Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

Hey everyone!

It's email time again! This week was good. We had to go to Nagoya again for trainer training. I am now on my second transfer with Tsukamoto Choro, but this transfer is only four weeks so we have no idea what's gonna happen at transfers in March.

We found another new investigator! Woohoo! His name is Takayama-san. The work is picking up pace for sure. We got an email from the Mission office saying that 45 missionaries are currently assigned to come to the Japan Nagoya mission and that doesn't include the Nihonjin who will be assigned as well. In June and July we are supposed to get 30 new missionaries. It's gonna be crazy!

We are headed to a matsuri (festival) today, if the weather is good. It is for the Daruma. He was an old Indian Monk that came to Japan a long time ago and Japanese people use his totem to bring luck, health, fortune, love, etc. to their lives. It happens every year near the beginning of the year. We are going for a district activity! It's going to be fun!

Lately we have been teaching a woman named Ogasawara-san a lot. We meet every week and she is receiving our message well. She is very Buddhist and doesn't want to join the church right now, but she reads the Book of Mormon and prays. We showed her the Restoration DVD last visit and it was really good for her.

We also have been meeting with Wada-san every week. She lives with her boyfriend and has a ton of interest in the gospel. She is our Kinjin (literally translated "Gold Person," means golden investigator). She just says yes to everything we say and has interest in coming to church. We gave her a Book of Mormon this past Thursday and she's gonna read it. I tell you what, God is great.

There is a member in our ward here that is going on his mission in March. We get to dendo with him sometimes. He came to two of our lessons on Saturday night and they went really well. One was with our eternal investigator, Ouchi-san and the other was with Otsuka-san. Being a missionary is awesome.

This week I was reading in the LDS Addiction Recovery Program about counseling with the Lord rather than counseling the Lord. In other words, confirming your actions with the Lord instead of telling him what you want or what you are going to do. I made an effort to really apply those principles this week. It has been amazing to see the difference of the guidance of the Holy Spirit in my life. That was something cool I thought I should share.

Well, tata for now!

Love,

Elder Sanderson