Hi guys!!! 🐒

Another week in Abeno Osaka has passed!!! This week was awesome! I had a blast (for some good reasons and some bad reasons😈😈)

It was another week full of streeting (not really a surprise when you’re in the biggest city in the mission) and we saw so many miracles!! One of the ZL’s friends [who has moved to another area] was put on baptismal date for next week. It’s a really funny story but he has come to church for the past six weeks and basically all four of us thought he was a member🥶🥶. But the ‘new’ ZL had the inspiration to talk to him and realized he wasn’t actually a member sooooo yeah he’s getting DUNKED🏀into the TANK🏊‍♂️🌊🌊 (or more commonly put, waters of baptism 😇). Probably the biggest miracle imo, but we a saw a ton more. We found 7 new teaching friends this week, most of whom actually want to take lessons/learn about Christianity and not just (((*subliminally))) being taught through lunch appointments or game night or eikaiwa*🤑. (help), a lot of them have actually come directly to us and asked us to give them another lesson before we had the chance to ask them 🙏🙏 BLESS UP🙏🙏 Our friends Fukushima and Itagaki are literally the most awesome in this regard. Itagaki also came to church and loved Relief Society – which is such a good sign imo cause ik I would be bored of our Elders Quorum here in Abeno💀💀💀. Fukushima had work tho so rip couldn’t come. But mannnnn y’all should see the notes she takes on the Book of Mormon and the Bible. She treats that thing like a textbook bruh, actually insane. They are super faithful friends so we’re praying for them like mad crazy🙏🙏 We also met a chiller named Ben who was looking for a church in Osaka on Sunday. He immediately fell in love with the fact: 1) that people who came to our church were actually Japanese as opposed to the Catholic diocese or Protestant churches 2) the church’s emphasis on education + programs like BYU Pathways and my personal favorite 3) we aren’t JWs💀💀 He was late to sacrament meeting but we taught him about JOSEPH SMITH🔥🔥 and the BOOK OF MORMON🎆🎆 which was sick and he had so many excellent questions and it was an awesome lesson (cause it was in English and not the terrible evil language Japanese 🤩🤩 jk). Also our Chinese friends Lisa and her son finally came to Church and they loved it!!! They literally said “We wanna come back!” which is sooooo Ws in the chaaaat. On another note, the kid lil Momo who wanted to be baptized last week also came with her dad. (However, we weren’t able to teach em though because they had to leave right after church. And unfortunately Sunday is the only time we can teach Chinese because the only member we trust to translate from Japanese to Chinese (or any language to Chinese for that matter) can only meet on Sunday😭😭

There’s always next week, I guess. Also, our Chinese member Sister Fuu who is part of this amazing family (Brother Chou, her husband, and “big” Momo, the daughter–the little one is the one who wanted to be baptized) finished her after baptism lessons this week! One really truly remarkable thing about this family is they’re naturally awesome missionaries. All of them have invited their own friends to church and to meet with the missionaries! Brother Chou has invited so many of his friends (like Lisa) to Chinese English class, and big Momo of course somehow convinced little Momo to be baptized (I imagine something along the lines of “it’s so cool bro you gotta try it sometime”🤣🤣) And during the last lesson we were gonna teach partly about sharing the gospel, but the mom, when we started to talk about service (not even about sharing the gospel yet) shared a story that started with “I’m not really sure if this counts…” she had invited her COWORKER TO CHURCH (who is in another ward)??? 😭😭(idk inviting a coworker just sounds insane to me still). I wasn’t really a missionary at home in Dallas and tbh I didn’t really care LOL – now it’s amazing to see how the Chou family does it though!!!

Osaka is so fun cause you can just grind it out and as a result the work goes by so fast!! And the crazy part about missionary work is it just works. You get better at so many life skills, people around you hear about God, and as long as you keep showing up and even being ready to fail it just works. 1 Nephi 17:3 comes to mind: “And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.” The good Lord provides a way for all those who come unto Him and choose Him consistently!!!

– We ended up schmelding at a zoo and at a Ramen shop with crazy dividers between each stand (for introverts) with a friend because he traveled from like an hour and a half away on a non P-day (we thought he lived way closer. Somehow he’s still in our area). It’s okay though cause I was lowkey going through it emotionally that day, I needed to see monkey🐒 He got taught about church (the friend not monkey sadly)!!! And God!!! And love!!! (He has already been dropped!!🥶🥶) (Maybe monkey would have not been dropped?)

– Comp left me for like the entire week to shmeld with leadership (he hit a ton of leadership conferences in one week it was すごく大変), was left streeting in a trio with green missionaries the whole week💀💀

– Steel Ball Run (anime) came out and I can’t watch it, the manga is so PEAK though please watch it for me😭😭 – Bought my first anime figurine (help) Zoro from OP for $8 was it worth chat? (I’d say it’s joever but recently I’ve been hope-and-whimsymaxxing, chat am I cooked??)

OK this week was awesome!!! I love you all so much! I’ll be uploading some photos later too. Take care and see you later!!

Elder Son

My Google photos: photos.app.goo.gl/6PuTqiB3mvJD9Qex8