February 1st, 2016: He is Always There

This week has been crazy! We have been super busy, and I have learned

so much this week. This email is probably going to be small... I don't

have a ton of time today. Sorry!

The first thing I learned was that I know absolutely no Portuguese.

Haha, why is that relevant? Good question! This week we received a new

member family (they got baptized about two weeks ago) who moved to

Nagano! They live about an hour away, which makes it a little

difficult. They're name is the Dias family, and I already love them.

We went with some members yesterday and visited them! It is a mom,

dad, and a daughter. The mom speaks pretty good Japanese, which was a

life saver. She sort of translated for her husband and daughter. But,

it is our task to teach them the after baptism lessons... And we can't

do it in English or Japanese... So we're learning Portuguese! Hahaha,

I am so excited to try and help teach this family in another language!

If anyone knows Portuguese and has some study material/advice, we

would greatly appreciate it! We don't have a lot of study material, so

it is difficult. We are going into it with faith that if we try our

hardest, God will fill in the rest. It was cool to see just how much

Japanese I already know. I have such a strong testimony now that we as

missionaries are called to speak in a specific language, and God helps

us learn and speak it. I'm just hoping he will make an exception for

us! HAHAHAHA 😂

Yesterday, my trainer and I had a very... Existential... Experience.

One of our recent converts, Okada kyōdai, has gotten sick. Really

sick. But he isn't able to go and see a doctor. He lives with his

mother usually, but she has been gone for a little bit, so he has been

completely alone. We gave him a priesthood blessing earlier yesterday,

but Baldwin decided that we should bake him something. We made him a

chocolate black thunder cake! I was actually really impressed with how

well it turned out! Men can cook! Haha, and we decided that we would

bring him the cake and a loaf of bread that some members had given us,

and go and doorbell ditch him. We prepared it all, wrote him a note,

and then went over to his house. We set all of the stuff on his porch,

rang the doorbell, and then ran off and hid. He opened the door and

saw the cake. He looked very weak and sick. He read the note, and then

looked up and out into the dark where we were hiding. In-between

gasps, he yelled out, "Thank you! Pashy and Baldwin! Thank you very

much!" Baldwin looked to me and I told him to be quiet. We didn't

write our names on the note, but Okada knew who it was from. If we

would have answered, it would have ruined the purpose of what we were

doing. While we were sitting there, I had a thought. That is like our

relationship with God. God blesses us all the time with cakes and

bread and other things that we need, metaphorically speaking. They

randomly show up on the porch steps of our lives. We know who it's

from, and in our prayers we desperately yell out our thanks into the

darkness. And He always hears us. But if He were to answer, it would

ruin the whole purpose of us being here. It was a unique feeling. We

rode home in silence, and all the while I was yelling out my thanks

into the darkness. I PROMISE you that He is there, and He is earnestly

listening. Just like we did, He delights in blessing you. Open your

door, and see the blessings on your porch.

That experience hit me really deeply. I hope that you all can find

chances to serve others. There is no greater feeling than helping

those in need. It is our job and duty to help others at every

opportunity.

I love you guys so much! Thank you for everything!

Love,

Luke/パシー長老