Miracles

February 29, 2016

Boat Guys

These boats are way cool!

These are huge boats.  I love them!!!

The guy who owns the boats with two happy missionaries!
 Too bad he lives in Kobe, I would love to teach him.
Elders in Kobe, here is a golden opportunity!!!

The boat in action going so fast on the Edo river.

Another wonderful p-day lunch!

Meet the Shiyoji family!!!
 I love this family so much.

Hello friends and family!  How are you all doing?  I just want to say

thank you for all your love and support but mostly this week I am so

grateful for your prayers. This week I had an amazing miracle happen.

I found a man who has interest in the Gospel!  I am not just talking

about a little interest, I am talking about lots of interest!!!

Friday morning Elder Chou and I finished our weekly planning.  When we

did our companionship inventory, we made some really good goals.  This

week we wanted to work towards being a more obedient and consecrated

companionship.  We set some goals to talk to everyone, be on time, and

work our hardest.  I think this is what the lord needed us to do

because Friday was an amazing miracle day.  We left the apartment with

the mind set to talk to everyone.  We were talking to every guy that

we could see but none of them had interest.  It was so frustrating but

we kept going.  Some people were interested in only a restoration

pamphlet or an eikaiwa pamphlet but none of them seemed super

interested.  Well after about 45 minutes to an hour of finding, we

found ourselves going down this road that had no one on it.  I had no

idea where we were going.  Up ahead we saw this one guy walking by

himself.  We treated him just like every other person.  We introduced

ourselves and what we were doing.  He introduced himself as well and

told us his name was Umehara. We talked a bit about families and who

God is, we then asked him if he had more interest and if he wanted to

learn more.  He said he had time now and he wanted to learn more.

Well on the side of the road and right next to a construction company

was pretty loud so we went up the street to a nearby Family Mart.  We

sat down at a small table that was hidden in the corner and began

teaching.  We taught him the whole restoration lesson and then even

some of the plan of salvation.  He just had so many questions and we

tried to answer them all.  All of his questions were directed straight

to the Gospel and we were able to answer them with the Book of Mormon.

It was amazing!  At the end of the lesson we taught him how to pray

and he said the closing prayer for us.  It was so awesome.  Granted it

wasn't the best place to have a lesson but you have to do what you

have to do when you have no other choices.  At the end of the prayer

we asked him if we could meet again and he gave us his phone number

and address and he said he will come to church on Sunday!  It was the

coolest miracle ever!  But that isn't the best part.  The coolest part

of this story was a story that he shared with us.  He said, "When I

was 14 years old I lived in Hong Kong.  (He is Japanese by the way, he

also speaks a bit of English).  When I was living there, I met one of

your brethren and they taught me about families.  I loved learning

about it but for some reason we stopped meeting.  Well, I think God

sent you to me today to finish teaching me.  I think God wants me to

listen to you."  It was so cool!  He said he had been meeting with

other religions but all of them seemed to have a "piece" of the truth

but not all of it.  I was overly ecstatic to be talking with this man.

Uehara is going to be an amazing investigator.  I pray every night

that he will come to church this Sunday and that we will be able to

teach him the next lesson and show him around our church.  I think he

has a lot of potential and I think the spirit has really touched his

heart and softened it for us.  Uehara is an answer to my prayers! :)

Uehara San is a way cool miracle!   To make things even cooler, he

came to Stake Conference this week!  The chapel was packed.  People

had to go to the 5th floor to watch it from a projector, kind of like

how we do it at our stake conferences.  But luckily after talking to

some members, we were able to get four seats for us to sit next to

each other.  The Stake conference went really well.  There were a lot

of speakers though.  Also, when you dont understand things, it is

really hard to stay awake but because Umehara was there, I tried my

very hardest to understand what was being talked about.  They mostly

talked about the area plan for Japan and baptism.  So that was really

good.  President Nagano came and gave a talk that was really good!

After Stake Conference I took Umehara up to meet President Nagano.

That was also really cool.  After they introduced themselves I asked

him if he had any questions for President Nagano and he talked to him

about the Holy Ghost and things like that.  Like, how do we understand

promptings and how can we tell when we feel the Holy Ghost.  It were

way good questions for someone we just found the other day!  I am glad

he asked President Nagano those questions and not me because I have no

idea how to answer those questions in Japanese.  But President Nagano

did a very good job of talking with him and teaching him.  At the end

of the conversation President Nagano invited Umehara to come to our

zone conference this week.  Umehara speaks a little bit of English so

it would be a good chance for him to learn about the church and also

practice his English.  I was so surprised, he said he would come!!!  I

am so excited  to see him there.  After we were done talking with

President Nagano we went upstairs and had a lesson with him.  Brother

Masuda was there with us.  Man I would be sunk without these Japanese

people to help me teach! haha  But we talked about Stake Conference,

Jesus Christ, the Atonement, the Book of Mormon and the Plan of

Salvation.  We covered a lot of topics but I think it really helped

him and he said he was enjoying the Book of Mormon.  He had a lot of

good questions about it  so that is good.  I honestly think that he is

the investigator I have been looking for.  He shows so much interest

in learning about the Gospel.

I am so grateful for him and I am even more grateful for all the

prayers that I get from all of you.  Thank you for them and please

continue to pray for my investigators.  I am looking forward to

another week of missionary work.  I hope this week I will be able to

meet with Umehara a lot and teach him more about the Plan of Salvation

and also about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This week was amazing and

I am so excited for one more week! :)

I hope you all are having a wonderful time.  I love hearing from you,

it sounds like everything back home and everywhere else in the world

is doing just great.  I just want you all to know that I love you and

pray for you always.  You all mean so much to me and  you have touched

my heart one way or another.  I have learned so much about the love

that our Heavenly Father has for us and I am excited to be able to

share that love with others.  Some people it is their first time

feeling that love and to see their eyes light is amazing.  I am so

blessed to be in Japan, the people here are great and there are so

many opportunities to share the Gospel.  I love my mission so much!  I

also love you all just as much.  Keep working hard and enjoying life.

Also don't forget to look for the little things in life.  Heavenly

Father blesses you with little things all the time, you just need to

look for them.  I love you!!!  Take care and have a great week.  Until

next week,

Elder Unsworth😊🇯🇵