Week 50- Reasons I've Felt Joy

 Yoooo 皆さん、


Wazzaappp, 


I hope everyone is doing good. We just had transfers and I'm in Kure still with Theurer 長老 which I'm super glad about. Me and my bean are meshing well and honestly it's just been a blast recently. 

But anywaysss, recently one companionship in the district has been really struggling with motivation problems, one of them even told me they've just been homesick recently and I really wanna help them. I've been really just studying with them in mind. I feel like whenever I have a hard time I always turn to Lessons on Endurance from J. TY Hopkins. An absolutely amazing BYU Devotional. 

“There will be rough terrain, blisters, and crashes, but there will also be a meadow of flowers. Will we see it? We must pay attention to and appreciate the flowers, and we must learn from the rough trail. The process, not the product, will allow us to find joy on our way to the finish”

Something I've always felt and talked about in past emails is definitely mindset. Where we focus and what our mindset is when we go about our daily life drastically impacts how we feel. The way we look at things impacts our overall outlook. “Dude I'm in Japan thousands of miles away from my family” or “BRO I'm in JAPAN thousands of miles away from my family” have two very different feelings about being in Japan. (I love my family but still like come on I'm in JAPAN). There will always be rough terrain and crashes in life just like Hopkins says. But will we be so focused on those crashes that we will miss the meadows? I hope to remind them and all of you about that. 

This transfer I wanna do a district focus with a challenge to help them. “Reasons I've felt joy” Having them focus on the reasons they may have felt joy that day and share it with the district with photos or videos of the reasons. I'm thinking if enough reasons or something (idk I haven't exactly figured it out) are shared I'll do something dumb (like ice bucket challenge in proselytizing clothes) as a reward (if you have suggestions please help I'm lacking in creativity). Hopefully this will help the district really find joy in this transfer and help everyone see the meadows!

If you haven't listened to that BYU devotional I STRONGLY recommend it. Listen/read it or you a bum fr.

Highlights:

-Hiroshima pday
-packageeeeee
-Smooth sailing 

Hiroshima Pday:


It was Kaku 長老’s last pday so we went up to Hiroshima last week Monday. Got to hang out with him, play one piece, and eat all you can eat shabu shabu. It was a blast but I was super sad to see Kaku 長老 go. Definitely one of the missionaries I grew super close to since coming to Japan. But it was a lot of fun. Kaku bro if you're reading this man I love you so much (if you don't I'll kill you). Honestly though just a reminder that you'll meet so many amazing people on your mission. It's truly unreal how awesome some people I've met so far are. I've had some awesome companions and just have been blessed with the people around me. Shout out all my previous comps (all of them are absolute studs) and districts too (I love all of yall)

Packageeeeee:
Got a package from home. Tons of yummy foods that I absolutely demolished (no worries I'm sharing), my brother's senior shirt (when did bro grow up WHAT), and a new pineapple palaka tie! Among other things too (that I already ate). Anyways just wanted to say thanks to mom and dad❤️

Smooth sailing: 

Honestly things have just been smooth sailing in Kure. Theurer 長老’s doing his best with Japanese and we try our best doing missionary work everyday it's been a blast. Time has just been flying by. It's crazy to think I'll be rounding the bend on my last 6 months soon. But just trying to live in the moment and take things day by day. 

I love yall, I made sure to write this email before I went anywhere :p

Das all tho 

SHOOTS!

愛してるよ
エリス長老
TheRisingSon

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