Week 67!

Hello everyone!

Excited to be writing you this week! There were some really amazing things that happened in Nagaoka this week and it's so fun to be working here! We have had a very busy week this week, but the most busy part of the week was getting H_______ready for baptism this Sunday! There have been so many miracles with him in order to get ready for baptism, and it was just amazing to see it all come together yesterday! This week we met with him on Wednesday but because he lives so far away that was going to be the last time we met with him in person until his baptism! But we had expectations to talk on the phone every night and there was no problems. Well we talked to him for a second Thursday night, but Friday night and Saturday morning we couldn't get a hold of him and we were starting to get worried! We were in the car heading to his house with N______when he called us back and told us that he had just been really busy and he was sorry he couldn't answer when we called.  It was great to see that the lord was protecting him even when we couldn't be there, and that he was still ready to be baptized.  He arrived to the church at 8:30 in the morning and we were able to get him ready and we had a great baptismal service. The service was really well done, and everything went very smoothly which was great. We were able to baptize him and it was such a great baptism! After he bore an incredibly strong testimony and while he was up there I couldn't help but thinking that someday he is going to be a great church leader! He really has that feel to him, and has such great faith already it's amazing. He is a part of the family here in Nagaoka now and we are so excited to continue to work with him and strengthen him as a new member! He also was able to get confirmed in sacrament meeting, and has already had his interview i with N______for the priesthood next week! 

Other than H_______ being baptized we were able to have our zone Meeting this week and that went really well! We changed our vision here in the Zone from really focusing on unity to focusing on the work of salvation, and making sure that we are spending all of our time to help the work of salvation progress.  I love how we have made this switch into really focusing on the work of salvation because this is what really matters. If we always have the work of salvation on our minds, and always want to work to help that cause, then we will be fulfilling our purpose. If we stop and ask ourselves at random times throughout the day, "is this activity helping the work of salvation progress?" then we will be able to see how effectively we really are spending our time. Something else that we focused a lot on in this meeting was the expectations that we have here in japan. Do we have the expectations to find prepared people who will be baptized this transfer or the next? We talked about how God loves all of his children even the people in Japan and he wants them to receive the blessings of the gospel as well. I think that it was really good for the missionaries here to kind of reset those expectations, and build that faith. After we had great trainings on finding and on setting expectations with those that we are teaching. The meeting went really well and I think we are going to see some amazing things happening in the zone! We set some great church goals together, and we have a good follow up plan so we are excited to see where this next transfer takes us!

The last big thing we had this week was two separate exchanges, one with the Joetsu elders, and one with the Sanjo A elders. Both of the exchanges were really good and it was great to be able to work with those missionaries. We actually weren't planning on going on exchanges with Joetsu, but we had heard lately that the Elders there were having a little bit of a hard time down in Joetsu kind of with the area, and so Elder Wheatley and I decided to go spend a day down there out of our area with both of them to kind of see how things are going and help them get excited again. We had a great day with them, teaching 6 total lessons and finding 2 new investigators as well as a couple really great PI's. The elders were really excited about it and I really think that the exchange made a big difference for them. I got to work with Elder Ishikawa and he is a really good missionary. He is a really good teacher, and I am super excited to see where he goes in his mission because he is going to do great things! 

We also had exchanges with Sanjo A elders and that went really good too! I got to go back to my very first area where I was exactly a year ago which was pretty crazy, but things are going great in the area and they are looking to have a baptism possible this Saturday!   The best part about that is it is a kid that I taught when I was in Sanjo! It was a kid that we found and he is looking really good to be baptized! So it was great because I got to talk to him yesterday about baptism and things and it was a lot of fun because I could actually speak to him unlike before! He really has changed a lot after meeting with the missionaries for so long, so I will take pictures when he gets baptized! 

This week was just super busy but really really good! It was amazing to see Brother H______get baptized, and just see how happy he was after he came out of the water! He just turned to me and gave me the biggest hug right after he came out of the water with the biggest smile I have ever seen on him, then after he got the Holy Ghost it was even bigger. It was cool to see because when I was there with him it just helped me remember why we are all here, and why we do what we do as missionaries. That smile is what it is all about. I am so excited to get to work with him while he is a recent convert, and just be friends for life and to the eternities! He is the man I love him so much. I will send pictures!  I love you all! I know that this church is true, and that we really are able to gain the most happiness when we follow Him. Have a good week and I'll talk to you soon!

Love,

Logan

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