Hey mom!! :)
How was your camp with all of the Young Women this past week? I was praying for you, and I hope that everything went well. :) <3 Let me know all about it, okay? Is there anything else that I can do for you? You are the best mom ever, just so that you know. :) <3
This last week was pretty normal, but with a lot of really cool little miracles. One of the best parts was that I got to go on splits with Elder Blanchard, one of the assistants. He is super super cool! He and I have become really really good friends since I have moved to Kichijoji, so it was just so great to spend splits with him. :) He is super humble, and so nice. He is from Idaho, and we had a blast. We got to go and teach a guy from Vietnam. He was really cool, but talking to him was a little bit of a struggle. He is studying Japanese right now, but his Japanese level is a little bit lower than ours, and as far as church words go he knows absolutely nothing. So, that was hard. But it was a really cool experience, and thanks to google translate we were even able to teach a little bit about church. :) haha
One of the highlights this last week was talking to this man named Akihiro. :) He is super cool. He speaks fluent English. I don't know if I talked about him last week, but he grew up for about 5 years in London. I will say, it is really strange to hear a Japanese man speak English fluently......with a British accent. :) haha Kind of an interesting experience. But he really really wants to know what we believe, on all sorts of subjects. :) So much fun. We are working on meeting up with him actually, because the last two lessons have been.....wait for it.....over the phone! Or on FaceTime, for one of the times. Crazy, huh? I love how the Lord is using technology to move the work forward. It is such an incredible opportunity to be here and using it.
The other highlight of the week was for sure talking to and meeting up with Ryojiro. I believe that I mentioned him over a month ago. He is super great. But we lost contact with him completely. We have not been able to call him for about a month. But, we know where he works, so we went and asked them when he was going to work next, and then met up with him yesterday while he was working! haha (As a random side note, I feel that the world's most professional stalkers are and will forever be missionaries. We do everything that we can to know everything that we can about people. Crazy huh? :) haha so funny when you stop and think about it). He was lost! But now he is found again. I am amazed by his faith. He is still reading from the Book of Mormon! Usually it is just a little bit here and there, not super consistently all the way through yet, but we were able to set up an appointment to meet with him on this coming Wednesday and to read 2 Nephi 31 with him. We are hopefully going to be able to set a baptismal date with him and help him to understand what needs to be done in order for him to progress towards baptism. He is super open though, so I am not too worried. :)
Another person that we are helping right now (he is technically the other Elder's investigator) is a man named Yutaro. He is so cool. He is 23....? I think. haha Right now he is working super super hard to study for a test that he has this coming Saturday and Sunday. Please please pray for him. He is so stressed, because it is the test that decides his entire future. So, obviously no pressure there, right? haha he is one of about 10,000 people that are going to take this test to enter the program that enables you to someday become the ambassador for Japan. Only 44 of those people gets to do it. So, please, pray for him. He is super nervous. We are doing all that we can to help and support him. And he really wants to be baptized! The only reason that he hasn't been baptized yet is his test. After he finishes it he will be able to focus more, and not have to take practice tests on Sunday. He is also really good at English, though.
One thing that I have definitely learned on my mission that I believe is true for all callings in the church is that it is always about people. We are not called on missions to become really good teachers, or really good proselyters, etc. We are called on missions to help other people. We are called to help them come unto Christ, who ultimately is the only one that can help them return to their Father in Heaven. We are called here to be converted so deeply unto Christ that nothing can tear us away from that. I honestly believe that is one of the main purposes of a mission. The Lord needs people who are converted, not just have a testimony (for interesting study, study the difference between the two of those. I believe you already know it, but it is always good to learn things again). I want you to know that i know this church is true. I know that Christ is our Savior. God is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us so much that He sent us to earth and gave us trials. He loves us so much that He provided a way for us to overcome our trials. He loves us so much that when we falter and fall, He is always there to pick us back up. He loves us so much. I testify that what I wrote is true. Never forget that.
I do have one thing I need to apologize for. This past week was really bad with pictures and videos, and we totally forgot to take any......so I will try to remember and send a ton next week, okay??! I love you so much, Mom! I hope that things are going well with everyone there at home. Let me know how your health, the girls' health, etc. are doing as well. Take care of the girls, Ammon and Audge, Kaitlyn and Sam and their little rugrat, and Jenna for me. And Dad. He needs taking care of too. ;D haha I love you!!!
Love, Elder Livingston
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