Elder James Calhoun, Tokyo Japan Mission

Email #36 June 29, 2015

Dearest Family and Friends,

Another week down here in Tokyo! This past week went well. Elder Alder and I are slowly getting better at using our time. We were able to study at the right time every day this week, but we didn't teach nearly as many lessons as I was hoping we would be able to. We're going to change and improve this week! Tomorrow night, President and Sister Nagano arrive in Japan. It's pretty crazy. We have no idea what they are going to change or how quickly they will change it, so we could be insanely business this next week or only incredibly busy this next week. We're going to have to change everything that has the Budge's name on it to the Nagano's and maybe change the portal and mission logo and stuff. It's an exciting time! It's crazy that the Budges are leaving. I have learned so much from them and I'm super grateful for their examples. They are awesome, and I really love them. But I am SO PUMPED for the Naganos! They seem soooo awesome. It's going to be amazing getting to know them and love them and be around them for the next year and a half or so. We were in the office a lot this week, but we had a couple of really awesome experiences I'll share. We have an investigator named Yuichi who has been investigating the church for 10 years. He was an investigator when I was 9 years old, when President Hinckley was prophet. Crazy stuff. He has been taught by over 100 missionaries and had member presents with general authorities and mission presidents. He's a super good man but incredibly stubborn. He loves the practical side of Mormonism, but not the theological side. He has been getting a lot more humble and teachable these past few months though, he was dropped for a while and was picked back up again right before I got here. He made us lunch on Friday to say thank you for the things we have been doing for him. He took us down to his basement where he had the lunch all laid out, and then he told us to eat for 15 minutes, and then we would discuss service for 30, and then I would talk to him for 15 minutes about free agency and faith, and then he left. He's a character. We finished our lunch and then we started a lesson, and it went super well. We are trying to focus on loving him and talking about service because it naturally transitions into the good stuff about the gospel. We had a really good discussion on faith. He said, "You dare to talk to me about these things" because he doesn't really like talking about them but he respected that we were and it went super well. We talked about the theological side of our religion and how much happier he will be if he just reads and prays. The Spirit was really strong and I felt this huge feeling of God's love for him. It was a really great lesson and a powerful experience. On Thursday, we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Ishikawa, our district leader and the recorder for the mission. He handles baptismal records and a bunch of other miscellaneous things. He's the man, he's so cool. We tried to crank out our office work then went finding. We weren't having a ton of success, but we were able to hand out a few copies of the Book of Mormon. After dinner, we streeted to our bikes and no one was talking to us. Right before we got to our bikes, we stopped to talked to this guy, the only Japanese person I've seen with tons of tattoos. He kept walking but then turned around and started talking to us. We had a really good conversation about religion and the commandments and he took a Book of Mormon and we exchanged contact information. After, we saw a super cool black guy and started talking to him. He was from Ghana and wants to come to church! After that, we started biking home and we pass a guy on his bike and he slams on his brakes and says, "I have a bunch of friends just like you guys back in Taiwan." We gave him a Mandarin Book of Mormon and talked to him and told him about Chinese Night. It was a really cool experience, to go from having no success to having people basically stop us. I know that Heavenly Father rewards our hard work and is directing this work. It was a great week. I love you all, have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Calhoun