Dear Friends and Family

howdy dowdy everyone. well transfer call came already! Elder loosli got called to go to Koga. Its way too sad. we got along really well. Actually one of my favorite transfers too and it was the fastest six weeks ive had!

My new companion is Elder Chumwangwapee. He is from Thailand and is the first missionary from Thailand in Japan! Kinda funny. Elder Abe (my trainer) was the first Finnish missionary from Finland too haha. now I have a companion who is the first missionary from Thailand.

I am his follow-up trainer and He has been a missionary for a month and a half (right now). Hes a real good guy. He got baptized less than two years ago and sent his mission papers in after nine months he was baptized.
Right now he cant quite speak English or Japanese, my assignment is to help him with the language and just love the crap out of him. Hes real smart too, he;ll get the hang of it. Its my responsibility to help him strengthen his faih and knowledge too. He already knows enough though haha.

 

The mission is giong good. Im learning daily and pulling through

well Im doing good. my health is doing ok right now so there. Im super pumped to be Elder Chum's companion too so ill be alright.

I wonder how all of you are doing?

 

I heard the Utah Jazz just got its death sentence.

coach is out!? Williams is out!?  wow. game over

 

Another sad news. I heard my patriarch Brother Park passed away.

Im sure he is working hard for the lord in the other side of the vail.

 

 he really was called by god. really.  the day i got my patriartical blessing, i was not in a good mood that day. In fact i got into a argument with Mom or Dad that day brfore i have met with him. well, i was not in a good mood at all because of that.

when we got to his house to receive my Patriartical Blessing, he asked me couple of questions. i remember what questions he asked me (About how im doing, how do i enjoy school etc just really regular stuff) he was really nice. smiling and everything. But i was not in a good mood so i i answered his questions just a simple yes or no. you know buaisou ni (translate that).

but his patriartical blessing. his revelation of me was perfect. he knew things about me that was impossible for anyone else to know, other than heavenly father of cource. and the spirit was there. Much of the patricartical blessings have been fufilled . I have personally seen the miracles and prophesies being fufilled.

 

This church is true. Look into it more carefully, study it. Even for people that are second or third Generation members of the church, should study it more carefully. This church weighs all on the Book of Mormon. If it is true, Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet in this last dispensation, and the comforting message of the plan of salvation is true and the priesthood is restored and we now know the purpose of life and what we need to do to go back to our heavenly father in the celestial kingdom.

it all comes down to the book of Mormon.

 

i know the Book of mormon is true. I know everyone in this world can know it to be true too. and everyone can come closer to got by reading it.

so test it, experiment it. act on it. god will answer the truth if you really show him that you want it.

 

alright. got  to go! see ya!

 

write me----!

 

Elder young

Dear family and friends

Greetings from the swamps of Saitama prefecture! hows it going people? The land of samurai has been good! the whether is starting to warm up, the spring is almost here and the cheery blossom season is coming close. in front of our apartment there is a river giong across the road and on each side of the river there is a line of cherry blossom trees. I hear its really beautiful when it blooms. imagine that! relatively warm day, a cool wind, your just standing there by the river under the tree just reflecting on life and what you did during the mission to change peoples lives. ohhh yeah baby! maybe throw in some memories of pre-mission!? those endless days where i played video games with mitch or the days of doing exciting fun things with Ethan and Andre and Jon and Justin.

yeah.... definately throw those in there.

my companion elder loosli says im way too quite. Actually he just doesnt stop talking haha. I just like to think everynow and then hahaha. cant think and reflect on things and talk about how handsome Elder Loosli is at the same time! I love the guy dont get me wrong. he and i will be laughing at this when we read this after the mission.

 

well this transfer has gone way fast. light speed. cant believe its already the last week. it was crazy fast. I been a missionary for more than 7 months too. the months are adding up fast! well time goes fast i guess. hmmm yeah unless i see the planner or my journal i just cant remember what i have been doing this past  two weeks.

nothing too much to write this week. i actually got to go so this was just like a fast and short mail thing.

alrighty love you everyone. write me sometime.

 

see yaaaa

Dear Friends and Family.

Hey everyone.
Well my birthday was yesterday.... Weird. we didnt do anything special to celebrate. oh yeah i dont think ive told you about my new companion. His name is Elder Chadwick Loosli. he is from Utah and lived in Orem. went to Timpview High school. He is one of the most sarcastic fello I have ever encountered in my life. funny dude. We get along just fine and he is super genki.
So my Birthday, yeeeah nothing special actually. by the end of the day i forgot it was my birthday anyway hahaha. i was dead tired so.
so this past couple of weeks has been super hard on me actually. I dont know whats up, but it sure feels like the symptoms of Epstein barr is showing again haha. so this past couple of weeks has been super hard. The number one thing that bugs me about is I cant think clearly... hmmmm yeah theres just nothing i can do about this. i feel bad for elder Loosli because i feel like im holding him back. he doesnt think that at all(since he definitely knows im not feeling normal haha) but it definitely bugs me because i feel like its holding me back from doing all that i can do.
So yeah thats been a killer.

well let me tell you how it has been here. The ward is super great. unlike last week, I got to greet and remember a lot of peoples names and faces so that's good. 
oh man... i dont remember what i did this week..
According to my planner, i did a lot of stuff haha
oh yeah so let me share with you one particular day that i had last week. it was January 28th, Friday. We had a 3 Zone conference here in Urawa. Elder Loosli and I walked into the church, said hey to fellow missionaries and etc. then I see Elder Seinsburry (From Payson Utah) (AP right now) and hes just staring at me with his big smile on his face! I instantly knew he was going to ask me to translate during the training, so without him even asking me I was like ; Alright sure+ At the same time I realized my MTC companion Elder Andrus(also fluent in both and last time we switched in the morning and in the afternoon) was not here! he obviously transferred out of these zones and I did not see any other missionaries who can do translation. *Dang* i thought. I was feeling super exhausted as it is because of, or most likely because of the symptoms of Epstein barr. I translated for about 4 to 5 hours with a lunch break in the middle. After the 3 zone conference was over, i was just beat! like I really ran out of energy and all of my will power. so it was all over and i hear this announcement. * everyone go to the first rooms you went to with your zones and have a zone meeting of your own there.*. Shoot. another hour or so of translating. Funny thing, I was half out of conscious so i didnt even translate half of it... i think... i actually dont really remember too much hahaha. I do remember this though. when i was trying to put my focus in and translate, i couldn't... I just couldn't translate i was too exhausted. This is the cool part though. at one point i started to translate very accurately word by word with the same pace as the speaker was speaking. I definately felt the gift of tongues which was bestowed on me when i was set apart as a missionary. I could just kinda feel the spirit guiding me...kinda hard to explain. But it definitely was a cool feel. 
After the whole Zone Conference and saying our farewell to president and sister Albrecht and other missionaries, Elder Williams (Sandy Utah) asked me if Ive received a blessing yet. I answered him * Ummmmm i dont think so?* so we decided that to give me a blessing haha. 
We went into a separate room and Elder Williams did the annointing, and as elder williams, loosli, cambel laid their hands upon my head, I felt the spirit welling up inside me stronger than i have ever felt before.  
 What a powerful manifestation of the power of the priesthood and the gifts which heavenly father has made available for us today. 

Well i got to go.

I know the power of the priesthood is real and for that i know this church is true.

seeya

write me when you have time eh? i want to hear from everyone

love 
Elder Young

6 months!

Dear Friends and Family.

 

HeyEveryone.　

Its been six months ever since i left on my mission. Well I transfered out of Mito! and now I am in Saitama ken Kawagoe.

Onto the swamps of Saitama!

Well a lot happened this last week and i dont know what to start out with.

there was a baptism for one of my investigators the last day i was in Mito! so that was awesome. Her name is Gi san, she is 20, chinese, halarious. Im really happy that she accepted the gospel and was baptized into the church. her parents in china are against her joining the church so it was indeed a big step for her.

let me tell you a little story about how she got to know the missionaries and how she accepted the baptismal invitation and her baptism.

I first met her in a lunch gathering at sister chens house (at the time she was not yet baptized) and there I met gi san. her friends counted total in four (including her) and all of them coulndnt quite speak japanese! or english! so most of the time elder Abe and I were just purely confused in what they were talking about. But the first encounter in that lunch gathering was very fun.

She seldom participated in lessons that we were giving to sister chen and came to church with her every now and then. I could tell she was feeling something... she was attentive and even though she coulndt really understand japanese, she was always asking questions. Thank goodness for brother matsuyama who could speak chinese.

I did have hope for her because as i said she was very attentive and raising her hands for questions and clarification. As Elder richard G Scott taught, raising your hand is an indication to the holy ghost you are prepared to learn.

now time has moved on, sister chen was baptize and we dicided to focus teaching her other friends more. the discussions went well, she was doing all the commitments we were extending.Elder Abe and i felt that we should extend her a baptismal invitation. she accepted and we had a date on 12/19/2010.

we had more discussions and the date approached, however, she was still 19 and she needed to get permission from her parents in china. making a long story short, she couldnt get the permission from her parents and now was uncertain to be baptized even if she turned 20. who could blame her? she did express her support and love from family and friends are very important for her.

christmas came and newyears came. by then Elder Abe has already returned to his home country Finland and i was with my new companion Elder Lewis. for about 15 days we seldom had contacts with her. But we encouraged her, helped her, and taught her. 

Finally passing the christmas newyear after newyear party fever, we had an appointment to teach her. I was very excited for this meeting and have been thinking about what subject to teach her.

Back around christmas, I made a solem determination to make myself more a consecrated missionary in order to be more effective missionary to the lord. Because of that, I feel that i have been more sensitive to recongnizing promptings of the spirit.

The day of teaching gi san, in the morning and as i was taking a shower, I had the impression to teach her about Joseph Smith.

In our personal study time and our companion study time and our language study time we prepared the lesson for gi san and we were ready to teach her.

We had a joint, takeda shimai, and sister chen, and her other friend chuo san come to the discussion.

we began the discussion and taught her about joseph smith (we have taught her about joseph smith long ago, but she was not quite yet investigating the church yet, so we re-taught her)

the lesson went well, now it was out time to bare our testimony about Joseph Smith. My companion first bore his testimony, then sister takeda bore her testimony. After her testimony i was going to bare my testimony, the following experience was one of the most profound moments in my mission, or even my life.

The spirit was already there for the sincere testimonies that Elder Lewis and Sister Takeda made, and I gave the strongest spiritfilled testimony that i have never bore in my life. Once I said `I know Joseph Smith was a Prophet` I felt a burning within me, and i knew that the holy ghost was testifying to me that what just came out of my lips were true. And i knew the spirit was testifying to Gi san too. Then I extended a invitation to be baptized.

she looked at me for a little bit and then turned to sister chen and chuo san and started speaking in chinese for a sec. her friend chuo san actually encouraged her to accept it too haha.

after a little chat amongst them, gi san turned to me and said ` I want to` I said great. Then I added `will you be baptized next sunday?`(which was about 9 days later) she was suprised of how soon it was, but she accepted to be baptized the following week and how greatfully, she was baptized and confirmed the following week at church. The last day I was in Mito.

 

I think about this and Had i not put forth my self to be more consecrated and move forward with faith, I dont know if this would have happend. As I briefly said, this whole lesson was based off of promptings and impressions that we received.

 

what a profound experience it was for me to bare a testimony like the one I gave, and to know that I know joseph smith restored the gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

I left Mito now, and i am in a new area now. I hope to be more obedient and continue to keep a humble heart, and qualify for the companionship of the holy ghost and be an effective servant of the lord.

 

well i got to go.

Love you all.

a short message

Dear Family and friends.
My forth transfer is almost over. It’s gone really fast again! Goodness.
It’s already mid January and I’m almost 20... Shoot.
Don’t have too much time to write this week, but a short message.
Lately in my life there have been passings of people close in my life.
It seems people I know and dear to me are dying every single week
nowadays, including my grandmother. In back home Utah I express my
love and condolences to the Long family. While I mourn for those that
have passed away, at the same time I rejoice for the plan of
salvation. Especially knowing that I know the Plan of Salvation to be
true, brings good comfort and allows me to move forward with faith.
 On another topic, I’m doing well here in Japan. I’m pretty sure I’ll
be going to some other area next transfer. It’s been almost 6 months
in mito!!
This Sunday there may be one, maybe two baptisms this Sunday. Gi san
and rie chan.
Alrighty got to go, see ya

Elder Young