It's almost the end....but a future to look towards...

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

Well, another crazy week flies by like lightning. Not sure what to write. Things just never work out as planned anymore. Makes planning seem almost pointless to me now since we never manage to get even half of the plan done ever. Quite entertaining but at the same time quite a nuisance.

Let`s see... What I remember the most from this week is being absolutely exhausted every single day. Not sure why but I`m constantly tired. We did have a few good lessons though. On Tuesday we met with Okuda Yuta, the investigator that I had found over a year and a half ago, and talked to him and asked him a lot of questions trying to find out what he`s thinking. It was way fun and way cool to get him to open up and tell us that why he didn`t want to get baptized was simply because he didn`t even believe in God yet, and he didn`t want to get baptized if he isn`t going to stay in the church or have a firm testimony. So now we know how to work with him.

Other than that we had a lesson with another investigator a few times that just liked to talk a lot. Kind of gets frustrating when people don`t focus or don`t let you continue on with what your trying to say. Guess it just means I`m supposed to learn a lot of patience.

We also had Zone Conference, which was way fun, got to see a few good friends and learn really cool things from President Zinke. Also was taught about how to stay healthy and told not to mentally criticize myself by the Asia North Area Missionary Health Advisor Missionaries peoples.

After that I beat my companion, Elder Toyosato in a game of Shogi (Japanese Chess) and his rear bike wheel is falling apart. He`s way funny and way chill about what`s going on, but we`re both wondering why that at the very end of his mission when he wants to work hard his bike breaks, his health gets worse, and other things just get in the way of him working. Poor guy, I love him to death, but long hours waiting in front of the bathroom also make me very tired.

Not sure what else to type. I want to go out site seeing but, between my companions broken bike, and our broken washing machine we don`t have all that much time. Hopefully next week we`ll be able to start seeing some cool stuff.

Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week

As we visited a family last night I asked them a question "What has been the greatest blessing that hs come from knowing the Gospel?" As I thought about that question for myself, and how I would answer it myself I came up with a very simple answer: "My Future"

Being raised in the Gospel has always been a great blessing to me. The Gospel has always blessed my life and my family as I learned righteous morals and ideals. It has given me many strong and valiant friends and shown me many great examples of righteous people. The scriptures opened my mind to the truth, and the Holy Ghost has testified to me of it all. I have been comforted by the Comforter, I have been forgiven of my sins, and I have seen many miracles performed before me. Those blessings are all wonderful and amazing to me, but still not the greatest blessing to me.

My Future has been the greatest blessing to me. As I look back to where I was 2 years ago, before I truly knew the Gospel was true and before I truly learned to repent and rely upon God and upon my Savior, I can see exactly where my life would have led. I can see that I would have little hope for the future if any at all. I would have lived and then I would have died, with no success no true happiness, nor joy. Yet Now I can look forward and see what lies ahead. I can see that in my future there is of course trials and tribulations but far more than that there is Happiness and Joy indescribable. I can picture easily in my minds eye my future family filled with the joy of the gospel. I have that hope that I can live together forever with my family. I can look forward, past the here and now, past the current trial or the current tribulation and understand that the "Best is yet to Come" (Elder Holland).

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." (Ether 12:4)

Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

With Much Love,

Elder Randall KK Tateishi

Quick note....

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

Well, I`m back in my first area, Fushimi. Everything is also going haywire. Lol, I love my life, full of excitement and adventure.

Let`s just say that I love Fushimi, 2 of my old investigators that I had when I was here over a year and a half ago are still around. 1 has been going to church constantly since I left, even sang at the stake conference on Sunday with the YSA. Everyone seems pretty excited to see me back and way surprised that I can actually speak Japanese now. It`s been loads of fun seeing everyone again and I`m excited to be working here again.

My companion is currently sick and we have spent all of Preperation Day in the apartment. He looks like he`s about to die still, but we came out just to let everyone know that we are still alive. His name is Elder Toyosato from Okinawa. He`s on his last stretch as a missionary and goes home on the 18th of December. He`s sick, so I spent my whole day watching some church videos at the apartment. Including the Joseph Smith Movie. Yea, our washer is also broken so we haven`t been able to wash clothes. Life is fun, full of adventure!

Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week

D&C101:16 "Be still and know that I am God."

Being still? Yep.....

Know that God is? Yep!

"Be still my soul, thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has the past. Thy Hope, thy Confidence, let nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still my soul, the winds and waves still know his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below." (Hymn 124; "Be still my Soul.")

Amen.

Sigh.....change....

I feel for Randy and his last change in his mission. I know in his heart he wanted to stay in the same ward he had been in for the past 8 months. Difficult as it may be for him to move on, at least he will be with old friends in his first area he served in Japan. We are now getting so much closer to Randy coming home and lots of feelings are happening in my heart. I'm so excited to be able to see and talk with him again, yet I know that the growth he has experienced has amazed myself and I'm sure himself. It is a hard thing, change...yes it is. But we all know that it is for our own good that things happen and the willingness he has to go where the Lord would have him go is a blessing...


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

Well! I got transfer calls today, and to my surprise and great mix of sorrow and joy I am being transfered. I can say that this will be the hardest move I`ve ever made on my mission, but also the easiest. Yea I know I`m talking in paradoxes but the reason why is that I am leave an area that I have lived in for 8 months, that I Love with all my heart and I love the people. I don`t want to leave this all behind, and I don`t want to have to say goodbye. On the bright side, I am going back to my first area. Back to Fushimi, which is a place that I had wanted to return to for a long time and I`m excited to go see those people again, and actually be able to talk with them.

Ummmm..... Let`s seeeeee... I`ll just give you the one highlight from my extremely busy week and that highlight was Sunday.

One of our less actives had committed to come to church. So as sacrament meeting started I sat in the back waiting, praying, and hoping that she would come. But she didn`t, I was devestated and extremely disappointed. I was actually really sad. As I took the sacrament I was praying really hard. I was hoping that something would happen, and then to my surprise, an old man walked in that I recognized. Someone I had met 3 months ago at church. Sugita, a referal from a ward member, had decided to come to church completely unanounced. He didn`t even let the member know that he was coming. When I saw him I almost leaped for joy. I was so excited for him as he came and as we sat and talked. He had many questions and many thoughts. He was still looking for peace of mind and heart, and he even said that he was going to try and do his best to take work off on Sunday`s so that he can come to church. It was a miracle!

Yea, I know that this email is short. I love you all and all I want to say is that I Love the Lord! These 8 months that I have spent in Kawachinagano have been the most grueling, the most difficult, the most painful, the most sorrowful, the most joyful, the most exciting, the must fun, the rewarding, the most growth, and the best 8 months of my mission. I love this place, I love these people. There is no other place in the world that I would rather be right now than where I am right now. This is where the Lord has called me to be, this is where he`s asked me to go. As I have loved him, and trusted him he has taught me so much. He has given me more than I could ever even hope to repay. "The Lord is my Light! Than why should I fear?" The Lord is my all, he is my Saviour, he is my Redeemer, and my heart is drawn out to sing endless praises unto his name. Words cannot describe what it is that I feel inside. No melody can match the glorious tune of my heart. May the Spirit of God testify to your hearts even just a hundredth portion of what is is mine. I love you all and I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

With Much Love,

Elder Randall KK Tateishi

12 weeks and a Halloween....

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

Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had an AWESOME week. And I`m way happy and as we say over here in Japan I`m Genki!

We had a way busy week running around from place to place, visiting members and less active members, finding people to teach and teaching. It`s been just way fun. Let me just give a few highlights of what we did this week.

So I`ll start with the fun things. We had Halloween on Saturday. There were hundreds of little kids running through the church, most dressed up like witches or pumpkins. There was a ninja and some Arabian, an Angel, and a Groom. But the Japanese people are not very creative when it comes to getting costumes for the kids. I personally dressed up like Harry Potter, because everyone always tells me I look like him. Elder Wilkes dressed up as a cook and we had a blast. Some of the YSA were dressed up as Jack Sparrow and Angelica from Pirates, there was a cat, a dog, and a Fox, as well as some Japanese Cartoon character that I can`t remember the name of. But needless to say Hideo Kyodai, a returned missionary who served in California, had too much fun talking in english and me casting spells on him. He even came up next to me and asked "So Harry, how did you survive the killing spell?" I turned and replied "WHOA! A Talking Dog!"

Thursday Night a young man walked into the church during institute in tears and was talking with the members about how he wanted to find peace and relief from the heavy burden that he felt. They gave him a Book of Mormon and tried to set up a meeting with the Missionaries. The following Saturday as we showed up an hour early for the Halloween party he was there again talking to the bishop and then we managed to get in and talk with him. His name is Fujishima, he`s 24 years old and he`s a very shy guy. We decided then to begin teaching him and as everyone was scrambling to get ready for the halloween party we found an empty room and sat down, his eyes looked up at a picture of Christ in Gethsemane with a look of curiousity in his eyes. Immediately I felt the Spirit fill the room and prompt me to talk about the picture and the atonement with him. As we talked together and explained the atonement he found peace and felt much better, he opened up to us and told us his dilemna. We showed him that there is a way to remove the burdens that were upon his shoulders and now he is reading the Book of Mormon. We did nothing, the Spirit of God did Everything.

Thursday Night me and Elder Wilkes ran out of people to try to visit, we didn`t really know where to go and so we said a Prayer. Elder Wilkes felt as if we should go further North, into a part of our area that we don`t go very often because it`s so far away and not very many people are out there. So we went to go try and visit a Less active family and on the way I saw a cyclist on pull of to the side of the rode and start checking out his bike. I stopped and pulled out my handy dandy flashlight to investigate his bike and help try to find out what the source of a strange noise was. To my surprise it was simply a small plastic sticker that had gotten stuck perfectly on his chain guide and was simply hitting the chain. We talked with Morisaki for a while and he wanted to learn more about what we have to teach, and about God. So we`ll meet again and teach him more what we have to offer. We did nothing, God did Everything.

Anyway, those are the highlights from my week. I love Life, I love the Lord, and I love this work.

Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week

Paul once exclaimed "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55)

I wish to write about the Deat and the resurrection quickly, a topic that I don`t necessarily talk too much about. I`m still young and so it is something that I don`t think too much about either, but it is something that is inevitable, something that will come whoever we are. Whether we are great and exalted among men, or whether we are poor and lowly. No man can escape, no man can avoid it. But peace be unto you all for Death is no enemy.

We all look at the life of Christ and many of us think of the Cross, of the death of Christ and his suffering for us in the garden Gethsemane. We think of how Christ Atoned for our sins and has set us free from those awful chains of hell that bind us down unto destruction. But just as great and just as beautiful as the Docrtine of the Atonement is the Docrine of the Resurrection. Three days after Christ was slain upon the Cross for the Sins of the world he rose again! The grave was opened and he lived again! He Still lives, he still holds a body of flesh and bone and in that very hour that he arose again he loosed the bands of Death and set free all those that lay asleep within the graves. Because of his resurrection he has made it possible for all mankind to rise again and obtain a greater glory than what we have here on this earth.

"Yea, this bringeth about the restoration of those things of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets. The asoul shall be brestored to the cbody, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a dhair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and eperfect frame." (Alma 40:22-23) We have been promised a perfect body, one that will no longer be subject to the elements, nor will it be subject to pain nor death nor sickness nor disease. Those that have lost limbs shall have them again, those that never had a fully functioning body shall gain one. This Resurrection shall pass upon us all, the wicked as well as the righteous and it is a free gift unto all mankind. But if we live righteously, if we have chosen to follow the Lord our God than we will be raised to even greater glory and be able to live again with those that we love, we will be sealed together with them for all eternity and lifted up at the last days to dwell in eternal glory and happiness with those that we love. O what great joy we should feel! O how great is the hope that we hold!

I exclaim as Paul "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?.... Death is Swallowed up in Victory!.... But thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" Fear comes because of doubt, but if we shall not doubt that fear shall have no place within our hearts. The Faithful may face death without fear, for they can see the Hope that lies beyond! Trust in the Lord God and know that all is well, for in days to come shall we be reunited with those whom we have lost and once again will we be able to take up our bodies in glory and live again. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

With much Love,

Elder Randall KK Tateishi