3/24/2012

Hola familia,

Hey you guys!!!

Richard! You finally made it into the program! Good good, you finally wont be a bum anymore. Now get to work! You can`t get lazy just because you got into the program. That would be like walking through the gate at Disney Land and then taking a nap on the benches near the entrance. Provide for my sister! Oh yes, and Father, I don`t really mind if I`m not paired with one of my missionary buddies for rooming. I would love to, but if things don`t work out I don`t mind. But, I would like to not spend my fall semester at home if at all possible. I mean, I`m already going to be socially inept when I get home so...I don`t think staying at home would do me any good. Plus I`m used to rooming with strangers. I mean, I pretty much room with a new person every transfer so I don`t think I`ll have any problems getting along with other people.

Anyways, how are you beloved family? Its so good to hear from you guys. Can`t believe its already the last week of March though, unbelievable. It dawned on me again this past week that I only got three-ish months left on my mission. I swear, these are becoming more and more frequent as I get older. But as I learned in the Doctrine and Covenants: there is a time and a season for everything. I just want to give all for my last few months as a missionary and help the other missionaries in my zone hold a greater vision of the work. Lately, the sense of urgency in the mission has gone down and we need a good spark to reignite the fire in the missionaries, myself included. This is the salvation of other`s souls we`re talking about. Its definitely not something we should be taking lightly.

Yup, well this week has been awesome! You know our beloved thirteen year old investigator? Yup, got her working towards baptism next month and she is way stoked! Children are amazing I tell ya, no wonder why Jesus loves them so much. She is seriously my hero, its always a good sign when the first person who comes to church is your favorite thirteen year old. That`s right, even before most of the members. She`s even downloaded the Book of Mormon on her iPhone and is reading! Now the only thing we need to be careful about is her parents. They don`t mind that she goes to church but we`ll have to see how they feel about her receiving baptism. Please, please, please join us in prayer so the hearts of her parents will be softened and they`ll accept the fact that their daughter wants to follow Jesus Christ! I have faith that everything will work out and be fine though.

We saw another miracle this week as well. We gave a special training to the zone about working diligently and being proactive as a missionary. It was a very spiritual experience for Elder Day and myself and we could really feel the Spirit testifying as we shared about the blessings of being diligent. The Lord sent each and everyone of us to an area so we can succeed and bring many people unto Christ. I know that the Lord would never give us a task for us to fail. We were able to testify that the only way we can fail as a missionary is when we fail to try. That's why we really wanted everyone to become diligent, proactive missionaries so they can fulfill everything that the Lord expects us to do. But that's not were the miracle was. After the training, Elder Day and I only had a few hours to work in our own area. It was getting dark and started to rain a little bit but we were determined to go out and work hard. We knocked on many doors but nothing seemed to produce the results we were expecting. Never the less, we worked hard until the end of the day and then the miracle occured once we got to the entrance of our house to wrap up the day. I received a phone call right when I was parking my bike from some lady. She was asking if we were still teaching Eikaiwa and I told her that we weren`t. I honestly wasn`t expecting much because I thought she just was another Eigo bandit. (one who only wants to learn English, not the Gospel) But I felt an impression to just invite her to church. So I did, and her response was like "for sure!" Caught me totally off guard! After talking to her for a while, I learned that she had actually met the missionaries two years ago in Kinosaki, a town a few miles away from Toyooka. And guess who one of those missionaries were? Elder Hinton! I know right, crazy! So she actually moved to Sakai after that and attended Eikaiwa over there but never had a chance to learn the gospel so she really wanted to hear what we had to say. It was amazing because she came to church on Sunday and absolutely loved it. She stayed for all three hours and even for the dendo party we had afterwards and when I invited her to listen to the lessons, she jumped right on it by saying "Yes, please tell me more about your church. I want to know more!" I`m telling you, there is no other way to explain this but by saying that God lives and He is watching all of our efforts and desires of our hearts. We worked so hard that week, I swear we knocked on hundreds of doors but couldn`t see the instantaneous results. But now I know that the Lord will always provide for a servant who gives all, even if that all isn`t enough. The Lord understands we`re weak and cannot do anything on our own, but all He asks of us is to give all our heart, might, mind and strength and then He will provide the results that we desire. And He did this week by guiding Sister Miyashita to us.

Life is good. Toyooka has really grown on my and I love this area so much! There is nothing better than miracles, the laughter of children and riding a bike through miles of fields.

Anyways, gotta go now. Hope you guys are all doing awesome! Oh yes, and Mom. If you haven`t sent out the package yet I would like to ask if you can send some Costco dried mangos and crasins. Elder Day and I were pillow talking about what we would eat if we were stranded on an island and we both agreed that dried mangos would be the best thing ever!

Aight, Love ya family!,

Elder Saito