Hi y’all!

This week was pretty fire. On Tuesday we did DCM which was alr (I hate not seeing my district in person tho, but we’re literally 6 hours by train apart fron each other), I led the discussion on strengthening members. We then decided to visit a member after as I felt we needed to visit him on Sunday. Well, it turns out his nonmember daughter was there and we shared a simple message and a testimony with them after bringing a cake (btw bringing cakes/brownies to members is so fire), then we invited her to go to shimogamo english class (cus she was not interested in church despite living right around it). Then on Wednesday we like housed for more than 5 hrs then went to eat hamazushi with one of our favorite members.

Another miracle the next day! I felt like we needed to go visit a friend pretty much out of the blue. I made cheesecake brownies (which I HIGHLY recommend!!! Absolutely delicious). When we got there we found out her husband had just passed away. We gave a simple message of comfort and said if you need anything let us know (she was crying, and I hear buddhist funerals are terrible to manage, so I didn’t want to intrude too much). I felt like we were led to visit her at that time of need. Afterward, we housed for like 4 more hrs and had an eikaiwa with our friend.

On Friday we housed some more and our friends (and member) cancelled on us for Japanese class. Saturday was easily the best. We’ve been working with the members a ton to coordinate efforts with friends + branch mission effort and it came together really well that day! The Primary had an activity at the fire station and we invited two of the eikaiwa families whom we teach and they came and loved it! Our branch members brought their grandkids too and everyone had a great time getting to know each other! Interestingly, they also had an earthquake simulator, which was pretty frightening to be honest. It was only a Magnitude 5!

After that activity, we taught our friend Matsuoka about Adam and Eve for like an hour lol (she loves going in depth about doctrine, but she hates the idea of being baptized at the moment :/). We had a member share her testimony about the temple and eternal marriage! It was awesome. Sunday we had a member meal. Actually, it was such a blessed week. We also found a few people who were chill with us coming and delivering a message about Christ. Need to go back and see if they can become actual green dots in PMG but yeah, other than that pretty fire finding too. It was another grind this week, but I fell in love with Tsuyama all over again. The best times are always when we are busiest and the Lord is guiding our work.

I listened to a few BYU talks this week which were just incredible… one (Brad Wilcox) was about how grace means Jesus Christ has already paid the price for our sins. Keeping covenants and doing our best, is like practicing the piano after your mom already paid for the teacher. Practicing the piano each day is like keeping our covenants. If we are diligent in keeping those covenants (practicing) we will feel confident when our teacher (the Savior) comes again. Jesus Christ continually beckons us to come to Him… but it’s ultimately our choice to accept whether we practice His precepts or not, in order to earn eternal life – and eternal joy (the ability to live and grow forever with God). I’m continually in awe about God’s plan of Happiness for His children.

The other talk I listened to explained how our covenants (the two-way promises we make with God) help us become like Jesus Christ and how the endowment provides us with real spiritual power. I love relearning about the covenants I’ve made. While doing so, I kept thinking; “that’s so true! Our covenants are such incredible gifts!” The Law of Obedience puts God first in our lives. The Law of Sacrifice teaches us how to love: “no greater love hath man than this… that he lay down his life for his friends.” The Law of the Gospel teaches us certainty in an uncertain world. The Law of Chastity keeps us virtuous. The Law of Consecration teaches us how to become like God and give our all. I’ve definitely witnessed that as I’ve either purposefully or inadvertently come closer to God by living up to my covenants – I live a happier, more purposeful life. It’s crazy the night and day difference! Like the Apostle Paul wrote, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of Christ.”

Anyways… two weeks left in this crazy inaka (rural) probably. Maybe I’ll go even more inaka next time – hahah. It’s crazy how I went from lowkey hating it to loving it though. God works on my heart, I guess. I’ll miss it and my comp if I transfer. Seriously, this area changed something in me. (though I know I’d be a weapon in tokai/urban ahaha!! ).

P.S. We went again to Okayama today for P day, it’s crazy how much better even the Second Street is in Okayama ahaha. I love thrifting in Japan!! I bought two new jackets for winter and finally found some Corduroy pants that fit me!! I’m gonna be the best dressed Elder in the mission😛 haha. I can’t wait for winter again.

I love y’all!!

Ttyl, Elder Son