A Miracle in Koga

An amendment: 
So remember the 80 something year old Kaneta? Probs not but he was
struggling going to pray because he didn't feel worthy and stuff
because he wasn't going to church because he physically can't and the
biggest thing was tithing! He gets money from the government and so he
felt bad not paying because he couldn't. We found out that you
actually don't have to pay tithing on government support so we went
over and told him about it! Holy cow! The spirit was so strong in
there! For 20 years he has been holding the burden and not praying
because he felt not worthy! You could see the light he radiated after
that lesson. It was the coolest thing to watch and be able to tell
him! 20 years! That's my whole life! Could you imagine! He is old and
he said that he's going to die soon but knowing he can die in peace
and talk to God now brings him so much happiness!  I am so happy we
got to deliver that news to him!

Regular email:

Well... I just wrote a huge email and it definitely just erased so
that was sad... So here's a little bit about my week I guess...

We have a 16 year old in our ward named kazuki and he comes and works
out with us in the morning. He is so cool! He is preparing for a
mission and it's so cool to see! After we work out we share with him a
scripture and kinda talk about it. This week we asked him if he prays
and reads everyday. He told us he prays but he doesn't read much cuz
he doesn't have time and such. I told him about what we did in our
youth program called PRO which stands for pray read and obey. I told
him if we do these simple things we can be PRO! I made him the SICKEST
card that says be pro everyday and then I wrote it in Japanese and on
the inside it had some of my favorite scriptures. I told him to use it
as much as he can and start reading because it was hard for me until
my friends shared with me their favorite scriptures then it got
personal and way better for me!

We met a Pakastanian guy last week named Abrar he said he came here
and is working in a junkyard and he lives by the junk yard. We went to
the address he sent us and it was deff not by the junk yard... It was
IN THE JUNKYARD! He has a little cubical that he lives in and he loves
it. He said he isn't happy though because in Pakistan he had family
and no money. But here he has money but no family. He felt like he was
rich here. It really made me realize how blessed I really am and how
much I have been blessed. Also that things are just things and what
really matters are people! I also thought of my friends who are on
missions in 3rd world countries and how they are teaching in the same
type of places. It is so cool this crazy huge army of Helaman I am in
with all my friends it definitely lifts me up!

This week I have been doing a lot better! Me and my companion are
getting along better. Mostly because I was just quiet when he was
annoying and now I just voice my opinions and we just laugh about how
weird he is and I tell him Everytime something bugs me. Usually he
just keeps doing it but it's helped talking about it. It made me
realize more fully how to deal with people. We are seeing a lot of
success and both growing a lot. He still drives me nuts but we are
having a good time!

This week I got thinking about how we have good days and bad days.
I've had some of the best and worst days recently and it kind of just
got frustrating not feeling like it's improving but I'll have a great
day and an awful day... I thought of a roller coaster.. A roller
coaster would be boring it it just went straight up or the same. There
would be no point an nothing exciting about it, The most exciting part
is the up and down and the twists and turns. That is a lot like life.
If everything was good and going ok it wouldn't be exciting and we
wouldn't be able to appreciate the good if we didn't experience the
bad. So enjoy the ups and downs because it's all apart of this crazy
ride we call life. That was random... What I planned to talk about got
deleted so...

Challenge of the week!
Enjoy the ride! Sometimes we get annoyed of old people who drive slow.
They drive slow because well... They are old but also they are
enjoying the ride. Enjoy the slow and fast and up and downs and twists
and turns because that is what life is all about. Don't be so focused
on the last plunge (like splash mountain) that you don't enjoy the
other part of the ride. I don't know what I'm saying but you know just
chill and ENJOY!

Tweets of the Week!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY SIENNA!!!!!!!!!

Someone please tell me or send me a picture of the snow... I FREAKING
MISS IT! #SNOWWAY #snowyou #snowyeah! #imissthesnowandmountains
#imissmatt

Isaac hasn't emailed me... Someone hit him for me and also tell him youdo


Sorry not a way exciting email... Love you all though like a ton! I've
been praying extra hard for everyone this week for some reason! Hope
you all are feeling it!


Love, rice, and Pikachu!


Elder KJ

International Missionary

This week wasn't too exciting but here's some stuff that went down. Also didn't know what to call this one so... Yeah 

Gyudon challenge

We met some college kids last week and they were like yeah I know Mormons! Apparently he is way good friends with the Takakus who are in our ward and with their son who is on a mission! So we were like we should talk about what he's doing and they were way stoked to know! We met them for dinner and just kinda talked it was fun. We then brought out pictures of their friend we had asked the Takakus for! One of them was like dang he's dressed in so much white!  I was like YES! I explained to him about baptism and how it washes away our sins and we become clean so that's why we dress in all white. He's like you can do something like that? I need that then because I've done a ton of bad stuff! What!? Heck yaw! We had a way sick lesson with them and it wasn't weird or forced or anything kinda just like back home talking about what we believe with friends it was way fun! 

Coming home from the eki (train station) we stopped a guy on the street named Kobayashi. We talked about God he said he believed in him and that enough is surprising in Japan but then when we set up a time to meet again for lunch he said would it be ok if I brought some friends? They are interested in being Christian.. WHAT!!!!???? This does NOT happen in Japan! No one talks about religion especially anything other than Buddhism! It was seriously so crazy! We are meeting him Saturday with his friends hopefully! 

Eikaiwa (English Class)

On our way home from church we stopped and talked to every person we saw and we talked to probably 10 people and none of them were Japanese! We talked to Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Iranian, Pakastanian people! It's way cool to be in Japan but being able to teach all different kinds of people! I like that about my area that I have so many different people because there are a lot of factories that people come work at! 

Challenge of the Week! 

This one is kind of more of a suggestion. I don't know why but I think you should go and find a letter that means a lot to you from someone that means a lot to you. Read it and ponder it. Maybe see how that person is and how things are. But anyways go read a letter or text... Cuz that's still a thing in the real world huh... Haha! I know it will give you some sort of motivation this week! 

Tweetin 

*This KING size challenge of rice and meat (gyudon) was talked up like crazy...they told me I wouldn't finish it and it's so hard!  I finished it and was still hungry #ninjaplease #KJsKitchen

Haircut!

 *Got a haircut... After we were told to come kick it at his house whenever we want and talk about missions and church and stuff! #hairmissionkillinit 

*Theres a saying that says "Ashi ga nai" which means they don't have transportation but literally translates to "doesn't have feet!" So one girl in our meeting was like WHAT!? Both of them?! Hahaha 

*On my companion exchange I stopped this guy on a bike and got to talk to him a bit and then asked him to go eat with us... Apparently he's like golden and asks them all the time when they can meet and how excited he is to talk more... That would happen to me... 

*I feel like the rank of missionary you are is determined by your watch tan #gettinthere #themtanlinestho 

*In Japan it's totally acceptable to make fun of people when their fat... So that's chill #getcalledoutonthestreetallthetime #loooooveit... 

*Whenever I meet missionaries I don't know, I always act like I'm from Hawaii or Japan and they always believe me :) #mattwouldbeproud 

*There is a recent convert teaching a Korean Klass so we went to support yeah just call me bugogi boi cuz I'm basically fluent #kokokengo #junnyandmaddiewouldbeproud 

*Just want to say I FREAKING LOVE the kids here and I can't wait to have my own little sushi roll someday! Ahhhhh!!! 

Love you all so much thank you again for all your support I love youuuuu! 

Love, Peace, and Gyudon! 

KJ :) 

I'm 2!!!!!

Hey everyone! I know my maturity does not reflect it but today is my 2nd Birthday! We got transfer calls today.... I'm staying here with my companion and the other elders are too! I'm way happy to stay in Koga because I love the members so dang much! But it's a hard, big area, not many people, we only have one investigator, and it smells like pig farms all the time. With all that though I've seriously fallen in love with Koga! At first I was sad I wasn't in city but I love it here and I could stay here as long Heavenly Father needs me to! I seriously ahhh love it! Anyways this week was GREAT! 

We met a guy on the street named Kenji! He was the coolest old man I've talked to! Like I said we talk to a lot of very wise old men! He said I knew that you were going to stop and talk with me I could feel God telling me! He told us that he always takes the time to talk to everyone that talks to him because he knows everyone that comes into his life was sent to him from God. We talked about Gods love and his plan for us on the street for 45 minutes! I learned a ton from him. He told us a lot of the things we teach! About how what we will bring with us from this life is our spirits nothing else and also how we are all gods children. As you all know by now my comp is very pushy. He tried to give him the Book of Mormon and invite him to church like ten times. Whenever my comp started talking he'd stop him and say " like I said... I know exactly what you are trying to do!" While I was talking to Kenji he kept praying for him to accept some invitation. Although that is very important we need to know the right time to do it and need to have the right intention. Maybe all we were meant to do was have this amazing conversation and other missionaries will take care of him later I don't know but as much as he knew and testified about all of our teaching he wasn't quite ready and that's fine! He taught me a lot about how we are all truly Gods children no matter what we look like or where we are from. He doesn't like the thought of people telling him certain things are the best or better and how all of Gods children should get along. He told us that if God brings us back together it will be great but till then we'll just appreciate the time we had. At the very end he accepted a pamphlet and he gave us his card! He goes back home to Kyoto this week but I know he'll be taken care of and the seed we planted is a beautiful one. I also know that if its in Gods plan we will meet again but till then we'll just have to appreciate the things that we felt and learned that day because that was in Gods plan. 

Housed more of the Nagahama clan on Halloween the day was sooooooo halloweeny! I've never seen more cats and dogs barking and being freaky! The whole day it was super foggy and we kept taking weird turns that went to scary places it was SICK! Also when we were walking away from a Nagahama house there was a man walking in a white shirt and underwear and was super old and walking really weird and walked right into their house and they didn't find it weird at all... It was probably the zombie walking guy from last week... NAGAHAMA CLAN! On the night of Halloween we made a appearance at the community Halloween party it was fun to see someone in Japan celebrated Halloween! Also we housed every house that had any sort of Halloween decoration! It was a cool day!

We helped a recent convert Nakajima shimai cut down trees and bushes around her house. She said she was having a bad day till we came and she was just filled with joy. It was really nice to be able to help her out and she kept saying thank you and how grateful she was. We went a little longer than we should have but the work needed to be done... And of course I had to hear alllll about how good it was but how bad it was that we were there for so long... 

BEST SUNDAY!

So...best  Sunday in Japan so far! It was soooo great! So the other elders in our area had a baptism for a guy named Jiao from China! It was really cool but between church and the baptism I was talking to a member named Usui Kyodai he is my homie! He's dang good at English so I was teaching him and we were just talking and having a good time! At the end of our conversation he's like "You need to serve your whole mission here!!!" I freaking love him! We were talking about america and stuff and he said I wanted to go to BYU Hawaii but now I need to rethink some things. I told him how sick BYU was but how much better my school was UTAH STATE!!!!! YOU BEST BELIEVE IM STILL RECRUITING OUT HERE! No seriously I recruit out here so hard... A lot of members say they want to go to BYU and I say that's cool! But my school Utah State is! #GOAGGIES #InternationalAmbassador #Katiejowouldbeproud 

So the members are amazing in Koga! Jiao asked me to conduct the music at the baptism... But I had never conducted in my whole life... I had no idea what I was doing! This girl that's way sick, Atsumi helped me out the whole time and led from the congregation so I just copied her! She laughed at me and gave me the thumbs up the whole time! Haha so freaking sick! After a bunch of members came up to me and said how much they loved how I was smiling and having a great time! Especially these old ladies who said were you having fun up there? I said of course! They were like seeing you having so much fun made us so happy! I can't tell you how much I freaking love the members! 

After the baptism the Horie family came up to me asked if we were busy at 6... Wahhhh first dinner at a members house! We went over there and it was like a American family Sunday dinner! There was a ton of people and a ton of food and it was just so dang fun! We got to talking and I brought up that I was in One Voice Children's choir and one guy was like I know them! Lexie Walker right!? And I was like haha yes!!! I chilled with her a ton! They all knew about her and were showing the frozen video! Hahahhaahhahaha it was so fun and crazy! Also two of the people there were in Masas mission! Haha so sick! At the end I played Come Thou Fount on my Uke for them and they loved it! I love the members! 

Kengos Kenji Challenge!

Talk to everyone that God brings in your path. I know... I ABSOLUTELY KNOW that God puts people in our path that we are supposed to meet. I've met too many people who are now some of my best friends and met way too many people on my mission that there's no way I couldn't believe it. He places them in our path but we must have the faith to follow promptings to talk to those people. I can't tell you how many times I've been like I should talk to him or her and I don't. But sometimes I do and then something beautiful comes from it. I hope you all take this challenge and follow promptings to talk to those people we are led to and that are in our paths because Idk... Maybe you'll meet your future best friend, boss, girlfriend, someone who needs your help or you need their help, or maybe even your eternal companion. you never know till you talk to them :) good luck! Also I'd love to hear about any success with any of these challenges... I hope people are doing them! Haha 

*Remember how I used to think 8 am was early.... I'd give anything to sleep in till 8 right now!

*This year for Halloween instead of candy I decided to hand out eternal salvation! #telestialorcelestial! #itwastheBOM

*Youd think I'd get skinnier working out every morning for 30 minutes and biking 20 kilos a day... But it's chill #phatforlyfe 

*Missin Matt Meese as of late... He should be going to Argentina Tomorrow :) 

*For my first Member dinner they made karage (Japanese fried chicken) my favorite food... #churchistrue 

*Youd think after doing everything under the sun that has to do with music I would know how to conduct... But yep

*I used to use tables to work out... Now I just use my bike #KengoDojo #SQUATS #noweightsmissionworkoutstruggle...

Love you lots like tator tots! From sonic... Ya naw mean!? 

Love, Rice, and Koga!

Elder Adachi 😘