He is the Gardner!

My new companion!

My new companion, and President and Sister Nagano

     Another week down! Tuesday I hit my 5 month mark! So crazy! But this week was not an easy one! This week was honestly probably the hardest week of my mission.  I was pushed and tested and was cut down and molded in the way the Lord wants me to be. For those who know me they know that I hate being alone. I hate the feeling of being alone. I just do not like it.  I hit that feeling pretty hard this past week. 

     So this last week I found out I was training! I was so nervous about it but so excited. But then the next morning I found out that the sisters in my zone were receiving letters by an unknown person who was apparently following them home to their apartment.  So because of the situation the sisters were white washed out. I heard this and that was so hard for me to think that I was losing my companion and both of the sisters I had come to know and training. I lost my support group. I then found out that because of this the Elders would be switching to the sister's apartment. It was a lot to take in right before my 5 hour bus ride to Tokyo. It was the first time I have felt anxiety on my mission. 

     The last part was that a sister that was in my district in the MTC, but went to a different mission, wrote me back when I told her I was training. She told me that there was a Japanese elder in her district in her mission now who had a little brother coming to my mission and I could train him. Brothers and sisters I kid you not when I say I received a spiritual confirmation that he would be my companion. I went to the mission home and found out there was only one new Japanese missionary and it was this elder... I am training that elder! I love him to death and he has such faith. But I have never been closer to feeling complete loneliness in my life. My trainer was Japanese but he was in his 9th transfer so he knew a decent amount of English. This new missionary knows literally no English accept hello, goodbye, and the basics. Our apartment is dead quite every day. Not being able to call home and talk to my family, speak English to my companion about what I was feeling, or being able to go out and even just speak to these people was so hard for me.  But I realized that I could call my mission president. He was not mad at me when I called but he told me, "Elder Aiken, you can call me any time! I wish you would have called me right away! You do not have to do this alone!" 

     Though this is so miner to things I know you are facing at home in a world of growing darkness, I tell you this. You are never alone. You never have to do this alone! You have family, friends, church leaders, and peers who are there for you. The Lord will always be there for you. Never think you are alone! But brothers and sisters I plead with you from the bottom of my heart!! Never let anyone else feel alone. In D&C 61:3 we are told, "But verily I say unto you, that it is not needful... to be moving swiftly... whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief." We might feel swallowed up in the world's business and in the problems of our own lives. Ask yourselves this. Did the savior EVER turn in when His live was swallowed up in the sins and struggles of the world??  No! The Savior was never swallowed up in the world, but rather "the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father." Please let us work to have our will be swallowed up in the will of the Father, not of the world. We might go through this life busily trying to get from point A to point B, but God has children perishing in unbelief all around us. Please reach out to them!! Please do not forget them! Save the one! There are so many especially youth crying unto the Lord for his help and parents crying to the Lord for their children and feel that He is not opening his mouth and speaking to them because He is waiting to send you to be his mouthpiece and help them yourselves! D&C 1: 38. "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." Don't let them perish brothers and sisters please. Please let us work to save as many as we can. There will be more joy in heaven just for the one who is saved than for the 99 who do not need it! Do not let any feel alone. 

     I learned so much this week and was truly cut down to a lowly place, but no one and descend lower than the Savior did for us. The Lord is the gardener here. He is my life and my light. I love Him. I will follow Him forever. I will not turn from Him for as long as I live. I plead with you to work with me to do the same and to keep your feet on the path, your hands on the rod, and to keep your eyes on Christ. But first, do as Elder Robert D. Hales asked of us and " We need to tighten our grip on the rod," and as you do so on that straight and narrow, do not forget those perishing beside you in disbelieve in the mists of darkness. Reach out to them! Call to them! I am so thankful for my mission president and the Elders here for reaching out to me. The Lord needs faithful servants. These are His children and our brothers and sisters. See them first as a parent would, and reach out them in a likewise manner. This is my heartfelt plea that I give, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Love,

Elder Aiken