Week 44

 We moved to Fushimi!

I was going to start the email in a certain way, but before we got through the subway gates a drunk man stopped us and talked with us about something, I was then called English man and said I was American and he was like you mean Canada? I was like sure.. :). But thankfully nothing bad happened. 

Big news, we made it to Fushimi! We moved this past Thursday and it's been a little crazy since then, but it's been a blast and we've seen so many miracles!

We were out street contacting and bunch of highschoolers were getting drinks at a vending machine, about 5 guys. I felt prompted to go over and talk to them. It was tough, but went over! I never really talked to younger people, maybe because they seem like peers? That plus the language just seemed like too big of odds against me, and then I realized they were, BUT I had the Lord on my side and He can do all things! So I just simply asked what the best drinks were and boom! We started talking and ended up giving 5 pass along cards, and a Book of Mormon! And then we talked to this cool old guy for 20 minutes afterwards which was cool. He isn't really interested, he likes to learn, so he said he might come to a sacrament meeting! 

Another miracle, we OYMed this guy and he's actually from Vietnam! He was pretty excited to talk to us once he realized we were Christians as well! He was like "I'm one too!". He was super interested also in reading a Book of Mormon! It was cool to see that he didn't have preconceived ideas about it. What he knew and what we know is that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and through it we can learn more about Jesus Christ than through any other book! And he was excited! But he can't read Japanese, but he speaks it pretty well! So we got his LINE (biggest social media in Japan) and we'll send him a Vietnamese Book of Mormon! To connect with someone on "LINE" you scan their personalized QR code on their phone and bam, you can then contact them on LINE!

Moving was rough haha. In Japan when you transfer, you get to ship two items. And most missionaries have at least a bike and one or two bags! So I had a suitcase and two bags and Matsumoto Choro had two bags and his bike. We have bike bags and you just carry out on the train. Pretty intense at times! We got to the apartment and realized we had the wrong key as we were trying to get in! Haha so President and Sister Halvorsen drove an hour and a half to bring our keys to us :). 

Today we woke up at 4 and I'm crazy tired :). Why?  Because Fushimi Inari! It's this famous Japanese shrine and it has over a thousand akamon, red gates! It was super cool and we saw parts of the sunrise as well and no one else was there! 

I think something to remember as I do these emails, and this goes for me as well, is that the most important thing that I'm doing isn't pictured here in photos. The people are the most important. I'm not here on vacation and yes it's fun to enjoy ourselves, but there's so much more satisfaction in helping others. And I still have to remind myself of that while I'm here! But always remember your next goal, have that spiritual momentum and you will see miracles!

Love you all!