Short but sweet....

Transfer week for Randy is next week. I wonder if he will be transferred. He says that if he is then he may be transferred to a place where he will be only able to mail letters and not email. What am I going to do? This will be agony to not get his emails on Sunday evenings. I guess I will survive.

Many of you don't know but the Hiroshima mission will be dissolving as of July 1st. The Kobe mission will pick up about half of the Hiroshima mission. There will be many more places and people for Randy to contact and introduce the Church to. He is excited and hopeful.

His spirits are high and he is feeling that the Lord is on his side in all things. His message this week is a good one, although he does hate the work Potential. As you read you will see why, but he does make some very good points. Life goes on for him and he is happy and knows that he is right where he is supposed to be. Read on....

Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, Friends, Mentors, World

Well, well, well! Another week rolls by and time seems to fly faster and faster. This week is all blurred together and well... Sadly to say I Don`t have anything really exciting to share this week. Tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday was all out in the heat of the day talking to people, teaching people, and speaking to people. Sunday was full with church and a YSA Family Home Evening session which was loads of fun and full of food. All I really can say is that life is good, the sun is hot, and the search goes on.

Onto the pictures, all of them were taken on Friday in the same area. We were Walking around an area known as Higashiyama looking for people to talk to. I saw a couple cool birds, a few old man going fishing with giant fishing poles and SWAT Car parked on the street. Why it was there I have no idea. Although we did see A LOT of police officers in the area, but we never found out what was going on, I did see a whole bunch of people standing on top of a car with megaphones, but I didn`t understand what was going on. Other than that I don`t have anything to say, sorry guys I have a horrible memory and well, just generally nothing happened.

By The way, Transfers are coming up next week. I may know next week Monday before I email but I may not know until afterwards on Tuesday. I may go, I may stay, I may get a new companion, I may not, I have no idea right now. Also if I get sent to the Inaka, or the countryside, I may not be able to email and may only be able to write letters. I`ll have to say I`m sorry if that does happen, but the Lord sends me where he needs me.

Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Moment of the Week

"Potential"

All of my Companions know that I despise this word. To me it`s almost like a swear word, and on occasion my companion likes to tease me by using it. But why do I hate it? Well it`s not that I necessarily hate the idea of what it means, it`s I hate the Timing that goes along with the word. I hear frequently and read frequently that "You have the Potential." Well I hate the word because it implies that I CAN be something, but am not that something at this moment. If any of this makes sense, it might in a little bit. What it all boils down to is that I see, and others see, in me the "Potential" to do great things, to become a great missionary, to be a great man, to do anything. But the fact is, is that I`m not that great man, that great missionary, capable of doing great things, right now. What I`m trying to get at, is that I have potential, I have a possibility, a capability of almost anything, but at this moment in time I am not those things, not yet. I hate the word Potential only because it has the implied meaning that we may never reach it.

The point of this topic is this. Everyone has Potential. Everyone has the Possibility, the capability to do anything. Each and everyone of us has the same potential, the same possibility, not one of us is better than another. Of course everyone is different, of course everyone has advantages and disadvantages that they are born with or life circumstances that fall upon them. But we all still have the Potential to accomplish things. Despite of handicaps, or life situations we can achieve anything. I have a saying, and many people have probably heard me say this "There is no such thing as Smart or Dumb, There is only Motivated, and Unmotivated." That is the key. Motivation. We need to Motivate ourselves to achieve those goals, we need to push ourselves to reach our potential. How many stories have we heard of those who came from the bottom of the world and ended up standing atop it. Einstein who was once a C student in Math ended up being a Legend in the World of Science, that is only one of many examples. You have stories of people who overcame impossible odds, The Spartans and Thermopolyae holding of the Horde of Persian Soldiers that although they lost their stand helped to save the rest of Greek, David a simple boy who Fought Goliath a giant among men, Alexander the Great who`s army was outnumbered yet still he conquered the Persians, and the list goes on. You have young Joseph Smith, who but a poor 14 year old farm boy, with little education, having only faith, saw God the Father, and Jesus Christ. You have Jesus Christ himself, born the son of a carpenter, raised as a simple boy and taught from the scriptures, who was opposed at every turn by wicked men. Who healed the sick and raised the dead. Who Boldly Declared the will of the father, who suffered all for us and was raised up upon the Cross, yet 3 days he did rise again.

We all have the same Potential, everyone of us. Because, as I have heard it said "We are each, just imperfect Gods." Every human being that ever has been, ever will be, and is in existence is a Child of God. Each and everyone of us are Sons and Daughters of a Perfect God. Our souls were created long before our bodies ever did, we lived in God`s presence, we learned from him, we followed him, and we all agreed to follow his plan. As such, as sons and Daughters of God do we not have the same potential, the same capability of becoming as he is? Think about that. Even as your father or your mother is, you have the potential to achieve that. Why wouldn`t we have the same possibility with our Heavenly Father and God?

The only thing stopping us from anything is ourselves. As Christ said to three of the disciples at Gethsemane "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Although each of us is a child of God, we are still human right now, we are in a fallen state and we are subject to the weaknesses and frailties of humanity. We are as was stated early "Imperfect Gods." We are not there yet, we are far from being like God. We are not perfect, in spirit or in body. Our human bodies are frail, are weak, subject to sickness and disease, damage and corruption, and as the way with us all Death. Our spirits are weak as well, we are tempted, we are stained with sin, we are, each of us, imperfect in thought and mind. We are only human, we are not like God yet.

Remember, each and everyone of you is a child of God. Remember, Remember, that anything is within your grasp. Have Faith, that God is on your side. He Loves you and he wants the best for you. He has shown us the way to become like him, he has taught us what we must do. If we do that, no matter how hard it seems at times, no matter how many times we stumble and fall so long as we pick ourselves back up we can become like him, we can reach our potential. It may not come now, it may not come in a long time, but we can reach that Potential.

I end by sharing my love unto all my Brother`s and Sister`s, this great family of God, and say these things in the name of The Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

With much Love
Elder Randall KK Tateishi