Transfer 4 Comes to a Close

Halleluja! I have a giant bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's Barbeque Sauce ALL to myself. . . But I'll probably share with my companion ;) Elder Kajiuchi had his first pack of pop-tarts. Oh they are so delicious! Hey, can you send me some good recipe ideas for the cream of mushroom and chicken soups that don't require chicken? We can buy chicken, but it's kind of a hastle to deal with. . .

Oh, random side thought: I went to Yonago on Monday night. Elder Bronner had this book "Where's Mom Now that I Need Her" It's like the ultimate cook book with laundry tips, maintenance help and more! Pretty funny.

Yonago! Excellent! We had a lesson with this man named Kondo San, who had been taught by Sister Mortensen (from my MTC district) when the area was run by Sisters. I met him back in Transfer 2 at Yonago's English class on the day of a Zone Meeting, and there was a noticable difference. Since that time, he started reading the Book of Mormon, and I got to see once again the power this book can have in someone's life. Like Umetani san! These two people are my first in-field example of the Book of Mormon's power. The light and joy it brings. . .

During the exchange, we went to visit Elder Nakatsuka of the Seventy. He came to Izumo a few weeks back. What a spiritual powerhouse. . . That visit boosted me, and strengthened my resolve to overcome my fears and talk to more people. And I have been! Yeah, I'm still passing a few people by, but we're trying!

We went to Unnan City, Kakeya town again. . . But this time, we took a route through the mountains. Yes, it was shorter, and took about half the time. . . But WOW it was in all reality uphill BOTH ways. I didn't think I would be able to make it up the mountain on the way back. Sure enough, upon starting up my strength was about to crash. But I felt a very literal flow of the atonement's power. It was similar to my hardest moments at Boot Camp. When my strength is exhausted, and I can't do any more, with faith, Christ helps me and gives me strength. This was a physical example, but that just goes to show that the Atonement is eternal and all-encompassing - Emotional, Mental, Spiritual, Physical. . . all difficulties can be lessened and/or overcome. That was one of those lessons that I've needed to learn multiple times.

On the way back, we stopped to try and visit an investigator, but were greeted by a man from China! He was very friendly, and started talking to US. He asked why we were in Japan, which led to a very good conversation about Christianity and the church. He said a couple of times that he was thinking he might like to become Christian, and told us that we had given him a very good impression of Christians. Man. . . If I transfer this week. . . too bad!

We also met with our investigator from Bangaladesh. He's doing well, and the meeting was great. I called him to see if we could stop by to give him a Japanese Language book, and we ended up having a discussion about Jesus Christ. Wow, he was once again very kind, and at the end of our visit told us that he considered us close friends! He wants us to pray for him.

Things in Izumo are becoming quite wonderful. I've been trying not to think about transfers too much, but we'll see what happens.

Thank you SOOOOO much for that wonderful package, and mom, that letter was just what I needed. I haven't opened the Sauce yet, but eagerly await that long awaited barbeque taste!

Well, time is growing short. Know that I love you, and am thankful for your prayers. I love being here in the land of my dreams . . . I love these people, the food, the scenery, the weather (even though it's hot!)

Love you,
Elder Peterson

Peculiar Profundities and More International Adventure!

This last week seemed to go pretty well. Umetani San continues to do well, but we're still waiting for permission from her husband. We're working with her to help her gain the strength and courage to ask again for his permission to be baptized.
We're meeting with a new person (I think I mentioned him a little bit ago), a man from Bangaladesh. He follows the Islamic faith, and we had quite a good conversation yesterday. Yes, our religious views are a bit different, but I was surprised by the similarities that we shared. I didn't know too much about Muslims and Islam before, and I'm looking forward to maybe learning a little more. The meeting was great, he's a bit lonely, after being gone from his (wait a minute this sounds like me. . .) family for seven months. He had no problems with listening to our message, and didn't feel like we were trying to force it on him. And that's right, we're not trying to force this message. We're seeking those who will listen, and giving them the chance to choose for themselves whether it's true or not. We might have a bit of difficulty meeting with him though, because Ramadan starts tomorrow (the 18th of August) and goes until the 20th of September, where he'll be fasting until the sun has gone down every day. He said he'd probably be too weak to meet with us (and that was before we had started talking about religion), but he is very congenial, and I think we've made a pretty good friendship with him!

On Friday, we biked A LONG way, to Kakeya Cho (town?) in Unnan Shi (City). It was roughly 30 kilometers one way. . . I guess Kakeya cho isn't too far away from Izumo, but because of the mountains, you have to go ALLLLLL the way around. We went to try and track down a former, open-ended referral from the Area Book. We found his house, but he wasn't home.

On the way back, a had a little drop down on the back wheel of my bike from the ledge we were riding on (messing up the breaks. . .). I had to carry my bike a few hundred meters to a house where we asked for help. Maybe it was meant to be, because the Mother that helped us seemed very kind, and said "Itsuka asobi ni kite kudasai" (roughly please come back to have fun or something like that). She and her father (a grandpa) talked with us a bit, and she asked why we were in Japan, so we got to talk a little about Missionary stuff, but we'll have to see about inviting them to hear our message later.

Thankfully, one of the members in our branch lives in the same Town, and said that there's a considerable short cut that we can take through the mountains, so we won't have to travel so far. We'll see!

So they have Cheetos here in Japan. They're completely different from American Cheetos, but I came to a profundity last night . . . They're called Cheetos because the Mascot is a Cheetah!! I had no idea. . . Shows you how dull I can be at times.

Zone Meeting and President's Interviews are on Friday this week! I'm so excited!

Things are going well!

Elder Peterson