I am so sorry that I have not been very good at sending long emails
lately! I have been struggling with time because we have just had so
many other things we are trying to accomplish on P-day that it has
been a little bit crazy, but today I have some solid time so I should
be able to give a good update about what has happened over the last
couple of weeks and what I have been doing here in Shibuya!
So lets start with last Sunday, the 15th with H________baptism!
What an amazing day. I love this guy and it has been so fun to watch
him change into a solid church member. I actually met Y____ for the
first time last year when I was here in Shibuya, and I had heard that
he used to meet with the missionaries, but that he was a little bit
crazy and just kind of hard to teach, so we actually never taught him
we were just really good friends with him and used to talk to him at
Eikaiwa. Well when I came back to Shibuya, the Elders had been
teaching him since I left supposedly and he had progressed quite a
ways and at one point actually had a baptismal date, but wasn't able
to hit it and was just kind of stuck meeting with the missionaries but
not really making any progress. When I got here I realized that he
actually really wanted to be baptized, but he was just going to take a
little bit of focus and pushing and he would be able to do it. So, we
set a baptismal date for him as a goal and he started progressing
really fast. He actually missed that baptismal date, but we reviewed
our goal and asked whether he actually wanted to be baptized or not
and he really said that he wanted to work hard for it. So we set the
baptismal date for March 15th, and he was able to progress all the way
to his date! It has been REMARKABLE to see the change that has
happened in his life, and to see just how he is really a completely
different person than he used to be. The power of the atonement is
real! The morning of the baptism, we had actually beforehand asked a
member to baptize Y_____because we wanted a member to have that good
relationship with him, but the morning of the member called and
cancelled with a family emergency! I think the Lord knew what was
going to happen because I had just happened to pack my baptismal
clothes just in case the member needed some, and so I was ready to do
the baptism! It was such a cool privilege for
me to be able to baptize such a good friend, and it was a day that I
will never forget! I hope you all got the pictures last week, but it
was just so awesome to see him so happy.
The next big thing we had this week was Elder Nelson visiting Japan!
He actually came last Sunday and they did a big meeting with all of
the members all over Japan and it was a really cool opportunity
because they came to Hiroo which is the American ward, but it is
technically in our area so we were able to go with W____ and a Less
Active member named S_____. Oh and W_____ brought his girlfriend
which was way cool! We had the chance to go to one of the couple
missionary's home and have a taco party before which was way good, and
then we were able to walk over and listen to an apostle speak to us,
and to Japan. It was quite an amazing meeting, and the big message
that I got all through out the meeting was how the work is really
being hastened here in Japan, and that there is a reason that in the
last month there have been 2 apostles that have come and visited
Tokyo. Elder Nelson gave us some amazing counsel, as well and really
taught the members what to do when their friends ask them questions
about the church. It was really cool to see the way that he would
answer to some of the questions that are commonly asked to members of
the church by their friends. It's just amazing to feel the power and
the spirit when they are in the room with you. Afterwards he and the
other general authorities there wanted to shake everyone's hands so we
were able to shake his hand after, and so was W_____,his girl, and
S______ which was the best part because they all felt it.
But, if Sunday wasn't enough, we were blessed to have another big
meeting with Elder Nelson on Wednesday in a 2 mission conference held
in Kichijoji church! We got to shake his hand again and we were able
to have a 4-5 hr conference with him and with other general
authorities and we heard some amazing messages. One of the big
messages, and big changes that is coming in the mission is that we
have new ipads coming out! They are pushing a new wave out to a lot
of different missions around the world, and as part of that we will be
getting new ipads, and we will be changing some of the things from
what we are currently doing, and one of those is facebook. I don't
know if you saw my post, but from here I won't be using Facebook as a
missionary for 6-12 weeks. This is just part of this new program that
we are starting as missionaries to make sure that we have the basics
down with the Ipads and that we are on the same page with the rest of
the world. So I'm sorry that I won't be posting anything on Facebook
for the next little while, but my guess is that it is going to be
closer to 6 weeks than 12, but we will see. The conference with him
though was really amazing and I just feel like the mission is just
really ready to go and see some big miracles! Those kind of meetings
are always just like really good pump up meetings which is way good.
Every so often you just need a pump up talk by a member of the quorum
of the twelve right? Haha I'm excited that general conference is
coming up and that we will have the opportunity to listen to all of
the apostles and leaders of the church.
Those were the big things that we had this last week! I think I
already told you, but we had our transfer calls last week and Elder
Judd and I will be staying in Shibuya! Because I only have 2 more
transfers left I think that I have a pretty high possibility of ending
my mission here which would be so cool! I have come to love so many
of the members here and the area is just awesome. It's definitely
some of the hardest dendo in all of Tokyo, because it is the biggest
and fastest, but it's so much fun. I love being in the heart of the
city, and it's a blast to be doing with such a good missionary! It
will be fun to continue to work with Elder Judd! I feel like we are
just like brothers already, so it should be sweet just working way
hard this next transfer together to see more baptisms for this ward! I
really think that we could see a lot of them. I'm grateful for all
the amazing support that I have back home! Thank you all for what you
do for me! Every week I always get great emails and I feel so much
support so thank you! I love you all and I will talk to you soon!
Love,
Logan
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