Week 18- Awaiting 日本

 Aloha 皆さん、

Not gonna lie, it's been a bit rough since I've gotten word about my VISA and departure date (February 12th). Not in the sense like I'm struggling with my companion or that I've been depressed but now I'm just super really wanting to go to Japan. Don't get me wrong I LOVE this area and the members in it and all the people we are teaching but man it's been a long wait for Japan and now it's only a month away. Honestly it just feels like a Wes Anderson shot. Day by day passing away at least that's what I kind of think of it though. With the wait for Japan though it has me thinking about the difference between Japan and Utah and how blessed I am to have both missions. The biggest difference for me anyways is definitely going from 2 stakes, 17 wards to 1 ward. Maybe Sundays will actually be a day of rest if I'm not trying to go to as many wards as possible in one day, but I'm super stoked about that aspect. On a more serious note I'm super excited to see the language, and culture difference and the new challenges it would bring. I think Heavenly Father knew what he was doing, calling me to Japan. As I go to Japan there will be so many more challenges for me to face, some (like the language) which may take most of my mission to figure out. Which is good, for me at least I see it as something exciting to tackle head on and go all in to make sure that I'm constantly challenging myself and growing. In Utah I don't know, it definitely isn't easy but it isn't necessarily challenging either if that makes sense. I am however super blessed that I was able to figure out how to be a missionary in English before I dived head first into a whole new language. I just know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and I'm so grateful for the Orem Mission for allowing me to grow as a person and as a missionary before I go to my original calling. I'm super excited but I'm trying to make the most of my time here. It's been tough but ik the time will fly by in a flash. 

Weekly highlights:

-I got a Crack rock

-Teaching new people!

-Another person on date!? More soon…

-A Sunday in the Orem Utah mission

-First snowball fight

I got a Crack rock:

Yeah you heard that right. I'm like probably 85% sure anyways. But we taught one of our friends on Tuesday and this friend had an uncle who was in jail for 8 years and is honestly super interesting. He has a lot of interesting ideas and thoughts but I think he's a good guy. Anyways we had given our friend a present for Christmas a while back and Paul was over this past week and had heard we gave them presents. We only met him once before but after the lesson he came up to me and asked me to hold my hand out with his hands closed like 🤌🏻 but upside down. So I was like uhh sure, and he gave me a small white rock. I kid you not I wanted to sniff it or lick it sooo bad just to see but I didn't wanna offend him. He told us it was probably uncut diamond or quartz. Yeah we went home and I smashed the rock with a cup, I'm pretty sure uncut diamond or quartz doesn't break from hitting it with a plastic cup. But I digress, I threw it away so you know I wouldn't get sent home or worse but that was super interesting for sure.

Teaching new people:

We found quite a few people to teach this past week, we currently taught 3 new people a lesson and have a return date and we have 2 more that we know are interested in meeting with us and receiving the lessons. Anyways it's super hype and I'm super stoked because it seems like there will be a lot of opportunities to teach more people and put people on date before I leave Utah!

Another person on date:

We put Sophia on date! She's on date for baptism on March 2nd so unfortunately I won't be there to see her get baptized but I'm super excited for her! She's super shy so we've been working with her for a while but it's awesome seeing the hard work we've put in finally start to flourish. And we also are trying to get two more people on date! Still trying to get Stephen to decide on Baptism but also Charlie and his parents said they'll start thinking about a date for baptism! I'm super excited for all the people we are teaching because they are all so awesome and I love teaching them!

A Sunday in the Orem Utah Mission:

Since I'm leaving for Japan soon I've been thinking about the differences between the two missions and I mentioned Sundays already so I thought I'd share since I definitely underestimated how busy missionaries are in Utah. This past Sunday we attended 4/17 wards we cover and we try to go to as many as possible, we had 2 lessons, choke member messages and we went to mission prep. Sundays are a lot of fun but definitely not the day of rest. Super funny though because when I got reassigned to Utah I was like what am I even going to do in Utah LOL. I definitely underestimated the amount of work that can be done in Utah it's insane! Then again I'm also comparing Utah to Japan and wondering what the day will be like there, I'm super excited to see the differences in each mission!

My first snowball fight:

That's right, in 19 and a half years of life I have just had my first snowball fight this past week with one of our ward Mission leaders kids. It was a lot of fun and I can't believe I was at BYU for a YEAR and I never thought to throw some snowballs at Kiara. Pretty insane with how much I pestered her but whateverz, it was a ton of fun and I left their place a little sweaty but definitely super fun!

Aight das all I love all of you, also my parents birthday was on the 5th and 10th so wish em happy late birthday. Fr tho cause I know they miss me bad❤️

Love yall, 愛してるよ

SHOOTS!

エリス長老

TheRisingSon

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