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
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