Michael's Good Experience: Temple pday and finally able to wear short sleeves! (There was a rule until May 1st)‏

Dear family,

Hello! It's been a way good week so far in Hachioji, really good things are happening here. We have 2 new investigators this week! One, his name is Dipen, I feel like I have talked about him before but I'm not really sure! He's a Nepalese guy that has gone to a lot of Christian church before when he lived in Nepal. We gave him a church tour on Monday night and it went really well! He even told us that he loves Jesus Christ! And also that he is Hindu but if he ever wants to change that there is no problem in his family or from his friends if he did change to Christian. It was a way good tour and I think he really felt the spirit and we were able to pray with him before the end. He didn't come to our next scheduled meeting but I think he will come to the next one so it will be alright! And our other new investigator is one that dropped us earlier but his name is Nagano, and we are starting to meet with him again so I'm happy about that one! Other than that we taught a lot of first lessons to potential investigators and we'll be seeing if they turn into investigators in the coming weeks! I think quite a few will.

This week we did as much finding as we could in between teaching and on any free days that we had we went on some real productive adventures! I was on splits Tuesday and into Wednesday but half way through the split the AP companionship called and one of them was sick so we went on a double split so that they could get one of their companionship to a lesson with an investigator. It was interesting partially because every time I have ever Dendo'd with Elder Connell (one of the AP's) we just get rejected like crazy, and that happened. But we taught the lessons we needed to and they went really well and both those people we taught came to church this Sunday. We found on our map a way cool park at the very north of our area, so one day we visited a p.i. that lives up near there and rode the rest of the 45 minutes to the park. It was somewhere around a 90 minute bike ride. But we were able to talk to a few people at the park and met a way cool guy named Tanaka that lives up there but would be willing to go all the way to the church for a lesson so I'll keep you updated on if he becomes an investigator. The park turns out to be the site of an old castle and there are signs saying what kinds of buildings and towers and walls used to be there and it talks about the wars and stuff involved there. Lots of Samurai stuff there though which was cool! Then because it is golden week here in Japan (a string of 5ish holidays in a row where most people don't have work) we did a lot of park Dendo. There was a little bit of getting lost in some confusing parks and a few mosquito bites but every time we got lost we ran into someone who would listen to what we had to say it was way cool! This week was way good as far as talking to people and getting follow up appointments and even getting Book of Mormons out, we did better than all transfer this week.

While doing some park Dendo near our apartment we met a homeless man, named Somei. I think he's only been homeless a short time but we started talking to him and it turns out he used to be a Jehovah's Witness investigator or member we aren't really sure yet, but when he learned about their blood transfusion beliefs he decided that that church must be wrong. He has read the bible 10-15 times and he took the Book of Mormon and said he would read as much as he can. So this week we're going to see if he would be willing to keep commitments and clean up his life with things like the word of wisdom and if he is we're going to keep meeting him and try to get some Ward help on getting him a job or something. But we will find out Friday!

Another cool story from the week is that yesterday we were running out of time for dinner and we weren't sure where to go but we decided that McDonald's would be an ok place to go. Turns out that our stomachs were guided by the spirit on this one because we sat down and ate and we both felt like we should talk to the guy next to us but we kept saying we would do it just before we left and then after a while he leaned over and talked to us because we weren't doing it, and he's coming to ekaiwa this Wednesday and hopefully church on Sunday as well! He was such a cool old guy, he's 84 and loves English and his name is Isobe. Especially after that one me and Elder Turley have been trying even harder to make sure we act immediately on prompting a of the spirit so hopefully that won't be a problem after that.

So anyways it was a great week! Oh Shinji did fast and pray and stuff and he felt the spirit but he isn't really willing to admit that it really was the spirit because he says he has felt it at shrines and stuff as well and we tried to explain that as you get closer and closer to the truth you will be able to feel it more and even at a shrine God will still try to guide you, but he kind of just tuned us out unfortunately. So I'll update you on that as I know more but I just bore my simple testimony to him that the church really is true and that I just want him to know that and get the same happiness and joy that everyone who knows that has, so maybe it sunk in a little I dunno.

If you could send me my scout shirt and eagle neckerchief (no sash) that would still be much appreciated! And it can just go to the normal address. I look forward to when you have time to take pictures and hopefully you guys can get some more of Meagan's house too sometime! That sounds way exciting! Sounds like work has been pretty busy for everyone so hopefully Sunday you all got a chance to rest! I put Matt’s name into the temple in Tokyo today so hopefully that will help. Hopefully Morgan can get doing better and that everyone will do well with their physical therapy. Tell Kaiden I was way happy when he named his dog Walter! That made my day that day! Also I am probably going to be at Keath's performance in Tokyo on the 18th, we're trying to get an investigator and then we can go! They have been advertising that like crazy at all the church buildings and stuff so there will be a lot of members there. Thanks for all the emails this week! It was way nice to hear from you all so much! Have a great week this week and try and share the gospel when you can! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Gailey

The Mega Big Mac - a Big Mac Doubled!