I accidently started writing this in Japanese

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another weekly email! We had a nice week so buckle in.

Companion exchange!

I exchanged with a missionary named Elder Takamura! He just came to our mission a few weeks ago from his original assignment in New Zealand. He will finish his mission in November! It was a pretty busy exchange, we had 4 lessons right after we got back from Yamaguchi, and then the next morning before we switched back, we had 1 more lesson. We invited 2 of those 5 friends to baptism and they both didn't really go as planned, but were still really good lessons. We only had 30 minutes to go streeting/housing, but it was super yokatta (good)! After I finished talking to the first people we stopped elder Takamura said something like this "Wow...this is why you have so many progressing investigators"  All I did was invite them to come unto Christ. Also we didn't even get to exchange contacts with those 2 people. But yea, I think that the exchange was really good for Elder Takamura, he has been really struggling recently, but I think all the lessons helped him be able to use and see his testimony. 

Zoo

Today for pday we went to the zoo! The sisters were going to come, but ended up cancelling, but that might have been better.... it was so cold and kinda misting the whole time, we got out of the zoo cold, but not soaked, but by the time we finished shopping, it was raining pretty hard, then we went to Don Quijote for something for Elder Ware and they didn't have it which was sad. Lots of pictures on my album! 

Tani san update

I don't remember if I've even written about Tani san yet, but he's getting baptized this Saturday! He is deaf, so teaching him is kinda fun, but we believe he understands everything and is able to make a covenant with God! He's also come to church 13 times now!

Elder Takamura's scripture!

So on our 5th lesson of the exchange, I asked if Elder Takamura could share a scripture. He was kinda not sure what to share and asked me if there were even scriptures about what I asked him to share about. I let him ganbatte to find one and then when he shared it during the lesson it was so perfect for our friend. Helaman 5:12

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

The way he shared it (in English!) was so good, he asked Ganesh, our friend, to put his name into the scripture as he read, and he was able to highlight the important sections as our friend was reading so well.

Food haul for this week

Got some peanut butter and jelly and not 1, but 2 6 slice bread loafs (my bag ripped today while we were biking home and one got ran over by a car :(   )

Got some gyoza too

Got some sausages too

I really really really wanted tortillas, but they didn't have them at gyomu this time :(

I boiled like half a dozen eggs yesterday

ate a tomato straight like an apple...not bad

Of course I got golden curry (also I actually tried a different kind of curry that was left in the apartment, and honesty...it was really good. I thought all other kinds of curry just paled in comparison to Golden curry, but ...maybe I was wrong)

Milk to go with the Chocolate syrup I found in the apartment :P 

I tried to use a sticky note as a bandaid when I cut my finger while carrying my bike up 2 flights of stairs today...hey, it saved us like 2 minutes but just climbing the walking stairs than going all the way around the railroad tracks. Honestly the sticky note worked pretty well, it would've been better if I wasn't holding a basket with 20 pounds of food with that same hand.

Today I want to testify about daily repentance and using the power of the Atonement in your life to improve and become better! I feel like I've totally leveled up my dendo since I got here to kitakyushu, even though its only been two weeks. I was thinking about why that is just now, and I realized its because I have been praying for Gods help, repenting, and seeking to do better everyday. I love in Alma 32 how it talks about repentance and prayer, in verses 16 and 17, it starts talking about having faith unto repentance "[beginning] to call upon His holy name" then it talks lots about praying, to do it always, about all things, so that the Lord will bless us. But I particularly want to emphasize verse 28. It says that [if after praying for these things, if you do them not, your prayer is vain] so when we pray for things, we have to give our all to accomplishing them. first pray, and then start trying your best, and even if you seem like you failed you'll be able to see Gods help, and that you've grown. 

I love yall!

We have to go start a lesson now! Bye bye

Elder Rasmussen