mission stories || by elder young

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