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

3/18/2012

Hey family,

Its good to hear that you guys are doing great. I`m way jealous that you`re in Mexico Dad! But then again I am in Japan which is much cooler on my scale.

Yup here it comes. Its gonna be spring time soon! やったぜ！There were two, not one, but two whole days where I was able to blue skies and sunshine. I can`t wait to burst out of this suit and hit the streets in my short sleeve T. The seasons be changing I tell ya. Speaking of change, we just barely had transfers this past week. The mission just lost a bunch of great missionaries this past transfer but it was something inevitable. It just blows my mind to see how young the mission is now. I`m now officially the grandpa of the zone so I now have the responsibility to encourage, inspire, uplift and train everyone in my zone. Quite the responsibility eh? I`m way stoked though, there are a bunch of young missionaries on the verge of bursting with potential and I get to help them realize that. Ah, the beauties of being a leader. Its not the title that brings joy, but its being able to see those who you`ve worked with surpassing you and bringing a bunch of people unto Christ. Gotta hit the ground running this transfer though, I can`t start getting lazy because I`ve only got four months left on my mission.

Well, Toyooka is interesting. Its got its own pace that I feel like I`ve started to grow accustom to. But just because its got a slower pace then the city doesn`t mean you can lay back and become complacent though. Out here, you got to work diligently and rely fully on the Lord to get things done. Being passive here or doing things on your own will hinder the work. But I know if you work hard enough, the Lord will provide for you. He for sure has for us, I mean you know you`re being blessed when your strongest investigator is a thirteen year old wayward school girl who comes to church on her own. I`m way excited for this transfer though, I know we are gonna see miracles! I just know it. Especially cause I`m with a great young missionary who wants to go out and get it done. There`s something magical about young missionaries who don`t have too much experience because they really know how to trust in the Lord. When you become an old missionary like me, you get comfortable in your own ways and you start forgetting the basics. So its way great opportunity that I`m able to work with a youngin` cause its becoming great review for me. Hopefully, I can spend my last few transfers as a trainer so I don`t forget all the basics of the work.

Oh yes, as for the package. I don`t really need much. I would appreciate some cheap protein if you can get your hands on that and some of those juice mixes if you can. Oh, and PICTURES PLEASE! You know that missionaires are fueled by letters and pictures from ones they love.

Well, I gotta go to Fukuchiyama in a few more hours so I gotta go. Please continue praying for the welfare of the missionaries and there investigators! Your prays are the things that makes miracles over here!

Aight love you bunch!

Elder Saito

3/11/12

Hey family,

How art thou beloved family? I see your emails are now progressively getting more and more trunky with all this talk about the "afterlife", I guess that is just proof that I`m becoming an older missionary. Well, happy birthday to me! I`ve now become a transfer 14 missionary, a true medal of honor I would say.

Anyways, to answer your question Mother, I would be delighted to go to Hokkaido with you guys after my mission. I`m in no rush to go home so we can stay in Japan for as long as you would like. Plus, I can go out streeting or housing on my own while you guys are in the onsen so no worries. I`ve always wanted to see how dendo is in an area other than the Kansai region or Shikoku so I think it`ll be a good experience for me.

Oh yes, well here it is. The big transfer 14. A truely awkward time for a missionary because he still has a lot of time left on his mission but it seems too short of a time span to himself. But I try not to think about it. There is still a lot need to get done on my mission so I can`t waste time thinking about unnecessary things. So I have another transfer in Toyooka to get the work moving faster! Hopefully this transfer we`ll be able to get to work since things have finally started to settle down over here. But there`s gonna be a lot of training I need to get going in the zone as well since I am now officially the oldest missionary over here. Goodness the mission suddenly got younger with this transfer! Well, I`m going to be training a new, young zone leader named Elder Day this transfer. I`m pretty excited because young guns always have faith and a good sense of urgency for the work.

Well, this week was pretty hectic having to run around places doing trainings, emergency kokans and such. I think we spent a grand total of nine hours of riding on a train this past week, but it was good because I had a lot of time to read the Doctrine and Covenants. I need to finish that thing before my time is up! Anyways, I`m kind of bummed that Elder Hasegawa is already going home. I think we needed at least one more transfer together to really get things going here because we literally didn`t have time to dendo but oh well, no point in moping. He`s gonna be a great member over yonder in Tochigi as Brother Hasegawa.

Its finally starting to look like Spring over here...kind of. It snowed yesterday and a little bit today but I think this will be the last of it. I can`t wait to get into my shortsleeve shirt and work! This suit is making me look like someone in the Yakuza.

Anyways, I gotta go. We need to go meet somebody in prison today! Love you guys bunch!!! Have an awesome week okay family?!

Mucho amor,

Elder Saito

3/4/2012

Hellos,

Why hello family! Its a beautiful day here in Toyooka! Its actually raining right now but that's good news. The snow, it shall melt. Honestly, half of me really misses all of the snow and the other half of me can`t wait to put on my short sleeves and sweat my brains out.

Sounds like all of you guys are genki over yonder. I see Selena and Richard are getting accustomed to the hood of Salt Lake, I believe it shall be good fun to crash in their apartment! Speaking of apartments, Dad! Why do you speak of such evils! Do I really have to think about rooming already?! Oh goodness, I guess this is just the curse of being a 14 transfer missionary...In all honesty, I don`t really care where I live so long as its somewhat near campus. I just called Elder Burns and he`s on board with being my roomie! But unfortunately, he`s just as tekito as I am. So I guess just go for south of campus, four people, shared...I doesn`t really matter to us! ONEGAISHIMASU!

Yes, and for going around Japan after the mission. I guess you need to ask President Zinke for permission first then talk to PBO? I`m not too sure but the office should be sending you information about that soon. So, good luck! Here`s President`s email: rgzinke@ldschurch.org Well anyways, I`m done with this talk.

Well, my beautiful bike, GT Aggressor 4.0 has finally broken down. Actually, this is the second time that its broken down but I don`t think we`ll be able to fix it anytime soon because there are`t any Asashis (Japanese chain bike store) over here in Toyooka. I was riding towards a less active`s house earlier this week and my bike decided to die on me as I was changing gears. The chain somehow made its way under the gears and the tire is now bent and rubbing on the frame. I took it to a local shop and they said that there`s no way they can fix it and even if they could they would have to special order parts that could take weeks. So I pretty much just gave up and resorted to borrowing a member`s bike until I can steal one from a missionary who`ll be going home.

Yup, things like that happen every once in a while. Oh well! I`m way grateful for how generous the members are here. If you don`t have a bike in Toyooka you can`t get anything done! This week was a great one over here. I swear, every week in Toyooka is just a great learning experience for me. Most of the week we were out of Toyooka, training our beloved missionaries in our zone, but we feel like we were able to get a lot of things done. We also had ZLC were President just blasted us with doctrine. It was way awesome, it reminded me a lot of McIntyre`s trainings where you just walk out the room fired up and ready to wield a Book of Mormon. There was a particular part of the training that I really felt like I needed. The concept of humility and how its connected to other Christ-like attributes. I think the reason I was sent to Toyooka was simply to be humbled. Its interesting realizing how much I`ve spent my mission thinking just about myself when I should of been thinking of other`s salvation. Read Moses 4:1-2 and see the difference between Satan and Jesus Christ!

Anyways, I gotta go now. Need to walk and pick up my bike thats on the other side of town. Love ya!

2/19/2012

Hello,

There is Shakira`s hit single, "Hips Don`t Lie" streaming through the speakers of our local gym where we email. Yes, random fact of the day.

Anyways, how are you family? Selena, I can`t believe you finally put on your big girl pants and moved out...40 minutes away from Mom and Dad! I joke, I joke. But that's way awesome you found a good apartment up in Salt Lake, now you can get yourself to work much easier. Now we must offer up our prayers for Richard so he can sneak his way into the U. As for me...well, I`m not too sure of what I want to do for a career yet. But, I still know that its gonna be in the medical field for sure. I`m still considering Physicians Assistant, but maybe I`ll shoot for the stars and go for Oral Surgery. I don`t know, I don`t know, I don`t know. Iz still gots four months to not think about it too much. Maybe I`ll just teach English over here in Japan...not.

Well, looks like it "snowed" in Utah this past week. Ha! I laugh at you! You don`t know what a snow storm is until you come to Toyooka!

I`ll tell you what a real snow storm is:

A snow storm is,

when you wake up in the morning and you have to search for your bike that's buried in the snow.

when you have to thaw your bike with hot water so you can turn your tires and change gears.

when you are shoveling in the parking lot of the church and then five minutes later there`s exactly the same amount of snow laying on the ground.

when you are riding a bike and all you can see is white and the silhouette of your companion riding in front of you.

Those are just a few examples of a real snow storm. But no worries, I`m having a blast! I feel like a kid in a candy store when I go out in that kind of weather. I don`t know why, maybe because I`m still twenty...and young! Eternal youth I tell you.

Well, this week was another great learning experience for me. You`re right Mom, it was a great blessing that I was sent here to Toyooka for my last few transfers. I have realized that there is still so much for me to learn on my mission and I think the Lord understood that very well, that`s why I`m here in Toyooka. Its so interesting to think of all of the possible ways the Lord teaches you lessons. Sometimes its through the Spirit. Other times, its through people around you and the experiences you have. The pains and the disappointments. The joy of the gospel and witnessing of miracles. Whatever the method, its our responsibility to see what the Lord is trying to teach us. I`ve definitely learned a lot in the past three weeks here in Toyooka. I feel like I`ve finally been able to open my eyes a little bit and realize that this work is more than I can ever comprehend. I`m out here to help mend broken families and to lead individuals out of forbidden paths and back on to the straight and narrow through preaching the Gospel of Christ and repentance. Its not for my own self-satisfaction or recognition, but for the salvation of others. So, when trouble does come up, I need to understand people`s circumstances and listen to all of their desires and fears instead of just moving at my own pace. It`s a shame that it took me a year and a half to finally start understanding this, but I`m so grateful that I`m learning. Better late then never you know?

Well, there`s a big work for me to do here in Toyooka but I know that the Lord`s gonna help me as long as I work hard and with the Spirit. Ganbarushikanaizo!

Okay, hopefully you guys are doing greeeeaaaatttttt! Keep up the good work over there on your side of the planet okay? Hope you guys have a great week! I`ll pray for you Richard! (and everyone else of course)

Mucho amor,

Elder Saito

2/12/2012

Beloved Family!

Another fantastic week spent in the cold winter wonderland of Toyooka! I`m telling you, this place is brutal physically, mentally and spiritually. It`s a testing ground where I get to try out everything I possibly learned on my mission, and I love it! Its good to see that I`ve changed in the past year because I probably would`ve collapsed by now if I was a transfer 2 or 3 missionary. But its so amazing, I`m still learning a lot from the harsh conditions, my companion and investigators. I swear, I have learned more about myself and the role I play in the lives of my investigators in the past week then ever.

I mean, its not an everyday occurrence in the Kobe mission where you wake up and your bike is buried in snow and frozen. My gears and brakes were frozen solid! But, never the less, there were places to go, people to teach and elect to find. So most of the week consisted of me, riding a frozen chunk of metal that was stuck on gear 3, through blinding snow. It was a thrilling experience! And don`t worry Mama and Papa, I`m still alive. I ride cautiously. A wise elder once told me that if I ever wanted to be a great missionary, I would have to "throw away all of my excuses." Its a good thing that I learned that before Toyooka, because I`m sure there were thousands of "excuses" I could`ve made up this week to not go out and work. But none of them would ever compare to the fact that we`re saving lives here.

My companion, Elder Hasegawa, also taught me a very profound lesson this week. We were going to a progressing investigator`s house with high expectations for the outcome of the lesson earlier this week. But to our surprise, he came out and told us that he couldn`t meet with us anymore for certain reasons. We were completely drawn back because he was such a great investigator who had felt the spirit during our previous lessons and really wanted to be cleansed through the Atonement. We tried our best to convince him that he was making a wrong decision but his heart was set. He told us that he had prayed a lot about it, even cried for two nights straight about it, but just couldn`t muster up the courage to continue meeting. After a few more attempts to resolve this matter, I was somewhat frustrated and just wanted to hurry up and drop him so we could go and find more of the elect. But that was where Elder Hasegawa stopped and bore a simple yet powerful testimony about the divinity of God and how He wanted this man, his son, to receive salvation. Both of them were in tears at the end of the testimony but the investigator still couldn`t agree to meet anymore. He then told us that he would keep the things we had taught him as a "treasure" in his heart and we left his house. While walking back to our apartment, Elder Hasegawa whispered to me while wiping a tear from his face, "it hurts when you can`t save somebody`s life." Goodness, those words pierced my heart! Here I was, seeing this investigator we just dropped as a waste of our time where we could`ve spent finding, where in reality it was a soul that had just lost a chance to salvation. I was shocked at how machine-like and cold hearted of a missionary I had become. It was sad. It also made me realize how much I didn`t understand the plan of salvation and the role I play as a missionary. A great wake up call to say the least. At that point, I knew I had to change to be a real servant of the Lord. I have a feeling that Toyooka is right where the Lord wanted me to be so I could learn love, patience and humility. Isn`t it just great when you feel like you`re on top of the world and then the Lord humbles you by showing you all of your weaknesses? I think I now have an idea of what I need to change to fulfill my mission.

Well, sorry about that rant. It went a lot longer than I thought it would...anywho. I gotta go now. Oh yeah, I might buy cheap glasses (probably 5000 yen ones) because I want a dendo pair. I may or may not buy it...so yoroshiku. haha Well, its starting to warm up now so I probably won`t die this week! Okay, love ya bunch!

MUCHO AMOR

Elder Saito

2/5/2012

Dearest Family,

Well, here I am in the local recreational center in the little city of Toyooka, writing you guys another email. I love this little city! You want to know how Toyooka is? Well, imagine Payson, Utah with a lot of rice patties all over the place, then you got Toyooka. Its great I`m telling you.

Anyways, it`s way good to hear from you guys! Things have been incredibly busy lately but its so good to hear from you guys. Sweet, I`m glad the package reached Obachan. I was worried that I messed something up because I was in such a rush to send it off. Everything inside of that package is way important because its full of things that my recent converts, investigators and members gave to me on my mission...so if I did happen to miss place that I would be destroyed! Anyways, I`m glad its safe and sound in Obachan`s house now.

Well, I`m not really surprised that Spohr isn`t going to wait for me to come back from my mission before he gets married. That punk. Oh well, I`ll be sure to give him a good kidney punch when I get home. Oh yeah, Elder Jindo was telling me how his sister`s going to UVU. Yup, he`s my doki, love that kid to death. I`m actually going to be traveling back to Kobe later tonight for ZLC so I`ll be sure to tell him about that.

As for Toyooka, I am in love! This place is exactly what I wanted for my last few transfers in the field. Its like my mission retirement home, where I`ll spend rest of my time finding the elect and seeing miracles in the middle of nowhere. I`ve heard stories about this place from Elder Hinton and Elder Burns so I pretty much already knew the whole area before I transferred in. The best part about it is that my companion is Elder Hasegawa! I finally have a Japanese companion! I never thought that this day would come...but it did. And its great because everything, and I mean everything is now in Japanese. By the end of this transfer I will rid my self of this gaijin (foreigner) accent and be able to write kanji like its no one`s business. Life is good.

Well, transfer day...you know what, this whole week was pretty crazy. The day I transferred into Toyooka happened to be the day where a huge snow storm hit the Japan sea side, resulting in trains not being able to run for hours. It was interesting because we were riding through Kobe and Himeji and it was perfectly fine weather...but once we started going up north everything just turned white. The train actually couldn`t go further than Wadayama so we had to sit and wait for a member to come pick us up. In the end, a two hour trip ended up becoming six hours. Its so crazy how much it snowed over here, I mean the roof of our garage in front of the house collapsed the other day because of the all of the snow that accumulated on top! Most of the week consisted of shoveling snow, lots of snow...and dendoing at the same time. A very interesting combination. Anyways, riding bikes over here in the snow makes me feel like I`m doing Tokyo drift all the time. Its quite the adventure, but lets hope I don`t die. That would be quite unfortunate, I want to at least finish my mission before I die.

Anyways, this area is great. Working with pretty strong investigators with a great companion, what else could I ask for? And the nature over here is just breathtaking! I feel like I`m snow camping in Utah again. Hopefully I`ll be able to stay here to see all the snow melt and the rice fields to start growing in. Life is good.

Well, I`m going to go now. I`ll be sure to pray for Obachan`s health and that Richard can get into Utah! Hope you guys have an AWESOME week!

Oh yes, and go GIANTS!!!

Mucho Amor,

Elder Saito