So email this week from Randy was again "awesome". What a spirit that child has. I can't stress enough about how amazing he is. Transfer week happened and he didn't have to move. He was ill for a day and life goes on. Now I just need him to send pictures so we can all see what/where he has been living and how life looks.
Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Friends, And the rest of the world
Wellllllllllllllllllll........................... Transfers came and went, missionaries moved and people were found. Life goes on and the search continues.
As for me, and where I am? I`m happy to say I`m still in Fushimi and haven`t moved at all. The Only change I have is a new companion. Elder Mclaws went to Senri and became a Zone Leader. I on the other hand received a handy dandy new companion named Elder Escalante from California. We are near spitting images of each other. Big nerds and all. I`ll explain as we go on.
Wow. I actually have like 2 weeks to explain and not just 1. Let`s see where should I start. O yes. I apologize for the inconvenience of not sending the email 2 weeks ago. THAT WASN`T MY FAULT!! I indeed did press the send button but the email service decided it didn`t like me and didn`t send the email. So I resent it this week. If it doesn`t get there again I`m sorry It`s not my fault.
Anyway nothing extremely exciting happened over the past couple weeks besides transfers. And I have a horrible memory because things blur together far to easily when time seems to zoom past like a rocket ship in space accelerating at..... I`ll end my nerdy comment there.
Transfer day was on Thursday, I spent most of the day at Kyoto Eki waiting for my new companion and wandering around the station, which in all reality was more like a giant mall that just so HAPPENED to have a train station in the middle of it. The Japanese are so strange, It`s the equivalent of an airport with a giant mall in the middle of it. Anyway, Took some pictures and met my companion and headed back to the Apartment. We had 2 lessons that day and they went awesome, because I actually helped teach the lessons. I took a good half of the lesson as well. It`s always a boost to one`s confidence to be able to do something on your own.
Welll... the next couple days were exciting. I came down sick and so did my companion, I having it a little worse than my companion. We crashed at the apartment most of the day on Friday. Saturday and Sunday were not much better. We were both still a little sick and my allergies started to hit me. My nose was all stuffy and my eyes itched like no other. I was sneezing left and right but we had some more awesome lessons on those days.
Church on Sunday went well, I actually didn`t have to give my talk this week because they realized the bishop and called a new bishop in the ward. No it`s not me, it`s one of the members. Anyway we talked with quite a few people, had investigators come to church had a good time and taught another lesson that night that went awesome. Afterward we did a little bit of street contacting and I just happened to meet a Japanese man, that was probably drunk, wearing some strange hat and a sash around his neck with the words "I am God" written in English on one side and Japanese on the other. He tried to talk to me, but luckily I could truthfully say that "I Don`t understand what you are saying. I Don`t speak Japanese." The unlucky part of that was he attempted to speak English thereafter. I simply gave him a blank stare and looked for the nearest exit, the only problem was, my Companion was still in the Bathroom. Luckily the guy walked off after a moment. As we were walking later he was standing on a small wall with a megaphone and saying something. Then when we passed by he pointed at us and said "See other people like me that believe in Christ!" That didn`t quite help our streeting and contacting at all. I just kept reminding myself "He is still a Child of God, and hey... at least he Believes in Christ."
That was the extent of my excitement this week.
ELDER TATEISHI`S GOSPEL MOMENT OF THE WEEK!
"The Power of Christ"
There are kind of three parts to this topic. 1) The Resurrection, 2) The Cleansing Power of the Atonement, 3) The Enabling Power of Christ. I`ll tackle them in said order.
1) THE RESURRECTION (Pardon the spelling)
I label this one first because it is the first. What I mean is that the power of the resurrection is a free gift given to all men and women, whether they be good and righteous and wholesome, or evil, corrupt and defiled. It is the gift that each of us receives. It is a promise that God has granted unto all of us. After we die we do not need to fear death again, not physical death. We will each be raised again, at the appropriate time, to stand with perfect bodies before our God. Every one of us will. That is why this is first, because it is free, because each of us is given this freely, whether we believe or whether we disbelieve in God and Christ. It costs us Nothing.
2) The Cleansing Power of the Atonement
With The Atonement Christ gave us the opportunity to become clean. To be purified of sins and imperfections. Now this is necessary if we truly want to return to God. For as it is written in 3 Nephi 27, "Wherefore, no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God." We must clean, perfectly clean in order to return to our Father in Heaven and become exalted and stand beside him again.
Now as I said, the Cleansing Power of Christ is an opportunity, and not a Gift. We have to step forward and do something in order to become. We must act, we must have faith in order to access the Cleansing Power of the Atonement. We must acknowledge our faults, humble ourselves before God and truly Repent of our sins. We must not simply say "O father forgive me." We must truly forsake our sins and change ourselves. That is all repentance is, Change. Repentance is always striving to become better, pushing yourself to become more like Christ, to become perfect. To achieve the unachievable goal. Alone we are powerless to do this, which is why Christ suffered for us and Atoned for us. Through his actions we CAN achieve that unachievable goal, we CAN become perfect. BUT we must take advantage of that great Sacrifice and we must obey and follow the commandments of Christ, Otherwise he will not help, cannot help us.
Now, sometimes we don`t realize we`ve sinned. Sometimes our senses are dulled, our conscience subdued. We sometimes wonder within ourselves "What have I done wrong? I`m just fine." This is complacency again. We become accustomed to where we are, we think "Well I`m good enough. I`ve done enough. I don`t HAVE to do any more." That`s wrong, we can always repent, we can always do something just a little bit better, we can always grow.
Sometimes those sins we don`t realize are deeper and far more harming than we realize. I will use myself as an example. I was apathetic. For a long time I was apathetic, my emotions were dulled, my conscience subdued. I didn`t do anything outrageously evil or sinful I just didn`t do the things I should have been doing. It was a long time that I suffered that but mostly I simply thought within myself "There`s nothing wrong with me. I`m just fine, I don`t need to do anything more. I`m not a HORRIBLE person." But as I grew and developed (Just before my mission and in the MTC) I realized that I was missing so much more. It was then that I started to feel the guilt and sorrow of sin.
The Pain of Sin is sometimes unbearable, it falls upon you and weighs you down. I can say that mine hurt me but it was nothing in comparison to that of Alma the Younger. We read of his repentance in Alma 36. He said the pain and sorrow of his guilt was so heavy so horrible that he wished he could simply be banished from all existence both body and soul. Sin hurts, it is ugly and is destructive and when your senses are not so dulled that you do not recognize it it is unbearable. It is excruciating and seemingly impossible to overcome, impossible to bear. But with Christ nothing is impossible.
Each of us, through Christ`s atonement and sacrifice can be forgiven. Whatever we do short of outright denying the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is to say when one has a full and complete knowledge of the Godhead and then declining to accept the power of them, we can be forgiven. God Loves each and everyone of us, and all though he hates sin he is merciful and he provided away for us to become clean again. No matter how deep the stain, no matter how heavy the burden, no matter if it seems that the weight of the World is crushing down upon your shoulders, if we come unto Christ we can become clean, we can be helped. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I shall give ye rest. Take upon you my yoke, for it is light." Christ has already suffered the pains and punishments of Sin. We just need to take his "yoke" upon us and do our part, which is simple indeed. Follow Christ.
3) The enabling Power of the Atonement
I would simply refer you to the section in which I talked about "Walking on Water." And I will explain simply why I still have put this hear and will explain only briefly about it.
I put this last, because the Enabling power of the Atonement comes last, after we have had faith in Christ and his Atonement, After we have followed his Commandments and have been purified and cleaned it is not the end. We must still keep on going, we must Endure to the End. When we have been purified and cleaned it does not mean that life will be easier, it does not mean that we are given a free pass go card. If anything Life gets harder. But it`s for our gain.
As we continue through our trials and afflictions in our life we become stronger. It`s as simple as this. Take for example the muscles of your body. The sin ridden person is the one who is week, and is laden with fat. If one wants to become stronger he must first "burn off" the fat from his body before he can build his muscles. Usually it might start with the idea "I don`t like the way I look," and so in order to change that, a person must act, must do. As they begin to exersice and eat healthy, changing bad habits they burn off the fat. Once the fat is gone they still must continue to act, continue to keep those good habits or else they will build up fat once again. Now after that if one wants to become stronger he must increase the weights, or intensity of his exercise plan. It makes things harder, but in the end the muscles build and he becomes stronger and it is an ongoing process.
This is the Process of Life. Christ`s path is the Exercise plan, the Fat is sin, and the muscles are the strengths of our soul.
The only difference is, that Christ helps us overcome the trials and helps us have strength to do the impossible (refer to "Walking on Water")
That is this weeks Gospel Moment.
I end by testifying about Christ and his Atonement. I know without a doubt that Christ lives. I know that he suffered for me and suffered for my sins. He died for me, he suffered indescribable pains for me. O how glorious was that moment in Gethsemane. O how glorious was that moment when he Rose again. I Know and have have felt the power of the Atonement. All I can say is that it`s true, and I have felt the Joys and blessings of the Atonement. That`s why I`m in Japan. To share that Joy, to share that power with these people. I know God Loves me, I know we are ALL God`s children. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Your Elder
Elder Randall KK Tateishi.
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