A great baptism!

 

    Hello everyone! It has been a fantastic week. Our investigator was baptized Thursday and it was amazing! He was so happy! He was baptized during the week with only the missionaries and the bishopric in attendance.  All the missionaries who had taught him who had not already gone home came to his baptism and it was so powerful. I got to sing which I love to do. It's always so nice see the spirit that music can bring, especially in the atmosphere of a baptism. He testified powerfully. He was not shy or nervous about being a new member. He was so excited to be confirmed. I had the great opportunity to confirm him a member in Sacrament meeting on Sunday and he was just glowing! He was already talking about his preparation of becoming a missionary and going to the temple. He is so excited. Such an amazing week. 

     Then we got to finally meet with our other investigator Mr. Wang from China. He is awesome. But we have not been able to meet with him for about 3 weeks. He came to the church and we asked him if he had had the chance to read the Restoration pamphlet we gave him. We were kind of thinking he had not because he said he had been so busy and it was really hard to meet. But he told us that not only had he read the whole pamphlet but he had prayed about it 3 or 4 times and believes it is true. We asked him, if he believed it was true, what is the next step? He said, well... Baptism. We asked him if that is what he wanted and he said yes. He knows it is true and wants to be baptized. He said he is figuring out his visa and work and there some definite bumps in the road but he wants to reach it. So exciting! We are working with him to reach that goal. 

     I just never want to go home. I cannot picture a life where I am not a missionary where I feel as much joy as I do now. I am in love with this work. I never want it to end. It is so simple. So focused. So driven. I love these people. I am dreading the day where I walk into church on Sunday and I do not get to say another ohio gozaimasu and talk to these people I love. I treasure every day, because they are so fleeting. So fast. It is already the third week of this transfer. I love Japan. I love this work. I am soo happy!! It is the best! I love seeing the mercy and love of God in this work. He always forgives! Teaching those around me of repentance and the chance to change and seeing that change in the life of the investigators in this area is so humbling. "It underscores the thought I heard many years ago that surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it." God wants to be merciful. The Savior wants to forgive. And the spirit wants to show us how. Oh how merciful the Lord has been to me. He has changed me. A lot of times we don't receive God's mercy because we do not accept. "I am not worthy of his love." "He does not want to talk to me." "Not after what I have done." "How could he take everything... Again?" BECAUSE. HE. LOVES. US. He loves us PERFECTLY! Undeniably. Unfathomably. Incomparably. The Savior always walks upon the waters that we so tenderly fear to walk. Sometimes not because we think we can't do it. But rather because we can. Because that means change. That means growth. That means faith will turn into a perfect knowledge where faith can go dormant and can never turn back from the truth. Because it means conviction. Consecration. And sometimes we are humble enough to give just that. Please let us believe that God is merciful... Then accept his mercy. His hands are ever hanging down to lift us up! Have the greatest week ever! I love you all!! 

Love,

Elder Trevor Aiken

  

Week 71

It's true...I'm the ping-pong champion!

    Hello!  It has been such an amazing time this week full of miracles here in Kawagoe! It has only been one and a half months but it has been the best!! We also found out that Elder Bednar is coming to our mission to have a conference on October 18th!!!! I cried... No I didn't but I am so excited! It is going to be unreal. I am ready for the spirit to pierce my heart and tell me how I need to improve. Very excited. Also, we had a wedding in the ward and had the reception in the church. Sister Murayama got married and it was a great day.

     This week I felt prompted to talk about confidence and how it directly relates to obedience. Confidence in ourselves and in the Lord. First I want to talk about confidence in the Lord. There are so many times in life where people lose the faith and confidence in the Lord's promises. We often lose confidence in the Lord and give up on the Lord's will, when in reality it is because we have been giving up on Him. Either from pride, selfishness, or disobedience. Not even the pride of selfishness of thinking we are better than the Lord, but the unwillingness and desire to change when change is needed. We see needed change, are either too lazy or selfish to do it, and blame the Lord when He does not just give the change to us or bless us and we lose confidence in Him. Especially in disobedience. 

     As missionaries there are so many things that are against the rules here that would not be consididered disobedient in normal life. I have had times where I have wanted just to look up my friends or family on Facebook just to see a latest picture of how they are doing or see the wedding photo of my numerous friends getting married haha. But the people of Ammon did not bury 99% of their "weapons of rebellion." They did not keep a part for themselves. That little disobedience and pride would show a lack of faith and confidence in the Lord. It is the difference between testimony and conversion. Between knowing and actually doing. Conversion is an offering of self, of love, and of loyalty that we give to God in gratitude for the gift of testimony. When we say a little lie to someone, are disobedient in what we justify as a little thing, or we're too prideful to change, our testimony and knowledge might not be altered yet, but our conversion will. We are not showing that gratitude. And testimony is not enough. It will falter and fail. Because we can't fight against the spirit and win. When we are disobedient or fight against what we know to be true and refuse to convert ourselves, our testimony will eventually give out under the pressure because testimony brings increased personal accountability. The spirit will tell us what we are doing is wrong and we will give in to change... To conversion or apostasy. 

     In middle school, high school, and I will say college as well, teenagers are very self conscious and sometimes pretty down. But almost always it comes down to two things. The first, one that comes to everyone is the brutal life of being a teenager! Teenagers are brutal and people can get really hurt by what they say. They get down because of what other people would say to them. But the other half might be one that parents do not always stop to think about. One that adults often do as well. The lack of self-esteem that comes from disobedience to the Lord. Knowing that what we are doing is wrong and that guilt that comes in turn. Guilt which, when left unresolved, turns into projected anger or sadness. But some times parents see it and think, "oh, they are just teenagers they are in a mood swing." Or someone probably said something rude to them at school. That is true as well but also the latter happens more than people think I believe. We lose confidence in ourselves when do not keep the commandments because we lose sight of who we are. Sons and daughters of God. And we begin to identify ourselves with the names that others give us in order to fill the empty name tag that we now carry. It is like we just hand the marker around and allow people to write whatever name they want on there. But if we love God, do His will, and fear His judgment more than men's, we will have self-esteem. There is confidence in conversion, trial in testimony, and fear in faltering. Strength and confidence comes in obedience and conversion. Conversion is believing, exercising, repenting, experiencing, and becoming. As we love him and do His will we will be confident in Him, feel His love, and in turn be confident in ourselves. 

     I have changed so much on my mission. I have finally found true confidence in myself. I am becoming who HE wants me to be! I now carry two names on my name tag. Not many people know this I guess but I was so self conscious about who I was before my mission. About how I looked, what I said, what other people thought... About what God thought. But now I have self-esteem and pure joy every day!!:) because I feel the spirit and God's love every day. Because I know I am doing what He wants me to do and I know I am being obedient. I pray that we can all find self-esteem in following Him who gave us life. The One who really matters and loves us perfectly. Not just merely have a testimony, but convert ourselves to Him. "Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion. We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel" 

     Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Trevor Aiken

Week 69!

All gone!

     Well.. To start off..  BYU won! BYU won! BYU won! That time of year has come baby!!  I literally looooooove BYU football, but seeing a miracle performed by the Lord is still much better than watching a touchdown by Taysom Hill.

My new P-day shirt!   

     Our investigator, Maki, who we are meeting on Thursday, called a member on Sunday after church who fellowshipped her very well and said she wanted to talk about her life with her. Like a heart to heart. The member said why don't we meet with the Elders first and then we can talk after as well. They want to meet you. She said that would be awesome. We met with her and we just asked her how she felt about the last lesson. She said she loved the message but... She did not know if it was all true. She said she has a strong desire but she does not know it yet. We told her of course she will not know it right at first and that it takes time. Don't be worried. The spirit just prompted to share Alma 32:26-27 and I said I think there is a scripture that is perfect for you and what you are feeling. We read it and she was so caught off guard. She said that is exactly how I feel!! How did you know?? Did you prepare it beforehand? How do the scriptures always contain exactly what I need? It was such an awesome lesson! The spirit was so powerful and we went on and finished the lesson and we are meeting again on Thursday. 

     Lastly, my favorite. So the area I am in had not seen a baptism in almost 2 years. I came in about a month ago and Elder Rhea and I have been working really hard and we have been praying to have 24 hours of faith each day and when that day is up... Pray for it again. Then show it. We were able to have an amazing baptism a few weeks ago and then this week we saw an amazing miracle. We have an investigator whose name I will not reveal who is of a different faith. He lived in a different country but has since moved Japan. He met the missionaries almost on the day he arrived in Japan and has been taking lessons ever since. He has kind of been on and off for a year and we thought he would never get baptized.  We have been working with him and it was kind of stalling. It went for a few weeks and we could not meet him after trying a few times but finally he just called us and said I want to meet...today!  We said absolutely and we met him at the church. He came, sat down, and told us that there was something he wanted to talk about. He said, "I want to be baptized. I know it is what I need to do. I have come to know Jesus Christ and everything in my heart, every feeling I have tells me I need to get baptized. But I know how dangerous and how hard it would be so I do not know what to do."  I leaned forward and I said, I think the spirit is telling you you should be baptized. I promise this is what God wants for you. I told him what we can do is have you meet with President Nagano and he can interview you and see if you are safe to be baptized and he can meet with you next week. Will you do it? He was so caught off guard with how straight forward I was and with how I had set a time frame for the following week. He said... Let's do it. President Nagano was so kind and came the following Saturday. Interviewed him. Actually also went through all of the baptismal questions as well and he passed both! President Nagano called the area president and sent an email to Church Headquarters and they cleared him to be baptized!! We are going to teach him the rest of the lessons and he will be baptized here in the next 3 or 4 weeks!! Yes!! So amazing!! Such an amazing miracle!! 

     Which leads into my spiritual thought. This week I wanted to share a quick thought on patience in the Lord's timing but also His will. You might have already heard part of this but I just wanted to testify of it. Of patience in and through trials.  President Thomas S. Monson has said, "God left the world unfinished for man to work his skill upon. He left the electricity in the cloud, the oil in the earth. He left the rivers unbridged and the forests unfelled and the cities unbuilt. God gives to man the challenge of raw materials, not the ease of finished things. He leaves the pictures unpainted and the music unsung and the problems unsolved, that man might know the joys and glories of creation." God does not give us finished things. He never will. He gives us the raw materials and agency to grow and face adversity in this life to grow and become like him. And the beauty of his creations is he always creates things that can keep on creating. 

      I also want to talk about trials.  The word that does not taste good when it leaves the tip of your tongue. Trials are God-given chances to open our eyes to, and highlight the characteristics of Christ that need the most work. And almost always, patience is involved. Patience in others, and more often than not, patience with our own weaknesses. God knows what we need. He will not give us patience, but he will give us chances to be patient. He will not give us faith, but he will give us chances to exercise and grow it. 

      Patience is not bearing something or gritting your teeth and just getting by. When Elder Neal A. Maxwell was undergoing the trial of Leukemia, he told Elder Bednar that, "I have learned that not shrinking is more important than surviving."  We cannot lower our faith or expectations in the Lord just because something is unbearable, or so it seems, and something does not go our way. No matter how hard. I know coming from a 20 year old kid this does not seem like much because I have not faced terrible trials. At least that is the image everyone sees when they see me always smiling and laughing and loving this gospel. Which I do. But we all have our crosses. Another 20 year old woman had a very hard cross to bear. That was three weeks after she got married to the love of her life for time and all eternity, a 23 years old named John. John found out he had very serious terminal cancer and it was not looking great. Elder Bednar went and visited John and they talked for a while and then John asked for a blessing. Elder Bednar was more than happy to do so, but he said first I need to ask you some questions. Then the spirit took Elder Bednar a very different direction than he thought, but he asked, "John, do you have the faith not to be healed? If it is the will of our Heavenly Father that you are transferred by death in your youth to the spirit world to continue your ministry, do you have the faith to submit to His will and not be healed?  Have we not all had numerous times where we asked Heavenly Father like the Savior did as well to "take this from me." Have we not all cried out begging him to take away some pain we are feeling. I have spent years sending that prayer and plea to Heaven's height in my life with different things. But how many times have we asked the Lord, "Lord... Help me to accept thy will for me whatever it be, and to help me carry this cross." Rather than "Lord make me whole." We all have crosses to bear. I wanted to leave this thought with you and I ask you to please ask yourself if you have the faith not to be healed. To have the faith that the Lord definitely COULD heal us, but not always that He would. Believe in Him. Trust Him. He knows our needs. He knows the bigger picture. Do we have the faith to not be healed even when it makes no sense not to be? In our eyes, and often the eyes of many around us. Let us have faith. Let us look upon Christ with a steadfastness to walk on water and never falter I pray! 

     Have the best week ever!

Love,

Elder Trevor Aiken

Week 68!

     Hello everyone!  How are you doing? I am so happy! Holy cow I cannot even believe it. The work of the Lord continues. How can we not rejoice every day?! I am just always so happy and I love it!! This is the greatest work on earth! 

     This week was great. My MyLDSMail got deleted so every single one of my emails I have received in my mission is gone so that might have been the saddest day for sure. Then to top it off after that... after 2 weeks of putting ointment on the burn that was our investigator thinking I was a woman on the phone... (My voice goes up when I am nice and really sincere or excited to people! Like when you talk to a kid or a dog it happens!) after the burn was nearly gone, it happened again!  We went to visit a less active member but she would not come to the door because she was sick so she spoke to us through this window. The glass was the kind that's blured so I could not see her face. Just a blurred image. And she could not see mine. She was an older woman so I was using my kind voice and trying to be sincere and told her we just wanted to see how she was doing and she really appreciated it! She said it was so nice and she said, you know what, I will come to church on Sunday. I was way excited. That is awesome! We will be waiting for you at the church. We can go in together. She was excited and said ok. What is your name? I said Elder Aiken! Elder?? Elder?? You aren't a girl? Aren't you one of the sisters? My companion just lost his marbles. He about wet his pants. Two times was too much for the man.  I know sister missionaries have power and I guess Elders do too who sound like them!  Not one of my better days!

    This week I have not thought out a really deep thought per say but I had a very powerful experience I would like to share. Last week we got ready for the day and started off our personal study. It was the day we were planning on meeting Maki. As I sat in my study and tried to ponder what we should teach specifically, I thought of the trials she is facing with her divorce, raising two kids alone, facing the world with no light. No Savior. She was wading through these waters of life without knowing there was a life guard who walks upon them. In an instant I felt a love and a spirit that I have literally never felt in my life. In this moment I felt a pure love and spirit for Maki. I do not think I have ever felt more humbled in my entire life knowing I have been so blessed to always know I have a Savior there who can take it all. Maki did not know that. I literally tried but could not comprehend what it must be like not having that knowledge because I have always known. And I literally slumped in my chair and began to cry. I felt as Alma did when he said "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!" In that moment I felt such a love for the people of Japan that I have never felt. I wanted every single person to know that they have a Savior and a light who can take it all. I wanted them to know it is going to be ok. The spirit filled my soul and it stayed with me literally all day. My thoughts were constantly directed towards that lesson and his work. I felt like I was one with the spirit in my purpose and calling. We met with Maki and had an amazing lesson. She finally told us her experience in person where she heard God speak to her and say Come unto Me. She said that normally she would think it was her own thoughts, but I told her I can promise it was the Lord because he has given us this direction and plea in the scriptures written by his prophets to us. We then shared Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

And she was in shock. She said, "It is in the scriptures!" We told her Ya it is!! It was so cool to see her reaction. Then we went on and we told her we wanted to teach her about who it is we are coming unto. Jesus Christ. We testified of his life and his atonement. We told her imagine that Jesus Christ could take all of your pain, sin, stress, mistakes, sadness, etc. everything! She closed her eyes and just sat there for like 2 or three minutes. Then I said is that something you want? She opened her eyes and just began to weep and said yes it is something she wanted. The spirit was literally tangible. It was wrapped around me and around the room. It enveloped us. We told her the way is to be baptized. We asked if when she knew that this message is true if she would be baptized and she said she would but it would take some time. Little by little. It was so powerful to see her faith!

     I cannot describe the love I feel for the Japanese people. They are my people. I love every second I have with them. How can just a mere 9 more months be enough for one person to be with the people he loves. I am treasuring every day. If you give people a hope it will open their eyes. If you give people a Savior, it will open their hearts. And that is when the spirit can enter. That is when conversion takes place. 

     Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Trevor Aiken

Gold Medal week!

     Hello everyone!  What a great week!  We got to watch the Sapporo Temple dedication which was amazing.  Many people will be changed from that experience!

     Also this week goes down as one of the most eventful!  There were 2 stories I want to share, and since it's the Olympic season we will talk in terms of medals.  First, the silver goes to an Elder I went on splits with.  (Sorry - no bronze)  We pulled up to this light and saw this young man we wanted to talk to but right as we pulled up it went green and he sped off without even seeing us. So the chase began. Not in a creepy way, but we were going the same way anyway so we thought ok we will talk to him at the next light. Then we start going down this big hill and my companion is road biking it while the kid is on the side walk and I am about 15 yards behind all of this just watching my companion try to catch up to this kid. Well the kid swerves out into the road and my companion has to slow down and he thinks, ok I will go on the sidewalk and he can take the road because he is going too slow. He sees an opening and goes for the sidewalk... Miscalculates and his front wheel hits the curb and it bends, breaks off, and he and the bike going flying forward. He goes over the handle bars, front flips, and while he is in mid air, he is now facing me (backwards) and we make eye contact as I just see this face, like "oh it's over man just leave me" type of thing, and he goes about 5 yards and lands with the bike right next to him. The bike is destroyed, but the miracle is is that he lived! He was basically unfazed! His elbow was a little scraped, but this Elder is interesting in the way that he wears long sleeves even in the dead of summer, so because of that he wears gloves so he doesn't get a hand tan.  And that turned out to be a tender mercy because his gloves and his sleeves got shredded but his arms and hands were fine!  It was seriously wild up there, but he made it.  I have not seen slow motion like that in real life. 

     Now for the Gold medal!   It goes to one of the most powerful miracles and experiences I have had on my mission. Remember Maki Tanaka I wrote about last week?? We had an amazing lesson with her on Thursday and it was so powerful. We had two members present and they were so powerful! The spirit was strong and amazing. It went for like 2 hours!! She had so many questions and the spirit was so strong I was not stopping this one. Plus the members were so hyped. We taught that God is our Heavenly Father and we taught her how she can know it was true. Prayer. We challenged her to pray and we went home that night and prayed with all of our hearts that she could receive an answer to her prayer. She really wanted to and was so excited to try. She had such a sincere desire to know and she opened up to us about some really hard trials in her life right now. She wanted to know. The following night I wanted to call her and to thank her for coming to the lesson on Thursday just to show love and have daily contact and so the feelings of the lesson would not diminish I guess. But I just felt that I should call her. I did not think she would have prayed yet because we had the lesson the night before at the end of the night. So I called and she is just way happy on the phone as usual and I thank her so much for the day before and she says, "no, thank you", and then she says, "Elder Aiken I tried praying." It caught me off guard, but I asked her how it went.   (This is all in Japanese of course). She went on to tell me, "At two in the morning I went into my room. I was up for hours thinking about he message you taught and I did not know if it was true. I had some doubts. So I went and kneeled at my bedside at 2 in the morning and I prayed. I asked Heavenly Father, Are you there? Is this true? And then.. I heard the words, truly heard, "Watashi no tokoro ni kinasai." I opened my eyes because I was certain there would be someone in the room but I could see no one in the room. Elder Aiken, God just spoke to me." "Watashi no tokoro ni kinasai" in English means "Come unto me." The Lord spoke to Maki Tanaka in answer to her prayer and told her to "Come Unto Him!" It was literally one of the most powerful experiences I have faced on my mission. It was such an amazing thing to witness the glory and love of our Father in Heaven. He does answer prayers! He does speak to us in these latter days! He is there! This church is true! And now Maki Tanaka knows that! Sure she still has some trials to overcome and some things to beat, but now she knows. She knows the Lord knows, and she cannot deny it. That is what she told me. It was crazy! It was like a movie! I love this gospel! I love the Lord!  I hope that lifted your Faith because it did mine. I definitely like the Gold medal this week. But Please submit your votes to Trevor.aiken@myldsmail.net ok! Haha sorry I am just so happy! Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Aiken

Week 66!

     Week 66 was an awesome week! It started off with faith and hard work and a desire to see miracles of course!! 

     On Wednesday we came together as a zone at zone conference and we knelt together, 22 missionaries, in prayer. We prayed to see baptisms this transfer and prayed to know how many we felt that we could see in the next month. It was so powerful to see 21 servants of the Lord with such a strong desire to serve our Savior kneel with me in prayer. The spirit was so strong. We set a range goal to see 18-24 baptisms and immediately got to work to see it. It was so awesome. I prayed to Heavenly Father and just told Him I would give him 24 hours of faith. Just 24 hours of pure faith that we would see miracles. Then when the 24 hours ended, I started again.. And again.. And it still continues. It led us to two new investigators and we had an amazing baptism yesterday with our investigator Mizuguchi! 

     He was baptized by the bishop of our ward. So awesome! He had such a desire to change his life. He just told us that he wanted a new life and fresh start. He wanted to feel forgiven and clean. He was so saddened and disappointed by the choices he had made in his past life. He has tattoos all over his arms chest and back so he always wears a black long sleeve shirt so no one will judge him. He was very hesitant to be baptized with other people watching, but he finally agreed and said it would be ok. He was baptized and he was so happy. He told us the tattoos were obviously still there but all of the decisions he had made felt like they were washed away. It was great.

     A huge miracle came of it as well. In our mission, as you probably know, we have our area books on our iPads. It is all digital. So the other day we went and synced our iPad and all of a sudden there were around 250 people in there from the sisters old area book because there are no sisters in our area. There has not been for 2 years so all of these people had not been taught in 2 years. So we needed to find out who had interest and who didn't because now our area book was huge and unorganized. So we decided to start calling and invite people to the baptism. We called a woman named Maki Tanaka. She was so nice and I invited her to come to the baptism and she said her really good friend was actually a member in a neighboring ward and she had gone to her baptism 3 years ago but never went back to the church since. She was hesitant but said she might come... and she did! And she had a great experience. All of the sisters in the ward just went and fellowshipped her so well!! Maki was so nice and acted so natural in the church though that they thought she was already a member at first. But I asked her how she felt and she said she felt so happy. I tried to explain to her that there are moments in our lives when we feel a joy we do not understand. Like when we look at beautiful view or scenery. Or when we hold a new born child for the first time. Or when we see someone get baptized. I told her that in those beautiful moments, that feeling of joy or peace is Heavenly Father touching our hearts through his spirit, trying to let us know He is there. That there is something more out there. That He loves us. It really clicked with her. Then she asked me, "But why does everyone here seem so happy all the time and why are they always so nice to me. They always show love. Even when I visited the other ward three years ago. I want to know what you have that I am missing." I asked her if we could teach her about that very thing and she was so excited! She said, absolutely! I have work off all week can I come to the church and learn at 6 o'clock on Thursday! I said of course you can! She was fellowshipped so well by two sisters who came up after to me they want to teach her with us really badly and Maki wanted them there as well. I told Maki that one of the sisters cannot do it this week though and Maki said, oh that is fine I can meet the following week on Wednesday at the church as well. Can she be there then?  I said absolutely and testified of the blessings this message contains. She just stood there almost dumfounded. "Elder Aiken I do not know why, but I just believe the words you say. I do not know why but I just feel that they are true. I just believe them." I was so humbled to see the power of the Lord and His spirit working on someone who had not had contact with the missionaries for 2 years! Almost every time in those situations they have forgotten the missionaries or have no interest here in Japan. The Lord prepares the hearts of his children every day! 

     God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is unchanging. But, "If ye have imagined up unto yourselves a God who doth vary, and in whom there is a shadow of changing, then ye have imagined unto yourselves a God who is not a god of miracles." - Mormon 9:10. God is a God of miracles! He is always revealing himself to us in our lives. His hand is ever open just waiting for us to take it. Never give up! He is always there and help is always on the way! He will send his angels round about you to lift you up! So keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever. I cannot give up or lower my faith because I know there is something great that awaits me every day I don't. This gospel carries me. Remember, remember The gospel is not weight; it is wings. It carries over the trials and sorrows of this life. Let it carry you! Let it be your wings. It forever is mine. 

Love,

Elder Trevor Aiken

HOT...HOT...HOT!

     How are you all doing?? I am doing... Good! This week was rough at first leaving my last area and everyone I have come to love. But I walked into Kawagoe and I thought the only way to overcome that feeling was just to get to work. I am working in the hottest prefecture in all of Japan. The single hottest city in Japan is one of the neighboring areas to mine in my mission.  It varies from about 85 to 105 with 100% humidity everyday and there is no wind. It is seriously like death valley. I would show a picture of how much I sweat out here but my dignity holds me back. But I have lost 2 kilos since I have been here and I love it! My backside is evidence of the heat!

     I am back to the straight countryside again, no more Tokyo city life. There definitely is not millions of people outside. You will be lucky to see about 10 or 15 people on a one hour bike ride on the largest road in my area. It is straight hills. Straight hills. Straight hills. I was feeling a bit nervous leaving my home in Adachi, so I just begged the Lord that if I was diligent and worked hard every second to help that feeling go away. And he did!! With miracles!!!!! 

     I do not have a ton of time, so I do not have a big spiritual thought this week so I will send miracles. The first was the second day I got here.  I told my companion that we were going to give it everything we had today. To ride as hard as we could so that we could get to the places that actually had people and walk around finding there so we did not spend so much time where there are no people (though I will say, going down these countryside roads for an hour is a great time to think.  IT is beautiful!) So we went hard all day. Just finding all day. 

     I came and the area did not have many investigators. We went to this Eki and found for a little bit and found a new investigator Suman from Nepal! We will meet with him on Tuesday. Then after that!! No one had interest for about 4 hours at 3 different locations... So we went to leave and we were looking for a 7/11 to grab dinner because we were so far from the apartment and we went down the side roads, had no idea where we were going really, and then there is this park... And there is one man... With an AMERICAN FOOTBALL IN HAND AND AN OFFICIAL RIDDELL COLLEGE FOOTBALL HELMET ON!! Do you know how rare that is! I thought a Satellite had hit Japan. I thought a great white had finally learned to walk on Land. I thought the Dolphins just won the Super Bowl. It was like BYU just beat Alabama. It was like I was finally my dream 6'4 playing for BYU. I hauled at that guy. I went and talked to him and he was hyped. He told me he plays receiver for a semi-pro league in Japan and that he has been to America a few times. He asked where I was from and I said Utah and he goes oh really! "Ya the U of U and BYU are two really strong prestigious progra".... Like what? In English this was said I might add. He asks, doesn't BYU's senior quarterback have a good chance for the Heisman this year. I was just blown away at his knowledge it was like I found my best friend in Japan! I told him I went to BYU and he asked me "isn't that a Christian schoo"? I told him it was and that as Christian volunteers we teach the same message that that school supports. He told us he actually had a high school friend who was Mormon and served a mission!! We told him that we would love to share the message with him that he friend shared as well and invited him to church and he goes "This is awesome! Can I come next Sunday with my girlfriend?" Um... Yes!!! So amazing!!! 

     Then on Saturday Night we were planning for Sunday morning and it came to referrals and we honestly thought to put none because of how our day looked, but I said no let's go for one. We did not know how it was going to happen, maybe as I went on that first Sunday and got to meet the members for the first time, that they would give us one a we showed that love. But right before church a member comes up to us and says there is someone on the church phone can you talk to him. I told her that my Japanese is probably worse than hers. She said no he is speaking English. We went and the man said "Hey my name is Chris. I am a return missionary member from the Philippines. I have a referral for you. She is a Philippina. We will be at the church at 3 o'clock." I was like no way... They came at 3 together, we gave her a church tour, taught her in the Chapel and she said she felt so relaxed and felt such peace in that room. She said she wants to feel this feeling more and wants to be taught. She wants to find the truth and she has been looking. We will teach her and her sister from now on every week!! And Chris will come to every lesson as well and teach with us!!! There are a few more but it would be long. I want to close just with some cool stats because I love stats!!

     The first missionaries  that came to Japan came on on August 12th, 1901. They saw 27 baptisms in the First 24. Because of this missionaries were taken out of Japan until after World War 2. But in those next 78 years Japan has gained 3 temples, 8 stakes, 13 districts. 128,000 members. It's fantastic! And there can be more. President Eyring gave a prophesy about Japan. In that prophesy he promised that people would line up to be baptized in front of our church. All of those blessings are contingent on one thing. The people in Japan changing their hearts. He did not say Japanese people, he said the people in Japan. In our stake alone, 40% of the baptisms are not Japanese. People's hearts are already changing. The Sapporo Temple is a great example of that. Did you know that there is no gate around the temple? People can walk the grounds 24/7. Anytime. Everyone in that area has seen the temple in person or on a card and want to know what it is. His prophesy is being fulfilled little by little. The hearts in Sapporo are changing little by little and they are changing here as well. 

     I know in time that Japan will change, but it will take time. I saw these stats and I also thought, have our hearts changed about missionary work in Utah? There are so many members all around us sometimes we feel like we do not need to do any. Or there is no need. Please let us be missionaries for all of our lives. Please find ways to share the gospel at home. Pray for opportunities!! Most importantly uplift the members around you and help them. You never know what they are going through or if their testimonies are struggling. Please take more heed to do home teaching. It is so crucial. My last area was kind of struggling with testimonies and lack of love shown to some members in the ward. They did not feel needed or wanted. A part of that was 11% home teaching complete each month. Please let us change our hearts. I am so excited to go home and be a different member at home! I am trying my best to do it here haha. I love you all and I hope you have the best week!!

Love,

Elder Aiken!