the one with matching sweaters

 "Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we met up with the Okayama missionaries and went on a really fun hike together! 😁 After the hike, we all got food and then watched a little bit of boat racing on our way home!

Wednesday, we went to the mission home and had MLC! I got to see a bunch of old friends, so it was a ton of fun! We made goals for the transfer and talked a lot about how we can see more miracles as a mission! 😁😁

Friday we went and visited my best friend from the japanese mafia!! 😆😆😆 He was so excited to see us, and we had such a good lesson about Joseph Smith and priesthood authority! He also gave me and my comp tons of drinks, some food, and to top it off: matching sweaters 😆😆😆😆Yeah he's the sickest dude of all time 🤣🤣

Saturday, we started by going to the church, and we had a big sports event for all the kids in the ward, and the members wanted us to participate! 😁😁 We had a ton of fun and the kids were very impressed by the tall white guys 🤣 After that, we had another sports night with all of our friends and we had so many people come! It was super fun and we had Ward members also come and our friends got to know them and it was so great! 

Sunday we had church and our friend from the mafia came! Sadly, his wife is in a different city taking care of their daughter because she had to go to the hospital. But he was able to come! He also pulled out his suit and tie for us, and he looked so happy to be there! 😁😁

Sorry, I don't have much time today, so that's all I got for this week! Feel free to email me! 

That's all, folks. 

Flicks with the matching sweaters from Sunamiさん😆😆

Last day with some of the boys

New apartment... Who dis?

P day with the Okayama missionaries!

The boys...

Just the best companionship... Straight outta American Fork

#78

#79 and #80

Get ready for the Halloween flicks...

A dinner for kings...

#81

Sports day with the ward... Gotta love the progression of the racing flicks

May or may not have made it on the roof for some Zzzz's

the one where he killed his comp

 "Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we had probably the best P day of my mission so far, and we went to Round 1 and did bowling, billiards, and a bunch of other stuff pretty much ALL day! It was super great, and it was district P day, so everyone pulled up and had a good time.

Tuesday, we had DCM, and one of our members, Yuki姉妹 pulled up to say goodbye since my comp was leaving the next day and eat lunch with us. Of course, we all went to McDonald's, and after, we all got ice cream together! After that, we did some packing and then went to our first dinner appointment that day. We went to the Maki's house (super dope family in the ward that I played Uno with like a month ago). We had some really good tonkatsu, and they all said goodbye to Lopes. After that, we went to dinner with one of our friends, Maiさん and had some really good ramen and let her say goodbye to Lopes. This week was full of a lot of goodbyes...

Wednesday, we went to the mission home and played some basketball with all the guys going home and then had their goodbye devotional. All the missionaries going home share a final testimony, and it's everyone's last chance to see them. We also had institute at Kobe and played some more sports before doing an institute lesson. It was super fun, and the mission president's wife made dinner for all of the missionaries leaving, and then we all got the leftovers... Good stuff.

Thursday we got up and went on a final little walk with all of the guys and then ate breakfast together and I went home by myself😏😏 3 hour ride home and the first time I've been alone in over a year... Weird feeling 🤣🤣 When I got home, I met up with the other guys, and we went to dinner with the Clark's again!! They are the best family in our ward, and the wife made some AMAZING Mexican food for us😆😆😆 it was such a good day😁

Friday, we went to get sushi together and POUNDED a ton of sushi... The rest of the day was mostly packing and a couple of meetings. 

Saturday, we all kinda split up because it was transfer day!! There were a few guys staying at our apartment, and then three of us left to the station to pick up our new comps!. My new comp is Elder Wynn!!! He is also from American Fork, we were in the same MTC district, served in the same reassigmment, and got to Japan the same day. Safe to say we have one or two things in common. It's gonna be a party of a transfer, and I'm so pumped to rock Okayama together 😆😆

Sunday, we had Stake Conference! It was great and the Clark's gave us a ride because it was a good two hours away from the church because no church building is big enough to fit everyone for the meeting 😆😆 We got to meet up with a bunch of missionaries from all over and it was sick! I got to see my boy Elder Campbell (we were comps in my last area a, d he's an absolute legend) a, d it was fun to catch up and see how things have been going for him. He actually transferred into my zone, so I'll get to see him a fair bit, which I'm super excited for 😁😆

Overall, it was such a good week, and I am BEYOND excited for this transfer!! I can't wait to work with Elder Wynn, and it's gonna be a fun 6 weeks! 😆😁

Spiritual Thought:

1 Nephi 3:7

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

That trust comes from knowing God. More than any other people on earth, we have, through the glorious events of the Restoration of the gospel, felt the peace that the Lord offered His people with the words “Be still, and know that I am God.” My heart is filled with gratitude for what God has revealed about Himself that we might trust Him.

—Henry B. Eyring

Well, that's all I got this week! Feel free to email me if you have time! 

That's all, folks. 

Bowling with the gang!

District Pday with everyone!

Started with some billiards with my boy Otahara長老

Otahara 長老 and I did a couple of arcade games....

Lopes's last day! Flicked up with an awesome member, Yuki姉妹

Missionaries with Yuki

The boys... Yours truly is rocking the Tom and Jerry tie 😆

Ate with the Watanabes, and said more goodbyes

Dinner with the Maki family!!

A flick with everyone... Lots of saying goodbye to Lopes

Got a flick with the whole district

Dropping him off... Had to go to McDonald's for the final time 😭😭

Dinner with the Clark's! They are the best! She made us some FIRE Mexican food 🤌

Ate out with our recently baptized member... Masahiro is an absolute legend

Lopes is gone and I rocked the day with these guys...

Had to get a dog... #77

Waiting for the new comp...

First day with my man Wynn長老

the one where dreams came true

 "Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we had a big sports night as a ward, and it was a blast!! 😆😆 We played lots of basketball and volleyball with everyone and we had some friends come too, which was super great! 😁

Thursday was a busy day! We went to lunch with one of our friends from Nepal named Deepak, and he is a super cool dude! After that, we had some time to plan for the week and then we went to dinner with another one of our friends. It was our first time meeting up with him, and he is awesome! He has a lot of interest in English and next time we meet he wants to bring his wife! Good stuff! After him, we went to second dinner with another friend and he also wants to learn English from us! He's only 18, but he's a pretty sick dude!

Friday, we taught English and made really good friends with a new guy. He came last week but my comp and I weren't there and he and I got along really well! He said he wants to come every week, and he is super cool!

Saturday, we started the day by going to a member's house for lunch, and they are a fun family that has 4 kids who are all pretty young! It made for a chaotic and fun meal. After we ate, we played a card game with all of them and just had a good time! After that, we went to the church, and we had a game night that the ward had put on. We were separated into 4 teams and did a bunch of competitions. It was absolutely hilarious and we also had one of our friends come, which was super great! After the game night, we went to dinner with a recently baptized member, and it was super fun! He's been wanting to take us out all transfer, but we couldn't find the time, so it was a much awaited dinner. After that, we all went back to the church because two of the kids in our ward got baptized! It was super fun, and one of my favorite things is that while they wait for the person who got baptized to shower and change, we all just sing hymns as a ward. Anyone can just call out a Hymn, and then we sing the first verse together! I've done it twice since being in Japan (they don't do it at every baptism) and it is hands down one of the most amazing spiritual experiences I've been able to be a part of.

Sunday was magnificent. One of my dreams for the mission finally became a reality. While we were welcoming everyone into church, we saw an old married couple sitting at the bus stop waiting for the bus. My comp said we should go talk to them, so we did and invited them to come to church. They said they couldn't today but that they would come next week or the week after. We felt great about that answer since that's much more than what we usually get and went back inside since church was starting. Church had been going for about 5 minutes when I see the old couple walk into the chaple escorted by one of our amazing members. I quickly ran over to them, and we sat together and enjoyed sacrament meeting together. Near the end of the meeting, the husband started coughing, so I took him into the hall to grab a drink. He took the opportunity to tell me a little bit about his life. He used to go to a baptist church about 30 years ago and that Christ changed him into a better person. Before he found religion, he was in the yakuza (the Japanese mafia) and did some REALLY not good things but that he quite literally did his time and then found religion and changed. We talked a bit more and then went back in to finish sacrament meeting. After the meeting had finished, some of our members had introduced themselves to him, and he was telling them how much he loved church and that he was so happy to have met me. We then went to second hour and he and his wife loved it and we were also able to do a short lesson with them after. They said they wanted to come to church every week. We were thrilled to hear that, but we explained that this was my companion's last week before he goes back to Brazil and that as missionaries, we transfer pretty frequently. He asked how long I was going to be here, and I told him that I just got here, so I should be here for a decently long time. He was so relieved and gave me many hugs throughout the day. He also gave me his phone number and told me to call him if I ever need anything. 😆😆 And that's the story of how my dreams came true, and I became best friends with a member of the Japanese mafia. 😆😆😆

In our ward, there is also a senior missionary couple, and after church, we went to their house and had brunch together! 😁 They made great food and FIRE sourdough pancakes. 😁😁 After that, we had a couple of calls with other missionaries, and then we went to dinner with our friends Jennifer and Paige! They wanted to throw a little goodbye party for Lopes since it was his last week and we ate Bangladesh food since that's where Jennifer is from and it was pretty fun because she showed us the tradional way to eat their food which is with your hand😆😆 So yeah it was a pretty fire day 😆😆😆

Spiritual Thought:

Mosiah 2: 16-17

16 Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God.

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God

"This is the service that counts, the service to which all of us have been called: the service of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Along your pathway of life you will observe that you are not the only traveler. There are others who need your help. There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save."

—Thomas S. Monson 

Sports night with the ward

Such good food! 😆

Dinner with Jennifer and Paige! 😁

Game night with the ward! 😆

Dinner with the Clarks