Sakado?

I am 3 years old! Wow this transfer fleeeeeeeeew by! And I am so glad it did! Well... We got transfer calls this morning annnnnnddddd...... IM MOVING!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to Saitama ken to a place called Sakado! I was told it's the most beautiful place in the mission from what it sounds like it's exactly like Bountiful lots of mountains and snow! I am so stoked! My new companion is JAPANESE! Well this is the last email you'll receive from me in semi normal English because I'm going to be a JAPANESE MAN! I am too excited it's going to be so fun! I am actually really sad though because Koga is my family! I have grown so close to the members here and I have made some eternal friends! Yesterday at church I was talking to my favorite person Usui Kyodai and he said you are something special to me and I hope we can be friends long after your mission. It's definitely sad I didn't know I'd grow so close to the people here but with my message I am sharing goodbye is just see ga later cuz we are all going to be kickin it in the celestial kingdom someday! I know I was meant to come here to meet the people I did and learn the things I did I will always have a special place in my heart for Koga... This bean is now sprouting! 

Here's a little about my last week in Koga! 

The Indonesian man I talked about last week Dede, we met with him and it was a really cool experience! He was taking everything in so well and he was really excited to meet again. During the lesson he told us that in his religion most people don't want to learn anything about other religions but he is very interested in hearing and studying about ours. At the end when we taught him and invited him to pray he said he will try it. I told him if he wants he can even do it in Indonesian. We all bowed our heads and closed our eyes. I waited for a long time hoping he'd say something. I opened my eyes to see if I could encourage him or something I then saw him having his eyes closed and nodding his head and could tell he was praying silently. We stood there and waited for him to finish for a couple minutes. Then he looked up and said ok. The spirit was so strong! I didn't hear or know anything about what he prayed for but you could feel the spirit testify of his words even if they were silent and in another language. His desire to know and talk with Heavenly Father was amazing to see. I asked him how he felt and he said he felt peace. It was such a testimony builder to me that God is preparing people to receive this gospel. I know he came to Japan to work so we would meet at the eki when he had 50 minutes to spare before his bus came, I know he received help learning Japanese so he would understand our message and I know that his catholic friend who taught him church words was not a coincidence. He has been so prepared and I can't wait to see where he goes from here! 

We decided to go caroling one night.. Lemme tell you Japanese people do NOT understand the concept of caroling. We only got to sing to like one house! The rest just thought we were crazy and were like uhhh were busy or were ok. Sigh... It's makes me sad that Christmas is not a big thing in Japan. Even the ward members were like yeah we don't really exchange gifts or anything just for like little kids... It honestly got me pretty down. I miss the Christmas spirit and people saying Merry Christmas everywhere I go. I miss traditions and time with family and all the presence of Christmas... Well and the presents I guess! It really made me feel very grateful for what it's like back home and gave me new determination! By the time I'm done with you JAPAN YOU WILL LOVE CHRISTMAS! Haha

Pereras are doing good brother Perera knows a ton about Christianity so he gave us a list of questions he wants answered but we are trying to get him baptized before he leaves for Nepal for a month on the 21st so we need to teach him stuff! We got in a few arguments about things he really wants us to straight forward answer the questions and also he is under a lot of pressure with his business exporting bicycles and he got sick and is trying to quit smoking and drinking... So he's under a lot of pressure right now. I'm not sure how much I want to share about this but he kind of pulled us aside and talked to my comp about listening and how he needs to take into account how others are feeling. I think it really got to him and it helped hearing it from someone who is receiving the message not just me. He talked for a very long time for my comp about that then He then looked over at me and told me; I like him he takes 100% absorbs it all then he addresses it, he does not try to change the subject or worry about what he has to say. If I get angry he knows that and doesn't brush it aside he might get angry too but I like his character. I don't share this because I want to be like oh look at me I'm so great and stuff but to say that people appreciate authenticity. Before this experience I felt like they liked my comp a lot more than me and I just was kind of there and said stuff. Although I have gotten a little frustrated with him and we've had some strong talks he actually appreciated that. What I learned the most from this is that we must find out who we are teaching. We are not just teaching lessons we are teaching people and EVERYONE is different. People don't appreciate just a happy face and words... People appreciate character and authenticity it is the first step to receiving someone's trust.

In zone meeting the zone leaders talked about enjoying the call. They said that there are hard days and hard times but what will you remember about your mission. The most profound part of your that you will be talking of forever is not those hard times, those rejections, those tired moments, but it will be the people you helped. We will remember the people we helped bring to make that sacred covenant with God and make their lives and family lives and after lives happy. The same thing goes for this life. When we are in heaven we will not remember the hard ships, the sad times, the pain... We will be there with those people who we helped we will reunite again and see the fruits of our labors and know fully what we have done for others! 

We met with inose! Prob haven't met him in like a month or so but we watched the restoration video with him. He didn't have too much time to talk but when the video was over he turned to us and said. I feel a warm good feeling in y heart... What is that? Why do I feel that? It was such a cool moment! We talked about the spirit and how it bears truth and give us good feelings. I he is far from baptism but I know that his seed is slowly growing and hopefully I helped with it :) 

Challenge of the week! 

Have character! Sit down and think to yourself who you are who you really are. Character is what you do when you think no one is watching. Be authentic with everyone and be the real you! Because you are the best you that has and ever will live you are the best at it no one is better! So be you and be real! Love YOU! 

Tweets

How lucky am I to have something so great that makes saying goodbye so hard... 

There's a sister here who is from Australia... She played RUGBY! We deff talk about rugby every single time we see each Other! and we even bigger homies! #alldayidreamaboutrugby #washedup #rugbybringspeopletogether 

Well... My trainer finally put some Facebook time into our schedules so I could clean it up. So hopefully will be using Facebook soon if it gets cleared by some leaders... But I can't comment back or talk to anyone sooooo it's pre rough 

Japanese comp! Ahhh you already know I'm bout to be crazy good at Japanese! 

Saying bye to Koga is going to be the hardest thing ever... #kogaforlife 

Well here I starting a new chapter in my mission I can't wait and am so grateful once again for everyone support it means to the world to me! See you next week in SAKADO! 

Love, Rice, and SAKADO!

Elder Kengo James Adachi!