March 6th, 2016: Nagano ---> Ogaki

This week was transfers! I am both excited and sad because I got

called to transfer from Nagano to my new area Ogaki! My new companion

is Elder Montoya, and I am excited to see what kind of adventures we

are going to have in Ogaki! And on the other hand, I don't want to

leave Nagano. This place has become my home, and the branch my family.

So many people here have taken care of me, and there is no way I will

ever be able to fully repay any of them. That is a hard feeling. I

definitely want to one day return to Nagano and see all of the amazing

people here again. But, as of right now I am focused on helping the

people in Ogaki as much as possible.

What happened this week? Let's see this Tuesday was quite the

adventure. We have this member that randomly calls us up to go and

visit people and he happened to

call us Tuesday morning so we went out with him and visited people. We

had some pretty normal visits until we visit this one lady who stopped

coming to church because she converted to a different religion. She is

currently a member of a newly organized religion called "The science

of happiness" or something like that. Simply put, they believe that the

man who founded this religion is the reincarnated God. His name is El

Dorado or El Contaro or something Hispanic (even though he is a

Japanese man who no doubt can't pronounce it correctly). So this lady

is notorious for trying to convert anyone (I mean good for her to have

such strong faith) and she proceeded to tell us most of the history

of her church. Apparently God started out as the very first and oldest

Egyptian God. Then anytime important people showed up across history,

that was him

being reincarnated in various forms. Long story short, there we were,

sitting in this ladies house as she lectured us on history, and all of

the sudden she

asks me about the secrets the US government is hiding in Area 51. I

was so confused.

Apparently the aliens that the US government are currently doing tests on

are interplanetary religious pilgrims who came to hear the teachings

of Mr El Dorado. What? That was my exact thought process. What? That

sounds rather critical but I can't seem to swallow that God is a pudgy

50 year old Japanese scientist. But hey, we might all be wrong because

Putin is apparently a staunch supporter...HAHAHA people here are

absolutely crazy. I love it. 😂

This week our investigator, Miyashita, came back from college in Kofu!

He is graduating this year, and we are way stoked for him! He has a

lot of knowledge about the church and has been reading the Book of

Mormon. He just needs to take a step of faith. It is hard to leave

when he has so much potential, but I know that when God wants, he will

be ready. That is one of the biggest things I have learned here. We do

all we can, but in the end, it is gods timing that is the most

important. An example of this is the Masuda family.

I absolutely adore the Masuda family. They are awesome. They have been

meeting with the the missionaries for a long time, and to be honest,

the only thing keeping hem back from fully accepting the gospel is the

fact that they aren't willing to sacrifice the way they live right

now. We taught them on Friday and it was cool because Baldwin let me

take the reins completely on the lesson. I took it in a different way

than we planned and talked about eternal families. I focused on the

father and asked him if it was something that he wanted. He told me it

was. I then asked him how much it was worth to him, and what he would

do to get it. He told me anything. I testified that it is only through

the gospel of Jesus Christ that we can be together with our loved ones

for eternity. They really liked that message. The younger son, Kyougo,

prayed when we were leaving and asked God to let us not transfer. It

hit me in the heart. I have a lot of hope for them.

Yesterday we finished teaching the AB lessons to Nagumo Shimai. I had

the opportunity to teach all of the AB lessons to her, and being able

to finish right before I left was a good feeling. She has changed so

much since we first met her. She is soooo happy! She smiles and laughs

and is honestly one of the funniest people I have ever met! When we

were teaching about the commandments and the word of wisdom, as a joke

I told her that we couldn't eat Indo Curry and naan (her favorite

food). We had a good laugh, and then the next day she brought it to

our luncheon thing that we had with the members. When she saw me

eating some of her food, she asked how the repenting was going. I

almost died laughing. The gospel has such a powerful effect in our

lives.

This week we got a senior couple in our area! They are way cool! The

guy is quiet, but way funny. He is a nerd! He is way into Star Wars

and whenever we talk about it he gets way excited! The wife is really

nice and a people person. She also speaks faster than anyone I have

ever seen in my entire life! She speaks so fast her lips just vibrate

and words fly out. It's insane! But they seem like they are ready to

work hard, and that has us excited!

Lastly, we went on another double date on Saturday! Haha, we went out

with Naoki and Natsuko again, but this time we went and got ramen! It

was ways good! They both speak really good English so it was fun to

just sit down and talk with them about a bunch of different stuff!

After we finished eating, I decided that I was going to pay for it

because they had always paid for us. So, while everyone was getting

ready, I ran up and threw down a hundy and told the lady working to be

quick. When they saw that I was doing that, both of them rushed over

and started trying to pay. So it turned into me trying to box out

these two Japanese people as the cashier was getting my change. I'm

sure it was quite he scene. Needless to say, I could see the fear in

the cashier's eyes. But of course, in my time of need, Baldwin decided

to take one for the team and watch from a safe distance. I haven't let

him live that down. After I managed to get out of there in one piece,

we drove back to the church where our bikes were. We sat and talked

for a minute or two, and then we told them that we had to go. I shook

Naoki's hand and then turned around to see Natsuko coming towards me

at a 1000 miles an hour looking for a hug. Out of pure ninja reflexes,

I swatted her arms away and backed up. I'm glad it was dark because

she seemed super embarrassed. I felt bad and quickly explained that as

missionaries, we can't hug. I have only ever heard of situations like

that, so when I found myself in one I was very glad that I reacted in

the way that I did. Because to be honest, I love hugs. A lot. And I

could have gotten away with letting it happen and claiming I couldn't

do anything about it. But, the work here in Japan is too important for

that. I need to be as obedient as possible in order to help as many

people as possible. I was proud of myself. Hahaha

Anyways, that's about all that happened this week! I will have a lot

to talk about next week so look forward to that! Thank you all for

everything you've done for me! :)

Love you!

Luke/パシー長老

Naoki and Natsuko