Dear Mother, Father, Sisters, Brothers, Family, and Friends
Another week is gone, and the first week of a new year at that.
Well, again I will just focus on the highlights of my week.
On Wednesday we had our New Years/Christmas conference with all the other missionaries. It was way fun and we played lots of Dodgeball, sang songs, and generally just had lots of fun and lots of good food. Except for the point when I had to stand up in front of everyone and give my "I`m old and am going home soon" talk to everyone else. That was a real shocker on the system. I really hadn`t been expecting that, mainly because they didn`t tell me until right before.
Sunday was another great day. Having not been able to sleep for the past week I was understanbly completely exhausted as I went to church on Fast Sunday. But there we participated in a baby blessing, (I love Baby Blessings) and were able to have quite a few of our investigators come to church as well. The Spirit was strong and even though I fell asleep during priesthood meeting while sitting next to the stake president it was way fun. After church was when everything else just started to go crazy. We had planned to teach one of our investigators after church and as we were leaving priesthood meeting the first counselor in the bishopric ran up the stairs and grabbed us saying "QUICK! YOU NEED TO TEACH A LESSON!" Of course we already knew this and were wondering why he was freaking out about it. (Then again he is kind of an eccentric person) He then explained that Risa (Our investigator) was crying and wanted to be taught a lesson. We hurried down the stairs and saw her standing in front of the door to the room we usually teach in, she was obviously in tears. We opened the door and she walked in setting up chairs while gloomily looking at the floor, and we told the first counselor to grab the young woman`s president and another sister to come help us as we are not allowed to be alone in a room with a girl. With that we found out that she had been having fights with her parents lately and that they didn`t want her to come to church. They are getting progressively more antagonistic to her coming to church. Yet all she wants is for her family to be happy like the families at church. It was really heart breaking to listen to her and it was really great to have the sisters there helping, giving her hugs and trying to comfort her. In the end we were able to get her to calm down and helped her to have some more hope that things would work out. We pray for her and hope that things will get better.
After that lesson another of our investigators randomly popped up asking to be taught, and me and Elder Niven did so without any complaints. She even brought up being baptized, and was basically like "So, I think March will be good, that`s when my schedule will open up and you can finish up all the lessons more easily." I replied "But we only have about 2 more lessons." She replied "Oh? Realy?" With that we hope we can get her baptized before I leave, if not at least in Febuary not long after I leave.
I`m never ceased to be amazed as long as I am a missionary here. In my last 3 months in Fushimi I have been surprised again and again by the investigators that we have here. They are touched by the spirit, and have a personal desire to learn and to change. They want to live the gospel and they love church. I do nothing except help them understand what the gospel is and what they need to do to live it. I am always just struck dumb by all that happens here.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the week
The Sacrament
The Sacrament is my favorite time of any week. I love partaking of the sacrament and being able to again renew my covenants with God. Every week at church I sit in my chair and listen to the prayers and remember that what I am doing is essentially being baptized again. As I partake of the bread and water in rememberance of the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ made for me I am always filled with a sense of peace and calm, an assurance that the path I am walking is the right path and that although I have made and will make mistakes I can be forgiven and become clean. Every moment of the sacrament is precious to me and even though there might be little children running around, with parents chasing them, or someone`s cellphone going off in the background, it just feels great to partake of the sacred ordinance of the Sacrament.
As we partake of the Sacrament we must always remember what it is for, what it does for us and why we have it. With a spirit of reverence in our own hearts, as we respectfully partake of the Bread and Water of Life we can be filled with Joy and Happiness. Personally I believe an attitude of prayer is the best way to partake of the sacrament. Seeking forgiveness and offering up thanks unto God helps me to partake of the sacrament with a proper spirit.
I know that as we honestly and truly partake of this wonderful ordinance it will bless our lives in a variety of ways. It will help us be filled with more joy and love, it will comfort us in our times of trials and it will keep us continually upon the right path. I testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
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