So close...

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

Ok! Well, it`s another week. Ummmm.... Where do I start? Monday was hectic, ran around getting a new washer and were barely able to have it delivered in time before we had an appointment to go eat at an all you can eat pizza restuarant with a less active high school kid. So that was a little crazy. Tuesday we had all you can eat at a members house, and wednesday I skipped lunch because I was stuffed and decided that I didn`t need to eat for another month because I was over fed. Thursday me and Elder Perry from Joyo area worked together and lots of fun running around and visiting members. Friday me and Elder Toyosato spent the day planning and had only a little time for Dendo. Saturday I was absolutely destroyed in a game of Table Tennis by a 15 year old girl and then obliterated in a game of Shogi (Japanese chess) by a man in a wheel chair. Sunday I ran around like a chiken with its head cut off trying to work out lessons and Splits in order to teach two teenage girls and get one extremely shy investigator to the christmas devotional. So that was my week in a nut shell. Pretty hectic but really good.

To go into more detail about Sunday we had two of our investigators at church, both of them are teenage girls. One is the daughter of a less-active couple and the other is the girlfriend of one of the YSA that is preparing to leave on a mission next year. Both of them get along really well and act as if they have been members their whole lives and have instantly created great friendships within the ward. When we taught them after church we had to do splits and so I taught the member`s girlfriend which was way fun and way surprising. She told me flat out that as she hears the lessons she doesn`t want her boyfriend to be there. She also had the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Bible on her Iphone before she had ever come to church. I was sitting in utter amazement and my Member companion was just saying "Kids these days are so different." Then our extremely shy investigator came to the Christmas Devotional and actually talked with the members and was very open and had a good time. It was just a miraculous day yesterday and full of surprises.

Not sure what it is I need to write this week, other than everything is going to get even more hectic this week as my companion prepares to return home to Okinawa. We have to get all of his stuff packed up and sent off before Sunday and then Sunday night we have to head of to the Mission home in order to get him home by Sunday. Things just keep getting busier and busier, which just makes time move faster and faster.

Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week

D&C 25:12 "The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me."

Singing hymns or songs of praise is a wonderful way to invite the spirit. The Lord has caused that many hymns should be written and he himself enjoys those beautiful melodies and lyrics that are sung. Songs can bring comfort, peace, love, and Joy both to those that sing and those that hear.

A few years ago as I was travelling about with my High School Choir for Christmas we sung in a Hospital Lobby as worried parents, friends, spouses, children and patience scurried in and out. I always remember one little boy, who was rolled up in a wheel chair and hooked up to an IV bag, he was hairless and his skin was pale and his body frail. He asked us to sing one of his favorite christmas melodies. As we sang through that song again I remember seeing him smile and his parents, standing behind his wheel chair cry, moved with emotion. I felt the joy that comes from sharing the love of Christmas through singing as I saw his family obtain just a small little piece of joy on that day.


With much love,

Elder Randall KK Tateishi