Email #65 February 9, 2016
Dearest Family and Friends,
I'm sorry, I don't have a ton of time this week. I'm just going to
share most of my President's Letter from this week so you can know
what I am up to and what I have been doing.
This past week went really well. We were blessed to see lots of
miracles. I am loving working with Elder Faganello, he is a great
missionary and friend. We have really been working on talking to
everyone, especially about Christ. We are making sure that with everyone we
talk to, we bring up our purpose and talk about Christ, not just going
straight to tutoring or Eikaiwa. We still have a little room to
improve, but we are doing better and better and becoming the finding
machines you told us we were. The biggest miracle we saw was probably
yesterday (Saturday). We had the ward basketball activity, and two
investigators and two less actives came. One of the investigators
doesn't have a ton of interest, he just comes for the basketball, but
we have been teaching him after we finish playing, and he has been
listening to what we tell him and taking what we give him, like
pamphlets. His native language is Thai, so we are trying to hunt down a
Thai Book of Mormon right now for him. The other investigator has a
lot of potential. He is the friend of a very less active youth named
Kichiro. Kichiro and his friend both love basketball, and we have really been making an
effort to reach out to him and his friend. After playing with them, we
were able to teach them with the ward mission leader, and Kichiro
committed to coming to sacrament meeting! He has been to sacrament
meeting once since I have been here, but before that, he hadn't been
to church in years. Last time he came with Riku, his friend, so
hopefully they will come together. Mashuu, Kichiro's more active but
still less active older brother, has been to church two weeks in a row
and also committed to coming to church today! The Lord is really
blessing us, and I am so grateful that Mashuu and Kichiro, members of
a family I have really come to love, are moving in the right
direction.
Elder Faganello and I are really trying to, as Elder Faganello put it,
"end this transfer with an explosion." Despite our hard work this
transfer, we have had a ton of rejection and a lot of our
investigators have dropped off the map and we haven't been able to
find many new investigators, even though we have been doing kinjin
dendo. However, we know that as we continue to work hard and be as
exactly obedient as we can, we will be blessed to see miracles. I
don't think I have ever been more happy receiving rejection than I am
at this point in my mission. I have really been praying and studying
and working to be filled with charity for my investigators and the
Japanese people in general, and Heavenly Father is blessing me to feel
more and more a stronger and stronger love for them. As a result of
this increased love, talking to everyone has been getting easier and
easier and even though it is always sad when people reject the gospel,
the thing that would bring them more happiness than they could
imagine, it is becoming easier and easier to just be happy all the
time despite the rejection.
I had an insight this past week about charity and feeling love for the
people here. I have always loved the Japanese people, but the past few
weeks I have been feeling that I need to strengthen that love and just
be filled to overflowing with charity, especially for the people I am
working with. When I hear about other missionaries, I sometimes have a
tendency to say things like, "It would be so much easier to love the
people if they showed emotion or that they appreciated my love." The
grass is always greener. I realized this week that I have been looking
at things all wrong. If I really want to love the Japanese people and
have my heart be filled with charity for them, I need to love all of
them, all of the aspects of their culture that are hard sometimes,
understand and appreciate them. I have been making more of an effort
to do this, and I have been incredibly blessed to be filled with more
and more love and appreciation for the people I have been so blessed
to labor among. I still have a long way to go, but I am so grateful
that Heavenly Father helped me realize this and has increased my
charity!
I'm so grateful for the gospel and for all of you, I love you all!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Calhoun
I'm sorry, I don't have a ton of time this week. I'm just going to
share most of my President's Letter from this week so you can know
what I am up to and what I have been doing.
This past week went really well. We were blessed to see lots of
miracles. I am loving working with Elder Faganello, he is a great
missionary and friend. We have really been working on talking to
everyone, especially about Christ. We are making sure that with everyone we
talk to, we bring up our purpose and talk about Christ, not just going
straight to tutoring or Eikaiwa. We still have a little room to
improve, but we are doing better and better and becoming the finding
machines you told us we were. The biggest miracle we saw was probably
yesterday (Saturday). We had the ward basketball activity, and two
investigators and two less actives came. One of the investigators
doesn't have a ton of interest, he just comes for the basketball, but
we have been teaching him after we finish playing, and he has been
listening to what we tell him and taking what we give him, like
pamphlets. His native language is Thai, so we are trying to hunt down a
Thai Book of Mormon right now for him. The other investigator has a
lot of potential. He is the friend of a very less active youth named
Kichiro. Kichiro and his friend both love basketball, and we have really been making an
effort to reach out to him and his friend. After playing with them, we
were able to teach them with the ward mission leader, and Kichiro
committed to coming to sacrament meeting! He has been to sacrament
meeting once since I have been here, but before that, he hadn't been
to church in years. Last time he came with Riku, his friend, so
hopefully they will come together. Mashuu, Kichiro's more active but
still less active older brother, has been to church two weeks in a row
and also committed to coming to church today! The Lord is really
blessing us, and I am so grateful that Mashuu and Kichiro, members of
a family I have really come to love, are moving in the right
direction.
Elder Faganello and I are really trying to, as Elder Faganello put it,
"end this transfer with an explosion." Despite our hard work this
transfer, we have had a ton of rejection and a lot of our
investigators have dropped off the map and we haven't been able to
find many new investigators, even though we have been doing kinjin
dendo. However, we know that as we continue to work hard and be as
exactly obedient as we can, we will be blessed to see miracles. I
don't think I have ever been more happy receiving rejection than I am
at this point in my mission. I have really been praying and studying
and working to be filled with charity for my investigators and the
Japanese people in general, and Heavenly Father is blessing me to feel
more and more a stronger and stronger love for them. As a result of
this increased love, talking to everyone has been getting easier and
easier and even though it is always sad when people reject the gospel,
the thing that would bring them more happiness than they could
imagine, it is becoming easier and easier to just be happy all the
time despite the rejection.
I had an insight this past week about charity and feeling love for the
people here. I have always loved the Japanese people, but the past few
weeks I have been feeling that I need to strengthen that love and just
be filled to overflowing with charity, especially for the people I am
working with. When I hear about other missionaries, I sometimes have a
tendency to say things like, "It would be so much easier to love the
people if they showed emotion or that they appreciated my love." The
grass is always greener. I realized this week that I have been looking
at things all wrong. If I really want to love the Japanese people and
have my heart be filled with charity for them, I need to love all of
them, all of the aspects of their culture that are hard sometimes,
understand and appreciate them. I have been making more of an effort
to do this, and I have been incredibly blessed to be filled with more
and more love and appreciation for the people I have been so blessed
to labor among. I still have a long way to go, but I am so grateful
that Heavenly Father helped me realize this and has increased my
charity!
I'm so grateful for the gospel and for all of you, I love you all!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Calhoun
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