HAHAHA...

I totally forgot to post this last letter. Sorry folks. Busy, busy, busy...that's about all i can say about Randy. Way to go!!!


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

Ok, so I don`t have all that much time today, we stopped at an internet cafe because we don`t want to ride all the way over to the free email place and we have a Summer party at the church today so we don`t have much time, also the longer I stay here the more expensive it gets. I`ll just go over the three major highlights of this week and type off a quick Gospel Message.

So Highlight number 1: Presidents Interviews

Tuesday we had interviews with the President Zinke. It was awesome, he is an amazing person and the Kobe mission will see many many miracles under his leadership. We`ll be able to not only succeed in the work but we will also all become better and great people. His vision is for all of his missionaries to become True Discples of Christ and follow the Holy Ghost 100% of the time. It`s a big vision but it is achievable, me and Elder Cloward are starting to see a little bit of it, and we`ve seen amazing miracles this week and have had many awesome experiences.

During Interviews we also had District Meeting and the Assistants and Zone Leaders were there. They all spoke in english because we have a young district with many that don`t speak Japanese all that well. But we have the Shimada couple who don`t speak enlish at all. Well I ended up translating for them for the whole time. The Assistants and the Zone Leaders training were the worst. They talked so fast and I had to talk fast and translate faster than I ever thought my mind could ever work. It was all summed up by the words of Elder Lee the Assistant: "Elder Tateishi, I swear I saw flames coming out of your mouth!" Thanks to a lot of help from the Spirit I was able to translate enough that they understood what was going on.

Note: I do not want to translate again.

Highlight number 2: Nishiguchi Kyodai

So during our weekly planning last week Elder Cloward and I set goals for this transfer. One of which was to reactivate a less active member. We both thought about it for a moment and decided on Nishiguchi Kyodai, a man we had only ever met once and had talked our ear off. So in order to fulfill this goal we went and visited him on friday. To our amazement and luck we were able to get a hold of him and find his house and he invited us in. We talked for a while, mainly he did about his ancient missionary experiences and about different scriptures and things. He told us that as we talked with him a lot of his old experiences and things he had forgotten were coming back to his mind. We then shared a message about the Lord watching over us so long as we would remember him. As I spoke about prayer and asked him if he was praying he shook his head and said, "No, not in a long time." I then commited him to pray daily and he reluctantly agreed.

As we prepared to leave I invited him to give a prayer. He reluctantly agreed again, making the excuse that he didn`t remember how to pray. But then he did, and when he did I felt the spirit come into the room and I heard his voice crack a little as he was almost crying. This man, hadn`t prayed in over 20 years, and as he prayed again he was once again able to feel the love of God come into his heart. We left and told him that we`d try to call him again on Saturday night to see if he was praying. Saturday rolled around and we were unable to get a hold of him, and at first we were a little disappointed.

But then to our surprise he showed up to church on Sunday. Many of the ward members were amazed, and we were as well. He hadn`t been to church in over 20 years! He sat through all of church and as I talked to the second counselor in the bishopric, who lives close to Nishiguchi Kyodai, I found out that on average he was only able to get a hold of him 1 time every year, where as Elder Cloward and I were able to get a hold of him twice in barely two weeks. I know the Lord was there in that, and that he was guiding us to this poor man who needed to once again taste of the Love of God.

Highligh Number 3: The Resurrection

So during my interview with Presdient Zinke I told him about Saito and what had happened. He looked at me and said, "I`m pretty sure you`ve done all that you could for her. But do you think the Lord wants you to give up on her now or keep trying?" I was a little shocked at that, thinking that I had already moved past what had happened, but then I thought about it and made up in my mind to go visit her again to see how she was doing.

On Thursday night we rushed over and knocked on her door. She was surprised to see us but nevertheless she was very excited and happy. We talked for a while and towards the end she looked at me and said "When ever I am with you I always want to ask you `What do I need to do Next?`" I wasn`t going to push her back into hearing the lessons but I nicely told her that if she wanted to understand and feel more of God`s love that all she needed to really do was come to Church, to Pray, and Read the book of Mormon. We then invited her to the Festival we are having today and she agreed to come.

The next day around lunch she called me and she asked to meet with us again and hear more of our message. We taught her on Saturday about the plan of Salvation, which just happened to be the same pamphlet she had read that morning and she had questions about. She even pointed to the back were it asks the question: "What should I do next?" and the list of "Read the Book of Mormon, Pray to know if this is true, and Attend Church." She told me she felt stupid for not realizing sooner what it was she needed to do. I just smiled at her and told her that it was ok and that she could still continue doing them.


Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week

Alright, Time is short. But I will share this:

"Come unto me all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I love this scripture and it has so much power to it. Simply put, I have felt this a lot this week as I have sought to come unto Christ and take his yoke upon me. My worries have lessened and I have felt even more happy. But even more than that I have realized how much strength and power I recieve from him. As a missionary I do nothing! I am nothing more than a tool in the master`s hand. He is the one that does all this work, he is the one that bears the burdens and carries the yoke. I did little for Nishiguchi Kyodai or for Saito. In both cases I was just where I needed to be when the Lord wanted me to be there. Nothing more, nothing Less.

I know that Christ lives and guides this Church. I know that he is my saviour and Redeemer, and I bear witness of this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

With Love,

Elder Randall KK Tateishi