weird sounds with metallic balls (sounded like rubbing the top edge of a glass dish and the weird humming sound it makes). Way freaky experience. 

In my intro to the ward during church yesterday I talked about being examples. Those of you who played an example in my personal conversion, I owe it to you guys. I'll never forget it and will be thankful for eternities. We have so much influence on others, we never realize the effect we have until after.. but always be the Christlike example your family and friends need to come closer to God. By small and simple things great works are done. By many of your "small yet subtle" examples I came to find the joy the gospel brings. 

Love you <3

スパックマン長老

Pics

1. Last day in Atsugi with the dope district and zone leaders I had there

 

2. My last English class with my Vietnamese friends Vu and Hai

 

3. Last English class, Fukuoka kinda ruined it.. But but Kohei and Issei are there in the front

 

4. A ton of kimono (traditional Japanese robe things) pictures Elder Busteed and I put up in the apartment haha

 

5. A really awkward goodbye song Fukuoka sung for the people leaving Atsugi. Kohei and I were way confused as you can see (I was way weirded out) but I'm glad this kid enjoyed it!

Kohei and Issei

HELLO everyone (what I mean though is "hey guys." but I guess we aren't allowed to say "hey" in our mission anymore because it's "slang" lol)

So sad news.... I'm moving to Sagamihara this Thursday and saying goodbye to Atsugi. I had some hard times and some great times here. Overall though in terms of the area it may go down as my favorite. I'm so sad to say goodbye to my friends here, the ward and especially Kohei. We are trying to hang out as much as possible before I leave. We hung yesterday, playing sports and going to Costco today and will chill again on Wednesday my last day too haha. This kid is seriously so sick. He's the 17 year old kid who Elder Brown and I found about 3 months ago, that is obsessed with basketball and loves listening to music. Yesterday we brought him to a family home evening activity. On the way there it was dark and I saw something dark flying at me, my mouth was a tad bit open and a good sized bug flew straight down my throat. I was gagging and coughing trying to get it out but I just had to swallow it... anyways.. Lol He is so friendly and nice to everyone but at the same time doesn't care what others think about him. He just does what's right. Usually when kids meet with missionaries here they don't tell their parents or friends but he is just super honest and open. We taught him the basics of the gospel last week and he has been praying. He had a college interview and prayed for help with it. He said he felt happiness and peace and wasn't nervous at all. He knows it was the Spirit too. Yesterday we talked to him about baptism and how it's our goal for him. He answered by saying he doesn't know what his parents will think but he thinks the gospel is really good. We asked why and he said because of the feelings he gets when he prays. Man I can't explain the happiness I feel with this kid. I'm teary eyed right now writing this.

Our other young friend Issei who I have taught occasionally also came last night with us and the other Elders and it sounds like he is going to start taking lessons. Issei is about my age. The idea of these two homies coming closer to God makes me so dang happy. My other basketball friend Kenji with the younger family is still struggling and hard to meet with. He is busy and sometimes too depressed to want to hang out. He is living separately with his wife. He says he is happier because of it. I really don't know what's best for him and his family so I am a little lost but I hope we can meet before I leave and that he continues to open his heart and pray. He watched the "Hope of God's Light" Mormon message and said he had goosebumps but has trouble believing it's legit and not just propaganda. It's the spirit he felt! He knows it too he just can't admit it. It's really sad to see all the answers right in front of someone and see them shove it away because they don't want to change or don't want the responsibilities. We have decided to drop Shimizu. We had three lessons in a row where the spirit was strong and we invited him to be baptized and he says he wants to be but he doesn't know if he is going to. It's been this way for so long. We need to give him some time. We are meeting with a dope young father named Kazuhiro (Kaz). We are teaching him English and gospel stuff. He has a lot of potential as well. We are just at the beginning stages with him. You may not hear about a lot of these people ever again but if I get news on them later on I will be sure and let you guys know!

The last really awesome thing that happened this week. There is a return missionary who we are friends with from Canada who spoke English and Chinese on his mission. He is trilingual. His name is Elder Ikeda and he actually served with a girl I met from Bountiful, Shaurie. He came to Atsugi and bought us a super expensive meal. We tried cow tongue (way good) and ligament. He asked for a priesthood blessing from us before his job interview with the Naval base close by as a doctor. I had the awesome opportunity of doing so. I love giving blessings. The next day he was really thankful and said it helped, then yesterday told me he got the job! It's a pretty hard job to get so I'm really excited for him. So cool to see the love that God has for his children to bless them so abundantly and to be a part of it.

Btw some of the weird foods I have eaten: Squid, Eel, Cow Tongue, (all way good) ligament, octopus (pretty good), raw horse (gross lol), human quad sushi (the worst).

Love you guys, read Either 12:27 be thankful for our weaknesses and trials because they help us be humble and therefore closer to God.

Elder Spackman

Pics

1. The two dopest kids here in Atsugi, Issei on the left, Kohei on the right <3

2. Bowling with our new friend from English class, Yoshida. (Yes I was the one that bowled 4 strikes in a row)

3. Arm wrestling the cutest little girl at church, I lost :(

4. People here don't celebrate Halloween but I guess this guy is ready to turn up this year lol

5-6. We on da bus str8 sleepin

Yooo! Waddup!

Yooo! Waddup!

I really can't remember my week very well... But there was a decent earthquake that woke us all up, pretty weird experience! Kohei has now started praying about the Book of Mormon and has great faith. He recently changed his profile picture to a picture with us so you know it's real now ;)

We are meeting with a few new friends. Really crazy how many people we have been able to teach this transfer. Though the transfer is coming to an end and I have a bad feeling I am transferring.. Time has moved quicker this transfer than I think it has in my whole life...

I love you guys! Here's some pics and a video

1. Oreo smiles

2. Garbage du-rag swag

3&4. Busteed, a dope member here, then Kohei and I

5. Peck going HARD