the one where he became a DL

 "Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we had district P day, and we all went to the aquarium! It was a fun day, and while we were there, some members from Utah recognized us, and we ended up going through the aquarium with them and spent the day with them. They were super awesome, and we had a great time! We also got transfer news, and I am staying in Osaka, but my companion got transferred to Kyoto. I also am becoming District Leader this transfer! Super crazy stuff!

Tuesday, we had our last DCM as a district, and one of the other areas members took us all put for lunch! 

We spent most of friday just packing stuff up and getting him ready to leave. Also, we have been in a 4 man in our apartment, and one of them got emergency transferred to open a new area, so the whole week, we were in a trio with elder Pascoal. He and I went to high school together, so it was kinda crazy to be comps for a week!

Sunday, we had a new friend come to church! He's from Myanmar, and he is super awesome! He said he wants to come to church every week from now on! We also spent a good chunk of the day saying goodbye to people and we taught some lessons!

Monday was transfers, so we picked our new comps and then spent the day unpacking and had a couple of meetings!

Spiritual Thought:

2 Nephi 26:20

And the Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and have stumbled, because of the greatness of their stumbling block, that they have built up many churches; nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning, that they may get gain and grind upon the face of the poor.

"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man."

 –C.S. Lewis

Don't have a lot of time, but don't be prideful 😁😁

Anyway, that's all I got for this week! Feel free to email me!

That's all, folks. 

Found some members to go through the aquarium with!

Me and Elder Haws...what a legend

District P day at the Aquarium

🤣🤣

Giant crabs...the one is missing some legs

cuz it got in a fight with another crab

🐧

Such a...

He's looking for Jonah....

Found the goblin

Dog #64

District lunch with an awesome member!

Dog #65

Lunch with our friend Mima!

Dog #66

Hit up a Tacobell with one of our friends

After tacobell we hit up some ice cream...this stuff is so gas

More flicks with Mima

Last one at lunch

Eikaiwa group! They all stayed for some ping pong after

Got a flick with the cheezing monkey😁😁

the one where he got TWO meat buffets

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, my comp's best friend's dad is a pilot, and he happened to be staying in our area and so he took all of us out to lunch. We had an all you can eat meat buffet, and it was absolutely fire! 

Wednesday, we had a takoyaki (octopus balls) party with one of the members! It was a ton of fun, and we had tons of food! We got out of there pretty late, and like two hours later, we went to another meat buffet. Yeah, it was pretty killer, but the guy paid for us, so we POUNDED food. It was a good day😏😏

On Friday, the Area President, Elder Wada, came and spoke to the mission! Luckily, he happened to be pretty close to us, so we were able to go in person! He talked about a lot of good things, and it was a good day! There were a bunch of missionaries that all were able to come, and a lot of them are leaving this transfer, so I said lots of goodbyes.... Shoutout to Elder Kondel, God be with you till we meet again, Brother! After that we met up with one of our friends and got ramen together!

Saturday, we had eikaiwa, and it was a ton of fun! Some of our newer friends game and we had a great time together!

Sunday, our friend Mima came to church!! And he seemed to really enjoy it. He was pretty stressed out at the beginning, but he seemed to ease up as people started to introduce themselves to him. In sunday school, he had some really awesome comments, and everyone was super impressed by the stuff he was saying. He is super elect! After church, we had a lesson with him that we were we thinking was only going to take an hour, but he kept asking amazing questions, so we ended up teaching for more than 2 hours. What a good day!

Spiritual Thought: 

Alma 6:6

Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God.

"When we are performing the Lord’s work, we must do it the Lord’s way. I suggest to you that if you prayerfully approach this work and ask your Father in heaven to reveal to you the means by which you might be an instrument in his hands in bringing individuals into the Church, the way will be provided for you to do just that."

–Gene R Cook

We must remember and never forget that as members of God's church, we are doing his work. As you strive to have the Holy Ghost with you at all times, "it will show unto you all things what ye should do." This is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. He lives. He loves you.

Of this, I earnestly testify, in the name of Him who leads and guides us, even the Savior Jesus Christ, Amen

Well thats all I got, sorry (mostly to my mom) for the short email this week! Feel free to email me!

Octopus balls party! (Don't worry not that kind😉)

Meat Buffet with my comp's friend's dad

Another flick with all the boys

#61 and #62

Meat Buffet #2!

Meat Buffet #2!

Literally my favorite missionary in the mission,

so sad to see him go😥

the one with burgers and taco...bell?

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday, we had a pretty average day and spent most of the day in the church. But that night, we went to dinner with one of our members and got some super good Okonomiyaki. Apparently, he has been going to the place for over 50 years, and the same old lady has worked there the whole time. 

Tuesday we met up with one of our friends and he wanted to try Taco Bell (there is one in my area and we walked past it last time we ate with this guy) so of course I jumped on that opportunity and told him next time we met up, we'd go get Taco Bell. Holy crap. America wins. I could eat there every day and feel so good about myself. It tastes almost the exact same as America (although the menu is smaller), but I have missed it so much. They dont really have SUPER good American food here, and Mexican food is almost impossible to find, so getting to eat both at the same time was hekkin refreshing. 

Thursday, our friend Mima wanted to take us out, so we went and got some tonkatsu with him, and it was absolutely fire. This was definitely a good week for food (and I'm just getting started). That night, another one of our friends, Kai, wanted to meet up at an izakaya (a Japanese bar), but they also have good food, so we pulled up. We got a TON of food. Most of it was sushi or some other type of fish, and it was some of the best sushi I've had in Japan. Luckily, he paid for us because it was EXPENSIVE

Friday, we went on Exchanges, and I got the absolute pleasure of going around with Elder Haws for the day. We have been around each other a few times for P day or other events, and we've gotten along really well. We had a really good day, and for lunch, we went to the infamous "Burgers and Tacos" for lunch. This place is a mission legend, and I HAD to go. Supposedly, it's got some of the best burgers in Japan, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint... This is the first place I've been to where they give you gloves because they know how messy the burgers are. It was absolutely phenomenal. If you're curious about the size or the burger in general, I got lots of pics this week of all the food I ate. Also, that night, we met up with one of their friends and went out for dinner. It was only McDonald's, but eh still pretty good. 

Saturday, we went out to lunch with one of our friends named Akansha, and we went with the other Elders and a church member. We went to this Indian restaurant, and yeah, it was pretty fire. We also had eikaiwa! At eikaiwa we had like 15 people come so it was a lot of fun! After eikaiwa, we finally, for like the first time, ate at the apartment😆😆

Spiritual Thought: 

So we see, brethren and sisters, that the words of Christ can be a personal Liahona for each of us, showing us the way. Let us not be slothful because of the easiness of the way. Let us in faith take the words of Christ into our minds and into our hearts as they are recorded in sacred scripture and as they are uttered by living prophets, seers, and revelators. Let us with faith and diligence feast upon the words of Christ, for the words of Christ will be our spiritual Liahona telling us all things what we should do.

– W. Rolfe Kerr

Alright, well to keep with the theme of food, today I wanted to talk about FEASTING on the words of Christ! Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE burgers and Taco Bell and all of this other food, but man, nothing comes even close to how much I LOVE the gospel of Jesus Christ! I know that as we feast on the words of Christ, every aspect of our lives will improve! 

Well, that's all I got. Feel free to email me! 

That's all, folks!

The actual best burger in Japan

Okonomiyaki with a member (he took the pic so he's not in it)

Pic with all of us together

TACO BELL!!

Our buddy we ate out with

Tonkatsu

Our sick friend Mima

My brother Elder Haws

Had to get dogs with him too...#60

Indian restaurant with another friend!

Making dill sour cream chicken like my mom!

Sunday Nikes

the one where he defended the carrot

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Starting with Monday we went to Kyoto and went to some of the most touristy places in my entire misson. There were SO many 外人 (foreigners)!! 

We saw a cool castle and a big tower and then a bunch of gates...yeah I'm not very good at hyping this stuff up. But it was a fun day!

Tuesday we had DCM so we all met up and got lunch together! It was a fun start to the day and I always love seeing my district!

Friday we went to Umeda which is one of the busiest places in our area and held a sign that told people we teach English and we had SOO many people come up and talk to us! It was a fun way to do missionary work and a really nice change of pace.

Saturday we went to lunch with the Hemmi family! It was a blast and we went to this authentic Chinese restaurant. It was pretty good but some foods were definitely better than others. I spent most of the time just playing I spy with the daughter Maki and showing her other funny tricks I can do. It was a super fun time and they are really enjoying spending time with us. After that we had a couple lessons before eikaiwa one of which was with our friend Mima and he is super awesome! He is so elect and has been reading the Book of Mormon every day. We are really hoping he will want to get baptized! At eikaiwa the Hemmi family came along with some of our other friends. At the end of eikaiwa we always talk for about an hour which was a blast! While I was talking with some other people, I saw Maki had drawn a big monster on the whiteboard... now if you know me, you know that I am always down to play defend the carrot. So yours truly started drawing some stuff on the board and together we made a whole story with action, adventure, love, sadness...it was quite a good story if I do say so myself. I got a flick of it but it might be hard to understand...we were all over the place. Basically we had a blast and we invited them to come to church and Maki said she really wanted to come 👊😏

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

I don't have much to add but it really is the service that counts! Its so important that we try our best to help others around us. There will always be children of God who can use our help. 

Well thats all I got this week! Feel free to email me!

That's all, folks!

The most gas game of defend the carrot

All of the pics from Kyoto

Got some more with some of the boys

The thousand tori gates

The lookout from the top of the thousand gates

Tōji temple

Fire flick with all the boys 🔥

And the Golden Castle

Zone Conference Osaka Zone

Dog #59 😬😬😬 I'm slowing down...not by choice

Fire okonomiyaki

The guy that took us out