Transfers?

Ok...so Randy does not know by the time we got his letter if he will be transferring to a new area or not. I guess we will find out next week. He sounds like interesting experiences are starting to happen more and more. He is still upbeat and enjoying his time. He will have been on his mission a whole 6 months soon. I only have a year and a half before I get to see him again:(, but I'm still happy he is in Japan.

Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, Friends, Mentors, and Everyone Else

Another Week flies by and well... Most of it is blurred together. But this week there are quite a few highlights that I can talk about. Lots of laughs and lots of fun.

Let`s see.... where do I even start. I can`t remember exact dates but I`ll just pop out stories from this week.

Ok, many of you probably have never heard of this Religion, but I have recently encountered it. The name of this Religion is SGI, or Sokka Gakkai International. I Don`t know the english translation for the Japanese words but I`ll explain what happened to me and why I bring this up. Me and my companion were out Housing a large apartment complex that was right next to our apartment. Not long into our housing adventure we happened across an Old man. Well it was my turn to do the talking. This old man comes out after we tell him we are missionaries and proceedes to question us a little bit. Asking some strange questions, that I wasn`t quite understanding, or understanding at all. My companion decided to stand back with a smug smile on his face and let me atttempt to work out what was going on. Well After about 15 min. of failed talking at the door the old man invited us into his apartment, sat us down and talked some more. Well it was then that I started to understand a little bit of what he was saying. It was along the lines of this:

"There needs to be only 1 religion in the world, then there won`t be war. Your Religion is wrong, because it isn`t SGI."

I then proceeded to testify about how our belief is that everyone should love each other and be peaceful. His reply was that I was wrong because it was based in Christianity and not SGI. What I got out of it was that anything I said would be wrong, and that he was always right. After about an hour of this, we simply said we had to go and got up and left. The Lesson Learned: When you can`t speak Japanese, it protects you from listening to long drawn out annoying topics.

But wait! There`s more! We were housing yet again and happened upon a Protestant Missionary from Korea. I liked this guy though, he was much nicer, and as he did try to preach to us he at least wasn`t like the Old man telling me that whatever I say is wrong. I can`t blame him either cause He`s doing the same thing I`m doing, just for a different Church.

Well.. Those are my highlights for the week... Other than getting caught out in the rain again, pretty far from home too. This time we at least had our rain suits on, but they didn`t help much. I was still soaked to the bone.

Transfer Calls will come in tomorrow Morning. I can`t believe that I`m already heading onto my 3rd transfer. That`s 3 out of 16. I`m also heading towards the 6th month mark in just a couple more weeks. Time is flying far too fast, I just wish my Japanese skills would come just as fast.

Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Moment of the Week

This Weeks message will be very short and simple, but since it happened to me this week a couple times I guess I`ll touch on it very quickly.

Tolerance!

I`ve always believed in being a tolerant person, of being respectful of other peoples beliefs and other peoples opinions and ideas. As a Missionary it`s sometimes hard to think that way, but there is one simple way to do this. It`s to find the common ground. Don`t look at the differences, look at the similarities. In almost every culture, and every Religion there are points that cross over, that are similar and can link us together. I have found myself saying quite a bit "Yes, well we believe that as well." My purpose as a missionary is always to Invite, never to force. As I stop people on the street I ask them simple questions, and state simple truths about our beliefs and then invite them to meet with us again. If they do not wish to hear more we do not bother them, or force them to hear more. Everyone has the Agency to choose and so we must let them choose. But it does not mean we have to compromise our own standards for others. I know what I believe and I will not step down if it offends others, because I know the truth of this for myself.

Your Son, Brother, Friend, Student, and Missionary
Elder Randall KK Tateishi