I bought a Violin!

We are in Okinawa for Zone Conference and they actually have a store that has violins! 

Prophets are real! There are prophets on the Earth today that provide direction for us! Elder Holland is amazing, as a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles we sustain him as a Prophet. I feel like he really understands how hard the word is but the joy and peace we can find in the gospel. The gospel may not make our burdens go away, it may even make them worse, but living the gospel gives us the strength to make it through those challenges. One of the lession principles in Preach my Gospel is that "God wants to bless us with peace and a fulness of joy that will last for eternity." When we come unto God and seek to grow our relationship with our Heavenly Father he begins to bless us with these things.

There is a husband and wife we met with this week who have a little baby (so cute!), we talked about how the gospel blesses families and I shared an example of how it blessed my family. I shared how we had a few "family scriptures" that we memorized and would say together. The one that I shared with them was Ephesians 4:32 "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." I explained how that scipture, and the other teachings of Jesus Christ, were our basis for communication. When we focus on loving first, many other issues and problems fade away. Having God in our relationships strengthens them and gives them power. I am so grateful for my family and for the blessings that we have recieved from living the gospel. Mom and Dad, thank you for teaching me how to serve and love others, thank you for showing me where true joy and peace comes from. I'll love you forever, and I'm so unbelievibly happy that through the sacred sealing ordinance in God's temple we can be together for all eternity. 

Sunshines and rainbows! Well no rainbows yet, but lots of sun! It gets pretty hot in Ishigaki and its always humid. We finally moved into our apartment and there is only airconditioning in the kitchen so we've been sleeping in the floor of the kitchen for the last little bit. On the 24th they are installing AC in our room so I can't wait for that! At the moment, unless we have the door to the kitchen shut and the air on full blast, I keep sweating even just sitting down after I take a cold shower. 

The mysterious blue can. Exchanges in Miyako went awesome! Elder Barrus and Elder Mast are amazing! I was with Elder Barrus for the day on Tuesday and I learned so much about Japanese, rejection, and loving others! Anyways back to the blue can. A member in Miyako gives each of the missionaries a can of this liquid each Sunday, I have no idea what it is but I really like it. The Elders there do not like it so they have about 100 cans on the bottom shelf of their food cabinet. They've tried to say no but she insists everytime so they just started collecting them. In the day and a half we were there I drank 8 cans (they each only have 1.5 calories and Elder Nagao said they were good for you). Anyways we are going to Okinawa for Zone Conference right now (on the plane rn) and I asked them to bring me some!

Missionary work is amazing but also so hard! The good news is God doesn't leave us alone, He is with me now and when I amtrying to teach His children. He uses my little Japanese to bless people and help them feel the spirit.

One thing I learned this week is that the spirit is more important than Japanese, social skills, and all other talents. When we follow the spirit, Heavenly Father uses our meager talents to do amazing things. He wouldn't have called me to Japan if He wouldn't be able to work miracles through me.

I miss my family and friends lots, but I love you all so much! Keep being amazing and keep growing closer to God! Also drink a Diet Dr Pepper for me and got to the temple for me!

God is our loving Heavenly Father!

Elder Rad-mussen