Week 59! BAPTISMS!

This was such an amazing week!  In our Zone this week we were able to
see two people baptized!  It was absolutely amazing!  In this month
alone, Nagaoka Zone was able to see 3 baptisms!  That is more than we
have had the whole year before!  The sisters had one here in Sanjo
Sister I_____ and it was a really great interview.  Elder Killpack did
her interview the Sunday before, and everything just went really well!

She was baptized on Sunday and it was just a super good service!
President Budge was able to be there and everything just went really
good so that was awesome!  Then the day before that, Saturday, the
Joetsu Elders had a baptism as well!  I was able to do Brother
K________'s baptismal interview this week and he is just way prepared!
Because their church is so small, they do it here in Nagaoka because
they don't have a font, so we were able to come which was super
awesome!  The baptismal service for him was just super good and they
were able to help him be baptized this week as well!  It was so fun to
see so many amazing miracles in the Zone!

So we were able to see 2 baptisms last week, but we aren't stopping
there.  Right now in the Zone we have 4 other baptismal dates for this
next month, and they are all looking really good for baptism!  It is
going to be pretty amazing when we see that miracle!  It is so cool to
see The Lord hastening his work in ALL parts of the vineyard.  Before
these recent baptisms, there were none in the zone for the entire
year.  In fact, the last people that were baptized here were my two
friends that I helped baptize in my first transfer Brother W_______
and Sister M______.  But, The Lord is hastening his work, and he is
qualifying his missionaries.  It is such a cool experience to be able
to watch these investigators  become converted, as well as the
missionaries.

This past week we actually had interviews with President Budge and it
was great!  That is actually something we talked about is how we as
leaders can help other missionaries catch the vision, increase their
faith, and feel the joy.  President Budge helped me realize that we
really have to help the missionaries be converted in the same way that
we convert our investigators, which is through the Holy Ghost.  I
think some of the missionaries really were able to be converted as
they felt the spirit super strongly at those two baptismal services.
President Budge is a wise man I look up to him so much!  We actually
had the chance to go visit a less active with him, and we were able to
teach an 1hour and a half lesson with him to this less active!  Him
and Sister Budge drove us over in their car and it was just way cool
to dendo with him!  I love the Budges.

Sorry I have no time today but I know that this is the greatest work
in the world today!  I love you all and I will talk to you soon!

Logan


Sent from my iPad

"Sunday Selfie"

A cool kid Logan met on the train just before and wanted a pic. 

Where they sleep. 

Desk area. So organized. :)

Week 58! Going Fast!

This really was probably one of the fastest weeks of my mission!  I
don't know why it was so fast, but it was crazy to me last night that
I was planning for another P - Day..Time really is one of the craziest
things out here on a mission, but it was a really good week and we did
a lot!

This week I was able to play ALOT of ping pong.  Our new investigator
Y_____absolutely loves the gospel and loves to study with us.  He also
really loves ping pong, and since we have a table in the church, we
met him I think almost every day this week at the church!  We would
play 30 minutes of ping pong, and then study for 30 minutes.  He
absolutely loved it, and it was great because we were able to teach
him a lot!  He really wants to be baptized, and because his date is so
soon it is really important that we teach him everything he needs to
know, and so it's really good that we can meet so much!  He is doing
really really good and is making huge progress!  His prayers have
improved tremendously since we started teaching him, and his gospel
knowledge is really growing fast! It is amazing to watch the gospel
change someones life.  The only bad news for this week was that he
missed church...In our mission an investigator has to go to church at
least three times in order to be baptized, and next week would have
been his third, but since he missed it will only be his second.  So,
he is most likely going to be baptized the following Sunday, but he is
still doing really good and we are really excited for him!

This week I had the chance to go visit ol Sanjo again!  We went to
their district meeting this week and it was way fun to be back in that
city.  I will actually get to go on exchanges there again tomorrow, so
I am really excited to be able to go back there and teach some of the
people I used to teach!  It is so crazy that I am back up here, I
really never thought that I would be up here ever again and it is just
really fun to be back and be able to meet with some of the people I
used to!  Also this week we have our big Zone Meeting, so me and Elder
Killpack did a lot of planning for that this week.  It is always a
little bit stressful to get the whole things planned, but it is going
to be really good I think, so I am excited to train everyone!  I
actually really love training in the meetings it is a lot of fun!  But
we will do that tomorrow so I will have to let you know how it goes!

Yesterday I actually gave a ten minute talk in sacrament meeting in
front of all the leaders in the branches up here haha it was fun!  I
was assigned to speak on goals, and why goals are important, and I
literally had NO TIME to prepare it. Luckily, God is merciful to
missionaries with little time, and in one small hour of personal study
I was able to write everything down that I wanted to say.  It ended up
going really well, and I talked a lot about how goals help us stretch
our vision and increase our faith.  We have a really big goal up here
in the Niigata area for the members that they are all working towards,
and so I challenged everyone to personally ask God how they could do
better, and then try and set some personal goals to help this big one
happen.  It might have been a little strong...but I think it was
needed!

Things are going really good up here and we are seeing a lot of
amazing miracles which is really fun!  I think we will have Y_____
baptized next week, but we actually have another baptismal date for
that same day and I really think that he could be baptized then too!
Then there is K_____ who I think i have talked about before but he
just recently told us that he has lots of interest in baptism, so
things are just going super good!  I know that as missionaries we
could not accomplish all we hope to with out God's help.  There really
is no way.  I am so grateful to be a missionary and have this chance!
I love each of you soo much and pray for you daily!  Talk to you soon!

Love,
Logan

Sent from my iPad

Week 57! 金人

This week was amazing!  We were able to see lots of cool miracles, and
a lot of success!  Elder Killpack and I are really figuring this area
out and have a lot of people that are really progressing a lot which
is so much fun!  We are teaching lots of lessons, and seeing a lot of
success and it is just amazing.  The Lord really is blessing this area
so much.  We are trying our best to be obedient and work hard, and it
really is making the difference, and The Lord is blessing us with
miracles.

This week we had one of the coolest miracles of my mission!  Tuesday
morning we were walking to the church and there was a guy on a motor
scooter that we walked by.  I smiled to him and said
"おはようございます"(Goodmorning) and he waved and said it back and that was
that.  Later that day, we were riding on our way to a lesson when I
saw the same guy on the motor scooter but this time he was stopped on
the side of the road.  I waved to him again and said お久しぶりだね！(long
time no see huh!) and waved to him and he waved back with a big smile.
We road past and instantly I felt like we should turn back.  But,
Elder Killpack was a ways in front of me and I didn't really know how
to stop him and talk...but as I was thinking about all this he road
past me on his scooter waving at us!  Once I saw him I knew I was
talking to him no matter what.  He went up and waved to elder Killpack
and then hopped into the turning lane in the middle of a big
intersection at a light.  I decided to follow him...and pulled up
right next to him on my bike.(I promise I was safe mom no worries;)) I
asked him how he was doing and he was really excited to be talking to
me.  Just as I was asking his name, the light turned green and we
kinda had to go.  As I was riding by him, me on my bike and him on a
motor scooter, I told him that we should probably meet again soon and
he said something that i couldn't really hear over all the cars around
us.  I pulled off to the side of the road, expecting him to continue
on the road and went to wave at him when I realized he parked right
behind me!  I asked if this is where he stopped and he said no but
that he wanted to talk if thats ok!  Well I obviously said that is
fine, and hopped off my bike and started to talk.  He saw my name
badge, and said woa Jesus Christ, I love Jesus Christ! haha we talked
for a while and he said that he wanted to meet again, so we set a time
to meet the next day, and got his phone number!  His name is Y_____!

So, after meeting him the next day after meeting him initially, he
came to the church on saturday to play ping pong with us, and we were
able to teach a simple restoration to him, with a member who has
recently come out of less activity.  The lesson went really well, and
in the end we asked him if he found out all these things were true, if
he would be baptized, and he said YES. We set a date with him for the
27th of this month, and he is really excited to be baptized!  On that
day President Budge will be here at church, so we figured it would be
a great day for a baptism!  It is an amazing miracle, and we are so
excited for him!  We will actually be meeting him today as well, and
he is just a way good guy.

I know that God is a God of miracles!  I have seen it so much in my
mission, and I really saw it this week!  Thank you all so much for
your amazing support, and all that you do!  I love each of you and
pray for you constantly!  Have a great week this week, and I will talk
to you soon!

love,
Logan

Sent from my iPad

Week 56 Facebook Miracle!

This week I have not very much time, but I wanted to share with you
all really quick an amazing miracle that we were able to see this
week!  Every week on Wednesday, we go to a college and play futsal
with a bunch of college kids.  It is a really good place to talk to
young kids, get to be their friend and then share with them some of
the things that we believe and ask if they want to come to church!
This last week, I was able to get this kid named C____ from
Vietnam's number and we have been talking a lot of the last couple of
days.  On Saturday though I got a message from a random girl on
Facebook named J_____. She messaged me and told me that she noticed
that I was talking to C_____who is her friend from school, and noticed
that I was a missionary for Jesus Christ.  She said that she loved
Jesus Christ and has been living in Japan for about 3 months but
hasn't been able to find a church to attend and has felt really
distanced from Him.  She said that she wanted to come and join our
congregation if possible!  I was super excited I jumped up way loud
and yelled haha.  Elder Killpack didn't know what was going on yet,
but I hurried and showed him and we were so excited.  We had been
working really hard to see a lot of people come to church the next
day, and it was going really well, and then we got this message!
There is no doubt in my mind that God prepared her to see that
message.  What a miracle!  We obviously quickly emailed her back and
gave her the address to the church, and invited her to come and she
said she would be there!  Yesterday she came to all three hours of
church, and the sisters are meeting with her Tuesday!  I have a
testimony that God is friends with all his children, and that through
facebook he is really able to guide his children to where they need to
be.

I love you all!  I wish I had more time today, but I do not.  I hope
you all know how much I look up to you and how much I miss you!  I
will talk to you soon!

Love,
Logan

Sent from my iPad