Where's Waldo....

Randy is the sweetest son ever....Now that that is said, I got two emails this week from him. One was the "email that got away" and seemed never to be able to be sent. I was glad to have finally gotten it. I love that he prays about and thinks about everyone, especially family and friends.

He sounds like he is doing great and starting to grow up. I will include a couple pictures that he sent. The first one is so funny because he is with a bunch of Young Single Adults and he looks just like them, hence "Where's Waldo" He also is in a newspaper (I think)...I can't read Japanese, but I see his picture in it.

He has been able to have some good P-Days and has gotten to see some wonderful sights. I will just say that he will be a quarter of the way done with his mission in 2 weeks, meaning that he will have been out 6 months soon. How crazy is that! Time flies for sure....

Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Friends, Mentors, and the Rest of the world

Well.... where to start. I guess I`ll start from Monday, after I emailed last week. We had loads of fun last P-day. We went to Arashiyama and visited the Monkey Park, where Elder Escalante got attacked by a Japanese Monkey. It was really cool, we saw lots of monkeys and had lots of fun. Afterwards we went and saw a Golden Bhuddist Shrine, it was interesting but it ended up taking the whole day, we barely had time to get home and do our shopping for the week. Hopefully these pictures will go through this time.

After that we just did a lot of tracting out here.

Tuesday we did a companionship exchange with the zone leaders. I went to Katsura again, this time with Elder Reading. We ended up riding our bikes ALL over Kyoto City. I got home that night and crashed. Wednesday went well, I can`t remember exactly what happened but it was good. Everyday is a good day here. Thursday we had one of the Assitants to the President follow us around must of the day. It was fun but slightly ineffective. Small Japanese people seeing three tall Americans is a fairly intimidating sight. Friday we had our district meeting which went well also. We got lost though trying to find where we were supposed to go. Walking around in extremely hot weather, 100% humidity and a fairly heavy backpack is not a pleasant thing to do. Afterwards we rode all the way across our area, going over a mountain. It was quite fun, other than almost collapsing from being utterly exhausted.

Saturday was a decent day, I can`t remember exactly what happened. Sunday though was awesome. I gave my first talk in Sacrament meeting. It was about Christ`s Atonement, and you probably guessed it, it was pretty short. I`m still horrible at giving talks by the way, at least in Japanese. Afterwards we met with a young couple and invited them to come with us to a YSA activity. They had loads of fun and we played some games and left a small message. That is my week. Nothing horribly exciting yet. Zone Conference is coming up this Wednesday and next week marks the beginning of my 3rd month in Japan. Man Time is flying.

Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Moment of the Week

"Faith"

We have all heard the scriptures say "Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of all things, but to hope for things which are not seen." With this scripture we could simply define faith as Hope. But it is different. "Hope is the anchor of the soul." Our Hope should be centered upon Christ, and our hope is in the resurrection with the opportunity to return to live with our Heavenly father again and receive the blessings of Exaltation. Our hopes should lie in the knowledge that death is not the end of this life nor is it something to be feared. If this is hope, than what is faith.

I always remember what a wise Stake President said to me during a few of my interviews. "Faith is action." It`s as simple as that. Faith is acting, is doing. We exercise faith when we act upon what we hope and what we know. We use our faith, show our faith, when we step into places where we have never trod before, hoping that the Lord Our God will guide our footsteps and lead us through.

Faith is always a principle of actions, for "Faith without works is Dead." In order to receive blessings, in order to grow stronger and to increase our faith, our knowledge, we must act. In Alma 32 he gives a little example on exersicing faith to those who do not believe, or do not have any knowledge of God. Alma says simply to them to try it. That if they have but even the smallest desire to believe, to know for themselves, that if they do not reject the words outright, and if they are patient and humble that they can come to know the truthfullness of this Gospel. He tells them to act, to try. But what is it that we need to try, we need to try and live the gospel. The Blessings will never come unless you willingly try to live the Gospel.

God is a God of Contracts. He only works through Contracts. If we do something, he will do something in return. As it is written "I the lord am bound when ye do what I say, but if ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." For a simple example, God has commanded all of us to pray with sincere hearts and we can know the truthfullness of this Gospel(Moroni 10:4-5). If we do not pray sincerely, if we do not sincerely ask for an answer and sincerely believe that we will receive an answer, we will not receive one.

Every single time God Makes a Promise he will keep that promise, so long as we uphold our end of the bargain. It is as simple as that, it is the most basic doctrine of the church. And as we fulfill our end of the bargain, the contract, as we obey the commandments we show our Faith. It is that simple. And as a Missionary it expresses it itself 1000 times. As I follow the rules pertaining to my physical health (going to sleep on time, exercising, waking up at the right time, eating right) I remain strong and healthy, I have few problems relating to my physical well being. As I follow rules pertaining to spiritual matters I retain the spirit, I am blessed and receive divine assistance in my work, I am strengthened beyond my own personal capabilities to do things that for me would be otherwise beyond my own capabilities to do. The easiest example is learning this Language. I have only studied Japanese for approximately 4.5 months, and now I can pretty much get around and do what is required. Where as in my first year of studying German I learned nothing. There are other things even beyond that, which I have witnessed and received. Through faith and action I have been blessed far more than I ever could have hoped for. Each and everyone of those blessings has been to help strengthen me, to help me grow, to be a better person. In these past 4 and a half months I have grown far more than I ever imagined, I`m a lot different than when I left. I still have 20 months to go before I return, and I will not stop growing and learning. How strong of a person I will be when I get back, I don`t know. But I do know that whatever happens I`ll be that much the better for having experienced it.

I end again by bearing my testimony. I know that this is the true Gospel of Christ, I know that this work is God`s work. I will always hold to the Promise I made with Elder Holland on the first day of my mission and say "Because of my mission, I will never ever, EVER, be the same." God lives, he loves us. May God bless you all in all your endeavors. Remember, pray often, seek his love, follow his words and you will feel his spirit. I end in the name of my Savior, my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.

A Friend, A Brother, A Son

Elder Randall KK Tateishi