Thank You!

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! I had a great time on
my birthday, sharing the gospel with others.
 
(Not on my birthday) We found a Denny's and had dinner and dessert there. This is a strawberry sundae with fresh strawberries, strawberry jelly, strawberry sorbet, strawberry jam, and strawberry cream. There was barely any ice cream in it, but it tasted good!
This week was one of test, and trial, but it ended up with lots of
fruit, and stronger faith in God's work. We are continually improving,
and working on gather all those who will listen to us and come back to
the fold of God.
 
Monday wasn't really anything to talk about, like usual. It was the
start of four days of precipitation falling, and rained all day, so we
walked to the stores we needed to go to, and then back home. Evening
was something, but I can't remember what we did.
 
Tuesday was spent trying to find less actives, walking because it had
snowed, and the snow stayed all day. We had fun talking with everyone,
and despite not seeing too much out of the day, we did talk to
everyone we could have.
 


Wednesday we went to go find more less active members, and when I was
looking for a different less active's whereabouts, we ended up being
in an area of a less active Elder H. had seen before. We went to
his house, and had a great talk with him. Then we went to the church,
and had a lesson with a new investigator. It was the second time
meeting with him, and we invited him to be baptized. Obedience brings
blessings, and he accepted. He is super excited for his baptism, and
is doing all he can to learn all he can. English class was fun, and I
loved it.
 
My companion in our study room


I promise my desk is usually more organized. 
Thursday was district training meeting, and that was fun. Not too much
to say about it here though. We then had a lesson with a different
investigator, and he is doing well. Still is working on some things,
but aren't we all? The rest of the day was finding, with not too much
to say.
 
Friday was spent all day in Koriyama. We met with an investigator
then, and he has a great man. He relies a lot on science, but that's
not a bad thing if you don't take it too far. He is really good with
English. We spent a long time with him, and the rest of the day was in
English class there.
 
Saturday we did weekly, along with lots of finding.
 
This is a Nintendo (card) game, where you have to match
what a person says to the associated card. They're all Japanese
poetry, so it's really cool! A birthday present from my family.

Sunday, Brother Niida, our investigator with a baptismal date came. It
was great to partake of sacrament, and to hear his opinion on church.
He loves it, and thinks that everyone is very nice and friendly. He
also is excited to learn all he can there as well, and that's the
important part: becoming converted to the Lord. The rest of the day
was all finding, and we got some good potential people, but no
appointments set up.
 
I had a great week, and I hope you all did too! I love you all, and
wish you the best. You are all in my prayers.
 
Love,
 
Elder

This was my dinner at Denny's. I got the club sandwich, and it was great! I got it

because I haven't had American food like that in a long time (or
non-white bread).

My companion Elder H. got roast beef and rice. He said it was good

Elder H.'s crepe

From his letter to me:

We had a district training meeting on my birthday! It was my first time 
conducting, and it wasn't a total disaster. This week we won't have a 
district training meeting, so that's good for me. Other than that, I 
made brownies for the district as my birthday gift to them, and was 
surprised with muffins made by the sisters. What was even better was 
that the muffins were a recipe from a famous (at least to missionaries) 
muffin place in Sendai. The rest of the day was normal. I don't like 
focusing on myself, even on birthdays off my mission.

Another gift from my family. It's a balancing game to test your chopstick dexterity.

Funny box from my thermos, another birthday gift

Elder Choi did say that we should be able to get a baptism every week. 
This isn't new news, as Elder Yamashita talked about a similar subject, 
but Elder Choi just straight out said it. I believe with all my heart 
that we can. It will be super hard, tons of work, and humbling ourselves
 lower than dirt, but it's more than possible if we have faith in 
Christ. We already have a baptismal date, and we're working on finding 
those who are eligible to get baptized this week. The only thing that 
will need to change is our faith. But we had lots of training on this 
before we came to the Earth, so we can do it.

They're both honey lemon shakes. Don't know if you had them in America ever, but they're
really good shakes

About our investigator who is going to be baptized: The date is for the last Saturday of March. It is the first week he'll 
be eligible, and the way things are working out with him so far, he'll 
be more than ready on that day. It is our investigator, and it is the 
second week we've met with him as an investigator. He's the nicest man 
alive! Such a pure heart. We haven't talked about who is going to baptize him yet. 

Note from me, Valerie: 

Last week, I went to a Sendai, Japan missionary mom lunch in Salt Lake City. Alex's former companion's mom was there (We had lunch once 

before so I knew Renee already). Also 3 other moms were there who I hadn't met and whose sons weren't my son's companions, but it was

fun to meet them and share this bond of having our sons experiencing this whole awesome mission life in the same place.