Hard work

July 25, 2016

My dear family and friends,

This week has been an adventure. I have learned a lot, experienced a
lot, and grown a lot. I am so grateful for the mission, because I am
always growing so much. I know that the growth that I am experiencing
now will bless me for the rest of my life. I feel so blessed to be
here at a time when a the blessings of a temple will be received. I
can not wait to do ordinances in this temple.

This week on Tuesday we had exchanges here in Suehiro, and I was with
Yabutani choro. Yabutani choro and I are good friends and have been
together for a long time. Him and I entered the mission at the same
time, and have been in the same district for the last three transfers,
and this was our this split. I met him in the MTC, and our district in
the MTC immediately became really good friends with him, so I have
loved him from the beginning. It was awesome to work with him again,
and I wanted work really hard, and teach as many people as we could.
We set a goal to teach 5 lessons, which is typically pretty high for
our area, and Yabutani choro wasn't sure we could do it, but we set
the goal. On that day we ended up being able to teach 6 lessons! I
gave away a Book of Mormon, a lesson 1, 2, and 3 pamphlet, and then we
gave out a bunch of flyers and stuff. It is amazing how goals really
push you to do more, and really motivate me to work hard. The days
where I am not actively trying to meet a goal, are the days where I am
not very motivated. That day we saw many miracles, and it was full of
some of the happiest moments that I have had on my mission, and yet I
was working the hardest! Hard work is something that we fear, but it
is the only way to find true joy. Do not fear hard work! That applies
to everything, not just missionary work! (We also had an enjoyable
biking experience, that I will include from my journal

"Bike story:
...on the way down, first off we have the amazing hill coming off of
Shunkyodai, but this side, that we don't go down as often, is even
steeper, so that is awesome. After that sick hill, we cut across, and
I wanted to shoot through that single track trial that I had hiked up,
with Whitmer and Deppui choro. That trail was way fun, but what I had
forgot about was at the very end of the trail are three steps that are
spread out by about 5 feet, and grass has grown all over them.
Basically yabai. So we were flying down this trial and when I saw
these steps I just kind of braced myself, leaned back and hit them,
and was able to clear/kind of jump off of each one, so that I landed
on both wheels at the same time. After I make it through and onto the
rode, I look back, and see Yabutani choro just as he starts to hit the
steps. (He had even less of an idea that they were there than I did.)
I look back, and just see him bounce wildly from step to step, and
barely kept control. It was scary, but once I made sure he was okay,
it was a really funny image. I think that his heart rate got up like
crazy, and he thought he was going to die. It was so fun."



We also went to wakkanai this week!! It was such an awesome
experience! Wakkanai is at the very top of Japan. I saw Russia!! It
looked sort of like a horizon of clouds across the ocean in the
distance, but it is apparently Russia! It was really cool! It was so
pretty! It is so green there, and there are so many different flowers.
I am sorry, but because of our district activity today, my email time
was cut/it was not very effective..:/

I love you all and I know that this church is true. I know that Christ
loves you and me, and that because of Christ we can be forgiven for
our sins. I am so grateful for the Sacrament. I gave a talk yesterday
in church about family history. I am so grateful for my family
history. I was happy to be able to talk more, and really be able to
give a talk where I could mostly say what I wanted to say. The bishop
here was really nice, and got up and told the ward how far my Japanese
has come, from the beginning, when I "couldn't speak." Haha it was
funny, and really nice. He is so nice. Thanks to him my bike is
working great!