Beware of Dogs!

Oh my gosh....Randy is so back in the swing of things. He has his humor back and his love of missionary life back. I love how he writes and describes everything. Ok, the Beware of the Dogs portion of the letter was hilarious. I sent him a "Missionary" pillowcase that has rules and cautions for missionaries and one of them is "Beware of Dogs". I can't believe he got bit, but such is life for a missionary. Again I am so proud of him and his willingness to serve. His love of the Gospel grows and grows everyday and I can see it through his letters. I love him so much and am very happy for him. Stress is gone and he can en"joy" life again.

Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, and Friends

Well another excellent week has rolled past, and I`m still alive and kicking. Me and Elder Kamacho, now nicknamed as "Fillipine-san" or "Otomodachi-san," have been tearing it up here in Sennan. This week has been like walking from the pitch black of a moonless cloudy night, into the bright morning sun. We have done a lot of biking and riding around, lots of exploring, lots of talking, and even more importantly, lots of teaching. I guess I just got so used to seeing almost no results for the past 3 months that I had hardly noticed what was going on. Now this week I`ve been filled with adventure and filled with things to do.

Last week Monday we wandered around the mall, which by the way is absolutely huge, that is about 10 min. from our apartment. Then went and visited our investigator, whose dog decided to bite my hand. x.x I should read my pillow case more often. ("Beware of Dogs.")

Tuesday I gave a blessing, in Japanese, that was an amazing experience, being guided in what to say. The words I spoke, were not mine. Then that night I went to a small, "cram school" as they call it, to help someone teach English. Basically I answered Questions that the students had about me, America, and learning a new language. The most frequently asked question was, "Do you like Sushi?"

Wednesday I taught English at the church, and I can`t really remember what else happened, but we were busy, I remember that.

Thursday Morning, we woke up and looked outside, it was just a little cloudy and fairly windy, and we were like "Ok, It might rain today." About 30 min. later a mini typhoon flew over us, and it started pouring down rain, and the wind howled and thunder was roaring loudly. 20 min. later it was all gone, just as we were getting ready to leave for District Meeting.

Thursday, I got to pull weeds for a few hours, the same "cram school" students came and helped. If you`ve ever walked into a jungle, that would be very similar to the yard we were working on. Thick weeds covering the ground, and lots of annoying vines. Ended up doing it by hand and just pulling them out of the ground. Found out that it was actually a very small Sweet Potato Garden, and there ended up being a lot of Sweet Potatos that we found. During the whole process we found a giant centipede. When we found it, we said "O hey look at that huge centipede." All the kids up and ran like the wind, even the teacher ran away. Me and my companion picked up sticks and tried to kill it, but it wouldn`t die, until I grabbed a kama and cut it in half. Even then it was still twitching. No one would even go close to the area where we found it.

Had a barbeque with everyone there, and recieved a whole bunch of letters from all the students, thanking me for going in that one day. Had lots of fun, and talked with lots of people.

Friday and Saturday were filled with appointments, and Sunday we had church. All in all it was an awesome entertaining week. Found another giant mall in our area, that took us about an hour just to walk through, only getting distracted once by a lego store. It was lots of fun.

Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week

"Men are that they might have joy." 2 Nephi 2:25

I could just leave it at that, and be happy with it. But I`ll expound upon it very simply and quickly.

When you read the scriptures, you`ll find these words written frequently "Be of Good Cheer." It`s what God frequently tells his people. In Japanese it is rendered "Genki o Dashinasai!" With the same meaning, except I like Japanese more since it includes the command form "nasai." It feels more like a commandment than just words of comfort. Yes, we`re commanded to be happy, I`ll take that as one of my favorite commandments.

Everyone will have times when they are down, when they are unhappy and sad, when the entire world seems to press down upon them. Let me be the first to tell you that Missionaries are no exception to the world. We too have our down times, we too have our times of trouble. But, just take it as it comes. Let the Lord guide you, be patient in your trials, and have hope! Remember just have Hope.

I just remembered that I had taught about Hope a few days ago to somebody. She asked me about hope and so I replied, "Hope is knowing that although times are hard now, that although everything hurts or seems so horrible right now, that someday, whether it be tomorrow, next week, next year, or the next life, we WILL have rest. When we have faith in the Atonement of Christ, we have a bright hope that all our trials and tribulations will not last forever," Our relief might not come when we think we need it the most, our day of rest may not come when we think we can`t make it any further, but it WILL come. Then, when we reach that point, and look back at the mountain we have climbed, we will see the blessings that have come from following the Lord`s will, and waiting upon his time.

So just have Hope, in the brightest day, or the darkest night, have hope! The day will come when we shall rest again in the presence of the Lord.

I say these things in the name of my savior, my redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Which Much Love,

Elder Randall KK Tateishi