My Son Randy, lately, also known as Panda Bear, Elder Tateishi, Tateishi Choro? He stands about 6' tall has brown hair, brown eyes and wears glasses? He has a huge smile that is infectious and kind of talks loud and laughs even louder. He can come up behind his mother and give her a hug and a kiss and tells her he loves her all the time, at any given moment. He is a little on the serious side of life, but knows that he can still have fun like drinking hot chocolate out of a cookie and singing songs with his companion and a sock puppet. He left on his mission in January of 2010 and is due to return 2 years later. He used to write fun letters about life and experiences but as of lately, he is missing. He has had a couple of companions that, well lets say, suck. His dad and I are concerned and were wondering if you could find him and bring the old Randy back. Remind him that he is to be cheerful and enjoy life and his mission. Remind him that he is loved by his Heavenly Father and perfectionism is not attainable in this life, just a goal that we may never achieve until the after life, but we are to strive to do our best. Remind him he doesn't need to beat himself up over little things and that it's, OK. We sure miss him and would love to read his awesome letters again.
Ok, Randy has been located and is back in the full swing of things. We sure miss him, but are happy to say, HE CAN WRITE EVERY WEEK AGAIN! So here is the joy of another letter from him. (the above paragraph about looking for Randy was my opening remarks to him in the email I sent him this week)
Dear Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Family, Friends, Mentors, and everyone who reads this Letter,
Probably should just leave it at "Mother, Father, Brothers, Sisters, and Family." We`re all family in some way or another.
Anyway. This week has been a great and fantastic week. Transfer calls came in on Tuesday and my companion got shipped off to Omihachiman. So we spent Tuesday and Wednesday packing and visiting people, preparing for him to leave. So not much happened for that part of the week. Although I did have an interesting visit to one of the Member`s house. We sat and talked about looking at your strengths, your talents and gifts. I said simply "Well I`m organized and clean in the Apartment." He laughed and said, "What does that have to do with Dendo?" I paused, and couldn`t really think of anything (Another negative sign about my self esteem) He laughed again and smiled saying "You know Elder Tateishi, you have a good `Aura.` Your Friendly, your kind, your `soft` so to say." Well that made me feel better. I had never thought of myself that way.
So after that we got up at 4 AM on thursday to get to Osaka on time for transfers. We arrived at 6:30, 30 min. early and nobody was there. Stood around for a little while, and waited until people started showing up at about 10 after 7. I was in Osaka until about 11:00 when my new companion showed up. While waiting we proselyted a little bit, I was paired up with one of my MTC buddies who went to Hiroshima and we had lots of fun wandering the streets, having no idea where we were. 11:00 rolled around and I met my new companion, Elder Kamacho.
Elder Kamacho, is from Okinawa, but he is Phillipino. As in, he was born in the Phillipines, is a Citizen of the Phillipines, but doesn`t speak Tagolog or English, and speaks nothing but Japanese. Yes, kind of strange, and I thought my heritage was strange enough for Japanese people to understand. When the members first met him they weren`t sure about how much Japanese he could speak and kept asking "So you can speak Japanese alright then?" My Companion`s reply, "I don`t speak any other language THAN Japanese."
The Past few days we`ve been having a lot of fun, getting along very well and are really good friends now. We`re working hard and getting things moving along here in Sennan. He is learning English, and so in the apartment we try to speak English, and out on the street we speak Japanese. It`s lots of fun, and My Japanese is coming along at a phenomenal rate. Though I swear I don`t do anything to learn it. It`s simply osmosis(SP?) and the "Gift of Tongues." My study consists of reading the Book of Mormon for 10 min and another 10 Min, in Preach My Gospel, all in Japanese, and then I spend 10 min. flipping through words that I don`t end up using throughout the day. Yep, it`s Osmosis and the Gift of Tongues.
I`ve been somewhat promoted so to say, I`m Area Senior, meaning I`ve been in the area the longest, but I`m not the Senior Companion. All I do is act as the guide until my companion knows the people and the area. But I`ve actually ended up doing a lot more talking than I expected, I wield the almightly Cell Phone and carry the keys, yes I hold the power! Had fun at Church conducting the Meeting between the Ward leaders and the missionaries, explaining what we did throughout the week and what we needed help with. So It`s been an excellent week, with a lot of growing and a lot of fun.
Elder Tateishi`s Gospel Message of the Week.
Yes, It`s Weekly again!
Ok this week I want to pick out a scripture from the Book of Mormon.
Mosiah 4:27
"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."
This is something I`ve learned this past transfer as I watched not only me, but my companion wear out and drift away a little bit. When you spend every day riding your bike as fast as you can, rushing from place to place, always fretting about what needs to be done immediately or what we should have said or done, you start to not have fun, and then you start to not want to work, and then you just don`t work effectively.
I had my companion blow up on me a couple times because he was so stressed, that even the smallest things that I did, or moreso that I DIDN`T do, would get him angry. In fact we parted ways on less than good terms.
But then I got my new companion, Elder Kamacho, and he shared that same scripture with me the very first day. Since then I Haven`t been fretting about things, although I am still beating myself up a little bit mainly in a joking manner, but the jokes are a bit bitter and in the back of my mind they are a bit true. I should probably stop that.
"All things must be done in wisdom and order." Patience is the key to all of this. Things may not happen immediately, results may not come in the moment after or even in a week or 2 weeks or even in a month. I pause and I look back at where I was almost 9 months ago and see the huge progress I have made. Along the way most of the time I didn`t feel like I was going anywhere, that I wasn`t progressing very fast at all, but when you look back, and you see how much of the mountain you`ve climbed, the progress is amazing.
Take for example my Japanese. Out of all the things that I have worried about on my mission, the one thing that has never been among them is my Langauge skill. I never worried about speaking Japanese, at least not all that much, I never got up early to study or stayed up late to study, on occasion I would take 10 or 20 min during lunch or p-day to study a little bit but nothing more. Throughout the whole process I have felt as if my Japanese was not progressing very fast, that it was moving along at a crawl, but here I stand, and look back, now My Japanese is of sufficient skill that I could probably live in Japan on my own with only a few minor problems.
That`s what I`ve learned, be patient, ESPECIALLY with yourself. Don`t worry about what`s going to happen next, don`t fret about this and that, don`t think about the "O I should have done this..." or the "I Could have done that.." Just take things one at a time, put one foot in front of the other, and follow the path that has been laid before you, God will guide you, and in the end you`ll find yourself exactly where you wanted to be, Eternal Life held in your own hands.
Live, Love, Smile, and be happy. God didn`t send us here to be sad and suffer through life with heads hanging down and trudging along. He Sent us here to grow and find happiness. Men are that they might have joy. In the famous words of Bob Marley, "Don`t worry! Be Happy!"
Lol. So far my mission has been a roller coaster ride, filled with ups and downs rolls and turns. But with each time you`re knocked down a peg or two you learn something new. There have been times where I wondered if God was simply trying to see how many times he could knock me down before I simply gave up, but then I learned how stubborn and stupid I had been in thinking that. It`s a humbling experience being a missionary, you learn that you do almost nothing in this work. I walk the streets, I ride my bike, I open my mouth. The Lord Guides my bike, places my feet upon the path, and places the words in my mouth. The only thing he asks me to do, is watch, learn, be worthy, and work. One thing that has really changed in my way of thinking is this: Alma 26:12
"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we [will perform] in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."
I know I`m weak, I know that I`m imperfect, that I am nothing, but I know also that if I rely on God, rely on the power of the Atonement, he will do the things that I can`t. So why worry about it. "You raise me up, so I can stand on Mountains. You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas. You Raise me up, to more than I can be." I could quote line after line of songs and scriptures that repeat the same thing. Rely on the Lord, rely on God, and in the end you will be far better off.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
With much Love,
Elder Randall KK Tateishi
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