Stayin' Up All Night - Letter to Dad - 19 July, 2015

How  are you doing? How is your programming/managing coming right now? Have you had any direction as to where you need to go with your job in the next little while? If you hadn't, don't worry. Treasure up in your minds the words of the prophets concerning taking care of your family and a job, as well as the words of the scriptures about enduring to the end, and I promise you that you will find an answer to your questions before too long. :) I love ya!

So, I think that I will start this week with my split with Elder Jesperson. Elder Jesperson is so cool. I will send a picture of us on splits in just a minute. He is from California, near San Diego I believe. He is a really good missionary, and he is actually the group that came into the mission field just after me, so I knew him in the MTC. I told myself in the MTC that I really really wanted to become his companion in the field, and I did for at least a day! haha it was great. But, referring to the title of this email, we stayed up super late. After the lights are out, and missionaries are in bed, there is pillow talk. :) haha Sometimes you stay up a little late talking, but it is definitely not against the rules. And it really really helps missionaries to build relationships with each other, so that is really important. I love doing it, but not all the time, or else I would be utterly exhausted. :0 haha But, that night with Elder Jesperson we stayed up really late, and just talked about his life, and the things that he loved. It was super good to get to know him, and I feel like we are a lot closer. I honestly have learned on my mission just how important it is to not talk, and just LISTEN to people. I don't think that I was the best at that before my mission, because I definitely like to talk. It has helped a lot to have Japanese humble me. haha But, I have been told more than once on my mission that I know how to listen, and that really really struck me, because I had never thought that I would have that talent before my mission. The Lord definitely strengthens us where we are weak, especially as missionaries. I love Him so much, and I am grateful for his blessings.

We had another super funny story the other day, when we were just walking down the street talking to everyone. There was a kid coming on his bike, and Elder Driscoll and I told each other that we were going to get him to stop (something which is really not that hard to do haha). So, we spaced ourselves out, and then just said hello to him really loudly in English. He slammed on his brakes as hard as he could, and I wish that I could adequately describe just how horrible the sound of his brakes was. It was a screech that only a demon from the depths of the pit of despair could rend from its horrible lips. hahaha :) (that was probably the most descriptive English that I have used in over a year.....I need help.) haha It was great. We had a short conversation with him, but as soon as he actually realized that he stopped for us, and that we were missionaries, he was very keen on leaving the conversation.

We also got to start reading the Book of Mormon with Ryosuke! He is the bomb. I love him so much. We started just with chapter one of first Nephi, and it was super super good. We read through the entire chapter, and explained it a little, and then he just dove into chapter two. We ended up reading all the way through when Nephi killed Laban, which is actually something that people have  a really hard time with here in Japan. He was the same way as most people and really did not like the fact that Nephi killed Laban. Elder Driscoll explained that there are two ways to understand it, logically or spiritually. We explained it as well as we could logically, and then just told him that we couldn't explain it perfectly. He would have to pray about it. He is going to do that, and we are excited to hear about the answer that he received, because we felt confident and promised him that the Lord would answer his prayer that night, something that we don't promise often.

All in all it was a super good week. :) I love the Lord, I love this work, and I love my family. You are definitely the best family on the earth right now. :) I hope that things are going well with church as well! Keep me posted, okay? Is there anything that I can do to help you? Oh, I had one thing I wanted you to send me. Could you watch the P90X3 videos and just send a time breakdown of when the moves switch? I have all of the moves, but I have no idea how long to take because most of them do not have times with them. If you could do that, even just in an email, that would be perfect. Thank you so much, Dad! I love you!!!

Love, Elder Livingston

Dreams Do Come True - Letter to Mom - 19 July, 2015

Hi Mom!!!

How are you doing? I am sad to hear that Quinci is not doing that well. :P Make sure that she knows that I love her, okay? I love you all so so so much, and I wish that you would just get better already! :) haha And I am glad that this summer has been good, even if it has been a little bit rough as far as health goes. The summer for me has been going crazy fast. I can not believe every single week that goes by. Crazy huh? It seems just like yesterday that we were sitting in Simply Thai and eating together. However, let's dive into this past week....

Zone Meeting!!! :D We got to have zone meeting this past week, and it was super good. As zone leaders, we are completely in charge of coming up with, coordinating, and holding zone meeting (this is different from zone conference). So this past week we had zone meeting. it was so so good. I loved it. We were able to receive trainings from our Tech Staff here, the sister training leaders in our zone, and Elder Driscoll and I each gave a training as well. Fun story about that. The inspiration for my training actually did not come until Monday morning (zone meeting was Tuesday in the afternoon). I was not planning on giving a training, and then on this huge conference call that all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders in the mission get on in Monday morning, the Spirit prompted me to give a specific training on raising our vision and trying to align it with President Wada's vision for us. And then going even past there. The core of this training actually comes from Mary Poppins the musical when she says, "When you reach for the stars, all you get are the stars . . .but if you reach for the heavens, you get the stars thrown in." (leave it up to me to include disney in a training that I give as a missionary, right? ;D haha) 

But, it went super well. i felt the Spirit confirm to me that what I trained on was indeed what the Lord had needed me to talk about, and I actually received a response to my letter to President Wada this past week (after zone meeting) asking me to do what I had already done in my training. It felt very nice to know that the Spirit was with me and communicating to me the same things that my mission president was intent on getting out to the missionaries. Needless to say, that was a good day.

The next day was super good too! We actually went to the doctor for Elder Driscoll, because he has an ingrown toenail. That is no fun. But, on the way I met this super cool guy named David. And guess what?? He is a professional soccer player here in Japan!!! :D :D How cool is that? He said that he played for Yokohama FC but, we haven't actually been able to find him on the roster, because I don't know his last name. But, I have his number, and he said that he wants to learn more about English as well as the gospel, and go play futsal with us some time! ;D haha I think it is super cool that I found him particularly when I became companions with Elder Driscoll, since Elder Driscoll is super super good at soccer too. The Lord definitely helps us to find those that will be able to connect with us in one way or another.

This week I also got to go on splits with an elder in our zone named Elder Jesperson. But, I will talk about that more in my email to dad. I don't want to talk about all of the fun things here in one email! ;D haha It was a really good split though. 

Overall this past week has been super good. I love being here on a mission. I also miss you all like crazy. I love you so so so much, and I hope that the Lord will continue to watch over you. You are the best family that anyone could ever have. And I think that you need to take a picture and/or a video of you when you workout with Jenna! ;D haha I still haven't seen actual proof that you have been with her, besides the one picture with her and Emmett. ;D haha Or, this Wednesday at the party would work too.

I love  you, Mom. You are the best. I hope that you have a good week, mom. Keep getting better, okay? How is your exercise going? Make sure that Ben and Lindsey know that I love them, and I am praying that everything will go well with their new child! I can not wait to meet the new people that have entered our family when I get home. :) I love you so much, mom!!!

Love, Elder Livingston

Note: Some names may have been changed for privacy.

Over the hump - Letter to Dad - 12 July, 2015

Hey Dad!!  How are you doing? Can you believe that I have already been out on my mission an entire year? I look back on the year, and it has gone by SOOO fast!! And then I look at the moments and it looks so long. :) haha I have been able to do and experience so much in this past year, and there is a lot that I am looking forward to in this next year.  

As a quick bit of news with P90X3, I just wanted to say thank you! It has been way good to have those to reference. :) I started doing Total Synergistics today. I will admit though, that looking at those workouts, there are a LOT that I don't remember. I am going to do the best that I can, and obviously sometimes my resources are limited, but I am excited to go through it. If you could maybe even make a CD of you doing the workouts and send that, I am 99% sure that it would be okay if I used it. I would ask President Wada, obviously, but I think that is okay. :)

Also, speaking of President Wada, I for sure get to go home with him!! :D :D I am super super excited. We were at Mission Leadership Council on our one year mark (Elder Driscoll and I as well as three other zone leaders all came over on the same plane) and we mentioned it was our one year day to him. He then turned to Sister Wada and told her that this was the group that would be going home on the same plane as them. I am so happy. I did not want to be with another mission president for only two weeks, although if that was what the Lord would have needed I would have done it.

Let's see. We got to talk to a lot of people this last week, and one of them was a man by the name of Karl. We stopped him when he was riding his bike at the park, and we got to have a really good conversation with him. It was great. :) What was really interesting was that as we talked to him I felt that there was something in his life that was really weighing down on his shoulders. We testified so much to him, and we did everything that we could to have the Spirit with us as we talked about the restoration a little bit as well. It was really powerful. And so we asked him to sit down with us at this bench just a little bit away and really talk about the gospel. And we just sat there in silence for the better part of a minute. It was so good to just let the Spirit work with him. Sadly, he still rejected it. We continued to talk to him for a little bit, and invited him again, and the same thing happened. He didn't listen to the Spirit. We did all that we could, and gave him a Book of Mormon, and directed him to where he could find the church, and we went on our way. It was way sad to see him leave, when the Spirit was working as well as it could. Agency is really hard sometimes.

Similarly, we got to teach a less-active member yesterday. It was really good as well. His name is Uther Kyodai. I love him so so much. We have visited him a few times in the past few weeks, but we have only been able to share a message at the door. This time we just asked if we could come in and teach a message. To our surprise he said yes! It was so good. We got to find out where his testimony is right now, at least a little bit, and a bit more about his life. We also got to talk about God and his love for us. I tried to do everything I could do discern his needs as we taught him the lesson, and I prayed for Elder Driscoll to do the same. I don't think that we found out everything that is in his heart, but at the same time we really felt like he has some concerns about the Plan of Salvation. We get to teach him about that next time.

I have been able to learn a lot recently about loving people, and how when we love people we really try to learn how to help them, and what the questions of their souls are. Through the Book of Mormon we can really answer those questions. I testify that the Book of Mormon has the power to help people answer their own questions.  I love you so much, Dad, and I hope that you have a good week. I know that you will find answers soon! Thank you so much for all that you do for me. :) I love you!!  

Love, Elder Livingston


Note: Some names may have been changed for privacy.

President Wada's Deepest Desire - Letter to Mom - 12 July, 2015

Hey Mom!! :) 

How are you doing? How is your health holding up this week? How are things going adjusting back to normal life after your crazy spontaneous trip to Disneyland? :) I am super super jealous that you got to do that. Can we do that when I go home too? ;D haha That would be really fun. :) Let's see....where to start this week. How about President Wada's deepest desire...haha

So, this past week we had the opportunity to once again attend Mission Leadership Council. it was super good, and I learned a lot, and had some really really good experiences. I loved it so much, and I hope that I can continue to apply the things that I have learned there. As a quick side note, one thing that I have learned a lot about on my mission is that there is a huge value in actually applying the lessons that you learn from the meetings that you go to. I haven't noticed too many changes in me on my mission, but this one I have noticed: I have come a lot more sensitive to the things that I learn and the value that they could have if I really applied them in my life. It is something that I am really working and striving to do. Anyway, that is a little tangent that I had to meander off onto, but the real story was this way funny thing that President Wada said. Pretty soon we are going to be able to use Facebook again for missionary work, and there was about a 5 page section in a specific handbook that we have (called Becoming Disciples in the Digital Age) and he said, "My deepest desire is for you to learn what we are about to read." It made me and Elder Driscoll chuckle a little bit that it was his deepest deepest desire for us to learn how to use Facebook. Haha. But, that little story set aside, one thing hit me extremely hard in the meeting. It was the Spirit. It basically came like a 200 mile an hour bullet train and slammed me in the face. :) In all honesty, I felt much like Lehi, when he got chastised for murmuring when they didn't have food in the wilderness. The Spirit kind of chastised me for a couple of things. Mainly forgetting some of the incredible experiences that I have had in the past with the Spirit. Those are things I'm not supposed to share yet, but they were incredible, and I hadn't thought about them in a while. And the Spirit very strongly reminded me to remember them. And it made me reflect on the importance of the spiritual experiences that we have in our life. How many times do we just take the things that we feel for granted? How many times do we feel a prompting, and just ignore it? More often than that, how often do we feel a prompting, begin to act, and then because of the busyness of life just get caught away in other things? It is so important that we do not shut out those small and simple things, sometimes even the big things. They are the foundation stones that we are to build on in order to

endure to the end of eternity.

I learned another thing from this experience. At the same time that the Spirit was chastising me for forgetting, I never felt more love in my entire life. That is how I know that it was really the Spirit, and not just me beating myself up. It was incredible. While I was being told things that I needed to improve on, I was feeling the love of God in so many ways. In a lot of ways, it was one of the most powerful witnesses to me of the love of God. Also, I learned a lot about how we are supposed to give correction. When we give correction, we should have already built up a relationship of love and trust. Also, when we give it, it should not be accusatory in anyway, but instead showing the blessings that the offender could have received. It is a completely loving, all encompassing thing that I know will take a long time to learn how to do, but is nonetheless not impossible. I am excited to learn how to do that as well. :) I really feel like you and dad have been able to do that in my life. So thank you so much for that. :)

Tell Becky Congratulations!!!!!! I am so so thrilled for her, and I can not believe that this day finally came! Also, thank you for your challenges mom! I am definitely going to do that, and there are definitely things that I want to improve on from the past year. :) Thanks so much, Mom. How has your last year been? Are you improving? ;D haha I challenge you to do the same things that you asked me, although obviously some of the questions have to be switched because of the nature of our separate callings right now. :) I love you, Mom!! :) <3

I hope that you have a fantastic week, and that you give everyone lots of extra hugs for me! :) Don't forget about Jenna's Birthday!! :) <3

Love, Elder Livingston

Pictures this week - 5 July, 2015

The Hotta Family (They used to live at Traverse Mountain)

Elder Livingston, Ryosuke, and Elder Leftwich

Big Bubble

On the Roof

A Sunday Miracle - Letter to Dad - 5 July, 2015

Hey Dad! :)

Well, as you saw in my email to mom, we were able to receive one referral from Roger, our investigator. That is pretty rare. We don't get that many referrals in our mission. But, Sunday was even better! :) <3 There is a member in our ward named Nasu kyodai. He is super cool. He is the person in the ward who is the most fired up to do missionary work. He has had some way hard trials in his life, and so he is one of the most purely good people in the world. Last week he was talking to one of his friends and then just suddenly said, "Hey, will you come to church?" And his friend said, "Okay." And that was the end of the conversation. But his friend came! He was late, so he didn't make it to sacrament meeting, but Nasu kyodai called me out from after sacrament meeting, and introduced me to him. We then got to go to Gospel Doctrine's class with him, and then during the priesthood hour we taught him a lesson (normally that is not what you want to do, but in our ward on Fast Sunday in place of the first forty minutes of priesthood there are a bunch of committees, so we did it during that time). He accepted everything super well, and loved it. He is so open, and you could tell that his heart was really touched by the method. At the end we asked him to pray, and taught him how, and he said that he would. Normally people in Japan are a little bit too shy to pray there first time, but he just dove right in and said one of the best prayers that I have ever heard. He prayed that we could become perfect like Jesus Christ (and today was one of the first days that he really learned about him) and come closer to him and to God. It was great. And he is going to come to all of church next week. :)

How was Disneyland this week? Oh! You said that they have a new World of Color show! How was that? What was it like? Are they still going to show the old one every now and again? Which one do you like better? Was it crazy crowded there? What rides were closed? How was the weather? I could go on with questions for a long time when it comes to Disneyland. :) I'll be honest, I am way excited to go back and ride Small World and actually understand the warning that it says in Japanese. :) haha

It's weird how a part of your heart loves to grow a completely separate world from where you grew up so much. I love home so so much. But I have thought a couple times about what I want to have accomplished when I leave, and I have thought a couple times about what it will feel like to get on the plane, and I know that I am going to cry. I love the people here so much. It is crazy. They are so great. They have such good morals, and such good core values. Sometimes they just completely ignore us, and they always ignore God, for the most part, but they are His kids too, and we are so blessed to have the opportunity to take the gospel to them. I am so excited to see just how many people that I can build friendships with here. Some of my best friends are here, and I am so grateful to have met them. Do you remember Suzuki Choro? I got to see him today. He is the best. I can honestly say that he is my best Japanese friend in the whole world. He is so great. I am so grateful for the things that I learn from the Japanese people each and everyday that I am here. :)

I love you so much, Dad! Hey, someday will you take us to Germany, so that you can show us all around your mission? :) I would love that! Thanks for everything, Dad! I love you!

Love, Elder Livingston


Note: Some names may have been changed for privacy.

A Journey with a Driscoll - Letter to Mom - 5 July, 2015

Hey Mom,

How are you doing?? I can not believe that you just up and went to Disneyland without telling me! ;D  haha Also, I didn't even know that you were planning on going to Lake Powell before that. haha Do you have any other crazy fun plans for the summer?

As I am sure that you may have seen, it has been raining here every single day for about the last week or two. That has been a little bit rough, but it is okay. We have seen so so many miracles, which is something that I want to talk about. Elder Driscoll is way cool, and a way good companion. I am so grateful to be able to work with him. We actually came to Japan on the same plane! It is way fun. And he loves soccer. :) But, I want to talk about this past.....Saturday! :) It was such a good day. It rained a lot that day too. ;D haha

So, first of all we had a lesson with our good friend Adam. He is the one who grew up a little bit in London, so he has flawless English. Elder Driscoll and I did a practice lesson for him in the morning on Saturday, and I felt like it was going to go really well. Usually our lessons with him consist of a lot of his questions, and us just trying to answer them. But Saturday was different! He always starts out with reviewing what we had done in the past week, like what we were talking about, and then going from there. Last time we had talked about the Book of Mormon, so he said that he was going to read the introduction and the testimonies. Saturday he said that he couldn't find the app (Gospel Library) that we were talking about, so he looked it up online and found it and started reading that part. I was shocked. I haven't seen that much commitment from people before. It was way cool to hear it. He said that it was good, and he learned some interesting things. Then we got to teach him the entire Restoration lesson, which we hadn't done in one lesson before, so that was really good. He had to go early because his baby started crying, but we were able to invite him to ask Heavenly Father if Joseph Smith had really seen them, and if what we had taught was true.

That was the first miracle of the day, and it was a super good one. We could have ended the day there and felt so good. I loved it so so much. But, second, we had a lesson with a man named Roger. I think I have mentioned him before too, but he is Nepalese. He is super nice, and loves the gospel and Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. He just isn't quite confident enough to receive baptism and commit to that. He disappeared for about two months, and then randomly texted us Friday night and told us that he wanted to meet with us! It was so great. I was so thrilled that he had finally responded to us. So, right after meeting with Adam we got to meet up with Roger. We walked around the corner in our church to go and meet him in front of the church and there he was . . .with a friend!! It was a little bit of a shock, but we were thrilled. His friend, Randall, is super nice. He is also Nepalese, and really wants to learn more about the gospel, as well as start coming to church regularly. I think that he is going to progress really well. We got to talk to them about the Plan of Salvation a bit, and that was really good. I also got to play piano for them too. :) haha I am getting better at adding things to hymns to make them more like solo pieces, so that is fun! I have practiced a bit here for different conferences and stuff. It isn't anything fancy, but it sounds pretty fancy. haha ;D It was really good. I am really excited for him to come to church. We haven't been able to get anyone to come to church recently, and it is something that we are  really working on. I know that as we continue to invite people, we are going to make lots of progress, and help them come closer to Christ.

I also got to start two amazing journeys yesterday and today! Journey number one: I made a better meal plan so that I can eat healthier (after getting your advice I made a plan) as well as working out harder (if Dad finishes P90X3 for me soon, that will help). I am way excited to see how that one goes. The second one: I am going to read the entire standard works before I go home, from this point on. I started reading in Genesis yesterday, and I really learned that it talks a lot about God, right there at the beginning. I do not  understand how some people believe the things that they do about God (like he is shapeless, and everywhere, and nowhere, and unknowable) because in the very first chapter of the Bible it very plainly teaches differently. Anyway, I am really excited to learn all of the different things that the Bible and the Book of Mormon have to offer. I just need to make sure to stay on top of it! haha

Mom, thank you for everything! I hope that you are doing okay, and that you are having a great time at the beach, and in Disneyland! I love you so so so much! :) <3 <3

Love, Elder Livingston


Note: Some names may have been changed for privacy.