And now it came to pass that Elder Sanderson must return homeward to reunite with his family. Yea, and we shall suppose that he will have a joyous reunion like unto that of Ammon and his brethren. Truly, Elder Sanderson had seen the blessings of the Lord upon he and his brethren. Yea, having been guided by the Spirit, he had been an instrument in the hands of the Lord in bringing many unto the truth. When he was discouraged and about to turn back, the Lord comforted Elder Sanderson and his brethren and said unto them: Go unto thy brethren, the Japanese people, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success. And thus we see that through the power and wisdom of God Elder Sanderson has been delivered again. "And [he and his brethren have] suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps [they] might be the means of saving some soul; and [they] supposed that [their] joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some." (Alma 26:30)
Verily, it did pain Elder Sanderson that he must bid farewell to the land and people he had come to love so greatly. But we must have needs to suppose that "[he shall be] blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if [he] hold out faithful to the end [will be] received into heaven, that thereby [he] may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness." (Mosiah 2:41) For thus we have been taught by the learning of our fathers.
And now Elder Sanderson had experienced many things both new and strange. He had been taught in the language of Japanese and had tried to embrace the culture as his own, regardless of his towering size. Yea, he had learned many things and truly come to feel the love of the Lord. He had come to sing the song of redeeming love and truly had experienced that change of heart like unto President Baird before him. "And behold, the record of [Elder Sanderson] is engraven upon plates which is had by the kings, according to the generations; and I know of no revelation save that which has been written, neither prophecy; wherefore, that which is sufficient is written. And I make an end." (Omni 1:11)
Love,
Elder Sanderson
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
It's like spring-time here!
We had a Leadership Training this week with Brother Heaton, one of the managers at the MTC. It was really spiritual and my companion and I learned a lot. I feel everyone will be encouraged to work hard and trust in the Lord as we realize that we're not alone in doing the Lord's work. Hastening the work is not only our responsibility.
I had a comp exchange with Elder Hogan in Fujieda this week. It was really good and we were able to have a really good English Class where all the students were asking lots of good questions about the church. Elder Hogan said it was the best class they have ever had.
We met with our investigator with a baptismal date, Nobu, on Monday. He had read the Book of Mormon and we reviewed with him the assignment (2 Ne 31) and talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We were able to strengthen his commitment to be baptized a little more and also committed him to come to church on Sunday. Unfortunately he was able to come because of his college exams, but we are going to meet him again soon and set goals with him to help him be baptized.
We also met with a former investigator named Bruce this week. He is from America, but he has been in a lot of different countries spreading the cause of Christ. He said that as he has met others from other religions, he has developed questions about his own beliefs. He also likes Mormon missionaries a lot because each one has had a real conversion experience with Christ. I think he has a lot of potential to accept the Gospel, but it might be a little difficult for him here in Japan with the language barrier.
Yesterday we had a Stake Ward Mission Leader Training Meeting with President Yamashita. Our WML wants to work really effectively with us and he has a lot of good revelation and ideas that we discussed on the way home. I think Shizuoka stake will really start to progress now.
That's kind of the highlights for this week. Love you. Bye Bye.
Love,
Elder Sanderson
We had a Leadership Training this week with Brother Heaton, one of the managers at the MTC. It was really spiritual and my companion and I learned a lot. I feel everyone will be encouraged to work hard and trust in the Lord as we realize that we're not alone in doing the Lord's work. Hastening the work is not only our responsibility.
I had a comp exchange with Elder Hogan in Fujieda this week. It was really good and we were able to have a really good English Class where all the students were asking lots of good questions about the church. Elder Hogan said it was the best class they have ever had.
We met with our investigator with a baptismal date, Nobu, on Monday. He had read the Book of Mormon and we reviewed with him the assignment (2 Ne 31) and talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We were able to strengthen his commitment to be baptized a little more and also committed him to come to church on Sunday. Unfortunately he was able to come because of his college exams, but we are going to meet him again soon and set goals with him to help him be baptized.
We also met with a former investigator named Bruce this week. He is from America, but he has been in a lot of different countries spreading the cause of Christ. He said that as he has met others from other religions, he has developed questions about his own beliefs. He also likes Mormon missionaries a lot because each one has had a real conversion experience with Christ. I think he has a lot of potential to accept the Gospel, but it might be a little difficult for him here in Japan with the language barrier.
Yesterday we had a Stake Ward Mission Leader Training Meeting with President Yamashita. Our WML wants to work really effectively with us and he has a lot of good revelation and ideas that we discussed on the way home. I think Shizuoka stake will really start to progress now.
That's kind of the highlights for this week. Love you. Bye Bye.
Love,
Elder Sanderson
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Hello From Japan
Hey y'all,
It was a great week! We got three new investigators this week. We got two by calling former investigators in our Area Book. We don't know exactly where they will go when we start meeting them, but I am hopeful. We took a lot of time to find investigators yesterday as well. We were able to find a young man named Takeda through housing. At first he was a little off-putting with his body language and manner, but we were able to share a message with him and he seemed to warm up to us a bit. We have an appointment to go see him next week.
A less-active member's son who is our investigator, Tatsuhito, came to church yesterday. He seems to have a good testimony because he'll put down his video games for a few hours on Sunday too come to church. He is just having a hard time really progressing and we don't get to do lessons with him very often either. We were able to meet with almost all of our investigators this week, so that was good. We had a great lesson at a member's house on Tuesday with Nobu, a college student. He said he wants to be baptized to qualify for the Lord's blessings. We shared a lot of scriptures from the Book of Mormon and our member tachiai helped us invite Nobu to be baptized. He said yes and we set a date for February 8th! We are trying now to strengthen his commitment to be baptized and get him to come to church.
That's kind of the stuff for this week. Sorry it's so short. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Sanderson
It was a great week! We got three new investigators this week. We got two by calling former investigators in our Area Book. We don't know exactly where they will go when we start meeting them, but I am hopeful. We took a lot of time to find investigators yesterday as well. We were able to find a young man named Takeda through housing. At first he was a little off-putting with his body language and manner, but we were able to share a message with him and he seemed to warm up to us a bit. We have an appointment to go see him next week.
A less-active member's son who is our investigator, Tatsuhito, came to church yesterday. He seems to have a good testimony because he'll put down his video games for a few hours on Sunday too come to church. He is just having a hard time really progressing and we don't get to do lessons with him very often either. We were able to meet with almost all of our investigators this week, so that was good. We had a great lesson at a member's house on Tuesday with Nobu, a college student. He said he wants to be baptized to qualify for the Lord's blessings. We shared a lot of scriptures from the Book of Mormon and our member tachiai helped us invite Nobu to be baptized. He said yes and we set a date for February 8th! We are trying now to strengthen his commitment to be baptized and get him to come to church.
That's kind of the stuff for this week. Sorry it's so short. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Sanderson
Monday, January 13, 2014
Another Email!
Hey!
This week went really well. We had good trainings and stuff, but unfortunately our dendo time was a little hindered because of it. We haven't been able to meet a whole lot of investigators because of Shogatsu (Japanese New Year). We also weren't able to find a new investigator, but we did have a really good lesson with one of our investigators named Otatsume.
Otatsume san likes learning the Gospel in English. We had Brother Suzuki come to our lesson because he is very good at English. Brother Suzuki took us to pick Otatsume san at the station and took us back to the church. We were able to feel the Spirit as we read from the Book of Mormon together. Otatsume san said that he likes the Book of Mormon and he committed to read it and pray to know if it's true. I think he will start progressing really well as long as we keep having our lessons at the church.
So... I got my flight itinerary this week... I wasn't expecting it quite yet, so I wasn't exactly mentally prepared for it. I'm sure you all know the details already, but ya. That's happening for real now. Shucks.
Sorry this email is really short. It's been good this week. We will move on to another week of working hard and following the Spirit. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Sanderson
This week went really well. We had good trainings and stuff, but unfortunately our dendo time was a little hindered because of it. We haven't been able to meet a whole lot of investigators because of Shogatsu (Japanese New Year). We also weren't able to find a new investigator, but we did have a really good lesson with one of our investigators named Otatsume.
Otatsume san likes learning the Gospel in English. We had Brother Suzuki come to our lesson because he is very good at English. Brother Suzuki took us to pick Otatsume san at the station and took us back to the church. We were able to feel the Spirit as we read from the Book of Mormon together. Otatsume san said that he likes the Book of Mormon and he committed to read it and pray to know if it's true. I think he will start progressing really well as long as we keep having our lessons at the church.
So... I got my flight itinerary this week... I wasn't expecting it quite yet, so I wasn't exactly mentally prepared for it. I'm sure you all know the details already, but ya. That's happening for real now. Shucks.
Sorry this email is really short. It's been good this week. We will move on to another week of working hard and following the Spirit. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Sanderson
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Welcome to Shizuoka
Hey guys!
I'm loving my new area and my new companion. It's so good to be back in Shizuoka, too. We had some good lessons with less-active members and I have already met the three members whose baptismal interviews I did last year. They are all doing very well. I was so happy to see them all at church yesterday. We were only able to meet a few of our investigators this past week because of Shogatsu (Japanese New Year), but the lessons we were able to have went well. We had a really good lesson with Sajan, who is from Nepal and is here studying Japanese. We talked a lot about learning spiritual truth through the Holy Ghost and receiving guidance through prayer. Sajan committed to pray and when he came to church yesterday, he said that he had been praying everyday. We had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon at church and he committed to read the Book of Mormon. He has a lot of potential to progress rapidly.
We also met with Ota san this week and talked about faith. We explained that we show our faith through our actions and we asked him what he thinks he can do to show his faith. He said he will continue to read the Book of Mormon. Before the lesson with Ota san, we were streeting near some illuminations at the park and found a new investigator named Yamada san. He is around forty years old and works in construction. We are going to meet up at the park next week and teach him.
Elder Takabori is really good at becoming friends with people and sharing the Gospel as he does it. We have only been companions for a week, but he has already taught me so much. I definitely think us being companions was inspired. I can see us working hard and working well together.
We a mochitsuki, or a process where you hammer rice in a big wooden bowl with a big wooden hammer to make mochi. It was a stake youth activity, so I got to see some members from Fuji. It was really fun.
That's what is going down in my neck of the woods. Love you all. Bye!
Love,
Elder Sanderson
I'm loving my new area and my new companion. It's so good to be back in Shizuoka, too. We had some good lessons with less-active members and I have already met the three members whose baptismal interviews I did last year. They are all doing very well. I was so happy to see them all at church yesterday. We were only able to meet a few of our investigators this past week because of Shogatsu (Japanese New Year), but the lessons we were able to have went well. We had a really good lesson with Sajan, who is from Nepal and is here studying Japanese. We talked a lot about learning spiritual truth through the Holy Ghost and receiving guidance through prayer. Sajan committed to pray and when he came to church yesterday, he said that he had been praying everyday. We had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon at church and he committed to read the Book of Mormon. He has a lot of potential to progress rapidly.
We also met with Ota san this week and talked about faith. We explained that we show our faith through our actions and we asked him what he thinks he can do to show his faith. He said he will continue to read the Book of Mormon. Before the lesson with Ota san, we were streeting near some illuminations at the park and found a new investigator named Yamada san. He is around forty years old and works in construction. We are going to meet up at the park next week and teach him.
Elder Takabori is really good at becoming friends with people and sharing the Gospel as he does it. We have only been companions for a week, but he has already taught me so much. I definitely think us being companions was inspired. I can see us working hard and working well together.
We a mochitsuki, or a process where you hammer rice in a big wooden bowl with a big wooden hammer to make mochi. It was a stake youth activity, so I got to see some members from Fuji. It was really fun.
That's what is going down in my neck of the woods. Love you all. Bye!
Love,
Elder Sanderson
Monday, December 30, 2013
And So Begins the Last Chapter...
Hello,
This is Shinji. (See picture) He got baptized yesterday, but the person who was going to perform the baptism wasn't there. Sister Brady turned to my companion and I and said, "One of you will have to do it." I was like, "I'll do it." So I got to baptize Shinji yesterday! It was so awesome!
I told you guys about our Christmas day and how awesome it was. We were able to visit a less-active named Shams before he went back to Iran. We went to Sakae and did caroling dendo with Sister Brady, Sister Kartchner, and the Gokiso missionaries. We sang Christmas songs and talked to a lot of people. It was a ton of fun and we definitely got our name out. The Sisters found an investigator too. After that we hit Outback Steakhouse for Christmas dinner. Good day.
We got a transfer call on Saturday and found out I'm transferring. I kind of saw it coming, but I'm still sad to say goodbye to Fukutoku. I am looking forward to going to Shizuoka for my last transfer, though. I will be Zone Leader with Elder Takabori, a Japanese Elder from Jersey. He's fluent in Japanese, but has a Jersey accent because he lived there for a long time. I think Elder Takabori and I will get along great, work hard, and have fun. I was in Shizuoka ken this time last year so it will be just like old times.
This week we were able to get a new investigator. Shinji was baptized and we set an appointment with his older brother Rean who has met with missionaries in the Philippines before. He has a lot of good potential and his mom already wants him to get baptized really bad.
It was a good week. We made the rounds on the people I wanted to say goodbye to and had a good last supper at a member's house last night.
That's all for now.
Love you all.
Love,
Elder Sanderson
This is Shinji. (See picture) He got baptized yesterday, but the person who was going to perform the baptism wasn't there. Sister Brady turned to my companion and I and said, "One of you will have to do it." I was like, "I'll do it." So I got to baptize Shinji yesterday! It was so awesome!
I told you guys about our Christmas day and how awesome it was. We were able to visit a less-active named Shams before he went back to Iran. We went to Sakae and did caroling dendo with Sister Brady, Sister Kartchner, and the Gokiso missionaries. We sang Christmas songs and talked to a lot of people. It was a ton of fun and we definitely got our name out. The Sisters found an investigator too. After that we hit Outback Steakhouse for Christmas dinner. Good day.
We got a transfer call on Saturday and found out I'm transferring. I kind of saw it coming, but I'm still sad to say goodbye to Fukutoku. I am looking forward to going to Shizuoka for my last transfer, though. I will be Zone Leader with Elder Takabori, a Japanese Elder from Jersey. He's fluent in Japanese, but has a Jersey accent because he lived there for a long time. I think Elder Takabori and I will get along great, work hard, and have fun. I was in Shizuoka ken this time last year so it will be just like old times.This week we were able to get a new investigator. Shinji was baptized and we set an appointment with his older brother Rean who has met with missionaries in the Philippines before. He has a lot of good potential and his mom already wants him to get baptized really bad.
It was a good week. We made the rounds on the people I wanted to say goodbye to and had a good last supper at a member's house last night.
That's all for now.
Love you all.
Love,
Elder Sanderson
Sunday, December 22, 2013
How to Kill a Zone
Hello!
So we had a Zone Conference and the AP was incubating an Alien Baby called influenza. Then it struck us all on Friday. Literally the whole Zone was down. I was sick this past week as well, but I'm fine now. In other news, I lost 5 lbs.
We had the Zone Conference and we were sick, so unfortunately we weren't able to work as hard as we wanted to this week. We were able to do a companionship exchange with the Ichinomiya Elders on Wednesday and Thursday. Elder Ahuna and I went to teach an investigator named Komori-san. He has a lot of potential to progress, he just has a difficult time gripping onto one idea and going with it. He likes a lot of various religious beliefs and he hasn't prayed about which one is true. He is really nice to the missionaries and likes meeting with them. He tries to understand all the missionaries teach as well, so that's good.
We also did a kokan with the Ogaki Elders. I was able to do Shamoto-san's interview to be bapized and he passed! Unfortunately we will have to do it again because he wasn't able to be baptized on Sunday because he had to go to work all of a sudden.
We were able to have a really good lesson with Shirakawa and Naoko this week. We talked about Alma the Elder and his conversion. We read from the Book of Mormon about the people at the waters of Mormon. Naoko had to leave in the middle of the lesson, but she said she will try to quit smoking. But, we were able to commit Shirakawa to be baptized on Jan. 19th!
Well that's all I want to type now. See you on Wednesday!
Love,
Elder Sanderson
PS that sounds like I'm going home this week, but I'm not ok?
So we had a Zone Conference and the AP was incubating an Alien Baby called influenza. Then it struck us all on Friday. Literally the whole Zone was down. I was sick this past week as well, but I'm fine now. In other news, I lost 5 lbs.
We had the Zone Conference and we were sick, so unfortunately we weren't able to work as hard as we wanted to this week. We were able to do a companionship exchange with the Ichinomiya Elders on Wednesday and Thursday. Elder Ahuna and I went to teach an investigator named Komori-san. He has a lot of potential to progress, he just has a difficult time gripping onto one idea and going with it. He likes a lot of various religious beliefs and he hasn't prayed about which one is true. He is really nice to the missionaries and likes meeting with them. He tries to understand all the missionaries teach as well, so that's good.
We also did a kokan with the Ogaki Elders. I was able to do Shamoto-san's interview to be bapized and he passed! Unfortunately we will have to do it again because he wasn't able to be baptized on Sunday because he had to go to work all of a sudden.
We were able to have a really good lesson with Shirakawa and Naoko this week. We talked about Alma the Elder and his conversion. We read from the Book of Mormon about the people at the waters of Mormon. Naoko had to leave in the middle of the lesson, but she said she will try to quit smoking. But, we were able to commit Shirakawa to be baptized on Jan. 19th!
Well that's all I want to type now. See you on Wednesday!
Love,
Elder Sanderson
PS that sounds like I'm going home this week, but I'm not ok?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)