DD 16.35 ... ヤッホータイ人を見つけたんだいよ！！！

We still want a selfie of you and your companion. Can we have one?

Lin Choro, Griffiths Choro, in Kamisu

What kind of food did you eat last week which was indigenous to Taiwan?

... none yet ... we will get on it.

Still waiting on a picture of you sitting Criss Cross Crapple Sauce ... by now you should be a pro ... are we going to get one?

I'll try ... 

How are your investigators doing? old and new?

Great!!

Did you buy anything yet to bring back from Japan? a sword? a suit? a Japanese tea set? a kimono?

Not yet, I have a ramen bowl! And spoon! Also a bunch of Chinese charms from different people!

How hot is it there? any rain?

So hot, and typhoons like once a week.

Is your baptism still a go?

Yes!

Did you talk in church today? We couldn't remember when you were speaking!

I did, and will again in two weeks,

Did you get to listen to Elder and Sister Bednar's face2face broadcast??

Nope.

How are your feet doing? Any problems?

They're tired and sore ... but that's about it.

Is your bike doing well? Holding together?

Better than me actually. I'm tired, but she still runs like a stallion.

Do you ever encounter pets in the houses of the people you teach? Dogs or cats or birds?

S-San has two dogs ... and F-San has a bird.

If so, are you allergic?

To the dogs, yes ... it is pretty bad ... the bird, totally fine.

So this week.

Monday. We talked to you all, played basketball, and taught a bunch of people about the gospel.

The Zone at Zone p-Day

Tuesday. We went to Kamisu!!! It took us an hour and a half by train to get to Kashimajingu Station where we hit it hard. There used to be a branch out in Kamisu, but there wasn't enough priesthood holders, so they shut it down ... so we went out wanting to find people to come to church the following Sunday.  Once a month they have a sacrament meeting out there. So we prayed and we went!  We found a Thai lady that used to have a Book of Mormon and wanted to come to church! She's in her fifties ... she wants to introduce me to her cousin in Washington, and she wants to give grandma a gift through me ... she's way nice ...

A way cool shine thing we found about samurai!!

Wednesday. We called our friend I-San, and it turns out that he really wants to come to church and everything, but he has a problem with his legs, and because they hurt so bad and he needs surgery, he can't come.  We're going to try to keep working with him, but he has trouble focusing because the pain is so bad ... but we'll keep calling him! And he's way funny ...

Thursday. We met with K-San and trained him so he'll help us teach all of our investigators about word of wisdom issues. Then that night we met with K-San and the other Choro's investigator M-San ... pretty much, K-San testified for us and taught for us ... he's pretty solid ...

Brother F-San, Morishita Choro, Harrison Choro, Lin Choro, Brother Tk-San, Griffiths Choro

Friday. We went to zone meeting and then did a blitz in Oyumino ... also, we got Facebook back!!! Wahoo!! Then I got wrecked by Lin Choro in pinging ... turns out the stereotypical Asian is truly good at everything ...

Saturday. I got wrenched by Lin Choro in tennis as well ... we also taught a different K-San, and his dad isn't doing so well, which is really sad, he can't even stand up or anything. It's way sad.

Sunday, I went to Kamisu, and Lin Choro held down the fort here in Narita and gave a talk. Y-San, the Thai Jin we found on Tuesday, brought her dad to church as well!! It was great!! The members there welcomed them so well! Pretty much all of church was geared towards them ... pretty much a lesson with like ten members present ... pretty sweet!

Me after a long day at church ...

And then today we're fasting for the stake to see five baptisms in a month, so it's gonna be a sweet day!!!

Father! I just want to let you know that all of you wrote about the same thing this week, SAM's marathon ... and Abi's car ... good to hear that you can still draw parallels from the real world and relate them to me, always comforting!!

Mom!  ...  it's good to know that Clyde is still going strong ... ironic isn't it ... everyone said that he would be the first to die, but here he is, championing it up. If Abi needs him, she can take him ... and I know, I can't believe I'm saying this either, but my bike should be good enough for me for a while when I get back.

Finisher! That's so cool that you did it!! When I get home, give me a year ... probably less, and then lets do it again! I mean you have already done one ... in less than five hours? You said miles, but I assume you meant hours. And so now you can just tell me what to do and how to run it ... I mean I guess you already did it ... Step one: Start running ... and there is no step two ...

Stormed on Abi! Sorry to hear about Jetson! That's no good! When does school end!?! Are you gonna come hang out with me all the time? I feel like I might be kind of bored ... for a while! Come over all the time ... maybe I'll take my bike up to your apartment ... by the way, I really miss my mountain bike ... it's still hanging up in the garage, right? I'm so excited to have my shocks back again!

As for being spiritually uplifted, this week I've been thinking a lot about being Christlike. We all have goals and we all want to be spiritually powerful, but in the end, we all really just want to be more Christlike. I was reading some of Jesus the Christ this morning before study started and I found the following quote, "Have you some besetting weakness, some sinful indulgence that you have vainly tried to overcome? Like the malignant demon that Christ rebuked in the boy, your sin may be of a kind that goeth out only through prayer and fasting."

The scripture that it refers to is where Christ casts out the demon that the apostles tried to, but weren't able to. And then it goes on to talk about faith ... the comparison between effective faith and a grain of mustard seed is one of quality rather than of quantity; it connotes living, virile faith, like unto the seed, however small, from which a great plant may spring, in contrast with a lifeless, artificial imitation, however prominent or demonstrative.

What really stuck out to me in both of these paragraphs was the fact that we all have the same weakness in the end; we, the whole human race, are not perfectly Christlike. Some are closer than others, but we all essentially have the same disease, which can only be conquered by not only having faith, but working our faith. Working faith that's the size of a mustard seed, if it's living, virile faith, can have the power to move mountains, to cast out the strongest of demons from our lives, and help each and everyone of us, become more like Christ. So how do we do that? Through fasting and prayer is what Christ said to His disciples on that day at the base of the mount. He had fasted and prayed, and they had not. With both fasting and with prayer, the more we put into it, the more we can receive. The more we work our prayers, and fasting, the more our strength will grow, and in the end, the more Christlike we can become.

Harrison Choro, Morishita Choro, Griffiths Choro, Lin Choro
Choro's before church waiting for everyone to come ... we were too early ...

So all in all, that's what I did this week..

Love you all! Elder Griffiths!!

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