See Ya Later Transfer 14!

Hey there, erbody!

We were able to crack down and really get to work this week and it paid off. Brother Hall gave us some Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa so we started doing Hot Cocoa Dendo. We hadn't met with Shirakawa and Naoko in a while, so we took some hot cocoa to their apartment and left a note for them. A few hours later Shirakawa called us and said he was drinking the hot cocoa and he was really thankful. We were able to set up an appointment for the next day at the Mister Donuts. When we met the next day Naoko asked us how much a Book of Mormon was. We were like, "They're free! Have one!" and gave them each a Book of Mormon. We were then able to talk about Christ's ministry and baptism. The lesson went great and we were able to share Ether 12:27 which ended up really helping Shirakawa -san.

On Friday we went down to Sakae to street contact some people. At first my companion and I were a little timid about talking to people, but we finally got into our groove so we could talk to people more naturally. After that our conversations more naturally turned to the Gospel. We got some awesome contacts on the street and then when it got later we decided to ride the Meijo Line on the subway because it runs in a loop. As we were getting on the train, we met three Vietnamese people who couldn't speak Japanese who were trying to get to the airport. We stopped a man and asked him how to get to the airport and he was going through Kanayama station, which is on the way to the airport. My companion was able to talk to him about what we do as missionaries and I was able to talk to the Vietnamese people. The Japanese man spoke some English, so he was able to help the Vietnamese people get to the train that would take them to the airport.

We started talking to basically everyone we could and an older man came up to us and asked us if we were Mormon missionaries. We of course told him we were and then began talking to him. He had to get off the train before us, but we were able to give him a pamphlet. We talked to a lot more people and got some good PIs.

On Saturday night, we had a dinner appointment with the Kashima family. They told us that they invited the Mizutas, another member family, over along with one of their non-member friends named Kasugai-san. Kasugai-san is the insurance salesman of three different families in our ward, but he is also their good friend. We had a great time talking with the members and becoming friends with Kasugai-san. Towards the end of our visit, Kashima Shimai asked Kasugai-san if it would be okay if we shared a message and he said it was ok. We shared a message from the Book of Mormon about families and he was pretty impressed. Then he started asking questions and all the members started answering his questions perfectly. Kasugai-san said that he thinks religion is important and then Mizuta Shimai asked what he thought about meeting with the missionaries to learn about the church. He said it sounds interesting and set up a meeting with us! We have an appointment next week and he is coming to our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday.

Thanks for the birthday package! I got it yesterday. Those soups are gonna be nice for the cold weather these days. I was pretty stoked about the Japan Nagoya tie tack too.

So another round of transfers has flown by. Things here in Fukutoku didn't change too much. Elder Wilcox and I are still companions and Sister Brady and Sister Kartchner are still kickin' it. We are getting two more Sisters as well. Sister Smith and Sister Avarell. That makes us six here in Fukutoku and our district is ten people with the Ichinomiya missionaries included.

We have an all mission conference this week with Elder Evans of the Seventy. So that will be cool. Well that's what's up. Love you all.

Love,

Elder Sanderson

88 Purple Baseballs

Hello! This week went by really fast.

So Fukutoku now needs a Portuguese-speaking missionary. A less-active member's boyfriend, Wellington, became an investigator and he only speaks Portuguese. We can do lessons with the less-active member translating for us, but we had a companion exchange with Elder Doll this past week so he could teach him in Portuguese. Wellington is very prepared for the Gospel and he said he wants to come to church. I know a handful of Portuguese words and phrases, but I haven't studied it that much.

In other news, we were able to meet with Mattias this week. We had a great talk about agency and the nature of God. He is from France, but his parents are Muslim. He doesn't know the true nature of God, but has a lot of interest to learn. It will be interesting teaching him because he doesn't want to feel forced to do anything. His progress in the Gospel will come from his desire to live it. It is mine and my companion's job to teach Mattias in such a way that he desires to live the Gospel.

On Saturday we went to an orphanage and played soccer with all the boys there. It was way fun, but there were wee tots everywhere. I'm like three times their size, so I had to be careful not to plow them over as I was running up the field. That afternoon we helped clean up Brother Hall's junkyard. We had to lift up an engine block with nothing but our man-strength. It took four of us and Brother Hall was saying that we can get that hernia we've always dreamed of. It was a good time. We also got to play softball at a stake softball activity that night. So it turns out I really like playing sports.

It's a short one this week, but that's the highlights. Looking forward to another good week. Hope you all have a good one too. Love ya.

Love,

Elder Sanderson

We Didn't Start the Fire

That was the first thing that popped into my head^

Well, hello!

Let's get crackin'! We got two new investigators this week! Last week Elder Wakamatsu and I were on a companionship exchange here in Fukutoku and we met a Vietnamese man named Sohn in front of the Mister Donuts near our apartment. I could tell he wasn't Japanese as I went up to talk to him. We talked for a bit and exchanged phone numbers, then this Friday my companion and I called him and set up a meeting for this Wednesday. He will probably bring a friend, so we may get another investigator as well.

The other new investigator is Mattias from France. He speaks English really well, though. The Gifu Elders stopped at the McDonald's at Nagoya Station one day and met Mattias there. Mattias told them that he wants to meet the missionaries, but he lives in our area so he was referred to us. We set up an appointment for this Thursday at the Mac Shack. :)

We were able to meet with Lumbe on Saturday with a member, Brother Hall. (Remember the Brother Hall I helped in Kasugai? He lives in Fukutoku ward.) Brother Hall was being super friendly and testifying of the Gospel powerfully, so the lesson went great! We talked about Alma 32 with Lumbe and committed him to experiment on what we say. We commended him for his own righteous beliefs and faith in Christ and also give our words a test. Lumbe seems to be looking forward to the next time we meet and so are we.

We met with Chen at the Mister Donuts on Friday for a lesson. Mister Donuts is magic; we don't spend a lot of time there, but we get a good number of contacts. Anyway, Chen was kind of scatter-brained with all of the things he wants to talk about, but he told us that he wants to know what the big deal is about Christianity. We were able to talk a little bit about Jesus Christ, but we didn't have enough much time to cover a lot of stuff. His work schedule is busy, so he doesn't know if he can meet this week but we're going to try to get in touch with him later this week.

I went on a companion exchange here in Fukutoku with Elder Jones on Thursday. We visited a less-active member named Shams from Iran. He goes on for a long time how he doesn't like Japan and he wants to go to America so bad, but visa issues are standing in the way. He likes to talk a lot so we were there longer than we planned to be, but Elder Jones was really nice to him and helped us strengthen our relationship with Shams.


We got to help Brother Hall at his junkyard this week. We packed a shipping crate full of Skyline parts and the front end of an old Mini Cooper. We actually got to tear apart the Mini and cut off the front end. It was super fun! We also had an awesome Halloween party with the ward. The four of us missionaries made a photo booth (it was mostly Sister Brady, but we helped) and it came out way good. I went to the party a 1920s Gangster and I was yellin' at people in my Jersey accent to get their picture taken. I think I scared some girls because I was just barking at em in loud, difficult English, but it was way fun. The young men brought their airsoft gear and it made me want to play airsoft so bad. Check out the pics.


On another note, I read something interesting in the Liahona this week. It said the more specific you are with your prayers, then the easier it is to recognize Heavenly Father's blessings in your life. So now I am trying to be more specific as to what I pray for so I can be more thankful. I am also trying to stoke my dendo fire so I can work hard.

Well that's this week. Love you all.

Love,

Elder Sanderson

Hiyah!!

G'day,

Kid at Heart

We got two new investigators this week. When Elder Wilcox was on a kokan with Elder Ahuna a man named Shirakawa san was riding toward them on his bike and he said, "Seisho no kata desu ka?" (Are you a Bible person?) They stopped and talked to him and found out he had met with missionaries before. He gave us his phone number and this week we were able to meet him at the Denny's for a chat. When we showed up, he told us that he brought his girlfriend which concerned me at first. When we sat down with them they both started talking about how it was the hand of God that led us to meet. They have both recently stopped drinking alcohol, and they are very prepared for the Gospel. They have a lot of potential to progress very quickly. Unfortunately we were unable to meet with other investigators, but we're working hard.

We had a sick adventure to Gifu this week. We had a companionship split in Gifu and we got to do service at an Elementary school. It was way fun and the kids were really funny. We also got to party at a Matsuri (festival) and I got to heave a huge, million-pound thing called Mikoshi on my shoulder. The result was a bruised shoulder and a back ache that would floor Schwarzenneger, but it was a once in a lifetime event. Worth it.

Matsuri Festival

This week was interviews with the mission president and now I have a Japanese Temple recommend. Cool, eh?

We also had Stake Conference this weekend and it was great. Our Stake Presidency changed, so we had Elder Whiting of the Seventy come and learn us sum Gospel. I received a lot of revelation regarding what kind of missionary and what kind of person I want to become. I was impressed with President Yamashita's talk on Saturday evening and Elder Whiting gave us inspiring counsel about how to be powerful member missionaries. I feel a big responsibility to continue the Lord's work after my mission.

That's it for now. Love ya.

Love,

Elder Sanderson

Laughing All the Way

We are low on time so get ready for some thought vomit. My comp is hilarious and a beast at Japanese. The ward here is way awesome too. We had normal church yesterday, so we got to meet everyone and had a really good reception from all of them. Investigator count here is low, but Elder Wilcox and I are working on it. We are teaching some people, one in particular is from Congo. His name is Lumbe and he thinks very deeply about everything. He's a pretty cool guy.

On Friday we had a companion exchange with the Ichinomiya Elders. I was with Elder Naylor in Ichinomiya and we had a lot of great finding opportunities. Elder Ahuna and Elder Wilcox met with Chen, an investigator, on the exchange and they had a good lesson.

This week will be a lot of fun. We have started doing service and a boys' orphanage and we played soccer with them. They are way funny. Yesterday we went into McD's to use the bathroom and I asked a kid if he spoke English and we began talking. It was way fun to talk to them and we are gonna go hang out with them some time soon. That's kind of the biz.

Things are good here. Love you. Sorry for the short letter.

Love,

Elder Sanderson

"Heavenly Father has been good to me"

Hey,

That's one of my favorite quotes from conference. I don't mean to make me trunky, but I have no more General Conference on my mission... Shoot. I really enjoyed Conference. I noticed how Elder Perry mentioned using technology in spreading the Gospel. I hope iPads are on there way to the mission field soon. There were a lot of good talks like President Uchtdorf on Saturday morning when he talked about people coming to join us.  Elder Oaks' talk about the commandments dictating our worship and priorities was impressive as well. Conference is awesome.

In other news, I think this has been the busiest week of my mission so far. Transfers on Tuesday, Elder Wilcox and I planned all day on Wednesday, we had Leadership Council on Thursday, then ZTM and service for the Fukutoku ward on Friday, and we ended with a great weekend of General Conference. Wow.

We did manage to visit with an investigator this week. Our current investigator pool has four investigators, Chen, Kenji, Lumbe, and Wellington. We found Chen this week when we were putting our bikes together near the eki. Chen parked his bike and asked if we had a flat tire or something. We told him we had just come to the area and found out he is from China and has lived in Japan for about thirty years. We got to talking about the Gospel and he said he had interest. We called him on Thursday and set an appointment. Boom! New investigator.

We met Lumbe on Saturday who is from Congo. He is Christian but likes deep doctrine. It was just our first meeting with him, so we got to know him and then set a next appointment. We left a commitment with him to read Moroni 10 so we can talk about it next time. We plan to visit a lot of members this week to get to know them more. We also have a handful of less-active members we are working with too.

I love Fukutoku. It's like it's own little mission. The ward is divided geographically into four zones with Ward Missionary Zone Leaders and each zone does one activity per month. Everyone has been encouraged by the bishop to do F&F with the missionaries as well in order to prepare their friends to receive the Gospel. The Ward Mission Leader and the Bishop have great dendo fire and were super helpful as Elder Wilcox and I were getting our bearings here this week.

The area is pretty cool too. It's on the north end of Nagoya city, so there are some more rural areas as you go north. We also have a golf course next to the river only about ten minutes away from the church. Maybe I can go hit nine with President Yamashita sometime. We also have some really cool members here. One is the Hall family. I met Brother Hall in Kasugai over a year ago when I worked in his junkyard. Now I'm in his ward. Small world.

I'm looking forward to another good week. I hope you guys have a great one too. Love you all.

Love,

Elder Sanderson

Game Changer

Olo,

Well I mentioned that we had transfer calls coming up. I'll get to that eventually. This week was great. We had a lot of meetings with investigators including our yakusokushas. Weijing Xuan came back from China and called us to meet so he can prepare for his baptism. When we met, he said that he wants to make sure to do things right because he is making a covenant with God. We were able to talk to him and teach him about the Doctrine of Christ and the Plan of Salvation. He understood it all really well, too.

This week we got a referral from the Meito Elders (another part of Nagoya) and then the referral called us. His name is Rishi, he's from Nepal, and he deliberately said, "I have interest in learning Christianity." You don't need to twist my arm when a guy says that.

He met us on Sunday at the subway station and we walked together to the church from there. We gave him a church tour and stopped in the chapel for our lesson. We sat on the benches and talked about the Sacrament, Atonement, and prayer. He said he felt very peaceful and said an incredible prayer at the end of the lesson.

The Game Changer. So on Thursday I went on a companion exchange with Elder Richard in Takabata, yet another part of Nagoya. That afternoon Elder Ludlow called me from Gokiso and said that President Yamashita called. I could tell something was going down then Elder Ludlow told me he was called to be the next AP! We definitely didn't see that coming.

So Elder Ludlow went to the Mission HQ on the next day, which cut our comp exchange really short and left Me, Elder Shimbashi, and Elder Dowe here in Gokiso as a power tri-force. We had the three of us to cover both companionship's' appointments this weekend, so we were sooo busy. But we ended up having a great week.

On Saturday we had the transfer calls. I found out that I am transferring to Fukutoku ward, in another part of Nagoya. It's only a twenty minute train ride from Gokiso. The Nagoya Zone got cut in half and Elder Wilcox and I will be companions and Zone Leaders over the Fukutoku Zone. Sister Brady, Jill's dance friend, will be in my area as well. I am super excited to go there because I already know some members there and it's still the same stake as Gokiso, so I will get to see the ward from time to time. Elder Wilcox was in the MTC with me. He is a great guy and a great missionary. He definitely loves dendo. I think he and I will do well together in Fukutoku. We are white washing the area, but I have no doubt that it's gonna be fantastic.

Oh, here's a picture of us at our Ward Mission Leader's house for dinner. They are the Nakajima family and their kids are stupid cute.

Well that's it for ya. Love you all.

Love,

Elder Sanderson