11/15/10

Herro Famiry,


How are you guys? Its so good to hear from ya! Is it really almost time for Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping? I can`t believe it. It seems just like yesterday that Richard, Selena and I were sitting in front of Old Navy just so Richard can get some stupid Lego Starwars game for free. When is Thanksgiving anyways? I`ve kinda forgot already. There`s already Christmas things going on over here in Japan so I have no idea of whats happening holiday wise anymore. Oh yeah, thanks so much for the packages! They came in this week.



Well, maybe by the time I come home from my mission Ryan will finally get his mission call. haha give him a good slap on the head for me. Hopefully, he gets it within this week then...maybe. I still can`t tell where he`s going either...I hope its Mexico or something. Thats great that Trent was able to baptize his son! I bet it was an amazing experience for him. Tell him that I is happy happy for him!...or I`ll just write to him sometime.



......I dont know anything about Japanese grammer. I just know that if it sounds right, then it is right. Really, I have this huge Japanese grammer book that I got at the MTC but I haven`t even looked at it yet. Some day I`ll learn proper Japanese grammer...but at this point I`d rather just learn more Kanji.



Well anyways, yet another week has passed by on my dendo...its amazing how fast its going! This week was pretty eventful. There`s still a lot of `mission drama` going on between us and one of our investigators who was supposed to be baptized. We`re still working to get all of that resolved. But other than that our investigators are doing well.



Lately I`ve been thinking a lot on how it would feel to be an investigator. While thinking...I realized on how difficult it would be to accept the Gospel if I were to be born in the Japanese culture. A lot of the stuff that is contained in the gospel is so...different or contrary to the normal beliefs here. When investigators do accept this Gospel they have to change their lives so much. They sacrafice a lot too. A lot of new converts have a really hard time staying active because of the outside pressure from family, friends, environment, etc. I`ve now realized that true conversion takes time. I think a lot of missionaries don`t realize that. We have to help investigators realize that they have to change their lives inorder to be in better harmony with Christs teachings...I just need to learn to be more patient with my investigators. Rushing for a baptismal date might be good, but I`ve realized that there isn`t a reason to force them. I learned from experience that that doesnt work. I would much rather have only one baptism my whole mission and have them stay active then baptizing hundred of people and having them fall away.



While streeting or teaching lessons you hear a lot of interesting ideas and teachings from different beliefs. Buddust, Shinto, Atheist, Christian all sorts of ideas. They`re all really good to hear and i find it amazing how differently people can think. I really do respect their ideas, religions and ways of thinking. I sure that all of the different teachings have truth within them though. But, it is true that only the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has all of God`s true teachings. I think I realize that fact little by little everyday after hearing all these ideas.



Well, I dont have time to write anymore. My P-day is now over. I bet the last two paragraphs didn`t really make sense...I didn`t have time to read through it. I hope you guys are doing great! Stay safe you guys!


Love you guys,
Elder Saito


Hey guys, this is Selena. If you would like to leave a little note for Rex, write something in the comments and we'll add it into our weekly emails to him. Thanks!