November 20, 2010

Hi Everyone

OK! Cool miracle! We have an investigator getting prepared for baptism on December 18th. He came to Church for the second time yesterday, and we set a date. He is so golden! he is 19, working, and wanting to go to America for School. He came to English class this last week, and met Yogo, a 17 year old member. They really hit it off. So here is what I'm thinking. If Yogo were to baptize him, they would be eternal friends, Yogo would remember it the rest of his life, his desire to serve a mission would sky rocket, Yamaguchi (the investigator) would be baptized, and we would all be on the road to Eternal Life! There would be no better way to end my mission then to see this 19 year old get baptized. He would serve a mission too, and help numbers of people. If I can ask one thing of all of you. Please don't pray for me anymore. I'm not important right now. Forget about me. Please pray that Yamaguchi will develop the faith to be baptized on December 18th. Please remember him in your prayers.

Love you all so much, thank you for your love and support!

Elder Stewart

October 4, 2011

Hello Everyone

Okay so the last week has been way good! I got my new Bean! His name is Elder Gregory. He is from Seattle Washington. He is 19 years old, went to BYU Hawaii before the mission. Hes a stud and is shorter than me, so we get along really well! He is obviously a really young missionary, but he is a really hard worker.

Yesterday we had a all Mission Conference, so it was really cool to see everyone from the mission again. Also because it was my last one, I gave my farewell testimony to the entire mission. That was scary. One of the other missionaries gave a really good testimony and I wanted to share something from that. This missionary is one who is really shy, always alone, never really had that outgoing personality. Always thought of as a failure, and just ignored sometimes. His entire mission has been like that. He was my Senpai in the MTC, and I was in the same district as him in Ushiku. He talked about his entire life hes had people tell him he can't do things. Hes not good enough. He came on his mission and learned one important thing. That is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I tell you listening to him speak was just a tearjerker. It really felt like he new his savior. It made me realize how much i still don't know nor recognize the savior enough. He said something interesting though. It was this.

To say you can't do anything is to deny the power of the Atonement.

It was a really humbling experience. So many times of my mission i have said, I can't do it. I can't. Its too hard for me. I did not use the power of the Atonement enough. That is the miracle of the atonement. It does the things we can't do. Again, I can't express the things i felt when i heard him speak. A simple awkward, shy, untalented, uneducated man who knew his savior and was pouring out his soul to us. I realized that no money, talent, education, or any worldly possession could come close to the simple knowledge of ones savior.

I know this work to be true, and I commit to work harder to know my personal savior. That is what will bless us more than anything else. Thanks for all your love and support. I love you all.

Elder Stewart

September 24, 2011

Hello everyone!

Well the typhoon was a little bit of a scare, but its something The Japanese are kind of used to. About every year they get a typhoon. The sad thing though is that some people died in this last typhoon. It had some really strong winds in some areas, and really heavy rain. But everything is back to normal now. Also yes, Japanese are really good at recovering after something happens. After the earthquake and tsunami, everyone was really good to preserve energy/water etc. I was way impressed.

Well I didn't get transferred, but my companion did! So for the last 5 transfers I've been Zone leader here, but now I'm not that anymore, and for my last two transfers I get to train again! A lot in my group when I came to Japan are training as well. We've all got 2 left, so were getting a bean for the last two. I'm so excited! It going to be way fun. I'm a little bit nervous, but more confident than I was last time i trained. I'm excited to dendo with a new missionary, and help him get going on his mission right as I go home. A perfect little exchange there right. Ha ha. Another interesting thing, they have a new training program for new missionaries. For their first two transfers, companionship study is going to last 2 hours! There is a variety of training exercises and things to do during those two hours. President is also having everyone in the mission do it. So we all are having 2 hour companionship study. It should help us all become better teachers, and more effective missionaries. I'm excited for it.

Well we had a couple of cool miracles this past week. Last Sunday we found these two people and set up appointments to go and visit them. One of them is name Imai Takashi. We taught him lesson 1, and shared that he can know these things are true. He felt some pressure, so afterwards he sent us an email saying that he has his beliefs and he doesn't think he can believe in the Book of Mormon. He asked us not to come back, and to delete all of his information. We replied saying that we understand he has his religion. We just want to share ours, and its okay if he doesn't believe it. He said that is okay, and we kept our appointment to visit on Thursday. So we went over, and taught him the Plan of Salvation. So when I teach I always use scriptures. But with him, we used more than I've ever used! He was really good with the scriptures, and liked having them so we wanted to use them more. We read a lot of scriptures, and taught the plan of Salvation. When we were talking about the Celestial Kingdom, he pointed to it and said, I want to go there! He told us that his mother had passed away some years ago, and he would really love to see his mom again. Previous to this we explained that missionary work is going on in the spirit world. I mentioned that I think his mother was studying there as he is studying here. I told him about my Grandpa who passed away, and how i feel like he could be in the spirit world teaching, possibly even to his mother! He laughed and thought that would be cool if our deceased relatives were talking like we were talking then. Ha ha. After that lesson though he mood completely changed. He said he wanted to believe the message, and he said he thinks he can. After that he came to Saturday Eikaiwa, then after Eikaiwa we had a lesson. In that lesson we said we wanted to share how we can receive eternal life. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he understood really well. Again, we used a lot of scriptures. We asked how his faith was, and he said right now from 1 to 100 is about 20. When we met it was at 0. Also if he gets to 70 or 80, he wants to get baptized! So we set a date to work towards. He is really a kinjin. (Golden Investigator) He only has a couple of problems to overcome, but we feel like he can do it.

We also have this new couple investigator who are way cool! They are both Protestant, and way cool. The wife speaks fluent English. The husband doesn't, but at the Eikaiwa he explained that he wants to improve his English so he can preach the Gospel, because that is what Jesus has commanded all men to do. I couldn't believe it! He wants to preach the gospel. The two of them though say they go to the Protestant Church, but they don't really believe it. They just go because its to worship God. They ask a lot of questions though. We've been talking a lot through email. They asked what the difference is between the Mormon Church and the Protestant Church. We were able to send videos from lds.org, and a lot of other stuff. The two of them are really like those people who are hidden from the truth, because they know not where to find it. Once i get my new bean, we are planning on visiting them hopefully Thursday night, and talk with them about it. We haven't had a chance to talk about it yet slowly. I'm looking forward to that.

Well again things are going great. I'm excited for these next two transfers. Just ready to see a lot of miracles with him. That is what I'm hoping for, and that is what we're going to work for. Love you all!

Elder Stewart

Septembwr 18, 2011

Ohayou Gozaimasu!

Today is a really beautiful day here in Takasaki! Things are going great here. Its week six of the transfer, and the tension of transfer calls is starting to build up! Ha ha. We'll be getting the call on Friday night, saying whether or not someone is transferring, then Saturday morning we get the call of who is going where, and what is happening. This last week here has been way fun! On Thursday we went to Oyama and dendoed(missionary work) with the missionaries there. The two missionaries there is Elder Petersen, (my dendo son) who is training Elder Kinjo (My dendo son's dendo son, therefore, my dendo grandson). It was so much fun. Kinjo is a really really good missionary, and I learned a lot from him. Pretty humbling, him being a transfer 1, and me being 13. Ha ha. It was way good though. So he is my dendo grandson, which is really rare. Rarely do you see your son train in the mission field, so its pretty cool.

Yesterday we saw a really cool miracle! We got our 75 year old Investigator, Ishida, so say he would come to Church. Hes been having back problems, so we were a little worried. Its his first time, which is always the hardest. Anyways, he called before church, and said because of the medicine he was taking for his back, he was getting really itchy. He said coming to Church would be hard. I explained how Satan is doing everything to keep him from coming to Church, and that if he were to come to Church, the itch would go away. He said okay, and still came. So we were sitting there, he took the sacrament, and right after he took it, he turned to me and said that his itch was gone. Also that his back didn't ache. He said he knew it was God that helped him. After sacrament meeting we shared 1 Nephi 3:7 and said that God will always provide a way. We have a baptismal date set for him, and I promised him that Satan is going to try and keep him from getting baptized, but if he relies on the Lord, and trusts that he will prepare the path, then just like yesterday, the 'itch' will go away, and we'll be able to feel God's Peace and Love. It was a way cool testimony builder. He has way strong faith.

Things are going well though! Yesterday after Church we went housing, and saw the most success I've seen doing housing (Except for maybe this Chinese Apartment in Kiryu). By-the-way this is pretty good in Japan. We were invited in to someone's apartment, (I can count on one hand the number of times someone has invited me in to share a message), then talked with this 19 year old, who had interest, and said his family does to, so we got an appointment to come back on Thursday and meet his family, then we found a couple of PIs who might come to English Class. Then we were about to head home because it was getting late, but decided to do one more building. The last door we knocked on was a less active, who had been wanting to contact the church, but didn't really know how. That was a big miracle. It was way cool to see the Lord guide and direct us.

Thanks for everything you all do! I'm eternally grateful for you love and friendship.

Elder Stewart

Takasaki!

September 4, 2011

Hello!!

So this last week we had a couple of cool experiences. The sisters here have teaching this 8 year old girl. Her mom and siblings are members, but she hasn't been baptized yet. They thought she was 9, started teaching her, found out she was 8, but kept preparing her for baptism. So she had a date for yesterday, and Ken Kyodai was going to baptize her. (Her father is not a member) However Ken is leaving on his mission, so he had somethings to do, and I got asked to baptize her. I've never officially talked to her before, so it was a little weird, but it was way good! It made me so happy! I love baptizng little kids!! Just like Haruki and Julia. It was the best.

Today we saw a cool miracle. We were heading to Kiryu to give the missionaries there something, but we missed our train, so we decided to do a little streeting and tracting around the Eki. Right when we left the Eki we ran into Ishida! Hes our 75 year old investigator who is moving to Takasaki. He is in Yokohama now, and moved here a week or two ago, but got sick, went to the hospital and then went back to Yokohama to recover. So hes in Yokohama now, but in order to move, he came here to prepare. The chances of us running into him are very slim. We gave him a book of Mormon, talked more about baptism, set a date to work towards, and taught the Word of Wisdom. He smokes, but knows its bad, and said he can stop. He is really one of the elect who are ready to hear and accept the word of God. Once he comes to Church he is going to be fellowshipped so well! This ward is full of Older guys, so its perfect! But he is doing well now again. He'll be moving back to Takasaki soon, but until then we are going to send him scriptures to read.

Again things are going well. This week we are really wanting to find some new investigators. I have a goal for what I want to accomplish in my short time left, and I really want to see it happen.

Thanks for all your love and support. I love you!!

Elder Stewart

August 29, 2011

Hello Everyone

So it has been a pretty good week. We saw some cool success with the computers. In Shonan I had this investigator named Yamaguchi. He almost got baptized a couple of times, but it never happened. Well he isn't doing so well right no, and really needs stronger faith. So even though I'm here in Takasaki, we have been reading the Book of Mormon together, and talking about it through mail. Every morning I read the chapter for the day, and send him an e-mail with some questions to think about as he reads it. Its been going really well. He has been learning and having a spiritual experience every day, and is really helping him to progress.

This week we also got invited to eat at a members house on Wednesday. That was cool! Haha.

This past week my love for Japan has improved immensely. On Saturday we went to a Matsuri, and it was really really cool. Also lately I've been feeling more and more comfortable speaking in Japanese. Its fun again to learn and Study Japanese. Earlier on in my mission I loved studying Japanese, but I kind of lost it a little, but the past week or two has been great. Its going to be so hard to leave this country. I love it here. Right now, I would say i love it over America, but maybe that is just because I haven't experienced America in over a year and a half. Haha. Last transfer here in Takasaki, I was having a hard time getting in to the Ward here. It just felt weird. It didn't feel like I was a part of this ward. But now, I feel really comfortable at this ward. I love the members. Things are really looking up right now. We just need to find some more investigators, and keep working with our current investigators. Negishi lost his baptismal date, but he is still progressing. This last week we had a REALLY good lesson, and were stressing the Book of Mormon more than ever, and hopefully he starts reading it more.

Well Love you guys!!

Elder Stewart