If Troy Bolton Were A Missionary

What a time to be alive!

Exchanges with Elder Eastwood! Such a great missionary!

Being a missionary can be super frustrating especially right now during these "weird" times. This past week COVID has gotten "really bad" here in Utah. The governor made some announcements about more restrictions that really limit the amount of people we can see and talk to. Even though I really wish that these restrictions could just go away and we could teach more people in person, I also have been working on finding joy in the journey. Learning from my mistakes and from hard times and relying on my Savior Jesus Christ more fully. 

Elder Leon gets really cold and has to double things up sometimes.

Last pday we got to play a lot of basketball so that was super sick. Elder Leon sadly does not like sports so it was just me and Elder Seachriest at first. We played one-on-one.  Elder Seachriest and I kinda sauced up. Then we convinced Elder Leon to play a game of P-I-G and that was rad too. Then we went over to this other church building and played against some other Elders in our district. That was also fun. One of the Elders is massive and committed to play football after his mission so that was funny and fun seeing him play ball.

This week there were so many little snow storms and it was so epic. I'm getting psyched for the big ones that will hopefully come soon and dump some pow⛷

This week we visited one of our favorite Dai Ichi members, Sister Sanchez. We always have a good talk and come away with some funny quotes. She is also super good at mixing in Japanese and English, haha. This time she talked about how the shinto religion and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are similar. It was really interesting getting her "inside views" since she lived in Japan for basically her whole life and didn't join the church until she was older. Anways, it was just fun talking about how everyone is just trying to come closer to God and learn more about him.

Elder Leon and Seachriest's shopping list 

Weird experience of the week:

We were on our way to district council (a meeting once a week with some missionaries that are in a similar geographical area), and we looked over and saw this old guy getting up from one knee and an old lady super excited and jumping up and down and then they kissed - side note: this was super weird because the guy had a mask on - anyways it was weird... so ya we saw a proposal this week. Gnar.

Weekly planning whiteboard

日本人の子供たち:

(Japanese kids)

We visited the Stanley fam and they have four young kids. The dad is American and the wife is Japanese (typical dai ichi ward fam). Anyways, their kids are like super good at speaking Japanese and are so funny too. During our whole visit there they kept bringing me different plastic foods and would ask me what i wanted to eat. This was all done in Japanese which was so funny and they even drew me some pictures too haha. I get a mixture of sadness and excitement when being around them because I love talking to them but I am also sad because the five year old is better at Japanese than I am, haha. I love the Stanley's and we are hoping to film a video with Brother Stanley because he is an artist and way good at painting and drawing. 

All in all this week has been pretty normal. Nothing too crazy has happened. I've really enjoyed visiting members of the dai ichi ward and the other church congregations we are over. Oh we also taught a lesson to this Japanese college student attending LDS business college (now called Ensign College I think) and that was sweet. But I will save that story for next week probably because we plan to have another lesson with him soon and are gonna play ping pong. He's super dope. If you guys could keep Kotatsu in your prayers, that would be awesome :)

Scripture of the week:

3 Nephi 12: 14-16 (The Book of Mormon)

14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

15 Behold, do men light a ^acandle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house;

16 Therefore let your ^alight so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and ^bglorify your Father who is in heaven.

- I love how this scripture talks about how we can share our "light" with others and be great examples to our friends and family. I love talking about our Savior Jesus Christ and about what brings me so much joy. 

Song of the week:

"I can only imagine" by Mercy Me

- I love this song and my companions and me have been jamming out to it this past week. Definitely some good messages in it too.

You guys are the best! Thanks for all the prayers and emails this past week. 

Love you all,

- Elder Ditto