10/4/10

Mom and Dad,

Sounds like things are going good over there in Utah. I hope the family is doing AWEESOOMMMEE!!! This past week has been pretty eventful for me too! Well,we haven't seen general conference yet. I guess we're planning on watching it this upcoming week with all of the stake. I'm pretty excited actually, which is odd because I've never been excited for conference before. That's what happens when you're a missionary I guess. So lately its starting to cool down over here and rain quite a bit. That rain jacket you got me sure has helped through them rainy days. Thanks!

Well, are you ready for the awesome, fantastic, sweet news of the week?! We have a baptism planned for Octover 24th 2010!!! CCCHHHEEEAAA! His name is Okamoto Kazuma. He's this 19 year old guy we found streeting last week by some river near a part in Osaka. He's such a stud! We've already met with him 3 times and he's already come to church once and it hasn't even been a full week yet! In the very first lesson we committed him to read and pray if the Book of Mormon was true and we felt we might as well try to commit to baptism. When I asked him if he would get baptized, there was about a 30 second pause of silence. I thought I was gonna die! Those 30 sec felt like forever! Well after the pause he looked up at us and said that he's gonna try and prepare the best he can. I'm so happy for him! I have faith that he can make it as long as he tries his best reading and praying. The only problem is he works a lot and doesn't really know his schedule for the week very well. but as long as we can contact him I think he'll progress really well.

We actually have two other progressing investigators as well. The only problem is when we committed these two to baptism, they both had their own problems. One of the investigators is this stud named Ishikawa. He's one of the coolest 74 year old man I've ever met. His dad was in a concentration camp during WWII so him and his dad didn't meet till he was 11 years old. He really like the Book of Mormon but is determined to read it all before baptism. The only problem is that he just got out of the hospital two months ago and isn't in the best shape of his life. I mean last year he went to a Janice Kapp Perry concert and left in an ambulance. We're trying to explain to him that you don't have to read the whole thing or even understand it all to get baptized. But he seems to be determined. We're meeting with him again this week so we're gonna try to explain the Gift of the Holy Ghost and the importance of baptism in a bit more detail.

The other investigator is named Tomonaga. He's a 22 year old boxer who's parents died when he was 14. He doesn't have a strong belief in God because he feels that if there were to be one, he would have not let his parents die. BUT he seems to have responded really well to the Plan of Salvation. He wants to believe that he'll se his parents agian after he dies and it really gives him hope. He told us he would get baptized if he didn't have one problem. After his parents died, some members of the Sokagakai church took him in. He doesn't really like the church's teachings but likes the people in it. He told us if he were to get baptized, he'd feel as if he stabbed the people in their back. We told him to read and pray about it so he can figure out what to do. Both of these progressing investigators are really amazing people and I have faith that they can choose what will make them the most happiest.

Well, I need to go now. My P-day is almost over. Things are going well over here so no worries about me! Hope everything is going well over there! Tell Pochi and Monty I love them and throw Rupert down the stairs for me!

Love,

Elder Saito