We as a family are so blessed. We love each other, we have fun with each other and most of all we honor each other. I am so happy to have a family where respect and love are thriving. I love that Randy is learning everyday and so grateful for the things he has learned. I truly am a blessed mother, with wonderful children and an amazing husband that puts up with all my weirdness and continued craziness. I am blessed with a son who follows and listens to God's plan for him. Who knows who he is and knows the power or our Heavenly Father's love.
ear Mother, Father, Sisters, Brothers, Family, and Friends
Too many emails, too little time.
Wasn`t yesterday that I Emailed? I swear weeks seem like days. I really didn`t do anything at all very special this week. Didn`t get yelled at by anyone, didn`t have any strange happenings, it was just another week.
Wednesday Takada, one of my English Students came to class with his LightSabers again. Had some fun there, I won surprisingly enough. Even Kamacho hopped in. Was loads of fun. Then for Eikaiwa we had a small Japanese version of Thanksgiving, rice cakes, sushi, milk, and cookies(Molassas Sugar Cookies), and failed Cheese Cake. That was entertaining.
My actual Thanksgiving feast was an all you can eat Japanese Barbeque, it was delicious but I think My stomach has shrunk because I cannot eat all that much anymore. I also brought cookies for everyone and my District Leader told me I should just be like a factory and keep on making them alllll the time. He ate like half of them because he came over to our apartment for Companion Exchanges. Saturday I made pizza for Nakanishi and ate dinner with him, that was fun.
Sunday was the only real interesting day that I had this week. There was a primary program at Church this week, which was very hilarious, especially since we had investigators there. FYI, Japanese Primary Programs are almost the exact same as American Primary Programs, You have a few Children that sing as loud as they can, regardless of whether or not they are even close to the right note. One Child in particular went rebelious at the podium and would not read his part, he would only stand there and wave at everyone and breath loudly into the microphone or make strange noises. Then when the Primary president tried to get him to say what he was supposed to he rebelled and pushed her away, until finally his mother came up and made him sit down. It was quite funny to watch. After that we met with a few members, who corrected my Kanji, 証, Because I had it backwards. Ate some delicious Okonomiyaki, which I will discover how to make, both the sause and the pancake and make it for everyone back home.
Basically that was my week, nothing special at all, but quite fun. This week is my birthday, making me feel old, and next week Is Transfer week. So I`ll have a little bit more to talk about in the next couple weeks.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Moment of the week
I Won`t take too long this week either.
Alma 5:26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
Recently I have been studying what I call "A change of Heart" or in other words Aligning my Heart with the will of God, repenting and striving to become more faithful, more dilligent and more Christlike.
As I read this scripture I thought to myself: "When did I sing that song of Redeeming Love?" While deep in thought I remembered the prayers that I have said in the past, those that truly came from my heart, and I also remembered a scripture earlier in the same Chapter, "God changeth the hearts of men." I remembered that those times that I really felt the true love of God, so purely in my heart, when I felt the chains and bands of misery and sorrow that held me bound shattered, when I truly knew that what I was doing was right, that those times were always times of sincere pray, for deep thought, Times of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
I then continued to think about my prayers now. I thought to myself "Do I truly pray to God? Is it just some rote thing that I repeat every night in mind, or do I truly really know that God is Listening to what I say? Do I truly pray as if he were beside me?" Those questions came into my mind and I started to realize I`ve been gettting content lately, and a little lazy. I hadn`t been truly understanding that when I pray, I`m talking with God, I did not truly appreciate that I have the opportunity, the privilege to commune with the one true and Living God. What an honor it is to know that, what a privilege it is to have the confidence to pray to God and know without a doubt in your mind that he will hear your prayer, that he will answer your prayer. I know he hears me, I know he answers me. Countless times has he answered my prayers, he has guided me in learning Japanese, he has guided me to people ready to be taught, he has guided me to people to help, and he has answered my prayers in showing me what I need to do. He has poured out his grace, and his love upon me, and I know, I truly know that he loves me.
I`m not sure how many times I`ve said it before, how many times I`ve repeated this, or ho mwany more times I will repeat this, but if there was one message I could shout to the world it would be this. God Lives and Loves! Every individual he loves the same, from the lowliest person, to the most exalted, from the wretched sin ridden man to the holy prophet of God, he loves everyone with a love that we cannot comprehend. He hears everyones prayers, he listens to what we have to say, he knows our concerns and he stands with open arms.
33 Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you.
34 Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;
He awaits you, everyone of you. He stands with open arms waiting for you to come to him. He beckons, he calls, he begs for you to come to him, like a mother to her wayward child he cries "Come unto me, and ye shall have rest." It is us that has to move, it is us that has to go. He knows what we need, and so we must go to him.
I know Christ lives and Loves, I know he has risen again. He is my Saviour, my Redeemer. 20 years I`ve lived, and the only thing worth report is 1 year in his service. It is an honor to serve him, to follow him, to know him. I have sung that song of redeeming Love, and I try to sing it loud now, for all to hear. I Bear witness of the truthfulness of Christ, and of his Sacrifice, in his Holy name. Amen.
Love, Elder Randall KK Tateishi
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, and Friends
One more day rolls by, one week flashes away. Lots of emails to read, and more to write. All one can do is smile and cheerfully move on to the next day.
This week was another quick week, But interesting nonetheless. Monday and Tuesday went by without anything interesting, Wednesday was when it all started picking up. Had two lessons on Wednesday, the first went longer than planned and so we were late for the second, which was all the way on the other side of town. Which meant we had to ride as fast as we could, over hills and vale to get there. After that we ate a late lunch... Which was around 2:30. Went back out, and did some housing until about 5:30. Which was the highlight of my week.
It was just getting dark, the sun having just set, and we had just one last house on the street before we went to the church to start getting ready for English Class. Ring the bell and the wife comes out. We talked for no more than 5-10min. and we were just finishing setting up a return apointment for the beginning of next month and were handing her the note when everything went crazy. Her husband walked out the door, and looked at us and asked us what we want. We told him we were missionaries and we were sharing a message about families. He came out stepped in front of his wife as if he were trying to protect her and then proceeded to give us a 30 min. lecture about how we shouldn`t be out knocking on peoples doors at 5:30 at night because people are eating dinner. He was throughouly angry at as and yelling at us. We simply stood there quietly, unable to say anything much because he cut in everytime we said a word. Somehow he changed the topic to how religion is bad and it causes wars, at which point we finally had enough and just testified to him. He started to end the Conversation by saying, "No Thanks! I`ve already had the Mormons come over before!" Me and Elder Camacho looked at each other with smiles on our faces and replied "We are Mormons." At that moment the man changed entirely. He went from mean to very nice. And started going on about how he had seen Mormon Missionaries in a while and was very friendly from then on. We told him we had made an appointment with his wife to come again and asked if it was still alright and he sad "Whatever, just next time don`t come at this time." Which was fine because we had said we`d come around 4.
Well.. I spent too much time with that story and I need to head out. Time is short. Basically we had 3 people come to church this week, and one of them was Nakanishi, which made me very happy. Apparently out of all the missionaries he`s met over 30 years I`m his favorite. He likes to call me his child, which is wierd.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week.
This will be very short but here it goes.
It`s thanksgiving, so I`ll simply say this, BE THANKFUL!!
God has given unto us all things for our benifet, he has blessed our lives in countless ways and he continues to watch over us night and day. He answers our prayers, and hears our cries. He Blesses us in our times of need.
I am grateful for all I have, especially for my family, for their love and their support for me. I wouldn`t be here without them!
I am especially grateful for the Atonement and for the peace it has brought into my life, and for the blessings it has poured out upon me and those around me. I know Christ Lives, that he is my Savior and Redeemer, I Know he suffured and died for me, because of his great love for me. I Know he loves everyone, the poor, the weak, the humble, the rich, the strong, the clean and the unclean. I bear this witness in his holy name, even Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
Transfers aren`t until the 7thish. I have no idea about christmas calls.
Love you Mom
One more day rolls by, one week flashes away. Lots of emails to read, and more to write. All one can do is smile and cheerfully move on to the next day.
This week was another quick week, But interesting nonetheless. Monday and Tuesday went by without anything interesting, Wednesday was when it all started picking up. Had two lessons on Wednesday, the first went longer than planned and so we were late for the second, which was all the way on the other side of town. Which meant we had to ride as fast as we could, over hills and vale to get there. After that we ate a late lunch... Which was around 2:30. Went back out, and did some housing until about 5:30. Which was the highlight of my week.
It was just getting dark, the sun having just set, and we had just one last house on the street before we went to the church to start getting ready for English Class. Ring the bell and the wife comes out. We talked for no more than 5-10min. and we were just finishing setting up a return apointment for the beginning of next month and were handing her the note when everything went crazy. Her husband walked out the door, and looked at us and asked us what we want. We told him we were missionaries and we were sharing a message about families. He came out stepped in front of his wife as if he were trying to protect her and then proceeded to give us a 30 min. lecture about how we shouldn`t be out knocking on peoples doors at 5:30 at night because people are eating dinner. He was throughouly angry at as and yelling at us. We simply stood there quietly, unable to say anything much because he cut in everytime we said a word. Somehow he changed the topic to how religion is bad and it causes wars, at which point we finally had enough and just testified to him. He started to end the Conversation by saying, "No Thanks! I`ve already had the Mormons come over before!" Me and Elder Camacho looked at each other with smiles on our faces and replied "We are Mormons." At that moment the man changed entirely. He went from mean to very nice. And started going on about how he had seen Mormon Missionaries in a while and was very friendly from then on. We told him we had made an appointment with his wife to come again and asked if it was still alright and he sad "Whatever, just next time don`t come at this time." Which was fine because we had said we`d come around 4.
Well.. I spent too much time with that story and I need to head out. Time is short. Basically we had 3 people come to church this week, and one of them was Nakanishi, which made me very happy. Apparently out of all the missionaries he`s met over 30 years I`m his favorite. He likes to call me his child, which is wierd.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week.
This will be very short but here it goes.
It`s thanksgiving, so I`ll simply say this, BE THANKFUL!!
God has given unto us all things for our benifet, he has blessed our lives in countless ways and he continues to watch over us night and day. He answers our prayers, and hears our cries. He Blesses us in our times of need.
I am grateful for all I have, especially for my family, for their love and their support for me. I wouldn`t be here without them!
I am especially grateful for the Atonement and for the peace it has brought into my life, and for the blessings it has poured out upon me and those around me. I know Christ Lives, that he is my Savior and Redeemer, I Know he suffured and died for me, because of his great love for me. I Know he loves everyone, the poor, the weak, the humble, the rich, the strong, the clean and the unclean. I bear this witness in his holy name, even Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
Transfers aren`t until the 7thish. I have no idea about christmas calls.
Love you Mom
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
...and Jesus Wept
Ok so our family has a favorite back up scripture to the question asked.."what is your favorite scripture?". Of course it rolls off the tongue quickly and it's easy to memorize. Where I am going is that this week Randy didn't have a Gospel Message so what did he use? Hahaha...not our favorite, but he could have...
Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, and Friends
Welcome to another week! They just keep on flowing by.
But nothing much has changed here at all. Still the same old same old. We went housing about everyday this week. Which was interesting to say the least. You get strange answers when you talk to people through little intercoms. And it gets strange when you talk with young kids but you don`t realize it until they say: "ummm my Mom`s not home right now." Or you get people that say: "I`m not interested because it`s late!" (Time: 5:30 PM). There are a variety of answers you get, but you just move on to the next house. It`s just annoying when you only speak with 1 out of every 10 people face to face (excluding unanswered doors).
We taught a Part member family this week, and saw some extremely talented artwork. All of the 3 daughters and the mother can draw like crazy good. Apparently the yougnest draws some pretty famous Manga as well, or so says my companion because he`s seen her manga before. That was a fun experience.
Let`s see....... we found an investigator on Saturday named "Sora" Meaning Sky in Japanese. He works at the Kansai Airport and is studying something about airplanes. He even came to church yesterday and liked it. Then after church we sat in on Ward Council and laid before them a new idea to help them with working with the Missionaries. That was fun trying to explain in Japanese. I find that I can get around here in Japan with little problems. Buying food, going places and doing things, but I can only handle basic simple conversations. Get into details about things like Manga, Video Games, Sports, Airplanes, or other non-church related items and it all goes right over my head. It`s the same with reading, give me a church book and I can read about 50%, but give me a warning label on a product and I catch a whopping 5%.
Anyway. Life just keeps on rolling, Japanese keeps on coming, people just keep on going. It`s all just one step at a time. Today is today, tomorrow is tomorrow.
By the way, I`m going to put together a Christmas video for everyone and send the SD Card here pretty soon. Don`t know when, but hopefully it`ll be before Christmas is over.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week
Welllllllllllllll........... I have no clue this week.......
Really I don`t.
"And I said unto him: I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." (1 Nephi 11:17)
"My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh." (2 Nephi 4:20-21)
I`ll leave the message at that. Since Nephi Gloried in plainness, I shall too. I Do not know the meaning of all things, neverthless. I know that God Loveth his Children.
In the name of Jesus Christ, my Saviour. Amen.
With Love,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
P.S. At least I didn`t whip out "And Jesus Wept."
Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, and Friends
Welcome to another week! They just keep on flowing by.
But nothing much has changed here at all. Still the same old same old. We went housing about everyday this week. Which was interesting to say the least. You get strange answers when you talk to people through little intercoms. And it gets strange when you talk with young kids but you don`t realize it until they say: "ummm my Mom`s not home right now." Or you get people that say: "I`m not interested because it`s late!" (Time: 5:30 PM). There are a variety of answers you get, but you just move on to the next house. It`s just annoying when you only speak with 1 out of every 10 people face to face (excluding unanswered doors).
We taught a Part member family this week, and saw some extremely talented artwork. All of the 3 daughters and the mother can draw like crazy good. Apparently the yougnest draws some pretty famous Manga as well, or so says my companion because he`s seen her manga before. That was a fun experience.
Let`s see....... we found an investigator on Saturday named "Sora" Meaning Sky in Japanese. He works at the Kansai Airport and is studying something about airplanes. He even came to church yesterday and liked it. Then after church we sat in on Ward Council and laid before them a new idea to help them with working with the Missionaries. That was fun trying to explain in Japanese. I find that I can get around here in Japan with little problems. Buying food, going places and doing things, but I can only handle basic simple conversations. Get into details about things like Manga, Video Games, Sports, Airplanes, or other non-church related items and it all goes right over my head. It`s the same with reading, give me a church book and I can read about 50%, but give me a warning label on a product and I catch a whopping 5%.
Anyway. Life just keeps on rolling, Japanese keeps on coming, people just keep on going. It`s all just one step at a time. Today is today, tomorrow is tomorrow.
By the way, I`m going to put together a Christmas video for everyone and send the SD Card here pretty soon. Don`t know when, but hopefully it`ll be before Christmas is over.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week
Welllllllllllllll........... I have no clue this week.......
Really I don`t.
"And I said unto him: I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." (1 Nephi 11:17)
"My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh." (2 Nephi 4:20-21)
I`ll leave the message at that. Since Nephi Gloried in plainness, I shall too. I Do not know the meaning of all things, neverthless. I know that God Loveth his Children.
In the name of Jesus Christ, my Saviour. Amen.
With Love,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
P.S. At least I didn`t whip out "And Jesus Wept."
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Twerp!
So Randy is a Twerp! I sent a letter off to him asking what he might need, like new shirts, coat, sweaters, food...anything? And his reply was...."Love you Mom"...yep, that's all. not an answer of his needs just "Love you Mom".....How am I supposed to send him Christmas gifts if I don't know what he needs. Along with that his Birthday is coming on the 3rd of December....he is such a Twerp! Oh well, I love him anyway and I think I understand his reasoning....
Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, and Friends,
Well another week has just flown by in the blink of an eye, filled with interesting events ranging from sorrowful events to joyful events. But in all things we simply remember that the bad are mingled with the good. As Lehi said to his son "Without sorrow there could be no Joy. Without evil, there is no Good."
In all reallity, it was actually a great week, just filled with a couple hiccups here and there. But it did start off a little on the wrong foot. Tuesday we visited Nakanishi, who although still liked to have us over, was not so interested at all in our message. Simply he does not have faith, or even the will to try to obtain faith. He lacks the desire to do much else other than sleep. It does sadden me to see his condition, and I pray for him daily, and I do what I can to testify to him and teach him, but while I sat in the lesson on tuesday, flipping through my scriptures praying to find something to help him, I opened twice to very similar scriptures. One was Alma as he preached to the people of Ammonihah, Alma 8:10 "Nevertheless Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his spirit upon the people who were in the city, that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance. Nevertheless, they hardened their hearts." 8:15 "Blessed art thou Alma, Therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy message from him." and the other was to Nephi in Helaman 10:4 " Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." After I opened up to the second scripture I caught the message that the Lord was trying to say to me. "You`ve done what you`ve can, you`ve testified, you`ve taught, you did what you could to share the spirit." Nevertheless It still saddens me to see what has happened to him and I don`t ever want to give up. We Won`t stop visiting him or helping him, he is simply less of a priority, for we have been called to "Find the Elect, and the Elect hear my voice, and harden not their hearts."
We also lost contact with another one of our progressing investigators for most of the week. When we finally got a hold of him on Thursday, he wasn`t really interested in our message anymore. He had liked church, but hadn`t really felt the spirit and he also didn`t really want to try to obtain faith, he felt that other things were more important, school, his part time job and play.
Other than that, throughout the week we did a lot of adventuring. We rode our bikes for about an hour and a half to the very southern point of our area. When we looked at the map we thought "Hey it looks like there might be something interesting down there." When we got down there, there was nobody, and nothing. No stores, no resturants, just a few houses. The only thing of interest was a Zoo/amusement park. Where they have a Dolphin show and a variety of other things, it looks interesting and we plan on going down there sometime, probably the first week in December for my birthday.
Then yesterday after church we decided to go check out the College that is in our area, it was about an hour ride out there, on top of a mountain. Then we got lost on the way up there and almost ended up in someone elses area, before we were like "Well... I don`t think this is the right way, because, that`s the way to Iwade."
Satdurday I spent the day sleeping because I was sick, some kind of 24 hour virus. Me and Camacho choro had the same thing. Basically that was my week. Not the most exciting week, but far from being the worst.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the week
This message will be fairly quick, I don`t want to steal too much time, or ramble on for too long, but I`ll share a little message having to do with the experiences that we encountered this week.
As I said, we suffered a couple of tragedies, at least tragedies for missionaries. When people we loved, and cared for rejected what we taught. But what do we do after we experience setbacks like that? Sadly, it is a simple as moving on. People have their free agency, they can choose for themselves either evil or good, they can decide for themselves whether or not they want what we have.
I do not condemn them for their choices, in fact I believe that they did not fully understand what we had taught. I Christ has said "They seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not." They did not truly open their hearts to our message and let the spirit into their souls. We taught, we testified, we sowed seeds and we pray that one day, those seeds will blossom, and that someone else might reap where we have sown.
Tragedy comes, it is life. But it is how we react to such tragedies that determines the true outcome. If we fold up, and give into the pressure of our trials only worse things follow. I know from experience. Niether can we simply ignore it and bury our heads in the sand. We must stand upright before God, with a firm determination that we will succeed. We must rely upon his arm, and follow his will. He knows the safe way through the storm, It`s not easy, he never said it would be, but it`s worth it. For when the storm clears, when you can look out across the now calm waters and see the beauty of what you have found, you will understand. Just a simple example using the weather here. From our Apartment we can look out over Osaka bay and see Kobe, Sumomoto, and the Kansai Airport almost as if it were floating on the water. Yet, when it does not rain for a week, smog and smoke begin to cover the bay, obscuring our view, so we can only see as far as the beach. But then when the storms come, with heavy winds and rains, it blows away the smog and cleans the air. After those storms, we look out and we can see all the way past Akashi Brigde. See in the very distance even more mountains, green and beauty.
Tragedy comes, it is life, but when we react rightly, and correctly, we will be made all the stronger.
Rely upon the Lord, follow him through the storm, He showed us the way and if we follow him all will be well. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give ye rest. Take my yoke upon you, for I am gentle and meek and burden is light." Matthew 11 (Paraphrased)
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
With much Love
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
Dear Mother,
Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your Son,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, and Friends,
Well another week has just flown by in the blink of an eye, filled with interesting events ranging from sorrowful events to joyful events. But in all things we simply remember that the bad are mingled with the good. As Lehi said to his son "Without sorrow there could be no Joy. Without evil, there is no Good."
In all reallity, it was actually a great week, just filled with a couple hiccups here and there. But it did start off a little on the wrong foot. Tuesday we visited Nakanishi, who although still liked to have us over, was not so interested at all in our message. Simply he does not have faith, or even the will to try to obtain faith. He lacks the desire to do much else other than sleep. It does sadden me to see his condition, and I pray for him daily, and I do what I can to testify to him and teach him, but while I sat in the lesson on tuesday, flipping through my scriptures praying to find something to help him, I opened twice to very similar scriptures. One was Alma as he preached to the people of Ammonihah, Alma 8:10 "Nevertheless Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his spirit upon the people who were in the city, that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance. Nevertheless, they hardened their hearts." 8:15 "Blessed art thou Alma, Therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy message from him." and the other was to Nephi in Helaman 10:4 " Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." After I opened up to the second scripture I caught the message that the Lord was trying to say to me. "You`ve done what you`ve can, you`ve testified, you`ve taught, you did what you could to share the spirit." Nevertheless It still saddens me to see what has happened to him and I don`t ever want to give up. We Won`t stop visiting him or helping him, he is simply less of a priority, for we have been called to "Find the Elect, and the Elect hear my voice, and harden not their hearts."
We also lost contact with another one of our progressing investigators for most of the week. When we finally got a hold of him on Thursday, he wasn`t really interested in our message anymore. He had liked church, but hadn`t really felt the spirit and he also didn`t really want to try to obtain faith, he felt that other things were more important, school, his part time job and play.
Other than that, throughout the week we did a lot of adventuring. We rode our bikes for about an hour and a half to the very southern point of our area. When we looked at the map we thought "Hey it looks like there might be something interesting down there." When we got down there, there was nobody, and nothing. No stores, no resturants, just a few houses. The only thing of interest was a Zoo/amusement park. Where they have a Dolphin show and a variety of other things, it looks interesting and we plan on going down there sometime, probably the first week in December for my birthday.
Then yesterday after church we decided to go check out the College that is in our area, it was about an hour ride out there, on top of a mountain. Then we got lost on the way up there and almost ended up in someone elses area, before we were like "Well... I don`t think this is the right way, because, that`s the way to Iwade."
Satdurday I spent the day sleeping because I was sick, some kind of 24 hour virus. Me and Camacho choro had the same thing. Basically that was my week. Not the most exciting week, but far from being the worst.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the week
This message will be fairly quick, I don`t want to steal too much time, or ramble on for too long, but I`ll share a little message having to do with the experiences that we encountered this week.
As I said, we suffered a couple of tragedies, at least tragedies for missionaries. When people we loved, and cared for rejected what we taught. But what do we do after we experience setbacks like that? Sadly, it is a simple as moving on. People have their free agency, they can choose for themselves either evil or good, they can decide for themselves whether or not they want what we have.
I do not condemn them for their choices, in fact I believe that they did not fully understand what we had taught. I Christ has said "They seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not." They did not truly open their hearts to our message and let the spirit into their souls. We taught, we testified, we sowed seeds and we pray that one day, those seeds will blossom, and that someone else might reap where we have sown.
Tragedy comes, it is life. But it is how we react to such tragedies that determines the true outcome. If we fold up, and give into the pressure of our trials only worse things follow. I know from experience. Niether can we simply ignore it and bury our heads in the sand. We must stand upright before God, with a firm determination that we will succeed. We must rely upon his arm, and follow his will. He knows the safe way through the storm, It`s not easy, he never said it would be, but it`s worth it. For when the storm clears, when you can look out across the now calm waters and see the beauty of what you have found, you will understand. Just a simple example using the weather here. From our Apartment we can look out over Osaka bay and see Kobe, Sumomoto, and the Kansai Airport almost as if it were floating on the water. Yet, when it does not rain for a week, smog and smoke begin to cover the bay, obscuring our view, so we can only see as far as the beach. But then when the storms come, with heavy winds and rains, it blows away the smog and cleans the air. After those storms, we look out and we can see all the way past Akashi Brigde. See in the very distance even more mountains, green and beauty.
Tragedy comes, it is life, but when we react rightly, and correctly, we will be made all the stronger.
Rely upon the Lord, follow him through the storm, He showed us the way and if we follow him all will be well. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give ye rest. Take my yoke upon you, for I am gentle and meek and burden is light." Matthew 11 (Paraphrased)
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
With much Love
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
Dear Mother,
Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your Son,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
Monday, November 1, 2010
6 more weeks....
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No transfer for Randy this one. This will be the first time since he has been out that he has stayed the longest at. He is happy and is just working along singing and loving as he goes. This is a great letter with a great message....
Dear Mother, Father, Sisters, Brothers, Family, and Friends
Drum roll please..... *Drum Roll*
Ok so I`m still in Sennan, with Elder Camacho. Nothing`s changed this transfer and so we get to jump into a new month, a new adventure together. We`ve got 6 weeks to count down, and work hard to get some miracles rolling here in Sennan. Daily our prayers cry to the Lord for help, and daily we go out in search of those that are ready to hear the Gospel. As the great hymn says: "Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along. Do your duty with a heart full of song. We all have work, let no one shirk, put your shoulder to the wheel."
So a singing I will go! With the Lord as my Light, and the spirit to guide me along great things will happen here!
Anyway. This week has been a fairly long week actually. But only because we didn`t transfer. It`s odd because it doesn`t feel like I`m on transfer 6, I still feel like a green bean sometimes, lol. Except I can`t use the excuse "I Don`t understand" anymore, or at least not as much anymore. O well, even the last transfer missionary still has things to learn, I just have more than most!
Well, Most of our days were filled with Proselyting all over the place, riding all across town trying to find people, trying to meet with people and just plain riding! Actually on Friday we rode alllll the way up past Kaizuka City, while it was pooring down rain. The ride up there was almost an Hour and a Half, excluding the ride back. Before I became a Missionary that would have been my yearly excercise I believe.
Wednesday before Eikaiwa(English Class) One of the students brought a couple of toy lightsabers, and so we started playing around with them. I`ll send some pictures. They ended up double teaming me! One of them did Kendo in school and the other(the one who brought the lightsabers) actively studies and practices Sword Play. Needless to say I got one of them before they got me. Lol. Mother: I can now say that all the pain I went through while battling "Big Mike" with wooden Katana`s has come in use.
Anyway, I`ve been having loads of fun. Talking with different people, teaching a variety of people and getting to know people. Laughing and Loving all the way! It`s cold here (I`ve lived in St. George too long and Had too hot and too long of a summer here in Japan) but as I Told one of our investigators when everyone said that a Typhoon was coming: "Rain or No Rain I`m still coming over!" Which it ended up being no rain, and I was sad, because everyone lied to me about the Typhoon. It actually ended up being pretty sunny out with a light wind. "Some Typhoon."
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week
If you have not read D&C 6, I would suggest you do so. Well at least to catch a little bit more of a glimpse about what I am about to teach.
This Chapter is a lot about Missionary work, and When I read it, it was as if it was written to me, just different names.
"Now as you have asked, behold, I say unto you, keep my commandments, and seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion; Seek not for riches, but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath Eternal life is rich. Verily, verily, I say unto you, even as you desire of me so it shall be unto you; and if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation. Say nothing but repentance unto this generation: keep my commandments, and assist to bring forth my work, according to my commandments, and you shall be blessed. Behold Thou hast a gift, and blessed art thoug because of thy gift. Remember it is sacred and cometh from above. And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou hsalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways." (D&C 6:6-11)
Lol, I wish I could write the whole of the chapter here, but that would take far too long. So simply I will expound upon this part that I have written.
As members of this Church, here are two things that we have been commanded, "Keep the Commandments, and Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion." We all know we need to keep the Commandments and we have all heard it said "Every Member a Missionary." But where else can we "Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion"? Amidst our own Homes is one answer. Amongst our Children, amongst our relatives, amongst our friends. As we seek to build up and strengthen the testimonies of those around us, as we fulfill and magnify our callings in the church we "Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion."
As we seek after Knowledge, searching the scriptures daily, and seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost to fulfill our callings, our responsibilities we can obtain that. Remember, "Keep [the] commandments, and assit to bring forth [God`s] work." We can obtain the greatest of all treasures, a treasure that can not be bought with money, nor bartered, nor stolen, but must be earned, must be worked for and we must be worthy to inherit. The greatest of all prizes: Eternal Life. For as the Lord said: "Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich."
In our journey through life we will obtain gifts, everyone their own individual gift, one that they can use best, one that will help them to fulfill their personal responsibilities. Everyone has a gift, a talent, an ability. Sometimes they are just so small that it takes much effort to notice them, others are plain and obvious such as Singing, or Sports, or Genius. In my journey as a missionary I have seen my talents and abilities, my gifts flourish and come forth, becoming more and more noticible to me and much easier to develop and use. One I can say is writing, I love to write, and I find that through writing I can bless those back home. I can do my best to share my heart with them through this written words. Other gifts I have found include Love, Knowledge, Patience, Perserverance, Dilligence, Obedience, and Laughter. All Gifts of God. Bestowed upon me by a loving God. As we seek those gifts, we must seek for them not because we want them, but because we want to use them to bring forth the work of God.
We must use our gifts to bless the lives of others, to shine forth as a light to those around us. As we shine brighter those around us will also begin to shine brighter.
For once, I think I`m actually going to quote Micheal Jackson. "If you want to make the world a better place, then where should you start? The man in the Mirror." (Forgive me for butchering the quote, I never listened to much of his music.) So we start with ourselves, we keep the commandments. We develop the Attributes of Christ and follow the blueprints that he laid for us within the scriptures. Then we shine brightly, we become the Salt of the earth, we savour the world and make it just that much better, one person at a time. We seek to bless those around us, seek to help them find happiness for themselves. And then in the end "If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of ALL the gifts of God; For there is no gift greater than the gift of Salvation." "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father." So let us lift our heads and rejoice, let us seek to bring our friends, our families along with us, let us obtain that gift together, not alone, but together. Seek for Zion, where the pure in heart dwell, where peace abounds, and love flows!
I share this in the name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.
With much Love,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
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