The Comeback

Hello everyone! I'm sorry that my emails have been not the best but today I will put more time into it!

Clarifications from the last Email:

I said Jacob was getting married in my last email, but he's not actually engaged...yet. My mom told me to clarify in this email because everyone was texting him asking when he got engaged  XD  ... I wasn't lying though

While he wasn't trying to, Justin did blow up the coolant in my car.

Cool experience (Please read the whole thing )

Yesterday, while walking through a park, we met someone who was laying down on a bench on his phone. For me, it was a bit awkward to open my mouth and talk to him, I wasn't sure if he was homeless and sleeping, or just laying on the bench enjoying the weather. After I had walked a step past him, I turned and said hello and asked him what made him happy in life. He responded by saying that he felt happy while eating yummy food.  

If you're on this email list, you probably know enough about me to know that I LOVE food. I connected with him about food, and then explained that, while the happiness we feel from food is real, it is limited. After you eat there are only 6 or 7 hours before you need to eat again. Me and my companion then introduced God, and that because God is our loving Heavenly Father, He wants us to feel joy forever, and He taught us how we can do that. 

We sat down on the bench next to him and began to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what we call the 5 steps that Jesus taught us to prepare in this life to meet God in the next. I want to share a of each step, and how you can begin to follow God.

Faith in Jesus Christ:

Faith is the first principle of the gospel. We can learn about faith from a scripture in the Book of Mormon, one I shared with our friend yesterday:

Alma 32:21 "Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

I explained to our friend that, though we cannot see God now, hoping that He is there is enough to get started.

Repentance:

The Japanese word for repent has two kanji, the first "悔" is the same character used in the word remorse, or regret. The second kanji is "改" which is described in English with words like, renew, change, and mend. These kanji come together in the word "悔い改め" to give us repentance: the way we can change to overcome our regrets, the way we can be renewed to a state without remorse. Jesus Christ, the light and the life of the world, glorified the Father in taking upon him the sins of the world (3 Nephi 11:11) so that we could repent, be mended, and made clean.

Baptism:

Baptism, preformed by the authority of God, binds us to our Heavenly Father in a Covenant relationship. Pardon me for using Japanese, but the word for a Covenant in baptism is "聖約." Translating the each character directly, we get the two words "Holy" and "promise."  That is what Baptism is, it is a Holy Promise in which we promise to follow God, and He promises to guide, comfort, and direct us. 

The Gift of the Holy Ghost:

After we are baptized, the way God guides, comforts, and directs us is through the Holy Ghost. The scriptures describe the Holy Ghost as the comforter, a teacher, a portion of God's spirit that can dwell within us. Yesterday when asked to think about a time in his life where he had felt peace, he couldn't think of one. He said that he has never felt true peace. The Bible, in Jesus' own words, then taught him where he can feel peace:

John 14 "27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Just as my friend you may have never felt peace in your life, or maybe you have, but nothing has given me more peace in school, college, relationships with friends and family, than having the spirit with me.

Endure to the End:

When you, or Japanese people, hear the word endure, the natural image that comes to mind is pushing out with everything you can, just trying to keep your head above the water until something comes to save you. Sometimes there will be times we may feel like that, but as long as you stay faithful, keep repenting, and keep the covenant you made with God through baptism, the spirit and the blessings of God will be so great that you will not have not room to receive them (Malachi 3:10). Those blessings have made this fifth step in the Gospel of Jesus Christ the most joyful thing I've ever experienced. Everyday I endure by strengthening my faith, repenting, and keeping my commandments, and through that I'm becoming the man God wants me to be, I'm able to have the Holy Ghost serving as a comforter and director by my side and in my heart at all times, and I am preparing to be a loyal husband and a loving father, prepared to meet God and live with Him again.

I testify that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ YOU will be blessed. I testify that through faith, repentance, and baptism you are able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost so that you can feel peace in this life. If you feel there is something you are missing, some way to be better, or someone who loves you, I promise that you will find that by following the example of Jesus Christ and coming unto him. I'm so grateful that my purpose is that to help others come unto Christ so they can find what they are looking for. 

About 30 seconds after we finished talking to that person we sat down with another young man about the same age as me who is trying to find his purpose in life. Its not weird to have questions or to want to learn about God. God loves you. God wants to bless you. You can allow him to bless you by learning more from missionaries like me that were called to serve you. Search "comeuntochrist.org" to learn more. 

Updates!

We have Zone Conference tomorrow! My 2nd ZC as Zone Leader, I'm excited for our training! We are going to focus on a few different things but the overall focus is on strengthening the "lines" we have in the "water." As missionaries our focus is to invite others to come unto Christ, that is the most important thing! We do that through many different ways, which I called the "lines," we use social media to connect with and serve people, we go door to door, on the street, or in parks trying to share a message about God, that He loves us, and that they can receive His blessings by following Him. I got to Japan just over 13 months ago, since that time I've seen how, through my efforts, people can come unto Christ and find His peace.

Next week is MLC and then next is transfers  it's flying by.

It's been so beautiful outside recently, I love living so much.

I had 2 exchanges last week! 1 was with a new missionary named Elder Marshall (came to Japan 3 weeks ago)... I forgot how hard Japanese is at first. Even with Japanese elder Marshall is an amazing missionary, is has such passion for the work! Then I also went on exchanges with my favorite missionary in the mission, Elder Payne. Elder Payne is one of the sweetest, kindest, most tenderhearted people I know. And he said that before his mission he was the opposite of that. In his own words "truly living the gospel has changed him and his life" I hope Elder Payne continues to change and grow, and I hope to a similar change in myself as I continue to serve. But this is hands down the best experience I've ever had. I would change it for anything, because if I did, I'd be loosing all the change I've gone through.

But yea! I'm doing pretty good! 

Elder Rasmussen