Hey guys!!

How are you? I love you!

We found two people this week through some pretty awesome means.

The first one was my little “miracle day”. We were finally able to go and street some high schoolers (lol)! There’s a certain time where the streets of Tsuyama flood the city with high schoolers. I’ve wanted to street during that time for the LONGEST time. Finally, we were able to get it! We passed out like 70 English class posters in 15 minutes. It was insane. And I see it leading to great results down the road. But later that day, we were visiting some inactive members, and on the way home Elder Bell fell!! He seriously hurt his hand. But some Phillipino guy (Emmanuel) ran over to us and asked if he was okay. We ended up sharing our testimonies of the Church and Jesus Christ and he got goosebumps and said he wanted to meet with us!! He’s super busy with work so we’re still trying to set up a follow up appointment with him but he’s super prepared.

The other miracle was an impression I had about one of our Eikaiwa friends (Katayama). I was reading the scriptures in personal study one time when I kept on thinking about the guy. So I wrote my testimony in a Book of Mormon and decided I needed to meet him for lunch. So I texted him, and he agreed to meet! He’s a really smart former University of Tokyo biology professor. Crazy conversation actually. We talked about so many different things. We talked a lot about protein folding specifically (I forgot the name of the protein he researched, it’s like the most common muscle protein for you doctors in the chat, it makes fibers), we talked about artificial intelligence and how it’s going to affect literally everything, we talked about what it means to be human and for things to be beautiful, engineering, astronomy, etc. We really connected and made a good friendship. At the end, he explained to me how he was worried that climate change was going to ruin everything we have. He said something along the lines of, “The conditions of life are too perfect for us that it cannot be replicated anywhere else,” and that we were going to be our downfall. So, I testified about God and how he knows us and loves us so much. I shared Alma 30:44 and how the perfect conditions we live in are a proof of God. I invited him to read the Book of Mormon, and he agreed! (Although from a PDF, because the text is too small for him. Haha). I still asked him to read my testimony that I wrote in the book.

Overall, I’m still trying to figure out how to do missionary work, but this week felt OK. God makes it work! I’m trying to figure out how to share my testimony more in natural ways. It can be really hard in Japan! Sometimes, I wonder if I overthink it, but I recently have been writing a bunch of questions that can make people think and hit them with some SPIRITUAL DISRUPTION🔥🔥. Like “Where do you think you go when you die?” “How would you feel if you could live with your family forever?” “If you could talk to God, what would you wanna say?” Then testifying about some truths after and inviting to learn more at Church. I lowkey got overly content with streeting in Osaka and just invited people to English or Church after just being friends with them for a minute or two on the street 💀💀😭 Osaka was lowkey so easy RIP I’m in the Japanese (rich?) boonies now🚵‍♀️🙏

I’m just starting to feel more grace in the work that I do. I used to feel a lot that if I wasn’t seeing success that it was my fault 100%, and it started to really drain and affect how happy I was. I really worried that I wasn’t a good enough missionary for the people of Japan. Now, I’ve been learning that I’m just a tool in the Lord’s hands, and He will use me in even my weakness (Ether 12:27). A lot of coming to that realization has come through thorough scripture study. I see miracles every day on the mission despite my imperfections. Those are proof enough of God’s grace. Even in Tsuyama (maybe especially in Tsuyama) I’ve been able to really grow my testimony of God’s love for His children. I want other people to know that they’re loved in the same way that I am from a Heavenly Father. Recently I studied D&C 19, and although I didn’t understand what it meant at first, I read it again, pondered, and realized that the gospel is the pure love of Christ. I was so happy.

I’ve also realized that the work of the Gospel extends beyond my own efforts. I was invited to the baptism of the Chinese family’s father we found right before leaving Osaka this week. I couldn’t go, cause it’s way too far, but I wondered why he invited me specifically to come out to his baptism. I only went to one Sunday at Church with them, but we taught them about the Restoration. I didn’t really think it was all that much at the time (in Osaka, a lot of people came to church and learned about the restoration, only to lowkey disappear off the face of the planet), but the parents were tearing up and hugged me when I left. I wondered, “Why?” What did I do that was so important? I’d done that Restoration with lowkey countless people before and been to church in Osaka with countless people before too. I guess I got used to it in a way, but it was the knowledge of our Heavenly Father. That knowledge was able to change the trajectory of this family forever. The father, Jyo, was baptized yesterday. I’m so happy that they were able to continue down the Gospel path after I left. The mom Lacey and the daughter Yumi are still working towards it but I know Jyo is gonna help them out a ton!! It shows me that God has a plan for each of His children! I still pray for many of my friends that I’ve met on the mission. I know God will provide a path for them back home. It is my hope that they can know for themselves the reality of the love of God.

Love you all!

See you soon,

Elder Son