Motoki's going on a mission & Keisuke's baptized!

Dang there were some monster miracles this week! I got a phone call from Elder Molen over in Yamate. He was my last companion in Yamate and has been there since I left. He told me that Motoki (homie from Yamate we baptized) came back to visit and said he has decided to serve a mission! I've been in touch with Motoki over FB and he told me all about it the next day. I'll quote his words, it's long but worth it:

"A lot of things happen these couple of weeks, and I had opportunity to share the gospel, work with missionaries, and so on. What I've done is really small things, but it was big things for others. I felt the spirit so strong when I served for others. I've never felt like this way before.
I went to Kyoto to visit my friend, he introduced his missionary friends to me, and we worked together; we went from door to door to share the gospel.(It was a really bad rain, and no one listened to or accepted us.) It was really good experience for me because I could learn how hard being missionary was. Last week, I went back to Okinawa because my grandma had got hospitalized; she has cancer and her condition is really bad. According to doctor, my grandma doesn't have much time to live, and we should be prepared.  My family was really depressed and stressed out. I'm ok so far because I know no matter how bad things happen, our Heavenly Farther always help us and prepare a way. But my family didn't know that, and I think they felt like they were in a hopless place. They needed hope and somebody to lean on, so I tried everything that I could do such as  teaching the gospel, sharing some scripture, and taking them to the church with me. After that, they felt better; that made me happy.  I asked Okinawan missionaries to help my my family. My mom called me a few days ago, and she said that she was going to take a missionary lesson this Sunday. I believe everything is gonna be alright. Through these experiences, I realize that there are a lot of people who need the gospel around the world. I wanna help them, and I know I can do it if I go on a mission. My grandma always told me when I was little "Do what is right, not what is easy."  One of my missionary friends who I met in Kyoto said exactly same thing when I asked his advice on going on a mission. That words helped me to decide. I know going on a mission definitely isn't easy; it is really hard,  but it's right thing. The blessings from the Lord are so great, for both me and my family. I know I will never regret what I decided! This is why I choose to serve."

Man I can stand behind every single thing he just said. It's amazing that his future and maybe his current family's lives as well as those he has an impact on now will be completely changed by his decisions to follow Christ. God does amazing things through our imperfect and small actions. I'm so thankful I could be an instrument for God to perform such an amazing miracle. We can all learn from Motoki. Never be scared to share the blessings of Christ's gospel.

Ok another big miracle... Keisuke from Hachioji got baptized!! He asked me to give the talk and I was a little worried if I would be able to go, but we managed to get our investigator Kurenuma to come which allowed us to go and for him to have an awesome experience. I gave the talk and it actually went really well! Keisuke shared his thoughts to everyone afterwords and talked about how his mother passed away and he felt really guilty that he hadn't been a good son. He has always wondered if there is anything he can do to make up for it. He found it. I think he will be headed to the temple soon to receive baptism for his mother. What a glorious moment that will be for him to be reunited with her :)

Kurenuma offered to say the prayer so that we can go home safely. In the prayer he asked for help from Heavenly Father that he can also be baptized. He isn't ready to set a date but he is looking way solid! :)

I wanna end with something I quoted in my talk at Keisuke's baptism that applies to all of you! Love you all so much! ❤️

"Christ promises to forgive our sins on the condition that we accept Him by exercising faith in Him, repenting, receiving baptism by immersion, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and striving faithfully to keep His commandments to the end of our lives. Through continuing repentance, we may obtain forgiveness and be cleansed of our sins by the power of the Holy Ghost. We are relieved of the burden of guilt and shame, and through Jesus Christ we become worthy to return to the presence of God."

1. Dat Baptism Tho 👌🏼

2. Haha Keisuke looks so small next to us!

3. Wait, maybe he's just small...

4. Haha love him <3 Kurenuma is on the far left

5. The aftermath from a service project we did at a members house last week

6. Number 2

7. On dat preppy weed pickin swag lol

8. Probably the most unhealthy ramen I've had, that's butter haha

9. Haha Elder Elsmore hates being touched.

10. Guess some drunk driver hot this pole, wiring in Japan is done so terribly, look how messy that is. They just took the pole out and let all the wires hang haha

11. Gotta love Chinese food

12. Mochi ice cream

Bold Writing (below)

Dang it rained so much this week! Every day except one it rained and there was about a 4 day streak of constant rain. On Saturday we had a lesson with Kurenuma, an awesome member here, Bro. Suzuki, came and joined us. He told me there had only been two clear days in this whole month! But that tomorrow is sunny. I said, "of course, it's SUNday." Such a bad joke haha. He thought it was really funny though and mentioned it in his talk at church on Sunday lol.

That lesson went super well though with Kurenuma. It was only our second lesson but he is looking really solid! He studies everything we give him really hard and is picking it up real quick! I think he could be baptized in the next month or two. We invited him to be baptized in a month, he said he would like to think about it, definitely understandable. He's coming to church every week and shocked the members this last week with some of his insightful comments in class. He is a little awkward but is starting to really open up!

So it's happening! My buddy Keisuke from Hachioji is getting baptized! He asked me to give the spiritual thought at the baptism so I should be heading back there this Thursday. It's looking like Kurenuma will be be there too! Should be a great experience for him.

One thing that happened back in Hachioji that I am writing just because I don't want to forget ~~ this young kid in soccer gear on the train with a couple of his friends. He was looking and smiling at me the whole ride. Him and his friends would copy whatever I would do with my hands. Whenever I would look at them they would stop, smile and wave. I did a little dance and they did it back. I couldn't stop smiling either, those kids made my day. They almost missed their stop and the adult was yelling at them to hop off the train but they didn't care, they insisted on getting a high 5 from me first haha. I love kids here!

We met with Kouichiro twice this week. Dang I swear I get emotional in every lesson with him. I want to help him so bad! He has a lot of questions and concerns and wants the answers but isn't willing to put forth the faith to find the answers. We had Bro Ishihara come join us for the lesson, they got talking before we got there. We come in the room, we pray and it's go time. I guess the member asked him if he's going to get baptized (they are good friends and speak really straight to each other). Kouichiro kinda went off, he told us very clearly, "I am not going to get baptized." It's hard for him to understand why God would choose one way for everyone to be saved (ex. Christ or one church). He really has some HARD questions to answer. I think he has over-confused God and the gospel. He even said he is going to stop meeting with us. I'm just sitting there like... What do I say to this?! We just kept listening and trying hard to listen to him ~~it was amazing to see what listening to and showing love did in that lesson. Elsmore shared an experience, it reminded me of Alma 32 so we read some of it together. We talked about the seed metaphor. When we see our faith growing we know whatever we are investigating is good/true. Once we recognize that though we can't give up we have to continue to nourish the tree. I asked him what he thinks he should do to nourish his tree. I could tell based off his lack of desire towards church things that he hasn't been reading the BoM, it was weird, I just knew. I asked anyways and he said no. I told him boldly that I can tell he hasn't been reading. Crazy how when we stop "nourishing" our faith it can wither and die very quickly. We can't stop doing the small things, keeping the commandments, reading scriptures/prophets words, praying, repenting, and attending church. 

"But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.

Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof." (Alma 32:38-39)

This is something that can happen with anyone. They do something to draw closer to God, feel something great and know they should continue but they get comfortable. They stop "nourishing their tree". The tree starts to die and they say, "I knew this wasn't good" or "I don't need this." Then they cast the tree out... The problem is, the seed (gospel) already proved itself as good by growing. It's our fault if it dies. 

We talked about all this and the lesson turned around. I remember telling him that I simply just can't give up on him. I started to cry. Our second lesson didn't go as well. I love him a lot, just want to see him and all of you plant the seed/nourish your tree. Wherever you are at in the process, push forward!

Plant the seed, give the gospel/Christ/God a chance and if you feel it grow DON'T STOP THERE! Push forward so you can reap the fruits that come from the tree (eternal & true joy). 

I love all of you

1. Kurenuma next to me, Bro. Suzuki on the left :)

2. Rode in the car with the office elders today, saw Docomo tower in Tokyo!

3. We had a music night and this dude came and freestyled!

George Bush

The thing that probably stuck out most from this week is our friend Kurenuma. He is doing awesome. I met him on splits w/Elder Ramos last week. He then came to church last Sunday and then we had our first lesson this last Saturday. Beforehand he had read the restoration and plan of salvation pamphlet we gave him and understood pretty much all of it! In our lesson we set some really good expectations and invited him to be baptized. He said, "sorry, I don't know if I can do that right now." Haha I guess it didn't fully get passed along that we are talking about a time in the future. He is probably in his thirties, has an IT job and is really smart. He is also pretty dang awkward haha. We love him though. He is praying, coming to church and studying earnestly. As long as he keeps that up you'll be seeing baptismal photos in the near future :) He didn't come to church yesterday though! We were really worried that he came across some anti Mormon stuff or that we said or did something wrong. We get a call later in the day, it was him and he felt really bad he missed church due to a headache. He's got a lot of potential!

I talked about him a couple weeks ago, Kouichiro a young father who had been meeting with missionaries for a while contacted us! We hadn't hit him up in a while and he hit us up first. It feels about as good as when a girl txts/calls you first. He told us he wants to meet this week and asked what he should study to prepare. It's great because we had already decided that it would be good for him to read, "Lord I Believe" by Elder Holland. I've decided to be more bold with Kouichiro so hopefully we have some good news next week. He is so humble and
willing to prepare. I seriously love this guy, my desire to help him is strong.

The last guy I want to talk about is a middle aged Nigerian man named George. We met him a couple days ago on the street and really simply testified and invited him to meet with us. He introduced himself as, "George... Bush." Haha We are now meeting tonight with the bishop! Should be a killer lesson. I love African guys!

Last thing! Elder Yamashita from the quorum of the 70 came for a mission conference! He and his wife are so dang happy and energetic. Actually they came a year ago and it was pretty much the same thing but I still learned so much and got so much revelation for my investigators. After a conference like that I look at the list of all the things I need to change and feel so overwhelmed haha. There was a HUGE announcement while we were there though. Elder Bednar is coming next month! I was so excited to hear that, he and Holland are my favorite apostles. I've heard of him just wrecking missionaries before so I'm tryna work hard so that I can feel confident shaking his hand and answering any of his questions. I guess on a larger scale we should be thinking the same thing about our Heavenly Father and when we meet Him.

3 more months, Love you guys :)

1. We also had zone meeting this week in Tokorozawa!

2. There was a misunderstanding with the timer, and a last second realization that the pic was taking lol

3. Pretty fun zone

4. Giyouza (pot stickers) these things were like little burritos they were so big!

5. Monster UNIQLO

Boom

Yeahhhh buddy! I've got a surprise for all of y'all this week! Remember Tou Takuten (Jack), a Chinese investigator back in Hachioji? I've been talking about him just about every week so I hope you do. I was talking to him on FB and he asked if I would baptize him! So I took a trip back to Hachioji and got to baptize one of my best friends! We took some great pics, I'll send em. Jack & Choyo were both bouncing off the walls. One of my favorite parts was sitting next to Jack as all the missionaries sung "I'm trying to be like Jesus." It's Jack's favorite song and he was audibly trying to keep himself from crying. When we entered the water for the baptism I was naturally expecting the steamy warm water that usually awaits but was shocked to step into very cold water. The ward was stressing when I told them but it was actually way refreshing! Right afterwords Jack said "大好き!" Basically, "I loved it!" He shared his testimony afterwords and he shared pretty much his whole story. He is so solid. I assumed he would say it but he talked about how I "mailed him everyday trying to get him to meet with us" and once he and his girlfriend broke up and he was feeling very down he decided to give it a chance. I didn't email him everyday but he is convinced that I did and apparently that's why he asked me to baptize him haha. We went  out to eat at one of Jack's favorite restaurants afterwords.  It was so great to see all of my Hachioji friends again:

Jack - It all started back two months ago when Elders Cook, Nelson & I met him on the street. He was fairly nice but told us clearly he was not interested. He said he was looking for the truth, had already studied Christianity and feels like he is finding it with Buddhism. I felt like I should try and get his contact info anyway, then we started talking on FB. I asked him a few more times if he would meet and study with us and he got pretty annoyed with me. We saw him randomly on the street with his GF, first thing he said, "my girlfriend is Buddhist and I don't want to talk..." After a bit I invited him to come with us to a member's house for dinner, then he called me on FB. I didn't know it but he recently had a hard break up and was feeling super down. I threw Choyo (Chinese recent convert) on the phone and he went off in Chinese and convinced him to come. He was so happy to be with us that night, his attitude had completely changed. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to meet with us again and he was all for it. We met later that week and continued meeting 2-3 times a week until I left. He applied himself, studied and prayed with real intent to know the truth. He said that when he was feeling super down about his life and girlfriend he would pray and it would replace those feels with peace and joy. During that short time I saw an amazing transfiguration from an unhappy lost Jack to a confident, joyful one. Not even a week after he started lessons we were talking to a random guy on the the street and Jack saw us from a distance and joined the conversation and just started testifying to this dude about the happiness he has felt through prayer and reading the Book of Mormon. The guy said he didn't believe him... Jack said, "that's ok, I literally felt the exact same way a couple weeks ago, if you read and pray you will feel it too." Jack would hear about one of God's commandments and right away decide to follow it and ask us how we avoid the temptations of breaking the commandment. I remember we were teaching about the priesthood (God's power & authority) he said: I can tell you guys have it because you don't give up on people. I hadn't really realized it before but despite how easy it would have been to give up on him at the beginning we never did. I was thinking about that and how God will never give up on us and how Christ told us, "be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." We have a responsibility to share what we have been blessed with to those around us and we can't ever give up on them because we know God wouldn't.

Keisuke - You may remember hearing his name but I met him while passing out English class flyers, he came to English class, then started meeting with us a few times a week and coming to church. He felt like he should quit smoking about 6 months ago and was able to do so. He felt cleaner and more ready to try out Christianity in the process and was wanting to go to church, then he met me. The more we talked the more obvious it became that God has had his hand in his life. He has since decided that he will also be baptized and was able to see Jack's baptism. He came to lunch with us and it was so great to catch up with him. He lost his mother a while back and said he really loved hearing about the plan that God has created for us and everyone one of his children. I'm sure he finds a lot of peace in that knowledge as I have.

Shintaro - If you don't know, Shintaro is a college homie Elder Cook and I met and later baptized. I won't tell his whole story but it was great to see him again. We were a little worried about him but he is doing great :) He wasn't able to come to lunch with us though and I forgot to take a pic :/

It was also great to see Choyo, Brother Misu, other members and the missionaries there. Before this transfer I hadn't been back to a previous area and now I have been to Yamate, Tokorozawa and Hachioji! Today we are chillin with Ishii from Atsugi, he's such a homie. We ate some Ramen that I hadn't had in over a year and half, soo bomb. I'll send a pic. I think I've decide one of the only things that's better here than in America is the food. I'm totes def finna miss it.

This last week we also found a bunch of new friends! One of which came to church this last week named Kurenuma and another named Uchiyama who I hope I have more to share about in the future.

<3 you guys! Here's some pics, including some really bad puns lolz

1. Jack of all trades

2. Jack black

3. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick

4. Jack jump over the candle stick

5. Post baptism meal! Some killer Chinese food. Keisuke is also there in the front on the left.

6. This is so much bigger than it looks

7. Twisters for days! Cheapest American style candy bar I've found. Peanut butter and Carmel